Been a while since I did one of these.
In the past year, it felt like I've grown tremendously in the financial department (not in monetary terms, but knowledge). Hopefully, my career can progress by the same magnitude next year.
Career
- Completing my 2nd major project. It was tough, taking about the majority of the year, but I've made it.
- Pass an emerging certification in my field. Whew.
- Felt that I could have done much more... If only there is a more...
- Got to know a new group of colleagues, which actually made me feel much better about my past circumstances.
Financial
- Undertook huge steps to improve my financial knowledge, and took concrete steps to act upon them.
- Reading financial articles has now become a daily routine for me. I've even consolidated a personal news feed of my favourite sources.
- Built up a significant war chest in preparation...
- This also mark my first year investing in stocks. In office, I've come across several like-minded friends as well. (though some of them believe in speculation, while I believe in long-term investing)
- Next year, there will be a huge shakeup in my income source. Haiz.
- Shall elaborate more on a separate post on an upcoming post.
Health/Fitness
- Failed the "Incredibly Painstaking Painful Test" for the first time... but I've began actively training for the new test. I've embarked on this journey a couple of times in the past, but always gave up halfway. Not gonna happen this time.
- In terms of health, can definitely feel myself getting older... stretched myself a few times... #_#
Relationship
- Pretty much mixing with the same few gangs.
- Met a new "group" towards the end of the year... and I was prompted about some of them. What? Do you think this is an idol drama?
Others
- I did another tabulation of my "M-Collection". I went to do a search on when was the last time I did this, and it was WAY BACK in 2006. Since then, it was grown from 1110 to 4660. Amazing.
Major Games Played: Hearthstone, League of Legends Season 4 World Championship, Tropico 4, Democracy 3, Stronghold Crusaders II, Prison Architect, 7 Grand Steps, Banished
Major Dramas Watched: Walking Dead, Demi Gods and Semi Devils 2013
Best Let's Play: Walking Dead Season 2, Wolves Among Us
Best Movies: Hobbit 3, Frozen, Baymax
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Big Purchases 2014
Another yearly update on my big purchases!
As predicted, I didn't make many major purchases this year in terms of tech gadgets (except a graphic card to replace the spoilt one).
I guessed a major part was me discovering the importance of using money to generate passive income - I really want to join the ranks of my financial idols, attaining financial freedom.
Still, I do plan to allocate about $1000 a year as my "luxury purchase" funds. For now, I'll snowball it to next year.
In 2015, I don't see any major hoots either.
Phone - I guess I've outgrown it. I don't really use my phone for anything other than FB and Whatsapp. Why do I need quad cores, octa cores, or n cores? Unless something revolutionary and actually useful (like 1 week battery life) comes along, I don't forsee changing my phone anytime soon.
Tablet - Same as the phone, Nexus 7 still serving me well. Was tempted to hoot the Ipad Air 2 for a while, but once again realize how much of a waste it would be. I don't use my tablet for any purpose other than watching Youtube.
Travel - Already planned a trip to Taiwan in June... hopefully this time will come to fruition.
Others - I've actually been looking to buy a good mattress. Not sure if I'm gonna make up my mind and hoot one... good ones are really expensive.
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2006 - Complete PC Overhaul (Core 2 Duo) [MEGA]
2007 - 22' LCD Monitor, Sony Ericssion W950i, Digital Camera
2008 - NEC Versa S3500 Laptop [MEGA]
2009 - Cowon S9, Westone 1, Radeon HD4870
2010 - HTC Desire
2011 - Shanghai Trip, Braun Series 7-790
2012 - Mayday's Noah Ark, Major PC Overhaul (Ivy Bridge) [MEGA], Westone UM2X
2013 - Dell 2713HM Monitor, Haworth Zody, HTC One [MEGA], Mayday's Noah Ark II, S.H.E Together 4Ever, Google Nexus 7 (2013)
2014 - PowerColor Radeon R9 270X
Major Purchase - $200 to $1000
Mega Purchase - Near $1000 and Above
As predicted, I didn't make many major purchases this year in terms of tech gadgets (except a graphic card to replace the spoilt one).
I guessed a major part was me discovering the importance of using money to generate passive income - I really want to join the ranks of my financial idols, attaining financial freedom.
Still, I do plan to allocate about $1000 a year as my "luxury purchase" funds. For now, I'll snowball it to next year.
In 2015, I don't see any major hoots either.
Phone - I guess I've outgrown it. I don't really use my phone for anything other than FB and Whatsapp. Why do I need quad cores, octa cores, or n cores? Unless something revolutionary and actually useful (like 1 week battery life) comes along, I don't forsee changing my phone anytime soon.
Tablet - Same as the phone, Nexus 7 still serving me well. Was tempted to hoot the Ipad Air 2 for a while, but once again realize how much of a waste it would be. I don't use my tablet for any purpose other than watching Youtube.
Travel - Already planned a trip to Taiwan in June... hopefully this time will come to fruition.
Others - I've actually been looking to buy a good mattress. Not sure if I'm gonna make up my mind and hoot one... good ones are really expensive.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006 - Complete PC Overhaul (Core 2 Duo) [MEGA]
2007 - 22' LCD Monitor, Sony Ericssion W950i, Digital Camera
2008 - NEC Versa S3500 Laptop [MEGA]
2009 - Cowon S9, Westone 1, Radeon HD4870
2010 - HTC Desire
2011 - Shanghai Trip, Braun Series 7-790
2012 - Mayday's Noah Ark, Major PC Overhaul (Ivy Bridge) [MEGA], Westone UM2X
2013 - Dell 2713HM Monitor, Haworth Zody, HTC One [MEGA], Mayday's Noah Ark II, S.H.E Together 4Ever, Google Nexus 7 (2013)
2014 - PowerColor Radeon R9 270X
Major Purchase - $200 to $1000
Mega Purchase - Near $1000 and Above
Friday, December 05, 2014
Value of a Car
For the past month, I've had the luxury of having the family car all to myself.
Driving it to work everyday, going to 'faraway places' to attend wedding dinners, etc...
And it makes me wonder, how much value would I place on a car?
To tell the truth, not much. I have no idea why some people place so much emphasis on having a car - to the point that they would pile on debts just to own one.
1. How much does a car TRULY cost in Singapore?
Many people underestimate this. Just look at this article for a good idea.
I can safely say even if you take a cab to work everyday for the next 10 years, it'll still be cheaper than owning a car.
2. What is the OPPORTUNITY cost of using the $ to buy the car, instead of compounding it?
A car is a depreciating asset that loses its value every year, until it reaches a big fat 0.
Let's estimate that value to be say, $200k. Do you know how much passive income you can get by investing that $200K?
If you use that same $200k to buy 100 lots of Frasers Centrepoint Trust, you can get about $12k a year, or $1000 EVERY MONTH.
Take a moment to let that sink in.
...
That means in 10 years, you will get back about $120k worth of dividends + original capital = $320k. And that's not even including capital gains.
If you use it on the car? You can get back, $0. Big fat kosong.
WOW.
Now tell me why the hell you would want to buy that car.
3. Miscellaneous
Maybe it's just me, but here are my thoughts after exclusive usage of the car for the past month:
- Yes, it's convenient and much more comfortable, but it actually isn't that much faster. It probably shaves off like 10-15 mins during the morning rush hour. Finding parking lot is sometime a huge pain too.
- I can spend the 1 hour on train reading news, watching movies, etc... instead of getting stuck in the jam.
- Owning a car comes with many 'additional responsibilities'. People expects you to "give them a lift", etc... Not that it's much of a deal, but it's something worth noting.
Overall, I just feel the cost simply isn't worth it for the little extra convenience and comfort. There's always a cab available ($20, which equals to a day's parking in the city).
Bottom Line
Unless you're in a role that really need that car to generate much more income for you (e.g. Sales), or, you are damn frigging rich, then I see no reason to buy the car.
I have no intention of getting one either in the foreseeable future. I rather have the money generate more money for me.
Once again, compound your $. Even investing in an extremely safe place (e.g STI) will double your $ every 20 years.
Driving it to work everyday, going to 'faraway places' to attend wedding dinners, etc...
And it makes me wonder, how much value would I place on a car?
To tell the truth, not much. I have no idea why some people place so much emphasis on having a car - to the point that they would pile on debts just to own one.
1. How much does a car TRULY cost in Singapore?
Many people underestimate this. Just look at this article for a good idea.
I can safely say even if you take a cab to work everyday for the next 10 years, it'll still be cheaper than owning a car.
2. What is the OPPORTUNITY cost of using the $ to buy the car, instead of compounding it?
A car is a depreciating asset that loses its value every year, until it reaches a big fat 0.
Let's estimate that value to be say, $200k. Do you know how much passive income you can get by investing that $200K?
If you use that same $200k to buy 100 lots of Frasers Centrepoint Trust, you can get about $12k a year, or $1000 EVERY MONTH.
Take a moment to let that sink in.
...
That means in 10 years, you will get back about $120k worth of dividends + original capital = $320k. And that's not even including capital gains.
If you use it on the car? You can get back, $0. Big fat kosong.
WOW.
Now tell me why the hell you would want to buy that car.
3. Miscellaneous
Maybe it's just me, but here are my thoughts after exclusive usage of the car for the past month:
- Yes, it's convenient and much more comfortable, but it actually isn't that much faster. It probably shaves off like 10-15 mins during the morning rush hour. Finding parking lot is sometime a huge pain too.
- I can spend the 1 hour on train reading news, watching movies, etc... instead of getting stuck in the jam.
- Owning a car comes with many 'additional responsibilities'. People expects you to "give them a lift", etc... Not that it's much of a deal, but it's something worth noting.
Overall, I just feel the cost simply isn't worth it for the little extra convenience and comfort. There's always a cab available ($20, which equals to a day's parking in the city).
Bottom Line
Unless you're in a role that really need that car to generate much more income for you (e.g. Sales), or, you are damn frigging rich, then I see no reason to buy the car.
I have no intention of getting one either in the foreseeable future. I rather have the money generate more money for me.
Once again, compound your $. Even investing in an extremely safe place (e.g STI) will double your $ every 20 years.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Sembcorp Industries
Brought into Sembcorp Industries today in view of the huge discounts. I have many choices, but decided to went with this due to several reasons:
- Its Utilities segment (i.e Power and Water) made up nearly 60% of the stock, which I considered a very defensive area. People will always need power and water. It makes me feel safer compare to going full O&G.
- Strong pipelines in the works, increasing power and water capacity provision to China and India.
- Extremely solid balance sheet, blue chip with over 700million net current assets, over 2 billion in cash.
- Going by conservative estimates for the next half of the year - 40cEPS and 15c DPS - it gives a P/E of 12 and dividend yield of 3%. I think that is quite cheap for such a solid stock. Intending to hold it for the long term :)
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Don't think I'll be adding anymore in the meantime. Times are uncertain and I think it's better to hold more cash...
- Its Utilities segment (i.e Power and Water) made up nearly 60% of the stock, which I considered a very defensive area. People will always need power and water. It makes me feel safer compare to going full O&G.
- Strong pipelines in the works, increasing power and water capacity provision to China and India.
- Extremely solid balance sheet, blue chip with over 700million net current assets, over 2 billion in cash.
- Going by conservative estimates for the next half of the year - 40cEPS and 15c DPS - it gives a P/E of 12 and dividend yield of 3%. I think that is quite cheap for such a solid stock. Intending to hold it for the long term :)
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Don't think I'll be adding anymore in the meantime. Times are uncertain and I think it's better to hold more cash...
Monday, August 25, 2014
Back to Greenlands
Went back to the Greenlands recently...
And it truly made me appreciate how lucky I am in the real world.
It was like being brought back to 8 years ago on the Island of Light... Eww... still give me nightmares thinking about it .
This kind of life is really, really not for me.
I don't get why certain people have to be so hostile. We are only transported back temporarily, for a couple of days. We have no choice, we have no say, we have no rights. All we hope is to complete whatever nonsense needed, then get the **** out of there.
Is there really a need to be critical? To be sarcastic? Or even make enemies?
I guess some people thrive in this kind of environment... but I don't. I really don't like this place. Nevertheless, I don't try to run from it. I do what I can, to the best of my abilities.
I'm not the biggest in size, or toughest, or most knowledgeable, but I do what I can. I don't give people trouble.
Anyway, it's back to reality.
And it truly made me appreciate how lucky I am in the real world.
It was like being brought back to 8 years ago on the Island of Light... Eww... still give me nightmares thinking about it .
This kind of life is really, really not for me.
I don't get why certain people have to be so hostile. We are only transported back temporarily, for a couple of days. We have no choice, we have no say, we have no rights. All we hope is to complete whatever nonsense needed, then get the **** out of there.
Is there really a need to be critical? To be sarcastic? Or even make enemies?
I guess some people thrive in this kind of environment... but I don't. I really don't like this place. Nevertheless, I don't try to run from it. I do what I can, to the best of my abilities.
I'm not the biggest in size, or toughest, or most knowledgeable, but I do what I can. I don't give people trouble.
Anyway, it's back to reality.
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