January 2021 Portfolio Update

With January 2021 drawing to a close, it's time for a portfolio update.

I've done a fair bit of restructuring...

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Sold:

60% of FIRST REIT pre rights issue

This company has been the thorn in my side for a while. For a number of years it's share price rose and the divided was tasty, but as we all know it has has gone down like the Titanic in recent months. My reasons for off loading just over half of my holdings before the vote are as follows: 

1. Lippo have shafted First once and they could do it again. 

2. I sold 60% and not 100% because the counter was down almost 80% and I wanted to leave some skin in the game for a speculative return to form in the future. Whether this will happen or not is in the hands of the gods.

3. First Reit's CEO talks straight and took part in the rights issue. Thus, who knows, maybe in the long term he can turn things around. 

This is the greatest paper loss I've encountered in my investment career, and I learned lots from it. Namely, I learned not to get too greedy when chasing REIT yield. Also, I learned to research a REIT's sponsor more carefully. Lippo are shady to say the least and should have been taken to court for their shenanigans, but I understand that FIRST Reit's management had no choice but to call the rights issue and fuck over their share holders. We all know Lippo created this problem and should have shouldered the burden, but they didn't and shamelessly fed a shot sandwich to loyal First Reit share holders. This callous and, quite frankly, ballless move loss me and others a lot of money and eroded all our trust in Lippo. I think based on the financials there will be another rights issues in the future, diluting share holding even further. This I'm ready for - albeit with a massively reduced position. So, with two fingers up to Lippo, I'm out for 60% and praying that somehow fortunes turn around for my remaining (albeit massively diluted 40% stake) However, I feel I might be waiting for some time.

Sold:

I took profit on Keppel DC REIT and sold 50% of my stake. I got into the counter two months after the IPO and added heavily to it in the first year, so I was up almost 200%. I've been flirting for a while with reducing my position and taken some delicious paper gains, this month I finally did. Yum yum!

Sold:

I sold off a minor position in Global Investments Ltd. This was and dividend play I felt didn't pay enough for the risk involved, so I sold out at the same price I paid 2 years ago. I still collected a decent yield for my troubles though, so not all in all it worked out OK. I see this investment as a reflection of my more immature self. I'm trimming off these parts off my portfolio and replacing them with more reliable Singapore dividend plays and long term US growth. 

Buy:

UOB and OCBC. I like UOB's prospects over the next decade with its exposure to SE Asia. Granted, it's not a bargain, but It's not expensive either, so I loaded up heavily and added to my existing position. Likewise, I dumped a large chunk into OCBC to diversify over the big 3 Singaporean banks. All 3 will go back to normal dividend soon once the government lift the 60% cap. These are long term growth/dividend plays for me with their flawless balance sheets and health yields.

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In conclusion, January has seen me starting to cut out the clutter from my portfolio. I'm still monitoring Berkshire B and Alibaba closely and will add if there are decent pullbacks. 

  

Global Diversification Continues

In my last blog post, Birthday's and Berkshire B, I wrote about how I recently accumulated a sizeable chunk of Berkshire B at $212 as part of my strategy to diversify my portfolio and garner steady growth over the next 10 years. 

Looking back at the buy, I still believe this was a decent price and that the fair value of the company is closer to $300 per share.

When I started investing in the stock market back in 2015 or so my plan was to build a dividend machine that would give me a regular income and hopefully facilitate an early retirement. 

So far, this has gone mostly to plan, but in hindsight, I would do things slightly differently. 

Over the years, I have overpaid for some counters in an attempt to get stability and yield, and in doing so, I've made a few glaring errors - chasing yield being one of my main downfalls. 

Of these mistakes, the biggest are buying the following counters: Kingsman, Starhub, Singtel and First REIT. Anyone else in the  same boat here? 

I'm still holding on to these 4 counters for dear life, in the hope of a turnaround, but I don't have a ton of hope. 

That said, all 4 companies pay good dividends, but the question is for how long will this continue? 

However, I've also made some excellent purchases including Keppel DC REIT with a weighted average cost of just over $1. Also, Sheng Siong at $0.9 approx. 

There are others good picks in the portfolio as well, but I won't bore you with all the details right now.

So why the strategic move to the USA?

To be honest, I've become a little bearish on the Singapore economy over the past while. What with the US-China trade war meandering on, Covid, and the STI moving sideways at best, I feel perhaps the good times are over for the foreseeable future. 

This doesn't mean that there are not great companies in Singapore - there are - but it does mean that growth catalysts are few and far between. 

As a result, I want to spread my wings and diversify in the USA with one of the world's best run and diversified companies, Berkshire B. 

Why not invest in the S & P 500?

The answer to this question is easy enough:

1. I think Berkshire B is better value than the S & P 500.

2. I think Berkshire B can weather the bad times more effectively than the S & P 500.

3. I like Berkshire B's railroad and insurance businesses

4.  Passive funds buy stocks when they are expensive and sell when they are going down

5. I don't like passive ETFs. They have done amazingly well over the past 10 plus years because of QE, but what their future holds I'm not so sure.

6. I believe in paying for the quality business ethos and philosophy that Berkshire has now and which will continue into the future - with Buffet or without Buffet.

So, I have no doubt this is a quality counter moving forward, and one that will continue to add to when opportunity arise. This is the key cornerstone in my diversification plan.

Are you only diversifying in the USA?

I've also picked up a chunk of ICBC as I feel China's growth will move in tandem with this banking giant. Of course, I recognize the headwinds of mobile payment and loans etc. but traditional banking isn't going to disappear overnight. Also, ICBC has a history of paying handsome dividends, so it's nice to tap into this wellspring. 

OK, so that's where we are presently. More soon. The beat goes on...

Birthdays and Berkshire B!

Well, well.... Would you believe it? Singapore Dividend Collector has turned 40! 

It's one of those milestones in life that happens to other people, isn't it? It'll never happen to me, for I'm still too youthful and sprightly. Ha!

News flash! It has happened. Happy big 40 to me! (a few days ago)

So, what the heck have I been up to then?

Well, I recently made a rather large investment into Berkshire Hathaway B. This has been something I've been obsessing over for a long time, and I finally pulled the trigger at $212. According to my calculations, this is a decent price moving forward, considering Buffet, Munger and the rest create about a 10% return for shareholders. As always, this is a stock I intend to hold for a long time, and why not considering the quality of the businesses Berkshire owns, the amazing business culture there and also the potential for the company - with or without WB or CM. I'm not one of those investors who runs after the next big thing (although I might do with ??) I feel paying $212 is still decent value, and obviously so did Buffet as this was the average price he bought shares back over the past year or so. Thus, if it's good enough for the great man, then, my God, it's good enough for me.

This is my first foray into the US stocks, and presently I'm happy with my decision. Honestly, I researched this purchase in micro-detail to avoid any slip ups. In the past, I've been a little trigger happy and make some mistake, but I've learned from these and have grown as an investor. 

So, my plan moving forward is to use my Singapore portfolio to harvest dividends which I'll continue to reinvest into STI counters when the price is right. Also, Berkshire will be my steady growth engine (slow and steady wins the race etc.) 

I'm comfortable with this approach, so let's see if it works moving forward.

What do you think out there in internet-land?

What are the lemons, the keepers and the stars in your Singapore portfolio?

 

Right, so here we all are into another new month. Can you believe it's September 2020 already? It's hard to fathom, isn't? Well, take a deep breath folks, it's true. 

What a year it has been so far for investors with some counters blasting into orbit and others sinking down to the dark depths. Let's have a look at this and decide whether I should cut my losses on a few bad performers (lemons) or hold on for dear life and pray for some divine intervention.

Here's my portfolio 2-9-20 which I have been building since 2005.

SATS

Keppel Corp

Singtel

Keppel DC REIT

ThaiBev

AimAMP Cap REIT

CapitaMall Trust

Capitalcom trust

Ascenads REIT

Nikko AM ETF

SGX

Singpost

Starhub

UOB

Kingsman Creative

Sheng Siong

DBS

Accordia Golf Trust

AscottREIT

Capital land Commercial Trust

First Reit

Global Investments

Frazer Comm Trust

Wilmar International

Ascendas-h-trust

ICBC (HK)

Centurion

As you can see I invest primarily for dividends which I reinvest back in to the portfolio 3/4 times per year.

The Corona pandemic has not been good to us investors, and my portfolio has suffered. Thus, I will divide it into three parts:

1. Lemons (stocks I might dump)

2. Keepers (stocks performing understandably in the current circumstances, but I like it's dividend/future potential)

3. Stars (stocks shining brightly in the sky)

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1. The Lemons

Singpost

I bought this back in 2016 when finding stock picks was like pissing in the dark. I hadn't a clue where to aim. My thinking at the time was that Singpost would do well from the emerge online retail markets and than it paid an ok dividend. I saw it as a long term, safe, dividend play. Well, the dividend is still there - currently 3.86% - but the stock has been hammered - currently trading at 0.7. It was 1.97 in Jan 2015. That quite a drop, and with the divided so low, a terrible investment. What the future hold for this stock doesn't look promising.

Starhub

I bought this stock again for the long term dividend opportunities, not really digging any deeper. As we all know, its fall from grace has been rather dramatic and its dividend unsustainable. Dam you Starhub!

Kingsman

When I bought this back in 2016, I was attracted by its decent balance sheet and dividends. That said, the last few years have not been kind. Presently, it dividend looks a bit silly at over 11%. How much longer can this small cap last in world with restricted travel and cancelled conferences?

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2. The Keepers

SATS/Keppel Corp/ThaiBEV/AIMS REIT/CapitalMall/CapitalCOM/Ascendas/NIKKO ETF/UOB/DBS/Accott Trust/Capitalland Comm Trust/First REIT/Global Investments/Frazer Com Trust/ Ascendas H Trust/ICBC

A few notes on this lot. 

SATS has been shafted by Corona for sure, but I'm staying vested for the long term. People will travel when they can.

Keppel has been in the news as 

Temasek bottled the deal at the last minute. I still think this beast will bounce back and is still an OK long term hold. 

Aims REIT has been going sideways, but pays a solid divided and has good management.

CapitalMall will be grand long term as its malls are great locations. And let's face it, what else is there to do in Singapore?

Capital Com will be fine long term.

Ascendas has not been hot too badly and is a quality company. Long term hold.

NIKKO EFL was a silly investment for me after reading a Boogle book. Singapore continues to go sideways without innovative tech companies.

UOB/DBS/ICBC will be fine in the long term and pay good dividends.

Ascott has great locations and will be fine as the super rich need somewhere to stay in big cities.

Global Investments pays a good dividend and is steady enough. No debt as well. Hold long term.

Frazer Comm trust is solid, pays a good dividend and is backed by a strong sponsor.

Ascendas H Trust is fine in the long run.

ICBC is getting hammered at the moment, but will continue to grow as China does.

Centurian should cash in on the new government rules for Corona housing for workers and students. They are the main player and have a dam fine management team. Long term hold with a tasty dividend.

Note: I am holding on to FIRST REIT as it's down too much to let go at this stage. The sponsor is a joke and I don't have high hopes, but let's call this a white knuckle hold. Perhaps they will prove everyone wrong.

3. Stars

Keppel DC

What can I say...? Amazing

Wilmar

On fire and with investments in the company in place, this looks set to continue long into the future. They should raise the dividend in the future as well.

Sheng Siong

Thank you Corona...Thank you so much. People gotta eat etc etc.

Accodia Golf Trust

With the big meeting on the 16th Sept and the new deal, it looks like the deal will go though. This will be a big payout for us investors. 

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OK, so that's about it. I could waffle on more but I won't. Let me know your thoughts below if you have an opinion.

Have a great day ahead.

Corona Musings

Well, well, well...

I always get up early on Saturday to work a half day and then go run in the mountains. And today is no different. What can be better than sitting in a quiet kitchen sipping hot coffee and catching up on current affairs? Well usually this is the case, but after reading a few articles on the BBC site and scrolling through Facebook, I don't feel so well.

Fear, Corona, crash, recession, depression, sell off, panic, shut down, 1929, pandemic, lies, lock down, decimated. 

These are just a few of the words jumping out at me as the birds are tweeting outside my window oblivious to how weird the world has got over the past few weeks.

Not long ago people marched the streets, chests puffed out, dreaming about what they would do in their retirement. Minds drifted away to a velvety, warm place, a cruise ship perhaps; an all inclusive package. Yes, a lovely 33 night cruise from Singapore to Europe, stopping off in Phuket, Yangon, Mumbai and then on to Athens, sipping a Pina Colada on the upper desk. How does this little fantasy feel on the 14th of March 2020? Are you still getting those tingles of excitement down your spine?

I think not.

So, anyway, here we are. The Singapore market has bombed and many have either sold the lot or are sitting nervously in the dark wondering what happen to their paper gains. What both these groups have in common is they haven't got a clue what to do next. The options are as follows as I see it and I will divide them into two groups:

Group 1: Government will get Corona under control and then the global economy will start to recover.

1. If you sold out, try to buy in on a V shaped recovery once governments get Corona under control.

2. If you didn't sell out, wait for the V shaped recovery once once governments get Corona under control.

3. If you have cash and you didn't sell out, pump it in once once governments get Corona under control.

4. If you have cash because you sold out, pump it in once once governments get Corona under control.

Group 2: Governments eventually get Corona under control (albeit much later than previously thought) and their is a massive global recession.

1. If you sold out, you'll want to wait and see what the global recession looks like before you buy. Things should go even lower.

2. If you didn't sell out, you better get yourself strapped in for a bumpy ride, or even better, lose the password to your investment account and stop reading the news for 5 years.

3. If you have cash and didn't sell out, things could be worse. There'll be bargains to be had.


Which group do you belong to? I'm in group 2 no.3. I have cash to play with and I sold nothing in the sell off. I plan to stay invested for at least another 20 years, so I selling and paying tons of fees doesn't appeal to me right now. 

What about you?

FIRE and my Discontents (part 1)

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, I was told the way life should be lived by my parents: go to school, get a good education; find a job and then get a job and work your way up. For the vast majority of folk this makes sense. That said, over the past decade bloggers (mostly from the US) have been mapping out alternative ways to live life, ones in which good old Victorian ideas of thrift combined with savvy investing, have culminated in people retiring in their 30s and 40s. This post looks at some of the ideas and if they are all they're cracked up to be.

Something I notice when reading random FIRE blogs is how easy it appears to be to achieve financial independence. All you have to do is save, tighten your belt and dump your money into index funds. Done. Life for me hasn't been so clear cut. How many of you reading this have had times when your bank balance took and unexpected battering: there could have been a health emergency, a family issue that required a lot of travel, redundancy, a car accident, bad investments etc. etc. The list goes on. As I rapidly approach forty years of age, I know never to underestimate the unpredictability of life. Shit happens when you least expect it - as a wise man once said - and these are words to live by.

Many FIRE bloggers that I've read seem to be content with getting by on a thousand dollars or so a month of passive income, but life is a slippery fish to hold on to and I wouldn't be so confident that this cash is enough (4% Rule or not) You never know what's round the corner. I suppose it's fine when you are in your twenties, glowing with confidence and health, but as the decades roll past, fate may have an expensive surprise lying in wait. And, when it rears it ugly head, you better be ready to delve deep into your savings.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that FIRE fails to prepare for future emergencies, but I do think as the sands of time continue to fall, a person's idea of what constitutes the good life changes too.

In your twenties and thirties, investing in bog standard healthcare probably seems like a good idea. You know, you eat well, you exercise, you feel great, so why shell out a fortune on fully comp insurance. All this extra money saved should be invested in your value dividend portfolio after all. But as a person begins to approach forty years of age, life no longer feels like a endless game.

How quickly does a decade slip past with with barely a care? Fast eh? For sure, and a man approaching this age begins to look towards the horizon and think 'In another decade I'll be fifty, and then again 60 and...then what.'

When I was a kid, my family used to drive to my cousins' house in a town an hour and a half from our hometown. About halfway through the journey we passed a large clock tower which has an inscription in large black letters just below the clock. It said 'Time is Short'. I'll never forgot that tower and the impact those words had on me. Time is indeed short and for the unlucky among us shorter still. Thus, faced with life's uncertainties is it a good idea to live so close to the poverty line as some of FIRE exponents appear to do? Of course, the counter argument to this point is why take life so seriously when it is so short? If we're here one minute and gone the next, surely we should leave the job we dislike and live a little.

I understand this point 100% but how many FIRE proponents live the dream lifestyle they like to display on Instagram? I'm sure there are quite a number of them who live on the breadline with drastically reduced options as a result of their tightly pulled purse strings. Again, I'm not saying all members of the FIRE community as this way, but when so much idealism and optimism froths up around an idea, I start to get cynical. It's one thing painting a beautiful picture of life on social media, with pool side snapshots and vlogs on the way to the gym, and then coping with the financial reality of a terminal illness or tragic accident. Life isn't all sweetness and light, but after reading various bloggers work you might be left wondering why all the good stuff is happening to them and not you.

Comparing yourself with other people and their idealised lives on social media is a wider problem, and we have seen depression rates among teens (especially girls) sky rocket over the past decade as they compare their body with app enhanced photos of their friends. I feel the same way about some bloggers within the FIRE movement as they propagate online the version of themselves most gratifying to their fevered egos.

I'm sure you'll agree this type of shameless ego massaging is not only undignified but also corrosive to the mental well being of all involved. Having enough passive income to live on is one thing, but gratuitous displays of what other people don't have (time, happiness etc) are bilious to say the least.

If your a FIRE blogger and you've achieved your goal of financial independence (which is about as nebulous a phrase as you can get) then fair play to you. Well done. But I'd leave matters there and get on with life rather than writing about it and making others feel inadequate with plastic smiles and self-congratulatory posts about the good life.

I want to add a caveat at this point in case some people feel I'm anti-FIRE, I'm not. If a person can earn enough money passively and live well, that's amazing. Some even use their new found free time to do more charitable work etc. and this I admire. But what's shitty is when this is broadcast to the world as if the heavens have opened and divine gifts have fallen into their lap. This in turn causes many people to feel even worse in their jobs and lives that inevitably last the same spark. 

FIRE is amazing for many, for sure, but how many of its proponents are bluffing themselves about its infallibility?

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - Portfolio Over $1,000,000 with the help of Trusts and REITS

From Yahoo Finance

The market has been kind to the Trusts and REITs in my portfolio this year with all of them doing nicely. Here's a breakdown:

AIMS APAC = up 8%
Ascendas = up 24%
Ascendas H Trust = up 27%
Ascott = up 20%
Cap Com = up 26%
Cap Mall = up 33%
Fraser Com = up 16%
Keppel DC = up 98%

Here are the Trusts and REITs in my portfolio not doing do well...

Accordia Golf Trust = down 18%
First REIT = down 6%

Overall, the portfolio now stands at $1.084.121.15 with the help of the above counters.

Other counters are doing OK too. Here are some notable mentions:

SATS = up 43%
SGX = up 26%
Sheng Shong = up 24%
Thaibev = up 10%
Wilmar = up 15%

And here are the counters not doing so well...

Keppel - down 30%
Global Investments = down 6%
Kingsman = down 20%
Singpost = down 34%
Singtel = down 20%
Starhub = down 63%!!!!

So as you can see, the portfolio is a mixed bad really. Overall, though as an income investor I'm happy enough. Should be generating close to $40,000 in dividends in 2019.

With the long awaiting crash not a million miles away, I'm going to sit tight and keep reinventing my dividends and let compounding do its thing.

All for now. Have a good day.

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - Keppel DC REIT - To Sell or Not to Sell?

I've been invested in Keppel DC for some time now.

It's IPO is December 2014 was a first for data center REITs in Asia, and from the off I liked it. Since 2015, I've picked up shares in bundles and at the moment I hold around 52,000 of them.

To date this counter has been good to me. Currently, it's up about 80% and for the first time I'm feeling that perhaps the time is right to take the cash. As I've blogged about before, I try not to let emotions influence my investment decisions, but in this case I am wavering...

I should be! It's 80% up in the port. and this is a ton of cash that could be thrown somewhere else for a hell of a lot more yield that DC is currently offering (3.1%) That said, everything does seem to be stored on cloud these days, and I can't see this changing soon.

So what's a man to do when there's a recession on the horizon?

In cases like this I like to follow what I will call for the sake of chit chat and sounding smart: 'The Emotive/Rational Approach'.

What the living bejesus is this I hear you ask?

Well, as investors, unless we have the mind of Buffet. Lynch or any of the other investing greats we're pretty much doomed to let emotions rear their ugly heads and reek havoc sporadically in our portfolios.

This has happened to me a couple of times.

For example, late in 2018 I was reading tons of stuff about block chain technology etc. and got a bit freaked out. I had lots of DBS shares, and, of course (in my freaked head), they would be doomed once this new technology took over. I've still no idea why I acted as I did but I sold 90% of my DBS shares in a whirlwind of speculation and brow knitting.

'The big banks are fucked, I tell you' my mind screamed this at me, urging me to take action there and then.

And that's what I did. I sold almost all of my DBS, and you know what... I got lucky. This was in Oct 2018 when it was trading at $106. Thus, I exited with a large paper gain, but screwed up my long term plans to use DBS as a key blue-chip dividend player over 20 years.

So there you go... Probably the most stupid thing I have have done investment wise, but thanks to positive market sentiment I got away with it.

So anyway back to 'The Emotive/Rational Approach'. As you can seen from my horror story, acting on emotion is ridiculous and dangerous in investing. I learned an important lesson from this blunder and will not ever again allow myself to act like a man who take investing advise from a 14 year old.

'So son... This is the deal. Listen a minute. Blockchain is going to take over soon and banks will be made irrelevant in our current economic system, what do you think?'

'What...? Eh...? What's... Yeah, dad whatever, sell them and relax. All will be sweet.'

What I find works better is allowing emotion to guide me towards certain sector/area. For when there's hype and emotional charge around something, it acts as an impetus for me to be bothered reading about it.

As I've blogged about numerous times, I don't find investing particularly interesting, especially reading annual reports and other heavy waffle. My interests lie more in literature, meditation, music, art and the history of ideas... Forgive me if investing isn't my first love; it's merely a means to an end - a comfortable retirement.

That said, once emotion guides us towards something (as it has with me and gold recently) it's important to take a step back and think clearly and rationally. This involves reading loads of boring stuff, watching suits on Youtube throw their hat into the investing ring and, of course, breathing in the goodness of http://www.sginvestbloggers.com/ which is, if I'm honest, the best place to spend your time in blogsphere. Big up to the sginvestbloggers!

Reading and digesting various opinions about a stock allows the emotional fizz to dissipate. Then and only then are you in a position to think about buying - or selling - a stock.

This bring me back to the big question... Should I sell DC REIT when it's up 80%

Emotion whispers into one ear, 'Yeah, why not.' 

Rationality whispers into the other, 'What! Sell! Are you crazy? Think about the future of cloud over the next 5-10 years; think of the tailwinds my friend.'

Anyway, what will be will be...

What do you all think? To sell or not to sell?

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - Dividends for June 2019

June was a bumper month for dividends that's for sure. Being a blog that circumnavigates the area of all things dividend, I though I'd share a few details with you:

Total dividends collected in June = $12,226 

My biggest contributing counters were as follows:

-Ascendas
-Ascendas H Trust
-Accordia Golf Trust
-Capital Mall
-First REIT
-Kingsman
-Starhub
-Thaibev

I'm confident in all these counters moving forward bar one - Starhub. I really don't think it can sustain their dividend at the current rate, but as things stand, I'm in too deep to let go of the counter. Thus, I'm just going to ride the waves and see if the CEO can wave his magic wand and make wonders happen. I'm well aware this is not sound investment chat; however, Starhub is the only share I have which I speak about in this way, so forgive me.

Overall, I'm happy with June's harvest and it goes along way to pushing me towards beating 2018 dividend total of almost $40,000. Read about it here and here if you have a moment.

After the first 2 quarters of 2019 my dividend grand total stands at $22, 522 meaning that I'm on track to beat last years total as things stand. By how much requires a mathematical calculation that is beyond me at this un-Godly hour of the morning. In this spirit, let's sit back and let time do its thing. Let's wait and see if this compounding gig, aided by mother time, will caress my nest egg in the the right spots. I sure hope she does.

Until then, have a delicious day folks.

PS: Would anyone else in this community of folks be interested in starting a monthly podcast of all things investment etc.? I've been looking for podcasting opportunities for some time now. If any of you would like to give it a crack, please leave a comment below and perhaps we can get the ball rolling.

Happy 1st Birthday to the Singapore Dividend Collector!

Aha! It's 05:50 in the morning here in 'X' and I'm typing like a man possessed. I don't now what it is about early mornings, maybe it's a combination of a clear head and the cool air, but whatever it is my finger don't half go tippity tap.

I just noticed it has been a year now since I first started this blog as an experiment. So happy birthday to me!

What kind of experiment is this blog and why did I start it?

This is a good question. The reason is I need something to force me to read about finance.

You see, not only am I a lazy man at heart, my natural reading inclinations, if left to their own devices, drift towards fiction. Fiction, in fact, is my first love, and if I'm honest, reading about stocks etc. comes way down the list. Thus, I thought it would be a good idea to write a blog from the prospective of an investor who doesn't enjoy investing. From the perspective of a person who needs coaxing to pick up the finance section of the newspaper. In the past, the finance section was what I used to clean the windows and to wrap fragile objects. The thought of reading it sent numbing chills through my entire being.

This is my position.

This may shock some of you out there who are new to my blog, but for those of you who read it every week, this will come as no surprise.

I force myself every Sunday to blast out a post whether I've got sometime to say or not as I find writing to be a meditative exercise, one which after a few minutes of grappling my thoughts, I usually follow through on.

Getting into the flow like this feels good and calms me down. Now, this is not to say that the words themselves are worth reading - far from it. I once heard the late, great Christopher Hitchens talking about his latest book at the time 'God is not Great'. In the interview the journalist said 'Everyone has a book inside them, don't they?' Hitchens, in his own smooth and wry way replied, 'Yes, perhaps they do. But for most this is where it should stay.' This is true of this blog for sure, but fuck it. Blogging is a self-indulgent practice, so if you think it's crap, that's okay by me. If, on the other hand, it makes you giggle or - God forbid - you get something from it - then that's okay, too.

The words I see on the screen in front of me are not really for anyone else. This could, in fact, be a personal diary, for I act anonymously and have no purpose to achieve recognition or fame. My motives are pure. I type because I like to type. I need a reason to read financial articles, otherwise my dosing rods will point me in the direction of Charles Dickens or David Foster Wallace (I joke you not) So without this blog I would have little or no interest in investing, and actually I need to keep one eye on finance. My portfolio is worth about $1,000,000 Singaporean, so it's safe to say - like the Yanks do - that I've got some skin in the game.

I wonder if I'm the only blogger in the http://www.sginvestbloggers.com/ community who writes for this reason? Probably... Anyway, who cares? I write because I write and what more is there to say?

Since this is my blog's birthday, I thought I'd get back on track and talk a little about the stocks on my radar etc. because otherwise I'll have no readers at all. In fact, if you have read this far already, hats off to you. You're an avid reader, one with patience outstripping your peers in this frantic world of skimming and scanning we inhabit.

I'm currently looking at Wilmar, ITV (UK), Tracker Fund of Hong Kong and Accordia Golf Trust.

Why?

Wilmar is defensive and solid. Is a growth and dividend play in the long run.

ITV (UK) this stock pays a good dividend and would diversify my portfolio. Also, I think market sentiment is overly pessimistic on it considering the good things it's currently doing.

Tracker fund of Hing Kong as I would quite like to get some exposure to China over the next 5 to 10 years.

Accordia Golf Trust because of it's dividend and I think it's a good long term play.

Okay, now that's all from me this week. I want to once again say happy birthday to me and this strange blog.

All the best, party people.

What are you investing in right now?

As my regular reader know, I have a dividend portfolio made up of mainly SGX listed stocks and REITs that generated almost $40,000 last year.

When my account has $15,000, I deploy this back into the portfolio rain or shine. I feel that by not trying to time the market over a minimum 20 year period I should have a big enough pot to retire.

Presently, I'm having trouble decided where to allocate the latest bunch of juicy dividends. These are strange times in the markets with blue chip REITS overvalued, blue chip stock largely the same, gold is pricey and, to top it all off, a global recession is on the horizon. So, what to do in this situation?

I don't want to sit on he sideline holding cash, for this goes against my investment plan. I
d rather be in the game than out no matter what happens and collect dividends. But at this particular juncture, I'm really stuck.

The best I can come up with is defensive stocks such as Sheng Siong or Thaibev. That said, I'm already heavily invested in both.

Any thoughts people?

Singapore Dividends for Financial Freedom - Will Starhub and Singpost ever recover?

Years ago I bought into Starhub and Singpost with a buy to hold strategy believing they would be good counters to rely on come rain or shine.

Now I know I was wrong.

Presently, Star hub is down almost 58% and Singpost 35%. Luckily, I took relatively small positions in these companies at the time, so the damage isn't too bad, but still their presence in my portfolio does give me cause for concern.

Sure, I should have had a stop loss on the counters, but this is easy to say in hindsight. There are massive black clouds hanging over both companies and more unease brooding on the horizon, so what's a man to do? Sell and take the hit or hang on with crossed fingers and see if they can turn things around?

I've been deliberating this for months now and still I'm undecided. One moment, I'm ready to hit the sell button and then a voice tells me never to sell on emotion. However, the longer I think about the situation and the future, the less I feel emotion is the causal factor. The fact is that both companies are in the shit.

Starhub's price has taken a nosedive and to prevent an outright investor stampede they have hiked up their dividend to unsustainable levels. We all know what's going to happen when they have to cut this dividend. So, is there any way for the company to Houdini their way out of this hole? With the new (albeit smaller than previously expected) 4th telco joining the party how are Starhub going to reverse the trend?

The same applies to Singpost. They are in a tight spot, but are at least trying to diversify, but will it be enough?

Let me know your thoughts people.

Preparing for market crash - gold and Bitcoin?

Hands up if you think global markets are going to crash in the next 12 months?

If been trying to keep my emotions in check with regard to this, but I can't help noticing an ever darkening cloud overhead.

What's one to do then? Sell and run to the hills? Load up on gold? Admit yourself to a mental hospital and ride the wave?

Who the hell knows eh?

To be honest, I've been deliberating making 10% of my portfolio gold. I joke you not. For me, it's more about hedging and protecting my cash which is in a currency I'd rather not reveal.

I know gold doesn't pay a dividend and you have to pay for storage etc. but I still feel that when the shit hits the fan and there's blood in the alleyways, it'll be the gold holders smiling and sleeping comfortably, while everyone else goes grey and drinks vodka by the pint glass.

What do you think then folks? To gold or not to gold - that is the question.

I've even been thinking of putting about 1% of my portfolio in Bitcoin as well.

Here's why...

OK, so right now the majority of the world's wealth is in the hands of the Baby-Boomers, and all the way through their investing careers they heard the same thesis: when the markets crash - hold gold. Agreed? Yes, it's true. That said, think ahead...

Once all the wealth begins to transfer from the Baby-Boomers to Gen X and eventually the Millennials, we are going to see something new. The Millennial especially have grown up with Cryptos being the norm, and for many of them Cryptos are the true alternative to cash. Thus, where to you think these newly cashed up people will turn in 15 years time when a crash threatens the markets? Gold? No way! Gold will be for old folk!

So, I think there's a clear case for buying up a small proportion of Bitcoin and holding it for a couple of decades.

As for now though, I think 10% of the portfolio in gold is the way to go.

What do you all think?

An Ode to Life

Morning folks. How's life treating you?

Life is weird isn't it. We're here for a short time with no discernible purpose and many of us spend most of our time in a state of unease, anxiety and unhappiness.

Why is our species prone to such negativity and has it always been this way?

Who knows eh?

Evolutionary Biologists like Richard Dawkins tell us Homo-Sapiens have been roaming the Earth for around 100,000 years.

Seems like a long time right?

Well, the figure pales into insignificance when we we consider how other forms of human walked the deserts and savannas millions of years before.

Dawkins asks us to think about a piano keyboard's length representing human existence. If we consider where Homo-Sapiens sit on this keyboard, we'd have to go all the way to the right and a small sliver of the very last key.

It's a humbling thought, isn't it?

Us, humans, existing for such a short time, historically speaking, and yet here we are rulers of the Earth and masters of the food chain!

Here we are unraveling the human genome and experimenting with DMT to edge ever closer to revealing the meaning of existence!

My goodness, we've come a long way as a species since we start our journey. It's a cool thought, isn't it?

I want you to imagine Dawkin's keyboard again if you will, and this time focus on the amount of space between humans first appearing on the scene and then us Homo-Sapiens taking over. Imagine the amount of time. Imagine how long a century takes to pass and then think of time in terms of millennia. Add to that millions of years and your head begins to fizz.

What the hell were we doing for all that time?

As the vast majority of this period is what's known as 'pre-history' meaning it's before writing and art, we'll simply never know how us humans whiled away our days. What can infer though is that we hunted and gathered and moved around. We would have been fit and healthy. Our diets would have consisted mainly of nuts, fruits, berries and plants with the occasional bit of meat.  We would have been focused on the here and now and cared little about the future.

With this heightened momentary awareness, I wonder if ancient man was happier than today's man.

Today's man with his property and portfolio. Today' man with his self-development and exercise regimes. Today's man with his cars and gadgets. All of these come at a cost, not only financially but also socially. Today's man must exchange his finite time in exchange for money which he uses to buy products and services that promise to make him happier and more fulfilled.

The question is do these products and services do the business? Do they make us live happier lives?

I think the jury is out of this one, folks.

Pre-historic man would have had lots more free time to sit around breathing in fresh air and admiring the view. If we forget about the small matter of defending his family from the ravages of wild animals, his life seems pretty sweet: Get up a dawn, amble into the forest, collect some berries for breakfast and then hang out with the family.

Today's man, in contrast, wakes up worrying about his unfinished project, fights his way through rush hour traffic, arrives at the office to face people he doesn't like, works like a mad man for 10 hours and returns home shattered while the evening invades the avenue (cheers JJ).

I hope you'll excuse my crass oversimplifications, but for the sake of my blog post I hope you'll look the other way.

So, do I have a point after all this rambling? Do I have a golden nugget of wisdom to leave you with so you can continue your day enriched and energized? Probably not.

However... I want us all ponder upon how incredibly lucky we all are to be alive. Think about the odds of being alive in the first place, think about the statistical probability of being born on planet Earth. Think about all the living species of animals and here we are as conscious beings philosophizing about metaphysics! It's crazy, isn't it?

Once we learn to appreciate how incredibly unlikely a conscious existence is then we can enjoy life more. Minor irritations will simply melt away when we look to the sky, breathe deeply and meditate on the chances of being here in the first place.

So, folks, at some point today, I want you all to do just that. Walk outside to a quiet place and think about how amazing, unusual and short life is. Spend time with those you love and tell them they are special. We are all special. We are all freaks of existence, so let's enjoy ourselves while we can and make the world a more positive and fun place to be.




 

The Crash is Coming | What should you do?

The fog and the monster are on the way

There's been so much chat about the forthcoming financial meltdown it made me think of the fog and the sea monster in Ray Bradbury's The Fog Horn'.

Out there in the cold water, far from land, we waited every night for the coming of the fog, and it came, and we oiled the brass machinery and lit the fog light up in the stone tower. Feeling like two birds in the grey sky, McDunn and I sent the light touching out, red, then white, then red again, to eye the lonely ships. And if they did not see our light, then there was always our Voice, the great deep cry of our Fog Horn shuddering through the rags of mist to startle the gulls away like decks of scattered cards and make the waves turn high and foam. 

So what do you all think? Is the financial future as bleak for us all as it is for McDunn and his compadre, or is there simply too much paranoia self-replicating and reinforcing itself via social media algorithms?

Who the heck knows eh?

Ray Dalio, thought the next big crash was imminent here:

But recently, he has revised his prediction, lowering his odds of a US recession before the 2020 US presidential election to 35%:

Ray Dalio is a man who knows his stuff. You don't search too far on Youtube before you come across his historical analysis of the global economy. I like the man. His talks straight and despite his intellectual prowess, breaks down complex economics ideas for stupid people just like me.

We needs more public intellectuals like Dalio, ones who cut through the waffle and make investing and economics more accessible from people without a Masters degree in the field.

One thing is for sure, the US is ten years into a bull market that simply won't go on for much longer. Thus, it's just a matter of 'when' not 'if' the crash will come.

So, folks, we better get ourselves strapped in for a bumpy ride. The fog and the monster are on their way.

'Out there in the cold water, far from land, we waited every night for the coming of the fog, and it came.'

What does all this mean? Should we freak out, sell all our stocks, stock pile canned food and barricade ourselves in a safe room until the fog clears?

As a divided investor, I say no.

As divided investors, we have to put things into perspective. Yes, the fog is coming, we know this. But, most probably, when it comes, the majority of our defensive blue chips/REITs will continue to distribute their dividend harvests regardless.

So, instead of getting all ghoulish and twitchy, us divided investors should instead see the forthcoming fog and the monster as a natural byproduct of the evolution of the market. It's a bad flu that's long over due and one that will clear the system of unwanted and unneeded bacteria. Once banished, the financial system will be stronger and better for it.

Thus, you dividend investors out there should not be loosing your hair when you see the slow death march of the fog on the horizon... no no.

We have to belt up, hold on tight, be emotionally strong and repeat like a mantra...

'Everything is fine. I will not sell. This is normal. Let's scoop up come bargains.'

'Everything is fine. I will not sell. This is normal. Let's scoop up come bargains.'

Say is with me guys...

'Everything is fine. I will not sell. This is normal. Let's scoop up come bargains.'

'Everything is fine. I will not sell. This is normal. Let's scoop up come bargains.'

Breath deeply in between each sentence. Luxuriate in the moment. Everything is going to be just grand in the long run.

In Ray Bradbury's story, the fog and monster do indeed some and destroy in the lighthouse McDunn and his coworker live in. Their world is decimated. So, too, will the markets be in the not too distant future. However, in times like this we must let history be our teacher; we must let rationality rule over impulse; fear must not be let lose to run amok and people must think with clear precision.

The monster is on the way.

'We waited a moment. And then I began to hear it. First a great vacuumed sucking of air, and then the lament, the bewilderment, the loneliness of the great monster, folded over upon us, above us, so that the sickening reek of its body filled the air, a stone's thickness away from our cellar. The monster gasped and cried. The tower was gone. The light was gone. The thing that had called it across a million years was gone. And the monster was opening its mouth and sending out great sounds.'  

But both the fog and the beast will leave as quickly as they come. OK, we'll need to rebuild somewhat, just like the lighthouse needed to be rebuilt in the story. But, have not fear people, we will rise again.

'There was nothing to see. The ocean was calm, the sky blue. The only thing was a great algaic stink from the green matter that covered the fallen tower stones and the shore rocks. Flies buzzed about. The ocean washed empty on the shore.'

And, perhaps, we, too, can be a little more careful building our portfolios next time we're nearing the end of a bull market. Maybe we, too, like McDunn become a little more defensive in nature.

'The next year they built a new lighthouse, but by that time I had a job in the little town and a wife and a good small warm house that glowed yellow on autumn nights, the doors locked, the chimney puffing smoke. As for McDunn. he was master of the new lighthouse, built to his own specifications, out of steel-reinforced concrete. "Just in case," he said.'

So, there we have it folks. This is the end of another ramble. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed typing it. For, as I've said before, writing this posted on Sunday mornings is a form of therapy for me. Up at dawn, with the multicolored sky outside and the sound of morning birds going about their business, I sip coffee and think. It's a reflective way to start the day. Now, with the post complete, I can march into the unknown with the confidence of an artist, knowing that I have contributed something of worth before breakfast.

Retiring Before 40 | A Corporate Matter

'Catch on fire and people will come for miles to see you burn' (John Wesley)

I want you to visualize the day your retire from your corporate career.

You work in a flashy office block, a place in which for decades of your life you laughed at the right jokes, held doors open for the right people and offered yourself up for sacrifice for the good of the company. 

Well, today is your retirement day and you will make the ultimate sacrifice.

Your boss has invited you to a 'Retire before 40.' ceremony, You've never heard about it and it's no where to be found in the company' personnel manual.

When the boss spoke these words on the phone, he sounded uncomfortable and odd.

Regardless, like a good corporate drone, you obey your bosses command and arrive at the agreed time. Your whole department are sitting behind their desks wearing black masks with small slits for eyes. Their mouths and noses lay hidden behind the dark cloth. They are typing, click clicking away, heads still and staring at their glaring screens.

I can see it now, you in your black suit, shoes reflecting the goodness of the day, traipsing, limply, towards the company's dark alter, a wooden pyre, set up the corner of the office. 

You feel irresistibly drawn to it as if by an invisible force.

Draped across your body, a decorative sash adorned with frivolous motivational quotes flaps noiselessly as you pass though a cold blast of air conditioning. 

'Don't stop when you are tired. Stop when you are done!'

'Expect problems and eat them for breakfast!'

Your boss used to make you stand up and chant these during 'Motivational Sessions' every week.

As you make your way down the thin blue carpet, you notice standing on either side of the sacrificial pyre Steve and Nick. 

These are the two bastards you hate the most. 

Steve has been stealing your clients for years and somehow getting away with it; while Nick tried it on with your wife in the reception area of the Candlenut during the department's 'Business with Pleasure' evening. And here they both are now banging ornate wooden drums as you approach. 

They leer disgustingly at you, their eyes flashing and ghastly. Boom, boom, boom goes their rhythm, and a deep death wheeze ushers from their dry lips as they exhale in unison. 

'Can this really be the end of my corporate life? Am I really going to lie down on the alter and strike the match?'

You reach the pyre, eardrums popping, head pounding. It towers over you menacing and imperious. You look up and at the edifice, and, tied securely, is a life-sized portrait photo of you the day you started with the company.

Innocent eyes, watery, like those of a child, peer down. A smile as wide as an Amazon confluence stretches each side of your mouth to snapping point. 

You remember the day this picture was taken. 

Your first day in the corporate battlefield, and you glowed with pride.

Fresh out of university and into the 'Real World' as your father called it.

'Work separates the men from the boys son. Get in there. Show them what you are made of and remember... always please your boss!'

Your father spoke these very words, his glasses balancing on the tip of his pink, veiny snout. He uttered them with such sincerity as if announcing some maxim that would change the course of history.

That was then and this is now. 

The drums continue their monotony and sky turns scarlet and blue outside the window. 

The air reeks of gasoline.

It is time. 

You take one last glance up at the picture of your former self, sit down on some dry kindling in between Steve and Nick and flick a match high into the air.  It seems to take an eternity to come back down, but when it lands, you are engulfed in a inferno of corporate hell fire.

This is the end of your corporate self. 

Now you may begin afresh. 

The time for living has come.

Retiring early and taking advice from Arthur Schopenhauer? Really?

As regular readers to my blog will know, I like to look at investing through a literary/philosophical lens from time to time.

This is because I would much rather read a novel by Charles Dickens or Joseph Conrad than analyze a company's annual report. 

Sorry, folks. 

I know there are many of your in the Singapore Investment Bloggers   community who love nothing more than whiling away your free time with a copy Singtel's quarterly results, sipping on a hot latte. 

If this floats your boat, then fair play to you. 

It just doesn't do it for me.

So, why do you write a Singapore focused finance blog, I hear you ask?

This is a good question with an easy answer.

I write posts for this blog every Sunday morning for two reasons.

Firstly, if I don't write in connection to my portfolio, I am doomed to forget about it.

I need to type 500+ words every week to keep my mind in the stock investing zone otherwise I simply won't bother week to week. 

Given the choice of picking up a quality piece of fiction or reading the Motley Fool (no offense guys) I would choose the former every time, unless I'm searching for general information about a stock.

This is a question of psychology I suppose, and a strange one at that.

With a hefty portfolio of shares should I take not take more care of my garden? 

Should I not be tending, pruning, watering, hosing, forking, troweling and shearing?

Should I not be fretting, dwelling, flustering, freaking, bothering, troubling and agitating?

Ask the experts, and you get mixed messages:

Some say, keep a close eye on your portfolio and pounce on bargains when the time is right. 

Others say dollar cost average over a long period of time and reap the rewards.

The fact is no one has a clue how to beat the market, so I feel it's best to reel in the ego and admit you are powerless in the face of unpredictability.

Of course, there will always be an 'expert' who 'knows' but really if you sat down late at night with this person, beer in hand, and asked them the secret to their financial clairvoyance, they would take an anxious, twitchy swig of their bottle and sign deeply. 

"You know what, I haven't a clue really"   

They may even break down in tears and reveal to you how their career is built our of false promises and nebulous hunches, preying on the cashed up credulous masses.

Who knows? Weirder things have happened, haven't they?

Anyway, I'm not writing today to put down those in financial services, for we all have to make our daily bread (just some people make it more honestly than others)

Arthur Schopenauer, the 19th Century German philosopher is famous for being the most pessimistic thinker in history.

His aphoristic work is full of amazing insights on life that have made a big difference on how I see the world.

Above all, his sees humans as driven by a continual dissatisfied will, continually seeking satisfaction.

This he explains in his seminal work 'The World as Will and Representation'. 

For Schopenhauer, human desire is futile, illogical, directionless, and, by extension, so was all human action in the world.

He talked about life as being like a mosaic:

"The scenes of our life resemble pictures in rough mosaic; they are ineffective from close up, and have to be viewed from a distance if they are to seem beautiful. That is why to attain something desired is to discover how vain it is; and why, though we live all our lives in expectation of better things , we often at the same time, long regretfully for what is past."

He goes on...

"The present, on the other hand, is regarded as something quite temporary and serving only as the road to our goal. That is why most men discover when they look back on their life that they have the whole time been living ad interim, and are surprised to see that which they let go by so unregarded and unenjoyed was precisely their life, was precisely that in expectation of which they lived."

It good stuff, isn't it? It's imbibed with eastern ideas, particularly Buddhist ideas of which the man was one of Europe's leading experts at the time. 

So how does this tie into investing?

Well, as I read many people's blogs about FIRE and the like Schopenhauer's ideas about life come flooding into my brain.

Many people seems to be forgoing enjoying themselves in the present in favor of an imagined future.

Thus, it seems people are forever 'becoming' something else. If this is the case. what are they doing now?

Isn't 'being' more important than 'becoming'?

This is why I refuse to micro-manage my portfolio for some future that might never come. Having said that, I, too, am guilty of 'becoming' as I have a portfolio of dividend paying and growth stocks, which will, hopefully, make my life easier in an imagined future.

However, what makes my approach different is that I spend as little time as possible fretting over the details.

I would much rather spend the NOW immersed in great literature or non-fiction rather than doing technical analysis or whatever.

Now, I don't want anyone out there to think I'm saying doing these things is a waste of time, I'm not. 

It's just not for me, and the purpose of a blog should be to excavate your own feelings about the world and your place within it.

I just don't want to get to the end of my life and look back and think I could have used my time more effectively when I had the chance.

For me, FIRE, and all the pressure and pain that goes with it can be minimized by a more passive long term dividend paying strategy. 

Who knows when we reach retirement we might be bored and crave the world of work. 

Who knows? Life is strange.

As Schopenhauer said:

"As things are, we take no pleasure in existence except when striving after something - in which case distance and difficulties make our goal look like it would satisfy us (an illusion when we reach it)"

He goes on to say:

"...pleasure itself consists in a continual striving and ceases as soon as its goal is reached. Whenever er are not involved in one or other of these things but directed back to existence itself we are overtaken by its worthlessness and vanity and this is the sensation called boredom."

It's scary to think that we could sacrifice so much now and then when we reach financial freedom feel restless and disinterested. 

So, what's the way out then? This is the big question.

According to Schopenhauer happiness is pretty much impossible, and the future... forget about it. It's a figment of our imagination, a dreamlike state.

As a way out, Schopenhauer recommends withdrawing from society and becoming something like a meditating hermit living in a cave high on a mountain top.

If this sounds too extreme for you, you're not alone. 

What I propose so we can all live a less anxiety driven life is this:

How about people become more aware of being happy in the here and now, eat well, exercise, meditate, listen to good music, talk to good people, write, listen, drink, invest for long term and be thankful for how wonderful life really is.

Let's stop micro-managing and micro-trading and give ourselves a chance to breathe in the sweetness of the moment. 

Retirement will come whether we fret about or not. Let's be prepared, but not kill ourselves trying.

One last word from Schopenhauer on life:

"Yet what a difference there is between our beginning and end! We begin in the madness of carnal desire and the transport of voluptuousness, we end in the dissolution of all our parts and the musty stench of corpses."

Food for thought people. Enjoy life while you have it.

How does that sound?

How To Use Passive Income So You Can Retire Without A Care

Photo from Bankingsense

I've been investing in property since 2013 and stocks/bonds since 2015, and I've found a way to generate around $40,000 Singaporean from equities.

I wrote about this in two parts: part 1 and part 2

This is only part of my passive income. I also have property: 3 houses, 10 apartments and something else I call my secret weapon. 

This I won't reveal today.

Thus, as you can imagine the passive income from the property side of the portfolio is decent as well.

It feels good not to rely 100% on the dictates of equity markets as I march into the latter stages of my 30s.

When I started out on this journey about 10 years ago, my plan was to retire by 40, but the way things are now, I feel 45 is more realistic. 

I'm happy with this actually as it gives me more time to shore things up and make sure all the pieces are in place for the next step.

Within the FIRE community a lot of people give property a thumbs down and say that REITS are the be all and end all for your portfolio.

I feel that you need both.

Having physical property and REITS adds diversity. Also, bricks and mortar, if purchased in a good area, appreciates in value considerably.

This is true of my properties so far. 

When I started out, I knew nothing about investing and the very word money was anathema to me.

I wrote about this in my story 1 and my story 2

The point of this blog is to show others that you don't have to be a genius to generate passive income.

However, you have to be committed to saving for a long period of time and invest your money aggressively.

Many people sit on the sidelines waiting for the next crash before they commit. 

This is foolish. 

Waiting for Armageddon means a big loss in passive income.

Why wait? Get in the game, but not all at once. Bit by bit; slow and steady wins the race.

Every six months I reinvest my equity dividends and let compounding do its thing.

I'm not interest in the daily mutterings online about this company or that CEO. In fact, I couldn't care less.

Just make sure you've invested in quality companies that aren't going to go pop in the next decade and free yourself from the incessant chattering.

All that speculating isn't good for your head. 

Why complicate life with trading, technical analysis etc. when you can spend your time learning a new skill, getting fit or reading fiction?

Of course, if you genuinely enjoy trading and technical analysis, then all the power to you. But really...?

I want people to invest while they are young, invest with a degree of clarity and invest for the long term.

This is a sure fire way to sleep easy at night and inch your way to early retirement.

You should avoid chasing ten-baggers and the next 'big thing'. Why bother?

Inject your hard earned cash into massive companies with proven track records and let them work for you.

Be super-careful not to pay too much for shares as well.

Paying a premium is dangerous. Keep a close eye on the price to book and don't get blinded by the dazzle of high yield.

I suppose most of this stuff is mindset.

How much pressure can you take before you crack?

Is a 30% swing enough to make you hit the sell button?

If it is, then you probably shouldn't be in the game. Go and out your money elsewhere.

See big swings as opportunities rather than the end of the world and invest like there's no tomorrow.

Be the aggressive one. Be aggressive safe in the knowledge that you are statistically going to win in the long run.

Don't let your judgement be muddied by short twitchiness. Stay in control. See the bigger picture.

Get in the property game young. 

Analyse your property investment the same way you would a stock.

Make sure you don't overpay. Make sure you generate passive income right away. Get the location right. Consult with people who know.

Anyway, I believe if you take the advice above you can boost your chances of retiring young.

Maybe your have tried all of these things and it didn't work out for you. If that's the case, tweak your system and try again. You'll get there.

Good luck folks.