Time flies, and it has been almost three months since I officially retired from my old job at the end of February after working full-time for 1.5 years. This was to coincide with my wife’s retirement in April.
Since then, we have been busy planning for overseas vacations, having one with our younger son (his grad trip) to Portugal and Madrid in early Apr while concurrently finalising our major home renovation works after moving in almost 18 years ago. There is also a 23-day South Korea trip coming up in Jun, plus a central China vacation in October.
The initial retirement schedule is so firmly packed with activities for now, through to the end of the year. Looking forward to no stress, not thinking about work and only deciding on what to have for breakfast every morning.
There is also more time to review and fine-tune my portfolio now, as Trump-induced volatility rocks the markets every few days as he pumps it non-stop with shocks and surprises. The recent movie “The Apprentice” provides some clues to his behaviour. His mentor, the notorious Roy Cohn, taught him 3 rules that he has taken to heart. Roy Cohn shares three key rules with Donald Trump: always attack, never admit wrongdoing, and always claim victory, even if defeated. This partially explains his modus operandi.
Steve Bannon’s 2018 mention of “flooding the zone” with actions to keep everyone off balance also figures prominently in his first 100 days in office, with multiple Executive Orders, one after another. He is like a bully at the playground and likes to play bluff and escalate issues before the other side can recover. But he will eventually blink if confronted by a bigger bully (see tariff fight with China).
While claiming actions for the good of the citizens, all his motives eventually led to enriching and lining his family’s pockets. He is now unleashed and pushes all guard rails into the abyss. Creating volatility and confusion is a game to him, with little coherence to a grand strategy. He is not into details and, with a soft ear, listens to anyone who can easily influence him while citing that he has good instincts LOL.
The only saving grace for investors is that he is transparent. He often tells in advance what he plans to do and cannot keep secrets for long. When he crashes the markets and then tells you to buy, he means that he will be announcing bullish news soon…
We will continue to see such behaviours, and we have to be nimble to trade the volatility, looking to take profit once in a while. I was glad that I was on holiday in early Apr and had decided to sit pat and do nothing. My portfolio value has since recovered to just below end-Jan levels.
I continue to fine-tune my portfolio into the rest of 2025, and my investment themes will be in AI, Quantum Computing (QC) and Nuclear energy. Possible breakthroughs in nuclear energy efficiency, like Thorium and SMR reactors, could provide unlimited energy to power Quantum Computing and AI to create big leaps in advancement.
The race is on between the US and China to solve the issues of limited energy, while the potential of QC and AI is starting to be very good, the sky is the limit. That will be my medium to long term focus.
For cryptos, currencies and gold, there will be range trading opportunities within these volatile times. Trump will continue to create noise and move the markets, but the bigger trends remain intact.
We are in for even more exciting times as his remaining 3.5-year term runs out. America will be changed forever, for the better or worse, while the rest of the world watches to see where the lunacy will bring us. Sit tight and buckle up!
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