Its Better To Be A Giver Than A Receiver

On 2nd Aug 2015, my wife saw the Blood Donation Drive banner around our neighbourhood and asked me if I am ok to join her. Ok why not. By the way she was a first time donor and was pretty nervous about it as previously, her weight was below 45kg so was not heavy enough to donate blood. Now she's 47kg so off we go!

When we reached Metta School @ Simei Street 1, Oh boy! there were many people there and we were quite surprised. Its a Sunday and we can see quite a few donors are from the Y gen meaning those around 20+ years old. Good good!

We had to fill up a few pages of questionaire to make sure we are physically fit without any serious medical history or disease. After that, we have to have our blood pressure taken by a on-site doctor who will run through the survey form and ask questions on some of our answers. Wow I must say its quite strict in making sure that they got the right donors.

Made a small chat with the doctor and he said this donation drive very strange. Suddenly all the old donors who stopped donating long time ago appeared today and also lots of first time donors haha. I was one of those old donors who didnt visit them for long time. He said my last visit was 2010 or 2011.

Then, when it was my turn to lay down and got my blood siphon out, a senior nurse came along and chat with me. She told me that the Blood Donation Drive was supposed to end at 3pm and it was already 2.30pm and looking at the huge wave of donors coming in, they can only end after 5pm. She told me, she and her team of nurses have not taken their lunch and wouldn't want to hold us back and was happy that so many donors came forward. Suddenly all the nurses who are busy working look so attractive to me! Such a nice white nightingale :)

I feel so fortunate and blessed to still be a abled bodied person to donate blood to the needy. Knowing that my blood will one day save a life and make a difference. I got a colleague who got involved in a road accident told me that she used up 20 bags of blood when she got hit by a taxi. See one bag of blood is not enough and you can only donate blood once every 3 months. Those who are keen please be a regular donor :)

Well, its better to be a giver than a receiver. Ok, I empathize over my colleague's mishap but in this case, everyone would rather be the donor than the receiver. Just like the spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving :)

Same for money, isn't it great to have enough or surplus money so that you can help less fortunate people who are in need of help for emergency use? I wrote it in my motivation that in order to help others we have to first help ourselves only then are we in the advantage or position to help others.

Sep 2015 Portfolio

Market is still volatile and manage to recover a little but overall its still bear.

This month I added Ascendas Reit into my portfolio.
These few months, I started buying more blue chips as they are fallen to attractive levels and their stable dividends will provide me for many years to come. This time I added Ascendas Reit. This is a big cap Reit with well diversified portfolio of commercial, business, industrial properties.

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 2015	2.71%	3.21%	I win
Feb 2015	2.41%	2.16%	I lose
Mar 2015	3.31%	0.62%	I lose
Apr 2015	6.02%	4.18%	I lose
May 2015	3.31%	3.84%	I win
Jun 2015	0.90%	1.14%	I win
Jul 2015	-2.41%	-3.83%	I lose
Aug 2015	-10.54%	-9.07%	I win
Sep 2015	-14.16%	-9.34%	I win

Total 19 stocks in portfolio



Dividend
This month dividends came in for quite a handful of companies or stocks. Cash is king in these times. So that I can reinvest into better dividend producing counters.



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

GE2015 How We Can Apply To Portfolio Management

Finally, Singapore decides who they want to lead them for the next five years. The past 2 weeks are dramatic with rallies by opposition parties and ruling party. I managed to attend a rally by WP and PAP and looking at the large turnout of the WP rally. It is scary. The crowd is like going to a soccer match with many people from different generation and background. Especially the WP rally, you can hear people cheering and shouting. It can be very entertaining when the WP speaker talk about the people's usual problem such as CPF, jobs taken up by foreigners, etc.

Chee Soon Juan from SDP also improved alot this GE2015, he's not so aggressive and more reasonable. No shouting at Mr Goh like during the last election. He also played the empathy card by telling people about his humble life via social media. He also showcased his family, especially his daughters in the politics during his rally speeches. Something I feel he should not involve them.

For a moment, I thought PAP would have a hard time defending their grounds.

When the result is out, I was kinda relieved. I know that some of my friends want some opposition party to be in the Parliament not because they are good but they just want them to be in so that they will watch over PAP. This is a very scary thought. What happens if majority thinks like that and start voting for opposition not based on merits but purely this reason? What will happen to Singapore? Are the opposition party ready to be the ruling party and lead Singapore?

I am relieved that despite all the ra-ra from opposition parties, majority of Singaporeans still choose PAP as it is stable and reliable, a proven working ruling party, status quo.

I think it apply to our portfolio management too. We need it to be a stable and reliable cruise ship sailing towards our destination. Our portfolio should not be exciting and entertaining with high beta stocks making high swings in the the price. We need it to be a stable business and consistently gives dividends.

So choose wisely how you want to build up your stock portfolio.

Do you want it to be exciting like gambling ? or stable like a business?

Aug 2015 Portfolio

This month's volatility is a continuation of Jul's. Market still affected by ShangHai stock market crash and STI has fallen by 10%. To add matter worst, China devalue its yuan currency sending large stock market decline all over the world. At one time, STI was -90 points or 3% down in just 1 day. Looks like we are in the bear market and will continue to be like this for weeks.

24 Aug 2015 is known as 'Black Monday' as the global market crashed, with Dow Jones opening with -1000 points down but recovered to close at -500 down. Then the last week of Aug, we see market recovering fast for a few days. Short covering? We are in for the volatility and I think we are in a confirmed bear market.

This month I added StarHub into my portfolio.
Market has been pretty volatile these days. Lots of blue chips have fallen by quite a lot. I have been picking up more blue chips lately. My latest purchase is StarHub. I have been wanting to buy it for sometime for it is a great dividend generator with a stable telco business.

STI vs my portfolio

My portfolio ended in the negative region :(

Period	STI	My Portfolio (Realised)	Verdict
Jan 2015	2.71%	3.21%	I win
Feb 2015	2.41%	2.16%	I lose
Mar 2015	3.31%	0.62%	I lose
Apr 2015	6.02%	4.18%	I lose
May 2015	3.31%	3.84%	I win
Jun 2015	0.90%	1.14%	I win
Jul 2015	-2.41%	-3.83%	I lose
Aug 2015	-10.54%	-9.07%	I win

Total 18 stocks in portfolio

Dividend
This month dividends came in for quite a handful of companies or stocks. Cash is king in these times.



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

Are We A Bunch of Losers?

Below are some of the loser's thoughts.
Are you a long term investor now because you lost money in trading?

Are you a trader now because you sucks at investing?

Are you spending too much time on investing or trading now because your career has no future or you are blacklisted by your boss at work?

Are your portfolio bleeding now? Staggering massive paper loss and it gets worst everyday?

Below are the winner's thoughts.
You switched to investing because you found out that trading is not your cup of tea. You couldn't sleep well, thinking of the forex position which is open 24/7 per day except weekends and Public Holidays. Glad you are out of trading :)

You are a trader now because they found that investing doesn't work for you. There's no kick, slow and looking at the huge paper loss makes me sick.

You invest to create your investment income in addition to your active income (job). You will retire happy and not worried about your finance.

Its just the usual market correction, up and down, up and down, stock is volatile. Very much expected. In the long run, stock will out perform any other asset class.

Some people are very good at showing off their wealth or goodness in life especially facebook which I find its a 'hao lian' platform where friends will post pictures or write on just how good they are and how enjoyable is their life.

Of course life is not all bad and no good. We don't have to envy or compare with others. They may not appear as what they seem to be.

Its actually a state of your mind.

A good example is a glass half filled with water.
Is it half full? or half empty?

Let's switched your mind to the winner side and be a winner!

Then you will be happier.

Let It Go

This is my little nephew and niece's favourite song. Sometimes they will just sing out loud. "Let it go! Let it go!" suddenly it rang a bell in me. Yea, these kids are right, we got to let it go! Kids can teach the adults who are usually blinded or numb by our mundane, ruthless world.

Wonder how would a surgeon perform a good job if he keep on thinking of how much can he earn from the operation or worry that their patient couldn't foot the bill. Money is the least thing he should worry and concentrate on getting the operation done successfully.

How would a office worker perform if he/her keep thinking that its past my office hours and I will "lu gi" or "bo hua"(make a loss) if I still continue working and not get paid for the extra hours put in.

How would a nurse perform her duties well if she has to keep thinking that she is working late night shift and earning a miserable pay instead of attending to her patients and making sure that they have the best care.

How would a property agent sit around the Million Dollar round table when he keeps worrying that he is wasting money or not getting his money worth on advertising or wasting time doing door-to-door calls and sales. He got to take the first step to reach out for potential customers. I got a property agent friend who told me he started off by doing door to door sales call and get rejected countless times in order to build up his customer contacts to be what he is today.

Next time, if you got a big assignment or project, if you straight away link it to your big bonus or promotion, probably not a good idea. Try not to think about the rewards first, because they may not come to you even though you did a good job. Instead focus first on getting the project done in time and do it well. Recognisation and rewards will come naturally.

How would your portfolio perform if you keep thinking that you will be losing money if you invest and do not dare to press the 'buy' button. Don't be too scared to lose. In the end, you will not take any action and no action means no result.

Try not to worship Money, it should be your least concern. Important thing is to get your work done properly :)

Next time, maybe try to 'let it go', only then you will perform :)

Happy SG50 Singapore!

Happy Birthday Singapore!
Have a super long weekend ahead!