The second quarter of 2024 my portfolio grew nicely – even though I did not manage to invest much. Read on for the details!
Portfolio in Q2, 2024
In Q2 my portfolio grew by SGD 42,798 and on top of that I received SGD 1,888 in dividends, which I reinvested. I try to minimize dividends, as they are taxed by nearly 30% in Germany.
My portfolio is getting quite close to the SGD 1 million mark – but there might just be another correction or massive downturn around the corner. Unhatched chickens will not be counted!
Portfolio Allocation:
Approximately 82% of my portfolio is in stock index funds, about 17% is in bonds, and around 1% is in cash. I have not purchased any additional bonds for a long time, leading to a decrease in their share from about 25% three years ago. In hindsight, my portfolio performance was hurt by my stock picking, REITs, bonds etc – I should have just kept it at 100% index funds right from the start.
Not included: company participations
Not included in the portfolio are the stakes in 2 companies I have bought. These are illiquid investments and I cannot sell them. For the purpose of accounting, I value them both at zero, even though I am optimistic in the potential. Shares in my current employer are also not counted for the same reasons.
Income:
In the second quarter, I had the following income sources:
- Salary: SGD 18,559
- Side gigs/other: SGD 1,885
- Dividends: SGD 1,888
- Total: SGD 23,793
Spending:
In the second quarter, I spent SGD 15,443 or 83% of my salary. This is obviously far from ideal. Additionally I had to pay extra taxes and do a tax prepayment of SGD 3,153. Total spending was SGD 18,596 or 83% of my total income.
When can I retire?
The mother of all charts is quite stable, I can retire as soon as the blue and the green lines intersect. Technically, I could probably already retire today and live on SGD 3,200 per month somewhere cheap, but it would not be ideal.
When I started this blog in 2014, my goal was to retire in 2027. That’s about 3.5 years from now. Two years ago, I switched to working at a startup, which means I earn a lot less. Despite this, I still think I can achieve financial independence by 2027 if there are no major disasters.
My original plan was to retire with SGD 4,000 in monthly expenses, backed by a portfolio of SGD 1.2 million. However, due to inflation, what cost SGD 4,000 in 2014 now costs at least SGD 5,000. This means I would need a portfolio of SGD 1.5 million, which is a big jump from my current SGD 0.98 million.
It seems more realistic to stick with a SGD 1.2 million portfolio and cut back on expenses a bit. Let’s see how it goes!