Self Reflection:Stock Market is a dangerous place. However, placing money in the bank would also erode value as the bank interest is near to nothing.The rule "Never lose money" would not be applicable to ordinary investors like myself, who bascially buy and hold.I am not a good stock picker as I had bought/sold some toxic stocks in the past. For example, Rickmers (41% loss), Hyflux (24% loss), Noble Group (15% gain)......There is also a 100% loss in Eagle HTr.  I took on a major project before Eagle's price collapsed.  As Murphy's law dictates, everything gone wrong, even the harddisk of my new laptop crashed with data non recoverable.  After I completed my project, then I found that Eagle has already been suspended. Luckily, only 1,000 shares involved from its IPO.Tal

My research paper got accepted as a landmark paper for the highly prestigious and exclusive Tiagong Investing Journal, an impact factor 12 journal. This means my research is likely going to change the face of tiagong investing for the world for decades to come. ABSTRACT Objectives: The aim of this study was to study the effectiveness of Tiagong investing as an investing methodology Methods: A survey was conducted amongst 34,600 random anonymous investors. Survey participants were blinded and unaware of the trial. 4 options were given to all survey participants, who could only vote for 1 each. 1 choice was decided based on the vote popularity, adherence to investing conditions and relevance of comments. The timing of investments was also randomized i.e. the investor had no co

Working >50% time at home with minimal social gathering and meet-ups with friends, 2021 sped by like a rocket.  I am not an artistic person and never imagine that I will be doing ART every week...(before going back to office).Stayed in hospital for a week (not covid).  This was a wake-up call for me. I start exercising 4-5 days a week, when not going back to office. Do feel improvement in personal health and fitness.  Well, time to do a final review on my portfolio's performace in 2021.Top 30 positions of my portfolio at end 2021:1. SGX2. ParkwayLife Reit3. UOB4. Keppel DC Reit5. OCBC6. FCT7. Frasers L&C Tr8. AIMS APAC Reit9. CapitaLand I Comm Tr10. Mapletree Com Tr11. Mapletree Indust Tr12. Ascendas Reit13. Keppel Corp14. SPH Reit15. Suntec Reit16. CDL HT

After thorough thought, decided to bring forward the restructuring of the Investment Portfolio.  Original intention was when the stock market experiences bull run shall be a good times to divest those unwanted holdings.  While unsure is the market going on a bull run or the worst yet to come in 2022, weighing out the benefits and risks, pros and cons, restructuring and rebuilding the portfolio now would be a better move.  Moreover, it is also like a psychological clock that the restructuring and rebuilding is due.  The 1st portfolio was started in 1993.  The restructuring and rebuilding to the 2nd portfolio was in 2006, 13 years later.  Now it is the 15th year into the 2nd portfolio, look like time is ripe to make changes again.There is chance that should I di

Signs that Omicron may not be that virulent helped push the STI up Wall St hit a new all-time high on Friday despite strong inflation data Volume here was weak, averaging just over S$1b daily Traders also watching China Evergrande after Fitch report Travel, aviation, hospitality and healthcare stocks were in play DBS: “reopening stocks’’ may be close to their bottom Keppel shareholders vote in favour of SPH acquisition As Omicron fears fade, stocks recovered The Straits Times Index rose 34 points or about 1.1% to 3,135.61 last week, helped by a firm Wall Street that rebounded strongly on early indications that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 may be less deadly or dangerous than first thought. On Friday, the S&P 500 closed at a new all-time high of 4,712 despite the release of

This article contains affiliate links. DollarsAndSense may receive a share of the revenue from your sign-ups that goes towards keeping the site sustainable. You can read our editorial policy for more information. Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) is a popular type of investment in Singapore. In fact, it is so popular that Singapore has grown to become the largest REIT market in Asia ex-Japan with a market capitalisation of $111 billion. While there are many REITs with both local and overseas property portfolio, many REITs with purely overseas properties have also chosen to list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Investors in Singapore are mainly drawn to REIT investments for two reasons. #1 REITs are essentially property investments. Singapore investors’ desire of investing in

With a history dating back to 1966, the Straits Times Index (STI) was originally coined as the Straits Industrial Index. After 30-odd years, the Straits Industrial Index was eventually succeeded by Straits Times Index on 31 August 1998. The reason for changing the index was to allow the index to cover more sectors and properly reflect the daily trading activities of stocks on SGX (or then-Stock Exchange of Singapore). Established by SPH, SGX and FTSE Russell, the index is reviewed on a semi-annual basis. Companies can be removed and added to the index based on their market capitalisation changes. Since STI’s official inception, the index has undergone several changes. The most recent major movement would be the replacement of SPH with Mapletree Industrial Trust on June 2020. Here, we com

1.  SPH Reit  --  12th Jul 2021  (Business Update)2.  Mapletreelog Trust  --  19th Jul 20213.  SPH  --  19th Jul 2021  (Business Update)4. Suntec Reit  --  22nd Jul 20215.  Frasers Centrepoint Trust  --  22nd Jul 2021  (Business Update)6.  SATS  --  22nd Jul 2021  (Business Update)7.  MapletreeCom Trust  --  23rd Jul 2021  (Business Update)8.  SIA Engg  --  23rd Jul 2021  (Business Update)9.  Keppel DC Reit  --  26th Jul 202110.  Keppel Pac Oak US Reit  --  26th Jul 202111.  Mapletree NACT  --  26th Jul 2021  (Business Update)12.  Keppel Reit  --  27th Jul 202113.  MapletreeInd

It’s no big secret that we’re a fan of Singapore REITs in general. The good REITs own a portfolio of properties that generate steady rental income and pay a growing tax-free dividend. Besides that, you also get to enjoy some upside in capital appreciation. While the pandemic has affected retail and commercial REITs more so than others, the well-managed REITs that own high-quality properties in good locations will continue to do well in a post-pandemic world. In Singapore, the two largest retail-commercial REITs are CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) and Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT). Both own a portfolio of high-quality shopping malls and office buildings in Singapore (CICT also has a small portfolio in Germany), and have a track record of paying a stable dividend.

As a Singaporean investor, we might have heard of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). Individually, these two investment products are popular among investors due to their respective strengths in providing relatively good yields or stable market returns. To meet investors’ interest, Singapore launched its first REIT ETFs on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) in 2016. By combining ETF and REITs, a REIT ETF can provide an opportunity for investors to enjoy both benefits of having a good dividend yield along with diversified returns. Read Also: How Much Would Singapore Investors Have Made If They Invested $1,000 In Every REIT ETF Since Their Listing? Things To Note Before Investing In REIT ETFs In general, a REIT ETF would track an existing REIT index and seek t

There are quite a few Re-balancing going on  before Indian Variant Covid wave hits our shores.1. Moving some shares from CICT to FCT. My Rationale is that Suburb will do much better in the long run to ride over Mall impact with recent outbreak. This is the second time I reduced my stake in CICT but for different reason. The result did not meet my expectation when price level was at 2.27. FCT

The SRS portfolio received $1,172.80 from Frasers Centrepoint Trust and $715.75 from Suntec REIT this week. I have a buy order for Venture at $18.50 that was not done and eventually the price moved away from me.The portfolio also turned slightly positive this week and you can see the snapshot below.  The cash balance remained substantial at $207,994.32 to be deployed and the intent is to

This is shocking news-so many new measures within a day to restrict movement with effect from 16th May 2021 onwards- which is as good as a mini Circuit Breaker 2.0. All retail REITs, Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Lendlease, SPH REIT and Starhill Global began their sharp diving after lunch. Firesales 2.0 came again. Probably good time to start accumulating from today some of the retail mall REITs. Lendlease with 33% holdings in offices in Sky Italia Milan and JEM office tower will probably weather this 1 month storm better. Mapletree Commercial Trust price drop but still looks expensive with a yield that is barely 4%.This mini CB 2.0 is going to kill retail shops again. Singapore government needs to get more vaccine supplies and increase the vaccination rates like USA and Israel. Else we

With access to properties and relatively good yields, Singapore investors enjoy investing in REITs. Given that the low-interest-rate environment is here to stay, REITs continue to be able to refinance their debt at attractive levels. The one thing REIT investors need to be watchful about is how COVID-19 will change the way we live, work and play – as these will affect the various property types differently and also in different geographic regions. Even one year after COVID-19 was first reported, hospitality REITs continue to be impacted. Meanwhile, logistics, data centre and healthcare REITs are more relevant than ever. Read Also: [2020 Edition] Complete Guide To Start Your REITs Investing Journey In Singapore How Singapore REITs Performed In 1st Quarter 2021 To get a broad overview of h

FCT has solid properties mainly in key locations next to MRT. Their returns grow with the Singapore economy and the mass population reside near to their malls.  The remarkable ones are Northpoint north wing and Waterway point which have Condo residences above their malls in Integrated concept to transport hub and community services. See below. Basically community revolves around this malls. They

The Straits Times Index (STI) is comprised of 30 of the largest and most liquid companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). Account for nearly 80% of the entire value of all listed companies on the SGX, the STI is commonly referred to as Singapore’s benchmark or market return. We can gain exposure to the STI by investing in one of the two STI ETFs listed on the SGX. With one investment decision, we become broadly diversified to 30 high quality companies and will earn the Singapore market return. Read Also: Complete Guide To Investing In The Straits Times Index (STI) ETFs In Singapore How Did The STI Perform In Q1 2021? While many of us may be attracted to invest in U.S. or Chinese companies, the STI has been no slouch in 2021. According to SGX, the STI delivered a world-leading ret

The massive sell-down in Mar brought many REITs to rare, multi-year lows. This re-ignited my interest in REITs, as I have been out of them for many years due to their increasing debt levels and decreasing yields. However, I passed up the opportunity while I analysed what could be the impact of COVID-19 on REITs. Despite the massive government interventions, things do not look good for retail and F&B companies. And when tenants struggle, their landlords will also suffer. In this blog post, I will examine the potential impact of COVID-19 on 2 retail companies and 2 F&B companies.Before we begin, it is good to recap what are the measures the government has taken to cushion the impact on retail and F&B companies. Wage SupportThrough 4 extraordinary budgets, the government will

It’s finally Christmas and it's the season I look forward to every year and the time for cold weather travel to ski on powder snow. Unfortunately, this time is different. I booked a few flights for travel this year and all got cancelled (including the travel bubble one). If there’s anything good in not being able to travel is that I managed to save more money. I continued investing in stocks and I am blessed that my portfolio has done well this year, particularly my Growth portfolio. Thanks to the circuit breaker, the times spent at home has allowed me to do more personal reflection, come out with an investment strategy and act on it. Despite the US stock market hitting record highs, I believe next year will still be a good year for equities market. The past few months rally is fuelled

November turns out to be a busy month with so many events happening around the world. The biggest news was that Biden won the US Presidential election, and stock market breathed a sigh of relief as Republicans likely gain the senate majority, making the prospect of Biden’s tax hike unlikely.   Also global markets gotten another boost when the news of the major development of Covid 19 broke during premarket hours, expect for tech stocks went on a steep selloff . While investors cheer for a vaccine breakthrough, my stock portfolio performance had been lukewarm at best, as many of my SG portfolio gains were offset by drop in tech stocks. Nevertheless, my portfolio is still in the green with 15.78% (XIRR) returns YTD. Whereas on the east side, Jack Ma’s blunt China’s bank talk

In March this year, I wrote about the possibility of REITs having to raise capital through rights issues if Covid-19 were to cause severe declines in asset valuations (What Happened to REITs during the GFC?). Eight months on, this has not occurred, and although I believe that the likelihood of this has diminished, we cannot completely ignore it. In October, I initiated a position in Capitaland Mall Trust (CMT) at a price of $1.91, which has now merged with Capitaland Commercial Trust (CCT) to form Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT). As a shareholder, I was curious to assess the likelihood of CICT having to raise capital through a rights issue, by analysing its gearing ratio and asset valuations. I have not ran the numbers to determine the gearing ratio of the merged entity, alt