A rising tide lifts all boats.
As the STI Index soars past the 3,500 mark, there’s finally some good feelings about the stock markets again. 3 months to half a year ago, it seemed that those who were not vested in the US markets didn’t catch the tide. But with the Shanghai and Hong Kong markets gaining >20% during the past few months, many investors here are reaping benefits directly or indirectly, including yours truly.
Even with MTQ on board dragging down the performance, the stock portfolio still managed to gain ~$7,000 in value during the past month, which translates to something close to a 4% gain.
Wow! That’s more than two months of my current salary. Easy money ,eh?
Nah. It’s good to be prudent/humble and remember that what the market gives, it can easily take away too in double quick time. The good feelings have not really filtered down to the general population but if STI approaches the 4,000 mark by the end of this year and the neighbour next door advises you to open a brokerage account, it might be time to take some cover, and not get caught naked when the tide goes out.
On another note, I am pretty sad to hear of news that OCBC 360 has reduced its current benefits. I always knew it was too good to ever be permanent. Just like the black crop on my head. *sigh*
More about it in a separate post after OCBC comes clean with its “two new bonus interest categories”. I highly doubt that it’s easy to qualify for the both of them. Urrgh…
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Dividends received in March 15: $0
Dividends received YTD: $697.20
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Details of my updated portfolio are shown below.
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Stocks (As at 15th April 2015)
| Stock | Share Amt | Share Price | Valuation | Dividend | Est. Income |
| Vicom | 4,000 | $6.730 | $26,920 | $0.2250 | $900.00 |
| Kingsmen | 17,000 | $1.000 | $17,000 | $0.0400 | $680.00 |
| Boustead | 9,000 | $1.715 | $15,435 | $0.0700 | $630.00 |
| ST Engg | 4,000 | $3.770 | $15,080 | $0.1500 | $600.00 |
| Semb Corp | 3,000 | $4.720 | $14,160 | $0.1600 | $480.00 |
| Wilmar | 4,000 | $3.270 | $13,080 | $0.0750 | $300.00 |
| OCBC | 1,200 | $10.860 | $13,032 | $0.3600 | $432.00 |
| Spindex | 24,000 | $0.525 | $12,600 | $0.0220 | $528.00 |
| Dairy Farm | 900 | $12.800 | $11,520 | $0.3100 | $279.00 |
| First Reit | 8,000 | $1.430 | $11,440 | $0.0752 | $601.60 |
| PLife Reit | 4,000 | $2.450 | $9,800 | $0.1152 | $460.80 |
| SGX | 1,000 | $8.590 | $8,590 | $0.2800 | $280.00 |
| MTQ | 10,000 | $0.810 | $8,100 | $0.0440 | $440.00 |
| M1 | 2,000 | $3.890 | $7,780 | $0.1890 | $378.00 |
| LKH | 10,000 | $0.750 | $7,500 | $0.0300 | $300.00 |
| Super Grp | 4,000 | $1.510 | $6,040 | $0.0310 | $124.00 |
| Total | $198,077 | $7,413.40 |
Others (As at 15th April 2015)
| Asset | Valuation | Est. Income |
| OCBC 360 Account A | $50,000 | $1,500 |
| OCBC 360 Account B | $45,000 | $900 |
| Total | $95,000 | $2,400 |
Total Valuation = $293,077
Total Est. Annual Income = $9,813.40
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Hi 15hww
On your way there to the big 300k 🙂
Were you planning to divest any of your stocks in the portfolio?
Hi B,
Actually, if we had included saving deposits from other accounts, we would have exceeded $300k by some margin. =p
With regards to selling, not at this moment. STI at 3,500 is not exactly frothy valuations (take into account inflation for past decade) but I would also say that most stocks can’t be described as “cheap” at this moment.
As savings have not been deployed into investments for almost half a year already, close to 40% of our assets are in cash and I am pretty comfortable with this ratio right now. But well, circumstances do change so never say never.
1. Dairy Farm is traded in US$, & dividend issued in US$. Is your figures in USD or SGD?
2. Do you find the growth and yield still attractive?
Hi snowcap,
The figures are in SGD and I used the prevailing exchange rate to convert it.
The yield is not exactly attractive at the moment and I do not expect the stellar growth of the past two decades to continue at the same rate. Nonetheless, I like its defensive business model and believe it should perform above average in the long run.