Portfolio Updates

Portfolio Update December 2022 – Ending the Year with a Whimper

Calvin Lo

Unfortunately, we didn’t get a Santa rally to cheer us up for the holidays. December ended deep in the red, and took our portfolio down with it.

The Family Portfolio performed somewhere in between S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 for the year 2022, but the Personal Portfolio took a bit hit with Tesla getting hit hard in December.

Outside of stocks, I’ve been focusing a lot on optimising yields on idle cash lately in view of higher interest rates and inflation eroding buying power significantly. Next, I’ll be taking aim at expenses to help cushion the impact on our savings.

Read also: How I Manage My Cash Between SSB, T-Bills, Fixed Deposits and Cash Funds

With shorter term income instruments yielding higher and stock prices falling lower, there’s a tug-of-war between securing higher yield for the short term or investing into beaten down stocks for the long term. I’m taking the middle ground, by continuing to invest regularly into index funds while also accumulating more cash and putting that to work in high-yield income instruments like bank savings accounts, cash funds, fixed deposits, and SSB.

See my portfolio value, holdings, and strategy on my Portfolio page.

SSB

I was allotted all $14K of Jan 2023 SSB that I applied for. SSB demand has tanked this month and was only slightly oversubscribed, so most applicants got fully allotted. My posts on SSB in December:

Fixed Deposit

I’ve also put some cash into CIMB fixed deposit at 4.15% yield. CIMB has extended the offer for Jan 2023 (minimum $1k for 12 or 18 months), if you’re interested to place some cash there.

Family Portfolio

  • Value as at end December: S$151K
  • December performance: -8.3% vs SPX -5.9% vs NDX -9.1%
  • 2022 performance: -25.4% vs SPX -19.9% vs NDX -33.7%
  • All-time performance (since Aug 2016): -8.0% (-4.3% including dividends)
  • December dividends: S$347 (+66% yoy)
  • Bought: VT, QQQ, ARKK, SGX:HST, SGX:SRT
  • Sold: None
Family Portfolio as at 4th Jan 2023

Performance. This portfolio is tracking Nasdaq quite closely, and has slightly outperformed it curtesy of index funds and Singapore stocks. I’m not overly disappointed with this year’s performance although I would love to have tracked closer to S&P 500 performance. Hopefully with DCA picking up more shares when prices are lower now will lead to better performance at the next bull run.

Stocks. No changes in stock holdings outside the automated RSP buys. I might be looking to add to my position in Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD) just for some recession protection.

REITs. The only other trade I made besides the automated RSP into VT, QQQ, ARKK and HST, was to buy the CSOP iEdge S-REIT Leaders Index ETF (SGX:SRT/SRU) which tracks the same index as Syfe REIT+. I had a lump sum to invest into REIT exposure and chose SRT instead Syfe REIT+. I’ll use Syfe portfolios for automated purchases and ETFs for DIY purchases.

Cash. Cash has dropped to 12% after the SRT lump sum purchase. I think cash levels will stay relatively constant since I’ll just be investing the entire monthly contribution until further notice. Cash injections will also be reduced, since I’m redirecting more funds to replenish our emergency fund. With borders reopening, we have and will be travelling more often and thus had to dip into emergency funds temporarily. I have around $12k to backfill over the next few months.

Automation. No change to automated purchases of S$2K through FSMOne into 4 ETFs – VT, QQQ, ARKK and HST, and scheduled transfers of $200/month each into Syfe Equity100 and REIT+ portfolios.

Read my previous post on FSMOne: Automating Your Investments With FSMOne

Read my reviews of Syfe REIT+ and Syfe Core Equity100.

Personal Portfolio

  • Value as at end December: S$25K
  • December performance: -29.3%
  • 2022 performance: -51.6%
  • All-time performance (since July 2020): -34.3%
  • Bought: TSLA, PLTR, SQQQ
  • Sold: None
Personal Portfolio as at 4th Jan 2023

Tesla (TSLA) stock decline accelerated in December, ending the month -45% down. Similarly, Palantir (PLTR) continued its downtrend too, falling -19%. I’ve been adding quite aggressively the past month as prices declined, more TSLA than PLTR, just because TSLA has been dropping more and seems more attractively valued.

Read also: Is It Time To Buy Tesla Stock Despite Its Free Falling Share Price?

Read my investment thesis on TSLA here.

The only reason this portfolio is not down as much is because of the SQQQ hedge, so at least that’s working pretty well to cushion the fall a bit. I actually bought more SQQQ in view of deteriorating macro, Fed sticking to their guns, and Treasury bond yields inverting further signalling a possible recession looming.

If macro uncertainties clear up a bit and/or the Fed starts to show signs of pivoting, I might lighten up on SQQQ but for now things still don’t look good in the short term. Cash position is sitting at 40% (excluded from performance figures).

How did your portfolio perform in December?

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Disclaimer: This is not financial advice. I am not professional financial advisor nor do I work in the finance industry. Anything I write here is purely my personal opinion. Please do your own research and due diligence before investing into anything. All investments come with associated risks. Best to consult a financial advisor if you’re still unsure.

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