Portfolio Update Jan 2020

Portfolio value of $196.5K

My portfolio was $194.5k on 2 Jan 2020 as shared in earlier post. It increased slightly by $2k on the last day of Jan 2020. In fact it surpassed $200k at some point in mid Jan before a major correction due to the global coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

I have added 853 shares of Ascott Trust using the odd lots promotion by POEMS. It is not an easy feat as I have to buy 99 shares of Ascott Trust on many days this month to enjoy the free brokerage. But overall it is worth the effort. This is to round up the 7,147 shares converted from Ascendas Hospitality Trust after the merger. This is not a good month to increase position in hospitality reit as there is a whitewash of travel and tourism related counters but I have no regrets since Ascott Trust will be a long term position and is also 1 of the 5 heavenly Reits of Capitaland.

I was surprised by the proposed marriage of the heavenly king (Cap Mall) and queen (Cap Com) in my portfolio though in the short term there is not much impact. I will just sit back and perhaps attend the egm to watch the show, while collecting the dividends and wait for the merger to complete in Jun 2020.

With the exacerbation of the Wuhan coronavirus, uncertainty of China US trade war, economy slowdown in Singapore, the market is poised for a correction or perhaps a pullback. Most of the Reits in my portfolio have already made their quarterly results announcements and I will just wait for their dividends to stream into my bank to boost my war chest. I expect the stock market to pull back more and my portfolio will take a hit in the coming months. I estimate that my portfolio will still be able to generate dividends of $10k every year. 

My primary war chest is depleted to a meagre $500 as I have also top up my CPF SA for the Retirement Sum Top Up scheme. I will talk about my primary, secondary and tertiary war chests in a future post. I plan to further top up my CPF SA in Feb 2020 and start contributing to SRS in Mar 2020. Hence I expect to be low in war chest till at least Apr 2020. Though I already sense opportunities in some great counters like SATS, OCBC and Landlease Reit, I still think that there may be more to come. I target to add on to SATS and OCBC using my SRS funds after top up.

2020 will be a challenging and gritty Rat year. We should take care of ourselves in terms of health, fitness, finance and brave all the obstacles ahead.  Thanks for reading.

With love and peace,

Qiongster