Travelling right after graduating

My exams ended on Oct 2018. Many of my friends started travelling after that and many travelled to a few countries at once.

Some went to Europe and also to more expensive countries rather than like Thailand or neighbouring countries that are more affordable.




I think it is good to be travelling when you are young as you have more stamina and are up for more risky activities.

My friend's cousin for example took a loan from her parents after she graduated to travel around Europe for a month and after she came back, she started work and slowly start to pay her parents back the loan that she had taken.

Many young people of my age nowadays place a huge emphasis on travelling as it allows them to explore different cultures and also to be in a different environment as we seek more spiritual than materialistic experiences.

I remember my mum telling me that travelling was not a thing for them when they were young.

She only started travelling after quite a few years of work.




She told me that she had a few savings plan when she started work and when the payouts came, she would spend them on her travels.

For my brother as well, he has a scholarship to study overseas and in the short 6 months, he has travelled to numerous countries.

He definitely is enjoying himself and all along, he finds it very interesting to explore different countries. 

For me, when I graduated from polytechnic, I did went on a graduation trip with my classmates to Krabi.

It was pretty fun and to be honest, we still talk of the things that happened on that trip.

However, nowadays, it is pretty difficult to organise one as we are all busy with our own stuff.

After I graduated from university, I did not fly overseas and instead started work after about 3 weeks of break.

I am a super lazy person and to be honest, a rather boring person as well.




When we travel as a family, my mum and brother likes to maximise the time in a day and to explore as many places as they can.

For me, I usually like to laze in the hotel room and eat takeaways which to be honest is the worst travelling companion anyone wants. haha

But of course, I enjoy travelling but am lazy to do bookings for accommodations, transport and to plan the itinerary so I like travelling with people who can do it all.

Of course, after starting work, travelling for many is a break from the daily routine and to be able to fully relax and explore so I do have a trip planned out for this year but for now, I hope to fund some trips for my mum as she loves travelling with her group of friends recently.

What's kind of travelling do you guys like? Do you like scenic or shopping destinations?

Follow me on Facebook: SingaporeanTalksMoney

New segment being incorporated into the blog in 2019! (Coming soon)

As we usher in the new year, I feel like incorporating a new style of writing into my blog as I have realised that my recent articles are not as interesting as previously as I write more about stuff on the news than my own personal experience.

So this new component that I will be bringing in will be a weekly series of how my life goes and at the same time, I will incorporate my expenses, salary and financial things that I do in if possible.

So it will be like a diary kinda concept. 

I came across an article by twentythirty by DBS and I found the article really interesting and engaging. So I would like to have something like that to involve my personal life with my readers.




I would do it in a different way, maybe in a summary kinda manner. I would slow refine it as I move along. As my life is not as interesting as the person in the article. ha-ha

Of course, my current style would continue and hopefully the new segment can incorporate more of my own personal life into the blog.

Thank you all for your support in 2018 and I hope to grow and record my story here!

Follow me on Facebook: SingaporeanTalksMoney

Portfolio Review for 2018 - down almost 20%. Collected dividends of $307.05

With 2019 coming in just a few days, I have decided to post a portfolio summary for 2018 and of course record the performance of my portfolio for comparison in 2019.

At the end of 2018, my portfolio is currently -17.67% without dividends included (28 Dec 2018).


 

You can take a look at my portfolio: 

This is a significant drop for me as I entered the stock market only this year when it was at a high so ending the year with this performance definitely is painful for me. 

However, I entered the market for the consideration of long term. I am investing for the long term and know that I should be holding the stocks for at least 10 years unless something happens to the company which would then require action. 




My portfolio has performed way below STI ETF and this is due to certain price drop of the stocks in my portfolio. 

The biggest drop in my portfolio this year are Design Studio (D11) and First Reit (AW9U).  

For Design studio, I got into it due to me seeing the past dividends given out and I was enticed by it hence I went straight into buying it without much checking or consideration. 

So after it had it's profit guidance news released, it's price just went down and down. 

Read more: Design Studio - Drastic drop in price

For First REIT, I have got to say that I love this REIT because for me, it was the first REIT that I purchased and it has been giving me rather stable performance until it's sponsor's rating dropped and it's price just took a nose dive.


 

I love this REIT as I bought it due to it being a healthcare REIT which I am more inclined to rather than logistics or a retail REIT as healthcare is an industry that is in high demand. 

Of course, I bought it at a relatively high price of $1.32 this year and so right now, with it being at a price of $0.97, the drop is pretty substantial. 

Dividends:

My portfolio has generated a total of $307.05 in 2018. It is about an average of $25.59 per month. Not much but it can cover my phone bill each month. 

HAHA, I hope to reach a stage where my dividends can cover my expenses and therefore increasing my saving rate in the long run.

For my portfolio plans in 2019, I have decided to invest more in STI ETF (coming in a later post) and also to get into more REITs even though right now, I do not have much time to read up on companies but I hope to increase the dividend for my portfolio.

Follow me on Facebook: SingaporeanTalksMoney