Build our wealth but take care of our health.

I met up with a friend for dinner recently and he remarked on how I used to blog about my cooking. It has been a while since I last had such a blog, has it not?






Well, although not as often as before, I am still cooking but I am just too lazy to blog about it. What's new, right? AK is a lazy fellow.

Anyway, I was in the mood. So, this was lunch today:

Fried rice and seaweed. I used:

1. Cooked white rice.
2. 3 eggs.
3. 3 tbsp. coconut oil.
4. 4 gm of seaweed.

And I ate the fried rice with seaweed. You can tell I have probably been watching a bit too much K-drama. 

I still think a high fat, low carbohydrate diet is good for me but I am no longer very strict. 

I used to keep my carbohydrate intake to less than 50gm a day. For a while now, I have allowed myself between 50gm to 100gm of carbohydrate a day.

Still, I have rice (which is made up mostly of carbohydrate) only once in a while. Half a bowl of cooked white rice has about 22 grams of carbohydrates. That's plenty. 

Eggs have about 1 gm of carbohydrate each. Per serving of seaweed (2gm) has 0.2 gm of carbohydrate and I had two servings.

We want to build our wealth but we should take care of our health too.




Finally, for readers who want to lose weight, remember, losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Less carbohydrate is the way to go.

Related post:
A topless pic.

Not giving in can only make us richer.

Although we like to say we have saved money when we buy something at a sale, the truth is if we spent money at a sale, we did not save money, we just spent less money.

Happily, this reader didn't spend less money, he saved some money.

Hi AK,

Thanks to you ! I have just cancelled my 3 orders brought from Amazon's Black Friday. (around 350 USD)

Upon re-reading one of your blogs again, I decided that they are non-essential items and I can live without them. 

But I did not cancel the birthday present for my wife because I still want to have my marriage and it is already shipped (I may have to pay for the return good) hahaha. I know it's an excuse but I cannot expect my wife to understand why she does not have a birthday present because I tried to save some money.

I do a lot of thinking especially retirement early plans, your blogs constantly remind me whenever I lost directions and it feels like a trusted companion walking with me on my journey to my dreams. (its also feel like the journey to the west where there are demons and temptations) You just have to stay focus but it is never easy. 

Working in Singapore is so stressed that you will always feel like taking a deserving good "detox" rest and indulge yourself with materialistic pleasures eg buying a big condo, car, branded clothing, lavish & exotic holiday, eat out at expensive food outlets etc. 

You worked so hard why you cannot enjoy ?! many time we fell into a cycle of bad decisions......

Sometimes I ready hope we have more simple answers and I can see you are doing your best to write them in your blog. 

Please find time to continue writing and thanks a lot for being there when we need some guidance.

Have a good day.

Best Regards

SK

Hi SK,

Thanks so much for the email which I enjoyed.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are lost on me. I am a marketer's worst nightmare. ;p

You have probably read this blog post:
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/04/wealth-is-attracted-or-repelled-by.html





On our journey towards financial freedom, it is worth remembering to keep our needs simple and our wants few. 

Keeping your wife happy is, by the way, a need. Good job! 

Gambatte,
AK


If we could, we probably should cut ourselves some slack once in a while but, remember, not giving in to our buying impulses can only make us richer. 

A shorter time to reach financial freedom? It's your call.




Related posts:
1. An unbeatable level of certainty.
2. Retirement (Needs and wants.)

Audio books on saving and investing money.

I receive many emails each week. Unlike my early days in blogging, I might not reply to all of them although I still try. Believe it or not, I also receive emails in Chinese.

My proficiency in Chinese has never been high. The best grade I received was a B3. Not bad but not good either. 




Unfortunately for me, emails in Chinese are the second most common after emails in English and they are usually a bit of a struggle for me.

Anyway, with the help of Google Translate, there is my translation of a recent email:

"My husband is a big fan of yours. I hope you will not find my request rude.

"Since he started to read your blog a few years ago, my husband has become very careful with money and he has also invested in stocks.

"I am an ignorant housewife but my husband would explain to me what he is doing. From having nothing a few years ago, my husband tells me he receives almost $10,000 in passive income each year now.

"He likes to say, "Imagine what we could have when we are AK's age!"

"He would read your blog every night and his favourite ones are about saving money. 

"Unfortunately, because of an accident recently, he won't be able to read for a while.

"I thought of how to cheer him up and wonder if you could talk to him?"

I left out plenty of details.

Anyway, I think regular readers would know what my reply was.

However, I decided that I could still do something for them. Took me a while to do this and I hope it does the trick.

Here are my first audio books (or blogs) for your listening pleasure:

Book one.

Book two.

Book three.

Book four.

Book five.

Read the full blog posts:
1. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was very frugal.
2. If we are not rich, don't act rich.
3. Is AK a rags to riches story?
4. A piece of advice on saving.
5. Save 100% of your take home pay.

To pay down HDB housing loan faster or not?

Not only do all of us have different financial circumstances, we also have different capacities to stomach stress.

What works for one might not work for another (i.e. what might give someone peace of mind might be quite stressful for another).

So, listen to what others have to say but, ultimately, make our own decision, one that will not rob us of our precious sleep.



Chat with Reader #1

Reader:
 Hi there Ak. I have a question. I have a new bto flat that im staying in with abt 200k hdb loan spread over 25 years. It takes up abt half of my oa contribution every mth to pay it. Should i use the excess oa funds to channel it to sa or focus on paying off the house asap?

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Assi AK
I would max out my SA first. Money should go to where it is treated best. Doing so, I would maintain a buffer in my OA sufficient for 24 months of loan repayment in case something goes wrong.

Like · Reply · 2 · 33 mins

Chat with Reader #2

• 
  

  12:31pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Hi AK, do you think i should pay off 10k of hdb housing loan whenever my OA accumulates to 20k so that it stays below 20k to enjoy the additional 1% interest? i.e. 3.5% instead of 2.5%

  
  
• 
  
• 

  12:51pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Earning more interest is always appealing to me. ;)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  1:11pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Cos I have a friend who says it's more impt to pay off housing loan as the 0.1% on a big loan is more than 1.5% on the 10k transferred. I.e. It only makes sense if the housing loan is less than 150k, correct?

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:37pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  It depends on what you are after. :)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:38pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Maximized returns lor

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  You have to remember to compare like for like

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Reader
  

  Meaning?

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Compare $10K with $10K, $150K with $150K

  
  

  It is meaningless to compare 0.1% on a $200K loan and 1.5% on a $10K savings

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:42pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Ah. So for 10k, where can it get maximum returns

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:43pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  By paying $10K of your loan, what are you saving? By putting $10K in your SA, what are you gaining?

  
  

  You will have your answer then

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  3:00pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Ok, I get it. Only that the SA monies cannot be used for other purposes in future.

  
  

  Thanks AK! 👍🏻

  
  

  
  
• 

  3:01pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Yesh... ;)
  

  
  

  If you are saving for retirement, go for it. :)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  3:02pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  姜还是老的辣

Whenever we do something, it is important to be clear what our motivation is. Then, we will know if we are doing the right thing.

Related posts:
1. Pay off home loan and hit MS.
2. Related to housing loan repayment.
3. Fixed rates, SIBOR, FHR18 or HDB loan?

Passive income, CPF savings and a topless pic.

I have a friend of more than 20 years who used to be fabulously fit. 

Now, he is "flabulously" fat. 

He is even fatter than I was last year before I embarked on my effort to lose weight.

A few months ago, he said I looked unhealthy because I lost too much weight in a short time. 

Basically, I lost plenty of fat without gaining enough muscle mass. 

My entire frame shrank. 

Imagine that. Horrible, isn't it?








I was climbing stairs, lots of stairs, but I wasn't doing enough upper body workout. 

The solution for me, I found, was simple. 

Do more push ups. 

This is a simple and effective exercise that I can do at home. It builds stronger arms, shoulders and chest. It helps to strengthen the core too.






Anyway, when I saw my friend again recently, he said he has decided to lose weight too. 

It won't be an exercise to look fabulously fit but an exercise not to look "flabulously" fat. 

All he wants is to be able to wear swimming trunks to the pool again instead of a pair of board shorts.

He said,

"You can definitely go to the pool in swimming trunks now."






I don't enjoy swimming very much and walking around outside in a pair of trunks is like being clad only in my undies for all to see, I have always thought.

He said,

"But you can do it with confidence now."

Yes, I know what he meant but I would still feel uncomfortable being mostly naked in public.

My family and friends know that my determination to lose weight has everything to do with health and very little to do with looking good. 





I was probably somewhat extreme earlier on in my attempt to lose weight. 

I was really driven by fear.

This is similar to my determination to be frugal when I started life as a working adult. 

On hindsight, I was probably too extreme for many years of my life in allowing myself only $300 in spending money each month. 

Again, I was really driven by fear.





When we fear something, we are likely to take measures to avoid it.

The fear that my health might worsen drove me to lose weight. 

The fear of growing old and destitute drove me to be frugal.

Unless you are new to my blog, you would know that my frugal lifestyle is an important ingredient in the recipe for achieving financial freedom.





Now, I am pleased to share that my health has improved mainly due to my weight loss which has been achieved mostly through dieting and, to a lesser extent, a moderate exercise regime.

In the conversation with my friend, I joked,

"I will only feel comfortable being mostly naked in public if I could hide my face."

We had a good laugh and, then, he said,

"Why not share in your blog? You are faceless there. You might inspire people like me to lose weight too."






OK, I am comfortable sharing how much is my passive income and how much I have in my CPF accounts only because I am an anonymous blogger. 

The purpose is to inspire by sharing my own experience. 

To be honest, I was afraid I might regret it but so far, so good.

So, I guess this is another first for AK and I hope I don't regret doing this. 





With some trepidation, I share here a topless pic of myself taken today:

Ooops. Wrong photo. It should be this one:

If you are overweight and think that losing weight is too difficult, I hope you will think again.

I believe that any overweight person mentally strong enough to go on a journey towards financial freedom is mentally strong enough to go on a journey to lose weight. 

I am putting an emphasis on mental strength because it is about discipline.

Losing weight is not an easy journey. 

Like our effort to achieve financial freedom, we have to make positive changes and stay the course.

However, compared to trying to achieve financial freedom, losing weight is much easier. Believe it.





Related posts:
1. My food bill grew in size!
2. Being fallible in dieting.
3. Essential habit to becoming richer.

AIMS Property Securities Fund (formerly MPSF).

A conversation with a reader led to a discussion about an old dusty investment which I would not have made knowing what I know today:

Reader:
if you like aims cap reit management so much, then do you like aims property fund?

both are listed in sg

 

Assi AK

Different animal

I have a legacy position

It was MPSF
it is a fund of funds
just that alone made it a mistake

Reader:

coz aims cap reit is steadily dropping but aims property fund is steadily increasing

 

Assi AK

the rights issues (two, iirc) were very cheap and i bot more

a few cents per unit, iirc

those were cheaply bot

quite happy

but it still doesn't change the fact that it is a fund of funds which i would not touch these days

Reader:

i guess you would rather diversify them yourselves than to pay extra management fees

Assi AK

lack of transparency too... many funds they own are not listed

that makes it worse

i got into it based on recommendation by a friend who invested tons in it (including his mother's money)... lost most of it

In case you are wondering, AIMS Property Securities Fund (formerly MacarthurCook Property Securities Fund) is still in my investment portfolio.

I took up the rights units I was entitled to and I also applied for excess rights during the fund raising exercises after crunching some numbers and deciding that the fund would be able to pay decent enough dividends in due course.

Getting in years ago when I did at a much higher price without fully understanding what I was getting myself into was a mistake.

However, participating in the rights issues after doing much more research and deciding that it had become a bargain then has proven to be rewarding.

All investments are good investments at the right price.


For more information on the fund:
http://www.macarthurcook.com.au/mck/en/Investments_Funds/Investment.aspx?id=2

"Units on issue in the Fund will be consolidated on a 1 for 10 basis." - 4 July 2016.

Related post:
AIMS AMP Capital Industrial REIT

Trump won the election and I lost my life savings.

• Reader:
• "Recently, my friend just shared with me that he lost 80k on the day that trump won the election. He went to short jap futures seeing that the DJIA futures were tumbling. The media were calling for doomdays and he shorted aggressively. In the end, he got stopped out. Now he has lost his entire savings. I wonder how long he will need to save another 80k. Now no more ammo to invest if a crash finally happens. I also didnt expect the market to recover that fast and break new high thereafter. Any special advice for the friend of mine.. It seems that he doesnt learn from his mistakes..."

• 

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Ask him to read this for a start:

Position sizing, war chest, volatility, nibbles and gobbles.

Don't ever throw everything we have including the kitchen sink into a gamble. 





We should be smart enough to know that it is a gamble and be realistic enough to know that things could go horribly wrong.

Don't ever think that we are invincible.

The moment we think we are invincible, we might just fall into a hole which might take us a long time to get out of.





Related posts:
1. Grew more daring and lost $100K!
2. How to make recovering from losses easier?