As per last year, decided to do the last part of the trilogy first since it does not require and year end’s data.
The coming year marks my twentieth year in the market. An opportunity to take stock of my investment journey for the past 20 years and set the direction for the next decade. Planting the seeds in my mind early, so as to give time for ideas to germinate over the year and to trial some of the plan before confirming the plan by the end of next year.
History
No I am not rehash what I have written before. I will put up the various links below for those of you who are interested to know what I had went through before.
Historical Return
This post shows my unaudited portfolio performance (TWRR by NAV method) against STI ETF (ES3) from 2003 to 2018. It did not include data before that as STI ETF (ES3) was only incepted in April 2002. For the record, I started tracking my portfolio in year 2000 and suffered a 21% drop for that year. It took the next two years for my portfolio to recover within 5% of its initial NAV.
I will update the above post by the end of next year and it will then really become historical as going forward, I intend to change the way I structure my portfolio.
Historical Goals
These were goals set at the various stage of my investment journey. In general they have similar direction but they varied due to stages in life and changes in my thinking.
First goal set in 2007, after being in the market for 7 years! Knowing how goal setting can be a powerful tool for success, I would definitely have done this much earlier if I can turn back the clock.
Eight years later, set a new goal in 2015 and re-started this blog. I am happy with my consistency in posting since then and despite the weak market last year, I was lucky to achieve a better performance than intended. In 2017, I updated my goal and strategies with more details.
What are some ideas?
It is only 4 years since I last set my goal and strategies, so why is there a need for a change by end of next year? At the current time of writing, I do not think there will be major change in my goal and approach. The key changes will come from how I categorise the stocks and track my portfolio.
Idea 1
By end of next year, I will be a decade from 55, the year that I can transfer my holdings in CPFIS to CDP. So one idea I am considering it to look at the holdings in my cash and CPF portfolio as a whole, instead of treating them separately.
Idea 2
Another idea that I am toying with is to liquidate my whole portfolio. It’s unlikely that I will do that but I do feel a sense of excitement just thinking about it! So who knows I might just do it as it might provide me with some new perspectives.
Idea 3
Current allocation of growth-dividend is 50% each which I am likely to keep, especially if I am to consider both my cash and CPF portfolio together. But with generating income becoming more important, I might switch back to the ratio of 40% and 60% dividend.
Idea 4
I have some holdings of STI ETF in my CPF portfolio. Purchased it because of 35% stock limit. Going forward as I combined my cash and CPF portfolio as one, I might exclude STI ETF in the computation of the return. At 55 I am likely to sell it off and use it to buy other stocks.
Idea 5
Currently, I am benchmarking with STI ETF (ES3). With the increase in percentage of US counters in my portfolio, it might be timely to look for another benchmark. Not the most important but it is something I can think about.
Idea 6
Still thinking…do let me know if you have any.
Towards Financial Independence 