~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

Many investors like to think that the stock market returns about 7 to 8% a year over the long run, and for S&P500, that number was about 10%.  That sounds reassuring, and it is often used as the basis for retirement planning.  But these averages can hide an important problem.  Two investors can experience exactly the same average return over 30 years and still end up in very different financial positions, simply because the good and bad years happened in a different order.  That is sequence-of-returns risk, or SRR. What Sequence-of-Returns Risk Actually Is Sequence-of-returns risk is the risk that the order in which investment returns happen matters, especially when you are withdrawing money from your portfolio.  Imagine two retirees who start with the same portfolio, withdraw the same amount every year and experience exactly the same set of returns over 25 years, just in reverse order. Retiree A experiences a major crash in year 1, followed by a long...

I recently sold my position in the UOBAM Ping An FTSE ASEAN Dividend Index ETF (UPD) after holding it for less than a year.  I collected one distribution, sold at a small profit, and gave up the next payout.  When I first bought this ETF, I thought I was diversifying.  Looking back, I think I was actually di-worsifying. Why I bought UPD The idea was quite simple.  I wanted to diversify beyond Singapore, and at the same time, I wanted to increase the yield of my portfolio.  UPD ETF seemed to do both.  It was a dividend-focused ETF covering five ASEAN markets, namely Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, and it was targeting a distribution of at least 6% a year for 2026 and 2027. On paper, that sounded attractive.  I already had a large Singapore dividend portfolio.  Hence adding some ASEAN exposure and collect a decent amount of income along the way sounds sensible, especially when it included some larger economies in the...

This post is just for personal reference, to record my personal income and expenses in my journey towards Barista FIRE. For the month of September, it was another simple month for me.  Simple life, simple expenses.  However, occasional spending spiked because I have exchanged some funds to MYR when exchange rate was favourable, above SGD 1 : MYR 3.20 in preparation for the annual insurance premiums I need to pay for at the end of the year.  Besides this large one-off expense, the others were just expenses for annual health check-ups and some other miscellaneous spending in preparation for the upcoming trip with my mum and aunt. Besides expenses, I also receive 'bountiful' dividend harvest this month from REITs and other stocks in my portfolio, and that concludes my Q3 dividend harvest.  Looking forward to the final quarter's earnings and dividends, and hoping I can achieve my annual dividend goal for 2026.   All in all, after 9 months of phase 1 Barista ...

This month marks the end of the 3rd quarter of 2026.  Thus it's definitely a good time for me to record the performance of my portfolio to track how it has been. To recap, I started my SG Dividends Portfolio in late 2017, and I began tracking the dividends and all reinvestment done starting 2018.  To date, my SG Dividends Portfolio consist of banks, REITs and defense technology.  On the other hand, I only started the US Growth Portfolio in late December 2021.  Currently, my US Growth Portfolio has been completely liquidated to pay off my Malaysia mortgage loan.  In March 2026, I started the MY Dividends Portfolio, which currently consist of only banks and consumers.  The purpose of this is to complement my SG Dividends Portfolio, and hopefully generate dividends in MYR to hedge against forex risks when I FIRE.   The most important event that happened this month is definitely the FED meeting and the speech by Kevin Warsh in mid of the month....

One of the most common sayings about money is that it cannot buy happiness.  I used to agree with that 100% when I was younger, but as I aged, I think there is a lot of truth in that.  Money alone cannot guarantee meaningful relationships, good health or a fulfilling life.  But after years of building my dividend portfolio, I have also come to realise something else.  Money may not buy happiness, but it buys choices, and sometimes, those choices quietly lead to a happier life. When I first started working as a private tutor, my income depended entirely on the number of lessons I taught.  No lessons meant no income.  It was as simple as that.  Back then, I packed my schedule as much as possible.  Every available slot became another tuition lesson.  As someone who is self-employed, every lesson represented income for that month.  Naturally, I became very protective of my schedule. Then came the inevitable cancellations.  Sometimes a...

When we talk about personal finance and FIRE, we usually talk about savings, investment returns, dividend income, cash flow, expenses, portfolio size and retirement age.  But sometimes, something indirectly related to finance ends up influencing our financial journey. For me, that something is Diva. Diva is a Singapore Special, a local mongrel, whom I adopted in 2020.  She was already seven years old when she came into my life.  Today, in 2026, she is 13 years old, and thankfully, she is still healthy and going strong.  I have to give credit to her previous owner for raising her so well.  Diva is obedient, well-mannered and remarkably easy to take care of.  Over the past six years, we have settled into a rather unusual but comfortable relationship. We both mind our own business. Minding Our Own Business When I first adopted Diva while living alone in Singapore during the Covid period, I suppose I imagined the usual pet-owner relationship, lots of playi...

There is something wonderfully simple about investing in an ETF.  Buy it, hold it, collect the dividends, reinvest them and let the market do the rest.  There is no need to spend hours reading annual reports.  No need to decide whether CapitaLand Integrated Commercial Trust (CICT) is more attractive than ParkwayLife REIT (PWLR).  No need to wonder whether Keppel DC REIT (KDCR) is worth buying today or whether another company might be better.  An ETF does much of the work for investors. So why do I continue buying individual stocks even when I know perfectly well that my portfolio could underperform an index ETF?  I continue picking individual stocks because I value something that an ETF cannot give me in quite the same way. Choice. I want to decide what companies I own, how much of each company I own and, especially as a dividend investor, what kind of income my portfolio produces.  However there is a trade-off involved.  The more control I wan...

This post is just for personal reference, to record my personal income and expenses in my journey towards Barista FIRE. For the month of August, it was another simple month for me.  Simple life, simple expenses.  However, miscellaneous spending spiked because I am planning for a holiday with my mum and aunt to China this coming November, and a solo trip to Bangkok in January 2027.  This month I finally settled the flights and hotel stay for both trips.  To cover this cost, I decided to pay myself "bonus" in advance instead of as usual in December.  As I am self-employed, this is basically "ownself-pay-ownself", but I feel blessed to have the opportunity to plan and bring two elderly loved ones to somewhere chill for sight-seeing.  Hope all goes well. Besides expenses, I also receive 'bountiful' dividend harvest this month from banks and REITs.  Looking forward to more dividend payments next month.   All in all, after 8 months of phase 1 Baris...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of August, it was a jittery month.  With the on-going war and the increase in oil prices again back to the USD 80s level, the better than expected CPI numbers calmed down the markets considerably.  I do not really know what to make out of the numbers, as all these reports and numbers were out of my control.  I can only do what I could, which is to remain invested.   Closer to home, the SG markets were rather volatile as well.  All the companies in my portfolio have reported their earnings, and by the end of the month, all have XD, which largely explains the fall in portfolio value.  All the 3 banks announced their earnings, which were all quite expected.  United Overseas Bank (UOB) had an unimpressive quarter and that lead to its share price diving by around 10% from its high despite higher dividend payout.  Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporat...

My Central Provident Fund (CPF) is one of the less exciting parts of my financial journey is also one of the most important. While many investors spend countless hours searching for the next winning stock, the next high-yield REIT, or the next investment opportunity, my CPF simply sits quietly in the background, doing what it has always done - compounding steadily year after year.  I have never invested a single cent of my CPF monies. As of today, my CPF OA and SA combined are still below SGD150,000.  It is slightly above the Basic Retirement Sum (BRS), but still a long way from the Full Retirement Sum (FRS).  Yet I have no intention of using CPFIS or trying to squeeze out a higher return from these funds.  Instead, I treat my CPF as the bond portion of my portfolio.  For me, CPF is not a tool for maximizing returns.  It is a tool for managing risk. Building Stability While Taking Risk Elsewhere My investment portfolio already provides enough excitement...

A few days ago, while scrolling through social media, I came across the story of Colin Lau , a Singaporean who achieved Financial Independence and retired at the age of 35.  Like many others, I was curious.  It was not just because he retired so young.  What intrigued me was the way he chose to live afterwards. From the interviews and articles I read, Colin has intentionally embraced a minimalist lifestyle.  He keeps his personal spending low, values freedom over material possessions, and has spoken openly about using part of his time and resources to support charitable causes and underprivileged communities.  I genuinely respect the conviction it takes to live according to one's principles.  As I finished reading his story, I found myself reflecting on my own FIRE journey.  Not because I wanted to copy his lifestyle, but because it reminded me that Financial Independence does not have a single definition. Every one of us is trying to reach the same ...

One of the longest-running debates in the investing world is whether retirees should live entirely on dividends or adopt the Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR), where a small percentage of the investment portfolio is sold every year to fund retirement expenses. From a mathematical perspective, the Safe Withdrawal Rate is difficult to argue against.  For decades, researchers have studied historical market returns across different countries and time periods.  The conclusion has remained surprisingly consistent.  A diversified portfolio invested primarily in equities has historically been able to support annual withdrawals of around 4% over long retirement periods while maintaining a high probability that the portfolio continues growing over time. I understand the mathematics.  I accept the research.  In fact, I believe the Safe Withdrawal Rate is a perfectly valid retirement strategy.  Yet if I am being completely honest, I still find myself naturally gravitating t...

**This is a special edition post for Singapore's National Day, and a personal reflective post on what Singapore's National Day meant for me. Every year, when Singapore's National Day comes around, I find myself thinking about Singapore.  Not just Singapore as a country, but Singapore as a part of my life.  And perhaps more importantly, I think about my parents, and the decisions they made for me when I was too young to understand what those decisions would eventually mean. Looking back now, I realise that much of the life I have today started with a decision my parents made when I was just a young child.  They decided to send me to Singapore to study, even though at that time, I wished to attend the same primary school in Johor together with my friends in kindergarten. I started going to school in Singapore from Primary 1.  For the next ten years, from Primary 1 all the way to Secondary 4, I travelled between Johor Bahru and Singapore every school day.  That m...