Tea with AK71: A short break.

I have not been blogging for a few days. I did not even look at the stock market.

My portfolio is not a trading one. It is basically one that generates regular and reliable passive income. So, it is not unthinkable to just leave it alone while I take a short break.

I did receive a SMS from my broker today regarding LMIR's rights issue and how much I should transfer to subscribe to it. Other than that, I have been out of touch.

Where did I go the last few days? Here is a clue:

I might be blogging about my trip in my travel blog over the next few weeks. Look out for it. :)

Related post:
No change to my plan as I plan changes to my life.

Year end vacation: Great deals!

If you are still planning to go on that year end vacation and missed NATAS, never fear! There are still great deals around!

As I am also planning year end vacations, I came across a few good deals but you have to book soon as prices tend to increase towards end of the year.


Phuket (3D/2N), second half of November 2011.
Package price for 2 persons: S$584.00
(includes all taxes and fees.)
Airline: JetStar.
Hotel: Burasari Patong (4 star boutique hotel).

Bangkok (3D/2N), second half of November 2011.
Package price for 2 persons: S$647.12
(includes all taxes and fees.)
Airline: JetStar.
Hotel: Baiyoke Sky Hotel (4 star 88 storey high hotel).

Click on the banner to see more good deals!

Book online conveniently.

No service charge for credit card payment. Bon voyage!

Tea with AK71: Travel photos and videos.

Some readers would like to know more about me as a person and the section in the right sidebars "About AK71" was added in response to this particular email from a reader last month:

I read your blogs just recently. They are interesting and informative.

I think it may be good to tell the readers a little more about yourself. I am not looking for specifics but would like to know who we are reading about. For example, your age group, which field you are working in, are you close to retirement, male or female, years in investment? Just generics.

Recently, a fellow blogmaster also gave some suggestions as to how to make my blog more interesting:

Sadly, I do find your blog boring sometimes. Not saying that it isn't good or informative, but sometimes it's akin to reading a newspaper- you know, the same titles again and again.

To me it's not about the colours, but try putting in more creative titles or blog posts about your personal experiences. Charts and news are good but don't talk about them all the time- life isn't just about stocks and making money. Just my point of view.

ASSI has grown rapidly in readership and I might be doing something right but it does not mean that I cannot do better. So, I take all suggestions seriously but I have to think them through.

I am aware that my blog could be quite dry. Well, finance isn't exactly good material for blogbusters (pardon the pun). That's why I started a section "Tea with AK71" where I talk about non-finance matters.  However, I am also trying to stay true to the mission of ASSI and don't want to clutter it up.

Well, I have started another blog, again more accidental than intentional. It will be a blog with some of my travel photos and videos, Travel Photos and Videos. This should give AK71 a less financial flavour and I hope you like it. :)

Planning to travel? Check out ZUJI.

Do I make money from this blog?  I was asked this question recently.  Frankly, I started this blog out of curiosity last Christmas Eve as I was wondering what is this blogging business all about. I've always enjoyed sharing my ideas with friends and family.  So, I guess I've just moved up to the next level with my blog in that I am sharing my ideas with a bigger audience.  Of course, it helps that I actually enjoy writing.

I didn't know I could make money from blogging. However, I did discover quite quickly that there are many ways of making money through a blog, especially for a blog with a strong readership base.  I found out that there are sites which actually charge a membership fee and there are some which charge a fee for subscription (and within the first month of my blog being set up, I actually received an email asking me how much do I charge for subscription and, a little bewildered, I told the writer that it's free).

The most common way to make money from a blog is through ad placements.  For some time now, I've had ads in my blog.  There are companies which would pay according to the number of impressions my blog generates.  There are companies which would only pay if visitors actually click on the ads.  There are companies which would only pay if visitors click on their ads AND actually buy something.

I checked my account with ZUJI recently and found that someone made a purchase and I have been credited with a small percentage as a commission.  It works! 

So, when you plan your future holidays, please click on the ZUJI advertisement banner in my blog's header and see what they have to offer. You get a good deal AND make a small monetary contribution towards my blogging efforts at the same time.  Cool?  Thanks for the support.  :)