Investing for Hi-yield

The local stock market has been extremely buoyant lately and to add on the stock picks I've achieved exceptional returns for some stocks due to entering much earlier than analyst calls. I felt its 50% luck 50% effort. I do not think I would be able to achieve the same type of returns at the 2H 2017.

UMS - 70% returns for 5months time
Hotung - 35% for 5 months time
FCL - 15% for 3 months time (ex div)
Croesus - Pte offer 32% up (this is a sad lost)
I am still holding on to Design Studio. (30% gain)

The issue with rising prices and chasing for yield is when big boys sweep up good companies which are undervalued. I'm now stripped of the following ;8% yielders since 2015: Croesus, Saizen, Sim Lian, UMS, Hotung (first 3 being completely privatised so there is no hope of coming back).

Now what do I do with the profit? Too little to purchase property to lock up value.. I'm stuck with a market that offers APPT, BHG, IREIT, LIPPO for high yielders ... ugh... the quality pales in comparison.

Non-reits which off >7% are increasingly rare and usually these dividends fluctuates. I shall hold on my cash for now.. but this surely would hurt my dividends in 2018 if I could not identify replacement stock for Croesus reit past Q3 2017.

the 2nd quarter of the 2017 whizzed past so fast that I didn't realise it until my mid-year bonus was announced.  Since the annual appraisal with my supervisor, it seems to me that competition has notched up. In all likelihood it has always been this way and it is likely a product of my own state of mind.  I do hope everything turn out well.

Bought UMS holdings at the start of the year, and averaged up once I realised that the trend is looking good - no announcement of renewal plus buying of shares. First entry point at 60c second entry at 79c? overall price was 71c. and sold all of it at an average of $1.15. very very pleased with the result. I saw some people got burnt on the forums as they chased th eprice only to be hit by the recent US Tech Selldown.

When I made this purchase it was based on its stability of business and its MD's effort to diversify. it was yielding 9% on my buying price. wonder what was on these people's heads when they bought it at 6% and all time high PE?




Sudden urge to buy a car for its convenience and joy of driving *manual please
I don't mind a cheap 2nd hand one for refreshing my skills. but it costs quite a bit and will likely affect my TDSR as well as cash on hand. Shall patiently wait 2 more years.

Here how I am going to hard-save my "car money" : 1) Set aside the money that would have been spent if I purchase a car, 2) buy something really high risk high reward. win or loss it is still probably going to be a more worthwhile investment that a car. hahaha Noble Group anyone?

this will be the "leave it to fate funds"

This month I took profit off FCL and clocked a small profit as my invested sum isn't big. However the percentage gains is quite decent. about 16% gain for 6 month holding period. The original intention is to hold for a much longer period and adding on to the position for long term dividend yield. Three decisions: 1) lack of funds to invest in potential higher gain sector 2) protect profits as starhub sale made me clocked negative numbers for the first quarter already. 3) property uptrend does not seem fundamentally sound at most only a small uptick

I am trying to manage this small portfolio like I'm a fund manager. See if I could be on par or even beat them. The focus is of course income investing with growth supplementing the returns.

A few things I would like to state here as a reminder of my investing ethos:
1) Invest in things I like. What I have no interest, whether if it is management style or business sector I will not invest. reason: Interest generates proficiency. With no proficiency one cannot out do others. This includes trading, by and large I am not a good trader for many reasons: a) no time to commit, b) not much guts to make quick decisions c) do not like penny stocks and cash poor companies
While I do trade some, many of my best investment decisions and outcomes has nothing to do with short term profit taking.
2) Net cash or High FCF companies. This is something I learnt after a few years of investing. The majority of my shares should be cash rich or +FCF to allow me have a more passive stance. I have a full time job and investing is just a part time thing for now.
3) The Most Important Thing is... I have read that book. It is one of those old school investment gurus (Howard Marks) that inspires me. I realised I am an old schooler. Conservative, wins by overpowering, Risk adverse, and also I use a bit of old school "gut feel"
4) Avoid hot stocks, Avoid crowds, Avoid anything overhyped. Most importantly avoid distractions.
5) Keep Fit. Only when your body is perfect then you can make informed a quick decisions. As an old saying goes: A sound soul resides in a sound mind and healthy body! (Ok not old saying its from Soul Eater anime but makes perfect sense)

Investment has made me a better person. I learnt to appreciate the hardwork done by many corporate people and business foresights of investors and business owners. I also read more political and financial news.

Onward to my next AUM goal!

one month into 2017 and the pressure is real. I do feel busy, and it is times like these that made me felt that what usually doesn't go wrong will go wrong. One of my oldest business partner has an issue with the new management's way of doing things and he is dragging matters. Another work partner has left the company I used to work closely with. Headaches..

Investments on the other hand are doing pretty well despite all the doom & gloom about trump and stuff. let's hope it continues that way.

The older I get the less inclined I'm feeling to get married and settled down, maybe it not the right person. Maybe I have renewed zeal at work. Either way, it all seems to bog me down with distract me from my goals. I'm kinda torn between choices. The plus side is companionship, which I dun really need. Pika and Imp help out a lot in these aspect.

February 2017. two more weeks to my big step towards my own home. Let's see what gives.

I hate Chinese new year.

Its been sometime since I last blog. 6 months to be exact. There isn't much to talk about, and I was kinda busy.

I think I am developing old man vision. Eyes start to get tired easily these days. There is always a feeling of sleepiness after 1am. Thirties is really a bitch.

After a period of uneventful July to October, we reached the November.
Trump got elected after the USA presidential elections. Its against the conventional wisdom of all the analysts and experts. Which lead to a short 1 day mini sell down, stocks picked up right after.
Thereafter it has been weak mainly due to prolong uncertainty of the Fed's decision to raise I/R for upcoming December's meeting. Personally I seen a huge drop in my holdings for mine is a dividend heavy portfolio.

One of the lesson I had learnt is not to trust "experts" they are human too and made mistakes.

Locally the government's initiative to push for 4th telco coupled with impeding rising rates and trump's rejection of TPP, has cause big sell down for all three telcos. Funds selling to invest in US, retailers dumping due to the impending 4th telco, and banks and brokers have been issuing serious sell calls.

I sold some starhub and m1 earlier in September. I am still holding on 1 lot of each. bad news. bad decision. Double whammy of trying to reallocate funds in what I perceived as the most stable telco Singtel. Alas I should have waited for a better entry price.

Overall portfolio down by 6.5% as of year to date. I wonder if I should sell both and book my losses.
inclusive of dividends I will still record minor gain of +2%

It is my weakness not able to capture the right time to sell. Maybe it is time to brush up on this area.

Stock to watch currently.
I shall focus on dividends from companies that are less noticeable by funds and BBs. Less volatility.
Funds that receive profits in USD shall also be interesting.
ALso look out for companies which does it business in overseas, providing natural hedge against SG bad economy.

Sunningdale tech/ Venture corp/ HC surgicals/ UMS holdings/ Sheng Siong/ Jumbo/ CapitaRetailChinaTrust/ starhill global

Shall observe to see if my analysis is right.

I made an effort to cut down on buying dividend stocks due to the macro conditions and also due to the need for cash in the short-term for my apartment's down payment. Dividend bearing stocks (higher yield ones especially) then to have their prices stay stagnant or dip relative to interest rate rises and other related reasons. If you need the money in say 2-3 years' time a growth stock that allows quick gains may be the better choice. Of course, I did not sell all of my dividend stocks. A large portion of my portfolio is still dividend. I am aiming to change my portfolio from 100% dividend stocks to a 70:30 (div:growth) ratio. This should amplify my returns a fair bit.


Now I am predicting that auntie yellen will not push the rates up too high due to the weak economy outlook in the states. However I do foresee generally weakness in the global economy. Which may/would lead to lower rates but QE has been done by various countries to varying degrees of success. I don't think that is the method the administrators are going to use.


I do hope the Singapore (property) market continues to weaken so that I can spend less when my turn to purchase comes. I do think it is slightly overpriced now.


Strategies for June and July will be to keep itchy fingers from buying anymore dividend stocks and accumulating investible cash for the upcoming Fullerton IPO.

So recently I have begun to appreciate having my mornings sane on weekends. I have more time to ponder over various things and in addition, get to have an extra meal ^^


I went with the missus to find some traditional breakfast food and to our disappointment one of the business owners told us that that particular food is lost. As in no one's selling it in Singapore anymore.


The other place I could think of eating it is in Taiwan.


Maybe I should go get myself some friends and go on a Taiwan food trip.