Digging Deep and have Faith

The stormy skies before the rainbow.
The pain before the gain.
The struggle before freedom.

This morning I tried to hitch a ride on a gamble on a new listing on SGX. Failed, took a 4% loss instead.  Thought will be able to ride the momentum but because of the need for the money to be used elsewhere, I decided to cut even though my exit price is 10% loss.

“Will I miss out on any run on the stock?”
“Maybe a bull run tomorrow or something? “

Then I started thinking like I usually do.

My money under investments is money that can be lost. However, because of the fear of losing, I pulled back and of course besides the fact that my entire portfolio is still deeply in the red (20% down). Maybe I should have a savings instead, to match dollar for dollar that I had place in the investment fund. Of course, in such a manner, it will definitely reduce my ability to generate greater returns. Alternatively, I can still be looking at generating dividends more since this money are like my savings considering my rainy day fund is ridiculously low.

Of course, I have cash in other places as well, I have a decent sum with Cat in a FD and I still have a pretty liquid cash to compensate my retirement movement of 13K from OA to SA.I think if next year if there is any bonus, I will max out the requirement for the Goal To 15K annual target, 10% to Investment Fund and finally try to top up the rainy day fund to 6 months expenses target. Budget for holidays with Cat will have to take a back seat.

I often wonder if my insurance side is too large, 558 per month, almost a cool 20%. I mean it has definitely reduced in recent months as I cut down form a 630 per month. Looking at the statistics for my monthly budget, I only am able to allocate 4% to my rainy day fund, whereas my investment takes up to 10%.

I guess I do not have much room to maneuver either, for me to give up on the ILP now; it will definitely be a waste since it is supposed to be tagged to how well the market (i.e. Fund manager) performs and a diversification to my investment adventures.  Of course, pulling it out, I would at least be rewarded with 5K but it’s nothing compared to the amount I had put in since 2014, which is about least 10K.

So now going forward, I think I should shift my focus to dividend plays and stocks that are undervalued for my investment side. Currently, the bond markets are pretty unstable as well and the SSBs are giving lower interest then even a savings account.

Budget-wise, I do not think I can adjust much. I might want to let go monthly SGD 20 additional M1 plan. But I think I would still need an additional data plan, just in case my data busted or I need to be somewhere with my laptop.  After some checks, I signed a 24 months contract previously, so I still got another year to go with that. I think once my CFA is pay up for by 3Q next year and if I am lucky with a 100 buck increment (cross fingers), it will be a decent help.

I think still the only way is to dig deep and study hard for CFA, passed it, and applied for a change of job…and  keep getting better opportunities. In the meantime, look at keeping costs low and buy good quality stocks that are cheap and pay out good dividends.

Have Faith and keep plugging away.