April 2026 Portfolio Update: New High, IWDA Lesson

Atrahasis Portfolio Key Numbers (1 May  2026)

Period return (excluding contributions)5.8%Market Move/Starting Balance
Starting balance (1 Apr)S$2,935,939.97
Purchases S$15,356.00
Sales proceeds
0
Market move+S$170,207.07Endbal - Startbal - Purchases + Sales
Dividends ReceivedS$5,038.28
Ending balance (30 Apr)S$3,121,503.05
Bridge Cash Bucket (BCB)S$165,000/$420,000 (39 % funded)
Dividend tapS$4,536.30 /mth(90.7% of Target)
Total (Including BCB)S$3,286,503.05

Note: Dividend tap refers to the portfolio average monthly dividend which is estimated from Snowball Analytics.

Welcome to my April 2026 Portfolio Update. April was a good month.

The Atrahasis Portfolio closed at S$3,121,503.05, a new month-end high. Including the Bridge Cash Bucket, the total stood at S$3,286,503.05.

I am happy about that.

Not because the portfolio is suddenly safe from drawdowns. It is not. But after March’s decline, it is nice to see the portfolio recover, move past the previous high, and keep the overall plan intact.

Early May has continued to move in the right direction, but I will leave that for the next update.

Purchases (1–30 Apr)

HoldingUnitsApprox amountSleeve
Parkway Life REIT / C2PU1,500S$5,883Country Tilts
CapitaLand Ascendas REIT / A17U2,200S$5,170Country Tilts
NetLink NBN Trust / CJLU4,300S$4,303Country Tilts
TotalS$15 356

April 2026 Portfolio Update: Recovery After the March Drop

March’s market move was about -S$129.8k!

That was roughly a 4.3% decline from the March starting balance. It was not a disaster, but it was large enough to feel real. At this portfolio size, a normal drawdown can still look like a very large number.

April then moved the other way.

The April market move was +S$170.2k, which more than recovered the March decline. Across March and April together, price movement was still positive by about S$40.5k.

That is the main story this month.

The portfolio did not avoid volatility. It went down, stayed invested, recovered, collected dividends, and finished at a new high.

Market Backdrop: Strong Rebound, Still Complicated

April was a strong month for global equities. Reuters reported that the S&P 500 recorded its biggest monthly percentage gain since November 2020, while the Nasdaq had its largest monthly gain since April 2020. The rebound came even as oil and geopolitical risk remained in the background.

Rates remained part of the story too. The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 3.50%–3.75% on 29 April, but the decision had four dissents, its most divided vote since 1992.

Singapore was steadier. The STI ended April at 4,912.69, up 0.56% over the month and 27.76% year-on-year.

Benchmark Check: First Quarter Defence, April Recovery

Because this is the first proper quarter-plus of tracking the portfolio in this form, I wanted to compare it against a few simple benchmarks.

For the benchmark check, I am using price-index returns, not total-return indexes. In other words, the benchmark numbers exclude dividends. That makes the cleanest comparison against the Atrahasis market-move return. I also show the Atrahasis income-inclusive estimate because dividends are part of the portfolio’s actual strategy.

The first quarter was the more useful defensive test. Atrahasis was down 2.16% on a market-move basis, or about 1.66% after including dividends. That was not pleasant, but it was better than the S&P 500, which was down 4.63%, and the Nasdaq Composite, which was down 7.10%. The Russell 2000 did better, ending Q1 up 0.58%.

Across the first four months of 2026, Atrahasis returned about +3.65% on a market-move basis and about +4.32% after including dividends. Over the same Jan-Apr period, the S&P 500 was up about 5.31%, the Nasdaq Composite about 7.10%, and the Russell 2000 about 12.81%.

So the portfolio did not beat everything.

It did something more relevant to the actual plan: it held up better than the large U.S. indexes in Q1, participated in the April recovery, collected almost S$19.7k in dividends over the first four months, and reached a new month-end high.

What Held Up Well?

April dividends came in at S$5,038.28. The main cashflows were: DBS, CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, A200 and AAA.

This was not a huge dividend month like March, but it was still meaningful.

More than S$5k landed while the portfolio was recovering in price. That matters. It gives the portfolio a second way to make progress. Prices can move around, but the income stream keeps adding cash to the system.

The Bridge Cash Bucket also continued to serve its purpose. It remains at S$165k, or 39% funded.

That bucket is not there to boost returns. It is there to reduce future pressure. If markets fall near retirement, I do not want to be forced to sell good assets at bad prices just to fund living expenses.

What Hurt Performance?

The March drawdown mainly came from the risk side of the portfolio.

I do not have perfect position-by-position attribution down to the last dollar, so I do not want to overstate it. Directionally, though, the pressure was clear: global equities, growth-sensitive assets, and anything affected by oil, rates, and risk sentiment had a rougher time.

The income holdings helped, but they did not make the portfolio immune.

That is an important point.

Singapore REITs, banks, short-duration holdings, and cash-like assets can cushion volatility. They cannot eliminate it. A diversified portfolio can still fall when markets are selling off broadly.

April Purchases: Small, Local, Income-Focused

April was a quieter deployment month compared with the first quarter.

The S$15,356 deployed went entirely into Singapore-listed income holdings.

Parkway Life REIT: adding to healthcare income

I bought another 1,500 units of Parkway Life REIT.

The reason is unchanged. Healthcare property has a different demand profile from malls, hotels, or offices. People do not stop needing hospitals and care facilities because markets are nervous.

That does not make Parkway Life risk-free. It is still a REIT. It still has debt, refinancing risk, valuation risk, and rate sensitivity.

But inside the income sleeve, I like the role it plays.

CapitaLand Ascendas REIT: maintaining the position

I added 2,200 units of CapitaLand Ascendas REIT, including the rights-related allocation.

This was not a new idea. A17U is already a meaningful holding. The April addition was about maintaining the position and keeping the income sleeve intact.

The caution is concentration.

A17U is a quality REIT, but quality does not remove interest-rate risk. Borrowing costs, refinancing, and investor appetite for yield still matter.

So I am happy to own it, but I do not want REITs to become too large a part of the portfolio story.

NetLink NBN Trust: a small infrastructure income line

I also bought 4,300 units of NetLink NBN Trust.

This is a small addition, but it gives the Singapore income sleeve a slightly different flavour. NetLink is infrastructure income rather than property income.

IWDA: The Core Is Growing, but the Process Needs Work

There were no IWDA purchases in April.

That is the part of the month I am least satisfied with.

The issue is not conviction. IWDA is still the main global core of the portfolio. I still want it to become a larger part of the overall allocation. The portfolio now holds 2,349 IWDA shares, up from 1,804 shares in the December breakdown.

So progress is happening.

The issue is execution.

At the moment, I tend to buy IWDA manually on dips. That sounds sensible, but April exposed the weakness in that approach. Markets moved quickly. I was busy. The dip came and went. I did not add.

That is not a major mistake, but it is useful information.

If IWDA is meant to be the long-term core, buying it should not depend so much on whether I happen to be free when the market gives me a chance.

I probably need a simple trigger system.

Not a clever signal. Not something that pretends to identify the bottom. Just a basic operating rule so that the intended buying actually happens.

A possible version:

  • Set a base monthly IWDA buy when cash is available.
  • Add an extra tranche if IWDA falls a set percentage from a recent high.
  • Add another tranche if the fall deepens.
  • If no dip appears by month-end, still place a smaller base buy.
  • Use price alerts or calendar reminders so the decision does not depend on me checking manually.

I will probably test a simple version of this over the next few months.

The real risk is not buying IWDA slightly too early but saying the global core needs to grow, while the actual buying keeps getting delayed because I am waiting for a dip I may be too busy to use.

That is the lesson from April.

The global core does not just need conviction. It needs a better process.

What Went Well

The new all-time high is the obvious positive.

The portfolio ended April at S$3.121m, which is S$105.7k above the previous month-end high. Including the Bridge Cash Bucket, the total was S$3.286m.

That is worth enjoying.

A few other things went well too.

The dividend stream remained meaningful. April added S$5,038.28, and the first four months of 2026 have now produced about S$19,691 in dividends.

The Bridge Cash Bucket stayed intact. It did not contribute to April’s return, but that is not its job.

The Q1 IWDA purchases also look useful in hindsight. I did not time anything perfectly, but I did add meaningfully to the global core during a difficult quarter and it paid off.

April itself was not an aggressive buying month, and that is fine. Not every month needs to be exciting.

Closing Reflection

April was a good month for the portfolio.

The value recovered from March’s decline, reached a new month-end high, and collected more than S$5k in dividends. The first quarter-plus scorecard is also reasonable: positive total return, meaningful income, and better Q1 resilience than the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite.

There is still work to do.

The portfolio remains too tilted toward Singapore income and REITs. IWDA still needs to grow. And April exposed a small but important process issue: if the global core depends on manual dip-buying, it is too easy for life to get in the way.

So I am happy with the new high.

I am also taking the lesson.

The next improvement is not a new holding. It is a better buying process.

March 2026 Portfolio Update: S$111k Invested in a Tough Quarter

Atrahasis Portfolio Key Numbers (28 Mar  2026)

Period return (excluding contributions)-2.37%Market Move/Starting Balance
Starting balance (1 Jan) S$2,931,964.02
Purchases S$110,726.03
Sales proceeds
S$43,375.94Lemonade sale
Market move-S$69,426.11Endbal - Startbal - Purchases + Sales
Dividends ReceivedS$13,865.27
Ending balance (28 Mar)S$2,929,888.00
Bridge Cash Bucket (BCB)S$165,000/$420,000 (39 % funded)
Dividend tapS$4,536.30 /mth(90.7% of Target)
Total (Including BCB) S$3,094,888

Note: Dividend tap refers to the portfolio average monthly dividend which is estimated from Snowball Analytics.

Welcome to my March 2026 Portfolio Update. This one covers roughly three months since the last update on 26 Dec 2025, so it is less “what happened this month?” and more “did the machine keep working through a messy quarter?” I think it did. I bought a lot of core, added to healthcare REIT income, cleaned up one old US stock, and let the cashflows do their quiet compounding.

Purchases (1 Jan - 28 Mar)

  • IWDA (Core): 545 shares, approx S$91.3k

  • C2PU REIT (Country Tilts): 2,800 shares, approx S$11,188

  • EXCS (EM ex China): 500 shares, approx S$4.7k
  • AAA (AUD FX): 86 shares, approx S$3.8k

Sales (1 Jan - 28 Mar)

  • Lemonade (LMND): sold remaining 350 shares, proceeds approx US$33,860 (~S$43.5k)

Net capital deployed into markets: approx S$67,582 (Purchases-Sales)

March 2026 Portfolio Update: More Core, Less Clutter, Same Rules

January, February and March each arrived with a different mood, which is probably why this period felt longer than a calendar quarter. The Federal Reserve held rates steady in both January and March and kept describing inflation as “somewhat elevated.” In plain English: cash and short-duration assets stayed useful, REIT funding costs still mattered, and anything priced for a perfect falling-rate world had to work harder.

Singapore, on the other hand, had a proper moment in the sun. SGX said the STI was up 8% for the year by the end of February and hit an all-time high of 5,041 on 23 February, helped by broad-based strength across real estate and industrials. For a portfolio with a meaningful Singapore income sleeve, that was a nice reminder that “boring local names” can still surprise people.

Then the quarter ended by throwing a chair through the window with the onset of Ops Epic Fail. Reuters described Q1 as a period in which geopolitics wiped roughly US$7 trillion off global stocks, oil logged its second-biggest quarterly rise of the century, and global interest rates suddenly started pointing up rather than down. By 26 March, the Nasdaq had fallen into correction territory and Brent crude settled above US$108.

That backdrop matters because it explains why this update is not about calling tops or bottoms. It is about whether the Atrahasis machine behaved sensibly amidst the changing weather.

The core finally got a proper feeding

The clearest story is that the Core got fed. Hard. I added 545 units of IWDA across 13 separate trades, making it by far the biggest destination for capital this period.

That is exactly what should happen. The portfolio still needs more weight in the broad global engine and less emotional attachment to old single-stock baggage. I do not need to know whether oil spikes, AI excitement, tariff headlines or central-bank gossip will dominate the next fortnight. I just need to keep buying the world in a disciplined, repeatable way.

There is something calming about seeing the same boring ticker appear again and again in my transactions log. It tells me the portfolio is slowly becoming more like the plan and less like my past life as a stock picker.

One old position finally left the building

Back in November, I wrote that Lemonade was one of the “bagholders” I was essentially waiting to exit at break-even, partly to reduce clutter and partly because of the broader US-situs watchlist problem. January finally gave me that window, so I sold the remaining 350 shares and moved on.

This was not a heroic trade. It was housekeeping. Not every sale needs a grand macro thesis. Sometimes the right move is simply to close the tab on an old mistake, free up the capital, and redirect brainpower toward assets you actually want to own for the next decade.

C2PU kept proving why it belongs

After starting Parkway Life REIT in December, I added another 2,800 units this period. That took the position from a starter holding into something more meaningful inside the income sleeve.

I still like it for the same boring reasons I liked it three months ago: healthcare demand is less mood-dependent than retail, long leases help cashflows behave, and built-in rent escalators are useful when inflation refuses to fully disappear. This is not a “story stock.” It is a “please just keep paying me sensibly” stock, which is exactly the energy I want in the dividend sleeve.

EXCS and AAA stayed in their lanes

EXCS got a one-trade top-up. AAA got one small batch reinvestment. That is precisely how I want these supporting actors to behave.

EXCS gives me emerging-market exposure without automatically making China the whole conversation. AAA remains a legacy AUD cash sleeve that I am happy to let chug along quietly, especially when distributions accumulate and can be reinvested in batches rather than dripped in at random. Supporting roles are good roles, provided they actually support the plot.

Bitcoin behaved exactly like Bitcoin, which is why it stays small

One reason there were no crypto heroics in this period is that Bitcoin was already doing enough cardio on its own. Reuters reported on 5 February that Bitcoin fell 12.6% in a single day, dropped to its lowest level since October 2024, and was down 28% for the year at that point as ETF outflows and weaker risk sentiment hit the sector.

That is not a reason for me to panic. It is a reminder that the sleeve is sized correctly. Bitcoin is here as a small satellite, not as a substitute for a plan, a cash buffer, or adult behaviour.

The income spine kept doing its job

Across this roughly three-month stretch, there were about S$7.7k of SGD distributions, A$4.9k of AUD distributions, and about US$1.4k of net USD dividends after withholding. Using late-March FX, that works out to roughly S$13.9k equivalent in cashflows over the period, with March doing most of the heavy lifting.

That matters because it changes how the portfolio feels in volatile markets. When prices wobble, I am not staring at a screen waiting for emotional closure. Cash is still landing in the account. And every dollar, Aussie dollar and US dollar of that income gives me options: reinvest into weakness, top up safer assets, or simply let the dividend tap get thicker.

Reuters also reported that investors poured a record US$11.1 billion into short-term bond funds in the week through 25 March. That is basically the institutional version of the same instinct behind my Bridge Cash Bucket: when headlines get ugly, boring assets stop looking boring and start looking intelligent.

Looking ahead to April and the next Quarter

I am watching a few things, not to predict markets, but to decide where the next dollars should go.

  • Oil, rates and the late-March wobble
    • Why: If the energy shock lingers, inflation could stay sticky and markets may keep repricing growth and income assets.
    • What I might do: Keep feeding the core and quality income sleeves instead of trying to call the exact bottom.
  • Further simplification of the legacy tail
    • Why: Every old position I can exit intelligently reduces clutter, concentration and US-situs noise.
    • What I might do: Keep pruning when the price and logic line up.
    • What would change my mind: If a sale would mean giving away obvious value for no good reason, patience is still allowed.
  • Dividend tap and bridge progress
    • Why: These matter more to my actual retirement plan than winning some monthly performance beauty contest.
    • What I might do: Keep nudging reliable cashflow assets higher, while refusing to reach for fragile yield.
    • What would change my mind: If I find myself buying income because it looks exciting rather than durable, I will slow down.

Same rules, messier headlines. Boring is still beautiful.

December 2025 Portfolio Update: S$59k Deployed, New Healthcare REIT, and a Stronger Bridge

Atrahasis Portfolio Key Numbers (26 Dec  2025)

MTD return (excluding contributions)0.59%Market Move/Starting Balance
Starting balance (1 Dec) S$2,869,684
Purchases S$44,289.8
Market moveS$16,953Includes trading fees
Dividends ReceivedS$3,977
Ending balance (26 Dec)S$2,930,876.6
Bridge Cash Bucket (BCB)S$165,000/$420,000 (39 % funded)
Dividend tapS$3,916.78 /mth(78.33% of Target)
Total (Including BCB) S$3,095,876.60

Note: Dividend tap refers to the portfolio average monthly dividend which is estimated from Snowball Analytics.

Welcome to my December 2025 Portfolio Update. The "boring" machine is working: S$44k into markets, S$15k into safety, and zero drama. In this December 2025 Portfolio Update, I break down exactly where S$59k of capital went—building the bridge and feeding the dividend tap.

Purchases (1-26 Dec)

  • C2PU REIT (Country Tilts): 4,600 shares, approx S$18,515

  • IWDA (Core): 100 shares, approx S$16,626

  • EXCS (EM ex China): 500 shares, approx S$4,280

  • AAA (AUD FX): 78 shares, approx S$3,374

  • BTC (Alternatives): 0.0136 BTC, approx S$1,499

Total deployed: approx S$44,289.8

Note: I also added S$15,000 to the Bridge Cash Bucket (BCB). This is a safety allocation, separate from the market deployments above.

December 2025 Portfolio Update: The End Game is Not Clever, It Is Repeatable

December is when markets slow down, people speed up, and everyone suddenly becomes a macro expert over kopi.

Atrahasis did not join the shouting. Since inception on 1 Oct 2025, the job has been simple: build a portfolio that can fund early retirement without requiring perfect timing or perfect emotions.

So this year-end update is less “look at the return” and more “is the machine getting sturdier”. In December, it did.

December’s backdrop, in Singapore terms

When people say “rates matter”, it sounds like finance jargon. It is actually everyday life.

Interest rates are essentially the price of money. When that rate moves, three things happen:

  1. Your safe options pay more or less. Think T-bills, SSBs, fixed deposits, and high-yield savings accounts.
  2. Borrowing costs change. Mortgages feel it, and REITs feel it too because they use debt to own property.
  3. Income assets get repriced. REIT yields are compared against safer yields, so REIT prices can swing even when nothing changes in the buildings.

I do not try to predict the next rate move. I just build the portfolio so it can live through whatever the weather decides to do.

The BCB is retirement insurance, not idle cash

The Bridge Cash Bucket exists for one job: reduce sequence of returns risk when I retire.

The dangerous scenario is not “markets drop”. The dangerous scenario is “markets drop early in retirement”, right when withdrawals begin. A funded cash bridge lets me spend from safer assets for a few years, instead of selling equities after a drawdown.

Also, this bucket is not sitting idle. It is intentionally spread across:

    • High-yield savings (for me, DBS Multiplier is currently yielding 4.1% due to me still drawing an income).
    • Liquid cash deposits.
    • SSBs (Singapore Savings Bonds).
    • T-bills.

Why I started a new position in Parkway Life Real Estate Investment Trust (C2PU)

C2PU is a healthcare REIT, and this was a new position for Atrahasis.

I am building the income sleeve with one clear goal: grow a reliable “dividend tap” with a long-term target of S$5,000 per month. Healthcare assets tend to be less economically sensitive than retail or office space, which is exactly what I want behind an income stream.

What I like about C2PU’s characteristics as an income holding:

    • Defensive demand. Hospitals and care facilities do not depend on consumer mood in the same way malls do.

    • Long lease structures. I want cashflows designed to be predictable, not constantly renegotiated.

    • Rent escalation. Built-in step-ups and inflation-linked mechanisms help the income stream keep up with rising costs.

    • Cost structure that behaves. Many healthcare leases push more property-level costs to the tenant, which helps protect distributions from cost inflation.

I built the position in three tranches simply to stay consistent without needing a perfect entry price.

    IWDA stays boring, because boring compounds

    IWDA remains the main growth engine. I keep buying it because it is broad, diversified, and does not require me to guess which region wins next quarter.

    AAA, EXCS, and Bitcoin stay in their lanes

    AAA: The main win is behaviour. Let distributions build up, then reinvest in batches. December was exactly that.

    EXCS: A diversification tilt, sized as a supporting actor.

    Bitcoin: A tiny satellite. One small buy, then back to real life.

    Key takeaways

    BCB top-ups are high certainty progress. They reduce sequence risk without needing a market call.

    BCB cash is working cash. HYSA, deposits, SSBs, and T-bills keep it liquid while still earning something.

    C2PU was a deliberate new income position. Defensive demand plus rent escalators fit the dividend tap build-out.

    The core stayed the core. IWDA keeps getting fed on schedule.

    Reinvesting distributions is part of the strategy. The AAA buy was compounding by design.

    Looking ahead to January 2026

    I am watching a few things, not to predict markets, but to decide where the next dollars should go.

    • Dividend tap progress toward S$5,000 per month

      • Why: Reliable income reduces pressure on drawdown decisions later and makes the portfolio feel more self-sustaining.

      • What I might do: Keep adding to quality income holdings when yield and fundamentals make sense. This could include more C2PU or other quality REITS.

      • What would change my mind: If chasing yield means taking fragile cashflows or excessive leverage risk, I will slow down.

    • Rates and cash yields

      • Why: They shape the opportunity cost between cash and income assets, and they influence funding costs for REITs.

      • What I might do: Keep building the bridge steadily. If cash yields fall meaningfully, I may lean more into durable income and core equity flows, still within rules.

    • Simple rebalancing signals

      • Why: I do not want any sleeve to become a runaway train.

      • What I might do: Pause buys in anything that becomes clearly oversized and redirect new cash to the lagging sleeve.

    Same process, new month. Boring is still beautiful.