Review 2018

Been almost a year since i last blogged, been, last post being 2017 and financially, my last update was at 2016 review.

My portfolio was a huge $2,130 at 31 December 2016 and I had committed to set aside $300 a month on investments.

Almost 2 years on, how have i progressed with my savings?

As at year end, my portfolio is at $14,510, which is not bad! considering i started at $2,130 in 2016. Honestly though i added most of my positions in the last 2 months when the prices of the equities started coming down. My cash holdings is around 2k as of now, and going to add more as i get my paycheck.

Point is, i managed to set aside more than my aim of $300 a month (otherwise, i would only have $7,200 by now + equity gains/losses)

Did not specifically track dividend income from the counters, but given the (huge) size of the portfolio, it is likely to be immaterial.

In any case, because i am using Standard Chartered online trading platform, all dividends would be automatically credited into my securities trading settlement account for reinvestment.

Shall continue to set aside my own savings and periodically use it to build up my ETF position, because currently that's mostly all (as above) i am holding onto now.

Long long way to FIRE.

Transactions for August 2016

Added another 100 ES3 shares. Happy to receive my first dividend payout from ES3 after restarting my portfolio. Even though it's only $4.20, it is actually quite motivating!

Slowly but surely, one minor minor step to more financial independence. :)

Dividends for August

By the way, there is an upcoming event for property, the Smart Expo.

http://www.smartexpos.com/

If you are interested in building up a property portfolio overseas, do check it out if you have time!

Overseas property investment is fraught with lots of risks, including political, foreign exchange risks - but it's always good to get more knowledge anyway. :)

Who let the bears out?

With the market tumbling at the start of 2016, it is well within possibility that we are entering the bear phase of the market. While the bulls take a long time incoming, bears appearance tend to be swift and decisive. Within half a year, the market has dropped by around 800 points from 2015 to now.

Feelings:
This is my second bear, if i recall correctly. The first time was around 2008 (that was when i worked for just a couple of years maybe), and the STI dropped to 1800 levels. My portfolio went down quite a bit in terms of %, but then given that my base was probably low then, the quantum impact wasn't that much. I continued to DCA in then, and reaped the benefits a couple of years later.

Now my portfolio base is slightly higher, and the loss is definitely larger. While i believe that market goes in cycles, and what goes down must come up (and vice versa), I do have 2 defined set of feelings:
(1) I think one cannot help but feel a bit nervous looking at your networth disappearing day by day.
(2) A bit of regret that if i held on to my warchest a bit longer and went in at a later date, i would have been a much better investor.

However, that is speaking with the benefit of hindsight which is always 20/20. Even though i feel nervous looking at my portfolio, i am comforted with my portfolio mix, which is heavily weighted with the STI ETF. When the market recovers (which it definitely will eventually), the STI ETF will recover along with it. The rest of my portfolio of individual companies may or may not bear out, but so far, i am pretty comfortable with the fundamentals.

Game plan:
With prices at a low, the challenge for me is to obtain more funds to invest in the market. My mistake was being too greedy when the market dropped significantly the first time. I went in too much at the initial drop and didn't leave enough warchest at the subsequent drops. I did not anticipate that the market would drop like it did.

The next time it did, i would develop a better plan, and go in at a pre-determined  % tranche of my warchest. The only thing i can do is to DCA in with my monthly salary now.

Stay calm, invest on and reap the benefits eventually.

Adding positions

Just added another 10 lots of STI ETF 2 days ago (really having a hard time adjusting from the concept of 100 shares = 1 lot!). I think i have added 40 lots of STI ETF since July this year. Not sure whether this will be the right decision, but with so much fear in the market that it will drop further, i have taken the opportunity to add to my positions.

I have to confess, i am stressed and jittery over the past few months when i added. I wonder if i am just being foolhardy but i believe that in the long run, markets will go up, and time in the market is more important than timing the market.

The volatile situation allowed me to add more positions than in normal circumstances, and i shall look back to see if i will curse or thank myself in the future!

Missing the boat?

Went to Taiwan for a 2 weeks break. During the period there, the STI dropped quite significantly. I remember checking 1 day and saw that the STI ETF dropped close to $2.80. I was really quite tempted but held off from utilizing more of my war chest, thinking that the market might stay flat for 1 or 2 more weeks until i am back.

Surprisingly (or perhaps not), the market bounced up quite a lot in the last few days, and STI ETF is now over $3. The market is really a beauty pageant, and the votes are swinging widely at the moment, and i might have missed the boat this time round.

But, who knows it might crash again soon for people to pick up?

All i can console myself is, i added 10 lots (still not used to thinking of 100 shares as a lot!) when the price was at $2.91. Unfortunately, i also added when the price dipped from $3.50 to $3.30! So i think overall for this year, my ETFs are a little in the red. With the year coming to an end, let's see how it will fare.

Dividends Update - May 2015

Nothing much to blog about this month... but typically the month of May is quite a good month for dividends collection, as most Singapore companies have a December year end.

Security			Net Amt
KEPPEL CORP			SGD 360.00
SGX			SGD 40.00
SPH			SGD 70.00
MFG INTEGRATION			SGD 50.00
FRASERS COM TR			SGD 0.27
BOARDROOM			SGD 53.77

Total of $574.04

Frankly, given that it's a good months for dividends, my passive income from equities is really not a lot.

Aiming to get it higher!