~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

As someone who has been on a slow and steady journey toward financial independence, I have always believed in the power of investing for income, especially after I stuck on to this strategy since 2018, and it has proved to serve me well.  Recently, I read Get Rich with Dividends by Marc Lichtenfeld, and it helped to anchor and strengthen my belief in investing in dividend-paying companies, not just for passive income, but as a signal of a business’s financial health. First and foremost, many would think that the best system introduced by Lichtenfeld is the 10-11-12 system, which stands for aiming for 10% average annual yield on cost, 11% average annual total return, and 12 years to double your income.  To me, all this are too technical and too much of a hassle for me to keep track.  All I am looking for is consistent dividend payout from the companies I own.  As long as dividend-payment are recurring, I will continue to hold.  For cyclical businesses, dividend c...

If you are a dividend investor in Singapore working towards Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE), you are likely already focused on building a passive income stream that can cover your expenses without the need to rely on active employment.  However, generating consistent dividends is not just about stock selection, it is also about how you allocate your capital across different individual stocks. Many retail investors, including myself in the past, overlooked this crucial piece of the puzzle, only to find themselves overly exposed to risk or receiving unpredictable income streams during market downturns.  In this post, I will share my perspectives on why individual stock allocation matters, how it affects your sustainability in FIRE, and what a prudent allocation strategy might look like.  Do note that the following are not absolute.  Individual investor can further fine-tune the numbers to suit your personal risk appetite.   Of course, this will b...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of May, it was a rather muted month compared to April.  The old adage of “Sell in May and Go Away” seemed to be missing this year, especially when the US markets have rebounded strongly back towards the high, as Trump continues to reach tariff deals of some sort with various countries.  How long will this last before Trump changes again is anyone's guess, and probably only Trump himself knows.  The only triggering event this month is the downgrade of US credit rating by Moody's from AAA to AA1.  Moody's is the last rating agency to 'kick' US out of the triple A ratings club, with Fitch Rating last downgraded US back in 2023. Another event that triggered me from making many moves this month is the further weakening of the USD.  Back in April, USD : SGD has weakened from 1 : 1.35 to 1 : 1.31.  In May, the exchange rate has dropped below 1.30.  So probab...

With the popularity of AI currently, I heard of many folks asking AI how well their portfolio is, and what be done to further improve their personal portfolio.  To join in the fun, I decided to the same, and asked ChatGPT the following questions: 1)     How does my current portfolio compare to the All Weather Portfolio (AWP)? 2)     Is my current portfolio sustainable for preserving and growing wealth? 3)     Can my portfolio reliably support living off dividends within 4 years (when I retire in JB)? The following are all the responses and analysis generated by AI. 1)      How does my current portfolio compare to the All Weather Portfolio (AWP)? Asset Allocation vs. All Weather Portfolio Key Differences: a)     Still very equity-heavy (73% vs. 30%) – more volatile and growth-prone, but riskier in downturns. b)     Low allocation to hard assets like gold/commodities. c)     ...