The Unnecessary Job

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...

General Mood Market is expecting interest rates to hold after US CPI data came out on 14 November and pointed to softening prices across the board. Oil has also retreated nearly 20% since its recent peak in Sep 2023.  Are we finally reaching the end of the tunnel for battered REIT assets?  My gut tells me that we are at early stages of recovery although we may possibly still see a couple more rate hikes in 2024.  Nonetheless, barring further escalation of global military conflicts and an unmitigated collapse of the Chinese housing market, both of which seem unlikely but can never be completely ruled out, we may start to see a gradual recovery in DPU for REITs (as rental reversions go up but interest expenses stay constant or go down).    What I did in 2023 (Not to be construed as recommendations or investment advice.) Throughout 2023, I have continued to load up on REITs which (i feel) have:      i. Good sponsors (Capland, Frasers, Maple family) ...

People care way too much about a couple of colleagues fucking each other. The only people who should care this much are the aggrieved spouses and the family members who were hurt and embarrassed.  If you are not one of them, then shut the fuck up already. Who cares? The fact that they fucked or are still fucking doesn't affect you in the least bit. So quit the vomit-inducing moralizing.  But do you know what is detrimental to you, the hardworking taxpayer slogging 10-14 hours a day to make ends meet? 1)      That the Government apparently provides a special class of rental properties, one in which only a TINY TINY group of people may afford, in particular, those who can comfortably pay >20k a month in rent. Suffice to say, a real tiny and privileged bunch including people like, say, K Shanmugam and Vivian Balakrishnan. 2)      That the Government is happy to willy-nilly spend close to half a million tax dollars to make these properties "habitab...

Frasers Hospitality Trust shares fell from $0.70 to $0.54 (nearly a 25% drop) on 13 Sep 2022 following a failed privatisation bid by its parent company.  To be fair, it was a close call, with 74.88% of shareholders voting in favor of the deal, falling narrowly short of the 75% approval threshold. Ostensibly, the remaining 25.12% shareholders thought the offer of 70 cents to be undervaluing FHT's assets.  The main complaint here appears to be that privatisation offer was opportunistic and low-balling, especially given that FHT's prospects seem to be improving as more and more countries treat covid as endemic and re-open their borders. Now, one has to wonder whether those who voted against the deal were overly optimistic on FHT's prospects and missed out a chance to cash out at, what i thought was, a fair price for FHT. To be clear, I am invested in Frasers Property Limited, and was indeed quite nonplussed at the privatisation offer, which (in my opinion) was essentially bail...

Most FIRE adherents are familiar with the different tiers of financial independence (FI).   Starting from coast-FIRE, barista-FIRE or Lean-FIRE all the way to the peak that is Financial Freedom (FF), each level is usually characterized by a marked improvement in one's freedom to disengage from paid labor.  FF differs from FI in that it requires more than just having sufficient passive income to cover one's liabilities, the elusive FF tier is only attained when a person has more than enough passive income to lead his/her Ideal Lifestyle without worrying about money.  Consequently, FF differs from person to person.  For a person whose ideal lifestyle is to live in a HDB flat and take public transport, FF is probably easily reachable.  For another, FF may mean GCB, yachts, and opulent cars. This may require one to hit the jackpot with some sort of crypto-scam , multi-bagger investment. That said, I do wonder, for the average Singaporean, what is considered an ...

If the latest TODAY Youth survey by is anything to go by, more young people are placing emphasis on financial independence. FIRE  is not a bad thing.  But speaking from experience, younger people (through no fault of their own) tend to underestimate future expenses. So while it is admirable to aspire to FI, it is just as important to set realistic financial goals. So which are the constantly underestimated expenses? Healthcare This should come as no surprise. When you are 25, good health is almost taken for granted. You look at those old fogeys with their pot bellies, chronic back and joint pains, and you think, nah, this will never be me. I am too active.  Trust me, I was there. 15 years later, you are looking at photos from your first office Christmas party, and it hits you hard: Where did that dude go?  Lamentations aside, when I was a bright-eyed graduate getting sucked into my first Investment-Linked Policy, my annual health premiums were $200+ a year; and this ...

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...

I have been holding MNACT since HK thugs set ablaze the Christmas tree erected within Festival Walk in November 2019.  Then MNACT was trading at around S$1.20 a piece. Now, it is $1 a share.  Shortly thereafter, Covid reared its ugly head.  As the Chinese saying goes, Covid is akin to dumping a stone onto a person who has fallen into a well.  Another apt saying might be that when your roof leaks, rain falls every night.  Considering that it bore the brunt of two severe shocks one after the other, and one of which remains very much in progress, it is probably fair to say, its $1 share price isn't exactly an unmitigated disaster.  Indeed, all things considered, I dare say it is actually pretty decent.   As many would know, MNACT has the unfortunate distinction of being the only unloved child in the Mapletree family.  Why do I say that? Just look at the price-to-NAV ratios:  MIT  - 1.7 MCT - 1.27 MLT - 1.68 MNACT - 0.75 Basically, the ...

Rude awakening is how I will describe 2020.  At one point, my REIT-heavy portfolio was down nearly 600k and the only way I could deal with it emotionally was to disconnect entirely.  No checking. No reading. And clearly no writing. All in all, i thought i handled it fairly well (no i didn't).  Some months back, I joked to a friend that my unrealised losses were sufficient to fully pay off a 5-RM HDB in a mature estate, and then laughed hysterically in a concoction of horror and self-pity. Which only led to questions as to whether Covid was affecting my sanity. Alas, it is too early to call recovery. And some of my "investments" (hahahaha, assuming one could still call them that) are mostly likely gonna be write-offs.  In this regard, I would like to extend my greatest of fuck-yous to:  Eagle HTrust and First REIT.  Other notable nominees in this category may include Singtel and Starhill.  Thank you guys, has been a great ride, mostly at my expense....

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. ...

If you have not watched the Netflix Original Downsizing starring Matt Damon, I would not recommend it unless you really have nothing better to do on a (very) slow weekend afternoon. SPOILER WARNING NO REALLY. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The story's premise starts off interesting enough. To address the global crisis of depleting resources and overpopulation, scientists have invented a technique to shrink a person down to about 3% of their original mass (or something like that). Companies start selling residency memberships in small communities for the shrunken people, touting sudden amplification of wealth (due to reduction of cost) as a major benefit.  In one scene, Neil Patrick Harris cameos as a salesman for one of these communities, wherein his "wife" buys herself a full set of diamond jewellery for $83. Matt Damon plays a struggling physiotherapist who did not manage to complete med school due to financial difficult...

MNACT's share price was pummelled after months of HK protests, which saw parts of Festival Walk (MNACT's largest rent generator) set on fire and vandalized.   Some quick notes: Festival walk contributed 62% of total Net Property Income for MNACT based on their 1H FY2019/20 results. Festival Walk has been closed since 13 Nov.  Festival Walk is slated to reopen 16 Jan 2020, prior to Lunar New Year.  Assuming rent collection will only resume after 16 Jan, the expected loss of rental income would be for about two months plus a bit.  The Manager will rely on external borrowings to  partially  top up FW's distributable income while waiting for insurance to pay out ( assuming there would be any ).  This top up is expected to be about 40% of the lost rental income.  Hence, it is inevitable that distributable income for 2H FY19/20 will drop.  Share price of MNACT has dropped from a peak of $1.44 (July 2019) to $1.12 ...

My portfolio has been stuck at the same level for a good 4-5 months now. Which is frustrating to say the least. Notwithstanding weakness in the market, the cash payment on my home purchase really set me back . That is one of the reasons why I had put off a home purchase for the longest time. I didn't want my FI goals to be adversely affected. Damn you stamp duty! Big props again to the G for profiteering off the efforts of private developers and the hard-earned capital of home owners.  Investment-wise, I have hit a rut. No new ideas. No inspiration. So much so I am toying with the idea of robo-investors, except I am really put off by the idea of management fees. I spent a good amount of time scouring the financial blogosphere for inspiration but to no avail. Lately, the market seems to be rather muted as though Madam Market herself has switched off and gone on holiday.  There is consolation to be had in that dreariness. The Singapore market may be predictably dull ( if...

I currently hold about 55k EHT shares at an average price of 0.64. DID SOMEONE SAY BURNT? I was briefly down 10K USD. Then the stock price rallied to settle around 0.53 - 0.54 range, narrowing my losses. Suffice to say, my track record on bargain hunting is not that erm illustrious.  To put it mildly.  I remain hopeful on EHT.  The SSH selling appears to have stopped (for now).  It is clear that retail investors remain apprehensive on EHT.  And who could blame them?  And I might have been deeper in the hole, had it not been for the fact that I recently bought a home, which necessitated having liquid cash on hand.  It is time to say goodbye to renting.  I am done paying someone else's mortgage. Well technically, the expected TOP is 2023. So there would be a few more years of renting. All in all, it has been an eventful month. I re-entered HKLand at 5.46 and re-sold 5.69, booking another small gain of 800 USD.  I also sold off Keppe...

When it rains it pours, as the cliche goes. AIMS APAC REIT (AA REIT ) suffered a correction earlier this month when its Manager (AIMS Financial) decided to unload shares amounting to around 10% of the float via private placement. The private placement was done at 1.35, which is a significant discount from the last traded price 1.48 prior to the placement. The reason given by the Manager was ostensibly to increase the liquidity of the share.  Seems more like a blatant cash grab to me.  Perhaps investors should have foresaw this cash grab when AIMS acquired the AA REIT shares from AMP Capital earlier this year, and became the sole sponsor.  Expectedly, the market reacted by selling down the stock, and it is now hovering pitifully around the 1.35-1.37 mark, wiping out a good 30k off my AUM. If there is a silver lining, it would be that this divestment is not the same as a rights issue. The total number of shares remain the same.  It is merely the Manager reduc...

There was a sincere and introspective post on A Millennial's Attempt at Adulting recently. The post explored the writer's inner thoughts on the purpose of her job (life?) and invoked the oft-cited Japanese concept of ikigai,  which may be summarized as doing something, which you love, which you are good at, which is useful to society, and which pays you. Ikigai seems to be the elusive holy grail that many are seeking. I do not pretend that I understand why this is so. "Purpose" is itself a rather loaded word in my opinion. Is purpose a mantle you choose to wear on your shoulders; is purpose foisted upon you by others; or is purpose simply a malleable thing which is constantly shaped and reshapened by what you think others expect of you?  I suspect the answer lies somewhere inbetween, ironically, not unlike the famous ikigai Venn diagram. I have never felt that there was any purpose in what I do. But more importantly, I have never felt compelled to seek out pur...

The BUY 72000 shares @ 0.500 EUR a share Expected yield: 8.2% based on last half yearly payout Accordingly, this investment may yield around SGD 4,300 a year in dividends, or around SGD 360 a month.  Yet another step towards breaking 100k a year passive in 2020. Why? Diversification Wanted some geographical diversification.  I currently have exposure to Singapore, UK, and Australia (AA REIT +  FCOT + Starhill), China  (CRCT), US (Eagle HTrust), ID (First REIT). Ultimately, it was a toss up between IREIT and Cromwell.  Overall, I preferred Cromwell REIT because I feel there is less tenant concentration risk compared to IREIT. ECB money printing quantitative easing bond purchases This is a double edged sword. On the one hand, low interest rates is always a boon for REITs. It provides cheap financing for the REIT to acquire new assets, and further boosts the NAV of the underlying assets.  Cromwell REIT is already trading at a discount to...

It is time again to take stock of FI progress. Portfolio Q3 2019 September 2019 Shares held Last traded Value AIMSAMP Cap Reit 257400 1.45 $373,230.00 Cache Log Trust 13600 0.735 $9,996.00 CapitaR China Trust 43100 1.53 $65,943.00 DBS 2000 24.87 $49,740.00 Ezion 19500 0.044 $858.00 First Reit 50000 1.04 $52,000.00 FCOT 234000 1.61 $376,740.00 Eagle HTrust 42000 0.655 (US$) $37,688.70 Keppel Corp 5000 6.02 $30,100.00 OCBC 5000 10.84 $54,200.00 $0.00 SingTel 48000 3.13 $150,240.00 StarhillGbl Reit 90000 0.75 $67,500.00 redacted 7611 8.76 $64,005.47 Warchest $117,000.00 Total Porfolio Size $1,449,241.17 Q3 was characterized by general weakness across the market, with blue chips stocks DBS, OCBC, Singtel and Keppel all falling below their July peaks.  REITs experienced some downward pressures but have largely remained resilient, possibly due to expectations of interest rate cuts. Warchest got a healthy boost from dividends and salary bonus pay out. Will be ...

I love Septembers. It is my birthday month. My bonuses get paid this month. It marks the end of Q3 of the calender year. Yet another stretch completed in the arduous journey toward FI.  I shall be tabulating the Q3 dividend earnings and overall portfolio in a separate post at the end of September. It is also the month where a fair number of companies pay out yummy dividends, including First REIT and AIMSAPAC REIT. Together with my bonuses, the war chest gets a pretty healthy boost.  What's not to like? As icing on the cake, I also sold all my  HKLand shares  at 5.98 on 4 Sep, booking a small gain of 1.7k.  This was never meant to be a long term trade anyway.  Currently on the look out for more deals in the market.  Recent news concerning the strike on Saudi's oil facilities brought about a brief spike in oil prices. Keppel recovered briefly above the 6.2 mark but the momemtum was regrettably not sustained. I believe Keppel continues to...

Recently went on another shopping spree with the capital recycled from the Ascendas Htrust sale. I kept saying pace yourself, pace yourself dude, don't spend it all in one place. But when the market is offering a ton of discounts, it is hard to say no. I have decided the year 2020 should be that year when i finally breach the 6-digit passive income benchmark.   Sometimes I picture myself hopping into a time machine and going back to say hello to the 25-year-old me in 2007. Fresh out of Uni, with a massive $800 to my name sitting in a POSB Savings Account, and about to embark on a 12-year long journey in a hellish, soul-crushing, and perspective-altering career. What would I say to him? Would he believe me if I told him, thanks to me, he would be able to sit on his ass and do absolutely fuck all, and still make 100k a year in 2020? The 25-year-old me would probably see it as a ticket out of employment. Poor sod, I might have to break the sorrowful news that even District...