~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of April, volatility continues to be the main theme, especially in the US market. This is reflected in some stocks, where their gains from March lows has been wiped out. US companies that experiences price slashes are no longer limited to small and mid caps.  Giants like Netflix and even Amazon was not spared.  One look at S&P 500 will be sufficient to illustrate the pain and agony in the market, as this huge index has already dropped by approximately 8.8% in a month!  My US portfolio is not spared either. On the contrary, the Singapore market remains relatively clam.  My SGX Dividend Portfolio remains to be my sanctuary for April, amidst the wild swings and blood on Wall Street.  I am glad the Dividend Portfolio is holding up well, and thus, allowing me to sleep peacefully.    For this month, I injected approximately SGD 23K capital buying th...

The foreign exchange (Forex) market is a global market place for exchanging national currencies.  Due to the worldwide reach of trade, commerce, and finance, forex markets tend to be the largest and most liquid asset markets in the world, even larger than the stock market. Forex is part and parcel of most people's lives.  Whenever one is planning for an overseas trip, whether for work or leisure, forex will be considered.  Personally, forex is an important part of my life being a Malaysian working in Singapore, especially the US Dollars/Singapore Dollars (USD/SGD) and Singapore Dollars/Malaysia Ringgit (SGD/MYR) currency pairs.  USD/SGD is important for me to convert my savings to USD to purchase US shares, while SGD/MYR is important for my to convert a part of my income to pay bills back in Malaysia.  Occasionally, other currencies will also be important when there are plans for overseas travel. About 12 years ago, I like to keep some cash in Australian Dol...

Long term investors deploy various strategies to make their share purchases.  Some buy with a plan in mind, some just buy when they have cash at hand, as short term price volatility doesn't affect their decision.  We shall look at 4 such strategies that investors commonly deploy (and no, I am not recommending market timing here), and compare them side by side based on SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) for the past 5 years, to dive deeper into their respective performance.  Kindly note that to make this comparison, some assumptions have been made based on my personal understanding of the individual strategies.  If there are any wrong assumptions being made, kindly comment and let me know, so that I can learn from my mistakes as well! 1)      Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) DCA is an investment strategy pursued by an investor who has access to regular cash-flow that can be deployed to purchase shares at regular intervals (eg, weekly, monthly or quarterly) regardl...

Parkway Life Reit (C2PU.SGX) is one of Asia's largest listed healthcare REITs.  It invests in income-producing real estates and real estate-related assets used primarily for healthcare and healthcare-related purposes.  As at 31 st December 2021, Parkway Life REIT's total portfolio size stands at 56 properties, including hospitals and medical centres in Singapore (prized properties are Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital and Parkway East Hospital), Malaysia, and 52 healthcare-related assets in Japan, totalling approximately SGD 2.29 billion.  It is a relatively small REIT compared to other REITS listed on Singapore Exchange. Parkway Life REIT is firmly guided by its principle of staying prudent and focused in its growth strategy, focusing on targeted investment, proactive asset management and prudent capital and financial management.  Through these focuses, the REIT aims to maintain strong financial position to ensure continuous access to funding at optima...

The FIRE movement began in the US, where one strives to increase his income, save a large portion of it, so he is able to to achieve financial independence as soon as possible.  Once financial independence is reached, one can have the freedom of choice to retire, or do minimal work to pass time.  As how one decides to achieve FIRE may differ based on one's character, habits and how they want to spend their early retirement years, we shall examine 4 different FIRE strategies that one can pursue. 1)      Lean Financial Independence Lean financial independence is favoured by individuals who require an investment portfolio that is able to generate an income stream to cover only the essential expenses.  Essential expenses includes needs such as housing, food, transport and utilities.  One who pursues lean financial independence are usually minimalist and frugal by nature.  This means that generally the investment portfolio required for lean financia...