Is it me or time really seems to fly when you are getting old. We have reached the end of 2019 in the blink of an eye. Time to take stock for the year again!
Family
Wifey and I are spending most if not all of our free time we have with Baby
M who arrived on Father's day 2018.
Having turned 1.5 years young recently, she has been getting more active by the day. Grabbing our hands to walk around, dictating where should we sit, dancing when there's music and basically exploring all stuffs around her.
Her vocabulary is also expanding everyday. Sometimes she surprises me by saying a word or pointing out the correct thing when I ask her where is it.
I have noticed this little cutie likes three things in particular - music, dancing and reading. If she wants to pursue interest or enrichment in these areas I will support her.
On the other hand I do not want to be like some parents who send their kids to tons of classes and tuition, thus depriving their kids of the happy childhood that all children should have.
Sometimes we should draw a line against kiasuism.
Our biggest wish for her remains the same. That is for her to grow up happily and healthily.
Healthy Lifestyle
I feel I have done quite well in this area. As far as I can remember I have not fall sick for the past year or two. Touch wood!
I attribute this to my healthy lifestyle which I try to adhere to as far as possible. Aspects of this lifestyle includes:
1) Cold shower
I have not been using the water heater since at least two years back. Whether it's the morning shower before I go out or the night shower when I get back, it is always a cold shower for me and I firmly believe it helps in building up my immune system.
A cold shower helps in muscle recovery too especially after an intense workout.
2) Exercise
I always try to start my day with a workout after I get off bed. This helps to jump start my day and secondly, builds up my fitness and muscle mass obviously.
Most importantly, it acts as a counterweight against my diet which I do not restrict because I can't! There's just too much good food in Singapore which pushes my will power to the abyss.
I do not have a fix routine for my workout. The type of exercise and repetition varies but generally it is something like this.
50 ~ 100 x Pushups
50 x Toe Touch Crunches
2 min x Plank
50 ~ 100 x Bicep Curls
25 x Squats
I try to do the above during the evenings too but that doesn't always happens especially when baby M is around..
I run for cardio exercise. I enjoy running for the longest time. It's good for de-stressing and helps to clear my mind. Mileage-wise of course the more the merrier. But for 2019 I only done about 216 km.
Last run did for 2019: A morning run near my neighbourhood.
Healthy lifestyle, healthy body. Totally worth it!
Work
With my financial year ending in February 2020, I still have two months to charge ahead.
Results so far are not bad. I can't say I'm totally pleased as the targeted turnover has not been hit yet. However bottom line is encouraging due to the high margin in several projects.
Year-to-date top line is already higher than whole of last year while bottom line is close compared to whole of last year.
I expect the latter to exceed last year's when we close the book by year end.
Moving
forward, my focus continues to be growing the business and buy an office space as part of my recurring income plan.
Financials and Other Incomes
Bought a new car this year due to the expiring COE of my previous car. Luckily did not have to touch my investments but it did affected my cash flow.
Previously I have set these targets for 2019.
Targeted passive income: S$7,200
Targeted side income: S$3,000
Actual passive income achieved: S$4,471.25* (vs S$6,069.08 in 2018)
Actual side income achieved: S$5,314.78 (vs S$3,042.86 in 2018)
Results: One target achieved.
For
2020,
Targeted 2020 passive income: S$7,200
Targeted 2020 side income: S$6,000
Investments
My holdings as of 31/12/2019:
Relatively quiet year for me. Opted for scrips for MLT and ESR REIT.
Total number of holdings increased to 13 compared to 12 last year.
However portfolio value at end of the year decreased slightly to S$122,453 (vs S$123,356 in 2018). This is due to several reasons:
1) Cash received from my sold transactions have not been fully redeployed to the portfolio.
2) Share price of Japfa has not recover fully to the pre-swine flu level.
Tabulated summary*:
As shown in the above summary, I am actually at a slight paper loss excluding dividends. However the power of dividends is evident here.
The overall portfolio is mainly bogged down by ISOTeam of which I am having a S$9K paper loss currently.
Although the dividends help to cushion the lousy feeling abit, the opportunity cost is mounting. I will make a decision on this counter within this year or two depending on the share price.
This year ISOTeam should be presenting a nice set of results due to the following:
1) The numerous contract wins which add to the already high order book.
2) SG Bikes which should turn profitable this year.
3) Integration of Pure group into ISOTeam which will further contribute directly to ISOTeam's expected good results.
4) The election year which should means more public projects out for tender in ISOTeam's area of expertise.
Of course whether these will serve as catalysts for the share price to move up is anybody's guess.
My transactions for 2019:
Not much transactions done for 2019. Accumulated Japfa in batches. Yeah it's not really a dividend stock which goes against my style. But I can't resist my itchy fingers. Bad habits die hard.
On the other hand,
wifey's portfolio performed much better.
Did some re-balancing for her. Number of stocks remained the same as compared to 2018.
However year end portfolio value increased to S$63,158
(vs S$52,371 in 2018).
Tabulated summary:
Her paper gain + realised dividends hit S$11,981. Looks good I must say.
You can see the risk attitude I adopted while managing her portfolio as compared to managing my own.
If I had been as prudent in managing my portfolio it would have performed much more beautifully.
So this is it. A long post of 2019.
Last but not least, I wish everyone a happy new year ahead. Good health and good wealth!
* Reclassification of RHT special dividends
