~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

Back in March 2024, I wrote in a post that I bought an 1 oz gold bullion bar from BullionStar, and got a free 1 oz Canadian Silver Maple Leaf bullion coin.  I also decided to include gold in my investment portfolio for the long term, which meant that I will buy 1 oz of gold yearly starting from 2024.  My intention for doing this is because with all the Quantitative Easing in both the east and the west, fiat may be losing their value in the long run and that makes gold investment more appealing than before (sorry, I am too timid for crypto).   Today, I am revisiting this topic as a record for myself, because year to date, the price of gold has continuously hit new all time high, and I probably need to do some logical thinking on what is going to be my next move.  To me, gold is more of a preservation tool rather than earnings tool, because I know that gold does not distribute any dividends, does not generate any earnings.  Its value is simply derived from demand and supply, and also th

So, the time has arrived for me to settle the refinancing of my mortgage loan.  Kindly note that this is not a sponsored post, and the companies and parties mentioned below are involved in assisting me with the application process and completion of the refinancing procedure. My last mortgage loan is with Hong Leong Finance (and yes, I am a shareholder), which started in October 2022.  It was a 2-year fixed rate loan where I enjoy an interest rate of 1.4% in the first year, and 1.5% in the second year.  I was relatively fortunate, because I started looking around for mortgage packages since April 2022, before the crazy propelling of interest rates began, and thankfully, although I was a couple of months too early, Hong Leong Finance was able to lock in the rates for me till my previous lock in period ceased.  As such, I am able to enjoy the lower rates with peace of mind when the interest rates were crazily high in 2023 and most of 2024.  However all good things must come to an end and

This month marks the end of the 3rd quarter of 2024.  Thus it's definitely a good time for me to record the performance of my portfolio to track how it has been. To recap, I started my SG Dividends Portfolio in late 2017, and I began tracking the dividends and all reinvestment done starting 2018.  To date, my SG Dividends Portfolio consist of banks, REITs and defense technology.  On the other hand, I only started the US Growth Portfolio in late December 2021.  Currently, my US Growth Portfolio consist of mainly big tech names, bank and exchange traded funds (ETFs). Being a relatively conservative investor, I prefer to dollar cost average (DCA) into the market to slowly build up my portfolio.  The advantages of using Interactive Brokers to buy the US shares via DCA are undoubtedly the low fees and ability to buy fractional shares of mega-cap technology shares like Alphabet and Tesla.  The most important event that happened this month is definitely the FED meeting and the speech by

The last trip I had to Seminyak, Bali was in December 2022.  This year in late August, I decided to make another short trip to Bali to chill for a few days.  As a self-proclaimed dividend investor, I am glad that this trip is once again sponsored from the dividends collected in the previous quarter.  No prize for guessing that the dividends come from the banks and REITs (did I hear anyone saying dividends are irrelevant?)! This trip is another solo trip.  For a start, I made use of my Dragon Pass via HSBC Travel1 Credit Card to gain complementary free access to the airport lounge at Terminal 4, and enjoy the laksa fix for brunch!     SG Laksa at T4 After the meal and short break, it's time to board the plane for the journey to Bali!  The flight took about 3 hours in total.  Clearing of immigration is smooth and fast.  Immediately after exiting, I went to the booth at the departure hall to pay the tourism tax, which is IDR 150K (SGD 12.71).  From the airport, taking the taxi or grab