Time flies. Christmas is just 6 days away, and 2024 is coming in just slightly less than 2 weeks. I felt it is timely for me to share my review of the year 2023. I hope the year has been a fulfilling one for you, as much as it has been for me.

In today’s post, you will read about a review of my REIT-heavy investment portfolio, lessons learned as a presenter, as a speaker at some of the investment events held during the year, and also as an author (where I published my first book as a retail investor in September). I’ll also be sharing with you some of the plans I have for the year 2024 ahead.

Let’s begin:

A Review of My Investment Portfolio

For those of you who are reading my post for the first time, my investment portfolio currently comprises of a total of 13 companies – of which 10 are REITs (you can check out a list of all the companies I have investments in here.) The reason why my investment portfolio was ‘REIT-heavy’ was because my goal of building this investment portfolio was to produce income to supplement my short-term trading income (which fluctuates depending on market conditions.)

In terms of its performance, this is not a good year as I’m currently sitting on unrealised capital losses at the moment – as the REITs’ unit prices tumbled due to higher borrowing costs (as a result of the current high interest rate environment) impacting distribution payouts to unitholders, and retail investors divesting their investments in REITs and recycle capital into the safer Treasury Bills (or T-Bills for short) and Singapore Savings Bonds (or SSBs for short) due to it having a high coupon rate (I remembered one of the T-Bills a couple of months ago have a coupon rate of about 4%), plus the fact that they are practically risk-free (as they are backed by the Singapore Government, which have a AAA credit rating).

The main reason why I stay invested in the REITs is because their business fundamentals continue to remain sound – that being said, there are 2 REITs I’m monitoring its developments very closely (as investors, its just impossible all our investment decisions yield positive results) – allow me to share what these 2 REITs are:

Suntec REIT (SGX:T82U) – the only thing I am not too comfortable about the REIT is its debt profile, where its gearing ratio is inching very close to the 45.0% regulatory level – while the REIT will not be punished should their gearing ratio breach this regulatory level, but they will not be allowed to take on more borrowings as well (and this will impact its growth.)

That said, I continue to remain invested in this REIT because of its properties – particularly those in Singapore, where all of them are located in the heart of the Central Business District (or CBD), with their occupancy levels at close to 100%. Also, the management have been transparent about the current situation regarding its debt profile, and shared that they are looking to make some divestments (of maturing properties) to pare down debt. It’s something I will be monitoring closely in the coming months.

EC World REIT (SGX:BWCU) – the China-based port logistics and e-commerce REIT is currently suspended; despite my best efforts to follow up with the REIT’s management on matters related to the refinancing of its borrowings, but a default by the tenants of the REITs’ properties for months resulted in it having cashflow problems and the management decided to voluntarily suspend trading of the REIT to ‘preserve value for unitholders’.

My view of the REIT? I think the problem of REITs unable to collect rentals from their tenants is not one suffered by EC World REIT alone – last week, Keppel DC REIT updated that its China tenant (for its Guangdong Data Centre) defaulted on its rental obligations for months, and the REIT is facing a 6.4% decline in its distribution payout to unitholders if it is unable to recover the rent. Looking at the country in general, it is facing a property crisis, high youth unemployment, a drop in exports, investors withdrawing their investments in the country, etc., and in my opinion, these headwinds are likely to persist for some time to come. Until the overall economy and investor sentiments improves, I do not foresee any resolution for these problems.

Also, as far as my investment in the REIT is concerned, there is nothing I can do at the moment, other than to hope for the best. At the same time, I am prepared for the REIT being liquidated and I end up losing all the capital invested – which thankfully is a small amount (the REIT only comprised a 5% weightage in my investment portfolio; this episode further reinforces why diversification is so important – because there is no guarantee that all our investments will yield a positive outcome [even the Oracle of Omaha, Warren Buffett, do not have a 100% win rate], and also all the companies we are invested in will remain ‘problem-free’ perpetually.)

Ready to REITire 5-Part Video Series

Initiated by The Joyful Investors (many thanks to the team for that; it was a pleasure working together with the entire team from start to finish), this 5-part video series published in March was created with those who are new to REIT investing in mind, where our aim was to try and explain the basics of REIT investing in a simple-to-understand manner.

As this was my first time recording a video series, naturally I was a little bit nervous (I think you can tell from the start of the first part of the video series). However, I’m encouraged by the overall response received by those who have watched it. In case you’ve missed it, you can check them out by clicking on the respective links below:

Ready to REITire Series Video #1 - Introduction to S-REITs

Ready to REITire Series Video #2 - 3 Things to Look out for when Selecting REITs to Invest

Ready to REITire Series Video #3 - 3 Potential 'Red Flags' to Look out for

Ready to REITire Series Video #4 - The Impact of Rising Interest Rates on REITs

Ready to REITire Series Video #5 - Navigating through Changing Trends

Public Speaking Opportunities

I’ve got many to thank here:

Shanison and Ethan from InvestingNote for giving me the opportunity to be part of 2 big investor events organised by the company – REITs Symposium in May (where I was a panelist and on-stage for the very first time), as well as as the InvestFair in August (where it was my first time presenting alone on stage – and I’m extremely grateful for the really, really encouraging turnout during my session.)

Willie Keng from DividendTitan – Back when I was learning about the nuts and bolts of investing in 2017, Willie’s articles were one of those I’ve read, and learned a lot from. It was a great honour to be on the very same stage as him in not one, but 2 investor events – in REITs Symposium as well as in the MooFest, and I have benefitted immensely from his sharing.

I’m also really thankful to him for giving me the opportunity to share my investment journey in his members’ only ‘Diligence Market Outlook for 2H 2023’ in June. Apart from sharing with fellow retail investors during the session, I have also learned from Willie’s sharing doing the event.

Olivia Higgins, Lead Presenter & Host at MooMoo Singapore – I got to know her during the REITs Symposium, where she was the moderator in the panelist session I was involved in. Being the first time speaking on-stage, I’m grateful to her for guiding me through (which helped to reduce my nervousness), and making my first speaking event a successful one (at least in my personal opinion).

Not only that, I’m really grateful for the opportunities she have given me – to be part of the MooFest 2023 in July (where I shared about my investing experiences as a panelist together with Willie once again, along with with Timothy from DollarsAndSense, and Dawn from SGBudgetBabe – I definitely learned a lot from all the wisdom they have very generously shared during the session), as well as be on the ‘Playing with FIRE’ video series (I strongly encourage you to check the videos in the series out – they are really informative) just before National Day:

Playing with FIRE: Reviewing & Investing in the Singapore Market for 2H 2023

Followers of The Singaporean Investor Blog & on InvestingNote – Last but not least, without the support of each and every single one of you (I know some of you have turned up for every single event I’m in to show me your support – its something I appreciate deep down from the bottom of my heart), I will not be where I am today. I sincerely hope you have found the sharing in the events useful. I have made every attempt to share something different in every event (hence the long hours of preparation at my end), so for those who have attended all the events I’m in, you will be able to learn something in each and every single one of them.

Some of you have asked when is my next speaking event (first and foremost, thank you for the support) – to answer the question, at this point in time, I do not know, as its purely up to the event organisers. But I will definitely share details as and when I have them.

‘Building Your REIT-irement Portfolio’ Book

2023 was also the year I published my very first book as a retail investor.

Titled ‘Building Your REIT-irement Portfolio’, this book details everything someone who new to investing needs to know when it comes to building a REIT investing portfolio – the basics of what a REIT is, how to sift out a good REIT to invest in, staying updated of the latest developments of the REITs you are invested in, identifying potential red flags, etc.

For those who have supported by purchasing a copy, thank you from the bottom of my heart. If you like to find out more about the book, you can click on the link here.

In case you’re wondering, from conceptualisation to publication, the entire process took me about 9 months. Prior to working on this book, I had another one written up a year earlier. However, I scrapped the entire project because it was not up to my standard (to me, it isn’t just about selling, but I want people who buy the book to receive value from it, and feel that they have gotten their ‘monies worth’.)

In this light, I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people:

My wife – for all her efforts to help me proofread and make sure that entire structure flows, and that there are no grammatical errors, as well as for her unwavering support for me throughout the entire journey as a retail investor cum trader, as well as a financial blogger – especially during my darkest days;

Shanison from InvestingNote – Apart from my wife, Shanison’s the other person who knew about this project of mine. When I approached him for his help to write a ‘foreward’ for my book, he agreed without hesitation, despite his very busy schedule. Not only that, he have also helped me in other aspects, to which I will always remember and be very thankful for;

Willie (from DividendTitan), Dan (trading representative from PhilipCapital), James (from InvestKaki), and Hazelle (from The Joyful Investors) – Many thanks for your time to give me a review my book and give me your unbiased feedback. They really mean a lot to me.

Plans for 2024 Ahead

I’ve been spending quite some time right after the earnings season for the 3rd quarter ended 30 September was over to ponder on ‘what’s next for me in 2024’. At the same time, I’ve spent the last month and a half to meet up with some retail investors to seek their honest opinion and inputs (you know who you are) – I really appreciate and value them.

Some of you may have noticed more sharing on the US market – it’s something I would like to spend more time on next year, for there are much more opportunities there. One of the things I’ve noticed is that some may not be comfortable with investing in the US market because of ‘unfamiliarity’ – something I seek to address in my sharing in the year ahead by making them simple. I like to think of it like learning anything else – it might appear tough at first, but as we start to read about it and become familiar with time, it may not seem that tough after all. Also, by investing in another market, we are also having some form of diversification.

One change I will be making in 2024 is in terms of reviews about results of companies I have investments in. After much consideration, I will be doing reviews of results of companies I have investments in batches, instead of separate post for each company’s latest results, because I noticed a decline in readership in such posts, probably due to there are many financial bloggers already doing something similar. On attending of general meetings by companies, in the interest of time, I will no longer be attending meetings by those who do not have an option that allows shareholders to attend virtually. For those who have an option for shareholders to attend virtually, I will continue to attend and post summaries.

Finally, I’ve been asked what’s next in terms of products – whether I will be writing another book, starting a membership site, conducting a course or personal coaching – I do have a project in mind which I’m working on (and my estimate is that it will take another year or so to get this project out [or I may end up scrapping it] – I am not someone who want to launch something for the sake of doing it; if I want to do something, I want to do such that people who make the investment will benefit immensely from it.) Till then, there will be no new product launches.

With that, I have come to the end of my review of the year 2023. As much as I can, I have tried to share everything as candidly and as transparent as I possibly can, and I really hope you have found all the posts published throughout the course of the year useful. While the year has been a very enriching one, the journey for me this year is anything but easy – not just in terms of work, but also in terms of dealing with negativity – where some of the comments affected me quite a bit.

Regardless, I will continue to work hard in everything I do and I like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very healthy and prosperous Year of the Dragon in 2024 ahead!

The post Jun Yuan's 2023 Year in Review first appeared on The Singaporean Investor.