Financial Stewardship

$983K profits in 20 years (2005-2024)

Disclaimer: This blog is provided for information purposes and should not be used as an enticement to invest in any financial products

Friday, 8 November 2024

Single Day ~$50K unrealized profits w Banks

Both UOB and OCBC announced good Q3 results today, plus DBS yesterday. While many would agree that these are all great results, still an eye-popping single day increase of around 9% for UOB and 2% each for OCBC and DBS has been quite pleasantly surprising! I couldn't resist to sell some OCBC to take some profit, with upcoming weekend & possible China govt positive announcements, which might pull some funds back into undervalued HK markets

The USA election win for Trump has been also unexpected, and I can't help but wonder why would Americans elect such an immoral person as president. Complicated & different approaches to policies like Israel/Hamas war, Abortion, Tariffs, Tax & Regulations and LGBTQ can be debatable on what should be the correct/better choices, but raping woman is just immorally WRONG! Apathetic & misinformed voters could prove to be a slow spiral downfall of a global superpower

I was actually expecting a close & hung election, with Harris winning & Trump disputing with recounts. Unfortunately, it was a big victory for the Republicans with wins in Senate & possibly the House. There goes the S&P500 pullback to purchase more, and once again we are seeing all-time high prices. Are u also waiting for an opportune time to buy more S&P500 for long-term investments? Let me know in the comments below, thanks 😁

It's going to be a scary & unpredictable outlook for the future 4 years. Who knows that Trump might decide after 4 years to continue on for more. He is the "King" now, controlling Executive, Legislature and the Courts. Hoping for the best & preparing for the worst 😅

Press on Financial Warrior, YOU Mighty Man of Valour!

OCBC ~$300K sell abit at $15.3

$983K profits in 20 years (2005-2024)

Disclaimer: This blog is provided for information purposes and should not be used as an enticement to invest in any financial products

Saturday, 13 July 2024

Tracker Fund of Hong Kong 2800.HK

With the S&P500 breaching all time highs, I was hesitatant to buy more VUSD.L ETF, and instead looking at other more attractive low hanging fruits. Naturally after the largest USA economy, we can look at the next No. 2, which is China. Being a Chinese and knowing some history of China and the Chinese language, I guess there's some slight advantage in trying to understand China vs the West. Also in my previous work, Singapore has been a key player in trying to bridge/work between the USA and China. China market is a bit complicated/restricted and still in infancy stage compared to S&P500, so naturally a more understandable and tradeable would instead be the Hong Kong market.

The Tracker Fund 2800.HK is one of the most traded stock in the Hong Kong market, with daily volumes around 300M with value of HK$5.7B (S$1B). This is equivalent to the daily value of the entire Singapore market! Besides it is also composed from various China technology stocks like Alibaba/Tencent/Meituan/JD/Xiaomi/BYD and financials like AIA/HSBC/BOC/CCB/ICBC.

Source: HK market on 12 July 2024

Source: TraHK Full Holdings Monthly

I actually had a Buy queue at HK$18 on 10 July, but unfortunately it closed at HK$18.02 instead. The next two days saw a strong 4% rise, possibly from China govt interventions or USA inflation numbers. With the 3rd China Plenum in mid July, there could be more policies upcoming to support the economy and battered property sector.

2800.HK has dropped almost 50% since Jan 2018, and might be forming a double bottom pattern to stage a price reversal recovery. Would it form a higher-low and eventually form a higher-high for a trend reversal? Only time will tell 😅

Press on Financial Warrior, YOU Mighty Man of Valour!

OCBC ~$300K sell abit at $15.3

CLAS ~$100K investment ... nimbling Capland Ascott

$983K profits in 20 years (2005-2024)

Disclaimer: This blog is provided for information purposes and should not be used as an enticement to invest in any financial products

Friday, 12 July 2024

OCBC ~$300K ... sell abit at $15.3

I have been slowly accumulating OCBC for a couple of years to reach a sizeable amount of ~$300K investment. For local Singaporeans, OCBC needs no further introduction, as one of the 3 largest banks in Singapore.

Record financial numbers seems to be the norm these days, from tailwinds of high interest rates and strong economy. Record Net profit of $2B, low NPL of 1% and high CET1 of 16.2%, which are all great numbers. Upcoming Q2 results on 2 Aug, should show continued strength and a nice 42c dividend, making a good 5.5% yield (12m TTM), even at current all time high price of $15.3

Source: OCBC business update

As price continues to scales new all time highs, there's some selling seen, which is normal, as some traders/investors take some profit. From the daily chart, we can see price action of slight pull back as prices reach new highs. As the old saying goes, there's never a wrong time to take some profit off the table, and lock-in some realised gains. Markets are volatile and uncertainties are unforseeable. Paper money is still not your money, until it ends up in your bank account 😂

In the weekly chart, the uptrend is still intact with stochastics at overbought region. Prices are breaking convincingly away from consolidation price range of $12-14

Would prices continue to move higher? I hope so and it seems likely too 😎

Press on Financial Warrior, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Q1 $18K ... Q2 $24K ... 2024 $115K

Thursday, 11 July 2024

~$100K investment ... nimbling Capland Ascott Trust CLAS

I have held Ascott since the IPO days of Ascendas Hospitality Trust (which is quite a number of years 😂). While my personal preferance is in industrial instead of hospitality reits, due to their higher yield in general and a more familiar sector, I have tried to diversify somewhat to gain some other reits exposure.

Then came the infamous Covid pandemic and global travel was devastated. 3+ years on and the hospitality sector is still on this painful recovery. Of course the rapid rise of USA interest rates was a double whammy to highly leverage reits/trusts.

Still some green shoots of hope are starting to grow in its financials, with gross revenue, profit and DPS steadily increasing into a respectable 6.64% dividend yield for FY2023. From its latest 1Q 2024 business update, the good news seems to be continuing with possibly good 2Q results releasing on 26 July, together with 3.1c dividends estimated, forming 7% dividend yield 12months TTM.

Source: Ascott annual report & business update

Fed chair Jerome Powell has been speaking to Congress these two days, and is hinting on lowering interest rates soon. From CME data, there's 68% probability of a Fed cut of 25bps in Sep. Personally, I think due to USA elections in Nov, the Fed will instead choose to act independent and do nothing until after elections.

Source: CME Group

Today Reits staged a strong 4% rebound with MIT and MLT leading the way. Similarly CLAS ended up with 1.7% gain. Will it eventually form a double/triple bottom chart pattern? Only time will tell 😅

Press on Financial Warrior, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Apr $10k ... YTD $56k ... 2024 $132k

Monday, 1 July 2024

$71,340 1H2024 income ... $142,697 FY2024 estimate

Was looking to divest abit of DBS last Friday, but was unsuccessful, to prop up my 1H2024 numbers. Well, there's always 2H to look forward to 😂 The major bulk of my income came from dividends of banks, reits, bonds etc. Hopefully should still be comfortable for my family of 4 😅

Markets have been mainly sideways for the past 6 months, as many are waiting for USA interest rates to fall to further stimulate the share prices. With upcoming USA elections in Nov, I doubt the Fed would make further changes to interest rates, to show their supposedly independence from politics. There can't really be full independence as the Fed chair is appointed by the USA President right?!

For Singapore, we don't even try to hide this dependence between Fiscal vs Monetary authorities. Both should work hand-in-hand for the good of the country right?! The world's largest economy is at times disgusting to watch, as many put party over country, false loyalty over constitution *faint* 😓Still be it whoever wins, it should have little impact over the next 10 years on the S&P500 uptrend. Money truly drives the USA economy, and bad politics can be good for business unfortunately ....

In the meantime, I would add to my VUSD.L (S&P500 ETF) if there's some price correction. Looking also to the longer term for the rise of China. Will most probably start picking up some 2800.HK (Hang Seng ETF)

Press on, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Wednesday, 1 May 2024

Apr $10K ... YTD $56K ... 2024 $132K

It's the start of Q2, and dividends are starting to roll in 😎 DBS is a major contributor this month, plus I have a number of 6 months T-bills that had matured ... Would hope to see DBS reporting strong Q1 earnings tomorrow and good dividend payout (this time with enlarged 1-for-10 bonus shares). Banks have really turned out to be pretty profitable for me, as I pivot from non-bank shares towards the 3 local banks over the past few years. Besides dividends, they are also turning out great capital gains too. I had bought some DBS and OCBC with SRS during the end of 2020, that are literally sitting at 70% gains and 10% dividend yields. Hmm should I sell them or leave them alone for bragging rights haha... Leave a comment below if u have any suggestions 😂

Looking at the chart of DBS, it has been a consistent up-trend for this largest Singapore company. After XB, DBS has surprisingly persisted to move onto a new all-time-high price. Moving averages are sloping nicely upwards, indicating a high probability of near term and long term supports of these high prices.

Coupled with USA inflation data showing a persistent stickiness above 3%, interest rates seem to point towards higher and longer than initially expected, which is good news for the banks. DBS has reported a record FY result, and upcoming Q1 should also be strong. Coupled with strong govt backing and upcoming political handover/elections, everything seems to be going very well for DBS. Despite its record price, there's really no good reason to sell and shift the funds to another "better" stock.

Do you also think DBS is good? Pls comment and let me know!

Press on, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Thursday, 11 April 2024

2023 Cashflow $142,519 w XIRR 9.0%

As stocks investing is filled with multiple Buys and Sells, constituting lots of Cashflows, I started computing the cash Inflows and Outflows that is similar to a normal business. It is common to say that Cash is akin to Blood and critical to any business operations. Cashflow is kind of related but not the same as Profit. In financial accounting, you can ascribe a profit and yet have a portfolio negative cashflow. It is also easier to financial engineer a profit than a positive cashflow 😅

Received a number of requests from readers of my blog post $983k profits in 20 years (2005-2024) on questions about my IRR... Drum roll please! 😂

As you can clearly see from above, my XIRR values are really not that great. If we do a multi year XIRR, the value would just be in single digits, underperforming the S&P500 markets of around 10% average per year. Why not just save all the trouble and put everything into the S&P500 ETF instead?! I guess there are a number of reasons namely:

1) Yes, yes I am finally starting to invest in S&P500 ETF (VUSD.L and IVV.US), plus they are really at all-time high levels currently

2) Investing in S&P500 index is really boring with nothing much to do 😆

3) Beware of getting caught in a 13-years long sideways USA market. If u had bought at the high of 2000, it would take beyond 2013 to register a profit

I am sure many of us share the same sentiment that Mr. Market knows when we buy (prices drop!) and when we sell (prices rise! Grrr...) It will really take a solid mind and emotions to hold for 13-years just to breakeven. Shares investing is simple but not easy! Hope this simple sharing benefits u 😎

Press on, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Tuesday, 2 April 2024

My 7-Figures $x,xxx,xxx Porfolio (2024 Q1)

I received quite alot of comments and requests from my previous post $983k profits in 20 years (2005-2024), and decided to refresh my portfolio for the end of Q1 2024. Due to my conservative nature, I hold close to 18% of bonds (Tbills, SSB and yes even some old Astrea 6/7 bonds). UOB has grown steadily to become the largest bank in my portfolio, as I couldn't resist nimbling at it due to its price weakness vs the other 2 local banks. With the hope of interest rate cuts soon, I chose MLT, the weakest of the strong Reits and increased my position to 3%. I probably should have been more aggressive to buy up on the S&P500 ETFs, and instead of accumulating more I instead sold some, as I had expected a pull-back before S&P500 index would break with new all-time highs. Tsk tsk, an error in my judgement, not to trade what happened but what I forsee would happen... 😅 Let me know if u have any comments on how I should improve my portfolio, thanks!

Banks currently form my largest portfolio with around 37%. The 3 local banks have been the prime gainers of high interest rates, posting record profits and great dividends too at almost 6%. With these high dividend yields does it still make sense to invest in Reits?! Still interest rates are not going to remain high forever, and Reit prices are badly beaten down. There should still be more tough financial quarters ahead as higher interest rates eat into Reits balance sheets. Well, can always start nimbling abit ... 😂 I have basically left Others & Blue Chips (Keppel, Wilmar, Comfort, Singtel, SIA) alone to balance and diversify my portfolio. They have their fair share of trying to refresh their businesses to suit the ever changing competition and financial environment. So this basically sums up my humble portfolio! Hope it benefits u or your curiosity 😎

Press on, you Mighty Man of Valour!

Dec $7,907 .. 2023 $129,024 ... 2024 $103,279

Thursday, 28 March 2024

$983K profits in 20 years (2005-2024)

As always, I share my posts with trepidation from privacy concerns and others' negative comments. Yet there is also a strong desire to contribute positively to the investing community and encourage others to start and persevere on this difficult financial journey.

As I look back 20 years ago in 2005, when I started to pen down in small steps of my financials into a simple Excel sheet, never would I have imagined that it will grow and multiply till this size. For 2005, I clocked a meagre $4K vs 2024, which I estimate would reach $130K. As I pen down my thoughts, mistakes and achievements, counting my blessings and painful learnings, slowly yet surely my finances have grown.

Of course, I still have a long way to go as compared to big financial gurus who have 8 or even 9-Figures portfolio, but I am grateful with where I am currently. I hope to continue to grow and learn steadily, contributing my knowledge and finances positively. My blog name of Finacial Stewardship, stems from an inner belief to always put my Talents to Good Use.

As u read this post, give urself a pat if u are just starting your financial journey. If u have exceeded me, give urself a double pat... Press on! Financial Warrior! 😎

Dec $7,907 .. 2023 $129,024 ... 2024 $103,279

Dec $7,907 .. 2023 $129,024 ... 2024 $103,279

Wednesday, 27 March 2024

Q1 $17,808 ... Q2 $23,535 ... 2024 $114,583

It's been 3 months into the new year and almost reaching the end of Q1. So thought it would be good to have a short summary log for 2024. Singapore markets have been moving sideways for the past few months, and I am almost falling asleep... Hence blogging again 😂

Looking into Q1 numbers, there's really not much activities. I am logging in profits as my SGS T-bills mature, collecting dividends mainly from Reits (MIT, Areit, Ascott, Keppel, MLT) and divesting my ST Engineering plus picking more MLT. That's basically it for the past 3 months that seems to zoom by ...

Looking at STE's chart above, it's really quite an unexciting chart. Strong resistances can be seen in $4.10 and $4.30 regions. Bought STE about 9 years ago to diversify my portfolio, and will be exiting with about 10% gains after 9 years! That's about 1% for every year, but factoring in the yearly dividends of around 4%, totalling would make it around 5% per year.

For the MLT chart, readers should be rather familiar that interest rates have spiked up sharply for the past 2 years. Hence Reits being leveraged with debt, have suffered in their prices. MLT is approaching its 2020 low price support of $1.4+ forming "hopefully" a triple bottom chart pattern. Weekly stochastics and MFI also show its price at oversold levels.

The concern about MLT is the gearing debt which is approaching 40% with its recent $200M purchases in Malaysia and Vietnam. Hence it might either need to divest existing properties or raise cash through Rights/EFR.

Do you have any thougths on STE or MLT? Let me know in the comments section below. If you have enjoyed my blog posts, please also help to encourage me through like, follow or comment. Thanks 😎

Saturday, 6 January 2024

Dec $7,907 ... 2023 $129,024 ... 2024 $103,679

Been feeling lazy and also wondering how many people are reading my blog ... 😂 Blogging is at times lonely, so if u are reading this, pls like and comment below ...👍 The aim of my articles are meant to encourage us to move bravely forward in our journey of financial stewardship (not to brag/show off/put people down). We should always learn to Mind Our Own Money, because good finances encompass a great degree of freedom, providence and options in life for us and our families ...

Time to count my blessings in 2023 year of investing and move nervously into the brand new year of 2024. Looking back I have divested with profits on SCI, YZJ and ST Engineering. Been also active with T-Bills, Bonds and Savings Account promo rates. Have also been nibbling on local banks (DBS and UOB) and S&P500 ETFs (VUSD.L and IVV.US). Was also hopping to pick up more on fundamentally solid Reits (Areit and MLT), but they have run up quite a bit. So I will have to be patient ... Investing can sometimes be frustrating, with lots and lots of waiting ... *yawn* By nature a Worker at heart, not doing anything apparently can be very agonising!

In the meantime, learning more about the USA market and Options trading. Guess if I am too bored and want to earn more money, I can dabble in these. Usually during the learning process though, it's losing money 😅 Hmm ... do i want to earn more money or lose more money ... Have given myself a target of $130k this new year, which is 30% yoy increase from last year, but since my 2023 actuals was $129k, I cant possibly put anything lower right?! *stress stress* since still have to find 130-104 = $26k more 😆 well abit of stress is good as it helps us to achieve or stretch for something higher ...

Besides achieving financial targets for 2024, have to consistently remind myself to stretch and exercise for a heathier me. Age is definitely catching up, and I am certainly not a big fan of getting old! I like this phrase "The Best is Yet to Be". Hopefully there will be much more solid great years ahead for me!

Please like or comment below 😎