My net worth rises to S$1.83 million after CPF contributions, dividends, savings from salary and due to recovery of S-Reits investments. Net Worth Breakdown: Safe Heavens (63%) CPF (36%): CPF is the bedrock of my retirement savings and constitutes the bulk of my wealth. I am comfortable with letting the funds in CPF idle and have no plan to invest them. Earlier, I have shared the 8 key changes to CPF in 2025. Cash and war chest (17%): Liquid reserves strategically stashed in fixed deposits and Fullerton cash funds, earning around 3% p.a. This financial cushion provi ..read more

Here is an update of my investment portfolios for Feb 2025. My SGX Income Portfolio value decreases to $372k from $387k. S-Reits and property stocks remain feeble as Donald Trump’s inflationary actions from the impose of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China goods lead the market to be fearful of prolonged high interest rate environment and diminishing chances of rate cuts this year. This will severely erode the bottom line and distributions of S-Reits. Local banks have announced their awesome results and higher dividends but are expected to experience tapered growth or even declines in profits ..read more

      My net worth in Feb 2025 remains fairly stable at S$1.82 million after CPF contributions, dividends and savings from salary. Net Worth Breakdown: Safe Heavens (63%) CPF (36%): As the foundation of my retirement savings, my CPF accounts has been boosted by more than $20k of interests credited on the 1 Jan 2025. I have shared the 8 key changes to CPF earlier. Cash and war chest (17%): Liquid reserves strategically stashed in fixed deposits and Fullerton cash funds, earning around 3% p.a. This financial cushion provides me with a peace of ..read more

Today, the share price of DBS (SGX:D05) surged by more than $1 or 2% after announcement of $2.52 billion Q4 24 earnings, record high full year profit of $11.29 billion, $0.60 quarterly dividend per share and $0.15 quarterly capital return for next 3 years. I pounced on the fear of missing out motivation to nibble some more DBS shares using idle SRS funds. There it goes. Ideally, I would prefer to add DBS at below $40 however it is very challenging to time the market.  Even at $46, DBS has a forward yield of more than 6.5% assuming annual dividend of $3 (inclusive of 4 quarters of $0.6 ..read more

Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE). It's a catchy acronym, a tantalizing dream, and a lifestyle that's captured the imaginations of countless individuals seeking freedom from the traditional 9-to-5 grind. But FIRE isn't a one-size-fits-all approach.  Just like snowflakes, no two FIRE journeys are exactly alike.  This article dives into the diverse landscape of FIRE, exploring the different flavors and helping you discover which might be the best fit for your aspirations. The Classic: Lean FIRE Lean FIRE is often the starting point for many. It emphasizes aggressive saving a ..read more

A month has passed in the new year and today is already 1 Feb 2025. Here is an update of my investment portfolios. My SGX Income Portfolio value inches up to $387k from $377k. S-Reits and property stocks in the Portfolio remain sluggish as the Federal Reserve has indicated a more conservative approach for 2025, projecting only 2 rate cuts instead of the previously anticipated 4. Current high interest rate environment is expected to prolong and erode the bottom line and distributions of S-Reits while allowing local banks to stay resilient by sustaining high net interest margins and the market p ..read more

  Happy Lunar New Year! I topped up $3k into my mum's CPF Retirement Account today. The transaction and RA account balance are updated instantly in my mum CPF statement. In my CPF Retirement dashboard, my tax relief is also reflected instantly. Let me share 5 great reasons why CPF Retirement Account top up can be great ang baos. 1. Tax Relief For personal financial objective, we could enjoy tax relief of up to $8k per calendar year for topping up our parent's CPF Retirement Account under the Retirement Sum Top Up (RSTU) scheme. Assuming a tax bracket at 11%, a relief of $8k w ..read more

    I just topped up $1k into my CPF Medisave Account (MA) today.  An early Ang Bao to myself from left hand to right hand. My CPF MA balance now stands at $73,703.73, $1,796.27 away from the Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS) of $75.5k for 2025. As my idle cash are stashed away in money market funds yielding more than 3% daily interest and being staked for selling cash secured put options, I plan to wait for the next CPF contributions from employment in Feb 25, before topping up my CPF MA to BHS using free money from dividends. The key benefits of voluntary CPF MA top up are ..read more

     This is my first net worth update of year 2025. Due to the boost from CPF interests, dividends and a change in accounting my SRS account to reflect the market value instead of cost, my net worth reaches a record high of S$1.83 million. Net Worth Breakdown: Safe Heavens (62%) CPF (35%): As the foundation of my retirement savings, my CPF accounts has been boosted by more than $20k of interests credited on the 1 Jan 2025. I have shared the 8 key changes to CPF earlier. Cash and war chest (17%): Liquid reserves strategically stashed in fixed deposit ..read more

  Happy New Year 2025!  Interests earned in 2024 have been credited to our CPF accounts today.  As the CPF website is on maintenance from 12am to 8am today, the first thing I did after waking up is to check my CPF balances. Pleased to receive more than $20k of free money! Another important step in the journey towards financial freedom and retirement. Even though CPF monies do not seem to be like real monies, I believe they are still illiquid monies that can be used to fund our retirement in our late lives, purchase properties, pay for education fees of children and pay medical ..read more