Portfolio Update Q4 2023

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This month marks the end of the 4th quarter of 2023.  Thus being the last post of 2023, it is definitely a good time for me to record the performance of my portfolio to track how it has been.

To recap, I started my SG Dividends Portfolio in late 2017, and I began tracking the dividends and all reinvestment done starting 2018.  To date, my SG Dividends Portfolio consist of banks, REITs and defense technology.  On the other hand, I only started the US Growth Portfolio in late December 2021.  Currently, my US Growth Portfolio consist of mainly big tech names, bank and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Being a relatively conservative investor, I prefer to dollar cost average (DCA) into the market to slowly build up my portfolio.  The advantages of using Interactive Brokers to buy the US shares via DCA are undoubtedly the low fees and ability to buy fractional shares of mega-cap technology shares like Alphabet and Tesla.  The latest FED meeting in December signals that it is time for them to pivot in 2024, and this decision is supported by the November CPI data released this month, which shows that inflation numbers are around market expectations, up 3.1% year-on-year.

This statement released by Jerome Powell definitely boosted my portfolio as it definitely seems to create much 'fear of missing out' (FOMO) in the market, causing all indexes to rise in celebratory mode.  In the US market, S&P 500 and NASDAQ are inching towards new highs, while Apple has hit all time high of USD 199.62 before retreating. As mentioned in my portfolio update in November, I am slowly cashing out some of the shares in my US Growth Portfolio to lock in the profits, and looking to buy back the shares at lower prices if opportunity arises.  Within this month, I have partially sold some shares in JP Morgan, Google and VOO ETF with approximately 26.3%, 19.2% and 9.7% profits respectively.  Although it is not much, but profits are always welcomed.  As usual, after I sold part of the shares, their share price has continued to appreciate.  No regrets to that as the remaining shares I hold continue to enjoy the run up in share prices.

Closer to home, my SGX Dividend Portfolio is also experiencing a boost, especially with the 10-year yield falling below 4%.  The news regarding FED pivot is like a steroid boost to the REITs, allowing many SG REITs to rise by around 3% in a single day.  By mid December, the SGX Dividend Portfolio has increased in value by 5% compared to the start of the month.  However, the rally in REITs could not sustain and began retreating again the following week.  Probably it is the turn of events where bad news were regarded as good news (to tame inflation), has turned into bad news are regarded as bad news (risk of recession or hard landing of the economy).  However, the last few trading days proved to be good for both REITs and banks as they have risen in share prices, bring my portfolio to a new high.

On a more cheerful note, in addition to the rise in portfolio value, dividends collected in the fourth and last quarter has also been satisfactory, at SGD 3,943.30 from quarterly dividends from Mapletree Family REITs, Fraser Logistics and Commercial Trust and ST Engineering. The positivity is that this brings the total dividends collected for the year 2023 to SGD 23,290.12. This is 6.8% above my annual target of SGD 21.8K, as posted in my timeline post, and gladly, a pleasant 25.3% increase from 2022's annual dividend. Based on trailing twelve-month dividends collected per month, the average dividends collected monthly now is around SGD 1,940.00.

For this month, the total portfolio market value increased to approximately SGD 500K in this quarter, including a capital injection of SGD 3.2K, which is an increase of close to 2.3%!  Including the cash value of USD 20,445.68 realized from the sales of some US shares in my US Growth Portfolio, the total value will be about SGD 527K, which is an all time high for my portfolio!  This also concludes my portfolio for the year of 2023, which, year to date, boosted by approximately 18.6%.  It's a happy rebound for my portfolio since the great decline in 2022, but I know this is nothing compared to many financial bloggers and gurus out there.  However, I am pleased and contented for the performance of my portfolio and I believe it is still important to remain invested for me and look forward to higher total dividends next year!  Barista FIRE, here I come...!

SG Dividends Portfolio

US Growth Portfolio

Total Portfolio Value: SGD 499,744.56 (USD 1 : SGD 1.32)

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