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Thursday, 29 July 2021

2020 In 10 Mins

Zooming forward, it's now 2020. And the first case of COVID-19 has touched our homeland, Singapore!

The pandemic has then go on a wide rampage shutting down several cities around the world and in fact countries! 

The cash hoarding from 2019 has allowed me to make very good use during the pandemic where the stock market face with extreme pessimism from Mr Market from March 2020. 

Being in an environment where there is so much discounts available and limited amount of cash, it would be easier if I go harder onto "Dragon Head Counters"... if one were to understand it in Chinese. 

The "massive" accumulation begin with DBS when it falls below SGD 23.00 a share and OCBC below SGD 9.50 a share. The way which I averaged down and accumulated the shares, at that point poses a serious threat on my war-chest at that juncture till at a point, my war-chest is wiped out. 

This also comes with the conviction to channel my funds I've prepared for my 2nd Year of university fees in as well. 

After some serious rounds of accumulation and simple trading with the various banks, I managed to have OCBC at an average price of SGD 8.38, DBS at an average price of SGD 18.98 and UOB at SGD 19.01.

Which till date (2021), the banks alone add up to about 30% of my portfolio. 

The portfolio at the end of 2020 that is invested, has ballooned up to almost 2.5 times of its size!

If one were to wonder... this is also the year I left service and begin working fully on the project I've mentioned on embarking at the last few months of my journey as a NSF, oh yes. Did I forget. I'm also enrolled into university as a full-time student as well. 

It has been a year that has past so fast, that honestly, memories of it, becomes so bleak, despite just being a year ahead today. The pace for all the things to fall in place was done in at a very high intensity level where as a result, causing me to be very depressed at a certain juncture.

In this year, I've also made an effort to give up riding, officially (for now at least!) after witnessing a death from a family member that was a rider as well. And by a twist of fate, I also took the opportunity to "upgrade" to a very well conditioned 4-wheeler from the suspended COE market during Circuit Breaker, where motor-vehicle prices are largely disturbed.

If one were to realise, with that much outflow of liquidity in the same period and a side project that is in materialising phase, it is worth noting that the liquidity I held in total, at that juncture was just a tiny bit on top of what 1 big purple notes would hold. Something that MAS actually discontinued towards the end-of 2020. 

With some blessing from god and luck, things started to change for the better in 3Q 2020. It is the point where the project I was working on, starts to take off and turns out to generate another stream of income to supplement my poor soul. 

In 2020, I've also taken up even more responsibilities at home with more commitments. 

It is also worth a mention that the project I've undertaken was a combination of majority of the skills and experience I've acquired from the past ventures years ago, coupling with the work I've done in the last few years :) 

Aside from this, in late 2020, I've also explored the US market.

With this, I close the year with only 8 positions namely; 

  • OCBC Bank
  • DBS Bank
  • UOB Bank
  • ComfortDelGro
  • AIMS APAC REIT
  • Suntec REIT
  • IREIT Global 
  • Apple Inc

In a summary:

  1. I've accumulated a position from ComfortDelGro, DBS Bank, OCBC Bank, UOB Bank, AIMS APAC REIT.
  2. Subscribed & Over-subscribed to IREIT Global's right issue.
  3. Attempted IPO for Credit Bureau Asia, but did not manage to have any success. 
  4. Sold partial holdings from DBS, OCBC and UOB 
  5. Perform several trades around DBS, OCBC and UOB
  6. In late 2020, initiated a position in US Market, with a position in Apple Inc.

On the investment front:
  • A XIRR rate at +10.72%
  • Collected a dividend of SGD 1,772.04 which translates to roughly SGD 147.67 monthly
  • Realised P/L of SGD 3,410.81 for the year
  • Portfolio at this juncture (2020) closed with a value around SGD 50,000 and around SGD 20,000 in war-chest which brings the portfolio to value roughly around SGD 70,000
It would also be good to notice that, the pace at which this portfolio is growing at, is mainly attributed to 
  1. The cash hoarding back in late 2019 which was channeled fully during the pandemic 
  2. The relatively high savings rate that I’ve held throughout the years which allows me to accumulate wealth a little faster. 
  3. The unrealised gains from banks that roses sharply towards the end of FY2020. 
  4. Another significant portion that contributed to it at the later part, was where earnings starts to become a little bit more substantial when the side projects start to bear fruits. 
With the double amplification from the more substantial earning and a higher or maintained saving rate, it will be much easier to accumulate wealth. 

If one were to question, I turned 22 in the year of 2020 :) 

The investment performance that my portfolio has yielded, is nothing compared to the savings rate and earning power in the later stage, from starting the journey in 2017 with $3 to what 2020 has ended with. 

Till then, we'll see more in 1H 2021 in 10 Mins. 

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