Saving Money on Coffee

While doing some Christmas shopping a few weeks back, I bought some nice roasted coffee from Marks and Spencers that cost me $11.90. It is also Fairtrade coffee which means the farmers of the coffee beans are being fairly compensated. (You can read about their fairtrade stories here)

I figured that it would replace my daily cup of coffee from the coffee shop downstairs which costs me $0.70 per cup.

I cannot kick the habit of drinking coffee so I have no choice but to make my own coffee.

The roasted coffee should be able to make me at least 30 to 40 cups of coffee based on my estimations. 40 cups of coffee would cost me $28.00.

We will just have to see how disciplined I am in making my own coffee instead of buying coffee from coffee shops or Starbucks.

The coffee is pretty nice but it does not taste like the Robusta coffee beans that are commonly used in Singapore coffee shops. It lacks the aroma and is slightly acidic. I am guessing it is Arabica beans - the kind which westerners like to drink.

Perhaps I need to use some condensed milk in the cup I am drinking now.......

Consolidated Stock Picks for 2010

It will be perhaps difficult to find good bargains for 2010 as we will probably not be seeing broad based sector price rises for the stock market. "Pockets of Strength" is the keyword here.

I have consolidated a list of the stock picks for 2010 for your viewing pleasure. It includes those from Analysts and might not be very comprehensive. Nevertheless, it is a good starting point.

Another point to note is that when people are buying again, it is perhaps time for us to start selling. The best time to buy stocks were in 2008 and 2009. Now, it will be hard to get the gains that we are looking for and we should stick to the leaders in each sector.

Anyway, here are the stock picks for 2010:

Telecos
1. StarHub
2. SingTel
3. Mobile One

REITs
1. Ascott REIT
2. CDL Hospitality Trust
3. Ascendas REIT
4. MapleTree Log Trust
5. CapitaMall Trust

Property
1. SC Global
2. Kepland
3. UOL Group
4, Bukit Sembawang

Shipping
1. Sembcorp Marine
2. Ezra

Commodities
1. Noble
2. Olam
3. Wilmar

Others:
1. Hyflux
2. Genting
3. Midas
4. SMRT
5. Keppel Corp

I Need Advice

I need some advice from all the masters and gurus out there.

The first is regarding a potential US dollar crisis. How do you buffer yourself against such a crisis? Or how can you potentially profit from it if you do know that the US dollar is going into decline in the next few years?

The second is regarding my own stock portfolio:
My wife and I have cash of close to $100,000.

I have the following stocks amounting to $85,000 ++
1. Ascott REIT
2. First REIT
3. Suntec REIT
4. NOL
5. Kingboard
6. Pac Andes
7. Innotek
8. Unifood
9. China Aviation Oil
10. Citigroup

Other than my REITs, all the rest are still in the RED. I don't wish to sell them at a loss.

But Gohsip (a fellow blogger) suggested that my focus should be on building my capital (going for capital growth) instead of increasing my so-called "passive income" through dividend yielding assets like REITs.

Can anyone give any suggestions on what I should do especially with the stock market soaring currently?

Should I liquidate all my positions and start afresh with some good stock picks for 2010?

Or should I liquidate some of my positions and then get into new positions?

I know many of you are unwilling to share in detail because you might think that I would blame you or stuff if I lose money. Don't worry..I won't =)

I just need to hear from you: What would you do if you were me? Which stocks would you sell? Which stocks would you keep? And Which stocks would you buy?

S$90 Parking Per Month is Too Expensive

Parking at a covered multi-storey carpark costs me a whopping $90 a month!

I know that is not a lot of money to some of you out there but it is to me.

Considering that over 12 months, that adds up to be $1080... I can only imagine the kind of things that I can buy with that money. I could easily subscribe to StarHub HBO channel and stuff with money to spare!

Why do I need to pay for carparking when there is so much carparking space available?

Where does the money collected go to? To pay HDB to hire carpark attendants?

Why not give us free parking? Surely I am entitled to free parking at my "home" right? Unless you are telling me that it is not my home afterall.....

Shucks...I know I am getting nowhere with this ranting but just felt that I needed to let some hot air out regarding parking fees.

I know it is not expensive compared to other countries but other countries...people own their houses and park free of charge there. Why penalise me if land is scarce in Singapore? I live in a HDB. Surely that is enough? Aren't conservancy charges enough to cover whatever costs that is needed.

Paying $90 a month for parking is equivalent to $3 a day.... Can eat 1 pack of chicken rice everyday.

Anyone feels the same pain that I do?

Anyway, I wrote about the decline of the US dollar in this article over here and I really wish to hear some views (especially from those who are more experienced in this matter). Hope to see all the comments rolling in soon!

Blogging Tips : What I Learnt From A Trip To Holland Village

Over at Problogger, Darren suggests that one of the ways to make your blog a better blog is to simply go shopping and do some observations.

For those who check my blog regularly, you would know that I was at Holland Village today eating my breakfast.

One of the other things which I did not mention about was that I spent a fair bit of the morning walking around Holland village too.

What does this got to do with Blogging Tips? Well...I guess that I have learnt quite a fair bit from observing this certain shop at Holland Village and I believe that if you understand the psyche of shoppers, you would also understand the psyche of people who surf the web and visit your blog.

The Indian Newspaper Stand

There is this particular newspaper and magazine stand that has been at Holland village for years.

It is directly opposite crystal jade and you will find it if you just walk from the Holland V bus stop to Holland Village. For those who are familiar with the place, you most probably know which news and magazine stand I am talking about.

For the uninitiated, this magazine and newspaper stand literally sells like thousands of magazines and newspapers from all over the world. It is not a huge stand but lining the walkway are rows and rows of magazines and your daily newspapers.

If you are blogger in Singapore, this is a treasure trove.

No...I am not asking you to buy your newspapers and magazines from there. What I am suggesting is that you observe how such a newspaper stand operates and incorporate the ideas into your blog.

What Are People Interested in Reading?

There are only 5 million people in Singapore. Less than 10 per cent (I am guessing) ever makes it down to Holland Village.

Yet, this stand is loaded with so many magazines and newspapers. It gives you an idea of what people are interested in reading. Not only that, it shows you what are the things that people like to read based on the quantity of certain magazines on the shelves.

If you ask me, I notice that there are a few sections to this particular magazine stand.

1 . Newspapers from all around the world. Apparently, alot of expats go to Holland Village as it is sort of a yuppies place. Thus, you can find newspapers from all over the world being sold here. One thing for sure...newspapers are updated DAILY. If you want people to read your blog, you need to make the effort to update it DAILY. Imagine having to visit the newspaper stand everyday without knowing whether the newspapers being sold belongs to yesterday or the day before... the same principle applies to readers of your blog. If they have to go to your blog each day to check for new content, they might get tired pretty soon and simply stop visiting because of the lack of new content.

2. Entertainment News. Yes, Lindsay Lohan without makeup and lots more... A fair bit of the magazines sold have to do with this kind of tabloids. It is not wrong. People read to be entertained and your blog should be as entertaining as possible. Notice that this kind of magazines are always loaded with pictures. Your blog should have pictures too to be entertaining. All words but no pics makes your blog a dull read.

3. Lifestyle Magazines. These are the fashion, travel, cars and home furnishing magazines. they take up another huge chunk of the magazine sections. Basically, these magazines are focused on THINGS that people enjoy looking at, doing or owning. They are dreams being sold and people are buying these magazines to find out how they can have the LIFE they always dreamed of. In your blog, you need to paint these kind of dreams too which people can relate to. Talk about your travels, your car, your home renovations... People just love to compare with others so help them by revealing a little bit of yourself.

Blogging Tips:

Okay, I might have lost some of you in the mountain of words. But here are just 3 simple blogging tips which you can take back with you based on my lesson that I have learnt from observing the magazine stands.

1. Update Your Blog Regularly (Once a day if possible)

2. Make it Entertaining (Include Pictures if Possible)

3. Make Your Blog Personal (Reveal what you wear, drive, earn or eat. People love the details sometimes)

So there you have it! Some simple blogging tips which you can apply to your blog. Treat your blog as a e-magazine and you should not go too wrong.

A Dreamy Monday Morning

It is a dreamy monday morning here in Singapore.

The sky was overcast and it was drizzling when I woke up.

I woke up because of the school bells that marked the start of the new year of school for the primary children who attend the school just below my flat. Over the loudspeaker, I could hear the teacher giving instructions perhaps to the Primary 1 kids who are spending their first day at school.

Feeling really lazy and stuff, I brought my family over to Provence @ Holland Village for breakfast. I had a croissant and cheese onion bread with coffee while my wife enjoyed an egg toast with some tea (Earl Grey I reckon). It feels like I am at Starbucks but I am not.

At the nearby coffeeshop, Dan Fogelberg's Leader of the Band was playing and it sort of calmed me down. I tried to make sense of the madness that I have gone through in my 20 over years of life. Next year, I will hit the big 3-0 and it scares me to death.

I was just doing some people watching and it was entertaining in some sense to see who were the people who walked into Provence to grab a quick bite or to eat breakfast there.

A Japanese looking family was eating their breakfast at the table to my right. I thought they were japanese until they started speaking and I could tell that they were clearly Singaporeans.

Nevertheless, they looked pretty dignified. Husband, wife and daughter. The daughter looked like she was in her late twenties while both husband and wife seemed to be in their fifties or sixties. They spoke little but seemed like they were not in a hurry to get to work even though it was already 9 plus in the morning. Dressed in their office attire, they ate slowly, exchanged a few words here and there and left silently.

Next, a man in navy uniform stopped his car outside and rushed in to buy a quick bite. He was wearing a coat so I could not see his rank. He left as quickly as he arrived. He must have been late for work.

A white Porsche was the next to stop. Out came a woman in her mid forties to fifties. She certainly did not look glam and stuff. I remarked to my wife how common she looked for someone who was driving a Porsche. You would bump into her at the hawker centre and not figure that she drove such a posh car. I also told my wife about a woman who used to work in McDonald's all her life and actually had $500,000 of cold hard cash sitting in her bank account. These are the normal people in life who are actually really rich. (Next time you see a McDonald's auntie serving you coffee, she might actually be much richer than you )

A man wearing a standard Chartered marathon singlet was the next to drop by. He was with his two sons and it seemed that his son was perhaps "sick" as he mentioned about buying medicine later. Good excuse if you ask me cos he did not look sick at all. Perhaps he just needed some excuse to skip the first day of school for the year.

Different people from different walks of life. All finding some sort of comfort in this little bread shop. Some trying to escape their lives, some living up to their lives and some just getting on with their lives.

I live you with the lyrics of the Leader of the Band:

What Are Your Stock Picks for 2010?

Everybody who invests in the stock market definitely has their favorite stocks for the year.

Reading the Sunday Times today, I read on how the various investors and managers were giving their stock picks for 2010.

I realised that I have not picked out my top stocks that I would like to acquire for the year 2010. In fact, if there are any, it will most probably be the same stocks that I acquired during 2009.

What are you top stock picks for the year 2010?

To start the ball rolling, mine would include these stocks
1. First REIT
2. Ascott REIT
3. Suntec REIT