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

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

Portfolio Update October 2022

Today is the last day of October 2022 for me to give an update on my investment portfolios.

My SGX Income Portfolio value increases to $272.6k from $266.2k last month as my injected capital of around $19k to add FLCT and FCT was offset by the crash of REITs from factoring in the impact of further interest rate hikes to potentially 4.5% by end of this year. The share price of REITs need to be compressed to maintain the same risk premium from the higher risk free rate. It is a short-term pain to swallow huge paper losses which at one point amounted to more than $30k.  

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value drops to US$14.5 from US$16.9k last month due to further weakness of tech growth stocks in the portfolios after growth concerns from recent results, immense recession and inflation fears.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value falls slightly to $111.9k from $112.9k.

Portfolio Actions

1. Bought 7,000 shares of Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust at $1.13.

2. Sold 3 units of Palantir, PLTR221014 call options with $8 strike price at US$0.09.

3. Sold 3 units of Palantir PLTR 221021 call options with $8 strike price at US$0.15.

4. Sold 300 units of Palantir as the call options were exercised at $8.

5. Sold 1 unit of Alphabet, GOOGL221028 call option with $108 strike price at US$1.28.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $102.50 of dividends from Savings Bonds on 1 Oct.

2. Received $86.24 of dividends from Ascott Reit on 18 Oct.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $272.6k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Total Portfolio Value = US$14.5

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Oct 2022 | Plunges $22k!

S$1.296m

My net worth falls $22k or 1.6% to $1.296m despite collecting my Oct 22 salary, Sep 2022 CPF contributions and more dividends from my SGX income portfolio.

The sharp decrease was evidently due to the tanking of Reits in my portfolios past few weeks from immense inflation and further interest rate hike fears.

Cash is King and is indeed a great performing asset in a high interest rate environment.

I have deployed my war chest into Fullerton SGD Cash Fund by Moomoo yielding more than 2.5% and into Money Market Fund by Phillips Capital yielding around 2%.

Cash is still King!

I plan to subscribe for the next few months of Singapore Savings Bonds, which should hopefully still yield more than 3% on average for the next decade.

I continue to add high quality S-Reits into my SGX income portfolio to build up free cash flows in the future.

The remaining 3 months of year 2022 remains challenging and turbulent. Another 2 rounds of 0.75% to 1% interest rate are on the cards of the Fed to curb unwavering inflation, causing the stock markets to remain volatile and unpredictable.

I believe in building a well balanced portfolio for my financial assets. As much as I would like to hold cash to earn risk-free decent interest rates close to 4%, I also embrace risk by staying invested (using monies I do not need) in income-producing assets and growth tech businesses. My allocation of cash/risk-free bonds to equities ratio is around 45-55, which is rather conservative.

Continue to hoard some cash while investing for more passive income. Both Cash and Cashflow are Kings! Continue making our monies work harder and own more income producing assets for more cashflow! Own more streams of income besides from our salaried job.

Life is great 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

Added Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust

 

The share price of Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT) (SGX:BUOU) has continued to weaken amidst uncertainties such as softening of AUD which is the primary currency of its property income in Australia, impact from further interest rate hikes, recession fears and tightening of monetary policy by MAS announced today and so on.

I started investing in FLCT since its IPO in 2016 when I was allocated 1,000 shares at $0.89. Since then, I slowly accumulated FLCT through dollar-cost averaging at $0.94, $0.97, $1.19 until my last purchase in Apr 2020 at $0.97. 

The investment journey of FLCT has been rewarding and fulfilling but full of ups and downs. Less off cumulative dividends collected over past 6 years till date, my net cost is merely $0.76.

Today, my order of FLCT is filled and my investment FLCT takes a notch further. 

I will now own 25,000 shares of FLCT at average net cost of $0.86.

At $1.13, FLCT is trading below its net asset value of $1.24 and yielding more than 6.5%. The next expected dividend of around 3.5 cents is just a month away in Nov 2022.

It is possible that the share price of FLCT will remain weak and may test lower lows in the coming weeks but I still believe FLCT is a no brainer long-term investment to own freehold logistics and commercial properties in Australia for passive income.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Portfolio Update September 2022 | S$25k Shed!!

The month of September 2022 has ended. Let me give an update on my investment portfolios.

My SGX Income Portfolio value falls to $266.2k from $283.5k last month mainly due to the crash of REITs from factoring in the impact of a potential high interest rate of up to 4.5% by end 2022. The share price of REITs need to be compressed to maintain the same risk premium from the higher risk free rate. It is a short-term pain to swallow huge paper losses in just two weeks but nonetheless affirms that my conservative portfolio allocation of 17% cash in bank fixed deposits relative to 32% in Reits and stocks (invested by cash and SRS funds) provides balance and consolation in a high interest rate environment.  

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value drops to US$16.9k from US$19.3k last month due to further weakness of tech growth stocks in the portfolios amidst immense recession and inflation fears.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value plunges to $112.9k from $117.5k mainly due to the crash of Keppel DC Reit, Keppel Reit and Wilmar.

S$25k shed this month! 

Fret not, I still sleep soundly with a peaceful mind every night.

This is because I did not leverage on my investments nor have any liabilities affected by higher interest rates. I invested what I could afford to lose. I remain employed with active monthly income while my investments are positioned for the long-term and I would not have sold them even if they soar to the skies. 

The path towards achieving financial freedom will be rugged and not be smooth sailing all the time. I sense opportunities in a sea of crisis and noises instead. I plan to continue investing in REITs and tech stocks while subscribing to Singapore Savings Bonds and placing cash in fixed deposits in the months to come.

Portfolio Actions

1. Bought 5,000 shares of Frasers Centrepoint Trust at $2.26.

2. Sold 1 unit of Alphabet Inc, GOOGL221007 call option with $108 strike price at US$0.38

3. Sold 3 units of Palantir Technology Inc, PLTR221007 call option with $8.5 strike price at US$0.11.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $119.50 of dividends from Savings Bonds on 1 Sep.

2. Received $188 of dividends in SRS from ST Engineering on 2 Sep.

3. Received $787.30 of dividends from Ascendas Reit on 5 Sep.

4. Received $939.60 of dividends from Capland Int Com Trust on 9 Sep.

5. Received $403.92 of dividends in SRS from Keppel DC Reit on 9 Sep.

6. Received $286.80 of dividends as 109 shares from Mapletree Industrial Trust DRP on 9 Sep.

7. Received $226.80 of dividends from Mapletree Logistics Trust on 9 Sep.

8. Received $211.31 of dividends as 182 shares from Capland China Trust DRP on 22 Sep.

9. Received $729.60 of dividends from AIMS APAC Reit on 23 Sep.

10. Received $42 of dividends from OUE Limited on 29 Sep.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $266.2k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Total Portfolio Value = US$16.9k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Passive Income in Q3 2022 and first 9 months of 2022

With a blink of an eye, almost 9 months of 2022 have whizzed by.

In third quarter of year 2022, I have collected the following passive streams of interests and dividends.

$117.50 Savings Bond (1 Jul)

$370.20 UOB (22 Aug)

$96 Sembcorp Ind (23 Aug)

$90 Wilmar (24 Aug) SRS

$456 Mapletree Com Trust (25 Aug)

$960.12 OCBC (25 Aug) SRS

$186.56 Ascott Trust (29 Aug)

$213.00 Comfortdelgro (29 Aug) SRS

$307.42 Keppel Reit (29 Aug) SRS

$120.95 Suntec Reit (29 Aug)

€169.20 ($234.35) IREIT Global (31 Aug)

$119.50 Savings Bond (1 Sep)

$188.00 ST Eng (2 Sep) SRS

$787.30 Ascendas Reit (5 Sep)

$939.60 Capland Int Com Trust (9 Sep)

$403.92 Keppel DC Reit (9 Sep) SRS

$286.80 (109 Shares) Mapletree Ind Trust DRP (9 Sep)

$226.80 Mapletree Log Trust (9 Sep)

$211.31 (182 Shares) Capitaland China Trust DRP (22 Sep)

$729.60 Aims Apac Reit (23 Sep)

$42 OUE (29 Sep)

The total amount of passive income in Q3 2022 is $7,086.93, a 48% YoY increase from Q3 2021's $4,740.77.

Together with the $9,903.18 passive income in the first half of 2022, my passive income in the first 9 months of 2022 is

$16,990.11

Time in the market beats timing the market. I am happy to remain primarily invested locally in SGX for passive income, while having a little exposure to US tech stocks for selling put options to collect premiums.

My ultimate goal is to own an investment portfolio valued at one million dollars yielding at least $50k of passive income annually. Currently, I am at less than half of the journey as my SGX income portfolio and SRS ultra long-term portfolios are valued at around $400K and dividends are projected to be around $20k 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 2022.

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Sep 2022

 

S$1.318m

My net worth inches up 0.2% to $1.318m from Aug 22.

Another all time high after collecting my Sep 22 salary, Aug 2022 CPF contributions and more dividends from my SGX income portfolio and paying off all my credit card liabilities and bills.

The increase was offset by taking a beating from the tanking of stock prices in my portfolios past few days from red hot inflation and further interest rate hike fears.

I have already completed SRS contribution of $15.3k, $8k RSTU of CPF SA account and $8k RSTU of my mum's CPF RA account for the year, reaping all the low hanging fruits of tax reliefs and guaranteed risk free yields.

Cash is a great performing asset in such high interest rate environment and I have deployed my war chest into Fullerton SGD Cash Fund by Moomoo yielding on average 2.3% and into Money Market Fund by Phillips Capital yielding around 1.5%.

I have also replaced fixed deposits to increase their yields from 1.28% to 2.7%!

Cash is still King!

I plan to subscribe for the next few months of Singapore Savings Bonds, which should hopefully still yield more than 2.5% on average for the next decade.

I am also on the lookout to add high quality S-Reits into my SGX income portfolio.

The remaining months of year 2022 remains challenging and turbulent. Another 2 rounds of 0.75% to 1% interest rate are on the cards of the Fed to curb immense inflation which could have already peaked but the pace of increase could slow down. Global supply chain crunch, high oil prices and the Ukraine war have caused the prices of food and necessities to remain high. Prices of large items such as properties and cars continue to rise despite more costly mortgage loans. 

The stock markets remain volatile and unpredictable but I still believe every dip presents a great buying opportunity to increase our investments in especially high quality income-producing Reits and growth tech stock.

Continue to invest for more passive income. Cashflow is also King! Continue making our monies work harder and own more income producing assets for more cashflow! Own more streams of income besides our salaried job.

Life is great in an endemic world. Ignore the noises. Stay focused. 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 safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Added Frasers Centrepoint Trust

 

Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT) has recently increased its stake in Waterway Point by 10% for S$132.3m with debt and internal funding.

My order of 5,000 shares of FCT at $2.26 was filled end of today after weakness in share price due to Wall Street greatest plunge in 2 years, on the back of hot inflation reports stirring growing fears of more interest rate hikes to combat unabating inflation.

At $2.26, FCT is trading below its net asset value of $2.30 and yielding more than 5%. It is hard to find a high quality resilient Reit below NAV this days.

FCT has been on my watchlist to grow my SGX income portfolio. It will be paying its 1H 2022 dividends (>6 cents per share hopefully) in Nov 22 soon.

My recent visits to Northpoint City owned by FCT has been encouraged by great retail crowd, strong retail sales, high tenancy and more efficient usage of atrium spaces for sales events.

I believe it is a no brainer to add FCT for long-term investment albeit the short-term volatility. 

Thanks for reading.

Related posts:

Applied for FCT Preferential Offer Shares

Nibbled FCT

With love & peace,

Qiongster

How I Achieved CPF 0.5M3X !

 

After a decade of working and manipulating with my CPF savings, my CPF balances have crossed SGD500k.

This is a psychological milestone that I am happy about.

Definitely there will always be CPF naysayers who claim CPF monies are locked up and not our monies. Goal post can keep shifting as Full Retirement Sum keeps increasing to ensure most peasants will never get to touch their own CPF savings until they end up in grave and so on.

I still believe that CPF is our monies as we could use it to pay for housing, education and medical needs other than food, clothes, car and entertainment.

How I managed to hit 0.5M3X?

a. I started working odd jobs in my teens and got CPF contributions.

b. I also transferred funds from OA to SA when I started working after graduation from university.

c. I made CPF SA contributions under Retirement Sum Top-Up scheme for tax reliefs.

d. I refunded back the CPF OA amount used for HDB BTO downpayment.

e. I grinded in a job that allows me to hit $6k monthly salary within 6 years of working, to max out both employee and employer CPF contributions.

If I can do it, anyone can do it too. In fact, I slowed down the transfer of OA to SA in order to slow down hitting CPF SA Full Retirement Sum early so as to enjoy a few more years of RSTU.

Thanks for reading!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Double Up on my Fixed Deposit Interest Rate

 

I placed a fixed deposit with OCBC in May at a rate of 1.28% p.a. for 2 years.

That was one of the best deals months ago before recent surges in interest rates.

I woke up today to see a higher rate offered by UOB.

The main catch is the placement must be at least S$20k of fresh funds.

Hence I instinctly decided to cancel my fixed deposit with OCBC, wasting 4 months by getting 0.05% board rate interest and principal amount back.

Then I place the fresh funds with UOB.

There it goes! 

1.28%@24 months to 2.7%@15 months which is not shown on their website!

I acknowledge that this is not the best deal and interest rates may go up higher in next few weeks but I prefer to lock in my money at around CPF OA rates in local banks such as UOB and OCBC, which coincidentally I "own" shares in, rather than foreign banks which offer even higher interest rates.

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

With love and peace, 

Qiongster

Portfolio Update August 2022

It is time to update my investment portfolios on the last day of August 2022.

The stock markets remained volatile and uncertain under the immense noises engulfing Fed tapering, interest rates hikes, inflation fears, recession fears, pandemic fears, rise of US Treasury yields, Ukraine war, poor company quarterly results and so on.

I stay unswayed and steadfast in my pursuit of financial freedom quest. I am on standby to deploy more of my war chest in S-Reits and US growth stock while collecting option premiums for fun.

My idle cash remains in fixed deposits and money market funds such as Philip Money Market Fund, Fullerton Cash Fund in Moomoo and Singapore Savings Bonds generating average yields of above 2%.

My SGX Income Portfolio value falls to $283.5k from $292.5k last month mainly due to fears about more interest rate hikes by the Fed to curb inflation, and post XD weakness of the share prices of most Reits.

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value drops to US$19.3k from US$20.5k last month due to recent pullback of tech growth stocks in the portfolios.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value inches up to $117.5k from $117.2k mainly due to dividends received from OCBC, ComfortDelgro and Keppel Reit boosting the SRS cash position.

Portfolio Actions

Nil

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $370.20 of dividends from UOB on 22 Aug.

2. Received $96 of dividends from Sembcorp Ind on 23 Aug.

3. Received $90 of dividends from Wilmar on 24 Aug in SRS.

4. Received $456 of dividends from Mapletree Pan-Asia Com Trust on 25 Aug.

5. Received $960.12 of dividends from OCBC on 25 Aug in SRS.

6. Received $186.56 of dividends from Ascott Trust on 29 Aug.

7. Received $120.95 of dividends from Suntec Reit on 29 Aug.

8. Received $213 of dividends from Comfortdelgro on 29 Aug in SRS.

9. Received $307.42 of dividends from Keppel Reit on 29 Aug in SRS.

10. Received $233.50 of dividends from IREIT Global on 31 Aug.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $283.5k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Total Portfolio Value = US$19.3k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

Thank you for reading.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Allotment Results for Singapore Savings Bonds (SBSEP22 GX22090Z)

 

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

It is heartening to find out that the allotment limit is SGD 13,000 as this tranche has been less oversubscribed with more total quantum on offer as compared to previous month.

$900m of bonds are offered with $1,904,323,500 worth of total applications. 

I applied for $11k and was allocated all Likewise for all who applied more, they will also get the same $13k or at most $13.5k.

I think the average yield for Oct 2022 tranche may remain below 3% due to the inverted yield curve whereby short - term US treasury bond yields more than long-term one. Furthermore, the next round of interest rate hike will take place in Sep 2022 after details of Oct 2022 SSB are announced.

Nonetheless, I will continue to subscribe for Singapore Savings Bonds for the rest of the year.

An individual holding limit for SSB is $200k and I target to hit $100k by end of this year.

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

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Applied for "CPF OA beating" Singapore Savings Bonds (SBSEP22 GX22090Z)

 

The September 2022 issue of Singapore Savings Bonds has an average yield of 2.8% over 10 years, which is higher than what CPF Ordinary Account offers. 

Long-term wise, this is lower than the 3% record high for August 2022 tranche but its 2.63% first year yield is still a record high since the inception of SSB in 2015.

I have decided to apply for $11k of this Sep 2022 issue.

There it goes.

$900m is up for grabs this round. As per past allotment results, I predict only at most around $12k will be allocated per person.

The first payment will be on 1 Mar 2023 and this bond will mature on 1 Sep 2032.

If you are interested in this issue of SSB, do note that the application dateline is on this Fri, 26 Aug 2022, 9pm.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Net Worth Update Aug 2022 | SGD1.3m Surpassed!

S$1.315m

My net worth increases 1.4% to $1.315m from past month.

Another all time high.

This is after collecting my August 2022 salary, July 2022 CPF contributions and more dividends from my SGX income portfolio and paying off all my credit card liabilities and bills.

The increase was also contributed by strong recovery of stock prices in my portfolios in recent weeks before the retracement in recent days.

I have completed SRS contribution of $15.3k, $8k RSTU of CPF SA account and $8k RSTU of my mum's CPF RA account for the year, reaping all the low hanging fruits of tax reliefs and guaranteed risk free yields.

Cash is a great performing asset in such high interest rate environment and I have deployed my war chest into Fullerton SGD Cash Fund by Moomoo yielding on average 2% and into Money Market Fund by Phillips Capital yielding around 1.2%.

I have also renewed expiring fixed deposits from 2021 yielding 0.5% to 2.3%!

Cash is still King!

I plan to subscribe for the next few months of Singapore Savings Bonds, which should hopefully still yield more than 2.5% on average for the next decade.

The remaining months of year 2022 remains challenging and turbulent. Another round of 0.5% to 1% interest rate is on the cards of the Fed to curb immense inflation which could have already peaked but the pace of increase could slow down. Global supply chain crunch, high oil prices and the Ukraine war have caused the prices of food and necessities to remain high. Prices of large items such as properties and cars continue to rise despite more costly mortgage loans. 

The stock markets remain volatile and unpredictable but I still believe every dip presents a great buying opportunity to increase our investments in especially high quality income-producing Reits and growth tech stock.

Continue to invest for more passive income. Cashflow is also King! Continue making our monies work harder and own more income producing assets for more cashflow! Own more streams of income besides our salaried job.

Life is great in an endemic world. Ignore the noises. Stay focused. 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 safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster