Above is the progress of me reaching my targeted financial goals for February 2023. The total value of my financial assets increased from 64.02% to 64.46%. Similarly to January, the minor increase was attributed to the increase in overall value of my stock portfolio in February 2023.
I compute the total value of my financial assets based on the cash value of the following:
- Insurance savings (NTUC RevoSave Cash Benefit)
- Savings accounts (POSB, OCBC, CIMB)
- Singapore Savings Bonds
- Current value of my stocks (My Stock Portfolio)
- Supplementary Retirement Scheme
Insurance Savings
I have previously withdrew all my cash with Dash EasyEarn, Dash PET and Singlife because the interest rate returns just could not catch up with other financial instruments such as Singapore Savings Bonds and Fixed Deposits.
I currently held the NTUC Revosave which I bought in my younger days. The benefit of this insurance plan is that it provides cash benefit whereby you can either leave it with deposited with Income at 3.0% p.a. or withdraw the cash. I am not sure if NTUC Income now still provide similar plans but personally I feel that it is an excellent insurance savings plan.
If you like something short term, you can wish to take a look at Gro Capital Ease is 3.95% per annum. I have previously bought a few tranches using my Supplementary Retirement Funds.
Savings accounts (POSB, OCBC, CIMB)
I have 5 tranches of fixed deposit placement with CIMB as the bank has consistently offered excellent fixed deposit promotions.
The fixed deposit rates for most banks have dropped in February 2023. However, CIMB Bank still offers attractive interest rates as high as 3.70% p.a.
Here are CIMB Bank’s interest rates.
Singapore Savings Bonds
Singapore Saving Bonds continue to be an almost risk free investment. The effective interest rate for SBMAR23 is 2.90% p.a. over a 10 years period. The interest rate had dropped significantly and I believe most investors are holding on to their cash to wait for better interest rates.
Readers who wanted safe haven or place for emergency funds should consider Singapore Savings Bond.
The good thing about Singapore Savings Bond is that you can redeem them anytime because there is no lock in period.
In February, I have collected the following interest payout from the Singapore Savings Bonds that I have bought every month over the years.
- August 2018 (GX18080F)
- February 2019 (GX19020V)
- August 2022 (GX22080V)
I written 2 guides on Singapore Savings Bonds. Do check them out!
My Stock Portfolio and Dividend Payout
I use Stocks Café to keep track of the total value worth of my stocks. Stocks Café is my preferred tool for managing my stock portfolio. It is packed with tonnes of intelligent features such as portfolio monitoring and reporting, dividend tracking, stock screening. All these features are automated which means no manual entry is required.
This month, given the slight dip in stock market, I added more of Frasers Centrepoint Trust and Mapletree Logistics Trust to my stock portfolio.
There are no collected dividends payout in February 2023.
There are no changes to my US stock portfolio.
Summary of Financial Goals February 2023
In February, the Fed made the announcement to raise its interest rate by a quarter percentage point which is much lesser than its 0.75 percentage point increases in 2022.
With less aggressive rate hikes, the share prices are REITs should be more stable. I observed there are mixed feelings. The share prices of certain REITs continue to trend upwards and some trending slightly downwards. Taking opportunity, I nibbled at Mapletree Logistics Trust and Frasers Centrepoint Trust which were in my watch list.
Even though the Fed says inflation is much under control, I still feel that prices of daily necessities have gone up and remained there. Global uncertainties caused by political tensions have also rocked the stock market.
Having shared the above, I will still continue to build my stock portfolio with quality dividend paying stocks but will look at safer investments when opportunity arises.
Let us see whether safer investments such as fixed deposit and Singapore Savings Bond makes a comeback in March 2023!