So apparently I forgot to do a portfolio review at the start of 2016 (and I’m not sure why!), so I guess it’s opportune to do a breakdown now. Looks like my portfolio is heavily weighted on Finance, mainly due to the REITs which I’ve picked up over the years during the recovery from the 2008 crisis, and Producer Manufacturing, which is a little vague, and I will drill down that sector further below.
It looks like the bulk of my exposure to the finance sector consists of REITs and banks, followed by real estate developers.
With regards to interest rate hike taking a hit on my REIT portfolio, I’m not too concerned as my prices for most of my holdings are quite low, especially for Frasers Commercial, Suntec and Mapletree Commercial, as I bought the first two at a heavily discounted price (> 50%!), and I was (and still am!) an IPO holder for Mapletree Commercial. Most of my other REITs are recent purchases over the last 2 years as well, in very small quantities.
Annoyingly, this sector classification does not include the Manulife US Office REIT in this subsector, and instead is grouped under “Miscellaneous” sector. I’m not sure why, but hey, it’s a free tool, so I can’t complain much.
For some unknown reason, my holdings for Keppel is grouped under “Trucks/Construction/Farm Machinery”, and Sembcorp Marine is under Industrial Conglomerates. But shouldn’t Keppel be a conglomerate, and Sembcorp Marine under Industrial Machinery? Anyway, this sector classification system is very vague in its nature, so I guess it’s not a good idea to be so “accurate” on sectors.
My original plan to diversify away from REITs is working, albeit slowly as I have limited capital, even after two years (though partially its because I kept buying REITs along the way). Well, better to slowly ease out than to do it quickly, I guess. This wraps up my portfolio review; now for the Li Chun idea that I teased in the post title.
Now that Chinese New Year is here, those who are more inclined to believe in the metaphysical side of life will be definitely attempting to queue at the banks to deposit money during their “lucky hours”. My take on this crazy phenomenon is neutral; if you believe in it, sure go ahead, but don’t cause inconvenience to other people. However, the popularity of this belief is so entrenched that the banks had to roll out extra staff and resources to accomodate the reverse bank runs!
If you still remain convinced, might I suggest that you open an account with two financing companies in Singapore that have a visible retail presence – Singapura Finance, and Hong Leong Finance. They both offer deposit accounts and the deposits are insured by SDIC up to $50k, which is pretty much the norm for financial institutions offering deposit accounts. However because they are financing companies, they don’t have a GIRO system nor internet banking, so you have to manually deposit cash at the counter, or via AXS in the case of Singapura Finance. This makes it perfect for Li Chun due to the nature that they usually don’t have long queues as well.
Alternatively, you can consider opening accounts at the smaller banks, like Standard Chartered, RHB Bank or Maybank, but I suspect even the smaller banks will be swamped with depositors!
