UT Portfolio as of 27 July 07

This is the time of the week to showcase my portfolio. This week has been pretty bumpy. With DJIA down more than 300pts on thursday and the Asian market losing more than 2% across, the week ahead will be very volatile. However, i see good opportunity in the coming weeks for more upside.

I will be watching the Thai funds..... :)

Princess Andrea Ng

This has got nothing to do with my postings on financial planning; but about a bundle of joy i would like all who visits my blog to share with me. Click on the image to visit her blog.

Portfolio Analysis

"Over-analysis creates Paralysis"

A 64-yrs old housewife beat top investment bankers to cliche top prize in a recent warrant trading contest. She traded solely in HSI warrants only. In 8 weeks, she managed to convert her S$100,000 virtual money into more than S$1,000,000. She eventually walked away with S$8,000 cash prize.

Moral of the story:

Maximise your senses; dun just think - learn to act (even on gut feel). To taste the food, one needs to take a bite. :)

UT Structuring 101

I received a call from a fren today asking me if i could help structure a portfolio for his client. As i have not met or spoken to this client of his, i will not be able to give any advice. Hope this fren understands my position. :)

Anyway, it is quite simple to structure a portfolio when you have the financial objectives of your clients:

1. Find out his current investment status (Any holdings in Stocks, UT, ILP or FDs)
2. Map out the investment horizon
3. Identify his preference in a particular investment (if any)
4. Evaulate his risk adversity (risk profiling)
5. Establish his required rate of return (e.g. better than FD rates)
6. Seek out UT funds that meets his risk-appetite & returns requirement

Though the above steps are not exhausive, it should be quite easy to start structuring some basic portfolio with the following "Rule of Thumb":

Conservative risk investor: 100pts
Medium risk investor: 110pts
High risk Investor:120pts

e.g. Medium risk investor aged 55 years => 110 - 55 = 55% Equity, 45% Bonds
e.g. High risk investor aged 30 years => 120 - 30 = 90% Equity, 10% Bonds

DISCLAIMER: This is not an inducement to buy or sell. You should do your own analysis on top of my postings. Pls seek professional help if necessary.

UT Portfolio as at 21 July 07

It's time to publish my portflio again; after a strong performance last week, emotions are again flying on whether a correction is round the corner. This resulted in volatility swings in the market this week. With Dow closing weaker yesterday (-149pts) after hiting a new record at 14,000pts mid-week, next week will be a healthy week with new records to be set. However, this is provided that positive/negative news on mid-yr earnings reports of companies do not cause too much excitement which would result in profit-taking by short term investors.

Personal Favourite for the 2nd half of 07:

1. DWS AgriBusiness
2. Aberdeen Thailand
3. Schroder ISF Emerging Market Opp
4. Fidelity SEA
5. DWS Climate Change

Updates: Schroder ISF Global Climate Change Equity

This is the other fund which deals with Climate Change. After looking thru the materials on hand; if i have to choose betwen DWS and this, i would be very lost. But here are some food for thoughts:

Schroder Climate Change:
1. Team of dedicated Fund Mgrs + Sectorial Specialist
2. Diverse portfolio allocation in US, EU, UK, JP, GEM & others
3. Concentrated stock pick (50-80 stks)
4. 5 diefferent investment themes

DWS Climate Change:
1. Same Fund Mgr as per their global equity fund
2. Less diverse allocation (mostly invested in EU & North US)
3. Diverse Stock pick (100-120 stks)
4. 3 Investment themes

The launch period will be from now till 8th August 2007. Priced at NAV $10.

DWS Global Climate Change Fund is now available!

DWS Global Climate Change Fund - Offer period starts from 16 July 07 till 17 August 07. Priced at $1.00 (NAV).

The interesting thing to note is that more than 40% is allocated in Europe and North America. My contact from DWS mentioned that this is due to the fact that these regions are more actively involved and technically more advance in curbing environmental problems than the emerging superpowers (e.g. China & India) in polluting. Since this is not a benchmark rigid fund, the fund mgrs has the option to skew their investment into emerging markets when the region is more ready.

As i have mentioned my preference to invest in Europe for long term, this fund happens to land into my radar. I will be looking at switching my Fidelity MAN fund into this or into DWS Agribiz. :p

SPH Seminar

Sigh, wanted very much to share with the crowd on simple ideas they can use to make their lives better. Not sure i created a mess of it; apparently no one asked any questions after my presentation.

Maybe what i presented was too generic. Maybe i should have create more punch by showing off my investment portfolio. Maybe just maybe, i should not have presented. Anyhow, what's done cannot be undone.

I think i was too stressed up having to speak after Daniel (the first speaker) and also having to share after a "wonder-full" tea break. Due to technical glitches, Daniel was delayed by almost 20 mins in his presentation. So when it was my turn, i guess the crowd was already waiting to go home. Sigh... maybe i am just finding an excuse for myself to feel better.

I felt the difficulty in meeting everyone's expectation when there are more than 100 pax in the crowd. Everyone has a different objective in coming for today's seminar; maybe that's the real reason i failed - i was just trying too hard.

Anyway, all comments from those who were there, are much appreciated. Pls be candid on your comments so that i could learn from my mistakes. :) Thanks......

Yet Another Climate Fund - Coming Soon!

DWS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE FUND

Investment Objective
The Sub-Fund seeks to achieve an above-average appreciation of capital invested by investing all or substantially all of its assets in DWS Invest Climate Change (the “Underlying Fund”), a sub-fund of DWS Invest, a multi-portfolio investment company incorporated under the laws of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.

Investment Focus and Approach
(a) The Sub-Fund intends to invest in the FC share class of the Underlying Fund, which is denominated in Euros.

(b) At least 70% of the Underlying Fund’s assets (after deduction of liquid assets) are invested in equities, other equity securities and uncertificated equity instruments of foreign and domestic companies that are primarily active in business areas suited to restricting or reducing climate change and its effects: CO2-efficient or energy-efficient technologies, renewable or alternative energies, climate protection, disaster prevention or disaster management and energy-efficient mobility.

(c) Within the area of clean technologies, the focus of investment is on equities of companies whose current or future products contribute towards the reduction of the greenhouse effect and CO2 emissions. The focus of investment also includes equities of companies with CO2-efficient operations (e.g., by way of recycling, efficient processes or protecting resources).

(d) In the renewable and alternative energies sector, the focus of investment is on companies with operations in the areas of solar energy, bioenergy, wind energy, fuel cells, hydro-power, geothermal energy and geoenergy.

(e) Within the area of disaster prevention, the focus of investment is on companies that provide products and/or services for monitoring and disaster prevention in coastal areas and other areas that are vulnerable to disasters.

(f) Within the area of disaster management, the focus of investment is on companies that provide emergency relief services or support rebuilding efforts.

(g) The area of energy-efficient mobility includes companies whose products help to make the flow of goods and people more efficient. Possible measures include influencing the means of transport, reducing fuel consumption and optimising transport streams.

(h) Up to 30% of the Underlying Fund’s assets (after deduction of liquid assets) may be invested in equities, other equity securities and uncertificated equity instruments that do not fulfil the requirements of sub-paragraphs (b) to (g) above, as well as in all other permissible assets.

UT Portfolio as at 14 July 07

Busy Busy Busy...... just completed my slides for tomorrow's preentation. Hope i do not suffer cold feet (as i have not done public speaking to such a large crowd for a very long time).

There are some changes in the presentation of my portfolio as iFast decide to improve the look and feel of the portfolio presentation to make it easier for laymen to understand. :)

As you can see, my investments to-date has grown 28.45% since 14 Dec 2005 (exactly 19 months). The annualized return is 18.00% p.a., not too bad considering the fact that i was hit by 2 corrections in Apr/May 06 and Feb/Mar 07. Hee hee....

Public Seminar at SPH Auditorium on 14 July 2007

I will be addressing issues on "Growing Your Personal Wealth" tomorrow at SPH Auditorium from 2-5 pm. Those interested, pls contact SPH for tickets now!

New Funds - On the way to a store near you!

SCHRODER ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS COMMODITY FUND & SCHRODER ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS AGRICULTURE FUND

Investment objective and policy:

The investment objective of SAS Commodity Fund is to generate a total return in the long term through investment in commodity related instruments globally. The investment objective of SAS Agricultural Fund is to generate a total return in the long term through investment in agricultural commodity related instruments globally.

Investment approach:

The SAS Commodity Fund will be exposed to a range of commodity sectors globally, while the SAS Agricultural Fund will be exposed to a range of agricultural commodities globally. Although it is anticipated that the SAS Commodity Fund will be primarily invested in the energy, agriculture and metals sectors, the Fund may however invest in any sector of the commodity market at the discretion of the Investment Manager. The SAS Agricultural Fund may invest in any sector of the agricultural commodity market at the discretion of the Investment Manager.

The Funds will be actively managed and will invest predominantly in a range of commodity related derivative instruments (in the case of SAS Commodity Fund) or agricultural commodity related derivative instruments (in the case of SAS Agriculture Fund), principally comprising futures and other commodity linked derivative instruments such as swaps on physical commodities and futures on commodity indices, and structured notes. The Funds will not acquire any physical commodities directly nor will they enter into any contracts relating to physical commodities other than commodity futures, warrants, swaps, and options contracts. Any commodity futures or options contracts and any other derivativeinstruments that call for physical delivery of the underlying commodity will be liquidated prior to delivery and the Investment Manager has put in place procedures to ensure that this occurs.

The Funds will typically seek to gain exposure to the commodity markets by investing in commodity futures and commodity related total return swaps. A swap allows the Funds to create exposure to a specific commodity. Each Fund will pay a replication fee during the lifetime of a swap. At maturity of the swap, the relevant Fund will receive an amount linked to the rise in the price of the commodity over the term of the swap. However, if the price of the commodity falls, that Fund will have to pay this amount to the counterparty.

To implement their investment policy, the Funds may use standardized and non-standardized (customized) derivative financial instruments. It may conduct such transactions on a stock exchange or another regulated market open to the public, or directly with a bank or financial institution specializing in these types of business as counterparty (Over The Counter trading). Even in extraordinary circumstances, the use of these instruments will not result in the Fund being leveraged nor will they be used to engage in short selling.

To a lesser extent, the Funds will also invest in equities, warrants of issuers in commodity related equities, and may also for purposes of hedging only invest in foreign currency such as forward currency contracts, currency options and swaps on currencies, and cash or cash equivalents including certificates of deposit, treasury bills and floating rate notes. At least two-thirds of the total assets of each Fund, without taking into account any cash or cash equivalents which comprise bank credit balances and money market instruments with maturities of up to twelve months, will be invested in commodity futures, other commodity related derivatives or commodity-related equity securities or equity warrants.

UT Portfolio as at 06 July 07

Have not made much changes to the portfolio as i expected volatility. After 5.3% drop in the Chinese index, there is more reason to relook at investing into China. I am contemplating to put additional funds into DWS China Eqty in the coming week; to take advantage of this minor correction.

Here's my scorecard for the week:

Virtual Portfolio #2 - as of 29th June 2007

One month has passed, let's do some updates.....

Chin:
33.33% DWS China Equity Fund - SGD 2.412 -> SGD 2.6571
33.33% DWS Asian Small Cap Fund - SGD 1.547 -> SGD 1.5615
33.33% Lion Cap Sing/Malaysia Fund - SGD 2.733 -> SGD 2.85

Net Growth = 3.39 + 0.31 + 1.43 = 5.13 %

Calvin:
40.00% Fidelity China Focused Fund - SGD 1.136 -> SGD 1.244
40.00% Schroders ISF Emerging Markets Opportunity Fund - SGD 11.71 -> SGD 11.86
20.00% Henderson Asian Dividen Income Fund (USD) - USD 13.48 -> USD 13.77

Net Growth = 3.80 + 0.51 + 0.43 = 4.74 % (not inclusive of recent USD appreciation)

Chin is currently leading by about 30 basis pts. Will this winning streak continue? Stay tuned to find out...... :)

UT Portfolio as of 01 July 07

Wanted to post this earlier but could not find time; i was busy studying for my exam on Sunday, 1st July 07. Also because ofthis exam, part 3 of my Smart Money series will be delayed. I promised myself to get it done before the end of this coming week. :)

Anyway, the financial markets are not doing well this week, with major swings from one market to the other. Unless you are holding to pure cash, your investments will be swung in all directions. If you suffered less than 3% downside, you should consider yourself very lucky. :)

Sad to say, i am definitely not one of the lucky ones. Here's why: