Fixed Deposit Rates Update - 1.70% P.A.at CIMB Bank

First some clarifications: Fixed Deposit is not for real investment.  My review on Singapore's FD is limited to S$50,ooo and below; and tenure term not exceeding 12 months.  Fixed Deposit is for parking the emergency fund and allowing immediate access to the fund when needed.  These are also based on the following considerations:

1. Singapore's Deposit Insurance Scheme maximum coverage up to S$50,ooo only.
2. Long tenure term will potentially affect your cash-out value for your emergency fund, as you may suffer a penalty fee for early withdrawal.

Back to the update: CIMB Bank's 12-months FD rates of 1.70% p.a. for S$50,000 is currently the highest in Singapore.  

This promotion is for fresh fund only and excludes any renewal of CIMB fixed deposit.  The promotion is valid from 3- 31 July 2015.  

There are only two branches of CIMB Bank in Singapore:
1. Orchard Road (270 Orchard Road #03-02, Knightsbridge),
2. Raffles Place (50 Raffles Place #01-02, Singapore Land Tower).


Promotion Details:

Placement Amount (S$)	12-MTH SGD Time Deposits Interest Rate
S$25,000 to S$49,999	1.45% p.a.
S$50,000 to S$99,999	1.70% p.a.

The fixed desposit rates in Singapore do appear to be creeping up.  Please let me know if there is better offer in the market.

Bit-by-bit Strategy - small steps adding up

As a small investor, my strategy is to build up my stock portfolio bit-by-bit every month.  Let's see how does this strategy work out for me?

This is a boring strategy.  It takes patient and perseverance.  Month by month after pay-day, I split my money into 3 pots - Investment, Warchest and Expense.  There is also a very small 4th pot - for the dividends received.  From the Investment and Dividend pots, I will buy into one or two stocks every month. 

In the beginning, it was quite difficult because of the big "1000" lot size and the small amount of capital.  So, in terms of number of shares, Starhill Global Reit becomes my top holding.

The "boring" truth is that my portfolio does increase incrementally, through the steady accretion of stocks by small monthly injection of capital.

Margin of safety is very important in any investment.  I had unintentionally sown the SGX seed many years ago.  I have SGX since its IPO and it is one of the pioneers in my portfolio.  Now, SGX has grown to a big tree and provides shade, shelter and also bearing regular fruits (dividends) for my portfolio.  The safety margin provided by SGX alone is sufficient to cover for all the short term fluctuations of my portfolio.

无心插柳柳成荫。知足常乐。So, be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are.  Relax, and enjoy the ride.

After many months, the process gets easier now.  Firstly, the lot size (100) is smaller.  Secondly, the amount in the 4th pot (dividends) also increases steadily.

Small steps do add up towards the long term dream of achieving financial freedom.  Still a long way to go but I believe I am heading in the right direction.

As reflected in the table below, the current portfolio comparing with April 2013 does agree with these Chinese sayings: 
积少成多， 积水成渊，积土成山， 聚沙成塔， 集腋成裘。。。

No.	STOCK NAME	Current No. of Shares	No. of Shares, Apr 2013
1	SGX	4,000	2,000
2	Starhub	6,000	5,000
3	SPH	5,000	4,000
4	SATS Ltd	3,000	0
5	Sing Tel	2,190	1,190
6	CapitaMall Trust	4,000	3,000
7	Suntec Reit	4,900	2,000
8	Keppel Corp	1,000	0
9	AIMSAMPI Reit	5,000	1,000
10	Starhill Global	8,000	6,000
11	CapitaLand	2,000	2,000
12	SPH Reit	5,800	0
13	OCBC Bank	504	0
14	CDL HTrust	3,000	3,000
15	FCT	2,000	0
16	Sembcorp Ind	1,000	0
17	SIA Engg	1,000	0
18	Keppel InfraTr	6,000	3,000
19	HPH Trust	3,000	3,000
20	FCOT	1,000	0
21	Boustead	1,000	0
22	Keppel DC Reit	900	0
23	FE HTrust	1,000	1,000
24	Warchest	~30% portfolio $	0

Bye-bye (realised gain/loss):-
CapitaMalls Asia (gain), FE Orchard (gain), SingPost (gain),  SP Ausnet (gain), Yeo Hiap Seng (gain), Hyflux (loss).

My Stock Portfolio @ end Jun 2015

No.	STOCK NAME	No.of SHARES	PORTFOLIO%	MARKET $
1	SGX	4,000	17.32	7.83
2	Starhub	6,000	13.11	3.95
3	SPH	5,000	11.28	4.08
4	SATS	3,000	6.12	3.69
5	SingTel	2,190	5.10	4.21
6	CapitaMall Trust	4,000	4.76	2.15
7	Suntec Reit	4,900	4.68	1.725
8	Keppel Corp	1,000	4.55	8.22
9	AIMS AMPI Reit	5,000	4.13	1.495
10	Starhill Global	8,000	3.89	0.88
11	CapitaLand	2,000	3.87	3.50
12	SPH Reit	5,800	3.35	1.045
13	OCBC Bank	504	2.84	10.18
14	CDL HTrust	3,000	2.70	1.63
15	FCT	2,000	2.28	2.06
16	Sembcorp Ind	1,000	2.15	3.89
17	SIA Engg	1,000	2.12	3.84
18	Keppel InfraTr	6,000	1.81	0.545
19	HPH Trust	3,000	1.43	0.63
20	FCOT	1,000	0.85	1.53
21	Boustead	1,000	0.69	1.25
22	Keppel DC Reit	900	0.52	1.05
23	FE HTrust	1,000	0.43	0.775

Movement in my portfolio in Jun:-
Sold:- Nil.
Bought:- Keppel Corp, Keppel DC Reit, Keppel InfraTr (rights), OCBC Bank (DRIP).

Dividends collected in Jun: $622.48
2015 avg dividends/month: $699.48 [63.61% up at this stage cf. 2014]

Boring process of building up my passive income portfolio brick-by-brick (bit-by-bit).

Comments:
1. June was Keppel month. Increased my holdings in Keppel Corp and Keppel InfraTr (rights).  And initiated a small position in Keppel DC Reit.

2. Received four small drips of OCBC Bank through its dividend reinvestment program.  I plan to hold OCBC for long and do not mind holding odd lots.  Furthermore, the value of the drips actually worth more than if I am to receive the dividend in cash. One comforting thought is the drips will get bigger the next time.