The necessity of work

Let's be clear. Work is not virtuous. That is a damned lie perpetrated for hundreds of years by the aristocrats, the ruling class and of course, the capitalist.

I hate the aphorism, find a job you love and you never have to work for a day in your life. That is complete and utter bull shit. One, there are those who have no particular passion for anything (me included). Two, not all hobbies are capable of paying bills. It would be rather challenging to get a mortgage loan approved if you answered "professional Sudoku player" as your profession in the application form. Three, no matter how much you love doing a thing, when it is mandatory to do it everyday, 5 days a week, it gets old very quickly.

There is one way to get out of it. And that is the purpose of this blog. As elucidated by forebears far more eloquent than myself,

"Those who understand dividends are more likely to earn it; those who don't are more likely to pay it."

Comments

As a Dividend Investor - I am having fun staying poor

Recently, there was a self-styled "master" who went around dissing dividend investing, saying things like REITS will chibaboom (his words not mine). Ironically, the master also invested into "growth stocks" like BABA and notably SE before its recent implosion. Masterstrokes indeed. Dividend/income investors have borne the brunt of "have fun staying poor" taunts since the dawn of time. Previously from the crypto bros and then from the growth investors. This is nothing new. Every growth investor likes to talk about Tesla. But where are the ARK ETF investors? Where are the NIO bulls? Where are the BABA fanatics? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Good luck to those who retired on a portfolio of "growth stocks", hoping to spend 4% annually on an expected annualized portfolio growth rate of 10%. Without dividends, one would have no choice but to liquidate part of the portfolio for meeting expenditures. The damage done might never be reco...

FIRE by 2020 has officially failed

Back in 2015, I never thought I would have to work past 2020. The idea was that I would have accumulated at least 1.7 M by Jan 2021 and would be comfortably returning 110k a year in passive income based on a 6.5% yield. How laughably naive. The optimism is commendable but misguided. Covid struck hard. Several terrible decisions were made. EHT is bankrupt. A 50k write off. Ouch is right. First REIT is trading around 20% of my cost price. Never again Riady. Never again. Yields have been severely compressed with "quality" REITS, e.g., MINT, PLife, Ascendas REIT all returning paltry yields of 3-4% or, gasps, less. With the view of improving portfolio resilience, I made a conscious decision to rebalance my portfolio to go REIT-lite (well, lighter) and increased my holdings in DBS, UOB, OCBC. The MAS cap on banks' dividends does mean that these companies are returning 3% or less per annum. Sigh. All in all, pr...

The FI Checklist

You are on the verge. So close your ears are tingling with anticipation. Your fingertips rattle across the keyboard. Your lips purse into a wry smile. You can barely contain the pent-up ecstasy as the words appear on your computer screen: "... I would like to resign my position with effect from.... " WAIT A MINUTE. I know you have literally waited a decade to type this letter. But hold your horses first. Have you done the FI checklist? The FI Checklist 1. Have you set aside a cash buffer for income tax payments, which will persist for at least one more year in your unemployed life? Since you would no longer have an active income, it is pertinent that you have set aside sufficient cash reserves to meet your tax obligations. If your passive income level is high enough to cover your expenses plus taxes, good on you. If not, prudence dictates that you ring fence some money for Singapore's most powerful debt collector. ...

The Unnecessary Job

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