~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

One of the biggest perks of blogging is I can easily look back at previous posts and compare which are the goals I have successfully achieved and which has fallen behind.  In this first post of 2026, I will like to reflect upon 2025, and compare with what I had written in this  post  one year ago to assess my achievements. 1)     Liquidating My US Growth Portfolio This has been a huge debate with myself this year, whether I should continue investing in US Growth stocks, or liquidate the portfolio to pay off my Malaysia mortgage loan.  In the end, I chose the latter, and enjoy the peace of mind and positive cashflow with my finances in Malaysia.  I know I may miss out the huge upside (and facts has shown that), but I am not regretting what I am missing out, instead I am cherishing and looking forward to a slower pace of life next year, with lesser financial stress from the mortgage debts that I have. Will I restart and rebuild this US Growth P...

With the popularity of AI currently, I heard of many folks asking AI how well their portfolio is, and what be done to further improve their personal portfolio.  To join in the fun, I decided to the same, and asked ChatGPT the following questions: 1)     How does my current portfolio compare to the All Weather Portfolio (AWP)? 2)     Is my current portfolio sustainable for preserving and growing wealth? 3)     Can my portfolio reliably support living off dividends within 4 years (when I retire in JB)? The following are all the responses and analysis generated by AI. 1)      How does my current portfolio compare to the All Weather Portfolio (AWP)? Asset Allocation vs. All Weather Portfolio Key Differences: a)     Still very equity-heavy (73% vs. 30%) – more volatile and growth-prone, but riskier in downturns. b)     Low allocation to hard assets like gold/commodities. c)     ...

As 2025 unfolds, savvy investors in Singapore are watching closely as a combination of macro-economic shifts unfolds: T-bills' interests are softening, the Singapore Savings Bonds (SSB) are offering declining yields, high-yield savings accounts like UOB One and OCBC 360 are trimming their headline rates, and the much-loved Central Provident Fund (CPF) Special Account (SA) for individuals aged 55 and above has officially closed. With these traditionally safe, fixed-income options becoming less attractive or obsolete, the big question on my mind is "will this wave of capital now turn towards the Singapore stock market, particularly into high-dividend plays like REITs and bank stocks, and push their prices higher"? Why I Think More Liquidity May Enter the Market And Boost Dividend Stocks 1)      The Income Substitution Effect With the erosion of “safe” passive income options like T-bills, SSBs, and high-yield savings accounts, income-seeking investors, especially retir...

After discussing about how I perceive mini-Retirements in my previous post , and looking at my current circumstances and regrets in my financial journey, I find that time is actually one of the most critical factor in personal finance.  The way one manages financial decisions early in life can significantly impact financial security in later years.  Whether it is leveraging the power of compounding interest, tackling debt before it spirals out of control, or making smart investments, time can either be an ally or an adversary.  Below are some key examples of personal experiences of how time plays a crucial role in financial well-being. 1)      Early Central Provident Fund (CPF) Contributions: The Power Of Compounding Interest One of the best financial moves a young working adult in Singapore can make is to aggressively contribute to their CPF accounts, particularly the Special Account (SA), as early as possible.  I came to realize this only recently ...

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...

One of the biggest perks of blogging is I can easily look back at previous posts and compare which are the goals I have successfully achieved and which has fallen behind.  In this first post of 2025, I will like to reflect upon 2024, and compare with what I had written in this post one year ago to assess my achievements. 1)     Changes To The Way I Manage My US Growth Portfolio The first point proved to be a failure, not because I failed to execute the change, but this whole idea to change the way I manage my US Growth Portfolio proved to be a failure.  In my wish-list, I hope I can try to do a little timing of the market to partially sell some shares when they reach all time high.  Just one month later in February 2024, I posted how this idea became a huge mistake.  Another event to slap myself is to sell half of my US Growth Portfolio in late October to return the investments to my family.  This caused my family to miss out of a low 5 digit re...

In the world of personal finance, the journey to achieving one's Financial Independence (FI) number is as unique as one's fingerprint.  Yet, it is easy to find ourselves caught in the web of comparison, measuring our progress against others who seem to have it all figured out.  This is especially the case when we are now near the New Year, where on 1st January, a wave of "amount of Central Provident Fund (CPF) interest collected" post will flood the finance community such as Seedly Personal Finance Community. On other days, in Dividend Investment Telegram Group, we will have members showing the amount of dividends they have collected over the year(s).  Do not get me wrong.  Personally, I do not view these postings negatively.  Once a while, it is natural to feel a twinge of envy or self-doubt, whether I will be able to accomplish something similar, but more often than not, I enjoy participating in all these discussions and chats with all the members in the Tele...

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...

This piece is inspired by AK71 once again, who has recently released this video saying that he is considering liquidating his entire portfolio.  He is having such thoughts because his portfolio is sufficiently big enough to be placed into safer instruments like T-Bills or Fixed Deposits to eliminate/ minimize any market volatility to the portfolio, and this amount is more than sufficient to last him his lifetime.   So will I do the same thing?  I am not in the situation to comment on that, because my portfolio is way too far away from this ideal situation, and moreover everyone's situation is different.  If I ever own a portfolio the size of his to be able to Fat FIRE, I think I may probably consider doing something similar, but there may be some factors I personally need to evaluate and assess.  Since my portfolio is significantly smaller, I did think of complete liquidation of all my assets before, but with the help of geo-arbitrage.  I am a Malaysi...

This is going to be a relatively short post, as this is just to share what I have learnt from Central Provident Fund (CPF) staff regarding some updates on the way how self-employed individuals can contribute to their CPF accounts.  Kindly note that the changes only affects self-employed individuals who contribute more than their Medisave liabilities to their CPF.  If you are self-employed and only contribute the required percentage of Net Trade Income (NTI) to your Medisave Account (MA), this change will affect you. Just for context, it is not a must for self-employed persons to contribute their monthly income to CPF Ordinary Account (OA) and Special Account (SA), but it is mandatory for them to fulfil their Medisave liabilities as determined by Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS), which is a percentage of the annual NTI generated by the self-employed person, based on their age group, as shown below: I am a self-employed person as of late 2015, and since then till pri...