Our One Year Journey as Parents

For most, 2020 was a year when the world turned upside down. LITERALLY. This was mainly contributed by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, volatility in the market, economy and job security. For the Mrs and I, 2020 was the year we welcomed our LO into the world. One of my close friends even joked that she was a Circuit Breaker (CB) baby. I think Singaporeans will get that pun. Time has flown so quickly that our resume now also reads ‘One year experience in parenting’. 

Babies really grow very quickly. Our LO constantly looked different as the weeks went by and she was always hitting new developmental milestones. Our optimistic takeaway from Covid-19 was the time we got to spend with family and seeing our LO’s development. 

As a year old parent, I must say it is not easy. Expenses will rise (I will cover this in-depth in another post) and you probably won’t have any free time for yourself. This is all worth it when you see your LO’s smile and they crawl/stumble up towards you demanding a hug. 

As a husband and a first time father, I tried my best to help out in whatever I could. Doing the chores around the house, preparing meals etc. Most importantly, looking after the Mrs. ‘It takes a village to raise a child’, and I think we are fortunate enough to be living with my parents and there are extra pairs of eyes and hands to help take care of our LO. With that in mind, I always told the Mrs that my priority was to take care of her and nurse her back to health after (a supposed worry-free) pregnancy. Always be ready to listen and try and understand your partner’s rationale/worries. 

I think the Mrs has also influenced me during this period in a positive way. I had the thought that bringing the LO to places of attractions etc were a waste of money because she probably will not remember anything. But over some time, I understood that we are experiencing new things with our LO and this little exposure aids in her development in so many different ways. So have an open mind as parents. 

This one year journey has had its ups and downs. There were times when our LO was wailing at 2-3am and refused to be placed in bed. There were also times when we saw her stand up unassisted or pull her favourite storybook and plop herself on our lap demanding to be read to. I think the Mrs and I are looking forward to the year ahead with our LO and seeing what tricks she is going to pull. Nonetheless, if you are a young parent and read until here, I just want to give you a word of encouragement and do not give up. All your efforts are worth it. 

Share with me any thoughts or comments that you may have on parenting! Stay safe everyone!

On a separate note, I have started a YouTube Channel showcasing my hobbies. If you are interested, you can watch my latest video here! Any feedback, subscriptions or comments is deeply appreciated!

My YouTube Channel: LINK HERE!

My Instagram: LINK HERE!

SG FI Dad, out

SGFIDAD’s 1Q2021 Review

The first quarter of 2021 has passed and it is time to take a step back and review our progress thus far. With the COVID-19 situation being more or less controlled here in Singapore and workplace arrangements gradually returning to normal, I foresee myself being more busy and possibly having less time to constantly review and upkeep our portfolio. I think maintaining a quarterly review hits the sweet spot and it will be good to periodically remind ourselves where we are now and what is needed to reach our goals.

For those who are new here (hi there and thanks for stopping by!), our investment approach is relatively hands-off. This means we generally just DCA into selected counters at a fixed period every month. 

The US market has been relatively volatile the last few weeks and I think I was disappointed that I did not take that opportunity to enter some of the ETF counters that I have been monitoring. Nonetheless, we will be more ‘active’ on that front as we have decided that we will be slightly more aggressive this year.

On the cryptocurrency front, I have decided to carve out a small amount every month or two to enter the crypto space. I will highlight more details on this in a future post. Personally, this hasn’t been my first foray into cryptocurrency but I will tell this story another time. Currently, crypto takes up less than 1% of our portfolio.

In total, we received $477.38 from our dividends and interests for the first 3 months of 2021. That works out to just under $160 per month. As mentioned in our earlier post, this is definitely under our goal of $200 per month from alternate income. Based on our monitoring and projections, we understand where our shortfall is and will look to supplement them in the coming months.

Career wise, I’m glad to see that the Mrs continues to do well in her appraisal and performance. On my end, I’m trying to improve my skill sets and maybe take a couple of upgrading courses to better understand data and visual analytics. I’m pretty certain that these are going to be the basic requirements in the future and it’s going to be beneficial to learn these asap.

Hobby wise, I am thankful that the wife continues to be supportive and allows me the time and space to pursue these. I have continued to put out a couple of videos per week taking a break whenever I need to. Flipping of cards has been quite the experience and I will detail my account in a future post as this has been too recent. If any of you are interested, check out the links below and I welcome any feedback!

Share with me any thoughts or comments that you may have! Stay safe everyone!

I have started a YouTube Channel showcasing my hobbies. If you are interested, you can watch my latest video here! Any feedback, subscriptions or comments is deeply appreciated!

My YouTube Channel: LINK HERE!

My Instagram: LINK HERE!

Thank You! An Appreciation Note

Wow! This blog has reached more than 10,000 views and it still amazes me. I just want to take this time to thank and appreciate everyone who has ever viewed this blog. For taking that few minutes out of your busy day and reading the bits of content that I put out. Also, thank you to everyone for has ever commented or provided feedback in one way or another. I started this blog to record my family’s journey towards Financial Independence and I see all the comments and interactions as a learning opportunity to better myself. 

Maintaining this blog is definitely not easy and I really salute all the bigger sites on the Singapore Financial arena who constantly push out knowledgeable and relevant content. This requires as much discipline as maintaining one’s savings and doing investments. 

The past 8-9 months blogging has mostly been enjoyable and I will continue to improve myself and the content that is published. I’m am also eagerly looking forward to the next milestone and the experience in between.

Share with me any thoughts and comments that you may have! Stay safe everyone!

On a separate note, I have started a YouTube Channel showcasing my hobbies. If you are interested, you can watch my latest video here! Any feedback, subscriptions or comments is deeply appreciated!

My YouTube Channel: LINK HERE!

My Instagram: LINK HERE!

SG FI Dad, out

My Experience Flipping Collectible Cards

 

        A totally irrelevant example of flipping. 

I rekindled a childhood hobby this year after a few months of lurking and watching fellow hobbyists open packs of Pokémon cards. Pokémon cards has been all the rage recently and some of them even sell for 6-figure sums. 

When I told the Mrs that I would like to go back into this hobby, she had a simple condition for me: an annual spending cap of $200. In the back of my mind I was going ‘Siao liao, I can’t buy anything noteworthy or nice.’ 

I did my research and watched a few videos reviewing some upcoming sets. The hype and demand for these were insatiable and a plan was hatched. 

A buddy of mine accompanied me on launch day to queue and purchase boxes at retail. (The queue was insane and also indicated to me that there was pent up demand for this product). I sold those that I didn’t need at a marked up price and used this proceeds to fund my own collection. This may not be the healthiest way to go about in this hobby and I’m not promoting scalping. But when demand far outstrips supply, the market reacts this way. 

I was willing and able to do this because my collection is focused. I wasn’t crazy about opening packs or doing box breaks. I knew what I wanted and worked towards it. All this were a means to an end. Some collectors may or may not agree with my approach. 

Another plan I had was to conduct some sales of cards over Facebook groups or platforms like Carousell for cards which I didn’t need in my collection. And this further added some much required funds for my collection.

My personal experience so far has been positive and I will continue to see how I can best manage this hobby within this spending cap. The people in Singapore's Pokémon community are mostly friendly and approachable. 

Share your thoughts and comments with me if you collect Pokémon cards or other collectibles! Stay safe everyone!

On a separate note, I have started a YouTube Channel showcasing my hobbies. If you are interested, you can watch my latest video here! Any feedback, subscriptions or comments is deeply appreciated!

My YouTube Channel: LINK HERE!

My Instagram: LINK HERE!

SG FI Dad, out.

Side Hustle Project: YouTube Channel

 YouTube has been around since 2005 and is widely used by everyone. From gaming to cooking videos, this platform has a plethora of content creators ready to suit anyone's needs. But the question here is, can you make money off "YouTubing"?

The short and simple answer is "Maybe". Most of us who use YouTube frequently enough, know that there are large channels with few thousands to few million subscribers and their videos usually chalk up crazy amounts of views. Content creators on YouTube earn revenue when they become YouTube Partners and their content qualifies for monetisation. So those ads you see placed at the start and in between your videos, that is where the money is made.

Now for someone to even qualify for the YouTube Partnership Program, there are a few criteria that needs to be met: 1) Minimum of 1000 subscribers 2) 4000 watch hours. Only after reaching these benchmarks would YouTube extend an invitation out for your channel and content to be reviewed for partnership.

In my personal opinion, the initial impetus for creating a YouTube channel should not be for revenue. If so, your channel will become dry of new content very quickly and you probably just give up. For myself, my channel serves as an area for me to document for journey into my various hobbies and to connect with others in the community. With the right mindset, you will probably last longer doing this and hopefully, in the long run, it can generate some side income for you. 

So that's why my answer is a "maybe". The hours that go into filming your content, editing and rendering is long and tedious. For those that are on the fence about doing so, my advice would be to just go ahead and get your first video out. The inertia and initial experience will always be awkward. But if you never try, you never know.

If you are interested, you can check out my channel here. Any feedback, comment or subscription is deeply appreciated.

SG FI Dad, out

Goals for 2021

 It is typical for anyone to have resolutions and goals for the new year. I am like any normal person and have set my sights on certain goals to be completed for 2021. The saying goes 'If you fail to plan, you plan to fail'. More importantly for me, incremental goals help me get some small wins and keeps my wife and I motivated on this journey.

Health related:

Lose 5kg and lower my blood cholesterol levels.

Both guys and girls struggle with body image issues. Recently with our LO around, it has been more difficult to find time for workouts. When I went for a recent health check-up, the nurse told me that my 'bad' cholesterol was on the upper range limit. This was a first and a wake-up call. No point doing so much financially but not staying healthy to reap the benefits in the future. My wife and I will be looking to workout at least 3 times a week in the upcoming year.

Precious Metals:

Add >1 oz of gold; Add >30oz of silver

Just a little hobby of mine. Gold and silver here includes graded and non-graded precious metals, bars and coins. Kinda see this as a hedge and having the physical metal to hold is just different from having it on 'paper'.

Investment related:

Continue with DCA strategy with new exposures; Increase CPF top-ups; Increase SRS top-ups.

We are going to continue with our DCA strategy but look for more areas that may have growth. In the upcoming year, we will also look to top-up our CPF and SRS accounts for investment and tax-deduction purposes.

That is some of the goals that we have set for ourselves this year. I will update accordingly every quarter and monitor our progress.

PSA, if you missed out last year, Google Pay will give you $3 cashback after your first transaction. Use it to transfer money to your family and friends weekly to earn more! Click here to get started!

SG FI Dad, out.

2020 Wrap-up

 What a year 2020 has been. Honestly, I think this year epitomizes the meaning of trials and tribulations. It was the year my wife and I welcomed our LO into our lives and she has been a bundle of joy and energy. But the year has also been challenging with the pandemic and changes to our working arrangements and environment. We are just thankful and hopeful that as we enter into 2021, the situation around us will improve and we will progress steadily towards normalcy.

We received $1135.84 this year in dividends. As we move towards 2021, we are looking to double this amount which would mean receiving ~$200 per month. Honestly, this is just one part of our portfolio and we do not mind the slow and steady progress (as long as there is progression).

We also did some tax optimization by doing some CPF voluntary top-ups. I am grateful that my wife sees value in doing this and planning for our family's future. She has made this journey towards financial security and eventually/hopefully independence is made easier and more enjoyable.

We will be going on a staycation sometime next month and will be doing a mini family-finance retreat as part of it. I am still working on the worksheets that will be made available to everyone who is interested. I feel that as a couple, if we understand what are each other's strengths and weaknesses when it comes to financial planning and spending patterns, it will make the relationship a lot stronger.

In my next post, I will be updating on our 2021 investment direction and strategy. No we won't be going into active trading but we are looking at stocks and ETFs that will grant us some growth and overseas exposure.

Here's wishing that everyone stays safe and healthy as we usher in the New Year!

SG FI Dad, out.