Finance Smiths

Personal finance apprentices-in-training

Dividend income for May 2017

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It’s a big dividend month for us despite the recent sale transactions and portfolio restructuring. Let’s get into it!

SGX

  1. M1 (B2F): S$360
  2. Starhub (CC3): S$423
  3. Semcorp Industries (U96): S$164
  4. SembCorp Marine (S51): S$55
  5. Vicom (V01): S$148
  6. SPH (T39): S$60
  7. Starhill Global REIT (P40U): S$9
  8. Keppel REIT (K71U): S$60

Dividend income for May 2017: S$1,279

This came at a good time since we just returned from our US holiday and our credit card bills skyrocketed from the overseas spending. Our expenses should stabilise after this since we have no major travel plans for now.

Precautionary measures

Anyway, we are gathering more news on the upcoming major divisional restructuring at both our jobs. It should happen over the next few months but things are not looking positive. We will probably stick to the end to see what happens to us. Not a good idea to jump out to other divisions and firms in a weak employment market. We might start taking precautionary steps to guard against potential retrenchment. E.g. getting our CVs up to date and reaching out to our recruiter contacts to get a feel of our suitability to the available job roles out there.

We don’t usually tap into our personal and professional networks at this stage because it’s still too early to gauge the impact accurately. Maybe when things become clearer and we are seriously considering looking outside of our current firms. On the financial front, it’s time to gradually reduce our spending to build up the buffers against possible loss of salary income. This is not our first time going through such a situation and we have applied these steps before. They get easier with time but the stakes become higher as well.

When you have lived and worked overseas while having to keep to a tight budget, cutting back due to necessity is ingrained in you. It’s like learning how to ride a bike, a skill that once acquired, is never forgotten. Just takes a while to get back into it. No matter how our careers have been progressing, we have never believed ourselves to be indispensable to any organisations. Retrenchments can be right around the corner and we will be foolish to think otherwise. Hence the practical approach to our jobs – work hard but don’t overdo it and never get comfortable.

Buy transactions for May 2017

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Good to know we were still able to make investment purchases for May 2017 despite being away from Singapore half of the month.

Automated Investing

Maybank Kim Eng Monthly Investment Plan (Maybank KE MIP)

  • Buy 29 units of SPDR STI ETF (ES3 on SGX) at S$3.28 per unit on 8 May 2017
  • Buy 92 units of Nikko AM REIT ETF (CFA on SGX) at S$1.04 per unit on 8 May 2017
  • Transaction cost of S$2

POSB Invest-Saver

  • Buy 29 units of Nikko AM STI ETF (G3B on SGX) at S$3.37 per unit on 15 May 2017
  • Transaction cost of S$1

OCBC Blue Chip Investment Plan

  • Buy 448 units of Nikko AM STI ETF (G3B on SGX) at S$3.33 per unit on 22 May 2017
  • Transaction cost of S$5

POSB Invest-Saver

  • Buy 85 units of ABF SG Bond ETF (A35 on SGX) at S$1.16 per unit on 25 May 2017
  • Transaction cost of S$0.50

Total invested amount in ETFs of about S$1,900 using Automated Investing for May 2017 with transaction costs of S$8.50.

Manual Investing

Nil for May 2017.

The new S$100 monthly investment into the Nikko AM REIT ETF (CFA on SGX) using the Maybank KE MIP has kicked in from this month onwards. Hence, our monthly automated investing amount has increased to S$1,900 with transaction costs of S$8.50.

Major divisional restructuring at both our jobs

Both our banks have just announced that there will be major restructures at the divisional level that will impact our jobs. We knew the risks of retrenchment have been increasing since last year and it was a matter of time before we had to deal with them. Over the next few months, there will be significant changes to both of our teams that should result in us having to reapply for our current jobs or apply for new roles within the divisions. Time to see whether we survive this!

Back in Singapore after US holiday

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We are back in Singapore after a 2 week trip to West Coast US. The holiday was a lot better than I expected given it was our first time there. We have been to different parts of Europe a few times and never really considered US as a travel destination until recently. Didn’t think US would be as interesting and I was pleasantly surprised to find out there’s so many fun things to do there. We would definitely consider visiting the East Coast US in the future.

I’m not going into a full on description of what we did at each city/place we were in. However, I will provide a summary just for kicks.

San Francisco: Very liveable city and reminds me of Melbourne. But it’s more expensive due to the thriving technology sector. Nice city sights with good day trip destinations.

Yosemite Valley: Probably the most beautiful scenic place I have been to so far. The waterfalls, rock formations and views are just amazing.

Las Vegas: It’s really an entertainment and party city. I realised neither my wife nor I are gamblers because we weren’t drawn to the tables at all. Instead, we watched a few shows and went shopping.

Los Angeles: Went to Universal Studios Hollywood and did a few studio tours.

Even though it was a 2 week trip, I know I haven’t posted in 3 weeks. It’s nice to take a break from personal finance sometimes without having to think about our savings, investments and net worth progress. I got back into it this morning to update some stuff and realised a number of things:

  • Markets have gone up since my sale transactions in Mar 2017. Missed out on some gains, which is always annoying. But that’s what investing is like when you are trying to time the market. You will almost never be able to maximise the profits because it is difficult to make the right calls on the entry and exit prices.
  • Automatic purchase transactions for May 2017 have gone ahead even though I was away from Singapore for 2 weeks and couldn’t make any manual transactions. This will continue to be the way to go for me going forward as I intend to spend less time working on our investments.
  • New updates on the robo-advisor scene. 2 options (Smartly and StashAway) for consideration now that should be launching soon. Will be interesting to see what the take-up is like among the personal finance bloggers in Singapore. I am a big fan of robo-advisors and will definitely be setting up a portfolio with either of them.
  • Credit card and cash spending have gone through the roof due to the holiday expenses. Travel is a luxury we are willing to spend on and will continue to allocate funds to it even if we have a family in the future. We enjoy vacationing a lot more now that we live in a country/city like Singapore that doesn’t have as much to do but is well-connected to other countries/cities.
  • Getting paid while on annual leave is a good thing. It’s probably the next biggest corporate benefit after the salary. Especially when you have been in an organisation for a long time that offers decent annual leave and allows you to roll them forward. Let’s not forget family and childcare leave as well.
  • Net worth has gone up despite the increased spending due to the run up in equity markets and us receiving our monthly salaries. I know people like to criticise the corporate career but it can be a powerful driver of wealth when utilised well.

The new work week is about to start and we slept in to rest & recharge. But we are out now for our personal care appointments and grocery shopping before having dinner later with my wife’s family. Will take a while to adjust back to our weekly routine and we are still feeling quite tired. But it should get better over time.