Adventuring in Neverwinter: Demon and dragon slaying!

I keep saying that Neverwinter is a MMORPG.

What is a MMORPG anyway?

"Massively multiplayer online role-playing game: any story-driven online video game in which a player, taking on the persona of a character in a virtual or fantasy world, interacts with a large number of other players."

Source:
Dictionary.com

Oh, then, why does it look like AK is always adventuring alone in Neverwinter?

Where are the other adventurers?

Where is the group content?

There are plenty of dungeons, skirmishes and trials available in Neverwinter.

A dungeon requires a full party of 5 adventurers while a trial requires 2 full parties.

We can join random queues and we will be partied with random adventurers or we can put together our own party by inviting people we would like to adventure with.

There are also world events or what are known as Heroic Encounters in Neverwinter.

Slay some demons in Neverwinter with AK here:








We do not have to join parties or queue for these world events.

When they happen, just join the fray!

They can get pretty chaotic as you can imagine but they are lots of fun!

Slay some dragons in Neverwinter with AK here:








AK is adventuring in Neverwinter and banishing evil everywhere he goes!

Related post:
Adventuring in Neverwinter: Monster hunting!

Adventuring in Neverwinter: Monster hunting in Barovia.

Hunting monsters used to be something I was doing almost daily in Barovia.

For some time, I was joined by two friends, Kenji and Victor, too.

I didn't have a wizard character back then and was adventuring mostly with my paladin.

Fun times in Barovia.

It was a very rewarding activity back in the day too.

I always say that money should go to where it is treated best.

Maybe, I should say that money will go to where it is treated best instead.

People will always do something they find most rewarding if they know where to find it.







There are better rewards to be had doing other things in Neverwinter these days.

Although not as rewarding, hunting monsters in Barovia is still fun as my wizard found out.

Anyway, this is the first time my wizard is hunting a monster in Barovia after he picked up a Wanted Poster.

Before we go hunting, let us visit Madam Eva to get some clues as to the monster's whereabouts.

The hunt is on!








Related post:
Adventuring in Neverwinter: Ravenloft (Parts 2, 3 and 4).

Adventuring in Neverwinter: Ravenloft (Parts 2, 3 and 4).

Our adventures in Barovia continue!

In our previous adventure, we had to kill packs of werewolves and save some villagers from their leader's den.

Troubles did not end there.

More villagers were captured by witches as well.

The hero must see that evil is vanquished, of course!

Time to destroy a family of witches



followed by the demolition of a spy network!





Of course, adventuring in Neverwinter is not always about killing bad guys.

The next quest brings us around Barovia lighting campfires to aid fellow adventurers.

My barbarian, a melee DPS* character, has volunteered to be the tour guide.

(*DPS refers to a character class or specialization which focuses on doing a lot of damage quickly.)


If we know the route to take to avoid the mobs, we can achieve our goal without any killing.

We can even take some time to smell the roses and enjoy the scenery.



Remember what Warren Buffett said?

"I don't look to jump over 7 foot bars.

"I look around for 1 foot bars that I can step over."

AK is always looking for ways to make life easier.

Yes, even in Neverwinter!

If AK can do it, so can you!




Related post:
Adventuring in Neverwinter: Ravenloft (Part 1).

Adventuring in Neverwinter: Ravenloft (Part 1).

The next series of "Adventuring in Neverwinter" will show my end-game ready ranged DPS character, a wizard, in Barovia.

Barovia is the adventure zone for the Ravenloft campaign.

The Ravenloft campaign is much newer compared to the Sharandar campaign and also much more challenging.

However, seeing my wizard in action, you might not think so as his DPS* stats are even over the caps for the latest and most difficult dungeon at the moment (i.e. Infernal Citadel)

(*DPS refers to a character class or specialization which focuses on doing a lot of damage quickly.)

So, Ravenloft isn't going to ruffle his feathers (or scales).

Scales?

Yes, my wizard is somewhat scaly.

No, my wizard does not have some skin disease.

He is a Dragonborn.

"Dragonborn! Children of Io, the great dragon-god, the Dragonborn are a steadfast and honorable people who have thrown off the shackles of their former dragon masters."

Source:
Neverwinter website.

AK bought the Dragonborn pack during Neverwinter's 6th Jubilee celebration and unlocked the race when he got a 50% discount coupon.

If you thought AK went mad and spent real life (RL) money on the game, no, he didn't.

AK is mad in many ways but he is not mad enough to spend any RL money on MMORPGs.

Neverwinter is a free to play (F2P) high fantasy MMORPG.

We can obtain currency called Astral Diamonds simply by adventuring and exchange them for the premium currency called ZEN which is paid for with RL money by less patient adventurers.

It is a very good system for adventurers who are patient enough to wait.

I always like to think that good things come to those who wait.

Like in saving and investing our hard earned money in RL, patience is also a virtue in the virtual world.

Alamak, better stop here before I start nagging.

Hope you enjoy this video.





More "Adventuring in Neverwinter" videos coming soon!

Related posts:
1. Sharandar (Part 1).
2. Sharandar (Part 2).

Adventuring in Neverwinter: Sharandar (Parts 2 & 3).

My paladin is a healer.

He is not my most powerful damage dealing character in Neverwinter.

However, having leveled up significantly, he has more than enough power to mow down monsters in older regions like Sharandar.

Of course, for newbie adventurers, Sharandar could still present a challenge like it did for me when I was a newbie adventurer.

Following my somewhat successful video making debut, AK Studios is proud to present to you two more videos for your enjoyment today.







My most powerful damage dealing character, at the moment, is a wizard.

He is mostly adventuring in Avernus, the first layer of Nine Hells, which is the most difficult adventure zone available right now.

However, he will revisit Barovia, the adventure zone for the Ravenloft campaign, in the next video!

Barovia is under attack by witches, werewolves and vampires!

Sit idle and do nothing about it?

Not a chance!

Look out for more "Adventuring in Neverwinter" with AK!

Evil doers will be vanquished!




Related post:
Adventuring in Neverwinter: Sharandar (Part 1).

Adventuring in Neverwinter: Sharandar (Part 1).

I have not been spending as much time here in ASSI as I spend most of my time travelling.

Travelling?

Where?

My travels are, of course, in the fantastic world of The Forgotten Realms.

More accurately, I don't just go travelling, I go adventuring.

From time to time, I would talk about Neverwinter and how much I enjoy it.

Today, for the first time, I have made a video on adventuring in Neverwinter.

This is my first attempt and it is a short video of 11 mins or so.

It shows my paladin adventuring in one of the regions, Sharandar.

Have a look and let me know what you think of it.








I hope to continue making videos like this one on a regular basis to share here in ASSI.

For those who enjoy MMORPGs and the high fantasy genre, this would probably be something fun for them.

For those who are not into gaming but enjoy the fantasy stories, this is probably entertaining too.

For those who do not enjoy this kind of stuff, well, at least you know AK is alive and kicking.

Yes, I know.

Bad AK! Bad AK!

Never bored in retirement, I am glad I picked up a new skill today.

If AK can do it, so can you!





Recently published:
Passive income and Dividend Machines (2020).

Related post:
Is AK blogging about Neverwinter?

Passive income: CPF and Dividend Machines (2020).

If you have been reading my blog for some time, you will know that I like the CPF system.

For the common folks in Singapore, the CPF is our cornerstone in retirement funding.

In fact, I even said that the CPF can be our best friend in our golden years if we nurture the friendship.

However, if we wish to retire early like I have, simply nurturing our friendship with CPF is insufficient since we cannot utilise the savings until we are at least 55 years of age.

Even at 55, we might want to give the magic of compound interest more time to grow our CPF savings before we draw on the account so that our savings can last longer.

The CPF is really our ultimate personal financial safety net.

To be able to retire earlier, however, we will need to have a stream of meaningful passive income that will pay for all our needs and wants in life.

This is where investing for income comes in. 

Investing for income is the main reason why I am able to achieve financial freedom and retire early.

Warren Buffett famously said:

“If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.”

Work until I die?

To me, it is a very gloomy thought.

Now, to be fair, not everyone wants to stop working and that is a good thing.

If everyone wants to retire early, the workforce will shrink.

Imagine what would happen to the economy?

Imagine what would happen to our investments?

The horror!

So, not everyone needs passive income, right?

Wrong.

For those who enjoy working and have no plans to retire early, they should ask:

"What if I am forced to retire early?"

There are many ways this could happen.

Remember what is the best insurance in this world?

Passive income.

I blogged about this before too.

Passive income is really less of a want than a need.

For regular readers, this is really all familiar territory.

For new readers, it might be an eye opener.

Investing for income will help anyone achieve a greater degree of financial security.

Eventually, it could also help us achieve financial freedom.

So, if you still do not know how to invest for income or if you would like to learn more about investing for income, Dividend Machines is accepting applications for their 2020 class now.

AK rarely, if ever, promotes investment courses.

Dividend Machines is, in fact, the only investment course that AK has endorsed year after year since its day one.

So many investment courses to promote, why Dividend Machines?

In a nutshell, Dividend Machines provides great value for money.

Unlike some other investment courses, Dividend Machines does not cost thousands of dollars.

We should all take steps towards financial freedom and Dividend Machines is surely a step in the right direction.

Everyone's life can be and should be better.

If AK can do it, so can you.

Sign up for 
Dividend Machines 2020: HERE.

Related posts:
1. CPF can be our best friend.
2. To retire by 45, have a plan.
3. Best insurance in life.
4. Freedom from wage slavery.

Coronavirus in Singapore means no milk and cheese for AK.

AK enjoys visits to the supermarkets.

See this blog, for example:

My food bill grew but my weight reduced.

Having meals at home is one way to keep cost of living low in Singapore.

It seems that more Singaporeans are latching on to this idea of having meals at home now.

However, it is probably not to save money.

Yesterday, AK went to the supermarket to get some milk and cheese.

Guess what happened?

OMG!

Never before.

It was madness.

The lines snaked all the way into unimaginable places of the supermarket for lines to form.

Now, since we are supposed to avoid crowded places, I decided that waiting in line for possibly an hour or more was probably not a good idea.

People have gone mad in Singapore.

Mad with fear of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Is the situation so deadly now?



This is taken from Ministry of Health.

We are at DORSCON Orange.

What does DORSCON stand for?


Disease Outbreak Response System Condition.


DORSCON Orange isn't all that dire as the situation is contained.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged calm, saying Singapore had "ample supplies" and there was no need for people to stock up with items such as instant noodles or toilet paper.

"Fear can do more harm than the virus itself," he said in a statement.

Source: Reuters.





While it is understandable that the current situation is causing concern, please do not panic.

Please do not go crazy hoarding essentials.

Please do not deprive AK of milk and cheese.
------------------------
(Added at 7.45PM)

I just saw a video on shopping in a supermarket in Wuhan and would like to share it here in ASSI:







This video was shared on YouTube yesterday.

Things are pretty grim but life goes on.

Wuhan is the epicenter of the current coronavirus crisis.

If Wuhan can stay calm, so can we!
-------------------------------
PM Lee Hsien Loong's remarks on the Novel Coronavirus (nCoV) Situation in Singapore on 8 February 2020:





Related posts:
1. Wuhan coronavirus and our REIT investments.
2. Wuhan coronavirus is war and are we ready?

Wuhan coronavirus and our REIT investments.

Regular readers might remember a blog from 2018 when I shared a message from a reader:

"I do my own diligence which I think is sound but cannot help but be worried when I see negative things about REITs being posted."

Of course, AK ignored the noise and did his own thing.

If you are new to my blog or cannot remember, read this:
Dumping all my investments in REITs.




More recently, a reader left this comment in my blog:

"Are you still holding this China mall REIT? CRCT?

"Seems to catch a big flu virus.

"Would you be adding to this sick REIT?"

See the comments section of this blog:
Wuhan coronavirus is war and are we ready?




Always ask if a situation that is affecting our investment is permanent or temporary.

Then, we will know what to do.

I have sold a few of my investments in REITs before.

They were always because I thought things could go bad for them and that it would be pretty permanent.

Read this blog where I mentioned Lippo Malls and Sabana REIT:
Cutting losses in S-REITs?




What about the Wuhan coronavirus situation?

It looks like things could possibly get worse before they get better.

Just like how optimism could overshoot on the upside, Mr. Market's pessimism could overshoot on the downside.

Some readers might remember how I accumulated large positions in some REITs during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

For example, in a blog back in 2012, I said:

"Off the top of my head, my investments in AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT and First REIT appreciated some 40 to 75% in value in the last 3 years.

"This is on top of annual distribution yields of 13 to 17%."

We might not see such numbers again for a very long time unless we expect the Wuhan coronavirus to have the same effect on Mr. Market as the GFC had.





AK is just talking to himself here in ASSI.

AK will not tell anyone when to buy or when to sell.

AK will say that if we are interested in investing for income, REITs are not only relevant but can also be very good investments for us.

See:
Man collects rent from his boss.




You might also be interested in these blogs:
1. Sold Soilbuild REIT.
2. Sold First REIT.

Wuhan coronavirus is war and are we ready?

For those of us who remember SARS, the Wuhan coronavirus is a case of deja vu.

SARS was absolutely horrible.

I am praying hard that this is not going to be as bad as SARS was.

For those who are interested in finding out more, see this short video clip from South China Morning Post:






As a preventive measure, all China passport holders not residing in Singapore are barred from entering or transiting through Singapore.

The same applies to all new visitors with recent travel history to mainland China within the last 14 days.

I believe that this is the sensible thing to do to set our minds at ease so that life can go on as normally as possible for us in Singapore.

After all, deaths from the coronavirus have hit record daily highs.

See:






Mr. Market has not been spared.

While it is unlikely that Mr. Market will be killed by the Wuhan coronavirus, Mr. Market can certainly become quite ill from it.

From a high of 3280 on 20 January 2020, the STI index has retreated to around 3120 which represents a correction of around 5%.

What this means is that Mr. Market has caught the sniffles but isn't bad enough a case of the sniffles to be hospitalised.

If the STI index should retreat to around 2950, we would be in bear market territory which usually means a retreat of at least 10% to 20% from the high.







If we have invested in good businesses with strong numbers, we should not have to worry.

Any big decline in stock prices would be an opportunity to increase our investments in these businesses.

For me, the only thing I have put more money into this year is a AAA investment grade sovereign bond.

Of course, regular readers know that I am referring to the CPF here and the voluntary contributions I have made to max out the CPF annual contribution limit for 2020.

It is during times like this that there might be a greater appreciation of the CPF which is risk free and volatility free.

See:
My 2019 CPF savings.
and
Voluntary contributions to CPF in January 2020.

As for equities, I have yet to deploy my war chest.

Yes, the Wuhan coronavirus is war and I am ready in case the war escalates.

If Mr. Market is sent to the ICU, I will unlock my war chest.

The businesses which are the largest investments in my portfolio (see the related post at the end of this blog) will probably get the most attention.

If we have been building up our war chests, we will be ready to pounce when opportunity knocks.

Having said this, let us all pray for the victims of the Wuhan coronavirus and their families.

"We will ultimately be judged by how we react in times of trouble." - Howard Dean





Related post:
Largest investments updated (4Q 2019).

AK told to remove blog and it has to do with insurance again.

As a blogger, I have poetic license.

This license is something I use frequently as I talk to myself here in ASSI.

What is poetic license?

"The act by a writer or poet of changing facts or rules to make a story or poem more interesting or effective."
Source: Cambridge Dictionary.

In fact, without poetic license, I wouldn't enjoy blogging as much.

If you enjoy my blogs as much as I enjoy blogging, I am glad.

There will be people who don't enjoy my blogs but that doesn't make me sad.

The world is what it is.

My blog is what it is.

This is my blog.

This is my style.

These are my stories.

Please don't expect me to change anything.

I thought about it for a bit and decided that there is a need for this blog so that people who eavesdrop on me talking to myself are in the know.

Someone recently told me to retract a statement I made in my blog about getting free H&S insurance in Singapore.

In my latest reply to that person, I said:

"I have also said before that I have investments which are free and I even say that my current home is free.

"They are paid for by Mr. Market while my H&S insurance is paid for by the government.

"Must I remove all those blogs as well because you have a different take on the matter and that you disagree?

"This is my blog and there is such a thing as poetic license.

"Like I said earlier, you are entitled to your opinion, of course, and if it bothers you, ignore the blogs."






It reminded me of something that happened a few years ago when I was told to remove a blog on getting free term life policies.

I actually did take that blog down but later put it back up as many readers puzzled over my decision and some had yet to read the blog too.

I decided since that time that ASSI is my blog and it is what it is.

If people don't like what I have to say, they can choose not to read my blogs.

Which blog was it and when did that happen?

Interested in the story?

See:
Free investment linked policies or term life policies?






I later added a side story at the top of the blog hinting as to why the blog was removed shortly after posting.

That blog has tens of comments from readers and that doesn't include the many comments in Facebook.

Poetic license was obviously employed in the blog but readers' comments were mostly supportive.

Most, if not all, thought that the blog was excellent.

AK was just talking to himself about a strategy.

It was pretty mathematical but I suppose it was pretty poetic too.

People who choose to read financial blogs like ASSI are probably smart enough to tell the parts which are mathematical from the parts which are poetic.

While effort has been made to make ASSI light reading, it can be pretty heavy at times, I guess.

OK, please pardon me as I might be giving myself too much credit here.

Pat on the back or slap on the back?

Whatever. ;p





Remember that AK is just talking to himself in his little corner of cyberspace.

AK is not seeking agreement from anyone and, most definitely, he is not seeking approval from anyone on how he should talk to himself.

Remember, eavesdrop on AK at your own risk.

Why AK says that?

Well, it could drive you crazy.

However, please don't push self talking AK to the brink as well.

Thank you very much.

Related posts:
1. How to get free medical insurance in our old age?
2. How to get free medical insurance in Singapore?

Recently published:
2019 CPF savings in a pie (chart).

2019 CPF savings in a pie. (Alamak! Showing off again!)

In a recent blog on the CPF, to those who would like to see my CPF numbers, I appealed for patience.

I was waiting for the pie (chart).

Well, the pie is fresh out of the (CPF) oven!

Lacking mandatory contributions, I have been maxing out the CPF Annual Contribution Limit by doing only voluntary contributions since I retired from active employment 4 years ago.

I was 45 years old that year.

So, at the ripe old age of 49, what do I have to show for my efforts?

I know some can't wait to eat their CPF pie.

Don't believe me?

Remember the "Return our CPF" rally in Hong Lim Park?

Well, we must remember that some things cannot be rushed.

Some things just need time.

While we wait, the CPF pie is becoming more delicious over time.

Don't believe me?

See my CPF pie from last year and compare it to the CPF pie from the year before.

The answer is in the pie.

Is growing our CPF savings worth the effort?

Definitely!

Like depositing coins in a piggy bank when we were kids, every contribution to our CPF savings, big or small, adds up.

If something is worth doing, it is worth doing well.

Ensuring that we achieve retirement funding adequacy is surely worth doing.

So, we should do it well!

Now, we see the pie.

One day, we will get to eat it too.

Want to have our pie and eat it too?

Want our dreams to come true?

With a bit of help, our dreams can come true!




The CPF is here to help us with our retirement funding adequacy.

The CPF helps us as we help ourselves.

Be prudent.

Be pragmatic.

Be patient.

Prudence, pragmatism and patience will be rewarded in due time.

After all, a good pie needs time to prepare and to bake to perfection.

A good pie is surely worth waiting for.

Delicious!

If AK can do it, so can you!





Related posts:
1. Have your pie and eat it too.
2. CPF interest earned in 2019.
3. CPF can be our best friend.
4. This guy has $800K in his CPF.

Chinese New Year of the Rat 2020. (Of rats and races.)

In a few days from now, my year will be over.

We will be going from year of the "oink, oink" to year of the "squeak, squeak".

Good bye to Piggy.

Welcome to Ratty!

Yes, AK is not a rat.

AK is a pig.

Unless we are Chinese, saying that we are a rat or a pig would probably sound rather strange or even offensive.

However, if are familiar with the phrase "rat race", then, all adults would have been a rat at one time or another.

"The origin of the expression is from laboratory experiments where two rats are trying to outrun each other in order to get a piece of cheese."

Source: Quora.

Interesting bit of trivia but rather depressing when we think about it as an analogy.






What?

Mr. XYZ is the number one rat in the race?

I don't care?

I am not a rat anymore.

Mr. XYZ and his friends can be rats and they can race each other all they want.

Take a break and have a Kit Kat?

Sorry, if Mr. XYZ and his friends take a break, there is no Kit Kat and they might not get that piece of cheese either.

Having said this, I do understand that we are all wired differently.






Although I think that there is nothing wrong with people who would like to achieve financial freedom and to stop working, there will be people who think that such people are just lazy.

Some might even think that AK is being irresponsible and should be ashamed of himself.

See:
Financially free AK ashamed?

AK, on the other hand, doesn't have anything mean to say about people who are gainfully employed.

See?

AK is such a nice guy.

The fact that AK doesn't like being a rat doesn't mean that others should feel the same way.

However, to those who enjoy being rats, the question to ask is this:

"Can I be a rat and not be in the race?"

Work not because we need the money from working and we would be such a rat.

Simple.

See:
9 wealth building blogs.






That piece of moldy cheese?

Other rats can have it.

I don't need it.

No more hunger and no more suffering.

Nirvana in Buddhism leads to the release from the cycle of birth and death.

Nirvana for rats leads to the release from the rat race.

We can still be rats but we don't have to take part in the racing.

Hope this is food for thought for some and, no, I am not referring to a piece of cheese.

Sincerely,
Not a rat AK.

Wishing all readers 

a happy and prosperous 

Chinese New Year!

Published recently:
Investors eat crusty bread with ink slowly for peace of mind.

Related post:
Scolded by wife for thinking about financial freedom.