How do these sound to you?
1. Free shipping worldwide.
2. Save on cost. Save the environment.
3. Help promote literacy amongst the disadvantaged.
Buy pre-owned books from BetterWorldBooks and we will be doing all of the above.
Now, till 31st July, BetterWorldBooks is running a DOUBLE DONATIONS FLASH SALE!
Shop the Better World Books Double Donations Flash Sale, save on used books and double your impact on literacy, all with Free Shipping Worldwide!
Related post:
1. Donate a book to the needy.
2. ASSI is a BetterWorldBooks affiliate.
3. Bought another book from BetterWorldBooks.
PRIVACY POLICY
Featured blog.
1M50 CPF millionaire in 2021!
Ever since the CPFB introduced a colorful pie chart of our CPF savings a few years ago, I would look forward to mine every year like a teena...
Archives
Pageviews since Dec'09
Recent Comments
ASSI's Guest bloggers
- boon sun (1)
- Elsie (1)
- Elvin H. Liang (1)
- ENZA (3)
- EY (7)
- FunShine (5)
- Invest Apprentice (2)
- Jean (1)
- JK (2)
- Kai Xiang (1)
- Kenji FX (2)
- Klein (2)
- LS (2)
- Matt (3)
- Matthew Seah (18)
- Mike (6)
- Ms. Y (2)
- Raymond Ng (1)
- Ryan (1)
- Serejouir (1)
- skipper (1)
- Solace (13)
- Song StoneCold (2)
- STE (9)
- TheMinimalist (4)
- Vic (1)
Resources & Blogs.
- 5WAVES
- AlpacaInvestments
- Bf Gf Money Blog
- Bully the Bear
- Cheaponana
- Clueless Punter
- Consumer Alerts
- Dividend simpleton
- Financial Freedom
- Forever Financial Freedom
- GH Chua Investments
- Help your own money.
- Ideas on investing in SG.
- Invest Properly Leh
- Investment Moats
- Investopedia
- JK Fund
- MoneySense (MAS)
- Next Insight
- Oddball teen's mind.
- Propwise.sg - Property
- Scg8866t Stockinvesting
- SG Man of Leisure
- SG Young Investment
- Sillyinvestor.
- SimplyJesMe
- Singapore Exchange
- Singapore IPOs
- STE's Investing Journey
- STI - Stocks Info
- T.U.B. Investing
- The Sleepy Devil
- The Tale of Azrael
- TheFinance
- Turtle Investor
- UOB Gold & Silver
- Wealth Buch
- Wealth Journey
- What's behind the numbers?
Pre-owned books Flash Sale!
Tuesday, July 29, 2014Posted by AK71 at 12:12 PM 0 comments
Labels:
advertorial
Blogs that show the ugly truth about AK.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
People know that AK is frugal.
People know that AK buys stuff when he sees value for money.
However, life is never perfect.
Why?
Well, it is just the way it is.
It is about being human.
AK is not perfect.
AK is as human as any other... er... human being.
I try to be rational but I have weaknesses too.
It is a drag to be rational all the time, anyway.
So, how?
I give in to weaknesses from time to time lor.
Banana? Stunned? |
Don't believe me?
You want evidence of AK's wrong doing?
Where got criminal provide evidence to incriminate himself one?
What? Evidence is in my blog?
Cham. How like that?
The proof is in the pudding... er... ice cream (and more).
1. Ice Cream! See: High class ice cream.
2. Restaurant visits! See: Soup Restaurant.
3. Rolex watch! See: Vintage Rolex.
4. Tag Heuer watch! See: Repairing a watch.
5. Stayed in a Junior Suite! See: HK Hotel.
6. Bought a car! See: Bought a new car.
7. Stayed in condo! See: Photos of AK's home.
8. Added in 2018: Bought a gaming laptop!
See?
I don't bluff you, right?
You can say plenty of stuff about AK but at least he is honest about being weak.
Bad AK! Bad AK!
In our modern day society, having more money is good.
Having more money gives us more options.
However, remember that money is used to exchange for goods and services which we need or want in life.
That is what money is for.
Don't be a 守财奴 (i.e. scrooge).
There is no point in having a lot of money and have no happiness.
Please read a story from AK's past:
How rich is rich? (14 NOV 2010)
P.S. While avoiding being a 守财奴, try to insist on having value for money. Sorry, I couldn't resist saying this. -.-"
Related post:
Kopi with Song Stonecold: Getting value out of everything.
Posted by AK71 at 10:40 PM 25 comments
Labels:
money
An annuity proposal: A case study.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
I would like to share this exchange which happened on Facebook just now and see if readers who do not follow me on Facebook have anything to say:
"I happened to ask for an annuity proposal recently. put in one lump sum at 50 and start drawing down at 55. AK, do you think this is a good deal?"
Click to enlarge. |
"Basically, we are giving them $150,000 and letting it accumulate for 5 years before they start paying us.
"Conservatively, if we were to invest $150,000 for just a 4% dividend yield which is doable, we would receive $6,000 a year or $30,000 in 5 years, assuming we do not re-invest.
"So, in this case, at age 55, we should have $180,000 in the kitty (assuming investment value stays the same but I believe this is something of academic interest since we won't be able to sell the annuity and so, we have to assume, we won't need to sell the dividend paying stocks).
"Now, if we were to receive a 4% yield on $180,000 at age 55 onwards, we would get $7,200 a year. This is quite a bit more than the annuity payment of $530 x 12 = $6,360 a year.
"Of course, we can argue that there is a non-guaranteed portion to the annuity.
"Well, whether that portion will be paid or not is almost in the realm of speculation, isn't it?
"This annuity is, in my opinion, probably a good choice for people who are not very savvy when it comes to investments.
"I will also say that they want to consider a quarterly, half yearly or yearly payout instead of a monthly pay-out.
"If they choose a yearly pay-out, they get $20 more a month.
"They have to be quite disciplined and, of course, don't fall prey to the "magic stone sect"."Just for the sake of comparison, for someone who is currently 55 years old and who has $155,000 in his CPF-RA, 10 years later, at age 65, under the CPF Life Standard Plan, he would be able to withdraw $1,221 a month. (This is more than double that of the private annuity plan.)
"If you like, ask the insurance company which proposed this annuity plan to provide another table which allows an accumulation period of 10 years instead of 5 years so that you can directly compare against the CPF Life which we are automatically covered under."
CPF Life Estimator. |
I am just sharing my own thoughts and this is not meant to be any sort of advice.
If you have any thoughts on the matter, please leave a comment.
I am sure we will all appreciate a constructive and civil discussion on the matter. :)
Related posts:
1. An annuity plan for retirement needs.
2. Achieving level 1 financial security.
3. Retiring before 60 is not a dream.
Posted by AK71 at 2:30 PM 21 comments
Labels:
insurance,
passive income,
savings,
wealth
9 wealth building blog posts!
"Most people believe the key to wealth is a high-paying job.
"Yes, it's easier to amass assets if you have more money coming in each month, but the true secret to increasing your net worth is to spend less than you make.
"It is a cliche; but it is the fundamental, absolute, non-negotiable reality of money.
"To escape this trap, you need to understand that income is not wealth.
"The level of your wealth should be measured by the length of time you could maintain your standard of living without an additional paycheck." J. Kennon
I see, I want, I buy? |
Want to see how someone in his 20s is becoming wealthier by the day?
I am talking about Matthew Seah.
The chart he shared with me will blow your mind away:
Becoming a millionaire next door.
It is about saving as much money as we can by keeping expenses low.
This means that we should not buy luxury goods especially not in order to impress people when we have made some money!
I understand that we are human and sometimes we need to pamper ourselves a bit but, please, don't go Buying a $500,000 watch after 3 years of work to make a point.
The long and short of it, If we are not rich, don't act rich.
Chances are that once we are rich, we won't bother.
Finally, don't get tempted by the dark side. Learn The secret to avoiding financial ruin.
5 more and we make 9 wealth building blog posts complete:
1. Two questions to help us build wealth.
2. An essential habit to becoming richer.
3. The millionaire next door.
4. A fast track to wealth building.
5. From rich to broke?
Posted by AK71 at 10:20 AM 10 comments
Monthly Popular Blog Posts
-
I have been asked this question in various forms by various people over the years. "How much cash are you holding now?" However, l...
-
I have been thinking about really retiring in a couple of years. Confused? Didn't AK retire 8 years ago a few months before he turned 45...
-
I shared a photo of one my favorite ships in World of Warships in a video yesterday. Bismark is a ship I enjoy a lot and I have had many ho...
-
Time flies and it is time for another quarterly update. Before I start on the update proper, I just want to say a few words about Wilmar Int...
-
I used to blog about my meals in the early days of blogging. Haven't been doing it for many years. Anyway, I love fish fingers. Specific...
All time ASSI most popular!
-
A reader pointed me to a thread in HWZ Forum which discussed about my CPF savings being more than $800K. He wanted to clarify certain que...
-
The plan was to blog about this together with my quarterly passive income report (4Q 2018) but I decided to take some time off from Neverwin...
-
Reader says... AK sifu.. Wah next year MA up to 57200... Excited siah.. Can top up again to get tax relief. Can I ask u if the i...
-
It has been a pretty long break since my last blog. I have also been spending a lot less time engaging readers both in my blog and on Face...
-
I thought of not blogging about my 2Q 2020 passive income till a couple of weeks later because Mod 19 of Neverwinter, Avernus, just went liv...