~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

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...

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 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...

One thing I have learned from investing is that nobody knows where the next crisis will come from. Every crisis feels different while it is happening.  The headlines are different, the causes are different, the fear is different.  Yet when I look back at history, I notice that the lessons are often surprisingly similar.  Markets panic, asset prices collapse, people become fearful, and eventually, life moves on.  As investors, we do not get rewarded for accurately predicting every crisis.  We get rewarded for surviving long enough to benefit from the recovery. That is why I find it useful to study past crises, not because I think the next crisis will look exactly the same, but because understanding how previous generations navigated difficult times can help me better prepare my portfolio, my finances, and my lifestyle for whatever comes next. When I look back over the last few decades, four major crises stand out: the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the 2000 Dot-...

This month marks the end of the 2nd 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, but I have since liquidated my entire US Growth Portfolio in September 2025 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.   Being a relatively conservative investor, I prefer to dollar cost average (DCA) into the market to slowly build up my portfolio....

Over the years, my Singapore dividend portfolio has slowly evolved into something more structured and intentional.  It is no longer just a random collection of high-yield stocks bought simply because they looked cheap or offered attractive dividends.  Instead, my portfolio today resembles a Qing Dynasty imperial harem ( 后宫 ) hierarchy.  Yes, this link is made because I am an absolute fan of the drama 后宫甄嬛传, even till today. This may sound ridiculous, but surprisingly, this framework actually helps me think clearly about: Conviction levels and portfolio weight Portfolio importance and risk management Dividend reliability and cash flow sustainability Capital allocation priorities (who gets my fresh cash) Promotion and demotion of holdings over time Not every stock deserves to become the Empress ( 皇后 ).  Not every stock deserves permanent favor. Some generate stable heirs (dividends), some stabilize the empire during difficult macro times, some are ...

In early 2026, the headlines in Singapore and abroad feel like a broken record.  Whether it was tech giants "right-sizing" or traditional industries grappling with high costs, retrenchment has moved from a distant possibility to a local reality.  This is exacerbated with rising oil prices and this creates immense operating pressure for many businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  Even in the Prime Minister's May Day speech, Mr Lawrence Wong noted that AI will change jobs, and inevitable make some jobs disappear.   As such, even in Singapore associated with stability, job security no longer feels like a given, especially for a non-citizen like myself.  Yet, in the midst of this uncertainty, I find myself in a position I did not fully appreciate until now.  I am not fearless, but I am far less afraid. The 8-Year Pivot This year marks my transition into Phase 1 of my Barista FIRE journey.  It was not an overnight achievement, ...

This month marks the end of the 1st 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, but I have since liquidated my entire US Growth Portfolio in September 2025 to pay off my Malaysia mortgage loan.  In March 2026, I started the MY Dividends Portfolio, which currently consist of only banks and REITs.  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.   Being a relatively conservative investor, I prefer to dollar cost average (DCA) into the market to slowly build up my portf...

As someone who has spent years building an investment portfolio in Singapore, I finally made an important financial move to open a Malaysian investment account with FSMOne Malaysia.  Starting in the second quarter of 2026, I plan to begin a new investment journey focused on Malaysian dividend stocks.  This decision is not just about diversification, it is also about currency strategy, retirement planning, and income stability. Why I Am Investing in Malaysia Instead of US Market Retirement Plans in Johor Bahru Although I currently work and invest in Singapore, I am Malaysian and intend to retire in Johor Bahru in the future.  As such, my retirement expenses will likely be denominated in Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and building a dividend investment portfolio that generates MYR income makes perfect sense.  Instead of the need to constantly converting Singapore Dollars (SGD) to MYR and inevitably worry about the foreign exchange rate, I can rely on dividends paid by Ma...

The recent market turbulence has prompted me to make a gradual shift in my portfolio strategy.  Over the past month, I have started reallocating part of my holdings away from individual securities and into exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Specifically, I sold part of my holdings in Hong Leong Finance (HLF), Mapletree Logistics Trust (MLT), and Frasers Logistics & Commercial Trust (FLCT).  The proceeds were redeployed into two Singapore listed ETFs, namely Amova StraitsTrading Asia ex Japan REIT ETF (CFA) and the UOBAM Ping An FTSE ASEAN Dividend Index ETF (UPD). One key reason for this shift is diversification.  An ETF holds a basket of securities, which helps reduce company-specific risks that come with holding individual stocks or REITs.  In the case of the CFA ETF, it invests across multiple REITs in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan), thus, its price movements tend to be less volatile compared to holding a single REIT.  UPD ETF also allows me expos...

This will be a relatively short post to update on my portfolio and transactions for the month of February.   For the month of February, it remains a volatile month for global stock markets, with uncertainty spilling over into Singapore equities as well.  The biggest driver was a sharp rotation of monies out of tech stocks, sparked by renewed doubts over AI valuations.  After months of optimism, investors began questioning whether earnings could justify lofty prices, triggering sell-offs and increased volatility across markets, including Singapore. At the same time, interest rate expectations remained stubbornly high.  The FED signaled no urgency to cut rates, keeping bond yields elevated.  This is especially so with the latest higher than expected PPI numbers.  This weigh on rate-sensitive sectors in Singapore such as REITs and high-dividend stocks, as investors compared equity yields against safer fixed-income alternatives.  Adding to the unease...