Barolo

  Learnt on my last CPH trip that this brand is among the more expensive wines in the world.

Definitely worth considering an investment.

Kombucha SCOBY

 Hi guys, please scroll down and help vote for my son’s *Team JPH020* submission for MOE’s Singapore Science & Engineering Fair. The team is very passionate about protecting marine wildlife using sustainable material (SCOBY from Kombucha) for fishing nets. It is really quite brilliant!

Video on project is a MUST WATCH!

Vote for *Team JPH020* here! Need to scroll down to find the correct team!

Great business idea!

Singapore Fintech Festival 2024

  Another year, another power booth by Saxo.

This year wasn’t as crowded as last year, but still a very large event for everyone.

Is It Worth It To Pay ABSD?

 Here’s an interesting case study.

I’ve always wondered if it is really worth paying ABSD to own another property.

The issue here is that we have our current forever home in joint name.

Decoupling sounds mafan, but probably will save us some money since any Additional Buyer’s Stamp Duty (ABSD) is surely more expensive than the decoupling share purchase.

Then recently I chanced upon this unit at Siglap V, a tiny freehold condo which just got me thinking for fun.

The 500+sqft unit is trying to sell for $920K but is also asking for $3.2K monthly rent. A check on URA’s website shows me that last transaction of the same size was only $800K.

This means if I can get the unit for $800K and then subsequently rent it out at $3.2K, I actually earn a yield of 4.8%!

However if I factor in having to pay ABSD, which is currently 20%, that means I have to pay $960K for the unit. This translates to a rental yield of 4.0%.

Somehow it sounds not bad and it makes me a multiple property owner never again. This means paying the ABSD over the mafaness of decoupling might not be as sever?

Sure maybe I will end up having to pay more than $800K for the unit? Maybe I cannot get a rental of $3.2K and have to settle for less. I still have to pay maintenance and any charges for large expenses incurred by the unit, which will eat into my yield. 

But still.

Is my math not mathing here?

Maybe go viewing for fun :)

Saxo Coffee

  We had an event recently where we had a coffee cart.

It was so very well received!

Check out our Saxo branded cold brews and cups!

Yolé Machine

  It was so random that our office decided to bring in a Yolé vendor to dish out all you can eat yoghurt.

I literally ate till I lao sai after three cups.

Great employee welfare! Super good for staff motivation!

Global Worries

 Feeling a little worried lately about global developments recently.

Ukraine seems to be losing the war against Russia the aggressor. In the war of attrition, it is already quite a miracle that they’ve held strong on for three years now, but they are beginning to lose ground quickly as more supporting countries turn more right winged.

Israel’s invasion of Gaza over Hamas’ Oct 7th atrocities has turn global moral opinion against them and now seems to be escalating wider with Iran and the US possibly drawn in.

Myanmar civil war where the resistance appears to be gaining ground is a positive thing considering the repressive junta. The junta’s recent law to draft conscripts is so worrying.

Philippines’ South China sea confrontations with China over their nine-dotted line claims appears to be escalating. 

Trump looking more and more likely to win the coming US elections and then he’s going to cause a lot of havoc in global affairs such as stopping support for NATO, escalating trade wars with China and totally neglecting SEA. So worrying.

These current affairs make me think about how and what I need to do to position myself financially, mentally, emotionally and maybe even physically!

Saxo CBD Roadshow

Saxo had its annual CBD roadshow.

It was fantastic and successful.

Hopefully we see more results like this.

Max The Saxo Money Minion

 We’ve got a new mascot in Saxo!

He is Max our new Money Minion!

We just introduced him today at INVEST Fair 2023.

#saxo #beinvested

Saxo Outrageous Predictions 2023

 Term The War Economy.

2023's Saxo Outrageous Predictions has got something I hold dear.

A prediction that USDJPY will hit 200!

I've lost and earned a lot from USDJPY over the year.

So a nice holding position to take USDJPY to 200 would be really perfect!

Read more of the Saxo Outrageous Predictions here!

Saxo Markets CBD Roadshow

 We had a roadshow in Raffles Place.

It was our first roadshow post Covid period.

Very fruitful and it was really successful.

Great time to have our newer staff showcase their sales acumen.

Influencer Vibes

 We have equipped our new office with an actually working studio.

I had to have a bit of fun with my funny influencer expressions.

Maybe I can be one some day.

Welcome To The Metaverse

 Since Facebook changed its name to Meta, a lot of attention has been on the metaverse.

Remember Ready Player One the movie?

Yeah something like that.

Only how to invest?

Recently got in to MANA, SAND, ENJ.

That's how.

Nimbus Capital

 So I have rarely ventured into parking my funds or pay subscriptions for trading advice. 

However, this was one that I have monitored and followed for several years now, and have committed a monthly subscription to his trade advice and recommendations. 

You can find more information about Nimbus Capital here.

This guy is super legit. His name appears as Zaw Oo on Facebook when I first followed him years ago. He was giving out trading education and recommendations for free and it took me years to notice that he was legit, fit and proper as a trading guru. Then he started out Nimbus Capital and the rest is history. 

Thankfully he hasn't reached euphoric popularity either, but his following is gaining a lot of momentum. 

And the key reason is because he is real and he is honest about everything he preaches. He doesn't spiel about doubling, tripling your money with "ho kang tao" and "insider news" bullshit. 

For him, the basic methodology of risk management and technical analysis is all he preaches, with no guarantees that each trade will be a P or an L. Coverage is SG, US, HK stocks.

He will provide his calculated Entry Level, Stop Loss and Take Profit levels ONLY when there are worthwhile trades popping up on his scanner.

There are certainly hits and misses. So no trade of his is a guaranteed win, but even if your stop loss is hit, you will already know what you would lose, as long as you kept to his approach and instructions!

So for his USD $20 per month package, I am getting good enough updates on this daily scanners (stocks which fulfill his criteria), his recommended trade set ups, and other educational stuff (which I hardly bother with).

The money for me is in the recommended trade set ups. They are sound, and they are good, with a good Win/Loss, Risk/Reward ratio.

More enthusiastic followers can even sign up for his training courses (he charges $3,000) and learn his criteria for stocks appearing on his scanners, and also learn to structure their own trade set ups. Maybe when I leave my day job, I might want to go for his course.

Very highly recommended.

Polestar

 So recently we made a small investment into this Electric Vehicle (EV) company called Polestar.

According to Wikipedia: 

Polestar is a Swedish automotive brand established in 1996 by Volvo Cars' partner Flash/Polestar Racing and acquired in 2015 by the former. It is owned by Volvo Cars and by extension its parent company Geely. Geely describes the brand as "independent" from 2017 onwards and "co-owned" by it and Volvo Cars.

Now we are awaiting for Polestar to IPO.

Hopefully it will fly high high and make me rich hahaha.

Then we can use the proceeds to buy ourselves a Polestar car!

Move aside Tesla, it is time for Polestar to shine!

And Polestar will be retailing in Singapore from October!

Financial Resolution For 2021

Another year where I'd added a financial resolution out of my annual five. 

This year is down from the two I had last year.

3) Earn >$30K In My Saxo Account

Mentally I already have had this target since the turn of the year. It can be seen as 'revenge' for my huge losses of last year. But really more importantly what has changed, I think, is a strengthened resolve later last year to change the way I trade. This I have adapted or am still adapting, but to rather positive results. This bodes well for this resolution, so let's see if it all pans out.

One prospective other goal I have for 2021 is to achieve more than 300K in total liquid assets by the end of the year.

Let's see if I can achieve it!

So far it is 8 days into 2021 and things do not bode well. I have been wasting money on the US Indices again as well as one stint of shorting TSLA (will I ever stop disbelieving in them?!), and am already down 4.9K for the year. 

Hopefully things improve from this day forward!

My 5mins Of Fame

6mins+ to be exact.

Appeared on Nasdaq.com for an interview in conjunction with the Singapore Fintech Festival.

Catch the full interview here.

Ideas For Businesses I Could Do without Quitting My Dayjob

Found here.

1. Tester or Reviewer
2. Online Seller on Carousell
3. Editorial Services
4. Translator
5. E-commerce Store
6. Survey Taking

Financial Resolutions For 2020

Was writing my resolutions for 2020 last night and two of them are financially related.

1) Earn >SGD10K On My Saxo Investment Account
I need to have a better and more systematic strategy in place if I am to achieve this in 2020. No more gambling!

2) Achieve Passive Income Of At Least $700/mth
This can be done as long the world economy and the stock markets do not get too volatile.

Let's see if I can achieve them!

There was even a sixth resolution which I decided to omit in the end since I could only list the top five anyway. It was exactly financially related but it was to Do One Thing Significant With My Life. The more I've been reading up about my feng shui this year, the more I think this is the year I need to take a big step in the business direction to make myself huat to the next level!

But what is this big step that won;t be too risky for me to give up everything?!

It is time to start strategizing! I only have 364 days of huat-ness remaining!

Singapore Fintech Festival 2019

Another year, another booth.

This is turning into our annual flagship event.

What an enormous turnout this year!

Our booth was teeming with visitors, and that kept us so busy all three days.

We needed to bring in a lot of staff to cover too.

This year's event covered over 60,000 delegates and 6 halls of the Singapore Expo!