Goal setting. Reached the first waypoint - August 2018.

My investment portfolio reached 100000+ thanks to the GFC and I reached the 200000+ "waypoint" as of August 2018 thanks to the longest bull market ever. It took about 9 years because after the GFC, I focused on paying back my housing loan rather than investing.

Investment portfolio: stocks, ETFs, bonds, and gold. (cash/CPFIS/SRS)
Excludes cash in bank account and uninvested cash in CPF.

My next waypoint will be 300000+. How fast to reach the next waypoint will depend on whether I am sidelined by the 'property bug'.

At the moment, I don't have any interest in buying property. 

• ABSD
• Rental income is subject to income tax (which means its better to be a landlord when you have low income, like a retiree) 
• Time cost and hassle in having another property, finding tenants (or finding a good agent who can find good tenants...)

Usual caveat: Can you actually believe anything you read on the internet? Figures are only indicative, could be rupees, cents or whatever. Purpose of the post is to record that I reached an important "waypoint" in my investment journey after 9 years, and I need to come up with a plan to help me reach the next waypoint. Actual value not important.

Strategy Report: August 2018 -Turkey Troubles

With US sanctions and shaky economic foundations, Turkey appears to be in trouble. I guess you know you are in trouble if Krugman trots out his "impose capital controls" line in the NYT.

The resulting price drop has made a lot of stocks quite attractive. I went in a bit early and used by my regular August investment amount to buy:

• ING at $13.77 (new position, 4-stars Morningstar, and 5% dividend)
• Santander (SAN)  added more at $5.06
• Lloyds (LYG) added more at $3.12
• Westpac (WBK) added more at $21.40

On hindsight a little bit early as prices are now off by another 2%. However, I only know how to average down so the price drop suits me. I will add more if the price drops 5% from my previous buying price.

I had already used some of my money set aside for regular monthly investment on some Capitaland (C31) under $3.30 (new position, 4-stars Morningstar, 3.6%+ yield, StockReports+ 8/10), and added a bit to Frasers Property (TQ5).

I suspect that there will be more buying opportunities this month.

Strategy Report: August 2018 - Property Counters instead of REITS?

In July, I dipped my toes and initiated a small position in Frasers Property Ltd (TQ5) when it dropped below $1.70. It briefly recovered but is now back under $1.70.

My portfolio is heavy on REITS and I don't own a single dedicated property counter. But it seems that property counters are currently worth a look compared to REITs, especially with the small correction due to the SG-property cooling measures.

As a dividend investor, I will look at the usual valuation metrics, the quality of the landbank etc, but in the end, I'm most interested in the dividend yield, payout ratio/dividend cover. And as is my habit, when I'm interested in a sector, I prefer not to go "all-in" on a single share but will try to build a position in a few counters. So far, the other counter that looks good is the venerable Capitaland (C31) with a dividend yield >3% and comes with the Morningstar "4-star rating". Morningstar prefers Capitaland to CityDev which suits me, because CityDev's dividend yield is too low for me.

Strategy Report: July 2018

Initiated position in HSI Tracker Funder ETF  (2800.HK). Yes, I get to hold even more HSBC (well represented in my FTSE 100 ETF as well), but this goes to show that there is a good variety of shares, from International Companies like HSBC and AIA, to HK conglomerates (CK Holdings), and various China H-shares. Holding Tencent is inevitable, but fortunately not too many tech stocks (eg: Baidu/Alibaba not included). Expense ratio at 0.15% is also lower than STI ETF's expense ratio. Dividend yield is consistently in excess of 3%, similar to STI ETF's yield.

Continuing to accumulate Aviva while it remains under £5, and topped up a few other LSE-listed shares.

Dividend Report: July 2018

Trying something new. Graph shows the 3 main currencies I collect dividends in. I also collect some A$ and now HK$ dividends, but the amount is really tiny.

Experimenting with 2 graphs. The second graph has a "total dividends in S$ line where I add everything up including A$ and HK$ converted to S$ terms"


S$26,443.31
US$4593.05
GBP2,863.61
A$611.34
HKD1,178
Approximate total in S$: $38,586.47 or $5,512.35 a month.

Notes:

Average dividend per month = total dividend collected / number of months in the year so far. Vanguard quarterly dividends reported on Jan/April/Jul/Oct