Certainty of death, Small Chance of Success, What are we waiting for?

I especially like LOTR and there was this part where the gang are going to setup a rather odd fellowship of ring comprising of a human, a elf, a dwarf and 2 hobbits. It was when Gimli the dwarf said this 'Certainty of death, Small Chance of Success, What are we waiting for?'. Kinda of funny though, I would think. Also kinda sink in deeply into me as after a few years after the movie was shown, I still remember this dialogue :)

Well, I think its pretty practical in our real life too. Just like in the movie, we only live once and during our lifetime is there something you are dying to do and it is within your means ie your health, time permits and expense that you can do it?

Then do not take too long to fulfil your dreams or wishes. Remember we only live once. Do not waste your youth away, and by the way, it will not come back.

As for me, I am quite a simple person, I have no craving for branded goods or do not blindly chase after fabs or fashion or the 'in' thing. I am ok to own a XiaoMi handphone and I must say it is performing very well. At least it doesnt cost a bomb and doesnt explode in your pocket :) I also stay in a HDB flat, got a family car to travel to different places to eat. Every year get to travel around the world for a holiday. Opps not forgetting that I have a stable job and doing ok in my career. But nothing fantastic baby came out of it :) But still got to be thankful for that.

Come to think of it, I have actually done most of the things that I wanted in life.

Since young, I am very interested in investing and growing my wealth. I have since setup a retirement portfolio step by step. Hopefully I can live long enough to enjoy the fruits of my labour. If not, my spouse and children would be very happy when I am not around :)

The latest 'want' or what I hope to achieve is for myself to be a sexy trader, owing a flashy sportcar and stay in big terrace haha Kidding.. but such dreams do keep me going in my trading journey. I keep imagining or having that illusion that someday I will be like those superstar trader on the youtube.

Yes, I am still at it after failing a few times but I have not given up yet. I am still progressing and the equity curve does look better nowadays, I feel that I have seen through the 'trick' and I hope I can maintain it and be a consistently profitable trader every month. I am in the realising stage and hope to grow along the way.

I will give a separate update on my trading journey and I do have some things or experience to say about it.

So its the same for everybody, a certainty of death so what are you going to do when you are still alive and breathing? What are you waiting for? Remember we only live once ;)

Sep 2016 Portfolio

The Friday before the fateful Sep 11 anniversary, Dow Jones made a surprised downturn of almost -400+ cut of its index. This has caused the global markets to react to it. It could be a change in market trend which we will see market fall further in the coming months as we near the year end.

I finally managed to get some SingPost after aiming for it for sometime. Should be quite a good addition into my portfolio and collect dividends.

STI vs my portfolio


My portfolio is still hovering in the negative region :( but good news is that I beat STI at least a consolation prize :)

Period	STI	My Portfolio (Realised)	Verdict
Jan 2016	-20.78%	-15.15%	I win
Feb 2016	-18.98%	-12.11%	I win
Mar 2016	-13%	-8.28%	I win
Apr 2016	-13.55%	-6.50%	I win
May 2016	-14.46%	-6.27%	I win
Jun 2016	-12.95%	-5.18%	I win
Jul 2016	-13.25%	-4.07%	I win
Aug 2016	-13.86%	-4.27%	I win
Sep 2016	-12.35%	-4.17%	I win

Total 23 stocks in portfolio



This month I got some dividends from my portfolio.



Checkout my Dividend history

Dividend Stock Tracker
I keep track of good SGX dividend stocks such as 10 years consistent SGX dividend stocks, REITs, Business Trusts, etc with real time information update. Checkout the link below:
Checkout my Dividend Tracker

Aug 2016 Portfolio

Recently, DBS got scarred by Swiber bonds when it filed for bankruptcy. This incidents opened up a can of worms, it seems that DBS are doing leveraged Swiber 7% bond sale for its wealthy customers. Eg it allows 50% loan for its customers who buy Swiber high dividend bond if they buy at least $250k worth of bond and DBS will lend them another $250k, total $500k to buy Swiber bonds. Customers will then earn dividends on the leveraged bond. Pretty good idea right? But of course the unexpected happened when oil price sinked and Swiber wind up. DBS had a 6% dent in its profit and this caused its share price to drop below $15. Then I see it as a good opportunity to buy DBS! haha crazy right? This is my first bank stock and I think that this Swiber incident will just be a scratch to DBS and it will recover in the long term.


STI vs my portfolio

My portfolio is still hovering in the negative region :( but good news is that I beat STI at least a consolation prize :)

Period	STI	My Portfolio (Realised)	Verdict
Jan 2016	-20.78%	-15.15%	I win
Feb 2016	-18.98%	-12.11%	I win
Mar 2016	-13%	-8.28%	I win
Apr 2016	-13.55%	-6.50%	I win
May 2016	-14.46%	-6.27%	I win
Jun 2016	-12.95%	-5.18%	I win
Jul 2016	-13.25%	-4.07%	I win
Aug 2016	-13.86%	-4.27%	I win

Total 23 stocks in portfolio



Aug is the 2nd best month to collect dividends after May. This month I got quite a handful of dividends from my portfolio.



Checkout my Dividend history

Dividend Stock Tracker
I keep track of good SGX dividend stocks such as 10 years consistent SGX dividend stocks, REITs, Business Trusts, etc with real time information update. Checkout the link below:
Checkout my Dividend Tracker

Singapore's First Olympic Champion

My daughter and I was watching the news about Singapore sending a small team to compete in the Olympic Games. My daughter mentioned why send our Singapore team there when there's really no chance of winning. I replied in a diplomatic way that well, we still need to try and gain experience from it. Maybe one day, Singapore might win a gold medal back.

Then, when I knew Joseph Schooling got 1st in the 100m men's butterfly semi-finals and beat Micheal Phelps who came in 2nd. I said OMG, this could be it. There's a chance Singapore might get a gold medal in this Olympic Games! Dont have to wait for any more 4 years.

That Saturday morning, I woke up early and witnessed the history! First time we got a gold medal and first time that our National Anthem was played live in the Olympic Games! Hooray! Congrats Joseph Schooling!

During the recent SEA games hosted by Singapore I wrote a post about Gold Silver Bronze medalist who is the happiest?. Well, this time, there is only 1 happiest person in the world and 3 unhappy silver medalists :)

Then I happened to watch a short video about Joseph Schooling on how he got a scholarship in University of Texas training as a swimmer and having to attend classes and swim hard in the day time and then to study and revise his studies till late night. It certainly wasnt an easy path to be a Olympic Champion.

It certainty will not be a easy path to achieve our golden financial freedom but through hard work and perseverance I can do it too :) I can be the happiest person in the world too :)

Grace Groner: US Secret Millionaire with US$7 Million Fortune

What if I tell you to just buy 1 solid dividend blue chip when you start working and keep on buying and reinvesting your dividend into it and you will end up a millionaire when you retired? Could you believe it?

Well a lady, Grace Groner from Illinois did it, along with other ingredients.

1. A bit of luck. Its a single stock investment which expose you to concentration risk. Luckily the only stock she had was Abbott Laboratories and not Enron, we know that Enron went bankrupt.

2. Live till ripe old age to allow your investment to compound and multiply. She lived up to 100 years old.

3. Stay employed for as long as possible. She worked at Abbott Laboratories for 43 years. This is her active income in which she kept investing in Abbott.

4. Frugal. Lead a very simple life, wore secondhand clothes, didn't own a car and lived in a modest one bedroom cottage with no children or grand children.

The US$7 million was donated to Lake Forest University earning $300,000 a year in interest alone will provide for the students with scholarships and internship. Very noble and meaningful indeed.

Jul 2016 Portfolio

Jul is a quiet month in terms of dividend payouts. Nevertheless, I was anxious to add more Keppel Corps into my portfolio and after seeing it fly off a few times, I was so afraid that I would miss the boat of getting it at $5+. Finally managed to add a bit more of it. I was so scared of feeling regret of not getting more of it. This blue chip would be nice to accumulate and let me reap its benefits in the longer term.

STI vs my portfolio

My portfolio is still hovering in the negative region :( but good news is that I beat STI at least a consolation prize :)

Period	STI	My Portfolio (Realised)	Verdict
Jan 2016	-20.78%	-15.15%	I win
Feb 2016	-18.98%	-12.11%	I win
Mar 2016	-13%	-8.28%	I win
Apr 2016	-13.55%	-6.50%	I win
May 2016	-14.46%	-6.27%	I win
Jun 2016	-12.95%	-5.18%	I win
Aug 2016	-13.25%	-4.07%	I win

Total 22 stocks in portfolio



This month I received dividends from UMS only.



Checkout my Dividend history

Dividend Stock Tracker
I keep track of good SGX dividend stocks such as 10 years consistent SGX dividend stocks, REITs, Business Trusts, etc with real time information update. Checkout the link below:
Checkout my Dividend Tracker

Why a Trader Should Invest Too

I was at a traders' fackbook group when someone asked which stocks should he buy for investment. Immediately there were a few replies and most actually said that they will ramp up their trading capital and trade bigger lots. Why need to invest in stocks they say when they can earn bigger bucks by increasing their trading capital and trade bigger. Agree?

Hmm this I do not quite agree. In fact, I think that all traders should invest in stocks, property or other business assets. Even for those good traders who can profit consistently needs to invest too.

Why? Very simple because trading is an active income too just like a job. If your hand or brain stop, your trading income will stop too.

This is the same question I popped up to my boss too when I asked him if he has done any investing. Well he said that he doesnt have any time for that and doesnt need to invest :P He is risk conservative. He cannot stand losing money or paper loss.

Our job is active income. Meaning if our hands stop, our income stop too but our mouth cannot stop :D Just need to do some passive income eg investing in stocks or property or any other business assets which will continue to generate income even when we are not working anymore eg retrenched, retired or unfit for work, etc

Hope you get my point :)