Portfolio Review 2021

 (SGD) Portfolio Value and Asset Allocation

 

Top 3 Holdings (SGX)

Top 3 Holdings (Non-SGX)

Performance (SGD)

Dividends (SGD)

Personal Networth Updates and was a "Millionaire".

Old and Lazy Turtle was a "millionaire" until Aug, LOL. What happen exactly?

Basically, my Turtle's backside was itchy, sold my full paid up 4 room HDB and bought a resale 5 room HDB for an upgrade of space from 990sqft to 1200 sqft in the 2nd half of the year. Larger living space, nearer to amenities and walkable distance to the kid's primary school.

No, I didn't want to upgrade my status from HDB to Condo but I prefer to stick to my prudent belief of not getting into a deep debt situation. For the extra 210 sqft, we finally have more space for the kids to run around the house, a proper sofa and a dinning table for at least 6 pax (it was only 4 last time). 

I took a bank loan of 75% and paid 25% of the HDB down-payment using hard cash, one of the key reason why you see a sharp drop of cash networth between Sep and Oct period. 

This time, we are using cash to service the monthly bank loan instead of OA, I will write another post on the rationale of doing so and combine it with my favorite CPF topic.

To be ultra prudent as usual (KS Old Turtle) and in case you wonder, I deducted the liability (sianz, I am in debt again!!) of bank loan (50% split between me and my Turtle wife) from my total networth and I did not add the "resale value" of the HDB property into the calculation. I will probably add the "value" of property only once I finish up the mortgage.

Renovation used up another 50k to 60k of my cash in Nov and Dec period and thanks to "Guanyinma" that my company paid out performance bonus to me in Nov to partially cushion the "impact". Poor Turtle.

In case you wonder again, how come Turtle wife did not share 50% of everything above? Reason being, I am making more from my active and passive income compared to my old Turtle wife, I decided to "ta" cover all these cash expenses so she no need to drain her cash holdings 

(Woman always love to have cash with them as this gives them a sense of security and moreover my dearest wife already sacrificed her "body/health" to give me two baby turtles. A few hundred thousands are incomparable to her sacrifice)

My upgrade in living space is one of the best decision I had made, I did not realized that having an extra 210 sqft and floor level of my current HDB could make me more happy and relax when I look out of my window (I decided to buy the highest floor level this time).

Already in my late 30s, my life philosophy still remained the same as before, live within our means, keep things simple so I get more "options" in life and will not fall into a debt trap and become a job slave.

FYI, Old Turtle will be writing 2 more posts on his investment returns and passive income in 2021, and what are his CPF strategy to secure one more stream of income at retirement.

Happy New Year. Wishing Everyone a Healthy and Safe 2022 ahead.

Net worth and Financial Updates - Almost 1 year since March 2020

What a change of mood and retail sentiment in the stock market between Mar 2020 and now, Feb 2021. 

Oh yea, remember, Singapore is still in one of its worst recession historically and the world in still fighting the pandemic.

What did Old Turtle did since Mar 2020 when market tanked to the lowest and my stock portfolio lost around SGD 180k unrealized or around 36%-40% as I am almost 95% vested in the market? 

Well, I did nothing much but just by staying calm (don't read too much financial news and chats in InvestingNote, LOL) and executing my plans accordingly while I am luckily (I really have to count my lucky stars) holding on to my full time job, unaffected by the recession unlike many of my countrymen in the tourism and aviation sector. 

Major Actions:

1) Local Stock Market: With limited cash, I recycled one of the stock that had performed very well during the pandemic, I sold 30% of Sheng Siong in Apr/May 2020 and reinvested into some of the more affected stocks like Hongkong Land, Straits Trading Company, SPH Reits and Keppel Corp in SGX.

2) CPF: I continued to transfer my OA to SA during the same period since I am still fully employed with no reduction in income (once again, lucky).

3) Overseas Stocks: Started to diversify away from SGX and start investing in US, Hongkong and Australia stock markets, mostly in healthcare and technology stocks.

Current Stock Portfolio

Personal Networth

My personal definition of total networth = Total Cash Asset (can be disposed and converted to cash within 3 months) + Total Illiquid Assets like property and pension savings (ie CPF in Singapore context).

Below are the major contributors to my total cash networth and just like more Singaporean. 

Stock Portfolio: Market to market.

Residential Property Valuation: Valued the property at cost price which is around 60% higher than my cost price at current resale market price. Reason being, I do not want to artificially inflate my networth as there's no chance of me selling my residential property and realized the property gains. In any case, I have already paid up the HDB.

CPF: Included Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA) and Medisave Account (MA) in the calculation.

Debt/Liabilities: ZERO

Financial Goals Set and Accomplished before age 40

1. Met CPF SA Full Retirement Sum $181,000 in Sep 2020
2. Total net worth exceeded SGD 1 million
3. Fully paid-up residential home. 
4. Zero debt

Future Goals

• Continue to build the retirement pillars, CPF LIFE, Stock Dividends and Bond Interest, make them stronger, make them last longer.
• Spend more time with family and elderly parents.
• Continue to upgrade myself after completing the MBA in 2021.

Food for thoughts

• Having financial goals and execute them with discipline is important.
• Always be financially prudent whether you are making $10k or 5k of salary per month for example.
• Ignore "noise" an be focused on the goals you set for yourself.
• Spend quality time with your love ones, parents, wife and children and never say you have "no time" because no time is an excuse.
• If possible, go debt-less so you have more "options" in life and yes, financial independence.
• Always be prepared and ready to pond on any opportunities.
• Every crisis is an opportunity and do not waste a crisis.

Have a plan, Execute it !!!

Plan for the worst, Pray for the best !!!

Family and Personal Updates (From CB to Phase 2)

This year flew by quickly (thanks to Covid-19) and it is already August and a few more months before we welcome 2021. 

Just wanted to write an update of my personal life to record down what had happened during this unprecedented period in our Singapore's history.

Employment

I have been WFH (Working From Home) since March together with my wife. Fortunately, both our job nature allowed us to WFH with full support from our employers without any pay cuts.

We have not been financially affected by Covid-19 (well not yet!) as we are working in the financial industry and if this was GFC (Great Financial Crisis repeat of 2007/2008), we would definitely be significantly affected. 

I always say luck plays an important role in all parts of our life, including our career. We will continue to count our blessing. 

My wife just got her bi-annual bonus (well, pretty insignificant amount but better than nothing). I am waiting for mine at end of the year but apparently, everyone around me is saying I shouldn't be expecting anything. I am happy to keep my current job without any pay cuts so bonus will be a "bonus" if it comes.

Family

It has been pretty significant year for my children and I am honestly very happy to be able to chase back some "lost" time with them for the past 6 months since working from home. I really cherished this period of time and we also managed to achieve something together.

6yo: 

• It will be the last pre-school year for my elder one. We had successfully registered (under phase 2C) him for primary one in 2021 (thank god no balloting is required, it's just a neighborhood school, OK!). 

• After much practice to cycle without his training wheels, he has finally achieved his "balance" and can cycle independently. I admire his determination to achieve the goal he set.

• Finally giving up his milk bottle after much persuasion from me (LOL) since I had the luxury to spend more quality time with him everyday.

• Art & Craft. I realized he has got a little talent for drawing and making art and craft and pretty creative after watching what he "created" using toilet roles and using/cutting up all my printing papers to make his artworks. I hope his art lessons at the residents' committee (RC) center can resume soon so he can continue to learn from his art teacher.

• Taekwondo. Due to the closure of the RC, his TKD lessons had stopped since March so instead of waiting, I had switched him to private lessons (9x more expensive per lesson, from $4 from $36). But the class size is also smaller (from 30-40 students to 10 students per class) so he is able to learn more with a smaller class size. Well, you pay for what you get. No regrets as I can see his improvements in just 2 lessons and most importantly, he enjoyed the new class more than the previous one as more attention was given to him.

4yo:

• The youngest in our family will be heading to K1 next year but without her brother this time round for her class promotion. She is no longer a baby (but always is in our heart) but a 1m tall preschooler and apparently, she grew taller and heavier during circuit breaker (CB).

• She also gave up her milk bottle together with her elder bro, I am pretty proud of her as I did not expect her to give up just like that as she is only 3+ years old at that point of time. I made the two of them throw away their milk bottles personally into the dustbin (very cruel I know!) so they will know this time is for real and no turning back. So far so good, we managed to save quite alot of milk bottles and teats.

• She is no longer on diapers during daytime except for taking nap and night time. More savings in diaper expenses again. This is quite an achievement as she did wet herself (once or twice a week) during school days since the school restarts in Jun (post CB). Next step is to try to wean her off diapers totally, I guessed this will take longer time and we don't want to stress her too much.

• Bought a balancing bike for her to try and I have to say she's not as interested in cycling and scooting like his elder brother. She prefer singing and dancing instead. Well that's why people always says "every kid is different". Now I believed it.

• She has been attending her weekly dance class at home via zoom and although she is adapting well, the feeling is so much different from dancing in a group in a proper dance studio. She is finally heading back to the studio at the end of Aug. Super looking forward, I think she will enjoy herself more in a class setting. 

Family Expenditure

• Overall family expenditure had gone down but not by a lot like everyone thought so. We managed to save on commuting expenses like our car petrol, erp and office carpark as well as those daily food court lunches which average $5-$7 a meal minimum. 

• But spending more time at home also means more snacking and this became part of our grocery list when we make our weekly visit to Sheng Siong supermarket. We also drank more beer and wine as we are pretty bored at home at night as we try to stay away from the crowd outside to prevent any potential virus infections. We have been cutting down alcohol since start of Aug, casual drinking is totally fine but not daily.

• Having daily home cook food (by the helper) was great even if its just very simple dishes. I enjoyed it a lot more than what I had in restaurants.

• I also learnt how to make traditional Singapore coffee using coffee powder (grind from beans) and kopi "socks". It is definitely much cheaper than what we bought outside and fresher as well as me and my wife have coffee every morning as part of our breakfast.

Personal

• Masters of Business Administration (MBA). I am half way to the completion of my MBA, likely to be by Mar/Apr 2021. All physical exams has been moved to online, this is something I am adapting to, "open" book is always relatively difficult than "close" book exam but unfortunately I too have to adapt. Grinding on and hopefully I will clear all my modules when my son start his primary one in 2021 so I can refocus back to my family commitment. 

• My weight fortunately did not "balloon" like some of my friends, it was fluctuating between 1-2kg during COVID-19 so I think having more home cook food is definitely healthier although I did not exercise at all.

• Wealth. Personal total networth is definitely affected by the stock market onslaught due to COVID-19, mine wasn't spared as well as I am always vested with at least 90% of my cash asset. Still down by 12% YTD as I am writing this post. Still adding more stocks every month to catch the eventually and long awaited recovery. I am not too worry as volatility is always part of investing journey and I am focusing on stocks that will ride the global recovery like Alibaba, Apple etc.

• Retirement Planning - CPF. Executed per plan, transferred OA balance to SA since Oct 2019 and will reach Full Retirement Sum in SA ($181k) in Sep. Very excited as this is a major goal I set 4 years back and finally this goal is completed.

That's all I have for some personal and family updates from CB till Phase 2.

Stay safe everyone.

Have a Plan, Execute it !!! 

Is Old Turtle A Loser In Singapore Education System? PSLE Score: 182 – No Problem

Don’t worry – You are not going to witness a turnaround story of a stupid turtle that went on and became a PHD, Medical Doctor or Lawyer.

There has been much talks, discussion and debates on PSLE
scores and how it “shape” and “pre-determine” your future.

Much had been said around PSLE examination over the years
and Old Turtle was one of the product (or victim) from the past and existing Singapore educational system.

https://www.businessinsider.sg/one-by-one-singaporean-celebrities-are-revealing-their-psle-scores-in-support-of-the-lifebeyondgrades-movement/

Education Profile:

Primary School - PLSE: 182 (6 years)

Secondary School - Normal Academic (5 years)

Polytechnic Diploma (3 years)

National Service (2 years)

Bsc Degree (4 years Part time studies)

MBA (18 months Part time studies)

I remembered when my mum saw my PSLE result, she said,
everyone in our family was studying 4 years and you were the first one studying 5 years. I kept silent but in my heart, I knew she was disappointed my result and more importantly worried about his only child’s future in this competitive Singapore economy.

I kept going in secondary school and as usual, I am not very smart in taking examination and I am extremely bad at English and Maths and as you know, both subjects are key in our Singapore educational system. 

I am good at subjects like Chinese, History and Geography but unfortunately they were deemed less important in our educational system.

(Parents, please don't compare your children with other children as every kid will excel in their own ways. It will just make your children feel demoralized and caused a lasting impact in their childhood. Give more encouragement and less comparison)

Key Milestones:

• Parents lost their business when I was in polytechnic and rely on savings to survive and they were only early 50s. I am quite lucky my mum was a saver back then else our family would be in trouble.

• Went to OCS in National Service and managed to save 80-90% of allowances, not a lot back in those days but were significant to me. Managed to save around 10-15k.

• Started working at age 23 years old (starting salary not even enough to apply for credit card) and started contributing to the family’s expenses.

• Concurrently took up part time degree at SIM after work for 4 years and paid off the school fees annually using savings from NS and Salary.

• Lost my first 5 digit figures in investment in one stock post GFC 2008. ** Lesson learnt and life goes on**

• Cash savings and investments hits 200k-250k at age 30 as I had a high savings rate of 80-90% in the first 7 years of the job and together with some “luck” in investments mainly in Singapore blue chips that generates 4-5% annual dividends.

• Age 30: Got married and savings rate falls to 20-30% as kids came along together with other household expenses

• Age 31-33: Had our first and second kid.

• Age 35: Cash savings and investments hits 520k and CPF hits 136k. Passive income hit average of 1.3k per month. 

• Age 35: 4-Room BTO HDB (cost 260k) fully paid off in 5 years. No more debt from now on.

• Age 35: Dad passed away made me even cherished my family even more even if I have to give up career advancement to spend more time with them.

Values

Moral values are more important than your exam grades in life. Like stock investing, true value may not be always be the same as price (aka your exam grades).

My purpose of sharing my personal story is to inspire students that did not do well in their studies not to give up in themselves in any ways.

With honesty, hard work, grit and perseverance, we can still
survive and make it in this competitive Singapore economy.

PSLE 182, never mind one la, Old Turtle managed to survive in
Singapore, raised and fed my family well and still able to prepare for retirement.

I knew my mum is finally feeling proud of her son even though he went a longer route to achieve what others had achieved. I knew back then she was worried about my grades because she felt that I might not be able to survive in Singapore with such lousy grade. I guessed I had proven her wrong that grades are not everything.

If I can do it, you can too !! Do not give up in yourself !!

Do you have any inspiring story to share with me?

Defining Total Financial Networth at Age 37

For the past 6 months, I had seen my total networth fluctuating between +3.99% to -8.24%. 

I have been maintaining 2 sets of networth, (1) Cash Networth and (2) Total Networth since 2016 when I started tracking them on a monthly basis. Time flies and it has been 4 years already as of today.

This post I will talk more about my (2) Total Networth as this is more reflective of my overall financial assets that I owned or inheritance that I could passed to my wife and children after I leave this world. ** Choy I am only 37 young this year **

My personal definition of total networth = Total Cash Asset (can be disposed and converted to cash within 3 months) + Total Illiquid Assets like property and pension savings (ie CPF in Singapore context).

There has been lots of arguments in within the financial bloggers in Singapore whether we should include our residential and CPF for networth calculations. 

In my personal opinion, I am calculating based on total assets I owned legally as part of inheritance planning so I track them closely so my wife will know where are my money after I am gone.

A little background profile of myself:

• Holding a full time job since year 2007 till today as a diploma holder and never been out of job before. I thanked my lucky stars.
• Did my part time degree while working full time and complete it within 4 years.
• Got married at age 30 and got 2 kids subsequently.
• Paid up my HDB at age 35.
• Has been topping my cash to my CPA MA and SA since 34 years old and on track to meet 2020 CPF FRS.
• Doing my part time MBA currently.
• Not in any senior management role, non manager and non professional like doctor, lawyers etc. Just a lucky farmer.

Year	Total Networth	+/-
Dec-16	639,534.55	0%
Dec-17	791,014.49	24%
Dec-18	842,286.05	6%
Dec-19	961,920.13	14%
Jun-20	931,465.19	-3%

Below are the major contributors to my total cash networth and just like more Singaporean.

Residential Property Valuation
I did not include my residential property market valuation in my calculation but I included the CPF-OA used to purchase the property. This means I valued the property at cost price which is around 60% higher than my cost price at current resale market price. Reason being, I do not want to artificially inflate my networth as there's no chance of me selling my residential property and realized the property gains. In any case, I have already paid up the HDB.

CPF
I had included my Ordinary Account (OA), Special Account (SA) and Medisave Account (MA) in the calculation. Over the past 5 years, I have been topping up my SA and MA with cash to reduce personal income tax as well as to hit the goal meeting CPF FRS. This is one of my cornerstone for retirement planning.

Debt/Liabilities
ZERO

Food for thoughts:

• I used to set a goal of meeting 1 million SGD in total cash networth at age 40 years old. Like many, the total amount is just a number and nothing else.
• I think I will hit 1 million on or before my target age but not so obsessed with it anymore. Good to have a goal though.
• Nowadays, I am focusing more on the cashflows generated from the assets rather than the total numbers. 
• The total numbers gives me a sense of financial security but it is the cashflows that I need to survive on if I am out of job or during emergency situations. 
• However it is still worth tracking the total networth as I will know how much I am going to leave as inheritance if I am gone at any point of time. 
• Never say never, look at how Covid-19 hit us suddenly.

Have a plan, Execute it !!!

Plan for the worst, Pray for the best !!!

Are your finances healthy? Take test to find out

This test was extracted from an Straits Times article.

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/invest/are-your-finances-healthy-take-test-to-find-out

Let old turtle take the basic financial check of my family expense to see whether my family financial is healthy or unhealthy.

Excited... let's start now!

1. TOTAL DEBT SERVICING RATION (MONTHLY LOAN/SALARY)

Turtle family: 0% (Nil loan)

Verdict: Pass

(Recommended: Below 60%. Should aim for below 35%.)

2. HOUSEHOLD LIQUIDITY RATIO (TOTAL CASH SAVINGS/TOTAL MONTHLY COMMITMENT)

Turtle family: 8.2 months

Verdict: Marginal Pass

(Recommended: More than 6 months.)

3. CASH TO NET WORTH RATIO (CASH/ASSET - DEBT)

Turtle family: 51%

Verdict: Pass

(Recommended: More than 15% means) FYI, below 15% means you are asset rich but cash poor.)

4. SAVINGS RATIO (MONTHLY SAVINGS/SALARY)

Turtle family: 51%

Verdict: Pass

(Recommended: It is prudent to save at least 10% of monthly pay)

5. DEBT TO ASSET RATIO (TOTAL DEBT/TOTAL ASSET)

Turtle family: 0% (Nil loan)

Verdict: Pass

(Recommended: Below 50%. Should reduce loan exposure where possible)

Conclusion: Turtle family passed all 5 basic tests to evaluate our financial health.

These are really basic ratios and it doesn't take into consideration of any of your side income/passive income etc apart from your active monthly salary so IMHO, it might not give you the most accurate and holistic picture.

But still, its good as a basic tool to monitor your family financial health.

FYI, I did not include our dividends and bond coupon interest so if I included these figures, our family financial health would be even rosier.

What can be improve? If I wanted to improve, I will want improve household liquidity ratio from 8.2 months to at least 12 months to 18 months. In fact, me and my wife are already saving more cash from my monthly salary since Jan 2020.

Reason being, this global pandemic taught us that there could be an event that possibly put you out of job for more than 1 year, for example if I am from the aviation or travel/hospitality industry.

Quoted from the article "BEING PRUDENT IS KEY TO SURVIVING CRISIS".

In fact, I already practiced financial prudence in my lifestyle in order to prepare for any unforeseen crisis (even for extreme crisis like this pandemic) so I am totally agreeable to the statement above.

In my own simple words, Better to be safe than Sorry.