Portfolio Allocation - Jun 2024

The time has come for my once-a-year portfolio allocation breakdown.

This will be presented in a doughnut chart.

This year again I have maintained equal weightage on both my Local and US stocks. 

I also have a smaller position in cash compared to 2023, due to expenses and transferring a portion to bonds. 

MMF (money-market fund) proportion has also decreased, because I believe when interest rates eventually falls, the returns from MMF will also fall. So I took my money out of MMF.

The good thing is that the proportion of bonds increased as intended, and it will continue to increase. I try to increase my bond proportion because I want less volatility in my portfolio. 

My 2024 Portfolio.

Here's the portfolio for the previous year (2023) for comparison:

My 2023 Portfolio for comparison.

P2P lending is now insignificant in my portfolio. I urge everyone not to indulge in P2P lending. It is a loss-making investment, based on my unfortunate experience. 

Finally here's a comparison of 2023 and 2024 in the same chart:

You can see that cash proportion fell from 2023, bond proportion increased from 2023. 

Portfolio Returns for Jun 2024 - Holding the Course

I felt it would be good to track the returns regularly since they fluctuate occasionally depending on the stock market.

Here are the movements for this month. USA and SPY funds provide the strongest returns as usual.

                                

For the Robo-Advisors, most reached all-time highs. Syfe Reit unfortunately crashed again.

                                

Additionally, I think it will be interesting to see the breakdown of my portfolios in percentages (below). There is a component 'X' which I do not want to disclose for now. The concentration of 'X' over the last month has dropped from 15.8% to now 15.6% but is still too high. 

                                    

Market events over the last month: 

Fed maintains interest rates and sees only one rate cut (drop from three earlier) in 2024. This is despite an acknowledgment of "modest further progress" towards its 2 per cent inflation target. 

https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/banking-finance/us-federal-reserve-keeps-rates-steady-sees-just-one-2024-cut-despite-inflation-progress

Be patient.

Dividends for May 2024 - Towards 5k a Month

Here are my dividends for May 2024:

So I collected $2,691.58 in dividends for this month.

 
In case you are wondering, some stocks are repeated because I have 2 brokerage accounts.

Here are my monthly dividends over the last 6 years:

The next few months are typically the months where I collect the highest dividends, all the way till Sep.

Here are the dividends I collected every year until the current day

Interestingly, in 3 years, I have already surpassed my total yearly dividends in 2021. And it is only May!

I plan to first receive $2500, then finally $5000 in dividends every month on average.

Additionally, I share the interest I received from the various banks for the deposits in this month:

                            

So I collected $519.05 in interest payments this month.

Onwards!   

Wrapping up my Twelve Month of Financial Independence

I just finished my twelve month of FI (Financial Independence) in May 2024.

Below is what I ate and did for fun, and a record of my expenses.

Eating

Not a big fan of mala but this is not bad. Not sure if I will go back to eat again though. 

Been eating these home-cooked prata wraps with egg, tomatoes, avocado for a few lunches. Delicious and healthy. Here's the rough damage: Avocado $1, 2 prata $1.20, Cherry tomatoes $0.90, altogether $3.10.

Nasi Padang. No meat to save on costs. 

Tried a kebab and hummus stall near my place. Nothing much.

Prata tomato egg with avocado wrap.

Prata tomato egg with avocado wrap.

Naan tomato egg with avocado wrap.

Naan tomato egg with avocado wrap.

Fun

Harvested bayam.

Harvested Chinese Mustard.

Expenses

In terms of expenses, I busted some budgets this month but still manageable. 

 

Eating Out Target: $650

Eating Out Actual: $672.43 (mother's day meals)

Household Target: $600

Household Actual: $184.53

Travel Target: $100

Travel Actual: $189.33 

Entertainment Target: $50

Entertainment Actual: $4

Personal Target: $250

Personal Actual: $21.55

Onwards to the next month of FI!