My football team(stock portfolio)'s Starting 11! Can our reserve players substitute them? 🤔

If you had been following GE2025, you would have noted the recent election fever and the various PARTIES' arguments about a football team's first 11 starting team and the importance of the first 11 players and the roles the substitutes play in the football games (and perhaps the entire championship journey), see the news links below for context:

(1) May Day Rally 2025: ‘The PAP will never step away from the labour movement,’ PM Wong promises workers | The Straits Times - "Using a football analogy, he said if three or four members of the starting 11 are unable to play, the team will not be able to function at the same level even though it has backups and reserves."

(2) GE2025: PAP has enough depth on its team even if it loses some ministers, says Pritam Singh | The Straits Times - "every team has substitutes who can be deployed when strategies change and new formations are needed."

[Note: I wrote this post in the wee hours of 3rd/4th May 2025 while following the GE2025 vote count results with sleepy eyes, so pardon any grammar errors or typos 😅]

Not gonna delve into the politics of the First 11 starting team analogy (reported in the media reports above) but it suddenly gave me some food for thought as to what if - we were to apply it to our investment portfolio? Interested to see how it pans out, so I decided to select my First 11 starting team, and to choose 5 reserves from my Singapore portfolio in CDP below:

(1) First 11 starting team with a 4-4-2 formation in the table below: (Note: I chose a 4-4-2 soccer team formation as we all know the Singapore stock market is relatively stable, resilience/defensive in turbulence with some chances of offence):

• 2 clinical STRIKERS: - OCBC [进可攻，退可守, translated as - Can attack to score goals (i.e. capital gains), yet Can also defend against opponents (i.e. earn stable long term dividends)]; - ST Engineering (ST Eng has been on the offensive and bullish run recently due to its defensive nature, rising order books, turbulent global outlook + stable albeit slowly rising dividend yield).

• 4 resilient attacking/defensive MIDFIELDERS: - DBS (Biggest bank in SEA, consistent rising dividends, Mgmt's commitment for special dividends to shareholders over next 3 years, records of stellar record performance over past few years); - Keppel DC Reit (Data is the new "gold" and Data Centres are the prime properties to own, with high barriers of entry and high customers retention); - UOB (Expanding in Asean, rising dividends and also Mgmt's commitment for special returns over the next 2 years to shareholders); - Hongkong Land (maybe a surprise for some, but buying at right discount to net book value, with its stable dividends even thru Covid-19, Hong Kong riots says alot, and recent strategic review to go asset light is ++);

• 4 bedrock stable DEFENDERS: - Capitaland Int Comm Trust (Largest/Oldest pedigree REIT in Singapore, with Strong backing by Capitaland, owning defensive prime office/retail assets in Singapore and Australia); - Frasers Centrept Trust (largest suburban REIT in Spore, with superb malls at transport nodes and all assets in Singapore gives it resilience/familiarity and Mgmt's skillful opportune acquisitions and AEIs)(see my recent post on FCT here: Amidst recent trade war, tariffs doom & gloom, recession fears, there are bright sparks here and there!😁); - Netlink Trust (Monopoly of broadband infra for residential sector and providing a steady bedrock of boring dividends); - HRNet Group (1 of the largest HR company in Asia, excl Japan with a good balance of professional HR jobs with contract posts gives it stability and flexibility to navigate thru different economic cycles);

• 1 trusty Goalkeeper: - Parkway Life REIT (Safest pair of hands, ever-rising dividends since IPO in 2007 and expansion into Japan's nursing homes, recent foray into France nursing and new 20-yr Master lease hospitals in Spore)(see my recent post on Parkway here: Amidst recent trade war, tariffs doom & gloom, recession fears, there are bright sparks here and there!😁).

S/n	Stock	Position	Capital Gain as of 2 May 2025 (on cost)	Dividend Yield (on cost, exclud special div)
1	OCBC	Striker	77%	9.3%
2	ST Engineering	Striker	120%	5.1%
3	DBS	Midfield	42%	7.8%
4	Keppel DC REIT	Midfield	53%	6.5%
5	UOB	Midfield	26%	6.5%
6	Hongkong Land	Midfield	59%	7.1%
7	Capitaland Integrated Commercial Trust	Defender	11%	5.6%
8	Frasers Centrepoint Trust	Defender	12%	6.0%
9	Netlink Trust	Defender	14%	6.6%
10	HR Net Group	Defender	12%	6.4%
11	Parkway Life REIT	Goalkeeper	92%	6.8%
Reserve 1	Capitaland Ascott Trust	Striker	-2%	7.0%
Reserve 2	Tai Sin Electric	Midfield	14%	6.9%
Reserve 3	AIMS APAC REIT	Midfield	0%	7.4%
Reserve 4	Capitaland Ascendas REIT	Defender	-9%	5.2%
Reserve GK	Comfort Delgro	Goalkeeper	10%	5.6%

(2) My 5 reserves:

• Capitaland Ascott Trust (1 of the largest hospitality, hotels, service residence player in the world with stable dividends, and ambition to expand worldwide and to asset recycle older/weaker assets);

• Tai Sin Electric (Established listed company with long records of provision of electrical cabling and supplies within ASEAN with stable and slowly rising dividends);

• AIMS APAC Reit (Stable industrial REIT in Singapore with capable mgmt and steady dividends and well-executed AEI for properties);

• Capitaland Ascendas Reit (Strong industrial Reit with data centres, business parks and industrial properties throughout Singapore and overseas with steady dividends);

• Comfort Delgro (1 of largest land transport company with footprints in Australia, New Zealand, Europe and giant in Singapore transport sector owning Comfort taxis, SBS Transit, Vicom vehicle testing centres).

As can be seen above, even with a list of 27 stocks in my portfolio, it wasn't easy to muster up 5 credible reserves as substitutes to my first 11 team. So can you imagine losing 4 to 5 of the players in my first 11 starting team and replacing them with my reserves (mentioned in the news report)? Nah, easier said than done, eh? Even if we managed to replace the first 11 players with the reserve players for 1 or 2 games, but can these reserves last the entire championship season (i.e. our long term investment journey)?

After all, even in our Straits Times Index (STI)'s biggest 30 stocks, there will be cherries and lemons, so its never easy to lose key players and to substitute them with reserve players.

Have you taken this opportunity to shortlist your own starting team of First 11 players (stocks/REITs) from your portfolio and to find reserve players to substitute them in times of need? Or is there a need to sell away any of your underperforming players or buy any up-and-coming high potential players in exchange? I don't know about you, but this exercise definitely jolted me to review my players' performance thus far, and assess their future potential (or lack thereof) and consider whether to sell certain ones and buy better ones 😉

Disclaimer: The above article is just the author expressing his layman views. It is NOT financial advice, and NOT a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or REITs. Pls do your own due diligence and/or consult a qualified financial advisor before making any moves or taking any actions. Pls note that past performance is not an indicator or guarantee of future performance or potential.

To our financial literacy;

Mr MoneyandHealth (Mr MH) ;)