Five Years of Learning: My Investment Journey

 


Looking back, my investment journey has been more than just about performance, it has been a process of growth, correction, and refinement. Each year taught me something different about money, patience, and decision-making. From mindset building to rule-based investing, here is the summary of what I’ve learned over the past five years.

2021 – Foundation and Mindset

My first year of investing was all about building the foundation. I started with a simple belief that investing is not only about growing money, but also about growing discipline. I treated it as part of a bigger journey of self-development. In my 2021 reflection “Investasi dan Bertumbuh,” I wrote about the importance of patience, consistency, and focusing on long-term goals rather than quick wins. I didn’t chase performance because I was still learning what kind of investor I wanted to be. I learned that market volatility is not something to be feared but understood, and that the earlier one starts, the more time becomes an ally. The emphasis that year was on building habits, saving regularly, allocating consistently, and staying invested. Even without technical skills, that mindset became the most valuable foundation for everything that followed.

2022 – Discovery and Experimentation

If 2021 was about mindset, then 2022 was about experience, sometimes painful ones. I began selecting individual stocks, testing different strategies, and trying to identify undervalued opportunities. In my post “Perjalanan Investasi di Tahun 2022,” I mentioned being more active in the market, often reacting emotionally to movements, and learning the hard way that effort does not always correlate with returns. The Indonesian market was volatile that year, and some of my decisions were driven more by emotion than analysis. I held too many positions and lacked a clear structure for risk management. It became clear that success in investing was not about finding the next big stock but about understanding the process behind each decision. I realised that losses are part of the learning curve, and that controlling emotions is harder than reading financial statements. This year taught me the difference between enthusiasm and discipline, the former excites you to start, the latter helps you stay.

2023 – Simplification and Passive Adoption

By 2023, I began simplifying everything. After experiencing losses in 2022, I realised that my portfolio had become too complex. In “Dikalahkan Pasar – 2023 Review,” I described how the market humbled me and why I decided to move towards a more passive strategy. I reduced the number of holdings and focused on funds like IDX30, the ABF Bond Index Fund, and the S&P 500. The goal was no longer to beat the market but to align with it while minimising mistakes. I also recognised the role of cost and simplicity—lower fees, fewer trades, and more consistent monitoring. That year the Indonesian market struggled, and my portfolio reflected that weakness. But it also gave me peace of mind knowing that I didn’t have to chase every opportunity. Passive investing allowed me to focus on consistency rather than prediction. It was the year I learned that sometimes doing less leads to better results. Simplification was not a retreat; it was a step towards clarity.


2024 – Diversification and Global Exposure

In 2024, diversification proved its worth. The global market, especially the US, performed strongly, while the Indonesian market continued to lag. In my “Review Investasi 2024” post, I compared how the S&P 500 rose by about 24.7% while IHSG was down around 1.6%. That difference made a visible impact on my portfolio. The exposure to US and Philippine assets balanced out local underperformance, making 2024 one of my most stable years despite domestic weakness. This was the first time I saw regional diversification working in practice, not just in theory. It was also the year I began tracking data more carefully, analysing performance across regions, and understanding how different economies move at different cycles. Instead of thinking only about which stock to buy, I started thinking about where my portfolio should be positioned globally. This change of perspective transformed the way I saw risk. The lesson was clear: true diversification isn’t about owning many stocks, it’s about spreading across different markets that move differently.

2025 – Systematisation and Refinement

This year has been about turning experience into structure. After several years of reacting to markets, I started to manage my portfolio with defined rules. I now record performance regularly, monitor allocation across regions, and track how each decision affects long-term results. The focus is no longer on short-term gains but on maintaining consistency through clear systems. I’ve also become more disciplined in setting entry and exit points. Even though my horizon remains long term, I’ve learned that not every holding deserves to stay forever. Some positions, like SIDO or BMRI, reminded me that floating losses can take years to recover, and that cutting losses at the right time can preserve future opportunity. The same reflection applies to index funds. After years of believing that index investing is always safe, I realised it depends on what the index represents. IDX30’s performance taught me that not all indices are efficient or diversified enough. Choosing an index fund still requires judgement, looking at its composition, sector balance, and how it aligns with one’s strategy. This year, investing has become more evidence-based and less emotional. I no longer measure progress by how much the market moves, but by how well I follow my own system.



What have I learned overall and what to come?

Five years of investing have taught me that progress doesn’t come from prediction, but from preparation. Each phase built on the last, mindset, experimentation, simplification, diversification, and systematisation, forming a foundation that’s no longer about chasing performance, but sustaining discipline.

As I move toward 2026, my focus is shifting from accumulation to optimisation, making every decision count in what I consider my most productive years. I’m learning to see investing not just as building wealth, but as building resilience for an uncertain cycle ahead.

The macro environment looks increasingly complex, slowing growth in advanced economies, elevated interest rates, shifting capital flows, and a world that may still face corrections after years of liquidity-driven expansion. The indicators we’ve been tracking, from valuation metrics to yield curves and liquidity signals, remind me that every boom carries the seed of its next reset.

That’s what 2026 represents for me: a year of readiness. Readiness to face both opportunity and correction. Readiness to apply data-driven judgement rather than react to noise. And readiness to use whatever the market gives, whether expansion or slowdown, to strengthen the long game.

These five years shaped how I invest, but the next will shape how I sustain it. 2026 will be a year of focus, refining systems, protecting gains, and maximising the value of my most productive years. I can’t control macro cycles, but I can control preparation, decisions, and discipline. That’s what long-term investing means to me now: making readiness a habit. Because in the end, markets move in seasons, but discipline is what keeps us go through them all.


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