Networth Update #3 - May 2018

I started May with a networth of $123,497.26 and sadly, I ended it lower at $121,628.89 - a decrease of $1868.37 (about 1.51%)

So, a breakdown of the numbers

Robo – Advisors - $22,595.30 increased to $25,509.45

Numbers going up mainly due to the amount I put in monthly (1688 + 588 + 388), another 200+ bucks were from market gains, similar to last month

Indexes - $60,215.13 increased to $60,994.10

Gains of about 700+, about a 1.29% increase...

As mentioned previously, I buy the VWRD and VUSD on a quarterly basis so no purchase this month. 

Tentatively stopped my STI purchases as well, with STI taking about 25-30% of my indexes amount.

Cash - $40,686.83 decreased to $35,125.34

Unexpectedly my main bleed for this month even without the VWRD/VUSD purchase..

Quite a number of unexpected expenses such as Pet Veterinary expenses which was a few hundred, the MIL shopping which was on the wife's supp card.. I agreed to help the wife cover this payment using this account which amounted to almost a thousand.. Wedding ang pao for the wife's cousin.. And apparently the cruise payment and some other payments from last month wasnt completed so the wife's contribution this month was less/negative due to those deductions. Lastly, a $3000 payment/loan to our domestic helper which I won't say more. 

Quite a nightmare when I see the expenses this month *weeps quietly*

I try to perk myself up by saying a huge chunk of the $3000 will be paid back soon and the MIL shopping/Vet expense is a one-off... but there will always be unexpected expenses isnt it?! *weeps quietly again*

To a better month next month... 

Networth Update #2 - April 2018

I started April with a networth of $118,737 and I'm glad that I ended it higher at $123,497.26.

Not that it matters at this point since markets will still go up and down till the day I say bye to mandatory work (and after). But still, feels good to see the numbers go up! An increase of $4760.26 (+4.01%) to my networth to be exact.. 

So, a breakdown of the numbers

Robo – Advisors - $22,595.30

Numbers going up mainly due to the amount I put in monthly (1688 + 588 + 388), only 200+ bucks were from market gains.

Indexes - $60,215.13

Gains of about 1000+, I think mainly due to the strong month STI had.

As mentioned previously, I buy the VWRD and VUSD on a quarterly basis so no purchase this month. 

Tentatively stopped my STI purchases as well, with STI taking about 25-30% of my indexes amount.

Cash - $40,686.83

Numbers should be higher, but we spent quite a bit this month as we are going on a cruise holiday soon which we just paid. Still, its progress! Pumped up a bit by the little dividends from VWRD and VUSD.

Just started tracking my networth consistently and it does feel good and gives me something to look forward to every end of the month! Good to see that there's still progress even though expenditure this month (mainly on the cruise) has been big! 

Guess it helps to keep feeding the machine and don't think too much about it yea? Really makes me wonder about the 40k stash and if I should just pump it into the 'machine' right now... 

Networth Update - March 2018

I'll be doing the update on my networth on a monthly basis and will be starting with the latest update based on my end March 2018 value.

Personally, I choose not to take into consideration my housing loan and my HDB value when calculating this, as I don't want to inflate the numbers with the property values. Not looking at the loan amount as well since the value of my house is almost double the the amount of loan plus the buffer in my CPF is sufficient for me to clear 1 years plus of installments if I stop working thus the decision not to include these items.

I'm mainly looking at funds where I have invested or can put to work immediately when I want. These funds are also the ones that will work for me when I 'retire' - another reason I'm not including the house value. No other debts other than the property loan as well.

I don't do stock picking and all of my investments are in Index Funds/Robo-advisors. It's not that I don't believe in stock picking but it's just.. I have no idea how to do it at this point and I've tried learning about it a few times but my interest somehow doesn't last (too complicated for my simple brain) - thus Indexing is the way for me.

Many prominent FIRE blogs in the US seem to dismiss the idea of stock picking but I do believe that if you research and have a system in place, it could work very well - maybe one day I'll be able to learn more and understand stock picking/trading.

But I believe even if I do it, the main bulk of my funds will still remain with Indexes and perhaps 10-20% of my portfolio will then be used to experiment on the stocks..

Any patient Shifus wanna teach me stock picking/trading? :P

Anyway, enough blabbering.. so for those interested...
Our total Networth as of 31 March 2018 is .................$118,737! 
Side note - this is joint between myself and my wife (some accounts are only under my name and she's very scared I run away one day, so need to declare publicly.. haha!) 

Robo-Advisors - $19,687

I'm a bit of a mess here and I'm quite sure if there are people reading this they will be shaking their heads when they see this.
I utilise not 1...not 2...but 3 different Robo-Advisors (I think that's all there is in SG at this point?) 

I use Autowealth, Smartly and Stashaway at this point and every month I deposit 1688, 588 and 388 to each of these accounts respectively. (I am very pantang as you can see since all the numbers I transfer end with 88, they are also either transferred on the 8 or 18 of the month, haha!) 

Autowealth's allocation is much easier to understand as compared to the other 2 thus the bigger allocation for me (and also because of the flat 0.5% fee + platform fee, no matter the amount) but I thought perhaps I should just try all three..

Index Funds - $58,959

I use Standard Chartered to purchase the index funds as it seems to be the cheapest in the SG market right now (if there are cheaper ones please let me know!). I purchase mainly the Vanguard funds VWRD, VUSD on the SC account which I buy on a quarterly basis. Turtle Investor has a few articles which are really helpful and I read them a lot when I was starting my portfolio, you can read one of his articles here and you might see why I chose VWRD.

I have a stash now which I want to put into 'work' however the market recently seems to be wobbly... I know I shouldn't be timing the market but emotions really do come into play I realised.. So to make myself feel better I just buy quarterly (1 quarter VWRD 1 Quarter VUSD) with my stash at this point to dollar cost average. I also don't buy bonds at this moment as I let the Robo-advisors handle that aspect for me.. So my allocation is actually quite skewed towards stocks, maybe about 90-95%.. Not really balanced but I'm following jlcollins' method whereby if you are sure you will hold for more than a certain period.. to go 100% in stocks..

Anyway, I intend to stop using the Robo-Advisors once my funds reach the amount which makes me eligible to become SC's Priority/Private Banking customer.. Once I stop using the Robo-Advisors then I'll likely add to the bonds directly.. The reason for using the Robo-Advisors now is also because I don't want to incur the minimum fees when I reinvest the dividends (it would be a huge percentage!) or do the rebalancing... Becoming a priority banking customer in SC will eliminate the minimum fee requirement (hopefully they dont change their terms/fees by then like they did 1-2 years back)

About 28% of the value here is also in Nikko STI ETF which I purchased with the OCBC BCIP previously.. I bought this monthly at 1700 however now I changed my monthly contribution to Autowealth.

Stash - $40,091

Amount that is ready to be put to work anytime! This is also money only in our joint account, we do have some personal/emergency funds in our personal accounts I'm not taking into consideration.