Portfolio Updates

Portfolio Update November 2022 – My Stocks Underperformed, Focusing on SSBs and REITs

Calvin Lo

November was nice green month in markets, with all 3 U.S. indices DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 up around +6%. Stocks got a boost from better than expected U.S. October CPI figures and talk of slowing rate hikes by Fed chair Jerome Powell on the last day of the month. All eyes will be on the next FOMC meeting on 14th Dec, at which market participants are now pricing in a 77% of a 50 bps hike. However, our portfolio underperformed the market this month.

My investing strategy and portfolio hasn’t changed significantly for quite some time now. I’ll continue to DCA into core ETFs via RSP with half the amount of monthly contributions to investments and let the remainder just accumulate in cash. As inflation remains high and interest rates rise, I’ll be looking for more safe ways to get better returns on idle cash through SSB, T-bills or other cash management solutions.

Singapore Savings Bond (SSB). Applied for another $20k of SSB this month for Dec 2022 issuance @ 3.47% yield (record high), and managed to get $14k allotment. Been a bit too obsessed with SSB with yields >3%. Posted 3 articles on SSB just this month:

Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS). As we come to the end of the year, I’ve also contributed to $3k to my SRS account to get some additional tax relief.

Read my previous post on SRS: How To Reduce Taxes Through SRS Contributions

I can’t predict whether inflation will continue to ease or if and when the Fed will pivot, but I can focus on what I can control – reducing unnecessary expenses and investing regularly into index funds. With asset prices already pretty deflated from euphoric highs in 2021, it’s a good time to just accumulate index funds or shares of quality companies if you have a long term horizon and willing to stomach more downside/volatility in the near term.

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

Family Portfolio

  • Value as at end November: S$162K
  • November performance: +0.5% vs SPX +5.8% vs NDX +6.0%
  • YTD performance: -19.5% vs SPX -14.9% vs NDX -27.1%
  • All-time performance (since Aug 2016): -6.4% (-4.3% including dividends)
  • November dividends: S$41 (-6% yoy)
  • Bought: None
  • Sold: None
Family Portfolio as at 1st Dec 2022

Performance. Our portfolio is lagging benchmarks again, probably due to the underperformance of Apple (AAPL), Tesla (TSLA), and ARK Invest (ARKK) type stocks. Apple and Tesla being hardware companies have been hit hard by supply chain issues and demand concerns. Other Big Tech like Google and Meta have been doing better. Chinese tech stocks (SGX:HST) also helped to lift performance a bit with the Hang Seng TECH index up +35% for the month, rebounding from its multi-year lows in end Oct. If China finally loosens its grip on zero-COVID policy in response to protests, we might see Chinese stocks going to the moon.

Stocks. The monthly RSP on FSMOne failed this month, so I didn’t end up buying any ETFs. The silver lining is that the purchase would’ve been executed on the 11th, soon after the market shot up after better than expected U.S. CPI numbers reported the day before. That said, indexes continued upward so we’re still higher than that point now. Anyway, these automated purchases aren’t supposed to time the market but I’m good with hoarding a bit more cash. I didn’t make any other trades either, so a pretty quiet month.

REITs. I’m thinking of buying more REITs probably through a REIT ETF or Syfe REIT+. I’m still undecided but I might just go with the CSOP iEdge S-REIT Leaders Index ETF (SGX:SRT/SRU) this time since it’s a lump sum investment, since it tracks the same index as Syfe REIT+.

Cash. Cash has increased slightly to 16% from 15% last month, since I missed the FSMOne RSP. With markets recovering slightly, my new target for cash position is 12%.

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

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 November: S$29K
  • November performance: -17.0%
  • YTD performance: -36.7%
  • All-time performance (since July 2020): -9.9%
  • Bought: TSLA
  • Sold: None
Personal Portfolio as at 1st Dec 2022

Tesla (TSLA) fell another -15% in Nov similar to Oct and Palantir (PLTR) was down -13% for the month, dragging down performance. Tesla Semi event will happen either tonight or tomorrow (1st Dec U.S. time), so that might be a minor catalyst. Palantir was also in the news yesterday (30th Nov) for announcing its collaboration with Lockheed Martin (another key defence contractor), focused on delivering modern software to support U.S. Navy combat systems. Needless to day, I’m still bullish on both these companies for the long haul (pun intended, Tesla Semi, get it?).

Source: Tesla twitter account @Tesla

Read my investment thesis on TSLA here.

I’m still holding onto SQQQ as a hedge, at least until we get more clarity from the Fed and clearer skies ahead. However, I think the risks of a deep recession is receding and market sentiment seems to be improving, so I won’t be adding any more SQQQ or similar shorts.

What trades did you make in November?

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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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