The Poor Around Us

Lately, I have become more aware of those who are poor living in our midst.

Yes! There are actually poor people around in Singapore.

At a food center near where I live, I always notice a old couple (in their 50s?) occupying a table during the late nights. Whenever I go there for breakfast early in the morning, I see them there with the wife still sleeping and the man looking a toto tickets. I have seen them there countless of times and they seem to be oblivious to the people around them. The wife just sleeps while the unshaven husband flips through lots of toto/4d (?) tickets.

It makes me wonder... what are these people up to with their lives? Did something happen in their family that resulted in them being homeless? Or are they renting out their homes to gain income so as to buy Toto tickets. I seriously don't know.

Another incident took place the other day too. My wife was waiting for me while I was buying some groceries downstairs. There was an old woman standing near the exit too. Later, my wife told me that the old woman had actually asked for $2 from her to buy food to eat.

" So did you give her the $2??" I asked.

" No lah...what happen if she goes and use it to buy cigarettes or stuff?" replies the wife

At this point, I told my wife: " Why do we always assume that poor people are always going to use the money we give them to buy drugs/beer/cigarettes? Perhaps they are really poor and need food to eat?"

The wife felt bad afterwards..

But of course it is a common misperception. We always think that the poor are poor because they gamble, smoke and drink. We tend not to give them money because that's what our parents told us to not to do! We always hear from them how people who beg for money always use the money to buy cigarettes and stuff.

Hmmmm...I think the poor are poor because they are caught in this poverty cycle. There is simply no way out for them unless someone helps them.

Renewed my SingTel Broadband

Managed to renew my SingTel broadband at the same price but with a faster broadband speed. Hooray! It will cost me $31.90 which is slightly less than the price I am paying now for a 1Mbps unlimited broadband.

Hope to feel the difference from a 1Mbps to 3 Mbps broadband speed by tomorrow.

More Free Time Now

After quitting my job, I found that I have a lot more free time to play around with.

However, it still does not seem that I am putting my time to good use. Too often, I spend my time procrastinating or just doing unproductive things.

Perhaps it is time I pick up some serious time management skills.

On the passive income portfolio end, I purchased 10000 shares of Suntec REITs last week.

I heard a story about a guy who owned 3 properties and when the valuation of his properties went up, he basically refinanced them while doing a upgearing to release the equity in it thus getting about 800k in cash. He then used this money to buy into REITs. Imagine the kind of passive income he is drawing now on top of the rental income from his property!

Don't Run the Rat Race

Since young, I have always heard this phrase : " Don't run the rat race."

It is only now, 27 years of age, that I finally think I understand what this phrase means.

After working for a number of years, I suddenly realised that I was actually running the rat race! I was working hard at my job, looking for my next promotion, next pay raise. I was also constantly comparing myself with others and checking out what cars they were driving, where they were living, what sort of restaurants they go to, etc , etc.

All these resulted in me neglecting other aspects of my life - spiritual, social, emotional.

Getting Out of the Rat Race

At the turn of 2008, while I was doing my own personal reflection, I realised that I had hardly grown as a person be it in terms of character, knowledge, etc. Yes I did grow but I would not say that the growth was great. Again I compared myself to my peers and saw how some have actually leap frogged past me in terms of qualifications, knowledge in specialised fields, promotions, pay, etc.

I also noticed one thing. I looked at my bosses' lives and did not admire what they were going through. Little family time, weekends spent doing work and going through reports, lots of pressure from the bigger bosses above... I asked myself: " Do I really want to be like them?" The answer was a simple "NO."

It was then that I decided that I needed to get out of this rat race - badly. This rat race was consuming my life. As Lily Tomlin puts it: "The trouble with the rat race is even if you win it, you're still a rat."

I stopped listening to my bosses' "encouragement" to take on more responsibilities so that I could get my next promotion, pay raise, bonus, etc, etc. I told myself that I would no longer run a race that was so meaningless. I would instead run a race that I set out for myself. A race that at my dying bed, I would know was worthwhile for my family, friends, loved ones and myself. Simply, a live that was well-lived and worth living. All things I placed in the context of that final day when I lie at my death bed and ask myself: "Was it worth it?".

A lot of things are simply not worth it. Working long hours and missing dinner with loved ones. Working over the weekends. Getting so tired that I had no time to spend with friends.

For those of you who know, one of the race that I have set for myself is to achieve financial freedom (i.e. earning more in passive income than my expenditures). My spendings and investments have also taken a turn as I now see everything in terms of what will increase my passive income and what I can do to decrease my monthly expenditure.

This blog chronicles my journey. I have journeyed for 1 long year already. Everyday, I am getting closer to my goal. I have also learnt tremendously from fellow forummers and bloggers.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. The race is still on and I challenge you to take part in this race too.. the financial freedom race.

$1590.38 in Dividends & Passive Income for May 09

This month was another bountiful month for me similar to Feb 09.

The breakdown is as follows:

1. Stock Dividends = $1553.50
2. Canroys Distribution = $15.88
3. Other income = $21.00

This brings the grand total to an amount of $1590.38.

Raking in the Money

Decided to cash out of some stock positions to realise the gains that I have. They are not alot and are nothing to be proud of since I am still actually sitting on paper loss on my other shares.
Also bought into Ascendas REITs

Below are my trading activities for today:

1. Sold 6000 Hongguo at $0.255 (Remaining left 24,000 Hongguo shares)
2. Sold KepLand @$2.27 (Remarks : Bought @1.96, Sold the rights for $755 plus gains of $270, not bad)

3. Bought Ascendas REITs (3000 shares @$1.37)

As you can see, I am really a small small fish in a big big sea. The quantity that I trade is very little so I really need the stock price to move up a lot before I can make a gain.

Stock Dividends Received for 26 May 09

Received the following stock dividends:

1. $66.72 (KingBoard stocks)
2. $750 (Innotek)

Total Dividends received for today = $ 816.72