Performance
February was a real roller-coaster of a month. It started out with a strong rebound from the lows hit on 29 Jan, peaked around 16 Feb, then started to descend and hasn’t stopped as of this writing.
Because of the up and down, Feb performance was actually only down slightly by -1.8% month-on-month. However, the portfolio underperformed the S&P500 (+2.6%) and the Nasdaq (+0.9%). The underperformance can be attributed to high growth stocks which usually have a higher beta or volatility than the broader market. When stocks go up these stocks are expected to outperform, but when stocks go down these same stocks tend to underperform as well.
As at the close of February, portfolio all-time performance stood at +6.1% (+10.3% including dividends).
Since my inherent assumption is that stocks tend to go up in the long run (otherwise I won’t even be investing in stocks), I’m comfortable with the higher drawdowns with the expectation that these high growth stocks will shine when the market reverses and resumes higher.
Dividends
Dividends received for the month was S$183 (+204% YoY), the bulk of which came from one position, Keppel Infrastructure Trust or KIT (SGX:A7RU). This has been a rock-solid stock to hold through the pandemic. Other notable payers include JPMorgan (JPM), AT&T (T), AbbVie (ABBV) and Ascott REIT (SGX:HMN).
Hopefully vaccinations can be rolled out quickly and the economy recovers by the end of the year. Fingers crossed if business picks up, hopefully some of Singapore stocks can reinstate their dividends partially or in full to pre-pandemic levels.
Trades
- Bought:
- Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ)
- ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK)
- Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT)
- Apple (AAPL)
- Palantir (PLTR)
- Nvidia (NVDA)
- Square (SQ)
- Sold:
- Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B)
Most of the buying was done in late February as the market declined. I will continue to average down in March but will probably slow my purchases. I intend to wait at least a month from the start of the decline (16 Feb) before deploying excess cash.
Also, so far the market has not declined >10% from all-time highs which is one of my criteria to start deploying cash aggressively. As of this writing, S&P500 -3.8% and Nasdaq -9.5% from ATH.
Check out my Portfolio page for more information on my Investment Style.
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