Net Worth Update Jun 2021 - Breach SGD 1.1m!

My net worth grows a whopping $20k from May 2021 to surpass S$1.1m now!

The increase is attributed to the latest Jun 2021's salary, 2Q dividends, CPF contributions and capital paper gains from stock portfolio.

I have also used $3.2k of dividends collected to build up a new small US growth portfolio which has since grew to almost $3.8k since the account was opened a few weeks ago. The cheat to such fast gains was having collected a free share of Apple and some free shares of Twitter from Moo Moo. For those of you interested in a low cost, secure and robust trading platform and to get a free Apple share, a free NIO share and possibly free Twitter shares, you may sign up through this referral Link and check out the terms and conditions.  

It is another mini milestone attained because my net worth actually increased by $100k in almost 6 months! This seems a far cry compared to the 27 years of living on earth for me to save up my first $100k.

I have also made a down-payment for my first ever property using CPF OA funds but not yet reflected here as it will take days to be processed. I will create another slice of HDB Equity pie from Jul 2021 onwards. 

Someone commented that I am overinflating my net worth to let myself happy, wasting his time to read my blog. I am tracking both liquid and illiquid assets as my net worth based on my own accounting principle as I believe Insurance endowment plans, CPF balances and HDB property are illiquid valuable assets which could be encashed but take a longer time. Of course, that reader is somewhat true because I am boosting my own confidence to boost my morale in the journey towards financial freedom.

In terms of investments, I am still waiting for the results of Mapletree Industrial Trust's preferential offering. I have no plans to add more shares of local stocks or Reits as I am focusing on investment in US growth stocks and collecting premiums through options. I believe and hope that in the later half of the year, there may more opportunities of preferential offering by local Reits, then I will happily participate to grow my local investments.

$1.1m

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Why I Top Up My Mum's CPF Retirement Account instead of giving Cash?

I just topped up $4.5k into my mum's CPF Retirement Account.

Let me share 5 reasons why I did so instead of giving her cash.

1. Tax Relief

For selfish reason, I would like to enjoy tax relief of up to $7k per calendar year for topping up my parent's CPF Retirement Account under the Retirement Sum Top Up (RSTU) scheme.

Assuming my tax bracket is at 7%, a relief of $7k will save me $490 of taxes in cash, which is enough to eat more than 100 boxes of $3 cai png (vegetables rice) at the coffeeshop.

The tax relief is also applicable to family members such as parents-in-law, grandparents, grandparents-in-law, siblings and spouse.

2. Compounding growth at 4%

In today's low interest environment, the value of cash is eroded by inflation and stifled by poor interest rates offered by banks' savings accounts.

CPF Retirement Account yields at least 4% and up to 6% for senior folks risk-free and guaranteed by the Singapore Government. Monies growing at compounded rate of at least 4% will double in 20 years hence, by leaving cash in CPF RA account, they will grow much faster than inflation rate to preserve and uphold its real value.

3. CPF Life

In order to qualify for CPF Life, one need to have at least $60k in their CPF retirement savings before reaching 65 years old. I am helping my mum to boost her CPF retirement savings to qualify for CPF Life as she does not have active income and CPF contributions.

CPF Life offers payouts perpetually for life but is a debatable subject because its pros and cons varied across individuals' opinions. If one's CPF RA does not have $60k before reaching 65 years old, then he or her will only rely on Retirement Savings scheme to draw down their CPF savings till it is depleted.

Having at least $60k in CPF RA will offer extra choice of being able to qualify for CPF Life scheme to enjoy perpetual monthly payouts.

4. Matched Retirement Savings Scheme

Under the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS), the Government will match every dollar of cash top-ups made to the Retirement Account of eligible members up to a cap of $600, which can amount to $3,000 over 5 years. To be eligible, the person has to be aged between 55 and 70, has a CPF RA of less than the current Basic Retirement Sum of $93k, has average monthly income of less than $4k, live in a property with annual value less than $13k and not own any private property.

By topping up at least $600 to a qualified family member's CPF RA account, we can milk the $600 of free money from the Government every year.

5. CPF is like golden ATM for senior citizens

For senior folks close to reaching the 55 year old and 65 year old milestones of being able to touch their CPF monies, their CPF accounts are like golden ATM that offer high interest rates for "withdrawable" cash with the click of a button. This is unlike younger folks who could only stare at their CPF balances as numbers. Hence, the concept of 1M65 is indeed beneficial and practical to people who could really live beyond 50s or 60s and on the brink of drawing down cash from their CPF balances. People who lived past  50 years old should try to pump more monies into their CPF accounts, by all means, in order to reap the risk-free guaranteed returns on their monies, especially in today's low interest environment.

In conclusion, I top up my parent's CPF RA account with cash instead of giving cash, in order to maximise the value of money. For the $7k topped up, I can enjoy $490 of tax savings myself, let my mum earn at least $280 of CPF interests for 2021 and attract another matched $600 from the Government. In addition, there is compounding effect from future years' interests and being eligible to qualify for CPF Life for perpetual monthly income payouts. Overall, I feel that it is an awesome deal.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Added more Keppel DC Reit shares in my SRS Ultra-Long Term Portfolio

After applying for more shares of Mapletree Industrial Trust (SGX:ME8U) to increase exposure to data center assets in my investments, I decided to add more shares of Keppel DC Trust (SGX:AJBU) in my SRS portfolio.

Orders for 5,000 shares were filled today at 2.58 as I have increased bids from my ideal price of 2.55 which is nearer the short term support.

As this will be an ultra-long term investment in the time frame of 10 to even 20 or 30 years, it is not a difficult decision. I first initiated a small position in Keppel DC Reit in Nov 2020 at a rather high price of 2.88 and now is merely to increase my holdings. If the share price plunged below 2.50 and move closer to 2.00, I will be happy to add even more shares. With this addition of 5,000 shares, I will be holding 8,000 shares. In the upcoming month, it will be results reporting time with an impending DPU of at least 4 cents. In time to come, it is probable there would be more data center acquisitions leading to preferential offering opportunities for me to increase my stakes without buying from the market.

Keppel DC Reit is a resilient and strong growth Reit with revenues growing exponentially and has been rewarding shareholders with increasing annual DPU. In the next few years, its DPU should increase at  least 5% annually with more acquisitions in the pipeline. However, current yield at around 3.5% is relatively low to other Reits. This is compensated by its lower risk and nature of Data centre assets whereby tenants usually sign a longer lease of 5 to 10 years compared to retail or commercial tenants.

I believe that our great future will be in technology and computing. Mobile applications, social media, data engineering, artificial intelligence and cloud computing will drive the world. Data centers provide the bedrock upon which server infrastructure and data platforms can enable the trillions of transactions and data to flow and be stored securely so that the businesses and operations in the digital world can function. I place my bet on data centers and believe in reaping huge returns in the long run.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Portfolio Rebalancing - Sold TWTR to Nibble the Largest Semiconductor Foundry Coy in the World, TSM

I have rebalanced my new US growth stock portfolio for the very first time.

I have not been in favour of social media stocks such as Facebook, Twitter and Netflix as I am always remembering the burst of dot com bubble in late 1990s. I am also not an avid user of social media, other than watching a lot of YouTube videos.

Upon seeing the share price of Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) go above $60, I placed a sell order of $60.51 on 9 Jun 2021 and got filled.

Today, I decided to nibble some shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSMC) to initiate a first position in the world's largest semiconductor fountry which boasts Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia, AMD and Intel as its customers. It will be a long term position as TSM dominates more than 90% of the market share in manufacturing <10nm advanced chip technology. I also believe in its immense 7nm chip (potentially down to 3nn and even 2nm) making capabilites to supply the pipeline of demand for chips to fuel the continual explosive growth of computing era. TSM duopolised the mobile CPU processor market with Samsung as Apple, MediaTek and Qualcomm all outsourced their CPU production to TSM. 

This is merely the beginning. I will continue to build up my US growth portfolio regardless of market conditions.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Applied for Mapletree Industrial Trust Preferential Offering Shares

I have just went to the ATM to subscribe for 3,000 shares (inclusive of excess) of Mapletree Industrial Trust's Preferential offering.

As shared previously, the strategic and shrewd move by Mapletree Industrial Trust to acquire 29 data centers 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 will be funded through private placements to institutional investors and preferential offering to existing shareholders.

I am happy to seize the opportunity to increase my investment exposure to data center property assets, with long WALE, and under a well managed Reit with ever-growing DPU. Assuming a 12 cents DPU, based on PO price of $2.64 per share, the yield is 4.9% which is relatively attractive in such low yield environment. 

Below are the important dates. Do note that the PO shares will be able to start trading on 21 Jun 2021, 9am so they should be credited into our CDP accounts by then.

Related posts:

1. Order not filled for Mapletree Industrial Trust but... 

2. Added Mapletree Industrial Trust

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

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

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Building A New US Portfolio For Free

This is my new growth portfolio consisting of US stocks, 1 week after I opened a MooMoo trading account.

What's amazing is, this portfolio is free! Why is this so? How is it possible?

I funded the account with SGD2,700 to earn a free Apple Inc. (AAPL) share and used the SGD2,700 to buy 10 more AAPL shares and 3 Microsoft shares (MSFT). I received 4 free Twitter (TWTR) shares from referrals. 

This SGD2,700 is entirely funded by dividends from my SGX portfolio. Hence, I did not fork out any real money for this new portfolio.

I always believe that there is no best time to start investing. Time in the market beats timing the market. By planting seeds now for investment, the fruits will bear in the future for us to have more seeds to plant and in the long-term, we will have an orchard of trees.

For those of you interested to trade or invest in US stocks using a low cost brokerage platform, here is the referral link to MooMoo. The condition to get the free Apple share is tougher now as 5 trades are required after topping up the newly registered account with SGD2,700.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

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

Portfolio Update Apr 2021 - Hitting greater highs

I have not been blogging actively lately due to being busy in new job. I also did not check the stock market at all and was surprised to see the share price of Sembcorp Industries surge above $2 and share price of Sembcorp Marine above 20 cents. 

My portfolio value went up by $6.8k to $262.8k in Apr 2021. It has been a quiet month as there was no capital injection nor any dividend received in this month.

Portfolio Actions

Nil

Portfolio Dividends

Nil

My Ultra Long-Term SRS portfolio inches up $1.6k from $93k last month. I am adopting a passive approach to these 5 counters in the ultra long-term portfolio and will rely on them to achieve compounding growth in my supplementary retirement funds.

Thanks for reading. Stay strong and be safe!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Apr 2021

My net worth increases $10k from Mar 2021 to $1.072m.

This is despite not receiving a single cent of salary in Apr 2021 as I have just changed job and the payroll system in the new organization has not been updated on time to pay me. I still received the last CPF contributions from previous organization for the month of Mar 2021 though.

The increase in net worth is mainly due to strengthening of share prices of stocks in my portfolio. Battered property developers such as OUE, Guocoland, Far East Orchard as well as marine and energy players such as Sembcorp Marine and Sembcorp Industries have seen their share prices creeping up steadily. My largest REIT holdings, Aims Apac Reit and Ascendas Reit have also demonstrated their true powers and repaid my faith and loyalty to them.

As I did not receive any cash from salary income this month, cashflow is tight as most of my cash and war chest are stuck in fixed deposits and trading accounts, leaving barely a few hundred bucks in my savings account for daily expenses. A millionaire is living a beggar lifestyle now.

I look forward to receiving my next month's salary from the new organization, as well as encashment of leave from previous organization, and the upcoming streams of dividends from stocks and Reits to be announced soon. Then my cash levels and war chest can be boosted for my daily expenditures and new investments.

While being tempted to take some profits off the table, I am still convinced of being patient and long in the stock market by doing nothing. In recent weeks, I have not really monitored the financial markets as I am putting my attention and focus on my new work, dealing with an overload of new information, processes, people and technology. I am also trying to find some time to exercise more. A three-pronged approach in managing financial, intellectual and physical health is key to sustaining a rich life!

Life is beginning to slowly return back to normality with more measures for more staff to return back to office, relaxed regulations for travelling and more people getting vaccinated against the virus. In time to come, we will gradually revert back to pre-Covid lifestyles and by then, the economy will recover and we shall see better days ahead!

$1.072m

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Portfolio Update Mar 2021 - Hitting new highs

 

I have seen my portfolio value swing wildly this month and on the first day of Apr 2021 (for late Mar 2021 update), it has increased $16k to $256k compared to Feb 2021. This includes a capital injection of $5.3k for adding Mapletree Logistics Trust. $256k is the highest ever portfolio value achieved and is a stark contrast in fortune compared to the onslaught one year ago.

It has been a roller coaster ride in the stock markets but in overall, there were more green days than red days. I believe the stock market is still at the beginning of a bull run given the humongous amount of stimulus funds injected into the system, interest rates kept at ultra low levels and the global economic recoveries have not fully kickstart yet.

Portfolio Actions

1. Bought 3,000 shares of Mapletree Logistics Trust at $1.78

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $143.85 from Keppel DC Reit on 8 Mar in SRS account

2. Received $164 from Mapletree Industrial Trust on 8 Mar

3. Received $167.80 from Ascendas Reit on 9 Mar

4. Received $278.40 from Capitaland Integrated Com Trust on 9 Mar

5. Received $72.10 from Mapletree Logistics Trust on 15 Mar

6. Received $656 from Aims Apac Reit on 19 Mar

7. Received $97.30 from Keppel Reit on 31 Mar in SRS account

My Ultra Long-Term SRS portfolio increases to $93k from $84k last month and this includes a top up of $4.5k to my SRS account. OCBC is the top performer after announcing its latest Q4 earnings which beat expectations and a dividend of 15.9 cents. ST Engineering expectedly will be paying a 10 cent dividend and Comfortdelgro which is heavily impacted by the health pandemic also managed to announce a payment of 1.43 cents which is better than nothing. Generally I am happy with these 5 counters in the portfolio and confident to rely on them for consistent passive income for the next few decades.

Thanks for reading. Stay strong and be safe!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Passive Income in Q1 2021

In the first quarter of Year 2021, I received interests from Singapore Savings Bonds and dividends from Reits in my investment portfolio as passive income.

My passive income in Q1 2021 is $2,372.66 from the following streams of dividends and interests. Not a great feat but they certainly cover all my essential expenditures such as food, groceries, telco bills and transport. Even though I did not keep track of my expenses, I am certain that I spend less than $1000 every month.

$107 Savings Bonds (4 Jan)

$158.88 Ascott Reit (26 Feb)

$113.05 Suntec Reit (26 Feb)

$303.28 Keppel Reit (1 Mar) SRS

$111 Savings Bonds (1 Mar)

$143.85 Keppel DC Reit (8 Mar) SRS

$164 Mapletree Ind Trust (8 Mar)

$167.80 Ascendas Reit (9 Mar)

$278.40 CICT (9 Mar)

$72.10 Mapletree Log (15 Mar)

$656 Aims Apac Reit (19 Mar)

$97.30 Keppel Reit (31 Mar) SRS

Cashflow is king! 

Even though I have achieved the psychological milestone of one million dollars net worth, I am still a work-in-progress towards financial freedom. 

My ultimate goal is to own an investment portfolio valued at one million dollars yielding at least $50k of passive income annually. 

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 next quarter of Year 2021.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

My Free Hotel Stay in Singapore | Hotel G

 

Source: Hotel G website

After my first time staying in a local hotel in YotelAir, Changi Airport Jewel in Feb, I am redeeming SingapoRediscover $100 vouchers for another free stay in a local hotel.

This time it is at Hotel G situated at 200 Middle Road, which is near Rochor, Bugis and Bencoolen MRT. It is a 3.5 to 4 stars Boutique hotel sporting an unorthodox mashup of industrial, vintage and Bohemian elements.

The hotel is quite unique as its ground level has Ginette Restaurant & Wine bar and the 25 Degree Burger eatery. 

I managed to book a room on Sat for exactly $100 so no further cash outlay is required. 

Check-in time is at 3pm but there was a long queue at the restaurant & bar area when we reach there. Since it is a free staycation sponsored by the government for Singaporeans to bailout the tourism industry, I am not surprised by the queue.

The hotel lobby is located at level 2 where there is another queue. 

After 1 hour of queuing, we managed to get the card key to our room. No complaints since this is a purely free staycation. 

Upon opening the door, we were greeted by a small cosy room, with dream catchers above a queen bed.

From the window view, Fortune centre, Bugis+ and NAFA are within sight.

After settling down and lazing around in the room, time for a tour around Jalan Besar area, getting to appreciate those pre-war colonial times buildings. 

Spotted many dim sum restaurants in that area but the frugal self in me prompted me to go find hawker food. So we checked out Berseh hawker, one that I have never been to before. Found many local delicacies but did not manage to find any cheap food though.

In the end, we decided to go back to Bugis area for Albert Food Centre to takeaway cheap cai png back to hotel. 

My humble $2.80 vegetarian dinner.

The following day, woke up late at 10am and missed the booked gym session at 7am.

Headed to Rochor Original Beancurd shop nearby to pack some beancurd and soya drink for breakfast.

That sums up the 20 hour staycation as checkout time is at 12pm. After having WFH for the past few weeks, it is a great experience to live out of a bag for 20 hours in another room in the city. Most importantly, for free!

This is not a sponsored post but merely documenting my experience of a free staycation during a health pandemic period.

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Mar 2021 | SGD 1.05m surpassed!

My net worth increases $14k from Feb 2021 to hit $1.062m!!!

This is after the latest salary savings, CPF contributions and due to strengthening of the share price of Reits and stocks in my portfolio.

I have topped up $7k to my CPF Special Account under the Retirement Sum Top Up (RSTU) scheme and have started to top up my Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS) account.

I have also started my first investment of 2021 by adding Mapletree Logistics Trust.

I have tendered my resignation and is currently serving notice. I have reflected and shared the 10 reasons why I quit my job. I am looking forward to embark on a clean slate in my new job soon.

As shared in previous posts, I will adopt a passive approach in managing my financial health this year. I intend to live frugally as always, save up and slowly build up my cash positions in the war chest while staying on the sidelines. I will consider adding shares whenever there is any dip or correction. There is no best or ideal time to invest. It is either now or never. I will slowly and steadily build up my investment portfolio and let compounding takes its powerful effect.

Meanwhile, I will also invest in myself by continually up skilling and picking up knowledge and technical expertise in cloud computing. Also, I am trying hard to exercise consistently. A three-pronged approach in managing financial, intellectual and physical health is key to sustaining a rich life!

SGD 1.062m

Thanks for reading. Huat ah!

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

2nd Top up to SRS in 2021

In my Portfolio Update Feb 2021, I shared about my first deposit of a meagre $300 into my SRS account.

After collected my pay cheque for Mar 2021, I allocated and channelled another $4,500 into my SRS account, making small steps towards fulfilling the maximum annual contribution amount of $15,300.

$10,500 more to go!

The benefits of contributing to SRS account are enjoyment of tax relief, having an alternative war chest for long term investments and psychologically making yourself "poor" by making your money out of touch as a form of disciplined saving for retirement.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Added Mapletree Logistics Trust in first investment of 2021

I last nibbled 600 shares of Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT) at $1.92 in Dec 2020 and gotten 2400 shares of MLT through application for the preferential offering shares of Mapletree Logistics Trust in Nov 2020 at $1.99 in Nov 2020.

In total, I only owned 5,000 shares of MLT.

The share price of MLT has weakened in recent weeks due to interest rate hikes speculation and more possibly cashing out of funds by institutional hedge funds into growth industries stocks which offer higher value.

I am not too bothered by all the noises from the news and analysts. I believe that every crisis or dip present opportunities for building up passive income. Fundamentally, there is no change in the industrial Reits on my radar list i.e. Mapletree Industrial Trust, Ascendas Reit, Keppel DC Reit. 

MLT needs no further introduction as a resilient, high quality Logistics Reit thriving on the booming and growth of e-commerce and logistics needs in the APAC regions

Hence, I decided to add 3,000 shares of MLT at $1.78 today. I will own 8,000 shares of MLT. 

I would be more than happy to add more shares of MLT in the future should its price drop further. 

Meanwhile, sit back and relax, conserve cash and be prepared to watch the Industrial Reits crash and fire next round of bullets. 

Thanks for reading. Stay strong and be safe!

With love & peace,

Qiongster