Every End is a New Beginning. Christmas reflections 2023

At the start of January 2024, I'll be officially starting a new position. 😄 I thank God for the many valuable life lessons learnt and people met as I went through this period of my life.

As with every new beginning, something good has to come to an end. As the Chinese saying goes: "天下无不散之筵席" (There's no banquet that does not end eventually.) I'm still in the process of grieving this bittersweet sense of loss as colleagues in my current organisation has been rather nice and helpful. No doubt, I'll be able to retain these friendships even after I leave but I do know that for the sake of my career it is a choice I have to make.

How did this materialise?

Back earlier in the year, I was actually trying to go for another internal role which eventually I was unable to attain. 

It was a rather difficult process through which I had to deal with alot of internal dialogue surrounding dealing with:

1. Sense of failure (but I know that all failures are mostly not fatal, and all successes not final) 

 

2. Self doubt (I thought I had it in me but maybe I was too full of myself) 

 

3. Negative outbursts (Dealing with my own personal emotions is a rather tricky thing, as employers may not like it when employees express unhappiness) 

 

 All in all, there was a time I probably wallowed for a while. And then, a headhunter came calling.

One door closes, another opens.

Still reeling from the pain and depths of defeat, my confidence was wrecked and at an all time low. I recall I was qualifying the recruiter multiple times: Are you sure you got the right person? Am I really the person you are looking for? 

It was funny but things went so smoothly through the rounds of interviews in double quick time that I really couldn't process it as quickly. When I broke the news with another colleague over lunch to ask for her advise, she mentioned: 是你的，就是你的，不是你的莫强求 "In life, something meant to be yours will be yours. Conversely, what is not yours can't be forced."

It was a funny rollercoaster of emotions:

1. Confidence: Confidence was wrecked totally and then built right back up. (Somehow internally, I'm not as valued as externally) 

 

2. Humility, and gratitude: If I had probably gotten the internal role, I might have been very proud of it. With this developments, it was almost as if it fell out of the sky (Not quite as I had really put in alot of effort) 

 

3. Mental Fuel: Turning emotions of anger, frustration, failure into fuel. I channeled whatever regrets and pain I had from the internal role to try my best for the external role.

Somehow, things went smoothly. Now, I'm quite sure that there will be new challenges facing me in the coming year. Come what may, life has to go on. 

Christmas is a season of Love and giving. I'm thankful for the people who rejected me and taught me life lessons, as well as for those who showed me care, concern and love. 

Merry Christmas 2023, 

Fellow friends and investors!~

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Share with me and fellow readers!

p.s. It's been really a long time since I have had the chance to sit down to blog and reflect. I will be looking at my portfolio which was started in 2018 to see what I can do to continue this journey! Thankfully, although I'm sitting on some paper loss, overall due to the dividend strategy I'm overall profitable. Hopefully, REITs will huat again this year with the FED cuts.

K.C.

If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well. I'm also on Investing Note. I am also partnering with Reit-tirement blog and other bloggers to share ideas at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1397925937071525/

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinion and information in this article are strictly for informational purposes to encourage educational discussions only. No content on this site constitutes - or should be understood as constituting - a recommendation to enter any securities transactions or to engage in any of the investment strategies presented in our site content. We do not provide personalised recommendations or views as to whether a particular stock or investment approach is suitable to the financial needs of a specific individual. No representation or warranty expressed or implied is made as to, and no reliance shall be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained on this website. "30 Year Old Investor" shall not be liable whatsoever for loss or damages of any kind arising from the result of any use, reliance or distribution of the articles or its contents from information contained on this website. 

KC 30 is turning 36! Updates since MIA in 2021.

Hello everyone! 😃 It's been a long time. 

My last post was dated February 15, 2021, and many things have happened in between:

• I got my resale flat.
• I got married and am now having much more responsibilities as a new family head.
• I also had to put on hold my investment (injection of cash) as I had to pay for the wedding.
• I hosted a wedding ceremony and banquet.
• I went on a honeymoon.
• I got passed over for promotion.
• I am now able to get back to where I left off in terms of portfolio.

This was a very busy phase of life and I must say that I kind of lost myself in the busyness of the season. It is only recently that I'm able to take a break, take a step back and appreciate/ be thankful for what has happened as well as to try to process some of the events and thoughts as I pick myself up again. Hopefully, this means that I will have some time to look at stocks again. 

I got my resale flat.

Following my last post in 2021, after discussion with my wife, we decided that a BTO wait was too long. And we are still proven right as we've now stayed in our resale HDB for almost 2 years, while many BTO projects are still facing delays etc.

It would have been unimaginable and would be a stressful situation for us not to have a place of our own to call home. Some of my peers shuffle between renting a place (which obviously costs money), or to stay over parents' place.

I haven't been following the recent housing market, but have heard of some recent changes such as the HLE to HFE, and cooling measures aimed at private property downgraders. There is also another change that the housing grants have increased (the aim is to help young couples afford resale HDBs, but in my opinion just adds to the increasing prices..)

I got married and am now having much more responsibilities as a new family head.

We Chinese have a saying "成家立业", which translates to starting a family and establishing a career. This was true for folks in the past, that they regard adulthood as stepping up into the phase of starting a family. In the modern world, most of us do the reverse of 立业 (Starting our careers) then 成家 (Starting a family). Nonetheless, this was truly a phase where elders in my family started to treat me as an adult. And, with great "power" now comes responsibilities. There are now tangible bills to pay and people who depend on you ever more. Your spouse, each others' ageing parents. Life after all is quite short and it is important to spend time with them.

I also had to put on hold my investment (injection of cash) as I had to pay for the wedding.

The wedding and banquet costs totalled around $80,000. If you followed my blog you would know that I planned and set aside $50,000 for the wedding. This meant my investment portfolio took a hit as I could not afford to inject any cash. Indeed, cash injections suffered in 2021, and 2022. 

House renovations was minimal as we bought a resale flat and I did some basic re-painting and focused on furnitures mostly.

Road to Financial Independence
PROJECTION					ACTUAL FIGURES
Year	Age	Portfolio Projected 2%/yr	Current capital injection Rate/yr	Estimated Dividend 3%	Actual Portfolio at end of yr	Actual Capital Injection/yr	Actual Dividends
2018	31	$12,000.00	$12,000.00	$360.00	$15,941.59	$16,928.40	$513.25
2019	32	$24,600.00	$12,000.00	$738.00	$42,318.06	$23,670.94	$815.30
2020	33	$37,830.00	$12,000.00	$1,134.90	$73,116.93 (Set aside $29,600 for wedding by end 2020) Therefore actual = $43,516.93	$27,272.78	$916.05
2021	34	$51,721.50	$12,000.00	$1,551.65	79694.64 (Set aside $39,200 for wedding by end 2021)	$4,288.83	$1,481.79
2022	35	$66,307.58	$12,000.00	$1,989.23	$79,428.16	-$266.48	$2,028.56
2023	36	$81,622.95	$12,000.00	$2,448.69	$89,895.15 till date (July 2023)

I hosted a wedding ceremony and banquet. (2022)

Our parents really wanted a banquet, and we did what we could to help fulfill this expectation. (This could be a topic for another day: Whether an expensive banquet still makes sense today). My personal take is that this could be a huge financial burden for the sandwiched generation who could put the money better to other areas such as housing.

However, it is a once in a lifetime event, and personally, there are intangible "benefits" for hosting a banquet. Firstly, it is a form of respect for elders (The way I see it, banquets are really for them). Secondly, it is a form of saying to the brides' family: "Don't worry, your daughter is in good hands." Lastly, it is also a good rallying point to gather the whole extended family that we otherwise would seldom see.

I went on a honeymoon. (2023)

Work commitments actually boiled over and I was only able to go on a personal trip during mid 2023. I think it was only during this trip that I truly had time to slow down, and think about what was going on with my life. 

I do think I got quite burnt out from work. Burnt some money here as well to create some good memories.

I got passed over for promotion.

I do think I was truly disappointed at not getting the promotion I was gunning for, after putting in effort and hard work only to see it go to someone else.

As I reflected on it, I reconciled that there are many things beyond my control. Speaking to some seniors helped to put things back to perspective: "It's only a job." While I am disappointed, life still needs to go on and I wouldn't need to be so hung up on it. Life, and work career is a marathon and I do need to develop resilience.

Otherwise, I don't think I'm doing too bad as a salaryman as the current pay vs. workload is manageable.

I am now able to get back to where I left off in terms of portfolio.

Recently, I had time to look back into my old portfolio and seek to put things back on track. Obviously, I missed out on the COVID crash where many counters were on discount, but I had to keep cash for the wedding. It was really tough to shut out the news to prevent myself from deploying the cash at that time. Currently, am now sitting on some cash again which I will keep a lookout for opportunities. The gameplan is still to look for investing for income.

Share with me and fellow readers!

Feel free to re-connect with me by saying hi, or leaving a comment!

K.C.

If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well. I'm also on Investing Note. I am also partnering with Reit-tirement blog and other bloggers to share ideas at: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1397925937071525/

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinion and information in this article are strictly for informational purposes to encourage educational discussions only. No content on this site constitutes - or should be understood as constituting - a recommendation to enter any securities transactions or to engage in any of the investment strategies presented in our site content. We do not provide personalised recommendations or views as to whether a particular stock or investment approach is suitable to the financial needs of a specific individual. No representation or warranty expressed or implied is made as to, and no reliance shall be placed on, the fairness, accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained on this website. "30 Year Old Investor" shall not be liable whatsoever for loss or damages of any kind arising from the result of any use, reliance or distribution of the articles or its contents from information contained on this website.