Letter To Shareholders (16) - Performance Review 2019Q3

Economy Commentary
The insane Q2 rally was gone in an instant - led by continued trade war threats and Hong Kong protests.

Surprisingly, premium REITs continue to hold up.


Performance Review Highlights / Acquisitions & Developments
Fired one bullet on Eagle Hospitality Trust - while we understand the various risks, the near 10% yield is imply too tempting to ignore, especially when compared to current valuations of Singapore based REITs.

We also applied for Lendlease near the end of Q3 - hottest IPO in the past 5 years, 14.5 times oversubscribed , 30% chance and did not managed to get it. On the positive side, it means 1 extra bullet for the upcoming downturn.

The biggest surprise was Sembcorp Industries plunging yet another level to near $2. $2.4 was really historical low, and I really did not expect another 15% drop. Once again humbled by the market.

On a positive note, we distributed over $3000 (Singtel, STI and Kimly) worth of dividends this quarter! That's more than our annual dividends just 3 years ago in 2016, proving how far we have come.

Operating Highlights - Income
Income was about 15% YoY higher this time due to higher salary, proficiency incentive and of course dividends.

We also received a nice $200 marksmen bonus from MINDEF, and minor $100 profit from clearing old items on Carousell.


Operating Highlights - Expenses
Regular expenses were about 30% higher due to shopping expenses - multiple video & board game ($200), clothes & bag ($200), external hard drive ($150)

1-time expenses were essentially same YoY, just higher income-taxes.

Total expenses were about 20% higher.

Operating Updates
N/A. 

Outlook

Thanks to the record dividends, our saving total after salary this quarter is 99%! Continue to maintain total saving rate at around 80%. This year has been a rollercoater ride - bad Q1, insane Q2, bad Q3 again.

One big news coming up is the launch of IBKR Lite, should it become available in Singapore. From initial review:

"With IBKR Lite the commissions will be per IB's Fixed Pricing schedule, i.e. US$5 minimum per IWDA or VWRA trade. But that's way better than Standard Chartered's US$10.70 minimum, unless you happen to be a "Priority Banking" customer. There will be no monthly minimum commission with IBKR Lite, and you still get Tiered Pricing (and the ridiculously narrow bid-ask spreads) on your currency conversions."

IBKR is also setting up an office in Singapore, which hopefully means better support/promotion? 2020 could be the year we finally get started in the global market.

We will continue to maintain our strategy of investing for the long term - building our dividend portfolio bit and bit.