Monthly Report - September 2021

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September 2021 has been quite a bloodbath with all the related indices falling deep in red; S&P500 (-4.8%), Hang Seng (-5.0%) and KLSE (-4.0%). As a result, all my funds dipped by a total of (-3.1%). The S&P500 slumped due to local COVID19 resurgence and rising treasury yield due to rising inflation. Separately, the Hang Seng dipped as investors get jittery about China Evergrande's potential default. The KLCI also didn't fair too well due to talks about windfall taxes on large local companies as well as the China Evergrande issue taking a toll on the local bourse.

   Even my emergency funds in AmBond (-0.6%) was not safe from the dip, affected by the rising treasury yield in USA. Savings was subpar this month (RM 2,127) as we had to spend for some home fixes.

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 - August 2021

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August 2021 sees the first month of 2021 where my portfolio saw a negative MoM return, albeit a small one at -0.1%. While United Global (+3.1%) and United ASEAN (+1.3%) each capped impressive runs in August, it was all negated by the poor performance in China-tech heavy funds such as Principal Greater China (-4.6%) and StashAway (-1.5%) as investors fear the tightening restrictions imposed by Beijing on big-tech.

   The United Global (+3.1%) performed well mainly due to Pfizer approval by FDA and also Fed's continued dovish view on tapering of bonds purchases. It did just a hair better than the S&P500 (+2.9%). United ASEAN saw a bit of green (+1.1%) as COVID cases decline in Indonesia and the return of political stability in Malaysia as a new PM has been appointed. In fact, the KLCI saw a rebound of +7.1%, but that is after about 5 months of continuous decline.

   Principal Greater China (-4.6%) and StashAway (-1.5%) struggled to keep up as Beijing continues its hold on China big tech players. Even TA Global Tech which remained unchanged (0.0%) did absolutely horrible compared to the XLK ETF (+3.56%). The China-tech holdings in the fund has diminished whatever gains US-tech gave.

   The Manulife APAC REITS (-1.9%) suffered some pullback this month as the retail and industrial sector continues to find its footing in this region.

   Savings continued to be great (RM2872) as we continue our stay at home and work from home life in Malaysia.

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 - July 2021

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July 2021 mainly saw two halves of my portfolio at odds with each other. The earning seasons in USA has brought a lot of my funds into the green - United ASEAN (+2.9%), United Global (+2.5%), Manulife REITS (+2.5%) & TA Global (+2.3%). However, all that was badly hampered due to the regulatory rampage by the Chinese government on local big tech players. Two of my Greater China heavy funds fell hard - Principal Greater China (-4.2%) and StashAway (-3.7%). It was a hard enough of a fall to keep my July 2021 portfolio gains humble at just +0.4%.

   The KLCI continued its dip down -2.5% this month due to the rising local COVID19 cases. Hence, the United ASEAN did well to end in a respectable +2.9% gain. It is a welcomed change as this fund has been quite the underperformer this year (compared my other funds). The combination of the new delta variant and relatively slow vaccination rate in this region has dampened recoveries compared to its peers in Greater China, Europe & USA.

   The TA Global (+2.3%) grew in tandem with its benchmark XLK ETF (+2.48%), slightly bogged down by its Chinese big tech holdings.

   Despite the Principal Greater China being the worst performer this month (-4.2%), I do have to commend it for being able to stay well ahead of the Hang Seng index which fell -9.9%.

   Savings was great again this month (RM2916) as the spike in local COVID19 cases has put a significant downer on my spending mood.

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%).

Analysis - StashAway Reoptimization (July 2021)

StashAway Malaysia has decided to conduct another round of portfolio re-optimization amidst the changing environment. You can read their original article here but to sum it up, they believe that while the U.S. indices are skyrocketing right now, it does seem that inflation in the U.S. is starting to speed up from its current figure of 5.4% p.a. in June 2021.

   To paraphrase a page from the "Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham", when inflation shot above 6%, stocks stank. The stock market lost money in 8 of the 14 years in which inflation exceeded 6%; the average real return for those 14 years was a measly 2.6%. While mild inflation allows companies to pass the increased costs of their own raw materials on to customers, high inflation wreaks havoc - forcing customers to slash their purchases and depressing activity throughout the economy.

   So StashAway Malaysia has decided to re-optimise the aggressive 36% portfolio as follows:

• Consumer Staples (XLP), Energy (XLE), REITS (VNQ & VNQI), Precious Metals (GLD) & US High Grade Bonds (AGG): These stock types have historically proven to perform very well (vs the stock market) in times of high inflation. You will notice they are commodity or 'basic necessity' type of stocks.
• Australia (EWA): What better way to capture commodity returns than investing in a commodity-exporting country?
• Small Cap (IJR): This is more to do with capturing the momentum rather than the inflation returns. Value stocks have been in the shadows of growth stocks for a few years. Now that value stock is back in the spotlight again, they foresee this to trend for quite a while to make up for lost times (vs growth stocks).
• China Tech (KWEB): This is more to do with capturing the potential rather than the inflation returns. With a population of 1.4 billion, rapidly growing economy and laser focus on becoming a technology superpower, it only makes sense to keep invested in this ETF.

As for my opinion, I don't actually have one. I mean, I am pretty glad that they did not give up on KWEB despite their horrible run in year 2021. KWEB is a high risk, high reward ETF which I don't mind holding on for a while. As for the overall strategy, it does makes sense but only if their prediction that the inflation will continue to rise to uncontrollable levels comes true.

Monthly Report - June 2021

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June 2021 is another win for my portfolio! This month saw an overall +1.2% gains as US investors remain optimistic on the economic rebound due to a majority of the citizens have already been vaccinated. Investors are pilling into recovery stocks such as energy, industries & airlines. The further dip in treasury yield which prompted investors to return to tech stocks as TA Global Tech was up +5.1%. My Company Stock (Industrials in Europe) also enjoyed a +3.4% gains. Other modest gainers this month include the United Global (+1.3%) and Manulife REIT (+1.2%).

   That said, the winning funds actually underperformed their benchmarks. While the performance of TA Global Tech (+5.1%) was commendable, it failed to beat the XLK ETF which was up +7.2%. Even United Global (+1.3%) failed to beat the S&P 500 (+2.2%).

   My portfolio was slightly dragged down by the Asian related stocks this month. The United ASEAN (-2.7%) led the dip but luckily it did not go as low as the KLSE (-3.2%) which was badly impacted by the extension of the lockdown in Malaysia. While StashAway (-0.2%) and Principal Greater China (-0.1%) dipped, it was still not bad compared to the Hang Seng Index which dipped -1.1% due to resurgence of COVID19 in the country.

   Savings was up this month (RM3295) mainly due to the resurgence of COVID. We went out a lot less and we also had to suspend my child's trip to daycare.

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 - May 2021

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My portfolio survived May 2021 and even saw an overall +0.8% gains despite suffering from a massive sell-off in the middle of the month due to growing inflation fears. The Fed was quick to calm down inflation fears and the global market recovered accordingly. As a result, the S&P500 ended up +0.5% in the month. The Hang Seng was the main driver this month as the index ended up +1.5% mainly due to optimism on recovery from the pandemic. The KLCI however, struggled to keep up as ended down -1.1% due to the nation's struggle with the third wave of the pandemic.

   Principal Greater China (+3.2%) did very well versus the Hang Seng (+1.5%) which I believe is mainly due to the overperformance of the recovery stocks in the fund (industrial & manufacturing). Big tech definitely did not help much as they mostly ended flat versus the start of the month. Also following suit is heavily China/HK weighted StashAway (+1.1%). Sure the SPEM, AAXJ, IJR helped to buoy the fund but the main driver was actually the GLD (+7%)! Materials have been making a big comeback this month, however, it does not show much in portfolio because I barely hold any.

   My Company Stock (Industrials in Europe) continued its surge and ended at +1.9% this month. It fits the narrative that investors are continuously flocking to Industrial stocks. On top of that, the company also gave a ~2% dividend this month.

   United Global (+0.2%) expectedly continues to disappoint vs the S&P500 index (+0.5%) as the fund holds quite a bit of big tech stocks which underperformed this month. TA Global Tech was a testament to that fact as it ended -0.9% for the month. Note that XLK also fell -1.4% this month.

   United ASEAN expectedly fell -0.2% in line with the underperformance of the KLCI (-1.1%) and the ASEAN markets due to the resurgence of COVID cases in the region.

   Savings was up this month (RM2529) mainly due to the resurgence of COVID. We went out a lot less and we also had to suspend my child's trip to daycare.

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 - April 2021

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April 2021 saw ALL my funds having a positive month on month growth. The main driver was the growth of the S&P500 (+5.2%) attributed to stabilizing bond yields and optimism for a swift economic rebound. Tracking the S&P500, the Hang Seng (+1.2%) also managed to eek out a bit of gains despite being bogged down by China's clampdown on big tech. The local KLCI also gained +1.8% buoyed by renewed interest in glove counters due to rising COVID cases (India!).

   Big tech in general got a good boost this month after a pullback last month. The TA Global Tech was up +4.2% but did not do as well as XLK which was up +5.2%. The issue here is that TA Global has quite a bit of holdings in China big tech and they have been bogged down lately by China's regulatory clampdown.

   The Principal Greater China (+2.5%) did well to beat the Hang Seng (+1.2%) this month due to its larger weight in tech. StashAway's performance was as one would expect (+2.4%) which puts it right between the S&P500 (+5.2%) and Hang Seng (+1.2%).

   Investors can be seen flocking back into property & industrials from the rise of the Manulife REIT (+1.6%) and my Company Stock (Industrials in Europe +1.8%).

   United ASEAN was the weakest performer this month (+0.0%) and I do expect to see this trend continue on for a while as this fund has done exceptionally well in the past few months. It was definitely due for a bit of a pullback.

   The AmBond finally ended its 2-month slide by gaining +0.9% this month as the global bond yield stabilizes. That said it is still down overall by RM1,000 which is quite horrible considering that this is where I decided to park my emergency fund.

   I did not save much (RM900) as I had a few one-time expense to take care of this month; namely kid's daycare registration / deposit & car insurance renewal. My food expense is also a little on the high side this month as I was guilty of some 'revenge spending' at some nice restaurants.

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%).