$$$ KPO and CZM $$$: October 2020

Friday, October 30, 2020

StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2019

Another year has passed since I last blogged about withholding tax reimbursement - StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2018.


If you are also a StashAway user, you would have received the same email a few weeks back too. The breakdown can be found in your Transactions section.


You might notice that the withholding tax reimbursed was lesser compared to previous years. That's because only 2 of the ETFs (TIP and TLT) had withholding tax reimbursed. 

Refer to below for more information:
For the withholding tax (WHT) reimbursement, we do not receive dividend reimbursement for all ETFs but only those that qualify under the QII (Qualified Interest Income) rule.

Only some of the dividend WHT from US domiciled funds (e.g. US government bonds) can be claimed back. As such, we did not receive any dividend reimbursement for XLK and XLY.

For further illustration, you may like to view the 2019 iShares report on QII ETFs. Some examples of QII ETFs that StashAway invests in are 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT) and 10-20 Year Treasury Bond (TLH).

Our broker, Saxo, applies for the tax reimbursement on our behalf with the relevant tax authorities and we may not get all of the dividend WHT back. Just to share, the reclaiming of WHT will be done once a year, and we will notify you via email if you have any claimable WHT, which would be redistributed to your portfolio and automatically reinvested. 

The total dividends received for the financial year 2019 including the withholding tax reimbursement which comes up to USD $174.03.

Dividends Breakdown by ETF

Dividends Breakdown by Month

Fees Breakdown by Month

The total fees charged by StashAway the financial year 2019 adds up to SGD $48.00 which seems pretty sustainable (dividends > fees). Do note that the dividends above are all in USD. Ideally, the portfolio should grow in the future even without the injection of fresh funds. On the other hand, if the fees > dividends, that would mean that the fees would eventually eat into the capital.

Anyway, if you are interested in signing up for StashAway, do use our referral link - KPO and CZM Referral Link. You will get $10,000 free management fees for 6 months and we will get $16!

If you want to extract those transactions information from StashAway, do take a look at this article - StashAway Transactions Parser.

You might be interested in these articles too:
- StashAway - September 2020 - $47,850.22
- StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2018
StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2017

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.)

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Hang Seng Tech Index ETF - Which one to buy?

In our last portfolio update (Portfolio - September 2020), I briefly mentioned that we will be buying the Hang Seng Tech Index ETF monthly going forward too. For those that do not know what I am referring to, the Hang Seng Tech Index comprises of the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong that have high business exposure to technology themes. 

The index is relatively new (20 Jul 2020) and it is like the NASDAQ equivalent. We believe that China is going to surpass the US one day, hence it makes sense to invest a bit of our money in China. Having said that, we cannot buy/invest in the index itself right. That's where the ETF tracking the index comes into the picture.

There are currently 4 Hang Seng Tech Index ETFs (in the order they were launched):
1. CSOP Hang Seng TECH Index ETF (3033) / Fees: 0.99% - 1.05%
2. ChinaAMC Hang Seng TECH Index ETF (3088) / Fees: 0.4% - 0.6%
3. Hang Seng TECH ETF (3032) / Fees: 0.55% - 0.87%
4. iShares Hang Seng TECH ETF (3067) / Fees: 0.25% 

When you are essentially buying the same thing, what do you look out for? The fees/expense ratio of the ETF. Simply choose the ETF with the lowest fees. CSOP was the first to launch the ETF but when I saw the fees (it was 1.49% but I guess they reduce it due to too many competition), I lost interest. I only got interested when ChinaAMC listed 3088 (sound so huat too). However, when iShares/Blackrock decided to track the same index too - BlackRock undercuts rivals with low-cost Hang Seng TECH ETF, the choice was obvious.

To those that are new to investing, you may be wondering why are the prices of the ETFs different? Some may even think that the iShares Hang Seng TECH ETF (3067 - HK$15.93) is more expensive than CSOP Hang Seng TECH Index ETF (3033 - HK$7.60). I will recommend that you read up more before starting to invest. I will try to explain it simply - it is due to the number of shares being issued or the NAV (Net Asset Value) of the ETF.


The above fund information belongs to CSOP Hang Seng TECH Index ETF (3033). The current total NAV is HK$4,695,498,515.00 and there are 617,400,200 shares being issued. Hence, each share is worth ~HK$7.60 (4,695,498,515.00 / 617,400,200).


Now we look for the same numbers in iShares Hang Seng TECH ETF (3067). The current total NAV is HK$1,919,306,021 and there are 120,600,000 shares being issued. Hence, each share is worth ~HK$15.91 (1,919,306,021 / 120,600,000).

The next thing to look out for is your own brokerage commission. Buy the correct/cheapest ETF! Hopefully, you will find it useful :) 

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.)

Monday, October 19, 2020

Endowus - September 2020

Guess where we went for a staycation? It has been a long time since Piglet and Donald went out! lol. 

It's Andaz Singapore! Shall blog about it separately if I have the time.

Anyway, Endowus recently launched a new product/portfolio called Fund Smart for existing investors which allows an investor to decide and select what he/she wants for his/her portfolio - Endowus Fund Smart Review.

Risk Profile
Goal type: General wealth accumulation
Risk tolerance: Maximise returns (loss tolerance -60%)
Monthly investment using SRS: $740


I have modified my monthly investment in order to max out my SRS contribution for the year.

Account Summary


Capital: $8,930.00
Current: $9,124.13 (2.18%)

There are quite a few differences as compared to StashAway. Firstly, all the cash has been invested while StashAway keeps 1% of the portfolio in cash. Secondly, the fees are not deducted on a monthly basis. The Access Fee charged by Endowus will be deducted at the end of each quarter as stated in their FAQ.

As of 19 October 2020, the portfolio value is $9,366.61 (+4.89%).


Asset Allocation


This shows that the number of shares for each fund that I owned:
- Dimensional Global Core Equity Fund (147.3060)
- Infinity US 500 Stock Index Fund (1,658.9600)
- Dimensional Emerging Markets Large Cap Core Equity Fund (59.3370)
- Dimensional Pacific Basin Small Companies Fund (51.1090)

It will be great if they actually showed my average price vs the current market price.

Transactions


That's all! Overall, I think the statement is pretty straightforward and easy to read. On a side note, StocksCafe does not has the ability to track funds, hence unable to do any form of comparison/benchmark.

If you are interested in Endowus, do use our referral link for our readers! You will get S$10,000 managed free for 6 months ($20 equivalent) and we will get $20 too!

You might be interested in previous months update too:
Endowus CPF/SRS Review
Endowus - January 2020 - $3,692.02
Endowus - February 2020 - $3,704.57
Endowus - March 2020 - $4,153.50
Endowus - April 2020 - $4,849.67
Endowus - May 2020 - $5,797.36
Endowus - June 2020 - $6,471.66
Endowus - July 2020 - $7,455.96
Endowus - August 2020 - $8,588.83
- Endowus - September 2020 - $9,124.13

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.)

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Syfe - September 2020

Syfe recently raised US$18.6 Million in Series A Funding which is definitely a good piece of news. This is a lot more as compared to StashAway US$5.3 Million in Series A Funding but we do not know the number/percentage of shares that were traded for it. End of the day, these are signs/indicators that the company has the potential to continue to grow/survive as these venture capitalists/investors would not want to make a loss in their investment too. Anyway, you can read more about Series A, B, C Funding here - Series A, B, C Funding: How It Works.

Our Syfe Portfolio
Composition: 100% REITs
Dividend: Reinvest
Monthly Investment: $1,000

Composition: 100% Equities
Dividend: Reinvest
Monthly Investment: $500

Account Statement (Lifetime)


Our current tier is Blue (<$20,000). This is determined by the size of the portfolio (currently $8,019.86) which in turn determines the fees to be charged. The statement lifetime return is $1,319.86 which includes a $1,140 referral bonus. The actual lifetime return would be $179.86. Thanks to our readers for using our code!

Account Statement (September 2020)


The return for the month is $259.57 which includes a $340 referral bonus. This means our actual return for the month is -$80.43.

As of 15 October 2020, this is our portfolio performance:


Capital: $5,000.00
Current: $6,030.07 (16.77% - return is skewed due to referrals)


Capital: $1,200.00
Current: $1,343.29 (14.47% - return is skewed due to referrals)

Transaction Breakdown


There are too many so I will just share a snippet. Anyway, if you want to extract the transaction information from Syfe, do take a look at this article - Syfe Transactions Parser. Anyway, the parser will not work for the Equity100 and Global ARI portfolio when there are small transactions (<0.01). You can refer to this for more information - Syfe - July 2020. The parser will work if Syfe is willing to change its UI and display more decimal places...

REIT+

Equity100

After parsing them into a csv file, I pivoted the data to get the following view.

Management Fee


The management fee can be obtained by $6,901.89 x 0.65% / 366 * 30 ~ $3.64.

StocksCafe
In my opinion, the return captured by StocksCafe will be a more accurate representation of our portfolio return as the referral bonuses are treated as capital. Having said that, I can also understand why Syfe treats them as a return instead of a deposit too. Just a different perspective.


Anyway, looking at the time-weighted return (15.09%) for this year, we can see that Syfe REIT+ 100% is outperforming STI ETF (including fees). In addition, if we were to look at the projected dividends till the end of the year based on the existing investment, we can expect $104.21 of dividends or $8.68 per month. Since the dividends >> fees, this is a pretty sustainable portfolio assuming if there's no capital loss.

Unfortunately, Syfe will be changing its referral program. I always thought they had the best referral because the other robos are giving $X amount of free management where most of the time, we will not be fully utilizing it. Hence, KPOBONUS code and the cash incentive (last chance!) will be in effect up till 15 October, 23:59. Starting 16 October 2020, new Syfe customers will have their first $30,000 managed free for 6 months when they use our new referral code - (KPOCZM).

If you are interested in signing up, do use our referral code (KPOBONUS) for some cash incentive! Invests $500 and more and we will receive a $10 bonus each. Invests $10,000 and more and we will receive a $50 bonus each. Invests $20,000 and more, we will receive a $100 bonus each!

If you are interested in the smart portfolio tracker (StocksCafe) which I am using as shown above, sign up using my link for a longer trial period :) Refer to our Referrals page for more information.

You might be interested in previous months update too:
Syfe REIT+ (100%) Review
Syfe - May 2020 - $1,135.43
Syfe - June 2020 - $2,558.58
Syfe - July 2020 - $3,872.68
Syfe - August 2020 - $6,260.30
- Syfe - September 2020 - $8,019.86

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.)

Monday, October 12, 2020

StashAway - September 2020

Yay. We will be eligible for the one-off $3,000 Baby Support grant! It was a nice "bonus" considering with/without the 3k, we were already planning to have a baby. As for those not planning to have a baby, I honestly do not believe that the 3k is much of a motivation. The unlucky ones are those with babies born slightly before 1st Oct. Like so near yet so far. Oh well, life goes on.

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

KPO

CZM

Based on the statement (30 September 2020), our total investment is ‭$47,850.22! KPO gains/lost -$935.72 and CZM gains/lost -$80.76 for the month.

As of 9 October 2020, these are our portfolio performance:


KPO and CZM Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22%: $‭33,550.57 (32.89% - Capital: $27,500)


KPO SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%: $10,324.33 (31.66% - Capital: $8,930)


CZM SRS - StashAway Risk Index 14%: $5,278.60 (25.40% - Capital: $4,750)

2. PORTFOLIO DETAILS 
Note that these are reported in USD.

KPO and CZM Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22%

KPO SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%

CZM SRS - StashAway Risk Index 14%

3. FEE CALCULATIONS


I referred StashAway to a friend (-4k should be the prorated amount). Hence, the fee stated is based on the monthly-average assets SGD ($25,000.00 x 0.8% + $12,577.32 x 0.7%) / 366 days * 30 days = $23.61. Otherwise, it would have been SGD ($25,000.00 x 0.8% + $16,577.32 x 0.7%) / 366 days * 30 days = $25.91. We exchanged 300 Shopee coins for $5 worth of StashAway credit.


The fee stated is based on the monthly-average assets SGD $4,989.07 x 0.8% / 366 days * 30 days = $3.27.

StocksCafe


Evan (founder of StocksCafe) made an improvement where one can now benchmark their portfolio against multiple indexes/ETFs. Looking at the time-weighted return (10.45%) for this year, we can see that StashAway Risk Index 22% is outperforming the STI ETF, SPY, and IWDA (including fees). 

If we compare across the years, StashAway's portfolio is winning by a huge margin (34.03%) except losing to SPY (43.03%). In addition, it has the lowest volatility and max drawdown. This is what StashAway meant by reducing risk and maximizing the return. 

Which is the best? Only time will tell :)

Anyway, if you are interested in signing up for StashAway, do use our referral link - KPO and CZM Referral Link. You will get $10,000 free management fees for 6 months and we will get $16!

If you want to extract those transactions information from StashAway, do take a look at this article - StashAway Transactions Parser.

If you are interested in the smart portfolio tracker (StocksCafe) which I am using as shown above, sign up using my link for a longer trial period :) Refer to our Referrals page for more information.

You might be interested in previous months update too:
StashAway - January 2020 - $31,742.42
StashAway - February 2020 - $31,499.69‬
StashAway - March 2020 - $30,934.95‬
StashAway - April 2020 - ‭$34,830.73‬
StashAway - May 2020 - $37,298.09‬
StashAway - June 2020 - $39,931.79
StashAway - July 2020 - $44,125.18
StashAway - August 2020 - $46,900.18
- StashAway - September 2020 - $47,850.22

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.)

Thursday, October 8, 2020

Portfolio - September 2020

Baby Ong is 31 weeks old and her weight is ~1.6kg! Look at how cute she is, sucking her thumb already? Next week, we will be able to apply for the baby bonus and open a CDA account for her. Wondering how much is the "pandemic baby bonus" and if we will be eligible. lol. Anyway, a lot happened last month so let's dive right into our portfolio update.

Our portfolio has reached another new high! It increased by 7.77% to $566,705 - $43,372.32 of capital injection and $2,523.54 of capital loss. This includes $44,224 of leverage/debt (gearing ~8.5%).

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.

"Cash Flow" is the amount of money being injected/withdrawn from the portfolio (buying stocks = +ve cash flow while selling stocks and collecting dividends = -ve cash flow)

SOLD
None

BOUGHT
- STI ETF (2,000 units) @ $2.524 and $2.511
- Starhill Global REIT (10,000 units) @ $0.45
- Capitaland (2,000 units) @ $2.74 and $2.66
- Capitaland China Retail Trust (6,000 units) @ $1.14
- Capitaland Mall Trust (8,000 units) @ $1.95
- Capitaland Commercial Trust (500 units) @ $1.68
- IREIT Global (100 units) @ $0.695
- iShares Hang Seng Tech ETF (300 units) @ HK$15.30
- IWDA (12 units) @ US$63.80

STI ETF, Starhill Global REIT, Capitaland, Capitaland China Retail Trust, and Capitaland Mall Trust are all existing holding and we just decided to continue to invest and average down them. I bought another 500 units of Capitaland Commercial Trust so that after the merger, I will not end up with odd lots for Capitaland Mall Trust.


IREIT Global is a new addition to our portfolio but why only 100 units? This is something I have always wanted to test out and my last attempt was a failure - Mistake on Rights Issue - CapitaLand Commercial Trust. The plan is to own the mother share before XR so that I will be entitled to the rights issue. With the allocated rights issue, I will then proceed to oversubscribe. Whatever that is allocated in from my oversubscription will be an instant profit. Again, I can do this because there's no minimum commission.


I was allocated 45 rights and went to buy another 55 rights from the market so that I will not end up with any odd lots. Proceed to exercise all my rights (100 units) and oversubscribe by 9,900 units. lol.

Another interesting new addition to our portfolio is the iShares Hang Seng Tech ETF (3067). There are a couple of ETFs that is tracking the Hang Seng Tech Index and we chose iShares simply because it has the lowest fee/expense ratio. Shall blog more about this separately if I have the time. 

I have "force" myself to buy $1,000 SGD worth of IWDA. We have decided to set some rules for the monthly IWDA investment:
- Current average price: $58.977
- If the market price is above our average price, buy $1,000
- If the market price is below our average price, buy $2,000
- Must buy by last trading day of the month

As an introduction, IWDA (iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETF) is an accumulating (does not distribute dividends) world ETF managed passively by iShares. This has multiple purposes:
1. Capital Growth - Determine if simply buying a diversified world ETF will outperform StashAway/Endowus
2. Leverage Collateral - It has 70% LTV which will increase eventually increase our ability to borrow more or prevent a margin call

Anyway, IWDA is highly recommended by ShinyThings from HWZ. You can refer to this summarized version here.


On a side note, we can invest in such a small amount because there's no minimum commission for SCB priority customers which makes our investment very cost-effective.

I have also decided to increase my SRS contribution to $1,480 per month with the intention of maxing it by year-end.

Our Monthly DCA for August - $4,230
$1,000 Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22%
$740  KPO's SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%
$250 CZM's SRS - StashAway Risk Index 14%
$740 KPO's SRS - Endowus Loss Tolerance -60%
$1,000 Cash - Syfe REIT+ (100% REIT)
$500 Cash - Syfe Equity100 (100% Equities)

Dividends
The total dividends collected this month is $2,451.76. The breakdown is as follows:

CompanyPayDateSharesTotal
Keppel DC REIT1-Sep-205001.14       $218.80
Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust2-Sep-202011.26$67.57
Accordia Golf Trust8-Sep-2015000$168.00
Mapletree Logistics Trust 11-Sep-20166.31$3.40
Far East Hospitality Trust 14-Sep-2010316$106.25
Raffles Medical Group Ltd16-Sep-2020000$400.00
AIMS APAC REIT17-Sep-201629.86$32.59
ESR REIT17-Sep-2091.14$0.60
First Real Estate Investment Trust25-Sep-2011038.68$48.57
Cromwell European Real Estate Investment Trust28-Sep-2038000$1072.54
CapitaLand Retail China Trust28-Sep-2011041.1$333.44
Total dividends collected for 2020: $16,599.13
Average dividends per month for 2020: $1,844.34

StashAway

KPO

CZM

Capital: $41,180‬.00
Current: $‭‭‭‭47,850.15

If you are interested in StashAway, do use our referral link. You get $10,000 free management fees for 6 months and we will get $16!

If you want to extract those transactions information from StashAway, do take a look at this article - StashAway Transactions Parser.

Endowus


Capital: $8,930.00
Current: $9,124.00

If you are interested in Endowus, do use our referral link for our readers! You will get S$10,000 managed free for 6 months ($20 equivalent) and we will get $20 too!

Syfe


Capital: $6,700.00
Current: $‭‭‭8,052.62

If you are interested in signing up, do use our referral code (KPOBONUS) for some cash incentive! Invests $500 and more and we will receive a $10 bonus each. Invests $10,000 and more and we will receive a $50 bonus each. Invests $20,000 and more, we will receive a $100 bonus each!

If you want to extract those transactions information from Syfe, do take a look at this article - Syfe Transactions Parser.

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
Portfolio Performance in 2019
2019 Net Worth
Portfolio - December 2019 - $463,297
Portfolio - January 2020 - $455,071
Portfolio - February 2020 - $442,216
Portfolio - March 2020 - $415,071
Portfolio - April 2020 - $459,037
Portfolio - May 2020 - $470,665
Portfolio - June 2020 - $502,313
Portfolio - July 2020 - $487,135
Portfolio - August 2020 - $525,857
- Portfolio - September 2020 - $566,705

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.)