My dividend holdings, and what I'm looking at next

At the start of 2026, these felt like sensible holdings for the dividend side of my investments: ES3, the Lion-OCBC Securities Singapore Low Carbon ETF, and O9P. They’re the three I hold so far for this part of the portfolio.

The appeal was fairly simple. I wanted to build some investment income without having to choose every company myself. That doesn’t make an ETF automatically a good buy at any price, but it gives me a basket to work with.

ES3: a straightforward Singapore starting point

ES3, the State Street SPDR Straits Times Index ETF, tracks the STI. It gives me exposure to a basket of Singapore’s larger listed companies through one holding.

That simplicity appeals to me. I can participate in the local market and receive distributions without trying to pick which individual company will do best.

The catch is that the STI isn’t a broad global portfolio. It’s a concentrated local index, so I shouldn’t confuse owning several Singapore companies with being diversified everywhere.

Lion-OCBC Singapore Low Carbon ETF: another angle on local equities

The Lion-OCBC Securities Singapore Low Carbon ETF offers Singapore-linked equity exposure with a lower-carbon index approach. For me, the attraction is a different selection of companies alongside the STI holding, with the possibility of distributions too.

But a different fund name doesn’t necessarily mean a completely different set of risks. There can be overlap with ES3, and both keep me exposed to the Singapore market. A low-carbon screen also doesn’t make the investment low-risk.

O9P: income from bonds, with a different set of risks

O9P, the iShares USD Asia High Yield Bond ETF, holds US-dollar-denominated Asian high-yield bonds. It adds bond income to a group of holdings that would otherwise be focused on equities.

The important part is “high yield”. This isn’t a cash substitute. Borrowers can run into trouble, bond prices can fall, and US-dollar exposure matters when I’m thinking about spending in Singapore dollars. A higher payout isn’t much comfort if I overlook what’s happening to the capital.

CLR and VWRA are on my watchlist

I’m also looking at CLR, the Lion-Phillip S-REIT ETF. A basket of Singapore REITs could fit the income side, though it would bring property-sector exposure and sensitivity to financing costs. It would also add more local-market exposure, so that’s worth thinking about before buying.

VWRA, Vanguard’s FTSE All-World UCITS ETF (USD Accumulating), would serve a different purpose. It gives broad developed- and emerging-market equity exposure, and reinvests dividends inside the fund. It wouldn’t pay me regular cash dividends. I’d be considering it for long-term growth and a wider spread beyond Singapore.

I may buy some on a monthly basis rather than try to get the timing exactly right. I haven’t committed to that yet. Small, regular purchases would still need to make sense after brokerage and currency-conversion costs.

For now, this is where my thinking is. I like the idea of income coming in, but I want to pay attention to the whole investment: distributions, changes in value, costs and how the holdings fit together. A dividend payment on its own doesn’t tell me whether I’ve made a good investment.