Build one view of your whole portfolio across all your accounts.
Before you read further, gather the latest statement or app screen for every account that holds long-term money, and set aside about 25 minutes. You'll use them to draw an account map, and the yearly review in module 8 starts from that map.
An account map is a single view of your whole long-term portfolio across every account. It shows what sits where, what it adds up to, and whether the total matches your target. You need the combined view because each account can look fine on its own while the whole portfolio drifts away from target. You only see that drift once the accounts are added together. Uninvested cash in one account also stays hidden until everything is on the same page.
Farhan is the running example. He has already decided which account each holding belongs in. He doesn't yet have a single page showing everything, the total, or whether it matches the 65/35 split between shares and bonds he set in module 1 (example figures).
List every account that holds long-term money: your cash brokerage account, your SRS account, any CPFIS investments, and anything else, such as a robo-advisor account. Under each account, list its holdings and their current values. Take all the values on the same day so they can be compared, and write that date at the top of the page.
Farhan lists three accounts. His cash account holds a world equity fund worth S$39,000 after the rebalance his rule asked for in July, and a Singapore government bond fund worth S$21,000. His SRS account holds S$10,000 of cash he has just contributed and not yet invested. His CPF balances come to S$70,000, all uninvested.
Before you add anything up, decide what counts. Use the choice you made in lesson 7.3, "Which money goes in which account", about whether your CPF balances count as part of the safe side of your portfolio or stay out as a separate base. Farhan leaves CPF out because his OA may pay for a flat. His long-term total is S$39,000 + S$21,000 + S$10,000 = S$70,000.
Now add up by asset type across all accounts, ignoring which account each holding sits in. Then work out each type as a percentage of the total. Farhan has S$39,000 in shares (about 55.7%), S$21,000 in bonds (30%) and S$10,000 in cash (about 14.3%).
Next, work out what your target means in money and compare it with the actual amounts to find the gaps. At 65/35, Farhan's S$70,000 should be S$45,500 in shares and S$24,500 in bonds. He is about S$6,500 short in shares and S$3,500 short in bonds. The S$10,000 of idle SRS cash accounts for the whole gap, which he couldn't see while looking at his accounts one at a time.
Next to each account, write down the rules that limit what you can do with it.
SRS: the money is locked up until statutory retirement age, withdrawals are taxed, and you can only buy products your operator allows (from lesson 7.1). CPF: the amount that must stay in the OA, the list of allowed products, and the interest you give up by investing (from lesson 7.2). Cash account: no lock-up, plus any platform fees.
This column stops you from making a plan your accounts won't allow. It also shows where you can rebalance freely, which is usually only the cash account.
New money arrives in specific accounts, so you decide where it goes one account at a time. Direct each account's new money so the total moves toward your target, using the method from lesson 6.3, "Rebalance cheaply with new contributions". Check whether a move would overshoot the target, then use the account you can rebalance freely to steer the rest.
Lesson 7.3 explains that SRS suits long-term shares, so Farhan decides his SRS cash goes into shares. He checks his operator's list and finds an allowed SGX-listed world equity fund. Putting all S$10,000 there takes his shares to S$49,000, which is 70% of S$70,000, with bonds at 30%. That puts him five points over his 65% target.
He corrects the overshoot in his cash account, which has no lock-up, by sending his S$1,000 monthly contribution into the bond fund. If prices stay flat, after six months his bonds are S$27,000 out of S$76,000, about 35.5%, and his shares are about 64.5%, close to target. After that, his monthly money goes back to the normal 65/35 split.
He writes the plan as one line at the bottom of his map: "SRS cash into the world fund now. Next six months of new money into bonds, then back to 65/35."
A finished map fits on one page. The map is a snapshot, so date it and redraw it every year. If the exercise is working, your map will show you something you didn't expect, such as idle cash in one account or a share weight far from target once everything is added up.
Draw yours before you change anything, so you can see the starting point clearly.
Hand in an account map that shows your holdings by account, your total allocation against target, and where your next contributions will go.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).