Hitting 40 and the state of mind

Just hit my 40th birthday recently and I really felt "it"

Body's taking longer to recover 

Mind's getting less sharp at times 

I wont say that it is old, but more care is required if one wish to lead an eventful and active life at this age. 

I seen many around me succumb to what's commonly known as "getting older" but it is a phenomenon usually associated with people who were less self-disciplined to begin with. 

Of couurse, maintaining the body is easier with pure hard work and good diet, but the mind is the key thing that is inevitably harder. After all, a person at 40 by all common knowledge picks up new skill and digest info slower than younger person in general. 

My solution is to forget some non-critical info, things that I can rely on others to recall, or perform and focus more on key "skills" I need to pick up. It is something like the Pokemon game where each Pokemon has 4 skills max, and you got to delete one old skill if you wish to add a new skill. 

Life has been very good this year for me, by my own standards. 

I hope for more good years ahead for my circle and the kitties. 

Will update again as usual near end of the year. 

How Covid-19 Affected me

I was supposed to go on a boys' trip with a few of my pals for a couple of weeks in April, then covid-19 struck and the world eventually went into shutdown (at least for tourism sector/ people movement). Within a short span of a month, my office went into full WFH mode, government did a lockdown (except that we can still get essentials) but all outdoor activities had to cease.

Within two weeks, I realized that I wasn't the geeky kid I used to be anymore. I cannot stand long hours of being at home, missed my twice a week basketball sessions, my noisy crowded gym, the local pubs and the feeling of dining out.

I am not too sure if it is due to the sudden and arbitrary shift from a certain office worker's routine to a stayhome worker. Or am I too used to my comfort zone and identity in my daily life. Certainly, being rung up for extra on site duties to keep users safely distanced irked me. Thoughts of "if I am able to retire right now, would it make me much happier knowing the certainty of tomorrow"?

I guess the uncertainty is the part which makes all decisions hard, I dare not begin a new game despite spending more hours at home as I wont know when I will be called up for duty. I dare not commit to a home gym as i wont know when this Covid-19 Situation ends. I prefer the gym I frequent, on saturdays it is not so crowded.

But with every crisis comes opportunities, the sacrifices I made over this period shall endure and become the foundation of my future success. For example, stocks are at multi-year lows, and new biz ideas are being generated constantly. Humans are a tough bunch, and i hope this time we prevail too.

I do hope i get to fly by this December. 

Its been sometime since I last blog. 6 months to be exact. There isn't much to talk about, and I was kinda busy.

I think I am developing old man vision. Eyes start to get tired easily these days. There is always a feeling of sleepiness after 1am. Thirties is really a bitch.

After a period of uneventful July to October, we reached the November.
Trump got elected after the USA presidential elections. Its against the conventional wisdom of all the analysts and experts. Which lead to a short 1 day mini sell down, stocks picked up right after.
Thereafter it has been weak mainly due to prolong uncertainty of the Fed's decision to raise I/R for upcoming December's meeting. Personally I seen a huge drop in my holdings for mine is a dividend heavy portfolio.

One of the lesson I had learnt is not to trust "experts" they are human too and made mistakes.

Locally the government's initiative to push for 4th telco coupled with impeding rising rates and trump's rejection of TPP, has cause big sell down for all three telcos. Funds selling to invest in US, retailers dumping due to the impending 4th telco, and banks and brokers have been issuing serious sell calls.

I sold some starhub and m1 earlier in September. I am still holding on 1 lot of each. bad news. bad decision. Double whammy of trying to reallocate funds in what I perceived as the most stable telco Singtel. Alas I should have waited for a better entry price.

Overall portfolio down by 6.5% as of year to date. I wonder if I should sell both and book my losses.
inclusive of dividends I will still record minor gain of +2%

It is my weakness not able to capture the right time to sell. Maybe it is time to brush up on this area.

Stock to watch currently.
I shall focus on dividends from companies that are less noticeable by funds and BBs. Less volatility.
Funds that receive profits in USD shall also be interesting.
ALso look out for companies which does it business in overseas, providing natural hedge against SG bad economy.

Sunningdale tech/ Venture corp/ HC surgicals/ UMS holdings/ Sheng Siong/ Jumbo/ CapitaRetailChinaTrust/ starhill global

Shall observe to see if my analysis is right.

So recently I have begun to appreciate having my mornings sane on weekends. I have more time to ponder over various things and in addition, get to have an extra meal ^^


I went with the missus to find some traditional breakfast food and to our disappointment one of the business owners told us that that particular food is lost. As in no one's selling it in Singapore anymore.


The other place I could think of eating it is in Taiwan.


Maybe I should go get myself some friends and go on a Taiwan food trip.

Its been some time since I wrote anything. I am having new stuff at work and on top of that dating someone. I wonder if I had a change in my mentality since last year, I am more comfortable with myself. I'm able to watch movies , dine and drink all alone and infact I Prefer to be alone at times.. was it due to work? I am so busy these days that I just cant be bother to start a conversation.

There is a rather significant dip earlier this year on the STI .. thot I might as well blog about it. The thing is fast forward it to the end of march and the STI has pretty much recovered back from 2500 to 2800 (not bad) . It isn't everything (was about 3k range) and it has chances of falling. But the key in investing is that one should always be calm and objective. Crisis provide us with good buy-in opportunities and we should not panic unless we need cash urgently.

But if you needed cash urgently , then why are you using that sum of money for investments?

insomnia haunts me again recently. Thankfully, unlike the old days at my rental flat, i can whip up a nice meal to aid me to slp. They say an empty tummy with a full mind keeps you awake and the reverse makes you sleep well..how true.

shes killing me, for the past 6 months I could hardly focus. At times I just want to give up and move on, but I really wish to know the reason. This is so unfair to me.
I guess falling in love doesnt need a reason and the reverse is true too.

As for investment , Singapore O&G is the latest darling for the local retail players this month.
I have personally taken an interest in this medical IPO too, reminded me of QnM where its likely to seek expansion via placement and so on. The dividend payout at 90% for 2015 may seem high but I believe it is a strategy and angpow to the family members. Hopefully it will reduce the ratio and turn into a growth stock.

Hope i can accumulate some of this counter before it runs up too high.