Monthly Report - April 2022

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My overall portfolio ended lower this month at -2.9%. This is not too bad considering that the S&P500 fell by -8.8% (inflation jitters, rising bond yields & poor big tech earnings). While not as bad, the Hang Seng also fell by -4.1% mainly due to strict COVID lockdown measures in China & HK. My portfolio did not dip as badly because while I was overhauling my portfolio and cashing in my funds, I had to wait a couple of weeks for the money to enter my bank account. Because of that, I managed to escape about 10 days of the market drop.

   Still, the major market dips affected my VT ETF (-3.2%) and Principal Greater China (-4.2%). It was my other Asia-tilted funds that were helping to buoy my portfolio namely the United ASEAN (+2.3%) and Manulife APAC REIT (+1.3%).

   On another note, I have decided to be honest with myself and admit that I cannot stomach having my sinking/emergency funds swing up and down in AmBond fund even by less than a percent. I have since moved all my funds in AmBond back in RHB Cash Management Fund 2. In the midst of overhauling my portfolio, I also took the opportunity to transfer RM6k of my investment cash to top up my emergency/sinking fund back to the RM43k mark.

Forward Strategy: 

I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund ETF (70%), Principal Greater China (10%), United ASEAN (10%) and Manulife REITS (10%).

Analysis - Portfolio Overhaul

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So TLDR, I sold off StashAway, United Global & TA Global Technology and put them all into Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund ETF (VT). I also decreased the weightage on United ASEAN, Manulife REIT & Principal Greater China to just 10% each. Read on if you'd like to know more about my thought process.

   A few factors triggered this major portfolio reshuffle. It first started from my strong desire to exit StashAway. After grossly underperforming the S&P500 AND charging a fee of 0.8% p.a. AND constantly re-optimizing their ETF holdings, I realised it has broken every adage of ETF investing i.e. buy and hold for long term, keep fees low and get market returns. The way forward was clear but prior to withdrawing my StashAway funds, I had to decide on which ETF to buy and hold.

   To help with my ETF decision, I also had to consider where to allocate my new 'base camp' fund seeing that United Global Quality Equity Fund has been closed. Problem is, there was no other mutual fund on FSM which broadly invests in global stocks like the United Global. So I looked into a suitable ETF instead. The Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund ETF (VT) seemed to check all my needs for a globally diversified fund and its returns were even a little better compared to United Global. I even went one step further and transferred all my United Global Funds into VT in order to simplify my portfolio. The StashAway funds were also transferred into VT.

   It did not stop there! Next, I looked into the viability of holding onto a sector focused fund i.e. TA Global Tech. Yes, tech has done well for the past decade, but like print, mining, tobacco, etc; who knows when tech would one day fade out and be replaced with another disruptive sector. Instead of trying to time that inevitable day, I decided to just transfer all my TA Global Tech funds into VT as well.

   Seeing that VT already has Emerging Markets in the holdings, I could theoretically just move all my funds from United ASEAN, Principal Greater China & Manulife APAC REIT into VT (i.e. 100% of investment portfolio into VT). However, I do believe that the Emerging Market is still rather inefficient and would benefit from some active management by a mutual fund. I did however, reduce the weightage of each fund to just 10% each. Onwards to better days!