Portfolio - October 2020

We were so close to reaching another milestone/goal last month but the market went against us in the last few days, losing 20k+ in 5 days. Hopefully, we will be able to achieve it before the end of this year!

Our portfolio has reached another new high! It increased by 0.12% to $567,374 - $24,741.70 of capital injection (including the use of leverage - $9,483.25) and $24,072.61 of capital loss. This includes $53,036 of leverage/debt (gearing ~10.3%).

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"Cash Flow" is the amount of money being injected/withdrawn from the portfolio (buying stocks = +ve cash flow while selling stocks and collecting dividends = -ve cash flow)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
- Accordia Golf Trust (15,000 units) @ $0.707

Technically, I have yet to sell this stock. Accordia Golf Trust has been privatized and should be delisted soon (it is currently suspended). It did a capital distribution and would have skewed the dividends received so the best action is to treat it as being sold. After holding it for 4/5 years, the absolute return is about 62.71% and the annualized return is 13.01%.

BOUGHT
- Thaibev (9,000 units) @ $0.585

- Suntec REIT (6,000 units) @  $1.47

- Capitaland Mall Trust (5,200 units) @ $1.82 (Using leverage)

- IREIT Global (400 units) @ $0.49

- OCBC (19 units) @ $7.81 (Scrip Dividend)

- iShares Hang Seng Tech ETF (400 units) @ HK$15.80

- IWDA (11 units) @ US$65.30

Thaibev, Suntec REIT, and Capitaland Mall Trust are all existing holding and we just decided to continue to invest and average down them. After oversubscribing by 9,900 units, I was only allocated 400 units. Meh. I was expecting to get 2,000/3,000 units.

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. You can take a look at this article for more information - Hang Seng Tech Index ETF - Which one to buy?

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: $59.547
- 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 October - $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 $727.10. The breakdown is as follows:

Company                                                                 PayDate      Shares     Total

DBS Group Holdings Ltd                                        5-Oct-20    900          $162.00

Raffles Medical Group Ltd                                  7-Oct-20     20,000    $100.00

OCBC Limited                                                         7-Oct-20    900         $143.10

Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited   22-Oct-20  14,000    $322.00

Total dividends collected for 2020: $17,326.23
Average dividends per month for 2020: $1,732.62

StashAway

KPO

CZM

Capital: $43,170‬.00
Current: $‭‭‭‭50,592.80

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: $9,670.00
Current: $9,914.02

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: $8,200.00
Current: $‭‭‭9,030.90

New Syfe customers will have their first $30,000 managed free for 6 months when they use our new referral code (KPOCZM). We will be receiving a $10 cash incentive for our portfolio if you invest $500 or more.

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

- Portfolio - October 2020 - $567,374 

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.)

Andaz Residence King Bed Suite Staycation

Yay, Donald and Piglet got to "travel" again this year! We still have a couple of RTW articles still in draft. Shall update and post them one day.

Anyway, we booked a staycation at Andaz Singapore as a celebration for CZM's birthday/wedding anniversary. There were so many options initially but by the time we finally decided to settle for one (CZM didn't want to waste the money but a staycation is the next best alternative right now), the best/better deals were already gone (e.g. Raffles Hotel Singapore – The Suite Life staycation (2 nights for $795+) and Andaz Studio Suite at an even lower rate than what we got ($245 nett with Amex promotion)). 

We wanted to book the Andaz Studio King Bed Suite ($370 nett) but it was already fully booked and we ended up paying an additional $20 more for the Andaz Residence King Bed Suite ($390 nett) which is of the same size (76 sq m/818 sq ft) but different layout. Fortunately, there was an Amex credit card promotion which allowed us to pay just $315 nett!

We received an email about 5 days before our stay providing more information including a link to book the swimming pool through their FB chatbot, Andy as shown above. Each booking is about an hour from 8am to 9pm and one can make multiple bookings (we book one in the evening 6-7pm and another one from 11am-12pm the next day). 

During our stay, the pool was never full (15 pax) and the staff was quite flexible in managing the access to the pool. We were not able to get a late check-out and went to the pool at 10am without any booking. The staff let us in after performing safe entry and informed us that we will have to leave once the majority of the guests with reservation arrived which was pretty reasonable.

The default/usual check-in time is 3pm. We tried our luck by calling Andaz in the morning (10am) to ask for early check-in on the basis that we would like to have it because CZM is pregnant and we would like to avoid the general crowd and longer waiting time. To be honest, we would have done it even if CZM wasn't pregnant. lol. Unfortunately, they could not confirm and we were told that they would call us once the option is available.

We went down to Bugis Junction for lunch and received a call around 1:30pm informing us that the room is ready. We walked over to the hotel, checked-in smoothly at level 1, and was assigned a room at level 28. From there, we had to first take a lift to level 25 before switching to another lift for hotel guests.

We were very excited because this was the nicest hotel room we will be staying at. We usually looked for cheap accommodation (3 stars hotel or Airbnb preferably less than $100 a night) when travelling overseas although we flew in First/Business Class.

Our room - 2814 (4D anyone?)

The room is huge and simply gorgeous! When we opened the door, the curtains automatically open up to let the natural light in which was pretty cool. 

The living room with freebies/souvenirs 

The same living from another angle

The king-size bed and the TV that was never switched on

CZM on the rocking chair with the gorgeous pool view/scenary

Bathroom with rain shower and bathtub

Double sink vanities in the bathroom

There is also a walk-in wardrobe between the bedroom and the bathroom which didn't look too fanciful, hence no photo. Other things worth mentioning:

Complimentary minibar with snacks

"Stolen from Andaz" slippers - To steal or not to steal. lol

Dyson hairdryer

Once we were done exploring the room and taking photos/videos, we headed down to Alley on 25 (at level 25) for high tea. There is an ongoing 1 for 1 promotion at $48++  using HSBC credit card and do remember to make a reservation! We did not make one and it was full, waited for about 15-20 mins before the staff gave us a seat.

Just for show/photo

You can look at the high tea menu here. There are a total of 10 items - a mixture of savory and sweet pastries in 5 tingkat + free flow beverages. Shortly after we finished the high tea, CZM's parents and brother arrived. Yes, you are allowed to have visitors in the day (2 registered guests + 3 visitors in your room during your stay. Visitors would be required to leave the room by 10PM). We showed them the Suite, the facilities, and went to Bugis to shop/walk walk. 

Guess where we went for dinner? Alley on 25! There was a 25% off as part of the staycation deal so we treated our family to a nice meal. You can find the dinner menu here.

Pizza Salmon - 28++

Linguine Gamberetti - $25++

Braised Lamb Shank - $35++

The Pizza Salmon was pretty normal, could not really taste the caviar as it was covered by the salmon. Our favorite pizza is still the Garlic Snowing Pizza from Mad for Garlic. The Braised Lamb Shank was not as good as what we had in New Zealand Pedro's House Of Lamb and the serving is slightly small for the price. Can't comment on the Linguine Gamberetti as I did not get to try it. 

After dinner, we went back to our room and everyone was trying to capture the night view of the city. lol. At one point in time, we even switched off all the lights in the room. They left before 10 pm and paid just $3.75 per entry (on weekends) for the parking at the DUO Tower.

Guess where we went for breakfast? Alley on 25! You can find the menu here. 

Egg Benedict, Guacamole Toast and Omelette with sides

Auntie's Laksa

Kaya Toast Set

Steamed Dim Sum

Vanilla Waffles

Egg Benedict and Guacamole Toast are probably our favorites. Auntie's Laksa isn't too bad but Queensway laksa is better. Will recommend skipping the Steamed Dim Sum and Kaya Toast Set (Yakun kaya toast is the best). Generally, we loved their breakfast menu (maybe because it was free and buffet-style). 

After breakfast, we tried to ask for a late check-out but was rejected. The usual check-out time is 12pm which wasn't ideal because our pool booking was from 11am to 12pm. So we went down to the pool at 10am without a booking and fortunately, was allowed to swim as mentioned above.

This is our first time doing a staycation and honestly, the experience was not too bad. It was pretty relaxing and there is no need to do any household chores! Having said that, I am pretty sure we will not be spending money on a staycation if we were allowed to travel. Oh well, part of the new normal.

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.)

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.)