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Month in Review: October 2019
As we hurtle towards the tail end of this year, I find myself taking stock of the four areas of life that I value; money, career, health and personal growth. Often, in the effort to progress in one area (eg: career) I end up sacrificing another (eg: health). It is a never-ending balancing act that I’m sure is a common human struggle. These month-in-reviews showcases these struggles. Ultimately, I hope you can find solace in the fact that we’re all going through shit together. Let’s get into it. Money Hitting the S$3k mark frequently in the last months has been a worrying trend. I expect that my privilege as a…
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10 Favorite Websites To Read on The Internet Right Now
Who here is an avid reader? I love reading. It is one of the few things I truly enjoy doing the most during my downtime. Reading keeps my brain active. It’s where I get new ideas, learn about the world and experience someone else’s perspective. It’s also a great way to brush up on grammar and learn new styles of writing. Unfortunately, time has become an increasingly finite resource. When I was a teenager, I would devour 1000-page epic novels in less than a week. Now, I struggle to finish a 300-page novel in a month. Maybe this is one of the trappings of adulthood. To get my dose of…
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Month in Review: August & September 2019
Hi folks, I am still alive. I know I haven’t been very active here and on social media, except lately. If you caught my hawker stall spam on Instagram Stories, that was the most posting I did recently. A lot has happened since I last updated. I feel like a broken record when I say “the last months have been a roller coaster ride”. It seems like I say that every month. I wonder if I just love to dramatize minuscule details of my existence a little too much. But like, it has been. A roller coaster ride. Just like the volatile global markets. Before we get into that, let’s…
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Month in Review: July 2019
Whatttttt is upppp y’alllll? July has been a heck of a month. A concoction of stress, falling ill, breakdowns, big news and happy moments made for an emotional rollercoaster ride. Ready for the shocker? Money Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. I spend over SGD8k this month. I don’t even want to convert that amount back to Ringgit. I guess I have some explaining to do, don’t I? Very well, here’s a breakdown of the significant expenses in descending order. Family – SGD 4,594.49 In my last monthly review (technically mid-year review), I went through my New Year list to cross off goals that seemed super unrealistic. One of…
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How To Calculate Your Economic Net Worth
Do you know your net worth? I have to admit this question scares me. As someone who loves tracking her expenses and investments, I have long avoided actually calculating my net worth. Naively, I thought that by age 28 I would have accumulated a net worth worthy of someone who’s well on their way to financial independence. But that’s hardly the case anymore. Your Financial Net Worth The simple calculation for net worth is this: Take all the assets you own and subtract all the debt you have. Voila, you have the dollar value of what you are worth in this capitalistic society. Assets – Liabilities = Net Worth In…
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Mid-Year Review 2019
We are now at the halfway point of 2019. I am positive that all it took for us to get here was a blink of an eye. Money The first order of business is a budget update! I’ve cumulatively included both May and June expenses since I was on a hiatus. Over the past two months, my expenses in Singapore averaged SGD2,530 per month. There were many large one-off expenses that I made including: lending money to friends and family buying a book on Amazon (which is still stuck in customs!) converting SGD995.20 to MYR, which provided me with approximately RM3,000 for investing I also applied for a US visa….…
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The Costs of Being A Woman: Why I’m Choosing Not To Pay Them
This post comes after a lot of thought. Thoughts that I’ve mulled over for most of my twenties. Thoughts that have led to purchasing decisions, that have led to where I am today. The day after International Women’s Day, I was at a baby shower thrown for a heavily pregnant woman, who was a literal stranger to me. There I was, no idea who anyone was. To make the situation more awkward, I sat across a chatty young mom holding her 9-month-old girl precariously in her arms. “Only have children when you’re really ready for children,” she warned me. That struck me as odd coming from a new mom. In…
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Month in Review: February 2019
Hello, readers! Hope you’re all well. I took a bit of a hiatus (unintentional) in February, mostly to deal with a stressful workload. Truthfully, I was also feeling uninspired, having a dreadful writer’s block. Consistency has always been a struggle for me, especially when my attention is spread very thin at the moment. How do some of y’all do it? Like, how do you juggle a job, all these side-hustles, write blog posts, exercise, meal prep, read, and have a social life without having a fucking burnout from doing too much? Please message me your secrets, I’ll pay good money for ’em. I apologize for the social media absence as…
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Struggles of a Malaysian Shopper: Expensive and Lacking Quality
By Vanessa Ee-Lyn Gomes Raise your hands if you’re curvy and have a sense of fashion but nothing ever fits and is too costly. This seems to be a common problem in Malaysia. Shopping has always been a chore for me since I was young. At age 10, while most girls hadn’t “developed” yet, I did.Thus, upgrading my clothing choices to more mature selections of larger sizes, the kind suited for teens. It wasn’t particularly age-appropriate clothing, but it fit. While, most of my friends wore shirts with The Powerpuff Girls and other favourite cartoon characters, I was left wearing plain-coloured t-shirts and blouses. It didn’t stop there. As I…
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2018 Portfolio Recap
January is almost coming to a close and I’m finally getting around to doing a summary of my portfolio for 2018. Better late to the party than never, right? Believe it or not, my portfolio is still relatively new. I started my long-term investing approach sometime in August 2017. Throughout 2018, I slowly built a modest equity portfolio comprising of five stocks. If you’re an avid reader of this blog (hah, it’s probably just me), you might be familiar with said stocks by now from my monthly(-ish) portfolio snapshots. I’m going to share the actual numbers from my portfolio. In the past, I hesitate to reveal them because I felt…
