I’ve always been interested in creating and preserving value, but lately I am also looking for ways that would allow me to retire early – at least earlier than 65, which is the official age at the moment in Romania – and would allow me not to fully depend on a day job or a pension from the state. Being a minimalist helps a lot in keeping the balance between expenses and savings in control, but in the current economic climate it is quite hard for the average person to preserve the value of his savings. Banks give an interest rate well below the rate of inflation, so keeping my money in bank deposits is not an option for long term…
Despite the 2007 financial crisis, the real estate market is in the skies again here in Cluj, which honestly starts to smell like a possible bubble. I don’t have enough savings at the moment to start investing in real estate yet, but even if I had, the smell of this new bubble would discourage me. So I kinda felt pushed towards investments that might be a little bit more risky, like Bitcoin or the stock market. I’ve missed the opportunity to invest in Bitcoin, and now that it is super expensive, I don’t want to get in, so I decided to give the stock market a try.
This is the short summary of how I was pushed towards BVB (Bucharest Stock Exchange). I thought it would be useful to track my progress, and why not do it publicly on my blog? So I’m going to share at the end of each month my progress, new acquisitions and the value of my portfolio.
Here’s my first month: 11.2017.
| Symbol | Instrument | No. units | Cost | Market value | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EL | Electrica SA Bucuresti | 10 | 123.43 | 117.40 | -4.88 |
| FP | Fondul Proprietatea | 10 | 8.48 | 8.45 | -0.34 |
| SNG | Romgaz | 2 | 60.71 | 63.80 | 5.08 |
| SNN | Nuclearelectrica | 10 | 72.75 | 74.60 | 2.53 |
| SNP | OMV Petrom | 600 | 174.21 | 172.20 | -1.15 |
| TLV | Banca Transilvania | 20 | 43.00 | 43.30 | 0.69 |
After the first month I have a total loss of -2.83 RON. I don’t think it is too bad, since the costs contain the 0.35% commission paid to my broker.