SG Money Tree: Facing my first correction

It's been about a year or so since I started punting the stock market. I've heard horror stories about the great financial crisis. Bear markets. Corrections. This is my first test and I'm glad to say that I've passed it. I took the chance to rebalance my portfolio and sell some stocks to see whether I can hit the sell button in a market that's going down. I finally sold the STI ETF, which is a big chunk of my portfolio and one of my maiden acquisitions, to buy UOB which took a big hit and is now almost book value.

I think reading many books about value investing helped. As the stocks fell, the stocks just became so much attractive that it was hard not to buy them. Dividend yields rocketed. The margin of safety became wider. And I wished I had more cash to buy stuff.

There were people on the forums calling a bear market and expecting the fall to continue, extrapolating the down trend. People were asking if they should sell now and buy lower. I was not unaffected, for I decided to sell my Keppel Corp. In the end, it became an anxious game to try to sell it lower that I ended up buying it back at a big of a higher price.

Still, I think I survived. I don't know how I will feel if the market goes down even further, but I think I'll continue to buy.