Impressive passive income but are you lying, AK?

This is not the first time I have received an email like this but it has been quite a while. 

This one is actually pretty friendly:

"I know about your blog from a forum... Very impressive passive income... there are people who say you are just making things up... you did not show your CDP statement... can you show?"

My short answer is "no".

Now, my long answer.




Why should I have to prove anything? 

I am not selling some investment courses that charge thousands of dollars per pax, am I?

While we are on that point, how many investment gurus who do sell such courses show people their portfolios in detail, backing each of their claims with audited documentary proof?

Hey, I am just a blogger. 

OK, I am a bit mental. 

So, I talk to myself and probably a bit too much.




People can eavesdrop if they want to. 

I cannot stop them from doing so.

After eavesdropping, they can walk off and say that AK is mental. 

It's OK. 

AK doesn't mind (since AK is supposed to have lost his mind).

Alamak, what are these? 

Can eat or not?

Must throw away many times a year.




Why do they keep sending these things to me? 

Must be mental.

I said many times before that what is more important is my philosophy towards wealth building. 

People who are more concerned with the veracity of my investments and passive income have missed the point big time.

Why don't these people give it a chance and try to create more meaningful passive income for themselves? 

Why do they choose to believe I am lying thereby denying an achievement that could possibly be theirs too?




Do they have to give money to AK until their hearts are broken? 

Do they have to sell their flats to give money to AK? 

Hmmm. Sounds like an idea. 

Maybe, I could day dream a little. 





Yes, I know. 

Bad AK! Bad AK!

I am quite sure that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and not the asking.




The love of money is the root of all evil or so the Church says.

How much money did you donate to AK?

Did you sell your flat to give $20K to AK?





Related posts:
1. What is AK's way of investing?
2. Don't thank AK. Thank yourself.

Why lazy people "want" to continue working?

(I salute Tan Hock and Wilson Poh.)




An exchange with another blogger.

Fellow blogger says:
Just thought I'd share this since many investment bloggers (whose plans, like mine and yours) are to live off investments;

Not sure if it's because a significant number do not understand the trade-offs involved nor the aspirations of passive investors, but it is a poorly conceived notion that living off savings/investment is a "bad" idea for the economy because of the loss in productivity. 

Perhaps many just refuse to learn how to live without the need to wake up for work everyday. 

It would not surprise me if a poll showed that this group only believes that a stable job and income is the way to pay bills (racked up by buying things they do not need). 

Maybe they should try living for years bringing their own lunch to work and working multiple jobs just to achieve that of early retirement. 

But then again, these people are likely just "too lazy" to think of making the change huh?

AK:
I know I am a lazy guy. 

So, I did what I did. 

If they are lazy too, they want to think about change. 

All of us have choices in life. 






I chose to try for financial freedom and as soon as possible because I didn't want to continue working because I had to. 

For people who like working, achieving financial freedom early will give them the option of working because they want to.

I cannot see why it is bad to have options in life and I know you agree. :)








Related posts:
1. Financially free and ashamed.
2. Work because you want to...
3. How did AK achieve financial freedom?

How AK uses his SRS money and why?

Do you have to work beyond retirement age?

"Who is going to pay? Take responsibility."





For anyone who pays quite a bit of income tax, I always suggest starting a SRS account. 

See related post #1.

Since the inception of the SRS, I contributed the maximum allowed annually. 

I won't be doing it anymore since I no longer have an earned income and would not have to pay income tax. 

See related post #2.







Since I have been maxing out my SRS account annually, I must have quite a bit of money saved up. 

What do I do with all the money in my SRS account?

Some of the money in my SRS account is invested in stocks like DBS, SATS and ST Engineering. 

Why these? 

With SRS money, I am always careful to invest only in companies which are unlikely to have a rights issue. 

So, these are companies with relatively strong balance sheets. 

See related post #3.






Although this might surprise some readers, I also placed some of my SRS money in endowment funds. 

I would choose single premium endowment funds with acceptable guaranteed returns. 

I would brush off those with very high projected returns but low guaranteed returns.

More than 10 years ago, it was easy to find endowment funds which guaranteed as much as 4% return per annum. 

I also liked NTUC Income's Growth Plan and plonked down a low end 5 figure sum 10 years ago. 

Looking at the surrender value today, it has been compounding at more than 3.2% per annum. 

Not bad for an insurance cum savings product.







SRS money is money meant to supplement our CPF savings. 

It is to help with retirement adequacy. 

Hence, the name Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS). 

So, I have always been less adventurous with my SRS money. 

Together with my CPF money, they form my safety net in retirement.






Regular readers know that I suggest Eating Bread With Ink Slowly. 

The "S" in "slowly" stands for sizing, position sizing.  

See related post #4.

Many might not have realised this but it is probably because I have a big safety net in my investment portfolio which is made up of bond like elements (i.e. my CPF and SRS savings) that I can be more "aggressive" when I size my positions.






Swinging on the investment trapeze, if I should fall, I know I won't hit the floor. 

It is about having peace of mind as an investor.

As usual, I am just talking to myself. 

If you have picked up something useful from eavesdropping, lucky you. 






Finders, keepers.

Related posts:
1. SRS: A brief analysis.
2. I paid myself $12,750.
3. SRS and rights issues.
4. Eat bread with ink slowly.

Holistic approach to a secure financial future.

I am always happiest reading happy stories. 

I mean who wouldn't be? 

OK, if you need a reason, well, they are easier for me to reply to compared to sad stories.

It is true that happy stories are easier to reply to and that makes me happy but I am happiest with happy stories because they are an affirmation of the work I am doing here in my blog.

I am sharing here not one but two readers' stories and I hope they pump you up to do more in 2017:





READER #1: Because of your sharing AK, I made the following changes to my life in 2016.

In 2016, I paid off the remaining of my home loan in Jan 2016. Was using CPF to service loan. With that, for the whole year (2016), my CPF started growing faster and generating risk free interest at the same time.

With a portion of the remaining cash, I also started investing in the stocks Dec 2015. Very happy with Saizen, AIMS, First Reit, Ireit Global, ARA, etc.

Rest of cash in fixed D as war chest + emergency funds waiting to invest more when opportunity presents.

Yes, all along got insurance coverage for self and family.

I also made it a point to simplify life style. Conscious with spending. Eat less, exercise more, cycling a lot makes me happy. Don’t need much.

I banished my 3 children (wealth destroyer)…kidding. Some money still have to spend being responsible to children & parents. Looking forward to 2017 to optimize CPF, invest more when opportunity presents, save more, simplify further. Although much to work on and a bit late, I am very pleased with making the changes last year.

So please continue with the great work in “talking to yourself”.





READER #2: Hello AK, happy new year! As I read about how others feel you should continue blogging, I also wanna share how your blog has benefited me.

CPF continues to be 1 area my friends and I share different views on. I transferred my 3-4 years worth of OA to SA after discovering your blog, and feel excited logging into CPF today to see the interest collected.

The other area is in stock investment; I used to try to time the market and it gave me unneeded stress. Your blog brought me to believe in consistent dividends, and taught me about position sizing. I find the sharings on your purchases particularly helpful and insightful.

Not forgetting your thoughts in matters of insurance, savings etc.

Please keep blogging! With general increased interest in such matters (I think), I believe someway or another people will chance upon your blog and hopefully review their financial well-being. BIG THANKS!





What has changed for the readers? 

Although individually important, it is not just about saving money, investing in stocks for income or being adequately insured, for examples. 

It is much more than these.

Remember, all the things I do and blog about come in a package. 

Yes, it is a package deal.

Paying attention to only one area while ignoring other areas does not strike me as a good idea.







It is like some guy in a Chinese kung fu period drama stumbling upon a kung fu manual 亚西(ASSI)神功 which had 10 chapters and he decided to skip to chapter 10, ignoring the foundation chapters and everything else. 

Pouring all his energy into that one chapter alone, he 走火入魔 (a Chinese term traditionally used to indicate that something has gone wrong in spiritual or martial arts training... Source: Wikipedia).

I am glad it did not happen to the readers here. 

What the readers did was a major rethink of what they were doing or not doing. 

What followed was a major revamp as they took action to make changes.

If we want a more secure financial future, we would do well to take a holistic approach.

My philosophy in wealth building might be boring and it probably isn't suitable for everybody. 

Some are happy adopting it and it is only normal that some will brush it off.





I will say that it has worked for me and I am glad to know that it is helping these readers towards greater financial well being too.

To anyone who is walking the same path, I agree that it could be a long walk but, to succeed, we have to believe that patience will be rewarded!


(Decide how much income you will get from an asset and pay a fair price for that.)



Related posts:
1. Power to be financially stronger!
2. Make $1 million investing for income?
3. CPF a cornerstone in retirement funding.