Tired and Weary

For those of you who know, I have started on my new job for sometime now.

It has been tough and that's why the number of posts have gone down for quite a while.

The wife also started with a new job so there is lots of adjustments to make over the mean time.

Hope to start posting regularly again soon.

111 Posts and Counting

Wow! It has been almost an entire year since I started this blog and I have accumulated 111 posts already.

Of course, I know a lot of the posts do not fit into the high quality posts that one normally gets from other blogs.

But still I will stick to my own style of writing...and basically, sharing of my experience.

A mid year review will be done soon on the amount of passive income I have attained thus far. I believe I'm still short of my $400 per month passive income.

We will see how it goes as I try to expand into other areas to boost my passive income.

The Poor Around Us

Lately, I have become more aware of those who are poor living in our midst.

Yes! There are actually poor people around in Singapore.

At a food center near where I live, I always notice a old couple (in their 50s?) occupying a table during the late nights. Whenever I go there for breakfast early in the morning, I see them there with the wife still sleeping and the man looking a toto tickets. I have seen them there countless of times and they seem to be oblivious to the people around them. The wife just sleeps while the unshaven husband flips through lots of toto/4d (?) tickets.

It makes me wonder... what are these people up to with their lives? Did something happen in their family that resulted in them being homeless? Or are they renting out their homes to gain income so as to buy Toto tickets. I seriously don't know.

Another incident took place the other day too. My wife was waiting for me while I was buying some groceries downstairs. There was an old woman standing near the exit too. Later, my wife told me that the old woman had actually asked for $2 from her to buy food to eat.

" So did you give her the $2??" I asked.

" No lah...what happen if she goes and use it to buy cigarettes or stuff?" replies the wife

At this point, I told my wife: " Why do we always assume that poor people are always going to use the money we give them to buy drugs/beer/cigarettes? Perhaps they are really poor and need food to eat?"

The wife felt bad afterwards..

But of course it is a common misperception. We always think that the poor are poor because they gamble, smoke and drink. We tend not to give them money because that's what our parents told us to not to do! We always hear from them how people who beg for money always use the money to buy cigarettes and stuff.

Hmmmm...I think the poor are poor because they are caught in this poverty cycle. There is simply no way out for them unless someone helps them.

Renewed my SingTel Broadband

Managed to renew my SingTel broadband at the same price but with a faster broadband speed. Hooray! It will cost me $31.90 which is slightly less than the price I am paying now for a 1Mbps unlimited broadband.

Hope to feel the difference from a 1Mbps to 3 Mbps broadband speed by tomorrow.

More Free Time Now

After quitting my job, I found that I have a lot more free time to play around with.

However, it still does not seem that I am putting my time to good use. Too often, I spend my time procrastinating or just doing unproductive things.

Perhaps it is time I pick up some serious time management skills.

On the passive income portfolio end, I purchased 10000 shares of Suntec REITs last week.

I heard a story about a guy who owned 3 properties and when the valuation of his properties went up, he basically refinanced them while doing a upgearing to release the equity in it thus getting about 800k in cash. He then used this money to buy into REITs. Imagine the kind of passive income he is drawing now on top of the rental income from his property!