1Q 2025 Investment Strategy Update

This quarter marks the start of Trump's rule for the next 4 years and he does it with a bang! With the all too familiar bullying mentality, it is his way or the highway. Within the first 2 months, in order to cut down government expenses, he close almost all foreign aids, fire contingent government workers and started tariff wars with countries which have a huge trade surplus with USA. Economist is currently talking about slow down in USA GDP due to the increase in cost and pricing in a possibility of recession 6 months down the road. Private companies are not spared either, with increasing news of retrenchment to right size the workforce to combat recession threat. Personally, I don't foresee a good year ahead, even if Trump manage to ramp his way through with tax cuts (and possibly put USA into more debt with fiscal deficit).

DJI ended at 42033, an decrease of 511 points (-1.20%) compared to 4Q 2024. For Singapore, STI ended at 3972, an increase of 185 points (+4.88%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (52.8% STI weightage) continued to do well with record profits while technology shares took a hit due to slowdown in demand. Overall, market continue to respond to Trump's policy direction. 

In this current quarter, with limited budget as company is not doing well, I can only do some small bot on purchase.

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Credit Bureau Asia shares in March. 

This company continue to scale up in their new markets in Cambodia, and Myanmar, while Singapore and Malaysia will be buoyed by the new digital banks increased checks on customer profile as they start their loan business. Income will be stable as it is much a recurring business. I believe there is still room to grow for this company.

That is all for now. See you all in Q2 2025 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Legoland 2025

07 Mar - It is our annual trip to Legoland with our *OEE*! Having grown taller these past 1 year, now he has reached a new milestone to be able to ride roller coaster within the park! Much has changed where we stayed for 2 nights compared to 1 year ago. A new Greentree Hotel is currently being built to be ready in 2026. A lot of new and cheap eateries has open up surrounding the hotel. Imagine having a breakfast for just RM35 for 2 adults and 1 kid! The food is nice though!

Kokomo restaurant (Rating 4.2 - 257 reviews) where we have our usual lunch

Medo Restaurant (Rating 4.3 - 65 reviews) where we have our breakfast

As usual, we picked a weekday to visit Legoland to avoid the crowds. All the rides practically have no queue and we cleared them pretty fast. Its the first time riding the roller coaster for *OEE* and the experience did not go down well for him. He wanted to ride one time only as he is scared! Haha >.< In the end, most of our time are spent chasing the 4D shows and the live shows on stage.

*OEE* did managed to get his hand on the Junior Driving School to drive a car on his own and the Boating School to steer a boat through the winding course. Thank God it did not rain when we were at Legoland to enjoy the full day!

4Q 2024 Investment Strategy Update

It is a crazy world. Just when I think the USA folks are clear headed enough to see through Trump's flowery commitment (After going through 4 years of his rule), they went back and elect him as the next term president. 2025 could just be a Year of Chaos, where tariffs and Trump's way or the highway politics will take center stage. Overall, I believe Trump's politics will benefit the US stock market, with tax cuts and deregulation. Fed's interest rate should still be on the downward trend, but at a slower rate. After all, Trump always has a tendency to rate his performances based on the strength of the US stock market. With the downward trend in interest rate, I will be staying clear of bank stocks. Instead, I may take a look at REITs that have exposure to USA Offices. Things have started bottoming out, with companies demanding employees to come back to offices to work, and that means they need more space!

DJI ended at 42544, an increase of 214 points (+0.50%) compared to 3Q 2024. For Singapore, STI ended at 3787, an increase of 202 points (+5.63%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore have taken central stage in the last 6 months with their stellar results, but with the looming downward interest rate trend, I will only do opportunistic buy-in if they drop too much a price.

With 2024 drawing to a close, it is time for the annual review against my 3 year plan (Next 3 years (2023 - 2025) Investment Plan) set back in Nov 2022. Below are my result:

Original 2023-2025 plan: 

1. 50% Equity, 50% Reits/Trusts 
2. Portfolio Dividend Yield to be 3.80% in 2023, 4.30% in 2024, 4.80% in 2025.

End 2024 result: 

1. 49.22% Equity, 50.78% Reits/Trusts 
2. 80.58% SG Equity, 19.42% USA Equity 

Portfolio Yield at 3.46% in 2024 (-0.12% from 2023, and miss 2024 4.30% target)

Verdict: Miss Target

Note: In 2024, Prime US Reit only gave out dividend at a much reduced rate. Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit elected to suspend dividend until 2H2025.

Below is my end 2024 portfolio snapshot:

Total dividend received in 2024: $6,595.05 (~$549.58/month)

For this quarter, I continued accumulating Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit and Mapletree Industrial Trust to take advantage of Fed starting cycle in reducing interest rate. Overall, this move should be a positive for Reits as a reduction in interest rate = reduction in interest expenses = more distribution available for investors.

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Mapletree Industrial Trust shares in December. 

Overall positive for the Reit as they started investing into Japan Data Center market, partly due to low interest rate for Yen and Yen currency weakness. At current 5.9% dividend yield. this is a good deal.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit shares in December. 

Current weakness was due to its suspension of dividend until 2H2025. I personally don't see this Reit in any potential danger as the manager has been keeping a close eye on its gearing level. Continue to buy in while waiting for dividend to resume.

That is all for now. See you all in Q1 2025 update and thank you for reading thus far.

19th Year Blog Anniversary

19 years....I really did not expect to keep this blog alive for such a long time. But this is a good digital avenue to keep records of the episodes of my life. Looking back, 2024 has not been smooth sailing for me. Company conducting retrenchment exercise (though I am not one of the statistic, thank God), pay freeze, passing of a colleague's hubby due to cancer, a friend's child died due to cancer as well.... seems like the once avoided topic "Death" has shown itself coming into the mid life cycle. I guess that's part of life.

On a happier note, my family went on 2 holiday trips this year (Australia and Japan). We certainly enjoyed ourselves. Hopefully, next year can be better! (Things certainly doesn't look good now. Trump incoming as USA president in Jan 2025, South Korea and France government are in turmoil, Ukraine and Russia war are still ongoing with the aggressor seems to be winning....etc) Sigh....

Some Statistic:

Page Count: 87197 +5163

Year on Year increase: +777 +17.71%

Japan Day 6 - Cape Manzamo, Daisekirinzan Park, Cape Hedo

27 Oct - Today, we are on an excursion to the northern Okinawa island, so time management will be crucial as a 1-way trip takes about 90mins. Before breakfast, we dropped by the famous Cape Manzamo, which now needs a 100yen admission fee having built some nice souvenir shops and cafes after COVID.

Cape Manzamo Entrance

Cape Manzamo

Nice view overlooking East China Sea

We spent about 45mins there and left promptly when other tourists from tour groups started arriving and crowded out the photo spots. On the way to our next destination, we stopped by Flap Coffee and Bake Shop to have our breakfast. One thing I have to mentioned is that they served really the best coffee I ever had in Okinawa! Food wise, it is good, but you need to give them a bit of time to prepare the food.

Best Latte I ever had in Okinawa

Ham and Cheese Toast

After breakfast, it will be another 60mins drive before we reached the Daisekirinzan Park. Daisekirinzan is a subtropical forest national park with trails & unusual rock formations. We came totally unprepared as we did not expect to climb forest trails with elevation with the presence of mosquitoes!

Different rocks that can be found within Daisekirinzan 

Heart Shape Rock

Dinosaur face

Climbing steps after steps

Nice view from the top of Churaumi Observation Deck

Rock formation

End of tracking - We gave up after taking the most popular (and longest) route in hot weather

Last stop of the day - Cape Hedo. Just here to enjoy the scenery at the most northern point of Okinawa facing the Pacific Ocean.

After we are done with the photos, we dropped by a café near the carpark (辺戸岬こうようパーラー) where we had the best Taco Rice ever had. The stall offers a generous variety of ingredients for the toppings, eggs and side dishes, way more than what other restaurants provide. Rice was slightly purplish, which I have no idea is food coloring or they used the purple sweet potatoes for the color.

Taco Rice with many ingredients

Okinawa Soba

Japan Day 4 - Cape Chinen Park, Okinawa World, Umikaji Terrace Senagajima, American Village

25 Oct - Today is another outdoor exploration day via a 10 hours rented car accompanied with a Chinese driver. For breakfast, we settled on Rose Garden which offers toast and waffles set with unlimited coffee or ice tea. The restaurant has accumulated a 4.2 rating with 1199 Google Reviews, which means the food must be good! Well the reviews certainly did not disappoint us.

Rose Garden

Maria's French Toast with lean bacon

Extra Thick Bacon with Waffles

After breakfast, we continued on to our next destination, Cape Chinen Park. The scenic view it provide was 100% worth our time to visit.

Cape Chinen Park

After spending about 45mins taking photos, we proceed to our next destination, Okinawa World to visit the underground limestone cave. The whole walk will need about an hour to walk through the cave system. It was quite educational, with signboard explanation how the cave was formed.

Gyokusendo Cave

Upon exiting the underground cave, you will reach the next section of the park - Tropical Orchids, where it grows about 50 kinds of 450 tropical fruit trees such as pineapple, mango, papaya, passion fruit, dragon fruit, star fruit, lychee, kegaki and jaboticaba.

Star Fruits!

After spending 3 hours within Okinawa World, we exit the park and drove to Umikaji Terrace Senagajima. The location is well known for their low, white structures lined up in terraced rows with a beautiful view of the sea simulating a distinctly Mediterranean flair. We did stop for a while to have the famous Blue Seal Ice-cream.

Umikaji Terrace Senagajima

With time running short, we did a drive by to the American Village. It kind of reminds me that we are back in the USA! The theme of Americana provides a nostalgic pleasure for residents of the American bases nearby as well as an interesting diversion for the locals. The Village resembles a big American outdoor shopping mall with lots of shops, restaurants and a large parking lot.