Financial Freedom

Falcao's First Goal for Manchester United Against Everton

So Manchester United won 2-1 against Everton tonight even without the services of Rooney who is out on suspension. Here is Falcao's first goal scored as a Manchester United player:

Angel di Maria's first goal which gave Manchester United the lead is below:

I Didn't Know My Own Strength - Amazing X Factor Performance

Am a semi-fan of X Factor. I like how they spot raw talent. This is an amazing rendition of Whitney Houston's song by Andrea Faustini. I think he does a wonderful version of it. You can check out Whitney Houston's version in the subsequent video below. Which do you think is better?

Happy long weekends!!! (at least for my readers in Singapore)

You can check out other entertaining videos here or here:

Dividends for August and September

Since I am so far behind in my computations for the amount of dividends received, I have combined the money received over the months of August and September 2014.

For August 2014, I received $389 in dividends
For September 2014, I received $396 in dividends

I am setting a year end target of $500 in monthly dividends and hopefully I can achieve it.

There are only 3 more months to go before the year comes to a close so it is quite challenging a goal. I guess I had digress from the earlier goals that I had set out for myself.

Anyway, what strikes me lately in the newspapers is the number of property advertisements. It seems like every other page is filled with an advertisement calling out for people to own a condo either in some exclusive district in Singapore or to own a property in Bangkok/Australia/London, etc. You get the drift. Is this a sign of the times?

Check out my dividends for previous months:

Dividends for July 2014

Have been a little busy to update. Finally found some time to sit down and compile the dividends collected for the month of July 2014. Well, better late than never =)

Dividends collected was $331. Pretty normal.

I have been just too busy to find the time to sit down and write over the past few months. Hopefully, I will get more time soon.

Where I am sitting at right now, the skies are blue and a warm breeze is blowing by. There are so many dreams that remain there for the grabs. At the same time, there is a sense of contentment that I have. Not that I have accomplished much. But perhaps another door is opening and my focus on life has changed.

Please see dividends for other months compiled below:

Dividends for June 2014

It is the end of the June school holidays in Singapore and July is almost upon us. Have compiled my dividends for this month. As most readers do know, I receive cash in my mailbox every month.

Almost $100+ in distributions from unit trusts, $100+ in dividends from stocks and $60+ from various deposit accounts [Check out on the details for the various bank deposit accounts I am using right now in the postings found here and here].

The total amount collected for June 2014 is $282.

Not enough to do anything with it really. Will just have to reinvest into other instruments to keep the monthly income flowing in.

I am quite pleased that I actually had the discipline to compile my monthly dividends for the past few months. It has at least made me more aware of where my dividends have been coming from and how much I have been getting. It sure beats having just a blurry guess-estimate of how much I have been getting. It also serves as a good check on whether I am hitting the goals that I have set for myself.

Please see dividends for other months compiled below:

For those who are interested, do check out the following links:

Articles on retirement, savings, financial planning and investing:

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

Commodities/Gold/Silver

Insurance

Popular Reads

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.