Reflections on 2025 and entering 2026, wishes, plans and a letter to myself

2026 has arrived and we are now in the middle of January, I had a trip to HK just recently and it was great with amazing weather, I realised that Hong Kong does not have heaters or warmers so they go back to a cold home everyday but the coldness is bearable for a trip but if I were to stay there for long, I would get a heater. It has been tough getting back into the momentum of working as the December celebration and start of new year festive season is still strong making me lazy to get back into full working mode. I think it will take me till end of CNY to get back into it hahaha. 

Going on a trip at the beginning of the year was nice, it seemed like places weren't as crowded as compared to November and December where people were winding down for the year. I might try to make it a yearly thing if I can. 

Work 

On my work side, my job role has been transferred to the parent company where the company I worked at was bought over 6 years ago and now all corporate functions is being brought over to the parent company, the benefits are horrible where annual leave has been reduced and flexible benefits removed, even insurance coverage has been reduced.

Well, I guess jobs are not as secure as they wrecked before, happy to still have a job as I have to admit that AI is coming fast for my job role and if I lose my job, I don't think I can find one easily as the role is really easily automated. 

Not really preparing or up-skilling myself although the government and my parents are telling me to, it just seems like the AI wave is coming for everything, so what if I make the effort to upskill, would that save me? I don't know. 

I will work in this job as long as it goes and see where it brings me, lazy to go through the multiple rounds of interviews for what I think is not necessary for such an entry role job. 

Health

I guess I want to pay more attention to my mental health, I do get anxious easily and am an over thinker and worrier. I also do not have many social interactions as I work from home, hoping to improve on that in 2026 although it really takes a lot of effort on both me and my friends. 

My friends are all busier as they find their significant other and we tend to spend lesser time together and in Singapore where most relationships are transactional, it does take a lot of effort to find someone genuine and part of it is that I have got so used to being alone that sometimes, it takes a lot to let someone enter my life. 

So I want to push myself to open up and expand my social network at least for 2026, nothing too ambitious just say yes to more events and spontaneous meet ups. 

Finances

As mentioned above about my job, I think I need to really build up a more substantial emergency fund as the reality of being laid off is so real. The retrenchment benefit/package in Singapore is not even guaranteed so having a more robust liquid cash position is important for me at the moment. I actually hold really little cash as I prefer being invested but looking at the stock market, I do think that this is quite a good time to accumulate cash. Will write up another article on my plans for the portfolio in 2026. Overall finances is not a huge concern for me at the moment *touchwood* since I have no children or mortgage and health is still all right. 

2025 was not a huge year for me rather it was an autopilot kinda year, I let things happen on it's own and didn't work hard or much to achieve as it was the year I turned 30 but felt that I wanted to take a break, slow down in life and not work so hard like previous years. 

My family sure felt that as they saw me lazing around most of the time and was at one point questioning me on what I want to do with my life, I guess it is really weird in Singapore to not think about work or money or life although the younger generation is trying to change that. I think my friends could also feel the carefree attitude I had because when we met, they would talk about their work, colleagues and I would just be not talking about work as there really is nothing much going on for me on that end. 

I think I have done well in the year, it was a kinda year where I compared myself to others a lot, as I wasn't doing much in my life, it was easy to open social media and see everyone else living an amazing life but I know social media breeds negativity as comparison arises. I am hoping to reduce doomscrolling and usage on social media, hopefully get back more into putting my thoughts into words. Hoping that 2026 will be smooth and that some excitement can happen in my life too! 

Here we are, last month of the year and portfolio down due to Bitcoin

October was really the peak for Bitcoin so far, I didn't think that it would drop back below 100,000 but well things happen. Liquidity is drying up in crypto space as AI seems to be the better choice also I guess other factors too. 

In my previous post, I mentioned about holding cash secured puts in IBIT and actually it is really really close to those prices so I might have to buy those positions if it continues to drop and the option get exercised. 

Anyway, on the stocks side, we did see a slight pullback when Oracle recently announced their earnings with weaker than expected earnings and forward guidance was not too good and future plans of data centers with OpenAI seems to be delayed. 

AI is definitely advancing at a rapid pace but there is a lot of capital pumped into it and investors wants to see how that capital can translate into profits especially massive profits since AI has been marketed as world changing and will increase productivity with less labour. Tesla is gaining some momentum as it's autonomous driving is advancing although we don't know how long it will take for it to be fully rolled out. I am holding onto my position and it has been a long hold, SpaceX seems to be garnering for a record IPO in 2026 making Elon Musk reach crazy net worth. 

Bitcoin on the other hand is losing steam in its build up as we see the various bitcoin treasury companies slow their purchases except Strategy. I am cautiously optimistic for crypto as it feels like there is so much leverage and everyone is tired of it. Tired of how we were looking ahead for new highs but yet it crashes like nobody's business. Not really adding positions in Bitcoin at the moment although it is nice to pick some up at this price but no optimism or positivity yet. 

Enjoying the year end as time flies back quick and 2025 has been a crazy year, turning 30, thinking more about life and what I want to do in life. It's been a year of reflection and thoughts. As we slowly inch near the end of 2025, it is nice to see that I am advancing in terms of financial and health, feeling good and understanding that being healthy is the best thing ever, don't want to make myself too stressed over work and damage my health like how I did during Covid where I had some stomach issues. 

Understanding myself better next year as I enter 2026 is the main goal, enjoy the time with my family and friends, to be present for them. The portfolio is now slightly above $250,000 as compared to Q3 where it was at one point $300,000 so kinda sad but all right since we know how the market is, just scared and curious how low can it go.