Money Goals for 2019

[revhappy]

A new thread to discuss Money Goals for 2019.
Mine are continue investing into equities any new savings, entirely. So my asset allocation currently at 50:50 equities:bonds, will skew slightly upwards, provided markets remain at current levels by end of 2019. My target by end of 2019 will be 52:48. Of course markets could really tank or rise and then the ratio gets altered, which is okay.

What are your goals?

 

[BBCWatcher]

Looking ahead to 2019....

* I've already decided to increase monthly savings by about 8% (ex-CPF) since I feel that's a new, higher, sustainable savings flow. No change to portfolio allocations.

* January is CPF top-up month(*), including my spouse. January 1 or 2 for any MediSave top-ups (as the Basic Healthcare Sum rises, to beat employer contributions, and they must fit within the CPF Annual Limit). Same thing if/when there's a MediSave withdrawal, e.g. for Integrated Shield base plan premiums -- some MediSave "gap filling," if able and if allowed, with tax relief. Late January, but credited within January, will be the Special Account top-ups, with tax relief.

* January 31 is the deadline to file any 2018 medical claims against employer-provided insurance. (Employers vary, but that's a common deadline.)

* Keep transferring surplus CPF Ordinary Account dollars into the Special Account, every month in 2019 and beyond.

* February and March tend to be tax information collection and reporting months, since I try to get those tasks out of the way reasonably early (U.S. person here).

* March: The Integrated Shield carriers will all have announced their rule compliant riders by this point, ready to be in force no later than April 1, 2019. I'll probably take a look at the new riders and premiums, then review our coverage to see whether the new rider makes sense.

* At various points in 2019 there will be a few annual insurance premium notices and renewals to consider. I don't think there will be any major changes, but we'll see.

* Once a year it's a good idea to update "digital will" instructions.

* Get your annual medical check-ups, go to the dentist, etc., etc.

....And past that is too far into the future.

(*) Now is CPF top-up month if you haven't done your 2018 top-ups for tax relief yet.

 

[hwmook]

What is "digital will" about? That's the part that I am curious about.

 

[existential_reality]

Excluding property I'm currently at

21%/10%/69% Equity/Bonds/Cash

my target is

60%/35%/5% Equity/Bonds/Cash

Will be working towards that in 2019 but pending on how the markets behave.

 

[starlight318]

Currently I'm at 72.5% equity (some direct stocks, E35 and IWDA), 23% bonds (SRS, A35 and Temasek retail bond) and 4.5% cash, excluding emergency funds equivalent to 12 months expenses.

Target to move to 75% equity allocated mainly to IWDA as I've just started investing in it. Bonds I will adjust to 25% to continue building more passive income. But increment to passive income will be small next year since IWDA does not pay out cash dividends.

Depending on the market, I also plan to sell down my individual stocks and move into a pure ETF portfolio.

 

[ocs_woodlands]

Marking time till 2028 for retirement..

 

[mummy1234]

To be able to save more in my new job.

 

[BBCWatcher]

January is also the first month when income eligible U.S. persons can contribute to U.S. Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) for the new tax year. So every January 2 or thereabouts, that’s what I do. It’s best to get those IRA contributions done as early as possible, to allow that much more time for the money to grow. If you end up not qualifying (because your earned income was not what you expected), it’s possible to reverse a contribution as long as you don’t wait too long to reverse.

For tax year 2019 the annual U.S. IRA limit is increasing by $500. That figure increases with inflation, rounded to $500 increments. Next year (2019) happens to be the first year when the cumulative inflation adjustment is big enough to push the limit up by the minimum increment.

Obviously this isn’t a common money goal in Singapore, but for a few of you (e.g. Shiny Things) it’s an annual ritual.

This month (December) is the last month for trying to do any tax loss harvesting for 2018, meaning to sell certain assets at a loss in order to offset capital gains. There are certain rules that limit tax loss harvesting, including “wash sale” rules, but it’s a popular technique among U.S. investors.

 

[ceciltan]

Continue to pump 99% into equity for me. The last 1% I contribute to the development of Singapore via Singapore Pools.

 

[OngHuatHuat]

Hopefully next year can get full 6% dividend from RHT Health Trust and deal completed only end of 2019, but not end 2018.

 

[NewInvestor]

To find a decent paying job....

 

[rrr2015]

exploring ways to have more fun with less money

for asset allocation, will downshift to be more conservative.

 

[Dividends Warrior]

1. Continue with usual dividend investing. Aim to hit $25k annual dividends.

2. Top up CPF SA & MA

 

[BBCWatcher]

for asset allocation, will downshift to be more conservative.

Why? Are you getting near drawdown age?

1. Continue with usual dividend investing. Aim to hit $25k annual dividends.

Why? Are you past your accumulation phase and now in drawdown phase?

If you're dealing with assets that are (or will be) at least reasonably liquid in granular amounts, all that matters is total net real return. In fact, you'd really rather they didn't distribute dividends since there's both an opportunity cost (lost time in market) and a broker cost, typically, to reinvest dividends. And incurring higher costs is definitely not in your personal interest.

Occasionally, rarely, there's some tax benefit with dividends as opposed to capital gains, but for non-U.S. persons resident in Singapore it's rather the opposite. There is a dividend tax on U.S. listed stocks (either 30% or 15% depending on how you buy your U.S. stocks), but there's no capital gains tax. So you'd much prefer low or zero dividend paying stocks that are investing in their own businesses and, other things being equal, increasing capital gains. That's more tax efficient.

I don't understand dividend fetishes, especially among non-retirees.

 

[rrr2015]

nope still far. but with simpler lifestyle & better interest rates, am contented with lower roi & volatility.

Why? Are you getting near drawdown age

 

[Thoreldan]

No change for me...
1k to iwda via ib monthly
500 to g3b via posb invest saver monthly
Full OA to SA
7k to SA

 

[BBCWatcher]

nope still far. but with simpler lifestyle & better interest rates, am contented with lower roi & volatility.

This isn't a fabulous time to have that epiphany. If you're reacting to market events with a "I want to crawl in a hole now" approach, that's not good, not at all. That leads to buying high and selling low, which doesn't work. When stock prices fall, that's a GOOD thing when you have lots of accumulation ahead of you -- stocks are on sale.

 

[limster]

1. Continue with usual dividend investing. Aim to hit $25k annual dividends.

2. Top up CPF SA & MA

Power of CD! Dividends Still Don't Lie!

Reached stage 7 sometime back, still working towards stage 8!

I will figure out my total dividends in Jan 2019, and maybe also include CPF interest (since CPF is supposed to be my bond component...)

 

[peipei1]

I think we are at 4.5, only hdb debt servicing that we cannot pay off in full even if i wanted. My 2019 hopes is no severe financial recession, working in financials is not as stable as civil services. Honestly wasn't expecting iwda to give a negative 7% return this year, can only hope the bottom is near, this is worse than putting in banks.

 

[BBCWatcher]

Honestly wasn't expecting iwda to give a negative 7% return this year, can only hope the bottom is near, this is worse than putting in banks.

Are you planning to retire tomorrow or next year? If you are, you shouldn't be in IWDA (much). IWDA is a long-term investment vehicle, designed for literally decades of savings inflow.

In 2017, IWDA had a total return of +22.45% (excluding currency conversion and broker commission costs). In 2018, it's -9.70% total return year to date. These figures are in U.S. dollar terms. If you have merely been pushing S$X/month into IWDA over these 24 months, you're still doing better than your bank.

Every day, every month, every year that I'm buying stocks -- and I am -- I hope for the lowest possible prices on those stocks. As I approach retirement and am in retirement, that's when I hope for the highest possible prices on stocks. That's how it works.

So apples are on sale at Fairprice? Go buy some! This is great news when you're a buyer.