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!

Monthly Report - March 2022

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My overall portfolio ended at a very slight gain of +0.4% in the month of March 2022. The S&P500 gained +3.6% on positive developments of the Russian-Ukraine peace talks. However, the Hang Seng fell -3.2% due to concerns on regulatory risk (delisting) of China shares on the USA exchanges.

    So while my western-related funds like Europe Industrial Stock (+5.7%), TA Global Tech (+2.3%) and United Global (+1.2%) benefited from the S&P500 gains, it was kept in check by the China-related funds like Principal Greater China (-6.0%) and StashAway (-3.0%). StashAway actually reoptimized its portfolio in mid March 2022 to exit all China-related ETF due to China's potential collusion with Russia in its war.

    The rate hike by the US Fed also affected my portfolio. While inflation hedges like the Manulife REIT (+4.7%) went up, my AmBond fund (-0.4%) dipped. The United ASEAN (+0.8%) also did well to outperform the KLCI (-1.3%).

   I had quite a bit an inflow of funds (RM 5,861) this month due to my 2021 tax return. Had to start replenishing my emergency fund (AmBond) after it was drained into home renovations.

Forward Strategy:

United Global Equity has announced a hard closure (no more new money). My new fund flows into the global sector will be heading into Manulife Investment U.S. Equity Fund.

   I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity & Manulife US Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).

Monthly Report - February 2022

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Despite the Russian invasion into Ukraine, my portfolio fortunately only dipped by -1.4% this month. The S&P500 dropped by -3.1% purely as a result of the Russian invasion. The Hang Seng dipped by -4.6% with the added weight of regulatory restrictions imposed on big tech by Beijing and poor earning results. My portfolio was actually saved by the KLCI (+6.3%) as investors flock back into ASEAN companies.

   All negatively affected funds were US & China-centric such as StashAway (-0.7%), United Global (-3.6%), TA Global Tech (-3.8%), Principal Greater China (-2.6%) and even my Company Stock - Industrial Europe (-1.8%).

   My two funds based in ASEAN managed to minimize the dip i.e. Manulife APAC REIT (+1.5%) and United ASEAN (+1.4%).

   My savings this month (RM 3,214) wasn't up to my satisfaction. Despite receiving my bonus this month, I overspent on gifts during the Chinese New Year.

Forward Strategy:

United Global Equity has announced a hard closure (no more new money). My new fund flows into the global sector will be heading into Manulife Investment U.S. Equity Fund.

   I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity & Manulife US Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).

Monthly Report - January 2022

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So the correction to my portfolio (-4.3%) finally took effect this month. The catalyst was the US Fed (seriously) signaling that they will implement several interest rate hikes in the coming months to counter rising inflations. Because of this, growth stocks, namely in the tech sector saw a major sell-off and thus dragging the S&P500 down (-5.3%).

   In the same breath, I am quite disappointed to see the United Global (-7.7%) underperform the S&P500 (-5.3%). Maybe the fund was holding a bit too much tech stocks than the index. TA Global (-8.4%) also performed quite poorly and to rub salt to the wound, underperformed its benchmark XLK ETF (-6.8%).

   Manulife APAC REITS (-6.1%) suffered as well due to expected rise in interest rates (think of them like bonds, interest rate goes up, REIT price will go down).

   While the Hang Seng remained resilient (+1.7%) during this correction, the same unfortunately cannot be said about Principal Greater China which dipped quite significantly (-4.4%).

   The 'superstar fund' award this month goes to StashAway which held steady at -0.1%. It is mainly attributed to the sharp rise in the XLE (Energy) ETF which again, is due to rising inflations.

   My savings ended up in the red this month (-RM 8,955) due to final payment of house renovations. I am not too fussed about the -4.3% correction in my portfolio but more concerned about how most of my funds underperformed its benchmark this month.

Forward Strategy:

I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).

Monthly Report - December 2021

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December 2021 saw a slight rebound of +0.9% for my funds mainly attributed to the waning concerns on the severity of the Omicron variant. However, this seem to have benefited the S&P 500 (+4.4%) and the KLCI (+3.5%) only. Hang Seng (-0.3%) rebound was dragged down due to concerns on US exchanges blacklisting China companies.

   As a result of the poor Hang Seng performance (-0.3%), all my China-related funds also got affected i.e. Principal Greater China (-2.7%) and StashAway (-1.1%). It is quite disappointing that my funds actually underperformed the Hang Seng. 

   My under-performance was also seen in my US-heavy funds; United Global (-2.8%) and TA Global Tech (+0.8%). Both of which lagged far behind the S&P500 (+4.4%).

   My finances ended up in the red this month (- RM 3,044) due to heavy expenses in December i.e. major car repair, new daycare down payment, new bed for the kid, vacation to Penang & PC monitor repair.

Forward Strategy:

I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).

Monthly Report - November 2021

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November 2021 was not a great month for my funds (-0.8%) mainly due to the poor performance of the Hang Seng. The poor earning results by local Chinese tech juggernauts (due to regulatory crackdown) battered the index down to -3% territories. In the 4th week of the month, the announcement of the new COVID variant (Omicron) further brought the index down to its knees (-7.1%). The S&P500 (-0.8%) wasn't as badly affected by the new variant as the US stocks had better earning results. 

   As a result of the poor Hang Seng performance, all my Asian funds also got affected i.e. United ASEAN (-4.0%), Manulife APAC REIT (-2.0%), Principal Greater China (-1.2%) and StashAway (-0.9%). Even my US-heavy fund, the United Global (-2.0%) could not escape the underperformance of the Hang Seng. I do have to be happy that none of my funds dipped to Hang Seng's -7.1% levels. 

   TA Global Tech (+1.6%) was the only fund that ended up in the positive territory this month but it did not managed to beat its benchmark (XLK ETF +4.61%). This fund has not been doing very well against its benchmark in the past few months since i started investing in it.

   Another consolation is my emergency funds in AmBond (+0.5%) did move towards the positive direction.

Forward Strategy:

I will continue to Value Cost Average (VCA) into my funds, keeping them at a fixed weightage as follows; United Global Equity (20.0%), StashAway (20.0%), TA Global Tech (20.0%), Principal Greater China (15.0%), United ASEAN (12.5%) and Manulife REITS (12.5%).