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.
June 2014: Monthly update
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.
Three new ETFs launched by Vanguard in Hong Kong
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.
Why it is a bad idea to invest in some foreign dividend stocks from Singapore (withholding taxes)
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 2014: Monthly update
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.