We need a home but a condo?

Hi AK,

I have been reading your blog for sometime & found you to be very smart & prudent. Are you able to give me some advice based on my current situation?

 

Employment status:

Unemployed

 

Age:

40

 

Housing:

Condo with $650k outstanding loan (mkt value $1M)

 

CPF OA:

$400k

 

CPF SA:

$100k

 

Dividend stocks:

$50k

 

Cash:

$150k

 

Expenses:

$20k/yr

 

I have been trying to do trading with mix success. Had also been doing part-time job to earn about $1k/mth.

 

Should I try to find another corporate job? ( I really hate it & had been unsuccessful trying for a while)

 

Thanks in advance!

EW

Hi EW,

Aiyoh. I am just another lazy fellow. Prudent enough but not particularly smart.

At 40, I think you would be financially pretty comfortable if not for the housing loan. ;)

If you were to sell your condo and get a resale HDB 3 room flat, you would probably be debt free and free to do whatever you want without having to go back to the corporate world which you hate!

We need a home but we don't need a condo. :)

Best wishes,
AK

Related posts:
1. Sell HDB flat to buy a condo.
2. Parents asking me to buy a condo.

"The big money (Pandan) is not in the buying and selling."

As I work on probably the two most anticipated blog posts of the year in ASSI, I am reminded of an important virtue of any successful investor.


In July this year, I shared a few photos and some thoughts on my Facebook wall. I did that a lot for a while as I didn't feel like blogging. (Aiyah, lazy say lazy lah.)

If you have a mature Pandan plant at home and it has babies, you can do this too. Just make sure not to hurt the mother plant in the process as you might have to snip the baby from the mother at the roots.

In a jar of water, the baby Pandan will take a couple of weeks to grow proper roots. Once that happens, transplant into a small pot of soil.

In September, mine looked like this a month after transplanting:

The older leaves died and a new bunch of leaves emerged.

Today, I decided to move the plant to a bigger pot:

The wish I made in July came true. I got a Pandan plant for free. 

Wait a minute. 

Is it really free?

If we want wealth, for most of us, realistically, we have to work for it.

If we want our wealth to grow, for most of us, realistically, it will need time to do so.

To those who have sent me emails and messages on when I might be sharing my full year results, remember, patience is a virtue. ;)

"The big money is not in the buying and selling … but in the waiting." - Charlie Munger
Have the right conditions and patience.
A money tree for you and me? 
常将有日思无日，莫将无时想有时.