With the turmoil market, I decided to take a look at how my unit trusts which I purchased with CPF performed YTD. And I am quite pleased with what I saw. Yes, Aberdeen China Opportunities was badly wounded by the various China crackdown but Schroder Asian Growth turns out to be relative resilient. Oh, and look at the performance from the European, Japan and Multi-Assets funds. While smaller in allocation, they have helped to cushion the drop.
| Fund | Position (Cost) | YTD Return (Bid to Bid) | Average Return (Incept Apr’20) | Current Yield | Cost Yield |
| Aberdeen European | 12.5% | 8.0% | 20.1% | – | – |
| First Sentier A DIS | 10% | 2.1% | 15.4% | 4.1% | 4.7% |
| Lion Global Japan | 10% | 7.2% | 33.8% | – | – |
| Schroder Asian Growth | 35% | -0.75% | 15.9% | 2.1% | 2.4% |
| Schroder Multi-Assets | 10% | 11.3% | 22.7% | 3.8% | 4.6% |
| Aberdeen China (divested Aug @ $4.9478) | 22.5% | -8.1% (realised) | 10.8% (realised) | – | – |
| Total | – | – | 17.7% | – | – |
I divested Aberdeen China Opportunities fund in August as I was uncertain of how the China crackdown would continue to unfold. However, I have kept my Schroder Asian Growth as it has exposure beyond China. And looking at its top 10 holdings, I would think that it should continue to do fairly well in the future.
What surprises me as I was compiling the information was the yield that I am getting for First Sentier A Dis and Schroder Multi-Assets. If they are able to maintain their payout, the current yield does look attractive to me, given that they are less volatile as compared to the other three funds.
My own estimation shows that year to date, I probably break even with the funds. Which means that I would be better off leaving the money in CPF. However, looking at the average return since inception, I am positive that long term I would get a better return than CPF.
With the current pull back in various markets and the attractive yield, I have decided put back most of the divested amount from Aberdeen China Opportunities to First Sentier A Dis and Schroder Multi-Assets. I also topped up Lion Global Japan by a small amount. While Schroder Asian Growth does look attractive to me, I am not going to add more since its position is relatively larger.
Towards Financial Independence 