Portfolio Update November 2022

On this last day of Nov 2022, let me review my investment portfolios.

My SGX Income Portfolio value increases to $285k from $272.6k last month. 

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value stagnates at US$14.5k from last month.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value increases slightly to $114.5k from $111.9k.

Signs of stabilization from the stock markets as the Fed has given some signals on slowing down the pace of future interest rate hikes. However, I believe the stock markets will remain volatile till the rest of next year.

Portfolio Actions

1. 4 shares of Twitter, Inc. acquired by Elon Musk at $54.20.

2. Sold 3 units of Palantir, PLTR221111 put options with $7.50 strike price at US$0.30.

3. Sold 1 unit of Alphabet, GOOGL221118 call option with $102 strike price at US$0.26.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $121 of dividends from Savings Bonds on 1 Nov.

2. Received $270 of dividends from Guocoland on 15 Nov.

3. Received $185.62 of dividends from Astrea 7 A-1 bond on 28 Nov.

4. Received $487.28 of dividends from Frasers Centrepoint Trust on 29 Nov.

5. Received $104.20 of dividends from Suntec Reit on 29 Nov.

6. Received $131 of dividends from Netlink Trust on 30 Nov.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $285k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Portfolio Value = US$14.5k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

Thanks for reading. Stay focused and remain steadfast as always!

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Allotment Results for Singapore Savings Bonds (SBDEC22 GX22120S)

 

The allotment results for Dec 2022 Singapore Savings Bond are out!

It is heartening to find out that the allotment limit is SGD 14,000 as this tranche has been less oversubscribed with more total quantum on offer as compared to previous month.

$1B of bonds are offered and there are $1.7B worth of total applications.

I applied for $10k and was allocated all. For investors who applied more, they will get $14k or at most $14.5k.

I think the average yield for Jan 2023 tranche may be higher than Dec 2022 but remain below 4%. Furthermore, the next round of interest rate hike by the Fed will take place on 14 Dec 2022 after details of Jan 2023 SSB are announced on 1 Dec 2022.

Nonetheless, I currently hold $80k of SSB and will continue to subscribe for SSB in next year.

An individual holding limit for SSB is $200k and I target to hit $150k by end of 2023.

Thanks for reading. Invest safe and remain focused as always.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Applied for Record High Yield Singapore Savings Bonds (SBDEC22 GX22120S)

  

The December 2022 issue of Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) has an average yield of 3.47% over 10 years.

This is a record high since the inception of SSB in 2015.

Even though there are other risk-free options such as T-bills and bank fixed deposits which yield higher in the short-term, I prefer the flexibility of SSB and locking down spare cash at decent yield for the long-term. I could redeem SSB anytime in future months, earning partial interest at 3.26% while getting back my capital for deployment to other investments or purchases. 

I decided to apply for only $10k of this Dec 2022 issue as interest rate hikes are on the cards of the Fed and future SSB tranches may potentially yield even higher.

There it goes.

$1b is up for grabs this round. As per past allotment results, I predict only at most around $20k will be allocated per person.

The first payment will be on 1 Jun 2023 and this bond will mature on 1 Dec 2032.

If you are interested in this issue of SSB, do note that the application dateline is on today, 25 Nov 2022, 9pm.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

5 Great Lessons Learnt From Crypto Meltdown

One year ago, I dabbled in cryptocurrencies for the first time.

I mentioned that "I am excited to begin this journey into Crypto. The excitement is like stepping into a Casino."

After barely one year, time has proven me right as we witnessed the crash of Luna, fall of FTX and contagion domino effects on other crypto exchanges and meltdown of cryptocurrencies.

Although I am disheartened by many crypto investors losing huge amounts of their heart-earned fiat and cryptocurrencies, and despite personally losing more than 80% of my paltry $500, I believe there are valuable takeaways from this meltdown and this is a good wake-up call.

Let me share the 5 great lessons learnt.

1. Fundamentals are important in any investment

Unlike national currencies backed by a country's cash reserves, cryptocurrencies are not backed by any government, country or underlying fundamentals. Traditional debt market fundamentals or stock valuation techniques all do not apply. Cryptocurrencies are purely priced based on hype, irrational human greed and emotions. Decentralised finance is unregulated and not subjected to any international nor monetary law. There are high risks and low financial security in owning such digital assets despite great transparency, immutability and authenticity in the underlying promising blockchain technologies upon which such cryptocurrencies thrive.

2. Decentralized Finance and BlockChain still have potential

DeFi and BlockChain are still promising technologies with great potential for many real-world use case applications such as in the realm of smart contracts, Internet-of-Things, personal identity security, healthcare, logistics, non-fungible tokens. Crypto is just one use digital currency application use case which hits hardly during its bad times now. During its boom time, cryptos created many millionaires and billionaires effortlessly though. It is still premature to conclude that cryptocurrencies are failure. This is not the end of crypto and perhaps only the beginning.

3. Portfolio risk management

Like any investment strategy, we have to manage our risks and allocate our financial assets by diversifying and not put all eggs in one basket. It is too high of a risk to stomach if we invest too large amounts of monies in risky cryptocurrencies. We should only risk what we can afford to lose, say 5 to 10% of our net worth only.

4. Leverage for risky assets is No-No

A mortgage for an appreciating assets such as property is a healthy leverage. Using margin or overleveraging to purchase and own cryptocurrencies is a big no-no. While the returns can potentially be very high, the losses are too hard to stomach. This is akin to gambling by playing with blackjack or Russian Roulette in a casino. Leveraging is an all-or-nothing punting strategy.

5. Avoid herd mentality

Fear of missing out and herd mentality lead to many of us commoners on the streets hopping on the crypto wave. There is no free lunch in this world. If investing in cryptocurrencies can make every investor a billionaire, then all casinos, bankers or lottery shops would have closed by now. Those who fly alone have the strongest wings. Those who walk alone have the strongest directions. It is sometimes better to be a contrarian and make our own diligent judgement instead of relying on the decisions of the masses.

Just offering my two cents on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Nov 2022 | Rebounds $20k

 

S$1.32m

My net worth rebounds $20k or 1.8% to $1.32m.

The rebound of my net worth is mainly due to recovery of Reits in my portfolios in past weeks after reduced interest rate hike fears from cooling in US inflation report, together with savings from this month's salary, last month's CPF contributions and some dividends received.

Another interest rate hike of 0.25% to 0.75% is in the pipeline by the Fed on 14 Dec to curb unwavering inflation and hence will allow interest rate to remain in the 4+% range till at least early 2023.

I plan to subscribe for the next few months of Singapore Savings Bonds, which should yield above 3% and close to 4% on average for the next decade. Ultimately, I hope to max out personal limit of $200k.

I will slow the pace of adding high quality S-Reits or growth tech stocks into my investment portfolios as the stock markets remain weak and volatile despite signs of stabilizing recently.

I am contemplating to end my crypto exploratory journey after witnessing the recent fall of crypto exchanges and recognizing that cryptos are unbacked currencies unlike national currencies which are backed by a country's reserves. My maiden investment of $500 in Crypto.com tokens and some alt coins is now left with less than $100 which are peanuts that I have written off my net worth long time ago just like how Temasek wrote off US$275m.

I believe in building a conservative, well balanced portfolio for my financial assets and is very comfortable with hoarding cash to earn decent risk-free interest rates around 4% while waiting for greater opportunities to invest in income-producing assets and growth tech businesses. My allocation of cash (18%)/risk-free bonds (6%)/CPF(38%) to equities (23%)/SRS equities (8%) ratio is around 62-31, which provides a rather huge safety net.

Life is exciting in an endemic world. Ignore the noises. Remain on track. Be greedy when others are fearful. We will get to our goals and dreams. En route to financial freedom!

Thanks for reading. Stay focused and remain steadfast as always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster