2025 Wrapped: The Year the "Boring" Market Woke Up
If you told me back in 2023—when we were sweating over Fed pivot rumors and watching REITs crumble—that DBS would be trading at $55 in 2025, I would have asked what leverage ratio you were smoking.
But here we are.
2025 wasn’t just a “good” year for the Singapore market; it was the year the “defensive” play went on offense. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) just upgraded our 2025 GDP growth forecast to ~4.0%, shattering the conservative estimates we saw in January.
For dividend investors, this was the validation we were waiting for. For us, it was our busiest year yet. Here is your 2025 Wrapped—a look back at the wins, the data, and the lessons from a record-breaking year.
🏆 The “Money Unfiltered” 2025
New strategies, new launches, and the content you read the most.
Top Read Article: Singapore Banks Deep Dive: DBS vs UOB vs OCBC
Project of the Year: ‘ETFs Millionaire’ Ebook
What started as a rough outline is now 9 chapters deep. “ETFs Millionaire: How I Built a Seven-Figure Portfolio” is launched in Sep. In 2025, we covered everything from the “Core-Satellite” framework to the psychology of holding through a drawdown.New Strategy: US Growth with Momentum
This year we stopped ignoring the elephant in the room. While our core remains SG dividends, 2025 saw the launch of our US Growth & Momentum coverage. We applied our strict rules-based filtering to US tech and growth names, capturing the upside with momentum without the emotional rollercoaster of picking individual winners.Flagship Feature: SG Top Dividends
The community favorite. We have been refining our screening criteria to filter out “yield traps” and focus on sustainable payouts.Win of the Year: Identifying the bank rally early through our dividend growth screener.
Transparency: ETF Monthly Rebalancing
We took “skin in the game” literally. Every month, we shared our ETF Monthly Rebalancing weightage—that reduced risk by 60% in backtesting.
All premium members will get all the above, just in case you miss it, we are running the year-end promo with 30% discount.
🇸🇬 The Singapore Market: “Boring” No More
The narrative for years was that the STI is “dead money.” 2025 proved that dead money pays great dividends.
1. The Bank Run (The Good Kind)
The story of the year is undoubtedly the banks. DBS didn’t just break records; it smashed them.
Price Action: Climbed to ~$55.
Dividend: Forecasted FY2025 dividend of $2.85 per share.
Yield: Even at these prices, we are looking at a yield of ~5.2%.
If you followed our “SG Top Dividends” lists this year, you know we’ve been overweight banks. That high-conviction bet carried the portfolio this year.
2. The REIT Redemption
After the “interest rate winter,” 2025 was the thaw.
As predicted by analysts earlier this year, the sector saw a “meaningful rebound” as the Fed’s rate cuts finally filtered through to S-REIT financing costs. The pivot wasn’t a magic bullet, but it stopped the bleeding. Cap rates have stabilized, and for the first time in three years, accretive acquisitions are back on the table.
📊 The Strategy: What Worked?
1. Ignoring the “Growth” FOMO
While the US tech sector continued its volatile dance with AI regulation, sticking to Singapore’s “boring” 5-6% yielders provided unexpected capital appreciation. The Total Return (Dividends + Growth) of the STI significantly narrowed the gap with the S&P 500 this year.
2. The Monthly Watchlist Routine
Our most popular feature, the SG Top Dividends List, kept us disciplined. By mechanically filtering for yield + payout ratio sustainability, we avoided the high-yield traps that imploded in Q3.
🔮 2026 Outlook: Defense Wins Championships
Plan for 2026:
Watch the Banks closely: They are cash cows, but don’t expect another 40% rally.
Consider rotating into Laggard REITs: Some quality industrial and logistics names haven’t fully participated in the 2025 rally. we’ll be hunting for value there, but follow our SG Top Dividends rules closely.
ETFs investing: Increase ETFs investing for diversification as market is expected to be volatile.
Thank you for reading, sharing, and subscribing in 2025. Here’s to compounding in 2026.
Sign up now and get our free REITs’ Numerical Ratings.
Disclaimer: This article constitutes the author’s personal views and is for entertainment and educational purposes only. It is not to be construed as financial advice in any form. Please do your own research and seek advice from a qualified financial advisor. From time to time, I have positions in all or some of the mentioned stocks when publishing this article. This is a disclosure - not a recommendation to buy or sell stocks.
Regarding the shift to US Growth with Momentum, that sounds like a smart move. Could you elaborate a bit on the strict rules-based filtering implementd for US tech?