~~Towards Barista FIRE~~

I have been tracking my income and expenses all the way since 2008.  However, all these while I have only been recording, but did not evaluate and analyse my expenses all these years.  Since I have the intention to begin my first phase of Barista FIRE next year, I think it is time for me to analyse my expenses, so I can estimate the minimum amount of part-time active income I will need to achieve next year in order for my cashflow to be healthy. Looking back at my expenses from 2022 to 2025, I am quite surprised at how my spending pattern evolved over these few years (and probably I have underestimated my expenses all these years).  I have always believed that being mindful about expenses is the foundation of financial independence and not just earning more, but also learning to live well within my means.  However, reality may be a little different from expectations.  Probably it is time for me to be more mindful of my spending. Four Years Of Data: The Story Be...

This post is like a sequel to my first Cuti Cuti Malaysia post in January 2025 where I went to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for a solo trip.  So this time, I am off to another popular traveling, feasting and retiring destination in Malaysia, and that is none other than Penang.  Once again, I believe I should promote tourism in my country to readers of this blog! For this trip, I decided to fly from Singapore Changi Airport again instead of Senai Airport like during the KL trip, because the fares were quite similar, so not much benefits for me to travel all the way to Senai Airport first.  With that, I can start my short holiday with the unforgettable Singapore Laksa treat from SATS lounge in Terminal 1.  Of course, to save money for lunch, I had more than just one bowl, accompanied with other delicious dishes.  After a full lunch, it is time to prepare to board the plane for this foodie adventure! Finally, after 1.5hrs short flight, I arrived at Malaysia’s food paradise ...

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...

For a start, please note that not everyone who play the miles game will inflate their lifestyle.  This is just a personal sharing on how I feel my lifestyle has changed when I started the miles journey. All along, I never cared much about miles or cashback earn rates from the various credit cards.  I just applied for credit cards that I think I have use for, of which mostly are cashback cards, for my necessary spending.  I did not pay attention to how much cashback I can earn, or what rewards am I eligible for.  They are mainly just used for paying for my expenses, and ensuring that I pay in full when its due (so there are many missed opportunities all these years).  However, in September 2022, things took a turn.  I applied for the HSBC Revolution credit card for the sign up bonus, which is a SGD 250 cash rebate, and most importantly it has no annual fees, so I do not have to worry about calling in for waivers annually.  After getting the card, and re...

Recently in a Telegram group, I come across a debate between Kyith from Investment Moats and a reader, where the reader claims that as long as his portfolio is made up dividend stocks with good dividend growth through the years, he can just live off the dividends with the total capital left intact, while Kyith on the other hand, supports the idea of Safe Withdrawal Rate (SWR).  The reader claims that he would not want to sell any part of his portfolio, and just having to live off the dividends makes dividend investing superior to the withdrawal method, while Kyith explains that the reader's perspectives show a lack of understanding of how the SWR method actually works. After reading the long string of exchanges in the telegram group, I decided to pen this post.  Personally, I am definitely a supporter of the dividend investing group, and I also believe, and strives towards just living off dividend income upon FIRE.  From a dividend income investor perspective, the idealis...

In the latest CPI report by Singapore Department of Statistics, core inflation rose by 3.6% year-on-year, and 0.5% month-on-month.  For a more visually appealing statistics to see what affect individuals most, we can refer to the diagram below released by Singapore Department of Statistics: For singles like me, I would like to think my expenses are relatively low, because I do not own a car, I do not take grabs or taxis in Singapore, only travel via bus, MRT and walking.  My main expenses lies with dining, utilities, mortgage, household items replacement and healthcare.  However, with the recent increase in GST, it is clearly making everything a tad more pricey.  The price of many food items have risen by approximately 10-20%, and even bus and MRT fares, have risen by 10%.  In a bid to deal with inflation, I checked with ChatGBT to find out how a Malaysian (SPR) like me staying in Singapore can find alternatives and ways to deal with inflation. The following is ...

Back in September 2023, I wrote a post pondering whether it is time for me to start including physical gold and silver into my portfolio after watching the Channel News Asia documentary on the Singapore Reserves.  At that time, I think I should follow the footsteps of the smart monies, especially the Singapore reserves, to allocate a small percentage of my portfolio into physical gold and silver.  Initially, I was looking at adding 50 grams of gold into my portfolio per year, but later in January 2024 , I changed my mind and decided to lower the allocation to buy 1 troy ounce (31.1 grams) of gold into my portfolio per year instead.   In Singapore, there are many online and physical stores where physical gold can be purchased.  Personally I prefer to collect physical gold over paper gold.  There are many platforms where physical gold can be purchased, through United Overseas Bank (UOB), or through private dealers like Silver Bullion Singapore, GoldSilver Ce...

Last year in September 2022, I wrote in this post the 8 reasons why I plan to retire in Malaysia, or more specifically, Johor.  Fast-track one year later, it seems evident that more and more people are also interested in the idea of retiring in Malaysia.  Johor and Penang are the two popular regions for retirement, with Johor in close proximity to Singapore, and Penang with great food and with ethnicity composition similar to Singapore.   So one year later, are there any changes in my plan?  The answer is no. Do note that the following points are solely from my perspectives, and only for my situation.  Being a Malaysian, Singapore Permanent Residence, I do not have any issues with lengthy stays in Johor, and I am privileged to be able to travel between Singapore and Malaysia as frequent as I wish, as long as my renewal of the re-entry permit in Singapore is successful.  Therefore, please do your own due diligence if Visas or any permits for long term ...

Recently I came across this  video  by Channel News Asia Insider about China's "Full-Time Child".  This is the outcome of the exceptionally high youth unemployment rate in China.  With so many fresh graduates entering the work force yearly and limited job available in the market, the macro-environment inevitably caused many youths to be in a tough situation where they are unable to find employment no matter how hard they try.  This gradually leads to youths giving up, resulting to popular lingos recently like ' 躺平 ' (means lying flat - having a low desire, with an indifferent attitude towards life) or ' 摆烂 ' (means leaving it to rot - actively embrace a deteriorating situation rather than try to turn it around). However in the interview, the youths have a different perspective of this 'Full-Time Child'.  Some are forced by circumstances.  The unfavorable macroeconomic environment makes it doubly hard for them to find jobs.  In October, statistics...

This month marks the end of the 3rd quarter of 2023.  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 consist of mainly big tech names, bank and exchange traded funds (ETFs). Being a relatively conservative investor, I prefer to dollar cost average (DCA) into the market to slowly build up my portfolio.  The advantages of using Interactive Brokers to buy the US shares via DCA are undoubtedly the low fees and ability to buy fractional shares of mega-cap technology shares like Alphabet and Tesla.  The latest FED meeting in September further confirmed that the FED will ...