Portfolio Updates

Portfolio Update September 2023 – Portfolios Resilient Despite Market Declines

Calvin Lo

September was a dreadful month for markets, with S&P 500 and Nasdaq both down ~5% for the month. Fortunately, our portfolios were more resilient, with the Family Portfolio falling less than the market and Personal Portfolio ending the month flat.

Markets seem to be spooked by bond yields spiking due to a huge bond sell-off. Equities were not spared either. As bond yields increase, returns on equities look less attractive vs risk-free rate.

In addition, oil prices reversed its downtrend and spiked back up, even prior to the recent Hamas-Israel conflict that just ignited last weekend. With geopolitical tensions rising, I don’t expect oil prices to come back down anytime soon.

Market attention has turned away from the Fed interest rate policy for once in quite some time. At this point, I’m thinking that whatever the Fed does at their next FOMC meeting on 1 Nov 2023 might not move markets much.

The rise in global bond yields affect everyone, probably more so China which already had many big issues to grapple with especially in the ailing property sector. PBOC has introduced several stimulus actions recently with limited effect, and likewise the stock markets in mainland China and Hong Kong has very quickly fallen back into bear market.

On the fixed income front, November SSB has just been announced with a very attractive 3.32% average 10Y yield. T-bill yields have likewise risen in tandem with global bond yields, with cut-off yield coming in at 4.07% at the last auction for 6-month T-bill on 28 Sep 2023. Next auction is tomorrow 12 Oct 2023, so would be interesting to see what that yields.

On the cash management front, fixed deposit rates have somewhat stabilised at ~3.2-3.4% for foreign banks and ~2.7-2.9% for local banks. In addition, robo-advisors are getting more active in this space, with the most recent update from StashAway with their 1-month term Simple Guaranteed product offering 3.8% yield. Another option is Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed and Flexi which offers a slightly lower 3.7% yield.

Read: StashAway Simple Guaranteed Update: More Tenure Options, Highest Yield 3.8% For 1-Month Tenure

Read: Syfe Cash+ Guaranteed Review: New Option For Short-Term Cash at 3.7% Yield

See also my Fixed Income Tracker and SSB tracker.

On the banking side, Sea’s Maribank raised its interest rate from 2.5% to 2.88% which makes it a more attractive option now than GXS Bank which lowered theirs from 3.48% to 2.68% for Savings Pockets.

On a personal note, I’ve been busy earlier this month preparing the house for minor renovation and away last week with my kids back in my hometown in Malaysia. Thus this usual monthly update comes slightly later. Also, with the renovation completed, we have a huge outflow this month so we don’t have much excess cash to invest which is unfortunate seeing that the market is offering discounts.

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

Family Portfolio

  • Value as at end Sep: S$223K
  • Sep performance: -2.6% vs SPX -5.0% vs NDX -5.0%
  • YTD performance: +17.8% vs SPX +12.3% vs NDX +35.5%
  • All-time performance (since Aug 2016): +1.3% (+3.4% including dividends)
  • Sep dividends: S$268 (+126% yoy)
  • Bought: VT, QQQ, ARKK, SGX:HST, LSE:VWRD
  • Sold: None
Family Portfolio as at 11 Oct 2023

Besides the usual RSP into ETFs with FSMOne, I’ve only taken the opportunity to add to VWRD since the broad market was declining. DBS (SGX:D05) and Tesla (TSLA) have been pretty resilient last month, which likely contributed to the bulk of the outperformance.

Read also: Automating Your Investments With FSMOne

No additional lump sum added to Syfe portfolios last month, just the usual DCA. Syfe managed portfolios is currently valued at $15.5k, down from $15.9k last month due to big losses in REIT+.

No change to regular monthly contributions of $200 into each of the Core Equity100 and REIT+ portfolios. Around $4.5k more to go to qualify for Black Tier ($20k) which comes with a lower 0.5% annual management fee vs the current Blue Tier rate of 0.65% before GST.

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

Syfe managed portfolios as at 11 Oct 2023

Personal Portfolio

  • Value as at end Sep: S$61.0K
  • Sep performance: -0.1%
  • YTD performance: +59.0%
  • All-time performance (since July 2020): +6.7%
  • Bought: DIS, PLTR, TSLA
  • Sold: TSLA, SQQQ, PLTR
Personal Portfolio as at 11 Oct 2023

Despite the fall in market indices, Tesla (TSLA) and Palantir (PLTR) actually rose 2% and 5% respectively last month. However, performance was impacted by purchases late in the month which continued to decline. Thankfully so far this month, those stocks have been rallying.

Read my investment thesis on TSLA here.

I’ve been pretty active jumping in and out of TSLA and PLTR in small amounts. As for Disney (DIS), I’ll be accumulating slowly depending on how things pan out with returning CEO Bob Iger and recent news of activist investor Nelson Peltz of hedge fund Trian increasing his stake in the company and demanding board seat(s).

How did your portfolio perform in September and what are your plans for October?

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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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