Kangaroo's Corner

3Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

2026-10-02T02:00:22.614+08:00

Same old story. Nothing really change in the last 3 months. Iran and Ukraine war is still on-going. El Nino effect is going strong, bringing the haze back to Southeast Asia with drier weather and lesser rain. Future market outlook to me is also hazy as well. >.< Trump still believes that USA is great and everyone should revolve around him, weaponizing tariff and forcing countries into his own agenda. Well, we still have 2 years and 4 months of him more to go! *sigh*

Market wise, the Fed has just raise the interest rate by 0.25% 2 weeks ago to tame inflation, ending hopes of lower interest rates to drive the stock market higher. US Reits took a hit from that decision. DJI ended at 50906, an decrease of 1413 points (-2.70%) compared to 2Q 2026. For Singapore, STI ended at 5675, an increase of 505 points (+9.76%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (58.5% STI weightage) continues to drive the STI direction. Thanks DBS for the stellar results and contribution towards capital and dividend gains.

Below is a summary of my transaction in the last quarter:

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch IReit Global shares in July. Project RE(O has shown results with the signing of 2 long term hospitality lease and 1 long term office lease, with the first contribution in 3Q 2027 after construction finished. Dividend is expected to increase from 2027 onwards.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch DBS shares in July. DBS has shown stellar results and has exceeded all expectation consistently every quarter. I believe eventually, this could be Singapore first $100 stock! Buy in for their ever increasing quarterly divided and capital gains.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch Singtel shares in August. Singtel28 transformation execution is bearing fruit, with the heavy investment into data center and share buybacks. Dividend has since return to pre-COVID levels.

Transaction 4: Bought 1 batch Prime US Reit shares in September. There was this one day in September that without warning, Prime drop a whopping 12%. No idea what is the reason, but I decided to buy in the next day to capitalize on the drop with improving US sediments and results in the last 4 quarters. Dividend payout ratio has been increasing as well with improving confidence from the management. Worth to buy in and keep to wait for turn around.

That is all for now. See you all in Q4 2026 update and thank you for reading thus far.

2Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

2026-07-01T12:27:21.705+08:00

Chaos is the word defining Q2. Iran war is just about to come to an end (I hope) as cease fire was agreed on 17-Jun between USA and Iran. However, limited tit-for-tat strikes are still reported on both sides, threatening the fragile peace. Oil price at least has came down, putting a hold on further inflation escalation.

June is also the month for World Cup 2026 as USA, Canada and Mexico co-host the event. Lots of surprise results as participants battle for glory and honor. Cape Verde became the rookie star of the tournament. Who can foresee that a country with only 500,000 citizens can go into the Round of 32? Maybe.... Singapore can take some inspiration from them? Haha

Market wise, USA and SG has gone back to its peak after a quick correction. Investors are still buying the AI dream, and with it, tech and semi-con companies have continue to rise with their out of the world valuation. DJI ended at 52319, an increase of 5888 points (+12.70%) compared to 1Q 2026. For Singapore, STI ended at 5170, an increase of 285 points (+5.83%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (51.1% STI weightage) continues to drive the STI direction.

Below is a summary of my transaction in the last quarter:

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Grab shares in June. I still believe in the potential of Grab as they still have their advertisement segment and GXS bank yet to fully developed. Just a case of buying the dip.

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch NTT DC Reit in June. Good entry point at 7.5% yield as they go Ex-Div. Data center is now high in demand. Good potential and room to grow with increase dividend in future. Yes, their lease to tenant are going up as well.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch Singtel in June. Singtel has dropped about 12% from its last high point ($5.02). Good point of entry and dividend yield if holding long term.

That is all for now. See you all in Q3 2026 update and thank you for reading thus far.

China Day 12 - 独克宗古城 (香格里拉)

2026-06-20T01:03:49.835+08:00

28 May - Time flies and we reached the last day of our Yunnan holiday trip. Using the remaining morning time, we made a last trip to 独克宗古城 to take photos of the iconic 大佛寺 from another angle.

End of trip, taking the 5 hours 动车 back to 昆明 for the midnight flight home.

China Day 11 - 石卡雪山, 香格里拉古城

2026-06-19T01:26:12.775+08:00

27 May - We made an impromptu decision today to visit 石卡雪山 in the morning as we have a break in the schedule and the 雪山 location is just a 15mins ride away. 石卡雪山, being not as famous as 玉龙雪山, have significantly fewer tourists. Even the cable car that is bringing us up the mountain is more friendly (I felt) compared to 玉龙雪山. For 石卡雪山, the cable car operates in 2 stages: the first stage will bring you up to the mid mountain, where you can take a short break to acclimatize and tour around the site which also houses the 亚纳青波牧场. If you do not have any major discomfort, you can proceed to the second stage which will take around 15mins each way.

石卡雪山售票处

石卡雪山 - 4449m 打卡点

亚纳青波牧场

索道中站 taking oxygen break

Top of the 石卡雪山 @ 4449m

玉龙雪山山脉 in the distance

After spending 2 hours on top of 石卡雪山, we slowly make our way down and proceed to our next destination: 香格里拉古城. We spent some time soaking in the Tibetan decoration @ 桑珠别院, before taking time to explore around the town.

扎西德勒 - 藏族人表示欢迎、祝福吉祥的话

大佛寺

China Day 10 - 纳帕海, 普达措国家公园 (香格里拉)

2026-06-17T12:46:52.810+08:00

26 May - 香格里拉, located at an average altitude of 3200m is considered a high altitude city which puts you at risk of catching altitude sickness. General advice is to spend a few days at a lower-altitude city (like Lijiang at 2400 meters) before heading to Shangri-La to let your body acclimatize. Golden rule is to go slow in whatever you do, no strenuous activities and always equipped with an oxygen canister which will help to increase your blood oxygen content and relief some altitude sickness symptoms.

For today, our group plan is to visit 纳帕海 in the morning followed by 普达措国家公园 in the afternoon. As the rainy season has not arrived yet, the grassland in 纳帕海 is still not flooded. Basically we just see a normal grassland with horses for tourist riding. Going in the morning has its merits as we have the 大经幡 wholly for ourselves.

纳帕海 grassland un-flooded yet (no "sea") as rainy season is only due next month

纳帕海大经幡

After we are done with the photos, we moved on to 普达措国家公园. There are 3 sections which we can visit today, namely 悠幽步道, 属都湖 and 碧塔海. In order to travel from sections to sections, we can only take their designated sightseeing buses. For 悠幽步道, they will ceased stopping at this point after 3.30pm. To walk through the whole 悠幽步道, we took around 2 hours, though we can finished earlier if not for the photo taking sessions. For the 步道, nothing extraordinary except to enjoy the nature and the animals. Flowers might be in bloom later in the months, but now (end May) is not their season yet.

First stop: 悠幽步道

Black Tibetan pigs

Ancient trees that has lived 300 - 400 years

属都湖

Blossoming flowers @ 属都湖

As there is not much time left, we decided to skip 碧塔海 and headed back to our hotel to search for our dinner (王宝器麻椒鱼). Tasty for the first 60mins, but get quite sick of it after a while.

China Day 9 - 虎跳峡，白水台 (香格里拉)

2026-06-16T19:20:28.397+08:00

25 May - As we depart 丽江 and move to 香格里拉, we booked a driver for this journey, dropping by 虎跳峡 and 白水台 along the way. It was a pretty scenic drive, with beautiful mountains, raging river and beautiful white terraces. What an amazing work that God has created!

Scenic drive and good weather all the way to 香格里拉

虎跳峡

The raging 金沙江, a primary tributary of the upper Yangtze River at 虎跳峡

Scenic view at 栖崖·雪山悬崖咖啡餐厅 where we have our lunch

东巴圣地白水台

龙潭湖公园 @ 香格里拉

China Day 8 - 玉龙雪山风景区 (丽江)

2026-06-15T02:23:40.969+08:00

24 May - Today is the highlight of the trip, going up to the highest point we ever reached in our entire life, 玉龙雪山观景台 at 4506m. As I still have not recovered from my bout of cough, I gave up climbing to another higher platform at 4608m. To start the day, we woke up super early at 5am just to catch the 日照金山 view. Before that, we listened in to a safety briefing on 高反 as the cable car that is going to bring all of us up will be ascending 1000m in 10mins. Pretty much a high risk event that most people will experience some sort of discomfort. To lower the risk, they recommended some 中药 mixture that will help elevate the oxygen content in the blood so that the risk of 高反 is lowered. Well, health is more important, so we just buy the mixture and drink, especially we just saw a news that a Malaysia tourist died after visiting 玉龙雪山 a few weeks before this trip. To prepare for ascending 玉龙雪山, a common advice widely circulated is not to wash your hair 1 day before and after as washing hair might increase blood circulation and make the 高反 worse.

日照金山 - Too bad the mountain top is hidden behind the clouds

Another view of 玉龙雪山, which is still hidden behind the clouds

白水台 which is not very white

玉液湖

蓝月谷

玉龙雪山观景台 @ 4506m

After 1 hour on top of the mountain, I began to feel the effect of 高反 (headache) and quickly descend down the mountain. Next up, we catch the Lijiang Impression that is directed by 张艺谋.

Hmm. truthfully speaking, the Lijiang Impression is not very impressive to me

China Day 7 - 白沙古镇，束河古镇 (丽江)

2026-06-07T02:01:05.003+08:00

23 May - After we are done with 丽江古城 last night, we started the day with 白沙古镇 and later 束河古镇 mainly for 打卡 and touring the old towns. 白沙古镇坐落于玉龙雪山脚下，拥有观赏雪山绝佳的无遮挡视野, 同时也保留了纳西族原汁原味古都的风貌.

Viewing 玉龙雪山 @ 白沙书局

After we are satisfied with the photos, we moved on to 束河古镇, another 打卡点 with 玉龙雪山 as the background.

青龙桥

恋人桥

China Day 6 - 丽江古城 (丽江)

2026-06-06T01:38:59.480+08:00

22 May - Today we bid farewell to 大理 and proceed to take a train to our next destination 丽江. As usual, 2nd class seating means we need to rush to secure the limited luggage space on train. After 2 hours journey, we arrived at 丽江, 2400m above sea level, which is 400m higher than 大理.

Leaving 大理, reaching station 1 hour before departure

Our hotel room @ 丽江古城万豪万枫酒店

After check in, we hit the nearby 丽江古城 and started exploring this beautiful ancient town.

The iconic 丽江古城大水车

丽江古城四方街 (Town Center)

丽江之眼 (Highest point of city)

大石桥

Mushroom hotpot for dinner @ 观雪.阅古楼

Nice view overlooking the 古城, further away if the sky is clear, you can see 玉龙雪山

China Day 5 - 双廊古镇, 文笔村 (大理)

2026-06-05T02:07:23.293+08:00

21 May - Continuing where we left off yesterday, we will be covering the eastern route of 洱海, visiting 双廊古镇 and 文笔村 for today. Our first stop: 双廊古镇, known for its beautiful lakeside view mainly for 打卡.

Exotic food - Salamander and Turtle anyone?

The twelve types of mushroom we have been eating in Yunnan

Interesting wisdom: 别减肥了，猪八戒走了十万八千里也没有瘦下来。何况他还是吃素...

Fresh eatable roses used in 鲜花饼

After we are done with 双廊古镇, we moved off to 文笔村 to catch its sunset.

China Day 4 - 喜洲古镇, S湾，大理古城 (大理)

2026-06-04T01:58:09.643+08:00

20 May - 大理 is a town built around a beautiful lake called 洱海. To cover the whole of 大理, there are 2 routes, namely the western route covering the western side of the lake and the eastern route, covering the eastern side of the lake. For today, we will be covering the western route, dropping by 喜洲古镇, S湾 and 大理古城.

First stop: 喜洲古镇, where we explore the old towns, 扎染 (blue color dyed cloths) and 麦田, where the famous C drama 《去有风的地方》取景地.

扎染

喜洲转角楼

《去有风的地方》取景地

只需一杯好茶，温暖从心开始

After we have taken enough photos of the wheat field, we moved on to our next destination: S湾, which is another popular 打卡点, known for its beautiful seaside view and 白族村落 buildings.

Finally to end the day, we stopped by 大理古城 where we explored the old streets before having our dinner within the 古城.

大理古城南门

Spotted a "horse" galloping over a mountain

China Day 3 - 理想邦 (大理)

2026-06-03T00:34:35.237+08:00

19 May - Today we bid farewell to Kunming and took a train to Dali situated at 2000m above sea level (100m higher than Kunming). When we reached our destination, we took a free transport arranged by the hotel to 理想邦, which is basically a replica of Greece's Santorini. 理想邦 by itself is an interesting concept where some 10+ hotels collectively grouped together and develop this holiday resort style township consisting of eateries, gardens and various photogenic spots purely for people to 打卡.

昆明 Station

Our room @ 海十八·烟云海景度假酒店

Welcome to 理想邦

China Day 2 - 石林 & 九乡 (昆明)

2026-06-02T01:35:02.274+08:00

18 May - For the second day, we hit the iconic tourist spot of Kunming - 石林 & 九乡. The 石林风景区 is a renowned UNESCO World Heritage Site famous for its spectacular natural limestone pillars and karst formations. Well, I am not really a rock person, so just here to 打卡 and move on. The weather under the sun is really hot, even with the temperature saying its only 25 degree Celsius.

The iconic 石林

The karst formations

The stone depicting a local folklore - “阿詩瑪” 傳說

For lunch, the driver took us to a local restaurant outside the scenic spot. We ordered 牛肝菌, 麻婆豆腐 and the traditional Yunnan iconic dish 汽锅鸡. Bad on us to not check the price before ordering and got kind of ripped off. Both the 牛肝菌 & 汽锅鸡 was priced at RMB $128, which is way too expensive. We found out later that other places only cost around half the price!

Stir fried 牛肝菌

麻婆豆腐

汽锅鸡 (Signature dish from Yunnan Province, famous for its unique cooking method. Instead of boiling the chicken directly in water, the ingredients are placed in a special clay pot and cooked entirely by circulating steam. This method naturally condenses the steam into a clear, nutrient-rich broth that captures the chicken's original flavor)

After lunch, we moved to our next destination - 九乡, which is famous for its Karst cave formations. To start the trip, we took a nice cable car ride overlooking fields of tea leaves, which some are used by local to smoke as cigarette.

Tea plantation

Next, we took a scenic boat ride through the spectacular karst gorge of 荫翠峡, also called the Valley of Love for it was the place for local young men and women to sing songs in order to find lovers. The valley stretches for about 600m, flanked with verdant trees.

Finally, we entered the main attraction, which is the 九乡溶洞. You entered the cave complex by first passing through 惊魂峡, a gorge about 700 meters long and nearly 100 meters deep. It was named in honor of those who attempted to create the trails without falling into the gorge.

惊魂峡

Cave formation which looked like an alien face

雄狮厅, which is also the movie《神话》取景地

神女宫

神田

China Day 1 - Exploring Kunming

2026-05-31T23:46:13.459+08:00

17 May - First of all, PTL for making this entire trip possible, without which, we would not have gone and have such an enjoyable time and experience. We took a direct flight from Scoot (TR160) and flew into Kunming early in the morning at 2am. We quickly found our pre-booked driver who drove us to our hotel Fairfield by Marriott Kunming Xinying Hotel (昆明新迎万枫酒店). One point to note, the service provided by the hotel is top notch: They offered complimentary free breakfast and a fruit platter that is delivered to your room by their in-house robot!

For Internet connectivity, in case you are wondering, even if you are on Singtel Dataroam, with the Great "Wall" of China in effect, your Google, WhatsApp, Yahoo and Pokémon Go does not work here! What does work is their Amap (高德地图), Alipay and WeChat Pay. Literally, with these 3 apps, you are good to make your way around China. Physical cash are not commonly used. In my entire trip, I think I only used physical cash twice!

Our hotel room at 昆明新迎万枫酒店

View from the morning breakfast @ hotel

First stop after breakfast was to visit the blooming jacaranda trees, which peaks annually from mid-April to early June. We visited the iconic 教场中路, which features a 2-kilometer stretch of over 200 jacaranda trees forming a dense purple tunnel.

教场中路 decorations

Blooming jacaranda trees

After snapping enough pictures of the jacaranda trees, we moved on to 翠湖, a 21-hectare urban oasis featuring interconnected lakes, historic pavilions, and willow-lined stone bridges.

翠湖 entrance

竹林岛, which seems like a replica of Kyoto's Arashiyama Bamboo Forest

After spending a few hours roaming through the greeneries, we moved on to our last destination of the day: 傲城 - 天空之眼. For this, we need to climb 4 to 5 floors up the stairs and this is the first time that we finally felt the effect of high altitude (Kunming is at 1900m above sea level)! I have never felt so breathless climbing just 5 floors that I needed a rest break after 4 floors of climb! Well, at least the view at the end of this exercise is worth it!

傲城 - 天空之眼

Evening time was spent roaming around 南屏步行街 to experience their night life and take pictures of iconic buildings

昆明 - 对月楼

Apparently there is a long queue for their 鲜花饼. We decided to join in the crowd as well

昆明台北街

南强街巷

1Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

2026-04-01T14:52:00.009+08:00

Dear President Trump, you have done it again. You have said to want to negotiate deals with countries to end a tariff standoff that is acceptable to both parties. Yet, the moment U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the tariff measures you invoked under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were illegal, you raised the tariff to 15% under another another alternate regulation: Section 122 of the Trade Act for the next 150 days. All previous agreed deals are now void.

Dear President Trump, you have said you wanted peace (I know you wanted the Nobel Peace Prize very badly for reasons that only you knew) and have negotiated or participated in some ways to end XX number of conflicts. Yet, you turn around and kidnap the Venezuela president and started bombing Iran because they pose national security concerns to the USA? In the span of 1 week, oil price has increase from $70 to $108, a whopping 50%, directly impacting our common folks cost of living. What about the Ukraine war that is still on-going into its 4th year? Should you not focus on ending this first? Or maybe President Putin is your very good friend and you do not want to displeasure him?

I gathered: I cannot trust you with any deals that we spent countless time negotiating, for you will not hesitate to tear it to shreds in the blink of an eye if things doesn't go your way.

Anyway, chaos, chaos and more chaos. That basically sums up the first 3 months of 2026. Large swings in equity values. With that said, I still believe if the fundamental of the company remains strong, we should double down on cost dollar averaging when its price becomes attractive.

DJI ended at 46341, an decrease of 1722 points (-3.58%) compared to 4Q 2025. For Singapore, STI outperformed and ended at 4885, an increase of 239 points (+5.14%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (48.7% STI weightage) continues to drive the STI direction. Due to potential rise in inflation as a result of oil price increase (depends on how long the Iran war might drag on), market is pricing that there might be no more interest rate cuts this year.

Below is a summary of my transaction in the last quarter:

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Singtel shares in February. Singtel is currently undergoing transformation to embark on the next pillar of growth: Data Centers. Besides developing and managing its own data centers, it just also announced a joint acquisition with KKR for ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) for S$6.6 billion. With stable dividend returning due to its associates contribution, this is a valued company to buy into, with a forecast dividend yield of 3.5%.

That is all for now. See you all in Q2 2026 update and thank you for reading thus far.

What an Amazing Plan (Resolving Internet Down Issue)

2026-02-25T11:36:00.000+08:00

Prompted to jot down this testimony for His amazing plan. I am truly amazed at how everything just came together at the right place and time. It all began 3 weeks ago where I have absolutely no idea why certain things happened.

Testimony Sharing

It all started on 04-Feb when a Singtel Agent called me for my broadband renewal. Everything went smoothly and I signed up to renew and upgrade my existing plan for another 2 years. As part of the service to upgrade from 1Gbps to 3Gbps, I needed to change my 7 years old ONR, which no longer support any speed above 1Gbps. And as part of the equipment renewal, I also signed up to replace my 4 years old router mesh system. Installation date was originally set at 11-Mar, which I changed the next day to 18-Mar due to clash with my business travel. A few days later, I found out Singtel secretly (no call was made) changed the installation date to 23-Feb backend without informing me. I found it strange but did no further action as I will be WFH to attend to the Singtel engineer.

Fast forward to 22-Feb. Woke up on a Sun morning to find out that my whole house Internet is down. Reboot the whole systems 3 times and the router still is unable to connect to Internet. Called Singtel CS which ran some test and suspect it could be the physical router issue and recommended to arrange an engineer to come down to my house to check the router.

It then hit me that God, by some miracle, has already made arrangement to change my router on 23-Feb 2 weeks ago. How amazing His plan is that everything just fall into place at the right time! Thank God for your grace and miracle once again!

4Q 2025 Investment Strategy Update

2026-01-02T01:16:00.000+08:00

2025 is really not the year for the faint hearted. We have a USA president that is weaponizing tariffs to change world order to prevent the rise of China and forcing company to shift manufacturing back to USA. Whether it is effective or not still remains to be seen, but cost is rising in USA as these tariffs are pass on to customers. We also have 3 regional military conflicts happening within a single year, from "Thailand - Cambodia conflict" to "Israel - Gaza Hamas war" to "Russia - Ukraine war" which is still on-going after 3 years, it is really beyond words that stock market can continue to rise and break their respective top records. In USA this year, we have the AI related industry leading the way, while back in Singapore, we have our 3 top banks to thank for as investor flock to these safe heaven equity.

DJI ended at 48063, an increase of 1666 points (+3.59%) compared to 3Q 2025. For Singapore, STI ended at 4646, an increase of 346 points (+8.04%) compared to last quarter. Banks in Singapore (50.5% STI weightage) continues to drive the STI direction and for once, STI has outperform DJI significantly.

With 2024 drawing to a close, it is time for the annual review against my 3 year plan (Next 3 years (2023 - 2025) Investment Plan) set back in Nov 2022. Below are my result:

Original 2023-2025 plan:

50% Equity, 50% Reits/Trusts
Portfolio Dividend Yield to be 3.80% in 2023, 4.30% in 2024, 4.80% in 2025.

End 2025 result:

49.56% Equity, 50.44% Reits/Trusts
78.29% SG Equity, 21.71% USA Equity

Portfolio Yield at 3.73% in 2025 (+0.27% from 2024, and miss 2025 4.80% target)

Verdict: Miss Target

Note: In 2025, Prime US Reit only gave out dividend at a reduced rate (50%). Keppel Pacific Oak US Reit elected to suspend dividend until 2H2025.

Below is my end 2025 portfolio snapshot:

Total dividend received in 2025: $7,758.09 (~$646.50/month)

In this quarter, I did a few buy-ins for REITS that I felt is currently undervalued, so as to position myself for the recovery in the next 2 years.

Transaction 1: Bought 1 batch Prime US REIT shares in December.

The USA real estate has began to recover as tenants started expanding for more office space to accommodate more employees returning back to office. All these will be positive for USA REITs as their occupancy rate rises. Not to mention, Prime has started to increase the dividend rate from 10% to 50%

Transaction 2: Bought 1 batch DBS shares in December.

Our darling for the year as a series of strong results cause the share price to rise from $43+ in January to $56+ (+30%) in December. Who knows if this continues on, we may see a $100 DBS in the next 3 years.

Transaction 3: Bought 1 batch IREIT Global shares in December.

Berlin Campus is currently in the process to change from a single-let property to a multi-let, mixed-used property. Target to finish in 2027, it should directly result in a dividend increase. Time to buy in first for positioning while the price is low.

Transaction 4: Sold 1 batch Marriott shares in December.

I just think it is time to cash in while the price is high and use the proceed to buy in Visa as it is a more stable equity whose price will rise with time due to their share buy-back program.

Transaction 5: Bought 1 batch Visa shares in December.

For stability in slow price appreciation due to their share buyback program and improvement in business year after year.

That is all for now. See you all in Q1 2026 update and thank you for reading thus far.

Next 3 years (2026 - 2028) Investment Plan

2025-12-26T02:55:00.002+08:00

I believe "Chaos" is an appropriate term to define 2025. With Trump tariffs re-ordering world's trade, regional wars erupting in parts of the world (See Thailand - Cambodia conflict; Israel - Gaza Hamas war; Russia - Ukraine war which is still on-going after 3 years), it is really amazing that stock market can still rise and break their respective top records.

Looking back the last 3 years, I am glad that my passive income dividend portfolio is still going strong. This year, I am expecting the dividend yield should be around 3.6% to 3.8% range, pending the finalization of some small tweaks I have done the last few days. The dividend yield could be higher, if my current USA reits have started giving their dividend, which they are planning to in 2026.

For the next 3 year, my target will be similar as the current (2023 - 2025) Plan cycle, with a slight tweak to aim for higher dividend yield:

50% Equity, 50% Reits/Trusts
Portfolio Dividend Yield to be 4.00% in 2026, 4.50% in 2027, 4.80% in 2028.

I will likely to continue load up on US Reits listed on SGX as they are still undervalued at the moment, together with our brightest star (DBS). Who knows, we may see a $100 DBS within the next 3 years.

Japan Day 20 - Shiroi Koibito Park & JR Tower Observatory T38

2025-12-25T01:48:00.000+08:00

15 Nov - Time flies and tomorrow will marked the end of our 3 weeks in Japan. For today, only plan was to go visit the Shiroi Koibito Park and catch the sunset at JR Tower Observatory T38. I must say that the breakfast venue of our JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo is simply fantastic. They have the highest breakfast dining location where you literally have an unobstructed view of the sunrise (provided you rise early to queue and get the best seat).

Watching sunrise while having breakfast

After breakfast, we took a train to JR Hassamu Station and walk to Shiroi Koibito Park.

Passing by Hassamu Nishi Park

Shiroi Koibito Park is a theme park by Ishiya, consisting of a free area with a shop, cafe and restaurant and a paid area with various chocolate-related exhibits and, most interestingly, viewing windows through which visitors can observe their signature Shiroi Koibito cookie production process. There are also paid workshop classes available to create your own cookies if you are interested.

Shiroi Koibito Park entrance

Within the park, it also has an hourly Mechanical Clock Tower show where it consists of a parade of jolly singing and dancing mechanical dolls.

Bus theme seats for a cafe

Catching the sun setting at JR Tower Observatory T38

As the day closes, it is time to pack our luggage to head home tomorrow. We will be transiting Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Hopefully, we will have some time to spare for their signature bubble milk tea!

Japan Day 19 - 四季彩の丘, Biei Blue Pond, Shirahige Falls & Farm Tomita

2025-12-23T01:21:00.000+08:00

14 Nov - Today is a day trip out to the Furano area. At current time of the year, it is already the off peak season and flowers are past their blooming time, we are expecting much lesser crowd. However, the sky seems to have its own idea and started snowing the moment we entered the mountains. The weather really caught us off guard this year as we are not expecting Japan to have a very short autumn.

At the very least, we experienced our first ever snowfall overseas! And it is a heavy one.

四季彩の丘

When in season, the background will have flowers in full bloom

We are expecting to see an azure pond, but......

the snow has covered the Biei Pond.

Entrance to Shirahige Falls

Shirahige Falls

Shirahige Falls with background bridge

Farm Tomita is also the same situation. All the fields are emptied of flowers during this off season, with the exception of its green house, where you can still catch some lavender in bloom. Its cafe is still open and they serve really good Hokkaido Danshaku Potato Croquette.

Farm Tomita

Lavender in green house

Japan Day 18 - Sapporo Clock Tower and TV Tower

2025-12-20T01:12:00.003+08:00

13 Nov - After fond memories of Hakodate last night, we bid goodbye to the city in the morning and took a train to our final destination for this trip - Sapporo. Arriving in the late afternoon, we quickly checked into our hotel (JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo) and left to explore the surrounding before retiring for the night. Not too bad, we managed to have our dinner in between and covered the Sapporo Clock Tower and TV Tower.

For the Sapporo TV Tower, it is a re-visit after 13 years. Same place, different company, different vibes.

Sapporo Clock Tower

The Sapporo Clock Tower is a wooden structure of American design developed in the 1870s with assistance from the American government. It is known by many as the symbol of the city and is a main feature of almost all domestic and international tours of Sapporo. The clock after which it is named continues to run and keep time, and the chimes can be heard every hour.

Final touch-ups for the "The Sapporo White Illumination" which runs from Nov 2025 to Mar 2026

Sapporo TV Tower

The Sapporo TV Tower, built in 1957, is a 147.2-metre-high TV tower with an observation deck at a height of 90.38 metres. Remembering that Hokkaido is well known for their milk ice-cream, we went around searching for the ice-cream shop that we patronized 13 years ago, but unfortunately, it was no longer there. As time is limited, we took some photos and return to our hotel to rest in preparation for the full day road trip tomorrow.

Sapporo TV Tower up close

Japan Day 17 - Goryōkaku & Mount Hakodate (Million-Dollar View)

2025-12-18T00:20:00.003+08:00

12 Nov - Having scouted Hakodate surrounding the previous night, we focused on the main agenda today, which is visiting Goryōkaku in the morning & Mount Hakodate in the evening. After a full breakfast in our hotel, we set off for a train ride to Goryōkaku Station using our JR Pass.

Front of JR Hakodate Station

JR Goryōkaku Station

Manhole with Goryōkaku design

Goryōkaku is originally a star fortress completed in 1866, serving as the main headquarters of the short-lived Republic of Ezo. Most recently, it was featured in Detective Conan Movie 27: The Million-Dollar Pentagram which was released in theaters on April 12, 2024. This attraction was already an Instagram spot for tourist to begin with, so it is a must visit spot when we are in Hakodate!

Base of Goryōkaku Park

View of Goryōkaku Fort from the tower

To catch the Million-Dollar view from Mount Hakodate, we need to reach the top before sunset and before the horde of tourists arrival. Sparing no time, we left Goryōkaku after we took our share of photos and took a taxi to the Hakodate Ropeway. Mount Hakodate offers one of the world's best night views, earning it the nickname "Million-Dollar Nightscape" and a Michelin three-star rating, known for its unique fan-shaped city lights framed by the sea on both sides, best seen at dusk after sunset to witness the transition from day to night.

Top of Mount Hakodate

Waiting for the transition from day to night Million-Dollar View

To escape squeezing with the crowds and the cold, we decided to comfortably have our dinner at Restaurant Genova. To get the best seats, you need to start queuing 30mins before the restaurant opens at 4pm. Though the food is a bit pricey, I assure you it is well worth the money spent.

Last shot of the scene while waiting for the crowd to disperse 90mins after sunset. We still need to queue another 30mins to take the ropeway down.

Japan Day 16 - Hakodate (Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse & Hachiman-Zaka Slope)

2025-12-16T01:52:00.000+08:00

11 Nov - As we bid goodbye to Sendai, we took the Shinkansen to Hakodate and arrived at the destination around 3pm. Noticeably colder and more windy than Sendai, we quickly head to our hotel to check-in. As daylight is shorter coming to winter (Sunset around 4.40pm during this period), we headed out again to explore our surrounding before night falls.

JR Hakodate Station

Our hotel for the next 2 days - Premier Hotel Cabin President

They got lots of cute bears in the lobby

Exploring Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse

Hachiman-Zaka Slope

Dinner at Lucky Pierrot, which is recommended by my colleague

Ordered Oyakodon and burgers

Unique building covered with red plants

Japan Day 15 - Ginzan Hot Spring

2025-12-12T01:09:00.000+08:00

10 Nov - Today plan is a full day road trip out to Ginzan Hot Spring, stopping at Mountain Temple along the way for its beautiful scene top of the hill. Unfortunately, the sky didn't cooperate and it was raining when we reached the mountain temple. As it is too troublesome to carry an umbrella to hike up the hill and most likely we will not see anything given the rain (plus the 500yen entrance fee), we gave up climbing and headed back to the vehicle.

Entrance to the Mountain Temple Trail

Saw a beautiful rainbow along the way to Ginzan Hot Spring

The Ginzan hot springs were first discovered around 500 years ago by miners of the Nobesawa Silver Mine (Ginzan means silver mine). It became a popular spot for miners and later a therapeutic hot spring resort. Its popularity soared after being featured in the famous TV drama "Oshin", making it a beloved destination.

Ginzan Hot Spring town entrance

Free onsen foot bath

Ginzan Hot Spring town traditional wooden ryokan

Shirogane Falls

Japan Day 14 - Autumn Foliage & Aoba Castle Ruins

2025-12-10T00:20:00.004+08:00

09 Nov - It sure seems like Japan will be having a short Autumn this year, A few days after we reached Sendai, the temperature plunges from 10-15°C to 5-10°C for the next 2 weeks! Anyway, we decided to hit the park today to search for Autumn Foliage. Our first destination will be Nishi park, which I had research to have good view for Autumn leaves. Yup, the trees did not disappoint us.

Antique Tree that is at least 200 years old

Hirose River

As we leisurely walk pass Sendai International Center, we were stopped by a company which was testing their Autonomous vehicles driving technologies. As such, they are offering a free ride to the Aoba Castle ruins, which will otherwise take us another 45mins of walking uphill. I must say the 10mins ride is pretty impressive, with just a few sudden brakes in between. However, when overtaking vehicles, it still requires human intervention.

Aoba Castle is located on a plateau overlooking the city of Sendai, on the opposing bank of the Hirose river. The site is protected by cliffs to the south and east and by a forest to the west. The first daimyō of Sendai domain, Date Masamune, began construction of the castle around 1601 and Date Tadamune completed it in 1637. The castle was eventually completely destroyed by USA in 1945 during the bombing of Sendai.

View from the castle ruins overlooking Sendai City

Date Masamune, the founder of Sendai City

Kangaroo's Corner

3Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

2Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

China Day 12 - 独克宗古城 (香格里拉)

China Day 11 - 石卡雪山, 香格里拉古城

China Day 10 - 纳帕海, 普达措国家公园 (香格里拉)

China Day 9 - 虎跳峡，白水台 (香格里拉)

China Day 8 - 玉龙雪山风景区 (丽江)

China Day 7 - 白沙古镇， 束河古镇 (丽江)

China Day 6 - 丽江古城 (丽江)

China Day 5 - 双廊古镇, 文笔村 (大理)

China Day 4 - 喜洲古镇, S湾， 大理古城 (大理)

China Day 3 - 理想邦 (大理)

China Day 2 - 石林 & 九乡 (昆明)

China Day 1 - Exploring Kunming

1Q 2026 Investment Strategy Update

What an Amazing Plan (Resolving Internet Down Issue)

4Q 2025 Investment Strategy Update

Next 3 years (2026 - 2028) Investment Plan

Japan Day 20 - Shiroi Koibito Park & JR Tower Observatory T38

Japan Day 19 - 四季彩の丘, Biei Blue Pond, Shirahige Falls & Farm Tomita

Japan Day 18 - Sapporo Clock Tower and TV Tower

Japan Day 17 - Goryōkaku & Mount Hakodate (Million-Dollar View)

Japan Day 16 - Hakodate (Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse & Hachiman-Zaka Slope)

Japan Day 15 - Ginzan Hot Spring

Japan Day 14 - Autumn Foliage & Aoba Castle Ruins

China Day 7 - 白沙古镇，束河古镇 (丽江)

China Day 4 - 喜洲古镇, S湾，大理古城 (大理)