Rainbow on FI

It's been a while since I have posted weekend brain food. I have been quite out of touch with investment theories and research as I was pretty caught up with work, sports and events.  This is an old draft... very old yes. My thoughts part is recent. Benjamin Graham vs. Jesse Livermore  - by A Wealth of Commonsense "In chapter 8, Graham introduces the story of Mr. Market as a way to illustrate the manic behavior of investors in the short-term. Chapter 20 covers the idea of margin of safety as a way to better understand risk management. Both chapters still hold up to this day despite the fact that the book was originally published in 1949." "You can still learn from legendary investors and traders. Market history can still help give you insights into potential risks. But markets change. Investors adapt. Rules are updated. Advantages slowly get arbitraged away . Strategies that outperformed in the past don’t work as well in the future once everyone knows about them. Th

Inflation is when Pepper Lunch stops giving complimentary soup, Korean dishes stops giving complimentary kimchi side dish, McChicken goes from $2 to $2.95 and to $3.25, and a 1-meat-2-vegs cai png now costs $6.50 (cos 三层肉 is considered special @$3). 😩 My $6.50 cai png which tasted meh Paying more is the trade-off for convenience. Buying stuff to cook at home would be cheaper. However, for a single person meal, it seems a waste of time, water and electricity. Food is about the only thing that made me feel inflation is overboard as the price increases are in double digit percentage. GST is going to hike to 9% next year, it's likely that we'll see another round of staples' price hike. Yikes! Time to go JB and get my stockpile of toiletries and medications. It's frustrating that the Malaysia custom cannot process E-gate application on Fri-Sun. I shall be trying for the third time next week, keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks for reading! Get a $10 Fairprice e-v

It's been almost 2 months since my mum's passing. I have not had the mood to blog as there's simply too much for me to settle - both tangible and intangible stuff.  For the first month, there's like a void in my life that I couldn't get used to because I was so used to the daily routine of taking care of her. It felt like a boulder lifted off my shoulder, as I was near breaking point; but this boulder was not gone, instead it shifted to my heart. The passing was sudden but not unexpected. My mum's condition deteriorated rapidly after her last fall, which led to hospitalization, and every hospitalization made her more frail. On the last discharge she could barely sit up in bed. My mum  did not leave behind a will  because she did not see a need to at that time when she still had a clear state of mind. Without a will, I would need to apply for the Grant of Letters of Administration in order to administer her estates. (Note: If there's a will, one would need to

Different levels of our life and career Level 1 - Aimless You have no earthly idea what you're doing or where you're going. You have no direction. Level 2 - Stuck You can envision yourself doing better but can't seem to get out of a rut. You might work hard but experience very little progress. Level 3 - Coasting You are going through the motions. Your life is on cruise control. You do what you have to do to survive. Level 4 - Developing You are steadily growing. You've had incremental improvements over the past few years, and your relationships and career have excelled. Level 5 - Thriving You are operating in your sweet spot. You don't have to do anything. You get to do everything. Level 6 - Mastery You are doing so well that you're in a place to help others do the same. from  "Leveling up" by Ryan Leak I came across the above while browsing IG and it made me reflect on how success in life and career is defined. Which level am I at now? In my early 30s

It can be stressful to care for dementia patient, especially when you don't know what to expect of their disease progression and how to tackle the problems that their change in behavior brings.  Dementia is a disease of regression of the whole being - from declining cognitive function, memory losses to declining mobility and difficulty eating. Therefore, dementia-proofing can be a gradual process and what need modifications in the house very much depend on the stage of dementia. I was quite lost on what to do when I first heard that my mom was diagnosed with dementia, but slowly I learnt to cope with it. Managing dementia In the initial stage, memory loss and forgetfulness is the main sign with no behavioral issue. So putting  up reminder / guide signages in the house, using whiteboard to cue To-dos, preparing medications in pill boxes (AM and PM separately) and setting reminder alarms are useful. Switch socket covers and childproof outlet plugs can be installed if the elderly like

I saw this in the news today -  OCBC offers new option to customers to earn higher interest from CPF funds . For the first time in history I see " CPF Time Deposit " offered by a bank. (Technically speaking, CPF is like time deposit with the government. This is like time deposit outsourced, albeit for a very short period? ) Previously those who were eyeing "higher interest" (via external returns) on their OA accounts can only invest through CPFIS into T-bills and it may be a hassle to do so, except for DBS digibank customers who can do it via online. I wonder if other banks will soon follow suit to offer "CPF Time Deposit ". (Since people may be starting to run out of liquid funds for parking.)  DBS bank has an  article  about investing in T-bills and I think it rightly pointed this out:  "It is not as straightforward as you will need to work out the “breakeven” yields of T-bills for using CPF savings to ensure that you will not be in a worse off posi

2022 was a year of which my life followed Murphy's Law - I have experienced crypto bank runs (CeFi bankruptcies ensued), portfolio plunge, Covid infection and calling the ambulance to the house.  It's a really bad year, and I almost thought I am not done listing the Murphy's Law events. At least these are the major ones, and I don't want to bored people with more day-to-day shit that happened. Despite all these, I believe there's still some silver lining behind the gloomy clouds. Here are some reflections to share. Change is the only constant in life We all know that. If we cannot change the environment, change ourselves. There's Chinese saying "适者生存",  adaptability is the most powerful skill of humankind.  After changing what we can in the environment to make ourselves feel as comfortable as possible, we need to learn to live with the discomfort that cannot be changed or is hard to be changed. This means "accepting what is" by changing the w