Simple Budget, Simple Life

I wished I had good news to relay, but there's nothing exciting to talk about.  Work It's all over the news that layoffs are happening, even in Singapore. While my company has yet to be affected, I can't help but be worried.  I'd be hitting my one year mark in the company soon. It seems like I will never be happy working anywhere. Firstly, we are forced to return to office - as a social hermit, I dread this. Secondly, I feel that my work is getting monotonous and I'm not learning much. While I can pass time, the issue is I'm shortchanging myself in career growth. I'm not looking for upward movement or climb the career ladder, but I want to be skilled enough to move laterally. It is sad that I'm only in my early 30s and feel uncompetitive in todays' market; I am already starting to feel that I could be expensive to hire and getting too old for some companies.  Yet, while I could be expensive compared to younger folks, my pay has not risen.  I would be...

  If you're new, you can click on the SRS tag to see my past posts. Anyway, time for Apr updates. SRS With the recent dip (again), I've done my 4th transaction for 2022. The amount is split between Dimensional Global Core and Emerging Markets Large Cap. Jan: $3,060 Feb: $3,060  Mar: $3,060 Apr: $2,000 Instead of going in with another tranch of $3,060, leaving myself one last $3,060 bullet (and mind me, this is just Apr. We've plenty of months till end 2022), I decided to enter in with $2,000. This leaves me with $4120 left from my $15,300 pool. I'd still have room for 2 (or more) transactions this year. As I mentioned previously, I may have been too hasty in splitting up $15,300 SRS contribution to 5 transactions. I didn't know I'd enter so quickly haha. Because it seems that every month, there are dips to enter 😭 Amount pumped: $21,181 ( back in 2021, I've pumped $10,001 ) Results:  -3.76% CPF OA investment In Apr, I've made 3 transactions from my CPF ...

  Back in Jan, I  blogged about my SRS Game plan via Endowus here. Updated my Feb transaction in the blogpost here. Now that it's Mar, I'm glad to report a few more transactions into Endowus SRS This is my 3rd transaction for 2022. Entered because of the fall in tech stock prices and omninous signs of recession coming + stagflation. The amount is split between Dimensional Global Core and Emerging Markets Large Cap. Jan: $3,060 Feb: $3,060  Mar: $3,060 I'm only left with 2 more tranches of $3,060 this year to complete my $15,300 SRS contribution for tax relief. Seems a bit too hasty since I dont think we have seen the worse yet. This taught me to consider splitting my SRS entry into 12 transactions for 2023 - buying once every month! Amount pumped: $19,181 Results:  -0.53% CPF OA investment I also made two $2k separate transactions from my CPF OA via Endowus to buy into Lion Global Infinity US 500 Stock Index Fund. I was hoping to enter at the lowest price, but due t...

One month ago, I blogged about my SRS Game plan via Endowus here. Just an update (for my records) on the transactions I made on 24 Feb: SRS I talked about making my first 2022 transaction of $3,060 in Jan. Just yesterday, I did my 2nd $3,060 transaction in view of the dip in market. The amount is split between Dimensional Global Core and Emerging Markets Large Cap. 3 more $3,060 to deploy. I wonder how many more dips can I buy since it is just the start of the year and I've already deployed the second lol CPF OA investment I also made another $2k transaction from my CPF OA via Endowus to buy into Lion Global Infinity US 500 Stock Index Fund. I will continue to make small entry investments along the way. Endowus Referral If you are keen to embark on Endowus using your  SRS, CPF OA or even cash , you may wish to use my link to  enjoy $20 in Access Fee credit  (equivalent to $10,000 advised free, assuming Access Fee of 0.40%). https://endowus.com/invite?code=FUKYD

PSA - I've just received my $100 cash reward from DBS today. Earlier, in Oct, I blogged about setting up my SRS account with DBS and topped up $10,001 to enjoy their cash rewards  and used the SRS amount to invest via Endowus. The cash reward is only applicable to the first 4,000 customers. Glad that I am eligible! If you've done the same when I blogged about it, do check if your cash rewards are in! Till then 🥳

Back in 2021, I opened my SRS account to lock-in my withdrawal age at 62 and as another avenue to reduce my income tax. Blogged about it below: I finally set-up my SRS account and then DBS screws up Maximising my $10,001 SRS top-up with Endowus Best time to lock in your 62 yo withdrawal age is now - Endowus $40 referral bonus (usual - $20) till 31 Dec 2021With the  2022 SRS Game Plan via Endowus Now that it's 2022, I needed to start my SRS purchase again. This time, I will be pumping in the max of $15,300 cash to squeeze the max income tax relief. I had initially thought to delay this pump till later this year, as I wanted my cash to generate higher returns first, and then channel it to SRS. However, I decided to be more robotic about my SRS investment and DCA in. This means that I will Buy SRS at 5 different tranches, at $3060 each For the past weeks, the stock and crypto market has been dipping while awaiting the actual plan from the US Fed. Just last night, US Fed has released t...

I've earlier shared that I finally set up my SRS with DBS bank and l ater registered for an account with Endowus. These were the rewards I'm expected to receive: 1. DBS Bank - $100 - $50 cash to open SRS with DBS and contribute $10,000 - another $50 cash by investing $10,001 I've not gotten the cash rewards as T&Cs indicated "The Cash Gift will be credited by 28 February 2022" 2. Endowus - $20 - $20 referral credit You can refer to my registration guide here . Earlier, I signed up using someone's link for only $20 referral credit.  Today, Endowus released a limited-time referral bonus of $40 up till 31 Dec 2021 . You can refer to the T&Cs here.   If you wish to withdraw your money from your SRS account at 62 years old, the best time is to sign up for your SRS and make your first contribution by 31 Dec 2021. 22 days left to 2022! Referral If you are keen to embark on Endowus using your  SRS, CPF OA or even cash , you may wish to use my link to  enjoy...

In my previous post, I blogged that I've finally set up my SRS....with DBS.  While there was a hiccup i.e my SRS account was missing from ibanking page and app, it was resolved after a few days. No apologies from DBS - they just told me to rest assure that my $10k is intact. It better be. Anyway, now that the issue is resolved and I finally have access to my SRS account number, I needed to maximise my SRS money. As explained by this Seedly post,  " you’ll  need to invest your SRS funds  in order to minimally beat inflation and grow that fund for your retirement." Their table also shows the list where you can park your funds.  I'm not keen to use my SRS on bonds, ETF, FDs, REITS, shares as I already have these investments using my cash. I wanted my SRS to take a separate investment route and decided that robo-advisor was my best choice. As such, I decided to sign up an account with Endowus. Why Endowus I shan't explain who/what Endowus is as you can google it....