China - Somewhere there are jewels

Currently my portfolio contains three Chinese stocks that are listed in the US market. I am aware of what has been the problem with Chinese stocks during past years and I would have not bought these stocks if I had any reason to doubt their legitimacy. On the contrary, they have been able to take down all allegations made against them. They have all been growing nicely and are doing business in areas where I see great potential growth. Only real risk I see is with Chinese government and IF they decide to do something harmfull. Which I don't consider too likely, but still possible. Not big enough of a risk to keep me away.

Here you might be wondering WTF about Xinyuan? Yes, China has plenty of ghost towns. Homes build to be empty. BUT: Xinyuan is strict on where it chooses to build. And it has been doing it very well. Recently they have also bought land from the US and are starting building projects over there. I trust they are able to implement their strategy efficiently and if there is going to be something like a collapse of Chinese housing bubble, they will be able to avoid it.

In short: Chinese people need food and sustainable production and use of fertilizers is important. Developing country needs constantly more oil and someone has to transport it to the demand. People are moving and cities are growing and better houses are more affordable to people. These companies are all selling under their book value. They have been hit hard by the suspicions of fraud that west currently has against Chinese companies. But they have been growing strongly and their future seems promising. 

I am confident with my purchases and in for the long term. So I am now just sitting back and watching the show.

China Green Agriculture Homepage

CGA is a public company listed in the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker of CGA. We are registered in the state of Nevada with our main operations in the People’s Republic of China. Our principle operations are conducted through our PRC subsidiaries which produce and distribute humic acid liquid compound fertilizer, blended fertilizer, organic compound fertilizer and mixed organic-inorganic compound fertilizer throughout 22 provinces, 4 autonomous regions and 3 municipal cities in China. Our company’s competitive strengths are national distribution, brand awareness, state of the art research and development, automated production, and after-sales support.

Longwei Petroleum Investment Holding Homepage

Longwei Petroleum is an energy company engaged in the storage and wholesale distribution of finished petroleum products in China. The Company's oil and gas operations consist of transporting, storage and selling finished petroleum products, primarily in central China.  The Company is headquartered in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province.

Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd Homepage

Xinyuan Real Estate Co., Ltd. is a developer of large scale, high quality residential real estate projects aimed at providing middle-income consumers with a comfortable and convenient community lifestyle. Mr. Yong Zhang founded Xinyuan in Zhengzhou in 1997 and the Company was ranked No.1 in Zhengzhou by residential contract sales in 2004. Xinyuan focuses on China’s Tier II cities, characterized as larger, more developed urban areas with above average GDP and population growth rates. Xinyuan started expanding across China in 2006 and now cover a total population of over 44.7 million people in seven strategically selected Tier II cities, comprising Hefei, Jinan, Kunshan, Suzhou, Zhengzhou, Xuzhou and Chengdu.


There are four other Chinese based stocks that I am currently following and considering to buy.

SkyPeople Fruit Juice Inc, Zuoan Fashion Ltd, China Xiniya Fashion Ltd, VLOV Inc.
Three last of the list are all in fashion/clothing.



Got any tips/advice/information that you even slightly think is useful for me to know? Don't hesitate to tell me!

This blog post shows examples from my personal portfolio and contains my personal opinions. Everyone else is advised to do their own ground-work before making an investment decision.

Portfolio - October 2012

Following posts will be listing my current investment portfolio. I have investments in one start-up company that holds a major part of my portfolio. Rest is divided between Chinese companies, "normal" ones and some badly hit that are still bleeding blood on the streets.

These companies are chosen by looking at their assets, stock price compared to that (so value investing ideology), their past years and expectations and what is the word on the street about them. So if after all this the soup still tasted good, they have ended in my portfolio. 

Unless I suddenly find a reason to get rid of some of my investments, I will be sticking with these for the long term and slowly adding more as I gain more extra cash.

If you have any information concerning these companies that you think is important, please do tell me so I can consider that.

In search for value..

Lately I have been too busy and in other worlds to write here. I´m currently in France and constantly experiencing new things which keep me too busy. But when I can I also think about my own investments and try to find good stocks that are under their book value. I have to make a list of those stocks later. But now I'll share you my favorite sources of information.

The most useful site to find stocks worth investigating has been  Financial Times Stock Screener

Extremely useful tool to find stocks that match the criteria I search for. And from there it is possible to check so many other useful things related to that stock you choose to investigate.

When I have tried to find more information related to a certain company, or just searching for companies that other people have found interesting, I too often find interesting reading from Seeking Alpha. A very useful site to get some new ideas. Through that site I have found so many companies to check out and some maybe even worth investing in.

For some comedy, check out WhenInFinance

What ALL Successful People Have in Common

Been a bit too busy lately to write good things here. But I have been thinking about my own investments and constructed my own investment portfolio during two past months. I´ll return to that later on... Now another kind of text but with a useful message.

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle.

And Aristotle is quite right: a successful person is built around good habits. It’s inevitable for you to become a winner if you have the right habits. But it’s not something you can do from one day to the other. It takes time, effort and commitment to create these habits. Here are a few of my favorite to get you kick started.

I recommend you to work just with one every month. If there’s something that helped me achieving all what I have and will achieve, it’s focusing on these:

1- Having a Low Information Diet.

To start a low information diet has been one of my best decisions. It’s a great relief and a huge time saver. It’s really something that can change your life. Breaking it up to the essentials, it means to batch email, stop reading the news and to stop pointless social media surfing.

By doing this you’ll get rid of the biggest time wasters of our era. You’ll avoid interruption and will be able to exclusively focus on getting your most important tasks done. If you want to multiply your productivity, this is the way to go.

The benefits of having a low information diet far outnumber the potential and so threatened negative consequences. I don’t check emails more than twice a day, don’t read newspapers (just business) and so far no catastrophe has happened. If I’m dying to do so (which hardly happens) I do it after finishing with all my tasks for the day.

2- Exercise 20-30 Minutes Every Day.

I have been going to the gym ever since I was 13. I hate it since day one. But, want it or not, it’s good for me. I’m proud of having a good body, of being healthy and of being fit to do any activity I want to. Yet, every time I had to sacrifice something to save time for study, work or something else gym was first on the list. If I had to quit something, I would quit the gym.

That’s really bad. My body has never lost shape, but it could certainly do if I stay out of exercise for long. What do I do, then? First thing in the morning, before doing anything, just after eating a couple of fruits, I go out and run. Not that much, really. Maybe 20 minutes, no more. And then I make another twenty minutes of exercise outside, at home or, maybe, in the gym.

Like it or not to stay healthy is important and I can’t just skip it. By doing all exercise first thing in the morning I make sure I won’t. After all, the temptation not to go running or not to lift weights multiplies as time goes by. Do it whenever you want to, but do it.

3- Write Down Your Three Most Important Tasks (MIT) Every Day.

First thing in the morning take a notebook and write which are your three most important tasks for the day. Don’t do less and don’t do more: three is the right number. What these tasks are depends on you, but they should be something outside of your routine.

If you are studying, it could be to read X pages of the books and write the highlights on your notebooks. If you are working it could be to complete a project or advance with some other. If these three are the most important things you have to do that day all your effort should be focused on completing them. Once you finished you can move to something else.

Make a habit of completing all these tasks. It’s no use if you constantly write them down and never accomplish them. With that in mind, start small. Focus on tasks that you can, with a decent amount of effort, surely complete. Once you are getting good with it, move on to more demanding projects.

4- Read One Book Every Week.

Reading is a very good habit. Books will flow your head with ideas, thoughts, culture and more. So take a few hours out of your TV and Internet routines and spend it reading.

Read nonfiction to learn, to have new ideas and to expose you to the thoughts and teachings of remarkable people. The potential is gigantic. There are surely dozens of high quality books on any topic you have interest about: be it work, projects or just for fun.

Work your way to read one book a week. On this article Steve Pavlina points out the great benefits of doing so. But the highlight is that when you read a new book every week, you condition your mind to keep taking in new knowledge. You’ll have new anecdotes and stories to share, new perspectives and ways of thinking. It’s really worth it.

If you just don’t have physical time to spend reading, multitask. I always have a book in my bag, wherever I go to. Also, I hear audio books when I’m exercising or moving around the city. I also have programs to hear while I’m driving. It’s great from any side you look!

You may ask yourself: but doesn’t he get bored of reading? Absolutely not. I read or hear programs about subjects I’m passionate about (and so should you). There’s no way I’m going to get bored. Plus, all this reading means at least an hour a day of new ideas that will flow my mind. I love it.

Finally, I also keep reading fiction books. I read at least one or two chapters of fiction in bed just before sleeping. This way I engage my imagination and abstract myself from all the thoughts about the future, about planning my tasks or about worrying about the future. Helps out for that and there’s nothing like a very good fiction!

5- Be Nice To Everyone.

It’s amazing how much can you achieve just by being nicer than you normally are. Take a few extra seconds (or minutes) to make people feel great around you. Make them feel important, ask them questions, how they are doing and never forget the magic words “please” and “thank you.” It takes almost no effort and the benefits are spectacular.

When you buy something, ask for it kindly and with a smile. When you meet someone, ask them how they are and compliment them. Be all about positive energy. People will then want to meet you, become closer friends and will do you favors.