I have always wanted to use my CPF Investment account to buy into REITs. Unfortunately, I was always restricted by the 35% limit on excess investable funds over S$20K for property funds and equities. Property funds under CPF website refers to SREITs on its white list which is subject to this 35% limit. While watching Master Leong's You Tube video on "A Different Path to CPF  Investing...", I could not believe my ears when I heard that one can buy into the REIT ETF (NikkoAM-StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF-CFA.SI) using 100% CPF OA investable amount. Earlier this week, I invested S$2 ..read more

Lendlease Global Commercial REIT ("LREIT") has dipped below S$0.50 per unit to S$0.485 per unit as at 6 March 2025. This is even lower than the COVID period and also the SREIT price tumble last year- as a matter of fact, this is an all time 5 year crazy low for LREIT. Hence I have taken the opportunity last week to add on 10,000 units @ S$0.485 per unit after going through the below thoughts process as well as risk assessments.   1. LREIT Badly Battered By High Financing Cost and Empty Commercial Office in Milan The higher interest cost has been severely affecting the results ..read more

Wow, I suddenly noticed a huge surge in readers on my previous post (Why I Am Not Taking Part In the Guaranteed Interest Rate Product Offered by Chocolate Finance?) in July 2024 on Chocolate Finance.  In case some folks who are too busy and not sure what is happening, the recent talk of the town over the past 2 days is about a "bank run" on Chocolate Finance which forced it to halt its instant invested cash withdrawal feature. The panic cash withdrawal was primarily triggered off by the videos posted by Kelvin Learn to Invest and Sethisfy where both social influencers informed their foll ..read more

I thought that it is rather interesting to come across a You Tube video with the video creator talking about her impressive 9 streams of passive income that contributed $8,500 per month for her. Yes, you did not see wrongly, 9 streams of passive income that she had was the subject header she shared in her video.   2 very intriguing "passive income streams" that caught my eyes: 1. Credit Card Miles Reward Bonus miles points from credit card sign up and spending helps one to reduce cost of air tickets for travelling overseas. Hence miles reward are arguably also passive income. 2 ..read more

Wow, this is really bad news! Early US economic data for the first quarter of 2025 is pointing towards negative growth, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. If we have 2 consecutive quarters of negative growth, then techincally, the US would be in an economic recession. What this means is that the probability of two or even more Federal Reserve rate cuts has just increased drastically.  1. The Call to Buy REITs as Interest Rate Cuts Will Mean Huge Savings in Financing Cost is a Fallacy. Interestingly, a number of folks on social media have mentioned that now maybe the best ..read more

My total gross investment rebounded back to over S$1Mil while net investment after margin loan hovers around S$722K. While SREITs continue to perform miserably with a steep drop again recently, the overall portfolio was propped up by a sudden +S$30K rally in my China stock holdings of Alibaba, Ping An, Link REIT, Bank of China ("BOC") and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China ("ICBC").  1. Portfolio 1- Stocks held in SGX Central Depository  Not much changes here except to mention about Haw Par Corporation which declared a special S$1 per share of dividends on top of ..read more

I was surprised to read that Mr Kwek Leng Beng, 84 years old, is still helming City Development Ltd ("CDL") as Executive Chairman- I would have retired at age 65 years old (if not 55 years old ideally) to enjoy my old age.  Worst still, Mr Kwek Leng Beng has brought a lawsuit against his son, Mr Sherman Kwek, for attempting a coup and wanting to remove him as Group CEO of CDL. This seems surreal and something that only happens in Hong Kong TVB drama. As a result of the chaos, investors are jittery over the future of CDL  1. Mysterious Woman That Caused the Rift Between Father and S ..read more

I thought that United Hampshire US REIT ("UHREIT) released another poignant set of of 2nd half and also full year 2024 results amidst the inflation nightmare as well as the higher interest rate environment driving up financing cost. I am heavily vested in UHREIT, hence keeping a close eye on it. Despite grave disappointment over the past 3 years where we saw the market price of UHREIT as well as its distributable income dropping non-stop, there is still some consolation in that its latest balance sheet has strengthen with aggregate leverage ratio declining to 38.9%. This is certinaly remarkab ..read more

First and foremost, I have originally no intention to comment on the guilty judgement by the local judiciary. But as a layman, I am just extremely curious on how the issues on hand can be decided by trial to determine whether something is a lie or not a lie. The only 100% certainty thing that can convince everyone is if there are videos taken or conversation recording to prove what he or she had said or not. Else everything becomes pretty judgemental albeit circumstantial evidences and witness statements, is it not? Anyway, I am not a lawyer, so I am resigned to being clueless on how these le ..read more

While many US Corporations have been increasingly forcing their workers back to office, it seems that the hope for US Office Commercial REIT to rally closer to their NTA value per unit relative to the current depressed market trading price maybe dashed soon. The upside factor of interest rate cut and back to office mandate by the US Federal government and CEOs of US global corporations are being offset by the termination of office leases from rapid downsizing of the Federal government. 1. Interest Rate Cut by the Fed in 2024 Reduces Financing Pressure on Commercial REITs  The 0.5% cut ..read more