The SRS offers tax benefits and you can find a quick summary of SRS here. This information is crucial to you especially if you are above 40. I will be conducting a SRS webinar in the next few weeks. Join my Telegram Group where I share 1 financial tip a day where I will be posting more details.
Why is this a last chance?
SRS allows you to make penalty free withdrawals from your SRS on or after the statutory retirement age (currently at 62) that was prevailing at the time of your first SRS contribution.
In the National Day Rally in 2019, it is already made know that the statutory retirement age will increase to 63 (in 2022) and 65 (by 2030).
This means that if you don’t make your firstSRS contribution before 2022, your penalty free withdrawal year will increase by 1 year to age 63. This is your last chance in doing so.
SRS Last Chance Retirement Age Increase National Day Rally 2019
How much do I need to contribute?
All it takes is $1. You didn’t hear me wrong. You don’t need to invest in anything yet. The account opening only require $1 (and around 1 minute). The purpose of it is to “lock in” your statutory retirement age to be 62. You can find out more in one of my most read article last year called the $1 SRS strategy.
Personally, I think it is a no-brainer to open the account. The “opportunity cost” is just $1. That being said, the choice is still yours at the end of the day.
For those of you who have opened your accounts. What are you investing in currently?
Let me know in the comments below.
Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
We are done to the last quarter for the year. Have you accomplished your goals? Hope that things have been going well for you. In any case, this article is a simple reporting for my SRS updates.
Disclaimers: This is not and should not be taken as a buy/sell recommendation.
If you would like to see my past quarter thoughts, you can refer to March2021 and June2021.
It is also close to the end of the year, you might be considering SRS investment. Please refer my most read SRS article, 5 Things You Need To Know About SRS to learn more.
My Thoughts And Consideration
My SRS Portfolio Sept 2021 Data
The elephant in the room is the exposure into Chinese Technology Stocks (SGX:HST). It has obviously pulled down the entire portfolio as 50% of my portfolio is invested into it. Unfortunately, this SRS portfolio is still small and there is a concentration risk that I acknowledged.
Policymakers in China announced regulatory reforms that has impacted sectors like construction (think Evergrande), private education (think TAL Education Group) and Technology companies that are handling data (think Didi).
In the case of my SRS impact, it was due to the technology sector. As you can see in the Top ETF holding for SGX:HST, it haven’t been doing well year to date.
SGX HST ETF Top 25 Holdings
I remain positive in this exposure as this ETF is invested into quality Chinese companies that can deliver sustainable growth in the next 3 to 5 years. With high internet penetration in China, I believe the performance of the companies will follow suit.
SGX: BTOU is a recovery play in the portfolio. The recovery will depend on COVID19 recovery attempts in US. I’m optimistic that the recovery towards working in office will come in 3 to 5 years time.
Lastly, I’m still considering if I should inject new capital into the SRS portfolio.
Final Thoughts
Disclaimer: this is not and should not be taken as a buy/sell recommendation. Like what Charlie Munger famously said: the big money is not in the buying or selling.. but in the waiting.
We have be having a 3 parts webinar for last quarter of the year. Feel free to reach out to me for more information.
Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
After the CPF webinar on April 2021, some of you have been asking if there would be more this year. As 2021 has been an interesting year, I wanted to consolidate all the lessons during this period of time and it took longer than expected. It is already September and in less than 24 days, we will be in our final quarter of the year.
Although most people says that they are a long term investor, the truth as shown by statistics is that not many people are like that. My observation is that most investors especially on YouTube tends to have a shorter horizon in nature.
I believe that investment in the long run is as important as taking care of your health in the long run. The focus on the webinar is on the following.
Letting market volatility be in your favor.
The market has been volatile recently and it will continue to be like that in future. However, this keeps people from investing as they are always afraid of market crash and correction. Research has again shown that not fully invested will have disastrous effects in the long run. Just missing the five best days when you’re otherwise fully invested drops your overall return by 35%! We will explore how to let market volatility be in our favor.
Investment Styles
Value Investing has been made popular by Warren Buffett across the decades. However, there is a new investment style called Growth Investing. This has been making rounds across Facebook due to the huge momentum that happened in 2021. Active investment is also back in trend as volatility often invites more players into the market. We will seek to explore the pros and cons of each style and how to potentially combine them together.
What is my End Game?
It is equally important to know when you can live on your investment portfolio. The transformation of the investment portfolio to serve as an income source for retirement. This is the reason why people start to invest in the first place. We will seek how it all make sense in the grand scheme of things so that you know what’s your end game.
#2: Investment as an income
There are many ways to create income from your investment. There are dividends, bonds, derivatives etc. Seminar #2 is more straightforward than seminar #1. We will explore the following.
The instruments that are available to create income from your investment
What kind of instrument might be more suitable for you?
The AUM (asset under management) needed to have a comfortable income.
This webinar will follow shortly after seminar 1.
#3: How to use SRS as an investment
This is one of my favourite topics and I have wrote extensively on the use of SRS. I have written a guide and here are some links that you should read before attending this workshop.
We will be focusing on what SRS is and how you can use it to investment and retire.
Final Thoughts
It will be a busy one month moving forward as I prepare for the 3 webinars. If you have any feedback, feel free to write to me and I look forward to seeing you for the next webinar.
Take care.
Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
The price for SGX: HST is an ETF which tracks the biggest technology stocks in China seems to be under pressure possibly due to the USA-China trade tensions and also regulatory risk in China. However, business fundamentals have not change. This will remain as a core position in the portfolio. Unfortunately, the portfolio is lagging the US market due to a heavy exposure into this ETF.
Manulife REITS BTOU Q12021 Highlights
SGX: BTOUfundamental numbers to be be quite stable. In the AGM, the management mentioned that tenants are gradually bringing their employees back to office, with the physical occupancy of 13% in Jan 2021 to 20% as of May 2021. Management are also opened to reviewing potential acquisitions across sectors. This could be good news for shareholders if the property is yield accretive. This will continue to be a core position in the portfolio.
New injections into my SRS might happen at the end of 2021. The injection depends on the potential taxable income in 2021. I’m currently looking into a product that is offered by an insurance company. The investment engine sounds great as it focus on value and growth companies which is the objective of my SRS portfolio.
Final Thoughts
Disclaimer: this is not and should not be taken as a buy/sell recommendation. Like what Charlie Munger famously said: the big money is not in the buying or selling.. but in the waiting.
Are you investing your SRS well?
Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
After a series of SRS related articles in 2020, there are some readers from investingnote and my telegram channel that asked me to be transparent with my SRS investments. After some discussion with some of my readers, I will be doing regular updates on my thought process of investing using my SRS and the reasons why I invest in some of these funds or products.
The Standard Disclaimer: This is not and should not be taken as a buy/sell recommendation.
Before looking into using SRS to invest, these are some links you should read first before continuing.
To invest in sectors that are growing and balance it with reits exposure.
My Considerations
There are 3 instruments that I personally think is interesting and of investing value at this moment of time.
Lion-OCBC Securities Hang Seng TECH ETF (HST.SI)
This ETF is investing into the 30 largest TECH-themed companies listed in Hong Kong. It is diversified across 30 companies ranging from Alibaba to ZTO. While it is undeniable that there may be regulatory risk associated with this ETF, I believe that companies such as Tencent, Alibaba, JD, SMIC is going to propel China’s economy into the future. I’m not going in depth into the reason of investing in this article. Currently, I’m already vested into this ETF.
LGI HST ETF
Manulife US Reits (SGX:BTOU)
Manulife US Reits is one that I have been eyeing for a look time. The reits is exposed to income-producing office real estate in key markets in the United States. I personally like the WALE by NLA and also occupancy rates of this reits.
Manulife US Reits Portfolio
Let me address one common question about COVID-19 affecting office real estates in USA. USA has been adopting working from home for a long time. Beyond the financials, it is important for the company to have a good working culture. The synergy fortunately is created from social interactions in office.
From the corporate presentation in March 2021, only 5% of companies mentioned that there will no longer be a need for an office. Around 70% of bosses expected employees to working from office at least 3 days a week. Similarly, around 70% of bosses expect that they would need more space due to rising headcount and also social distancing needs. Manulife reits rents to a well diversified tenant base ranging from Legal (21% of gross rental income), Finance and Insurance (18.1% of gross rental income), retail trade (13.8% of gross rental income) and so on. Personally, I’m comfortable with this even with the new norms that we might be experiencing. Currently, I’m vested into this reit.
Manulife US Reits Portfolio Work From Home
Exposure to Institutional Investors (Ballie Gifford, Blackrock, Wellington)
Currently, I’m not invested into this yet because my SRS funds are insufficient to purchase into them yet. As I’m a representative from AIA Singapore, I would not be able to write the product. Feel free to reach out to me for more details regarding this.
The reason why I think it would make an great investment thesis is because of the expertise of the 3 companies. Wellington is famous for their exposure in the value investing companies. Ballie Gifford is well known for investing in growth companies (such as Tesla). Blackrock is famous for their fixed income. Depending on your intended risk profile, the 3 funds will be allocated accordingly.
I am planning to contribute to SRS in 2021 again for tax purposes. That will be the moment of time where I will be investing into this instrument.
Final Thoughts By Wealthdojo
I reckon my positions will not be changing much. The next change will probably be after the addition of new funds into my SRS to purchase the plan that give me exposure to the institutional investors. Wishing everyone the best in their investment journey.
Chengkok is a licensed Financial Services Consultant since 2012. He is an Investment and Critical Illness Specialist. Wealthdojo was created in 2019 to educate and debunk “free financial advice” that was given without context.
The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of any other agency, organisation, employer or company. Assumptions made in the analysis are not reflective of the position of any entity other than the author.
