Singaporean Talks Money: 2022

Monday, 26 December 2022

Trying out ChatGPT | The future of knowledge and learning is here?

I think I am pretty late to the game but just wanted to record on this cool AI technology. It’s been all over Twitter and the news on what ChatGPT is and how emails and articles can be crafted from it. Being an AI language model that can respond to you in a conversational manner providing data and information on your questions is interesting as it’s like having someone around to answer all your questions in a way that is meaningful.

It is crazy to have an AI with boundless knowledge to be able to interact with you asking a simple question. Apple has Siri which a virtual assistant where you can use it to find things, set up events or alarms and also ask lame questions when you are bored. ChatGPT besides being able to answer your questions, it can also help generate software code which I think is definitely very helpful although I don’t know anything about coding.

It’s definitely still in it’s early stages as seen from it’s answer but it quite crazy on the innovation that is being done here.

Answers generated from ChatGPT

Using a ChatGPT model can be an interesting and effective way to build a chatbot or conversational AI system. ChatGPT models are able to generate human-like text that is appropriate and natural-sounding in a chat or conversation context, which can make for a more engaging and realistic chatbot experience for users. ChatGPT models are also able to engage in conversation and respond to user input in a way that is similar to how a human would, which can make the chatbot feel more intelligent and lifelike.

However, it's important to keep in mind that ChatGPT models are not perfect and may not always generate text that is completely accurate or appropriate. It's important to carefully review and test the output of the ChatGPT model to ensure that it is suitable for the intended use case and audience. Additionally, ChatGPT models may require significant training and fine-tuning to perform well in a specific domain or application.

Getting ChatGPT to help draft an email

What’s good for a Christmas dinner?

Thoughts on using ChatGPT

it is nice using it as it is producing answer in a very conversational manner and it kinda flows like a human talking. It’s is also crazy having your answer in an logical essay form with all the real points given to you in a summarised manner. Unlike google where you might have to go through different websites and worse, ads might be the first few that shows up in your search. Imagine as a student or someone looking for a long form answer or points, ChatGPT definitely provides that. How you use it is also another thing. About more than 60% of this article is generated from ChatGPT making it so mind-blowing, I love how it also has a sense of humour at times. Belated Merry Christmas!

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Sunday, 18 December 2022

Q4 End of Year Portfolio Review | 2022 destroyed……my portfolio haha

Thought I will write this article a little earlier to share it in December rather than wait till January 2023, anyway the value of the portfolio is likely to keep dropping. Very discouraging to be writing portfolio reviews for 2022 and going forward for 2023.

I am glad I switched from monthly to quarterly updates because from the beginning of 2022, Q1 to Q4, my portfolio has been dropping in value even with the monthly DCA-ing that I am doing, so a monthly update would be tiring emotionally. It’s crazy thinking those with six or seven figures in the market but I have to say that much of my stocks portfolio is in Tesla and so explains why the dip in Q4 2022 has been exceptionally painful.

Q4 2022 has been interesting with some recovery but definitely not optimism that the market is bouncing back even though the FED’s Jay Powell has kinda hinted that they will slow/lower interest rate hikes as many explain that once the interest rate hikes stops, we will still be in an environment of high interest rate and that will prove to be quite detrimental to companies, economy and the stock market. I am accumulating with my DCA-ing into index ETFs and also diverting funds to produce cash flow for the future (Syfe REIT+) with the spare cash going into ETH. So let’s dive right in!

Stocks Portfolio

Tesla accounts for roughly half of my portfolio and the other half are mainly index ETFs like QQQ, VT, VWRA and VOO. Q4 has been rough for Tesla share price as Elon Musk officially took over Twitter, made sweeping changes and with high interest rate, people are expecting lower numbers for in total for 2022 due to supply chain issues and inflation as Tesla vehicles are pretty expensive. Twitter also has high debt and Elon Musk has been selling Tesla shares to fill that as well, sentiments just change.

I would be lying if I said I did not regret taking profits on Tesla when I could but of course, this is all on hindsight. I also think that even if I were to turn time back, I would still hold on to my current positions not knowing that Tesla would drop so much, so yea, let’s see how it all pans out 5, 10, 20 years from now. For now, just adding index ETFs to the portfolio.

Crypto Portfolio

Crypto is not really on my mind right now, I am still contributing but mostly with the spare change that I have like at the end of each month after accounting for savings, investments into index ETFs and REITs as well as my expenses. So not really any huge contributions but crypto is tough especially after LUNA/UST crash as you can see from my chart, April 2022 drop to May 2022 and then FTX collapse and many other dominos effect. Anyway, the value of it has also significantly dropped from it’s all time highs but is still holding on pretty well considering everything that has happened. I am also consoled that I haven’t lost my whole crypto portfolio yet, it can happen anytime as I might forget my seed phrase or lose them and then goodbyeeeeee! For now, still safe.

Syfe REIT +

I am periodically buying into Syfe REIT+ as a build up for retirement and cashflow in my later years. I know that some have given feedback or concerns firstly is that when you are young, it is good to be investing in growth or US index ETFs and looking for ways to grow your money first instead of putting it into dividends/REITs as the stock price tend to be stagnant and with a small capital, the dividends don’t quite matter.

I do believe that when you are younger, you have a longer time frame and less commitments hence you can take more risks however, compounding even a small amount does build up over time and I believe diversification helps as well periodically contributing. I think no one knows what can be a good investment over time as the future is unknown although data and past results can give an indication but no one can absolutely guarantee. So it’s good to also spread it out.

Another thing is the rising interest rate that definitely isn’t beneficial to REITs. I think a good viewpoint for REITs is from Financial Horse where he uses examples and explains why the interest rates staying high is likely to happen until inflation falls back to 2% as per what the FED is suggesting at the moment and talks of interest rate cuts are still too early. He also clarifies that he might be wrong but his analysis is great on why tough times are ahead for REITs, there are definitely exceptions but yea, you get it.

To be honest, it’s going to be huge pain to get inflation to 2%. We are currently at 7.1% boy oh boy, 7.1% to 2%? Lots of unemployment and pain needs to happen to cut all that inflation. But I am still just periodically going in with it and we shall see how long I can last. The value of my Syfe REIT+ is included together with the stock portfolio.

Allocation of some cash/emergency funds

Put aside some cash as well, putting them into SSB. Easy to withdraw and it can earn some yield at the same time. Still putting aside cash every month as a cash buffer, not for any investments as I do DCA every month.

Concluding thoughts

Going through this market downturn, I have gained so much more from the few months compared to the few years of bull market previously. And it has also cemented some changes to my buying habits. I have to say that experiencing 2021 to 2022 was really a crazy but enriching period. Lost money, didn’t make it back and losing more but glad that it happened in my first few years of investing rather than 10 years later.

It’s tough especially when job security is one of the concerns. Our generation of fresh graduates faced the pandemic and now inflation plus the FED fighting inflation. I have to say I am considerably lucky to not graduate into the pandemic but it’s tough seeing a future where difficult times are expected and recovery is uncertain. Every generation faced their own issues of course, it sounds really childish considering the older generation faced survival issues. The war in Ukraine, climate change and geo-political issues are also things I am concerned about but I think it’s important to be grateful and live in the present. Ending the portfolio reviews for 2022 here! A special year and looking forward to 2023. Happy holidays and stay healthy!

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Sunday, 11 December 2022

How to take opportunity in this crash | Tips to get started and survive through

I have been scrolling through YouTube and coming across multiple videos about how you can become rich through this recession from this to this to that and even this. It really is the basics that they talk about but it is so important to set yourself on track and create habits during this down market that can help you in the long run.

To firstly ensure that you have an emergency fund, keep expenses low and if possible increase cash-flow and INVEST! Some of them are quite click bait especially so when they have those fancy thumbnails but they all talk about how you can start building your wealth now and it is a great time to start as you get more bang for your buck with the lower prices meaning you can own more units/stock with the same amount as compared to 1 year back.

If you are not prepared to invest yet, it is a good time to be building up your base, making sure you have your financial situation all settled eg, sufficient savings, insurance making sure you are covered and building up multiple sources of income if possible. I too, will repeat some of the basic and important things to take opportunity in this crash or to build upon.

Making sure you have an emergency funds or best, extra cash for buying the dips

It really sounds like a broken recorder and I am sure most people in Singapore have this prepared but of course, in tough times eg.layoffs, the emergency fund you have prepared lets you be at ease and be able to make rational decisions. It also gives you negotiation power on your job search as you can have time to find a better opportunity or be able to propose packages as you are not in desperate need for a new job.

Besides serving it’s purpose for covering the expenses while you are searching for a new job, the extra cash that you have build up outside of your emergency funds give you chances to accumulate more when shares are at a relatively cheaper price than usual. Although you might have already accumulated your emergency fund, you can choose to also put a portion of them in areas that have easy liquidity eg Singapore Savings Bonds or high interest saving accounts to make sure they are generating some yield. It doesn’t have to be some risky yield as your emergency funds should be your base and not be fluctuating in value. Even just leaving them in a bank account is all right as it should be easy to use whenever you require it.

Building up a war chest at the side can serve you well during the down times as it can provide you with more to invest when the market is down. After building up your emergency fund, you can still continue to put money aside for your war chest.

Consistently entering the market and not timing it

No one and I repeat NO ONE can always absolutely time the bottom and top. So no one can absolutely buy low and sell high every single time hence it is good to be disciplined and ensure that you are periodically entering whether it is high or low. There is also enhanced DCA where you invest more when the market is down and less when the market is high. Of course, you would then have to make sure you have sufficient cash-flow that will allow you to invest periodically. There are definitely studies showing that lump sum would perform better depending on when you invest compared to DCA-ing.

However, in the earlier stages of getting started in investing, most would not have a lump sum and so making that habit, setting aside the money makes it beneficial in the long run as compounding can start early. Timing the market is tiring and it might make you hesitant to invest as you might hold onto your money as you look for the lower lows to enter. So automating and periodically entering into index funds/ETFs are good.

Be able to have cash-flow or be employed during this volatile time

Cash flow is important to keep the habit of investing and ensuring that you are able to in the long run. Whether it is through a primary source of income or many different sources of income, cash flow is king in tough times as you do not have to liquidate stocks to have cash and instead can rely on the cash-flow.

Staying invested, keep to your budget and plans unless things have changed

Time in the market beats timing the market. This has been said many times as we hear of how the stock market when looked over a short frame of time is very volatile but once you zoom it out, the longer you hold, it generally provides you with positive yield. Looking at the situation now, there are a number of individuals in cash and I definitely won’t doubt them as the market and economy looks to be going down in 2023 as we see layoffs, earning guidance and just many news saying of tough times in 2023. However, the truth is that we're not as calm and rational as we claim to be, if we do see a bottom, will we be brave enough to click the buy button?

Many investors fail to remain invested in stocks when a rebound occurs. In fact, they tend to jump back in only when most of the gains have already been achieved. This type of buy high, sell low behaviour tends to cripple investor returns. Keeping your stocks in your portfolio longer is more cost-effective than regular buying and selling because the longer you hold your investments, the fewer fees you have to pay. - Investopedia

Besides staying invested, you need to also budget and ensure you are following the plan you set eg. fixed amount of funds into index ETFs per month and putting aside an amount for daily necessities.

Keep yourself emotionally stable

Ensuring you are all right with the amount you have invested to be fluctuating is important and you have to make sure it is money that you do not need in the short term. Reading or watching too much news can also prove to be detrimental especially if you are easily affected as news wants to attract the views so some times the headlines might be exaggerated. Remember that you are investing for the long term and do not make any rash decisions.

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Sunday, 4 December 2022

Are you stressed about your finances since the interest rate hikes started?

With interest rates still increasing although it might not be as aggressive, debts and loans repayments have increased at a rapid pace as the interest rates are being adjusted meaning repayments are higher than they were when interest rates were low. Couple that with layoffs and people being worried if they will be the next one to be axed, the stress on finances and job security can be heavy.

Even for fresh graduates, the job openings are not as many and budgets are also comparatively smaller than 1 year ago especially so for tech companies as they will try to cut costs and increase the productivity with a smaller pool of staff. A recent article from Straits Times covered an OCBC survey and found that debt stress levels are up for Singaporeans as investment returns fall but Singaporeans are not saving enough for crises.

Survey results

The OCBC survey was done in August with 2,182 working adults between the ages of 21 and 65. It found that Singaporeans are strong savers but they were usually saving up for discretionary expenses like travelling. Investments returns are also falling as we enter a volatile market and earnings are falling for companies as inflation and interest rates are up.

Although the sample size is rather small but the age range is rather wide meaning so we can gather more insights from it. It was found that debt stress levels has increased as about a third of respondents (31 per cent) took on more unsecured debts such as credit card debts, education loans and renovation loans, up from 24% in 2021. There were some concerning findings as well.

As mortgage rates pushed to as high as 4.5%, 40% of respondents faced difficulties paying their housing loans now and more of them said that they would have to sell or downgrade their homes to repay their loans (8%, compared with 6% in 2021).
OCBC said those who had HDB flat and not private property were slightly more stressed over their home loan, with 42% facing difficulties versus 36% for private property owners.
Singaporeans are not saving enough for emergencies as 20% had not accumulated six months of their current salary.
The survey also found that more Singaporeans were allocating their savings to discretionary expenses such as travel as post-pandemic measures have opened up travelling.
More individuals have also incurred investment losses and plan to take on more risk to get higher returns. The older groups tended to speculate more in futures, currencies and structured investment products. younger respondents – Gen Zs and millennials in their 20s and 30s (about two in five of the respondents) – continued to turn to cryptocurrencies to build their retirement funds despite losing 40 per cent on average from such investments.

Overall thoughts

With the results from the survey, I would say that it is concerning regarding the emergency funds not being build up for some individuals and the other is that some individuals are taking on more risks on their investments in order to “make back the losses”. To be honest, I did lose quite a bit in the LUNA/UST crash that happened around May 2022, however since then, I have limited my risks and pivot towards “safer” (depending how you see it) counters.

For example, I am now just getting DCA-ing a small amount into ETH and BTC, more into ETH each month. I am not at the moment buying any other cryptocurrencies. I think after the recent crash, we can see how strong BTC and ETH has been holding up especially so after FTX news came up. ETH has been a huge component of my crypto portfolio but I am comfortable with my current exposure so I am not rushing to build it up as I want to still have stocks to be the main proportion. I am also now using Gemini to purchase and then immediately transferring them to my cold wallet.

Even for my stocks portfolio, I have reduced my buying into Tesla and am pivoting more into index ETFs. Tesla and all my index ETFs are about 50/50 but I am hoping to bring up my index ETFs proportion to higher than Tesla considering that Tesla price volatility is extreme these days due to Elon Musk and Twitter. Also, the overall outlook for 2023 is not looking good as people are expecting to tighten their belts as interest rate might remain high affecting many. So just really small amounts to buy Tesla and a larger amount into index ETFs. Mainly, I am moving off riskier assets and of course, trying to follow Warren Buffett’s rule to “Never lose money” so although I have lost some, trying hard not to lose more hahaha.

In terms of allocating expenses to travelling, I feel this is something that is good to do and have especially so when you are young and considering the “lost years” due to the pandemic, travelling is no longer taken for granted hence once the borders opened, I believe many have been saving to revenge travel and shop. As long as you are not overspending and stretching yourself, I think expenses for travelling is all right.

Interest rates are not really affecting me as I currently have no mortgage or debts although I have heard crazy stories where mortgages of about $2000 plus per month has risen to $4000 plus per month considering that the interest rate used to be around 2% and now is slightly above 4% depending on what type and where you get your loans from. It is crazy to have your mortgage almost double hence those who have got a property beyond what they could might struggle and so Kevin (turtleinvestor)’s advice on a home loan sounds so important in times like these.

Just do this one thing for retirement planning.

Keep your housing loan low.https://t.co/0DV3xgl7sJ pic.twitter.com/3y17s1K92Z
— Kevin | Turtle Investor (@turtle_investor) November 4, 2022

Job security is very crucial to me at the moment as the tech industry is facing layoffs and I think 2023 will prove to be tough as there will be more depending on how earnings are. Cost cutting is definitely going to be happening more frequently as interests rates remain high. We shall see how everything goes. This suddenly became a really long article. Goodbye and happy December!

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Singapore asset management increases 16% year on year | How it affects us as Singaporeans

In the earlier article that I wrote, I mentioned about the greatest wealth transfer incoming where baby boomers are set to pass to their children more than $68 trillion in assets. It might sound funny to the ordinary folks like me as I don’t think there is a huge amount of inheritance for me but for the high net worth individuals (HNWI), this is a huge thing and lots of planning has to be done prior.

Singapore has definitely seen a wave of HNWI and we can see that from the properties being bought, family offices being set up as well as just news that talk about how Singapore is a hub for the HNW to come to.

From this article ,”According to the 2021 Singapore Asset Management survey published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), total assets managed by Singapore-based asset managers grew 16% y-o-y to reach $5.4 trillion, up from $4.6 trillion in 2021.” This is a substantial increase especially so in times like these as it shows that the HNW individuals find Singapore an attractive place to place their wealth here.

Asset Management and the role of an asset manager

Asset management is the practice of increasing an individuals wealth over time by helping to invest and trade assets that appreciate over time. It can involve different instruments and products depending on the individual’s risk appetite and main goals for the funds provided. Asset managers help in the providing their services and some might be affiliated to certain financial institutions or work independently.

Singapore has also been very welcoming to HNWI, for example, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Economic Development Board (EDB) have set up a Family Office Development Team to lead and coordinate initiatives that will enhance Singapore’s position as Asia’s premier base for family offices.

With more HNWI making Singapore their base, we should also be paying attention to wealth disparity

It might seem a good thing that more HNWI are making Singapore their base with funds coming in showing that people are confident in Singapore’s future and we are Southeast Asia regional hub as more companies look to set up their HQ here. However, wealth disparity or inequality comes up as more HNWI enters Singapore, we can see that the HNWI purchases property units here, also as more of these HNWI come in, they would also want to bring in their networks or family which can be a plus point as there might be investments or job opportunities opening in Singapore.

Overall, from Blackbox Research, they have found that amongst Singaporeans, 4 in 5 (81%) are worried about the widening income gap. Youths (90%) and young working adults (86%) are more likely to feel anxious about the unequal distribution of income and 7 in 10 Singaporeans (69%) feel that income inequality in Singapore has worsened over the past 5 years, with more than 1 in 4 (27%) believing the income gap has gotten “much worse”.

It really is difficult to manage this situation as we see the government wanting to attract overseas talent and companies are very willing to offer them high compensation. Of course, we need the companies and talents to come to Singapore to bring jobs and also learn from them on the skillsets however inevitably, things will get more expensive as they can afford to pay more and things that are based on demand and supply, will increase if they are very much willing to pay.

What I can do?

I would say opportunities to grow your career are there but definitely it depends on which industry you are in and how willing are you to pivot or learn new skills depending on your age. Having HNWI coming over to Singapore might bring opportunities to the country but at the same time, widen the wealth gap. We have to work on improving our skills and capitalising on our jobs to increase our income.

Certain roles tend to earn more as they are the profit centers and the job role demands much more than others. Communication is very important and I believe your network can be a huge advantage in your career. Of course, we all have our own goals whether it is to earn more or have work life balance. No one knows how the world will be like 10, 20, 30 years from now. The skills needed might be different so living in the present is also important rather than thinking too much to the future. The world of the HNWI is unreachable in my lifetime at least as of now that I am planning based on my income so I will just live a happy life and hope the wealth inequality doesn’t widen too much.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022

Greatest wealth transfer incoming | Why talking about it might help

Even though the markets and economy has been horrible with much more bad news coming, I recently came across this interesting article which was about how the greatest wealth transfer is about to be happening where baby boomers are set to pass to their children more than $68 trillion in assets. This is really interesting as inheritance will prove to be a huge thing as baby boomers pass on and the wealth is passed down to the young.

The article talks about why the wealth transfer might not be as much as you think and why it is important to talk about it. Certain parts of my article might sound superficial but I do think it is good to be talking about finances and how you will be leaving your wealth to your children.

Summary of article

The baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964 have accumulated substantial wealth either through property or some even through stocks and maybe even pure savings. Properties and other assets were relatively more affordable when the baby boomers were young as compared to now and with the assets being passed down, the wealth transfer will be substantial.

Preparing for the wealth transfer

Although you might be thinking that the wealth transfer is positive and definitely beneficial to the children, I am sure majority would rather their parents to live a healthy and long life than have a huge inheritance but their parents pass on early. This is true and people do live longer nowadays due to better healthcare and more conscious eating habits and lifestyle so baby boomers will still require a certain amount of wealth over a long period of time to sustain themselves. Baby Boomers hence will have to ensure that their wealth is sufficient and that it can sustain them through old age.

Discussion on wealth

A few articles recently talk about having a conversation with your parents about their views of money and how they are managing or will manage it in case of anything that happens. I believe the government is also trying to make sure that family members are able to make decisions if their loved ones are ill and are unable to do so hence waiving the LPA application fees and allowing it to be accessible to many although the decisions might not just be financially.

For the wealthy, it might be difficult saying out how much is left and usually most of it are done by the professionals, eg they engage investment trust or set up family offices to manage their wealth or have lawyers to make sure their will is in place.

It is a shock to some if they were to suddenly receive a large amount of inheritance especially so if there was no prior talk and a low financial literacy can result in the money being depleted. So getting to have a conversation to prepare the individuals can allow them to know what is coming although it can be a danger at times if you were to reveal how much you are worth and what they will be getting when you leave the world.

Charitable Intent

I am sure many have heard of the rich saying that they will not be passing down their wealth to their children and instead it will be donated. With a sizeable amount of wealth accumulated, some will choose to donate their wealth and this is equally a huge decision. The main point of the article is that parents should try to communicate on the sum although I would say it depends on the relationship and also how huge the amount is as every family has very different circumstances and most of us do not even know when we will leave the Earth.

Managing a large sum of money

I would say that I do not anticipate any large sum of money as we have been telling our mum to spend her money and we know she wasn’t able to save up much that she would have an inheritance for us. However, many baby boomers do have at least 1 property and this might be passed down depending on where you are located eg. Singapore HDBs are on a 99-years lease so it might have to be returned and will not be passed down as an asset whereas some freehold or overseas property would be for life as long as you have paid up for it.

It is important to learn to manage any sum of money that comes in as it is after all the fruits of labour or careful planning. With this asset transfer set to happen, many financial companies would be placing lots of emphasis on focusing on how to assist the high net worth individuals in preserving or even to grow their wealth. We can see many family offices coming into Singapore recently and there have been an influx. I will be sharing more on my next post on the number of HNWI (high net worth individuals making Singapore as their base).

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Sunday, 20 November 2022

Reflections on why I started blogging and can it be a side hustle?

I started this blog in 2017 and started writing more often in 2018. I came across many inspirational bloggers like Investment Moats, Turtle Investor, My 15 Hour Work Week and many other more before I started. It was nice to see how they wrote about their thoughts and opinions, more importantly, they recorded their investments or progress using the blog.

It was nice reading about their journey, learning from them on investing and personal finance. When reading their updates, it felt like I was growing in terms of knowledge and information. So then, I decided to start my blog since I was going to start investing mainly to record and have a place to look back in 5, 10 and even 20 years as I record not just my investments but thoughts and reflections.

First post and cringe at reading it

My first post was released on Tuesday, 5 September 2017 on STI ETF where I started buying NikkoAM STI ETF using POSB invest saver. It’s very cringe as I read the short post, it had a lot of emotions in it as I can feel the excitement of me starting and seeing the price fluctuations. I was 22 years old then but I sounded like a 14 year old in terms of excitement like I just bought a new toy haha.

If I recalled accurately, I got my adsense account at the beginning of 2018 and in 2018, I wrote a total of 70 articles. 2019, I wrote 68 articles, 2020 was 85 and 94 in 2021. It was exciting writing in 2021 as the market was on an uptrend and everyday we were hitting higher highs. 2022 on the other hand, has been tough and not much motivation to write, we are nearly at the end of the year and I have written about 50 articles and I think it is unlikely for me to beat the record number of 94 but I am all right with that.

The blog is a place for me to collect my thoughts or mark certain special occasions or achievements. So there will definitely be good and bad years. Hoping to have the motivation to continue writing on the blog for me to look back.

Can it be a side hustle?

I believe blogging can be a side hustle as well as a full-time gig as long as you have substantial traffic or can live on the income that can come in different forms (eg, affiliates, ads earnings and others). However, I would say currently for me, blogging is definitely not able to sustain my lifestyle and it would still be more of a hobby for me than a side hustle.

There are some prominent financial bloggers in Singapore and I would say that the blogging can earn you money but in terms of the earnings based on ads, it is not very substantial but it can create a platform for affiliate earnings or to accept advertisements to share your thought depending if you are all right with the product. Turtle Investor does share his side income which is a broad categoery, not just blogging and everything can build up to a substantial amount.

To be honest, I would say that majority of the financial bloggers in Singapore do not create a blog thinking it will make them rich but more of wanting to share or have a platform to record their thoughts and journey.

I am definitely not at a level of knowledge where I can create courses to share but I am learning through my journey of investing and being able to have a platform to share is great as I find myself researching and reading up before organising my thoughts and writing it into an article.

The internet allows you to create content easily

A recent blogger that I am reading on is Financial Samurai as his career and journey is so out of the norm. Together with his many other investments, blogging on Financial Samurai forms one of his active/passive income. Content creation is very easily accessible now as everyone as long as they can afford a smartphone, can download social media apps and start creating content. TikTok has got to be the fastest and easiest way now with short form video content that everyone can scroll and access.

I am sure you would know that I have a YouTube channel too which I basically repeat the content I write but I read it out and use stock videos and footages. However, it is pretty tedious to edit and create a video as it needs to be recorded and edited so ultimately I still prefer writing as I can pen my thoughts and edit it just by reading through.

I do earn a very minute amount from the ads I post on my blogs and it does serve as some form of motivation but much more is to see the progress and mistakes made along my journey. Happy and grateful to have an avenue for recording all these!

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Friday, 11 November 2022

FTX | My exposure and thoughts

*Many information regarding this event has not been verified and most of the information are known through twitter. SBF has not officially explained the whole situation although he mentioned that he screwed up and that Alamada will be winding up. So forgive me if information is wrong, do let me know and I will correct it accordingly.

It’s been a crazy year for cryptocurrency, I don’t even know how Bitcoin is still 5 digits and ETH is 4 digits currently. I think there will be a lot more volatility as more dominos effect come as we see how big the effects of the downfall of FTX and Alameda is. It is really difficult to tell the whole story as there are many factors and versions but I am sure many have shared what really happened so for example Chain Debrief and Seedly.

What now?

SBF did explained on leaked messages that he is trying to raise some money however we don’t what is really going to happen now going forward. The dominos effect is huge as everyone wonders where all the money is at? FTX is huge being the 2nd/3rd largest exchange in the world for cryptocurrency. FTX going down means that customer deposits are gone and even investors money where Temasek is also in as well as Tom Brady. But the collapse of Alameda is also frightening as the exposure is not fully visible. So far, BlockFi seems affected and VC firm, Sequoia Capital is marking FTX investments as 0. Alameda is a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm SBF founded and it has been speculated that FTX transferred customer’s deposits to Alameda for them to trade. There are really not much evidence coming out right now as no information have been mentioned by SBF although he had an apology twitter thread that he screwed up.

Lost some funds but managed to transfer out majority

From the LUNA crash, 3AC and Hodlnaut experience, I had transferred about 80% of my BTC and ETH to my cold wallet as trust is becoming tough in crypto. For my exposure to FTX, I lost an amount of Solana staked on FTX and about $50 USD. When twitter first speculated or had some tweets about CZ wanting to sell FTT, on 7 November 2022, I quickly transferred my remaining ETH and BTC out of FTX into my cold wallet. No way was I gonna risk it, although I did not think that FTX would collapse or be unable to adhere the 1:1 withdrawals, after all, SBF/FTX baited out many companies that suffered from the LUNA and 3AC implications and all along we have been reading on how he had billions of dollars. So definitely, FTX would not collapse so easily right? Well, it only just took a day for all to crumble as customers start withdrawing out and they were unable to match the withdrawals.

It is definitely painful when you hear of people who had substantial amount in FTX and are now unable to withdraw. It’s like they survive the majority of 2022 just to be crushed by FTX which is no foreign name to those in crypto. FTX was thought to be “too big to fail” in a way before this happened. Was it greed that caused this? I mean he was already loaded and there are just so many things that needs to be explained, lots of why. I did watch the Bankless podcast that SBF did with Erik Voorhee before this whole thing happened, it was a fierce discussion regarding regulation and I had to side more with Erik Voorhee especially so when we saw the tweets SBF made after the podcast. But things escalated and well, here we are.

Getting out of crypto?

2022 has been a mind-blowing year for cryptocurrency and the world. I really feel like I aged many years in terms of experiencing the ups and downs of cryptocurrency just in 2022. I did consider taking a break from crypto after the LUNA crash but to be honest, it’s tough when you see the builders and innovations. Especially when we saw the Ethereum merge that happened in August.

It took a long time for the merge and it finally happened. Amazing effort by everyone involved. Even now, it dampens your mood when someone who was supposed to be an advocate or had achieve substantial power and wealth from cryptocurrency suddenly does something weird and sabotages other retail investors. You would question on whether is it worth staying on.

I would say scrolling though twitter and catching up on crypto news has become a daily routine and quitting this will make my life less interesting? But for now, I prefer the boring investments, VOO, QQQ, BTC and ETH. That’s all and I won’t be chasing after any crazy gains. Switching onto Gemini to execute my buys. Hope everyone is doing well and let’s get over this, Christmas is coming right up!

Sunday, 6 November 2022

Sit tight as we prepare for a period of hiring freezes and layoffs

With Elon Musk buying over twitter and announcing sweeping changes including layoffs affecting about 50% of it’s employees to reduce cost and turn profitable, the nightmare has just began for the tech industry as Stripe and many other tech companies are either preparing for hiring freezes going into 2023 or planning layoffs including Big Tech.

It’s crazy how the interest rate hikes and earnings results have brought such a huge blow to the tech industry, from the huge waves of record earnings in 2020 and 2021 to the incredible hiring packages offered to tech hires, it’s crazy how things are changing for the worse just within the span of less than 1 year.

Although I recently wrote an article on my pay raise, my manager just also brought up that there will be some reviews going on and is also unsure if anyone will be affected by it. I guess we can only wait and see how it goes. Companies are trying to cut costs and be able to survive through this period, letting go of employees is really painful especially so for employees as they face the uncertainty ahead of having a smaller available job pool and companies that have implemented hiring freezes or certain budgets for job positions due to the economy situation. Couple that with bills and mortgage including inflation, it is so much stress for an individual if they were to be laid off.

Don’t overload yourself with a crazy mortgage

There are definitely some things to prepare which is having an emergency fund, reducing your expenses and even updating your resume to be prepared for job search if needed. I saw this tweet from Turtle Investor on that you should not over commit in terms of your property. This is definitely in terms of long term cash flow purposes to also help with retirement. Of course, some might say property that is bought at a good location or have various benefits means you will be able to sell it higher than your buying price but it really depends. We have seen many million dollars HDB sales and crazy renovation being done, I understand that working from home has raised everyone’s expectations of how their home should be as we spend much more time at home however over committing yourself doesn’t just affect you if you are laid off due to the larger mortgage but it drains your retirement amount especially so if you are using your CPF to pay your mortgage. The tweet and article link really explains why keeping your housing loan low helps your retirement planning.

Keeping/having a job is crucial and having cash flow in tough times helps

Of course, being able to keep or hold a job during the current tough times is not entirely up to us as we definitely would want to be employed but try to make sure that your role is crucial to the company or take on some projects that would need you so that you are considered "worthy" and you have a higher chance of staying on. Otherwise looking out for opportunities is also good.

It’s sound awful, having to scramble, talk and show your worth during tough times as the individuals who are thought to be doing or holding lesser job responsibilities will be let go or even at times, random. But that is life and I think being a business owner in current times is also very tough.

I was still studying during the 2008/2009 financial crisis so I wasn’t yet in the workforce but the many stories of people getting laid off as well as having trouble applying for their next job were painful to read. Many families went through financial difficulties and tough times when the sole breadwinner lost their job which means having to survive on leaner expenses and they had to downsize.

My family was lucky as my mum was still employed during that period so things were not as grim as what was shown and I only realised how lucky we were when I grew up and saw how bad some families were at that time as parents lost their jobs and some were unable to get back a similar paying job to pay bills and mortgage so they lost their homes. Being employed during this period would be a huge blessing and benefit as you would have cash flow to pay the bills and not stress about how you need to quickly find a job to sustain the commitments. Many would have an emergency fund in Singapore but we would of course tend to worry once we are laid off.

This will pass but we just don’t know when

A lot of things are definitely not within our control, I wrote that you should try to keep your job by showing that what you are doing is essential to the company/that you are an asset. Even so, you might still get the boot and most likely it is of no fault of yours especially when the company is cutting costs and it just so happens that your position was one of it.

If it ever happens to me, I would feel affected but I would try not to be too affected for an extended period of time as more opportunities are definitely out there. To end it off, I believe that this tough period will pass although we do not know when the end is, what we can do is to live life and do our best so that when it all ends, we can look back and think about how amazing we were to have survive through this. All the best to everyone!

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Sunday, 30 October 2022

Getting a pay raise | Sharing my pay raise experience

I haven’t had a proper pay raise process (eg performance review etc) before as I was always a contract staff since I started work in 2018. It was only last year Dec when I was officially converted into a permanent staff after entering a new job for about 9 months. This job has been amazing so far although I feel like I low-balled myself when I started as I had to reveal my previous salary and did not ask for a huge increment to match whatever I feel is the market rate. In hindsight, lots of regret but I believe in time to come, I can still ask for pay raises although it might be tough.

First job as a contract employee and getting my second job

Previously, being a contract staff, renewals of the new contract period doesn’t guarantee a pay raise and it definitely was a little difficult to negotiate as it was an entry-level role and budget was already set aside for it. Of course, being my first job which I worked at for about 3 years meant that I had really low increments over the 3 years and it was to be honest tough, having to worry if I will be extended every time my contract ends.

After about 3 years, which was great as I learned so much and people at my previous company was amazing. I made some of the best connections there as I entered as a fresh graduate and connected with so many different people there. I decided to leave as I wanted somewhere that could pay me more and we know that nowadays loyalty doesn’t guarantee it. Armed with my knowledge and skills, I went through numerous interviews and it was difficult handling rejections especially when it got frequent.

However I managed to find a similar position in a tech company (not the huge tech company with great snacks and pantries that I can post TikToks of) although still a contract role, the manager did assure me that they were expanding and if I performed well, converting to a perm role would be no issue. I took it as I just felt that it was a chance considering that I did fail many interviews before that. I didn’t really negotiate for a good pay as I felt ‘paiseh’ then which I regret right now.

To make me feel better, when I switched, I had about a 14% increment and then another 14% when I was converted which was within the same year. I do feel that I am still slightly underpaid compared to my fellow colleagues as my starting pay was pretty low and increments were very small in amount during my first 3 years.

Just most recently, I had a 11% increment, I would say this is a unique amount of increment as there is more workload coming my way and so my manager did also say compared to the normal increment, this is a one-time higher increment provided. I am happy with the amount as more is always better but grateful for the increment. Greed is there and I will always feel that I can or should get more when comparing but just happy to get an increment and still hold a job at this time.

Trouble with getting an out of the usual increment

My manager did mention that normally a lower increment is given so this was an acknowledgement of my work so far and of course, more work to come. I am very appreciative of this double digit percentage increment but having an out of usual increment does make me wonder if I am underpaid compared to my peers.

It’s crazy how the mind works as I just keep wanting more. No matter what I am grateful to have an increment and in spite how the market and world is, I am still having a job which is of utmost importance at the moment. There is a lot to learn in terms of furthering your career or how communications with your superior should go. There is a lot of learning up ahead for me and definitely hoping to be able to put myself out there to learn and connect with others.

We shall see how things go and I do find the need to be learning and doing more as I don’t see myself at the current role in my 30s and 40s. Hoping to be able to go into a managerial role or some thing more communicative where the skills will not be taken over by a robot or be automated in the future. In the meantime, investing as much as I can and saving while enjoying life in Singapore where I have taken so many things for granted. Year end is here soon so how are your increments and bonuses looking?

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Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Millennials want to leave their job by age 50 | You will have to save at least 50% of your income

I saw this article published in Straits Times mentioning that many millennials wants to retire in their 50s or as you always hear, to FIRE in their 50s, not get fired. In the article, a certified financial advisor evaluated the goals of the millennials and said it is tough as they will need to save around 50% to 60% of their salary which is rather difficult in times of rising costs.

The article highlights that millennials will need to tighten their belts in order to reach their financial goals, giving up vacations or restaurants visits as saving 50% to 60% of their salary is a big feat. These are the aspirations and expectations to be able to retire by 50 but in reality, a retirement consultant and financial well-being leader points out that it is impossible for most millennials as they found that 36% save less than 5% of their salary and 26% have taken a loan against their state pension fund.

Another insights survey done in 2022 by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America showed that a huge proportion of millennials are confident in their ability to plan for retirement with 31% of individuals aged 30 to 39 suggesting they have an above-average level of confidence in their ability to plan for retirement. Young millennials, those 25 to 29, are the most assured: 40 per cent said they had an above-average level of confidence in their ability to plan. But the experts say that their savings rate don’t match up😟

Will I be able to retire by 50?

I don’t plan to retiring early but I am aiming to be financially free by a certain age. I am within the age range of 25 to 30 and have to admit that I am so far confident in my ability to plan for retirement. Retiring at 50 years old is definitely not easy I would say, in that it is just about 20 plus years away for me and definitely commitments would build up during this 20 plus years.

However I would say that I feel confident because currently I do not have much commitments and am saving/investing a portion of my salary although not 50%. If I were to have a mortgage or more commitments in future coupled with the lower stability of having a job as I grow older, I would be less confident about my retirement and whether I can take it easy when I am older.

Thinking about the future can bring anxiety as it is uncertain and there are so many possibilities. I do have a goal in mind but I know it will take time and effort, definitely requires luck as well.

Mindset shift for Millennials and Gen Z

For our parents, early retirement was never seen to be an option as work helped provided for their family and they would like to work for as long as possible, even for some, financially free was not even thought of as they were living pay-check to pay-check to provide for their kids and to pay the bills. They worked tirelessly mostly till their 60s or until they are no longer able to.

Millennials and Gen Z are not looking at that, most of us are lucky enough to have sufficient allowances from our parents when we were studying and after working, we are earning salaries that allow us to save and invest which is a huge privilege in today’s world. Even more so if your parents managed to save or build up a retirement nest that means you do not need to be their retirement plan.

But even so, with high costs of living and great uncertainty for the future, it is tough to have kids and at the same time get a property and be able to FIRE at 50 unless your income is higher than average and you manage your finances well. Millennials and Gen Z are placing more emphasis on their mental well-being with many forgoing children or even getting attached so we don’t really know how the future will be but it is good to have goals and aim to achieve them.

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Pages

Monday, 26 December 2022

Answers generated from ChatGPT

Getting ChatGPT to help draft an email

What’s good for a Christmas dinner?

Thoughts on using ChatGPT

Sunday, 18 December 2022

Stocks Portfolio

Crypto Portfolio

Syfe REIT +

Allocation of some cash/emergency funds

Concluding thoughts

Sunday, 11 December 2022

Making sure you have an emergency funds or best, extra cash for buying the dips

Consistently entering the market and not timing it

Be able to have cash-flow or be employed during this volatile time

Staying invested, keep to your budget and plans unless things have changed

Keep yourself emotionally stable

Sunday, 4 December 2022

Survey results

Overall thoughts

Wednesday, 30 November 2022

Asset Management and the role of an asset manager

With more HNWI making Singapore their base, we should also be paying attention to wealth disparity

What I can do?

Sunday, 27 November 2022

Summary of article

Preparing for the wealth transfer

Discussion on wealth

Charitable Intent

Managing a large sum of money

Sunday, 20 November 2022

First post and cringe at reading it

Can it be a side hustle?

The internet allows you to create content easily

Friday, 11 November 2022

What now?

Lost some funds but managed to transfer out majority

Getting out of crypto?

Sunday, 6 November 2022

Don’t overload yourself with a crazy mortgage

Keeping/having a job is crucial and having cash flow in tough times helps

This will pass but we just don’t know when

Sunday, 30 October 2022

First job as a contract employee and getting my second job

Trouble with getting an out of the usual increment

Wednesday, 26 October 2022

Will I be able to retire by 50?

Mindset shift for Millennials and Gen Z