My CEO Journey

I was evaluating my expenses to be for 2017. Unlike previous years , where I have no mortgage to pay for, there is mortgage for 2017, and other additional. Hence, 2017 seems likely to be a year of high expenses. Except for the home that we bought, my partner and I have totally separate finances, so his expenses are not included here. It's astonishing that even before 2017 starts, almost $60,000 is likely to be out! Do you have this problem like me? Some of the items can actually be cut down. Like cable TV, but it's at my parents' place... And the amount is small, compared to insurance and endowment, which easily eats up about 20% of the likely expenditure. Ridiculous. Unless I do something about insurance and endowment, it's likely that I will need to spend $65,000 or more 2017. I am keeping $65,000 as the maximum target for 2017. I hope to spend lesser than that. Variable will be about $490 per month. Welcome austerity... Fixed Expenses  - $59,130 $5050

I received two thought- provoking emails almost at the same time recently. Task one comes from email one which requires that I change a few words and the title of my report. Bang, I finished task one almost as soon as I saw the mail. Task two comes from another email which requires me consider A to Z, ground to sky, hair to heel, calculate godzillion of the godzillion, and include them in a report. Guess which task did first? Task one of course.  As for task two, it's too much of a hassle to complete it, and I procrastinated, until I couldn't anymore, and completed it at the end of the day.  Now, what if we change the tasks to our goals. Which one is more likely to be achieved? I would bet on goal one. But many would argue that such small and simple stuff is unlikely to amount to something significant. But, if we were to do many of such small and easy task, 积少成多， it would accumulate into something significant. Ya? It's human to be put off t

December is the month where I would attend many weddings. I recently attended my sister's wedding, which is extremely atypical of a Singaporean Chinese wedding.  I had to take leave to attend it, since it is on a weekday day time. The wedding started off with solemnization at ROM. After that, the groom chartered us on taxis (ok, he booked the cabs) to their place for a lunch reception at their newly renovated flat. The event was cozy, and we get to chat with everyone, and even get to know the other side's relatives.  The lunch buffet was from a caterer which food my parents like. I am from the bride's side, and I personally know the people she invited. As for the groom's side, it was a time to know his immediate family. Honestly, I really enjoyed this wedding. I have never thought about a wedding like that, but I feel it's really really cool. It was atypical of the 8 - 10 course banquets that I usually attend, sitting in a table usually with some

Having reviewed and reflected on 2016 , I decided that I need goals for 2017. Many of us have set new year resolutions, and how many of us actually achieve what we have set? For me, new year resolution is crap. They are never effective for me. One week before the "deadline", I will be cramping stuff to complete, so that I do a bit, and the year doesn't look so bad. 零时抱佛脚。。。However, the amount accomplished is so minute that they do not materialize into something substantial enough. So for 2017, I am not going to make annual goals. Since I am the last minute type of person, and there is a limited amount that I can do last minute for a year of work, annual goals don't work for me. At the same time, I am a "result orientated" person. I don't want bad results when I evaluate myself, so I will try to do something when the deadline comes. So, why not set new month resolutions or new week resolutions? Even if I were to work one week per month o

2016 is coming to an end soon in just slightly more than two weeks' time! How has the year been for you? I have started this blog back in September last year, with the intention of leading my CEO life , where I take charge of my business (my life), by focusing for six key departments: - health - personal finance - family - current business - new businesses - personal development As I have not set specific goals to be achieved in each of the department explicitly, in this review, I can only look at what each of my department has done. No specific goals set, no yardstick, hence it's going to be very hard to evaluate performance. But well, this is my attempt in some form of evaluation. Review of the performance of each department Review of Health Department I have done a medical checkup recently, and the results aren't great. Cholesterol (LDL) and fat levels are way above the tolerable amount, and the report indicated to do a checkup in a few months tim

What is love? To me, to love someone means to think about their welfare, not only for the immediate future, but for the long term. Recently, I have been talking to many people, and hearing their stories regarding housing. As someone who has recently bought a home , I find that Singapore is still a very Asian society, where parents do impose their thinking on their children (even if they are not paying for it!). I guess if that's for the good of the children, it's okay. But many a times, I feel that the decisions that parents force on their kids, are more for their own desire/ needs, rather than for the welfare of their children. As such, sometimes, I wonder in these cases, do parents really love their children? The following are some stories that I heard recently, which set me thinking. Story 1: Peter is 65 years old. His children are all married, and moved out. Their 5- room flat now lives him, his wife, and his wife's parents. According to him, th

I just moved into our 4- room resale HDB flat , and we made it functional in less than $8,000! Notice, I didn't use the word renovate as we didn't hire people for renovation works. As such, let's use the term functional here. Initial Condition of the Home Before we moved in, the home came with the following: In- tact flooring tiles Adequate power points Available fibre optic point and television point Lighting switch is still working (though many bulbs were blown) Home came with concealed ceiling (which is bad for modification - so a decision not to rewire or change anything about the lighting except for the bulbs) Kitchen cabinet is still usable Kitchen Stove is still usable Paint still looks okay Windows and window grilles are in- tact Curtain rails are available Functional Sink/ taps/ drains Working Air- Conditioner Functional interior doors and exterior door/ gate Project Goals My partner and I made a decision not to engage interior d

It's coming to the end of the year, and the first thing on many of my colleagues' mind is ensuring all their benefits are claimed. In addition to medical benefits, my company provides dental benefit, optics benefit and ... health benefits. I have always claimed my entitlement each year for dental and optics, but since I joined my company, I have never claimed the health benefits. You see, the health benefit involves signing up for fitness lessons, or gym membership. LESSONS. Not equipment (i.e. shopping). It means commitment after work hours. Exercising But it's silly not to use the benefit just because of laziness, yeah? It's like your "pay" given to you in another form, but you just didn't go collect it because you are lazy.  As such, with that, I have spent hours looking at exercises/ fitness courses to sign up for. And yes, I did sign up for courses. It's a regret that I only realize the importance of using this benefit now. I

I was reading through thefinance, when I chanced upon this blog post by B, author of A Path to Forever Financial Freedom (3Fs) . He started his blog 5 years ago, to document his path towards financial freedom, and even drew up a chart to project how he could achieve it. You can read more about it here . I too, wanted to achieve financial freedom at 45 (13 more years to go), and I wrote about it here . Unlike his detailed projection, I only wrote about how much would be required, but I didn't talk about how to meet that (because I do not have an idea!). He talked about meeting his financial needs using dividends, while I looked at the capital I need to sustain my lifestyle till 100 years old, while generating a return of 2 - 3%. My conservative estimate suggests that I'll need $3.4M. I tried all realistic capital injections, and returns, and I am unable to reach $3.4M, unless I delay the retirement to 55 years old. This exercise is really good, as it tells me that if

I purchased 10,000 units of Kingsmen Creative at $0.62 back in August 2016. This works out to $6229.04 including all the additional cost. I have previously mentioned keeping track of all my stock transactions , and as such have included it in my transaction page . There are many bloggers who have talked about this Company, Examples are here and here . Hence, I shall not further talk about it. The purpose of this post is to record why I thought about purchasing this stock for future reference. The page where I looked at most for the decision making is here . Financial Stability The first thing I looked at was the solvency of the company. Will it still continue to exist? Cashflow is important for this. Borrowings and debt securities as of Jun 2016 is $12.397M. There is $65.988M cash and equivalent available. A look at the total liabilities indicate that it is $123.054M. Trade and receivables, and gross amount due from customers for contract work-in- progress is $108.971M.

The Straits Times has been running articles about the increase in HDB resale transaction that did without a property agent. Hey, I am one of them! I recently got the keys for my resale 4- room flat, and did it without an agent. My Experience We bought the flat without an agent. Honestly, the HDB process was simple. Follow all the procedure from HDB website, and you are done. Here is a link to the procedures. For my case, the hardest was to deal with the other side's (property agent or seller). In fact, as long as you do your homework (meaning read HDB's website), look at past transaction prices (at HDB website, and you notice within the same period, the prices do not vary a lot for similar floors in similar areas, plus minus a bit for renovations), and are willing to negotiate (just tell them the price you are willing to buy, and ask them to call you if they can match that price), you should be ok. Some property agents tell you that they can help you with the h

Previously, I shared that I was studying for modules leading to a diploma. This is a self study course. Initially I thought I could't claim for it. However, recently, I found that it is under one of the course I could claim for. And I did. The claim was fast. And I got reimbursed in a week's time. Thumbs up for Skills Future Fund!

I recently purchased 10,000 units of FCL 3.65% bonds at $0.988, right after the ex- interest date. I would classify this as an impulsive purchase, as being right after the ex- interest date, I would expect the price to drop further. Also, with an expected increase in interest rate, I would expect this bond to be less worth it in time to come. However, at current point in time, this buy will allow me to earn more than 3% interest per year, which at least counter the effect of inflation. There will be no interest from this purchase in the month of May 2016, since the purchase is right after the ex- interest date. The next time I will get any interest will be on 22 Nov 2016. The following is a breakdown of the returns based on this purchase. Due to having no interest collected in the month of May 2016, and me purchasing it right in May, the IRR is at most 3.86%, and at least 3.49% as shown below: With this purchase, my retail bonds holdings compared to my entire asset ar

This blog is not going to be abandoned yet. I am having my exams in a few weeks' time, as such, the lack of post. Just a few more weeks and it will be over...!

Gambling in Stocks I mentioned in many previous posts that I do not invest in stocks. This does not mean that I have not bought stocks before. In fact, I used to gamble in stocks. There are no proper records kept for my stocks gambling, as the results were bad. So I am trying to hide them under the carpet. Without proper record keeping, the history is now hazy to me. In my first foray, after setting up a trading account with Philip capital, I proceed to try out my luck. The first stock I bought was Harry's as it was familiar. I recalled buying about 3000 units of it, at a total price of a few hundred dollars but eventually sold it at a loss. Undeterred, I went on to buy stocks like China Taisan, MIDAS, PEC, Banyan Tree, Jiutian Chemical, KS Energy, SGX and so on. The only stocks that I made money was China Taisan, KS Energy and SGX. The rest were sold at a loss. That was in 2011 when I just opened the brokerage account. Ask me again what did all these stocks do,

I have recently purchased CapitaMall Asia (CMA) 3.8% bond at $1.003. The price of this bond has since increased. Frasers Centrepoint Limited bond is currently trading below par at $0.982, and I am wondering if it is a better buy than CMA. My philosophy of buying bonds is to hold till maturity whenever I can, as such, this comparison between CMA bonds and FCL bonds assume that they are held to maturity. Like CMA 3.8% bond, FCL 3.65% bond also have an optional redemption date. However, for the FCL bond, if it were to be redeemed earlier than May 2022, the bond will be redeemed above par. La Papillon from BullytheBear blog gave good details about this bond which can be found here . Since the coupon dates for CMA 3.8% are in January and July, while the coupon payment dates for FCL 3.65% are in May and November, I simplified my comparison, by looking at January and July periods. Hence, the January period, would mean that the FCL bond had paid the previous November coupon, and CMA

Manufortune from Manulife My partner's mother was given a  brochure   on the endowment plan called Manufortune, by Manulife when she went to the bank to withdraw money to put some money into another bank's fixed deposit. She was interested to find out whether this endowment plan from Manulife is worth investing in. More details on ManuFortune can be found  here . Disclaimer: I am not a financially savvy person, so what I'm going to write is based on what I deduce from my limited research and reading. This may not be an accurate account of the real scenario, and you are to exercise your own judgement on whether you agree with what I have written. I won't be held liable for any inaccuracies or omissions (see also my disclaimer at the end of the blog). This article also only expresses my opinion, and I am not encouraging or discouraging the buying of any product in this blog. ManuFortune Brochure About ManuFortune from Manulife According to the broch

I used to think that shares and bond prices should have an inverse relationship. However, it seems that it's not true for now. With share prices are dropping (with the STI dropping below 2600 points today), I see that 2 of the 3 retail bonds I hold are now trading below par. I hold CMA 3.8%, FCL 3.65% and CMT 3.08% bonds. CMA is trading at one of the lowest price now since it was listed, and both CMT 3.08% and FCL 3.65% bonds are trading below par. Well, I am wondering is it due to poor market sentiments (like the shares in general), or is it due to an expected rise in interest rate (hence making current bond yield less attractive), or it could be since the market is down now, people are trading the bonds for higher yield items, such as stocks! With these 3 bonds' prices going down, as long as the companies can still pay me the interests, and pay me back what I put in at maturity, I have no qualms about their trading price, since I intend to hold them to maturity.