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Month in Review: November 2018
Money November saw some huge expenses that ate up a lot of my budget. In my last review, I mentioned that there’s going to be bigger car expenses in November. Can you imagine, I spent RM2k just on my car?? As time goes on, I become more bitter about owning a car. Back in college, a car felt like a privilege, now it feels like an unnecessary burden. A few times I’ve thought about selling off my car but other people in my family depend on the car as well. Adui, I feel a bit sakit hati looking at the numbers. I spent about RM200 on a facial (under personal) in…
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Month in Review: October 2018
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My Not-So-Budget Trip in Europe
I’m having a hard time structuring this post. For one, my trip was long. I spent 45 days traveling through Europe. It’s hard to condense that into 1,500 words or less. Secondly, I am not sure how this post can help anyone budget their very own Europe trip. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that most people can afford an extended holiday, much less one that costs about five figures. Other people have done better than me at budgeting a backpacking trip to Europe. And at some really unbelievably low numbers. But I can honestly say my European trip was one of the most life-changing experiences that I’ve had. For…
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Portfolio Snapshot: Fear Can Be Your Friend
Ho boy, October was something huh? Trade wars, budgets, declining oil price, scandals, jitters, nerves, Halloween. It’s been an eventful month on the market. Analysts are predicting the end of the bull run and further market correction as investors becoming skittish. Day traders and technical players swoop in, taking advantage of oversold positions to reap some good profits. We continue to see that spill over into November. Let’s take a look at the portfolio. Change in FBMKLCI since 1 Oct 2018 = -4.80% Change in Portfolio since 1 Oct 2018 = -4.73% Trades in November: Bought AIRASIA at RM2.72 on 8 November 2018 Sold AIRASIA at RM3.10 on 16 November 2018…
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5 Questions To Ask When Investing in Dividend Stocks
Passive income investing or dividend investing is one way to grow your wealth steadily over a long period of time. Dividend investing does not require as much active management and monitoring compared to short-term trading. It’s an approach suited for people who can’t afford to spend time constantly looking at the market. Most people would say it’s the least glamorous way of participating in the stock market. Nobody’s going to pitch a movie about a middle-aged man who made millions by painstakingly compounding his wealth over 20 years. My tax dollars weren’t used for “The Turtle of Wall Street”. I digress. Selecting dividend stocks for a long-term investment requires research…
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Month in Review: October 2018
Money It’s been a pretty chill month. It’s a bit unsettling that I’m starting to get used to seeing my monthly expenses hit the RM5k range. These days, the bulk of my monthly money drain goes to paying rent. But I’ve reduced a lot of unnecessary expenses last month. Overall, I spent about RM5,211.58. My total spending last month is down by 15% compared to September. In September, I spent a lot to furnish my home. Nine months after moving into a new place, I finally bought a sofa and a fridge. Don’t judge me. In October, there wasn’t much spending for home upkeep, thank god. There’s a slight increase…
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Month in Review: November 2018
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5 Financial Personality Types That Affect Your Money Habits
Sometime last month, I conducted a small personal finance workshop. One of the things we discussed is how our personality types can affect how we handle money. The diverse ways people approach money comes down to things like our upbringing, education, employment status, and where we are in life. It’s often overlooked that how we behave as a person affects how we view money, spending, saving and investing. I’m a firm believer that in order for us to be better at managing money, we must first understand what makes us tick. There are five common personality types we can broadly categorize ourselves into. 1) The Spender We all have that…
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Reflecting on My Gap Year
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Author’s Note #2
These past weeks, I’ve contemplated my little corner here on the Internet. I’m always interested to analyze data and with the modest growth of readers here, I wanted to figure out who you are and what you like to read. From what I’ve gathered, so far my readers fall into two very separate demographics. One; investment kakis who know what I’m talking about without needing much explanation. Two; I also have readers who don’t share that same background, who are drawn by the more casual, relatable content. In a conversation today with one of my editors, we had a disagreement over my writing style for certain topics, mainly the…
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Author’s Note #1
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How To Read My Portfolio Snapshots
I got a question the other day from a friend. He’s having trouble understanding my portfolio snapshots. Ask and ye shall receive. Here’s a brief guide for you! I’m going to explain column by column using my September snapshot as a reference. Only because it’s both the latest and the one I feel captures my holdings accurately. I’ll skip the “Stock” column because that pretty much doesn’t need any explaining. The second column “Last Done Price” indicates the closing price of the stock at the time of writing. The “Average Price” column indicates my average buying price of the stock over time. This number changes as time go on and…
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Costs of Mental Health Treatment in Malaysia
Scrolling through my social media feed during World Mental Health Day last week, I saw an outpouring of support, articles, stories, and messages being broadcasted to the world. It got me feeling all warm and fuzzy inside to see us come a long way as a society. Just a few days ago, our Youth and Sports Minister brought up the importance of addressing mental health. Lately, I talk pretty candidly about my mental health. I get two opposing reactions when I do that. On one hand, there are those who resonate with me because they’ve gone through the same struggles. On the other, talking about mental health still makes people…
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Author’s Note #1
Okay, sooo I’m just gonna cut right to it. As one reader pointed out, I’ve taken down Part 1 of “What is Share Margin Financing”. Yes, that’s because I wasn’t very happy with the quality of the work. Over the past week, as I sat down to write Part 2, I kept seeing some gaps and problems in my initial outline. I soon realized that the subject matter is much too complex and I won’t do it justice by approaching it the way I did. I’ve decided to revisit the outline, rework it and try to change my approach. There are instances in the past year where I’ve published…
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Author’s Note #2
