Singapore REIT of the Week

Well, hello all you REIT lovers out there. How's it going?

This post is the first in a new series called Singapore REIT of the week. Now, I'll assume for now all of you know what is REIT is and how it works. If you don't, don't fret, here are some wise words from the folks over at ZUUONLINE

The REIT I want to focus on today is First REIT (which from now on I'll refer to as First)

First was the first - funnily enough - REIT to be listed on the SGX way back in 2006. It has a diverse number of yield accretive (I think I spelled that right) health care and health care related real estate assets in Asia.

The portfolio consists of 16 properties in Indonesia, 3 in Singapore and 1 in South Korea. For more detail read here.

Let's have a look at some reasons why I think First is cool:

1. Track record of raising DPU

Between 2007 and 2017 its DPU grew from 6.73 to 8.54. This is bliss for us dividend hunters as it allows our hand earned cash to compound deliciously over the years. Yum yum!


                           Source: First REIT annual report

2. Revenue Growth

Between 2007 and 2017 First's revenue grew from $28 mill to $111 mill. I'm sure you will agree, this is some sexy growth, but what's more important for us divided divas is it means management can keep the DPU pointed in the right direction.

Here's a lovely graph comparing First's revenue and distrabutable income between 2007 and 2017.


                           Source: First REIT annual report

3. Demographic Trend

Go on the oldies!

First REIT is not going to disappear overnight. People are living longer than ever.

'Staying Alive' by the Bee Gees reverberates around my head at this point, if you'll excuse me.

Who wouldn't dig deep (excuse the death pun) for high quality health care. Thus, the likelihood of humans sidestepping the G-Reaper is slim.

That said, according to rag British newspaper, The Sun, if you are presently under the age of 40, then there's a chance you'll be able to live forever.

My goodness, wouldn't this be bad news for healthcare REITS! and us who invest in them. Aggghh!

Anyway, let's put a wacky futurologist's ramblings aside for a moment and breath in the cool air rationality.

Aggggh... that's better, isn't it?

Feel your blood pressure return to normal and swipe that sweat from your brow. I'm an optimist, you see. I know we are a rare breed in the investing world, but I am and that's it. I'm not ashamed to wear it on my chest either.

In fact, I might get a t-shirt printed with 'Singapore Dividend Collector knows everything will be fine'. I could start selling them on my blog and armies of smiling Singaporeans could skip their way to work, beaming from ear to ear.

So that's it folk's First looks good to me, but it is a bit pricey with a price to book of 1.2 something. You you'd be forking out a premium for the pleasure of owning this REIT. That said, with the rising DPU and revenue growth, combined with old people living longer, I might just have another bite at this.

*Please don't invest based on anything I say, for I am semi-sane and haven't really a clue what I am talking about. In fact, I ate a banana backwards this morning and though it tasted better. Your investments are your business - not mine*

Have a toothsome evening folks.

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Slainte

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - My Story 2

Nice time machine, eh?

Let's jump in a time machine and go back to 2015. As we step away from the silver metal and roaring light, a few facts begin to become clear.

1. I'm a man in my mid thirties with as much financial know how as a leather football.
2. I'm comfortable wallowing in this ignorance.
3. I'm no more interested in investing than reading a Swahili language textbook.
4. I believe myself to be smart and on top of things financially when really I haven't a clue.
5. I drift from week to week procrastinating and dithering around as if tomorrow will never come.

Now, you may ask, my dear readers, who or what gave me the necessary jolt to awake me from my financial slumbers? Like most men, correct me if I am wrong here fellas... Like most men, I received some harsh words from a very special woman, who for now shall be named Mrs. X.

Mrs. X, this most mysterious and intellectually astute of females, finally started questioning a few things around the house. Namely, why does all the money we earn sit in a bank account getting less than 1% interest when the rate of inflation is considerably more. That means, Mrs. X told me with some venom, that our hard earned cash loses money over time sitting in the bank. For a man with zero interests or opinions on the nuances of the financial world, this fact hit me like a rabbit punch in the kidneys. Why did I never think of this before? How could I have avoided something so simple yet obvious for so long?

Armed with this knowledge, I recoiled in embarrassed horror to my bedroom. Suddenly, my life, albeit relatively successful up to this point, felt like it missing something. This was the elephant in the room that cliched contemporary political commentators waffle on about. My head spun and I could not hide my embarrassment. I had allowed a decent sum of cash to lie dormant in a bank account for years doing nothing. How could I let our hard earned money do squat? It was time to take action.

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More in Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - My Story 3

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - My Story 1

Dividends = Freedom

I've been investing in the SGX since 2015, but blogging is a new found love. Over the last few years I've taken pleasure in reading Singaporean blogs from the likes of

http://thefinance.sg/
http://foreverfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com/
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.com/

to name a few and I've always admired their succinct and no nonsense approach to stock investing.

Before 2015, I knew nothing about investing. For me, investing was something for the wealthy: poor people bet on horses, rich people bet on stocks. This I muttered silently to myself whenever the topic of shares etc. came up in casual conversation. However, in this year I started reading Jason Fieber's former blog, https://www.dividendmantra.com/ For some reason unknown to me Jason distanced himself from this blog and set up another called http://www.mrfreeat33.com/ Both of these focus on value dividend investing and financial frugality.

Jason used to be a car salesman in the USA and built up a size-able portfolio of dividend paying stocks with the aim of retiring young and being able to peruse other interests. This he has done and he now resides in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and appears to have achieved his dream of living of dividend goodness. Fair play to him. I urge you to check out his blog and follow his Facebook page. He offers lots of interesting insights and tips on how he manages his spending and evaluates equities. Good on you Jason!

Inspired by Jason, I started reading about investing. Having a background in political science and English literature, I found this tough going. I was more use to deconstructing James Joyce rather than evaluating P/E ratios, but eventually, after much nail biting, the mist began to clear.

I read tons of Buffet's letter to Berkshire shareholders as well as The Intelligent Investor by B Graham and tried to get a grip on what it was these investors had in common. What did they know that I needed to know? What nuggets of knowledge could I extract and apply to my own investing?

I'm sure most of you have read the above so I won't even begin to patronize you will details, but all I can say is that if you are new to the equities game, read Buffet and Graham. In fact, once you have read them, read them again, and then repeat once year for the rest of your life.

Another inspiration for me in the early days was The Motley Fool Money Podcast These straight-talking Yanks made the world of stock investing sparkle with their incessant chatter about the US blue chips. For a while I was tempted to start investing in the S&P 500 until I found out about the 30% tax of dividends in the US. My goodness that news pierced me like a knife to the heart and made my head spin.

I knew by this stage I wanted to invest for income. Growth investing didn't tick enough boxes for me. Namely,  the idea of getting older, nearing retirement and being wiped out by a market crash gave me the fear. Thus, the idea of building up a income paying portfolio bit by bit, diligently reinvesting all money back into the the portfolio and letting compound interest work its magic appealed to me. What could be cooler than sitting back and watching your wealth grow passively? I'm lazy by nature, so I'd found exactly what I'd been looking for all those years: an opportunity to retire younger and secure an income to pursue free time activities.

Anyway, I'll leave it there for today. I look forward to blogging more. I plan to write one every Sunday morning and hopefully I can produce something that's worth reading. Anyway all for now.

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Slainte

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@SingaporeDivid1

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19th August 2018 - Singapore Dividend Portfolio

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Singapore Portfolio 2018
Counters	%	Market Price $
Keppel DC REIT	7.00%	1.38
AimAMP Cap REIT	3.00%	1.39
Ascendas REIT	14.00%	2.72
AscottREIT	2.00%	1.08
First REIT	9.00%	1.28
CapitaMall Trust	4.00%	2.21
Accordia Golf Trust	4.00%	0.57
Capita Com Trust	3.00%	1.75
Acenndas H Trust	5.00%	0.8
Fraser Com Trust	14.00%	1.39
Global Investments	1.00%	0.136
SingTel	6.00%	3.11
Starhub	2.00%	1.66
SATS	1.00%	5.05
Keppel Corp	1.00%	6.64
DBS	0.10%	25.09
UOB	0.25%	26.81
SGX	3.00%	7.41
Singpost	2.00%	1.14
Kingsmen Creative	1.40%	0.54
Sheng Siong	5.00%	1.09
Thaibev	12.00%	0.645
Nikko AM STI ETF	2%	3.32

The portfolio has taken a bit of battering in 2018 so far with Singtel, Starhub and Thaibev suffering. This doesn't bother me much as I'm in the game for the long haul. 

Thaibev in particular tumbled over 10% in the last week, making it rather attractive at $0.645. I have faith in this counter in the run run especially with their recent acquisitions in Vietnam (Sabeco) and in Thailand (KFC) For sure, Thaibev have a lot of debt on the balance sheet, but this will translate into big returns in the not to distant future. Thus, with all my juicy August dividends I might just crack open and other Chang and purchase some more of this counter.

Singtel as well looks tempting at $3.11 and a yield of 5.52% 

I will continue to do as I have always done: Re-invest all dividends in $10,000 blocks and ignore all noise from the market. Nothing fancy, nothing technical. Come on early retirement! 

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