Portfolio (Jun 2021)

It's been almost a year since I decided to resume this. I did a couple of housekeeping for my investments, in order to meet my financial goals. 

Here's the update:

1. I sold all my SG stocks - POEMS Share Builder Plan & REITs portfolio, as well as 1 HK stock I bought via FSMOne. It was a gradual liquidation over 8 months. I've moved into the US & AU market. 

Although I initially had the intention to open an account with TDA only, waiting for the application approval was so long (1.5 months) that I went with IB instead. I thought IB would be difficult for a newbie like me, but the portal is surprisingly easy to use, and the Trader Workstation software is also ok.

Oftentimes, I only buy and hold, and rarely do I sell, except for one time which I sold away JD in IB (I realised I didn't understand and like the company as much to follow their earnings call and I felt there's always this unknown which is the regulatory risk from the Chinese govt.) 

2. I also closed the unit trust funds which I invested via my advisor, as I want more exposure in stocks. I still have decades to go before I retire. Bonds are not the kind to grow wealth exponentially over time.

3. I've terminated my AIA ILP.

4. I looked to reduce my expenses, esp. those that I think are overkill for my needs e.g. my monthly subscription to my financial advisor. Now I just rely on MoneyOwl. This year, I did the Comprehensive Financial Planning review and applied for the Aviva CareShield Life supplement. 

5. The CPF-OA investment via Endowus has exceeded my expectations. Today's exactly 1 year since I put a lump sum to work. 

YTD TWR: 6.84% - effectively beating the CPF-OA 2.5% 

If you're wondering about that massive drop in the chart, I increased my allocation to stock from 60% to 80% so they have to sell away some bonds to put into stocks and the overall portfolio dipped before recovering. 

Hence, now it's 80% stocks 20% bonds. 

I know the stock market goes up over the decades, but psychologically I still wasn't able to do a 100% stock allocation. Knowing is one thing, doing it with eyes wide open is another matter. 

Nevertheless, I'm celebrating because this is a major improvement from the old me, who would only think of where's-the-best-fixed-deposit-rate in town.

I persuaded one of my close galpals to invest her CPF-OA, and even though it's not a huge sum, I'm happy for her because it's a step forward. 

Everyone has to get past and sort out his or her psychological part in investing and no one can do that for another. What we can do for one another is to encourage and offer help in the journey.

Future Plans

I hope to put out a blog post on my investment thesis for some of the companies I hold. I know if I were to do it privately, I probably won't do a proper job. Having it published publicly will help me crystalise my research and views.  

Target: 31 Jul 2021

Let's do this!