Updates for Jul 2018

This is the month that 笨mummy received $0 dividend from her investment. But on the bright side, she would be getting a bit of her pro-rated bonus which slightly less than half a month plus she also been told that she would be expecting an increment of 6%. Not so bad to get an increment after working for 6 months. 

Work-wise, she is also relatively busier than previous months due to more works slowly coming in. She is managed to bond better with the rest of the team and that entitled her to some updates on the latest happening. 

Investment wise, 笨mummy has not been taking actions for a while mainly due to the lack of fund as she is pouring money to her retirement portfolio, locking up some funds to maximize her & hubby DBS Multiplier Account to achieve 3.5% interest which is a relatively good return for a low risk “investment” and also to increase her saving with UOB one account by $25,000 to continue to enjoy the 2.44% interest.. With SIBOR going up, she is also looking at opening a CItibank MaxiGain Account to build up the bonus interest and moving some of her fund from SCB esaver at the later stage when the base plus bonus move above 1.5%. 

If you can get a low risk or even risk free return of 2% to 3.5%, there is really little motivation to pour the money in the market for a riskier 5% -6% return. 笨mummy is getting lazy these days...

Dividend received in Year 2014	S$ 8,241.99
Dividend received in Year 2015	S$ 8,978.59
Dividend received in Year 2016	S$ 12,145.15
Dividend received in Year 2017	S$ 12,964.44
Dividend received in Jul 2018	S$ 0
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 7,647.68

Mini milestones review (Mid 2018)

Since it is now mid of the year, 笨mummy feels that it is a great time to review the four mini milestones she set for herself in her journey to FIRE and check whether she is on track to her FIRE. 

1. Clear mortgage of her 4-room HBD flat (this is her only debt) 

笨mummy is left with S$235K on her mortgage loan with OCBC at an interest of 1.30% p.a. which would be adjusted up to 1.60% p.a. in few months time. She and her hubby has managed to accumulate cash that is sufficient to pay off the mortgage which is keep in multiple high interest rate saving accounts like DBS Multiplier, UOB One account and OCBC 360 account. 

2. CPF Special account to reach minimum sum of S$161K to cater for retirement 

Her CPF special Account has increased by $10K from end of last year to reach $120K. This is due to 笨mummy rejoining the workforce and her employer started to make contribution to her SA account as well as the CPF interest from last year. 

3. Having enough passive income (from dividend, interest, etc) that is sufficient to cover HER recurring expenses
Based on the latest update, the dividend income received as at June 2018 from her  investment is $7.6K and 笨mummy believes that she is on track to achieve a passive income that would cover her recurring expenses of $784 per month.  

4. Having enough passive income (from dividend, interest, etc) to cover the household expenses
This is still a long WIP for 笨mummy as the current expenses are higher as both children are enrolled in childcare and with the diapers and formula milk that child 1 and child 2 need.The current dividend income only managed to cover her recurring expenses with very little surplus. 

Workplace politics suck

It has been 6 months since 笨mummy rejoined the workforce from being a SAHM for almost 8 months. 笨mummy really starting to hate workplace politics. It is something that seems almost unavoidable at workplace and almost everyone who work face it at a regular basis unless you are a self-employed like tuition teacher, insurance agent or a grab driver.

Being new to the company and joining at a level that one need to manage junior staffs who have been in the company longer than you may seem to be an issue. 笨mummy has experienced first hand as to how then junior staffs would find excuse to not to do the work assigned by her. And these junior staff are likely, in her opinion, the smarter one. They choose works based on the managers they want to work with and in most instances those that could help them progress or promote faster. By doing / picking works selectively, they also allow themselves to more time to focus on the works assigned by those managers. As the saying goes 多做多错少做少错不做不错。While those more honest staff, often the not so smart ones are unlikely to reject works assigned but their work quality are often not that good.

Being new, 笨mummy is also often very unsure about the procedures. Sometimes she find that her peers are not actually very helpful when she tried to approach them for help or advices especially when she is very unsure of what is the normal procedure that she needs to take. It also makes it very hard for her to give work instruction to the junior staff when she herself also do not know what are the correct procedures.

Enough of rant.. 加油💪笨mummy咬紧牙关硬撑下去吧！ 看在钱份上。 As her hubby always advise her to take a step at a time and bear with what is going on for the sake of monthly salary that goes into her bank account.

Updates for Jun 2018

Another month has passed. Overall a great month for 笨mummy, as she managed to accomplished a few things:

- Career
Her six months probation has passed and she got her confirmation. And, of course, this comes with perks - extra $$$ as her Company allows staff who are confirmed by June to be entitled to bonus which would be pay out in July. 

- Passive Income
笨mummy has found a way to achieve the highest interest rate tier of 3.50% for the DBS Multiplier for herself and her hubby accounts. This method only required minimal effortl by incurring a small fee of $8 to $12 a month and playing with a float of $25K earning no interest for 6-10 days. This allows a 1.30% or $54 extra interest for each multiplier account. 

She had started in May to build up the resources needed to generate the cashflow and the result would be out in early July when the June interest is credited. But based on the Bank and Earn Summary, 笨mummy is confident that the plan works as she saw the indicator pointing to 3.5%.   

Dividend / Interest for the month of Jun 2018
OCBC - $ 206.34
Ascendas H Trust - $ 250.40

Dividend received in Year 2014	S$ 8,241.99
Dividend received in Year 2015	S$ 8,978.59
Dividend received in Year 2016	S$ 12,145.15
Dividend received in Year 2017	S$ 12,964.44
Dividend received in Jun 2018	S$ 456.74
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 7,647.68