Portfolio Update December 2022

Today is the last day of year 2022.

Let me review my investment portfolios.

My SGX Income Portfolio value inches up to $286.2k from $285k last month. 

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value drops to US$13.4k from US$14.5k last month.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value falls slightly to $112k from $114.5k.

The Fed will continue to hike interest rate hikes and global recession is on the cards. I believe that the stock markets will remain volatile next year amidst a high inflationary environment clouded by immense noises and fears. We should remain calm and clear-minded and make the best out of current situation by investing and deploying our financial resources into assets tactfully in 2023.

Portfolio Actions

1. Sold 3 units of Palantir, PLTR221223 put options with $7.00 strike price at US$0.27. Bought back at US$0.81 to close before rolling over.

2. Sold 3 units of Palantir, PLTR230317 put options with $7.00 strike price at US$1.23.

3. Applied for $10k of Singapore Savings Bonds using SRS funds.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $127 of dividends from Savings Bonds on 1 Dec.

2. Received $285 of dividends from MPACT on 7 Dec.

3. Received $279.78 of dividends as 128 shares from Mapletree Industrial Trust on 12 Dec.

4. Received $224.80 of dividends from Mapletree Logistics Trust on 13 Dec.

5. Received $942.50 of dividends from Frasers L&C Trust on 15 Dec.

6. Received $188 of dividends from ST Engineering in SRS on 20 Dec.

7. Received $774.40 of dividends from Aims Apac Reit on 23 Dec.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $286.2k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Portfolio Value = US$13.4k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Voluntary Top-Up to CPF Medisave account

 

I just contributed $300 to my CPF Medisave account.

This is after realising that MediShield premiums have been deducted from my Medisave account recently.

After the deduction, my Medisave account falls short of the Basic Healthcare Sum of $66k, which is the maximum amount of money anyone can have in their Medisave account for 2022.

To be convinced that I can perform voluntary top-up to my Medisave account, I did the following based on an FAQ on CPF website.

Unsurprisingly, the amount I could top up is exactly the premiums deducted for MediShield Life.

Then I proceed to make a voluntary top-up. There it goes.

This is an irreversible and tax deductible action.

The tax relief for Medisave voluntary Top-Up and Retirement Sum Top-Up (RSTU) have a combined cap at $8k.

As I have already contributed $8k to my Special Account under RSTU this year, I will not enjoy additional tax relief.

The only intangible benefit I enjoy is to allow my Medisave account to attain BHS again quicker after which contributions to it overflow to Special account when the next contributions from my salary are credited.

I should still be able to attain BHS for 2023 at $68,500 by doing nothing due to the 4% interests from Medisave account.

Indirectly, I am actually contributing to my Special Account without RSTU.

Once one has achieved Full Retirement Sum in Special account, it becomes difficult to grow the Special account due to low allocation ratio from employer/employee contributions and no more RSTU.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Applied for Singapore Savings Bonds using SRS funds (SBJAN23 GX23010Z)

The January 2023 tranche of Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) has an average yield of 3.26% over 10 years.

This is not appealing considering that other low to risk-free alternatives such as T Bills and bank fixed deposits easily yield more than 4% currently.

However, if we consider the great flexibility, liquidity of SSB for redemption and long-term lock down at above 3% yield for the next decade, then this tranche of SSB is fairly decent for us to park our spare cash at zero risk. We could redeem SSB anytime in the coming months, earning interest at 2.95% while getting back my capital for deployment to other investments or large item purchases unlike T Bills and bank fixed deposits which would incur losses or forfeit of interest with premature withdrawals.

After my failed attempt at T Bill, I decided to apply for $10k of this Jan 2023 tranche using my idle SRS funds which were initially planned to add local bank stock which remain stubbornly above its NAV and displaying little sign of weakness. Furthermore, in the coming new year soon, I would begin topping up my SRS account early in first quarter.

There it goes.

$900m is up for grabs. Due to the relatively low yield, I anticipate lower interest for this tranche and higher allotment amounts per person.

The first payment will be on 1 Jul 2023 and this bond will mature on 1 Jan 2033.

If you are interested in this tranche of SSB, do note that the application dateline is on today, 27 Dec 2022, 9pm.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Passive Income in Q4 2022 and entire 2022

In a blink of an eye, the year of 2022 is trickling to an end.

I have collected the following passive income in Q4 2022.

$102.50 Savings Bond (3 Oct)

$86.24 Ascott Reit (18 Oct)

$121.00 Savings Bond (1 Nov)

$270.00 Guocoland (15 Nov)

$187.15 Astrea 7 A-1 Bond (28 Nov)

$487.28 Frasers Centrepoint Trust (29 Nov)

$104.20 Suntec Reit (29 Nov)

$131.00 Netlink Trust (30 Nov)

$127.00 Savings Bond (1 Dec)

$285 MPACT (7 Dec)

$279.78 Mapletree Ind Trust as 128 shares in DRP (12 Dec)

$224.80 Mapletree Log Trust (13 Dec)

$942.50 Frasers L&C Trust (15 Dec)

$188.00 ST Engineering (20 Dec) SRS

$774.40 Aims Apac Reit (23 Dec)

All add up to $4,310.85 in 4Q 2022.

My passive income for the first 9 months of 2022 is $16,990.11.

Altogether, my passive income for 2022 is

$21,380.96

This is 35% higher than the $15,807.02 of passive income for year 2021.

The economy and society have largely reverted to pre-pandemic norms, aside from occasionally donning on the piece of cloth on our faces. Most businesses and Reits in my investment portfolio have regained back their revenues and footfalls, resulting in increased dividends across the entire year.

The impact of rising interest rates eroding into the bottom line of businesses and Reits shall be felt in the coming months. Nonetheless, I feel comfortable and confident staying invested while continuing to allocate my savings into growing investments steadily and safe havens such as savings bonds and fixed deposits.

2022 has been a fruitful year overall despite immense noises and fears about inflation, recessions, war and so on. I am optimistic and believe that 2023 will be a greater year despite the looming recession and global economic slowdown. 

Let the Federal Reserve continue to raise interest rates to curb inflation. Let GST increase to 9% in Singapore, Reits to increase rentals and continue paying dividends, more countries' borders to open. As investors we shall continue to accumulate income-producing businesses and assets for more passive income in future. Let us also look forward to the interests from CPF in Jan 2023 soon.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Test My Luck on T-Bill (BS22125T) using SRS funds

 

I have idle funds lying in SRS account earning meagre 0.1%.

Great opportunity costs incurred from waiting on the sidelines to add investment for local banks such as OCBC or UOB shares into my ultra long-term SRS portfolio.

The share prices of local banks have no sign of weakening in the short-term hence I decided to deploy the idle SRS funds into either this month's Singapore savings bonds (SSB) or Treasury Bills.

As the auction date for latest tranche of T-Bill is on 21 Dec 2022, compared to closing dateline of SSB on 27 Dec 2022, I decided to try my luck to auction for this tranche of T-Bill, a short-term government debt security with 6 month tenor, fully backed by the Singapore government and having an AAA credit rating.

The issue date is on 27 Dec 2022 and maturity date is on 27 Jun 2023. Results will be out on 21 Dec 2022, 1pm.

There it goes.

There is no admin fee for internet banking applications unlike SSB.

Frankly, I do not have much confidence in getting it as I believe this round of applications is overwhelming and there are many low-ballers using CPF OA funds. Thus, i do look forward to a failed application, getting back my funds to apply for SSB next week.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Reminder for NS55 Complimentary 1 Year SAFRA membership

 

I received another reminder from SAFRA to register for their free membership as part of the NS55 recognition package to commemorate Singaporean males who have served national service.

The benefits of SAFRA membership include access to sports amenities i.e swimming pools, gym, tennis courts and entertainment facilities in SAFRA clubhouses and enjoy discounts at over 180 merchants for lifestyle, travel, staycation deals.

I enjoy free things in life and there it goes.

For those of you who are eligible, the link to register is:

https://www.safra.sg/membership/ns55-recognition-package-singapore

Do remember to sign up before registration ends on 31 Dec 2022.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Dec 2022 | All Time High!

 

S$1.347m

My net worth rises $27k or 2% to $1.347m, an all time high!

The increase is mainly due to collection of Dec salary, bonuses, dividends from investment portfolios and latest CPF contributions.

Another interest rate hike of 0.5% has been announced by the Fed on 14 Dec to demonstrate its unwavering stance of curbing inflation. This means that interest rates will remain above 4% range in next year 2023.

In such high interest rate environment, cash is the best yielding asset at close to zero risk, especially in the short-term whereby short-term bonds and bank fixed deposits are yielding more than 4%.

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 accumulating cash, stashing them in cash funds yielding above 4% daily interest while slowly subscribing for the next few months of Singapore Savings Bonds, which should lock in average yields above 3% for the next decade. Ultimately, I target to max out individual limit of $200k by end of 2023.

My conservative strategy of building a well balanced portfolio for my financial assets involves hoarding cash to earn decent risk-free interest rates above 4% short-term while waiting for greater opportunities to slowly invest in income-producing assets and growth tech businesses for the long-term.

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 defensive safety net.

I am not putting in additional effort to deploy my CPF OA funds to T-bills or fixed deposits for additional yield as I am lazy, contented with 2.5% and prefer to earn fuss-free passive income which do not require time queueing or waiting at the banks or stress over the luck-dependent system of T-bills cutoff rate. I also believe in money abundance and we should not be greedy to earn all the money in this world.

Life is exciting in an endemic world. Ignore the noises. Remain on track. Be greedy when others are fearful. Be hungry when others are contented. 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