The Unnecessary Job

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...