SP Services say total amount payable is $0.00! (AK uses his air con more but keeps the bill in check.)

(Update 4 Jan 17): 
AK has denied SP Services some revenue! Happiness is a utility bill that looks like this.

All thanks to the really cool weather recently (and not the miserable reduction in electricity tariff).
-------------
Since having my own place once more, I have had discussions with friends on more domestic topics like the household utility bill. In all these discussions, I discovered that my utility bill is relatively low.

My consumption is below the national average for my house type, apparently.

What about my bill in dollar terms?

It has remained more or less the same compared to my utility bill a few years ago when I had my old place and stayed there for 4 years or so, $100 a month, give or take a few dollars. I think this is quite remarkable.

I absolutely cannot live without the air con being on at home. If I am home, the air con and air purifiers are on. Since I am home for many more hours now each day compared to a few years ago, the air con is on for many more hours per day too.

I also watch more TV now as I have more free time. I like watching the Travel Channel, HGTV, Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the History Channel. 

I have a 40" Full HD LED TV now compared to the 26" LCD TV I had in my old place before I replaced it with a 32" LED a year before I sold the place. I think my many TV watching hours now should consume more electricity.

How is it that my utility bill has not gone up much?

I think it is fair to say that the air con probably consumes more electricity than other electrical appliances at home. So, the first thing to do is to make sure to insist on having the energy saving Invertor technology. 

4 ticks, nothing less.

Then, I will usually set the air con temperature to 24 degrees centigrade. On a very warm day, maybe, 23 degrees centigrade.  

The lower the temperature we set, the higher the energy consumption. So, 23 degrees centigrade is usually the lowest I would go.

I have a friend who sets the temperature to 18 degrees centigrade at home as the norm. That is freezing and sends the energy bill through the roof!

Well, since moving to my new place, I got acquainted with my new Invertor air con which has a neat dehumidifier function. This function removes moisture from the air.

Often, we feel warm because of the high humidity level in our climate. The human body is not able to cool itself as well in a humid environment. If we are able to lower the humidity level in a room, our body will feel cooler naturally.

If we set the air con to dehumidifier mode, it lowers the humidity level in the room to about 60%. This is much lower than the usual humidity level in Singapore.

What does the symbol look like? 

A couple of  water drops. Unfortunately, you won't find this mode in older air cons.

If you have Invertor air cons at home and if they are quite new, they should have the dehumidifier mode. If you cannot live without the air con on at home, try this mode. It should lower energy consumption and you should see some savings.

When I go to bed, I would switch the air con back to the regular mode, the one with the snow flake symbol. 

This lowers the humidity level as well as the temperature in the room. 24 degrees centigrade, of course.

It keeps the room cool enough and I don't even need to use a blanket. Just need to wear socks to bed. 

I hope I have not put anyone to sleep with this blog post. Zzzzzz.
Related posts:
1. Photos of AK's home.
2. What can we do to survive the haze?

InvestX Congress 2015: Chit chat with readers.

Happy that I got to meet many readers at InvestX Congress 2015. 

I was part of the 4 member Q&A panel at the end of the day and because not everyone got to ask me the questions they had, I stayed back till 7.30pm to continue chatting with readers who came up to me. 

I hope I answered all their questions and, more importantly, got them thinking about their own strategies. Yes, it is important to have our own strategies. 

Don't simply do what I do because you like to build passive income. Not everyone can do or should do what I do. 

Remember: 
Have a plan, your own plan.

I received quite a few emails and there will probably be a few more to come. I would like to share a couple of emails from readers here and I hope they inspire:

Hi AK,

Re your articles related to saving, I had cut my morning gourmet coffee from 5 times / week to 2 times per week, every 5 cups  purchased , I get 1 free coffee :) still can't cut down totally, enjoying sitting in the cafe before start working.

I bring breakfast, lunch and fruit to the office regularly except when I meet friend for lunch. When I lunch out I try to cap at 6sgd per meal (work in CBD). 

I start to track my expense and had established a budget for 2016. I have decided it will be a frugal year for us. Extra money goes to investment. 

I have purchased my first 4 stocks in my life and more to come as I learn. 

For tomorrow, I will wake up early to pump milk for my baby boy, take MRT and bring my breakfast to attend the event of the year :) Thanks for sharing and always be there to answer our email.

Hi J,

It sounds like you have a plan and making progress too. Good on you! :D

I think you will see that every dollar does add up over time. :)

Hope you enjoyed InvestX 2015. ;)

Best wishes,
AK




Dear AK,

I finally got to meet you in person :)

I shall try to keep this short and sweet because I'm sure many readers email you, comment on your blog and your active blogging takes up quite a bit of time.

You were the one that sparked my interest in investing and also providing avenues of learning i.e. Dividend Machines, InvestX Congress 2015. From there it has encouraged me to keep learning and also sharing with others what I have learnt (as much as it's very basic).

I don't have much to ask you right now because I should put in the effort/due diligence in learning and forming my foundation from your blog and the treasure trove of previous posts as well as books, the internet, seminars/talks etc. I just have to put in effort searching through your blog with the search function or follow related posts.

I'm a newbie hence I want to keep and open mind and consider as many perspectives as I can. I never knew of the existence of "shorting". Sell High, Buy Low. I was like huh what magical technique this is. There's so much to learn out there! I only scraped some simple concepts of TA like Moving Average and CCI, which admittedly I have yet to fully internalize. Off to "investing/trading" school for me :D

I would like to thank you again for sharing your knowledge freely. I'm sure you get it often but I really mean it each time I say it.

F

Hi F,

I am happy to see so many readers at InvestX 2015. 

I am always happy to talk to myself as long as people are interested in listening. ;)

All of us were newbies at one time. 

The learning process these days is probably a bit less daunting and a bit more fun thanks to the internet. 

It is easier to get our hands on information and also to be educated. I am sure you will do well in time to come. :) 

Best wishes,


If you went for InvestX Congress 2015 and would like to share with me what you think of it, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.

Source: The Fifth Person.

Thank you and have a good day!


Related posts:
1. Greater financial well being is not beyond us.
2. Heart to heart talk on achieving financial freedom.
I keep saying that all of us have difference circumstances in life. We might make very different choices in life and with those choices, there are pluses and minuses. We must make the best of our situations and, if possible, improve on our situations.
3. AK is a panelist at InvestX Congress 2015.

Invest for income and ignore the two Ms.

Who are the two Ms?

An email from a reader says...

Hi AK,

I followed you and bought XXX because I want to have passive income. 

The price is now down. 

I don't blame you. 





I made the decision to follow you. 

However, I worried and I got more worried after talking to someone in a forum. 

He said I am just taking back my own money when I get the dividend now. 

Can you talk to yourself on this? Thank you.

YLF

It is a journey.

AK says...

Hi YLF,

I gave some thought on how to answer your question. 

Hmmm, let me tell you a story of two investors, A and B.

A and B decided to invest in XXX because they liked the business and XXX also paid a good dividend. 

A few months later, XXX's stock declined in price. 





The business had not changed and, in all likelihood, it would still pay the same dividend.

A said that he had lost money and that when XXX paid him dividend, it was like taking back his own money. 

When he got the chance to break even, he sold and was happy.

B said that a lower stock price meant that he could increase his investment in XXX for a higher dividend yield because nothing else had changed. 

He was quite happy and bought more of XXX's stock.

As XXX's business was still chugging along nicely over time, B continued to receive meaningful dividends year after year even as the stock price went up and down over time. 

B was quite happy.

A became sad again.

Best wishes,
AK





There might be cases when a dividend is a return of capital. 

We can tell when we look at the financial statements if that is the case. 

In such an instance, we could say that we would be taking back our own money when paid the dividend. 

However, to say that we are taking back our own money when we receive dividend from a company because its stock price has declined from our entry price is either mischievous (if the person is in the know) or misguided (if the person is not in the know). 

The two Ms revealed.





Prices go down and prices go up. 

It is normal.

If we are investing in a good business with money we do not need for anything else and if the business pays regular dividends, we can hold forever.

If we can hold forever, short term movement in prices doesn't mean anything.

As investors, we should have the stomach for some volatility or else the stock market is a bad place for our money.





"Our favourite holding period is forever."
Warren Buffett


Related post:
1. Does AK have anything uplifting to say?
2. "Patience is sometimes the hardest part..."
3. How to save 100% of your pay?

Delaying gratification and getting stuff we want for free.

What does the word "resist" mean?

I have mentioned delaying gratification and the pluses of doing so. Well, you know, here and there.

This is taken from a longer email by a reader:

"My girlfriend saves money so that she can go travelling. I tried suggesting we should save money to invests for passive income but she argues that now if we don't travel now, in the future we wont have time and money after being married and have kids."





Alamak! Domestic squabble alert!

I actually said:

"I don't know how to answer your question regarding your disagreement with your girlfriend. The coldest thing I could say is to find a partner who shares your goals and beliefs. Yikes. You really have to sort this out yourself."


I am terrible, I know.

Bad AK! Bad AK!

I like sharing the story about how Jim Rogers convinced his first wife when they were newly weds not to use her savings to buy a sofa she liked. 

They could still use their old sofa. 

They later got the sofa for "free", using money generated by her savings which he invested. 

Nice!

Wouldn't it be better if we were able to use money generated by our investments to pay for stuff we want (overseas holidays included) instead of using money we had saved from our earned income?





I have also shared my own story about how dividends from my investment in ST Engineering paid for my annual holidays to Japan for a few years in a row. 

I remember telling my dad this when we were on the bus to the airport at the end of a holiday in Osaka. 

He smiled indulgently. I didn't think he believed me then.

Anyway, the sooner we realise the benefit of delaying gratification and the sooner we start investing for a more secure future, the better.





Do you believe me?

Related posts:
1. Two questions which help build wealth.
2. The mystical art of wealth accumulation.
"
Cookie Monster learns a lesson.

Perennial's 3 year 4.65% bond: Good enough to buy?

A fellow blogger compared the 4.65% coupon offered with what we could get if we were to park our money in the Singapore Savings Bond (which is risk free) for 10 years.

Holding the SSB for 10 years would get us a yield of about 2.8% p.a. I have left a comment that, to be accurate, we should compare the coupon with what we could get in the SSB for 3 years.

Of course, the bonds are not strictly comparable since the SSB is really AAA rated as the borrower is the Singapore Government while PREH does not have a rating.

The question, then, is whether the coupon offered by PREH's bond compensates us for the risk we have been asked to assume as money lenders.

Perhaps, it would be better to compare this with another corporate bond. If we were to compare this offer with another corporate bond, we could compare this with the 7 years bond issued by Frasers Centrepoint Limited (FCL) earlier this year.

FCL's bond has a coupon of 3.65%. This offer by PREH is for a much shorter 3 years and has a coupon of 4.65%. If FCL were to shorten the holding period from 7 to 3 years, their coupon would probably have been much lower.

I have received several messages from readers asking if I think this bond by PREH is a good buy. Regular readers know that I won't answer such a question with a "yes" or "no".

I will say that a 4.65% coupon for a much shorter 3 years compared to FCL's 7 year bond which has a lower 3.65% coupon helps to compensate for the risk which I identified in an earlier blog post regarding PREH.

Related post:
1. FCL's 7 year 3.65% bond.
2. PREH: A nibble?
3. Singapore Savings Bond: Good or not?

The public offer will open for subscription at 9am on Tuesday and will close at 9am on Oct 21.

Use fixed deposits for emergency fund and war chest. (With a section on OCBC 360, UOB ONE and CIMB savings a/c.)

In a few blog posts and comments, I have mentioned how I like to park emergency funds and a portion of my war chest in fixed deposits. 

Fixed deposits offer higher interest rates than savings accounts and are liquid enough to be considered near money.

I have been asked before how I go about doing it and although I am pretty sure I have mentioned it before in my blog, I am not sure if I have done it clearly. 

Anyway, I guess I shall try to do a better job in this blog post.





EMERGENCY FUNDS

For emergency funds, first, we have to determine how much we need to have in order to maintain the lifestyle we currently have in the event that our income stream disappears. 

Then, set aside this money. (For my thoughts on how to determine how much we should put aside, please see related post no. 1 at the end of the blog post.)

If we have determined that $50,000 is what we need in our emergency fund, then, look for the best fixed deposit deals out there. 





Check what are the minimum amounts required by the different banks to qualify for special interest rates. 

If the minimum amount required is $25,000, then, split the $50,000 into two portions. 

In the event of an emergency, we could opt to break only one fixed deposit while the other fixed deposit continues to earn higher interest, for example.

Also, as interest rates are expected to rise in future, try not to lock the money in a fixed deposit for longer than 12 months unless the offer is compelling. 

What is compelling? 

Well, interest rates are expected by some experts to go up by another 0.5% or 0.75% by end of next year. 

So, we could use that as a guide as to how much more a 24 months fixed deposit should pay. 

For sure, otherwise, I wouldn't go for 24 months or 36 months fixed deposits.

Don't restrict ourselves to what is being offered by the three local banks. 

Often, the foreign banks offer higher interest rates for fixed deposits. 

If we can get relatively attractive interest rates for a 6 months or 9 months placement at these banks, why not?





WAR CHEST

What about money in our war chest?

I believe I mentioned before how I use the concept of laddering with fixed deposits. 

This is especially pertinent for the money in my war chest. 

The basic idea is to have one or two fixed deposits maturing every other month or so. 

This is to ensure that I will have more funds available regularly, more funds from maturing fixed deposits that will add to my regular income, passive or not.

These are funds which I could use to invest in opportunities if they presented themselves. 

Otherwise, the funds and regular income, if any, go into a new fixed deposit or two.

For example, I had two fixed deposits which matured earlier this month. 

I had thought to keep the money close to me in case the stock market should continue its decline from August. 

As the stock market seems to be recovering nicely, I decided to lock away some of the money in two new fixed deposits last weekend, one maturing in April 2016 and another one in July 2016.

Right now, I have 7 fixed deposits and they are maturing in December 2015, April 2016 (2x), May 2016, June 2016, July 2016 and November 2016. 

The chance that I might have to prematurely terminate one or a few of these fixed deposits still exists, of course, but with laddering, staggering the maturity dates, I hope I wouldn't have to. 

I would like to have my cake and eat it too. Who doesn't?





OCBC 360, UOB ONE & CIMB

I hope I do not have to prematurely terminate any of my fixed deposits and the likelihood is reduced by the good size float I maintain in OCBC 360, UOB ONE and CIMB savings accounts, all of which offer higher interest rates for our savings without any lock up period.

However, these accounts only pay higher interest rates on savings provided that certain conditions are met. 

The amounts that could benefit from higher interest rates are also capped at $60K for OCBC 360 and $50K for UOB ONE.

For people who have more than $110K in savings or who are unable or unwilling to jump through hoops to get the higher interest rates, they might want to consider making good use of fixed deposits since CIMB only pays 0.8% in interest although their latest offer, the CIMB Fast Saver, offers 1% in interest for the first $50K in savings and 0.6% for anything above that.





I want to conclude by saying that for those of us who are less disciplined, even if we had $110K or less in savings, it would make sense to park our emergency fund (and even our war chest) in fixed deposits and not in OCBC 360 or UOB ONE. Why?

Well, after all, money in fixed deposits is slightly farther away compared to money in a savings account. Fixed deposits have locks.

Related posts:
1. How much should we have in emergency fund?
2. A special chest for emergency fund.
3. Getting paid more while waiting for opportunities.
4. UOB ONE or (new) OCBC 360?
(BOC's offer and updated OCBC 360 included.)
5. Standard Chartered Bank Bonus Saver?
(Added in July 2017.)

Goh Eng Yeow's anguish over his paper losses etc.

AK is an accredited kay poh and is always looking around. 

If we train ourselves to be more observant and to be more aware of our environment, we might learn something or find something which might benefit us now or in the future (either by participating or avoiding). As investors, it could be a good idea to be a kay poh.

Today, I visited a mall that I have a stake in through my investment in a listed company. I saw a good crowd in the late morning and that made me happy. Did I hear SPH?

I bought myself a curry puff at an Old Chang Kee kiosk and I had to queue. A lady in front of me bought all the fried chicken wings available despite a recent price increase of 10c per wing. I had to wait quite a while for my turn but I was happy.

I went to a bank to place a fixed deposit and I saw that they had an air purifier. So, I chose the seat that was the closest to the machine while waiting to be served. A bit noisier but the air was probably better. 

Alamak, AK is so kiasu and kiasi. Yah lor. Regular readers know that I have two air purifiers at home and that they are on almost 24 hours a day. It is always good to be prepared. Prevention is better than cure, isn't it?

This leads me to another idea about how we should always be prepared, whether we are investors or not. I have a friend who was looking high and low for an air purifier when the haze was at its worst recently. 

Despite my advice a few years ago that he should get an air purifier for his home, my friend didn't get one. He said the haze wasn't that bad. This time round, his parents developed respiratory issues due to the haze.

As investors, we probably get the best deals when the market is not interested. When everyone is interested in buying a stock, it is hard to get a good deal. Well, when everyone was interested in getting an air purifier, it became harder to get our hands on one. Same, same but different.

So, since the haze is an annual event, why not be prepared for it? If only price movement in the stock market is just as predictable.

As investors, we want to be prepared too. We want to make sure we have a war chest ready and that we have a shopping list ready. We don't know if a crash is going to happen but if it should happen, we should know what to do and make fast decisions. 

We must be prepared to seize opportunities or be prepared to lose out on opportunities.

While waiting for my turn at the bank, I read an article by Goh Eng Yeow in the papers and I would like to highlight these few paragraphs:

As investors for income, if we have invested in good companies, even badly timed entries should eventually turn out well. 

The fluctuations in prices should not affect us much if we have been eating bread with ink slowly (see related post no. 3).

So, how's your Sunday? 

Told you AK is kaypoh. ;p

Related posts:
1. Protect ourselves from the haze.
2. Tea with Solace: Common sense investing.
3. How to have peace of mind as investors?
4. Feeling depressed about paper losses?

Without CI coverage, could we become a burden?

If we have a good H&S policy, why do we still have to get coverage against critical illnesses (CI)?

Well, if we should die quite quickly from these critical illnesses, then, that is the end of story for us.

What if we did not die and were left weakened? What if we were unable to work or if we should wish to seek alternative treatment? Could we become a burden to our family?

Having said this, depending on our circumstances, we might not need CI coverage for life. OK, some might still want it but that is something else.





Here is a recent conversation with a reader:

Reader:
My insurance agent told me he has max up his critical illness (CI) coverage in his whole life policy as he claimed we need money to cover sickness after 70 years old...

I told him hopefully I will be managing my finance so well that I should have at least 300K by then :) and shall I detect with sickness and I may just managed to stay for another 10 years.

Do you mind to develop a bit why you persuade your father to give up his whole life ? Don't you worry they may need the money if they are sick, especially during the golden year?

AK:
We buy insurance because we need to transfer risk. At 70, what kind of risk should my dad be transferring?

My dad has Medishield which will be upgraded to Medishield Life by end of the year, hopefully. So, he has H&S coverage and, really, that is all he needs.

In retirement, we should have developed some form of retirement funding so that we have regular income without having to work.

If we still needed CI coverage at 70 or older, I can only assume that it would be because we could not afford to stop working and still needed an earned income. That is depressing.






Buy what we need and not what the insurance agent wants us to buy.

Related posts:
1. Getting covered against critical illnesses.
2. Retiring before 60 is not a dream.
3. Consider terminating whole life insurance.

UOB, Prudential and what is financially manageable?

As investors, we recognise that we could make investment mistakes. So, it is important to size our positions appropriately so that if an investment turned out to be a mistake, it would not sink our entire portfolio.

It is partly about making losses financially manageable. So, what is financially manageable?

Well, a more prudent way of interpreting whether something is financially manageable is in terms of cash flow. I know we could also interpret whether something is financially manageable by how much we have in savings.

Well, it is nice to have more assets (and cash is an asset) than liabilities but if we should be in a situation that requires us to draw upon our assets to fund commitments, then, we could find ourselves in trouble in future.

So, before we commit to anything financial, ask if our cash flow is adequate and not just whether we have enough savings to see us through especially if it is going to be a long term commitment that is quite demanding.

What led me to say all these?

A couple of readers sent me a link to this article:
Admin executive paid yearly insurance premiums higher than annual pay.

A 57 year old Mdm. Han bought a Prudential endowment policy from UOB a couple of years ago. She now discovers that the maturity benefit is not 100% guaranteed. She might get a sum that is actually lower than the total premiums she would have paid at maturity.

Pertinent question:
How did she get the impression that the maturity benefit is 100% guaranteed?

It also baffles me why she would commit to a $40,000 annual premium when her salary is about $30,000 a year. She might have been persuaded by the free air-fryer and steamer.

Pertinent question:
Was a thorough fact finding session conducted with Mdm. Han or was someone just in a hurry to sell a policy with a fat annual premium?


I don't have the answers to these questions, of course, but these questions aside, if Mdm. Han had asked the important question "Is this financially manageable?" and knew how to answer the question, she would have avoided such a situation.

Please note that I am not even talking about whether the insurance product is suitable for Mdm. Han. That is another topic altogether.

Related posts:
1. Misled into earning 6.3% interest in 4 years?
2. 6 point response to an expensive lesson.
3. A true story about life insurance and grapes.

Save money and time with a simple meal.

I am a big fan of the microwave oven. A big time saver, it can be used to prepare all sorts of food. I even use it as a steamer.

Today, the ingredients that went into my lunch were:

1. Cauliflower
2. Tofu
3. Extra virgin olive oil
4. Black pepper
5. Garlic salt

We could buy a big head of cauliflower for very little money. For a bit more than $2.00, there is probably enough for 4 servings here:

Tofu, unfortunately, is sold in boxes of 300 gm each and I only used half a box for lunch. I usually pan fry the rest to be eaten later in the day.

Wash the cauliflower and, then, put them in a microwave oven safe container with the tofu. The tofu provides the moisture required to steam the vegetable. Close the container and leave it in the microwave oven on high for 8 minutes or so.

Before.

After.
The cauliflower looks moist and the tofu shrunken.

Be careful in handling the food as it is steaming hot. Transfer onto a plate and add extra virgin olive oil, black pepper and garlic salt. 

There, we are done.

Oh, I had a banana and an apple too. I like to eat spotty bananas because they are less likely to give me gas.

Total cost of the dish? Less than $1, probably. 

The fruits probably cost just as much.

This is one ideal dish for people who are looking to cut down on carbohydrates and meat in their diet. 

For people who say that they would like to save money by cutting down on dining out but think that it is too time consuming to cook at home, this didn't take me much time at all.

Ah, in case you are wondering:

The rest of the tofu. Pan fried with just a bit of butter.

Bon appetit.

Related post:
Suddenly, financial freedom looks less remote.
"Regular readers know that my journey towards financial freedom is anchored upon a philosophy and that philosophy is apparent in my daily life."

ARA Asset Management: Re-initiating long position.

ARA Asset Management was a stock I fully divested more than 3 years ago. 

On hindsight, it was a mistake because deviating from a familiar practice, I did not keep a core position for income. I suppose I was a bit more active as a trader in the past.

I have been waiting for a chance to get back in and the recent plunge in its stock price has provided me with an opportunity to do so.

ARA's EPS for 2014 was 10.35c and DPS was 5c. So, they paid out about 48% of earnings as dividends. 

When looking at ARA's PE ratios in the last few years since 2012, we see a range of about 12x to 22x. Median PE ratio is, therefore, about 17x.

ARA's 1H 2015's EPS came in lower at 4.19c. Could 2H 2015 do better for FY 2015 to beat FY 2014's EPS in aggregate? Of course, your guess is as good as mine. 



If we should simply annualise 4.19c, we get a full year EPS of 8.38c. Multiply that by 17x and we get a price I might buy at which is about $1.42 a share.


At $1.32 a share, I am re-initiating a long position at a PE ratio of 15.75x which is a bit lower than the median of 17x identified earlier. 




Of course, if ARA should deliver an EPS of 10c for FY 2015, $1.32 a share would look much cheaper then (with a PE ratio of 13.2x).

Dividend yield, assuming DPS of 5c remains unchanged, is almost 3.8% with a purchase price of $1.32 a share.

Another stock for income and growth? Good to accumulate at lower prices? Perhaps so.


Related post:
ARA: Divestment $1.30 and $1.32.

9M 2015 passive income from non-REITs.

Some wonder if Mr. Market could go into a depression? I don't know but I do know that many stocks became much more attractively priced in the last three months.

Consistent with my strategy to diversify my portfolio to reduce reliance on S-REITs for income, I added to my long positions in the following as their stock prices declined more significantly recently:

1. Accordia Golf Trust

2. Ascendas Hospitality Trust

3. ST Engineering

4. Starhub

5. SembCorp Industries

In the last three months, I also initiated long positions in the following as investments for income:

5. VICOM
"A 15x PE ratio would give us a fair value of $5.36 or so per share."

6. Religare Health Trust
"Trust has demonstrated its ability to improve its revenue organically quite strongly which makes up for the expiration of the sponsor's waiver to their share of the distributable income."

7. King Wan
"King Wan is in a net cash position and it also has an order book that would provide earnings visibility until 2018."

Finally, I accumulated the following stocks which have a bit of an income investing angle but the main reason is because I think they are worth much more and at lower prices, they became even more attractive:

8. Wilmar

9. OUE Limited

If you should be interested, you could search ASSI for more of my blog posts on these stocks and why I decided to add them to my portfolio when I did.

Of course, stocks could stay undervalued for a long time but regularly receiving some dividend in the meantime makes the waiting more palatable. I like to be paid while I wait.

If you suspect that I have dipped into my war chest in the last three months, you are right. 

Could we see another big decline in the stock market? We could and we should be ready. So, being cautious, I have not exhausted my war chest.

I have a couple of fixed deposits maturing next month in October and I will probably be keeping the money close at hand instead of putting it in another fixed deposit or two.

In Q3 2015, the following non-REITs paid dividends:

1. SATS

2. Old Chang Kee

3. APTT

4. SingTel

5. SCI

6. SMM

7. Wilmar

8. NeraTel

9. ST Engineering

10. QAF Ltd.

11. Starhub

12. HongLeong Finance

13. Croesus Retail Trust

For the first 9 months of 2015, total passive income received from non-REITs: S$ 57,747.59. 

This works out to be S$ 6,416.40 per month.

Have a shopping list and be ready to pounce if Mr. Market becomes depressed.

Related post:

6M 2015 passive income from non-REITs.