~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

This post is written based on personal opinion and circumstances, and it is definitely not applicable nor suitable for everyone.  It is just to record my personal thoughts and actions moving forward, and it is definitely not any form of financial advise. The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is Singapore’s most well-structured social security system.  Besides providing Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PR) a reliable way to save for retirement, CPF also offers attractive benefits like guaranteed returns of between 2.5% to as high as 6% (depending on the account and age band of individual) and tax relief.  Personally, I love how the CPF system works, but being a self-employed person since 2015, I did not benefit from employer's contribution of 17% to my CPF account in the past 9 years.  However, as I believe the CPF system is a reliable and a technically risk-free system that works like a guaranteed-bond, I religiously contribute 37% of my annual net trade income to al...

This is a reflective post following my previous post on whether to liquidate my portfolio to pay down my mortgage loan.  As per my conclusion in the previous post, I decided not to go ahead with that move.  One of the main reason is because it will lead to over-concentration of my overall portfolio into one single asset class- property.  If a large part of my asset is parked in brick-and-mortar property, it may cause me to end up being asset rich (after I fully paid up my mortgage) and cash poor.  I think this may a scenario that is important for me to avoid if I want to remain flexible in my financial decisions moving forward, as having some degree of liquidity is crucial for all investors.  This is especially the case if one is retired without any form of active income. To avoid becoming asset-rich but cash-poor in retirement years, one can take the following steps to ensure a balanced financial situation.  1)      Diversify Your Investme...