~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

This is going to be a relatively short post as it is just going to serve as a reminder and reflection for my personal investing journey.  Nothing discussed here should be treated as financial advice of any sorts, it is just my personal thoughts. It has been 88 months since January 2018 till April 2025, and I think it is a good time (and an auspicious number) for me to start looking back and reflecting on my investing journey thus far.  January 2018 is the time when I started recording and tabulating my investing journey with a concrete plan in mind.  I had decided to invest for the long term and accumulate shares of good companies for the long time, with dividend play in mind. Initially, portfolio growth was mainly due to capital injection and any growth was slow.  However, I understand this is how dividend investing is going to be.  No rocket to the moon, no exciting multi-baggers, just slow and steady compounding in play, and I am fine with it.  This is b...

As 2025 unfolds, savvy investors in Singapore are watching closely as a combination of macro-economic shifts unfolds: T-bills' interests are softening, the Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) are offering declining yields, high-yield savings accounts like UOB One and OCBC 360 are trimming their headline rates, and the much-loved Central Provident Fund (CPF) Special Account (SA) for individuals aged 55 and above has officially closed. With these traditionally safe, fixed-income options becoming less attractive or obsolete, the big question on my mind is "will this wave of capital now turn towards the Singapore stock market, particularly into high-dividend plays like REITs and bank stocks, and push their prices higher"? Why I Think More Liquidity May Enter the Market And Boost Dividend Stocks 1)      The Income Substitution Effect With the erosion of “safe” passive income options like T-bills, SSBs, and high-yield savings accounts, income-seeking investors, especially retir...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of April, it was a turbulent month of severe downs and ups.  The “Liberation Day” on 2nd April 2025 has caused the markets worldwide to crash by minimally 5% upwards.  The reciprocal tariffs and base tariffs imposed on almost all countries caused massive fears of uncontrollable inflation to return.  After the markets crashed for 1 week, the spike in US 10-year bond yields to above 4.5% levels inevitably freaked out investors further, and the probably the US Government as well.  Hence it lead to Trump's decision to delay the implementation of the reciprocal tariffs by 90 days, except for China.  This sudden 'flip-flop' in decision caused a major rally in the stock markets worldwide, exacerbating the volatility in the markets. Nothing much this month, except my regrets for not being able to buy more stocks during the crash on hindsight.  There was sufficien...

In recent months, the global economy has been rattled by a resurgence of trade tensions, most notably between the United States and China.  This modern-day tariff war, escalating into a full-blown geopolitical standoff, has created uncertainty in markets across the globe.  Amid this turmoil, gold prices have surged to new all-time highs, day after day. while silver has conspicuously lagged behind.  This divergence has puzzled many investors and prompted serious questions about whether now is the right time to continue to invest in these precious metals, especially when we start hearing more uncles and aunties beginning to talk about investing in gold (shoe-shine boy theory). Gold’s Meteoric Rise: A Flight to Safety Gold, together with the long term US Treasury bonds, have historically been viewed as a “safe haven” asset, one that holds or increases its value during periods of economic and geopolitical instability.  The first time I blogged about gold was back in...