Cory Diary : Net Worth update

Tariffs

Been more than a few months since I last post Net Worth. The current sentiment is Trump Tariffs are taking shape and it appears he has the last laugh. One by one countries bend to his negotiation teams. Unfortunately, I have yet hear news on Singapore side. My concern is the more we delay, the worst it gets as Trump will have a stronger hand the more countries conclude their deals. Sometimes bad deal is better than no deal. Will this be the case ? 1st Aug deadline running near.

Inflation

There aren't obvious inflation which in total opposite expectation of many Economists and Experts. So why they could not even measure up to a so called Clown President ? This is puzzling. Nevertheless, rate should be coming down but is not. I feel the more Fed worry, the worst it gets because it makes the dollar looks useless. Is clear Trump want a weaker dollar but this do not mean a weak dollar. And the higher yield we seen in treasury is likely because people is expecting it to be weaker therefore negating all the interests return.

Portfolio

As the meantime, we achieve ATHs in STI and S&P500. Is the most hatred recovery because it doesn't feel like one economically. Is running on the back of earlier inflation on the rate spike after-effect. What it means to all is that my net worth purchasing power has depreciated in entirety and the only one countering or mitigating it is my Equity Portfolio. And yes, the portfolio hitting ATH as well and I am not celebrating in the sense is more like a relieve. Again Saver who views money in absolute term is the biggest loser relatively because you are buying much lesser goods and services with same amount of money in just few years.

Net Worth

In absolute term, my Net Worth has moved up and run contrary to one who is in retirement and high expenses which is still being managed down. T-Bills have been coming down but appears there aren't good alternative unless I stack further up into the equity portfolio which is something I do not want to do when market keeps hitting ATHs.

What I have done is to take some profits and re-balance into defensive position to secure my current position in Equity side. At the same time looking for opportunity to increase my allocation in US Market by a few percentage more as I feel Big Techs earning power will shield me well or convince me to hold on even if there is correction. There are some cash in idle which will have 2 weeks window to decide where to go.

Property

On property investment front, I just concluded a rental contract with a higher value, This will help to improve my cash flow for year to come. The next thing to watch is my mortgage renewal. I have been enjoying low rate for years and if I have my chance the cost will not increase significantly. When I run through my numbers, after property tax, Income tax, maintenance cost, refurbishment cost and agent cost, the yield aren't that good as Equity dividend returns. However, in name of diversification, and the hope of capital gain.

No Chatgpt this time to help check my grammars and composition. Pardon me.

Cory Diary

2025-0726

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.

Cory Diary : S&P 500 Gains in 2025: Why Forex Matters

Why Your S&P 500 Investment in SGD Feels Less Rewarding Despite All-Time Highs in 2025

Introduction

If you invested 100,000 SGD in the S&P 500 at the start of 2025, you might expect a solid return by mid-year given the U.S. stock market’s strong performance and record highs. However, when you check your portfolio in Singapore dollars, the gains might feel surprisingly modest. Why is that?

This article unpacks how currency fluctuations can impact your investment returns and why, despite the S&P 500 hitting all-time highs, your SGD-denominated returns may seem disheartening.

The S&P 500’s Strong Performance in 2025

The S&P 500, a benchmark for U.S. equities, has delivered a total return (including dividends) of approximately 7.18% year-to-date (YTD) as of early July 2025. This reflects solid price appreciation and dividend income, driven by strong corporate earnings and positive economic data.

For a USD-based investor, this is an attractive return in just over half a year.

The Forex Factor: SGD vs. USD

However, as a Singapore-based investor, you need to consider the currency exchange rate because the S&P 500 is traded in U.S. dollars.

At the start of 2025, 1 SGD was worth about 0.7572 USD.

By mid-July 2025, the SGD strengthened to around 0.7808 USD.

This means the Singapore dollar appreciated roughly 3.13% against the U.S. dollar during this period.

How Forex Affects Your Returns

When your SGD strengthens against USD, your USD investments are worth less when converted back to SGD — even if the USD investment itself has gained value.

To calculate your effective return in SGD:

Start with the S&P 500’s 7.18% USD return.

Adjust for the 3.13% appreciation of SGD against USD.

The net result is an approximate 3.9% YTD return in SGD terms.

So, your initial 100,000 SGD investment would have grown to about 103,900 SGD by mid-July 2025, less than the 107,180 SGD you might expect if you ignored forex.

Why Does This Matter?

Currency movements can significantly impact international investments. Even when markets perform well, a stronger home currency can reduce your returns when converted back.

For Singapore investors, the SGD’s appreciation against the USD in 2025 has offset nearly half of the S&P 500’s gains.

Conclusion

While the U.S. stock market has hit record highs and delivered solid returns in 2025, your SGD-denominated investment’s performance is tempered by currency effects. This highlights the importance of considering forex risk in global investing.

If you’re investing internationally, it’s wise to monitor currency trends or consider hedging strategies to protect your returns.

Cory Diary

2025-0714

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.

Cory Diary : How to use XIRR (Excel )

What is XIRR?

XIRR stands for **Extended Internal Rate of Return**. It is a financial function widely used to calculate the annualized return of a series of irregular cash flows over time. Unlike the regular IRR, which assumes all cash flows are spaced equally (like monthly or annually), XIRR handles actual dates for each cash flow — making it ideal for real-world scenarios such as investments with multiple deposits and withdrawals at different points in time.

Why is it useful?

XIRR gives investors and analysts a precise way to measure the true annualized performance of an investment when contributions and redemptions do not occur at regular intervals. For example, if you invest different amounts at different dates and withdraw parts of your investment later, XIRR calculates the single annual rate of return that equates your total inflows and outflows over time.

How is it used for single and multiple stocks?

When calculating the XIRR for a **single stock**, it is common and more intuitive to **extend the end date to the end of the calendar year**. This projects the unrealized value forward to provide a comparable annualized return figure for the full year, even if you haven’t sold the stock yet.

Similarly, for a **portfolio with multiple stocks**, you track all cash flows — buys, sells, dividends — with their actual dates, then extend the final balance to a common end date, usually the year-end. This gives you an annualized return for the entire portfolio that you can compare against benchmarks or other investments.

Strong for tracking multi-year performance

One of XIRR’s biggest strengths is its ability to **combine performance across multiple years** into a single **compound annual growth rate (CAGR)**. This means that even if you hold stocks for many years with varying purchases, dividends, or partial sales along the way, XIRR shows your true annualized return over the whole period, factoring in the exact timing of every cash flow. This makes it far more realistic than simply looking at average yearly returns.

Where is it used?

XIRR is commonly used in personal investing, portfolio performance tracking, private equity, venture capital, and fund management. It is a standard function in spreadsheet tools like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, where you simply provide the actual cash flow dates and amounts to calculate your annualized return.

Example of a Single Stock

Even today is not last day 31st Dec 2025, when computing XIRR YTD, use 31st Dec 2025. In that way you will get return of more logical 1% instead of 5.3%.

Example of using Year End Date.

Cory Diary

2025-0713

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.

Cory Diary : A Portfolio Chat Turned Reflection

STI, Banks, and the Psychology of Profit: A Portfolio Chat Turned Reflection

Over the weekend, our Telegram chat lit up with reflections on the market's recent push toward the 4,000 mark — largely powered by non-banks — and the strategic return of banks to lead the charge. Some joked: “Is this the big boys’ plan? Push with non-banks first, then let banks take the wheel again?”

Behind the humor, a few truths emerged.

Banks: Bedrock of Stability

Banks remain the cornerstone of Singapore's market — net profit leaders and closely aligned with government policy. As one member put it, "Nothing will be allowed to rock them." Even amidst inflation and market jitters, they remain resilient — and attractively valued.

The Case for Regional Growth

One interesting idea floated: to really grow, SGX needs to integrate more deeply with other Southeast Asian exchanges — and allow more access to our listed giants from neighboring investors. The logic: We already have the region’s largest net income earners; let others buy in too.

Valuation, Rebalancing & Portfolio Philosophy

As portfolios hit all-time highs (ATH), some members talked about trimming exposure. One shared being over 50% allocated to DBS — not out of fear, but for balance and mental peace. “You wait until stress to rebalance? Too late liao.”

The group revisited the ever-relevant tension between max returns and quality of life. “If I wanted max returns, I wouldn’t have retired early,” said another. “Family, siblings, parents — then me.”

Rebalancing wasn’t about fear. It was about discipline and maintaining the ability to act when others panic. Or as someone quoted Buffett: “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”

Volatility: Friend or Foe?

We all love our winners. But what happens when markets fall 30–50% like during the GFC? Even Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway dropped 50% — three times. It’s not just about knowing, it’s about surviving. Having the mental stamina to click “Buy” when others are fleeing.

As one put it:

“Everyone can have education, knowledge, and experience. But without mental strength, you won’t click the button.”

Closing Thought: Leave Some on the Table

Taking profit isn’t weakness — it’s strategic. You leave some shares for others to buy. Let the stock rise further. After all, "Elon never shared much of his profits, so he gets a lot of green eyes. Google, Microsoft, Meta — their founders hold much less now."

Let others win too. It keeps the market moving forward.

Cory Diary

2025-0707

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.

Cory Diary : Portfolio Updates

The strategy for 2025 has more or less stabilized. There are a few key segments in tracked portfolio:

1. Income-Earning Stocks (Primarily Banks)

The first segment consists of income-earning stocks, mainly banks. These stocks have strong earnings and pay attractive dividends, making up more than half of the portfolio’s allocation. Currently, they are relatively cheap given the present risk levels. Whether this will change in the future depends on technological or regulatory impacts, if any.

The main position here is DBS, which has performed well so far this year. OCBC has been somewhat muted but remains a reliable dividend payer. Both positions may be reduced during rebalancing. Each time this happens, the overall dividend yield is affected, as replacements typically offer lower yields. There is a cost to this approach.

2. REITs

The second segment is REITs. While there are several REITs in the portfolio, only two have core allocations: FCT and MIT. Both are defensive and strong dividend payers. Interestingly, MIT has been offering high yields for some time. In recent rebalancing, some bank stocks were sold to increase FCT holdings, primarily to mitigate risk. While their earnings can't compete with banks, their businesses are much more stable.

3. US Big Tech

The third segment focuses primarily on US Big Tech. These companies generate substantial earnings, and I expect their stocks to consistently outperform the SGX market over the mid to long term. As mentioned earlier, this is a "peanut butter" strategy, with the latest acquisition being Apple (AAPL). Allocation to this segment has increased to over 13%, with a 15% target in mind, depending on available funding.

Within this segment, weightings vary based on the probability of success. For example, Microsoft offers consistent growth expectations, while Nvidia offers explosive, but less predictable, returns. With six stocks in this category now, I have built a solid US Tech foundation. Now, it's a matter of seeing which "horse" will race towards the inner circle!

4. Other Opportunities

The final segment is the "Other" category, which is more opportunistic and focused on trading income. Among all segments, this one will see more rebalancing and churns whenever opportunities arise. From past experience, the Big Tech segment doesn’t perform well in this trading strategy, which has driven my cost structure relatively high. Biggest winner in this category is Keppel. Poor decision is Sheng Siong which i sold off too early.

The Gold ETF is in a bottom-building phase. BABA SDR is another holding I like, as it avoids the need for currency exchange, though returns have been disappointing. Both positions are small and mainly serve diversification purposes. I am still exploring or waiting for the return of iBit.

Performance and Lessons Learned

Year-to-date, the portfolio has achieved an XIRR of 5.3%, using December 31, 2025, as the end date. The income segment remains strong, and I hope the market will be kind enough to allow additional funding for US Big Tech.

One key lesson learned is that it is not meaningful to keep large amounts of USD in the account due to currency exposure. The USD has been weakening for the past few months and is unlikely to strengthen in the near term. Therefore, it’s important to invest available funds in stocks whose price appreciation can offset currency depreciation. As a result, US Treasury and US income stocks are less logical for this portfolio. As of today, US Tech stocks, even after accounting for currency weakening, are showing solid five-digit profits.

Hope you enjoyed my sharing!

Cory Diary

2025-0705

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.

Cory Diary : Family Expenses update

To see past family expense tracking, make sure you click the expense label in Desktop mode to see all related articles. The monthly expense fluctuation can varied widely so i thought this is a better tracking measure.

The trend seems to stabilize around $120k on trailing annual basis which meet our expectation. If we could continue this same level of budget control, the trend will go towards $110k. The key controls are lesser food delivery, reduce air-con use and transportation cost.

The cost structure has potential to go back to 2 years ago level but if we are not careful it can spiral out of control again.

Cory Diary

2025-0704

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Disclaimer: The articles presented in this blog reflect personal opinions and are intended for informational and sharing purposes only. Not responsible of errors. Readers are advised to seek professional guidance when making financial decisions and should take full responsibility for their choices.