2015 full year income from non-REITs.

Before I reveal the numbers, let me talk to myself about what I did in 4Q 2015, investments wise.

I re-initiated a long position in ARA as I felt that its stock price declined to a reasonably attractive level. 

ARA's rights issue which followed not long after was unexpected but I took up my entitlement and applied for excess rights as I looked at it as an opportunity to buy more on the cheap. I will probably buy more if the stock declines further in price.

Of course, those who follow my blog will also remember another rights issue and that was by Croesus Retail Trust. I too participated fully in that rights issue.

A back of the envelope calculation shows that Croesus Retail Trust is now trading at a 10% distribution yield. 

Croesus Retail Trust has rather high gearing level but if we were to take that away, Croesus Retail Trust is actually still generating more than a 5% distribution yield (i.e. non-leveraged yield) which I think is very attractive for a portfolio of mostly freehold retail properties in Japan. 

As the Trust's unit price declined, I added to my position again in the middle of December at 78c a unit.

I also increased my investment in Accordia Golf Trust as its stock price declined. The last time I did this was in mid-December at 51c a unit.

Investing in Accordia Golf Trust, we must realise that weather plays an important part in its performance. So, we have to expect its revenue to fluctuate quite a bit seasonally, much like investing in hospitality REITs.

With sentiments pretty negative, if Mr. Market were to offer me meaningfully lower prices, I would probably be buying more.

I also did a bit of trading in 4Q 2015. I reduced my long positions in Wilmar and ST Engineering as their stock prices recovered. That gave me some trading gains for the quarter.

I don't trade very much anymore as it requires a bit more work. Now, I might not even look at the stock market for several days in a row.

I added to my long position again in ST Engineering as its stock price declined by more than 10% from my recent selling price. 


ST Engineering is still one investment for income and growth. I definitely want to buy more if Mr. Market goes into a depression.

For those who do not follow my comments section, I initiated a smallish long position in DBS. Some know that I have been thinking of buying into the three local banks for a while and have been waiting for their stock prices to become cheaper.

I chose DBS first because it was trading at the smallest premium to NAV compared to OCBC and UOB. There is also consensus that DBS would be the biggest beneficiary of rising interest rates.

I also added to my investment in SingTel as its stock price declined. We invest in SingTel, Starhub and M1 because they are defensive income generators but with SingTel, there is also a nice element of growth.

Finally, I added to my long position in APTT this month after having left it alone since its inception. The rapid plunge in APTT's unit price up till middle of December seemed excessive to me even though I have mentioned before that a DPU of 8c a year is unsustainable in the longer run.


A much lower DPU of between 4c to 5c would probably be more sustainable for APTT. So, adding to my long position at 63c a unit, I am expecting a more realistic distribution yield of 6.3% to 7.9%.


A more recent development was an expression of interest by a party to acquire Ascendas Hospitality Trust which I included in my income portfolio in 3Q 2014. I have added to my investment on a few occasions since then, as and when its unit price declined.

The last time I increased exposure to Ascendas Hospitality Trust was on 24 August 2015 at 58.5c a unit. With an estimated annual DPU of 5.5c, I was looking at a distribution yield of almost 10%.

Although I hope that the offer is going to be at a fairly attractive premium to valuation, I am aware that if the Trust should be taken private, my income from non-REITs next year would take a hit.

Very safe to show hand like this.

Including my first income distribution from Religare Health Trust (RHT), dividends from my investments in non-REITs in Q4 brings my income in 2015 from them to a grand total of S$76,804.69.

This works out to be about S$6,400.00 a month.

Including the distributions from S-REITs this year, I am pretty satisfied with the total income generated by my investment portfolio.


Related post:
1. ARA: Re-initiating long position.
2. Croesus Retail Trust: Rights.
3. Trading ST Engineering.
4. Religare Health Trust: Entered at 88c.
5. 9M 2015 income from non-REITs.

2015 full year income from S-REITs.

I did not do anything substantial to my investments in S-REITs in 4Q 2015. I just collected dividends, mostly.

However, it seems that I would be receiving less income from S-REITs in the not too distant future as Saizen REIT looks likely to be delisted as a firm offer of $1.17 per unit was received from a potential buyer.

Saizen REIT is currently one of my top three investments in S-REITs. Off the top of my head, it contributes to around 20% of my passive income from S-REITs.

So, losing Saizen REIT will greatly impact my income level in future, for sure.

Readers who have been following my blog since its inception in 2009 will remember that I was, back then, already a strong proponent of investing in Saizen REIT for income (and for its very cheap valuation).

Needless to say, I ate quite a bit of my own pudding.

So, I have grown somewhat attached to Saizen REIT after so many years. It is like having a good son who has been giving me regular and meaningful pocket money.

Now, this good son is going to give me a lump sum payment which is not a bad thing either but on the condition that there will be no more pocket money in future.

I just have to make sure that I remain financially prudent, I guess. Of course, there is no guarantee of this. Stress...

15A Changi Business Park Central 1.

Did I do anything at all in the S-REIT space?

I did increase my exposure to Soilbuild REIT by about 15%, taking advantage of the weakness in its unit price. I was waiting to see if Mr. Market would sell to me at an even lower price than 73c a unit but it didn't happen. Not for me, anyway.

However, 73c a unit was a fairly good deal and it is still lower price than the additional investment I made in the REIT back in August when stock prices plunged badly. That was 75c, if I remember correctly.

Including Q4's income distributions from my investments in S-REITs, my 2015 full year income from S-REITs is: S$90,344.81

This works out to be about S$7,528.00 a month.

I will be blogging about my investments in non-REITs next week. If you are interested, look out for it.


Related posts:
1. Saizen REIT: A firm offer.
2. Soilbuild REIT: A nibble.
3. 9M 2015 income from S-REITs.

Christmas, ASSI turns 6, financial freedom and charity.

Has it really been 6 years since I started blogging?


Pinched myself and, yes, I am not dreaming.


Quite recently, I shared some thoughts and feelings on the matter. 

So, I am not going to repeat myself which is something I have become prone to doing as I age.


Yes, I used to laugh at my mom. 

Now, I am like that too.


In case you have missed it or might want to read that blog post again, here it is: Don't thank AK but thank yourself in future.





So, which blog post in ASSI was the most read in 2015? 

I guess I should not be surprised by the answer.

It was: How did AK create a 6 digits annual passive income?





We will most probably have challenges in life but, in spite of all the challenges, we can achieve financial security and, over time, a measure of financial freedom if we do the right things now and in the future.


On our journey, there will be times when we feel depressed. 

When having a particularly difficult day or going through a particularly difficult period, take a moment to meditate on how fortunate we are to have what we have. 






Remind ourselves that we are moving in the right direction and that things will be better.


Lastly, as we do better in life, remember to provide assistance to those who need help most.

Always be charitable if we can afford to be.

Always try to make the world a happier place for everyone, especially the less fortunate.

Merry Christmas from AK's planter!

Related post:
A message from AK as ASSI turns 5.

New money habits led to saving $100K in 18 months.

In quite a few emails I have received, I found that some married couples have been inspired by my blog to improve their financial health.

I find this very heartening because it is not always the case that both parties are on the same page when it comes to money matters.





One person might want to make changes while there could be resistance from the other person and I have heard many such stories before. It could even lead to arguments and disharmony at home.

However, here is a positive example which I find even more heartening because the couple's money habits were very different before reading my blog.

Hi AK,

This blog (7 pertinent questions to help build our wealth) has really come in as a timely reminder to me. Especially now it's towards the end of the year when im doing a wrap up of my finances for 2015.

Although i dont leave comments on your blog often, i check your blog every day. I started reading your blog since JUL 2014 and since then i have never regretted spending my time on it.

Trust me, your posts are really informative and its also the time where me and my hubby bond our time together reading new updates, sitting down together discussing how can we improve our finances. =)

Like your most recent blog on food, we have also started doing our own salads and bringing it to work now. We started packing home cook lunch to work in 2014. 

When we first started this, all my colleagues were saying that this routine wont last because it is too much of a hassle. Haha, but i had proved them wrong.

Me and my hubby seldom eat out now unless its a weekend. Even if we eat out, its at hawker centre. Dining at a restaurant is almost NIL in a month except if we are going out with friends for gathering. Even then, it was always ME who choose the location so that i can control the cost indirectly. Haha

Also in 2015, both of us started contributing to our SRS account and topping up our CPF. The only regret is we started this late (I am 32 this year and my husband is 35). If we had started to transfer all our OA account to SA before the purchase of our HDB flat, i think we could have reached the MS sum quite pretty soon.

We live in a nice cozy 4 room HDB flat and are left with about $50K loan for the house. We do have some funds now to fully pay up this 50K but we were thinking if we should do so. If we do so, it will definitely dip into our emergency funds.

We have about 100K of emergency funds and we were thinking of paying the remaining loan via cash instead of CPF now because i feel that CPF earns more interest than the cash sitting in the ocbc bank.

My husband and I save about 4K per month into our emergency funds (thanks to your blog post that we started this). Prior to 2014, our savings were almost negligible. Now that we are towards the end of 2015, looking back, sometimes I find it amazing how far we have come.

Although there are still a lot of areas for improvement, I am happy that we took our first step on our journey and I wish that you will continue to inspire us through your posts. Thank you AK!

Regards,

Happy Doggy

AK's reply:

Hi HD,

Emails like yours really cheer me up. It makes me feel that talking to myself in cyberspace is the best thing I have ever done in my life. ;)

I would like to talk to myself about whether I would dip into my emergency fund to pay the remaining $50K in my HDB home loan.

First point, an emergency fund is for emergencies. Is paying the rest of my home loan an emergency? ;)





Second point, savings in OCBC 360 could pay me 2.2% per annum (if I do not invest or insure with them). This is slightly lower than the 2.6% per annum in interest which a HDB home loan charges.

Of course, OCBC 360's higher interest applies only to the first $60K. If I had $100K in emergency fund, I would split the money into two OCBC 360 accounts, one under my name and one under my spouse's name to possibly maximise the benefits.

I could also consider setting up a UOB ONE account as the second account. The UOB ONE VISA credit card has a 3.3% rebate for a minimum spending of $500 a month too. If I had $50K parked in UOB ONE account, I could get paid 2.43% per annum in interest for my emergency fund.

Holding cash could be costly but it is important to have liquidity. As long as we can lower the cost of holding cash, it is good enough for me.

You are doing a good job and I am sure your story will inspire many other married couples. :)

Best wishes,
AK





It is never easy to change our habits. It takes a lot of determination. To change habits as a couple could be even more challenging for some.

The journey towards financial security and, ultimately, financial freedom is made much easier if both parties are on the same page, definitely.

Remind ourselves that others have done it, so can we.

It can be done.

PART TWO: HERE.

Related posts:
1. UOB ONE VS OCBC 360 accounts.
2. How big should be the emergency fund?
3. Do CPF OA to SA transfer before buying flat?