2020 has come to an end and hopefully with it all the woes & tough times we've had.
So how did this year went for me?
My Realized Profit was $10,326.60 or about 5.7% gain from an initial trading capital of $180k at the start of 2020. While this realized profit may seem impressive, I am "struck" with a paper unrealized loss of $13.7k for my SG portfolio below:
Duty Free International
This trade was first entered over its large capital distribution announced late 2019, I tried to average down only to be struck with a outsized holding of it compounded by Covid19 pandemic. This company had since survived the custom claim which appeal court has ruled in favour, but its worries are still not over with the lockdown of international borders. It has since closed some outlets to conserve cash, its Duty Free edge is also blunted by the Online Shopping's discounts thus its prospects will only return when international travellers return to Malaysia again. I have taken some losses but kept the bulk of holdings, fortunately it has recovered in its price like the other hospitality, airline stocks where it rose from the bottom of about $0.078 to $0.096. I am hopeful this once dividend cash cow still stand a chance with Covid19 vaccines started distribution, based on past new cases waves cycles, by February 2021 the cases should have fallen by then, and maybe by July 2021 the air travel could rose to its pre-covid volume of 50% for its operation to be profitable again.
Hongkong Land USD
This counter was a value trap that I got in when I saw a "financial guru" highlighting this company's deep discount against its NAV, this guru actually advocated a sort of "arbitrage" system by leveraging portfolio upto 200% using margin account / CFD, his system of buy 2x what your cash can afford and earn the spread of say REITs / Div stocks 4-7% minus CFD / margin of 2-3% interests rate. But mid way into March 2020, he announced he de-leveraged down his system as the prices fall likely had force him to raise cash to top up short fall.
Ok I go too far, anyway some of his points are still valid, this counter has been paying annual dividend of USD22c without fail, even during 2008 subprime crisis. So even though I am still deep in paper loss, this is held in my SRS and I intend to hold it for longer term, after all SRS withdrawal is at aged 62 only, so why not hold it till then?
OUE Commercial REIT
During the first "dead cat bounce" I actually traded some counters & made a small profit at the early stages of Covid19, I rotated my cash into this & had since got struck in it. There's also some worries over its Lippo sponsor, as can be seen from the dramatic fall of First REIT. During a seminar back in June 2020, the REIT manager assured of the triple lease arrangement & how they converted hotel to target quarantined individuals, but then the cluster at Mandarin Orchard Hotel which thus far found no lapse in its safety protocols. Still, it may take some time & effort to attract back customers again. Its DPU has been cut almost half in 2020, but this should recover in 2021. Other operations such as its office holdings still relatively resilient though in the near term of 2 years its unlikely to see growth of DPU beyond its pre-covid19 peak.
Nikko AM STI ETF
I have always been trading short terms, and seldom hold an counter beyond 1 year unless like those above when I am forced convert to a long term holder (more like prayer to recover cost). Still, I have become a half convert to Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) movement and several of them used a dividend sort of ETFs holding to diversify risk while riding on a region /country / sector / theme growth. My first purchase was through the new Tiger brokerage, which no doubt its cheap at 0.08%, there were hidden fees like interest financing charge when you withdraw your supposed "withdrawal amount available" because your proceed has not been cleared (ie. within D+3). My second purchase was through DBS Vickers Cash top up which charge me 0.12% and deposited into my CDP, this way I get to receive & participate in all the corporate actions. Increasingly brokerages are charging fees for custodian accounts after some cut the commission to 0.12% to try & match, but then cut back on other perks such as money market fund rate / interest rate while charges all sorts of handling fees for receiving of dividend to voting in corporate actions or submission of proxy forms. The brokerage industry is likely to get squeezed by cheaper foreign brokerages like Tiger, TD Ameritrade & Interactive Brokers; dont be surprised if we see some of them merged or closed in 2021.
Conclusion of SG holdings
All in all, I believe the paper loss of $13.7k should reduce by half in 2021, most (if not all) of the counters above should survive & rise back in the year ahead. I probably move into a more passive approach in 2021, as my past 8years of trading results have shown, sometimes the simpler way of buy & hold index funds actually deliver much better returns.
If you like to see my detailed transactions in 2020, you can click the png.file below.
My past 8 years or trading results comparison
Lastly, I have diverted SG80k to TD Ameritrade to try out some options strategies in Q4, though there has been some setbacks associated with the wild swings of Alibaba (BABA) ADR. Currently its breakeven with several options due to expire in Jan 2021, as such I will not be sharing much on this for now.
For 2021 ahead
I have completed my Master of Counselling studies this year 2020, so I should have more time though I might devote them to my family & work. In any cases, on the investment front, I am aiming to:
1) Move into ETF passive holding (possibly 50:50 split between ETF dividend style & trading)
2) Generate options income & minor options trade in US
Wish all my readers a better tomorrow in Year 2021! Happy New Year
