Goals 2015
New year, new goals! For 2015 I have decided to set an easily measurable goal: invest SGD 31,400 within the year. Read on for graphs and details….
December 2014: Monthly update
The year ended and while it did not go exactly according to plan my portfolio still increased by quite a bit over the year. I learned a lot about investing and restructured my portfolio to a proper allocation in 2014. Read on to find out how exactly I fared in 2014!
November 2014: Monthly update
November: my least favorite month. I have no idea why, but nothing exciting ever happens in November. The old year slowly gets wrapped up in the office as the Christmas holidays are coming nearer, most interesting projects are finished and people are starting to relax a little. At least we are spared Europe’s terrible November weather here in Singapore and I am grateful for not having to wait for a tram in the icy snow rain in some European city.
I digress. Back to the topic of this post: November portfolio performance.
October 2014: monthly update
What happened? October just flew past in high speed. A trip to Europe for holiday and visiting friends and family and some work travelling and stress in the office made for a very interesting and fast paced month.
Unfortunately I lost around SGD 420 by missing a flight. I took 39 flights so far this year and was never late for any of them, until I read my itinerary wrong and reached the airport after the plane had departed.
September 2014: Monthly update
September turned out to be a tough month for my little portfolio. The errors of my stock picking past as well as a sinking China market lowered the value of my portfolio quite a bit.
Calculate how much you really earn per hour. Probably less than you think!
Being bored in a long meeting last week I took out my notebook and started an interesting experiment. How much was I really being paid by hour?
At first this seemed like an easy undertaking: everyday I would reach the office at 8:30am and work until 6:30pm. 10 hours per day = 50 hours a week. Certainly dividing my salary by this 50 hours would yield my hourly pay? Man, was I wrong!
Are you on the hedonic treadmill? A cautioning tale of lifestyle inflation
Do you remember your student days? I sure do remember mine! Living of a rather small salary from part time jobs I was happy and content sleeping on a mattress on the floor in my small room of the apartment I shared with two friends. All my belongings fit into 2 large boxes and things were generally good. How much did I spend per month? Probably SGD 800 including rent.
A few years later at the age of 29 things had changed…
August 2014: Monthly update
August was a very happening month for me. Unfortunately the “no-travel August” I was looking forward to in my last monthly update in July did not materialize and I am typing this on a minibus speeding through the Thai countryside. There could be worse business trips though, so I won’t complain. Once again I was proven to be horrible at picking stocks, but came a lot closer to my target allocation.
Review: 4 Online tools to analyze your portfolio. Which one is the best?
I admit it: I am a numbers geek. I just love to track my portfolio and even though I have now started to correct my mistakes of the past and to follow an index investing strategy I am still addicted to see how the markets are moving and how much my portfolio is worth at the moment.
What are the best free tools to track your portfolio online?
July 2014: Monthly update
Some days I feel I should rather write a travel blog: In July I spent 23 days spent on the road, 19 of which in China for business and 4 for a short diving holiday in Bali. While diving with Manta rays in Bali is a priceless experience I also realize that I have been spending way too much for travelling and am looking forward to a no-travel August back home in Singapore.