Investment Portfolios Updates (2 Feb 2024) - S$613K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$46K.

While the valuation of my net investments had gone up relative to 2 months ago, my projected passive income has declined from S$50K to S$46K. Interest expenses from margin financing has gone up. In addition, I have revised downwards the projected yield from StocksCafe for Keppel Pacific Oak REIT as well as Prime REIT- the latter I have amended the expected dividend yield to be zero as it is in "deep shieet" from the looks of it still not releasing its financial results compared to its previous year end announcement date.

(Note: Please also refer to my other Family Portfolio which is projected to yield +S$20K of passive income per annum).

 1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository 

(Note: This portfolio is designed to provide immediate dividends for use as it is under my own CDP account and the dividends credited goes directly to my bank account.)

I have taken up additional shares in Haw Par Corporation as well as entered a small position into CapitaLand Investment Limited. 

2. Portfolio 2- Margin purchased securities

(Note: My margin purchased securities has grown to a sufficient scale to sustain itself and can pay off annual financing charges as well as to gradually pay down the margin loan through dividends generated.) 

I have taken up new position in another REIT using margin financing. US Office REITs that I am holding (Keppel Oak and Prime REIT) are expected to perform badly this year given their weak financial position and close to breach of banking covenants. The only consolation for me is that their current pathetic valuation has now become immaterial to my overall gross portfolios.

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers)- Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here

(i) Keppel Corp share prices shot up with the announcement of a record year of profits as well as a good amount of final dividends. I had taken profit when its share price hit over S$7 and redeployed it into Ping An Insurance Group.

(ii) I continued to add in additional 200 shares into Alibaba as Jack Ma and Joe Tsai had also buy in US200Mil of shares. The million dollar question is will 7th Feb 2024 results announcement be a catalyst to break the death spiral of Alibaba stocks?

(iii) During this 2 months period, I have also added a position into Thai Beverage as it was trading near its 52 weeks low. Please refer to this video on why I added a position into Thai Beverage. 

(iv) I have continued to accumulate additional stakes into United Hampshire US REIT during the downturn when its price was hovering at US$0.37 per unit.

4. Portfolio 4 (Endowus & Other Investments)

I have added in a new self created balanced growth funds that is 50% equities (Fidelity Global Dividend Fund + Fidelity Asia Pacific Dividend Fund) and 50% bonds (PIMCO fixed income+ Allianz Global High Yield Fund) which will give an expected passive income yield of 4.8% per annum. 

I plan to continue building up my investments using Endowus as it enables diversification into bond funds.

Summary

I think that 2024 looks set to be another bad year for REITs due to the high interest rate environment which will affect most REITS and their distributions when their loans are due for renewal. Gone are the days of dirt cheap close to zero interest rates. Nonetheless, I am optimistic that the yearly rental escalation clauses should eventually negate the effects of higher financing costs for REITs.