~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

In recent years, the concept of mini-retirements has gained traction, particularly among younger Millennials and Generation Zs, as discussed in this recent report .  Rather than following the traditional path of working continuously until retirement, they take extended breaks (sometimes months or years) to travel, pursue hobbies, or simply enjoy life.  These young professionals see mini-retirements as a way to avoid burnout, gain new perspectives, and enjoy life while young.  While this idea sounds appealing, my perspective as a 40-year-old working towards Barista FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) in Singapore is a bit more nuanced, as challenges like financial planning remain key considerations.  For a start, I would like to conclude that I personally prefer a more aggressive attitude towards work in my twenties and early thirties, and transit towards a more work-life balanced approach in my late thirties and early forties (which is my current state), foll...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of February, it remains a rather volatile month.  The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for January has once again risen year over year and even month over month.  This showed how sticky inflation is going to be moving forward, and has thus caused the 10 year treasury yield to spike up above 4.5% once again.  This has been unkind to many REITs, which experienced continual decline in prices, some going even lower than the Covid times.   Nothing much this month, except my regrets from the sale of Palantir last month.  It was definitely painful to watch its price rocketing through USD 100 to above USD 120, but I can only console myself with my reasons for selling at that time.  The sale proceeds were diverted to Microsoft and Google, and also 2 new ETFs, namely Vanguard Value Index Fund ETF (VTV) and iShares China Large-Cap ETF (FXI).  Microsoft and Google...

Recently, I have just completed reading Morgan Housel's "The Psychology of Money", and finally digested some of the contents within the book, which are valuable lessons that can further help me improve in my journey towards achieving Barista FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early).  For those unfamiliar, Barista FIRE is about having enough passive income to cover your basic needs, while working part-time to maintain a balanced, fulfilling lifestyle.  It is about finding financial freedom without retiring completely.   Living in Singapore currently, with its increasing cost of living, this goal can feel challenging (that is why returning back to Malaysia for retirement is always in my mind, and I am definitely working towards that too).  Thankfully, some of the lessons from this book have molded my approach towards dealing with money more conscientiously and live life fully within my means.  Below are some of the key things I learnt and how they have gui...

Dividend investing is a popular strategy among investors in Singapore, particularly for those seeking a steady income stream, me included.  However, focusing solely on high dividend yields can lead to poor investment outcomes.  In this post, I shall remind myself why solely focusing on chasing high dividend yields without other considerations and analyses can be risky, and highlight some examples of Singapore-listed stocks that once paid high dividends but consequently experienced declining share prices, resulting in a non-favourable investment. For a start, it will be good to understand that dividend yield is calculated as such: Therefore, a high dividend yield can be a result of high annual dividends per share, or low current share price, or both.  To me, a high dividend yield is anything above 8%.  Kindly note that this yield is just a number that I generated randomly since I started investing (I do not have any financial rationale or formula to generate this yie...

This is going to be a relatively short post, as a personal record to pen down a new achievement I have unlocked. I have started investing and trading since 2010, but without any systematic methodology.  It took many years of hits and misses, buy high sell low, fear of missing out and buying based on hearsay and selling on news out of fear, before I finally decided to revamp my investing methodology and stick to it religiously.  The pivoting point began at the end of 2017, when I decided that dividend investing is the path for me to take.  It is not a path or strategy suitable for everyone, and I understand that there are many naysayers of dividend investing.  However for myself, I appreciate the beauty of dividend investing and it is definitely the method that suits my personality and lifestyle. After the pivot, I started recording the dividends collected from my SG Dividend Portfolio since January 2018.  It has been a slow but steady journey.  After embark...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of January, it is a rather volatile month.  The first half of the month was the extension of the mood back in December which was rather pessimistic.  The main reason lies with the worries of sticky inflation stemming from potential policies to be implemented by incoming US President Donald Trump.  This was worsen by the December US Payrolls, which grew by 256K, exceeding expectations by a huge margin.  In this period, good news is bad news, as the strength of the US economy means that the FED has no reason to cut interest rates in 2025 in the face of possibly looming reignition of inflation.  This is clearly shown in the bond market as the 10-year treasury yields shot up above 4.75% and reached a high of 4.817%.  All these caused the markets to pivot and began its downward movement.  Thankfully after the release of the Producer Price Index (PPI) and C...

Back in April 2024 , I tried to rebalance my portfolio for the first time to lower the weightage of the REITs and increase exposure to the banks specifically.  It was a partially successful attempt where I only managed to add fewer number of shares of Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) into my portfolio than I would like to have.  As such, when the opportunity presented itself in August 2024 during the Yen carry trade "mini-crisis", I managed to add more shares of DBS and UOB into my portfolio by reducing the number of Hong Leong Finance (HLF) shares in my portfolio.  However, the percentage of REITs in my portfolio remained high and I was waiting for another chance to rebalance (55.6% SG REITs, 34.9% SG non-REITs and 9.5% US Growth based capital injected).  In fact, September 2024 actually presented a very good opportunity for me to rebalance as prices of REITs recovered greatly, but guess what?  Greed prevailed and nothing happ...

As we step into the New Year with a new start, it is probably a good time to look back and revisit some timeless investments quotes and advices that remain relevant and impactful to myself till today.  I believe these advices can help myself remain focus in my investment journey this upcoming year, while offering guidance, clarity and inspiration. 1)     " Do Not Save What Is Left After Spending, But Spend What Is Left After Saving. " – Warren Buffett Residents in Singapore face high costs of living, but the principle remains universal, which is to prioritize savings and investments before discretionary spending.  It will be good to be disciplined in managing money, which in my order of priority, is to contribute to Central Provident Fund (CPF), set aside a comfortable amount for recurring investments in shares or ETFs, and finally set aside the fixed amount meant for mandatory expenses, before allocating the remainder for discretionary expenses. 2)  ...

I was contemplating whether I should write this post, because this trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL) in December 2024, for me as a Malaysian, was not considered an overseas trip but a domestic one.  However, I still decided to go ahead because after some thought, I believe I should promote tourism in my country to readers of this blog! For this trip, I decided to fly a little differently, to make this trip a little cheaper than usual.  I decided to fly budget from Johor Senai Airport this time instead of from Changi Airport, since I had also planned to go back to my mum's place in Johor the day before.  This is also my first time taking Batik Air (budget airline) and I must say, it was a rather pleasant experience.  Anyway at the airport, there was no lounge for me to rest (or maybe I do not know where it is), so I just waited around the gate.  Due to the heavy rain, there was just a 15 to 20 minutes delay, which I am thankful for.  By the way, this is my first tim...