Investment Portfolio Review Q1 2021

Time flies, it’s already April 2021! Here is a summary on what I have done so far this year to improve on my investment portfolio.

- Taken a deep dive into robo-advisor and money market fund

- Decided to invest in ARK ETF by applying barbell strategy

- Started investing in cryptocurrency – 95% in Ethereum and 5% in Bitcoin

- Plan to top up RM3,000 into PRS this month (I will write an article on PRS fund that I select soon!)

Where do I invest my money?

· Saving Account: My emergency fund is currently allocated into a high yield savings account OCBC 360 Account, which allows me to enjoy an interest rate of 2.15% p.a. However, I realized that occasionally I’m only able to achieve an interest rate of 1.45% since I did not manage to fulfil the minimum monthly spending of RM500. Hence, FRANK by OCBC is an alternative solution which allows me to easily earn an interest of 1.8% for money saved in Save Pot.

· FD: Recently, there are many news on victims losing their hard-earned savings to professional hackers who were able to bypass the online security and access into these victims’ bank accounts. Moreover, some victims had neither receive any one-time password from the bank, nor previously clicked into any suspicious links! 😫😫

No doubt online banking and authentication process are getting more convenient as more fintech innovations come into play; however, we have also become more vulnerable to attacks by these hackers. Due to personal financial insecurities, I think I will continue to lock in some funds in FD instead of saving accounts while constantly seeking for better promotional rate.

· StashAway: Exercising dollar-cost averaging by allocating RM500 to 36% risk index portfolio on a monthly basis.

· Cryptocurrency: Purely for speculation 😆 I have only allocated minimal amount into Ethereum via Luno. For those who are interested to invest in Cryptocurrency, you may open your Luno Account HERE. Use my promo code – 22NE3A, and you will get RM25 worth of Bitcoin when you invest RM250 or more! Please carefully read through the full details of this promo HERE and remember to apply Luno’s Instant Buy or Sell feature to perform the minimum transaction amount (to obtain the reward).

· EPF & PRS: Earlier this year, EPF had declared 5.2% dividend for pandemic-hit 2020 woohoo. Not so bad huh. As for PRS, for those who haven’t heard about it, it is a voluntary retirement scheme in Malaysia. You will be able to cherry pick your investment (unlike EPF), not to mention you are also allowed to claim a tax relief up to RM3,000 per annum.

Who can say NO to a double whammy of tax reduction and retirement security. Investing RM3,000 in PRS fund is officially my annual activity 😊

· REITs (KLSE & SGX): Not much changes compared to my investment portfolio in 2020.

· US ETF: If you have read my article on the new rules to accumulate wealth in the next 10 years, you will understand why I decided to invest in ARK. Cathie Wood’s ARK ETF aim to focus solely on technology innovation. I like Cathie’s vision for the future as I believe the global economy is experiencing the largest technological transformation. No doubt, these tech stocks are risky and remain volatile in the short run. Therefore, I have adopted barbell strategy to achieve a balanced investment portfolio for both bull and bear market.

· Stocks: Currently I favor hand-picking individual stocks over ETF/robo-advisor as I really enjoy seeking for undervalued company with good fundamentals. However, in future I might consider investing in ETF/robo-advisor if I don't have time to monitor due to work commitment.

Investment performance

Monthly dividend received so far in 2021

· Dividends are mainly derived from bank stocks and REITs with high dividend yield.

· Previously I established an annual target to increase my dividend income to five figures in 2021. However, I realized I was being too optimistic XD I decided not to set any dividend target for now. The reason being, is that I will need to prioritize my sinking fund for our new house instead!

Portfolio performance (exclude dividend)

· Overall, my investment portfolio as of 31 Mar 2021 has generated an average return of 20% since inception.

· Out of my entire stock portfolio, 75% are dividend stocks, 15% are value stocks and the remaining are growth stocks.

· Currently, I am holding 14 individual stocks in Malaysia (57%), Singapore (40%) and China (3%) market. If you are new to the market, it is not encouraged to invest in too many shares as you will need to monitor their news and announcements regularly, for any major changes in their fundamentals.

Hotcup’s Q1 2021

Q1 2021 so far has been good to me. Other than improving my investment portfolio, my partner and I finally bought a new house recently! We are so happy and excited for our major milestone in life! It is never an easy task to buy a new house. From planning our budget, visiting show house to getting loan approval, there are so many things to learn as a first-time home buyer. Special thanks to our parents who guided us along the way. Okay that’s all for now. I will share more about my first home purchase soon!

How was your first quarter of 2021? 😊

Disclaimer: This article is solely for entertainment purpose. I am neither an expert nor certified trader, and the views contained in this post should not be taken as an indication to buy or sell. I will not be held liable for any gains or losses incurred as a result of one's individual investing decisions after reading any post in this blog.