Year In Review 2015 - Financial Cash Flow

My first full year of the most comprehensive and detailed income/expenditures tracking finally completed!

*All figures exclude CPF, investment capital gains/losses (but include dividends).

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Total Income VS Total Expenses

Expenses were pretty much stable except for the months where I made "major purchases", most notably a new mattress in February, Dividend Machine course in April, Langkawi trip in June, Samsung Galaxy S6 in August, Cameron Trip + S6 repairs in December. I also spent slightly more on minor indulgence stuff in December to 慰劳 myself a bit.

Income were highest in January and March from bonuses, and there's a minor National Day bonus in August. Can't wait for the upcoming one to top-up my war chest!

Other fluctuations in income are mostly due to dividends payout. Being my first year of investing, this will take some time to stabalize as I "lock down" on the stocks I have (receiving full year worth of dividends), and having each subsequent purchase make up less of my portfolio.

Overall, I managed to saved near 82% of my total income. My plan is to reinvest and inject at least 70% into my portfolio every year. Let's get the snowball rolling!

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Recurring Income VS Recurring Expenses

The chart strips out the noise and highlight only the "recurring" portion of my cashflow.

Recurring income include only salary + passive income, and excludes 'one-time' items like lottery winnings, angbaos, SAF allowance, bank special promotions, etc...

Recurring expenses remove all "major purchases" and "vacations".

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Recurring Expenses Breakdown

As expected, my top expenses are food, utilities, personal and travel. Other random discoveries:

- I spent about $12-$15 on average each month on lottery tickets. -.- So far, I only "won" $10 back. They are indeed a bad investment. Treat them purely as entertainment.

- Of all the entertainment expenses, about 50% of them comes from KTV sessions. LOL. Does it imply most of my entertainment come from singing, or is it because singing is the most expensive form of entertainment?

Food: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Supper, Snack, Groceries
Entertainment: Any form of entertainment expenses such as KTV, Video Games (e.g. Purchases from Steam), Movies, Sports, Etc
Gambling: Any Losses from Lottery, Mahjong, etc...
Healthcare: Doctor, Dentist
Household: Consumables (e.g. Stationary, Toiletries), Others (e.g. Pillow, Bedsheets)
Personal: Things that are consumed personally by me, such as Clothing (e.g. Head to Toes), Haircut, Personal Care (e.g. Toothpaste, Skincare, Grooming), Other (i.e Exercise Stuff, Army)
Social: Wedding, Social Functions
Tax: Income Tax
Travel: Public (e.g. EZ-Link Topup), Taxi
Treat: Non-personal expenses
Utilities: Telephone, Internet

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Road To Financial Independence

Passive income now cover almost 20% of my expense! Not bad for my first full year of investing!

I have exceeded my goal for 2015 by collecting more passive income. The short term negative impact though - it's like exchanging "capital losses" in the process.

Given the market correction (i.e Great Singapore Sale), I will selectively accumulate on weakness to further accelerate my yield next year. Goal next year is to generate 1 month salary from stock dividends.

Year In Review 2015 - Financial Portfolio

2015 has not been a kind year to investors with the market taking quite a beating. Most people would be in the red and I am no exception. I must be really 'heng' that that my first full year of investing is the hardest to make money in 78 years. Viewed positively however, it's actually a good thing for someone in their early stages of investing - It means I get to accumulate more companies at fire-sale prices!

While I would like to think that I am "out-performing" the index, the sample size (investing period) is really too small to make any conclusion. Still, it's a consolation point to know that it's not because of my bad choices that I'm in the red - the whole market is going down.

Thankfully, I still have the majority of my holdings in cash. In 2016, I will look to selectively inject more into solid blue chips (with long term, sustainable dividends) to further diversify my holdings.

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Next up will be a brief review of all my holdings and lessons learned:

Frasers Centrepoint Trust
My first and most trusted holding. Each visit to causeway point just boost my confidence in this company. Economic recession? Property downturn? I don't think these macro-economic factors will make much of a dent on FCT. It's amazing 8 years consecutive DPU increase is unmatched in the REITs sector.

This have provided me with the most stable and biggest returns since I started investing, and I intend to hold it forever.






Super Group
A costly lesson in not blindly following analyst reports. I went in way too early in the midst of a downturn, catching a falling knife in the process. Have been holding on for several reasons:

1) Cyclical stock that should turn-around eventually.
2) Strong balance sheet, good management and still profit-making.
3) The nose-dive makes this only a small portion of my portoflio now, so there is really no point selling anyway.

Keeping my fingers cross that its newly launched Essenso coffee will take off.




China Merchant Pacific Holdings

Another one of my "dividend cash-cow". It has a diversified portfolio of 8 toll roads now in China. While there are worries of slowing China growth, I am satisfied with the current yield.

The interest hike has been weighing down on the stock price, but with its track record and strong parent backing, it's the least of my worries.

Like FCT, I intend to hold this for a long time. Keep calm and collect dividends!





Sembcorp Industries
OUCH! To be fair, no one could have foresee oil prices plummeting from $120+ to $40. Sembcorp has been massacred, burning many people in the process.It was so bad that Marine even posted a loss for the first time in the company history. Thankfully, the Utilities are helping to offset the losses, with potential growth coming from overseas segment.

Not going to sell this as I still believe strongly in "ah gong" stocks. At the same time, I can't average down as it will make me too over-weighted in a single company. If opportunity arises, I may look to "average down" via Keppel Corp to capitalize on the potential oil recovery.



M1

A valuable lesson to be learn about being patient. I was too hasty to deploy my cash after my bonus and didn't wait for a more opportune moment (like now! A Telco with 7% yield now are you kidding me!).

Many fellow investors, myself included, did not expect the 4th Telco news to impact M1 so negatively.

Its fundamentals didn't change much at all - earnings were still growing steadily and they are exploring new avenues of growth. To me, it's really cheap now and I would definitely want to buy if it weren't for the same ugly problem of over-concentration.

Just think about it. 4th Telco or not, we are heading for 6.9 million population. That means more people, more subscribers, more money for Telcos. If I could, I will definitely buy every single Telco and wait for 2030. Confirm huat lah!


Capital Commercial Trust
While the price has taken quite a beating after I brought, I am quite comfortable with this holding.

1. I entered at a reasonable price, with a good 20% discount to NAV, near its 52 week and historical P/E low.
2. Confidence in the management track records and grade A properties.

Even though there are headwinds of office over-supply, I don't think it will impact the DPU too badly. In the best case, CapitaGreen should provide some form of growth. In the worst case, a stagnating DPU for next 2 years - still satisfactory for me.



Accordia Golf Trust

I already know this is quite a 'risky' buy, but definitely didn't expect the DPU to drop so drastically. A few reasons why I brought:

1. Seduced by its unbelievably high yield (>10%) and 30% discount to NAV.
2. The false sense of security that "it can't get much lower!" (30+% from IPO price), a deadly fallacy.
3. Convinced by several bloggers - AK is still fighting on, B has backed out.

I am still holding on for its current annualized 7.2% yield, albeit with more risk. The management has been touting the return of golf to the 2016 Oylmpic Games as a growth pillar. Let's see if that comes true.

Straits Times Index

I have been deliberating between the various banks when the bear hits in September. In the end, I fled to safety and brought the STI. Haha.

This is a safety net for me, and I entered at a really good price. Now the issue is when, or should I sell? Looking to add either DBS or OCBC if I do sell this.

Year In Review 2015

Career
- Completing my 4th major project. It wasn't really in my field of interest, but that will have to do for now.
- Attended lot of courses and got 2 data science related certifications! The EMC one was something I really wanted to learn.
- Lot of ups and downs that I don't want to revisit again.


Financial
- This will be covered in detail in separate posts.


Health/Fitness
- I had to take RT for the first time in my life due failing their old system and their inflexibility during the switch. It's actuallly a good way to earn some "side income". Haha.
- Regardless, I managed to pass the new system quite easily!
- Physically fine, emotionally not so well. I need to learn to handle them better.


Relationship
- Don't want to talk about negative things again, so...
- Got closer with my niece and nephews! I think it's not bad hanging out with "young people".
- Joined a board-game "meet-up" group. Attended 2 sessions so far and had loads of fun! I foresee myself becoming a regular in the coming year.


Others
Major Games Played: Hearthstone (reached Legend!), League of Legends Season 5 World Championship (Return of SKT to the throne), Heroes of the Storm, Plague Inc Evolved, Board Games!
Major Dramas Watched: -
Best Let's Play/Youtube: Until Dawn, Adam Ruins Everything
Best Movies: Jurassic World, 我的少女时代, Star Wars Episode 7

My First Escape Room Experience

Went out with my "nieces and nephews" for the first time today, haha!

Quite surprised they actually invite me along, though I must say that I feel a little old among them.

Had lots of fun and the main event got to be the impromptu Escape Room activity. We just happen to walk pass 1 of them in Cathay and randomly decide to participate in it due to its 50% promotion. Haha. Life is good when you're young.

It's my first escape room experience and definitely quite refreshing. We opted for the "non-horror" option - a Ninja theme where we have to escape using clues related to 5 elements, some bagua diagrams and stuff.

We cleared the first room pretty fast but got stuck repeatedly in the second room. Some lessons:

1) Always search the room thoroughly & repeatedly, even in places you wouldn't think about. You know, like places you've 'been to' before. Here, we overlooked a piece of evidence behind the door we came in from.

2) Don't be too hasty to progress （欲速则不达）. Make sure to observe/listen to the clue carefully. In our case, we were in a rush against time and didn't listen to where the clue loops, thus arranging the first step of the puzzle wrongly (none of the 7 people noticed!).

Anyway, definitely an eye-opener. We're planning to go for more in the future already! ^_^

To My Future FI Self

Hopefully, you've managed to achieved FI before the age of 40. Are you planning to retire/semi-retire already?

Unfortunately, this is not something that is socially acceptable in Singapore. Your friends and families probably think it's a crazy, absurd dream. In a society where we are encouraged to work until we are 67 years old, wanting to retire early sounds ridiculous. You will be criticized or deem as weird/lazy. Quote from a fellow investor who reached FIRE:

"I had trouble convincing authorities that I was not a burden to the tax-payer in spite of being an unemployed law student. Our government is still not equipped with the procedures to cover income investors. I had to compile a report on dividend cash flows and had to deal with an ICA officer who was just puzzled that "stock market sends me money on regular basis". In a more unsophisticated country, I would have been accused of practicing witchcraft.

The second incident which may have killed my retirement plan is when I tried to hire a maid to look after my dad. Without an earned income in my IRAS filings, I was not allowed to be the sponsor. My dad had to put in his spare cash of $50,000 into a fixed deposit to sponsor his own maid as all my money is tied up in my CDP. This convinced me that Singapore society, as affluent as it is, it does not have the infrastructure in place to recognise dividends cash flow as a valid substitute for earned income. A CDP statement, no matter how large, is no substitute for a FD account which puts us in a bind because of the cash drag."

Perhaps that's why I haven't been sharing this dream of mine with many people. B sums up this dilemma perfectly in his recent post.

It's like getting married. It's something we are expected to do out of social norms, regardless of how much pain it would bring us.

If you are already FI, you shall remember and follow these advice:

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1. Thou shalt not become a slave of money
It will be difficult to give up working when you realize how much income you will lose, even after you have enough passive income to live without working. It will be tempting to chase after more and more zeroes in your bank account. This will never end - humans greed are limitless.

Before you know it, you'll reach the end of your life being a slave to money. Do not let that happen to you. Do not let society norms determine your future.


2. Thou shalt follow your heart, dreams and passion
You promised that you will do that. Remember your initial goal when you started on this journey.

Your dream job pays much lesser than your current one? You can afford to switch now.

You wanted to take a long sabbatical to enjoy life? Do it.

You wanted to go back to school, learn something new? Do it.

Do not falter. Do not forget the initial reason you started on the journey to FI.


3. Thou shalt not shift your goalpost.
It's easy to shift goal post and make the criteria for achieving FI harder and harder.

While it is prudent to take inflation and cost of living into account, you must not adjust your lifestyle to chase higher material wealth, making it so you never reach the goal.

Remember the value you set initially and adjust it accordingly.


4. Thou shalt regularly evaluate your financial situation
Remember, it doesn't mean you have to stop working for the rest of your years. We need to set in buffer for financial crisis and bad times.

Do not squander your portfolio. Do not spend your invested capital. Only spend the dividends, with enough left over to reinvest and grow your portfolio.

F-You Money

Recently, I learnt a new term known as "F-You Money". The concept is entirely familiar to me, but I never thought of using such a straightforward, in your face term to describe it.

You can read this article to understand F-You Money in all its glory.

Interested?

This guy wrote one of the simplest, no-nonsense article about the path to wealth accumulation, and I highly recommend you read it.

One small regret I have was not bookmarking down a lot of good financial articles I came across this year. I'll try to jot and compile these down into a list in the future.

An Appreciation for Singapore

Took a last minute trip to Cameron Highlands with some relatives as I wanted to "get out of Singapore". It was a nice getaway to enjoy the scenery and get back in touch with nature. For the place itself, it's actually quite laid-back, mostly visiting farmlands and vegetation.

Major bad points include terrible traffic jams, long coach trips and some people who are self-centered and non-accomodating.

Each time I return from an overseas trip, I gain a greater appreciation of Singapore. It's not perfect, but there are some "basic necessities" you take for granted in our country. Things like sanitation (e.g. you can always find water and paper in any shopping malls toilet), hygiene, organized systems (e.g. queuing) really stands out.

I also got a bit closer with my nephews and nieces, which was quite nice. :)

10 Years - Road To Financial Independence

29 years old! How quickly time flies.

This is one of the most "turbulent" year of my life, with many obstacles and down period. Looking forward to the 2 weeks year end leave to recharge and re-organize.

As I don't forsee myself settling down anytime soon, there are few "life goals" I can make aside from financial ones. On the positive note, perhaps that isn't such a bad thing.

Come January, I will officially kick start my 10 years master plan to financial independence.

Having worked for 3+ years,  I have reached a stage of relative stability - No debts, sufficient emergency funds, mini war chest and decent portfolio. I also just completed my first full year of investing, and while the results weren't pretty due to the minor market crash, I have learned many valuable lessons. It's also lucky that I'm experiencing a market correction early in my life.

I have mapped out a plan based on how much I can inject yearly, a conservative yield of 5% dividend and 5% capital gains, roughly based on this calculator. According to my calculations, it'll be 10 - 12 years until I gain financial independence. (Hopefully before I reach 40!)

*All these are based on assumptions that I remain single, don't purchase a property or raise a kid. They also excludes any wage raise, inflation and CPF calculations. Anyway, I shall write in more detail in the year end tabulation.

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What does it all mean then? Am I going to retire then?

Actually, financial independence has nothing to do with retiring. It got to do with the freedom of your life.

I've seen many people around me "suffer" from poor financial status, either minor or major.. They are scared of losing their jobs at 40 years old because they have no savings. They endured humiliation and pain because they have families to feed. They developed health problems but can't take time off to rest. They give up their dreams because their passion can't feed their lifestyle.

I really hope I don't become like that.

Who knows what will happen by the time I'm 40?

Will I still have passion for technology? Will I still have the the energy to do what I am doing now? Will I still be fit and healthy?

Or will I have developed new interests? Maybe I'll rot at home. Maybe I'll travel the world. Maybe I'll just continue working as normal.

The point is that whatever decision I make, money would no longer be a factor in it. I will have total control of my life.

The Misunderstood Path of Frugality

Respected blogger Kyith from Investment Moats shared the story of how a man paid off his house mortgage in 3+ years by living a life of "poverty baseline". It's an extremely educational and enlightening read.

Instead of applauding and learning from him, the internet condemn his story with things like how he has no life and is a slave of money. I found it laughable.

The reason why we live a frugal life is exactly the opposite - we DON'T WANT to become slave of money. We can't afford to not be disciplined if we want to escape the money cycle while we are still young and energetic.

To re-quote from Felix (another 1 of my respected blogger):

"This current generation YOLO too much. YOLO can be meaningful at times, but often it is nothing but short term gain and long term pain.

YOLO after graduation, don't work, go travel a year. That's financial suicide.

The right way should be work 10 years, build your golden nest egg, and let your eggs give you a free holiday."

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I could not agree more.

It's all about discipline and delayed gratification.

And that is exactly what I am trying to do.

A 10 years path to financial independence.

Road To Financial Freedom

Earlier this year, I completed the financial book by Tony Robbins, Master the Money.

It's a pretty good read, similar to his other classics like Awaken the Giant Within. The most important concepts he advocates are exactly what I believe in: long term investing, avoiding management funds with high fees, compounding your money today for the future.

The specifics are more applicable to United States, but the concepts and ideas are much more important. (e.g. Their 401K can be thought of as CPF in Singapore) Anyway, I don't intend to do a thorough review of his book.

I just want to borrow his ideas of "financial milestones" and expand upon them for my own purpose. In the book, Tony describes 5 major financial milestones, and I altered them slightly into smaller steps for the milestones of my life.


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1 - Financial Stability
The foundation of any financial management. You achieve this when you have no bad debts, 12 months of emergency funds and sufficient insurance coverage. At this stage, there is no passive income to speak of. Everyone should seek to reach this asap, or a single bad accident could wipe you out.

From what I have read online, 4 out of 5 young Singaporeans have NO savings at all. That just sounds crazy to me. If you can achieve this, you are in good shape to start your financial dream.


2 - Financial Security
Tony describe this as the stage where your home mortgage, utilities, food, transport and basic insurance (the absolute basic necessities) can be paid for without having to work to pay for them again.

I feel this is the toughest milestone to reach because it requires one to start saving and investing. You need to overcome the fear of investing and the temptation of quick money, then take the first step forward. Many people I know see it as impossible, and eventually resort to gambling and other 'get rich quick' methods because it just takes too long to see results.

We see it as a huge mountain to climb, but it's not. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. We are still young, and we need to take baby steps. We need to set baby goals to keep ourselves on track.

How about setting your first goal as generating enough passive income to cover all your lunch expenses? That's a simple enough start. As you reinvest your earnings and compound your money, you will grow your passive income faster and faster. Before your realize it, it'll be enough to cover your all your food expenses. Then your phone and internet bills!

I think a good time to reach this stage would be 5 - 10 years, depending on whether you are married/single (have home mortgage or not). 


3 - Financial Vitality
The third level of dream refers to the situation where you can not only meet all basic needs, but have some extras for enjoyment! When achieved, your personal items, minor healthcare, entertainment and 'small indulgence' costs can be covered without working.

For me, that'll include things such as movie tickets, video games, the occasional lottery tickets, social functions (e.g wedding dinners) and dental/doctor trips.

Personally, I feel this would be a breeze if you are already at stage 2. You probably take half the time it takes to go from 1 to 2.


4 - Financial Independence
The most well known form of the financial milestone. Financial independence is attained when your passive income is sufficient to provide the same lifestyle you have today without working.

Congratulations! You can now afford to quit your job and "shake leg" at home. You don't have to worried about getting laid off, or struck with emergencies anymore.

For me, it would include all my recurring expenses + my average major purchases (like IT gadgets, vacation) for the year.

On a side note, it's important not to lose yourself after attaining stage 4. Remember why you started out on this journey in the first place.


5 - Financial Freedom
The ultimate financial dream - not only can you cover your current lifestyle, you have enough passive income to cover your "desired lifestyle" (throw in your luxuries)

Yeah, throw in your multi-million bungalow, Rolls Royce and the likes.

This varies greatly from person, and if your current lifestyle is already your desired lifestyle, then 4 and 5 would be the same. Who is to say you must want a big fancy house and car?

I wouldn't even want to think about this stage at this moment. I feel there is a bit of a "dream" factor built into this one, to have something to work towards after achieving financial independence.


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As you can see, it becomes obvious why I have been diligently tracking my expenses. It lets you know exactly how much you need per month to meet your financial milestones!

For my personal journey, I planned to introduce a "100% margin of safety" as a conservative buffer. This is mainly due to guard against future increase in expense and financial turmoil. In other words, I must achieved 100% passive income above the stipulated amount before I considered myself to have reach the milestone.

A journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step. Take that first step today.

Building My Tenacity Closing Chapter

This will be my final post to sum up this period of my life. It's time to get over it and close this chapter for good.

When the battle failed in October and I received news of the somewhat 'good' record in the current place, I think I have leaned towards staying behind. It was a decision separated by a very thin line, and it really is a gamble either way. I will not know the consequences (good or bad) of this decision until far in the future.

There were multiple push and pull factors, but the major ones:

L - I really do not know how to evaluate you. I get mixed signals all the time. I have reflected my concerns, and I don't seem to get any response. You claim you want people to tell the truth, yet you prefer "politically correct" answers. I don't understand anymore. From now on, I will keep things to myself and work on self-improvement instead of vexing over things out of my control.

C - Was my most trusted confidante whom I shared everything with, but I don't know what changed. Regardless, it seems that you do not care at all. Fine by me. I have lost enough sleep over it.

TM - I really do not know. I hope they changed for the better.

W - Major push factor. Not my area at all. No interest. Not something I want to pursue, but was forced to. Fine.

B - Push factor. It opened my eyes to how far I am drifting behind. However, do I really want to "take a step backwards"?

A - Major major push factor, and the most conflicting one standing toe to toe with G. One day, this will be taken away. And hopefully I will not be here when it happens.

G - The most important pulling factor, perhaps the only one strong enough for me to withheld my decision (for a few months).

EMC - This supplemented G to cement my decision. Since I have made my mind, I should stick with it regardless of result. And I should make the best use of it to expand my knowledge.

Fight For What You Want!

No one will care about your ideologies, passion, dreams and future more than you do.

If you hate your job, take action to hunt for a better one. Update your resume, make that connection, reply to that head-hunter.

If you want something to happen, take action to make that phone call. Send that email. "Bombard" the relevant people.

We've grown up now, and things doesn't take care of itself anymore (or more like your parents doesn't take care of it anymore).

Passively waiting for things to happen no longer works in the corporate world. Everyone is like busy with their own lives. They say they'll get back but they don't. They say they'll do this and they don't.

When things important to you doesn't move, you can only depend on yourself to push things forward. Amid the negativity and bad things going on, I am glad I still managed to carve out a bloody path for myself.

The Most Difficult Times of My Life

As far as I can remember, there were 3 extremely difficult period in my life - some of the lowest point of my life. They are:



End 2006
The dreaded Island of Darkness. It's easy to look back at it now and shrug it off, but it was REALLY depressing at that point of time, and it felt like it would never end.

I think it's something many can relate to, but it was especially worse for me. It was physically, mentally and spiritually draining. It was depressing when you think of going back to the terrible place.

And this is still something I detest to this date.


Sometime Around 2009 - 2010
This was really a crisis period to me.

I felt like I was going crazy. I was very emotional, overly-sensitive, have random spurts of sadness and some crazy mood swings. I went back to look at some of the stuff I wrote during that period, and yeah, it was hilarious looking at it now.

But trust me, it was scary back then. Really scary.

To put it simply, it can be summarized with this post.


Mid 2015 Till Now
I already had that sense of de-javu back at the beginning of the year.

I think somehow, the cells in my body were already warning me in advance: "Hey, this is something you've experienced before. Something really bad."

I should have done something back then, but hindsight is 20/20. I continued my foolish ways.

And then it crashes hard onto me during the middle of the year.

Almost the same exact shit as 2009-2010 period again. What's worse this time round is having workplace problems compounding the agony.

To be honest, I really felt like throwing in the towel.

Just screw everything - but I held on.

Perseverance.

Everything I am enduring now is for the greater plan. For my future.



...

Thankfully, I've had some "prior experience", and hopefully, I'll be able to tide over this period faster.




So what have I learned from all these?

Time is the greatest healer.

No matter how bad the current circumstances are, it will come to pass.

And one day you will be able to look back upon it and laugh.

Low In Spirits, Down On Luck

Do you believe so? I encountered it today.

When you are in a bad state, you seem to attract negative things/energies to you.

And somehow, more bad things will happen.

Haiz...

Long story short: I was thrown into a pretty angry state by some remark. Almost wanted to just leave but somehow managed to "contain" my emotions. As I walked, I kept thinking about what happened, falling right into a drain in the dark.

No, I wasn't looking at my phone at all. I'm looking at the road, I saw myself walked right onto it but somehow it wasn't registering into my brain at all.

Sustain very minor scratches on myself, but the same can't be said for my phone.

It fell right on the carpark cement ground.

And a horrible crack now spread across the beautiful display. :(

10 Years of Blogging!

Wow. I just realized I've been blogging for 10 freaking years!

It all started out with a simple post, and 不知不觉 I've been doing it for 10 years already!

Since then, I've written near 1200 posts - ranging from random garbage to very close and personal aspects about my life.

What a journey it has been, from the army stories of 2006 - 2008 to university life from 2008 to 2011 (actually documenting week by week for every semester!!!) .

I am really glad I took the effort to document these down. I'm sure they would be extremely enjoyable to look back at someday.

Granted, my efforts did died down after I started working. Isn't that sad? I think it happens to most of us. Your life starts becoming much less interesting, with more routine and mundane stuff, that we run out of things to blog about.We are all so preoccupied with work.

I hope that my passion for writing doesn't die down and I hope to continue to post, at least once in a while. I think my financial journey will be the "big story" for the next decade, haha.

...

Anyway, felt that I need a fresher and cleaner perspective.

To start anew.

So I decided to replace the blog theme with something more minimalist. I think the text are much easier to read and it just seems for refreshing to me.

Here's to commemorate the theme of the past 10 years.

Revelation - Financial Management

Financial management is a complex subject, and it's often hard to put yourself in another shoes because everyone's circumstances are so different. It's also a topic where you can easily 'offend' other people and receive tons of backlash.

"How dare you criticize/judge me for not saving? You don't give as much to your parents."
"You are single while I have families to raise. It's not possible to save."
"You earn more than me blah blah blah..."

Etc... you get the idea. Of course I think there are really genuine, serious cases out there of people  struggling to make ends meet. Their income is not enough to suspend bare necessities. What I am describing here excludes them.

Anyway, here are my observations:

I've known people who have worked for ~10 years or more, and doesn't have >3months salary worth of savings. I also know people who prefer to drag their school loans for as long as possible, paying the minimum each month and pay an additional god knows how much in interest. Then there are people who have no qualms about splurging on expensive vacations then claiming they are poor. This is something I am totally unable to comprehend.

These are views that I keep to myself, because you can see how easily they can be offensive to others. I have no business meddling with how they wish to spend their money.

I see people around me claiming they don't want to work until they die, yet they're not even saving/investing at all. What do you expect? Strike the lottery 'someday'? If you can't save now while you are young, do you think you can save later when you've got families, aging parents, worsening health, more commitments? 

To me, I am very clear on my financial goals and my strategy to achieve them. There are more than one way to Rome, and I don't claim mine is the best. Some people work harder to increase their income, some live frugally to cut expenses, other choose to start their own businesses. It is just what you choose to sacrifice, and I stood by my principles and beliefs.

Still think it's impossible? Again, you can look around the financial blogosphere for inspiration. Take a look at "Budget Babe", who saved $20K a year on a $2.5K salary. Or "Dividend Mantra", who had nothing at 28 years old (2009), and in 6 short years has built up a portfolio generating $5000+ per year. How about this janitor who amassed $8 million dollars by simply saving and investing over 65 years?

You might be thinking that's stupid cause there's no point being the richest man in the graveyard. Well, I don't plan to wait that long either. And we don't have to.

I think most of us here earn more than the janitor. If we just practice a little delayed gratification, avoid bad debts and big purchases that will lead to financial ruin, it is very possible to achieve financial security in 10 years, and financial independence in 20 years. All these without "going overboard". By that I mean still enjoying life in the process, not de-voiding yourself of all pleasures of spending.

Most of us are not lucky enough to be born with a silver spoon or blessed with a super high paying job. We need to plan the first half of our lives carefully to escape the rat race. The goal is not to amass mountains of wealth to show off or compete with others, but to generate your personal income stream so that finances no longer becomes a factor in the future. You can finally afford to choose a job you love without consideration of the salary. You can finally sleep in peace knowing you are prepared for any emergencies.

If you look far in the future, you will see that starting today is definitely worth it.

Revelation - Investing

As I got more into investing over the past year, it has also become a more prevalent topic in my life. I have made many observations about how people around me react to this, and I think quite interesting. I'll break down these observations into 2 separate posts, this one on investments, and the other on financial management.

When it comes to investing, I have encountered 2 major groups of people in my social circle.  


Those who are completely uninterested in the topic 
They view investing as something dangerous, risky, and roughly equivalent to gambling. I think maybe they watch too much drama, or news of people jumping off buildings during financial crisis. I was such a person in the past - and today one of my biggest regret is learning about investing 10 years late.

Do you know that $100 now can only buy $50 worth of things in 20 years time?

Do you know that if you invest 'conservatively' in the market, your $100 will grow (past on historical results) to $400 in 20 years?

People spend 8-10 hours a day working, 40+ hours a week working and they don't even spend 1 hour a month to learn about growing their money. That 1 hour is worth much much more in dollar value than your salary.


Those who speculate/do trading
I think these are the people who give investing a bad name.

These are people I know who time the market actively, buying/selling based on chart patterns, some even buying without even knowing what the company (usually penny stocks) do. Worst: Some employ leverage and trade using borrowed money. My intention here is definitely not to laugh at them, although I think some of them feel this way. In fact, it pains me to see people I care about sink deeper and deeper into the hole.

Studies have shown again and again that 95% of traders lose money. On the other hand, if you invest your money in the market for 20 years at ANY point of time, you would never have lost money. Time in the market matters, not timing the market.

Even the best fund managers and companies in the world, who do these as their full time job, have gone bankrupt from speculating. Do you seriously think you are better than them?

I think that is the problem with 'young people' nowadays? They want to get rich fast, and they want to get rich NOW. (yeah it makes me sound like an old man)

---

Whenever I tell people I am investing, they automatically categorize me as the 2nd type.

Then they start sharing macro economic trends, simi simi patterns, simi simi penny stocks. It really is a stereotype linked with the word 'investing'. Even my own family had the same reactions. They do not believe there is such thing as buying a company 'for the long term'. To them, long term = 6 months. Growing your money means putting it into banks fixed deposits.

And hence, my observation is this:

The 2nd group of people 'scares' the first group of people from ever starting to learn about investing. And if somehow the first group of people got started, they became the 2nd group of people.


Long Term Investing

Very few of my friends actually share the same investing methodology as me. Luckily, I have a huge group of "enlightened tutors" (启蒙导师) that I follow online. It makes me feel that I am not alone on this arduous and misunderstood journey.

If you bother, take a look around the local blogosphere community: There are many examples of normal, working class 'peasants' who are recording their step by step journey towards financial independence (and some already 'reached their destination'). They are not born with a silver spoon. They are not multi-millionaires giving generic, motherhood statement advice. They are middle class citizens who got a median income job just like you and me. Just google them:

AK71 - Semi retired at 40+, with a 6 digit passive income every year yet still live a frugal lifestyle. Blogs about saving money, investments, CPF and many other topics.

Dividend Warrior - Started investing in 2008 and accumulated a portfolio generating $1000 per month by early 30s, before starting his own business.

15HWW Couple - A couple who recorded their expenses monthly, married and saved $250k before 30. Earned $8K passive income last year. (how lucky is it to have a SO who share the same financial dream as you!)

Got Money Got Honey - A 25 year old chap with a $20K portfolio, $300/year passive income who writes really entertaining articles. He has a clear goal of what he wants to achieve at each stage of his life.
  
And many more which I can't possibly list. 

As you can see, they are all at different stages of life with largely different "networth". Some started earlier, some started late, but that's not what is important at all. 

What is important is they all largely believe in long term investing, in creating passive income to ultimately achieve financial independence. Accumulating durians no longer works in the world we live in today. We need to plant durian trees where we can harvest year after year.

"Measuring returns at the start of every month from 1988 to August 2013, if the index was held for a year, there’s a 41% chance of sitting on negative nominal (i.e. unadjusted for inflation) returns. Hold it for 10 years, and losses occurred only 19% of the time. Double the holding period to 20 years however – here comes the kicker – and there were no losses." (Straits Times Index, Motley Fool)

Reflections

(有很多事，还是用话语来写比较贴切）

一年即将来到尾声。。。今年我还真的发生很多风风雨雨，尤其是在‘人事’反面。我想我对生活感到厌倦的原因，人事应该占了大幅度吧。而它也直接带给我各方面的烦恼和问题。

。。。

忽冷忽热，到我以为我们变好，到冷战又重圆，接着又恶性循环。我真的累了。我想我已经尽了我最大的努力和本分。当你的努力一而再，再而三的得到对方的冷言冷语，人真的会放弃的。我也不想再为这件事所困扰了，因为我已度过了无数个失眠的夜晚，无数的低潮，无数的伤感。

。。。

有些你知道没有结果的事，你是否应该继续放感情，放时间，放心思去经营？这样做是笨还是傻？

情感的事真的是没有理由的。这一年，我深切的感受到好多，真真的体会到什么叫‘触景伤情’，什么叫‘景物依旧，人事已非’。当你一个人回到某个地方，想着上次你的身边有着谁的时候。那种感觉真的很心酸。

我希望这是最后一次。

。。。

其实现在我对这些没什么奢望了。

我必须重新振作，不能再淹没在这些负面的情绪当中。

为自己的目标而勇敢的努力吧。

Ultimate Tolerance

Seriously... I am so freaking sian already.

I have never been this sian in my life.

The only thing keeping me going is my 10-year master plan.

I must endure.

I must suffer.

I mustn't throw in the towel despite all the challenges.

The more I am subjected to such pain and humilation, the more I am determined to not go through this in the future.

And that is why I must suffer now for my future self.

I must endure now to save up as much ammo as possible, to accelerate my path out of this mindless pursuit.

I must.

Life Updates Before End of 2015

A little stock-taking before year end.

Career
- Completed 3 projects here and starting on the 4th, which a brand new area.
- Took quite a number of courses this year, in SQL and SPSS.
- It has been a roller-coaster ride, with lot of relationship swings. Been RKO, accused, maligned, framed, humiliated, then cheated, comforted, encouraged. Then back all over again.
- I have been standing on that cliff for a long time, getting push and pull. I am edging towards it. Now, nothing is holding me back anymore. What I need is a lifeboat.

Financial
- Thankfully, my financials are in order. I have never been more assured of my finances in my life.
- I "lost" a lot in the stock market, but are these really losses? I think my past experience in Poker really help me developed this sense of calmness against this bloodshed.
- I have a clear master plan to take me from stability to security, security to independence, and finally to freedom. Shall elaborate more in the end of the year post.



Health/Fitness
- I don't know for sure, but I felt that my career is affecting me somehow in this area.
- I passed my IPPT, for the first time since like 3 years ago! Thank god for the new system.



Relationship
- Let nature take its course.

Samsung Galaxy S6

So, my 2 years+ HTC One finally up lorried, 2 weeks after being completely submerged in water.

Thankfully, it made a "fake recovery", allowing me to recover all the data inside before the screen was killed.

I have been using HTC for a VERY LONG time. From the Desire to HTC One - about 7 years.

While I still love their design, I decide to go for a different brand this time to "switch things up". The main reason being their flagship seems to be getting worse while still being overpriced.

At first I thought of getting something cheaper like xiaomi, but guess I was too deeply "poisoned" to go back to using a 'non-premium' phone haha.

Finally decided on the S6 after a day of reviews reading. And it stood up to the hype.

I think I have absolutely zero complains with the phone aside from the average battery.

1. Amazing build/grip/feel. Gone are the cheapo plastic. I would place it on the same level of the HTC flagships, only much lighter.

2. Minimalist software. One of the biggest reason I didn't go Samsung earlier was because of their bloated Touchwiz. This is all gone now in this version, and I'm super impress. They stripped it down to bare essentials with minimal nonsense.

3. In terms of UI, I would still give a slight edge to HTC, but it's really close now. Samsung more than makes up for it by offering some pretty cool and actually useful features like multi-window and fingerprint scanning.

4. The camera is freaking amazing. It totally BLOWS HTC out of the water. You can go read all the reviews, and this truly stands as one of the best smartphone camera of 2015.

---

I have been using it for barely a day, and I'm already falling in love with it.

I think this is one purchase I won't regret.

Langkawi Trip!

My first real overseas trip in a really long time!

To keep it short. I had a lot of fun and I think it's a really good place to get away from the 'cities'.

The trip main event was XJ proposal, which was a great success!

I really enjoyed the road trip feel, where we rent our own vehicle, and blast/sing music in the van.

The drinking session on the first night was also the most intense one I've ever had. I finally know what it felt like to reach the stage where you 'can't walk in a straight line'.

It's a really 'high' feeling though. The best is to reach the 'sweet spot' where you're not throwing up, your mind is still pretty clear but your physical world is slightly spinning. It's a really good feeling.

Other than that, we went island hopping to a few nearby islands (which was quite tiring) and just took lots of photos.

The only 败笔 came on the last day, when I careless forgot my phone is in my pocket... and jump into the water -.-

...

That will be the story for the next post.

I Really Cherish Our Friendship

But it seems that you don't.

My Financial Business Intelligence

At the end of 2014, I made a resolution to dutifully track ALL my income and expenses for 1 year.

I am really glad I followed through and did exactly that. 5 months onwards, I finally have some results to show for it!

What's more - Hey, I'm in the Business Intelligence field.

This is only for a 5 month period (actually only till 29th May), so I'm really looking forward for the full year results!

*All figures excludes CPF, investment gains/losses (but includes dividends).

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Total Income VS Expenses



My 5 months cashflow statement is summarized by 2 simple graphics. The huge spike in February was of course due to my major mattress hoot.

Yes. I have only spent 16+% of my income so far!!! Sick!

Of course, this is largely bias due to the bonus income in March - That expense % will slowly increase for the rest of the year. There are also some other major expenses I am preparing for the 2nd half of the year (e.g. Vocation!).

I reckoned it'll be in the region of 20% to 25% by the end of the year.



 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recurring Income VS Recurring Expenses
- Income excludes 'one-time' items like lottery, CNY angbaos, SAF allowances, bank special promotions, etc.
- Expenses excludes 'one-time' major hoots




Again, this is largely bias due to the bonus income. If I normalize it, my expenses is around 20% of my monthly income.



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Expenses Breakdown
Food: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Supper, Snack, Groceries
Entertainment: Toto, 4D, KTV, Video Games, Movies, Etc
Healthcare: Doctor, Dentist
Household: Household Items
Personal: Clothing, Personal Care Items
Social: Wedding, Social Functions
Travel: Public (e.g. EZ-Link Topup), Taxi
Treat: Non personal expenses
Utilities: Telephone, Internet

 

I was quite surprised when I first saw this breakdown. Nearly 50% of all my expenses are on food.

The absolute essentials, Food, Utilities and Travel expenses already make up 70% of all my expenses.

I don't spend a lot of food, that means I'm spending too little on entertainment and life. Life of otaku. :(



 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Passive Income VS Active Income

 

The most important chart of them all, and the best measurement to my ultimate goal - financial independence.

My short-mid term goal is to have passive income form 10% of my overall income.

Since I spend around 20% of my income... If I can increase my passive income to 20% as well... does that mean.... !!!

...

Long way to go man. Long way to go.


 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Miscellaneous

Some other interesting facts...

I spend $2.46 on Breakfast, $4.96 on Dinner, and $5.15 on Lunch on average.

The approximately cost per restaurant visit (includes low-end ones also) is $19.14.

I also spend approximately $8.6 per month on lottery. And no, I haven't won back any for the year. :(

I highly encourage people to take up this challenge of recording your expenses.

It's a huge pain at first, but it becomes habitual very fast.

And the insights you gain can be quite invaluable.