How Much to Give for Baby Shower

Often, I get questions on how much one should give for baby shower (e.g. colleague's baby first month celebration, etc).  Well, this is both an easy question and hard question to answer.

The reason why it is easy or hard depends really on the type of person who is inviting you for the baby shower.  It can be hard to tell what kind of person is it.  Some people don't give two hoots about how much you give or what presents you buy for their baby.  The only reason they invite you there is because you belong to their closest circle of friends.  Your presence is all that matters.  In fact, the only reason why they want you there is so that they will actually have somebody to talk to during the baby shower or party itself.  In fact, you could turn up empty handed and they will probably not even realise it.  After all, they are not bothered about gifts or the amount of ang bao one gives.

On the other hand, there ARE people who actually might take offence if you do not turn up with a respectable present.  And it is extremely hard to tell which category your friend/colleague/spouse's friend might fall into.  If they fall under this category, you BETTER show up with something in hand or face the consequences for the rest of your life (okay, just kidding......but then again, maybe not). And the situation gets trickier.  What if that person is a colleague whom you will see day in day out?  Or what happens if it is your boss?

Well, there is really no good guide on how much to give for a baby shower.  In terms of red packet (or ang bao), I figure that the following should serve as a guide:

Acquaintance/Colleague - $20 to $30
Friend/Relative - $30 to $80

Well, the above rates are just a guide.  And only you will perhaps know what is the correct amount to give.  Of course, if your entire family (4 or 5 pax) is invited to a baby shower with buffet served, you might want to give a little more to cover the costs of the food/drinks/venue.  But this is not a Chinese Wedding and the amount probably does not matter.

Another way to simplify things is to just simply buy a gift for the baby (using the above rates as a benchmark for the cost of the gift).  But this gets tricky as you never know what are the gifts that parents like.  The parents might be fussy about the brand of the gift (only ABC brand), country of manufacture (no toys made in XYZ country), colour (e.g. no purple) , etc.  So it is extremely difficult to get a gift.  Unless you are certain that the gift is of a reasonable quality and will be well-received by the parents.  Books are quite safe presents but then again, some judgement needs to be exercised.  After all, a 1 month or 1 year old baby can't possibly read that much.

The best way if you are still clueless is to actually suggest gift sharing with a few other people who are attending the baby shower.  This sorts of ensures that you are giving the equivalent of what others are giving (especially useful if it is a colleague's baby shower that you are attending).  But there is of course the operational hassle of who chooses the gift, what gift to buy and how expensive it should cost.

Nevertheless, all these should not deter one from attending any baby shower.  After all, it is the heart that matters.  And I am sure your presence at the baby shower will be much more appreciated than any gift or red packets (ang bao).

Favourite Video of the Week - Emma Stone Lip Sync Battle with Jimmy Fallon

Here is my fav video of the week showing Emma Stone in a lip sync battle with Jimmy Fallon.  Both of them are great entertainers but I think Emma's final performance of All I Do is Win nails it.  Enjoy.

Singapore's Andy Chua Wins Right to Dine with Warren Buffett

A certain Mr Andy Chua from Singapore has won the bid to dine with Mr Warren Buffett.  Mr Chua together with seven other guests will get to dine with the world's 3rd richest man in Manhattan for lunch at Smith & Wollensky.  At the restaurant, a typical mains costs only around US$70.  His single bid of S$2.71 million is not the highest bid in history.  The auction proceeds will benefit a San Francisco charity (Glide Foundation) that provides meals, etc to the poor and homeless.

Little is known about Andy Chua who has said that he was not interested in interviews right now.  

So who is this mystery man Andy Chua?

I did a quick google and came across a few people named Andy Chua.  

Out of all the people, it seems that there is this Director, Head Asia Pacific Financial Advisory Centre at Merrill Lynch that seems like a possible fit (though I can't confirm for sure).   

There is also a Mr Andy Chua who was at a Montblanc event: 

http://www.iconsingapore.com/jan11/social/index.php?choose=social

Not sure whether these two are the same person or different people altogether.  Also not certain whether any of them was the one who won the bid to dine with Mr Buffett.

In any case, congratulations to Mr Andy Chua (whoever he is).  Hopefully, he will share details about the lunch with the media soon.

Update 10 Jun 2014:

It has been revealed by CNA that the winner is the owner of YunNam and not the said Andy Chua mentioned above.

Dividends for May 2014

End of May 2014.  Once again, I have taken some time to compute all the dividends received over the past one month including all the cheques that I have been receiving in my mailbox. This month's collection was much better than previous months because many of the shares I have gave out dividends.

Collected a total of $842.82 in dividends for May 2014.  Majority of the dividends came from holdings in Singapore stocks.

Quite glad that I have been receiving a regular stream of dividends each month.  It also helps that I have been compiling my monthly dividends so that I at least know how much I have received each month.  I am also glad that I now collect dividends every month instead of quarterly.

Tokio Marine Never Cuts Bonus: Participating Fund Update 2014 - Things We Can Learn From

Just received Tokio Marine's Participating Fund 2014 update from my whole life policy with them.  As expected, they are maintaining the bonus rate for their participating policies.

For info, Tokio Marine is one of the few companies that maintains its bonus rate for its whole life policies pretty consistently over the years.  In fact, the report states that they are the ONLY life insurer in Singapore to have honoured all their bonus rates for the last 66 years!

This is probably testament to their sound investing policy for their participating fund.  Even though they acknowledged the volatile investment climate of 2013, they are still maintaining the par fund bonus even though the returns came in lower than expectations.

Some interesting stats from their par fund:

Market Value (measured by total assets in $million)

• 2011:  $2,142
• 2012:  $2,677
• 2013:  $3,073

Asset Mix of Fund for 2013

• Equity : 37%
• Fixed Income: 52%
• Cash: 7%
• Property: 3%
• Others: 1%

Breakdown of Fixed Income S$1,589million

• Singapore Government Securities = S$288million (18%)
• Quasi-Govt/Investment Grade Bonds = S$857 million (54%)
• Other Bonds = S$444 million (28%)

Top 10 Equity Holdings (the most interesting part to me...) S$1,126 million

• Tokio Marine Fund - Far East Equity Portfolio
• TMA Umbrella Fund - TMAI Asian Equity Fund
• SingTel
• DBS 
• UOB
• OCBC
• Keppel Corp Ltd
• Singapore Press Holdings (SPH)
• StarHub
• Singapore Technologies Engineering

Disclaimer:  I am not a Tokio Marine insurance agent and am not making any recommendations whatsoever about Tokio Marine and its insurance or investment products.

Peter Lim - New Owner of Valencia

Peter Lim has done Singapore proud.  He is now the owner of Valencia football club.  I know that this is probably already stale news but it is a moment to be savoured nonetheless.  How many Singaporeans do you know that actually own football clubs?

I think it is rather good publicity for Singapore since many Europeans probably do not even know where Singapore is.  And what better way to gain some publicity than to own one of their very own football clubs.

Anyway, Peter Lim had previously made a bid for Liverpool.  That deal did not come to pass so I was thinking that this deal might also not come through.  Glad that it did come through in the end.

For those who don't know Peter Lim, he used to be a stock remisier who made it big in the Singapore stock market.  He married an ex-actress, Cherie Lim.  Believe he also has a daughter, Kim Lim, who is 22 years old and is currently studying in Singapore Institute of Management.  Recall reading in the news that his family stays in an entire 11 storey condominium tower around the Orchard area.

For those who don't know, Peter Lim is also said to be quite active in charity work.  His involvement in the local football scene also saw the SOF-Peter Lim Charity Cup (an exhibition fundraiser match) held in 2013.

Wishing him the very best of success in his ownership of Valencia.

Recieving Cash in mailbox Every Month

Most people probably dread opening up their mailbox because they know that only bills await them. However, I am probably one of a few people who actually enjoys opening my mailbox to check for mail. The reason? I receive monthly cheques in my mail so I am always excited to open them up and add it together with other dividends that might have been directly credited into my bank account.

Those of you who have been following my blog over the years probably know that I am a dividends kind of investor. My timing into stocks are quite bad. But dividends have always been my kind of thing. I like the certainty of investing into businesses that provide shareholders with cash in their pockets. Over the years, I have lost count of the dividends I have received.

My favourite kind of dividends are those that are paid regularly. Some of my holdings even pay monthly dividends. That is amazing from my point of view. In short, I have been able to supplement my very average salary with passive income without actually moonlighting.

Foreign holdings in U.S. Etfs and monthly dividend stocks are those cheques which end up in my mailbox. And it is always nice to reach home at the end of a long hard day at work to find a cheque or sometimes piles of cheques in my mailbox. Trust me, the feeling is quite surreal when you get the first cheque but after sometime, it still feels awesome!

Just this month alone, I have received 3 cheques. And the month isn't over yet :)