Hong Kong Phoenix Rising From The Ash- Doubling Down on Link REIT.

I thought that Hong Kong seems to be doing extremely well again despite the slump that persist post COVID and the weakening local retail scene due to the exodus of HongKongers shoppers going to Shenzhen to wine, dine SPA and shopping etc. Good news is that Hong Kong has recorded strong growth in its wealth management business. In 2024, cross-border wealth booked in the city surged by $231 billion to $2.7 trillion, putting Hong Kong is thus on par with Switzerland, the long-time leader in cross-border wealth management, according to Boston Consulting Group Inc.’s latest Global Wealth Report. The surge was the largest in the world that year. From then on, its wealth management continued to flourish and grow from 2025 and even now. Hong Kong also remained a vital gateway to Chinese mainland due to its deep talent pool and long time experience in the wealth management sector. As such, I think that the current slump in its retail and commercial property markets should be bottoming soon with revival in its economy engine. 

1. Portfolio Restructuring and Doubling Down on Link REIT.

It has been scary indeed to see the plunge in rental rates in Hong Kong. My Hong Kong work colleagues were telling me all sort of horror stories over the past 2 years on empty shops and sharp drop in commercial rental. However, with the surge in HKEX IPOs over the past year as well as the news on its rapid growth in Wealth Management sector, I would think that green shoots have appeared and that Hong Kong's commercial property slump will desist and rise again. I have began taking profits from my investment portfolios (sold off all my remaining Ping'An Insurance shares and part of my Keppel Ltd stocks after 78% profits surge) and reallocating the funds into Link REIT as well as Amova STC Asia REIT ETF (this also contains HK Link REIT on top of SG REITs). 

2. Link REIT

Latest full-year financial interim  results showed NAV per unit at around HK$61.19 at 30 Sep 2025. Market price as at 23 January 2026 is HKD35.48 per unit. It is thus trading at a 42% to its NAV.  Interestingly, pre-COVID days, Link REIT was trading at around NAV per unit. As such, I believe that there is potential for another 20%-30% capital appreciation. Current distribution yield hovers around 7.4% (as per StockCafe) which also makes it extremely attractive. I am also looking forward to Link REIT IPO of its Singapore Shopping malls.  

Parting Thoughts

I have built up around S$80K of Link REIT HKEX position as at  23 January 2026 (Friday) in view of a potential 20%-30% capital appreciation within the next 2 years and a potential IPO of its Singapore shopping malls. Its high distribution yield of 7.4% is also very tempting. Anyway, the above are my personal thoughts.  

Trump Tariff Trade War Continues Over US Grand Ambition To Annex Greenland.

Wow, today's SGX blue chip stocks was a sea of mostly red. Market sentiment may have been affected by the recent threats from US to its European allies. The situation has escalated with the European Union ("EU") preparing a retaliatory EUR93 billion package of tariffs against the United States of America should it go ahead to increase the import tariffs on EU nations- Trump has earlier threaten that he will impose the additional Tariff on EU nations until they support the annexation of Greenland. What a mess it has been! Again, the threat of global inflation from sky high import tariffs maybe back and if interest rates starts spiralling upwards again, it will inevitably decimate the SREIT recovery.  

Prime Minister Set in Motion Internal Conflict Within Workers' Party By Asking For A New Nomination For new "Leader of The Opposition".

Just sharing my personal thoughts on the latest development from the Singapore Parliament. It has become more and more interesting as the fiasco continues. Our Prime Minister has moved on to remove Pritam Singh as the "Leader of the Opposition" in Singapore Parliament after the dreaded motion. Then, he went on to ask the Workers' Party ("WP") to nominate "another suitable" candidate. I don't think the Workers' Party will accept this post or nomination. Accepting this will mean challenging the WP veterans of Pritam Singh and Sylvia Lim and lead to lots of internal conflicts. Nonetheless, this is a brilliant move by the PAP folks....well....there is always a chance that WP might erupt into an internal fight over who should lead the party and then self-disintegrate.   

The Margin Investing Series Part 2: Beware of the Margin Ratio and the Dreaded Margin Call.

 

Hi folks, this is the Margin Investing Series Part 2- Continuation from my previous Part 1 Video.

DigiCore DC REIT Not As Stable As It Seemed-Beware 3rd Crisis Since IPO.

Let me be clear on this, the announcement of Linton Hall going to be finally leased out end of 2026 on January 5th, 2026 announcement does not absolve the inherent challenges faced by unit-holders holding on to DigiCore DC REIT ("DCREIT"). I thought that DCREIT management has been rather misleading in their previous December 2025 results presentation. The occupancy rate as per above shows a 98% occupancy giving most stakeholders am extremely false impression of the true status of occupancy. There is a very tiny footnote at the bottom of this powerpoint that states that the actual occupancy rate of DCREIT is only 81% instead of 98%. They have excluded Linton Hall during the last presentation, that is undergoing refurbishment post the exit of a major tenant around mid-2025 that contributed around 10%-11% of rental income. I thought that DCREIT management ought to be more transparent in its dealing with unit-holders given that it had already underwent a few crisis post IPO such as the Sungard and Cyxtera bankruptcy/restructuring cases that led to a significant plunge in distribution to unit-holders.

Linton Hall Will Only Be Backfilled from December 1, 2026- (1.5 years vacant)

Back in 2023, I had taken up a position in DCREIT when its price plunged to below US$0.50 as I had taken a more optimistic view of its business. I had then bought and exited half of it with about +22% realised capital gain but keeping the other half was a mistake as its traded price remained in doldrum for the next few years and now, there a 3rd incident of another operational issue with a major tenant exiting in mid-2025 and DCREIT's team is only able to backfill the space from December 1, 2026  (as per the latest SGX announcement). Wow, this is almost a 1.5 years of vacancy! 

From DCREIT track record over the past 3 years, this REIT has proven that it is not stable at all. It has problem building up sufficient size for adequate diversification of key tenant exit risk as well as credit risk. 

Parting Thoughts

Over time, DCREIT’s market price has fallen significantly below its IPO level of US$0.88 per unit to the recent US$0.545 as at January 6, 2025 (Monday). This represents a whopping decline of around <-38%> relative to its IPO price. I have thus exited all my investment holdings in DCREIT back in December 2025 due to persistent under performance and bad management based on my personal view. Additionally, the AI craze maybe a bubble that will eventually pop and I am not sure whether DCREIT with its really bad track record can survive such crisis.

Crazy Donald Trump Kidnapped President of Venezuela- Will Global Stock Markets Tanked This Week?

The million dollar question today is how much will the stock market crash? Donald Trump has once again screwed up the already declining world order by attacking Venezuela and then kidnapping its president. US Delta force executed a dramatic "man grabbing" operations from the Venezuela presidential residency and then spirited him back to US to face drug trafficking charges. 

The irony is not lost when Russia condemned US for its aggressive action against Venezuela. The statement from Russia foreign affairs: “This morning, the United States carried out an act of armed aggression against Venezuela. This causes deep concern and condemnation,” Russia said in a statement from its Foreign Ministry. The pretexts cited to justify such actions are unfounded. Ideologized hostility has prevailed over practical pragmatism and over a willingness to build relations based on trust and predictability.”. It is strange that Russia made the aforesaid comments five years into the nation’s own war in Ukraine. Saying that, the ironic double standard also falls back on Donald Trump who has been against the war in Ukraine started by Russia. It's a bloody mess and is not at all good for the global stock markets. 

Parting Thoughts:

Looks like whoever has the military muscle can now dictate and do what they want with other countries and subject others to their will. Even folks in China has commented on forum that perhaps China should take a leaf out of Donald Trump's playbook and kidnap the President of Taiwan by using the same military operations. 

Central Provident Fund Personal Updates 2026- Moving Towards Enhanced Retirement Sum Using Special Account.

 

It is again the time of the year to document my CPF retirement goal update. My special account has grown from previous year balances of S$266K to S$286K as of Jan 1, 2026. Note that I will only be sharing my CPF Special Account here as I find the balances in the CPF Ordinary Account ("OA") and Medisave account wholly irrelevant for my retirement income planning. Reason being that for CPF OA, amount here will eventually be fully utilised to pay down my housing mortgage as I do not plan to work till age 65 years old and targeting an early retirement. As for Medisave, my parents do not have much medical insurance coverage and I think that I will most likely exhaust all the balances here into their future healthcare. I have seen my cousins' Medisave being drawn down to zero for medical expenses for medical payment on behalf of their parents in similar circumstances.

Interest Income

For 2025, I received an interest income of S$11,428 from the CPF Board for my Special Account which was credited on Jan 1, 2026.

Parting Thoughts

If I do not get retrenched by my boss this year, then most likely, my CPF Special Account will hit the milestone of S$300K and a passive annual interest income of S$12K from the year of 2027. 

Last but not least, do take note that CPF Life payout only commenced at age 65. For those who intend to early retire at age 55, one would need to think of how to generate other sources of passive income to sustain the decade between age 55 years old to 64 years old before the CPF Life payout kicks in.