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

Portfolio Update July 2022

Today is the second last day of July 2022 and it is time for me to update my investment portfolios.

The stock markets have rebounded after months of volatility and uncertainty 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.

Whether it will stay as a new bull uptrend or merely just a fake breakout remains uncertain. Nevertheless, time in the market always beats timing the market. Every market tank leads to a rebound, stronger than ever before.

I remained focused and steadfast in my pursuit of financial freedom quest. I have started to deploy some of my war chest in S-Reits and US growth stock while dabbling with options for fun.

I have also channeled idle cash into money market funds in Philip Money Market Fund, Fullerton Cash Fund in Moomoo and Singapore Savings Bonds to let my monies work hard to generate yield from 1% to 3% respectively.

My SGX Income Portfolio value increases to $292.50k from $268.9k last month mainly due to the share price recovery of many of the S-Reits which are now cum dividend mode after announcing their 2Q 2022 or 1H 2022 financial results. Furthermore, I injected capital of around $14k to add Mapletree Commercial Trust during the preferential offer period and initiated position in IREIT Global.

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value increases to US$20.5k from US$16.8k last month due to capital injection to add Alphabet Inc. shares and rebound of tech growth stocks in the portfolios.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value inches up to $117.2k from $115.4k mainly due to slight strengthening of OCBC and Keppel DC Reit share price.

Portfolio Actions

1. Bought 12,000 shares of IREIT Global at $0.605.

2. Bought 4,000 shares of Mapletree Commercial Trust at $1.78.

3. Rolled down 1 unit of BAC Put Option by closing BAC220715 put option with $31 strike price at US$118 and sold BAC221216 put option with $26 strike price at US$138.

4. Sold 2 units of PLTR Call Options PLTR220812 with $11 strike price at US$25.

5. Bought 20 shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) at $106.30.

Portfolio Dividends

1. Received $117.50 of dividends from Savings Bonds on 1 Jul.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $292.5k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Total Portfolio Value = US$20.5k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

Thank you for reading. As always, invest safe and remain focused as always.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Allotment Results for Record High Yield Singapore Savings Bonds (SBAUG22 GX22080V)

 

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

It is disappointing to find out that the allotment limit is only SGD 9,000 as this tranche has been greatly oversubscribed.

I applied for $10k and was allocated with $9k. Likewise for all who applied more, they will also get the same $9k or at most $9.5k.

If the average yield for Sep 2022 tranche is higher than 3%, I believe the subscription rate will be higher and competition be more immense.

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

Added Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)

 

The share price of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) remained weak today and tanked more than 20% since beginning of the year.

This is in lieu of its Q2 2022 quarterly earnings to be announced at 2pm Pacific Time today. Analysts forecast an earnings per share of $1.14 vs $1.36 in Q2 2021.

I stick to my plan and added 20 shares of Alphabet Inc. at $106.30.

Having 4 shares from pre-split, I now own 100 shares of Alphabet Inc.

This is for long-term investment with horizon of at least 5 to 10 years.

I will also be able to collect premiums from selling call option on these 100 shares, which is the minimum lot for an option contract.

I have previously shared on the 8 reasons Why I Invested in Alphabet Inc.

Monopoly dominance, exponential growth, ever-growing share price, strong moat, stock split, resilience, below intrinsic value make this Mega Tech stock a no brainer to own for the long-term.

In the short-term, the share price of Alphabet Inc. will remain volatile and subjected to further weakness due to noises of stagnated growth, losing market share to Tik Tok, lawsuits, interest rate hikes, recession fears, Ukraine war impact, inverted yield curve and so on.

In its monopolistic business, I believe its share price will grow by at least 20% annually, surpassing US$300 per share in 5 years and US$1000 per share in 10 years.

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

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Applied for Record High Yield Singapore Savings Bonds (SBAUG22 GX22080V)

 

The August 2022 issue of Singapore Savings Bonds has an average yield of 3% over 10 years.

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

I have decided to apply for $10k of this Aug 2022 issue.

There it goes.

$700m is up for grabs this round. As per past allotment results, I predict only at most around $15k will be allocated per person.

The first payment will be on 1 Feb 2023 and this bond will mature on 1 Aug 2032.

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

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

6 Takeaways from Mapletree Industrial Trust AGM

 

I took some time to attend the Mapletree Industrial Trust 12th Annual General Meeting physically today at the Mapletree Business City auditorium.

Physical attendance was poor from the large number of empty seats as the AGM could also be watched through live webcast online.

Let me summarise the 5 things I learnt from this meeting.

1. Strong income producing ability

Distributable income in FY21/22 is $350.9m increased by 18.8% year-on-year. DPU of 13.8 cents. This is great for investors.

2. Great financial flexibility

3. Strong financial results

4. Strong Balance Sheet

5. Hedged from interest rate impact

The management plans to maintain hedged loans at between 70% and 80% instead of 100% in order to preserve some financial flexibility and the hedges come at a cost i.e. 3% interest cost effectively immediately with an impact on DPU.

6. Portfolio Highlights

In conclusion, Mapletree Industrial Trust is strong financially and has a stable balanced portfolio but its outlook remains challenging in face of "fast and furious" interest rates by the FED and evolving landscape of data center assets. Protected by hedged debts, riding on the uptrend of USD and potential positive GDP in Singapore in 2022, MIT should still do pretty well in the short to mid term. 

However, its long term prospects will need to be fueled by more DPU accretive suitable acquisitions at reasonable interest rate loans and equity fund raising, which is not easy. The chairman highlights uncertainty in future headwinds such as recession in US which may present opportunities cheaper properties. The manager will remain prudent, be nimble in future transactions.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Net Worth Update July 2022 | SGD1.3m In Sight

S$1.296m

My net worth increases to $1.296m. On the brink of breaching $1.3m.

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

I received a boost from the maturity of proceeds of an Great Eastern endowment plan purchased a decade ago. As a result, the portion of insurance drops to 5% and my cash war chest increases to 20% of my net worth.

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 2022.

For my SGX income portfolio, I have increased my investments by initiating a position in IREIT Global and adding Mapletree Commercial Trust for more dividends in future.

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

The coming months of year 2022 remains challenging and turbulent. Another round of 0.75% to 1% interest rate is on the cards of the Fed to curb immense inflation which could have already peaked. 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 as to when is the bottom.

In such monetary environment, I still believe that Cash is King! Cashflow is also King! We should demand higher yields from banks, bonds, Reits and be more prudent with spending our monies. Continue making our monies work harder and own more income producing assets for more cashflow!

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 eventually.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

"Subscribed" to Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX:N2IU) "Preferential Offer"

 

Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX:N2IU) launched a preferential offering (PO) of up to 1,094 million units at $2.0039 to raise up to $2.2 billion for the merger with MNACT based on 306 shares for every 1000 shares owned.

It is illogical for any retail investor to subscribe for the PO units when the market sells MCT shares lower than the PO issue price of $2.0039. The sponsor, Mapletree Investments will likely absorb the up to $2.2 billion worth of MCT shares at $2.0039 each.

I was entitled to 3,366 PO units from 11,000 shares owned.

I have long been wanting to increase my investments in MCT. I sensed opportunity this time because my investment is driven by passive income for the long-term horizon and paying closer to the NAV of around $1.80 post-merger. This merger, even though makes MCT no longer a pure commercial play in Singapore, should at least allows MCT to continue paying out consistent and steady dividends in the future.

I added 4,000 shares of Mapletree Commercial Trust (SGX:N2IU) at $1.78 today after upping my initial bid at $1.76 which was unfilled for 2 weeks. I am keen to get this deal done before XD for the clean-up distribution next week.

I will now own 15,000 shares of MCT, positioning for the new era after merger with MNACT to become the third largest Reit in Singapore and top 10 largest Reit in Asia.

Even though MCT will no longer be a pure Singapore Greater Southern Waterfront commercial property asset play, its dividend yield should at least remain steady, if not grow after the merger and continue to play an income producing role for investors.

Today's high interest rate environment will not last forever. The FED will hike interest rates this year until there are signs of inflation slowdown and onset of economic recession which will probably induce the FED to stop raising interest rates and perhaps slowly reduce back the interest rates in 2023 or 2024.

I believe that MCT will continue to suffer in terms of price weakness and volatility in the short-term but in the long run of next decade or so, it will definitely thrive and its share price will slowly climb back above $2.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

How I utilised my NS55 $100 credits

 

I finally utilised my NS55 $100 credits stored in the LifeSG app today.

I decided to do what is most practical in today's high interest rate environment.

I did not purchase anything.

I merely paid $100 off my Citibank credit card bill on the AXS e-station website.

Using PayNow QR, there it goes. Paring $100 off my liabilities from paying Telco and Town Council bills using credit card.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe and remain strong always!

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Initiated position in IREIT Global (SGX:UD1U)

 

After exiting from IREIT Global (SGX:UD1U) at the high of $0.80 when it announced the acquisition of Spanish office properties in 2019, I bought into 12,000 shares of IREIT Global today at $0.605.

It is not difficult to make this decision because I aim to grow my SGX income portfolio and am willing to stomach relatively higher amount of risk to own European income-producing assets.

With a book value of $0.81, IREIT Global is trading at more than 20% discount currently. Expecting an annual dividend of at least $0.044 for year 2022, it yields more than 7%.

IREIT Global's portfolio consists of 5 freehold office properties in Germany, 5 freehold office properties in Spain and 27 freehold retail properties in France - leased to Decathlon. The properties have decent high occupancy rates at 95.7% and 3.7 years of weighted average lease to expiry.

Its aggregate leverage remains healthy at 32.1% with effective interest rate at 1.8%. All bank borrowings at floating rates have been hedged with interest rate swaps and caps.

It should be announcing the dividends for first half of 2022 next month soon and I shall be happy to join in the dividend-collecting party.

Thanks for reading. As always, stay focused and invest safe.

With Love & Peace,

Qiongster

Portfolio Update June 2022

Today marks the last day of the first half of year 2022.

It is time to review my investment portfolios.

The stock markets have rebounded and retraced after months of volatility and uncertainty under the immense noises engulfing Fed tapering, interest rates hikes, inflation fears, recession fears, Omicron variant fears, rise of US Treasury yields, Ukraine war, poor company quarterly results and so on.

Whether it will stay as a new bull uptrend or merely just a fake breakout remains uncertain. Nevertheless, time in the market always beats timing the market. Every market tank leads to a rebound, stronger than ever before.

Based on history, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Index will always and only goes up. High quality S-Reits will always consistently pay increasing dividends regardless of interest rates.

I remain invested and continue to hunt for income-producing assets and growth businesses in the coming few weeks, for the long-term. However, as cash performs well and could potentially yield more than 3% risk free, I will be extremely careful in deploying my funds and would demand much higher yield of more than 5.5% for Reits especially. 

My SGX Income Portfolio value dips to $268.9k from $271.4k last month mainly due to the continued weakness of S-Reits to reflect the higher interest rates which could erode into the net property income and thereby dividends payout.

My US/HK Growth Portfolio value drops to US$16.8k from US$17.5k last month due to the prolonged weakness and correction of US growth stocks.

My SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio value increases to $115.4k from $118.6k mainly due to weakening of OCBC and Keppel DC Reit share price.

Portfolio Actions

1. Assigned 100 shares of Palantir Technology Inc. at $20 from a PLTR220819 put option with $20 strike price on Moomoo.

2. Sold 1 unit of Palantir Technology Inc, PLTR220701 put option with $10 strike price at US$0.14.

3. Bought 0.042 share of Tesla, Inc. at $657.92 on Syfe Trade.

Portfolio Dividends

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

2. Received $565.40 of dividends from Mapletree Com Trust on 3 Jun.

3. Received $188 of dividends from ST Eng on 7 Jun in SRS.

4. Received $128.50 of dividends from Netlink Trust on 10 Jun.

5. Received $283 of dividends as 109 shares from Mapletree Industrial Trust on 15 Jun.

6. Received $693 of dividends from Frasers L&C Trust on 17 Jun.

7. Received $226.80 of dividends from Mapletree Log Trust on 21 Jun.

8. Received $755.20 of dividends from Aims Apac Reit on 24 Jun.

9. Received $168.48 of dividends from Far East Orchard on 28 Jun.

SGX Income Portfolio

Portfolio Value = $268.9k

US/HK Growth Portfolio

Moomoo

Tiger Broker

Syfe Trade

Total Portfolio Value = US$16.8k

SRS Ultra Long-Term Portfolio

Thank you for reading. As always, stay focused and invest safe.

With love & peace, 

Qiongster

Passive Income in Q2 and 1H 2022

 

In the second quarter of Year 2022, I collected the following passive income from interests from Singapore Savings Bonds and dividends from my SGX income portfolio.

$98 Savings Bond (1 Apr)

$114 Savings Bond (4 May)

$157.50 Wilmar (6 May) SRS

$72 Sembcorp (10 May)

$470 ST Eng (10 May) SRS

$370.20 UOB (13 May)

$960.12 OCBC (20 May) SRS

$42 OUE (26 May)

$105 Comfortdelgro (27 May) SRS

$184.08 Frasers CT Trust (30 May)

$119.55 Suntec Reit (30 May)

$127 Savings Bond (1 Jun)

$565.40 Mapletree Com Trust (3 Jun)

$188 ST Eng (7 Jun) SRS

$128.50 Netlink Trust (10 Jun)

$283 Mapletree Ind Trust (15 Jun)

$693 Frasers L&C Trust (17 Jun)

$226.80 Mapletree Log Trust (21 Jun)

$755.20 Aims Apac Reit (24 Jun)

$168.48 Far East Orchard (28 Jun)

The total amount of passive income in Q2 2022 is $5,827.83, an 11% YoY increase from Q2 2021's $5,228.99.

Together with the $4,075.35 passive income in Q1, my passive income in the first half 2022 is

$9,903.18

This amount is not a lot but $1650/month on average is at least able to cover most if not all of my basic necessities and essential expenditure.

I hope to collect more passive income in 2H 2022 and channel most of them towards adding battered quality Reits in my SGX Income portfolio, letting the compounding effect do its magic.

I will continue to live frugally, save up, invest in any bear or bull market conditions, slowly and steadily build up my investments. Ignore the noises, remain focused and stay on track in the journey towards financial freedom.

Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster

Boost to War Chest from Endowment Plan Proceeds

I received a windfall from the proceeds of a Great Eastern Endowment Plan - Maxsave Enhanced Savings purchased 10 years ago.

Time really flies and this liquidity boost comes at a right time when cash is potentially the best performing asset in a high interest environment.

I wanted to find out the yield return of this endowment savings plan, plugged in the figures and derived an annualised return of 2.57% which is almost the same as CPF ordinary account and slightly better than the Straits Times Index which has been stagnant over the past 10 years. However such meagre return is definitely much lower than the average annual return of around 10% for S&P 50 over the past 10 years. 

If I were to invest my $30k 10 years ago into Reits or local bank stocks, I could have generated a much higher returns albeit at a guaranteed yield of 2.5%.

Nonetheless, I am rather satisfied with these returns as I was a much weaker investor 10 years ago than now and could have potentially lost my capital.

Lesson learnt is to avoid committing a mid to long term savings endowment plan if we are savvy investors confident of generating more than 2 to 3% of meagre returns. However, if we are conservative or inexperienced investors with savings as priority in mind, then taking up a savings plan with the insurance companies beats the efforts and hazzle 

Just some sharing on a lazy Fri afternoon. Thanks for reading.

With love & peace,

Qiongster