31 March 2024
The anticipated secret is out; US Fed decided to keep interest rates steady while BOJ brought its target to 0%. What has the market impact been? Nothing. That's because there really wasn't much to deviate from as the world had settled into a "comfortable" zone of moderate inflation. Currencies remained steady and various indicators pointed to a familiar trend of quite resilient economies. This was what the policymakers wanted, a soft landing. My only gripe is the great price increase across everything is likely to stay the same into the future. Imagine a just retired couple who had worked towards a certain budget, they now require 30% more just to maintain their purchasing power. For those still in the workforce, the challenge is to stay employed and hope for salary raise but companies generally won't match 1:1 with inflation rates. Therefore, I try to achieve a high savings rate and investment outcome. The jump in my cash portfolio was a result of bonus received. Other parts remained status quo. Next month would be interesting as I look to put some cash to work.
29 February 2024
The STI earnings report generally felt like a mixed bag of sweets. Some were pleasant and their results showed good resilience while keeping dividends payout stable eg banks. Some were sour and likely to be downbeat for a while eg Reits and properties. My stock portfolio movement in the past month was negligible. The only gains came from cryptos which jumped massively as investor sentiments were positive, especially since the Bitcoin halving event is about to happen in two months. Cash dipped a little as I topped up CPF and SRS for tax savings.
31 January 2024
Last year, I kept track of my asset movements closely which in turn gave good insights into the cashflow situation and investment allocation plus returns. Majority of funds went to SSB, T-bill and fixed deposit. A fine example of the most conservative form of investment. About S$10k of interest/coupon income was achieved. This was a result of active management as the funds were moved around to capture yields especially when there were promotions. While I'm pleased with the overall gains, I feel the need to move a little faster to riskier assets. For the first quarter, I will not do much portfolio tweaks. Thereafter, the plan is to accumulate Reits and global equities. This could be in managed funds or other means. To give myself a push, I'm setting an ambitious target to achieve 20% portfolio increase. Good luck to me!
