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%).

Monthly Report - October 2021

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October 2021 saw a bounce back for all major indices. Although my funds also made a good recovery, they unfortunately did not perform as well as its benchmark indices.

   United Global (+4.8%) being the top performing fund this month, still struggled to keep up with the S&P 500 which shot up by +6.9% mainly due to positive earning season in the US. I'd say the gains from United Global were kept humble due to its ex-US holdings which did not do as well.

   Coming in second is United ASEAN (+4.4%) which clearly outperformed the KLCI (+1.6%). I'd say this is mainly due to its ex-Malaysia holdings which saw a hard rebound after the aggressive vaccine roll-out. The gains from KLCI hit a wall towards the 3rd week of the month as investors were cautious ahead of the Budget 2022 announcement.

   Principal Greater China (+2.5%) and StashAway (+2.5%) saw gains as investors went on a bargain hunting spree after the -5.0% crash last month. This is further helped with Beijing easing on regulatory tech crackdown. Fear of Evergrande defaulting also simmers down as they paid a bond interest to offshore investors. That said, the gain still could not match Hang Seng's +3.4% performance this month.

   TA Global Tech (+2.5%) is another underperformer if compared to its benchmark XLK ETF (+3.92%). I'd say the TA Global Tech was dragged down by the China tech funds which despite bouncing back, still was quite erratic due to flare up in US-China tensions.

   My emergency funds in AmBond (-1.1%) further dipped, affected by the continuous rise of treasury yield in USA. I had negative savings this month (RM 4,805) as we had begun Phase 2 of our home renovation plan.

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 - 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%).