~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

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...

From time to time, people have asked me how I managed to build up my current portfolio size, especially when I often say I have always had a relatively low active income.  More questions actually popped up after I wrote the post where I decide to liquidate my US Growth Portfolio to pay off my mortgage in Malaysia.  To be very honest, the journey was not glamorous, nor was it the result of overnight success.  It was a combination of discipline, patience, keeping expenses low, and a few key decisions (and saddening privileges) along the way.  This post is written with much emotions, as it openly shares my entire financial journey along the way, filled with ups and downs, and scars in life.  Please be kind towards my financial mistakes, as I know very well I am far from being perfect. Early Days – Humble Beginnings I started working in 2007 at a Japanese engineering firm with a starting pay of SGD 2,400 per month.  It was not much, but it was the reality of ...

I recently came across the phrase “ride the bubble”, and looking at the markets today, it feels very true, especially in the US markets where indexes just hit new time highs after highs.  Prices often move not just because of fundamentals, sometimes, just because of sheer momentum.  Bubbles seemingly form when investors chase higher and higher valuations, and those who dare to ride them can make outsized gains.  To me, as someone who knows little about valuations, there is a blur boundary between chasing the bubble or chasing the momentum.  But often, bubbles are formed when momentum runs are stretched, and the point in time when one exits the market differentiates momentum chasers from bubble riders. For me though, I believe I am more of a momentum chaser (if I ever succeed), and less so of a bubble rider.  This is because it has always been a struggle for me to ride through the momentum and I will often panic when the prices rocket exponentially instead of en...

One would have probably heard the saying before - “Compounding is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it.  He who does not, pays it.”  This quote has been repeated endlessly in the personal finance world, and for good reason. But here is the truth.  Compounding is not a get-rich-quick strategy.  In fact, in the early years, it can feel like watching paint dry- boring, slow and unmotivating.  You put in the effort, you save diligently, you reinvest your dividends, and for the longest time, it seems like nothing much is happening.  I have written a similar, but simpler post when I first started blogging back in 2022, where I noted 3 main factors affecting the compounding effects, namely time, yield and capital. The Key Factors That Influence Compounding’s Power 1)     Time This is the biggest multiplier.  The longer your money stays invested, the more time each dollar has to grow on top of previous growth.  ...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of August, it was a month of joy ride.  Although the US markets faced slight volatility due to Trump's threat to fire Jerome Powell time and time again, but markets probably got tired of it and resumed its uptrend, with S&P 500 continuing to hit new all time highs.  However, the mega-news this month should come locally from Singapore.  On 21st July, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) allocated the first SGD 1.1 billion to three asset managers (Avanda, JP Morgan and Fullerton) under its SGD 5 billion Equity Market Development Programme (EQDP) aimed at reviving SGX by driving institutional investment in small and mid-cap stocks.  This news gradually brought about a broad-based rally in the Singapore markets.  This is evident in the last 2 weeks of July, where many stocks not included in the Straits Times Index (STI) gaining steam and started their rall...

3rd July 2025 marks a historic moment for Singapore’s stock market.  The Straits Times Index (STI) has finally broken past its long-standing ceiling and closed at a new all-time high of 4019.57 points.  For years, the STI has lagged behind other global indices, frequently described as "boring", "defensive", or "undervalued", often trapped between 3000 and 3400.  Some others even nicknamed it the "Super Terrible Index".  However now, after what feels like a long, frustrating wait, I have finally witnessed a psychological and technical breakthrough and it feels both exciting and oddly sobering. As someone who has been building a dividend-oriented portfolio in Singapore for years, this moment is more than just a number.  It feels like validation, a recognition that Singapore-listed companies are not stagnant, and that patience can eventually be rewarded.  It is a reminder that value and yield still matter in the long run.  I have been collecting di...

Just for heads up, I think this post may ruffle some feathers, but I want to say that I am not targeting any specific person.  I am just sharing my thoughts through a general post.  Most of the following points are my personal opinions while some are thoughts share by my friends during casual discussions.  I am not against any individuals following the recommendations by gurus and performing the investment transactions on their own.  Instead, what is baffling me is why individuals pass their monies to gurus who will "invest" on their behalf. In today’s financial world, it has never been easier for individuals to start investing.  With low-cost Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), robo-advisors, and a mountain of free educational resources from books, YouTube videos and blogs, anyone with a smartphone and internet connection can begin building their own portfolio in just minutes.  Yet, despite this transformation in the investing world towards simplification, many...

If you are a dividend investor in Singapore working towards Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE), you are likely already focused on building a passive income stream that can cover your expenses without the need to rely on active employment.  However, generating consistent dividends is not just about stock selection, it is also about how you allocate your capital across different individual stocks. Many retail investors, including myself in the past, overlooked this crucial piece of the puzzle, only to find themselves overly exposed to risk or receiving unpredictable income streams during market downturns.  In this post, I will share my perspectives on why individual stock allocation matters, how it affects your sustainability in FIRE, and what a prudent allocation strategy might look like.  Do note that the following are not absolute.  Individual investor can further fine-tune the numbers to suit your personal risk appetite.   Of course, this will b...

This is going to be a relatively short post as it is just going to serve as a reminder and reflection for my personal investing journey.  Nothing discussed here should be treated as financial advice of any sorts, it is just my personal thoughts. It has been 88 months since January 2018 till April 2025, and I think it is a good time (and an auspicious number) for me to start looking back and reflecting on my investing journey thus far.  January 2018 is the time when I started recording and tabulating my investing journey with a concrete plan in mind.  I had decided to invest for the long term and accumulate shares of good companies for the long time, with dividend play in mind. Initially, portfolio growth was mainly due to capital injection and any growth was slow.  However, I understand this is how dividend investing is going to be.  No rocket to the moon, no exciting multi-baggers, just slow and steady compounding in play, and I am fine with it.  This is b...

This will be a relatively short post, just to update on the transactions for the month. For the month of April, it was a turbulent month of severe downs and ups.  The “Liberation Day” on 2nd April 2025 has caused the markets worldwide to crash by minimally 5% upwards.  The reciprocal tariffs and base tariffs imposed on almost all countries caused massive fears of uncontrollable inflation to return.  After the markets crashed for 1 week, the spike in US 10-year bond yields to above 4.5% levels inevitably freaked out investors further, and the probably the US Government as well.  Hence it lead to Trump's decision to delay the implementation of the reciprocal tariffs by 90 days, except for China.  This sudden 'flip-flop' in decision caused a major rally in the stock markets worldwide, exacerbating the volatility in the markets. Nothing much this month, except my regrets for not being able to buy more stocks during the crash on hindsight.  There was sufficien...