Genesis
The 15HWW Permanent Portfolio was built during late 2016 with a capital of around $140,000 and I started tracking it from Jan 2017.
The aim of a permanent portfolio is to create a liquid portfolio with low volatility and a respectable return. A comparative benchmark is the CPF SA return of 4%.
Since these funds are relatively small as a proportion of our networth, I have chosen not to rebalance. And to track the returns simply, there has been no additional capital injected.
Purpose
Personally, I view many components of this portfolio as a form of emergency fund. For example, the cash and bonds are invested in very liquid and safe instruments and can be sold and cashed out within a matter of days.
Another reason is that by showcasing and regularly updating this humble portfolio, I hope it will inspire confidence in some readers to take some risk, invest and build wealth steadily with a low-effort portfolio.
March 2026 Update
Annualised Return: 9.0% p.a. (Jan 2017 to Mar 2026)
Compared to the previous update back in October 2025, the portfolio value declined from $334,090 to $330,658, which was pretty palatable considering what has happened in the past few months. Crypto prices had crashed 50% and we are now in the midst of the headline grabbing US-Israel-Iran war.
With these bearish situations happening, I honestly did not expect to maintain a 9.0% annualised return. Which really helps to emphasise the low volatility of such a portfolio. Some asset in the portfolio will always help to cushion any blows and the hero for the past year has been gold.
Berk B has done decently well for the past 10 years, but gold has now outperformed even Berk B after another surge at the start of 2026. So the big question is, am I going to add to my gold pile? Very very unlikely since I am actually more keen to sell some gold that I have outside of this portfolio.
The time to buy gold was probably 10 or 5 years ago when I started accumulating, when nobody else was interested. Right now with long queues outside the main UOB Branch, doing the contrarian move should prove to be just as rewarding as well.
As for crypto, just like how the previous update marked the top, let’s see if this set of prices will mark a bottom.
Till the next update and thank you for reading.
Annex: A Brief On The Various Components Of The 15HWW Permanent Portfolio
1. STI ETF (Initial Allocation: 20%)
It comprises the 30 biggest listed companies in Singapore and many of them are dividend-paying. The ETF distributes the dividends semi-annually, in February and August every year.
2. Berkshire B (Initial Allocation: 20%)
The idea is to use Warren Buffett’s holding company to loosely replicate the S&P 500 for US equities exposure. Since foreigners investing in US stocks are taxed on dividends, it is an advantage that Berkshire B does not pay any dividends.
3. Gold (Initial Allocation: 20%)
I used to hold some paper gold but have since converted them to physical gold. The portfolio consists of 9 pieces of 50g PAMP Gold Bar bought from UOB Bank. They are fairly liquid since they can be sold back to UOB Bank at a small spread. You can also check the prices here.
4. Cash/Bonds (Initial Allocation: 30%)
The majority is invested in Astrea Bonds and Singapore Saving Bonds (SSBs) which are very liquid in nature. Astrea Bonds are traded on the market while SSBs can be redeemed at par value, usually in a week or two’s time.
5. Bitcoin (Initial Allocation: 5%)
Added in 2021 to diversify away from cash and gold as a store of value. As many centralised crypto exchanges have abused users’ trust in them, this 0.3 BTC is now stored in a cold wallet.
6. Ether (Initial Allocation: 5%)
Added in 2022 since I am not a Bitcoin Maxi. As many centralised crypto exchanges have abused users’ trust in them, these 4 ETH is staked on-chain.
