~~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 has once returned. The March CPI data released in the first half of the month showed that inflation is cooling down, and that drove optimism in the markets. Investors are pricing in that the FED will pivot and start cutting rates in 2023, despite FED's repetitive iteration that there will be no rate cuts in 2023. However, in the second half of the month, jitters returned to the market almost immediately as investors are worried for the 1 st quarter earning results. Analysts have commented that this quarter's earnings may be the worst earnings by the companies since 2020. This period is always the period that I look forward to, as well as remain slightly jittery. I am looking forward to it because it signals that dividends are coming in from my local Dividend Portfolio soon, while I remain jittery because it will cause the share price of my shares in...

In mid April, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) paused its monetary tightening policy and maintained the current rate of appreciation of the Singapore dollar.  This meant that MAS will not strengthened the Singapore dollar further to tame inflation, in a bid to defend the slowly economy, which is facing a deeper risk of slowdown.  This is supported by advance estimates which showed that the Singapore economy just grew by 0.1% year-on-year in the first quarter, a sharp decline from the 2.1% growth in the previous quarter.  On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, the Singapore economy shrank by 0.7% in the first 3 months of 2023.  This means that if the Singapore economy decline again in the second quarter of 2023, Singapore will be in a technical recession. MAS believe the above policy is justified because while inflation still remains elevated currently, data shows that core inflation will continue to fall in time to come as the 5 successive moneta...

This is going to be a relatively short post, as I just want to update my latest decision with regards to my Central Provident Fund (CPF).  The information here has been verified and workable after clarification with CPF board, but only for self-employed persons.  Thus, kindly note that this is not applicable for everyone. Earlier in January, I wrote a post stating my intention to do voluntary cash top-up of SGD 1.2K per year to my Medisave Account (MA), to boost my medical protection, and to grow my CPF account at a risk-free rate of 4% (barring any unforeseen policy changes).  This decision was made because once Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS) is achieved, any additional CPF contribution will flow to Special Account (SA).  This will in turn boost my retirement amount at a risk-free rate of 4% as well.  However, after further calculation and estimation, the usual contribution based on CPF allocation rates will mean that it may take approximately 2 more years before ...

With the recent financial turmoil on-going, which includes (but not limited to) high interest rates, high inflation, shrinkflation, bank failures, company bankruptcies, mass layoffs etc, it further reminds us the importance of being financially prudent, and be responsible towards our personal finances.  This is highlighted recently by the Channel News Asia Talking Point program on " Millennials & Gen-Z: Young and In Debt.  Why? "  In order to be financially prudent and responsible, protective measures need to be in place to help us tide through any emergencies and unforeseen circumstances.  As such, I think it is crucial for me, and for anyone interested at this juncture, to relook into our personal finances to evaluate how satisfactory our financial safety net is, so as to ensure that we are on the sustainable financial journey. The base level is the 'Protection of Income'.  This, in my definition, includes insurance and emergency funds.  For myself, a...

Recently I came across a post on InvestingNote sharing 7 Singapore-listed Companies That Pay Out Increasing Dividends Over The Last 5 Years .  As a major follower and practitioner of dividend investing, I would love to do a similar comparison as a quick check of how the stocks and REITs in my portfolio are doing.  Although dividends per unit (DPU) is not a sole consideration in the evaluation of the quality of the stocks and REITs, but it is one of the important metrics to look at, and it is definitely a much more dependable metric to consider compared to dividend yield.  This is because DPU can only increase if the company or REIT is generating sufficient net income or profit to payout to shareholders (however, it is important to note that a payout ratio of more than 100% is a red flag), while dividend yield can increase solely because the share price is declining, which is not a healthy indicator of the stock or REIT.  As such, I think it will be prudent for me to ...