August 2020 Portfolio, Dividends and also Life Updates (Data driven investing - Pyinvesting)

August is over and time for another portfolio review! This month is interesting as the 1 tesla stock that I bought will be splitting to 5 on 31 August 2020. Nothing much to be done as I will still hold on to that. 

My Singapore stocks are still in the red. Will be holding the stocks for the long term so not much worries on that. 

Besides Tesla surging up, both my VOO and VT are also in the green, glad that I started my ETF RSP buying. Though I wished I started earlier, at least I am in a better direction right now and will continue to do so.

Read more: July 2020 Portfolio Updates - Changes to RSP and sold First REIT

Portfolio:

Portfolio current value is at about $22,000 as of 29 August 2020. I really hope to increase the portfolio progressively but definitely a higher income is required. However, the job market doesn't look so good and jobs I have applied for, only 1 or 2 have gotten back to me. Went through some rounds of interview and got to see how it goes. 

Dividends: 

Received $27.25 from Singtel and $50.26 from STI ETF. Total: $77.51

Next month, September will be interesting and nice as dividends from Far East Organisation (O10.SGX) will be coming in with $150, my first 3 digit dividend payout. US elections are also drawing near and my brother and mum also watched the latest 2020 Democratic and Republican National Convention on 27 August 2020. I did watch a short highlight video on it.

I would love to watch with them but work wise has been overwhelming as weekends are also spent clearing work. The restructure in my office has combined multiple teams together and with some colleagues who left mostly due to their contract ending, I do not really have a positive outlook. I am on the lookout for jobs as well. Hope by year end, things can be clearer and I can be in a better position. Take care and stay safe everyone :)

Side mention for Pyinvesting: 

Many companies have algorithms or systems that guide their investments. This is all so that emotions are removed in the process and data is the way to go if you like to see numbers instead of just using your gut feeling, haha which really shouldn't be the case. 

Ivan recently reached out to me to take a look at his website which uses data and back-testing to form your investment strategy. 

He has video tutorials that teaches you how you can navigate and input your data. They are really bite-sized and he shows in the videos step-by-step processes on how to do it. Do go over and take a look!

No such thing as an iron rice bowl

Every industry is going through changes right now as things are not going as per normal. Some industries face it harder than others as change is now definitely necessary for them. 

As employers realise that more can be done remotely and digitally, employees also have to re-skill and learn more than what they currently know.  

For me, change is rather difficult for me because I tend to be in my comfort zone and get too comfortable in my place. Many people now place a huge emphasis on data and even my workplace is willing to use software to track employee's workload and SLA to account for headcount. At times, it can all sound so robotic like data rules us all and will determine whether or not we deserve to be in the company. 

Recently The Woke Salaryman released The painful lesson I learnt from newspapers and magazines
which essentially summarized that change is essential and you should keep learning and re-skill/up skill yourself to remain employable. I do find this really relatable but am really apprehensive about having to keep learning to adapt. 

Having studied a general degree which does not have much technical knowledge, I have had to learn Microsoft Excel skills and other systems at a rapid pace after I started work. It has been difficult and I have to admit that constant practice is needed so that you won't forget the things you have learned. 

Some times, I do doubt if I can continue to be working in 10 years time as the work I am doing currently is more on the administrative side which can easily be replaced. All these worries and doubts so build up. I know I definitely will need to upskill myself and is data analytics the best way going forward? I am not too sure either but it seems data now is very powerful and in demand.   

I can definitely see data coming into my work as my bosses want to track data and so more skilled people are required in that area. Data is definitely one thing but being able to interpret it and find out more is also important.

I feel like I am still finding my way around considering the huge shift in work arrangements currently and the uncertain future. Definitely, at times, seeing my friends doing better in their career than me kinda feels upsetting and makes me doubt myself. I am learning to take it easy. 

Embracing change will be good for me as an individual and my future. For now, I am focusing on my career and if able to, to sign up for some short course though I really treasure my weekends and want to rest. We shall see how everything goes! No new youtube video this week as I have been really busy with work, OT-ing everyday and also on weekends. Will take a short break and hopefully be back soon:) 

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Time in Market Beats Timing the Market

BeatTheBush is a YouTuber who sold all his stocks holdings as he was expecting another stock market crash and he will buy back when they have gone down.

After he sold the stocks, the market shot up and recovered rapidly. With that, he lost about $20,000 in gains and then reported also that he could have had $40,000.

With Tesla hitting $1000 a few days ago, the gains were enormous as the market recovers in a crazy amount of time.

He also mentions in his latest video that he FOMO hard on TSLA, as he bought 100 shares of Tesla when it was about $200 and sold it when it was about $800. He says that if he held on to that, he would have earned an extra $14,000.

He sold off all his holdings thinking that a stock market crash will be coming soon due to the situation but instead to his horror, stocks went even higher and now for him to enter the market again means buying back his positions at a higher price.

"Time in the market beats timing the market"

This is a really famous quote and many people agree with it. It sounds really easy but to stay in the market especially when your portfolio has a huge profit or when the market looks like it is about to crash is difficult.

Why time in the market beats timing the market because firstly, you save on transaction fees, to sell and purchase the stocks again with guarantee that you can get it at the original price you pay is a risk. The transaction fees can really add up especially if you have different stocks in your portfolio.

Secondly, the stock will usually go up over time especially over a long period of time like 10 years. This is because items and goods will generally increase in prices and consumer will then spend more hence in a way due to inflation, innovation and population growth. the stock will generally go up. Of course, you can never be so sure as there is always uncertainty and past result does not guarantee that the future will also follow.

Lastly, a lot of effort is needed to time the market, no one can really absolutely catch the bottom,maybe once or twice but it is impossible to catch it every single time. Staying invested means that you are confident that the company you are invested in will survive and grow in the years to come. To be selling and buying requires effort as daily news can bring about fluctuation in prices and monitoring them can be tedious. 

Of course, if a terget price for a certain company that you set has been reached, you can consider selling it to take profits as the profits will not materialized until you sell your stocks. We all learn along the way and there definitely is no hard and fast rule but just when to cut loss or take profit.

June 2020 Portfolio and Dividends Update

Half the year is over! And phase 2 now allows us to go out to dine and also a little more activities have been allowed like visiting your family members though not in big numbers. Another big thing is the general elections, in which it will be my first time voting if I am able to.

For my portfolio this month, same RSP addition was done with 46.7958 units of TRACKER FUND (2800) purchased at a price of HKD 25.42 and 2.691 units of Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) at a price of USD 77.6399 each.

I also bought 1 Tesla stock at USD 989.80 inclusive of fees.

With that, this is my current portfolio allocation.

Dividends received this month from Amara, First REIT and OCBC so about $50 was received.

I have also made a portfolio update video on my YouTube channel which you can take a look below.

00:25 My Current Networth

00:57 How I build my portfolio up

01:32 My Portfolio

02:31 Portfolio breakdown and industries

02:44 Dividends received in 2018, 2019 and 2020

03:23 Further action/plan for portfolio

Saving Lots of Money But Not Knowing What to Spend it on

My friends are really good at saving, I always hear them saying that they have money in their bank accounts but they are not sure where to spend it on. A number of them will always tell me they are not sure where to spend their money at.

For me, I always find that I need more money because I have stocks that I want to buy and if possible, I like to increase my RSP amount monthly. So in a way, I dont find myself having lots of money saved up in my bank account and not knowing where to spend them.

1. Spend it on yourself

Courses now are readily available online and physically examples like SkillsFuture courses or online platforms like coursera. If you are really interested in something, it is good to go in-depth and deep dive into it to find out more.

This definitely takes a bit of commitment but if you do spend some money on the courses, you will naturally want to turn up for lessons to make it worth it.

If not, you can spend some money on books or something that can enrich you with more knowledge. Although there are also many free resources that you can leverage on

2. Spend it on experiences

Travelling is a great way though now it is very much restricted due to the virus but travelling definitely opens you up to many new experiences. Every time I travel, I am also curious about the people and how they love life differently.

The different environment and surroundings make it seem like our lives are all so different even though we are in the same world.

It keeps you thinking and allows you to reflect, be grateful for things you have. It might even inspire you to do something through the experiences that you gather.

3. Spend it for future income

Spend it buying stocks, haha. Yes, many of my friends do not really invest as they feel that it is a really risky place to put you money in and definitely, I have made some investing mistake and money was lost but I believe that in the long term, I would be in a better position. Though I cannot be 100% sure that in the long term, I will not lose money on my investments, but I am being proactive in managing and making sure my money does not erode to inflation which is going to be what makes saving money in your bank account useless.

Read more: Design Studio - Drastic drop in price

You can also spend some money creating your own website or YouTube channel and do something you love.

Overall, not advocating that you need to definitely spend your money, saving it up is also good and if you can save more than why not, but remember that your money is only so much unless you put it to good use.

No rush to spend it all but you can start thinking of where you like to put your money at. 

You can also find me on

• Facebook SingaporeanTalksMoney 
• Instagram page SingaporeanTalksMoney
• Youtube SingaporeanTalksMoney

How much money do you need to be earning to be happy?

Have you ever wondered how much you need to earn annually to be happy? $100,000? $1,000,000? NOPE, according to experts cited in a 2010 study, $75,000 is the amount after which, your happiness plateaus.

 

This is because satisfying the basic needs like having a roof over your head, sufficient food and meeting your basic needs will make you happier after which more money than $75,000 will not necessarily make you happier.

The amount might vary a little depending on where you live but happiness experts say they don't vary too far off from $75,000.

$75,000 works out to be about $6250 a month, I am sure many people are earning this amount in Singapore and are they happy? The video also mentioned that people rarely get satisfied with the amount of money they are earning and usually quotes a higher amount than what they actually need.

MADE TO THINK THAT MORE STUFF = MORE HAPPINESS

Americans have a fantasy that the more things we own means more happiness and so everyone is made to want more things so then this brings up the issue of higher salary = more happiness.

Social comparison was mentioned in which we want exactly what our neighbours, friends or celebraties have. And so advertisements are also wired in a way to show that you will be happier with the items.

GOLDEN HANDCUFFS

This means that the person is trapped in a job that is paying them a certain salary and they are not able to leave it because they could have bought a more expensive house or car.

SO INSTEAD OF MONEY, WHAT ELSE CAN BE AN INDICATOR OF HAPPINESS

Humility or whether your job fit your values and allow you to use your strengths can be used as an indicator. Money can indeed reduce your mental stress as you do not need to think about your essentials for example after paying for rent, insurance and necessities, how much do you have left and how much can you put aside.

One example was Gravity payments where the CEO took a million dollar paycut and the employees all had a bump up in their salaries with one staff earning $32,000 to $70,000 annually.

It was also mentioned that how you use your money can also affect your happiness as you should not spend it too much on material but instead on experiences or connection with others.

Earning more definitely means more responsibilities and more stress. The CEO from Gravity payment also mentioned that being at the top is lonely.

So this video summarized that your happiness is definitely much more than your paycheck. There are definitely many other factors involved.

For me, there was a period when I felt that money was the solution to everything especially when I was young and my parents divorced.

It made me feel that money would have solved all their issues and allowed them to be happy but as I grew up, I came to know more and definitely money was just a small component that caused my parent's divorce, there were bigger things involved other than money and I think even if there was lots of money at that time, they would still end up being divorced.

Even now, I do envy those people with a big paycheck but I understand the stress and responsibilities they hold. I am happy and definitely I can grow much more because my annual salary is not at the optimum $75,000 yet, HAHA.

What are your thoughts on this? Does your salary affect your happiness?

Breakdown of my Monthly Salary and Types of Accounts I hold my Money in

Hi! Due to the extended time spent at home, I have created a YouTube channel to add more on visuals.

It will be more of a personal finance, my experiences and maybe about some stocks that I am interested in. I am currently still navigating how should my channel be and if you have any feedback, you can let me know!

Meanwhile, hope you enjoy my videos. I will try to upload weekly if I have ideas. This week, I uploaded a video on the breakdown of my monthly salary and types of accounts I hold my money in.

Previously, I had an article on this too, click on it to read it!

Getting my first pay - How am I splitting it up?

Update: Standard Chartered Jumpstart account have halved their interest rate for the first $20 000 to 1% per annum.

May 2020 Portfolio and Dividend Updates

May 2020 is coming to an end and the circuit breaker is also ending too as we go towards a less strict opening on 2 June 2020.

We will still not be able to dine out :( but we can now visit grandparents or parents however only 2 people from the same household will be able to do so.

After staying at home for such a long time, I am pretty used to it and I will not be visiting my grandparents so soon as my mum would prefer for us not to have too much interactions to prevent the risk of spreading.

Read more: New work arrangement post circuit breaker

Porfolio and Dividends:

Received $15 from SGX as dividends and in June, will receive $28 from OCBC and $19 from First REIT. Expecting dividends to drop pretty a lot this month as I hold quite a few hospitality and retails REITs. Shall see how it goes. 

In May 2020, my ETF RSP with FSMone bought 47.6774 units of Tracker Fund of Hong Kong Index (2800) at a cost of HKD 24.95 each.

3.0021 units of Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) was bought at a cost of USD 69.595 each. Through this RSP, I can slowly see the effects of accumulation, though the portfolio is still having a loss of about 7% as I entered into it around December 2019 when prices were still pretty high and so the average price of my holdings are quite high.

I really like this idea of monthly payments as it really just takes off the thinking and frees up my mind though when I see times like 23 March 2020 when stock prices went way down, I wished my RSP was buying on that day HAHA.

For my RSP, I am making the switch from buying STI ETF (ES3) to Tracker Fund of Hong Kong because when I started in 2016 with my RSP with POSB invest saver, STI ETF was at a price of $2.80 and now it is about $2.538. Both the graph shows quite a similar pattern except that Tracker Fund of Hong Kong has a little more huge fluctuations and much more buying and selling volume.

The Tracker Fund of Hong Kong though at Oct 2016 was at a price of about HKD 24 and currently is at a price of HKD 23.10 due to recent news that Beijing will tighten their grip on HK by having a new security bill has seen better growth and higher highs of price over the period from 2016 to now.

Also because the HK market holds significantly larger companies as you can see from the image below though both HK and Singapore are heavy on Banks.

Although that being said, there will a lot of volatility in HK as protests are set to resume and with Beijing going on to tighten their grip on HK with the new bill and giving more power to the leaders, there will definitely be rebuttals from the people and we already saw how bad their protests can go from last year's demonstrations. 

Read more: My first investment - STI ETF


I am also having a change of strategy in my investments. Previously, I wanted to create a dividend portfolio and focused mainly in the Singapore markets, however recently I have been reading and watching the US markets and difference between the stock prices are huge in just one day.

With that, there can be huge profits and huge losses, with me still being young, I can take the risk as I do not have many dependents and I also want to enter the US market to try it out.

Will do some updates once I start, I will most likely use my FSMone account to purchase US stocks as well. 

Read more: Investing in Hard Times  


It will be June next week and the circuit breaker will be ending, with that, more people are expected to go back to work especially those that require machinery or systems in the office. Dining in will still not be allowed so eating more at home will still go on. Stay safe and take care! 

 Information published here are purely opinions or feedback and should in no way be taken as guaranteed. Readers are encouraged to do their due diligence by doing sufficient research before making any decisions based on materials on this blog. 

Work Arrangement Changes Post Circuit Breaker

So on Monday, my boss had a meeting with my team on the arrangement for our work after the circuit breaker. For my team, one person will need to be in office everyday and the rest will be on hybrid or work from home.

As some of my colleagues do have pre existing health conditions which means they are of higher risks, they were excluded from going back to the office.


So we had to choose the ONE who would return to office everyday and guess what, it is me.

Well, I kinda volunteered for it as I know that everyone else has really adapted to working from home and I stay pretty near to the office as compared to the rest.

HAHAHAH, I mean we had to really dish out the names within that meeting so there was really an awkward silence before I volunteered myself. I didn't really think through before and after, I realised that I will need to be wearing masks everyday and travelling means expenses will be up.

Of course, it will be on rotation and the first month, I will be the one having to go to the office everyday after which, there will be a switch or maybe it will be mainly hybrid depending on the situation or feedback. 

I will get a reusable mask to use and so far, not too sure what other supplement will be provided but there will be another meeting on it.


After I volunteered myself, I know now that starting 2 June, I will need to travel daily and I am also putting my mum and bro at risk with the travelling involved.

I will need to put in proper steps from when I return home to really ensure that things are kept to a minimum exposure.

With that too, no more waking up a few minutes before work starts and also having no segregation between work and personal as I usually turn off my work laptop then proceed to on my personal one in an instant.

For now, arrangement will be as such and then we can slowly observe and see. I guess this will be the new norm until a vaccine is created. Things are uncertain right now and I am grateful to still have a job.

Having a side / alternative income

I came across this video released by Channel News Asia on COVID-19 and how it is affecting people's jobs and income during this period.

For one of them featured in the video, he is a makeup artist and has his own company however with the circuit breaker measures and his job being deemed as a non-essential service, he will need to take a break and this means no income for him.



During the circuit breaker, he managed to do a few makeup tutorial videos through Instagram and he felt that it was important to have an alternative income to fall back on that will allow him some income if his main job is gone.

He also mentioned that he will be working to create a side gig from now.

Having a side income sounds amazing and great but you will also need to make significant sacrifices and effort for you to see the results.

The effects will not be immediate and also it will take time. For me, I am also thinking of creating alternative income beside my main 9 -5 job.

Actually, YouTube is a great alternative if you have a talent or want to create lots of visual content for your audience.

Even more so as everyone needs to stay home now, it is a great time to get started and I might really start a YouTube channel soon!


I came across a video that mentioned about the different side income sources:

1. Collate funny TikTok or certain categories of TikTok videos and post it online
   
   This was something I came across recently and to be honest, channels doing this really gets lots of views. Except for videos that have copyrighted music and cannot be monetized, all the rest can be monetized or you can add your own self-sourced ads too.
   
   You can also do reaction videos for example, Graham Stephan has a channel where he reacts to people's video of how they spend their money monthly and he evaluates them or provides comments.
   
   
2. Sell items online
   
   This is what many people do, like using Carousell or Shopee, there are many platforms available. This came to my mind recently because, my mum wanted to buy kimchi and luncheon meat from Korea, like a certain brand and she asked me if I was able to buy it online.
   
   I was able to find the kimchi and luncheon meat on Shopee and purchased it. When it arrived, it came to my mind that this was super cool because what the seller did was to advertise something that was really accessible in Korea and just advertised it online. When an order came in, he could just go to the nearby supermarket, purchase it and mail it.
   
   
   Maybe if you can find something uniquely Singapore and not perishable, you can list it online and when you get an order, you can purchase and send it off at a slightly higher price to earn the margins.
   
   
3.  Blogging
   
   This is currently what I am doing, for me though it doesn't earn much because I am not creating much value to the community but if you are able to build up a support base and add course or newsletter plus merchandises, it can be a good side income.
   
   It doesn't really pay much if you rely solely on adsense unless your views are really substantial and people are clicking on the ads.
   
   
4.  Create websites or manage social media for small businesses
   
   If you have prior experience or very interested in creating websites, you can earn money from setting up websites and selling them to small business who wish to scale up their business online. Your first few jobs you might not be paid high but after having a client base, you can start asking for much more.

Strong Mental Health and a Good Mindset (How to build it)

I like to think a lot about things and I tend to think quite negatively at times. I think a lot has to do with my mindset on things. I always admired people who are very persistent in their goals and those who can endure tough times.

Because for me, I know that I will feeble and not as strong. Having a good mindset is very important as the way you communicate, put yourself across and how you deal with success and failure can be seen. It comes together with resilience.


There are definitely ways to build up your mindset on things and how you can perceive events that happen in your life, this is very important ever so in this period of thing as we face COVID-19 and the many events that follow which we might or might not have even thought about.

Below are 5 things that will help me in building a good mindset if I can improve on them.

1. Don't waste time on things you cannot control.

• Dwelling on things that you cannot control can drain you and make you feel inferior. There are many things that you will not be able to control.

• This can result in micromanaging, not delegating out tasks and your worries keep you occupied resulting in a waste of time and energy. Identifying your fears or stressors then creating a plan to manage them for example through exercise or meditation. 

• Remember to then monitor your stress level and eliminate coping strategies like drinking or complaining to others. 

2. Don't worry about pleasing everyone.

• I am guilty of this definitely, being aware of how others view you can change your behaviour and to be honest, that might not be the real you. Just be kind and who you are, you don't have to please everyone in your life.

3. Challenge yourself and not shy away from change.

• Taking calculated risks and making sure you take up challenges can give you positive outcome especially so if you end up completing the challenge. 

• Of course, knowing the potential downside before taking it up is necessary. 

4. Self-talk and respond positively.

• Self-talk is like prepping yourself and in the long term, positive self-talk can boost your self-esteem. Positivity breeds positivity.

5. Don't give up after facing failure.

•  Its easy to fell like you are not good enough after failing. But that is not the case because we always learn from failures. For example, if you failed an interview, maybe it was your interview skills or maybe it was just not a good job fit so then after you have identified the failure, you can try again and make it a success. 

It is definitely not easy to implement all the above at one go but slowly starting and doing it can make you a more positive and stronger person as a whole. It can make you handle your success and failures differently.

I am also a work in progress and even more so during this tough period where everything is so uncertain and our emotions all mixed up. We can all work towards a better us and definitely, it's ok to not be working all the time. We do need our breaks :)

To read more about me:

Wanna know more about me?
Click those links!

1. Total Current Assets - Breaking $10 000 
2.  Retiring Early and comfortably?- What is FIRE?
3.  Reflection over my time in University 
4.  My Financial Goals - Is $100 000 in 7 years possible? 
5.  Updates on my first week at my new job - Expenses, Colleagues and Environment 
6. My Current Insurance Coverage - What you should be getting  
7. April 2020 Portfolio and Some Updates  

April 2020 Portfolio and Some Updates

April has been just staying at home and observing the number of cases everyday as we see record high being updated. Its been a crazy month as CB was announced and then the extension of it with stricter measures was also announced.

Read more: CB breaker Extended to 1 June 2020

On my portfolio side, not much buying was done unlike everyone else, I did find prices attractive and wanted to buy but with low cash on my side and my income being not that high, I just stuck to my RSP.


In April 2020, 3.117 units of Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT) was bought at a price of USD 67.0299 each and 76 units of STI ETF (ES3) was bought at a price of $2.5971.

$0 dividends were received this month similar to last year in April, am expecting this year's dividends to take a hit as I am holding quite a number of REITs with most in hospitality and retail.

Current Portfolio:

Dividends:




I have been watching more webinars nowadays as compared to when working in office as I have more time on hand to listen and they are easily accessible since more webinars are also being done due to the situation.

With the different webinars, you can learn a bit from everything and it is really interesting to see what other think of this current situation and how they are handling it. 
 
I am making some changes to my RSP by switching from purchasing STI ETF (ES3) to Hang Seng Index (2800).

Below are some of my previous month's updates in 2020:

- March 2020 Portfolio Updates and Dividends
- Feb 2020 Portfolio Updates and Dividends
- Jan 2020 Portfolio Updates and Dividends