Cory Diary : Equity Allocation April Review

DBS

Did a couple of key trades recently. One of them is partial sell off of DBS which enjoyed sizeable runs up that also push up STI Index. This is after I have cleared my OCBC after a period. DBS now is less than 10% of my allocated pie in which I still have quite significant exposure. I wouldn't want to sell all because there is good possibilities that it could hit 30 with recovering market in which I am generally positive on the banks. While some other fallen counters recovered in reasonable tandem as well I view them as fundamentally much weaker. So far sale of Bank stocks are more of mitigation moves. If there is fire sales, I would be back at reasonable level. Digital Banking and Blockchain do pose a torn that we have to live with in this investment. This is traded off with potential dividend cap release which might provide a boost to dividend.

ASCENDAS REIT

Ascendas recently weakness provided some opportunity for me to push it slightly above 10%. I am happy with the current yield primarily and of course the recent DCs acquisition. This provide a new dimension or growth opportunities after KDC and then MINT. And only with the backing of strong sponsor do we get to see such opportunity. The only misgiving I have is the merger into CPL as we need to absorb the culture or management which may not be align to Ascendas past glory. So we have to see before any plan to move the allocation further up.

MINT

Continue to pile on this counter on recent weakness as well and together with Ascendas has seen some recovery in prices. Current allocation still has room for more but I won't be increasing much with recent run-up. Is in a sizeable sweet spot in my portfolio allocation above Elite, Cromwell and Aims Apac Reit which are higher yield riskier asset class.

IREIT Global

There is an update few days ago with Deutsche Telekom subsidiary.  At Münster Campus, key tenant will consolidate its operations at Münster North building from 2022 onwards with additional one year lease. Münster South building 4 floors released. The "Pain of Expansion" of footprint into Spain has reduced reliance on key tenants in Germany. Glad that this is done early and not procrastinated. That's what manager is for. We will see how the rest of properties pan out. So far has been positive and I have further increased my allocation into this Reit as their sponsors are more stable. And for the matter, this is also in AK portfolio and my ride with him on AGT feels good. 

Frasers CPT

Have been adding monthly on FCT. Quite positive on suburban mall relevancy to town design. So far their operation is nothing but impressive. Any weakness is good for collection especially in recovering Covid period. If we are to look back at this period in good economic times, the current price will be cheap.

In addition I am also looking into expanding below counters with increasing cash level to increase my current dividend theoretical max of 56k.

Namely,

Elite Commercial Reit - Waiting for opportunity to increase allocation slightly

Vicom - Review next Q report on next more. Potentially increase in allocation

Cory

2021-0402

Articles in this Blog is personal take and educational purposes only. Reader should seek their own professional help when making financial decision and be responsible for their decision.

Cory Diary : Saving and Frugality

To start in proper - Saving is the act of spending less than you earn in income, and placing the remainder into a reserve account for later use. How much ability to save ties somewhat to frugality.

Being Frugal

To me it could means minimize wastage. It can be avoiding large wastage of uneaten food. Imagine the amount of saving from uneaten food of each meal as it forms a large part of our basic cost. However, we cannot trade it over balance diet else illness may visit us which will cost a lot more. Fortunately I do not have crave for titbits and soft drinks. So on both health and saving wise, stars are aligned for me.

If we do often enough, drinking Starbuck instead of KopiTiam where the marginal utility may not be very wide for me, saving could be quite significant. Probably 3 times.  So frequency matters in this case. If it provides high satisfaction for your life, do go ahead for your daily Starbuck, while I enjoy my kopi siew tie !

There are items in home we should never brought home. Unused bulky exercise equipment. Souvenirs or tons of  fur toys that we never really appreciate when brought home. I would go as far to include massage chair. That's doesn't mean you should if it does bring you big comfort. Being frugal also means able to focus on big ticket items. If Tesla car design is what you need, while it could be luxury for some, may not be for others. Maybe we can go for Model 3 instead of X. 

To some others could be stringent control of expenses. I find this unnecessary "suffering" for myself. What we need to take is a balance approach in life before our mind get conditioned to think is ok. Some could think that's the way however I beg to differ. People who track down to tiny expenses daily, for years. Take a step back and think, are you the character type that will  spurt or time is better spend else where to grow your income unless you telling me your life is to keep track of such. I close my case.

We should still go for occasional social, cab when is not convenience to use the rail and short holidays. And no way I want to be late for work or appointment just to save on taxi fares. Being early for a meeting may put me in a better shape to kickstart my working day and further my career and therefore income. Once in a long while maybe a delayed major trip. Delay gratification helps but don't push it out too far out. What this mean is we should try to expand our life to some extend to appreciate and enjoy within reasonable budget constraints while we compound our money but not to stop us on to get better on appreciating humanity and cultures.

Things I valued is like walking out in the morning through the garden to freshen up my mind on the way to nearby kopi shop to take my breakfast. I could spend like $5 and enjoy slightly finer things in life. I know some would try to cut down to $2 or have it at home eating bread from QAF. If that's is what one preferred is ok too if that's what you enjoy to do but make sure you do ! A short chat with the stall employees and cleaner brighten up the day.

As one may remember I got a notebook recently after many years till if I find the efficiency beginning to be a drag. Is not like I am stingy to get a new one in a shorter time period but the old unit I had was a power itself for my needs till auxiliary parts start to weaken. And I decided to look for medium range value or better. 

Being excessive in saving habits or subconsciously could have unintended consequences when ones life in earth is limited. And yes we live only once ! So don't waste our life time just to skim in everything or for argument sake in most. Often we are so busy we miss out other aspect of life which form our existence in this world instead of enjoying the process of it. I was single for a long time. While people admired the freedom I had which I do have, deep down in my heart, if I could married and have kids, making like full circle, I would. But I am not going to trade it without getting the right partner. Luckily, I did but is ok if we are not as we will find different option paths of different life and my expenses rocketed. Yup, it REALLY does but I am happy. That's what matter.

Personally, the best way is to find ways to improve our earning and this could be spending more to improve ourselves, skillset and broadening our perspective in life. Looking for way to improve our value in the company and leading project to improve efficiency. Time is money too so we need to watch the fine balance between them.

I come up 2 scenarios of different people just to give us a thought in perspectives. Is not trying to convey spending beyond our means definitely or trying to achieve FI by ensuring lifestyle remains the same after salary tripled. I do not think is ok for one to do that. There is no prize saving the extra Million to beat the others when our life is limited. I am more like Scenario 1 Person 3 in the past. Now working towards Scenario 2 Person 3. Not the exact amount of salary though but you know what I mean. 

To sum up my idea using above table. Using Scenario 1 assuming varied income with same expenses. Person 3 saving is 13 times ! of person 1. This is a little extreme of higher earning but continue to maintain low expenses of one who only draw 3k years ago.

Scenario 2 is where as one income grow, we adjust our spending. Person 1 in this scenario tried many means to squeeze saving.

Scenario 1 of person 1 and Scenario 2 of Person 2 and 3 are options we could possibly choose. Lesser saving when one is earning less, by proportion. And adjusting for better lifestyle when people earns more. We still ride on larger absolute savings. That's what earning more is about, winning both ways. The Way of life.

Cory

2021-0104

Cory Diary : Historical Milestone - Net Worth

Asset Class diversification is important for peace of mind. It can be Equity, Bonds, Property, Cash, FD and diversification within like for example recently I expanded to Euro and Pound denominated Reits in Europe properties. I also developed a plan entering into US market by mini portfolio even though timing could be better. Bonds wise I have SSB Max and in the work to reduce Company Bonds for CPF.

One of the challenge will be how to Simplify my operation while achieving the Diversification needed. This means reducing errors, market volatility with poor quality assets and getting better in my investments. And therefore more time for family and work.

To combat inflation, having investment returns and also a shelter over my head when needed, I decided to invest in Property. This allows me to sold off all my gold position which serve inflation purposes. In my earlier article I have worked out the Math on why property investment is attractive due to Rental income and leverage. TDSR and ABSD have also limited over speculation so one is unlikely impacted by installment arrears. Even if one got their timing wrong, over the long term the return from rental or own stay which avoid paying rents, will likely gives property buyer a high chance in the black and probably good returns on average. 

To add for residential property, I feel is very unlikely to have EHT or Noble events that we see in stock market as long we can hold our property. Being in equity market over decades, property is certainly the easier path to go and imo for most people who can afford, within the current regulatory constraints that interesting help largely minimize the risk of default. The stock market is not a level playing field even though over the years we are getting better. Is much tougher to profit from it with many learnings needed to stay in the game even though I have profited some amount. 

Why all the write up above with the subject line. I just checked URA transactions, and PSF wise there is another increase on recent month. Is a surprise. Covid ? What Covid ? This bring my Net Worth to another magical milestone level. Interesting just yesterday, I told my wife that if I hit the Net Worth milestone, we can afford to buy another larger de-humidifier. It was a passing remark as it will be our 3rd in the home. So if we going to get it, and the stock market doesn't look like will push it that far in the next month or so, it could be far fetched. Looks like is not far enough ....

Cheers

Cory

2021-0331

Articles in this Blog is personal take and educational purposes only. Reader should seek their own professional help when making financial decision and be responsible for their decision.