Unhappy Singapore employees!

According to the Randstad World of Work Report which surveys employees from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, India, Australia and New Zealand, Singaporean employees rate at the top of the "unhappiest" ranking. Moreover, 64% plan to leave their current job in the next 12 months.

Is this surprising?

I think anecdotally, in the mornings when I take the MRT, I can clearly see the general mood of the crowd as we hustle to work. The atmosphere is grim as everybody tries to avoid each other's faces and look busy, most opting to glue their eyes onto their handphones.

It is not difficult to tell that we are a unhappy lot!

But why is this so?

Many of us would throw out the usual suspects, namely, long work hours, horrible bosses, meaningless work and office politics. I am sure we are all familiar with these, and there is not need to elaborate on them.

But must this be so?

There is a popular acronym in the world of Personal Finance, which is FIRE. This stands for Financial Independence, Retiring Early, and embodies the concept of achieving sufficient passive income from assets to cover all necessary expenditure, and thereafter being able to retire, or choose to leave work if one so chooses.

Are you trying to be on FIRE?

I am unashamed to say to I am trying my best to reach this goal. The reasons are as such:

1. I was introduced to the world of personal finance by the very concept of FIRE. The idea intrigued me, but I did not believe it made sense, or was even possible. However, the math was indisputable, and I learnt the importance of having financial literacy that day.
2. I work in an industry where 80+ workweeks are common and 100+ workweeks are not unheard of. This is a line of work where not having a single day off in 3 weeks is simply an event one shrugs off. While I am sure there are those who may face similar challenges in their workplace, wouldn't we all wish to have a choice otherwise? I believe that time is worth so much more than money as time is a very limited (and unpredictable) asset. I would prefer to invest this limited asset with people who matter to me. To preserve more of this limited asset of time, achieving financial independence is my chosen strategy.
3. Having a family changes your perspective on life. No longer am I aiming for the extra dollar to pay for an extravagant lifestyle. Rather, I would seek additional income only for the sake of feeding my family, and enjoying their company. Hence, I do not seek to climb to the very top of the profession anymore (with the attendant sacrifices), and would prefer a conservative strategy to live within my means.

To achieve this goal, there are sacrifices to make as well. As a family, we will choose not to spend lavishly on restaurants frequently, go for exorbitant trips to exotic places and buy unnecessary but highly desirable items for ourselves such as a car. Instead, we choose to have a simpler lifestyle, occasional meals in mid-tier restaurants, conservative trips perhaps once or twice a year (coming up in Nov!) and saving regularly. With this, I hope to progress on my journey to be on FIRE.

Are you unhappy at work and would like to consider an alternative? Would you try to be on FIRE?

Cashflow Quadrant

I spent the weekend reading through Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant. It was an awesome read, and very captivating, and there was no difficulty coming back over and over again to continue reading until I've completed it cover to cover.

I was inspired to read this book from millennial-revolution, who "LOVED" this book.

In the book, Robert identifies that there are 4 groups of people, namely, the E (Employee), S (Self-employed, B (Big business) and I (Investor), with E and S on the left side of the quadrant and B and I on the right side. These groups of people derive their income from different sources, with E and S working hard with their own effort and time to mind other people's business, while B creates the business and I uses money to grow money. The author also goes on to illustrate the different characteristics of the people in the different groups.

The book strongly emphasizes the different approach the groups have towards security and risk. In particular, the E and S groups prioritize security highly, while the B and I groups prioritize freedom and risk-management. The author also notes that the government treats both groups very differently, with oppressive tax regimes for the left quadrant and numerous tax breaks and exemptions for the right.

The author also advocates financial literacy, encouraging people who wish to transit from the E and S groups to the B and I groups to educate and change themselves, in the process of BE-DO-HAVE. Finally, he gives a short course on the baby steps one can take to make the move from the left to the right, including knowing oneself better, managing own cashflow, seeking good mentors, mastering disappointment and keeping the faith.

In this book, Robert Kiyosaki showcases his ability to present his ideas in a manner which is simple for his audience to follow. These ideas are then developed into more complex concepts, and illustrations are provided to present these concepts graphically.

One part of the book that stuck greatly with me was how differently we're treated by the government. The book shows that the cashflow for the left group goes as follows: Income -> Taxes (Income tax) -> Spend, while the cashflow for the right group goes as follows: Income -> Spend -> Tax. This struck me particularly because I've understood EBITDA in income statement for a period now, but the significance of how tax is calculated after spending in a business versus how we are taxed on our incomes as employees did not occur to me until I've read this book.

It was an inspiring book, and I hope to continue my reading journey as I seek to further educate and improve myself. I do encourage those of you who have yet to read this book to consider picking this up (perhaps in the library?), as it is an easy read and there may be good ideas that you may want to pick up and use.

Fixed Expenses

I've been inspired by 15HWW to calculate our fixed expenses every month. This is part of the ongoing effort to understand our expenses more, so as to lower any unnecessary expenditure if possible.

This is important as basic math dictate that income does not matter towards financial independence, but savings rate does. Millennial-Revolution makes the math concise and upfront, which is helpful for understanding how she gets her figures and conclusion.

Of course, it can be assumed that there is a minimum expenditure that we have to make monthly to keep our bodies alive and fulfill our obligations. Therefore, this is the sum that we will seek to clarify and reveal to ourselves today, so as to better understand our financial standing.

In my case, I will define fixed expenses as regular expenses that are very unlikely to change after two years. This will be separated from semi-fixed expenses, that are defined as expenses that may change every year or 2 years (especially for telcos, taxes). Other expenses would be variable/discretionary expenses, which will be another post for another day.

Fixed Expenses

Mortgage Loan by Cash	$     213.00
Mortgage Loan by CPF	$  1,880.00
Conservancy Fee	$        90.00
Term Insurance	$        16.00
Whole-Life Insurance	$     216.79
Total	$  2,415.79

Semi-fixed Expenses

Taxes	$     117.22
Internet	$             -
Handphone (Mr)	$        35.00
Handphone (Mrs)	$        35.00
Total	$     187.22

To be clear, the internet bill is $0 as it was paid upfront.

Therefore, our fixed and semi-fixed expenditure monthly come to a total of $2603.01.

The Rule of 25, which is used to estimate the size of portfolio we'll need in retirement by multiplying your desired annual income by 25 (with the assumption of a conservative 4% return on the portfolio), can be used here. We like to adapt it as the Rule of 300 (300 = 25 x 12), as 300 is an easier number to work with, and regular expenditure is often calculated on a monthly basis.

Using the Rule of 300, our minimum portfolio size for our fixed and semi-fixed expenditure would be 300 x $2603.01 = $780,903.00

Woah! And this amount will grow as we take inflation into account!

A closer look at the figures show that the majority of our fixed expenses comes from our mortgage. Housing loan is truly a killer! 

Another way to look at this is that we are still very far from reaching our portfolio targets...

Health

Hi all!

I was sick with fever recently. This, together with muscle aches, served as a good reminder to our own frailty. Life is fragile and we must treasure our health when we still have it!

Health is something that many of us take for granted everyday. This morning, you will most likely  have woken up in the pink of health, and did you stop to be thankful that there are little to no impairments to your physical faculties? Indeed, as you hustle and bustle through another busy working day, there will be many things to worry about, but keeping healthy is unlikely to be a major concern for most.

Strangely, probably all of us know how to keep a healthy lifestyle generally, and rank it as something important to us, yet few put in much conscious effort to maintain it. This is evident by:

1. Obesity rate in schoolchildren rising from 10% in 2000 to 11% in 2013 and 12% in 2014.
2. Singapore has the 2nd highest diabetes prevalence among developed countries, rising from 4.7% in 1984 to 10.53% in 2015. This is only second to the USA

So, how does this relate to this blog? First, both health and financial knowledge are topics that the younger generation tend to give little thought to. Most do not take the time and energy to read up and gain knowledge on these matters. Despite acknowledging that keeping healthy is important, and working and striving hard to earn extra, many would consume excessive calories, and fritter cash away. 

Secondly, financial health is a form of health. Many (I hope!) would agree that accumulating money is not an end-goal in itself. A goal that many may like to aim for would be good health. defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity", and I believe that financial stability serves as a support for this. However, one can easily see that being materially rich will not bring health by itself if one's health is poor.

Thirdly, being unhealthy is expensive! It is commonly said here that one can die in Singapore, but one cannot fall ill! This saying pays tribute to the high cost of healthcare in Singapore. Now, imagine the costs if one has a chronic problem, requiring regular medication and visits to the doctor. This may be little thought of and not planned for when saving for retirement. Moreover, poorly managed chronic conditions can lead to events such as a heart attack or stroke, which costs us further in health, and financially as well! A short stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and subsequent recovery in the general ward can easily cost up to a few thousand dollars.after subsidy.

So while we work on increasing our financial literacy, we should always keep in mind the purpose of it and not neglect other aspects of our lives that are at least as important.

June 2016 Report Card

Apologies for the lack of posts. I was struggling with an examination recently and that really sucked the life out of me.

Exams, you say? Yeah... such is life.

However, the exams are over!!!

Yaaaaay!

As we transit into the 2nd half of 2016 (how quickly time flies!), I would like to share a short report card on my current holdings, taken from the excellent site SGXcafe.com:

Currency	# Stocks	Day Change %	P&L %	P&L + Dividends %
SGD	4	0.53%	2.28%	2.28%

Name (Currency)	Port %	Current Yield	Div Strength	Avg Price	Close	P&L %	P&L + Div %
STI ETF (SGD)	60.84%	3.46%	N/A	2.835	2.89	1.95%	1.95%
CapitaCom Trust (SGD)	13.53%	5.75%	81.30%	1.412	1.5	6.20%	6.20%
KSH (SGD)	12.99%	5.65%	67.29%	0.55	0.54	-1.76%	-1.76%
OCBC Bank (SGD)	12.63%	4.11%	94.16%	8.394	8.75	4.24%	4.24%

And a pithy few hundred in cash.

Overall, I'm quite pleased with the results so far. This little start of a portfolio has endured its first (mini-)crisis and emerged reasonably unscathed. 

Regrettably, I was unable to average down some of my holdings during the Brexit sell-down. After the initial purchase-burst in May, there was minimal savings that could have been used to take advantage of the low prices. Again, this is (largely) due to renovation and household items. Admittedly, there was some lifestyle inflation this month as we spent more in restaurants and an expensive NTUC trip. As it is, my credit card bills for this month may cross $3k. Sigh...

Goals for second half of 2016:

1. After settling down, I hope to be able to start saving again, as per usual habit. It would be great not to have to look at 3-4 digit spendings every few days or so. Still debating whether we should purchase a TV hmmm...... 

2. I would also hope to start building some holding cash aside from my emergency funds (typically referred to as warchest). The recent market dip has taught me 2 things (i) Holding power is important, one should not be forced to have to sell your investments, especially during times of crisis (ii) Opportunities do not come knocking frequently. Take advantage of them when they come. 

3. Related to the above point, purchase appropriate insurance for the missus, and getting a better grasp on mine. We have been procrastinating this for almost half a year. It is time to figure out what we are covered and how much we are paying for this cover. Yes, I have been paying for insurance without knowing what I am covered for (at an expensive cost per month!) as many of the plans were passed to me from my parents when I started working. And for her, I believe she has been procrastinating as well (typical Singaporeans we are). I think it is time to sort this out.

4. I hope to blog more regularly as well. As mentioned before, this blog helps to record my thoughts and remind me of my own plans as I start to take charge of my own financial health. I hope to be able to look back some time down the road, and identify my strengths and learn from my mistakes during this journey, and be able to educate my daughter as she begin her own journey as well.

Financial Goals

It's been quite a while since I've posted. My apologies!

In the last 2 weeks, I've made a few other purchases, namely, OCBC at 8.38, KSH at 0.550 and Keppel Corp at 5.3.

Subsequently, sold Keppel at 5.55, only to see it rise further to 5.9 on that very same day. Stuff happens.

So today, I shall reveal what is my financial goal for the future. This will be a conservative estimate with the following assumptions:

1. Only my take home income is considered for salary, with no future increase
2. Assuming current spending for the future*
3. Assuming no major tragedies or necessary spending occurs
4. Portfolio grows with 4% capital gains/dividends each year
5. No inflation is accounted for (since salary does not increase as well)

*: This will be a difficulty in the future as my daughter grows up, as spending on her may increase significantly

Based on these estimates, I should manage to save $1,800 every month, which should make $21,600 every year.

With a current portfolio of about $80k, a simple calculation on excel shows:

Year	Portfolio	Dividends based on 4% of portfolio	Monthly Spending based on dividends
2016	$80,000.00	$3,200.00	$266.67
2017	$104,800.00	$4,192.00	$349.33
2018	$130,592.00	$5,223.68	$435.31
2019	$157,415.68	$6,296.63	$524.72
2020	$185,312.31	$7,412.49	$617.71
2021	$214,324.80	$8,572.99	$714.42
2022	$244,497.79	$9,779.91	$814.99
2023	$275,877.70	$11,035.11	$919.59
2024	$308,512.81	$12,340.51	$1,028.38
2025	$342,453.32	$13,698.13	$1,141.51
2026	$377,751.46	$15,110.06	$1,259.17
2027	$414,461.51	$16,578.46	$1,381.54
2028	$452,639.98	$18,105.60	$1,508.80
2029	$492,345.57	$19,693.82	$1,641.15
2030	$533,639.40	$21,345.58	$1,778.80
2031	$576,584.97	$23,063.40	$1,921.95
2032	$621,248.37	$24,849.93	$2,070.83
2033	$667,698.31	$26,707.93	$2,225.66
2034	$716,006.24	$28,640.25	$2,386.69
2035	$766,246.49	$30,649.86	$2,554.15
2036	$818,496.35	$32,739.85	$2,728.32
2037	$872,836.20	$34,913.45	$2,909.45
2038	$929,349.65	$37,173.99	$3,097.83
2039	$988,123.64	$39,524.95	$3,293.75
2040	$1,049,248.58	$41,969.94	$3,497.50
2041	$1,112,818.53	$44,512.74	$3,709.40
2042	$1,178,931.27	$47,157.25	$3,929.77
2043	$1,247,688.52	$49,907.54	$4,158.96
2044	$1,319,196.06	$52,767.84	$4,397.32
2045	$1,393,563.90	$55,742.56	$4,645.21
2046	$1,470,906.46	$58,836.26	$4,903.02

In other words, I should minimally work towards reaching a portfolio of $104.8k by the beginning of next year.

Target by 2017: $104.8k

Current Portfolio size: $81.4k

Percentage achieved: 5.645% (calculated by 1.4/24.8 * 100%)

Oh dear...

That being said, we have yet to save significantly for this year as we are moving towards our new apartment this year. Shifting to a new place is expensive business! We are still finishing up on payment for our contractors, have yet to purchase our fridge/washing machine etc, and have yet to complete payment for our mattress. All these are costing a bomb and placing a huge dent on our saving rate.

Hopefully, this is only considering the worst case scenario. Considering savings from my wife's income, plus income increment over the year, we should aim to hit and surpass our targets yearly. 

Will have to continue to work harder!