Following significant portfolio adjustments last month, I’d like to provide an updated perspective on my investment strategy and current holdings.
Let’s start with the big picture: my portfolio’s current geographical and income-growth allocations, as detailed in the following table, are at the edges of their target ranges.
| Planned Allocation | Current Allocation | |
| SG | 70% (65% – 75%) | 74% |
| US | 30% (25% – 35%) | 26% |
| Income | 60% (55% to 65%) | 60% |
| REITs (part of income) | Maximum of 30% | 24% |
| Growth | 40% (35% to 45%) | 34% |
There are primarily two reasons for these shifts.
Firstly, strategic capital injections from my CPF in both February and May were directed towards purchasing Singapore stocks and ETFs, which naturally increased my exposure to local equities.
Secondly, my US stock holdings have underperformed this year. In fact, the five weakest performers year-to-date are all US counters, and with three of them facing declines exceeding 20%.
Given that all my income stocks are in Singapore and most of my growth stocks are in the US, these geographical shifts are mirrored in my income-growth allocation.
You might be wondering why the total doesn’t add up to 100%. That’s simply because the remaining 6% are held in cash within the portfolio itself.
To be clear, this is not the cash for my everyday liquidity.
Hence, this is an unusual occurrence, as I typically prefer to fully invest the allocated amount for equities. I will elaborate on this later.
Now, let’s delve into the allocation of individual stocks within the portfolio, highlighting key observations and changes compared to three months ago.
Number of stocks reduced from 32 to 25
The first major change is that the number of stocks have reduced from 32 to 25.
Besides the recent divestments of the three Mapletree REITs and two US speculative plays, I have earlier sold two leaders in the semiconductor sector: ASML Holding (NASDAQ: AMSL) and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ: NVDA).
With less number of stocks to monitor, it does create a bit more headspace – a valuable resource I’m choosing not to immediately fill.
It’s like a warehouse: if it’s completely full, you have little room to manoeuvre when new loads come in.
Similarly, by maintaining this headspace, not just in my investment portfolio but in my broader life, I gain the flexibility needed for quick, strategic thinking and nimble decision-making when opportunities or challenges arise.
Top 5 stocks
With my doubling on my holdings of NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF (SGX: CFA) in May, it dethroned Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (SGX: O39) as the top position in my portfolio.
The difference between the two really isn’t much, and I would not count OCBC out from retaking the crown position by the end of the year.
Besides the two, Parkway Life REIT (SGX: C2PU) managed to stay at the third position due to my recent purchase.
And despite the share price weaknesses this year, iFAST Corporation (SGX: AIY) and Arista Networks (NYSE: ANET) retained their positions amongst the top five, highlighting the gain they made over the past five years.
Excluding the CFA which is a REIT ETF, I remain confident of the underlying businesses of the other four companies. They should continue to do well in the foreseeable future.
Who are the others?
Now let’s talk about the ten stocks under the “others” category.
All of them are growth stocks, each currently representing less than 2% of my portfolio. Of these, AEM Holdings (SGX: AWX) is the sole Singapore-listed company, with all the others being US stocks.
You might be wondering if these are the under performers of my portfolio.
Interestingly, with the exception of AEM, and The Trade Desk (NASDAQ: TTD), the rest of these counters are all in the green!
In fact, the likes of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Intuitive Surgical (NASDAQ: ISRG) have more than doubled from my average purchase price.
So why are these stocks languishing near the bottom of my portfolio?
The reason is twofold: either the initial investment was intentionally small, or I’ve taken substantial profits along the way, reducing my stake relative to other holdings
Going forward, if these stocks can sustain their growth momentum, I anticipate some will grow beyond the 2% allocation barrier and enter the ranks of my top 15.
Too much cash?
Lastly, let’s briefly talk about the more than 6% cash allocation in the portfolio, which came from my recent divestments.
While I intend to eventually withdraw most of this cash to supplement my expenses in 2028, the exact amount will depend on my actual costs over the next few years. As visibility improves, I might reinvest part of it if expenses come in lower than budgeted.
Meanwhile, I will just park them in FSMOne Autosweep accounts which are providing decent yield of 2.236% and 3.728% for SG and US deposits respectively.
My latest portfolio reflects a strategic pivot, driven by responses to new ideas and evolving market conditions. While the overarching allocation is likely to remain largely unchanged over the next five years, the individual stock allocations will continue to be dynamic.
Having achieved an average annual return of 10% over the past five years, I am confident that this current setup has the potential to repeat that performance over the coming half-decade.
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