Friday, November 16, 2018

How much have I earned and lost in 2018?

How much have I earned and lost in 2017?

I am writing this earlier this year as the total amount should be more or less the same by year end. Objective for 2018: Increase REITs by 10%, increase portfolio yield by 0.5%, increase income to $14,000.
Verdict: Didn't meet, didn't meet, meet.

Average dividend yield in 2017 was 4.56%. I didn't meet my target, and my average yield was 4.73% this year. This was achieved by buying stocks with >5% yield to increase the average, but it got pulled down by other non-performing stocks that cut dividends. In 2017, the plan was to support the increase by increasing REITs to 50% of my portfolio, starting from REIT ratio of 23% in 2017, and slowly rebalancing and capital injection at the right prices over 3 years, from 23% -> 33% -> 43% -> 50%. I did not buy that many REITs. In fact, I bought Singtel instead because yields were more attractive than REIT yields.

In order to further increase the average yield by another 0.5% will not be as easy as it will require buying stocks with >6% yield to increase the average. I may want to increase the growth stocks proportion, but I will see how prices are next year.

Income was $15,500 ($1,290/month), so I exceeded the target of $14,000. The additional increase was due to better dividends and also high bank interest rates from Bank of China 2.75%, UOB One 2.43%, Hong Leong Finance 1.7%, CIMB Fastsaver 1%, Singapore Savings Bonds 1.8%.

I didn't increase my Autowealth portfolio much as I found the prices too eratic. I will continue to contribute $400/month after the prices reverse closer to the mean. After an insane annualised yield of 15% in 2017, in 2018, the returns are a mere 4%, and could have been lower if I had continued to contribute as prices escalated 2% per month only to watch a big fall a few months later.

Unrealised profits/losses:
Autowealth = S$50 (+$260 in 2017)
Singapore Stocks = -$20,000 (+$20,000 in 2017)
Overall, gains in 2017 had been reversed to losses.

Objective for 2019: Increase REITs by 10% (Trying this again, hope to have good bargains), increase portfolio yield by 0.5%, increase income to $16,800 (or $1,400/month).

Chart of humble beginnings
Lifetime accumulated dividends and interest, net of losses, excluding portfolio valuation gain/loss = $65,000

I am also sticking to my slow and steady turtle income "methodology": Assuming that I continuously invest $36,000/year or $3,000/month,
In 2 years, accumulated dividends and interest = $100,000, $1,600/month
In 6 years, accumulated dividends and interest = $200,000, $2,200/month
In 9 years, accumulated dividends and interest = $300,000, $2,700/month

It may seem slow, sticking to $3,000/month for 10 years without factoring any increases, but I prefer the approach of buying on dips, which may not be the most optimal thing to do, but I feel that it helps to make my stock acquisitions dividend accretive (portfolio cost price wise). If there is a big market correction or flash crash then I will likely activate my warchest.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! To invest $3,000 a month is really a lot, at least to me. Probably will need a higher income to achieve that.

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    Replies
    1. He is making SGD 1,290 in dividends, so reinvesting that only requires feeding in an additional SGD 1,710 of earned income monthly.

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    2. Yes, it's an additional 1.7k more thereabout and some consider it rather conservative already. For the first few years, it was closer to $3000/quarter at max, but slowly and surely, it will increase if you continue to stick with saving and keeping up with times to stay employable.

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