We get plenty of questions at The Smart Investor.
But there’s one that comes up most often:
“What stock should I buy?”
Right now, it’s a question that’s likely on the minds of many investors.
As of last Friday, 23 October 2026, the Straits Times Index (SGX: ^STI) was down 7% from its 52-week high.
It’s not quite a market correction — that would be a decline of 10% or more.
But after a bull run, the stock market is starting to get bargain hunters interested again.
Especially if you’ve got money set aside.
But here’s the thing: before you ask what to buy, there’s a more important question …
… what stock do you NEED?
You see, different investors have different needs.
And different stocks play different roles.
Ask a stock to do a job it wasn’t built for, and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
Picture a pyramid
At The Smart Investor, we like to view a dividend portfolio as a pyramid.
Take a moment to picture one in your head.
At the bottom, where it’s widest, you want a strong foundation.
These are your workhorses — companies or REITs that turn up every quarter or every six months to deliver steady, reliable dividends.
They don’t offer a lot of growth.
But they are reliable.
My colleague, David Kuo, calls them Income Stocks.
Only when you have that stable base do you start layering on growth.
These are your Growth Stocks.
The middle of the pyramid is a designated area for stocks that have the ability to grow their sales and profits — so that they can pay you higher dividends in the future.
Finally, at the very tip, the smallest part of the pyramid, is what I call your testing ground.
This is your speculative space, where you let yourself run a little.
Let me show you what I mean with two Singapore stocks.
The base: the REIT that turns up
First up, CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (SGX: C38U), or CICT.
The REIT owns popular malls and offices, mostly in Singapore.
It’s not flashy. It won’t make headlines.
So what makes it special?
CICT is one of a handful of REITs that have increased their distribution per unit (DPU) — the REIT version of a dividend per share — since 2021.
That may not sound spectacular.
Until you consider what has happened since.
We had the steepest interest rate hikes in decades.
We had Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs.
We had the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Through it all, CICT’s DPU has inched up every year since 2021 like clockwork.
That’s exactly what you want at the bottom of your pyramid: a REIT that turns up, pays you, and doesn’t need you to think about it.
Just don’t expect fireworks.
Expecting 20% growth out of CICT is a bridge too far.
The middle: simple, but not easy
One level up, we have supermarket operator Sheng Siong (SGX: OV8).
The best way to describe Sheng Siong’s business?
Simple, but not easy.
Everyone’s been to a Sheng Siong before.
The business is easy to understand.
But it’s really, really hard to do.
Its secret?
In my eyes, Sheng Siong does the simple things really, really well.
For starters, the supermarket operator keeps adding new stores — from 27 at its IPO in 2011 to 90 today.
And it uses money from its existing operations to fund the new store buildout, not debt.
At the same time, it has made its stores more profitable.
Fresh food and house brands play a big part here, made possible by its Mandai distribution centre, which allowed Sheng Siong to cut out the middleman and buy directly from the source.
In short: more stores, and better stores.
It sounds easy. It isn’t.
To be sure, there are risks to watch.
Sheng Siong is building a hefty new warehouse in Sungei Kadut, which could limit the cash available for dividends.
And with the Johor Bahru-Singapore RTS Link on the way, nobody knows how our grocery habits will change until the rubber hits the road.
That’s the trade-off in the middle of the pyramid: a little more uncertainty, in exchange for a business that can grow.
The tip: keep it small
Now for the fun part.
The tip is the most exciting part of the pyramid.
It’s where the big stories live, and it’s tempting to let it grow.
The base, on the other hand, can feel dull.
When a hot stock is flying, a REIT quietly paying its dividends won’t exactly get your pulse racing.
But think about what happens when the tip gets too big.
The whole pyramid becomes unbalanced.
That’s why the testing ground is a controlled area — and you want to be strict about it.
In practice, it comes down to how much you put into each stock.
Bigger positions for the workhorses at the base.
Smaller ones for the ideas at the tip.
That way, if a testing-ground idea doesn’t work out, it stings.
But your foundation holds.
Get Smart: Give every stock a job
So, as you draw up your shopping list during this dip, pause before asking “what stock should I buy?”
Ask what your portfolio needs instead.
If your base is shaky, you probably need a reliable workhorse, not the next big thing.
If your base is solid, you have room to add some growth.
And if you want to scratch that speculative itch, do it at the tip.
Again, keep it small.
Plainly speaking, before you give a stock your money, give it a job.
That’s how we think about dividend investing at The Smart Investor.
If you’d like to see that thinking in action, the Smart Dividend Portfolio is where we put it to work.
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Disclosure: Chin Hui Leong owns shares of CICT and Sheng Siong.
