Personal Portfolio Performance In The Past 88 Months

This is going to be a relatively short post as it is just going to serve as a reminder and reflection for my personal investing journey.  Nothing discussed here should be treated as financial advice of any sorts, it is just my personal thoughts.

It has been 88 months since January 2018 till April 2025, and I think it is a good time (and an auspicious number) for me to start looking back and reflecting on my investing journey thus far.  January 2018 is the time when I started recording and tabulating my investing journey with a concrete plan in mind.  I had decided to invest for the long term and accumulate shares of good companies for the long time, with dividend play in mind.

Initially, portfolio growth was mainly due to capital injection and any growth was slow.  However, I understand this is how dividend investing is going to be.  No rocket to the moon, no exciting multi-baggers, just slow and steady compounding in play, and I am fine with it.  This is because with many years wasted in my "investing journey" since 2009 to 2017 before I finally follow a concrete plan in investing, I had my fair share of excitement, gains and losses, which in the end, made me concluded that my investing journey had just been a complete waste of time.  With a plan set in place, I am glad that I followed through the journey with whatever discipline that I have, to slowly grow my portfolio to the size it is now (not huge from the grand scheme of things but I am happy to have achieved what I achieve).  

Between late 2020 to 2021, my portfolio grew at a slightly faster pace, in terms of both capital injected and overall portfolio value.  This is because in 2020 I sold my residence and downgraded to a one bedroom unit which I am currently residing in, and I injected part of the sale proceeds into the Singapore stock market to boost my dividend income.

From 2018 to 2021, my portfolio consists of only Singapore listed dividend-paying stocks.  It is evident from the chart above that my portfolio growth is essentially contributed by reinvested dividends.  From my limited experience, I do much better with dividends investing compared to other strategies, but this is only for myself.  Starting from December 2021, I initiated a position in the US market through Interactive Brokers, and gradually started a US portfolio.  Indeed, US Growth Portfolio grew much faster than my SG Dividend Portfolio, but it is also more volatile.  I believe that the US Growth Portfolio is not going to be the main allocation to my portfolio (but this is just my perspective and do not apply to everyone, and I am sure there are many naysayers to what I am doing, but hey, I know myself best) but it serves as a good form of diversification in my overall portfolio.  

Currently, I am happy with the allocation and the portfolio value, with a yearly improving dividend income.  However moving forward, I intent to give my portfolio a slight boost to diversify a little further, and minimize the impact of forex in preparation for my eventual Barista FIRE and FIRE plan in Johor.  I am considering to liquidate the capital I have injected into my US Growth Portfolio and leave the profits within to further grow and compound, so that the diversification remains and I get to tap on any further growth in the US markets.  For the capital I receive, I am planning to either slowly inject it further into the Singapore market, or diversify into the Malaysia stock market to open up another dividend portfolio, which will help to boost my dividend income in the very currency I will need during FIRE.  However this is still under consideration, and it depends very much on the current exchange rate between the SGD and MYR.  

This is a concept pending materialization.  I will update in future post when I put into actions what I have planned currently.  Looking forward to more bountiful dividends with time.  Barista FIRE, here I come...!