Above is the progress of me reaching my targeted financial goals for August 2022. The total value of my financial assets improved slightly to 63.41%. This is because of my US stock portfolio whereby the stock price of the companies that I have bought suddenly rallied because of positive financial results.
If you wonder how I compute the total value of my financial assets, they are:
- Insurance savings (NTUC RevoSave, Singlife, Dash EasyEarn, Dash PET)
- Savings accounts (POSB, OCBC, CIMB)
- Singapore Savings Bonds
- Current value of my stocks
- Auto Investing (Syfe)
- Supplementary Retirement Scheme
Insurance Savings
First, let me touch on the savings I have related to insurance.
I have money stashed away with Singlife, DashEasyEarn and Dash PET. These are alternative to traditional savings accounts whereby they offer higher interest rates as compared to traditional bank savings accounts.
Singlife has maintained their base interest rate of 1.0% per annum for the first S$10,000 while DashEasyEarn offers 1.2% per annum. Dash PET offers the lowest crediting rate at 0.7% per annum.
Next month, I will probably withdraw my money from Dash PET and put them into Singapore Savings Bond for better returns.
Savings accounts (POSB, OCBC, CIMB)
In June, I have took opportunity of the rising interest rates and placed a 12 months fixed deposit with CIMB.
In July, I did another fixed deposit placement of 18 months with CIMB which is offering 2.3% p.a.
As interest rates continue to rise, I am hoping for more attractive fixed deposit promotions.
I am planning for a holiday trip in the upcoming September school holidays. As such, I am expecting to be spending more next month.
Singapore Savings Bonds
Singapore Saving Bonds continue to be an almost risk free investment. The effective interest rate for SBSEP22 is at 12 months higher at 2.8% p.a. over a 10 years period. Even though the interest rate has fallen slightly as compared to SBAUG22, it is still very attractive.
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 August, I have collected the following interest payout from the Singapore Savings Bonds that I have bought every month over the years.
- August 2018 (GX18080F)
- August 2019 (GX19080E)
- February 2019 (GX19020V)
- February 2020 (GX20020V)
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.
In August, I received my dividend payouts from Boustead, Singtel, OCBC Bank and Mapletree Pan Asia Commercial Trust.
This month, I also added a new stock, American Express (NYSE:AXP) to my US stock portfolio.
You might wonder why I have chosen Amercian Express? My reason is that the majority of Americans held a American Express credit card and as travel restriction eases and US economy recovers from COVID-19, I foresee more Americans will travel and spend more using their credit cards which is a potential catalyst for American Express.
Auto Investing with Syfe
Syfe continue to perform poorly with a time weighted return of (7.63)%. This is because the portfolio I chose is heavy weighted on Equity. When tech stocks in the China and US market crashes, it is expect they will drag equity markets down.
If you want to know more, the Capital Growth portfolio comprises of 69.0% equity, 25.0% Bond, 5.6% Commodity and 0.4% cash.
Summary of Financial Goals Progress August 2022
At this point of writing, the Powell shared that the Fed will increase interest rates as high as need to restrict growth in order to bring the inflation down.
This kind of announcement usually cause some volatility in the stock markets and I am already eyeing some stocks to add to my US stock portfolio if prices turn attractive.
Having said the above, I am slowing down my pace of buy transactions. Over the past few months, I have been making more than my usual buy transactions. I will like to slow down and monitor whether those companies I bought are able to sustain their growth in share price.