Singaporean Talks Money: October 2020

Wednesday 28 October 2020

Why you should think about Financial Independence

FIRE is a term that has been thrown around very frequently. FIRE stands for financially independent, retire early which seems like the ultimate dream/goal for many. Yes, I think everyone should know about this concept and think about reaching FI (being financially free). We all live with lots of worries everyday, money definitely weighs heavily on most people.

Being financially independent can open up doors for us providing us with many options and we can do things that we want without thinking about our next meal or whether can we afford the lifestyle we are currently having. For now, I work because I need the job that I currently have to pay the bills, daily necessities and to provide for my family as well. What if I can work with no more worries for those? I think I would be less stress if I knew that I didn't need the job to cover my daily necessities. I want to be financially free to do the things I like and spend time with people I love. But I might not retire early because I find work rather fulfilling, having colleagues and also feeling of accomplishment when you complete your daily tasks. But being financially independent is a goal that I am aiming for.

I watched this TedTalk by Lacey Filipich where she described how she was time-poor when she started work, thinking that things will not go on in her work if she ever took a day off and so she didn't ever took a day off. The turning point came for her when she became really ill and was bedridden for 5 weeks. It made her realised that her career was nothing much and it was the one causing her health to deteriorate. She took a break and got back to work falling into her old routine, then her sister commited suicide and made her start thinking again.

So most people work hard for 40 years then reach retirement where they move from being time-poor to time-rich but by then they would have become too old to enjoy the experiences that they might have wanted when they were younger due to concerns of health or energy. So instead, we could take mini-retirements throughout our lifetime and to do this, we can have a small business on the side which can fund it while we take these min-retirements.

Definitely, in a Singapore context, it is not easy because for most of us, our main job is really our main source of income and with mortgages and other bills, we might not be able to afford to take so many mini-retirements.

Taken from Why you should think about financial independence and mini-retirements | Lacey Filipich | TEDxUWA

So to be able to afford these mini-retirements, start investing and saving. So you can move from being time-poor to time-rich. InvestmentMoats is a great personal finance and investing website where I read him articles for information, he has an article which writes about the 11 stages of financial independence. He mentioned that the higher you go into the stages, the more useful wealth is for you.

I wouldn't go into the details as I believe that you can go over to his website where he has a very extensive explanation on it all. Link is below. Definitely, not everyone will reach level 10 and everyone will progress differently. This serves as a guide to see where you are at and which stage are you aiming for.

The 11 Stages of Wealth: Which Stage of Wealth are You at? | Investment Moats

What is really important is the mindset that you have, knowing that you have a goal for the money that you are saving and investing for will make you treasure them and not waste them away on unnecessary expenses. With 2020 being a crazy year filled with retrenchments and uncertainty, many have now realised the importance of saving for a rainy day, besides that, 2020 has made me realise how fragile life can be and I really want to enjoy my time without working till old age.

Having this mindset keeps me aware of my expenses and how much I am keeping aside, this provides me with a overall view of how long more I need to be financially free. For example, your hourly rate is $20/hour and this means a meal on a Sunday with your family amounts to 5 hours of your working hours, this does make your heart kinda ache as 5 hours of your hard work is gone in one meal. To be able to know of the FIRE concept and be able to pursue it means that you are privileged and I believe once you are aware that you are exchanging your time for money, you will want to move from being time-poor to time-rich.

Hope you guys enjoy my video content, do like, share and subscribe to my channel for more content!

Sunday 25 October 2020

How much money you should have by age

I saw quite a few videos talking about how much money you should have saved by age 20,30 and 40. It is interesting as it is what the society thinks you should have by a certain age considering that you have worked for a number of years.

In Singapore, Seedly released an article as well to show how much you should have saved by what age. Definitely, you have to understand that it is a gauge and it doesn’t matter if you have not achieved that amount because life is not all about money and not a linear growth.

In the Seedly article, this was a guide released by them but they definitely highlighted that it is not a competition but good to have goals set.

Here's How Much You Need to Save According to Your Age

Life is about ups and downs and so you never know how much you will really have at a certain age. But as a guide, I think it serves as a good rough basis.

Definitely, online there are lots of other videos on how much you should have saved by age. The first video I saw on this topic was from Andrei Jikh and the second I saw was from Graham Stephan, both of whom are huge YouTubers.

How Much Money You Should Save (Amount by Age)

How Much Money You Need To Save By EVERY AGE

Graham video is good because it shows how much of your income you should have saved for example by age 40, you should have 3X of your salary saved, how much to have invested and also should be looking into getting a house.

It is good to have clear and specific goals along the way, but dont be too hard on yourself because there really isn't a hard and fuss rule.

I like Graham's version of it because it covers a little more areas and also actions on what you should be doing.

TWENTIES

Based on research, net worth of -$27,000
What you should start doing:
Get a credit card
Open a retirement account, in Singapore start contributing to your CPF
Have 1 to 2 months of savings
START INVESTING!
THIRTIES
Have a good credit score
No "bad debts" - like no credit card debts
Saved 1X annual income (depends)
Be able to save 20% of your income
FORTIES
3X your annual salary saved/invested
Buy a house (depends)
Know your yearly spending and aim for 5 to 7 times of that amount invested
FIFTIES
7x your annual salary saved/invested
Paying off your house
Understand your spending to estimate amount needed for retirement
SIXTIES
10 to 12x annual salary saved
Paid off house
Last lap of saving as much from your income
Slowly withdraw from retirement accounts if needed

With more money and a plan ahead, retirement will seem more relaxed and to be honest, many retire without a set amount in their bank accounts. For my mum, she is lucky to have some money in her CPF and also a little cash savings saved up. She will be relying a lot on CPF for her retirement but she has paid off the housing debt and currently have just the utilities, phone and insurance bills to pay.

She wasn't expecting herself to retire so early but in a way, she didnt wait till she had a million dollars so just make sure you are living life to the fullest!

As a guide, I feel that you just need to know that you are in control of your finances at the different stages of your life and know that there will be times when you need to save up more and times when you can spend more. Money is really something that can be earned and so we should not place our happiness all on money alone. Spend time with your family and friends as well.

Tuesday 20 October 2020

High Interest Accounts that I use | To store emergency/spare cash

Information is accurate as of published date but might change over time hence please do check before applying for anything mentioned.

High interest accounts are good but not essential because you having to manage them especially if Banks adjust their interest rates can be troublesome. Unless you have a really huge amount of liquid cash on you, I would say just stick to a few account and leave it as such.

So the first account that I opened after I started working in end 2018 was the

DBS Multiplier Account

I was attracted to this account because firstly, everyone in Singapore knows DBS and definitely has either a POSB or DBS account. Naturally, the terms offered was also rather attractive when it was first rolled out. I could easily fulfill 3 criteria (salary, investments [Dividends] and also credit card spend) and got an interest rate of about 2% p.a.

Definitely, changes happened considering the environment and currently, I can only fufill 2 categories as it don't buy stocks frequently with my DBS Vickers Account. This brings the interest earn to much lesser but it is still higher than the usual 0.05%.

So now, this account is my spending account and after my salary is credited in, it gets allocated to different accounts that I hold. So here is really the bare minimum for spending and after each month, I transfer whatever is left to my Standard Chartered which is part of my savings account. I have a already allocated a fixed saving amount, the transfer is like an extra/bonus that I do to clear out the account every month.

DBS Multiplier is still attractive to me because

It gives a higher interest rate than 0.05%
The fall-below fee of $5 is waived for you up until 29 years old
No minimum credit card spend to qualify

Singlife Account

For the Singlife account, it was previously really good with 2.5% p.a. meaning you will get about $20 per month by placing $10,000 inside. Do note that it is not a savings account. It will have changes to it's interest rate starting November 2020 with the rate dropping to 2% p.a. Still good but when you compare it with 2.5%, you feel like you are losing a bit.

I place $10,000 here because the after $10,000 till $100,000 earns you 1%. But I just channel whatever excess to my Standard Chartered Jumpstart Account.

Standard Chartered Jumpstart Account

When I first came across this account, it was really a no-frills and very very attractive account for the young people haha, as in for those aged between 18 - 26 years old. It originally provided 2% p.a. for deposit balance up to $20,000 and no fall-below fee as well with no criteria meaning that no salary credit or credit spending was required though you need to be btw 18 to 26 years old. That was amazing! Even though the interest rate has dropped to 1% p.a. I still find it good because it is really a no criteria account to get that 1% p.a.

What I also like is that Standard Chartered in Singapore does not have many ATMs so it is good cos if you will not draw the money out even though almost everything is cashless nowadays. But out of sight means out of mind literally.
The excess from the $10,000 that I put in Singlife account is channeled to this account to at least earn 1% p.a.

I definitely won't be moving my money around too much to chase after the interest rate unless something appears with more than 2% per annum. I find having to keep finding high interest rate accounts can be tiring and troublesome since my savings are also not that huge an amount. But it is great knowing that the cash you hold on too are earning some amount of interest and not just decreasing in value every minute.

Hope you guys enjoyed today's video, do like and subscribe and see u guys soon!

Sunday 18 October 2020

The Social Dilemma - Is Social Media Killing the World?

Netflix has been my weekend to-go for documentaries and shows. Came upon this documentary a few weeks ago which talked about the social media that we use on a daily basis. From Facebook to Instagram and TikTok nowadays.

The Social Dilemma is a:

2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski
Explores the rise of social media and the damage it has caused to society, focusing on its exploitation of its users for financial gain through surveillance capitalism and data mining, how its design is meant to nurture an addiction, its use in politics, its effect on mental health (including the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates), and its role in spreading conspiracy theories such as Pizzagate and aiding groups such as flat-earthers.

Do you find yourself using your phone and the next moment, when you look at the time, a few hours has passed. Well, it happens to me and I have to admit that I do use my phone and social media frequently.

So when did all this start?

Social media was created with an initial thought to improve the world and to allow better communication but along the journey, monetization came along and it changed the path of the creation of new items and algorithms as now the main purpose is to get more engagement and more screen time from it's users so that the advertisers will pay more for them to put their ads up.

Monetization changed it all

Like for example, one of the interviewee was involved in the Facebook 'like' button creation, he mentioned that the initial thought for the button was to bring positivity and allow people to express their feelings of like and acceptance but it soon manifest into a desire by the users on that the more likes they get, the better it is. And that their posts have to be catered in a way to attract more likes.

This really just changed the whole direction of why the like button was created.

Spread of information

All the people who were interviewed worked in the huge tech firms like Facebook, Google, YouTube and Pinterest, all of them acknowledged that social media has now dominated the world and it is so scary how it has all come to this stage. So in the show (spoilers ahead!), many of them mentioned that to appeal to the audience, there is this thing called related content which YouTube users are really familiar with, they recommend you items that you previously showed an interest in. This might seem harmless but in a large scale, it can destroy the world that we know now.

For example, the recent rise of right wing leader, the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar and more violence around the world have been sort of attributed to social media. This is because the moment you read something like climate change is a hoax, your related content would be filled with similar items and in turn forms a bubble as to you, all the information is that climate change is a hoax and as you talk to people from the other camp who believe that climate change is real, you will think why are they not knowing the things that you are seeing or reading but unknown to you, their feed displays a whole different scenario as the things recommended to them is different.

Another example raised in the documentary was about NBA player Kyrie Irving who said that the Earth is square, prove a point on how stories in social-media can spread rapidly as he said that social media was what made him thought the Earth is square as at the time, he was like huge into conspiracies.

"The problem is that the algorithm doesn’t know what is true, and what is not true. It has no truth detector. Fake news is a huge business these days. So if you start liking fake news stories, or even pausing on them or look at them a bit longer, it (the AI system) knows that. You start getting more and more of them.

As we are presented with more one-sided information, we deeply believe that the things we are seeing or reading are true but not everything on the internet is true. And so, more extremist views are presented on social media which is so hard to be regulated as the AI recognises it as content that will make you stay. One interesting thing is that most of the people who were interviewed were tech guys and most of them said that they will not give their children a phone or social media accounts.

Screen time

How long do you usually use your social media after work lying on the sofa or your bed? For me, there are definitely times when I spend hours on it.

Besides the spread of fake and extremist views on social media, the tech firms have been working on making users stick to their screen for as long as they can. Because, the longer the screen time, the more ads they can put out.

The swiping up motion is what they want you to keep doing like on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok so they need the information of what you watch, when you watch and why. Who attract most of your attention, this means that they have massive amount of data from you and your friends which you might not even be aware.

"If You Are Not Paying, You Are The Product"

What's crazy is that there is no law on the data collected because governments currently does not have laws/regulation on the data being collected. One of the interviewee recommended taxing the tech firms on the amount of data collected so that they will only collect what is required and not collect every single thing involved with the user. This will reduce the scope of data collection and if they want more, they have to pay for it.

Ability to differentiate

It is so important now than ever to know how to differentiate fake news from real. Check your sources and anything that seems too crazy, take it with a pinch of salt. I like how at the end of the documentary they gave some tips on how to handle the AI recommended content because they know that no one can give up social media though they mentioned that is the best way.

Some tips:

Remove unnecessary apps
Turn off notifications*
Never accept a video recommended to you on Youtube
Before you share, fact-check the source
Follow people with different viewpoints to make sure you are not creating an information bubble for yourself

It is sad after watching the documentary to see the people who created them to feel that there needs to be a fundamental shift to it or in the short/long run, the world is going to go in the wrong direction and possibly even self-destruction.

http://www.impawards.com/tv/social_dilemma.html

https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2555346/what-is-the-social-dilemma-things-to-know-about-the-netflix-documentary-before-you-watch

Thursday 15 October 2020

Design Studio (D11:SI) - Investment that made me lose almost all my capital

Today, I will talk about an investment that I made into a company when I was greedy for it’s dividends and did not do any prior research before I made a purchase. And today, I have actually almost lost all my capital on it and I am not able to sell it off due to a trading halt.

I released a video on my $18,000 portfolio previously and many people have been asking me about it as they mentioned that there are stocks in there that they will not recommend me to continue holding on. And I know. However I am not able to sell it off due to a trading halt and I thought that it would recover, well, I don't think it will ever recover. Fortunately, it was not a very huge amount that I put into it. I will be talking all about it today and hope that none of you will do the same mistake that I did.

So let’s talk about Design Studio today. Design Studio (SGX:D11) is listed in the Singapore Stock Exchange and is a interior fit-out provider meaning that provides innovative and creative solutions to meet our clients needs.

Together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, supplies, and installs paneling products primarily in Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and China. The company operates in three segments: Residential Property Projects, Hospitality and Commercial Projects, and Distribution Projects. It was founded in 1992. To be honest, before I bought the stock, I didn't even look into it's business model.

The group took a hit to revenue and estimated project margins due to higher-than-expected project costs, which had adverse effects on the group. On Jan 2020, the group called for a suspension in the trading of its shares where it last traded at 8.3 Singapore cents.

Looking into it's financials, it was even more worrying, if only at that time, I took some time to check.

You can see their profit has been dropping and decreasing from 2016 to 2017 then to 2018. Their cash and fixed deposits decreased over the years from 2015 and in 2018 they even had to borrow. I bought the stock around the end of 2017.

I bought 1800 shares of it at a price of $0.535 each which means I put in about $963 currently, the total value of it is $149.40 which means I have actually already lost almost most of what I invested. Also they stopped giving out dividends in 2018, which was around the time when I bought the shares.

After this experience, I started looking more into index investing and lesser of individual stock picking as I know that I am easily swayed. I am glad this mistake happened even though my portfolio is always in red due to this mistake as I am not able to sell them off now. If this didn't happen to me, my investing journey might turn out differently.

I have come to the end of another episode and hope you have enjoyed it. Do like, subscribe and comment for more content!

You can also find me at

https://sginvestors.io/sgx/stock/d11-design-studio/share-price-history

Sunday 11 October 2020

My Financial Goals in my 20s by Age

So today I will be talking/writing about my financial goals in my 20s by age.

So first, lets define what a goal is. A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People aim to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. Financially, I definitely have goals but in terms of short and specific goals, I do not have small milestones.

I am sure most of my subscribers know that I aim to have $100,000 by age 30. What about in between since I am currently 25 years old.

So I will be using SMART goals which someone recommended to me when he read about my blog. When you use SMART, you can create clear, attainable and meaningful goals, and develop the motivation, action plan, and support needed to achieve them. What does SMART goals stand for?

Specific (simple, sensible, significant).
Measurable (meaningful, motivating).
Achievable (agreed, attainable).
Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based).
Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive).

Before setting my goals, I would like to give an update of my current situation. I am 25 years old with cash savings of $13,000, a portfolio value (as of Oct 2020) of $24,000 and about $18,000 in a savings plan which will pay out when I am 31 years old. My current portfolio in 2020 paid me about $50 dollars per month in dividends.

I currently have a net worth of $13,000 + $24,000 = $37,000.

Definitely for my salary portion, I know that it is something that I will not have much control over as it depends on the company and whether I will have any change of jobs. In terms of my portfolio and savings, I will want to hit the goals although I won’t be too hard on myself.

At least, I have figures to see and look towards and know what I am working towards. The journey is slow but I hope it will be rewarding and fruitful. There might be adjustments along the way as maybe more cash savings will need to be put aside in case of any short term commitments or if I need more something more liquid.

That’s all for today’s video, do remember to give a like and subscribe to my channel.

You can also find me at

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goal

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/smart-goals.htm

Friday 9 October 2020

GIGANTIC by Etiqa

With interest rates dropping, many are not sure where to put their money to make it work. Well, look no further because PolicyPal, a digital insurance broker licensed by MAS has launched GIGANTIC by Etiqa on it's mobile app and judging by the product name, you know it's gonna be something big!

What is it?

GIGANTIQ is a single premium, yearly renewable, non-participating universal life plan denominated in Singapore dollars. It offers the financial flexibility, opportunity for wealth accumulation and the assurance of life insurance coverage through providing death benefit.

This is an insurance savings plan offering 2% p.a.* returns on up to $10,000, for a limited time only. 2% p.a.* is definitely attractive and especially in a climate that we are in. With people holding on to more cash nowadays due to the situations, 2% per annum is really a good deal.

*Guaranteed 1% p.a. + 1% p.a. bonus for first policy year, available on a first come, first served basis.

Like to earn more?

Besides the 2% p.a. that is being offered, you can build it up by purchasing GIGANTIC from PolicyPal, where you can earn up to 8% p.a. in PolicyPal credits if you refer friends and/or buy additional policies through them.

Table below shows how you can build up the interest that you earn, as you can refer 20 friends or buy additional policies and get another 4% p.a.

Policy features

No lock-in period

This is great as it means you can top up and withdraw* whenever you need/want to, and this provides so much flexibility as your money is not locked up and knowing that you can use the money in the short term if needed to.

*Terms apply depending on whether it is a partial or full withdrawal.

Capital guaranteed

GIGANTIC is not a bank account or fixed deposit, it is an insurance savings plan that earns a crediting interest rate. It is protected under the Policy Owners’ Protection Scheme which is administered by the Singapore Deposit Insurance Corporation (SDIC). Coverage for your policy is automatic which means your capital is guaranteed.

Life protection

As it is an insurance plan, it means that GIGANTIC also provides life protection coverage whereby there is a death benefit of 105% of your Account Value.

Sounds good and you have extra cash laying around? Click here for a referral link to sign up!

*To read up more and for the FAQs

*Article contains referral links

Thursday 8 October 2020

Using the 50/30/20 budget to manage your money

I always look forward to receiving my pay each month because I have various uses for it, I have my regular savings plan, cash savings, allowance for my mother, bill payments and my expenditure, having an allocation system definitely helps. So today i will talking about the 50/30/20 allocation method. So, some background on it, the 50/30/20 budget was made famous by Elizabeth Warren, what it is essentially is to divide up your after-tax income into various percentages namely into 50%, 30% and 20%.

50% needs: As the word needs suggest, these are for payments that you require to survive for example, for a roof over your head, you need to pay your mortgages or rent. Bills like insurance payments and utilities are also some of the needs.

50% is a pretty huge portion of your salary and should be sufficient to cover, if you realised that it is not enough to cover your rent and insurance payments then you might need to re-look on your insurance plans or rent as they might be too huge. Unless you can increase your salary to cover up more of it.

Food and groceries are also part of this portion but definitely the basic ones eg, food at the hawker and not food at high end restaurants as that will definitely fall into the category of wants as you can make a choice between eating at the hawker to satisfy your basic survival needs or to spend extra at a restaurant for it's ambience and better service.

30% wants: This includes non-essential items, not needed for survival but they make living a happier thing. Examples like Netflix, Spotify, branded items (clothes/bags/shoes) and restaurant meals.

Some people cut down extreme on this just so that they can save more or invest depending on how you like your lifestyle to be, there can be adjustments made to it.

20% savings: This 20% also includes investments but I recommend to build up your savings first if you are a fresh grad or have any big ticket item and require liquid funds in the short term. You might require a largest cash balance on your side. Remember that investing carries an amount of risks so read up before investing and try not to be too emotionally invested.

Saving is really important because in the long term, saving is what is going to be helping you reach your financial goals or retirement. You can watch my previous video where I talked about the 5 ways I use to save more money.

Read/watch: 5 Tips on how I save more money

Investing after you have set aside your savings/emergency funds is important because you do want your money to be working for you example, earning a higher interest or growing. Thats why it is important to get started as compounding interest can make a huge difference.

Read/Watch: Compounding Interest - How it can make you a millionaire

What Is the 50/20/30 Budget Rule?

Having an allocation set up is great because you know how much of your salary is meant for what and you can start to automate your budget based on the allocation amount/percentage.

Once you have done that for awhile, you can adjust the proportion according to how you feel will benefit you better.

Definitely, the priority is to build up an emergency fund first. If you want to know more about what an emergency fund is, I did a video previously on it. You can click the top or in the description box below. After you have build up your emergency fund, adjustments can be made to allow some amount of money to be invested. What we want to achieve is to have an allocation first to achieve some basics buffer before moving on to riskier items that can make you money grow faster over the long term.

Thanks for staying till the end! It really helps me knowing that there are people out there watching my videos, I hope it has been informative for you and if so, do hit the like button and subscribe to my channel!

Tuesday 6 October 2020

5 Easy Recipes to Food Prep to Save Money and Stay Home

In my previous article on the 5 tips on how I save more money, I mentioned about cooking my own meals. Preparing your own meals definitely costs much lesser as the ingredient alone are already cheaper as no extra expenses like rent, labour and utilities that the food store outside factor in.

I am always on the lookout for simple and affordable recipes and when I see one, I make sure to bookmark it to try it out.

This blog post will be to introduce 5 easy recipes that I found online that can be put together easily and fast.

15-minute Garlic Prawn Udon

15-minute Garlic Prawn Udon - Marion's Kitchen

This udon dish only requires 3 steps and the ingredients can be switched and easily found. Udon can be found from Daiso and that means a serving size of 4 in a packet for only $2. Making this dish is really affordable as you can switch the prawns to chicken or pork depending on your preferences or budget. Another similar rendition would be scallion noodles which is also affordable.

BEST Scallion Noodles Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest

Korean Garlic Spicy Eggplant

Korean Spicy Garlic Eggplant Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest

This is a vegetarian dish and I have actually tried this out myself before. It taste really good as the sauce is flavourful and the texture of the eggplant really soaks up the sauce and provides a nice compliment to it. Eggplants are also very affordable where they are usually priced from a few cents to a dollar plus depending on the size. Do note to try to get chinese eggplant where it is usually lighter in colour, more lavender-purple, and is sometimes longer as they contain lesser seeds and hence less bitter. Also, they are able to become softer much faster after the steaming.

Mapo Tofu

Mapo Tofu Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest

I like tofu because it is so versatile, it can be panfried, fried, steam or in soup and sauces. Tofu is also a good source of protein. Mapo tofu is great because it pairs so well with rice (carbs!). This means you can easily finish your bowl of rice with a small portion of it. Also, you can add minced meat in as well to push up the flavour.

Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetable Miso Soup)

Tonjiru (Pork and Vegetable Miso Soup) 豚汁 * Just One Cookbook

A simple soup is a good dish to add, tonjiru is actually a soup dish that my brother introduced to me. When he was studying in UK, he used to cook this soup dish very often and said that he can cook it pretty well although I haven't tasted it till now. Soups are great because you can almost throw anything in and best if the weather is slightly chilly.

Japanese Egg Sandwich (Tamago Sando)

Sandwiches are great for those really rushing, you can make a large batch of the egg salad and just plonk it on your bread before you eat them. During the circuit breaker period, when most of my colleague were adjusting to the increased workload, many of them opted for sandwiches during lunch as it saves them a lot of time and bread can be purchased in a loaf so that loaf can last them for a few days.

If you are rushing for deadlines or have tight lunches, sandwiches are a good way to go though it's important to have a good meal once in a while.

Definitely, there is always the good ol' fried rice that is easy to prep and you can use all the leftover ingredients in your fridge for it. This post is definitely not money/investing related but it is also one of favourite topic, FOOD! I crave for certain food and love having late night suppers. Feeling very hungry as I am typing this out. What other recipes do you have and like to share?

Sunday 4 October 2020

IPOs making millionaires around the world

Hi! So this week, I did up a video on IPOs and also used a new video software, trying out something new and different to see if it is something that is more interactive.

What exactly is an IPO? An IPO is an initial public offering refers to the process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance. Public share issuance allows a company to raise capital from public investors. This allows public investors to participate in the offering.

IPOs have been a huge thing recently, every company that is going to IPO, gets hyped up. Some companies are worth the hype but for most, it is really just because people have beliefs that the stock will grow because there are some heavyweight backers or the idea of the business sounds good.

In any case, recently Big Hit Entertainment IPO-ed and it is the largest listing in the last 3 years and I can understand why. BTS is really huge worldwide and so influential, them alone can carry the whole company. Big Hit priced the IPO at 135,000 won (US$115) per share. All seven members of boy band BTS have become multimillionaires as the CEO, Bang Si-Hyuk, gave each of the BTS band members 68,385 shares which are now worth $7.9 million at issue price. Bang owns about 43% of Big Hit, according to a stock exchange filing. The IPO has made Bang a billionaire.

Snowflake had a super crazy IPO as Warren Buffett's Berkshire backed it. Snowfake provides SQL data warehouse and breaks down its data warehousing architecture into storage, virtual warehouses (compute), and cloud services and customers can either pre-pay for its services or buy it on demand. Its competitors are said to be Amazon and Microsoft as it provides similar service like cloud services.

Not just in the US markets is there a IPO fever going on, in China as well where a new billionaire created every week by world's hottest IPO market. In China, at least 24 people have become billionaires this year through June from the country’s raging market for initial public offerings, including former teachers, accountants and software developers as 118 companies that went public in Shanghai and Shenzhen this year raised about $20 billion through June.

Stocks that have just IPO are volatile as they might be overly hyped up to get a good initial price hence usually after the IPO, the stock price will drop and slowly stabilise over the long term.

If you have confidence in a company's business model and can see it as a gem in the making depending on it's products or services, it is definitely good to get it when it IPOs otherwise you should always do your research and make sure it is what you want before you plunge your money in.

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