This is the first update of the the beginning of the new year.

Since the start of the month, the market has been on a tear run over the last couple of weeks, sending the STI up and well over the 3,000 mark. When the market is up, there's obviously lesser compelling things to buy so I have to look for opportunities harder. If any, it would be to lock in some of the gains first. My strategy is always having the intention to hold them for long term, but if Mr Market is offering me a good 10% gains in the short term, I'll lock it in first.

There's a few changes that I've made towards the end of Dec last year since the last portfolio update.

First, I've divested all my position in Ascott Reit at $1.135 and use the same proceeds to add onto my existing position in CDLHT by adding them more at $1.305. This is a direct hospitality switch as I've made my intention to divest Ascott for the longest time ever. With this, CDLHT has now become my largest position and it has not disappoint in recent weeks.

Next, I also divested all my position in Spackman at $0.193, given the good short term gains after one of the catalyst is played out and I have used the same proceeds to buy Lippo Mall Indonesian Retail Trust (LMIRT) at $0.37 which I blogged over here.

In the early month of January, I also identified a good opportunity in Sabana Reit and hence bought them at a price of $0.34. I have blogged about my purchase here in my previous post so I will not repeat much here.

In the past week, I have also taken the chance to lock in some of the gains in OCBC and M1 by divesting them respectively at $9.34 and $2.10. The divestment in M1 is partial since I have several batch which I've bought over the past month. I am still holding 10,000 shares of M1 after divesting.

The portfolio continued to benefit from the market run up in recent week as it closes once again at a personal new record high of $488,260 (+2.7% month on month; +41.3% year on year; this includes capital injection, dividend reinvested and capital gain unrealized).

As a result of a few divestment, the cash portion has also increased to about 30%. This is a comfortable level of cash holding at this point and should the market continues to go up further, I'd be sure to increase this part of the cash portion even higher.

I had received my first batch of dividend for 2017 on the 11th Jan for Singtel of $204 (3,000 shares of $68). It's a good start.

More to come on the Feb month which I am looking forward to.

Some people call this speculating or betting.

For those who knows me well, they would know that I call this an investment. This means that like any stock purchase, I made a conscious decision to weigh the risk and the reward and if the returns (and probability) is in my favor, I would initiate a position in it. Nothing much difference from what I do here and what I've been doing all along.

I've initiated a position in Chelsea FC to win the EPL by the end of May. I bought them towards the end of Dec at an odds of 1.65 and added them further in recent week after their historic run was brought to an end.

I've made this investment my sunk cost, so I've written everything off here mentally in case things does not work out. I think this is the right approach one should take if they are going into the casino and doing all these stuff.

If they work out well, I'd be getting a massive lump sum proceeds in May. This would be a wild card for my aim to end the year with a stretch target of $600k by year end.

I am prepping myself up to be extremely busy over the next couple of months.

This is due to the incoming 2nd baby by the end of this month and thereafter I'll have a lot of work and roles to do, both home and at work. With this, I do foresee a significant drop in involvement in both blogging and social meetup with fellow bloggers and peers.

I'd have to see how this works out before I can feel things out more appropriately.

Other than that, wishing everyone a good start to the new year and keep streaming ahead.