Portfolio Update May 2021 - Reality Check

SGX Income Portfolio

S$259.4k

US Growth Portfolio (New!)

US$1.6k

My portfolio value dipped by $3.4k to $259.4k in May 2021. This month has been a reality check as local stocks went tumbling after the government announced heightened alert measures due to rise in infections among the community. The banning of indoor "mask-off" activities such as dine-in in food courts and restaurants in Shopping malls and lowering of capacity in establishments has given many businesses another round of impact. We should not take essential activities that we performed daily for granted. This health pandemic is a good wake-up call for us to treasure simplicity and reflect on the basics needs for living and working. I am glad to have started collecting some dividends in the month of May 2021, with more streaming in the next few weeks.

I have started to build a new growth portfolio in US stocks using Moomoo and will continue to track separately in future.

Portfolio Actions

1. Received 1 free share of Apple Inc. from registering Moo Moo trading account by Futu

2. Bought 10 shares of Apple Inc. at 126.80

3. Received 4 free shares of Twitter Inc. from Moo Moo referrals

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $96 from Sembcorp Industries on 6 May

2. Received $470 in SRS from ST Engineering on 7 May

3. Received $71.50 in SRS from ComfortDelgro on 20 May

4. Received $175.92 from Frasers Centrepoint Trust on 28 May

5. Received $42 from OUE on 28 May

6. Received $102.25 from Suntec Reit on 28 May

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

S$94.2k

My Ultra Long-Term SRS portfolio dipped $0.4k from $94.6k last month. Dividends from Comfortdelgro and ST Engineering contributed to SRS Cash which has not been deployed as my daily orders for Keppel DC Reit have not been filled.

Thanks for reading. As always, stay strong and remain safe!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Free Apple Share worth USD 160 from a low cost and robust trading platform!

2 days ago, I briefly shared on my journey of building a new growth portfolio in US stocks using this new online brokerage platform, Moo Moo.

Let me explain the reasons why we should grab hold of this great opportunity to start investing or trading in US, HK and SG stocks using this new platform.

Free One Apple share Sign-Up Promotion

After signing up for a Moo Moo account (Sign Up via this Referral Link), funding the account with at least SGD 2,700, USD 2,000 or HKD 16,000, downloading the Moo Moo trading app from Apple App or Google Play store and completing the simple onboarding tutorial activities, one Apple Inc. (AAPL) share will be credited to your account.

The linkage via DBS/POSB bank account is seamless and after getting the free AAPL share, we could even withdraw our monies back into our bank account.

Furthermore, you will enjoy 180 days of unlimited commission-free trades, free Level 2 Market Data for US stocks and free Level 1 Real-Time Market Data.

You could also make referrals and enjoy up to 20 Twitter (TWTR) shares and additional 600 days of unlimited commission-free trades (1 Twitter share and 30 days of commision-free trade for each person)

The promotion is until 31 May 2021, 8pm SGT as of time of writing, so act fast whilst it lasts.

Safe, Trusted and Secure

The Moo Moo trading platform is powered by Futu Singapore Pte Ltd. which is a subsidiary of Futu Holdings Limited, a leading Financial Techology company listed on the NASDAQ (NASDAG: FUTU) and backed by Tencent Holdings (SEHK: 700), venture capitalist firm Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners.

Futu Singapore Pte Ltd. is licensed and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) License (No. CMS101000). US securities in the account are protected by up to USD 500k and cash in the account by up to USD 250k by Securities Investor Protection Corporation (www.sipc.org). Its local office is located 160 Robinson Road, #25-07, SBF Centre, Singapore 068914.

Very Low Cost

The Moo Moo trading platform charges very low commission and platform fees as follows:

Commission Fees (subjected to 7%  GST)

US Stocks, ETFs & ADRs: USD 0.0049 / share, min USD 0.99 / Order

HK Stocks & ETFs: 0.03% of investment amount or HK$3, whichever is higher 

Singapore Stocks, ETFS & Reits: 0.03% of transaction amount, min. SGD 0.99

Platform Fees (subjected to 7% GST)

US Stocks, ETFs & ADRs: USD 0.005 / share, min USD 1 / Order

HK Stocks & ETFs: HK$15 per order

Singapore Stocks, ETFS & Reits: 0.03% of transaction amount, min. SGD 1.50

Do note that other regulatory fees i.e settlement fee, SEC fee (sell only), ADR custodian fee are waived during the promotional period and may be applicable in future. For futures and options, the fees charged are also higher than the above and listed on https://support.futusg.com/en-us/topic143

Good Headstart

With free shares to lay the foundation of building an investment portfolio, low trading costs to maximise gains and minimise losses, the Moo Moo platform also offers an intuitive and robust investment platform, rich in trading analytic tools, access to global financial news and investment community. All these factors sum up to provide a very good headstart to new investors and even veteran investors or traders who are continually improving and honing their games.

User Friendly and Good Customer Service

Moo Moo offers robust, fast and user friendly platforms for trading on all mobile devices and computers. I have tried out the platforms and was impressed at the rich features, quality of interface and speed of executing tasks.

The customer service is responsive and besides using conventional emails to reach them, there is AI chatbot which we can ask all sorts of questions pertaining to the trading platform and even reach out to real customer service agent. I have engaged the customer service and managed to get my queries and doubts answered promptly.

I believe that I have found the right platform to give myself a headstart into US stocks. This new brokerage still has plenty of room for improvement. For eg. access to UK, Europe and other asian markets, robo investment features, FX trading and so on. However, I would recommend beginners and those who have not traded foreign stocks before to just grab the free Apple stock, and learn to trade using paper account or small amount of real money to gain real experience. It all begin with the very first step.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong as always.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post but a post for me to share about my experience and reason behind signing up and using this new low cost trading platform. Investment comes with risks and please dyodd. 

First Foray into US Stock Market | Building Up A New Growth Portfolio using Moo Moo by Futu SG!

I have always hesitated to invest in foreign stocks but finally decided to start building up a new growth portfolio in US stocks market.

It is now or never. 

The local SG stock market has been relatively stagnant over the past 2 decades and we have seen traditional local companies struggling to innovate nor grow. The likes of Singtel, SIA, SPH, StarHub and Keppel etc. have not been rewarding shareholders for their patience and loyalty. Banks and Temasek-backed Reits merely allow us to build an income portfolio for consistent and steady source of passive income.

In order to gain access to owning familiar businesses such as Apple, Mcdonald's, Microsoft, Google, Starbucks, we have to really step out of our comfort zones and venture into the US markets, or even HK or China markets.

I have registered for a Moo Moo trading account by Futu SG yesterday. The account opening is fast and efficient within 15 mins on the same working day as I only have to provide my details by logging in to SingPass. 

Futu SG is a subsidiary of Futu and backed by Tencent holdings. The brokerage account is regulated by MAS. There is currently a promotion whereby after registering and funding the account with SGD 2,700, one share of Apple Inc. will be given free. Yes free share which is worth around USD 127 or SGD 160. As Apple Inc. was one of the first company stock that I was interested to start invest, I was convinced and swayed by this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity which is too good to be true. Furthermore, 180 days of unlimited commission free trading are provided for US, HK and SG stock markets, with a very small amount of platform fee charged based on USD 0.005/share or minimum USD 1/ Order, subjected to 7% GST. 

If you are interested to seize this great opportunity, please register for a Moo Moo account using my referral link and remember to fund the account with at least SGD 2,700 and complete the onboarding tutorial activities after downloading the Moo Moo trading app from Apple store or  Linkage to a DBS/POSB account is seamless. Thereafter, funds can be transferred in and out of the trading account within the same working day.

I am glad that the next day after I opened this trading account, it was credited with 1 share of AAPL, as seen from the daily statement sent to my email. 

My very first trade was to nibble some more shares of AAPL. I placed a small order at 126.80 and was filled. 

So I have laid the foundation of a new investment portfolio owning 11 shares of AAPL easily.

I plan to continue building a growth investment portfolio in US stocks using this low cost trading platform.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong as always.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post but a post for me to share about my experience and reason behind signing up and using this new low cost trading platform. Investment comes with risks and please dyodd. 

Order not filled for Mapletree Industrial Trust but...

Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX:ME8U) announced its plan to acquire 29 data centers in the United States on 20 May 2021.

This is a strategic and shrewd move as the properties are situated across 18 states in US on freehold land and riding on the waves of cloud computing, e-commerce, e-payments, big data analytics, online gaming, video streaming, social networking, the rollout of 5G networks, proliferation of Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence.

By coincidence, this move was announced days after my attempt to add shares of MIT failed. I wanted to increase the exposure to data centers in my investment portfolio as my current holdings in MIT and KDC are not significant enough. 

Hence, I am happy to see that this acquisition will be funded by a mixture of private placement to institutional investors and preferential offering to existing shareholders at price range of $2.57 to $2.64. Since I was already prepared to pay $2.63 to add shares of MIT, I would definitely subscribe at least 3,000 shares.

Below are the important dates.

Related posts:

1. Added Mapletree Industrial Trust

2. Portfolio Rebalancing: Cut StarHub to buy Mapletree Industrial Trust

3. A Reit that I do not dare to sell again

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and be strong as always. 

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Net Worth Update May 2021

My net worth inches up $8k from Apr 2021 to $1.08m.

This is after receiving the leave encashment monies from previous organization and 2 months of salary from new organization. This 5 figure sum comes handy to boost my war chest at the right time as the local stock market has corrected after the government announced measure akin to Circuit Breaker 1.5 to curb the spread of the virus in the community.

My stock portfolio has shed a value of $16k in this week alone. History repeating itself? Let us not be distracted or disturbed by the noises and the fearful coming from the media again. Stay focused, stick to our own plan and work on our own financial goals.

While feeling regretful sometimes that I did not take the profits off the table, I am feeling happy that stock prices have corrected and I am on the lookout for bargain buys of high quality income-producing Reits again. The likes of Mapletree, Frasers, Keppel, Ascendas and Capitaland Reits are coming back into my radar. 

I have always been mentally prepared that the health pandemic situation will worsen globally and locally. I believe that any travel plans or pre-pandemic lifestyle will be put on hold till at least 2 to 4 more years. My long-term plan has always been to steadily and slowly build up my investment portfolio to generate passive income and I will continue to do so regardless of bull or bear market conditions. Meanwhile, continually to learn and contribute at work, grinding for the next pay check is for earning the next bullets for future investments, making small steps towards financial freedom.

$1.08m

Thanks for reading. As always, stay safe and remain calm.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster