I always look forward to receiving my annual SGX mailer in January, because they have very conveniently include a statement which shows both total holdings and dividends collected throughout the year. Outside this annual letter, I have to diligently track my holdings and dividends by myself throughout the year.
Total Income from REITs: $815.35
Total Income from non-REITs: $2524.62
Total Income for 2020: $3339.97
Average monthly income: $278.33
Average dividend yield is just below CPF interest rate, which made me throw the question of 'what am I doing?', but I also remembered that:
- COVID has caused yields to drop across the board
- Most of my market movements only came in after 2H2020, so the dividends are not fully realised over a full FY yet.
Unfortunately, I have also not been spending 'diligently', and keeping up with the criteria required in the various bank accounts to get a good interest rate. A quick glance across my monthly bank statements seem to show that I'm only getting about $30/mth. But I'm not too concerned about this as the offered rates are at rock-bottom, and will remain so over the next 6 months or more.
My aim for this year would be to bump this up to be as close as possible to the $500/mth zone as soon as possible, and that should be the next milestone. I'm giving myself 1-2 years for this goal as there are some big-ticket items on the cards, such as marriage, which may also increase fixed expenses. But of course, if I can reach this by end of 2021, that'd be great.