2016 Investing Report Card

Year 2016 Closes, Results and Returns

2016 closes and with SGXcafe calculating returns on a daily basis, I knew what was coming before the year ended. Disappointingly, my portfolio underperformed STI ETF returns this year - the first time since 5 years of investment. With the negative losses last year, it was quite disappointing to have not grown my investment this year as well.

2016 Portfolio XIRR: -2.215%
STI ETF XIRR: 2.864%

Fun Facts

For now, let's lighten up the mood for some infographic about my portfolio movement this year:

Dividends Goals

With regards to $1000 the dividend goal I had set for 2016, you can see that I have narrowly missed it with $954.25. This partly due to Singpost's tightening dividend policy as well as Falcon Energy not yielding any dividend this year.

For 2017, I hope to increase my dividend received to the tune of $1100. Building up a portfolio that can gives me a steady income stream is one of my retirement goals for the long long term, and I hope that I am able to slowly accomplish this goal.

To increase the dividend, one way is to focus on purchasing stocks that are dividend-yielding and have the cash flow to support it. Monthly investment in STI ETF with my siblings will also contribute in a minor way, probably to cover the shortfalls from the dividend cut by Singpost.

Going Forward

Despite these two years of negative returns, I aim to keep the course. But it has certainly made me re-assess the way I look at gains. A problem is me not realizing profits only to watch it slip away and never coming back. One part of me always wants to be noble and be a "long-term investor". The other part is Graham's and Buffet's mantra of only buying companies where you will never give it up. Falcon Energy has been a bummer and I hope it proves itself in 2017.

For further pickings, I have a few stocks in my mind for research and considerations. Working gives me an steady income to invest but it takes time away from research and homework. But I hope to stay the course and just keep moving ---- towards financial freedom!

My Stock Holdings (March 2016)

After a long wait, I can finally sit down and count my gains for the month of March! With the Singapore stock market in the doldrums for the first two months, there were finally some rebound even though I did not enter anything prior to it. However, as I also did not let go of any stock, it meant my portfolio clawed back some gains.

This also highlighted how investing is actually advantageous to constant trading. According to this article, missing just the best ten days of S&P in the period between 1993-2013 will cost the investor a 3.8% drop in annualized returns. While many will argue that trading is better as one can let go of stocks at the highest and buyback at a lower point, I can assuredly say that I neither have the skills nor the time. Hence, as a student and eventually a working adult, passive investing will still be the way to go.

On the matter of dividends, I received a total of $227.42 for the month of March. This amount was disbursed from HPH Trust, SingPost and Karin Tech. Hence for the first three months, the total dividends received comes up to $261.57, a little over a quarter of my dividend goal this year.

Also, I had bought GLP on 31 Mar 2016 for a cost of $1.955. A little high, but through the average of valuation methods which I may subsequently write about,  the fair value price of GLP I came up with was actually $2.42. Coupled with GIC being the majority shareholder, I feel that there is some merit to the purchase of GLP. With the addition of GLP, the breakdown of my portfolio is shown below. Let's hope 2016 is a good year for all in the stock market =)