Secret Deduction from Medisave

I checked my CPF accounts today and noticed that some money is missing in Medisave.

It is no longer at the cap amount of $63k.

$179 to be exact.

A quick check on recent transactions reveal this deduction labelled as CSL, which means Careshield Life premium deduction.

Careshield Life is a long-term care insurance scheme that provides basic financial support should Singaporeans become severely disabled and need long-term care.

This scheme was announced on Aug 2020 and is compulsory for Singapore citizens born in 1980 or later, but us optional for Singapore citizens born in 1979 or earlier.

This scheme provides lifetime coverage once you completed paying all your premiums, which will happen in the year you turn 67, or 10 years after you join the scheme, whichever is later.

The benefits are monthly lifetime cash payouts for as long as you remain disabled. Payouts start at $600/month in 2020 and $612/month in 2021 and will increase over the years, in tandem with premium increments.

Even though the intentions of this scheme are good, personally, I do not like this scheme as I do not like the idea of having my money being deducted from my savings account without my consent and not receiving any notice in advance. I also do not like being deprived of insurance choices. This is a forced move similar to Medishield life.

If you are auto enrolled or intend to entrol in this scheme, check out the premiums here.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Oct 2021 | Surpassed SGD 1.14m

 

S$1.147m

My net worth increases $14k from mid Sep 2021 to cross S$1.14m, an all time high.

This is after the latest round of salary income, dividends passive income and CPF contributions.

Net worth growth is also contributed by rebound in the stock market which inflated around $7k of my stock equity value. This dump and pump trend demonstrates that every dip offers buying opportunities to add shares and we should be greedy when others are fearful.

I continued to make voluntary housing refund using cash back to my CPF OA, which has been used for down-payment of a HDB BTO flat in Jun 2021.

On the investment front, besides adding CICT, I have done little to add on to my US portfolio, other than selling some Intel put options to collect premiums.

The pandemic situation seems to really evolve into an endemic and hospitality industry seems have a decent chance of bottoming out though it is still too early to tell.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Added CICT at no brokerage cost

I shared the 5 reasons why I nibble CICT everyday from 17 Sep to 15 Oct 2021 for 21 trading days.

I have completed the addition of 2,000 shares of CICT to my portfolio today, at no brokerage cost.

I practically continue nibbling at various different prices everyday since my last time of writing on 4 Oct.

I am happy with purchases below $2.06 and not so happy with purchases above $2.06 because $2.06 is the book value of CICT.

Is it worth the effort?

I asked myself if it is worth the hassle and effort to place buy orders for so small quantity everyday just to save $20+ of brokerage fees.

In total, I paid $4,127.45 for 2,000 shares of CICT. This translates to an average price of $2.06 coincidentally at its book value.

If I had purchased 2,000 shares of CICT at $2.01 on 17 Sep, it would have cost $4,048.85, which is $78.60 lower than my actual cost.

If I had purchased 2,000 shares of CICT at $2.05 on 7 Oct, it would have cost $4,128.88, which is $1.43 more than my actual cost.

If I had purchased 2,000 shares of CICT at $2.14 on 15 Oct at the time of writing, it would have cost $4,308.95, which is $181.50 more than my actual cost.

Conclusion

If I had timed the market, or based on technical analysis, just purchase CICT below its book value, it would have saved all the time and effort from dollar cost averaging daily from the odd lot market.

Nonetheless, this has been a fruitful and fun mini project and experiment. 

I do believe that CICT is a great income producing Reit to invest for the long term into high quality commercial and retail properties in Singapore. It does not really matter at what price we pay for it today because we would easily collect back at least $1k of dividends passively for the next 10 years for every 1000 shares owned.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Accepted Sembcorp Marine Mandatory Conditional General Cash Offer

 

I received this document in my mailbox because Temasek has made a mandatory conditional general cash offer to acquire all the issued and paid-up ordinary shares in Sembcorp Marine.

This did not come at a surprise because Temasek's shareholdings in Sembcorp Marine increased from 42.6% to 46.6% after the recent rights issue.

This corporate action is in line with Rule 14.1 of the Takeover Code, where any entity controlling 30% to 50% of a company must make a mandatory general offer if it raises its interest by more than 1% within a period of 6 months.

I have shared earlier in My Strategy for Sembcorp Marine Rights on the various scenarios that could pan out for Sembcorp Marine and indeed, the potential mandatory offer by Temasek subsidiary, Startree even before the acquisition of/merger with Keppel O&M has really come into picture now.

This does not mean 100% guarantee that Temasek will acquire all shares of Sembcorp Marine because it must increase its shareholdings from 46.6% to at least 50% for our shares to be purchased by Startree if we accept the offer.

I believe this game needs tons of patience. In the short run, there are no sign of recovery for Sembcorp Marine. An investor in Sembcorp Marine can only bet on its long term and future prospects in renewable energy after merger with Keppel O&M in time to come. For the merged entity to reap decent profits through streamlining of operational efficiencies, it may take many years or even a decade.

As I only own a small quantity of Sembcorp Marine shares, I decided to play with my luck by accepting the offer in the SGX portal instead of mailing back the form, which has a decent chance to happen as certainly there will be many shareholders who decided to throw in the towel after years of extreme disappointment in this poorly managed company. 

Though I hope that this offer will lapse for me to continue ride on this roller coaster journey, I would not mind taking back some capital and resign to a great waste of time subscribing to the rights and then taking my money back. Should the offer materialise, I intend to use the recovered funds to buy 1 to 2 shares of Tesla to enjoy another more exciting roller coaster journey.

Here it goes.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

5 Reasons Why I Nibble CICT everyday

I have been nibbling 99 shares of CICT daily since 17 Sep 2021.

Let me provide 5 reasons why I did and will continue to do so until 15 Oct 2021.

1. Zero Brokerage

Due to the restructure of Capitaland, currently there is a zero brokerage promotion for trading CICT odd lots and CLI odd lots on Phillips Capital. POEMs platform.

As a cheapo, I like to enjoy free brokerage.

2. Share price near book value

The share price of CICT has been weak in recent weeks since the restructure of Capitaland and surge of virus cases in Singapore affecting the retail and commercial scenes once again.

The book price of CICT is around $2.055. Hence I would not mind paying close to its actual book value in this period when its share price fluctuate between $2.00 and $2.10.

However, if the support at $2 is broken, we could see further downside for CICT. As a long term investor, I am not too concerned about short-term volatility, but rather focus on long-term passive income.

3. Reinvest passive income to compound more passive income

I have collected around $3k of dividends (CICT contributed more than $800) in cash recently and would like to reinvest them to let compounding effect take place to generate more passive income in the future.

With the absence of scrip dividend reinvestment for CICT and this brokerage free promotion, I decided to create my own scrip dividend reinvestment.

4. Uncertainties provides opportunities

CICT is the largest Reit in Singapore by market capitalization as of 30 Sep 2021 and also the 3rd largest Reit in Asia. It owns all many popular shopping malls and Grade A commercial properties in the downtown of Singapore.

I believe in adding shares or increasing investment in every dip or correction. We buy shares or invest when there are bad news and uncertainties, rather than when things are going well and we pay inflated prices for shares.

I yearn and like to increase my stakes in a quality Reit such as CICT in times of uncertainties and when the retail scene is adversely affected by the pandemic.

5. Dollar Cost Average for fun

To purchase 99 shares of CICT everyday, I need to place my daily orders at the "correct" price that I think will get my orders filled. It is a good test of my speculation instinct.

It is very fun and exciting to speculate the lower end of CICT for the next day and I would usually place my order for the next day at then end of a preceding trading day.

I get to experience dollar cost average of purchasing the same underlying asset at different prices everyday throughout 4 weeks using my real money and it beats trading any demo paper account.

Conclusion

I own 16,000 shares of CICT before starting this nibbling and target to add on 2,000 shares through this promo without incurring any brokerage fee, though other small transaction fees still apply.

As of the time of writing, I own 17,188 shares of CICT after adding 1,188 shares through this promo.

Though the odd lots counter is more illiquid than the main counter, I am happy to get my orders filled everyday. 

May the nibbling spree continues. 

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

 

Portfolio Update Sep 2021

September 2021 has come to an end and I almost forgot to review my investment portfolios due to this hectic week at work. Great to be enjoying a weekend holiday in early Oct and reviewing my investments on a chilly day.

Generally the global stock markets took a hit due to China's combo of Evergrande crisis, clampdown on technology firms, energy crisis and noises of US debt ceiling news. Stocks move like waves in the oceans and I believe this is a timely healthy correction after 1.5 year of a bull run since the crash in Mar 2021.

My SGX Income Portfolio value inches up slightly to $266k compared to $264k in end Aug 2021 despite the correction in the market as I have injected capital for subscribing Sembcorp Marine rights and nibbling of CICT.

My US Growth Portfolio value decreases slightly to US$3.3k from US$3.5k.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value remains stagnant at $90.4k despite the correction as the dividends I have collected coincidentally make up for the losses in paper value.

Portfolio Actions

1. Subscribed to 18,000 of Sembcorp Marine rights shares at $0.08.

2. Bought 1,089 shares of Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust at average price of $2.05.

3. Sold 1 unit of Bank of America Corp, BAC210924 put option with $37.50 strike price at US$0.17.

4. Sold 1 unit of Intel Corp, INTC211008 put option with $42.50 strike price at US$0.33.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $105 of dividends from Comfortdelgro in SRS on 2 Sep.

2. Received $203 of dividends from Ascendas Reit on 3 Sep.

3. Received $74.10 of dividends from Mapletree Industrial Trust on 3 Sep.

4. Received $393.92 of dividends from Keppel DC Reit in SRS on 6 Sep.

5. Received $828.80 of dividends from Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust on 9 Sep.

6. Received $720 of dividends from Aims Apac Reit on 22 Sep.

7. Received $42 of dividends from OUE Limited  on 23 Sep.

8. Received $211.50 of dividends from Capitaland China Trust as 154 shares@$1.366 on 27 Sep.

         SGX Income Portfolio

                      S$266k

US Growth Portfolio

US$3.3k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

S$90.4k

Thank you for reading. Stay safe and be strong as always. 

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Passive Income in 3Q 2021 and first 9 months of 2021

With a blink of an eye, almost 9 months of 2021 have passed by. 

In third quarter of 2021 from July to Sep, I have collected the following streams of interests from savings bonds and dividends.

$112.50 Savings Bonds (1 Jul)

$163.95 Far East Orchard 151 shares@$1.085 (5 Jul)

$235.80 Frasers L&C Trust (24 Aug)

$48.00 Sembcorp Ind (24 Aug)

$607.25 OCBC (26 Aug) SRS

$163.60 Ascott Reit (27 Aug)

$207.02 Keppel Reit (27 Aug) SRS

$105.45 Suntec Reit (27 Aug)

$235.00 ST Eng (31 Aug) SRS

$111.00 SSB (1 Sep)

$105.00 Comfortdelgro (2 Sep) SRS

$203.00 Ascendas Reit (3 Sep)

$74.10 Mapletree Ind Trust (3 Sep)

$393.92 Keppel DC Reit (6 Sep) SRS

$172.88 Mapletree Log Trust (7 Sep)

$828.80 Capitaland Int Com Trust (9 Sep)

$720.00 Aims Apac Reit (22 Sep)

$42.00 OUE Limited (23 Sep)

$211.50 Capitaland China Trust (27 Sep) 154 shares @ $1.366

The total amount of passive income in Q3 2021 is $4,740.77, a 68% YoY increase from Q2 2020's $2,816.40.

Together with the $7,601.65 passive income in the first half of 2021, my passive income in the first 9 months of 2021 is

$12,342.42

Time in the market beats timing the market. I am happy to remain invested in the stock market, while selling put options to collect premiums for fun in the US stock market.

My ultimate goal is to own investment portfolios valued at one million dollars yielding at least $50k of passive income annually. Currently, I am around one-third in the journey as my SGX income portfolio and SRS ultra long-term portfolios are valued at around $300+K and dividends are projected to be around $15k for this year.

My motto is to live frugally, save up, invest in any bear or bull market conditions, slowly and steadily build up my investments.

I look forward to collecting more dividends as passive income in the final quarter of Year 2021.

Thanks for reading. Stay calm and remain strong as always! Huat ah!

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

This blog has yielded dividends. Thank you for your support.

 

I received a payment of $156.16 from Google Adsense for ads revenue from this Live Rich Life Free blog.

I kickstarted this blog on 31 Dec 2019, with the aim of sharing and journaling my journey towards financial freedom through frugality, stoicism, perserverance and reframing of mindset.

The topics I intended to share span across anything in the world ranging from investments in Reits, SGX stocks, bonds, life hacks and philosophy, politics, science and travels hopefully. In the end, I did not really touch on politics, science and travels.

21 months later, this blog has generated close to 200k page views and even yielded dividends.

While the main purpose of blogging is not to profit from writing, earning some incentives do help to encourage me to create more financial related articles for sharing to the community and world.

I believe we should try to pursue our own dreams and passion. Even if we fail, at least we tried.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all readers of this blog for your continued support and wish everyone the best of health and wealth in such unprecedented endemic times.

As always, stay safe and remain strong.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster