Investment Thoughts for 2012

Today is the 10th day into 2012 and I realised that I have not thought out my investment plan, made any resolutions or done anything fruitful in the past 10 days!  And there has been this constant nagging in my head that tells me that I ought to focus my attention on a few things and try not to spread out my efforts too thinly.  So perhaps now is a good time to update on what are some of my thoughts for 2012.  This includes some of my personal reflections and does not constitute any investment advice.

Passive Income - Monthly Dividend Stocks and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

High on my list is perhaps creating a passive flow of income for myself either through stocks that provide monthly dividends or REITs which either provide quarterly or half-yearly distributions. For monthly dividend stocks, one has to turn to the US market.  One of the monthly dividend stocks that I have bought into is Gamco Global Gold (GGN).  REITs on the other hand are easily available on the Singapore Stock Exchange or SGX.  I am looking at diversifying my REITs holding as I am currently heavily invested in Ascott REIT.

Gold is Money and Nothing Else


For those of you who have been following me, you are perhaps aware that I have been looking towards silver both as a means to hedge against inflation as well as just for collecting purposes.  Buying silver in Singapore is still limited to only a few shops but hopefully this certain industry/sector will slowly develop.

Investing in this Site


I have also decided that I ought to invest a bit more time and money on this site.  This includes some facebook advertising as well as my plan to work on a eBook.

These are all still works in progress but I certainly hope that the perfectionist in me does not cause me to procrastinate or be paralysed such that I do nothing at the end of the year.  It has been my longest desire to write a book and an eBook might just serve that purpose.

How Silver Coins Are Made

I thought this was a rather informative video on how silver coins are actually made.  The video also shows how the die is made.  Enjoy.

Poor People

Some time ago, I wrote about the poor people around us and also some reflection on helping the poor. This message struck  me again even as I was out having dinner today.

After dinner, while I was walking around, I saw a middle-aged man staring intently into a rubbish bin.  At first, I thought he was just rummaging through to look for empty cans which old people often collect to sell for money.  But to my horror, I saw him staring at a plastic plate which had some food left over in it.

He then proceeded to eat the leftovers from the bin.  I was quite shock and taken aback that I was actually witnessing such a scene in front of me.  At the same time, I did not know what to make out of it as he was holding a cigarette in the other hand even as he was eating out of the bin.

Just a few seconds.  But it left a lasting impression on me and will probably haunt me.  I have always known that there are poor people but to witness such a sight is quite heart breaking.  And that is to know that I frequently waste so much food myself while there are actually people who are hungry enough to eat out of the rubbish bin.

How to Pronounce REIT

I realised to my horror that I have been pronouncing "REIT" (the acronym for real estate investment trust) or "REITs" wrongly.  For the longest time, I have been pronouncing it such that it rhymes almost with "red" except with a slight "t" sound at the end.

After watching some videos online, I think the correct way pronunciation is actually something that rhymes with "sweet" or "beet".

Hopefully, I will be able to change the way I pronounce it from henceforth.

Warren Buffet MBA Talk

Warren Buffet gives a talk.  Worth watching.  Leave a comment and tell me what you have learnt.

Thoughts of a Blogger

So I have been a "blogger" for a few years now.  And I must say that my foray into blogging was purely incidental.  And since the new year is here, I reflected on what I have been blogging about for the past few years and also how I would like to see things going forward.

The weirdest part about being a blogger is that people are actually viewing my thoughts. 200,000 over pageviews since I first started this blog.  That is quite a feat considering that the first few months of my blog, I was only getting 1 to 2 visitors per week!  So to know that there are actually so many people reading this makes me "frightened" at times.  I hope that they do not take me too seriously even though my posts often sound serious =)

Another striking thing that occured to me is the amount of email that I have to deal with.  I get lots of requests for link exchanges, personal finance queries, advertising queries, guest posts requests, etc.  It doesn't help that I do not check my email that frequently.  Not to forget all the spam that comes in.  It means that sometimes, I do not have the time to respond to emails or reply to queries which sometimes get lost in the hundreds of email.  So I apologise if I have missed out your email pertaining to some request.  For link exchanges, please look at my stated policy under the FAQs.  So do read them first before emailing me.  Leaving a comment is a good way for me to remember to respond though I sometimes have little time to respond to comments too.  A million apologies again.

I am also disgusted by the lack of quality in my writing.  If you know how much time I actually spend on writing and vetting my own work, you will probably forgive me.

Well, the most funny thing is that even though this is a personal finance blog (well, sort of), the greatest number of hits are actually on my non-investment related posts like Best Breakfast Places in Singapore. It sometimes makes me wonder whether I should be blogging about something else instead.

For 2012, I hope that I will be able to set aside more time to engage with readers.  To really have a conversation on this blog.; to build up each other's knowledge and financial know-how.  And to share with one another the ups and downs of life.  By now, I hope you have gotten a slight glimpse and insight into my thoughts.

Start of a New Year

So it is the start of a new year.  And I haven't had much time to do any reflection on 2011.  There are lots of things that I want to accomplish.  At the same time, I know that there are just too many distractions in life.  Will this year be significantly different from last year?  Or will it be the same?  Why don't you tell me what you think?