1.325 time to long US$?

Bought USD at 1.3257 and parked the cash in short-term bond funds. I feel that at this level, one can long US$, collect some interest/dividend, and expect some forex appreciation as a bonus. At least, the risk of further downside is not that much, thanks to Singapore's 'managed float' of the S$.

While UK US Bonds ETFs have no withholding tax, the liquidity/trading volume/expense ratio/spread of the US-listed ETFs are a lot higher and might still be preferable if the intention is to park cash.

I parked the US$ in the US-listed VCSH and the equivalent UK listed VDUC. Both are Vanguard short term US$ Corporate bond ETFs. Maybe the best way to find out which is the better option is to just hold both.

June 2021 Strategy

 

Just when I thought I would start transferring 10k a month into Singlife until I hit $100k (due to the 1.0% interest for $100k), Singlife has changed the interest rate to 0.5%. I guess I should close the Singlife account soon. 

As I have finished refunding my CPF Housing, I am running out of good places to park my spare cash/warchest.  

I think May is the first time in recent history that I had not bought anything in an entire month from IBKR. Usually I generate the monthly IBKR activity report, but this is the first time I've seen an error message from IBKR because there was no activity the whole month (had to generate the MTM report instead to see my portfolio movements).

However, I added 2801.HK RSP to my existing 2800.HK RSP. I've also been doing my own regular DCA of world ETFs via SCB. My main world ETF is WQDV but I've also been buying VHYD and also recently added VWRD. 

I will be getting a fair bit of cash back from the delisting of Vanguard HK ETFs so I also need to figure out where to deploy the cash.

Dividends: May 2021

 

The good news for May 2021 is that Lloyds and Santander started paying dividends again, though obviously at a lower rate than before COVID19.

I'm on track to achieve or exceed slightly my target for 2021 dividends to recover to 2019 levels. 

After that, I hope for dividends to grow more in 2022 and reach the "Financial Independence" level which is passive income > current standard of living.