HAPPY LUNAR NEW YEAR!

5th Feb 2019 would be the first day of the Lunar New Year.

For me, it will also be my year as I am born in the year of the pig, Oink Oink.




With the weeks following up to CNY, many of my colleagues and my mum changed new notes to give out during CNY.

With the changing of new notes, DBS bank has actually introduced a angbao with a QR code which would then allow the moneyto be digitally transferred. 

Good initiative but for many, cash is still much more shiok to receive. 

Every year, I would help my grandmother to bao her angbao as she is getting old and forgets how many she needs.

Getting to organise her angbao for her brings back memories because when I was younger and my mum was not able to buy a flat, we stayed with her and she would take care of our daily meals and also to take care of us when my mum worked.

I would also love my grandma's place as it was where all the snacks would be at.




And I love the cookies that I have unlimited access to and of course soft drinks!

My mum would always overspend during CNY as she would go to the Takashimaya food fair and spend so much on the branded cookies.

For this year, besides shopping there, she also found out that markets do sell certain traditional snacks like pineapple tarts, kok chai and hae bee hiam rolls for like $10 per bottle. Which is so much more affordable.




Also, for this year, many of my uncles and aunties are travelling as it is 1st and 2nd day of CNY is Tuesday and Wednesday which allows them to connect it making it more worth as less leave is needed to be applied.

Looking forward to a good rest as it is my first CNY after I started working and a break like this good for some recharge and to catch up with my relatives and friends!

Wishing you all a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

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Should parents hold on to a child’s savings?

I was talking to my classmate recently about saving and investing. She knew that i actually do invest a portion of my money and she was really curious on what made me started on investing.

Read more: About me and why I started investing




After telling about it, she told me that she was pretty interested in it as well even though she has zero knowledge. I told her that she can start by reading up online first and also to find out more. She then told me that actually, she has no money on hand that she can invest in because her bank account is a joint account with her Dad.

She doesn't have access to that account as her Dad holds the ATM card. Her parents instead, gives her allowances. So I asked her what about her part-time jobs because I was aware that she works during holidays.




She told me that the part-time job pay directly to the bank account and she cannot access them. This was particularly troublesome for her because recently, she wanted to get a ticket for a concert but was short of money and when she asked her parents they told her not to waste the money on the concert.

She told me that her parents have the bank account kept from her as they want to help her save and not let her spend it all. She understood why her parents do not provide her with access to her bank account but when she wanted to get stuff, she had to always them for it and she didn't like doing that.

I think it really is a case of the parents not really trusting her to have the capabilities to control her spending. Maybe if she were to explain to her parents that she would manage her money well, they would maybe allow her some access to it.

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Total Current Assets - Breaking $10 000

Since starting investing last year, I have realized the importance of tracking whether its the stock holdings that you have or savings that you are keeping. So today, I have decided to have a post that will show my stock holdings and current cash holdings too.

Considering that it is going to be quite awhile before I am able to draw my CPF, I will not be including it in my current calculation. So I will be including my stock holdings and cash holdings.

*Stock Holdings: 

Allocation of Stock Holdings

As you can see in my portfolio, I am currently holding 7 stocks. The proportions are pretty equal as I try to spend around the same amount for each except for maybe Amara, which was what I bought into when I just started investing so I only bought a small proportion of it. Design studio is the next smallest due to the recent profit guidance that was released making it's share prices plummet. Overall, I think I will be stopping at 7 stocks and like what I have wrote in my previous post, I will be investing more into the STI ETF so I have been building up my cash holdings. Total value of my portfolio now stands at $5935.94 and my current cost is $6078.912, in the red right now without including my dividends. Hoping to definitely build this up over time

Current Cost and Value of Stock portfolio

*Cash Holdings:

For most of my cash holdings, I put them in a CIMB FastSaver Account earning 1% per annum and I also placed some in Singapore Savings Bond - Dec 2017. The rates for the SSB -Dec 2017 which i have placed $2000 in would have an effective return of 2.16% if I were to hold it for 10 years. I also have a POSB and UOB aacount but both has only a little above the minimum sum as I just keep them as spending and Giro accounts to pay my bills.

Effective Return for SBDEC17

I currently have $2000 in SSB and approximately $5000 in my CIMB Fastsaver. Of course, if I do see any good chance to deploy my cash on hand, I would use from the CIMB account and redeem the SSB if needed but currently, I don't see any need for that yet.

Cash on Hand

As of now, my total current cash and stocks value are standing at $19014.85. I have managed to earned this amount from part-time work, internships and angbaos. So i definitely hope to increase it in the near future like maybe to move to a saving account that can provide me with higher interest rates. 
Today is 23th Mar 2018, the market has been reacting to the news of Donald Trump waging a trade war against China and wow, it hasn't been good, my portfolio has gone into the red. When the market opens again on Monday, 25th Mar, it will be interesting to see how it goes.

*Accurate as of 18/03/2018