Breadtalk, Old Chang Kee and QAF Limited.

I avoided buying Breadtalk's stock for a long time, probably for as long as I avoided buying their bread and I definitely have never bought their "fresh" soya bean milk before. All so expensive.

Yes, I know. AK is very giamsiap. Terrible!





A very high PE ratio and gearing makes the stock unpalatable. 

To make it even less attractive, the dividend is peanuts. 

Give shareholders only enough money to buy some bread, maybe.

However, I revealed that I nibbled at Breadtalk on price weakness during the last "Evening with AK and friends". Why har?





Reader:
Sir, there is one thing that puzzled me. You mentioned that you bought Breadtalk, but this seems contrary to certain principles which you always talk about. 

For example, the stock doesn't seem cheap, seeing that the PE of 44 is near its 5-year high. 

Second, the stock doesn't give very high dividends (you already explained this point). 

It is the first point that puzzles me, since you have always talked about buying an asset when it is cheap. How come this time it is different leh?





Assi AK:
If cash flow from ops is strong and CAPEX reduces, earnings will improve.

BT has strong CF... CAPEX needs to come down and if/when it does, earnings will go up and PER will improve. 

They could pay better dividend then. 

Not for the pure income investor.

Tsk, tsk...

Not for the purist income investor, to be sure, it is a smallish long position for me.

Consistent with my philosophy (remember "the pyramid") and to put things in perspective, it accounts for less than 1% of my portfolio.

Related posts:
1. Old Chang Kee versus Breadtalk
(Why AK prefers OCK to Breadtalk?)
2. QAF Limited.
(If you like bread, QAF is yummier!)
3. Bought cheaper bread on BREXIT!
(AK bought more at $1.03 a share.)

A good wife worries about retirement adequacy.

A recent conversation with a reader:

Reader says...

I have been a silent reader mostly for several years now. 

And i am ashamed to say that i now feel like i have not learned well from your blog, and am caught in this situation where i just do not know if i should bite the loss of almost 15k, or just continue with the plan i bought from my FA. 

Hence, I am writing to hear your advice.




I am 34 years old and my other half is 36... purchased a Retire Happy plan last year. 

My husband purchased it mainly because of me.

I was doing a review of this plan and chanced upon your words of wisdom on this Retire Happy. 

And then i realised that i might as well have topped up my own CPF account.




What should i do now?

Even though its my hubby's money, it is foolish to continue with a plan that is not value for money.

If i terminate the plan now, I will lose about 15k, which is damn a lot of money. 

If i don't, there is no guarantee that my hubby will save. 






After i have explored the CPF option, we are shocked to know how good it is but my husband still says he won't be maxing out his CPF as he doesn't have enough cash.

The most sensible and logical thing would be for my hubby to max out his CPF with the monies he is using for my plan and use it to provide for our retirement, but honestly, money is truly emotive and i don't know if he can.

What should i do, AK? I feel like a foolish wife now.

Would be eternally grateful for a response.

AK says...

I am only talking to myself in my blog. 

If you overheard me talking to myself, you have to decide if I make sense. ;)

I think you know what you want to do.

Does it make sense to continue sending money to where it is not treated best?




I understand that things are not as straightforward in your case because you are trying to force your husband to save money. 

Frankly, however, what is to stop him from not making regular payment towards Retire Happy?

I feel that if he is committed enough to pay regularly now, you should trust him.




Instead of paying Retire Happy, ask him to pay you and you manage the money. 

You could take the money, do MS Top Up to his CPF-SA and not keep it for yourself to show that you are doing this for him and the family. :)

To be quite honest, we cannot be sure of anything in life. It is all about trust. 

There is no guarantee that things will always go our way. 





We just have to do what we feel will give us peace of mind.

It depends on what we believe in.

I believe in having a risk free and volatility free portion in my investment portfolio. 

I believe in having an annuity that pays me not for only 20 years but for life. 

I am lucky to be a CPF member and I am maxing out the benefits of my membership.






Related posts:
1. Retire Happy.
2. How many $29K do we have?
3. How to upsize $100K to $225K?

Selling a car or a flat yourself.

Things change and that is one of the few constants in life.

Some changes hardly matter but some changes affect our lives in a big way. 

Changes could also be catastrophic. 

Remember the Dodo.

What is this leading to?




A few months ago, I sold my car without going through a middle man. 

Cars of the same make, model and age at pre-owned car centers were going for upwards of $50K at that time. 

I was offered $40K to $45K by different resellers then.

I decided to find a new owner for my old car myself. 

It was a relatively short search as a friend was looking to replace his much older car then. 




We had a win-win situation with the middle man removed.

It did mean, however, that we had to visit LTA in Sin Ming, queue up for more than an hour to do the transfer of ownership but that was just a minor inconvenience.

If you are thinking of selling your car, you might want to do it yourself. 

It is quite easy:
http://www.oneshift.com/used-car-buying-guide/718/how-to-sell-your-car-directly-to-a-buyer



Now, if selling your car without having a middle man is a good idea, what about selling your flat without engaging a property agent?

Well, it seems that many people are also selling their flats without the help of a property agent:

"According to figures from HDB, the number of resale flat buyers and sellers who have gone the DIY way rose to 24 per cent in 2015, from 11 per cent in 2010. 

"So far this year, 23 per cent of resale transactions carried out from January to May were completed without a property agent."
Source: CNA





It is probably an understatement to say that real estate in Singapore is expensive. 

Real estate is very expensive. 

A commission of 1% or 2% (as in the case of a HDB flat) is a big deal. 

I remember selling my home a few years ago and having to pay a 5 figure sum to the property agent. 

That is a fair bit of money.

If we can save a bit of money, why not?

If we can save a lot of money, what are we waiting for?




So, how easy is it to do it yourself?

I went to the eCitizen website and found out how easy it actually is:
https://www.ecitizen.gov.sg/Topics/Pages/Selling-your-HDB-flat-A-step-by-step-guide.aspx

"We were surprised because we thought it would be quite complicated. 

"The officer at HDB (Housing and Development Board) was also very helpful to go through the paperwork with us." 
Source: CNA






For a seller who is willing to spend some time to do some work, considering the huge amount of money saved, it is worth it.

“Especially with the emergence of social media, people get connected much easily compared to 10 years ago. 

"That’s why many home owners are now able to find home seekers by themselves or vice versa...”
Source: CNA

Selling your car or flat?

I think it is worth exploring the option of doing it yourself.

Related posts:
1. Fixed rates, SIBOR, FHR18...?
2. Affordability and value for money.

The AK passive income strategy after making $1m.

It has been a fortnight since I announced that I was taking a break from blogging. Time flies.

Does this blog post signify the end of my break?

No lah. I am still on a break. AK is lazy.

This is just a short note to say AK is lazy but still alive. (Wink, wink.)






The first thing I want to do is to share a very thoughtful message from a reader. 

I could tell that it is from the heart and not just lip service:

Thank you for the empathy and well wishes. I truly appreciate it and will (try to) take good care of myself.

After all, why have passive income if we don't spend more time doing the things we want to do?






I should be working because I want to and not because I have to. 

Right or not?

Warren Buffett said this about the importance of having passive income before:

"If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die."




There is no way in the world lazy AK wants to work till he dies.

Hmmm... OK. How does this sound? 

I have been enjoying myself watching K-drama, spending time pottering around in my planter, tending to my aquariums, eating right (most of the time) and exercising (but not as frequently as a few months ago). 

My shrimp tank.

Yes, economically not very productive. 

Terrible!

Bad AK! Bad AK!

What? Investments?

I haven't done anything, really.

For a while, I was loading up mostly on DBS but since my last blog post, I have kept the status quo in my world of investments.

Easy thing to do, doing nothing, you think? 

With the help of anti-itch cream on itchy fingers, maybe so.






For me, it might be easier to do nothing than most because I have an anti-itch cream called "ample dividends".

Not just "dividends" but "ample dividends". 

Well, I think it is ample to someone like me, anyway.

I have such a cream because most of my investment portfolio built over the years is made up of investments for income. 






Unlikely to give me a heart attack, these investments generate regular and meaningful income for me. 

Enough to cover my routine expenses and more, they allow me to go about my business of being lazy with less worry.

What? Being lazy is not a business? 

OK, you win.




So, does AK really have no plan at all when it comes to investments?

Well, I honestly feel that I don't have to do anything to grow my passive income further.

Of course, I cannot buy a Richard Mille watch or a Ferrari car at the drop of a hat (Why would I want to do that, anyway?) but I am financially quite comfortable now, I feel.

homer123 wrote:

I am not at all surprised that Sporean are highly interested in passive income.. One of the most popular blog with more than 12 million pageview by AK71 aka ASSI claimed he has collected more than 1 million dollar in passive income in less 10 years.. more than the average income typical Sporean can make from their salary! 


http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blo...ollars-by.html

sAVaGEmP5:
I hope u are not here advertising or spamming blog post ? 
Such a lousy written article that taught me nothing new, u dare to post here. Let me see the Lambo, richard mille or the MBS penthouse then consider real pls.
Source: HWZ.

However, if I want to grow my passive income further, it should not be growth at any price which is a mistake many people make, including moi. 

It should be growth at the right price. 






Now, what is the right price? 

Uh oh, that sounds like quite a bit of work, doesn't it?

An easy way to get around having to do more work is to buy on a dip or a correction in prices. 

All else remaining equal, there will be greater safety buying on the back of a 10% or 15% decline in prices. 

Right or not?






I don't know. 

I anyhow talk to myself.

If prices don't decline, it is OK for me too. 

I will just accumulate more cash in the meantime. 

Remember what Charlie said? 

There are worse things to do than to sit on plenty of cash.




Finally, I plan to max out the CPF Annual Contribution Limit in the next 10 years (till I turn 55) by doing more Voluntary Contribution as I no longer have significant Mandatory Contribution.

This will ensure that the risk free and volatility free investment grade bond component in my portfolio stays at a meaningful percentage.

With a focus on passive income generation, mine is a strategy that gives me peace of mind and it makes me happy.





Related posts:
1. Made $1m investing for income.
2. Revisiting a simple strategy.
3. Instant gratification of yield.
4. AAA rated sovereign bond.
5. Having peace of mind.