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Giving Thanks — To My Parents, And To Singapore

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**This is a special edition post for Singapore's National Day, and a personal reflective post on what Singapore's National Day meant for me. Every year, when Singapore's National Day comes around, I find myself thinking about Singapore.  Not just Singapore as a country, but Singapore as a part of my life.  And perhaps more importantly, I think about my parents, and the decisions they made for me when I was too young to understand what those decisions would eventually mean. Looking back now, I realise that much of the life I have today started with a decision my parents made when I was just a young child.  They decided to send me to Singapore to study, even though at that time, I wished to attend the same primary school in Johor together with my friends in kindergarten. I started going to school in Singapore from Primary 1.  For the next ten years, from Primary 1 all the way to Secondary 4, I travelled between Johor Bahru and Singapore every school day.  That m...
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Seventh Month of Phase 1 Barista FIRE

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This post is just for personal reference, to record my personal income and expenses in my journey towards Barista FIRE. For the month of July, it was quite a "happening" month for me.  I have planned a short get-away to KL in the mid of this month.  However, just 1 week before my trip, something happened and I have to make an emergency day trip to KL via coach.  This is also my first time taking overnight coach directly from Kovan to KL Lalaport.  The ride is surprisingly quite comfortable, and seriously affordable.  I may consider coach ride in future too.   One week later, my planned trip happened and I flew to KL via scoot.  This trip was just for me to relax and chill, and enjoy some good food.  Below are some of the nice food I ate there.   Fish Porridge Spicy Dumplings  Traditional Breakfast Set Curry Chee Cheong Fun Dry Bak Kut Teh Because of this trip which lasted 5 days, my expenses in Singapore is slightly lower.  Exp...
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Portfolio Update for July 2026

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This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of July, it remained a volatile month.  The US-Israel-Iran war in the Middle East seems never-ending and the issues keep popping up once in a while with no resolve in sight.  After brent oil prices retreated to USD 70s earlier this month, now it's back to USD 80s level.  Once again, fear of inflation returned, and 10-year yield spike up once again, reigniting rumors of interest rate hikes by the FED.  How it will turn out eventually remains to be seen, but at the same time, Trump is back with the tariffs.  However, this time the markets were calm regarding tariff news, probably due to the many "TACO" events in the past.   Closer to home, rotation of the funds brought the STI to all time highs for most of the month, but in the last two trading days, fear of AI correction subsided, and funds probably moved out of the Singapore market back to Korea and U...
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Why OCBC Became the Largest Holding in My Dividend Portfolio

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When other investors first look at my dividend portfolio, one question seems to come up more often than any other.  Why is Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC), and not Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), my largest holding?  After all, DBS is widely regarded as Singapore's premier bank.  It consistently delivers strong earnings, generous dividends and has rewarded shareholders exceptionally well over the years.  It would seem natural for DBS to occupy the largest position in a dividend portfolio. Yet today, OCBC accounts for approximately 21% of my portfolio, taking up the top allocation while DBS makes up around 14% in second place.  The answer has very little to do with predicting which bank would perform better.  Instead, it reflects my own investing journey, one that began with a simple misconception shared by many new investors. My Investing Journey Began with Share Price, Not Valuation When I started building my dividend portfolio in end of...
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Is A SGD 1 Million Dividend Portfolio Enough For Me To Retire?

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One of the questions I see many financial bloggers and "fin-fluencers" talk about frequently on social media is "How much money is enough to retire"?  Some people swear by the 4% rule, which is a good gauge for a start, or even 3% rule for more conservative investors.  Others say you need SGD 2 million or even SGD 3 million before you can sleep peacefully at night. As for me, I have never been fixated on a particular net worth.  My goal has always been much simpler.  Build a portfolio that generates enough reliable dividend income to fund my everyday life (anything that generates an annual dividend that is 1.2 to 1.5 times annual expenses is a great safety net according to my previous writeup .)  If my portfolio eventually reaches SGD 1 million, then perhaps that becomes my finish line, not because SGD 1 million is a magical number, but because I believe it represents a portfolio that is resilient enough to weather life's inevitable financial storms. As I look t...
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