Updates for Dec 2018

Finally it is time to hand in the result for 2018.  Total dividend for the year is 14,709.91. Still $300 short of the $15K target set. Let's try hard in 2019.

As for overall comparison with last year figures: 
- 54K increase in cash component (i.e. cash in balance and the value of stock held)
- 27K increase in non-cash component (i.e CPF OA, SA and MA balance plus SRS investment and balance)
- 9.5K increase in the joint investment account with hubby

Overall, 笨mummy is happy with the amount of money she has managed accumulated this year with her employment income. Of course, she hopes that she could have better control over her spending, especially the portion on foods and coffee. 

Dividend / interest for month of Dec 18:  
Ascendas H Trust - S$ 224.80
SPH - $ 140.00

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 Dec 2018	S$ 364.80
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 14,709.91

High interest rates - a pro and a con

Interest rate is a double edged sword except when you have cash earning bank interest and outstanding mortgage with the bank.

笨mummy just received a letter from the bank that her interest rate is going to increase from 1.6% by another 0.6% to 2.2%. She was surprised to receive the letter from the bank announcing this considering that the rate was increased from 1.3% to 1.6% around Aug/Sep 2018 and in less than 6 months another increase announcement.

Although the terms and conditions allow her to re-price her mortgage, the current housing loan rate offered by the same bank is of a relatively higher rate. She is seriously considering whether to start to pay off the outstanding loan using cash Nov 2019 when her lock-in period end as it seems the trend of higher interest rate is here to stay. 

Negative and discouraging remarks

Dealing with negative and discouraging remarks are often what make the FIRE journey harder than what it may seem. The casual remark of “what is so great about getting that extra $100 or $200 from a high interest yield saving account. If you are so great, you should be earn few hundred thousand from trading in properties or stocks like those reported in the papers”, “that extra dividend or interest of that few hundreds cannot even pay for that xxx”, or “not buying that ‘good-to-have’ item does not make you rich”. It is especially hard when it comes from your significant others or your family members.

It is so hard to make someone see the “light” at the end of the tunnel. Maybe this article is in a way right. Sometimes a person may want something like financial freedom and able to have time to do his own stuff,  travel around, etc. But the question is how much pain / suffering you are willing to take to achieve that. 笨mummy is a person who can live without the latest gadgets, the fancy new clothes ranges from some fashion house, latest branded bags, etc. and if this is what it would take to reach Finance freedom, it does not bother her very much since she can live without them.

But looking at her hubby, she knows that he is not willing to “suffer” by depriving himself of these things. He always said that he spent some much time at work and being so stressful, he needs to buy stuffs to help reduce the stress otherwise he does not know why he is working so hard for. However, after getting these stuffs, it does not make the stress from work to go away and the worst is after he got these stuffs, most of the times he does not bear to use them. These stuffs would be kept in the drawers, cupboards or anywhere he can find space to store them. After a while, these stuffs would be spoilt due to long storage and cannot be used.

It is very tiring to deal with someone who keep complaining about having to suffer at work, yet unwilling to bear some pains to get yourself out of the suffering forever. The little bit of extra income counts toward the end, it is a journey and not a shortcut and you would not see the result immediately.

笨mummy has gave up on trying to convince her hubby to join her in her pursue of financial freedom and passive income as it is very tiring to deal with negative comments when your intention is to help and you ended up being attacked for what you are doing. 

Updates for Nov 2018

One more month to go before the end of 2018. Time really flies especially when 笨mummy is back at work compared to her SAHM time. It is a joy to see the bank account figures moving up due to input from monthly salary, dividends from shares and also interests from the high yield savning accounts. 

With the new year approaching, 笨mummy is picking up speed on projects that she has put on hold due to lack of time. She spent her weekend on tidying and cleaning the cupboards, wardrobes and also the windows. She also kicked start her mini re-model of the spare room to an official playroom for the two kids. Hopefully everything can be completed by the end of the year. 

She is looking forward to the Christmas holiday when she has more time to spend on these tasks. 

Dividend / interest for month of Nov 18:  
Ascendas India Trust - S$ 358.00  
Mapletress GCC - $ 192.60 
Ascendas REIT - $ 146.97 
Suntec REIT - $ 249.10 
DBS Pref Share - $ 473.86 
FCL Treasury Bond- $ 184 

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 Nov 2018	S$ 1,604.53
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 14,345.11

Updates for Oct 2018

The accumulated dividend received to-date this year is just $200+ from  the net amount of dividend received for whole of 2018. It was much faster this year due to increased investment made over the course of this year - Mapletree GCC in May, Ascendas REIT in September as well as the rights issue last year which resulted in 笨mummy owning more shares of Ascott and CDL H Trust. 

There is a piece of good news from Hyflux in October - they managed to find an investor to pump money into their business and hopefully there is a chance for her to get back a portion of her capital from the Hyflux bonds. 

Actions for the month:
笨mummy earned some coffee money from the rollercoaster ride that happened in middle October. She added 4,000 units of Ascendas REIT at $2.50 on the 12th October and got rid of them on the 17th October for $2.55. 

She also got rid of one-third of her M1 shares at $2.10 while waiting for further news on the GO and also any potential counter-off. 

In addition, the Perennial bond held by 笨mummy has been redeemed and she received back the capital invested of 6,000 and the last coupon payout of $139.88.


Dividend / interest for month of Oct 18:  
Ascendas REIT - S$ 1,667.50
Perennial Bond - S$ 139.88

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 Oct 2018	S$ 1,807.38
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 12,740.58

Updates for Sep 2018

Time flies... it is finally 3 quarters of a year gone and 笨mummy has been in her new workplace for 9 months. She also received news that her buddy at workplace just throw in the letter. It is sad to have someone that you look up to advices and assistance at work leaving. His resignation also indirectly benefit her as she has been assigned to take over most of his current portfolio. But it also indirectly highlighted some of the problems with the current management. 

Investment wise, it was an exciting month with news of a GO for M1 which 笨mummy is holding on to 20k units with an average cost of $2.1 after accounting for dividend. The offer of $2.06 is less than the average cost but the overall loss is not too huge to bear. Of course, she is still hoping for a higher counter offer. Meanwhile, she would just wait and see. 

Added 5,000 units of Ascendas REIT
笨mummy also did a bit of shopping this month and added 5,000 units of Ascendas REIT on 7 Sep 2018 when the private placement news was released.  Some may argue that the purchase price of $2.63 may be a premium compared to the private placement price of $2.54. But  笨mummy, being a long time vestor in this REIT has seem a number of early private placement where the share price would raise eventually again and much higher than the private placement price after a while. It is always good to go in during such opportunities to get the shares even at a slightly premium.

On hindsight, the purchase is not a bad decision since the price has recovered to 2.64 at the last day of the trading this month. 

Dividend / interest for month of Sep 18:  
Nera Tel - S$ 50
Kingsmen - S$ 50

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 Sep 2018	S$ 100
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 10,933.20

Updates for Aug 2018

It is another great month for 笨mummy’s wallet due to the yummy dividends received for the month and also a slightly higher interest received from her saving deposit due to the changes to UOB one account (she has moved $25,000 from SCB e-saver that gives her 1.25%  to UOB one account which giving her an effective interest rate of 2.43%).  On the bad side, it appears that she is locking up a rather large amount of cash with the banks.

笨mummy had decided to rebalance her portfolio by reducing the retail bonds that she is currently holding. She had disposed the following bonds that are trading below $1:
- Aspial (BEYZ) disposed at $0.955
- Oxley MTN (BJFZ) disposed at $0.995

Reason for doing so is that given that the interest rate is on a upward trend, the coupon payout % for these retail bonds no longer justify for the amount of risk to be taken. Secondly, 笨mummy must also admitted that the decision was in a way partially influenced by the recent Hyflux incident. Although the amount affected was considered not a lot as her total cost was only $6,800, it still left a bad taste. 

The proceeds from the sales of the retail bonds would like to be put in another high yield saving account while waiting for a chance to deploy them to buy shares when opportunities arise.

The total dividend to-date after adding Aug dividend is $10,833.20. This amount is 17% or $1,594.92 more than Aug 17 total dividend.  


Dividend / interest for month of Aug 18:  
M1 - S$ 1,040
Keppel Corp - S$ 300
CDL H Trust - S$ 456.86
Suntec REIT - S$ 247.40
Ascott Trust - S$ 351.12
Aspial Bond - S$ 52.07
Mapletree GCC - S$ 111.70
Capital Mall Bond (3.08%) - S$ 76.37
ST Engineering - S$ 550

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 Aug 2018	S$ 3,185.52
Dividend received in Yr 2018 to date	S$ 10,833.20