Why I am Buying Bonds Now Albeit Upcoming Fed Interest Hikes?

 

Why I am Buying Bonds Now Albeit Upcoming Fed Interest Hikes?

Singapore Bank Stocks Just Fell Hard. Are They Overvalued, or Is This a Normal Pullback or A Major Crash Coming?

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income For Life. For most of 2026, owning DBS, UOB and OCBC was easy. Then on 7–8 October the three banks lost between 6% and 10% in just two trading days. Many investors are now asking whether the rally went too far and there are many posts on social media talking about it and there are a lot of fear mongering on further crashes in banking stock prices.

1. What happened? 

On 8 October DBS closed at S$73.85, UOB at S$40.25 and OCBC at S$29.00. Two days earlier they were at about S$78.56, S$43.72 and S$32.20. OCBC fell the most after Citi downgraded it to “Sell”. Citi expects flat third-quarter earnings and also pointed to a weaker wealth-management outlook and valuations above regional peers. Other reasons given for the sell-off:

(i) The US 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.32%.

(ii) Bank shares were being sold around the world.

(iii) Investors took profits after a very strong run.

2. My Personal Perspective and Thoughts. 

Even after the drop, DBS is still up about 36% over 12 months, UOB about 14% and OCBC about 72%. OCBC now trades at about 2.1 times book value, up from roughly 1.4 times at the end of 2025. That is where the “overvalued” worry comes from.

3. Three ways to handle it if you hold these banking stocks

(i) Look at the drop against August prices, and keep holding. The fall looks much smaller next to prices two months ago than next to the September peak. OCBC traded around S$29–30 in early August, which is about where it is now. DBS (S$73.36) and UOB (S$40.25) are back near their mid-to-late August levels. If you bought for the long term and the dividends, giving back about two months of gains may be no reason to change your plan.

(ii) Worried about valuations? Sell half lor. If high price-to-book ratios make you uneasy, a common middle path is to sell half of each bank position. You lock in part of a very good year, but you still collect dividends and keep some upside if prices recover. It also takes away the pressure of having to call the top exactly right. This was my approach to OCBC back in August 2026 when it traded above S$29 per share and sold around half of it and re-invest the proceeds into other non-banking stocks.

(iii) Optimistic? Then try buying more during the current price correction lah. Some investors believe higher interest rates will lift banks’ net interest margins (the gap between what banks earn on loans and pay on deposits). They also expect wealth management to keep growing while rates stay high. For them, a 7–10% pullback from record highs is a chance to buy, and some analysts still see upside for DBS and UOB. A fair warning: some analysts expect the opposite. They see rising deposit competition and a lower SORA (Singapore’s benchmark interest rate) squeezing margins. Buying in two or three smaller lots ahead of the third-quarter results lowers the risk of buying too early.

Personal Thoughts

Honestly, I am not sure why there seems to be a ruckus being made due to the sharp plunge in valuation over 1-2 days. DBS, UOB and OCBC are definitely over-priced and this ecstasy cannot keep running up forever especially when we are talking about the Singapore SGX. So, if one is super worried about further crash such that you can no longer sleep peacefully at night, then just sell half of one's current holdings. Ok folks, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead!

Collect Dividends Every Year- Fourteen Years of Portfolio Growth, Setbacks and Lessons.

A quick summary of my investment journey and the various economic crisis that I went through as a Passive Income Focus Investor.

Keppel Ltd Stock at 2 Times Book Value: Smart Buy or Too Late?

 

The "New" Keppel transformation is executing right on track. M1-Simba deal collapse but Starhub now in driver seat.

Market Crash For Bonds, Equities and Gold- Is a Recession Coming?

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income For Life! Wow, so many YouTube videos on plunging asset prices. SREITs continue to spiral downwards with an all year low. The scary thing on everyone’s mind is how low will SREIT crash to. Bonds is not spared and even US Treasury are getting whacked with so many institutional selling off of US long term bonds despite soaring record yield of 5.3%- so even risk free US 10 year bond is no longer perceived as risk free….haha. Even Gold price, the safe haven asset, has started plunging. Those who bought at the high of US$5,264 per oz earlier in February 2026 would have been devastated by the crash of more than 20% to current level of around US$4,100 per oz within half a year. Against this backdrop of plunging investment assets prices, there are more and more news published of folks losing their jobs. So is a recession coming? Also is it time to sell off some equities to prevent further dip in the investment portfolio? 

1. Sell off Equities Investment To Wait For Sell-off Momentum To Be Over?

Well, folks who have read my blog post will know that I am not a fan of market timing and speculation. Also, if the market started to rally after one has sell-off, then it would be a very painful and regretful investment decision (not to mention foolish). So far, only my SREITs is free-falling. My HKEX Tech stocks have fallen but they still remained in an acceptable range especially Alibaba which is still above my average cost. Of course, if I have a crystal ball, I would have sold off half of my SREITs in the beginning of the year. Also, I would have sold off Alibaba when it touched HKD180 previously on hindsight…haha…but then we cannot reverse time right?

I am staying away from most SREITs for now despite the very attractive new prices for REITS such as Capitaland Ascendas REIT, Mapletree family REITs etc. Nevertheless, I took a nibble (S$2k to S$3K) into additional United Hampshire US REIT (“UHREIT”) which is giving close to a 9.9% yield. I may further accumulate it if its price plunged further.  On UHREIT, the complexity lies in assigning a depreciation rate to the USD vs SGX forex loss due to US printing money and mammoth budget deficit. From table 1, it is best to prepare for a negative depreciation in USD investment of -2.6% per year. So a yield of 9.9% from UHREIT true-up will mean around 7.3% of distribution yield compensation for grocery related strip malls. Also, pray hard that Donald Trump will not come up with new withholding taxes on REITs with US holdings.

Table 1- USD vs SGD Decline %

2. US Government and Corporate Bonds.

While there are many doom day videos on US Treasury, I personally think that it is overly done. The record high yield of over 6% to 6.5% yield for some of the commercial bonds at AA- ratings is becoming very attractive. Compare to diving in to grab SREITs, I actually prefer to put more of my money into a diversified portfolio of bonds especially those that hold bonds for only mid term tenure of 3-5 years. 

I think that once the AI boom worldwide gradually slow down (we are already seeing AI CEOs coming out to give excuses using AI safety and the necessity of slowing down the rolling out of new frontier models), the US Fed will need to start cutting rates again in order to drive much needed growth for the stagnant US Economy. Once rate are cut, bond prices will have capital appreciation. So earn the 6% plus in annual yield and enjoy future potential capital gain. I don’t think US Treasury is going down the path of being worthless immediately.  

 

3. Gold As Alternative Asset During Economic Crisis

I can only say that I am glad that I have sold off my few thousand dollars foray into Gold before the peak of February 2026 for a small profit. Who would have thought that the gold craze party will end so abruptly in just another half a year and also while amidst the ongoing Russian Ukraine war as well as US-Iran war? I am staying away from Gold. But if it dropped to the US$ 3,000 level, I would think then that it is probably a good idea to get some to diversify my investment portfolios as I like its non sticky correlation to other class of investable assets.

Parting Thoughts

I think that there is currently a lot of market volatility and also potential further plunge in equity investments especially high interest rate that surely will crash the fragile marco economic environment sustained only by AI. As such, my preference now is to keep most of my dividends to build up cash reserves and also invest into bond funds. Should equities crash further, I will sell off most of my bonds funds and switched them into buying blue-chip SREITs at high yield of 6.5%-7%+.  

(Note: Please also see my latest investment portfolios as at 16 September 2026 here.)

Keppel DC REIT 6.24% Forward Dividend Yield?

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income For Life. Over the weekend, I was looking at whether there are opportunities to accumulate some additional SREITs that are at a good discount and also dividend yield. From StocksCafe, I noticed that Keppel Data Centre REIT ("KDC") is showing a 6.24% distribution yield at price of S$2.12 per unit.. This seems like a good deal to me and I thought that the recent market price crash for SREITs is giving out some good opportunities. 

1. Is the 6.24% Distribution Yield Valid?

Unfortunately not so. The StockCafe system takes into account the early distribution of dividend due to acquisition exercise during the year. Add this on to the system forecast based on historical reference, the system thus ended up with a 6.24% high distribution yield.  

Based on the unit price of S$2.12 as at 25 September 2026, this translates to a distribution yield of s smaller 5.4% based on half year annualised of 1st half results of 5.714 cents.

Saying that NAV per unit as of 1H FY2026 is S$1.73 per unit. This is still a massive 1.29 times premium over the latest market trading price of KDC.

Extract from 1H2026 KDC Results as well as Previous FY

2. Good thing is Aggregate Leverage Ratio at only 34%.

KDC has maintained a prudent borrowings of less than 40% over the past 5 years. Its latest half year result indicated an aggregate leverage ratio of only 34%.

Parting Thoughts

On 1 September 2026, KDC agreed to buy stakes in two Tokyo data centres, Tokyo Data Centre 4 and 5. While KDC appears to be on a growth path again with major acquisitions for the past few years, I think that it appears to be still over-priced. from its NAV per unit and also offered a relatively unattractive low distribution yield of only 5.4% (taking into account that US Fed has hiked interest rates again). Should KDC dropped below S$2 per unit, it maybe worth a re-look.  

Thai Beverage: A 5% Dividend Yield Hiding in Plain Sight?

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income for Life. Today we're putting Thai Beverage ("ThaiBev") on SGX under the microscope. It is one of the region's largest beer-and-spirits conglomerates (Chang Beer, SangSom, and now F&N), and a name that keeps showing up in income portfolios. 2 years back, I was vested in ThaiBev. In a way I was lucky to have sold off all my shares when its market price was between S$0.55 per share to S$0.61 per share- I would have suffered  a huge loss if I had held it longer. At that time, I recalled the dividend yield were just 3.7% to 4.8%. Recently, I have begun to build back stakes into ThaiBev in view of the healthier balance sheet with debts pared down and the higher dividend yield of 5.2%-5.3% dividend yield at only a mere 60% payout ratio.

1. Dividend Per Share — Steady and Rising

ThaiBev's fiscal year runs to 30 September; dividends are declared in Thai Baht (interim in May, final in February):

Fiscal Year	Interim DPS (THB)	Final DPS (THB)	Total DPS (THB)
FY2023 (Oct'22-Sep'23)	0.15	0.45	0.60
FY2024 (Oct'23-Sep'24)	0.15	0.47	0.62
FY2025 (Oct'24-Sep'25)	0.15	0.47	0.62

Payout ratio crept up from ~54% (FY2023) to 61.4% (FY2025) as profit softened, but management held the absolute dividend flat rather than cut it — a shareholder-friendly signal.

2. Share Price and Dividend Yield

ThaiBev's share price has drifted lower over the past three years even as the payout held steady — pushing the dividend yield up nicely:

Period	Share Price Range (S$)	Approx. Dividend Yield
FY2023 (Oct'22-Sep'23)	0.550 - 0.720	~3.7%
FY2024 (Oct'23-Sep'24)	0.435 - 0.575	~4.8%
FY2025 (Oct'24-Sep'25)	0.445 - 0.595	~5.0%
Latest - 18 Sep 2026	~0.440	~5.2%

At ~S$0.44, ThaiBev trades near its 52-week low of S$0.41 — hence the yield climbing past 5%, among the more attractive on the SGX consumer-staples board.

3. Management Deserves Credit — Deleveraging in Progress

Net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA improved from 3.08x (FY2023) to 2.92x (FY2024), then ticked to 3.22x in FY2025 — almost entirely from consolidating Fraser & Neave (F&N), not distress borrowing:

Fiscal Year	Net Debt / EBITDA	Interest Coverage
FY2023 (Sep'23)	3.08x	-
FY2024 (Sep'24)	2.92x	7.31x
FY2025 (Sep'25)	3.22x	6.73x

Interest coverage stays healthy at ~6.7x, and management keeps refinancing cheaper — in July 2026 ThaiBev secured a THB6.5bn sustainability-linked loan from Krungsri Bank. Sensible treasury management, not leverage drift.

4. Upcoming Catalyst — The BeerCo IPO

ThaiBev has long floated spinning off BeerCo (Chang Beer, Sabeco) via a ~20% SGX listing. Shelved a few times on weak markets, the plan was revived to ride stronger global equity conditions — with talk of a separate spirits listing too. A successful IPO could unlock value, bring in a partner, and fund further deleveraging — a key catalyst into 2027.

5. Parting Thoughts

ThaiBev isn't a growth story, but the 5% plus dividend yield is decent pay while waiting, and management is tidying the balance sheet. BeerCo's IPO is the free option that could re-rate the stock. Not financial advice — do your own homework and due diligence as usual.

Ok folks, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead!

Investment Portfolios Updates (16 September 2026) - Net Investment of S$908K and Projected Annualised Passive Income of S$51K.

The new Fed US Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh has proven that he got spine and went on to increase the interest rate by 25 basis point despite his boss Donald Trump wanting the US interest rates to go down further. My SREIT portfolio which made up close to 51% of my gross investments continued its downward spiral into another level of doldrum albeit gains in earlier part of the year. With my China Tech plays such as Alibaba and BYD tanking, overall portfolio valuation plunged despite capital top up. Nevertheless, my projected passive dividend and interest income from equities and bonds improved slightly from S$48.5K (July 13, 2026) to S$50.8K. 

1. Portfolio 1- Stocks Held in SGX Central Depository 

(a) Nothing super interesting here except that I have began accumulation of Thai Beverage. Its management has been actively paying down its bank borrowings over the past 2 years while its market value has dropped drastically from its heyday of S$0.540 per share days to S$0.440-S$0.460 per share range. The potential IPO of its Brewery business is a major catalyst that may give rise to capital gain of up to 25%. In the meantime, its forward dividend yield is at around 5.6%.....so collect the dividends while waiting for share price to rally upon realisation of initiatives by management to further unlock its intrinsic valuation.

(b) I have also added on to Genting Singapore despite the widening losses as the RWS 2.0 redevelopment plan is near completion which should boost and diversify its main gaming revenue into more stable resort and theme park related stream. Genting also has a massive cash reserves of S$2.9 billion supporting its ability to maintain dividends payout of 6.5% per annum. 

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.) 

I have added on both Alibaba and BYD here to take advantage of the poor market sentiment in HK stock market.

3. Portfolio 3 (with Tiger Brokers and MooMoo) 

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

Added more Alibaba, BYD, Kimly and Thai Beverage.

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

This mostly bond concentrated portfolio has less volatility than my other portfolios. Will continue to build it up.

Parting Thoughts

The high interest rate environment looks set to remain for a longer term. All these uncertainties have led to the suppression of SREIT valuation. Looks like it will be a very very long wait for SREIT recovery. Ok folks, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead!

BYD at HKD79.25: Buying the Dip on a Weak Half.

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income for Life. Quick update today on a name I've been building up since October 2025-BYD Company Limited, listed in Hong Kong (1211.HK). The lightning fast charging technology for Blade 2.0 generation batteries is amazing and makes refuelling EV almost similar to Internal Combustion Engine (“ICE”) vehicles in terms of time. Also, its operating results such as topline has actually improved tremendously with more overseas sales.  

1. My Entry Points
I started built up my BYD stocks gradually with an average price of HKD100 per share from Oct 2025. When BYD dropped to HKD85.00 on September 3, 2026, I added to it. Then nibbled more when the stock plunged to HKD79.25 recently (September 10, 2026).

2. First-Half Results — Softer Than Last Year
No sugarcoating it: BYD's first-half results came in weaker year-on-year, with margins squeezed by China's ongoing EV price war. On the surface, not a print that gets investors excited.

3. But the Month-to-Month Trend Is Improving
Here's the nuance — breaking it down month-to-month rather than just year-on-year, the trend line is actually improving. Each successive month within the half shows incremental strengthening, suggesting the business is finding its footing again.

4. Why My Sentiment Is Turning More Constructive
Year-on-year numbers are backward-looking; month-to-month trends tell me where the business is heading right now. As the sequential improvement continues, I expect market sentiment to catch up with that underlying trend. The fast charging 2.0 Generation Battery technology will be driving the growth of BYD vehicles back in China and also overseas. Look at the numerous BYD authorised dealers in Singapore and also the sheer number of BYD EVs on our roads.

5. My Take Going Forward
This isn't an all-clear call — EV sector risks remain in play. But for a position entered at levels I felt were sensible (HKD85.00 and HKD79.25), I'm comfortable holding through this transition period. Additionally, BYD actually is not just an EV company- It has built up a vast distribution network worldwide which will help it sell other products such as humanoid robots in future. As always, this isn't a buy recommendation — do your own due diligence.

Ok folks, that's all from me today!

Donald Trump Escalating War With Iran- Oil Prices Surge Again.

Hi Folks, welcome back to Investment Income for Life. Donald Trump has once again stirred up lots of "sheep". Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East have intensified sharply following direct military exchanges between United States forces and Iranian elements.  Even Saudi Arabia oil facilities are being hit more frequently this week. My SREITs portfolio dropped again from the interest rate hike risk and US-Iran forever war- only consolation is my diversification into other sectors and asset-classes (bonds, gold and Crypto) over the past 2 years has bring down the concentration to around 50%.   

1. U.S. Military Action and Retaliatory Strikes

The latest cycle of hostilities escalated after U.S. military forces conducted coordinated precision strikes against Iranian naval and strategic assets—specifically targeting vessels and supply infrastructure linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) following attacks on American naval operations. Tehran responded rapidly by launching asymmetric retaliatory strikes, deploying ballistic missiles and loitering munitions aimed at U.S. operating assets and maritime transit lanes in and around the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

2. Strikes on Saudi Arabian Energy Infrastructure

Compounding the military theater, retaliatory strikes extended to Saudi Arabian sovereign territory. Drone and missile barrages linked to Tehran-aligned networks targeted critical Saudi Aramco downstream facilities in southern Saudi Arabia, notably across the Jizan industrial corridor.   The strikes ignited localized fires, forced temporary operational suspensions to assess integrity, and reignited deep structural concerns over the vulnerability of primary crude processing hubs across the Arabian Peninsula.

3. Oil Price Dynamics: Past Week Trading Range

Crude benchmarks registered sharp volatility over the past week as markets priced in a substantial geopolitical risk premium alongside physical supply friction.

• Brent Crude: Traded in a volatile 7-day range between US$89.50 and US$ 99.25 per barrel, surging nearly 8% week-on-week and testing resistance just shy of the triple-digit threshold (U$100/bbl).

The sudden uptick reflects market alarm that tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz—which historically handles roughly 20% of global petroleum liquids—could face prolonged paralysis, depleting already thin commercial stockpiles outside of East Asia.

4. Portfolio & Income Implications

For income-focused investors like myself, high oil prices and rising cost of business will be extremely bad for business and dividends payout. Maintaining defensive, balance-sheet-resilient dividend payers with strong ultimate shareholder backing (such as Temasek Holdings linked companies) is important.  

Ok folks, that's all from me today. Have a great week ahead!