Income Review 2016

Posted by Journey | Jan 15, 2017 | Investing, Personal Finance, Property |

Not many streams of income left in 2016 that will bring me into 2017, having liquidate most of my positions to purchase a second home. Passive income: As can be seen… my passive income dropped from 2016 as compared to previous years. Liquidated most of my assets to get another house which i am currently staying in. So it will be like a fresh start in 2017 when i try to build up my portfolio again to get income from dividends. Meanwhile, also hoping that the rental from my HDB will add a much needed boost to my passive...

Expenses Review 2016

Posted by Journey | Jan 10, 2017 | Saving & Spending |

That time of the year when i look back at my expenses in 2016… and see how much better or worst did i fare financially… I really only started tracking my expenses in 2015 when i got YNAB, and my first year expenses were recorded in 2015 expenses review. It was pretty interesting to see where my money went to. I guess it would be even more interesting (for me that is) to see where i stack compared to last year. Car Expenses: $31,687.88 (2015: $33,198.99) Pretty consistent here. The slight disparity was because I did without a car for...

Transactions in December + hitching

Posted by Journey | Dec 26, 2016 | Investing, Shares & Derivatives |

Coming to the end of the year, where did 2016 go to? Did my regular savings plan of 300 bucks a month, and this month, i decided to get some bonds instead. So i purchased A35 at $1.141. I had left overs from my previous purchases of STI ETFs, so even though the total purchase amount is $343, I had enough to cover the transaction amount. Bonds are less volatile… good for people who are getting old like me. I used to be 100% in equities, but some diversity couldn’t hurt! I envisage that as I progress with more...

Transactions, happenings Oct/Nov 2016

Posted by Journey | Nov 27, 2016 | Investing, Personal Finance |

Didn’t blog for 2 months, was kinda busy. Did my monthly purchase of 100 units of either G3B or ES3. Guess 100 units work nicely based on savings of $300 a month. Other significant updates: (1) Finally secured a tenant for my HDB – market is indeed softening… the house sat empty for 1 month. While logically I know there is definitely a vacancy period, I can’t help but feel that every day the house sits empty, I am losing money. All is good now though – the rental deposit is now in my bank account. Ka Ching! Rates...

Transactions for Sept ’16 + accidental lifehack

Posted by Journey | Sep 29, 2016 | Insurance, Shares & Derivatives |

Continued my DCA into the STI index. Another 100 shares for the month. Using the transactions capture from SGXcafe. :) Incidentally, i chanced upon an accidental life hack from for a small amount of free cash flow. So i signed up for an insurance policy using the OCBC Cashflo card which breaks any purchases into monthly installments. And then because another policy came up which i preferred…. i freelooked the old policy (and got the cash refund from the insurance company in 1 lump...

Insurance Review

Posted by Journey | Sep 12, 2016 | Insurance |

Been busy recently trying to renovate my house…. costs of renovation is definitely way different from what i remember when i did up my house 8-9 years ago! My curtains and lights are double of what i spent previously. Although regrettably my record keeping the last time has been far from ideal, so wasn’t able to do up a very comparison. Any how…. due to the taking on of additional liabilities (and with getting older), decided to do an insurance review. I guess with age, one feels more afraid, with more things to lose… hence unwilling to take on...

Transactions for August 2016

Posted by Journey | Sep 3, 2016 | Shares & Derivatives |

Added another 100 ES3 shares. Happy to receive my first dividend payout from ES3 after restarting my portfolio. Even though it’s only $4.20, it is actually quite motivating! Slowly but surely, one minor minor step to more financial independence. :) Dividends for August By the way, there is an upcoming event for property, the Smart Expo. http://www.smartexpos.com/ If you are interested in building up a property portfolio overseas, do check it out if you have...

Square 1

Posted by Journey | Jul 13, 2016 | Investing, Property |

Haven’t been blogging much, and i actually missed the Brexit drama, as I exited all my holdings prior to that. I don’t profess to have good foresight. I simply needed the money for the down-payment of my new home, so basically I have to sell off everything to come up with the cash requirements. I got to say, it means i am starting all over again… no retirement portfolio, starting from scratch again. I consoled myself thinking that it’s like giving up everything to be an entrepreneur, like Dividend Warrior selling off everything to open a tuition center, and...

Up, up, up and away

Posted by Journey | Jul 4, 2016 | Saving & Spending |

Been a furry of news these 2 weeks: Singapore car park rates up $0.10 to $0.20, season parking up $15 to $25 Malls, office buildings set to charge higher parking fees Cab firms hit by higher operating licence fees Electricity tariffs to rise by 4.3% Found a picture that adequately describes this: I guess the most direct impact would be those driving cars (3 of the news pertains to car park charges). However, there would definitely knock-on effect to businesses – transportation costs etc. Rising costs would eventually be passed on back to the end-consumers. There’s a limit to...

Investors are speculating on Brexit

Posted by Journey | Jun 23, 2016 | Market Review and Trends |

Did you get the oxymoron on my title? I was engaged in a conversation recently with a financial advisor, and was asked if I am making bets on Brexit. The advisor said that a lot of investors are speculating on Brexit, and hoping to make a quick win over it. I was scratching my head. Investors speculate? Benjamin Graham in his book, ‘The Intelligent Investor’ defines an investment operation is one which, upon thorough analysis promises safety of principal and an adequate return. Operations not meeting these requirements are speculative. Betting on Brexit does not promise safety of principal....

Lend me money?

Posted by Journey | Jun 18, 2016 | Personal Finance |

So recently I managed to get a free copy of my credit bureau report. (if you don’t know, if you apply for a new credit card, or have your credit limit re-assessed by your bank, you have a 30 days window period to log in and retrieve a free copy of your report) So what does mine says? So I was rated AA, with a 0.15% probability for default and a score of 1953. I was thinking, why was I not rated the maximum score of 2000? So I read on, looks like one of the factors is that...

Waiting for my next pay (muses while showering)

Posted by Journey | Jun 10, 2016 | Career & Education, Personal Finance |

No, it’s not my pay day yet, although in all honesty, I AM indeed waiting for it. My current company bought out my notice period with my previous company – and in such cases, I need to pay my previous company compensation first (of 1 month + of my salary), and wait for the next payroll cycle in my current company before I get reimbursed. In practical terms, it would mean I am out of 2 months of salary until this month end. So I do need to give myself a pat on my back that I managed to set aside...

New job, new beginning

Posted by Journey | Jun 5, 2016 | Career & Education |

So I started with another company at the start of the month. Given the uncertainty surrounding my previous company, I decided to take the plunge and hunt around for a more secure job for my career. I did not wait for a severance package, because I think I would not be asked to go anytime soon, and I wasn’t there for very long in the first place – hence my package (if any) won’t be that large. In any case, it gave me a good story to hop out, and I took the opportunity for an increment in base...

Prestige Life Rewards

Posted by Journey | May 19, 2016 | Insurance |

I was introduced to this new and wonderful product by a Great Eastern Agent. Don’t invest in property, invest in Prestige Life Rewards (PLR) by Great Eastern. This works like property investment, only better! Wow – is it true? Because this agent is a friend, I am open to hearing more, and I was promised an analysis between property investment and PLR. As I have a HDB, the comparison will be between the 2. As I receive the analysis, I opened it up, and was immediately sold by the great benefits of this product. Let me share it with you....

Drinks and Party – what’s your indulgence?

Posted by Journey | May 1, 2016 | Personal Finance, Saving & Spending |

So it was TGIF yesterday, and after a hard and gruelling work at week, I think all of us can related to letting our hair down once the weekend rolls around. However, due to time-table clashes, I was not able to join my friends for a Friday night of drinks yesterday, and from the group chat that I saw this morning, the bill per pax averages out to between $150 to $200. I do hang out with them sometimes, and I would say that’s the average amount each shells out for a night of ‘catching-up’. As I started my trip...

Author: Journey