2021 Year End Review & Year To Date Dividends

2021 started really well and then got impacted by Fed bank announcements on cuts in asset purchase and interest rate hikes. Now with covid19 omicron variant becoming the dominant variant in Europe and USA, and causing lockdown in Europe, it looks like the stock market will continue to be turbulence in the short run.

My portfolio value exceeded 200k and 250k last year, and briefly crossed 300k this year. However, it is slightly below 300k at the time of writing. A little disappointing, but I am consoled that overall portfolio is still green, with unrealised gains of $25k. If omicron causes more havoc, it would wipe out the unrealised gains and will be a signal for me to tap on my warchest. I am close to tapping into my warchest. 

In 2021, I collected $9,973.81 in cash dividends, a 46.6% increase compared to 2020. It would have crossed the $10k mark if I did not participate in scrip dividends for DBS and/or OCBC. But with a long term view in mind, scrip dividends would still be something that I want to tap on for stocks that are fundamentally good. This year, my average cost yield is around 3.84%. 

Since I started investing, I have invested a capital of $273,008.66 and current portfolio value stands at $298,532.82 at the time of writing. 

In terms of total dividends received over the years, I have received $45,799.59. 

This year I made a total of 14 transactions, back to my usual number of transactions made in a year. 2020 was a special year where I made many transactions. 12 were buy/add/scrip transactions and 2 sell transactions. 

May the year of 2022 be a different year and not be another Covid19 dominated year. Stay safe and healthy!

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Nov 2021)

 

No transactions made this month. 

I delay posting this as I was wait for Digital Core Reit IPO balloting results. The refund amount just came in this afternoon. I did not get any allocation, neither did any of my family members. 4 CDP accounts, none got any allocation.. 

I should be able to just hit the $10k dividends milestone by the end of Dec 21. We shall see. 

In the meantime, the market got impacted by the news of the new variant. But how come banks never drop? 

Dividends received* during the month: $577.52 (DBS, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Suntec Reit, Ascott Trust) 

Total dividends received in 2021: $9,062.09

Average dividends per month: $755.17

Total Portfolio Market Value: $292,984

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Oct 2021)

 

Transactions made this month:

- Bought 1,000 units of Wilmar at $4.36

Other than occasions where I added shares due to scrip dividends, the last time I bought something was in June. This was partly because I did not find anything that I felt was compelling in terms of value for purchase and that I put in more of my warchest into crypto during the last few months. 

I had also been more busy at work. My aim is to setup a portfolio where I do not need to actively monitor it. I believe that I am reaching that goal progressively.

I am looking forward to the financial results over the past week and this week. Hopefully, the dividends over the next 2 months can help me hit the 10k dividends milestone..fingers crossed.

Dividends received* during the month: $217.41 (Keppel DC Reit)

Total dividends received in 2021: $8,484.57

Average dividends per month: $707.05

Total Portfolio Market Value: $304,104.65

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Sep 2021)

No transactions were made in the month of September in my portfolio. I purchased for my spouse's portfolio instead. 

Have been quite busy with work recently that I have neglected the portfolio. Fortunately, the portfolio has been set up in such a way where daily monitoring is not required unless there are price alert or corporate actions.

Year-to-date, I have received more than $8k dividends. This is a new milestone for me and I should be able to hit $9k dividends or even $10k by end Dec if the reits do not cut dividends and Banks (DBS, OCBC) does not allow scrip dividends.

Dividends received* during the month: $1,499.82 (Keppel DC Reit, Lendlease, Mapletree Logistic Trust, ASTREA VI 3% B310318, Comfortdelgro, Ascendas Reit, Mapletree Industrial Trust)

Total dividends received in 2021: $8,267.16

Average dividends per month: $688.93

Total Portfolio Market Value: $297,453.40

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

My First ICO (Braintrust) via Coinlist & Guide to participate in ICO

I have been trying several ICO (initial coin offering) since the 2nd quarter 2021 via Coinlist. Each ICO (e.g. Immutable X, Efinity, Swarm, HUMAN, Vega, Centrifuge) that I participated in, my queue number was so far back that I just logged off.

To illustrate, in most ICOs, only the first 20,000 persons in the queue gets to buy the coin. Most of the queue number that I have had was in the range of 200,000 to even 400,000. If we use the queue number of 200,000, it means that the ICO is at least 1000% oversubscribed. 

For Braintrust, I managed to get a queue number of 3,822 allowing me to buy the coin. I subscribed to the maximum allocation of 500 USDT. My Braintrust (BTRST) are going to be locked up for 3 months from 20 Oct 21. So, I will be deciding whether to keep or sell them in early 2022.

Appended below is a guide on how you can participate in an ICO via Coinlist. 

Step 1: Sign up for a Coinlist account. If you are interested, you can use this referral link. KYC verification is required.

Step 2: Register for that ICO (also known as "Token Sales") by selecting the option you want to participate in before registration date closes.

Step 3: You will need to answer the 8 to 10 questions quiz to proof that you are not a bot and that you have read up briefly about what the ICO is about. Make sure you registration is marked as "Completed". 

Step 4: Take note of when the ICO token sales starts. Typically, it is either at 1am or 7am (SG timing). You will receive an email link to enter into a waiting room. You need to enter into this waiting room before the token sales starts. 

Arriving at the waiting room early does not give you a better place in the queue. You do not need to enter 1 hour before, just 5 minutes before will suffice. When the sale starts, users in the main queue waiting room are assigned a random place in line, ahead of those who arrive after the sale starts.

Step 5:  When the sales starts, you will be able to see your queue number (image below), if your queue number is too big, you can log off and go to sleep (e.g. queue number of 100,000 when only 20,000 can buy. Even if the first 20,000 persons do not buy up to the maximum purchase amount, the 20,001 to 30,000th persons, would probably purchase the balance). 

Step 6: If you are lucky and get a low queue number, wait for your turn. You will have 10 minutes to enter when it is your turn. You will be directed to a page to input the amount you want to purchase.

Step 7: Take note of the (i) payment mode you selected (e.g. USDT, USDC, ETH, BTC) and (ii) payment deposit deadline. If you do not deposit before the period stated, your purchased may be cancelled and you maybe banned from future ICOs. 

Step 8: You need to ensure that your ICO purchase is indicated as "Purchase Complete" with payment received. 

Step 9: Wait for your ICO to be released and you can decide whether to withdraw them to other wallets or sell them. Depending on the ICO mechanism, the coins could be released immediately or locked up for a period of 3 months to a year, or even 2 years. 

Happy ICOing. 

ps: i shifted my coins out of Binance. I setup FTX to replace Binance. My cryptocurrencies are currently in 3 different platforms (Celsius, FTX and Gemini)

Binance Guide: Depositing USD Funds via Bank Transfer into Binance.com

Shifted my coins out of Binance. I setup FTX to replace Binance. My cryptocurrencies are currently in 3 different platforms (Celsius, FTX and Gemini)

This post is meant as a beginner step-by-step guide on how you can deposit USD funds using SGD in Binance. Depositing USD allows you to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Matic (Polygon) and even dogecoin. Binance is one of the world biggest bitcoin exchange and altcoin crypto exchange in the world by volume. 

There are 3 methods to fund your Binance account:

      1) Deposit USD via bank transfer (zero fees, same day transfer), using SGD 
      2) Deposit USDT from SGD via P2P
      3) using of credit card

In this guide, I shall touch on the first method. I used my POSB/DBS bank account which does not charge any fees for same day overseas transfer.

If you do not have a Binance.com account you can use my referral link and get 10% commission kickback on your Binance.com trading fees. After you have signed up, you can follow the steps below. To view a clearer image, you can click on the images. 

1. Click on your Wallet and select "Fiat and Spot".

2. Click on Deposit. 

3. Select USD for Currency and Select Silvergate Bank (Swift). Click Continue. 

4. Input amount of USD you want to transfer. It will be deposited as BUSD. Your BUSD can be withdrawn as USD. Click Continue.  

If you do not know about BUSD, read the bottom of this post after step 8.

5. Take note of your unique reference code. This code has to be inputted when making the overseas remit via your local bank. Click Confirm. 

6. Binance payment details including bank account information is shown.

7. To deposit USD funds into Binance, login to your ibanking . Select "Transfer" and click  on "DBS Remit and overseas transfer". 

7. Scroll down to this image. Select "United States" and indicate the amount of USD you want to deposit into Binance. This amount should be the same as the amount you entered in Step 4. Click "Get Quote". 

The next screen will show that exchange rate, and that you will enjoy zero admin/processing fees and same day transfer. Click "Start a new transfer".

8. Indicate the details as per what you have received in Step 6.

You can fill in as per what is in the images above. But do note this is accurate as of 7 Jun 2021. You still need to check the instructions given in step 6 as the details may change. 

Remember to indicate the unique reference code give to you under "Payment Details for Recipient" (I redacted mine out in black). If this is not indicated correctly, the funds will not be transferred.

Click "Next" and submit the transactions. If you submit the transactions before 5pm on weekdays, the funds will be deposited in your Binance account by 10pm on the same day (if it is not a Public Holiday for SG or USA). If the transaction is submitted after this timing and DBS does not process the transaction, you will need to wait for the next business day. If you do this after 5pm on Fri or weekends, the funds will be deposited on Monday night, provided Monday is not a public holiday in United States.

Sometimes, the funds take longer to be deposited due to an influx of deposits. If you waited more than 4 business days, log a ticket with Binance support. So far, I have not encountered any such issues. 

Once the funds are in Binance, you can make your crypto purchase. 

What is BUSD?
BUSD (Binance USD) is a stablecoin which avoids the extreme volatility of other cryptocurrencies while keeping value within the crypto market. Basically, BUSD can be used to purchase cryptos. 

Need a Binance referral link? You can use this link. For other crypto referral links such as Gemini, Coinlist, Celsius or Blockfi, you can refer to this link.

If you are interested in Cyrpto, you can also read on 

- Depositing USD Funds into Gemini.com via Bank Transfer

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Aug 2021)

Lack of timely updates as I have been busy at work. 

From stockcafe

No transactions were made in the month of August.

I received $2,182.52 in August as many companies were paying out dividends. I am watching companies such as Nanofilm and Wilmar and may initiate a position into it over the next few days. 

STI seems to be stuck trading sideways as the Covid continues to throw unexpected twists resulting in changing Safe Management Measures. Although the government is preparing for it to be an endemic, the end is nowhere in sight. Portfolio value has been hovering between these few weeks 295k to 310k.

For me, I will stay invested in the market and purchase every now and then, rebalancing when required.

Stay Safe!

Dividends received* during the month: $2,182.52 (DBS, OCBC, ST Engineering, Wilmar, Old Chang Kee, Ascott, Suntec, Ireit, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust, Keppel Corp, Singtel)

Total dividends received in 2021: $6,767.34

Average dividends per month: $563.95

Total Portfolio Market Value: $300,508.31

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

Foreign Portfolio Jul 21 Update - Sold SEA and bought Amazon

 

Transactions made in the month:
- Sold 11 units of SEA Limited at USD 269.035
- Bought 1 unit of Amazon at USD 3343.91

Ironically, I sold my SEA Limited at USD 269.035. Did not wait further as I wanted to switch the fund into Amazon. Now SEA Limited has really broke the 300 psychological barrier which I wrote about last month. What a bad decision.

I went into Amazon as it went down by more than 5% when its result came out. The stock was sold down due as it did not meet the revenue target and with slowing growth being prospected in. It is still a good stock to hold and is still growing. I will help fund Bezo next space trip with this 1 unit. 

What is concerning is how China regulators are causing havoc to the stock market. Edutech stocks have deep dive while tech and gaming stocks have been battled due to regulatory concerns. I have quite a big exposure to Alibaba and have been deliberating whether to add on to it. It is already my biggest holding in my foreign portfolio. 

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Jul 2021) - $300k milestone

No transactions were made in the month of July.

My portfolio market value crossed the $300,000 milestone reaching $307k although no transactions were made. The value increased mainly due to Raffles Medical good results. Other counters such as DBS, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Mapletree Logistic Trust, Frasers Logistics and Commercial Trust, Ascendas Reit and ST Engineering also played a part. 

Back in May, I shared about why I added on to Raffles Medical. It is important to note that this is not a dividends counter and that their China Hospitals are still under gestation. 

Our 3 local banks are going to report their results this week and with MAS announcing the lift of dividend restrictions, we can expect better dividends amount ahead. 

Keppel Corp has just announced that they are acquiring SPH non media business. Keppel Corp is my 3rd largest holding. In the short term, Keppel Corp will have higher debt, but in the long term this should be good for shareholders. 

The best part is the PBSA portfolio which is valued at S$1.4 billion with a yield of 5%. This would be foothold for Keppel Corp to get into this sector and potential IPO it in the future. As for the Genting Lane DC, it could be divested to Keppel DC. What I really do not like is the M1 business. The telco business is already so competitive with cut throat prices. 

I have not gone into SPH past slides to see what are the returns like for Senior Living and Urban Development. I will be watching the developments before I decide whether I should trim down or sell off Keppel Corp entirely. 

Dividends received* during the month: $0    

Total dividends received in 2021: $4,584.82

Average dividends per month: $382.07

Total Portfolio Market Value: $307,824.75

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

Foreign Portfolio Jun 21 Update - Bought Ping An and Alibaba

 

Portfolio from Stockcafe

Transactions made in the month:
- Bought 500 units of Ping An Insurance (Group) at  HKD80.85
- Bought 20 units of Alibaba at USD217.50

I bought Ping An Insurance as its was at attractive valuation at HKD80.85. To my surprise, it dropped further to 71. I may add on to it. The main hurdle is that I have already expanded this foreign portfolio at a faster pace than I anticipated. I want to have a higher weightage in my local portfolio for stability. 

I am still surprised by how QUALCOMM Incorporated and TSMC is lagging behind. Its just a matter of time. I will have to be more patient. 

SEA limited hit its all time high of 297 last month but I missed it. So its another round of waiting. The 300 psychological barrier is right in front. I wonder if I will regret waiting and not selling. 

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Jun 2021)

 

Transactions made in the month:

- Add 800 units of Mapletree Industrial Trust at $2.64 from Preferential Offering 
- Add 9 units of DBS at $29.54 from scrip dividends 
- Add 42 units of OCBC at $11.93 from scrip dividends

All my transactions this month were due to preferential offering and scrip dividends. For Mapletree Industrial Trust preferential offering, I received excess units. However, more than 75% of my money was refunded to me. Most of the excess units were allotted to spouse and children portfolios)

I always go for scrip dividends whether it was DBS, OCBC or Raffles Medical. As usual, I opted for a combination of cash dividends and Scrip, and making use of rounding up to gain as much from the system (calculation) as I can. 

In terms of dividends, I received $1591.23 in Jun. The amount would have been around $2,000 if I had opted for full cash dividends for both OCBC and DBS. The bigger banks in US has underwent stress testing and the Federal Reserve is allowing them to increase capital payouts for share buy backs and dividends. Hopefully, MAS will follow suit for local banks soon.

Dividends received* during the month: $1591.23 (Mapletree Industrial Trust, Ascendas, Frasers Logistic & Commercial Trust, Mapletree Logistic Trust, Mapletree Commercial Trust, Mapletree North Asia Commercial Trust, ASTREA V S$315M3.85%)

Total dividends received in 2021: $4,584.82

Average dividends per month: $382.07

Total Portfolio Market Value: $296,748

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

Foreign Portfolio May 21 Update - Sold Coca Cola

Portfolio from Stockcafe

 
Transactions made in the month:
- Sold 20 units of Coca Cola at  USD 55.50

I have held Coca Cola for close to 1 year and made a gain of close to 20% when I divested the counter. This was the smallest holding for a foreign stock since it was the first overseas stock I purchased. 

I am watching SEA Limited closely and may divest it since it has went up by around 20% after I purchased it 3 weeks ago.

Meanwhile, I have Ping An Insurance, Bank of China, Intel, AMD and Alibaba on my watchlist. 

Ironically, the stocks; QUALCOMM Incorporated and Alibaba (HK) which I had expected to go up did not. I may add on these stocks if I cannot find other shares to invest into. 

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End May 2021)

   

portfolio from stockcafe

Transactions made in the month:

- Bought 2,000 units of Ascendas Reit at $2.9
- Sold 2,000 units of STI ETF at $3.058
- Added 10 units of DBS via scrip dividends at $28.77

I sold off STI ETF at around 20% gain excluding dividends collected and used the money to buy Ascendas Reit. Ironically, on the day when this was done, the phase 2 (heighted alert) measures was announced and Ascendas Reit went down lower that afternoon.

As shared in an earlier post, Mapletree Industrial Trust's Preferential Offering (PO) application has opened this morning and will close on 11 JUN, 5pm. I am definitely applying for it based on the reasons shared in that post. 

Dividends received* during the month: $1640.40 (Suntec Reit, Raffles Medical, Wilmar, Comfortdelgro, Keppel Corp, ST Eng)

Total dividends received in 2021: $2,993.59

Average dividends per month: $249.47

Total Portfolio Market Value: $294,289.2

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

Depositing USD Funds into Gemini.com

The depositing details for depositing USD into Gemini has changed, hence this is an update to my previous post in 2017. 

This post is meant as a step by step guide on how you can deposit USD funds in Gemini. Depositing USD allows you to buy, sell and store more than 40 cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Matic (Polygon) and even dogecoin. 

I used my POSB (DBS) bank account which does not charge any fees for same day overseas transfer.

1. Deposit USD funds into Gemini. Select "Transfer" and click on "Deposit into Gemini".

2. Select Currency and Deposit Method. Select "USD" and "Wire Transfer". 

3. Link your bank account. You will see a hyperlink to link your bank account, this must be done for the very first deposit you are making. 

Indicate your account details.  If you are using DBS or POSB bank, the Swift Number is "DBSSSGSG". You can check out other bank's swift number by checking the bank's website.

5. Gemini's deposit instructions will be shown. The details are also sent to your email. 

6. Login to your POSB/DBS ibanking account. Select "Transfer" and click on "DBS Remit and Overseas Transfer".

7. Add Gemini as an Overseas Recipient. Click "New Recipient". 

8. Indicate the amount of SGD you want to transfer in your ibanking. Scroll down, select "United States" and indicate the SGD amount you can to send. Click "Get Quote". 

If you are fine with the amount, click "Start a New Transfer". If you want to adjust the amount, you can change the SGD amount and click "Get Quote" again. 

9. Indicate the details in your ibanking as per what you have received in Step 5.

You can fill in as per what is in the images above. But do note this is accurate as of 25 May 2021. You still need to check the instructions given as the details may change. 

Remember to indicate the unique reference give to you under "Payment Details for Recipient" (I redacted mine out in black). If this is not indicated correctly, the funds will not be transferred.

Click Next and submit the transactions. If you submit the transactions before 5pm on weekdays, the funds will be deposited in your Gemini account by 10pm on the same day. If the transaction is submitted after this timing and DBS does not process the transaction, you will need to wait for the next business day. If you do this after 5pm on Fri or weekends, the funds will be deposited on Monday night, provided Monday is not a public holiday in United States. 

Once the funds are in Gemini, you can make your crypto purchase.

Need a Gemini referral link? You can use this link and get $10 worth of BTC when you trade at least $100 USD within the first 30 days of registration.

For other crypto links such as Binance, Celsius or Blockfi, you can refer to this link. 

This is not a buy call for anyone to go into cryptocurrency trading/investment.

MAPLETREE Industrial Trust US$1.32 billion Data Centre Proposed Acquisition in United States

Mapletree Industrial Trust (MIT) has proposed an acquisition of US$1.32 billion for 29 data centres in 19 states in the United States. The acquisition will be funded via equity fund raising and debt. Equity funding will be via Private Placement and Preferential Offering. 

Preferential Offering has impact on  shareholders. More information on what is to be done can be found at the end of the post under "Indicate Timeline for shareholders".

Details of the acquisition (images are from MIT's presentation slides):

Acquisition Portfolio 

One of the 29 properties is encumbered by an existing tenant's purchase rights. This means that if that tenant exercise the right to purchase that property, that property will be excluded from the acquisition.  Should that happen, the purchase consideration would be by around US$100 million.

The weighted average lease expiry (WALE) is 7.9 years which is long, with rental escalation of 1.5% to 3% for 89.4% of the lease. only 1.7% of the lease will be expiring in the next 3 financial years.

The occupancy is 87.8% as the occupancy in one of the property in Atlanta is 63.5%. 

The net leasable area is 3.3 million sq ft and 94.1% of properties are freehold.

NAV and DPU Accreditive 

Net Asset Value (NAV) will increase by 6% to $1.76 while Dividend Per Unit (DPU) will increase 3.3% to 12.97 cents. Appreciate that the acquisition is both NAV and DPU Accreditive. Not all acquisitions are NAV and DPU accreditive (e.g. IREIT recent acquisition).

MIT Overall Portfolio 

MIT's assets under management (AUM) will increase from S$6.8 billion to S$8.6 billion. AUM for Data Centres will rise to S$4.6 billion from S$2.8 billion. This mean that data centre will be 53.6% of MIT's portfolio. We can expect further Data Centre acquisitions as MIT's target is for Data Centres to be 2/3 of their portfolio. 

MIT's WALE

MIT's overall weighted average lease expiry will increase from 4 years to 4.6 years. 12.4% of the lease will expire in current FY.

MIT's Gearing

60% of the acquisition will be funded via debt. This means that gearing will increase from 36.0% to 40.3%.

Indicate Timeline for shareholders

Preferential Offering (PO) application starts from 3 Jun at 9am and ends on 11 Jun at 5pm. Applications for PO can be done via ATMs.

Under this PO, 5 new units can be applied for every 100 existing units. Issue price range is S$2.640. 

Example: 

If you have 5,000 MIT shares as at 31 May 21, you can apply for 250 new units on 3 Jun. 

(5,000/100x5 = 250)

Since you have 50 odd units, you may consider 1 of the following:

a) apply for excess units to round up to hundreds; or

b) apply for just 200 new units (instead of 250).

For myself, MIT is my 4th biggest holding in my portfolio. I am definitely applying for the rights issue along with excess rights. I am not a fan of odd units especially when we talk about PO or rights issue. Also, the acquisition is NAV & DPU accreditive, and increases WALE.  

Foreign Portfolio Apr 21 Update - Bought SEA Limited

Transactions made in the month:

- Bought 11 units of SEA Limited at USD 210.3 (as shared in my earlier post on 3 Mar)

I have been wanting to take profit on Coca Cola at between USD 55.5 to 60. The stock is still a good stock to hold, but I want to route the funds into tech stocks. 

Nothing much happening for now as my time has been divided into reading up on foreign and local equities and Cryptocurrency. There is just not enough time. 
 

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Apr 2021)

  

Transactions made in the month:

- Bought 2,000 units of Keppel DC Reit at $2.69
- Bought 5,000 units of Raffles Medical at $1.15

In the financial world, the term "Sell in May and go away" and reinvest in November is well know as historical data suggested that the best performing months are from November to April. Obviously, for an investor like me who do not time the market, I ignore it and HODL. I added on to Raffles Medical and Keppel DC Reit during the month of April. 

With Raffles Medical recent results, I added on in anticipation of its China hospitals doing better financially in the next three years. The Chongqing hospital has seen improvements in patient load and the management expects it to achieve Ebitda break-even in 2022. The Beijing hospital has completed its upgrading to offer more services. The Shanghai Hospital is near completion and will start receiving patients in the 2nd quarter of the year. Each time, a new hospital is set up, there will be a gestation period. I am taking a long term view of it, hence I am adding on to it now. I will probably add more along the way if the price drops. The dividend yield for this stock is expected to be low at around 2%.  The management has decided to stop offering scrip dividends this year while is a pity. I would have preferred scrip dividends. 

If you are going for dividends you are better off entering Reits. On a side note, currently Raffles Medical is operating 15 vaccination centres out of the 38 centres. They seems to be one of the biggest private operator player in this market. With Singapore on the verge of 2nd wave, MOH is working with private hospital operators again for emergency and inpatient care required. 

For Keppel DC Reit, I added more units as it announced a solid set of results for Q1 21. DPU for Q1 is $2.462 which is up an increase of 18%. NAV has dropped by 1 cents to $1.18 which means it it trading at 2.2 P/NAV. Not the highest P/NAV as it has traded at 2.42 ratio before. They have completed the Asset Enhancement works at Keppel DC Dublin 2 and DC1.

I did not receive any dividends in the month of April. Will be expecting at least $1,500 worth of dividends in month of May. The actual amount may be lower since I will likely go for scrip dividends for DBS. 

Dividends received* during the month: $0

Total dividends received in 2021: $1,353.19

Average dividends per month: $112.77

Total Portfolio Market Value: $297,569

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds, Foreign Stocks, Crypto and Stashaway

DBS posted record Q1 21 profit. BUT high PB ratio 1.47 and low dividend yield 2.4%

I was certainly not expecting this. DBS reported record quarterly profit of $2 billion in the 1st quarter of 2021. DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said, “This has been an extraordinary quarter for our business as we fired on all cylinders." 

Click image to enlarge

A brief summary:

- Net Interest Margin stabilised at 1.49% (same ratio as last quarter - 2020 Q4).
- Net interest Income is the only one that dropped (15%) compared to 2020 Q1.
- Net fee and commission income, and Other non-interest income exceeded pre-covid levels (compared to 2019 Q1).  This includes wealth management, transaction service fees and card fees.
- Net Book Value is $20.46.
- Dividends declared is $0.18. disappointing that MAS did not lift the dividends cap. 

The important ratios to take note of

Click image to enlarge

The ratios such as Return on Assets, Return on Equity, Non-performing loan rate, Common Equity Tier-1 ratio has shown improved.  

Based on its currently trading price of $30.10, the Price to Book ratio is 1.47 and Dividend Yield is 2.4% (if MAS does not lift the dividend cap in FY21). 

Click image to enlarge

If you look at the last 5 years of data, DBS is trading at high valuations. It is trading at a high PB ratio, reaching 2018 highs. In terms of yield, it is very low at 2.4%. If MAS lift the cap next quarter and DBS pay a dividend amount of $0.33 cents per quarter, the yield will be more decent at 3.9%. 

If we look back at past data, DBS  traded at PB ratio of 2.6 and yield of 2.1% in 2000. Is it going to trade a such valuations moving forward?

Foreign Portfolio Mar 21 Update - Bought TSM, QCOM & sold IBM

Transactions made in the month:

- Bought 100 units of Alibaba (HK) at HKD 232.80 (as shared in my earlier post on 3 Mar)

- Bought 19 units of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing at USD113.70

- Sold 15 units of International Business Machine at USD131.00

- Bought 15 units of QUALCOMM Incorporated at USD135.50 (this was bought in Apr)

It was an eventful month for me, I have not made so many transactions since I started trying out the foreign markets. I doubt I will make so many frequent trades in a month moving forward.

For Alibaba, government regulatory factor is still something to look out for. I will likely add on to the share if it drops further as fundamentally the stock is still a growth stock unless Chinese government does something drastic. You never know. This is a risk I am aware of and willing to risk on.

For Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, I saw an opportunity to buy it when it got sold down. It is the biggest semiconductor foundry player in the world. With the supply issue in the industry, need I say more? 

For QUALCOMM Incorporated, it is in the semiconductor, IOT and 5G industry. I felt that it got oversold and hence went into it. 

As for IBM, I sold it when it reached my target price of USD131. I had set the selling price a few weeks before it hit this level. It gave me a return of +10.1% after taking into of dividends and exchange rate. The stock went further up after I sold it, that is life. It is hard to time to sell at the highest.

These foreign stocks are mainly short term trades unlike my SG portfolio, since I am still learning them. Learning to how things such as withholding tax and exchange rate affects my overall returns.

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Mar 2021)

Transactions made in the month:

- Bought 4,000 units of Mapletree Ind Tr at $2.61
- Sold 800 units of DBS at $28.93

- Got 7,500 units of Astrea VI3%B310318 at IPO (received more than that, other units were alloted to other portfolios

What a ride it has been for STI, it is now at 3,178 levels. I made several transactions including selling some of my DBS shares earlier in the month. I added on Mapletree Industrial Trust and was still queuing for more at $2.50, but the order did not get fulfilled. I had several buy orders for shares such as Raffles Medical, CityDev, CDG that were also not fulfilled. In the end, they all went up. I am not sure whether will I chase them or just be patient. It really depends on the context as the market sentiment is changing rapidly on a daily basis.  

As for Astrea VI3%, I was alloted 15,000 units. I decided to alloted half of it to other portolios (my spouse and children). Many retail investors state that the yield is too low. While I agree to a certain extend, I felt that this will help me diversify my portfolio further. Moreover, in the past when I suggested using Singapore Savings Bond (SSB) as a emergency fund, many felt that the interest rate of slightly above 2% was too little. They wanted to time and enter at a higher interest rate. Look at the current interest rate for SSB, its even lower than 1.5% now. 3% yield for Astrea VI is still good, just do not put all your cash into the same holding. 

I still have some funds to be deployed out to the market. I have been monitoring the foreign market and considering whether to shift these funds to foreign or local market. I had made transactions this month in the foreign market too. Will update them sometime next week.

Dividends received* during the month: $938.26 (Mapletree Logistics Trust, Lendlease Reit, Ireit, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Ascendas Reit, Keppel DC Reit)

Total dividends received in 2021: $1,353.19

Average dividends per month: $112.77

Total Portfolio Market Value: $285,664

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds and Foreign Stocks

Foreign Portfolio Update - Bought Alibaba(HK)

 

         Image from stockcafe 

After much procrastination, I bought 100 units of Alibaba (HK) at HKD 232.80. It became my biggest holding for my foreign stock portfolio. I hope Jack Ma shows himself more often now and talk less. Just his appearance will suffice =) 

Coca Cola price continues to go down lower, I may purchase more of the shares if it reaches a price that it lower than my purchase price.

My Investment Portfolio - SG (End Feb 2021)

 

Transactions made in the month:
- Bought 3,000 units of Mapletree Log Tr at $1.93

As news of more new vaccines and their effectives get published, it caused a rotation of stocks being bought and sold. In the global market, social media and tech firms are sold while aviation stocks are bought in anticipation of recovery. 

In our local STI market, Business Trusts and Reits such as Keppel DC Reit, Mapletree Logistic Trust, Mapletree Industrial Trust, Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust and Ascendas Reit have been seen a net funds outflow. On the other hand aviation stocks such SIA and SAT has seen a net funds inflow resulting in the prices increasing. 

I am watching the Business Trusts and Reits that are being sold down. If they drop further, I will accumulate them and add on to my holdings. 

As for the aviation stocks, I doubt I will chase them as they are overvalued with the current financial and fundamental context. 

Dividends received* during the month: $236.43 (Ascott, Suntec Reit, STI ETF)

Total dividends received in 2021: $414.93

Average dividends per month: $34.58

Total Portfolio Market Value: $279,360.66

*Dividends are recognised after payment date. Average dividends per month is calculated by dividing the dividends received by 12 months regardless of the month. 

Portfolio excludes Singapore Savings Bonds and Foreign Stocks

Foreign Portfolio Update - Sold my Intel

 I sold my 23 units of Intel shares on 16 Feb 21 at USD 62.55 after holding it for 206 days. I had bought it then at a price of USD 51.75. Long term wise, Intel is likely to trade sideways with potential to go further down as their7-nanometer (7nm) production has faced delay. AMD is in a league of its own for manufacturing of nanometer chips for now and its stock price has rose more than since last year 100%.

I may purchase Intel again when it price reaches 50+ again.  

In the meantime, I am still holding on to my 2 other units, Coca Cola and IBM. on hindsight, I should have sold off Coca Cola when it was around USD 53. Will need to continue to wait.

$190.72 cash in less than 6 months from GooglePay App

In Nov, when I shared that about how I got $71.74 cash in 3 months from GooglePay App, I did not expect the amount to double to over $140 in 1.5 months. 

Now within less than 6 months of using the app, I have received $190.72. A $118.26 increase from my Nov post. 

This is around an average of $32 monthly just by sending money to each other and using the app to make payments, instead of using physical credit card. It is that easy - as easy as ABC.

There are some changes to the terms and condition to get scratch cards now, and they seems to change it every now and then, so be sure to check out the offer page:

1) Referral $3 each for Referrer and Referee 

2) Scratch cards: Pay your friends (min amount of $10, limited to 2 scratch cards per week). Your friends must be on GooglePay too. Then just pay them $10 each and get them to pay you back the same amount. 

3) Scratch cards: (i) Tap and Pay or (ii) Scan QR Code and pay (min payment amount of $10), limited to 2 scratch cards per week). Similar to how you do payWave payments over POS. Instead of using your credit card, you use your phone with GooglePay app and NFC on and tap it on the POS to make payment. For Scan QR Code, scan the payment QR code using GooglePay and make payment. It works even on M1 payment bill with QR code, Grab wallet top-up and IRAS bill payment.

Free money just take. Good things do not last forever. 

So hurry and sign up. If you need referral code, you can use this GooglePay App and get $3. 

If you are interested in other referral links or codes, you can visit this page on My Investment Machine.