Investor Penny Lim, 40, sees the current volatile market as an opportunity to pick up stocks that are trading at attractive prices.
The director at financial advisory firm FPA Financial considers herself a long-term investor and is confident that the investments would make good gains in the next two to three years.
She has started buying property stocks and real estate investment trusts (Reits) which have been oversold recently.
'They used to trade at close to the worth of their assets, but now they are trading at huge discounts. I think they are very attractively priced now and I have started accumulating them recently and will nibble on the way down,' she said.
She started investing in a globally diversified portfolio of stocks in April 2005.
It includes Japanese stocks such as Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sharp Corporation; in Europe, ING, Allianz, Siemens, AXA, Philips Electronics and Unilever; and in Singapore, Capital Commercial Trust, Singapore Land, Suntec Reit and Parkway Life Reit.
As at July last year, the total gain of her portfolio was 69 per cent, which worked out to around 25 per cent per year. Though the current value of her portfolio has fallen about 20 per cent due to the correction in the market, Ms Lim remains confident of the market recovery and plans to stay invested.
She does her research before investing and favours stocks that can continue to deliver good dividends, have low price-earnings ratios and low price-to-book values.
She also focuses on relatively large companies with established track records as they tend to be better managed with greater transparency and good corporate governance.
This article was first published in The Straits Times on September 14, 2008.
