Portfolio/ Work Outlook 2020 & interesting reads (8th Jan)

Wishing fellow investors, friends and readers a HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!

A few readers have started to gently remind me that I'm late for my blog post update! 😅 Would firstly like to thank all of you for your continued support and concern since I started investing in February 2018. Time flies, 2 years have passed in a blink of an eye.

tl;dr (Too long, didn't read) Summary:
1. Busy Dec Period: Taking a toll but Fruitful - 
Work, studies and relationship commitments have taken up considerable time.

2. Portfolio update: Outlook for next 2-3 years -
Investment portfolio is likely to take a backseat. Currently, I am gearing up for wedding/HDB. If you have any pro-tips regarding couple finance/ saving for HDB/Wedding, please do leave a comment/drop me an email! 😊

3. Work update: Performance for the year/ Career building - 
Career is at a stage it can go either way. I need to secure a promotion before the current boss moves on to his next post (2 years target, 4 years max). Overall secured a good performance this year and will have chance for further exposure.

4. Interesting reads and thoughts of KC
- Sing vs. Singh
- LV's success and why we should aim to go over to business side on a company as an employee.
- Sugar baby: Would you be one?

1. Busy Dec Period: Taking a toll but Fruitful

Work:
Indeed, December has been a crazy month with my work as I saw a ramp up of work activities due to my department trying to spend the allocated funds for projects.

Gatherings/Paktor (dating):
Christmas and New Year was also a great time to get together with friends whom I have not seen for some time to catch up as well as to spend time with our loved ones. I would like to thank my loved ones for being my pillar of strength and support. You know who you are! ❤️ And so, one colleague and a long time University buddy both invited me to their HDB. Co-incidentally, both are in Sengkang. And so, it kickstarted a HDB conversation between my partner and I. One thing I learnt was that renovations could be cheap(er) and your house turns out more unique/ customised if you do not go to the interior designer.

Night Classes:
My night classes are starting to take its toll on my body with packed classes in the evenings on most Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have to somehow last till end of March. Short term pain for Long term gain. Press on!!

2. Portfolio update: Outlook for next 2-3 years

My Priorities have changed: for the next 2-3 years, from being a single person to starting preparations for marriage. As a result, my portfolio savings goals is likely to take a hit. Something has got to give way so I will have to be more prudent in my daily spending to maximise my savings over this period.

This also means that I will have minimal capital to deploy and will have to be more prudent in screening my counters. First and foremost, the bottleneck would be savings and the main constraint is the limited amount of salary I have. It is either I spend less, save more or I increase my salary somehow.

I am also on the lookout for BTO but I am quite inexperienced in this aspect: if you have any opinion and good advice regarding HDB/BTO, feel free to drop a comment below or drop me an email. I would really appreciate it!

On my portfolio side, there is some speculation that AIMS Apac Reit would be in for a M&A: https://www.investingnote.com/posts/1778469. Meanwhile I would keep calm and collect my dividends.

Portfolio as of Jan 2020

	Stock name	Code	Entry price	Shares	Price	% Allocation	Type
1	FCOT	ND8U	1.4674	1000	1467.37	3.61	Base
2	FLT	BUOU	1.0712	2500	2677.88	6.60	Base
3	Singtel	Z74	3.3182	1000	3318.16	8.17	Base
4	APTT	S7OU	0.1631	10000	1631.4	4.02	Base
5	Vicom	V01	6.0340	500	3016.99	7.43	Base
6	SSB	Just for reference	1.0000	2000	2002	4.93	Base
7
8	Aims	O5RU	1.3800	3000	4152.48	10.23	Base
9	Cash				$22,333.06*	55.01	Cash
				Total Amount	$40,599.34	100.00

- Portfolio value is $42,318.06 at end of 2019.
- *$20,000 earmarked for wedding/housing fund. (expect my portfolio to take a hit)

Short Term Goal 2-3 years
Wedding/Housing Fund Target: (approx. $800 per month min.)

Year	Year Start Value	Target Value	Actual Value
2020	$20,000	$29,600
2021	$29,600	$39,200
2022	$39,200	$48,800

Projections (since inception):

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	$890.54
2020	33	$37,830.00	$12,000.00	$1,134.90	$22,318.06 (Till Date) (-$20,000 for Wedding/HDB fund)	- (Till Date)	-  (Till Date)

Long term portfolio goals would stay as per the table under the Portfolio Update page. It remains to be seen how much I would be affected with the goals shift. 

3. Work update: Performance for the year/ Career building

My job transition has stabilised and it is time to think about improving my current skillset so that I can hopefully move up to the next level in my career.

I have been incredibly lucky to secure a pay raise and severance (previously retrenched) as well as a chance to travel abroad for business for exposure in my new employment.

Added responsibilities beyond current job scope (can be a double-edged sword):
The positive here is that my current boss thinks that I am performing well and turning out good results as compared to a few colleagues who are in a similar level to my role despite only being in my role for half a year. Consequently, I will have a chance to prove myself as I take on added work (tasks for the next level job) outside of the core responsibilities of my current role as well as more opportunities to gain exposure and experience.

The drawback is that I will definitely have less time for monitoring that market (which is probably fine since I will have less capital to deploy). And also, past experience at my old company where I was retrenched has taught me that things can change very fast, especially if my boss were to be changed by the management or re-located to elsewhere in the company.

I might lose favour and get stuck so I am under some pressure to push and secure for the promotion fast within 2 years. If I do not manage to secure this by end of 4 years, it would mean that I have got stuck because by then my current boss is likely to move on to his next post.

--------------------------------------------------

4. Interesting reads and thoughts of KC (8/1/2020)

#1: Sing vs. Singh: Singaporeans vs. PRs?

Read More: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/chan-chun-sing-and-pritam-singh-spar-parliament-over-data-distribution-new-jobs-among

Read More: https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/singapores-economic-growth-and-job-creation-have-benefited-citizens-more-foreigners

*Disclaimer: This is just my opinion and based on anecdotal experiences. I am not siding any political party, but more concerned about Singaporean's future and my own future as a Singaporean.

One of the major talking points that have caught my attention was this Sing vs. Singh showdown in parliament where our opposition is questioning and pressing our ruling party to inform us of the exact breakdown of Singaporeans and PRs in what is defined as "local PMETs"

This is a tough and a cold hard truth Singaporeans may have to face: Are Singaporeans these days so strawberry that we have to rely on policies to guarantee we get ahead in this supposedly meritocratic system?

But, if we go down such a path, it is dangerous because in the private sector, work quality counts. And in some cases, the work quality I have seen from some of my Singaporean colleagues really make it hard to justify putting them ahead of FTs in my various stints at a few MNCs. Many of the FTs I have worked with in MNCs have good exposure, turn out better work quality, better work attitude and are far more humble and open to learn than Singaporean colleagues.

I really feel that the government should release the statistics and let us draw our own conclusions. If we are failing, we need to know and we need a knock on our heads, fast.

#2: The Story behind Louis Vuitton

  

In my previous blog post, I shared this video (a documentary on LV's success I watched on my flight back):

Firstly, I gained a good understanding of branding and business models of a successful business that I find is commonly found in other businesses as well. Successful businesses often are able to charge premium for their products, create a good and loyal customer experience and while earning a high margin. From an investing point of view, a 40% margin would mean a highly profitable business.

A breakdown of LV's cost in a bag is as the picture above.

The people who actually make the bag only earn the pie from 10% of the price of the bag. The sales person earns from the 50% pie, while the company takes in 40% profit. I find this a sobering thought now that I am in a business related function, having come from a technical background within my industry. Folks in the business side have far more chances for advancements while the manufacturing folks are often kept there (don't fix what isn't spoilt) as production managers in the manufacturing departments often try to keep things status quo.

I used to envision a career in Technical, but in most companies, Sales teams often have a louder voice and are the decision makers in the company. This is true for my current and previous company. Even if you make the world's best bag, it would be nothing if nobody knew about it and none of it gets sold.

Where would we want to be in a company? Think again.

I could be misguided by my own experiences but I would definitely want to leverage on my technical experience to try to gravitate towards sales/marketing functions and customer facing roles as I can already feel a considerable difference being employed on the business side.

#3: Sugar baby: Would you be one?

At this point... just want to put out the supposed "benefits" of sugar dating the lady got:

- HP laptop
- Pandora custom made necklace
- Hotel stays and private yacht trips
- Iphone
- ~ $3,000 SGD allowance
- Support daily expenses, pay for student loans

I'm rather speechless with this one. But I do think she is rather brave to be truthful about this. I think she has a day job that earns around $3,000 as well so I guess this gives her the ability to sustain the kind of lifestyle or dating she wants. I just can't help but wonder if this is an exploitation disguised as 'dating'.

Read More: https://www.businessinsider.sg/sugar-baby-relationship-sugar-daddy-what-its-like-2019-8/?r=US&IR=T

What do you think?

K.C.

If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well. I'm also on Investing Note.

Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first
4. Interview process cycle: How to increase your interview rates
5. My 2018 Year end review
6. I'm retrenched: 3 things to think about

7. Why I refuse to spend >15-30 minutes budgeting each month

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinion and information in this article are strictly for informational purposes to encourage educational discussions only. It is important to conduct your own analysis before making any investment decisions based on your own personal circumstances. You should take reasonable measures such as seeking independent financial advice from professionals and/or independently research and verify the information that you find on "30 Year Old Investor" before undertaking any important investment decisions. 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. 

Goal Setting: Why it matters in investing (and everything else)

Goals. What determines those who achieve and those who don't?

Chances are you would have at least seen the S.M.A.R.T goals acronym being thrown around at different places such as work and in school. Why is goal setting such an important exercise during the course of our lives? We will examine more closely how it can apply to different areas of our lives, e.g. investing, healthy living, work/projects etc.

Time is a precious resource and unfortunately a limited one. Everyone will be demanding our time but we only have 24 hours a day. But we need more like 40 hours a day (a TwoSet Violin reference, google them for some comic relief). We have to learn to say NO to some people asking us for our time and also need to focus on what is really important.

S.M.A.R.T goals exactly help to crystallise these.

A Season of Changes 
(Background context to my need for re-setting my goals)

First of all, apologies to my regular readers for being late in updating my blog. I have been pre-occupied with a few changes in my life currently:

1. Career/ Job Transition:
I was previously retrenched earlier this year, but I was lucky to secure a job within a short time frame. It was a blessing in disguise. In short, I got out of my comfort zone from my previous job and am now given a chance at a new company to learn and deliver the work handed to me. The job comes with some perks of its own, for example a free gym access which previously was unavailable/not so convenient to me. As such 2 Goals will likely arise from here. One would be to learn well and get up to speed in my current work. Second would be to get healthier, eat well and build some muscles in the gym.

2. K.C. is now attached:
As the header stated, I would need to start to set aside a separate fund for marriage and probably down payment for HDB. More research would likely help to put some realistic and meaningful numbers to the plan. Don't worry. K.C. also realised that he has not very consistent in posting... and so.....

3. More focus on Investing and Blogging
As I would need to focus on my work, I will unlikely be wanting to be distracted on doing any investments while during work hours. My new office is also a half-open concept, so it will be really tough and definitely not right to be doing any personal stuff during work hours. As such, any investment decisions I make would be made after work hours.

Also, I will commit to having at least 2 post per month on alternate weekends. I want to avoid having too many posts but also to achieve some consistency in posting more quality content. If there are any other interesting ideas to post about I will be posting them on the other 2 weekends. I am also currently having night classes on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday so time is really limited on my side.

So, what is S.M.A.R.T goals? 

There is some debate how this acronym came about. But when I first encountered it, I was a Junior College student and the person who introduced it to me was my General Paper (GP) teacher who encouraged me to read widely and arguably had a eye-opening effect on my critical thinking. I was exposed to many good reads and concepts at that point in time:

- The Clash of Civilizations by Immanuel Kant (Religion and cultural differences will be the major source of world conflict)

- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (There are different tiers to human needs, survival comes first)

- Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (God/religion is Dead!)

- How to win Friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie (Basically, how to genuinely build relationships and why those lead to successes in life)

- The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker (How to effectively understand the business world, and have effective management)

Particularly, SMART goals is attributed to Peter Drucker as a means of writing management's goals and objectives. The term SMART goals was first used in the Nov 1981 "Mangement Review" (George T. Doran).

Regular readers of this blog would have realised by now that Goal-Setting is a big thing and down to the very essence of this blog: this blog exists solely as a diary, a record for me to be accountable to my investment goals (click link), and also life goals.

Specific: target a specific area for improvement.

A Goal must be specific enough. You have to know what are your pain points in life. What are some areas of life that must improve (which would otherwise result in some pain down the road)? Management goals are very targeted and root cause analysis would help to pinpoint certain areas of a company that needs to improve: safety, time management, cooperation, listening, communication, organisational structure etc.

For personal areas, it can be health, career, relationships, money management, investing. If we don't feel a NEED to change, chances are the goals won't last. There must be some negative consequence attached to not being able to get the goal, or a positive result that would be the fruit of us attaining our goals. These would motivate us to go further.

For example, one of the main pinch points for me was approaching age 30 but still having a pathetic bank account statement. I recognised that I had to do something about it. As per my page "About K.C."

My Financial Goals are to:
1. Ensure positive cash flow.
2. Gain assets (stocks and reits) that generate passive income.

If possible, we can further break down into more specific details later on as much as possible.

Measurable: quantify or at least suggest an indicator of progress.

It is best to put some numbers as a benchmark or yardstick. For example, if we want to save money, we won't know how much is a good target without knowing how much as a % we spend of our salary and on what category of items. Similarly, we also need some numbers to grapple with especially in investing since the timeframe is so long and could span decades. How do we know we are still on track?

For example, I set a long term target charted out on Excel with specific projections (which can be reviewed as we move along)

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	Dividends carried over to portfolio
2018	31	$12,000.00	$12,000.00	$360.00	$15,941.59	$16,928.40	513.25	513.25
2019	32	$24,600.00	$12,000.00	$738.00	$33,831.24 (till date)	$16,093.21 (till date)	$355.45 (till date)
2020	33	$37,830.00	$12,000.00	$1,134.90

2048	61	$849,129.48	$12,000.00	$25,473.88
Total		$849,129.48	$372,000.00	$311,751.57

Assignable: specify who will do it.

There is no question that for personal goals, the person to do it will be us. Will you be REALLY doing the activities that will lead to your goals? We know ourselves best.

Realistic: state what results can realistically be achieved, given available resources.

We can aim for the sky, but it likely will not be attainable and therefore is useless to us. It should also not be a too easily achievable goal but should give us a little stretch and a bit of challenge to get there.

Timeframe: specify when the result(s) can be achieved.

This is by far one of the more important components of SMART goals. If we do not set deadlines, things just never get done. We will lose focus and even lose track of our goals. Our goals will just keep get put off. I think Nas Daily does a better job at illustrating this point:

I have set my goals, have you set yours?
(If these goals are not SMART enough on this blog post, I will redefine and go more specific later on)

1. Career/ Job Transition:
My goal will be to be competent by 3 months and proficient by 6 months in my learning curve at my new job. There are 4 software and a technical library I have to be good at. I will want to be familiar with them by the 3rd month.

I also have a new goal to hit the gym twice a week. I will start baby steps to hit it once a week first.

2. K.C. is now attached:
K.C. will set up a separate fund for future family purpose (wedding, HDB). The amount to put in will be to be confirmed (TBC) since my new employment has jumbled up previous schedule of budgeting. Instead of 23rd each month, it will now be done on the 13th. 

3. More focus on Investing and Blogging
K.C. will blog on the 2nd and 4th weekend of the month. Any additional posts will be posted on the 1st and 3rd week of the month. Meanwhile, I remain committed to finishing my night classes until March 2020.

I have set these down so that I will be accountable to myself, as well as my readers. There is no backing out now. If you have any resources on how much to prepare on getting married, how much to save for HDB, do share with me! Will be looking to tap on the experience of more experienced investors and friends :)

Until Next Time,

K.C.

If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well. I'm also on Investing Note.

Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first
4. Interview process cycle: How to increase your interview rates
5. My 2018 Year end review
6. I'm retrenched: 3 things to think about

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinion and information in this article are strictly for informational purposes to encourage educational discussions only. It is important to conduct your own analysis before making any investment decisions based on your own personal circumstances. You should take reasonable measures such as seeking independent financial advice from professionals and/or independently research and verify the information that you find on "30 Year Old Investor" before undertaking any important investment decisions. 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. 

Retrenchment and the 25% pay increase that I did not ask for

I have finally confirmed that I secured new employment and by a fantastic twist of events, I got into a better situation than before. Thank God for opening doors when one was being closed. In short, I received a tidy sum of severance while my annual package increased by 25% (probably because I'm underpaid at current employment, but I won't complain)

It took me 84 days before I secured the offer that I wanted. In total, I sent out a fair bit of applications to which I landed 4 interviews and had 3 offers. I also met a few very nice potential future employers. One of them even held the position open for me for a while despite me rejecting them because I made a pretty strong impression with the boss.

For tips on interviews/career planning, refer to my previous posts:
Interview process cycle: How to increase your interview rates
Investing in our Career (Taking care of the goose) (Constantly upgrade while making plan Bs)
Why we should keep our Resume updated, always. (And dealing with interview preparation)

84 days Job Hunt Timeline
3rd April  - Announcement of retrenchment of my department (Blogged 9/4/2019)
17th April - Attended 1st interview in 1.5 years and screwed it up so bad they didn't contact me
23rd April - Attended 2nd interview (Part sales/Technical role) Offered but rejected
6th May - Attended 3rd interview (Business Support/Technical role) Eventually accepted
31st May - 4th Interview pre- video interview
7th June - Attended 4th Interview (Lab Exec role with School) Offered but rejected

As can be seen, my interview hit-rate is not very good. It is about 1 interview every 21 days or almost 1 on average per month. According to Jobstreet, my total applications was 39. I went for quality instead of quantity in doing and sending out one or two tailored good resume/cover letter per day. I also applied a few through other platforms but not much. One of the interviews that came was from being contacted by a headhunter from LinkedIn (which would become my eventual job). There were also other recruiters that contacted me but it did not materialise into anything.

Breakdown of numbers:
Assuming 45 applications made,
Returns rate of interviews for applications made = 4 / 45 = 8.9%
Offer rate  = 3/4 x 8.9% = 6.7%

From experience, the success rate based on the number of good applications made is around 5%. Alot of it was down to luck and opportunity to secure a ticket to interview. The main difficulty encountered was that my current company bogged down my job hunt with job responsibilities that I was obligated to complete. There were pros and cons to this (allowed me to look for another job while still getting paid until June 30). I was prepared to continue this numbers game if I had no offer on the table until eventually I exhausted all options. Thankfully it did not come to that.


Interesting Interview Experiences:
My first interview in 1.5 years was a total disaster. On the back drop of being retrenched, desperation, fear and unpreparedness caught me off guard. I was even ridiculed by the interviewer for even "daring to apply for their position". In the end, I said a few wrong things and gave a pretty bad impression. It is actually very normal to screw up your first interview in a while. I was sad and frustrated for a day or two over my performance but quickly moved on from it.

The second interview was a pretty memorable one. I guess I will let a screen shot with the recruiter in charge do the talking.

An offer from a reputable company listed in Singapore

After 2 years of Insurance, 2 years as a Lab analyst and now almost 1.5 years as a Chemist, I have developed quite a keen business sense despite being in the Technical side of things. As a testament and vote of confidence for my interview/rapport skills, the HR at this company also mentioned that :"Past candidates usually only get 15 - 20 minutes but you are the first that managed to chat with the Boss for 1 hour plus." I managed to add this Boss to my connections of friends after this as well.

I do think that getting relaxed and being oneself helps one to outperform during interviews (assuming you crunched the interview questions and internalised them). My third interview and fourth ones went pretty well as I looked to be comfortable and display a positive attitude to learn. In actual fact, I "failed" my third interview for the position I was being interviewed for. However, I made sure I had made a strong impression and they offered me an alternative role which was lower but had the opportunity to learn new things. This became my eventual offer that I took up (I left the headhunter to negotiate my package while giving a lowest amount I was prepared to take. They offered me better and the rest was history)

The fourth one was pretty straightforward. It also matched the offer from the third interview in terms of remuneration but it was likely to be a stagnant job going forward.

------------------------------------------------------------

Final thoughts
Overall, retrenchment could have ended badly. But it didn't, and it doesn't have to. Perhaps I am still young. Perhaps being positive and taking action helped create my own luck. But perhaps there will be a time in future when I get older and retrenchment might be more fatal.

But hey, that's why we are planning early to invest and hopefully be self-sufficient one day. Last but not least, I'M BACK. And I can start looking at investments once again.

If you are looking for a job, don't give up. It is a numbers game.

Until Next Time,

K.C.

If you like this post, you might like our facebook page as well. I'm also on Investing Note.

Related topics:
1. About K.C. What is my story?
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first
4. Interview process cycle: How to increase your interview rates
5. My 2018 Year end review
6. I'm retrenched: 3 things to think about

Disclaimer: The views expressed, opinion and information in this article are strictly for informational purposes to encourage educational discussions only. It is important to conduct your own analysis before making any investment decisions based on your own personal circumstances. You should take reasonable measures such as seeking independent financial advice from professionals and/or independently research and verify the information that you find on "30 Year Old Investor" before undertaking any important investment decisions. 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.