January Portfolio Review
The global stock markets had a rough start in 2020. The on-going geopolitical risk and the Wuhan virus outbreak had filled the headlines in January. The Singapore market (STI) was down by 2.3% on Jan 20. We have done our annual major portfolio rebalancing recently. In January, the portfolio was down by 0.7%. Fortunately, it still managed to outperform the STI.
Dividend wise, we only received one dividend in January, with a total dividend of $607. The annualised dividend yield of the portfolio was about 7.3%.
With all the upcoming dividends, more portfolio rebalancing will be done in Feb, for premium subscribers, please refer to the monthly newsletter. The gearing of the portfolio was at 1.5 times.
Moving forward, we would potentially see more merger or consolidation proposal. The larger the REIT, the lower the cost of capital. And of course, the larger REIT will have a higher chance to become a component of the major indices like MSCI and FTSE EPRA NAREIT Developed Market. This will help to improve the liquidity of the REITs.
Besides, with a compressed yield, Singapore REITs will likely to expand overseas, which offer a higher yield in general.
Monthly Education Series
In January, we also launched a new education series on the portfolio rebalancing for our premium subscribers. We will continue to publish monthly short e-courses on REITs investing as well as our investing strategies. Premium subscribers will get the full access for FREE.
Premium subscribers can login to access the January newsletter and the REITs portfolio.