An important message from AK as ASSI turns 5.

It was on Christmas Eve of 2009 that ASSI was born out of boredom and curiosity. Yes, it has been 5 years! 5 incredible years of (mostly) happy blogging!

The journey has not been all smooth sailing but we have had many more days of good weather than bad. The stormy days were made more bearable because of the kind words of encouragement from many of you and that kept me going. You know who you are. So, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As we celebrate my blog's 5th birthday, I wish to remind everyone that most of us in Singapore will be able to find financial freedom using some common sense and following some tried and tested principles in personal finance and investment.

Regular readers will know that this is true and some have shared with me that their savings, investments and passive income have grown tremendously in the last few years. New readers who hoped to find some mysterious get rich fast method in my blog have been disappointed or so I was told but to those who have decided to become income investors, I am hopeful that all will find success.

There were also readers and guest bloggers who have contributed comments and guest blogs, respectively. They have shared their experience and shown us how they were able to achieve or work towards financial freedom as well. So, if you are among those still wondering, please remember that financial freedom is not just a dream.

As we celebrate the festive season and be charitable to those who need help most, we want to be reminded that nobody cares more about our money than we do. The blog post that received the most "Likes" this year in ASSI is one example of how we should give more thought to how we treat our money.

Which blog post am I referring to? This one:

FREE Investment Linked Policies or Term Life Policies?

Share the link to the blog post and it might be one of the best presents to give to your friends and family this festive season.

"... what makes sense for the investor is different from what makes sense for the fund manager. And, as usual in human affairs, what determines the behaviour are incentives for the decision maker." Charlie Munger

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Related posts:
1. ASSI turns 4.
2. Retiring before 60 is not a dream.
3. Nobody cares more about our money than we do.

Tea with EY: Get a lifetime income of >$2K a month.

I am very pleased to publish another thoughtful guest blog by EY. If you are concerned about retirement funding adequacy and if you wonder how it could be achieved in a risk free manner, you should read this:

What can we learn from squirrels?

A big part of my retirement planning revolves around optimising my CPF-SA to generate at least $2,000 of monthly cash flow at 65 years old. With this in mind, I set the target at 32 years old to meet the CPF Minimum Sum by 40.

I hit 40 more than a week ago and have managed to accumulate $161,671.23 in my CPF-SA which coincides with the CPF Minimum Sum of $161,000 effective 1 Jul 2015.

Assuming that I continue to contribute $4,800 (based on approx. 14 months of income) to CPF-SA till 55 years old, my CPF-SA balance would grow to $391,833 by then.

In 15 years’ time at 55, I would expect the CPF Minimum Sum to be adjusted to $200,000. After setting aside this amount in the CPF-RA account to participate in the CPF LIFE plan, I would have $191,833 left in my CPF-SA.

If I stop contributing to my CPF-SA at 55 years old and leave the balance to earn 4% interest, my CPF-SA would have grown to $285,991 at 65 years old.

At 4% interest, I could collect $11,652 per year or $971 per month, without touching the principal amount.

For the CPF-LIFE plan, I intend to participate in CPF LIFE Basic which allows me to leave a larger bequest for my family. With $200,000 in RA at 55 years old, the monthly payout at the draw down age (DDA), currently at 65, is $1,316 - $1,467.

This would mean I would have a life time monthly income of $2,287 - $2,438 each month.

When I kick the bucket, my family will receive the following bequest:

Now, the pertinent question – ‘Would $2,000+ of income a month be sufficient to meet my retirement needs in 25 years’ time?

I don’t know. Really. What I do know is not putting all my humpty dumpties in one basket. Besides this fixed income plan, I will be actively building up other income sources.

Related posts:
1. Level 1 financial security for Singaporeans.
2. The best insurance to have in life (is passive income).
3. Millionaire or not, plan early for retirement.

Get a 75% price discount on a smoked turkey sandwich!

I really like having smoked turkey breast sandwiches but they are usually quite pricey.

Whenever I am in the supermarket, I would check out the cold cuts and see if there are some special offer items. If we don't mind eating stuff which are expiring in 2 or 3 days, we can usually get rather good deals. For example,

Eat by 25 Dec 14, Christmas Day!

Half price! What a deal!

Of course, it was not the first time I bought this product at half price from Cold Storage supermarkets. Just trying to create an air of excitement here. Yeah!

This brand has a good selection of cold cuts but I like the smoked turkey breast the most. I like to think that it is the healthiest option there is. See?

99% fat free and has the healthier lifestyle stamp!

Anyway, this is about 200 grams of turkey and is enough for me to make 4 sandwiches, each with 2 slices of meat.

If you are interested, here is the list of ingredients to make the sandwiches with:

1. 200 grams of smoked turkey breast. $4.75.
2. 8 slices of Gardenia wholemeal bread. $1.65.
3. A small cucumber. About $0.40.
4. 4 slices of cheese. About $0.80.
5. Some trans fat free margarine. $?.??.

Packed and ready to go!

Each gourmet sandwich would cost less than $2.00 to make but you would have to be like me and not mind having the same thing for breakfast and lunch. However, if you are making breakfast or lunch for the whole family, this is not an issue.

Biting into my lunch!

We can have "atas" food without the "atas" prices.

Related post:
Gourmet sandwich by AK Deli.

Grow some plants that bring wealth and good luck?

It has been quite a while since I had my own outdoor space at home. Today, I went to a plant nursery to get myself a few potted plants to start populating my new pad. Here are two of them:

They look quite cheery, don't you think?

I chose these plants because they don't need much care. Perfect for me. However, they do need to be in a bright and preferably shaded location or so I was told. Perfect for the outdoor space I have at home since it doesn't get any direct sunlight.

The one in the blue pot is a Dracaena Fragrans while the one in the black pot is a Pachira. The one in the blue pot is also known as an Iron Tree in Asia. When an Iron Tree flowers, it will bring good luck to the owner. So, I hope it flowers.

I kept an Aloe Vera plant that grew to be a giant before and it flowered multiple times. If you are new to my blog, see the related post at the end of this blog post to look at the photos I took of the Aloe Vera plant before.

The Dracaena Fragrans is also an organic air purifier. Apparently, it removes pollutants such as formaldehyde, xylene and toluene. I am not a chemist. So, don't ask me for details but they sound like nasty stuff. Source: NASA Clean Air Studies.

The Pachira plant is believed to bring wealth and is also known as the Money Tree. It also cleans the air of smoke. Anyone here living or working with smokers? Go get a Pachira plant.

I just found out that it could grow to be 15 feet tall although the size of its pot could limit its growth. Oh, dear. I could be in trouble if mine grows much bigger. I better be mentally prepared. Source: Care for Pachira plants.

Now, I have another thing to do on Sundays apart from the laundry.
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UPDATE: 19 FEB 2017
My Money Tree today:

Compare to the photo at the top of the blog and you will see how much it has grown in just 2 years.
Also read: Know our goals, have the right conditions and patience.
Related post:
AK's Aloe Vera plant flowered?