Thursday, July 25, 2013

Early Retirement

In the previous Sunday Times, there was an article in the Invest section on living on $35 a day. In it, the writer mentioned a "Mr Money Mustache". It was intriguing. Not the image of a mustache made of money, or the alliteration. But the next line which described this man's credential; retired at the age of 30, currently with a family of 3.

So I harnessed the power of Google and easily found his blog. Just typing "Mr Money" into the mind reader, wrong, search engine and his Web address came out. This guy must be quite something. Apart from his actual blog, there were a couple of links about reviews on him. I've read all about reviews on smartphones, tablets, watches, laptops... But a review on a human being? That's a first for me.

I entered his blog. And it was like a cult (MMM, KKK...?) . He had a strong following, and I could see why. Reading his life story, I was hooked. To retire by 30 and do whatever he wanted, yet not live a spartan lifestyle? That had to be the dream. The new sexy. And I couldn't stop myself from clicking on (or rather, pressing on the tablet). The more I read, the more I wanted to read. He didn't talk about what to invest in, or what to buy. What he mainly posted about was a lifestyle, the art of being prudent. Not a science, an art. The painting was the life, and the brushstrokes the lifestyle. An his life was kind of a masterpiece. The key was not so much to be the best investor, but to save as much as possible. And the "how" to that question is what he is all about. The biggest draw for me? He goes on all about commuting with a bicycle! Finances, and cycling. What better way for the two to intersect!

I could go on and on about his ideology and methods, but a much more effective method would just be to put a hyperlink.

Apart from making me a Mustachian, he gave me thoughts and ideas. Now saving isn't just to get rich, it becomes a challenge to save as much yet still lead a good life. And the stage I am at right now (or will be in a month time) gives me the ideal situation to play this game. The goal? To come up with a better masterpiece than MMM himself. And I've got a pretty good head start right now!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

First trading account

And today marks the day I open my first trading account, and CDP, with CIMB Securities. Why CIMB? That's a very good question.

I was at StanChart, wanting to open an account with them because of the no minimum commission. Or rather, I was there paying for my visa fees, and wanted to open an account at the same time. Turns out, I'm still too young! So much for encouraging people to start investing early...

I left the bank a little disappointed, but being in the CBD there was bound to be another bank that would accept my money. Lo and behold, just across the road was CIMB Securities, so I stepped in and passed my IC to the person who was at the counter before I could change my mind.

While waiting, I thought that maybe I should do a bit more research before opening my maiden account. To put it crudely, it felt like losing my virginity to a prostitute.

Okay fine, it didn't feel like that at all. But you get the drift.

But before I could grab my IC and leave, the broker was with me and started talking to me. Soon I was pulled aside by their assistant and found myself signing so many documents. By the end I couldn't really sign accurately, and I wondered if the person checking the paperwork would realize the differences in my various signatures.

And then I was done! All the other details would be filled up by their lovely assistant, and I would be ready to trade in a few days time! That went much smoother than I expected, and I'd like to think that it's only like this in CIMB. After all, it's my virgin experience ;)

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Random Walk Part 2

I am done with the book, and I must say the author is pretty pessimistic about stock picking. Earlier I mentioned that he is totally against and biased towards technical analysis. I then assumed that he thus belongs to the fundamental analysis camp.

But no! Turns out, fundamental analysis doesn't work out well either, and fails when compared with the control of an index fund. This man is a firm believer of the efficient market theory (the book name is REALLY apt) and always has something to say regarding a criticism of the theory.

So Malkiel says we should all just buy into index funds, for they offer diversification that retails investors usually can't afford. This form of passive investing also reduces all the unnecessary transaction fees, taxes, and other miscellaneous deductions that eat away at your earnings.

Initially, I had nothing against just buying the STI ETF and slowly accumulating it. But upon thinking a little more, I feel that I should be more adventurous, given my risk profile. I'm young, with no dependents, and sufficient income to invest with. I can afford to lose the money, and I can afford to hold the stocks as I have no need for the money at this point. Thus I should take more risk, and seek higher returns. And of course, Malkiel's conviction that it's so impossible to beat the market makes me want to try it all the more. Challenge accepted!

But of course, I still have a long way to go before picking my own stocks. I have to read up more (Bloomberg, Fortune, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, New York Times) and also read about value investing. And I would still want to buy into ETF, but once I am more confident I would set aside an amount for individual, small-cap stocks.

The book also got me thinking about the US market. It is where the world trades, where trade volumes are so much higher, where potential for growth is huge. But this would expose me to exchange-related risks, and also the presence of greater taxation. Still, it's something to KIV.

A Random Walk also introduces the basics of risk and beta, which I felt was a good starting point for a clueless investor. At least I won't be so lost when I see people discussing about betas and alphas. Next up is to understand deltas.

It's only been a few days, but my grand plan has been nudged in a slightly different direction. There's nothing wrong; this is the time to try something different, and learn along the way.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Random Walk

So upon some research on what are some good books to borrow (good meaning time-tested, theories that hold true for decades), I borrowed "A Random Walk Down Wall Street" by Burton G. Malkiel.

I am currently about halfway through the book, and it's apparent that the author is not a fan of technical analysis. There are 2 school of thoughts in the investing world; the first is the firm-foundation theory, which espouses looking at the fundamentals of the firm (growth potential, dividend payouts, risk level, market interest rates). Basically this is what most people would know as fundamental analysis. The second is called castle-in-the-air theory. It means that people may not care about the fundamentals; as long as there are people who believe in buying the stock for a higher price, it would be rational to buy it at the current price, regardless of whether or not the firm is over or undervalued based on the current price. In order to know if the price will rise or fall, they look at past trends and attempt to predict future prices.

According to the author, a buy-and-hold strategy of the indices will tend to do better than technical analysis, after accounting for the transaction costs. My personal feel seems to agree with him, although I have to read more on the other side of the story to make a more informed decision.

And also, eventually there will not be any greater fools to buy the overvalued stock, and that's how crashes happen. So don't be tempted to follow the castle-in-the-air theory, because we will tend to always believe prices will still go up and not knowing when to quit, until it's too late.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The Snowball

Right now I am at the first phase, where investments haven't even begun. I believe the most important thing to do before beginninf is to learn. I'm educating myself by reading, currently from sites on the Internet such as Money Mind from hardwarezone.com. Subsequently I will move on to books that are recommended and on topics that are relevant at this stage.

My expectation of investing is simply to grow my wealth using time. Due to my scholarship, I will probably have excess cash and I plan to use that as my base. The goal is to just grow with the average and not to beat the market, for that would be unnecessary risk that I'm not willing to take as an investor that's just starting out.

My goals? For tangible goals, I hope to have a portfolio size of 200k by the time I am done with my studies. It seems far-fetched, but my future circumstances seem to indicate that this won't be as impossible as it seems for a 24 year old. But it certainly is ambitious. Over the course of 4 years I would only be putting in about 140k, so the rest would have to come from capital growth and reinvestment of dividends. Looking back I may probably laugh at myself, but to the future me I have this to say: Was it that my goal is really impractical, or did I just not work sufficiently hard enough to make it happen? Maybe the joke would be on the future me instead.

My method is simple. As of now I have read a little about the Permanent Portfolio. It seems to match my risk profile and what I am comfortable with, given the lack of knowledge and full understanding of the market at this instance. I hope to follow that, and when my experience and understanding increases, I would like to increase the percentage on equities and to start looking out for individual stocks instead of buying the STI ETF.

I have read about one guy (Dividend Warrior) getting dividends of 1k a month just with a portfolio of slightly less than 200k. If I could get that by the time I start working, my life would look really rosy. It also makes me imagine the possibilities, and the fantastic position I am currently in.

The coming months would be crucial. I need to take concrete actions to push things into motion and get the ball rolling. I would have to read up more to pique my interest and know exactly what I am getting myself into. I need to speak to more people and stand on the shoulders of giants. I need to compound the advantage that I have gained for myself by working hard during my schooling days and choosing this path, and to stay ahead of my peers who are in more prestigious careers.

The wheels have been set in motion. It's time for the snowball to start rolling.

2013

Fast forward 2 years since I made my last post, and so much has changed. I'm not going to update what's happening with my life; that's not the purpose of reviving.

This revival has one purpose for now, and that is to chronicle my investing journey. Apart from looking at how things change in the next few years, it also forces me to make sure I make it a conscious effort to invest. A blog is just one way to make myself accountable. Even if there's no one reading this.

Should anyone read this, I also hope to provide inspiration for them to do their own investing.

I believe the purpose of this blog will change with time, but for now that's it!
1. Chronicle my investing journey and thought processes.
2. Hold myself accountable.

Monday, May 2, 2011

end of this blog's journey

Well seeing as how 01 is now almost non-existent in my day-to-day life and how this blog has been always been about 01, it seems just right to leave this blog where it is. However I will still blog, and this time it will be about my training (at least up till A levels) for triathlons. Just want to keep the 2 segmented, and leave this blog like how it is now: all about my 01 life from Sec 3 to J1.

Feel free to join me over here!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

2011 is in full swing!

schoolwork is picking up, and so is training =)

back from a 4 week hiatus, feels good to be back. this year will be AWESOME

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

new year, new specs, new phone

my glasses finally gave way after it dropped and cracked. seeing as i will be in army in 1 years time, i got an army specs. hopefully i dont look too mugger with it.

and my omnia battery life was about 40 hours on standby, so it was time to get a new phone! was deciding between an army phone for the same reasons stated above, and a smartphone. decided to go with the latter, and what better phone to get than iphone 4 right? i’ve joined the 400000 people in singapore who own an iphone…thats 1 in every 10 persons you meet.

and its a new year! 2011 is here, and i havent really thought of any resolution yet, but an obvious one that comes to mind is to improve on my previous score in every common test, and ultimately have no regrets in As. oh, and also to podium in a race =)

school reopens next week, and im looking forward to getting back into mugging mode! slacked enough this holidays, no more slacking for the next 12 months.

Friday, December 24, 2010

thnks fr th mmrs

its has been a long long 5 years journey. tens of camps, hundreds of nights, thousands of photos, and tons of memories that will stay with me until i turn senile.

after gtc we say its the end, after celes we say its the end, but i think now its really the end. the next few months will be weird, with such a big part of my last 5 years gone. studying and training may fill the time void, but nothing can replace it totally.

it will never be totally over though. once a scout, always a scout. its not that easy to get rid of me =)

suffer your own cheerful devotion

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

the greatest poop story ever written

WARNING!! DISGUSTING STORY AHEAD. STOP READING HERE IF YOU JUST ATE/ARE GOING TO EAT WITHIN 30 MINUTES!!

 

Now, I know that there is a lot of embellishment that
occurs on this group and I am aware that a small
number of things are perhaps sheer fabrication, but I
have a story to tell that is the absolute truth.
Funniest damn thing that has ever happened to me. A
couple of weeks ago we decided to cruise out to Ryan's
Steakhouse for dinner. It was a Wednesday night which
means that macaroni and beef was on the hot bar,
indeed the only night of the week that it is served.
Wednesday night is also kid's night at Ryan's,
complete with Dizzy the Clown wandering from table to
table entertaining the little bastards. It may seem
that the events about to be told have little
connection to those two circumstances, but all will be
clear in a moment.
We went through the line and placed our orders for the
all-you-can-eat hot bar then sat down as far away from
the front of the restaurant as possible in order to
keep the density of kids down a bit. Then I started my
move to the hot bar. Plate after plate of macaroni and
beef were consumed that evening, I tell you - in all,
four heaping plates of the pseudo-Italian ambrosia
were shoved into my belly. I was sated. Perhaps a bit
too much, however.
I had not really been feeling well all day, what with
a bit of gas and such. By the time I had eaten four
overwhelmed plates of food, I was in real trouble.
There was so much pressure on my diaphragm that I was
having trouble breathing. At the same time, the
downward pressure was building. At first I thought it
was only gas, which could have been passed in batches
right at the table without too much concern.
Unfortunately, that was not to be. After a minute or
so it was clear that I was dealing with explosive
diarrhea. It's amazing how grease can make its way
through your intestines far faster than the food which
spawned the grease to begin with, but I digress... I
got up from the table and made my way to the bathroom.
Upon entering, I saw two sinks immediately inside the
door, two urinals just to the right of the sinks, and
two toilet stalls against the back wall. One of them
was a handicapped bathroom. Now, normally I would have
gone to the handicapped stall since I like to stretch
out a bit when I take a good crap. But in this case,
the door lock was broken and the only thing I hate
worse than my wife telling me to stop cutting my
toenails with a pair of diagonal wire-cutters is
having someone walk in on me while I am taking a crap.
I went to the normal stall. In retrospect, I probably
should have gone to the large, handicapped stall even
though the door would not lock because that bit of
time lost in making the stall switch proved to be a
bit too long under the circumstances. By the time I
had walked into the regular stall, the pressure on my
ass was reaching Biblical portions. I began "The
Move."
For those women who may be reading this, let me take a
moment to explain "The Move." Men know exactly what
their bowels are up to at any given second. And when
the time comes to empty the cache, a sequence of
physiological events occur that can not be stopped
under any circumstances. There is a move men make that
involves simultaneously approaching the toilet,
beginning the body turn to position ones ass toward
said toilet, hooking ones fingers into ones waistline,
and pulling down the pants while beginning the squat
at the same time. It is a very fluid motion that, when
performed properly, results in the flawless expulsion
of crap at the exact same second that one’s ass is
properly placed on the toilet seat. Done properly, it
even assures that the choad is properly inserted into
the front rim of the toilet in the event that the piss
stream lets loose at the same time; it is truly a
picture of coordination rivaling that of a skilled
ballet dancer.
I was about halfway into "The Move" when I looked down
at the floor and saw a pile of vomit that had been
previously expelled by one of those little bastards
attending kids night. It was mounded up in the corner
so I did not notice it when I had first walked into
the stall. Normally, I would not have been bothered by
such a thing, but I had eaten so much and the pressure
upward was so intense, that I hit a rarely experienced
gag reflex. And once that reflex started, combined
with the intense pressure upward caused by the bloated
stomach, four plates of macaroni and beef started
coming up for a rematch.
What happened next was so quick that the exact
sequence of events is a bit fuzzy, but I will try to
reconstruct them as best I can. In that moment of
impending projectile vomiting, my attention was
diverted from the goings-on at the other end. To put a
freeze frame on the situation, I was half crouched
down to the toilet, pants pulled down to my knees,
with a load of vomit coming up my esophagus.
Now, most of you know that vomiting takes precedence
over crap no matter what is about to come slamming out
of your ass. It is apparently an evolutionary thing
since crapping will not kill you, but vomiting takes a
presence of mind to accomplish so that you do not
aspirate any food into the bronchial tubes and perhaps
choke to death. My attention was thus diverted. At
that very split second, my ass exploded in what can
only be described as a wake...you know, as in a
newspaper headline along the lines of "30,000 Killed
In Wake of Typhoon Fifi" or something similar. In what
seemed to be most suitably measured in cubic feet, an
enormous plug of crap the consistency of thick mud
with embedded pockets of greasy liquid came flying out
of my ass.
But remember, I was only halfway down on the toilet at
that moment. The crap wave was of such force, and of
just such an angle in relation to the back curve of
the toilet seat, that it ricocheted off the back of
the seat and slammed into the wall - at an angle of
incidence equal to the angle at which it initially hit
the toilet seat. Then I sat down. Recall that when
that event occurred, I was already halfway to sitting
anyway and had actually reached the point of no
return. I have always considered myself as relatively
stable gravitationally, but when you get beyond a
certain point, you're going down no matter how limber
you may be. Needless to say, the crap wave, though of
considerable force, was not so sufficient so as to
completely glance off the toilet seat and deposit
itself on the walls - unlike what you would see when
hitting a puddle with a high-pressure water hose; even
though you throw water at the puddle, the puddle gets
moved and no water is left to re-form a puddle. There
was a significant amount of crap remaining on about
one-third of the seat rim which I had now just
collapsed upon.
Now, back to the vomit...
While all the crapping was going on, the vomit was
still on its way up. By the time I had actually
collapsed on the toilet, my mouth had filled up with a
goodly portion of the macaroni and beef I had just
consumed. OK, so what does the human body
instinctively do when vomiting? One bends over. So I
bent over. I was still sitting on the toilet, though.
Therefore, bending over resulted in me placing my head
above my now slightly-opened legs, positioned in
between my knees and waist. Also directly above my
pants which were now pulled down to a point just
midway between my knees and my ankles. Oh, did I
mention that I was wearing not just pants, but
sweatpants with elastic on the ankles. In one mighty
push, some three pounds of macaroni and beef, two or
three Cokes, and a couple of Big, Fat Yeast Rolls were
deposited in my pants...on the inside...with no ready
exit at the bottom down by my feet. In the next
several seconds, there were a handful of farts, a
couple of turds, and the event ended. Yet I was now
sitting there with my pants full of vomit, my back
covered in crap that had bounced off the toilet,
spattered on three ceramic-tiled walls to a height of
about five feet, and still had enough force to come
back at me, covering the back of my shirt with
droplets of liquid crap. All while thick crap was
spread all over my ass in a ring curiously in the
shape of a toilet seat.
And there was no ****ing toilet paper. What could I do
but laugh. I must have sounded like a complete maniac
to the guy who then wandered into the bathroom. He
actually asked if I was OK since I was laughing so
hard I must have sounded like I was crying
hysterically. I calmed down just enough to ask him if
he would get the manager. And told him to have the
manager bring some toilet paper. When the manager
walked in, he brought the toilet paper with him, but
in no way was prepared for what happened next. I
simply told him that there was no way I was going to
explain what was happening in the stall, but that I
needed several wet towels and I needed him to go ask
my wife to come help me. I told him where we were
sitting and he left. At that point, I think he was
probably assuming that I had pissed just a bit in my
pants or something similarly benign.
About two minutes later, my wife came into the
bathroom not knowing what was wrong and with a certain
amount of worry in her voice. I explained to her
(still laughing and having trouble getting out words)
that I had a slight accident and needed her help.
Knowing that I had experienced some close calls in the
past, she probably assumed that I had laid down a
small turd or something and just needed to bring the
car around so we could bolt immediately. Until I asked
her, I'm sure she had no idea that she was about to go
across the street and purchase me new underwear, new
socks, new pants, a new shirt, and (by that time due
to considerable leakage around the elastic ankles
thingies) new sneakers. And she then started to laugh
herself since I was still laughing. She began to ask
for an explanation as to what had happened when I
promised her that I would tell her later, but that I
just needed to handle damage control for the time
being. She left.
The manager then came back in with a half-dozen wet
towels and a few dry ones. I asked him to also bring a
mop and bucket upon which he assured me that they
would clean up anything that needed to be cleaned.
Without giving him specific details, I explained that
what was going on in that stall that night was far in
excess of what I would expect anyone to deal with,
what with most of the folks working at Ryan's making
minimum wage of just slightly above. At that moment, I
think it dawned on him exactly the gravity of the
situation. Then that manager went so far above the
call of duty that I will be eternally grateful for his
actions. He hooked up a hose. Fortunately, commercial
bathrooms are constructed with tile walls and tile
floors and have a drain in the middle of the room in
order to make clean up easy. Fortunately, I was in a
commercial bathroom. He hooked up the hose to the
spigot located under the sink as I began cleaning
myself up with the wet towels.
Just as I was finishing, my wife got back with the new
clothes and passed them into the stall, whereupon I
stuffed the previously worn clothing into the plastic
bag that came from the store, handing the bag to my
wife. I finished cleaning myself off and carefully put
on my new clothes, still stuck in the stall since I
figured that it would be in bad taste to go out of the
stall to get redressed, in the event I happened to be
standing there naked and some little bastard kid
walked in. At that point, I had only made a mess; I
had not yet committed a felony and intended to keep it
that way.
When I finished getting dressed, I picked up the hose
and cleaned up the entire stall, washing down the
remains toward the drain in the center of the room. I
put down the hose and walked out of the bathroom. I
had intended to go to the manager and thank him for
all he had done, but when I walked out, three of the
management staff were there to greet me with a
standing ovation. I started laughing so hard that I
thought I was going to throw up again, but managed to
scurry out to the car where my wife was now waiting to
pick me up by the front door.
The upshot of all this is that I strongly recommend
eating dinner at Ryan's Steak House. They have, by
far, the nicest management staff of any restaurant in
which I have eaten.

dreams

What does it mean when you dream that someone is peeing on you…? Keep having weird dreams recently…

Sunday, December 12, 2010

5k tt

went for the 5k tt at macritchie, and it was pain indeed. did well in it, and for that i’m happy! hope to see improvements in future TTs

Monday, December 6, 2010

scms volunteer

yesterday was singapore’s biggest running event, and I was part of it as a volunteer! first time volunteering for such events, and it wasn’t how i expected it to be.

the event officially started at 12.30am for volunteers as we had to get down to our areas and set up our aid station. most of the time from then till 3+ was spent playing asshole taiti (which im pretty good at!) with the rest of the dudes and dudettes who signed up with me. 30 minutes after the marathon started at 5am, it was busy all the way! runners just came and went, most grabbing a cup of 100 plus that we had to prepare. and we found out why they told us to come in dark coloured bermudas…not a nice way to find out though.

after the marathon people, we stoned for quite a while and then the 10k people started. even though there was about half the number of runners, we had to fill 2x the number of drinks. sounds weird, but true.

by the end of it, everything was drenched in 100 plus and sticky, even my shoes. staying under a tent in the padang that was getting cooked by the sun didn’t help too. but it was worth it, seeing the elites running by so quickly, and hearing “thanks” from the runners who desperately needed their drinks.

would i do this sort of volunteering again? probably. i’ll choose a smaller event though, and a different job.

oh and saying something a 100 times really makes it sound weird! good job, 100 plus!

Sunday, December 5, 2010

gtc

after 1 whole year, gtc is over and now only a bit more to go until 5 years of scouting comes to a close officially =)

even after 3.5 times of going to gtc, it still amazes me what it can do to your body and your mind. the distances were anything but short (85km in 3 days for me!) Even with precautions taken, I still got injuries in weird places but with a strong will can block these pain out. And of course hiok’s nappy rash cream =) everyone should bring it!! compulsory item in individual packlist

even though a number of people dropped out, i think its still super amazing that sec 1s can complete gtc, carrying a bag almost 1/4 their weight and hiking distances they never thought possible. i don’t think my sec 1 gtc was as tough, although carrying 6 loafs of bread around is quite a challenge

and lastly to all juniors reading this: all the best for your future years in 01! remember what you all learnt in gtc

initiative, sense of urgency, care and concern for others!

Monday, November 22, 2010

we have an answer!

yes we do! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelf_life#Best_before

I WAS RIGHT!

best before/use by

hey! i just just heard this cool thing on muttons on the move on 987 and they were discussing about food labels. one of them (either justin or vernon) was saying that he thinks that there is a difference between “best before” and “expiry date” or “use by”. And that is EXACTLY WHAT I THINK SO TOO!

See there must be some reason why there is this distinction, and why every single food label is not using the same phrase. I think that if something says best before, it means that you can still eat it after that date, but it just wont taste as good. However if it says use by, it means the food will turn bad after that date.

Food for thought. =)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

century and more

did my longest ride today, 116km. and i hit the wall for the first time too! it didnt feel very nice, and it just came suddenly. at least now i know how it feels like and what to expect if i hit the same wall again.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

dear pw

please just end and give me my holidays!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

abbcc

School is gonna end soon, and so is PW =) Last 3 weeks to go before its sayonara to this horrible subject.

Got back results on Monday, and I must say I’m very pleased! Did much better than expected, even though I didn’t study as hard as others. Can’t get complacent though…

01 is resuming again, and its the last stretch already. Next year will be suuper free, unless I decide to take H3 which I am considering. Hopefully it will be a decision I don’t regret.

And don’t you just hate it when people are overly sensitive?