Saturday, 25 June 2022

The only positive thing.........is my ART | Experience getting Covid

As I am writing this, my throat is sore and swallowing my saliva hurts so badly. So yes, I have jumped on the bandwagon and caught Covid. I never really thought I would catch it considering it being some time since the huge outbreaks, going overseas to the US where I barely wore masks and also having exposure to some who caught it. I thought I just wouldn’t get it but I was wrong.

I think I got it over the weekend when I went out to eat as I currently still work from home so my largest exposure should be through eating outside but it could be from anyone. So far, in my family, I am the only one who tested positive and am isolating in the room and doing ART daily.

Symptoms

I guess I felt very tired and had a super scratchy throat on the first day when my symptoms presented themselves, when I woke up, I had a fever, sore throat with phlegm and muscle aches as well as a headache. I went to the clinic as I thought it might be dengue? considering the uptick of cases in my neighbourhood.

The doctor did an ART and it came out negative, so I thought it might be dengue but the doctor told me to isolate and just test myself again the next day. On the next day, waking up with a bad sore throat, I did an ART and a faint line appeared together with the other control line. OMG, I got Covid, it is a shock to me as I really thought I was immune to it after so many months but I guess the virus won.

Different from other illness

I think I can understand why this pandemic was felt so differently. From when I was young, every time I was sick or not feeling well, my mum was always around to make sure that I am feeling ok, the occasional checking ang touch of he forehead to ensure no fever.

However, getting covid meant having to be isolated and eating alone, sleeping alone and really just doing our own things as my mum had to make sure she is well and not infected by me. I think it’s definitely different from when getting it at the beginning of this pandemic, even visiting the doctor and getting the medication, the feeling is a lot different.

I would think that for those who got it earlier on had stricter rules and also needed to make sure that they are very much isolated (eg, quarantine in a hotel or hospital) due to not having vaccination. Below are now the updated rules:

Anyhow, I will just be working from home and making sure that I test negative before going out and feeling better is my priority. It really is becoming endemic but a lot of extra expenses, medicines for the symptoms like fever, sore throat, cough and even having to buy the ART kits for routine testing. All these does add up but ultimately, this has made me realised that HEALTH IS WEALTH!

3 comments:

Monday, 20 June 2022

Why the idea of Bitcoin is revolutionary | Importance of Self-Custody

*This is not financial advice and in no way am I advocating for Bitcoin but I am presenting the information I have found online on why Bitcoin appeals to certain audience and why it is getting increasingly popular or important depending on where you are to have self-custody.

Bitcoin has really been on everyone’s topic of interest, even my mum has been talking about it. Mainly talking about how the price fluctuates so crazily over a short period of time and why I didn’t sell it when it reached $60,000 haha.

 Bitcoin has seen fluctuations in it’s prices and I would most definitely consider it as a volatile asset however to some individuals, Bitcoin remains the best form of asset for them to hold and let’s explore why it is further today.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was created by the anonymous Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 after the financial crisis when he realised that a decentralised currency was needed to bring the power from the government and banks to the people as it is their own assets and placing in with the banks would explore them to many risks that they might not be aware of. This was because the banks technically caused the financial crisis but was not made to compensate the many individuals who lost money as they invested in products marketed as being “safe” but in the end was much more risky.

Other recent examples involved governments preventing protest by denying access to people to their deposits to ensure that they follow what the government hopes for. Also, there are news on how people are unable to withdraw their money in the Bank and no proper explanation is given.

Financial institutions have been the trusted third party to verify transactions and is a huge power as they can take fees in the process and also set rules on how long these transactions will take or whether they would require more information before allowing the transaction to proceed.

Using Bitcoin is different as

Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network. Bitcoin is open-source; its design is public, nobody owns or controls Bitcoin and everyone can take part. - Taken from https://bitcoin.org/en/

Read more: Bitcoin Whitepaper

Becoming Bankless / Is Self-custody the way to go?

Cryptocurrencies became popular as people were making millions from it and besides that, there was a narrative that you owned your tokens and everything was under your custody if you used a hardware wallet (Ledger or Trezor) unless you place it into a centralised entity (eg, lending platforms or exchanges) which would mean “Not your keys, not your coins”. It brought the power back to individuals especially to those who were in countries that does not have access to a banking system or depreciating currency. I would say that the Singapore currency is relatively strong and stable and we do have very good financial infrastructure to store our money and assets. Even regulation is pretty stringent here and we have protection for our deposits. So for us, we do not feel so much towards self-custody of our own assets as we have proper infrastructure for storage.

But for those with no access to banks or have a depreciating currency, Bitcoin provides a great proposition as it can be store digitally on the blockchain and with digital wallets as well as hardware wallets available, you can access your funds from anywhere as long as you have internet. Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are very volatile assets, I am sure we are all aware especially so recently, due to the wave of liquidations which saw cryptocurrencies fall in prices. However, for those earning depreciating fiat currencies, Bitcoin is still a very attractive asset to buy as it is border-less where anyone from the world would be able to receive Bitcoin directly, no money changer or exchange rate required and with a faster speed of receiving it compared to using a international wire transfer which can take a few days.

But for the individuals with depreciating fiat currency, the most attractive point is that people will still want to buy Bitcoin compared to their depreciating fiat currency which most likely can only be used in their country. This alone is already a huge factor as there can be assurance that there will be a buyer for Bitcoin (although we cannot predict the future but right now, there are still buyers) and it forms as a part of their savings although it’s value can still drop rapidly but holding fiat for them presents worse issues in terms of depreciating.

Recent events highlighting the need for self-custody

Due to Celsius announcing that they were pausing withdrawals and transfer on the assets that people have deposited with them, many on twitter were advocating for everyone to withdraw from lending platforms and small exchanges especially so after learning of 3AC’s troubles as many were involved in providing liquidity to 3AC with no collateral as 3AC was too big to fail. So all came crashing down when news of 3AC being insolvent which are just from tweets I have read. No statements have been released as of now from 3AC so we can hope for the best but prepare for the worse.

I did have some assets with Celsius but I withdrew them quite earlier on as I didn’t quite like the interface and mainly on that you needed to wait 24 hours after giving your withdrawal address before you are able to withdraw your assets. After which, seeing the news, I have since moved most of my cryptocurrencies though not much to the blockchain using my hardware wallet (Ledger Nano S, if you like to get one, you can use my affiliate link). I also left a small amount on FTX app just for some yield and easy access.

The domino’s effect that is shaking up the crypto industry is once again highlighting the fact that self-custody is very important of course, on the flip side, you have to keep your seed phrase safe and not be scammed as well but those are usually mistakes of your own. So far, the customer’s funds in Celsius still cannot be withdrawn and I would imagine that once they allow it, there will be a rush of withdrawals as once bitten, twice shy. No one would want their funds to have withheld again even if assurance is given.

We are in an interesting and volatile period, the best protection is to educate yourself and be up-to-date, I think hardware wallets would be a must have among investors as they understand the importance of self-custody. It is a great time to learn more and I think you can see that from the pace and rate that I am releasing articles, I have been reading up lots and learning. However, youtube videos are really tedious, I salute all the youtubers, it is not easy but I would say I have found inspiration for many topics by exposing myself to more content and experiences. Enjoying it so far as long as I am not looking at my portfolio, ouch. Hope you guys stay safe and HODL on the ride!

You can also find me on

► How I Protect My Bitcoin using Ledger: Get your ledger from HERE (Using my affiliate link with FRIEND-7ZB4V7C will help me where Ledger will pay a small incentive that's not from you but from them)
► How I earn interest on my Cryptocurrency (Hodlnaut): https://app.hodlnaut.com/signup?r=_JF037Nb0 Get USD30 equivalent for your initial deposit of at least USD1000 on any of the supported asset by using my referral link
► Where I Buy my Cryptocurrencies:
►FTX: https://ftx.com/#a=41877278
►FTX app: Use my referral code and get a free coin when you trade $10 worth. https://link.blockfolio.com/9dzp/u4qfrox2 
►Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/evwynu4g57 or code: evwynu4g57 to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD :)
► Where I buy my stocks
FSMone Referral: P0364886
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Friday, 17 June 2022

Wealth Disparity | Reflections on my US trip

*Before I start, I would like to clarify that I was a tourist and hence views expressed are subjective and are not necessarily accurate. This post is more of a reflection and summary of my experiences for my trip.

I was in the US for about 17 days and was mostly in New York for majority of the time but I also traveled to Washington DC, Boston, New Haven and Philadelphia. Arriving and ending the trip in New York brought a lot of new experiences especially after the pandemic and visiting what everyone knows is the city that the world focuses their attention on. From Wall Street to the different movie scenes there, it is like the epicenter of the world but I also saw a lot of wealth disparity there.

There was a huge number of homeless people that I saw on the streets and some were mentally ill as their behaviour was different from the bustling city we were in. Arriving in New York and exploring the tourist areas like Times Square did feel like a scene out of a movie as the familiar taxis, views and building appear. However, it was a lot more chaotic in real life as sirens blasted through the air and people rushing to make their way to their destination.

Seeing the homeless and how they are treated

The homeless can be seen along the streets and many of them do carry many things along with them for survival and most of them would hold a cardboard up that explains their situation to ask for some donations. It was disheartening to see them especially when they are in pretty substantial numbers and along the streets. New York also legalised weed and many other cities in the US legalise it so the smell of weed permeates through the streets.

Read more: money no enough | inflation woes & is investing the way to beat inflation?

After not travelling out of Singapore for some time, I realised how lucky and fortunate we are in Singapore. If we are homeless or require help, there are many organisations in Singapore that you can approach for help or rather, there are a number of social organisations available. But in the US, especially during the pandemic, many became homeless and it is very difficult for them to bounce back with little help from the government and society.

Many people of course go about their daily lives without paying much attention to them especially so in New York where time is of the essence for many. It seems as a culture shock to me as I don’t see this in SG and was not expecting New York to be like that.

Wealth disparity with higher cost of living in US

I think the wealth disparity is very obvious there as we see areas with expensive properties and nicer neighborhoods compared to areas with public housing that are deemed as more dangerous neighbourhoods. I do also understand that in Asia communities, we tend to be shy and find it more difficult to ask for help hence explaining why we don’t see much homelessness until it’s really necessary.

In Singapore, anyone walking along the streets could be a millionaire, the hawker who is comfortable in his singlet and slippers or that lady who is walking down Orchard Road wearing a few brand names. We don’t naturally flaunt wealth and a rich person in Singapore can be staying in a HDB and not necessarily in Bukit Timah. In the US, certain neighbourhoods are labelled as the richer areas and certain areas to be more “dangerous”. When my brother travelled to San Francisco, he accidentally walked along the border of “Tenderloin” known for the highest levels of homelessness and crime in the city. Do note that this area is in downtown San Francisco where the Big Tech companies are all just nearby. He saw many people who were addicted to drugs and behaved really differently as they were high. It was something that he has never seen before and wasn't what he expected.

During the pandemic, many jobs were cut and many people who were living paycheck to paycheck became homeless, a huge proportion of Americans live paycheck to paycheck as rents and living expenses are really high especially in city areas. A recent article highlighted that 1 in 3 Americans earning $250,000 and more are living paycheck to paycheck and that’s crazy in my opinion as $250,000 annually is a huge amount. Even the top earners are unable to control their spending means the lower end really has it worse.

Conclusion

Overall, the American dream has really changed and survival seems to be of importance to the general masses. Of course, there are opportunities in America compared to a lot more other countries but the situation of increased homelessness and crime are affecting the cities as there have been an uptick of numbers. Overall, it was nice to visit another countries after awhile and the different experiences are what makes travelling so exciting! Stay safe and well.

You can also find me on

► How I Protect My Bitcoin using Ledger: Get your ledger from HERE (Using my affiliate link with FRIEND-7ZB4V7C will help me where Ledger will pay a small incentive that's not from you but from them)
► How I earn interest on my Crypto (Hodlnaut): https://app.hodlnaut.com/signup?r=_JF037Nb0 Get USD30 equivalent for your initial deposit of at least USD1000 on any of the supported asset by using my referral link
► Where I Buy my Cryptocurrencies:
►FTX: https://ftx.com/#a=41877278
►Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/evwynu4g57 or code: evwynu4g57 to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD :)
► Where I buy my stocks
FSMone Referral: P0364886
Tiger Brokers (Free stock and commission free trades, check out more here
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► Google Pay: v89ph61
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Monday, 13 June 2022

Time to load up now or to build a substantial war chest to wait for the deepest dip?

*I like to emphasize that I am not a financial advisor nor am I able to provide you with advise as I am not trained and all of the information here and on my blog are opinions of my own which I record and document my learning journey.

As I am writing this up, Ethereum has previously dropped to a low of about USD1200 and Bitcoin was almost touching USD22,000. Crazy crazy! I like Ethereum and Bitcoin and Ethereum especially as it has been used as a currency of exchange for NFTs and DeFi. Bitcoin is definitely the OG and being a store of value with it being limited in supply is a really good hold in my opinion. Ethereum has a clear roadmap on how it will be pan out in the future moving towards PoS although it has been experiencing delays, anyway from my Q2 Portfolio update (early update as I made a mistake in the dates), you would know that I am DCA-ing into QQQ, BTC and ETH. When then is the best time to go in with the available funds?

Is now the best time to enter?

I am no guru and on twitter, there are definitely many different opinions on whether it is the best time to buy now. Some say that the bottom is in although we can see that there will be much pain coming ahead, others say that they are expecting a more massive crash coming and to hold on to buying in first. Remember that no one can predict the market and so choose whatever strategy works best for you, in bear markets, survival is most important meaning to be able to hold on to your current convictions and not having to liquidate it for daily use or payments. So being able to add on positions will be a bonus as I do see a number of layoffs and I am pretty worried as well for my job security at the moment.

For me, I am DCA-ing a low 3 digit into Ethereum and into Bitcoin monthly, the amount fluctuates and is not fixed as I adjust it accordingly. But I maintain my DCA positions meaning to buy in monthly no matter what unless I find myself wanting to build up cash or if my job appears shaky. I have tried timing the market before and I have to admit that I caught the bottom ZERO times, haha, the market always rebounds faster than I thought of course this is considering my short investing journey where I haven’t been through a long bear market.

So timing the market is out for me as I do want to be off the screen during this period and not to be checking prices ever so often. It does make me feel a little lousy seeing prices drop although I believe in the things that I invest in but the macro environment proves to be tough and is affecting both the stock and crypto market where crypto is generally seen as more risky.

Current Market Situation and Sentiments

I am sure everyone is aware of the current macro environment, from the Russia-Ukraine war that is creating a commodity and energy crisis. Europe is really experiencing the pain of the energy crisis as they previously was advocating for reduction of carbon emissions hence they import their energy and mainly from Russia but due to the war, Russia has raised prices and Europe is very dependent on it. Russia is also the world’s largest exporter of wheat.

On the other hand, Ukraine exports grains which accounts for about 1/5 of its exports and there are many uses for the grains grown where it is intended for animals, alcohol, fuel, or other uses. Besides having grains being stuck due to the war, the harvest and planting of the grains are unable to proceed due to the war for example, the largest harvest of wheat for Ukraine in July was planted in Feb and Mar. Of course, there are new sources like India however it is whether they will be able to match the demand considering that they could experience a drought similar to what they experienced in 2021. We also know that sunflower oil is exported by Ukraine hence there was a period where hawkers had to raise prices as cooking oil was increasing in prices.

There is not much transparency on how the supplies are distributed and many countries are also trying to control the prices of commodities by implementing some sort of ban which can disrupt the supplies especially to countries like Singapore which imports many of it’s items.

On the side of crypto, Celsius has recently announced that they have stopped transfers, swaps and withdrawals which sounds crazy although there were already warning signs before but as a lending platform and a huge one, no one expected them to stop withdrawals. It was slowly revealed that as prices drop, liquidations happen and you would require extra capital to prevent those liquidations.



Maybe we should be more concerned about our survival rather than the stock market?

The most important thing right now is to make sure you have sufficient funds to tide you through if you were to lose your job or not needing to liquidate your positions to fund payments. I saw this tweet online where the author mentioned that he was excited for the housing market to crash by 50% and more so that it will be more affordable but the following replies to the tweet talked about how he should be worrying that he should still be holding onto a job and to ensure he will have capital to buy a property as a 50% fall in property prices is devastating and would cause a lot of downstream impacts.

Things do sound really bad, both on mainstream media as well as on twitter (although twitter do have some quality jokes accompanied with it). I think for the months to come or at least for the rest of 2022 and 2023, survival should be the number 1 concern meaning to ensure you are employed and have a job to pay the bills or to make sure you have that cash buffer. All others can then be slowly DCA into the market as I do think this would be a long-stretched recovery as there are really too many negative macro factors and controls in place for time to come.

Here’s wishing that everyone stay safe and take the time to have a short break or to build up your knowledge. For me, I will be reading a lot more physical books to increase my knowledge as I haven’t really been reading books but mostly digital short content. Do know that the recovery will come and if you do need someone to talk to about your situation, don’t hesitate to get help. Thanks for staying till the end!

You can also find me on

► How I Protect My Bitcoin using Ledger: Get your ledger from HERE (Using my affiliate link with FRIEND-7ZB4V7C will help me where Ledger will pay a small incentive that's not from you but from them)
► How I earn interest on my Crypto (Hodlnaut): https://app.hodlnaut.com/signup?r=_JF037Nb0 Get USD30 equivalent for your initial deposit of at least USD1000 on any of the supported asset by using my referral link
► Where I Buy my Cryptocurrencies:
►FTX: https://ftx.com/#a=41877278
►Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/evwynu4g57 or code: evwynu4g57 to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD :)
► Where I buy my stocks
FSMone Referral: P0364886
Tiger Brokers (Free stock and commission free trades, check out more here
Interactive Brokers (Open an account today and start earning up to $1000 of IBKR Stock for free!*Terms and Conditions apply)
► Google Pay: v89ph61
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Sunday, 12 June 2022

Q2 Portfolio Review | Step back from my goals

Very early post as I got the dates mixed up! I came back from an overseas trip and am still struggling to get over the jetlag which is really killing my sleep cycle and I accidentally created this post and published it so.......no choice. Let’s just dive into the review.

It’s only been 3 weeks since the LUNA/UST crash and wow, it feels like it’s happened really long ago though. Crypto moves fast and having to deal with the LUNA/UST crash.

Read more: I got liquidated and lost my whole LUNA position | Anchor Borrow

Stocks Portfolio

Let’s talk about my stock portfolio first, it is still all right, not as much loss as crypto and most of the losses are from Tesla as it is my largest holding and has experienced a significant drop. I am currently focusing on getting QQQ now. Yes, after what happened to LUNA & UST, I feel safer with diversification and to be honest, this has also influenced me in my stocks purchases. So back to the index funds and DCA. Ending Q2 at about $40,000.

Crypto Portfolio

Painful to even talk about this because my crypto value fell more than 50%, although I did mentioned that I lost about 4000 USD in the LUNA/UST crash, I considered that my capital but before that, in my previous portfolio updates, I included my unrealised profits as well when I was calculating my portfolio. My entry price into LUNA was also pretty low, not as low as others but I was profiting by quite a bit although it doesn’t really matter now. So technically I lost much more than 4000 USD especially since LUNA was almost $100 in the beginning of Q1 of 2022. BTC and ETH have also seen significant falls since Q1. CRO, SOL and Chainlink which I have small positions of have also fell drastically. I sold and clean up my crypto portfolio even though things are down down down, I just wanted to clean it up and also focus on stacking BTC and ETH. So boring DCA action resume for both BTC and ETH. Ending Q2 at about $18,000. A very huge drastic drop compared to Q1. I might have also miscalculated or underestimated my exposure to LUNA/UST but anyway what’s done is done, I will just look ahead.

Overall Portfolio

I think overall, the portfolio has taken a hit from stocks to crypto and even my stablecoin position ahem UST.....I thought entering 2022, I might be able to hit $100,000 by the end of the year but boy oh boy, my portfolio got hammered instead.

 I am definitely more in a defensive position now, adding only to core positions, QQQ for stocks as I believe big tech will still continue their dominance and tech in general while for crypto, BTC and ETH are the two I am building positions in. I am a buy and hold investor although it seems like I haven’t been rewarded yet for holding.

The first half of 2022 has definitely taught me lots, that taking profit is good and allows you to at least secure some profits. Otherwise, I have to be ready to ride the volatility and see the unrealised profits decrease. I do believe in holding quality index funds for the long term but it is nice if I had sold around the top in 2021 but of course, this is all in hindsight.

Cash position is really low at the moment as I just had an overseas trip and spent significant amounts there. Inflation is really affecting the world. For Q2 2022, not much updates except the drop in portfolio value, still building up my positions and hoping to just see the world in a better position at the end of 2022. The rising costs and supply issues are worrying. The recent fresh chicken shortage has really create some anxiety as Singapore is very much reliant on imports for our food so even if it is diversified, what if the world experiences the same shortages and cuts their supply together, it does spell some trouble for us. Thanks for staying till the end, see you guys in the next portfolio update in Q3!

You can also find me on

► How I Protect My Bitcoin using Ledger: Get your ledger from HERE (Using my affiliate link with FRIEND-7ZB4V7C will help me where Ledger will pay a small incentive that's not from you but from them)
► How I earn interest on my Crypto (Hodlnaut): https://app.hodlnaut.com/signup?r=_JF037Nb0 Get USD30 equivalent for your initial deposit of at least USD1000 on any of the supported asset by using my referral link
►Join Celsius Network using my referral code 1169038ddc when signing up and earn $50 in BTC with your first transfer of $400 or more! https://celsiusnetwork.app.link/1169038ddc
► Where I Buy my Cryptocurrencies: Gemini (Receive $10 of bitcoin after you buy or sell $100 after signing up using https://www.gemini.com/share/558gylyhg)
►FTX: https://ftx.com/#a=41877278
►Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/evwynu4g57 or code: evwynu4g57 to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD :)
► Where I buy my stocks
FSMone Referral: P0364886
Tiger Brokers (Free stock and commission free trades, check out more here
Interactive Brokers (Open an account today and start earning up to $1000 of IBKR Stock for free!*Terms and Conditions apply)
► Google Pay: v89ph61
►Syfe Trade Referral Code (get $10 cash credit): SRPSL8MGX
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