Not Just Simply Bread

There are many places one can enjoy a nice, leisurely breakfast in Singapore.  And Simply Bread is perhaps one of those places.  Well, it doesn't just serve bread alone (as much as its name seems to suggest).  Simply Bread has two outlets.  One is at Guthrie House (located along 5th Avenue) and the other is at Cluny Court (just opposite the Botanical Gardens MRT station).

One item on the menu is the Two Eggs (choose how you like your eggs to be done - sunny side up, scrambled, omelette).  And of course, there are also the brunch plates like Honey Ham.

Check out my previous postings about Best Breakfast Places in Singapore and Best Breakfast Places in Singapore (Part 2).

Sold Off Nam Cheong

I have been watching Nam Cheong keenly as I mentioned that it was one of the 3 stocks on my watchlist.  I wrote about Nam Cheong poised to breakout few weeks back. Have sold it off on Friday after having some small gains.  The charts still look positive (at least to me). But I am no longer vested in it since my target price has been reached.

Sold Off Citigroup

I sold off my entire stake in Citigroup at a price of around US$44.11 last week.  My average entry price for the stock was US$37.00.  After some thought,  I decided that the target price for Citigroup was not an event worth waiting for given that the profits would be marginal..

At first glance, it would seem that I should have made quite a tidy profit on Citigroup.  But after examining it closer, the profits that I made were really peanuts.  And this is largely due to the exchange rates.

Basically, I bought Citigroup when the USD (US dollar) to SGD (Singapore dollar) was around 1:1.4.  The US dollar has however weakened significantly over the course of the years.  So based on the exchange rate today, my profits were almost wiped out.  You can take a look at the chart below to see how the USD has weakened significantly against the Singapore dollar.

Man Stuck in Elevator for 40 Hours

In 1999, a man was stuck for close to 40 hours in an elevator.  This time lapse video shows how he spent those 40 hours.  Perhaps this was the time before hand phones became prevalent so he did not have one on him.

Debt Free!

So I sat down and worked out the numbers.  Added up all my cash and liquid assets (i.e. stocks & unit trusts).  Looking at the number,  I suddenly realised its meaning.  The number I was looking at was larger than the outstanding loans and debts that I have.  In other words, if I were to liquidate all my shareholdings today and add that to the cash that is sitting around in the family's bank accounts, I will have sufficient money to pay off all my debts (e.g. housing loan, etc) right here, right now, with some cash left to spare.  That means I can become debt free!!!!  

This was perhaps never really a surprise to me.  I sort of knew that God had blessed me with many good things.  For one, I have enjoyed good health in my adult working life and was able to work almost continuously despite some job switches here and there.  I am also a saver as I do not spend on unnecessary things.  I eat at restaurants and stuff.  But that is about all that I spend on.  In my early years, I also managed to save quite a fair bit of money.  God also has blessed me with some positive returns on my investments. So I sort of knew that I would become debt free much earlier than most people.

And yet, the realisation that I can be debt free does not necessarily mean that I want to be debt free right now.  Having the money to pay off all my debts does not mean that I should go ahead and do so.  After all, interest rates are very low here in Singapore.  But then again, there is this difference between bad debt and good debt.

So the decision has come. Should I pay off all my loans and become debt free?  Or should I continue to hold on to my debt and carry on investing?  Decisions, decisions...


Anyway, to celebrate the occasion, I open a bottle of Hoegaarden (which reads original belgian wheat beer) to celebrate.  And the next thing I do is to log into blogger to type this post and schedule it for publishing.

Straits Times Index (STI) hits 5 Year High

So the Straits Times Index (STI) has hit its 5 year high of 3,301 points. Of course, it still has not reached its peak in Oct 2007 of 3,805 points. Will we even see such dizzying heights for the Singapore stock market again.

Well, nobody really knows the answer for sure.  But with the US debt ceiling, Euro crisis and all other things that can happen along the way, one should continue to remain nimble.

A good question to ask yourself is this:  How much more gains can you make in this bull run?

Sold Thakral and Saizen

After giving some thought, I decided to sell off my holdings in Thakral and Saizen.  I bought these together with Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust back in November 2012.  You can see that posting I did here.

These are my entry prices and exit prices for the 3 stocks:

1.  Saizen (Entry=S$0.173; Exit = S$0.191)
2. Thakral Corp (Entry=S$0.03; Exist = S$0.035)
3. LMIR (Entry = $0.475; Exit = S$0.525)

There is really nothing to boast about my entry and exit prices.  I am not a good market timer but generally, when the stock market goes up, almost every single stock goes up.  So there is really nothing spectacular about my returns.  

I know some of my previous posts about Thakral and Saizen might have been misleading as I was actually still thinking of loading up some more stocks yesterday and had written the posts earlier but scheduled it to be posted much later.  However, after re-assessing my overall portfolio, I decided to liquidate more of my shareholdings so as to buffer up my cash position.

If you read my posting about "Bull Market or Prepare for Bear" as well as watched the video on Jeffrey Gundlach's market outlook, you will probably understand my rationale for selling.  As they say, "Cash is King".