StashAway - March 2021

As mentioned previously, after reviewing CZM's latest NOA and forecasting her taxes for next year, we have decided that she no longer needs to contribute to SRS. That is because she is now eligible for Working Mother’s Child Relief which reduces her tax significantly (15% of earned income)! Given that we are not contributing to her SRS portfolio anymore, we have decided to increase the risk index from 14% to 22% so that it will continue to grow (more) by itself.

By the time we are 62 years old in 2052, there's a 50% probability that the 6k will become 100k. lol. This portfolio will be interesting because we will not be injecting new capital and one can observe if it will continue to grow while the management fees continue to be deducted. I am guessing I will probably start seeing some sell transactions or USD being converted to SGD for the management fees.

Investment for this month:
KPO and CZM Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22% - $1,000
Baby Ong Cash - StashAway Risk Index 36% - $100

KPO SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36% - $638

Total: $1,738

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

KPO

CZM

Based on the statement (31 March 2021), our total investment is ‭$64,759.72! KPO gains $50.66 and CZM lost $25.66 for the month.

As of 6 April 2021, these are our portfolio performance:

KPO and CZM Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22%: $‭43,137.36 (42.32% - Capital: $34,500)

Baby Ong Cash - StashAway Risk Index 36%: $199.60 (-2.32% - Capital: $200)

KPO SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%: $15,858.19 (46.79% - Capital: $13,064)

CZM SRS - StashAway Risk Index 22%: $6,496.91 (24.74% - Capital: $6,000)

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

KPO and CZM Cash - StashAway Risk Index 22%

Baby Ong Cash - StashAway Risk Index 36%

KPO SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%

CZM SRS - StashAway Risk Index 22%

3. FEE CALCULATIONS

The fee stated is based on the monthly-average assets SGD ($25,000.00 x 0.8% + $25,000.00 x 0.7% + $6,875.64 x 0.6%) / 365 days * 31 days = $35.35.

The fee stated is based on the monthly-average assets SGD $6,432.22 x 0.8% / 365 days * 31 days = $4.37. 

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 (4.89%) for the year 2021, we can see that StashAway Risk Index 22% is underperforming all of our benchmarks.

If we compare across the years, StashAway's portfolio is winning by a huge margin (43.95%) except losing to SPY (67.01%) and IWDA (55.91%). In addition, it has the lowest volatility and max drawdown. This is what StashAway meant by reducing risk and maximizing the return. 

The annualized return/XIRR of the portfolio is very impressive too at 13.51%. Using the Rule of 72, it means that the StashAway portfolio will double our money in 72 / 13.51 ~ 5.33 years. In comparison, the same money if left in the bank account at 2% interest rate will take 72 / 2 ~ 36 years to double.

As for StashAway Risk Index 36%, the portfolio currently has a higher time-weighted return (48.50%) when compared against all the indexes (STI, SPY, and IWDA) but it is also clear that it is riskier in the sense that both its volatility/max drawdown are much higher when you compare against the benchmark and StashAway Risk Index 22% portfolio. The XIRR is 25.77%. Using the same rule, our money will double in 72 / 25.77 ~ 2.79 years.

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.

On a side note, Futu's moomoo app attractive sign-up bonus (one free Apple Share besides other benefits) has been extended to 30th April 2021 (1500hr SGT)! Take a look at our review here.

You might be interested in previous months update too:

- StashAway Withholding Tax Reimbursement FY 2019

- StashAway - December 2020 - $56,721.26

- StashAway - January 2021 - $59,991.38

- StashAway - February 2021 - $61,608.72

- StashAway - March 2021 - $64,759.72

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.)

Portfolio - March 2021

March has been a crazy month! We noticed Baby Ong's skin was getting very dry in certain areas especially the joints (mild eczema) and after researching online, we brought her to see Dr. Lynn Chiam who is a Pediatric Dermatologist. Damage: $470+. Fortunately, we saw some improvement in her skin after following her treatment methods.

We also started to send Baby Ong to her infant care in order to get used to the new routine before CZM returns to work and it's so tiring! We got to wake up around 6+am to prepare her, dropped her at the infant care around 8am, and rush home to start work by 9am. The worst thing that happened for the month was CZM injured/sprained her back and was getting engorgement at the same time in one of the week. I went on to apply for 1 week leave to help her out with everything so she can focus on recovering. Her back has fully recovered but the engorgement is like a recurring issue. Haix.

For those that think breastfeeding is cheap because one can save on milk powder, you are so wrong! It is mentally and physically draining for the wife/mummy, the constant pumping, the fear of engorgement, it's never-ending. So far we have spent >$2k consulting TCM (Flower Moon Clinic) and a Malay auntie in order to clear CZM's engorgement. In one of the TCM sessions, the physician even had to use a needle to poke the milk blister that was causing the engorgement. So scary and painful! Poor CZM :'(

Last month I also decided to pass up on a possible promotion next year and you can read about it here - Our Salary 2020 + Passing Up Promotion. Most people will not be able to comprehend such a decision similar to the FIRE concept. Why retire early when you can continue to work and contribute to the economy? Why pass up on a possible promotion when you still got to continue to work anyway? It is about prioritizing other aspects of life that are so much more important than work/career. After all, our plan is just to work another 10 years before we FIRE and it is simply a choice of stressful 10 years or comfortable 10 years. Anyway, if you have not read the book "Your Money or Your Life" then take a look at our review here, it should put more things into perspective.

Alright, enough of such sad updates. On the bright side, our portfolio broke the next milestone (including leverage) last month - $800k! In fact, our portfolio has almost doubled as compared to one year ago.

Our first... 

$100k - 2016 Aug (Have not started to blog)

$200k - 2017 Feb

$300k - 2018 Jan
$400k - 2019 Mar
$500k - 2020 Jun

$600k - 2020 Nov

$700k - 2021 Jan

$800k - 2021 Mar

If you prefer to look at the underlying raw data:

2014-2016

It took us > 2 years to reach our first $100k.

2017-2019

For the last 6 months, it has been breaking the next 100k every 2 months as STI begins to "wake up" after so long. Our portfolio reaches another new high! It increased by 16.70% to $866,309 - $75,085.37 of capital injection (we utilized more leverage + our bonus + a bit skewed by Crypto - I have been putting ~$1-2k for the last few months but wasn't tracking it) and $48,859.60 of capital gain. This includes $109,481 of leverage/debt (gearing ~14.47%).

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
- CapitaLand (5,000 units) @ $3.75

- Mapletree Industrial Trust (4,000 units) @ $2.62

- Mapletree Commercial Trust (4,000 units) @ $1.99

- Ascendas REIT (3,000 units) @ $3.07

- CDL HTrust (3,000 units) @ $1.26

- Ascott Residence Trust (3,000 units) @ $1.08

- Frasers L&C Trust (3,000 units) $1.45

- Cromwell EUR REIT (12,000 units) @ Euro 0.455

- iShares Hang Seng Tech ETF (400 units) @ HK$16.92

We bought CapitaLand after news of its restructuring came out. I did an analysis and found that it was still trading at a significant discount >10% as compared to the offer that is on the table. You can read more about it here - CapitaLand at a Discount - CLIM, CICT and Cash.

We were already holding on to some cash, hoping the market will drop further but when our bonus came in and news of Singapore relaxing some of the COVID-19 restrictions + plans to reopen the border by end of the year + US market keep dropping but SG market seems immune/not affected, we are guessing that the SG market is unlikely to drop further. In fact, SG is likely to be one of the first few countries to recover strongly from this pandemic. CDL HTrust and Ascott are more of a hospitality/travel recovery play. Frasers L&C Trust is because it will be added to the STI index soon. Cromwell EUR REIT has a share consolidation (1:5) and I am making the number of shares nicer. 

Anyway, the idea of using leverage is simple, borrow the money, buy a good/excellent REIT/stock, use the dividends to pay the interests, and keep the difference while ensuring that we will never get a margin call/trigger. Once again, leverage has its risk and is definitely not for everyone. We see it as our way of buying a second property without incurring any of those taxes (ABSD, rental income tax, etc.). You can take a look at this - Leverage Performance 2020. Unfortunately, we did not buy IWDA because it is at an all-time high. Yes, I am timing the market but I just couldn't help it. Unfortunately, it just keeps going higher @_@"

Given that it is a brand new year, I have adjusted my SRS contribution to $1,276 per month with the intention of maxing it by year-end. We have also decided to open another StashAway portfolio for Baby Ong. You can read about Our Insurance and Investment Plan for Baby Ong.

Our Monthly DCA for March - $3,876
$1,500 Cash for Ourselves - StashAway Risk Index 22%

$100 Cash for Baby Ong - StashAway Risk Index 36%

$638  KPO's SRS - StashAway Risk Index 36%

$638 KPO's SRS - Endowus Loss Tolerance -60%
$1,000 Cash - Syfe REIT+ (100% REIT)

Dividends
The total dividends collected this month is ~$3,496.35 ($1,657.61 and Euro 1162). The breakdown is as follows:

Company                                                 PayDate         Shares     Total

Cromwell European REIT                         31-Mar-21 50,000         EUR 1162.0

Keppel REIT                                                 31-Mar-21 494.757     $4.65

Starhill Global REIT                                 25-Mar-21 25,600     $481.28

First REIT                                                 24-Mar-21 9             $0.07

Far East Hospitality Trust                         22-Mar-21 10,316     $142.36

AIMS APAC REIT                                         19-Mar-21 1,600     $32.80

ESR-REIT                                                 19-Mar-21 413.977     $3.47

Mapletree Logistics Trust                         15-Mar-21 494.202     $7.12

IREIT Global                                                 12-Mar-21 500             $10.90

Ascendas REIT                                               9-Mar-21         320.118     $5.37

CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust 9-Mar-21         25,780     $448.57

Mapletree Industrial Trust                         8-Mar-21         4320.532     $141.71

Keppel DC REIT                                         8-Mar-21         5137.837     $246.35

CapitaLand China Trust                                 5-Mar-21         21,152     $122.68

Keppel REIT                                                 1-Mar-21         351.11     $10.28

Total dividends collected for 2021: $6,262.72
Average dividends per month for 2021: $2,087.57

StashAway

KPO

CZM

Capital: $53,764.00
Current: $‭‭‭‭65,440.82

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: $13,064.00
Current: $15,578.08

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! This access fee has no expiry date.

Syfe

Capital: $15,053.28
Current: $‭‭‭16,704.77

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.

Crypto

Capital: $8,262.52
Current: $‭‭‭16,891.87

The snapshot of the price in SGD when I was compiling/updating the spreadsheet.

If you prefer a pie chart. Anyway, I did not include the 30k GUSD in Celcius Network because that's using leverage and net-net it is US$0. However, I will include the interests earned in CEL.

BTC in BlockFi earning about 6% interest.

GUSD and CEL in Celcius Network earning 10.51% and 4.86% respectively.

Majority of CRO at Crypto.com DeFi wallet earning 30-40% interest. I was actually planning to convert my existing CRO to ADA or ETH since I was going to move away from the platform but when the mainnet launched on 25th March, the yield from staking of CRO became crazily high and I could not resist moving them to the DeFi wallet to give it a try!

The remaining coins are still with Crypto.com. The plan is to move away from the platform for higher yield. I will be converting the stablecoin (DAI and USDT) to either ADA, ETH or CRO because it is not cost-effective to be moving so many different kinds of coins. Will take about another month or so as some of the coins are still "locked" from the staking. 

If you are interested in the platform I am using, do sign up using our referral links for some bonus :)
BlockFi: Deposits US$100 or more into your BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), you will earn US$10 in BTC and we will earn US$10 in BTC too.

Celsius Network: Earn US$30 in DAI (it is just another stablecoin) with your first transfer of US$200 or more and we will earn US$30 in DAI too.

Crypto.com: Sign up using our link, stake SG$500 worth of CRO and we both get US$25 in CRO

On a side note, Futu's moomoo app attractive sign-up bonus (one free Apple Share besides other benefits) has been extended to 30th April 2021 (1500hr SGT)! Take a look at our review here.

You might be interested in these blog posts too:
- 2020 Net Worth

- Leverage Performance 2020

- 1% Net Worth to Crypto

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network

- Portfolio - December 2020 - $669,630

- Portfolio - January 2021 - $712,898

- Portfolio - February 2021 - $742,364

- Portfolio - March 2021 - $866,309 

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.)

Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Part 2

You can read about Part 1 here where I shared how to transfer money to BlockFi and Celsius Network without incurring additional fees to earn high interest. As mentioned previously, we will be pumping more money into Celsius Network to arbitrage USD. It took some time because I had to get my RM to provision/setup a new USD overdraft/leverage account. You can read about how we have been using leverage here. This means I will be borrowing and transferring USD to these platforms without a single cent and essentially removing FX risk too :)

In total, I transferred US$30k to BlockFi and the interest incurred while borrowing the USD for those few days was around US$3.33.

If you are wondering why I transferred US$10k on 3 different days, it is due to the transaction limit imposed by the bank. For international fund transfers, the daily maximum amount is just SG$20k.

Let's take a look at BlockFi's transactions.

The interest I earned from BlockFi for those few days was US$20.75! Look at the difference! Not forgetting the interest in BlockFi is actually lower at 8.6%. The plan/arbitrage opportunity is to borrow USD at 1-2% and earn 10+% through Celsius Network. 

As mentioned in my previous article, BlockFi provides one free withdrawal on a monthly basis and because I had already transferred US$200 in March to test it out, I had to wait for a new calendar month before I can make another withdrawal for free. Some of my readers didn't understand the previous article so I shall take more screenshots and explain it step by step.

In BlockFi, click on "Withdraw".

Select "Cryptocurrency Wallet".

Enter the amount you would like to withdraw. I am withdrawing US$29,800 because I already have US$200 with Celsius from last month.

Select "+ New wallet address". Now you open your Celsius Network app and select GUSD.

Click on "Transfer".

Read the warning/disclaimer. Like I mentioned previously, you must make sure you are sending your money/crypto to the correct wallet address. Otherwise, they will simply disappear into thin air with no way of reversing the transfer!

Copy the address. Do not even try typing it out. lol.

Paste it in. I will double-check the address and ensure that it is correct.

I will double-check the address again and as you can see, there is no transfer fee/it has been waived.

I will triple-check the address. lol. The good thing about BlockFi withdrawal is that it will hold and delay the transfer by one day so if you realized that you have transferred to the wrong address or a transfer was not initiated by you, there will still be time to cancel it. 

Now my USD is earning an interest of 10.51%! In addition, Celsius Network credits the interests on a weekly basis (every Monday), hence allowing compounding to take effect sooner! In my opinion, this way of leveraging is even safer than buying stocks because there is no risk volatility on my capital. Simply, earning higher interest to pay off the interest incurred and keeping the difference!

Stay tuned to the next update which should be about 1 month later where we can take a look at the interests for the whole month from both the borrowing and the deposit :)

Anyway, I have blogged about different ways to leverage crypto to build wealth for people with different risk appetites:

The safer approach using stablecoins

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Part 2

- Earning High Interest Using BlockFi and Celsius Network Finale

Risky approach but more hassle-free

- CakeDeFi - The Easy Way to DeFi

Highest risk and you are on your own

- DeFi apps on Binance Smart Chain (BSC) such as PancakeSwap and PancakeBunny

- DeFIRE with DeFi

If you are interested in the platform I am using, do sign up using our referral links for some bonus :)
BlockFi: Deposits US$100 or more into your BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), you will earn US$10 in BTC and we will earn US$10 in BTC too.

Celsius Network: Earn US$40 in BTC with your first transfer of US$400 or more and we will earn US$40 in BTC too.

Gemini: We will both receive US$10 of bitcoin after you buy or sell US$100.

CakeDeFi - Deposits US$50 or more into your CakeDeFi account, you will earn US$30 in DFI and we will earn US$10 in DFI too.

On a side note, Futu's moomoo app attractive sign-up bonus (one free Apple Share besides other benefits) has been extended to 31st May 2021 (1500hr SGT)! Take a look at the latest benefits here.

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.)