Cory Diary : Bitching my favorite again

Regulars will know I am a great fan of Malls and do not believe we will have "Amazon Experience" in metropolitan Singapore.  I started investing CMT and FCT only in 2014.  Strong malls like CMT and FCT have relatively lower yields. Six years have passed since GFC before I realised sector in the market that I have greatly misunderstood. Yes, I am a slow learner. However, is better be late than never. Total profit is Strong Five Digits returns today.

Why the article today ? Well, CMT has a large spike of 11 cent today hitting $2.57. FCT has a good day too.  This quickly bring CMT yield to-date to roughly 4.5%. If one could remember when I blogged about Yield Anchoring this could be what I am expecting of ever lower yield. Will the price go higher to the unknown since is at all time high or it will crash soon?

Took a look on the DPU and compute the yield from it. To hit $2.80 (arbitrary), CMT yield would drops to near 4%. Is this enough for "kiasi" me ? I will be happy compared to SSB or Bank Interests surely. 

What is the chance that it will crash from $2.57 ? Well, DPU has to fall. Which mean Malls Business have to fall largely. Make sense to you now ? Will you buy more instead ?

Cory

2019-0606

Cory Diary : Leapfrog your wealth

There are ways to leapfrog our wealth. Coming from below middle income family, and choosing a down-to-earth wife ( hee hee ), marriage do helps but inheritance from our families are out. Neither do our families have business acumen. So I would say today my siblings and we are above middle income. Hey, that's what makes Singapore incredible isn't it ? As long we work hard and smart, with a little luck and opportunity, we are contented.

As previously blogged, I am a "Value Saver" but I aren't frugal. I can spurt a dinner that cost few hundreds, and renovation in good 5 digits. As a value/dividend stock investor, this bring me quite a good sum to my net-worth. Of-course this won't happen fast enough if I do not have monthly salary and saving, and then equity investment.

Now, I can add that Property Investment as another option to propel. See chart below. With the mark-to-market valuation based on recent residential transactions of surrounding properties on the same development. Of-course some friends would say as long I don't sell, is only paper gain. This actually applies to my dividend stocks too. Nevertheless, Net-worth is the market value you have. 

My thinking is whether we sell it or not is subjective. Holding cash in an inflationary environment is losing money too so I rather put my money to work continuously. Unless we are doing short term speculative trade, taking profit to realize the gain is cutting our game short as a good hedge against inflation.

Property provides a strong underlying asset base so I am in the mentality of "Never Sell". It can be also be an insurance that if needed, I could use it for downgrade therefore the more I would like to hold it for long term appreciation to be meaningful.

What I find amazing from this experience is how fast the pace of  property appreciation and loan leverage can do to one's net-worth. No wonder our government needs to introduce curbs to rein them in to ensure more stable market.  As for another sharing based on my limited experience, I realised the surrounding properties about few hundred meters away do not appreciate much at all for the same period. A real example of location of property matters in value appreciation.


In summary, the list of Wealth Accumulation. 

1. Monthly Salary - Yes
2. Property Investment - Yes
3. Stock Investment - Yes
4. Marriage
5. Saving - Yes
6. Inheritance
7. Business


Cory
2019-0602

Cory Diary : Mexico tariffs - Cory Performance 2019 May

This can be viewed as a continuation of STI Volatility article here. This update unfortunately faced Mexico Tariffs on the last trading day of the month and we see adverse dip in ST Index. This also marked Sell-in-May and go away complete.

Had a few conference calls with my colleagues in preparation for China Tariffs and now have to absorb the impact of Mexico Tariffs.  Trump is keeping my brain busy. We know from day one that there will be some exodus of manufacturing out-of-China however how much and how long it takes still to be determine.

This basically boils down to what level of manufacturing is considered Not made in China. And everyone probably trying to do the minimum cut-off and finish the final product somewhere else. Asean, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Mexico probably benefits the most from this trade war in term of job creation. This may means well for Singapore as regional HQ. Hong Kong may lose out.

We do know that if we are kept long enough outside China and if deep enough, we probably won't be moving back to China. For America market, naturally Mexico will be an ideal site due to abundance labors and lands. However for supply chain eco-system to work more smoothly, proximity to China will be better.

What will be the end game will be interesting to find out. The world may never be the same again.

Bye ... baby awakes now.

Cory

2019-0601

Cory Diary : Housing Leverage

Just want to share something from my personal experience on housing.

Used to own HDB Maisonette years ago and sold it for slightly more than 100K profit only to see it go for another after. As I am often based overseas, decided to acquire a Private home later if I decide to return for good.

Here's my previous thoughts. How my thinking change over time and steps I took.

1. Link on My Home in Year 2014
This basically say how I felt about rising property prices is not helping us socially. Rising price.

2. Link on Shrinking and Integrated Property in Year 2015
With prices running above income, shrinking property size. Value of integrated property thoughts. The situation.

3. Link on Money in Gaming in Year 2015
Money is continuously shrinking. The inflation.

4. Link on Million Dollar home in Year 2017
In  Year 2013 I blogged about $1M home goal which post I have moved to draft to clean up.
However my 2017 article basically summaries. Acted.

With that, I realised that it does not make sense for me to hold Gold as property can be a good hedge against inflation.  In Year 2019 today, my value of my home has increased by 25% approximately. This is based on current similar property price on location and estate. As is only 20% down with roughly 5% expenses.  Maybe I can do a similar XIRR on the returns and it works out about 21% annually. Kind of surprise.

This explain the power of housing leverage unlike typical stock investment. The other benefit is the diversification from stock market.



Cory
2019-0531

Cory Diary : Golden Era of Reits

Throughout history when something reaches it's peak, downhill is the way to go. From Tang Dynasty to Mongol Empire. Roman to British Empire. Even in science, Quote by Isaac Newton: “What goes up must come down.” 

So question in our minds ...  Have Reits reached it peaks ?

The question will be on the questioner on why the question. When it comes, it will come.
Till it comes. Meantime .... enjoy our Golden Era. It has been 10 years already since last GFC. Whatever has been gained, easily doubled. Buffer not enough ?

Something to cheer your Tuesday.

Cory
2019-0528

Cory Diary : Dividend Report Card 2019-0526

Cory Dividend Report tracks Cumulative and Annual Dividends. 

Cumulative (Right Axis) has reached $294,000. With the rate we are going, it will only takes  3 to 4 more years to hit $500K mark and probably another 5 years to accumulate to $1M theoretically. This comes with Dividend Strategy.

For Annual Dividend perspective, accumulated $22K in 5 months. This amount only include counter that has ex-dividends in 2019. If my annual salary saving is also $22K, my saving has speed up by 100% by now isn't it ? That's the power.

However, all this is meaningless if over time which I mean portfolio value (realized and Unrealized) has decreased. So is important we track them as well as in below chart from SG Equity mainly.

One thing I did that helps with increasing portfolio size is to minimize the draw down. This provide a good boost. To manage risk, the portfolio which are mainly SG Equity is one of my future Retirement support. In addition to Pension, I also have Cash, Property, Gov securities and Fixed deposits which are growing in tandem. One thing which I agree, that we have to watch carefully is Insurance as well.



Cory

2019-0526

Cory Diary : Dividend Hat

Reits have ex-dividend just recently. And interestingly at today prices, the dividend gap has mostly closed. What ! Since when they becomes a gem... well not exactly like those miraculous speculative counters that spiked more than 20% in a day but if we are to track the trend across multi-years, Reits are like turtle but they will reach and beyond.

A few examples on just this year returns for me will be Ascendas Reit closes $2.95 (Xirr 27%), CapitaMall Trust $2.44 (Xirr 11%) and Mapletree Ind Tr $2.10 (Xirr 10%). Instead of going lower, many Reits have went up in this Trade War. 

Quote from Warren Buffett :

“Many investors get this one wrong. Even though they are going to be net buyers of stocks for many years to come, they are elated when stock prices rise and depressed when they fall. In effect, they rejoice because prices have risen for the ‘hamburgers’ they will soon be buying."

“This reaction makes no sense. Only those who will be sellers of equities in the near future should be happy at seeing stocks rise. Prospective purchasers should much prefer sinking prices.”

This is easily applied to Stable Return Equities. Investing in Strong Reits are simple. DPU and Growth. If the price go lower, is cheaper ! This is so true for investment that has stable returns. Problem is too many people has "master the art". Reits are at ever lowering yield. Does that mean is no good ? Maybe is just the Hat you want to wear. All in the mind.



Cory
2019-0525