Live-better

Here, I would like to introduce a new word. I don't really like the word "retirement" as it sounded negative. It is about leaving the employment workforce to start a better life and not about leaving an essential meaningful life (at least from my perspective). It is a whole new beginning of a new and more meaningful lifestyle, so I should come out with a better name. (Thinking here and there...) I will make do with the term "live-better".

Initially, I was planning to live-better by 40 years old. However, my wife mentioned it will be sad for my child to go infant care > childcare > daycare (during primary school), so we decided that one of us will do freelance or part time at 37 year old when my child turns primary 1. This will allow us to pick her up after school and spend more time with her. I proceed to work out my finance and think that it is possible.

From time to time, I asked myself why are we not starting to live-better now? If only finance allows. So, I reviewed and reviewed again.

My financial security (Basic Lifestyle) - End of this year; 33 years old
My wife and my financial independence (Current comfortable lifestyle) - 36 years old

As you can see, my comfortable current lifestyle and my minimum lifestyle are not that different. The difference is actually family related expenses and not personal. For example, budgets for yearly vacation and weekly restaurant meals. I am enjoying every part of my personal and family life.

This is assuming I have not unlocked my premium BTO flat that is beside a MRT. If I have unlocked my premium flat value:

Our financial independence (Current comfortable lifestyle) - 34 years old

Major setback: We are paying mortgage via CPF and if I stopped working, I have to pay my portion via cash or my wife CPF have to cover my shortfall.

With all planning, it is always good to be prudent. So, I have left some buffer which is beyond my financial independence needs:

1) only 2.5% interest for my fund
2) $0 income after financial independence
3) Didn't include CPF life into my live-better fund
4) Assume my child will not provide a single cent to me
5) Not going to downgrade our 4 room HDB flat
6) Not cutting down on lifestyle at any point of time

I think with these cushioning, my finance should be sound enough. In addition, my wife enjoyed her work and may work till 42 years old, to provide more buffer for the family. I am ready to move to walking distance to her workplace any time to support her career and give her more time and convenience.

So when am I going to stop full time employment and live-better? It should be between 34 years old and 37 years old. My gut-feel is 34 to 36 years old. So, the earliest is end of next year.

In addition, I would like to continue generating income by doing 15-20 hours of freelance per week.

What is my secret? My wealth comes from knowing how little it takes for me to enjoy life, be calm and contentment. On the contrary, my wealth don't come from accumulate materials that don't value-add to my life.

Anyway, if you are wondering what is my routine lifestyle of live-better, here is a preview of a possible weekday:

> go for a swim or jog > have an enjoyable slow breakfast and high tea > write a little/do some house chores/do a bit freelance > prepare/eat lunch with my wife > pick up my child > spend time with my child > prepare dinner for my family > watch a drama/enjoy slow walk/chit chat > rest

I will plan outdoor activities during weekdays when most people are away at work and stay at home when most people are not working.

Of course, some of the activities may have variations on a daily basis and every life stages will evolve slightly too, which are part of my plans.

What are your secrets to live-better?

China Replaces Securities Regulator Xiao Gang

Xiao Gang Replaced by Liu Shivu – China Securities Regulatory Commission

China has removed the head of its securities regulator after a stormy period in the country’s stock market, by appointing a top state banking executive in his place since leaders tend to move in restoring confidence in the economy. The announcement on the official Xinhua news agency recently trails a string of assurances from senior leaders succeeding the Lunar New Year holiday which China would be supporting in slowing economy as well as steadying its shaky currency.

According to media report, Xiao Gang has been replaced by Liu Shivu as the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission – CSRC as it tried to tackle main volatility in its stock markets. Mr Xiao had been in charge when China’s market had crashed in mid-2015 at one point and the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges had lost around 40% of their value. Mr Xiao who had become the CSRC chair in March 2013 had faced criticism for mishandling the crisis. Under his supervision, the new circuit breaker mechanism of China which was designed to limit any market sell-off had been organized twice in January in reaction to the stock market drop though was then scrapped totally after it had cause additional panic.

Departure of Xiao – Not a Surprise

Zhang Kaihua, fund manager of Nanjing-based hedge fund Huyang Investment stated that the departure of Xiao was not a surprise after the recent stock disaster and this is a role which is vulnerable to public criticism since most of the Chinese retail investors are intended to lose money in such markets. Xiao and the CSRC had come under fire as Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets of China had collapsed to about 40% within a few months last summer.

It was a further blow when a stock index circuit breaker that had been introduced in January to limit stock market losses had to be deactivated after four days of use since it was responsible for worsening a sharp selloff. The online media had labelled Xiao as `Mr Circuit Breaker’. According to Reuter’s reports, Xiao 57 had offered to resign after the `circuit breaker’ failure.A Shanghai-based analyst at Capital Securities Corp, Zheng Chunming had informed Bloomberg News that someone had to shoulder the responsibility after the suspension of the circuit breaker system.

Liu – Experience in Financial Sector

Mr Liu 54, had been the vice governor of China’s central bank, the People’s Bank of China, prior to becoming the chairman of the Agricultural Bankof China, which was the country’s third largest lender in 2012. On Weibo, the Chinese micro-blogging site, commentators recently played on Mr Liu’s name speculating if his tenure would bring about a `bull market’ of leave a `dead fish’ behind. Zhang stated that `Liu had a lot of experience in financial sector though there would be some policy uncertainty in the short term since it would take at least six months for the earlier banker to get used to his new role.

The managing director, sales trading at Haitong International Securities Group in Hong Kong, Andrew Sullivan said that removing Xiao had been mainly expected but by bring in the AgBank chairman; they are really not bringing anybody with a fresh market perspective but a political insider. Liu had spent major part of his career at the People’s Bank of China escalating to deputy governor, holding the post from 2006 till he left in late 2014 to head the AgBank.

Apple's "Backdoor" Controversy Explained in 5 Minutes

The US Government demands Apple to create a "backdoor" to bypass the security features of a certain iPhone.

This is in connection to the unsolved case of San Bernardino shooting incident last Dec 2015.

The recovered iPhone, believed to be owned by the suspect, is the missing piece that if accessed, could significantly help the FBI to solve the puzzle.

Smartphones, in general, are encrypted with a passcode (or password) to avoid unofficial access without the owner's permission.

Because of encryption, FBI could not access the suspect's iPhone by all means. Hence they escalated the issue and asked the assistance of Apple to create a software that when installed, could unlock the device easily.

Decryption Debate Goes On

In Feb 16, 2016, Tim Cook wrote a letter to Apple customers about his opinion and the decision of not granting US Government's demand. The reason is simple - Privacy of customers' information.

The US Government, however, stands firm that they would only use the software on that single iPhone.

Risks of "Backdoor" Request

Tim Cook doesn't believe in US Government's promise on the exclusive use of software. In his statement,

In the wrong hands, this software — which does not exist today — would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someone’s physical possession

Digital information can spread like a virus. One single mistake and it would lead to a devastating effect.

This could happen to the proposed software. Nothing is safe.

Before Game of Thrones released Season 4 on TV there were pirated copies already leaked online.

Prior to X-Men's opening in cinemas there was a leak of unfinished copy of the movie.

Wait for another scandal to happen but there's only way to avoid this - encryption.

To illustrate, these are some of the worst things that could happen.

1. You would wake up one day with a staggering credit card debt of $100,000. Someone has used your credit card information on unauthorized purchases.

2. You will be surprised to see your most embarrassing photo in 9Gag with a meme on it. It hit to 900 million views in 24 hours.

3. Someone saw your iBooks filled with your seduction books collection. He tweeted, "I never thought my friend is a pervert. Saw his bundle of seduction books. He's a priest, you know."

Conclusion

I condemn terrorism and stand for peace. But I support Apple's decision.

Everyone has the right to privacy. We have the right to protect our information.

In a world where (almost) no information is safe, there is only one hope and that is through rigid and strict encryption.

And I believe we should be entitled to that.

What is your opinion on this?

Amazing Camping Experience at Borawan, Quezon

If you are looking for a complete disconnection from urban life or a breakout from social media addictions, pack your bags and head immediately to Quezon province.

One Thursday afternoon in Dec 2015, my friend and I were planning a getaway as our first meetup.

We met thru Tinder and we believed it was time for us to see each other.

Our impulsive crave of the waves brought our imagination to the islands of Quezon province. I knew nothing about the place.

She told me about one of the islands there but that was only her information. She'd never been there too!

A Lot of First Times

An overnight on Saturday would be fine so that we could go home on Sunday evening, we decided.

Only two days left before our trip and I felt very excited.

Three reasons:

1. It was our first meetup (kilig)

2. First trip together (woah...)

3. First time in Quezon province (exciting!)

Truth be told, I felt a bit indecisive about the trip.

I didn't know about the island and the girl.

We might be stranded there for weeks or the girl might be a transgender and rape me. (insert your reaction here)

Took a quick search about the island and it assured safety.

For my travel buddy, I didn't mind. I've seen her Facebook profile and she looked feminine enough.

I also haven't found a bio of herself saying "proud transgender" in any of her social media accounts.

First Impression on the Islands

There are three must-go islands in Quezon province: Dampalitan, Puting Buhangin and Borawan.

It was a 2-days-1-night stay so obviously we didn't have the luxury of time.

We were searching for the best option possible to hop around the 3 islands and where to spend most of our time.

Our boatman suggested to have an overnight at Dampalitan. We would proceed to Puting Buhangin early in the morning and Borawan in the afternoon the following day. We agreed.

Dampalitan Island

We arrived at Dampalitan island on a sunset. To say it was perfect is an understatement.

The island is so chaste and tranquil.

There was no electricity. No hotels, houses or apartments. You could only hear the waves, breeze and the birds.

I had only seen three tents set up including ours. You could bring your own tent or rent one for Php 300. We opted the latter.

Dampalitan Rating

1. Beach and sand quality, I would rate it 5 out of 10. The shore is a bit rocky and the sand is not so white & fine if you compare to Boracay. 

2. Tranquility, 9/10. When I was there I felt like I was lost somewhere in time. My iPhone had no connection. We had dinner on the shore under a million stars. We were only playing reggaeton with my JBL Bluetooth speaker. We sang and we danced while sipping Tanduay Ice.

3. Convenience, 5/10. There were no stores or sandbars there so you have to bring your own food, cook it if you must. I was a bit prepared. I bought few chips and canned goods before we went to Quezon so that we were ready for our dinner that time. It was heavy but worth it.

4. Aesthetics, 6/10. My benchmark for aesthetics is El Nido- the lush green trees, limestone rock formations and turquoise blue waters is really stunning that you would want to stay there all your life. But the main takeaway for this island is the sunrise and the sunset. It is absolutely picture-perfect!

5. Other activities, 4/10. The best that you can do there is to hug your partner sitting on a huge timber while watching a bonfire. You can stroll around and take pictures. You can also go swimming although the water is really far from the shore especially during low tide.

Here's a reggaeton playlist I created featuring my favorite songs. Dance on!

Puting Buhangin

After a night of stories, singing and dancing we went to our next destination called Puting Buhangin.

My first impression was it is better than Dampalitan. And I wasn't wrong.

😌

A photo posted by P A U L D A B U C O (@pauldabuco) on Dec 21, 2015 at 6:54pm PST

Puting Buhangin Rating

1. Beach and sand quality, 8/10. The white sand is finer and the beach is perfect for swimming and snorkeling. Unlike Dampalitan, you can run few steps and dive in the water.

2. Tranquility, 6/10. There were a lot more people in the area. You can hear someone shouting or a loud music. It is not child-friendly too for there were beach-goers smoking other stuff aside from cigarette. It is getting more like a mini-beach party place.

3. Convenience, 7/10. There was a little store for food and other necessities. Quite a relief for us. There were bathrooms and you can also find roofless huts for people to change clothes. The campsite is also nice since it is under the coconut trees with a bermuda grass. No wonder more people are staying in Puting Buhangin than Dampalitan.

4. Aesthetics, 7/10. Aside from the beach and sand quality, you can also find small caves to explore. The coconut trees looked perfect too. In fact there were campers setting on their hammocks. Cool!

5. Other activities, 7/10. There are watersport activities in the island like jetski and banana boat. Or you can go spelunking to the caves. It has a lot more things to do than the former island.

Borawan Island

In the past months I've been hearing a lot of buzz about Borawan. Some have exaggerated the beauty of the place while others have cited the dark side.

Our last stop had come to an end in a wonderful island being associated with Boracay and Palawan, hence the word BoraWan.

I couldn't wait to take off from the boat when we were approaching the island.

There were people but not too crowded, the beach and the sand are also comparable to Puting Buhangin. I fell in love with the beach.

At first I was a disappointed for the shore looked too small. When we dropped off the boat I thought that was the entire Borawan. But when we went around the other side I was stunned.

The long curvature strip of the shore is surprising.

My high expectations were finally met when we took a walk on the shore. Felt like heaven. It was the best of the three islands!

Borawan Rating

1. Beach and sand quality, 8/10. The beach is really good and the sand is perfect for a barefoot walk. The breeze was also frequent that complements the waves. We also stayed under the cave as a to protect us from the sun. Awesome.

2. Tranquility, 8/10. My friend and I were sitting on a 15 foot limestone rock formation. We took the ukulele and there we sang Jason Mraz's Lucky together. Imagine the sound of the waves, breeze and humming birds PLUS the ukulele. My eyes felt heavy and I fell asleep. Truly relaxing.

3. Convenience, 8/10. Obviously, this island has more amenities than the previous two. You can buy food and other necessities on the small store, it has concrete comfort rooms and there we took a shower, finally. Oh and you can find small huts for rent too for an overnight stay! I love the place.

4. Aesthetics, 8/10. I love the long strip of the island. You can see a lush green of trees and limestone formations. I felt nostalgic on Boracay and El Nido.

5. Other activities, 6/10. I haven't seen any watersports but you shouldn't miss climbing the skyscraper rock. You can also bring your own tent if you want. The shore is perfect for camping.

Conclusions

Invest for experiences for it will last a lifetime. This is the best lesson I've learned in life.

Prior to our trip, I was thinking of buying shoes but on a second thought I realized I didn't need it for my shoes are still in good condition.

New shoes was not a necessity.

If you haven't tried camping and backpacking, you should try it once. Two reasons: simplicity and mind refreshment.

Simplicity in a sense that you don't need to stay on luxury hotels or dine on lavish restaurants. You only bring what is essential on your trip.

Travel also refreshes your mind from your job/occupation.

Mind-pressing jobs affect your well-being. Stress desensitizes and kills your mind as this study shows. You need to go out and forget your job for a moment to free up your mind.

P.S. It was my first time also to see a falling star around 4AM at Dampalitan. Magical!

PPS. You can check out my photos in Instagram. Don't forget to leave a comment!

Growing Your Money Is A Long Term Relationship

I still have a long way to go in investing journey but I am going to write what I have found out and planned for my family.

You know what I discovered? It is extremely simple to grow money. What you want is for your money to grow from $X value to $Y value. If you insert a timeline with it, you can even work out the annualised returns or percentage.

There is what made investing complicated:
You see a group of investors/traders advocate investing in individuals stocks, ETFs, permanent portfolio, crowd funding and more. There are even more interesting theories such as dogs of dow/sti, trading during cd/xd, value investing, dividends investing, DCA, Fundamental Analysis, Technical Analysis, blue chips, mid cap, small cap, and the list goes on to hundreds of strategies endorsed by various experts. You may also discovered a lot of different figures on the same investment, sometimes, even with the same timeline. These could be a result of different ways of computations and formulas. Conclusion? I suggest you to take a pinch of salts at what most financial experts/bloggers wrote (I am so dead-meat, just offended the whole community). Why?

Confusion
They just confused you with too many variables and strategies to use. Enough said. Understand more of your style and find one that suit you. Stick to it and review it while you are learning.

They were in the past
Because those have succeeded were in the past. Current ones, they are also in this journey, alongside us. No one know where the gold are hidden at (if there are). What works for them at that point of time, could be a different timing for you. Yesterday heroes could be gone tomorrow before you realised it.

Creative Presentation of Information
Most people write what you want to see and just a 1% "creative" presentation of information will make the world different. Often, you will see who and who trying to prove their theories by coming out with an x% of past x years returns. If you do your due diligence, you may discover that these data are "manipulated". If you change any of their timeline and with some variables, you may get a % lower than your fixed deposit or worse off, in negative value. Most importantly, verify it.

They can't be with you all the time
You simply can't execute every single action exactly like what your "idol" has done. Nobody should be more interested in your money than you.

We are not the technical/fundamental competent investors we thought we are
Chances are, most part time investors like us who have a full time job, a family to care for, and an exciting life to lead, we are unable to apply most of the theories to our advantages. For example, you strongly endorsed UOB is the stock to go for. You can have many reasons for your strong conviction. But, just how much do you really understand UOB now and how it going to be, say, 10-50 years later? There are so many perspectives you can look at. Even if you cover all the micro and macro factors, those factors were yesterday and some based on forecasting. You will still have industry risk that is beyond any individual company's control. UOB's businesses are maintained by thousands of employees and it evolves every day. It took decades after decades of hard and brilliant work to build to its current model. How are you going to understand them? If you are like me, who don't have a super brain, you most probably can understand less than 1% of it, and what is going to happen to the company future.

However, some of the theories are actually brilliant and they worked. It depends on when you buy and sell (If you even thought of selling). There are plenty of successful stories and capable investors to learn from. I am still learning my personal investing style. So, please also take what I am writing here with a pinch of salt too. Take this information as raw data, and decipher which work for you. Most importantly, do your money a favour, understand your investment.

Hey, Frugal Daddy, what is wrong with you? Year 2016 has just started and you are writing a whole long story about negativity of investing in stock market?

Don't get me wrong, to cut the long story short, investing is an art. It is like a relationship, you need lifetime to maintain and to understand them while it continues to evolve along life stages. There are just some people not meant to be with you and someone out there could be just a perfect match. Same goes for investing. That is why there are people who choose to be single and lead their carefree life without relationship constrains, and some choose to marry with children or without. To each of their own and there isn't really a right and wrong here.

There are always some guiding principles that works most of the time. If you practice those principles, you will have a higher probability to grow your money. The key word here is probability.

Some of the guiding principles:

1) Understand your risk profile. This is extremely important because you will act differently when prices go up and down.

2) Understand your investment horizon. This will determine whether you should even invest in stocks and what stocks you should buy.

3) Understand how much you need. Seriously, if you have set aside a good safety margin and have more than "enough" money, why would you need to risk more for higher return.

4) Understand your option. This option is not the stock option I am referring to. It is referring to the options of growing our money. You can invest in properties, bonds and businesses. Trust me, If you have cash, you will not run out of options. You just need to make sure you don't get cheated of, and you don't procrastinate that your money never grow over time.

5) Don't expect to earn money from investment. Don't lose money is all you need. You must be thinking what kind of logic is this. Yes, you are dealing with probability. Be it investing in property, stocks or even cash, don't lose money is all you need with the probability. Any grow of money will be a bonus. And by law of economic and inflation, the money should grow if you don't make huge losses.

6) Since we can't be 100% sure in any of the stock even with 200% effort to understand them, we have to diversify. However, biggest positions risk lesser concentration with higher diversification, any may end up with lower returns than index etf. Which is not a bad thing if you enjoy reading about companies.

7) If you choose to buy individual stock, please still read up on the basics such as PE ratio, price to book, revenue, debts, lease strategy (Reits), inventory turnaround time (retails and commodities), profit margin, and any other valuations you think is relevant. Thinking of these already give me headaches...haha.

Most people are better off with earning from human capital (career) than expecting to earn from investment that can replace full time employment income (Including me, else I will have become a full time investor). Don't get me wrong, it is entirely possible to retire early. What I am trying to say is that if you are not even near your desired point, don't pin hope on earning ton of money from investment, thinking that it can allow you to stop work soon. Maybe less than 20% of people can live off comfortably without working just by income from investment. So, don't rush to it and make silly decisions. All you need is to understand your lifestyle, be more money efficient (cut expenditures and increase saving) and find a strategy not to lose money. Over time, you should be there.

So, what are my investment strategies? First thing first, I don't think setting a rigid strategy is a good beginning. Neither do I think having a flexible plan that I have no idea where I heading to, is a good plan. I think investment evolved over time because different opportunities present at different timing. You always need to have what you need to catch the opportunities when it comes.

There are time when properties are depressed. And, there are time when stock market are depressed. There will also be time when interest rate are so high that you don't need to look beyond bonds. There are always time that you just need some cash to feel safe or to use. Invest when you are confident, don't worry about missing the boat. Don't worry about not making enough money. Allocate assets accordingly that you feel you have a good balance to meet your life objectives. When playing with probabilities, you never know when you going to hit that 1% bad luck. Invest with money that you can lose. Just don't lose money, you will be fine. If you need to work longer, work longer (Although I hope to stop working full time as early as possible). Many people can't even find a job even if they want to. Be contended and stop comparing with others.

Here are my asset allocation strategies. Yes, I keep reviewing it:

Using STI ETF as reference	Cash	Stock (capped at)
≥ 5 years historical high	100%	0%
10% dip from highest	90%	10%
20% dip	80%	20%
30%	60%	40%
40%	40%	60%
50%	20%	80%
60%	10%	90%

My personal risk profile and preference is always to keep $200k in bonds with yield higher than 2.5%, before I considering investing the remaining. On top of that, I will keep an emergency fund of 1 year, which I aim to have more than 2% returns. For investment (Property or Equity), this is like a bonus portion to push up over return, which I aim not to lose money. I hope it can return 5-8% returns. Overall, I hope to achieve a portfolio of 5% or more annually. I may use different asset allocation strategies with different asset size and different life stages. For example, I may want to cap my equities investment at $480,000 or my property investment at $600,000. We shall see.

I thought if you are really cash rich, you may want to involve in a bit of different investments such as property and equity, and switching in between whenever each market presents an opportunity.

For equity, I will be scooping around on individual STI components and STI ETF. I am also considering to do a bit of international portfolio such as S&P 500 or World index ETF. The reason why I do ETF and individual STI components, is to have higher dividends as STI ETF only have about 3% payout. This will enhance the cashflow and in my opinion, the returns too.

These are my investment findings. Not losing money may earn me enough money to retire early in another 4 years and 11 months more. I may even have a bonus profit of say 5-8% average returns in the next few decades, only if I am "lucky". Remember, no one should be more interested in your money than you.

I can't even be sure how long I can live to. So? Live your life now. Stop over thinking on stock market and neglect your real life and your loved ones. Money is an enabler, not your master. Unless reading up companies is your passion or you use it to stimulate your brain juice.

May you be the master of your money.

Bootstrapping to Get the Best Credit Card

Make no mistake. If you are receiving an average wage, getting a credit card is hard. I know, I've tried this. But there's a silver lining. In this post I will show you how to bootstrap your way to get your best credit card. Yes, there's a workaround.

Low salary = Hard to get a credit card

My monthly salary in my first job was just Php 13,500. And every time I applied for a credit card, I got rejected. Failed. I didn't know that there's a minimum income requirement of Php 20,000. I was short with Php 6,500.

So I wondered, there are only two variables I could change: salary and credit card issuer.

Shooting for the stars

I landed on my second job with a higher salary. Almost there. Very near. But it didn't reach the minimum income of Php 20,000. But I thought it wouldn't make any difference as my salary was almost Php 20,000.

My salary was deposited in BPI savings account. It's where I automate my savings and pay bills online. Since I am a BPI client it would be easier for me to get a credit card, I thought. Feeling confident, I went to BPI's website for credit card online application.

Weeks passed. Months. No response from BPI.

I told my boss about it and he laughed. I was surprised to hear that major card isuers don't really approve applicants without prior credit card from other banks for at least 9 months!

So how would I even acquire my first credit card when they want an existing account from other banks?

Credit Card Application Spree

Desperate, I went on online application spree to all credit card issuers (or companies) in the Philippines - SecurityBank, BPI, Metrobank, BDO, PNB.

I filled out the online application forms, scanned my company & valid IDs and sent sent it together with the last 3 months payslips.

Another weeks passed. No response. 2 months. But wait, after 2 months and few days I got an sms from SecurityBank telling me that my credit card application was approved! I was stupified! (You can also apply for SecurityBank credit card)

Of all the banks I applied, only SecurityBank has granted my application. Quite amazing and was very happy then. Kudos to them, for giving me a chance.

2 months after, BPI has emailed me that my application has been approved! Woah, is this a coincidence? Why did it take them so long to approve my card?

Tips on Acquiring your Best Credit Card

1. Clear all your unsettled debts. Your unpaid loans and balances are visible to banks so it might hamper your application.

2. Get a credit card with a low income requirement. I personally recommend SecurityBank card. Their income requirement is just Php 15,000 per month. No existing card requirement too.

3. Like I did, do an online application spree. In this way you can save more time and money. You don't need to go personally to the banks. And if you get approved by all (which rarely happens), you have the option to choose the best and decline others

4. As soon as you have your first credit card, the second one should be easy.

Conclusion

When I discovered the wonders of travel and e-learning, I was hooked. I went to Boracay and El Nido. I'm learning web development in Udemy. It was awesome! But this couldn't be possible without using a vital financial instrument - credit card.

Not all debts are created equal. There are good debts and bad debts. I have both. I consider my udemy courses as good debts but the iPhone I bought is a bad debt which affects my personal net worth. Bottomline, if debts are managed properly it shouldn't mess your life.

The Ultimate Love Behind the Early Financial Independence : 愛在當下 (Love is in Every Moment)

This is a true story starring renowned actor Aaron Kwok. The eight-and-a-half-minute microfilm has its origins in a true story about a Hongkonger, Marco Wong, of the time he took his three-year-old daughter Yuet (小悅) to Taiwan for an 11-day around-the-island bicycle tour.


The video first debuted unbranded on a dedicated Facebook page “Love is in Every Moment“; it has already garnered four million views in two days across Hong Kong and Taiwan.

By recreating the real-life moments of the father-daughter journey, the clip aims to inspire audiences to value the time they have with their loved ones, and to show how much they care and love them.

I find many similarities in my life with this true story:

1. My aim to cycle Singapore
2. My desire to spend every moment with my family
3. Equally sweet daughter (Equally handsome dad as Aaron? haha)
4. We love Taiwan! (Imagine you cycle around HDB and shopping centres)
5. If his wife is included in this video, it will be exact scenario

After watching this video, you will know what is my philosophy about life and what is important to me. I am sure you will enjoy the video. Prepare a box of tissue please.

I will be doing a Singapore version in Nov-Dec 2020, 1 month before my child attend Primary 1 education and my tentative early retirement.

After the sell off, stocks may actually be cheap

Sell Off Wall Street - A Silver Lining

Wall Street is finally breathing a sigh of relief after the S&P 500 Index managed to hold on to its first weekly gain of the year. One prominent market watchers had commented that inspite of signs of strength; stocks are still in store for a thundering reset. The ruthless sell off Wall Street had faced during the last few weeks could have a silver lining.

 According to FactSet, the S&P 500 Index is presently trading at around 15 times the earnings; analysts tend to expect constituents companies to post over the next year. This reading is known as `forward P/E on the popular measure of valuation which is compared to a 15 year average forward P/E ratio of 15.7. The conclusion collected from historical comparison is based on the timeframe taken into account.

 It is worth observing, in this case that the current valuation level tends to represent the premium to the average of 14.3 observed over the past five and ten years periods. Since the firm in the meantime is probably using various earnings estimates, IQ of S&P Capital current forward valuation number is 15.7 though they also observed that was under the 15 year average.

Broad Market Trading in Abyss

David Stockman who was the former OMB Director under President Ronal Reagan, is of the opinion that the broad market has been trading in the abyss after breaking beyond 1,870 in 2014, since then with a meagre one percent return. He had commented that they had been there for 700 days and had something like 35 attempts at rallies where all have failed for the `four no’s’. For him the four no’s comprise of a combination of no escape velocity, no earnings growth, no dry powder from the central bank and no reflation.Accompanied together, it leads him to the belief that the U.S. economy seems to be on the point of a full blown recession.

He further adds that they are getting to a point where the chickens are coming home to roost and there is no help from the central banks and that is why these rallies seem to get weaker as well as shorter. He is of the belief that the overflow of easy money from central banks all across the world has shaped a credit crisis which is so severe that it could probable take years to come out of what it has created.

High Powered Money – Enormous Expansion of Credit

Market watchers have pointed out a stunning $21 trillion collective balance sheet built up all around the globe, up from 2.1 trillion only 20 years back. He has said that this is high powered money which has resulted in an enormous expansion of credit as well as financial valuation bubble.

Stockman has observed that the speedy increase of credit has caused debt all over the world of over $225 trillion and has mentioned that they `are at peak debt’. Stockman, at this point considers that the hands of the Fed could be tied up after being on zero interest rates for almost a decade. There is nowhere to go but negative and it is time to get out of the market completely.

The S&P 500 has been progressively in correction territory in 2016and the large-cap index closed the week at around 11% from its 52 week high. However Stockman is of the opinion that it could plunge another 30% from its present trading which takes it back to levels not envisaged since 2012.

3 Investments You Must Make For Your Restaurant

When you own a restaurant, your focus is on product quality and customer service. That means that you are sure to keep essential equipment and materials around that help you to serve your customers better. Instead of hoping that things go smoothly from day to day, you should invest in a few little business tools that will allow you to maintain your level of service, and protect your business at the same time.

Liability Insurance

Responsible business owners have liability insurance to protect their businesses in case something were to happen. But when you run a customer service business like a restaurant, you can never anticipate what may happen on a daily basis. While it is financially smart to get the basic liability insurance you need to satisfy legal requirements, you should consider getting extra liability insurance for the sake of your business and your customers. Additional liability insurance will give you peace of mind when the weather creates slip and fall hazards on your sidewalks, or when a promotion you try goes bad and people get hurt.

Critical Spare Parts

Most restaurants keep spare parts scattered here and there throughout the building, just in case something goes wrong. But what would you do if your main oven went down and you did not have the part you needed to bring it back up to speed again? You could go to a parts website and get to the section that says "click here for overnight service," but you are still losing out on an entire day's worth of business.

To keep your restaurant going, you need to do a critical spare parts assessment and then keep at least one of those spare parts on hand at all times. This requires an extra financial investment on your part, but the payoff comes when having these parts available prevents you from losing thousands of dollars in business in just one night.

Power Generators

While it is unrealistic to expect to be able to power a whole night's worth of business on a single generator, it is possible to serve the customers you have to maintain your high level of service. When the power goes out, most people expect a restaurant to shut down and send customers home. But when your restaurant can finish serving meals that have been ordered before shutting down due to a power outage, then that enhances the restaurant's reputation.

Part of offering excellent service is being prepared for just about anything. When you invest in necessary services and equipment for your restaurant, then you will enhance your reputation as a reliable and top-notch business.

How Convenient Is A VoIP System?

The growth in home VoIP systems has been significant, and it has reached the point where people are starting to compare land lines with VoIP services. The broad amount of service providers has helped to give consumers choices, and has encouraged a steady stream of technological innovations. But should people really search out the cheapest VoIP rates as an alternative to land lines, or are land lines still the way to go?

VoIP Systems Are Scalable

If you want to add a line or add features to your VoIP system, then the process is extremely simple. With a land line, adding a line can take a while and it can also be quite expensive. But when you decide that your teenager should have their own phone line so that they stop tying up the home phone for everyone else, the process of adding that line with a VoIP system is very simple.

VoIP Systems Are Portable

Some land line services allow customers to check voicemail remotely, but the process can often be long and frustrating. With a VoIP service, voicemail can be checked quickly online. You can even set up a reminder that sends you and email each time you get a voicemail so that you can check your messages quickly when you are not home. You can also check your billing or any other aspect of your VoIP system easily and quickly online.

International Calling Is Available

One of the biggest advantages of having a VoIP service over a standard land line is that most VoIP service providers give you extremely inexpensive access to international calling. Because the Internet makes it easier and cheaper to connect international calls, the VoIP service providers can keep your costs down and allow you to make international calls without the fear of an escalating bill.

Managing Your Features Is Easy

It can be difficult to manage features such as call waiting and call forwarding on a land line service. But because everything about a VoIP service is done on the Internet, managing these features becomes as simple as clicking a button.

The rapid growth of VoIP phone services has a lot to do with how much easier these services are to use than a land line. Not only can you save money with a VoIP service, but you can save time and aggravation as well.