What can you eat with $3 today?

Foodcourt chains like Koufu, Food republic and Kopitiam have changed the hawker landscape so much these days and have also pushed up the cost of food altogether. Granted, that they bring more comfort and hygiene to traditional hawker centres but the increase in prices hardly justify the supposed upgrades.

KF Seetoh from Makansutra recently posted a rather alarming article about the hidden costs of the Government's new social enterprise hawker centres which are touted as supposedly good for hawker tenants and us. But the additional costs plus the need to keep their food at low prices seemingly makes it unsustainable. Either way, we can conclude that the older NEA run hawker centres might be a vanishing trade. Troubling indeed.

Just today, I ordered a Jia Jia liang teh at Lau Pa Sat run by Kopitiam and it costs $2! (If you have the kopitiam card it is $1.60, but still). I ended up having a meal that costs $6.21 (with kopitiam card discount). Anyway, there was no air-conditioning but maybe the prices are jacked up to fleece tourists. I couldn't help but notice some stalls were empty or closed. The rent must not be cheap there.

Add a dollar to that drink I had and make it $3 I can already eat a decent meal elsewhere.

You might ask, what can one get for $3 these days?

$3 can get you one of these at a place I frequent. I usually eat a lot and I have to search for more value for money options unless the situation does not allow me to do so. This is an example of what I might have on a regular evening (yes 2 servings of food because I really eat a lot and have to find good bargains so I do not eat a hole in my wallet).

$3 - Roasted meat rice (comes with complimentary soup of the day)
$3 - Roasted chicken rice (comes with complimentary soup of the day)

For this particular stall, the serving is quite generous and the food is quite delicious. I guess the pictures below with the queue speak for itself.

A lot of older folks patronise this stall because it represents value for money. A rare find in nearby Westmall and other coffeeshops nearby where the cheapest meal will be $3.50 or more.

$3 might still get us food like this today, but nobody can guarantee that they will still be here tomorrow. Unless we are some Crazy Rich Asian, I think these kind of $3 food will go a long way to help our wallets and ultimately our investing journey.

Venue: S-11 Bukit Batok Food House. (640 Bukit Batok Central)

Do share with me what you can eat with $3!

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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Related topics:
1. K.C. saves money K.C. Eats: Bukit Timah Food Centre
2. My 3Cs to money/investing
3. Why you need to set aside money for savings first

Market Depth Analysis: Bid and Ask Volumes

While exploring DBS vickers platform due to my participation in the SGX bull charge stock challenge at Investing Note, I came across a certain market indicator that I didn't pay much attention to in the past. The feature is called "SGX Market Depth". The unfortunate thing is that it is only available for free under promotion till 28th September for me after which, I might lose access to this feature.

So, what does it do? Why is it useful?

Using the example of AEM (a stock that jumped 14% in a day today), under the "Bid and Ask" tab gives us a series of Bid and Ask. Bid refers to the price buyers are queuing to buy and ask refers to the price sellers are willing to sell. The volume is also indicative for the price. This means that the info is useful when we like to enter or cash out a position. This is because sellers might not want to sell unless for a certain price. When cashing out a position, it is also favourable to sell at a price where it is just before huge volume selldown by bigger players. This will ensure your order gets filled first instead of it being behind them.

It is quite sad that I might lose this access after the 28th September so will have to try to find an alternative that can give such info.

Otherwise, the "Trade Distribution" info and "Time & Sales" info will be intact and remain free to access for me. In a way we will still be able to track the volume transacted at specific prices to help make our trade decisions.

Having said that, most of the online brokers have a decent system and information to access and make decisions. More often than not, we might not have time to screen through every single parameter so this might be one of those things to observe when entering/exiting a position.

Then again, we ought to be familiar with the systems/software that we are using as we are relying on them to make our trade decisions.

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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Challenged by friend: SGX Bull Charge Stock Challenge

Late last month, a friend challenged me to take part in this SGX Bull charge challenge where they give players a virtual capital of $50,000 and after 3 months, results would be tabulated to see who had raked in the most profit. The winner would have $10,000 donated to a charity of choice and a trophy. (And maybe some publicity for my fledgling blog) 🤣

If you trade/invest, you might want to follow this stock challenge as there are some really good investors like Brian from Forever Financial Freedom (Ranked 2nd after Day 1).

I am going to update my status and ranking on this page perhaps once a week:
https://30yearoldinvestor.blogspot.com/p/sgx-bull-charge-stock-challenge.html

The Full challenge can be found here: https://www.investingnote.com/simulation_campaigns/sgx-bull-charge-stock-challenge

To be honest, I was hesitant to uptake the challenge. My Financial Analysis/Technical Analysis skills are still quite some distance from where I want them to be. Surely I would be "thrashed" by the seasoned PROs over at Investing Note (a social media platform for Singapore investors). But I felt that this challenge would take me out of my comfort zone so, challenge accepted. 🔥

At Day 2, I'm ranked 24th out of 146. Not too bad huh. HAHAHA.

Not too shabby I hope. Hope to keep it up!

Lesson points so far:
Even before day 1 the preparations began and I wanted to formulate a strategy. These turned out to be a bit time consuming. Things I learnt so far include:

• Looking at stocks in the SGX I never knew existed.
• Looking at their Financials
• Charting them to see if there are trends and trigger points
• Looking at what everyone else is buying. 

So far I must say this challenge is pretty interesting for me. As a somewhat new investor, my capital is not much. Having virtual capital allowed me to test some of my strategies and positions. And also pushed me out of my comfort zone to make trades and follow through with a bit of fear, excitement and anticipation.

I'm quite excited to see how this competition unfolds.

Just going to challenge myself.

Until Next Time,
K.C.

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