My Stock Report Card for Jan- Aug 2020
US Stocks
SG Stocks
Total Passive Income Collected Between Jan – Aug 2020 : SGD 19,558.71
Total Profit / Loss from Sales of Stocks between Jan – Aug 2020 : SGD 0
Stocks added between Jan – Aug 2020 : Xiaomi
$2 Million Profit ???
My goodness! I can’t believe I am counting down to $2 million profit for my USD portfolio. $128K more to go. Fingers crossed !!!.
Apple of my eye
Apple is doing a 4-to-1 shares split on 31st August, 24th August is the record date so I thought I should log down this interesting moment for easy future reference. I was involved in the last 7-to-1 split in 2014 but didn’t experience this kind of euphoria in the market. Everyone is rushing to buy up Apple and Tesla shares before the split, it’s bizarre.
I came across this YouTube channel that actually runs though a pretty decent analysis of the recent financials of Apple Stock. I get many questions with regards to how to analyse a financial statement, this channel might be a good start for you.
Fascinating Xiaomi
I am always intrigued by startup stories. This is a good one from Xiaomi where the founder shared their 10 year journey. I used to think that they are just an Apple copycat and couldn’t quite get why they have built up such a huge fandom, you might be able to appreciate them better after this. I am still not sure whether sticking to a 5% margins commitment to the public is a good business strategy but to quote what the Chinese would say “牛！”.
SG portfolio nightmare
Not all is great ! My Singapore portfolio is giving me a headache lately due to Keppel and Sabanna. I was pleasantly surprised when it managed to maintain green between March – May. If you are a beginner in REITS, you have to check out the history of Sabanna to understand all the traps you should avoid when buying REITS. This is an expensive lesson that I’ve learnt :-/. OUCH.
What I have been listening lately :
Lately, I have been discovering new songs via TikTok. Never quite understood the hype with Billie, now I do :-).
Backtesting ?
In our blogosphere, a brave entrepreneur, Ivann Fok started a fintech site (https://pyinvesting.com) to help investors do fundamental backtesting. I’ve never tried backtesting in my life but would definitely be keen to try it out when I have time. A shoutout to Ivann, when you go IPO, don’t forget me :). Disclaimer, I do not know Ivann personally so this is not an endorsement nor a sponsored ad.
Till next time, stay safe, healthy and happy !
hi Lady! What is your investment approach for US/HK markets? Do you buy hold long term regardless or whether a stock is cheap or expensive? Do you make it a point to buy more during crashes/corrections?
Also what is that platform that you are using to display the portfolio?
Hi Bigfansince2015,
My investment approach for US/HK market is based on whether I see value or potential in a business. I typically buy long term at a discounted price (hopefully) and exit when I lose conviction of the business. I am using DBS Vickers for management of my portfolio.
thank you for sharing! I have a lot of respect for your discipline in being able to hold long term and riding through various crises. Those entry price on tech stocks are so crazy right now when you look back on them!
Sorry I actually meant the portfolio view that u are displaying now, it is very clean, is there a software for it?
Hi Bigfansince2015,
Thanks for your kind words. It’s a portfolio screenshot from the Vickers trading platform :). No other software for it.
Thanks for the shout out! Haha if I’m lucky enough to IPO I’ll definitely remember you ^^
I am inspired! Looks like the USA market is much more attractive as compared to the SG market.
Working out my small portfolio in the SG and HK market for now.
https://toc.net/portfolio/
Hi Lyndon,
Thanks for sharing. All the best in your investment, let’s learn from one another.
Do you know if your balance held at DBS Vickers qualifies you for DBS treasures (private client)?
Hi Alex,
The accounts are not linked based on my understanding.
Hi! Is it possible if you do a small post/comment on what are the red flags for sabana?
Hi Clarencr,
It will need to be a long post. Plan to write about it after this saga completes.
Here’s a very high level summary of the saga the last time.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/lessons-from-the-sabana-reit-saga
The recent saga is still work in progress.
https://www.theedgesingapore.com/news/reits/quarz-capital-and-other-sabana-reit-unitholders-pen-letter-mas-sgx-regco-severe-conflict
Hi Lady,
Once again congratulations!!! Can you share about your views on using cpf fir investments? Thanks!
Hi Lynn,
Using CPF for investments is fine as long as you are confident you can achieve better performance than what the interest rate is given to you by CPF.
Hi Lady,
Amazing blog post as always.
With the recent US stock market climate being divorced from the real economy, what do you think of Airbnb’s IPO? Will you be interested in nibbling at it during the IPO or later when the trading starts?
Hi Robin,
Good question. I am not sure whether the Airbnb’s model will still work well after the pandemic to be honest as hygiene becomes a criteria until a vaccine is developed and is concluded stable. I may just observe them before I decide. There is another IPO in the east that is a better bet than this. But that is just my 2 cents. You should ignore me :).
Hi Lady,
I bet you are looking at the Ant finance as well. 😀
Hi Kai,
Hahaha :).
Hi Lady,
Your thoughts and conversations have always been intriguing, interesting and more importantly convincing. How to ignore you? 🙂 If we are talking about the same IPO in the east, then it have not been missed.
Ant is an interesting creature. Able to hold many times its own weight, industrious and have gathered much resources for its mother hive. The tiny Ant is really an elephant now. But the mother hive of wasps opposite have been making tonnes of noise and waving hands about. As the kid holding his magnifying glass, I cannot help but wonder if its all smoke and mirror or is there something real hidden inside all that.
I would like to ask you another question, if I may. Your newly bought Xiaomi, is it a long position for you?
Best regards,
Robin
Hi Robin,
Sounds like you have some concerns about Ant. Care to share?
Xiaomi is a “bet” position for IOT. Long term or not, not sure.
Hey Robin,
Like to hear about it as well…
There is another IPO in West that interesting which is Unity. Still a money losing biz but tons of projects relied on it to deliver simulations and graphic experience. Like your autonomous vehicle companies, games and engineering firms.
Hi Kai,
Unfortunately, I am not very well-versed in the domains of gaming. I read that most of the gaming companies e.g TENCENT, NINTENDO uses their technology / platform to develop their AR/VR games. It’s too niche of a market for me. If you have insights to share, please do share it here, as there might be other readers who may be interested to jump on it.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/24/unitys-ipo-numbers-look-pretty-unreal/
https://investgame.net/news/unity-plans-to-raise-100m-through-ipo
Hi Lady,
Basically, in the world of graphic simulations, there are a few camps.The most prominent being Unreal engine and Unity. Currently, what we are seeing these products being applied to games there is a future play in terms of licensing the technology to actual industry.
For instance,
– You may want to simulate flight paths of a drone deliveries network (Actual physics)
– Training your AI to navigate city traffic (autonomous vehicle)
– Training for surgeons on actual surgery theaters
– Urban planning
By the way, Unity is also easily integrated to work with current WebGL 2.0 platform for web browsers. We can certainly see more by-products for product display and simulations especially for E-retailers.
-Perhaps you might want to try on those glasses before buying? (AR/VR)
Hi Kai,
Thanks for the great insight. I saw quite many AR/VR demos last year at the Industrial Transformation APAC Hannover Messe event. Agree that if Unity could expand their portfolio to push forward their industry bundle, that would make their IPO look more interesting. However, the narratives I am getting from most of the articles I see about Unity is narrowly focused on gaming instead of the bigger potential. Usually such narratives are driven by Unity and their investors if an IPO is near. Well, who knows, maybe that’s how you spot jewels before other people sees it’s potential.
One more question, between Unreal & Unity, who has a better edge?
PS. BTW Kai, here’s a YouTube who is a fan of Unity IPO too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kwyrI-oNXI
Lady,
Congratulations, marching towards 2 million after yesterday’s stock split! Following your progress and wishing you all the best, always.
Thanks Jackie !
Hi Lady,
The US tech stocks keep hitting ATH. Do you think it is sustainable or we are just waiting for the bubble to burst? Will you be taking some profit off the table first or you will continue to hold on to your US stocks whereby you will sell when there is fundamental change in the business?
Hi Eric,
Don’t think it’s sustainable. Will definitely be a correction at some point in time. Whether I will be taking some profits off the table, sigh..I am thinking about this every day :-/
Hi Lady, I love your website! It inspires me to learn more about investing and aim to achieve financial independence. Can I ask what are your views on keppel corp currently? Will you be holding or selling the shares?
Hi Elise,
Thanks for the kind note. I look forward to learning and sharing with you in the domains of investment. Always happy to have another lady to join the conversation. To be honest, I am losing patience with Keppel. However, I will not be selling at this point.
You investment in APPL is giving you Magical Return. Congratulation.
Hi Cory,
Let’s see. Hopefully Softbank whale doesn’t ruin it. BTW, I really admire your discipline in investment.
Hi lady
Do u have tep by step guide or books/websites to recommend when we want to analyse a company business model ?
How do we know the business model well if we are not in the industry ourselves?
Hi Reddy,
There are many courses and books out there that teaches fundamental analysis or how to read financial statements.
If you are not in the industry yourself, google is your best friend or get in touch with friends and network who are in the industry to get insights.
Hi Lady,
May I know What your plans are on the capital gains you have achieved from your stocks? My point is that capital gains may not add to your passive income for financial freedom. Are there plans to eventually sell and lock in all capital gains and dump them into REITs or other dividend yielding stocks? Or sell them and slowly draw down on the capital? Thanks a lot for your advice. Cos personally I have no idea what I would do with such high capital gains while still stuck in a job which I hate.
Hi Jax,
I don’t need to monetise my current capital gains in order to achieve financial freedom to be honest. The current dividends that I am getting and my savings is more than sufficient for me to live comfortably without work. The reason I work is not so much to survive but more towards fulfilment. Have you ever wondered why the billionaires still work so hard despite having earned a billion dollars e.g. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerburg etc. ? Basically, when you’ve reached that “financial freedom” number, you would be asking yourself, what’s next? You can’t be sitting around doing nothing for the next 40 years. Some people might say that they will travel around the world, eat in expensive restaurants, go shopping, have high tea etc. Trust me, after you’ve done that for 1-3 years, you will get really bored and will start looking for “work”.
Thanks for your reply lady. Keep up the good work!
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Hi Lady, I was wondering if you could shed some light on your portfolio construction, Eg are u all into US n SG equities only? Do u diversify into other asset classes like bonds, gold or some of the emerging classes like cryptocurrency etc? Thanks so much!
Dear Emika,
My portfolio is mainly equities. No gold, bonds nor crypto. Hope this helps.
Hi Lady,
Always love to read your sharing. Can i check what is your portfolio composition like? Besides US and SG equities do you hold/invest in any other instruments? e.g. bonds, gold, cryptocurrencies etc? Thank you!
Hi Emika,
My portfolio is mainly equities. Hope this helps.
Hi lady, may I know if u derive most of ur dividends from the sg stocks or US stocks? Do u just accept the 30 percent withholding tax on Dividends from uS stocks?
Hi Jax,
I derive most of my dividends from Sg stocks. My focus when shortlisting US stocks are for growth purposes, if they come with dividends, it’s a bonus for me. I have no choice but to accept the 30 percent withholding tax.
If your focus is on US growth companies, then it’s still better to be a Singaporean & get hit with 30% dividend WHT, then to be an American or green card holder & be hit with capital gains tax on price appreciation when selling AND income tax on dividends. 😉
Over the last 20 years, price appreciation has accounted for the much bigger portion of total returns, and the trend has been for US companies to do more share buybacks than increase dividends.
Even Warren Buffett has been spending tens of billions to buy back Berkshire shares rather than give a single cent of dividend, due to his pathological believe that dividends are very tax inefficient & that good mgmt’s role is to make better use of its cash.
Hi Sinkie,
Thanks for the insight :).
Hi Lady
is there a way to avoid estate duty tax from holding us stocks ? understand anything beyond US$60,000 will be taxed.
Hi Alice,
Never heard of this estate duty tax. Your broker typically will get you to sign this form, then you shouldn’t need to pay for capital gain tax. However, the 30% tax on dividend is still applicable. https://www.dbs.com.sg/iwov-resources/vickers/en/pdf/W8B(SG).pdf. Hope this helps.
Hi Lady,
Estate duty tax is applied when the share owner deceased while holding onto US stocks. This tax also applies to foreigners. The tax range from 18% to 40%.
Anyways all of us should feel glad paying them as we benefited quite substantially from 0% tax on capital gain.
Kai
Hi Kai,
Thanks for sharing. I’m single so what happens after my death. I don’t really care :).
Hi Lady,
What do you think of SPLK recent dropped? Do you think the business is still strong?
Hi Jane,
I still think they are a strong player although their recent earnings performance is lacklustre. Will need to monitor for a couple more quarters to see where are their gaps. Cheers
Hi! I rly enjoy reading your posts!
How do you decide the appropriate allocation between US marketd and SG markets? I’ve just started working early Aug and have been actively pouring money into both markets.
My current allocation is very very heavily weighted into the US markets. At the same time, I have been fervently pouring into safe, mid-high yields, reits and sgx stocks that consistently deliver solid dividends.
My total net worth is around 50% in cash and 50% in stocks (abit more due to capital gains from my US holdings).
Any recommendations as a person just starting work?
Thank you!
Hi Andrew,
Glad you enjoyed reading my posts. I don’t really have a formula in terms of allocation between US and SG markets. If you trace through my history aka my blog is actually arranged in a time scaled manner. Previously, I was heavily invested in Singapore for dividends, however, I changed my strategy after noticing that the Singapore economy is not growing and that our blue chips seemed to be struggling to transformed themselves and their business are being disrupted. Thus, parking in blue chips like the good old days is no longer a valid strategy. Although I do invest in REITS, there are many lessons to be learnt in Reits. I find it to be a relatively difficult instrument to play with. Thus, I decided to focus on US and China instead. My recommendations for a person who just started working, keep investing and learning. Go to all the investment courses out there, learn to identify scams vs value. Don’t leverage. When someone tells you it’s easy to make money by trading. Run :). Hope this helps.
Hi Lady, may I know if you still work full-time?
Also, I started sharing my journey to financial independence here and will like to hear your comments, if any:
http://financeopti.blogspot.com/
Hi financeopti,
Yes. I still work full time. Will definitely check out your blog. Welcome to the community !
Hi Lady,
You are such an inspiration! Wish I had seen this blog of yours years ago!
Hi Bobo,
Thanks for your kind words.
Hi Lady,
Congrats! Bet you’ve way crossed the 2 mil profit mark by now 🙂
Wondering if you’re pretty much sitting tight on your portfolio & any thoughts on the tech to reopening rotation?
Cheers
Hi Sinkie,
Thanks ! Still sitting tight.
Chance upon this great post recently. Wondering why have you stop updating 😞 Any plan to continue?
Hi InvestingHedgeHog,
I am sorry. I am alittle caught up in life. Will update once I am more settled. Stay tuned 🙂 and stay safe, happy and healthy
Hi Lady, what kind of broker do you use for trading for Non SGX stocks? I know you use DBS Vickers for portfolio management purpose only.
Hi Kid,
I don’t use a broker. DBS vickers automatically assigns a broker to you when you create an account. But I hardly call them unless I need to sell odd lots as the online system doesn’t allow me to.
Hi Lady,
sorry for the confusion for the way I asked. Actually I have a few more questions.
1) What kind of brokerage account (like DBS vickers) do you use for buying and holding Non SGX stocks (like US ones)?
2) The reason is I used DBS vickers to buy UK stock and have to pay 2$ custodian fee per counter for every month. As you have a lot of foreign stocks, I like to know whether you still use DBS vickers and still paying those fees OR transfer to a cheaper one?
3) If you have transferred foreign stocks from DBS vickers to a cheaper one before, please let me know roughly how much does it cost? I read FAQ for DBS vickers and stated that 50$ per counter + out of pocket fees. I like to have estimated understanding of how much “out of pocket fees” mean?
Thanks ahead Lady.
Hi Kid, see answers below. Hope this helps.
1) DBS vickers
2) I pay a custodian fee every quarter but it’s less than 150 bucks, so to me it’s quite negligible.
3) Sorry, have never transferred before, suggest you call up DBS vickers customer care hotline to clarify.
Hi Lady! It’s been awhile since I was back in this lovely blog. Hope you’re staying safe and well!
It’s been quite a ride with China stock, not just the tech side but also across healthcare and other major resilient sectors.
Wondering if you have dipped your toes in and added some stocks?
Would be great to hear your approach and your views on China for the near to mid term.
Thanks! 🙂
Hi Robin,
Safe and well thank you. Grandpa Xi’s “common prosperity” initiative is really rocking the market. I did dipped my toes to pick up some bargains but I have always been cautious about China since day 1 coz it’s not an easy market to invest in considering the regulatory, interesting accounting practices and lack of deep insights (the western media don’t understand china and the china news in china are too regulated). Thus you may notice china is only a relatively small proportion of my portfolio.
Ahh I see. I thought you would dip your toes in and you did 😉 Now I wonder if you had bought in more of your existing positions or bought new counters or both. Hope you can update your portfolio soon.
I have done both. And it has not been an easy decision to make considering the fact that we are in Singapore and I find that a number of SGreans are very westernized. And our online space can be unfairly biased.
You are absolutely right on the money regarding western media and news in China being too regulated. So besides the major news outlets from both camps I also follow Mainland Chinese social medias that took the trouble to get over the firewall. Caveat is your mandarin reading skills must be great and there are a ton of noise to filter out.
Cheers 🙂
Hi Robin,
Wow. you know me so well :). Would appreciate if you can share the china resources that you go to for insights. There’s so much censorship internally, you might not be able to read the real reason behind unless you lim kopi with the locals. In any case, you might enjoy this https://www.facebook.com/Juhuaxianet/videos/560553778628112/?extid=NS-UNK-UNK-UNK-IOS_GK0T-GK1C
Thank you so much lady.. I really appreciate that 🙂
hi where is ur current portfolio
Hi asdasd,
Let me try to do an update soon.
I’m an ardent fan of yours that’s why 🙂 Despite the crackdown, many investors can see that there are a number of critical fundamentals that have not change.
Some brief musings..
From earnings standpoint, tech companies like JD, BABA, Huya, Tencent, healthcare sector and certain finance companies have all done well and on track to grow further.
From valuation standpoint, they are too juicy to ignore!
From geopolitical standpoint, China is in the midst of a trade war with US and also in the middle of their most ambitious project ever One Belt One Road. China NEEDS those companies that she is cracking down in order to survive and to win. It will be senseless to destroy 40 years of progress since Deng Xiaoping, just to spread ideology.
From cultural standpoint, I use a parenting analogy. In Asia parents will smack their kids if they’re out of line, in the west, people will be horrified! But 虎毒不食子, our parents might smack us but at night they will still put dinner on the table. The west will never understand this. They have forgotten the fact that just rewind a few hundred years back, China have gotten used to 5000 years of top-down imperial rule.
From macro environment standpoint, China’s economy is still growing. The domestic market is 1.4B strong. The overseas ethnic Chinese markets are billions more. While it is aging and declining in birthrate, in the near and mid term, it does not change the fact that it is still extremely lucrative.
That’s an interesting video indeed. Nationalistic medias have been bashing him ever since he criticized the CCP during the 2020 Bund Summit.
I follow my china friends and stock influencer accounts on xiaohongshu, douyin and weibo. It’s unorthodox but interestingly you do get some news before the market reacts. E.g. vitasoy was buzzing around before the selloff in market. But warning, there’s A LOT of noise!.
Hi Robin,
Thanks for the insight and sharing. I’m actually a little disappointed with the way Grandpa Xi executed this. I was hoping that these tech companies could expand beyond the Great Wall as they are so creative and innovative in their offerings and business models. He could have used them to speed up his One Belt One Road ambition. I guess maybe the stability of China takes priorities over expansion at this point in time from a political standpoint.
Hi Lady,
I am inclined to feel the same way. Guess we will never know unless we are one of the CCP elites in Beijing. Too many conspiracy theories out there.
Can only hope China resumes her path by the end of the year. There are some that says the boat has left already. One thing is for sure, the China ambition does not stop here.
Where is your current report
Hi, Just updated.
Hi Lady, will you be buying more Alibaba stocks? I think it is massively undervalued. Thank you!
Hi noobmaster69,
I do not plan to buy more baba at this point as I have quite a reasonable allocation of them already.
Cheers
Hi Lady,
I think you can change the banner to growing from 112k to 5 millions in 15 years soon.
hahaha!
Congrats
Hi Kai,
:-). Hope all is well in this pool of red ?