Poorlearnrich quick update

It had been a good 2.5 years since 穷小子 last update. What had 穷小子 been doing for these whole time? Lets do a fast forward update.

Investment

穷小子 did not make any purchase for the whole 2018 and 2019 except for some short term to curb his hand itchiness. This helps 穷小子 to build up some warchest, as mostly was depleted in 2016. 穷小子 made few purchases (maybe share in next time) during the bear market in the beginning of the year. This left him with about 20% + 20% of cash remaining.

Why was there a 20% + 20%?

This means the current cash and future cash in short. Future cash means planned for other purposes, but can be for investment as well, depending on the economic situation. Don't worry, 穷小子's emergency funds still left untouched.

Portfolio
穷小子 portfolio grew roughly from $150K to hitting $200K for the first time. Mainly are comprise of retail bonds and those purchased made early of the year.

Professional

穷小子 had changed his job in mid 2018. Better salary, better people, but not doing what he likes and there are too much paper work. Work for money, just endure and had survived almost 2 years. Anyway it is not a good time to change given the uncertainties now.

Personal
穷小子 got married! Perhaps there is a 穷女孩 now. Lol!! Although we got married, our traditional wedding banquet got postponed due to Covid-19. Well, there nothing changes, just the date changed.

P.S. one of the reasons which contributed to 穷小子's hiatus is because of the boring 2018 and 2019. ^_^

穷小子's 2017 accomplishments

We are coming towards the end of 2017. It had been a while since 穷小子's post, so what is he "busying" at?

2017 is a bullish year as 穷小子 would say. Despite with all the bad news, all doomsayers negative headlines, DJI managed to hit more than 25% YTD and STI more than 17% YTD. Furthermore, Singapore economy grows 5.2% in Q3, with 2017 forecast raised to 3-3.5%. With such a good run this year, 穷小子 actually sitting on his current portfolio without much major changes to it.

Below are the quick updates since 穷小子's last post.

OCBC
Had divested about 30% of OCBC shares from his portfolio. Mainly is to take profits, and is already 1.3x times more than book value. In another words, it is expensive now.

CCT
Participated in its rights exercises, and applied for excess as well. The current price is higher than its pre-XR price, seems had made the right decision on getting more. CCT is still the highest holding in 穷小子's REITs portfolio, and became the second highest in the overall portfolio, just behind OCBC. Yes, despite after 30% divestment of OCBC, OCBC still has the highest weightage.

IPO
The IPO trends is back with especially most of them are listed in the second half of the year.

• NetLink Trust, Got some in the IPO and bought some in the open market. Seems to be a monopolised business, for now at least. Main reason is buy for it stability. True enough, the price doesn't fluctuate much from its IPO price.
• Cromwell Reit, may not be a best of the REITs, but definitely is a good tool to have an exposure in the Europe sector. Main reason is for its good diversification with 74 properties, and exposure to non-local business.
• Keppel-KBS Reit, pretty much same reasons as Cromwell Reit, to have an exposure in foreign countries. Unfortunately, 穷小子 didn't manage to get any of it from the IPO. Intending to buy from the open market, but the forex spread via the brokerage is too much, hence give up on this REIT. Will look into this again if the price is at around its book value.

ThaiBev
Invested a small amount in ThaiBev few weeks back for a start, with seeing the potential on its growth. Mr Market doesn't seems to agree much on the deal with the amount they spent on acquiring Sabeco. Looking to average down if opportunity comes.

穷小子 "closed shop" for year 2017 after the investment in ThaiBev.
Year 2017
Total dividends collected: S$5,129.17
Average dividends per month: S$427.44
Average dividends per day: S$14.05

STI index increased by 18.13%
STI ETF increased by 20.76%
穷小子's portfolio increased by 23.76% (beats STI ETF finally)
Looking forward to 2018, Cheers!!~

Wait a minute, so what 穷小子 has been doing for the past few months?
穷小子 got addicted in Carousell-ing. 穷小子 had an account with Carousell for more than 2 years ago, but started using it recently only.
It might be an useless and old item but it may be a precious and new item to others. Why not share them around and still can make a small cash out of it, rather than throwing them into your bin.

*Not advertising for Carousell

穷小子's 2017 mid-year accomplishment

We are in the mid of 2017. Many things had happened during the past 6 months, especially with the interest rate hike last month. What 穷小子 had accomplished?

Financial's achievement
AGM
Attended quite a few of AGMs this year. Fraser Centrepoint Trust, CapitaComm Trust, and OCBC. Learned quite a few insights from the management of each company. If not due to overseas and other commitments, 穷小子 may have attended more. Anyway there will always be next year.

Investment
Not much of purchase in 2017. Banks and REITs are "expensive" for now, REITs price doesn't drop much despite of the interest rates, hence which left with Telcos only. Yes, it is a stormy period for telcos industry now, hope that the brave will be rewarded. They are still in the red, but thankfully only bought in small each time and now sitting comfortably at about 5% yield.

Trading
Lady luck is on 穷小子. He managed to get Sanli shares from the IPO. Sold immediately during the pre-open market on the very first day of trading. Closed the position with almost 78% of profits. Thanks for Mr IPO for his 3 chilli ratings.

Health's accomplishments
Only participated 1 run so far this year with 2XU Half-Marathon. Taken supplements during the whole run, and managed to complete the half-marathon without any cramps within 3 hours finally. A Personal achievement achieved. Thinking of hanging up his running shoes and look for other sports to keep himself fit.
IPPT still have not clear yet for this year. Starts to train now before his birthday cycle ends.

Self-Improvement's achievement
Obtained a certifications for the professional area related. Next is to target to complete Beating the Street by Peter Lynch by end of the year.

Year 2017
Total dividends collected: S$2,457.18
Average dividends per month: S$409.53
Average dividends per day: S$13.58

April's Portfolio update

Finally we are at the last day of April 2017. As most of the companies had their Annual report out and AGM done, it is time for 穷小子, to update his portfolio.
Don't have any much significant changes to his portfolio to date, except for the small purchase of Singtel and Starhub. Main reason to scoop this small portion is due to the recent sell down after the TPG's Australia news and average down, on Singtel and Starhub respectively.

Year 2017
Total dividends: S$2457.18
Average dividends per month: S$491.43
Average dividends per day: S$16.27

Banks	28.37%
Telecommunications	31.98%
REITs	31.30%
Properties	5.51%
Oil & Gas	2.84%
	100.00%

OCBC 80th Annual General Meeting

穷小子 not intending to blog about this initially, but there is something he must share. Attended the AGM yesterday, and OCBC's CEO shook hands with 穷小子. Wahaha!! Not that 穷小子 is some kind of VIP, but the shaking of hands is because Mr Tsien is courtesy and polite, and greeted us with a Good Afternoon. Is a simple gesture, but is the effort which he had made counts. Feels so appreciated when he says Good Afternoon and Thanks us for coming. He don't have to do so, but he did. Applause!!
He walked from the front row and to the walkway column, where 穷小子 is sitted, to shake hands with each of us. By the way, all of these were happened very early, 10 mins before the financial performance presentation starts, and very much before the AGM.

With the presentation of the financial performance start..

穷小子 had to admit that he got lost when CEO is presenting the annual financial performance, so wouldn't share much of that in details. 穷小子 is non-financial background after all. Lol.

CEO shared with us that oil price at $70 will be required for the Oil and Gas industry to break even, and $60 for the lenders to break even. To further supplement, CEO also mentioned that OCBC can't confirm if the worst for O&G is over, but pointing out that 2017 will be a better year than the year before.

A shareholder question about the status of the divestment of United Engineers, and will there be any special dividends after the divestment?
- CEO answered that it is premature to discuss on the divestment status right now.

Another shareholder pointed out that continuation of this news will demoralized the shareholders and the public. Is there any ways or methods which OCBC's management can assist or expedite on the progress?
- Although OCBC is a stakeholder of UE Limited, UE works as an individual entity and will leave the decisions to UE's management.

China is second largest contributor to the profits after Singapore.

and so the AGM begins...

Management commented that higher interest rates is good for banks generally.

Chairman commented that OCBC CEO's remuneration had the most reduction among the 3 banks' CEO.

Why is there no Scrip dividend? Another shareholder commented that it is disturbing that some years have and some do not, which resulted with odd shares remains.
- Chairman answered that OCBC is in a strong capital position. This decision allows them to deploy the cash productively, and secondly, scrip will caused the diluting of share prices.
Ironically, most of us want scrip. Hmm, does this means the company has many money lying around? If dividend payout without scrip options means that OCBC have many cash, so does that means OCBC have less cash if with scrip options, and which means bad for the company? Guess there is no one plus one kind of direct answer. Management had to review the company's capital position at the right time to decide whether to payout in scrip or not.
Can see that most of the shareholders are chanting, "We want Scrip! We want Scrip!" Very unlikely that there will be any scrip dividends for 2017 after hearing from Chairman and CEO.

A shareholder asked why isn't there any 80th anniversary special dividends? The same question was raised during the last AGM.
- Same answer. The management will review its capital at the right time and decide accordingly. Guess that means they had decided not to give.
On a second thought to this, if the capital review on the scrip dividend decided to pay out dividends in cash, then it is contradicting to the above as in why not use the capital to give special dividends? Hmm. Or at least increase the dividends, which 穷小子 is expecting an increase in dividend. This link to another question, but Chairman stated that we should be looking at the payout ratio. Is like egg first or chicken first. Haha. But anyway, the trust is still with the OCBC's directors and CEO, and believe their decisions are made based on the company's best interest.

There is no "hungry ghosts" in this year's AGM. The doors are open and all the "hungry ghosts" are allow to get their snacks sets before the AGM started. This prevented the ugly scene which was experience last year. The whole AGM is enjoyable until Resolution 4(b). A lady keep pressing questions on the diversity the director, e.g. gender, race, nationalities, etc. Chairman had answered them, but she keep pressing on. The lady is completely wasting everyone's time. What is the point of asking these questions? Are you planning to enter the Board of Directors?

As 穷小子 is leaving the AGM, he had decided that OCBC is safe with the management's hands, especially with CEO's spearheading the businesses' operations. Until then, see you in 2018.

穷小子