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Tag: Dividends

Capitalizing on Market Volatility: War Chest dipped below Critical Point!

Posted on by careyourpresent

Recently, the treasury yields have been increasing. Yield increase means higher cost for businesses who borrows (many businesses do borrow), which indirectly means bad for equities. The risk-free rate for 10 years US treasuries has reached 4.8% this week which spooked out many investors, especially REITs Investors!

Cut loss and wait time

To many people and what many have posted online – the interest rate is high; Reits DPU dropping; hence, Reit Price drops. The risk-free premium is getting narrower for the highly leveraged REITs, since the 10 years treasuries are 4.8% now. The risk is high, better don’t buy. It’s better to wait till interest rate cut, situation gets better, price goes up then buy.

Stock market is the only weird place where people rush to exit when there are sales but rushes to enter when the prices are getting more expensive! Isn’t this weird? Do you do this when your favorite items are on sales in the supermarket?

Photo by Dongki Koh on Unsplash

My Actions

These few weeks I have spent small amount of my war chest to do shopping and finally my War Chest dipped below Critical Point! My war chest is now below 50%, at 49.68% now! I have shared my live buys in Twitter, for those interested, can follow and exchange ideas there 🙂

Market Risk

Likely the weeks coming there will be even greater volatility going ahead.

If it down more, I will use more war chest to only buy good companies. If it up more, I may sell some of the recent buy to take profits. The risk is still relatively high for equities now such that it may go down much further, but timing the market is impossible. We could only roughly know what’s the macros are heading, plan your portfolio allocation and buy only good companies.

Japanese Interest Rate

Many people only look at US interest rates.

Don’t forget about Japanese Interest Rate. 10-year Japanese Government Bond Yield has hit a new decade high at 0.80%. BOJ may not be able to maintain their yield curve control or QE any further. Eventually 1% or higher rate will reach sooner than you think.

The chance for the massive decline in global world liquidity due to dwindling yen carry trade is getting higher. Many highly leveraged companies (especially those who are swimming naked) running into issues will be getting higher each day. Imagine the massive pull out of billions of global foreign investments… what will happen?

Deal 1:

Interest rates are getting lower everywhere and there are usually many hoops to jump to get higher rate such as OCBC 360 and UOB ONE!
Consider Maribank, one of the fuss free and give you 1.28% daily without any conditions! Interest is credited daily!

Sign up for MariBank using my referral code: 2KGZ29UL.
https://www.maribank.sg/product/mari-savings-account/

Insured up to S$100k by SDIC.

Deal 2:

Best Items that I have bought from Shopee.

ONLY the best useful worthy items

Many people I realised that they have only shared things that give them the most commissions. I am different. I will only share things that I have bought, used and found it to be good.

Deal 3:

Webull – Get free money!

Good deal! Do not miss this! Sign up here now for free money!!

Deal 4:

Trust Bank New Clients

Deal 5:

FSMone – Cheap Comms and can transfer your shares to Personal/Joint CDP for Free

I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds). FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSMOne to CDP (typically takes less than a week to transfer). If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

Deal 6:

Eskimo – Best Option for Roaming!

For now, you can get 500MB for free just by signing up with my referral link, no purchase required (I get 500MB only too, but only if you buy a paid plan). Referral code: CHING104915

You can read my review here.

Money just buy you the chance of freedom but can’t buy back time. In life, there is no reset button. Time is limited but money is not.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed (your strong health, time with young child) while busying striking out in career.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

Love your life daily. You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself. Time is ticking away.

Focusing Careyourpresent & living a fulfilling life by supercharging your mind & investment/online income. Careyourpresent Series focus on things that one MUST know in their Life.

More articles can be found here.

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

REITs can be part of your portfolio but not your entire portfolio

Posted on by careyourpresent

Many Singapore Investors love Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs)! Why? Because they are mandated to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income as dividends. As a result, one would have dividends (money) credited into their banks at quarterly basis or half yearly basis.

Hence, there are many “gurus” out there who ask their “followers”, “disciples” etc to buy REITs for their retirement so that especially when one retire, the REITs can provide the cash flow for daily expenses. If the cash flow exceeded your expenses, you can enjoy Financial Independent!

Reits are part of the reasons why many say Dividend Investing is Dangerous.

However, are REITs really that good? really that reliable as a source of regular cashflow income?

What are REITs?

A Real Estate Investment Trust is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-producing real estate across various sectors such as residential, commercial, industrial, or hospitality.

These trusts are publicly traded on major stock exchanges, making them accessible to individual investors, which otherwise is too hefy for retail investors who want to invest in property.

REITs are required by law to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to shareholders in the form of dividends. The 90% income distribution requirement ensures a reliable income stream for income-seeking investors.

Singapore REITs

There are many different kind of REITs (retail, office, hospitality, logistics, industrial, data etc) in Singapore, you can look at the full list via the SGX website.

People love REITs, by owning REITs, it would implying own part of a property that give you rental income as dividends regularly.

The cool part is that you don’t need to worry about the maintenance of the properties, managing the tenants (as compared to buying and rent out a real physical property) as the REITs manager will do for you. Small upfront cost to purchase the shares of a REITs instead of huge down payment for a physical real property.

Don’t you love REITs now? Regular Dividends, low upfront cost, REITs manager manage the properties for you, one just need to shake leg and collect dividends? Great retirement investments!

The Truth

However, the real truth is often otherwise.

Payout Ratio, highly leveraged

Reits often paid up to 90% of their earnings, ultimately, this is mandated by the law and that’s what made REITs attractive right? However, this means that there is little to none retained earnings. Hence, what would REITs do?

Borrow from the banks or the Unitholders!

Additionally, do not forget that REITs are highly leveraged instruments. Gearing can be 30% to 50% (the limit by law is 50% now, previously was 40% if I didn’t remembered wrongly). This means that they need to pay lots of interest!

What are the current interest rates? Keep increasing!

What happened if the interest rates are increasing?

The REITs will need to pay more!

For those REITs that have borrowings who are due these two years and need to refinance, they would also need to borrow at a higher rate! This means less earnings and thus lower DPU (distribution per unit), which means less dividends for unit holders! Consequently, the price of the REITs would drop and result in capital loss for the investor!

Some REITs which cannot sustain to pay the borrowing costs, cannot refinance the properties, or if the valuation of the underlying properties drop etc. What will happen?

What has happened?

Look at what happen?

Look at the US REITs listed in Singapore you would know.

Or you look at even the famous Mapletree Industrial Trust? Drop from $3 to $2.2+

Big Things?

Dropping of DPU which results in lesser dividends are small thing for an Investor. At most take in less dividends and spend less eat cai png.

Capital loss is small thing for investor as they would argue that just collect dividend, ignore share prices and one day it will come back, especially interest rate cannot be so high for ever (how you know?)

SO what is the big thing?

What happen if the REITs unable to refinance, pay interest cost but still want to acquire properties etc?

Right Issues?

A rights issue is a method used by companies, including REITs, to raise capital by offering existing shareholders the opportunity to purchase additional shares at a predetermined price. This allows the REIT to secure additional funds without turning to external sources such as banks or private investors.

For REITs, rights issues are often employed to finance property acquisitions, reduce debt, or fund other growth strategies.

When a REIT decides to conduct a rights issue, it typically announces the terms and conditions, including the number of new shares offered for each existing share held and the subscription price. Existing shareholders are then given the right to subscribe to these new shares in proportion to their existing holdings.

Right Issues are good!

Many argue that right issues are good! Why?

Some will argue…

Because it give you chance to participate, increase your investment amount such that will give more returns in future especially for those yield accretive rights issue! This is especially true as you can get more units are cheaper prices which you will not be able to do so in the ever rising price of the REITs in the past years…

But what is it a bear market for REITs? What if the share price keep dropping? DPU keep dropping? Are you sinking more hard earned money into something not worthy? or are you increasing your future return by sinking in more capital?

Whether the rights issue are good for a specific REITs, we can put that aside first…but…

BUT….

Imagine you are a Retiree...that depends on dividends for your day to day expenses.

Would you be able to cough out additional cash for the REITs’ right issue?

Additionally, don’t forget the purpose of having REITs is to have passive income cash flow for your expenses according to “GURUs”?

Where is the steady dividends for your retirement that the “GURUS” have told you that you get for your retirement? (perhaps they can retire from your course fees paid but not you retire…haha!)

From another perspectives

I am not saying REITs are not good investment vehicles. In fact, they are good, provided you buy the correct one, plan your overall portfolio well!

Make sure…

You are aware of advance overall portfolio management!

Know what are REITs!

Aware that you can get rights issue anytime given that REITs are highly geared, sensitive to interest rates! Know your risk before investing!

Know yourself, know your own Financial Literacy

Know the 5 Evergreen Investment Principles!

Remember!

BUT Don’t put 100% in REITs. Spread your risk around.

Let’s say you only intend to have 30% REITs, 30% Netcash companies, 10% Growth Stock, 5% Crypto, the rest keep as cash/cash equivalents as opportunity funds etc…In this way, even if the REITs call for rights (which you have already expected and plan for it), then you will survive and prosper.

REMEMBER:

GOOD REITs can be part of your portfolio but not your entire portfolio

Deal 1:

Interest rates are getting lower everywhere and there are usually many hoops to jump to get higher rate such as OCBC 360 and UOB ONE!
Consider Maribank, one of the fuss free and give you 1.28% daily without any conditions! Interest is credited daily!

Sign up for MariBank using my referral code: 2KGZ29UL.
https://www.maribank.sg/product/mari-savings-account/

Insured up to S$100k by SDIC.

Deal 2:

Best Items that I have bought from Shopee.

ONLY the best useful worthy items

Many people I realised that they have only shared things that give them the most commissions. I am different. I will only share things that I have bought, used and found it to be good.

Deal 3:

Webull – Get free money!

Good deal! Do not miss this! Sign up here now for free money!!

Deal 4:

Trust Bank New Clients

Deal 5:

FSMone – Cheap Comms and can transfer your shares to Personal/Joint CDP for Free

I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds). FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSMOne to CDP (typically takes less than a week to transfer). If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

Deal 6:

Eskimo – Best Option for Roaming!

For now, you can get 500MB for free just by signing up with my referral link, no purchase required (I get 500MB only too, but only if you buy a paid plan). Referral code: CHING104915

You can read my review here.

Money just buy you the chance of freedom but can’t buy back time. In life, there is no reset button. Time is limited but money is not.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed (your strong health, time with young child) while busying striking out in career.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

Love your life daily. You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself. Time is ticking away.

Focusing Careyourpresent & living a fulfilling life by supercharging your mind & investment/online income. Careyourpresent Series focus on things that one MUST know in their Life.

More articles can be found here.

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

Deal 1:

Interest rates are getting lower everywhere and there are usually many hoops to jump to get higher rate such as OCBC 360 and UOB ONE!
Consider Maribank, one of the fuss free and give you 1.28% daily without any conditions! Interest is credited daily!

Sign up for MariBank using my referral code: 2KGZ29UL.
https://www.maribank.sg/product/mari-savings-account/

Insured up to S$100k by SDIC.

Deal 2:

Best Items that I have bought from Shopee.

ONLY the best useful worthy items

Many people I realised that they have only shared things that give them the most commissions. I am different. I will only share things that I have bought, used and found it to be good.

Deal 3:

Webull – Get free money!

Good deal! Do not miss this! Sign up here now for free money!!

Deal 4:

Trust Bank New Clients

Deal 5:

FSMone – Cheap Comms and can transfer your shares to Personal/Joint CDP for Free

I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds). FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSMOne to CDP (typically takes less than a week to transfer). If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

Deal 6:

Eskimo – Best Option for Roaming!

For now, you can get 500MB for free just by signing up with my referral link, no purchase required (I get 500MB only too, but only if you buy a paid plan). Referral code: CHING104915

You can read my review here.

Money just buy you the chance of freedom but can’t buy back time. In life, there is no reset button. Time is limited but money is not.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed (your strong health, time with young child) while busying striking out in career.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

Love your life daily. You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself. Time is ticking away.

Focusing Careyourpresent & living a fulfilling life by supercharging your mind & investment/online income. Careyourpresent Series focus on things that one MUST know in their Life.

More articles can be found here.

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

Portfolio Update: Dividends/Interest S$3800 per month

Posted on by careyourpresent

It has been a long while since the update of my portfolio. My last update was in February 2023 when I reflect about my life and the recent passing of my mum – Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old. I guess it is a good time to do another update.

Portfolio Update

If we count until end August, below is (which I have shared in Twitter or X earlier) is currently what I have been receiving from Jan to Aug 2023.

It is still a long way to go till my target of $5,000 monthly. I am suffering from the so called “Cash Rot” syndrome where my cash and cash equivalents is still about 50% of my portfolio. As share in my update of my SSB post earlier,

This is the first time in history where there is an unprecedented increase in interest rates by FED within a short span of few months. There will be time lag effect for the hike in rate to affect the market – very likely the coming few months till early Q1 2024. We shall see.

I am hoping for the chance to deploy my cash. But luckily at least now my rotting cash is earning 3-5% every month (SSB, FSM, Treasury Bill, CIMB Fastsaver Promo, Esaver Promo, UOB One, OCBC 360 etc), as compared to the past year period of low interest rate. That period is really the cash rotting period where the interest in bank is so low!

The Change in my Investing Philosophy

I am old already, I want stability and safety in my portfolio. Always manage risk first and make sure I can sleep well.

I didn’t appreciate this when I was younger – I still remembered that I have followed the great broker to buy Healthway last time when I first started investing a decade ago and lost at least 5 digits! I also buy penny stocks, chart here chart there to trade etc.

Nowadays, I simply go for dividend investing in strong companies, index investing in world index and a very small amount in Crypto (because I believe in the potential of Crypto). This is to ensure that I sleep well and use the time in market to my benefit. Ultimately as Warren Buffett has said it

“The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”

Be patient my friend.

Of course even if I could turn back the time and tell my young self (or the young people around nowadays) that slow and steady is the way, young people will not believe me and they will laugh at the oldie and say that we are scared of risks, lousy, stupid etc. They are young and believe that they can take risk and grow! Well that’s true too, but better not risk too much till they lose all their strong starting point savings!

House Update

I am moving house finally in next year 2024 and will become debt free. After I sell my current flat, the proceeds should be able to cover the full cost of my new flat!

My BTO should be ready in next year Q1 or Q2 2024. Guess this new BTO place?

I took this photo that people shared in a group chat for my BTO.

To many, I am a low SES family. I have no car, live in poor shoebox 4 room HDB flat currently. My main transport BMW – Bus/Bicycle, MRT and Walk! I have no high flying career and is a just a normal person on street.

But, I choose to love my life daily, grow my wealth, treasure the real important thing is life (family, health, time etc). I don’t want to regret my life on death bed and just blindly pursue wealth.

Of course, it is undeniable that (money) is also an important part of to live a life that one want. Striking a balance is not easy and I am still learning.

Hence I write this blog to pen down my thoughts for myself/family as well as sharing my experiences with others. Hope this blog has inspired or help you in one way or another. It is not easy to find time to continuously to write blog amidst so many things in life, but I must continue!

Deal 1:

Interest rates are getting lower everywhere and there are usually many hoops to jump to get higher rate such as OCBC 360 and UOB ONE!
Consider Maribank, one of the fuss free and give you 1.28% daily without any conditions! Interest is credited daily!

Sign up for MariBank using my referral code: 2KGZ29UL.
https://www.maribank.sg/product/mari-savings-account/

Insured up to S$100k by SDIC.

Deal 2:

Best Items that I have bought from Shopee.

ONLY the best useful worthy items

Many people I realised that they have only shared things that give them the most commissions. I am different. I will only share things that I have bought, used and found it to be good.

Deal 3:

Webull – Get free money!

Good deal! Do not miss this! Sign up here now for free money!!

Deal 4:

Trust Bank New Clients

Deal 5:

FSMone – Cheap Comms and can transfer your shares to Personal/Joint CDP for Free

I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds). FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSMOne to CDP (typically takes less than a week to transfer). If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

Deal 6:

Eskimo – Best Option for Roaming!

For now, you can get 500MB for free just by signing up with my referral link, no purchase required (I get 500MB only too, but only if you buy a paid plan). Referral code: CHING104915

You can read my review here.

Money just buy you the chance of freedom but can’t buy back time. In life, there is no reset button. Time is limited but money is not.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed (your strong health, time with young child) while busying striking out in career.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

Love your life daily. You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself. Time is ticking away.

Focusing Careyourpresent & living a fulfilling life by supercharging your mind & investment/online income. Careyourpresent Series focus on things that one MUST know in their Life.

More articles can be found here.

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If I am newbie investor for Dividend Investing in Singapore, this is what I would buy

Posted on by careyourpresent

Continuing from my previous post (Dividend Investing is Dangerous), I shall do something dangerous today – I shall share my list to buy. Many people heard of Dividend Investing, but don’t know how to start what shares to buy. These are the common questions that you would get:

I heard REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are good income generator, should I buy them?

I heard Singapore Banks are great, should I buy them?

What other companies should I buy?

My suggestions

Disclaimer:

Before I share my list, let me share that this is my personal opinion only and I will only buy if it reaches my target price and give different weighages to different counters. Of course, I have overseas counter and ETFs that I am interested in but not going to share this time.

Buy those big and blue companies first, before buying others. Of course, once I said this, the next questions would be what are those big and blue companies? Many Singapore Investors love REITs too? Should I buy REITs too?

Anyway this is the list:

Shares
1DBS
2OCBC
3UOB
4SGX
5Sheng Siong
6ST Engineering
7Keppel Corp
8Boustead
9Delfi
10Venture
11Wilmar
12STI ETF
13Parkway Life Reit
14Capitaland Ascendas Reit
15Mapletree Logistics Trust
16Frasers Cpt Tr
17Mapletree Industrial Trust
18Frasers L&C Tr
19Capland IntCom T
20Kep Infra Tr
21Netlink Tr
22Lendlease Reit
23Aims Apac Reit
24Keppel DC Reit

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

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  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Dividend Investing is Dangerous

Posted on by careyourpresent

Dividend investing is a very popular strategy, especially in Singapore, but of course people from other countries all over world like it! Who don’t like regular cash posted into your bank account?

However, I am not sure why but this term “Dividend Investing is Dangerous” has been floating around in the investing community recently. I have no idea where this term came from, but since I have been seeing this term, maybe let me share something more about dividend investing?

Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash

What is Dividend Investing?

The primary goal of dividend investing is to generate income from the dividends received. Dividend investing is like picking stocks from companies that are in the habit of sharing a slice of their earnings with people who own their shares.

These earnings, called dividends, are usually handed out on a regular basis, like every few months or every year, and sometimes even every month. The cool part about dividend investing is that it’s all about getting a steady flow of pocket money from your investments. These regular cash flow if large enough, can replace your monthly paycheck!

Imagine if you have $1 million in dividend stocks/ETFs, that give you 6%, this mean you will get $5000 monthly, which is the pay of average person on the street! That’s why the lure of dividend investing is great, it can replace your work income “one day”.

Of course, investors also find dividend stocks appealing because they have the chance to see their investment grow in value. As the company’s stock price goes up, the value of the dividends they receive also goes up. This combo can result in a notable boost to the overall worth of your investment as the years go by – these are dividend growth stock.

“Dividend Investing is Dangerous”

Why dividend investing in dangerous, let me share some points on why is this so.

1. Dividend cannot cover the Capital loss due to drop in price

Do you think Dividend Investing is dangerous? One very common point that came up is that the dividend that you get can’t cover the capital loss from the share/etfs.

If the share prices keep dropping (lao sai) until you have to go to the toilet/loo/washroom, does dividend investing really work, is it dangerous?

Let’s say you put $100,000 into a share/etf that give you 6% (I put 6% because recent US 10 years treasury yield already give you 4.2%, hence there is risk premium to equity). This mean that you will earn $6000 per year, $500 per month. However, the share price drop 10%, such that your original invested capital is only worth $90,000 now, hence effectively, you lose $10,000 – $ 6000 = $4000. You might as well put in growth stock that grow more?

Let’s repeat this, “Dividend Investing is Dangerous”?

2. Companies that should reinvest their earnings rather than give out dividends

It’s better for a company to reinvest their earnings, to grow the equity/asset of the companies rather than giving the cash out as dividends. Once a company is worth more, the share price of the companies will go up naturally. If the company gives out cash as dividends, the companies will be worth less.

If you’re a shareholder of a company that pays dividends, it’s also important to understand why the company gave out those dividends in the first place. If they did so because they thought it was best for their long-term growth and financial health, then great!

But if they’re only paying out because they need cash flow right now–and will never reinvest those earnings into growing their business–then that’s not so good.

Another possibility is that Companies that pay out large amounts of money as dividends are often doing so because their management teams aren’t confident enough about how much more revenue can be generated through reinvestment opportunities within the business itself (like R&D or new product development). This could be due to:

  • Poor management who don’t know how best use capital wisely
  • Poor capital allocation skills (e.g., poor M&A decisions)
  • Weak demand for goods/services offered by this particular industry segment

3. Investing in Index Funds/ETFs are better, more diversified and safer, gives better total return

Let’s say you invest $10,000 in an S&P 500 index fund.

The index fund is a diversified basket of 500 stocks that mirrors the performance of the entire market. It’s possible for all 500 stocks to decline at once and for your portfolio to fall by 5% or 10% overnight. But if you have $10,000 invested in five different stocks whose price falls by 5% each over a month or two, then your portfolio would have lost just 1%.

You would have lost less because you spread your money around among several companies rather than putting all your eggs in one basket. That’s why diversification is so important when investing in individual stocks or mutual funds as well as when investing in broad indexes like the S&P 500 (SPY).

Invest in Index fund, and get market return is better. Ultimately, most active professional fund manager can’t beat the market index fund return in the long run.

4. Dividends can be stopped anytime

There are many investors that just look at the dividend history and dividend yield rather than the companies itself.

If you are a retiree that rely on dividends for survival, bear in mind that dividends can be stopped anytime. Companies can change their minds, go out of business and cut or raise dividends as they see fit. Hence sustainability of the business is more important than just looking at the dividend yield, history.

The high yield of dividends can mislead investors into thinking that dividend stocks are much safer than other kinds of stocks. The dividend yield is not a good indicator of a company’s profitability, it may not be sustainable.

The best way to evaluate the safety of your investments is by looking at the company’s fundamentals: its balance sheet and cash flow statement–not its dividend yield.

Hence, this goes back to the point that total return is important, not just dividend. Total return is capital gain + dividend.

Just Dividend alone is dangerous as it misguide you thinking that this is the the total return that you get.

Photo by Mathieu Stern on Unsplash

Dividend investing is Dangerous or not?

The above 4 points are points that highlight why dividend investing is dangerous! There are of course others points that argue against or argue for investing investing. One can has mixture of dividend only (reits for examples), or dividend growth stocks/etf, or grow stocks, or index fund etc..

Ultimately, most importantly, whatever method you use, you must be able to sleep well. Know your own risk profile, create your own method that suit you the best such that you can pass sleep test. Otherwise, if your stocks/shares/cryptos/other assets suddenly needs to go to toilet/loo/washroom lao sai (drop in value), one will panic sell instead of rationally cut loss due to change in fundamental or wait for price recovery.

Personally I think dividend investing is not dangerous, I can write a long article on this but shall do this another time. However, dividend investing is often more effective as a long-term strategy. Over time, the power of compounding can lead to significant returns, particularly when dividends are reinvested.

In short, I strongly support dividend investing for those who know what to buy.

For those who don’t, do index investing better using world index funds.

Remember:

Collect dividends -> invest in companies that are fundamentally strong -> companies generate more revenue and thus more dividends -> companies give you dividends -> collect the dividends and reinvest and so on.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Mastering Dividend Investing: 5 Evergreen Investment Principles

Posted on by careyourpresent

Welcome to the captivating world of dividend investing. Imagine an asset where your investments work tirelessly for you, generating cash flow even as you sleep. Dividend investing has gained reputation as a powerful strategy that offers the best of both worlds – capital appreciation and regular dividend payouts. It’s an enticing option for both seasoned investors and those new to the financial landscape.

Unlike other investment approaches that rely solely on market fluctuations, dividend investing focuses on companies that not only show strong growth potential but also share their profits directly with shareholders. These dividends, often paid out quarterly or annually, provide a steady stream of income that can be reinvested or enjoyed as extra earnings. This unique combination of stability, growth, and financial rewards makes dividend investing an attractive choice for those seeking long-term wealth building.

5 Evergreen Investment Principles

Let me share 5 timeless ever green investment principles for dividend investing.

(I have shared these before in my previous posts, but for new readers, let me share again with some edits).

1. No Dividend No Buy and only buy those that you are willing to keep long term of at least 10 years. Must pass sleep test.

Most people although calling themselves dividend investors, but they don’t really behave like a dividend investor. They buy/sell, buy/sell trade the dividend stocks/Reits instead of keeping for dividend. If the price crash, they would sell and cut loss.

You can see from the recent crash of the US Reits such Manulife US Reit, Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit, Prime US Reit – initially the investors sound so confidence, freehold assets, US assets etc., good rental income etc.. But see what happened now? Many of them cut loss after the price drop 50% or more.

If you have bought MIT at $2.80 instead of Manulife US Reit at $0.70, likely you won’t cut loss for MIT but will cut loss for Manulife, especially if you have put in an amount larger that you are comfortable with (see Rule 3 below).

Hence this first rule is very important. Please only buy reits/stocks that you are willing to keep at least 10 years, no speculation, no FOMO (Fear or Missing Out). Don’t listen to others. Have independent mind. Must pass sleep test.

Take for example, Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), Singapore Exchange (SGX), Mapletree Industrial Reit (MIT), Mapletree Logistic Reit (Mlog), Capitaland Ascendas Reit (Areit), Frasers Centre Point Trust (Trust), NikkoAM-STC Asia Reit (CFA) etc. No people will cut loss buying these, they will simply add more. Yes, the yield is low, but on long term basis, it is a 99% sure win. Remember Tortoise and Hare Story, Tortoise wins. Many people are enticed by high yield instead of the fundamental behind the companies which in the end lose their hard-earned money and cut loss when the shares drip in prices.

Just keep buy and collect dividend and reinvest for good stocks/reits. You will get this picture below.

2. GUTS (buy big) and PATIENCE (wait crash/dip) and dare to HOLD VERY LONG, think long term (10 years at least)

Most people are looking at short term. They should look at long term (10 years at least). If they did their shares selection well as per rule 1 above, the next step is to have patience and wait. When the time come, example 2020 March Covid Crash, Reits dip due to interest rates etc, they should be brave and buy! However, many don’t have the guts to buy when come. If even they have, they don’t dare to buy big. even if they dare to buy big, they don’t dare to hold. Additionally, people keep want to wait for lower price and then missed!

Are you behaving the same way as I have described above? I believe most are. Let me share a few rules that I have learnt:

  • Buy only dividend growth companies that I know Fundamental well so that I will not cut loss. Example, companies with yield >5% with net cash, low payout ratio, sustainable business. Or simply buy those big names that could rarely goes wrong in my rule 1 above.
  • Be patience. Do research while waiting.
  • Red buy, green sell. Similar to buy discounted groceries in supermarket.
  • Focus cashflow and certainty.
  • Few cents don’t matter. Can’t always buy at bottom price or sell at top price. Good price just dca buy and keep.
  • Better to put big sum (e.g. 100k) in good companies like MIT MLOG FLCT AREIT PLIFE DBS SGX etc for 10% than 10k in less strong stock for 10% gain.

3. Position size Important and no leverage

Position size important and possibility no leverage if you are not sure what you are doing. You can set for example 5% per counter, then you will have 20 counters. Chances of 20 good shares (if you have followed Rule 1 above) dying at the same time, not paying dividend at the same time is very very low.

This is especially true when portfolio get large, example 1 million and above. One should take less risk and do capital preservation. Why? 1 million at 6% already give you $5k per month (not difficult to get 6% yield with 2% cap gain every year). $5k per month is already a very good salary for most people.

However, people want haste and earn more. In the end, they lose more by putting too much in something which can’t let them sleep well. In the end they cut loss and lose money. Hence, only put the amount that you are comfortable with; that would enable you to sleep well.

4. No earn no sell especially for dividend stock. Keep long term, no stop loss policy because point 1 is followed.

This rule is contrary to what most people would do. No cut loss policy.

If you didn’t do any leverage/plan allocation well (Rule 3) and only buy good stocks that let you sleep well (Rule 1), there is no need for you to cut loss. (However, if fundamental changes, please cut loss unless you are confident of recovery).

Price drop, just hold and collect dividends as “painkillers”. Throughout the years, treat the dividend (or simply use the Trading around Core Strategy – Rule 5 below) to reduce the average cost of your shares. The worst case is stock goes to zero or in most case, your average cost will be reduced over time.

5. Trading around Core with only Good FA Dividend Reit/Stock

Of course, it is very hard to curb itchy hands. People feel that it is very hard to do nothing. You have to keep buy sell buy sell, especially if you keep seeing the shares of the companies that you are holding are going up and down every day. Hence what can we do? We can use Trading around Core Strategy.

This simply means that you allocate for example 100k to buy Share XXX for 5% yield. One can simply keep DCA down to keep and collect dividend (price goes down, dividend yield goes up). As long as the total amount of share XXX that you are holding doesn’t exceed your allocation (in this case 100k), you can do a trade buy/sell buy/sell 1-2 cents for profits to reduce your average cost.

For example, you plan to allocate 100k to Mapletree Logistics Trust (Mlog). Currently you are holding only 50k worth of Mlog. You can strategise and buy 10000 shares of Mlog at $1.58 and sell at $1.61. Every trade will win you few hundred dollars which you can treat it as lowering your average holding cost of the share. In the worst case, if the price drops below $1.58, it doesn’t matter too, you can just keep it and collect dividend. Do note that this only work if you follow Rule 3 (allocation) and Rule 1 – only applicable to those that you are willing to hold long term and passed your sleep test.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂