Reflecting on $21k passive income

 

44.8% increase????

2024 has been an extraordinary year. Apart from the US markets hitting all time highs every week, there appear to have been record dividend payouts. I found 44%+ hard to believe so I have been rechecking my spreadsheets and the figures were correct. In quite a few months, I was receiving $30k+ dividends, with some months being quieter. So on average, $21k passive income sounds about right.

I seriously doubt 2025 will be as good and probably close to zero chance I will repeat a 44% increase in dividends.  I have also recently deployed my free cash into US stocks where dividend isn't much of a factor just to learn more about buying and selling US stocks.Knowing my luck, there is probably going to be a market correction. 😁

While the extra money is nice, I think I have reached steady state in my spending, having increased it a bit in 2023 and a bit more in 2024. So I don't forsee my spending increasing further for 2025 except to keep pace with inflation.

Finally, since health is wealth, I have done an infographic of my VO2Max Progress. Good to be in the top 10% of health and fitness and also top 10% of dividends collected. However, VO2Max is limited by genetics (and also by the fact that I have a full-time job and don't train that much), so I don't expect further progress in 2025. Maintaining my fitness and avoiding injury is my main 2025 target.

Happy New Year to all!

Dividends Collected: Dec 2024

 

I thought not many companies are paying out dividends in December but I overlooked that Vanguard ETF dividends are paid out in December and I got a lot of those. Shell also paid this month, so total about $20k this month. 

To calculate my total passive income, I will add my CPF interest, because I count CPF and because I have reached the "young senior category" so its a matter of time before I can access CPF.

2024 Approximate portfolio performance

 

While its easy to check my Interactive Brokers portfolio performance because of its built-in measurement tools, its not so easy to track the performance of my Singapore and HK/China stocks because Standard Chartered and FSMOne don't have YTD returns.

So as an approximate proxy, I calculated the YTD performance (29 Dec 23 closing price to 27 Dec 24 closing price with dividends included) of my 6 largest Singapore counters (STI ETF and OCBC added together are larger than the other 4 combined), and also my HK/China ETF position. For Singtel, the position size has been reduced as I managed to exit a portion at $3.33 (its currently $3.10), which means my "realised" return is slightly higher. 

This sort of acts as a proxy for my SG portfolio though of course I have smaller holdings in various other counters, including Fraser's Logistics Trust which I have been accumulating throughout 2024 and currently losing money on it.

As for my Interactive Brokers Portfolio, which is basically my LSE-listed stocks and ETFs and some US stuff, I have again underperformed the S&P500 massively. My "excuse" is that I have been buying mainly Vanguard World which has 'only' 50-60% USA and slowed down my buying of S&P500 ETF because I wanted more diversification. However, I realise it could have been worse if I didn't have any US exposure at all and simply bought SG-REITs.

Under Armour (Buy after Crash)

 

Staying true to the name of his blog, I bought Under Armour @ 7.72 after it crashed last week. Since I am holding NKE, I am of course tracking the competitors such as UA, ONON and LULU, but previously still found NKE the most compelling buy. My view can (and should) change if there are sharp price changes which is what happened with UA. 

While I am short-term trading this, I wish UA well and here are my suggestions:

• Their announcement that they want to become a more 'premium' brand will probably work, especially in their apparel lines. There is a demand for "pro" or "performance" apparel lines that are one level above the entry level athletic apparel. 
• UA is so far behind in shoes I'm not sure if it wants to throw money into R&D to challenge the big guns in road & track running shoes. However, trail running shoes are a possibility because trail is not only about absolute speed (which requires a lot of R&D), but about protection, stability, comfort, and weather resistance. Premium trail running apparel is also a possibility. Nike ACG as a sub-brand hasn't honestly made much inroads and they are not a big sponsor presence for Golden Trails / UTMB.

Returning to my other US holdings NKE, MCD, and LLY, they are all green but the stock market is flatlining. On a valuation basis, I will continue to hold them. I even got some dividends from NKE but because of the 30% withholding tax, one doesn't buy US stocks for the dividend.

Amundi Index MSCI World S$ fund on POEMS

 The hot topic in the forums is "MoneyOwl by Temasek Trust" offering Amundi Index MSCI World S$ (as well the Amundi Global Bond and Amundi Emerging markets) via the POEMs platform. While it looks like a mouthful of jargon, the announcement is significant as it amounts to an undercutting of Endowus, Syfe, FSMOne, etc etc.

The key features of the MSCI World fund are the S$ denomination, so you don't have to change between S$ and US$ at unfavourable rates (obviously the fund manager has to change your S$ to buy the shares but one assumes they have better rates) and the 0.10% expense ratio. For reference, iShares MSCI World ETF IWDA has a 0.20% expense ratio and is denominated in US$, so you have to pay forex charges to switch into US$.

I have advised some (less IT and financially savvy) relatives to use their Poems to buy Lion Global All Seasons fund (0.48% expense ratio) which is relatively low cost, S$ denominated balanced fund that fortunately holds S&P500 so it benefited from the never-ending US market rally.  But I will be asking them to switch to Amundi.

I have a POEMS account as well so I will dump some money into their cash management account and set up an RSP to deduct from the cash management account. This is ideal for me as I was getting worried my IBKR account size was getting too large and I was looking for a good low cost alternative (SCB is my no.2 account, but it is not low cost because of the high forex charges).

[9/12 update]  Do note that the prospectus lists two funds: Amundi index MSCI World (direct replication) and Amundi MSCI World (synthetic).  The fund sold by Poems is Amundi Index MSCI World which is direct replication, so I have amended the title since the word 'index' makes all the difference.

[11/12 update] The POEMS RSP bug is fixed and the sales charge for RSP is 0% as it should be. Also it should be noted that since the fund is domiciled in Luxembourg and is direct replication, it does not receive favourable US withholding tax treatment that Ireland domiciled UCITS funds receive. However, for many, the upsides of this fund will outweigh the downsides.

Year-end Health & Fitness Report 2024

 

As I mentioned during in June, I will issue my investment portfolio report together with a "health report", since "health is wealth." One should not try to increase monetary wealth if it causes health and fitness to decline. 

I am pleased to note that I am on track with my fitness goals. I have no plans to aim for a VO2Max increase to elite (top 5%) levels as that might result in overtraining and injury.  Instead, I will just do what I am doing now, and we'll see where that takes me. I'm also happy to report that I managed to lose a little bit of weight since June 2024 and my BMI continues to be in the healthy range and a little further from the 23.0 overweight zone.

One thing that I have learnt in my current health journey is that the negativity surrounding ultra processed foods is totally justified. If you are going to spend money on health & fitness, you don't have to spend it on expensive and unnecessary gym memberships. Instead, you should purchase & consume whole foods with as little processing as possible.

Unfortunately for fitness enthusiasts, a lot of protein supplements fall into the borderline ultra-processed category, so if you can eat sashimi instead of a protein bar, that may well be better (Salmon sashimi is cheaper and has lower mercury content than tuna sashimi by the way - so I save my tuna sashimi consumption for my Japan holidays...) 

Year-end Portfolio Update 2024

 

This is my semi-annual portfolio update. As I am trying to reduce the number of counters that I hold, I do not expect many more additions to the list. I might possibly want to accumulate more Legal & General. Singtel has dropped to the medium category because I sold some at 3.33. If it drops below $3, I don't mind buying some more though. 

The HK market had a bit of a rally in 2024 and together with my regular RSP, 2800.HK has moved back to the large category.

My Gold Bars having finally moved into the medium category (based on spot price rather than bar resale price). I haven't bought gold for maybe 7-8 years, so this is just the result of gentle price appreciation. Finally Nike is something I have bought for short-term trading, but since I am a fan of Nike apparel, it is something that I may be buying and selling frequently in the course of the year.

Financial Independence & Term Insurance

 

There was a discussion in the forums about Term Insurance with one user "complaining" that the premiums increased significantly past age 62. Actually the premiums usually increase every 5 years by quite a bit, so by the time you hit age 60+, the premiums may more than tripled versus age 40.

The usual response is that at age 62, you should not have any more dependents who need to be 'protected' against your untimely death or TPD.

I have a term policy and since I have set up GIRO payment the premiums get auto-deducted so I haven't paid much attention to it.

But now, after thinking about it, it really seems that Term insurance is not particularly important to me now that I am financially independent with a steady stream of passive income. Furthermore, my cash and cash equivalent holdings exceed my term insurance coverage by quite a bit.  

I'll think about it some more, but I should set myself a to-do list to discontinue my term plan within the next few years.  After a few years, my passive income should have grown even further (and so will the cash-equivalent holdings), which means there is even less reason to have a term policy

Dividends Collected: Nov 2024

 

$200k reached for 2024. December is usually a quiet month so this is more or less the final amount plus or minus a couple of thousand.