On the personal finances front, this was a really lousy month. Here’s the quick lowdown from Point 1 to 3.
1. Portfolio dropped a massive 4% ($8K dip)
If I was a true-blue market timer, I would probably be broke by now. In September 2014, I was getting jittery with the volatility in the market and promptly sold my STI ETFs which I held through the Philip Capital ShareBuilders Plan.
The market then rebounded. Argh.
Just last month, I was postulating what to do when the STI goes past the 4,000 mark. After all, my portfolio gained a massive $7K just in that month alone and STI breached the 3,500 level. With the momentum, it seemed just a matter of time.
Since then, I have lost all those gains and more. Argggh.
A letter to myself:
Dear Long-Term Investor,
Once your portfolio starts becoming meaningful (~$200K), it’s inevitable that you will experience monthly market swings that matters more than your monthly income. It’s foolish to be exuberant when market climbs and useless to be despondent when the market tanks. That’s how Mr Market behaves and if you really want to do well in your investments, you should behave the opposite.
Point taken. But still, it kinda sucks that you’re 8K poorer within a month.
2. No more DINK status (again)
After just 4 months, we are back to SINK status again. Yeah, the Mrs chose to take a breather and left her high-paying jet-setting marketing role. (Perhaps a blow-by-blow account in an upcoming guest post? 😉 )
The impact?
Instead of saving >50% of our household income, it’s probably back to 10-20%. Yeah, the stash that is recorded in this monthly updated will probably grow much slower compared to the first year. Similar to the 2nd half of 2014 when yours truly took a 6 month sabbatical.
Having f*** you money, we seem to have grown some backbones over the past year and are less likely to tolerate corporate shit, especially when that shit hits the fan.
The trade-off? A slower but more scenic journey towards FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early).
3. Less interest from OCBC 360 Account starting this month
With the Mrs forgoing her monthly paycheck, there’s 1.2% less interest on her OCBC 360 Account. Coupled with the recent changes, we are going back to one account real soon.
Enough said on this matter already.
Outcome: Drop in passive income from now till we purchase some bonds.
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Dividends received in April 15: $430
M1: $238
Dairy Farm: $192
Dividends received YTD: $1127.20
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Details of my updated portfolio are shown below.
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Stocks (As at 19th May 2015)
| Stock | Share Amt | Share Price | Valuation | Dividend | Est. Income |
| Vicom | 4,000 | $6.090 | $24,360 | $0.2250 | $900.00 |
| Kingsmen | 17,000 | $0.980 | $16,660 | $0.0400 | $680.00 |
| ST Engg | 4,000 | $3.600 | $14,400 | $0.1500 | $600.00 |
| Wilmar | 4,000 | $3.280 | $13,120 | $0.0750 | $300.00 |
| Boustead | 9,000 | $1.440 | $12,960 | $0.0700 | $630.00 |
| Spindex | 24,000 | $0.540 | $12,960 | $0.0220 | $528.00 |
| OCBC | 1,200 | $10.420 | $12,504 | $0.3600 | $432.00 |
| Semb Corp | 3,000 | $4.160 | $12,480 | $0.1600 | $480.00 |
| First Reit | 8,000 | $1.440 | $11,520 | $0.0752 | $601.60 |
| Dairy Farm | 900 | $12.370 | $11,133 | $0.3100 | $279.00 |
| PLife Reit | 4,000 | $2.370 | $9,480 | $0.1152 | $460.80 |
| SGX | 1,000 | $8.680 | $8,680 | $0.2800 | $280.00 |
| MTQ | 10,000 | $0.780 | $7,800 | $0.0440 | $440.00 |
| LKH | 10,000 | $0.745 | $7,450 | $0.0300 | $300.00 |
| M1 | 2,000 | $3.500 | $7,000 | $0.1890 | $378.00 |
| Super Grp | 4,000 | $1.245 | $4,980 | $0.0310 | $124.00 |
| Bou Proj | 2,700 | $0.945 | $2,552 | $0.0000 | $0.00 |
| Total | $190,039 | $7,413.40 |
Others (As at 19th May 2015)
| Asset | Valuation | Est. Income |
| OCBC 360 Account A | $40,000 | $400 |
| OCBC 360 Account B | $60,000 | $1,020 |
| Total | $100,000 | $1,420 |
Total Valuation = $290,039
Total Est. Annual Income = $8,833.40
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Signalling for Help: RSS Graffiti has stopped their services and is there another free service that automatically uploads newly published posts onto the My 15HWW Facebook page? Would appreciate any help as uploading it manually is a last resort for this ZERO-revenue hobby of mine.
Hi 15hww
I like the letters you wrote to yourself.
It’s a reminder to all investors out there, the plunge volatility at the size of your portfolio is now going to be bigger than your monthly income. This can be a stern test to the emotion, but I think with the letter, you’ll do fine 🙂
Hi B,
Yeah, volatility is inevitable. An outstanding month is more than likely to be balanced by a poor one. It’s just impossible to have a 3% increase EVERY month.
I do believe that understanding this and accepting it is one of the keys to successful investing.
Hi 15hww,
Wow, I’m amazed at your portfolio for a 28yo. I am only a few years behind and i only have about 15-20% of your portfolio… OMG i should work harder…
Nonetheless, it is a good thing to look at someone who has a long term prospect on stocks and is somewhere around my age. 🙂
Hi InvestingWolf,
There’s no need to be amazed as you can easily replicate or even surpass me. At your age, it’s really more about saving rather than investment returns. If you can sock away at least 20-30K every year from now on, it’s just a matter of a few years before you have a 6 digit portfolio too.
If you found the blog inspirational and because of it, take some additional action to improve your finances, then the blog would have served its purpose.
15hww : you can try https://www.networkedblogs.com
For auto-posting to Facebook and Twitter.
Hi Richard,
Thanks for your heads-up. Will check up on that link. Gam Sia!
Hello 15HWW,
Of course you have gotten over the volatility of your portfolio otherwise you wouldn’t have the presence of mind to write this post 😉
Life with options ain’t that bad is it?
But it does require backbones.
Hey! Both you and Mrs 15HWW are standing tall! And you don’t need heels! (Must admit I prefer ladies in heels though…)
Have fun!
Never let a good sabbatical go to waste!
Hi SMOL,
With a reasonable stash in the bank and the stock market, it’s sometimes hard not to exercise the “options” that we now have. It’s just too tempting at times. Especially after I tried it out and “no harm” was done.
It’s really quite sad that most of my peers do not enjoy this advantage and accept whatever is thrown to them at work.
Hi Mr 15HWW,
Love this post. It shows that we need to evolve our investment strategies to suit our lifestyle needs. Nothing is fixed in life.
That said, I have a smaller portfolio than yourself so it’s still going to be 100% index ETFs for me.
Cheers!
Hi Mickey J,
Yup. Things change.
I sold my ETFs more than half a year ago but it’s more likely than not that I will be adding some of it back soon. Such is life. =p
Even though my portfolio might be bigger, I doubt I have as many marketable skills as you.
Hope your side business and portfolio continue to do well. =)