Quiet times

I confess I seem to lose the ability to write. I practically use co-pilot to rephrase my emails through my broken English. And here I am, trying to make an effort to write, but feeling stucked.

I am alone at home, enjoying my quiet time, while R&B music is playing in the background. Chinese R&B music to be specific. I realised there are so many nice songs by China songwriters and composers now - their names unfamiliar to me, but their melodies and lyrics touched my heart. It brought back sweet childhood crushes and memories. 

I also realised I am now old and at another stage of life where these love stories are past tenses. It is a bittersweet realisation that time has gone just like that. When I wished I could grow up faster, where I wonder how I'd be like when I'm in my late 20s, 30s, I'm now living it.

Life has been good so far. I am not trying to force my contentment, but I must pat my back and thank God for giving me a comfortable life. 

For the past few months, I've been filling my calendar with activities. Looking at my goals for 2026, I'm on track:

Here's my 2026 goals:

• Build a stronger portfolio through DCA (target - 2k per month) 

Q1: tried to lump sum more during March lows. Invested OA and SRS. Was still too chicken about using cash

• Grow passive income to 30k/year
• Stay unharmed at work and continue to ride the waves

Q1: toxic colleagues still but now all are on pretend mode. Pretend we shall be.

• Explore an alternative career path
• Donate more than 2025
• Bring my parents overseas (already 1 planned)
• Gain more muscles, not fats by strength exercises
• Eat, buy, do whatever I want (I'm actually doing so already in 2025 and like to continue in 2026. Self-love!)
• Visit a new destination (already one planned, and foresee another one coming if all things go smoothly!)

Q1: done

This year, I also endeavored to fulfil my 2025 uncompleted goal of learning new skills. I signed up for 1:1 crochet class to see if this could be a longer term hobby - good try, but nope, not interested. I am also learning a new language. I have also tried alternative healing method. Just in 4 months time, I feel I've done more than my previous years where I was cruising along and "wasting time".

On financial front, I am aiming to use more of my cash to invest in ETFs. I am already proud of myself for making steps to invest ~S$80k of my OA and SRS just in these 4 months of 2026. Given these monies will only be unlocked in my 60s, I was more daring in deploying them. However, I need to be more aggressive with my cash deployment so I can FIRE earlier. I am making a bold goal to FIRE at 40 - I believe I will still continue to work if I can (since I've no other hobbies to turn to) - but having this option is always good. To achieve this goal with 4-5 years horizon is tough. I missed out precious years stupidly buying individual stocks. This was a hard lesson for me, but I must move forward.

I hope to share an even more positive outlook at Q2.