a happy new year!
Another quarter behind us and it’s time for another update.
If you follow me on YouTube, you may have seen the update I recently made in my YouTube community:
My father is still in the hospital.
I haven’t yet read the comments I’ve received in recent days on YouTube because I don’t feel very social.
However, after realizing the signs of impending depression, I decided to do some blogging.
Blogging is therapeutic for me.
I’m sure there are many readers who are very interested in me and ask me not to worry about updating the community.
Don’t worry.
I do this as therapy for myself.
2024 is over, and on the investment front, it’s been kind to me.
DBS, OCBC and UOB share prices have outperformed.
Since they make up over 45% of my portfolio, this has a huge positive impact on the market value of my portfolio.
The gains more than offset the losses in IREIT Global and CLCT.
Of course, all this is only on paper.
So, I only say because I’m sure some readers, whatever their reasons, will be interested to know.
All jobs still generate income for me.
Some have asked me what they should do with their investment in Centurion Corp as the stock price soars to record highs.
It appears I made the mistake of selling my investment in Centurion Corp and using the money to add to my investments in local banks several months ago.
Well, I can’t and don’t want to give advice, but the reasons I gave for selling at the time still apply.
Centurion Corp. suspended its dividend during the pandemic and has been slow to restore dividends despite emerging from the pandemic with a stronger balance sheet.
However, they had no problem rewarding their managers generously on the spot.
So, I decided to add to my investments in local banks instead, as they have a long track record of rewarding shareholders through good and bad times.
Their very strong balance sheets compared to Centurion Corp will help ensure their dividends won’t be suspended if we see another pandemic.
Our local banks have proven to be more shareholder friendly as well.
They are able and willing to reward shareholders fairly, if not generously.
Always reconsider your reasons for investing in a particular entity, and if the entity is unable to offer more, it is time to abandon it.
So, whether to sell, hold or buy will depend, to a large extent, on our motives.
I thought I would end 2024 without making any purchases, but I ended up buying more Wilmar products and also biting into Alibaba.
I talked about this in my last blog post, and if you’re interested in learning more, read on.
Not a big deal, really.
My investment in Alibaba now makes up less than 0.5% of my investment portfolio.
My focus remains on generating passive income and Alibaba doesn’t quite fit the bill.
As a retiree who relies on his investment profits to make a living, Alibaba is an interesting and somewhat speculative site.
Nothing more.
I talked about this community of mine on YouTube not too long ago as well;
If Alibaba sees its stock price drop 5% to 10% from here, I will likely add to my investment but it will still be a very small investment.
In my last blog post, I identified a weak uptrend with a slightly rising support line, but if this line is broken, Alibaba stock price could fall.
A retest of the support level at HK$72 is not impossible since we may see a head and shoulders pattern forming which will give us an eventual downside target at HK$72 or so.
My charting skills are a bit rusty.
So beware of tetanus.
And now the numbers:
Q4 2024: $28,734.99
FY 2024: $234,439.46
This is roughly the same as its fiscal 2023 revenue of $231,495.19
Even though I sold most of my investments in Sabana REIT in the first half of 2024, portfolio-level passive income did not decline in 2024.
DBS, OCBC and UOB have already done all the heavy lifting in 2024 as they pay higher dividends.
In 2025, I expect the passive income to decline due to a much smaller investment in Sabana REIT and also the expected 25% reduction in DPU from IREIT Global as they reposition their assets in Berlin.
A portfolio-wide passive income reduction of 4% or 5% in 2025 wouldn’t surprise me.
Of course, we could see higher dividends than DBS, OCBC and UOB in 2025 as they have excess capital that can be returned to shareholders.
They can be special earnings which means they are not recurring but will be good enough to provide some relief.
Once IREIT Global gets its Berlin assets up and running again in 2026, income generation should receive a boost as the property has attracted two tenants to date offering to pay 100% higher rent than the anchor tenant who vacated the property.
Oh, I’ll also have to remember to top up my CPF MA account before the end of the month.
That’s $4,000 to put aside.
A risk-free return of 4% per year and the interest earned pays for my medical insurance.
Of course, if you have been following me for many years, you will know all about this.
Let the government pay for our insurance.
Finally, I will maintain and bolster my Treasury ladder whenever I have excess cash on hand.
I will only break it down when I see Mr. Market being overly pessimistic and offering to sell shares of companies I like at a cheap price.
We can all be more financially secure, and we should.
If AK can do it, so can you!