StashAway - October 2018

This is going to be our last post for this month before we fly to the United States for our honeymoon! I have just finished packing and have managed to squeeze out some time to blog.

1. ACCOUNT SUMMARY (as of the last day of the month)

Based on the statement (31 October 2018), we lost $86.84.

As of 12 November 2018, the total return has improved to $85.03. We lost -$222.95 from investment returns with a huge currency impact of  $307.98. Not good! In our last monthly update, I said that I would have preferred the USD to be weaker because we will be going to the US for our honeymoon. Weaker USD meant that we can convert the same SGD for more USD to invest too.

SGD time-weighted returns: 1.5%
USD time-weighted returns: -3.7%

StashAway has changed its web interface if you did not notice (same same but different?). The return in percentage went missing but I was able to find it in the mobile application.

2. PORTFOLIO DETAILS 

3. TRANSACTIONS

This month transactions are longer than usual because of the tax reimbursement which I blogged about previously - StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2017. The reimbursements are then reinvested similar to the dividends.

SGD $990.00 converted to USD $716.72 (USD $723.01 last month)
Exchange Rate:  1.3813 (1.3693 last month)

4. FEE CALCULATIONS

The fee stated is based on the monthly-average assets SGD $12,338.6 x 0.8% / 365 days * 31 days = $8.38

StashAway VS STI ETF
Since there is no way to compare the performances among the robo-advisors, I came out with a spreadsheet to track our StashAway portfolio performance (General Investing - Risk Level 28) against that of STI ETF which I will be updating on a monthly basis. For simplicity, I shall assume that one can either invest in Nikko STI ETF using POSB Invest-Saver or invest in Nikko STI ETF/SPDR STI ETF using SCB Priority Online Trading (no minimum commission). These would be the opportunity costs while we continue to invest in StashAway.

Apart from the absolute P&L, we should also look at the Reward-to-Risk Ratio where risk/volatility is taken into account. For more information, do read StashAway Clarifications - Reward-to-Risk Ratio. StashAway has the highest ratio of 1.25 which is significantly higher than the other 2 STI ETFs (< 0.4). Let me quote Freddy Lim (Co-Founder & Chief Investment Officer of StashAway), "for every dollar of risk taken, StashAway P28 is producing 1.25 times the return".

This month commentary: StashAway is the only investment making money ($3.85 or XIRR of 0.05%) and is considered to be outperforming the STI ETFs. Going forward it will be even more interesting when the commissions/fees incurred by StashAway exceed that of POSB Invest-Saver. This will be a battle between cheaper/lesser fees and asset allocation/diversification...

I believe there is a need to redo/regenerate the volatility used to compute the Reward-to-Risk Ratio. Do take it with a pinch of salt for now. I have been compiling some data in order to do so :) 

Which is the best? Only time will tell :)

This is the link to our spreadsheet - KPO & CZM StashAway Portfolio VS STI ETF which I have also added to Our Portfolio page.

StashAway Referral Link for Our Readers
Here you go: KPO and CZM Referral Link

You might be interested in previous months update too:
StashAway - January 2018
StashAway - February 2018
StashAway - March 2018
StashAway - April 2018
StashAway - May 2018
StashAway - June 2018
StashAway - July 2018
StashAway - August 2018 + An Unpleasant Experience
StashAway - September 2018

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right -->)

Portfolio - October 2018

The global markets have been in red for the past few weeks and our portfolio was not spared. At one point in time, our portfolio even went all time red/negative after investing since 2015. In such a scenario, it would have been better if we simply left the money in a bank account. At the very least, the capital will be intact and the interest collected over the years will definitely beat the below performance. lol.

We have a friend that lost his confidence and has stopped investing totally. Nothing right/wrong about it, just different risk profile/appetite.

The thing about investing is that it is not linear and there will be volatility. You cannot invest with the mentality that you will be making money all the way (at least not when you first started). However, given a long enough time (20 years?), the portfolio should be resilient enough such that it will become forever positive. I blogged about something similar here - Portfolio - March 2018.

The most important thing is not to let your investment affect your daily life - life goes on! So what have we been up to? We were busy planning for our USA honeymoon! Interested to read about fine dining in the air - Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook. We also booked a Ford Mustang Convertible for our road trip :)

I have just purchased a new PS4 game - Dragon Quest XI | Echoes of an Elusive Age. I stopped playing Monster Hunter nearer to our wedding and now that I am back, no one plays it anymore. lol. Dragon Quest is like one of my childhood game too. Regardless, you get the point, we are not affected by the market volatility. Alright, back to our portfolio update :)

Our portfolio decrease by 1.75% to $348,378 - $16,293.36 of capital injection and $22,483.32 of capital loss. The one in blue is the StashAway portfolio, green is SGX and the total is in black.

If you prefer to look at numbers, this is the raw data used to generate the above bar graph. These numbers are as of the last day of the month.

SOLD
None

BOUGHT
- Lion-Philip S-REIT ETF (1,000 units) @ $0.967
- Accordia Golf Trust (5,000 units) @ $0.525
- OUE (1,000 units) @ $1.470
- ThaiBev (1,000 units) @ $0.635
- DBS (400 units) @ $24.38

We bought 1,000 units of Lion-Philip S-REIT ETF as part of our new strategy - New Singapore Budget, New REIT Strategy!

We sold OUE Commercial REITs last month and merely redeploy the amount back to the market by averaging down what we already owned. Hence, the relatively small/random amount in OUE and ThaiBev.

We decided to enter DBS because it has changed its dividend policy and has pledged $1.20 per annual going forward. At our entry price, that will mean our dividend yield on cost would be around 4.9%. Something we are pretty comfortable with for a blue chip with a very solid dividend record - increasing almost year on year. In addition, a rising rate environment is beneficial to the banks. We were contemplating between STI ETF and DBS and thought that DBS seems to be more attractive now.

Dividends
The total dividends collected this month is $1,034.20. The breakdown is as follows:

Company	Symbol	ExDate	Shares	Total
Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust	C2PU	31-Oct-18	2,000	$64.60
First Real Estate Investment Trust	AW9U	30-Oct-18	4,109	$152.85
GuocoLand Ltd	F17	30-Oct-18	3,000	$630.00
Soilbuild Business Space REIT	SV3U	23-Oct-18	15,000	$186.75

Total dividends collected for 2018: $12,031.58
Average dividends per month for 2018: $1,203.15

Woots! We have finally achieved one of our goals - $1000 per month of passive income!

StashAway

Capital: $13,000
Current: $13,003.61 (IRR: 0.1%)

You might be interested in previous months update too:
Portfolio - January 2018
Portfolio - February 2018
Portfolio - March 2018
Portfolio - April 2018 + What is Ezion W230416?
Portfolio - May 2018
Portfolio - June 2018
Portfolio - July 2018
Portfolio - August 2018
Portfolio - September 2018

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right -->)

Singapore Airlines Suites - Book the Cook

Time flies! About a year ago, I blogged about Redeeming KrisFlyer Miles for Singapore Airlines Suites = 38.6% Cashback! and in a few weeks time, we will be going on our honeymoon!

Singapore Airlines allows one to "Book the Cook" (BTC) if you are flying Premium Economy and above. That essentially just means that you can choose your main course way in advance (at least 24 hours before the flight) instead of what is being served in the in-flight menu. The menu/selections do differ based on the class of the flight you are taking and where the flight is departing from. In addition, the food will be plated when served for Business class and above, with some of them being designed* by the Singapore Airlines International Culinary Panel. If it doesn't taste good, blame the person preparing the food - SATS? lol.

Our flight to the United States is fortunately/unfortunately not the non-stop flight depending on how you look at it (the non-stop flight does not offer any Suites/First class seats). We will be flying to Frankfurt with a 2-hour overlay before flying to New York, JFK. The BTC menu is different when flying out of Singapore vs flying out of Frankfurt. 

Over the weekend, CZM and I were having a hard time selecting the food! We have 8 meals in total to select - 4 meals each, 2 per flight:

SIN-FRA: Supper

SIN-FRA: Breakfast

FRA-JFK: Brunch

FRA-JFK: Lunch

Let's take a look at the in-flight menu first!

SIN-FRA: Supper

SIN-FRA: Breakfast

FRA-JFK: Brunch

FRA-JFK: Lunch

To be fair, the in-flight menu looks pretty decent too. With the help of Milelion Book the Cook Wiki (definitely much better than SIA own BTC page. lol) and some random post on FlyerTalk, we have decided on the following:

KPO

Grilled Beef Fillet with Balsamic Onion Sauce - Designed by Singapore Airlines International Culinary Panel Chef Alfred Portale who was named Best Chef in New York in 1993. Seems like the best/most fitting dish for our honeymoon to New York.

The Kyo-Kaiseki is for the adventurous because the ingredients and garnishes changes with each season and is designed by Singapore Airlines International Culinary Panel Chef Yoshihiro Murata whose restaurants have been awarded seven Michelin star - more than any other in Japan. Unfortunately, CZM is allergic to seafood hence got to give this a miss.

The Boston Lobster Thermidor seems to be one of the popular/value for money choice. Would you prefer having udon soup, curry chicken or fresh eggs instead?

Artichoke-Tomato Crusted Loin of Lamb - I am not really a fan of lamb but chose this so that we can have more variety.

CZM

Inflight Menu - Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Beef Fillet in Red Wine Jus with Bone Marrow. Same same but different as mine so that we can compare which is better.

Sliced Grouper Congee - CZM loves congee for unknown reason. Hahaha.

Suckling Pig with Beer Sauce is one of the popular choices for flights out of Frankfurt.

Inflight Menu - Marinated Pot Roasted Veal Cheek with Dried Fruit Sauce. One of our favorite food is the pork cheek shio ramen from Santouka. When CZM saw veal cheek, it was an obvious choice for her.

Besides, BTC, there are other facilities/benefits such as The Private Room and in-flight WiFi (100 MB per flight - kinda lame but good enough for communicating with families and friends over WhatsApp).

Stay tuned to more Singapore Airlines Suites updates!

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- Honeymoon to the United States - Renting a $275,888 Mercedes Benz Convertible with Hertz
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - SQ26 Singapore to New York
- Singapore Airlines Suites Experience - The Private Room

Do like any of the following for the latest update/post!
1. FB Page - KPO and CZM
2. Twitter - KPO and CZM
3. Click here to subscribe using email :)
4. Instagram - KPO_and_CZM (Did you see those delicious food photos to the right --> Unfortunately, you can't see it on mobile.)