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After 2 years of Sabbatical from Work, THIS IS IT!

I took a sabbatical from the corporate work back in end 2021. It's going to be my 2-year anniversary for my sabbatical. But , it's time to get serious earning money full-time. Here's why... Meeting Passive Income Objective I haven't been working, and my income was mainly contributed by my passive income from dividends/stocks . If it goes as it is, my passive income this year should be about $2000/ month , or about $24,000 a year. This is $6000 up from last year. Going at this rate, I should grow at $6000/ year. Just like GDP which is always reported as an increment rather than at absolute amount, so does passive income growth, doesn't it? The amount of cash that I have, has slowly been used for invested. And to meet the growth target, it's basically increasing the returns, putting more into the investments, or both. At my comfort level, I'm going with increasing the amount invested. This means finding fresh funds. A full-time job should solve this problem

Passive Income Report YTD and Plans forward

I worked not this year, and here's my income for the first 3 quarters of 2023: My income comes from 3 sources: Interest income from T bills,  Interest income from bonds (which includes Singapore Saving bonds and other retail bonds), and  Dividends (mainly from STI ETFs, with some other stocks). This year was an improvement from last year's income ( read here ), not because of what I've done this year, but from what I've  done last year - delayed gratification. Even more delayed gratification, was from the saving I accumulated since I started working.  Grateful to myself for having few material desires.  If $2000 is the minimum survival sum, I probably survived 62.5% of the time. If I average out the 8 months, I met the minimum survival sum on a monthly basis. My goal for this year is to hit $24,000 passive income, and with 66.7% of the year passed, I'm 70% there. June has been the best month to date, and as you can see, it's contributed mainly through intere

I worked NOT in 2022 - Here's my income report and lessons learnt

It's late January of 2023, and while it seems a bit late to talk about 2022, it's probably a year where I should pen down because it's different from the rest.  2022 was a year where I worked not at all since I graduated, and I wanted to pen my thoughts. For curiosity sake, I typed in my topic into the chatGPT, and this was what it gave: Well, how do you find ChatGPT's year? I would rate ChatGPT's response as highly excellent. If I were some student writing some journal entry just to submit for as homework, I'll probably submit this. But while AI can help us with general task, it cannot be us, unless we feed in enough inputs for it.  So below is my version, of how 2022 was, a year where I worked NOT. My Income For 2022 Below is a chart showing my income for 2022. And they are broadly divided into 3 sources: Interest from bonds (including the Singapore saving bonds, but excluding T bills), dividends and T- bills. My Income for 2022  The 6 months T-bills become

How to Cut Your Vitamins Bills from your Gynae trip by 50%

I saw this article from Turtle Investor on Why Pay For Panadol When Generic Paracetamol Costs 73% Less? , which brought back the memories of cheapo me and my friends when we were trying to save cost during our pregnancies and after, and checked out each others' prescription from various doctors.  Disclaimer: Hey, before you read further, do not that I'm NOT a doctor, and I have no certification or knowledge of medicines/ healthcare and whatsoever. I only know how to google and read the labels.  The reason for checking one another's prescription was due to the differences in our bills. Some of us had a sky-high bill at the first gynae visit, and the one month's worth of vitamins (note: Vitamins, not medicines) cost way more than the consultation at the first visit. On the other hand, some of us, walked off the clinic with a month supply of vitamins at a mere fraction of the cost. Also, some of us had more vitamins prescribed than others. Here are some of the typical vi

How to learn something fast and easily

I cracked the code of how to learn fast and easily. And I am going to share this with you.  For free! Recently, I was teaching my kids _(*secret*)_, and almost puking out blood, I decided, maybe the way I taught was not good. So I went online to search and found a course that answers all the problems I wanted. It promises a method that helps us learn _(*secret*)_ in a fast and easy method with their special method. There were also raving reviews. So I bought the course and watched it, totally anticipating it to solve my problem. The course was a great one. The instructor was clear, the presentation was nice. If I didn't know the topic, I would easily understand it by watching the video, so I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn this topic ( note: learn, not teach). However, there is this problem. The special method he used was exactly the same as mine. My method is as special as his. What's special was the copyrighting. Rather it is the copywriting that was special

No job, no good food?

Singapore is a food nation. As I am not working, I try to cut down on unnecessary expenses or reduce them. Food is one of them. But instead of downgrading my food, I realized I actually upgraded my food. One thing I really appreciate about not working is Food.  There is many great food in Singapore. And when I worked, I ate at hawker almost every day. If I had the time, I will travel further from office, to eat yummy food. What happens when you eat great food every day? They become not so great because it's just normal to eat it. Sometimes, due to time, I am forced to eat nearby, just to fill my stomach.  Now, with myself based at home, food becomes great again. I visit hawker and eat really great ones, not because I have to, but only when I really want to. Not able to get what I want, at the price I like, I can make it.  Like this awesome kids friendly version of Milo "tiramisu". Chocolate Tiramisu I spend way less on food now, but the quality and the yummine

Designing my own Career

I used to work in the field as an engineer. This means being at the front end of fumes, sun, climbing up and deep below and so on. I'll say the money I earned was blood sweat money, literally. Years back, I was overseas during winter at -27oC, and was climbing a tall tower. At the top of the tower, I could feel the slight swaying of the tower due to the strong winds, while shivering in the sheer cold. Up at the tower, I told myself, I will get out of engineering. Years later, I was going deep down into the ground, into a tunnel. About 40 m into the ground. My colleague, who was close to 60 years old later also went deep into another tunnel. I looked at him, and told myself, I don't want to be like him when I am that age. I changed job, in similar field, and I realize, no matter where I go, it is the same thing. Fumes, sweat, high above or down under.  Some loved it, but I wanted an escape. Armed with 5 years of income saved up, and a working husband, I quit my job in search of