The Unnecessary Job

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...