~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of November, it is a rather stagnant month.  After the release of the better than expected October CPI numbers, and the slightly better than expected retail numbers (though there is a decline), the markets staged a minor recovery as markets believe the possibility of a soft landing, and once again, awaiting the possibility of a FED pivot.  Nonetheless, all the official numbers released to date point to the market expectations of no further rate hikes in 2023 and 2024, and instead, rate cuts starting in 2nd half of 2024. Although this sounds positive to the market, which marks the rebound in my US Growth Portfolio, but higher interest rates for longer duration means the stress for the REITs still remain.  Therefore, besides the exceptional rebound made by the US office/commercial REITs that were previously very badly beaten down in share prices, the recovery of the other...

This is a very short post just to recommend good YouTubers I come across.  For those who likes to watch finance-related movies like "Wolf of Wall Street" or "The Big Short" and the likes, and would like to watch more reviews of such type of movies before selecting personal favorites to indulge in the full movie, I would like to recommend this YouTuber to you, ' 麦肯锡说电影 '.  He has reviews on a wide selection of finance-related videos and documentaries.  What is most precious is when finance-specific terms appear in the show, the YouTuber will have a short explanation of the terms to help viewers understand the show better.  This definitely combines entertainment and education, providing value and learning opportunities to viewers.   However, the only downside is that all commentaries are in Chinese.  Do enjoy the videos if you understand Chinese!  Personally I think his videos are enjoyable and easy to understand, even if it involves complex financi...

Recently I came across this  video  by Channel News Asia Insider about China's "Full-Time Child".  This is the outcome of the exceptionally high youth unemployment rate in China.  With so many fresh graduates entering the work force yearly and limited job available in the market, the macro-environment inevitably caused many youths to be in a tough situation where they are unable to find employment no matter how hard they try.  This gradually leads to youths giving up, resulting to popular lingos recently like ' 躺平 ' (means lying flat - having a low desire, with an indifferent attitude towards life) or ' 摆烂 ' (means leaving it to rot - actively embrace a deteriorating situation rather than try to turn it around). However in the interview, the youths have a different perspective of this 'Full-Time Child'.  Some are forced by circumstances.  The unfavorable macroeconomic environment makes it doubly hard for them to find jobs.  In October, statistics...

This is going to be a relatively short post, to share how I help my mum to manage a part of her cash savings.  My mum is a typical saver, and not interested in any form of investments as she feels insecure with the possibility of losing a part of the capital.  Thus, her cash is usually stashed away in the various fixed deposits, especially those offering promotional rates by the different banks. For regular readers of this blog, you will know that I am a Malaysian, Singapore Permanent Residence.  Thus my mum stays in Malaysia and she manages her Malaysia accounts herself and also with my brother.  For part of her Singapore savings, I help her to manage.  My mum has Singapore savings because she prefers that I give her the allowance in Singapore Dollars, which she believes retain value much better than the Malaysian Ringgit. For now, I have helped her to save a portion of her monies in Maybank fixed deposits and Singapore Savings Bonds, all yielding above 3%....

Regular readers of this blog will know that I classify myself as a dividend investor, and based on capital injected, my portfolio consists of 51% in SGX REITs, 28% in SGX Non-REITs and 21% in US Growth.  The plunge in the prices of REITs for the past 1.5 years by about 30% based on CSOP iEdge S-REIT Leaders Index ETF has indicated that the REITs are in a bear territory (there are many other REITs performing much worse like US Commercial REITs which are excluded from the ETF), and where and when the bottom is going to be is anyone's guess.   If we look at the performance of the REITs and Trusts since 21st March 2022 (the week after FED begins propelling interest rates) till 31st October 2023, all of the REITs and Trusts, with the exception of Frasers Hospitality Trust, are in the red. Unsurprisingly, the worst performers are the US Commercial REITs, and on the other spectrum, the best performers were the hospitality trusts that were badly beaten down during the pandemic, a...