KL Genting Trip with QM Friends

I have not blogged for a long time, but somehow I had this strong urge to jot down my thoughts while they are still lingering in my mind.

I recently went on a trip with a group of "online friends", many whom I am meeting in reality for the first time. Even then, I was really touched by how much warmth they showered us (me) with. (the word I am looking for is 热情 which I am not sure what English translate to) 

Not only did they bring us around everywhere, but they even offered us to stay at their home (with aircon, own room toilet, etc). They accompied us 100% for our entire stay, and our "driver" brought us anywhere we wanted. Arriving early in the morning to wait for us. Visit landmarks to take photos, to shopping malls, eat good local food, KTV and VSing experience... even driving a long way to the airport on the last day.

All without charging us a single cent.

Even though it was a very short trip, I was totally overwhelmed by their warmth and (for the lack of a better word) love. I lost count of how many road tolls we passed through and how much additional costs (and time) we have imposed on them. 

Seriously, it is hard to find friends who would show so much hospitality, much less friends you are meeting for the first time in real life. 

I felt really quite touched at the end of the trip.

The itinery is not what is important, but having good company to do things together.

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Just a short summary:

Day 1: Arrival at KLIA (8+am), breakfast then 1 hour trip to Genting Skyworld Hotel, Genting Skyworld Theme Park (until 6pm). 

Review is you need to download the app or the virtual queue will keep cutting ahead of you (the signboard waiting time is not accurate). Some attractions (like obstacle course) require prior booking via app and quite a handful are still closed.

Dinner at DTF before I retire for the night (slight cold).

Day 2: Check out at 11am, breakfast at Madam Kwan (no good), visit the Sky Casino. I would say by estimate it's about 2 times bigger than RWS and gave a much grandeur feel. However, perhaps due to the public holiday the crowd is really insane. Most important of all, it doesn't have the game I like to play. 

So basically we just cafe hope around a bit, and went to the Indoor Theme Park before heading down Genting (5pm)

Met BJ YBB for Dinner, then KTV session (930pm to 1230am) before retiring to BJ house!

Day 3: Amazing Dim Sum breakfast (12pm), followed by shopping at Pavillion (basically the Orchard Road / Ion of Singapore) and Uniqlo, then taking pictures at Twin Tower and Saloma Bridge. The night event was an eye-opener. We visited a V Sing pub which is basically a concept replica of QM Party.

Basically, different tables take turn singing, and the audience can send in gifts. There are birthday segments, PK segments and beautiful animations depending on the gift value. :O 

Day 4: Delicious local-style breakfast at Wang Bu Liao (Nasi Lemak, Penang Char Kway Tiao, White curry Bee Hoon, etc). Oh and a kind of local drink 虎头狮 (basically milo + coffee). 

Went to an escape room after that (apparently the highest rated in KL). It is by far the best escape room I've played (compared to the thrashy ones I have done in SG), but it is far from perfect.

The Great:
- Amazing atmosphere, lighting and design. All the traps are digital and automated which I find really cool (i.e you press a button, or plug in a device, and trap doors would open). There would be music playing in the background, then pressing the right combination of lock would make the whole room go silent (which I feel is really good feedback to the user and add a huge sense of suspense, as everyone anticipate what would happen next)

- The "customer service" is really good. Staff are extremely polite and took time to explain the background and the story. There is even an after-event debrief to reveal the entire plot and the "signficance" behind each of the room we went through. In the end, what is suppose to be a 1 hour session took almost 2 hours.

The Meh:
- Some puzzles are really random, with zero indication as to how they were supposed to be solve. It would be much better if they lay clues within the room itself, instead of relying on the staff hints.
- The plot is mediocore.
- The price (according to the locals) is really expensive at $88RM. To Singaporeans I guess this is reasonable.

Financial Brokers and Accounts Update

Tiger Brokers 
- Used mainly for SGX stocks only due to high forex fees. Lowest cost for SG stocks
- Have unlimited comms free for US, but still not worth it.
- Tried Tiger Cash Plus but does not seem worth it. SSB can now yield much more.
- Signed Stock Yield Enhancement Program, but unlikely to be utilized as it only lend US stock.
- Earned 1 Gopro share from referral.

Interactive Brokers
- Main account for all overseas holdings due to competitive forex rates and commissions (for US stocks and options)
- IBKR Pro Account (IB SG), Tiered pricing structure
- Signed Stock Yield Enhancement Program

SRS
- Open SRS Account before 1st July to locked in 62 retirement age
- That said, I don't forsee myself using in the near future as I prefer CPF-SA.

SSB
- Yield for July SSB is now the 2nd highest in history and is expected to trend higher.
- Plan to build a SSB bond ladder as the interest is significant now ( >2.5%)

MooMoo
- Too similar to Tiger Brokers.
- Earned 1 Apple Share and 1 Nio Share from referral

Webull (Added 2022 Dec)
- No plan to use.
- Sign via stockscafe to earn 3 years free subscription and webull gifts.

FSMOne (Added 2023 Jan)
- For cheap selling of CDP stocks only.

Annual Report 2021

Presenting 2021 Annual Financial Report! 

The only growth that you should care about is your salary. The next move is to get out of the rat race.

The career growth is a fallacy to retain you as a rat and wage slave.

At the end of the day, you are the mercy of your company (restructuring), your bosses and the economy (pandemic?)

You may not understand yet, but planning your escape route is more important than planning your career."

Key Highlights & Notes

Financial Milestone (2021)

Passive income finally cover all expenses (largely due to expenses reduction), meaning we are saving 100% of salary.

Achievements (2021)
1. Liquid net asset value grew 4%
2. Total saving rate of 87% (81% in 2020, 77.4% in 2019, 80.8% in 2018, 80.5% in 2017)
4. Portfolio market value grew $130K (inclusive of capital injection and gains)
5. Portfolio XIRR for 2020 at 4.88% (14.23% in 2020, dragged down mainly by China market)
6. Yearly dividend now exceed $1000/month

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Income Statement (2021)
Total income is about 8% higher due to pay increment and better bonuses (year-end), making it our highest earning year.

Dividend income grew significantly by almost $3000, but was almost entirely offset by the massive interest rate cuts. The destruction of DBS multiplier and Singlife took away more than $2000+ worth of bank interests.

Total expenses almost $4000 lesser than 2020 and $7000 lower than 2021. 

Recurring expenses $1000 lesser than last year and $2000 lesser than 2021.

Most of the savings would come from transportation due to WFH and more eating in at home.

No exceptional one-time items this time except the usual angbao to parents.

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Recurring Expenses Breakdown
Categorical expenditures remained pretty much the same as every year. Top expenditures were the essentials - food, travel (transport) and utilities (internet and phone), heavily skewed by working from home (an average of twice a week in office)

Random discovery time!

1. Lottery spending was about $400, and we did not win a single time...

2. I ate fast food 64 times (61 in 2020, 60 in 2019, 64 in 2018, 70 in 2017, 81 in 2016), counting only lunch, dinner, supper. Right where we want it.

3. I brought 20 cups of bubble tea, excluding using vouchers/gifts (14 in 2020, 48 in 2019, 22 in 2018, 11 in 2017, 31 in 2016)

4. I brought 12 cups of Cafe drinks (9 in 2020, 17 in 2019)

5. Visited restaurants 11 times only! (32 in 2020, 37 in 2019, 32 in 2018, 20 in 2017). Most expensive single trip restaurant was only $37.

6. 0 KTV sessions and only 2 movies! (RIP Teo Heng, Marvel + Spiderman)

7. We ordered Grab Food 4 times (excluding those free ones where we used vouch. 

8. We took only 8 Taxi/Grab trips this year. Annually, transport expenses were less than $500 (far less than $1300 in 2019) 

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Investments Breakthrough

1. First foray into the Hong Kong market in Jan 2021, grabbing up tech giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and Tech ETF. Unfortunately, our timing could not be worst off as the China crackdown is relentless and brutal, wiping off as much as 30% off our HK positions by year end. Luckily, HK is still less than 20% of our portfolio.

2. First foray into US market towards the end of the year as US head into correction territory due to FED tapering fears. We are looking at high growth ARKK innovation coy (Palantir, Fastly, Teladoc) as well as big giants which have been re-rated (Paypal, Adobe, SEA, FAANGs).

3. First foray into options in Q4, partly inspired with Adam Khoo and many month of study. In just 3 months, we made $2000 off cash secured puts (on capital $20000), making about 3% per month? This is like discovering an entirely new way to make "dividends' off growth stocks, and I forsee this being a huge supplement to our dividend strategy going forward. 

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CPF Actions

Top up $600 to both my parents, and transferred $5000 to my mum to make greater use of the additional interests.

I deliberated whether to further top up more to CPF but decided to hold back this year to keep more ammunition. considering the opportunities in the stock market.

Over the past 3 years, we have top up at a total of $15K and CPF is growing to become a very huge portion of my networth.

It is important to balance our near and future needs. Considering that:

- Age 35 onwards, SA allocation will increase

- MA has reached BHS and overflow to SA

Our SA amount is on track to hit the FRS in the next few years, retirement foundation is quite stable and I feel there is no need to further lock up ammo at this time. 

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Outlook For 2021
We made multiple breakthrough in terms of investments this year - not sure if Crypto will finally be next. Maybe if there is some kind of ETF.

I forsee myself doing a 'restructuring' of some sort to sell away the weaker holdings in my SG portfolio and allocating more into HK and US markets.

Life Update 2021

1. This has been a really arduous and difficult year - likely one filled with the most tribulations in my 30+ years.

2. Looking back, I really don't know what happened during the June to August period. It is as if I became a different person (would even go as far as to described myself as being possesed). I became extremely emotional, insecure, anxious, overwhelmed and worried for something that does not seems like a big deal. I became stuck on a stupid decision - to the point that I even spend a few hundred to see a psychologist. I must be crazy. Now that I have finally calm down and recollected my thoughts, I am sure that I still want to move on, but not to a place I feel no excitement for. 

3. I also got infected with Covid - yeah, it has to happened eventually seeing the direction Singapore is going. I was extremely upset because it was entirely preventable. But you know - stubborn and irresponsible people, extremely iron teeth relatives, etc... I was extremely sick during that period of time (late Nov) too. I am not sure if it is entirely due to covid or the fact that I did not pay much attention to it (thought of it as mild cold) during its inital stages, and the sore throat developed into a full blown nightmare. 

Think LV1 as normal sore throat (itch/discomfort), LV2 as pain when swallowing saliva, LV3 as your ear is painful too when swallow saliva, and LV4 as you have to muster your entire body strength in order to swallow 1 gulp saliva. I could not put it into words just how painful and miserable I was - every gulp of water and mouth of food was so agonizing, which might have delayed my recovery.

Fever lasted (on and off) for almost 6 days and I ate countless cold/flu medicine. Thankfully I got better by the 7th day. As far as I can recall, this was definitely 1 of my worst sick episodes.

4. What would have been my last high key reservist in Jun got cancelled last minute due to covid, and they called me back for a low key in Dec. Great.... 1 more year of IPPT cycle.

Alright... usual updates now:

1. Board gaming hobbies basically died off, but I did make some friends on QM, meet up and introduce some party games them.

2. FF７Remake - God it's so damn good... the childhood memories. Watched so many reactions and can't watch for the next chapter in the series.

3. Demon Slayer Season I (Episode 19) + Movie... and now onto Season 2. The animation quality of this show is insane and probably the best I've seen (considering I'm not an anime fanatic). Watched so many reactions. Zenitsu favourite character.

4. Squid Game, Spiderman No Way Home

5. Gaming wise: Started Legends of Runeterra from 2020 Dec. Backed Eiyuden Chronicles (companion game 2022, release 2023). Basically not playing much games anymore except Hearthstone and LOR. And of course QM Party.

6. I believe Insomnia issues continue to plague me, but it is not apparent due to WFH. 

The Most Difficult Period Of My Life

 The past 1.5 months has no doubt been 1 of the most difficult and arduous period of my life.

On hindsight - It's trouble I find for myself (due to gtting influenced by others around me) yes, it is a big change. But is it really that big of a deal when you see it on your life basis?

It got so bad at one point that every ticking of the clock towards the "deadline" felt dreadful and scary.

While I was in the cycle, It felt that every deicsion I made would be wrong.

Everything is a huge mistake.

You may know "logically" know what to do, but you can't overcome the "emotions".

No matter how many people opinion you ask, whether they are close friends or experts, they are not you.

They will not understand your life goals.

We share different beliefs, experiences and life goals. What is important to someone else might not be important to me at all.

There is no need to follow someone else.

It was extremely painful and agonizing experience - filled with anxiety and worries. I never knew I had like anxiety disorders until this event.

The good?

It made me grew closer to my family.

It made me slowed down and see that there are other things to life besides work. 

There are nature and there are better things to enjoy

It made me even more determined to find things to anchor myself onto after FIRE.

I have a huge buffer in my life - compared to the milions and millions who are forced to pivot during the pandemic, I am so much more lucky.

Mine is reallly a first world problem.

We are nothing but fleeting in this universe and a spark of dust compare to how vast the universe is.

No need to be too attached to things.

I need to focus on my personal life goal, not depend on others opinions to decide what I want.