Got Whacked by UOB Cashplus Account- Paid Net S$60 For Nothing So Goodbye!

I am saying goodbye to my UOB CashPlus account which I have been holding on for more than a decade. The main reason for opening this account with United Overseas Bank ("UOB") then was that this account came with a cheque book for use. However, I find that my usage of cheques have been declining. The Monetary Authority of Singapore will also be phasing out personal cheques after their initiative to terminate corporate cheques usage by December 2026. This product actually offers an extremely attractive low personal interest rate of 3.3% to 3.34% per annum for 6mths-12mths financing under the current promotion subject to a monthly minimum repayment of 2.5% of outstanding balances. In event of a default, an exorbitant 29.98% of interest rate per annum will apply if the minimum repayments are not made.

Shocked by Charge of S$120 Management Fees Without Full Waiver.

Every year, there is a S$120 management fees payable. Usually, I will dial into the hotline to seek a waiver and usually, I will get a full waiver of this fees. However, this year was bad, the bank only waived off 50% and hence a net S$60 was deducted from my CashPlus account.  

Anyway, water under the bridge. I decided to terminate this CashPlus account since I was not really using it anyway. Apparently, account closure for CashPlus cannot be done via internet banking or phone banking. There is a written notice option but I could not find the detailed information such as what to include in the letter/email. So I decided to use the most direct solution of going down to one of the UOB branches to do this. This proved to the fastest way for accounts closure as by the next day, I noticed that my CashPlus account is no longer showing up in my UOB internet banking- no more leakage of unnecessary expense for maintaining this account.

Is US Plunging Into A Recession Or Already In One?

Wow, so many videos and posts recently with regard to the private credit crisis in US. The First Brands and Tricolor bankruptcies have scared the "sheet" out of many people. The AI bubble also seems to be worsening with many investors and experts sounding alarm with regard to Open AI Sam Altman's management team proposing idea of a backstop guarantee by the US government to lower financing cost for its chips investment and data centres setup. High AI CAPEX spending but low profit generation maybe a recipe for imminent financial disaster? 

So do you folks think that a US triggered global recession is on the horizon and what are the adjustments you made to your investment portfolio? Let me know your thoughts and comments. 

Disappointing Private Placement Exercise By Lendlease Global Commercial REIT To Acquire Paya Lebar Quarter Mall.

This is another classic anti-existing unit-holders move by another REIT Management on SGX and extremely disappointing. I can still vividly recalled the IPO price of S$0.88 per unit by Lendlease Global Commercial REIT ("LREIT") on September 25, 2019. Unfortunately, its current market price as at November 4, 2025 is just S$0.635 per unit which is a faint shard of its former self at IPO. To add salt to injury, the Management of LREIT did not seek to raise funds first with existing unit-holders via a right issue but instead elected for a private placement. Totally no respect and appreciation to loyal current unit-holders especially those that have subscribed since IPO inception. Consequently, this lead to many loyal unit-holders, who continued to invest in LREIT, to become severely diluted by this acquisition.

1. Disappointing Private Placement By Management of LREIT

The only good news here is that on November 6, 2025 morning, LREIT has announced the results of the private fund raising at an issuance price of S$0.602 per unit, which is just a 3.7% discount to the adjusted weighted average price. Considering that the initial target was between S$0.597 per unit to S$0.616 per unit, the price of S$0.602 through private placement is considered not too low. Nevertheless, this is still an extremely disappointing move by the management of LREIT that ignored loyal retail unit-holders. 

2. General Assessment of PLQ Mall Acquisition
This is a very good retail asset that is located just besides 2 MRT lines. You would need to go down to PLQ Mall to see and experience for yourself. It is currently on 100% full occupancy.  Increasing the share of suburban retail in the portfolio of LREIT should make its earnings more resilient. 

Additionally, this acquisition of 70% of PLQ Mall will be DPU yield accretive by 2.5% post-acquisition.

The bad point of this acquisition exercise  is that the Aggregate Leverage of LREIT will increase from 35.1% to 38.3%  

Parting Thoughts

LREIT is embarking on a Singapore-focused strategy for now with Singapore assets forming close to 90% of its portfolio. Suburban retail will now made up 63% of total portfolio relative to pre-acquisition of 55%. The only remaining problem is with its "Grade A Office" of Sky Complex at Milan which has not been performing well since the loss of a major office tenant. Also, the management of LREIT has not been exactly friendly to existing unit-holders and took the easy way out of opting for a private placement route to raise funds for M&A. Retail investors need to be wary of the current management of LREIT who are only after their self interest at the expense of unit-holders. I will be looking to pare down some of my stakes in LREIT.  

Investment Portfolios Updates (31 Oct 2025) - Net Investment of S$910K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$48K.

A rising tide lifts all boats indeed. My net investment portfolio jumped by almost +S$100K within 2 months (from S$813K to S$910K) mainly due to the rise of Alibaba AI and Cloud play as well as the revival in Singapore REITs. Gross investment is now at another record high of S$1.179Mil.

1. Portfolio 1- Stocks Held in SGX Central Depository 

Not much changes here except for the higher market valuation. Unfortunately, there is very little changes in the amount of projected dividends.

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 the dividends generated.) 

Keppel Ltd has been delivering a super impressive profit growth of 25% (if we normalise and exclude the one-off recorded loss for sales of M1) for the 9mth ending 2025. In addition, have subscribed for 5000 excess units of Keppel Date Centre REIT ("KDC") and managed to get all- please see here for the past blog post I made.

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers and MooMoo) 

(Venture into higher risk as well as capital growth stocks here)

Have foraged into an additional new stock BYD here that is manufacturer of EV cars and batteries. BYD is one of the few contenders out there (besides Toyota and CATL) that is on the verge of successful mass production of the next generation of EV solid state battery. Solid state batteries is the next stage evolution for EV or arguably the “holy grail” of EV which will enhance mileage by at least 50% and significantly improved recharging time-please refer to my previous post in 2018 regarding the first working prototype of solid state battery. Unfortunately, the mass production has been filled with enormous technical challenges hence mass market adoption projection is expected to be around 2027 or even 2030. 

4. Portfolio 4 (Endowus Unit Trusts & Other Investments)

I have added investment into 2 new unit trusts via Endowus, that is the (i) Allspring Global Equity Enhanced Income Fund and the (ii) Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund. 

Parting Thoughts

Currently, my growth strategy investment is on Alibaba and BYD in China market. I continue to stay away from the US market (except for a small stake in United Healthcare Group). Overall, I am still committed to my dividend passive income strategy and continue to build it up gradually by increasing stakes in Unit Trusts to ensure sufficient diversification. 

Ok. that's all for today Folks. Have a great week ahead!