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?
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.
What a crazy month June was. While I had quite a lot of fun this month, including travels to Cambodia and Bali for Holiday financially speaking it was a very turbulent month. All flights, entertainment and exploring were expensive and on top I had to pay a rather big (by Singaporean standards) tax bill. As expected this month I could not add much money to my portfolio as I decided to pay the tax in a big lump sum instead of going for the zero interest installment payment plan offered to the government. While I know installments are better financially speaking I opted for the psychologically satisfying option of paying everything at once and getting it over with.
Finally! Vanguard Hong Kong has launched three brand new ETFs listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
For those who have read my previous entries, such as getting started investing in Singapore and the guide to Singaporean ETFs know that I really like low cost index funds and investors now have three brand new choices available in Hong Kong.
Dividends are tax free in Singapore? Yes they are, but there are still bad surprises waiting for investors who want to buy some foreign dividend stocks and funds listed on stock exchanges abroad. Let me explain my silly mistakes and hopefully prevent some of you to fall into the same traps.
May was a turbulent month to say the least. Portfolio value increased slightly to SGD 33,176 with the terrible performance of the stocks bought during my silly stock picking days dragging down the overall performance considerably.
The bookshops are full with meters of shelf space containing personal finance and investing books. Unfortunately many of them simply are not worth their money. However, there are 3 time-tested classics which are my absolute favorite books on personal finance and investing.
How to invest your money in Singapore?
I was asking myself this some time back after having decided not to spend all my money on fun & frivolous activities. My first steps were stupid to say the least and I made many silly mistakes including: trying to pick hot stocks to buy, trying to time to market and so on. This is when I realized some more research was in order and I came up with some leading principles which hopefully will work better in the long run.
My ambitious goal: be financially independent by 2027. What does financially independent mean? Passive income covering my costs.
This blog is here to share some of the things I learned and to prevent you from making the very same mistakes I did. Furthermore I have published my goals and a page to track my portfolio.
So let’s jump right in with my small getting started investing in Singapore guide:
Most of all: this is an experiment. I have no idea how it will go. So let’s give it a shot and let’s have fun!