Monthly update #9, March 2016
Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2016 8:27 pm
March was a nice month featuring a 9 day cycling trip through Taiwan.
On Taiwan's great roads
I traveled light with just two small saddle bags on the back of my bike and covered about 430 kilometers. Can imagine that I will do a lot more of this once I am retired! Taiwan turned out to be just about perfect for long distance cycling with a myriad of dedicated bicycle tracks, fantastic infrastructure and wonderful people.
Monthly update March
In March I decided to restructure my monthly European pension savings plan. I had a close look at the fees and realized I paid front load fees of 4% and other assorted fees. So I cashed out the plan and will move it to low cost index funds. More about that in my next update.
Savings rate March
In March I saved a paltry 27.7% of my income. This is mainly because I discontinued my terrible European pension savings plan and things will improve dramatically this month after the restructuring has been completed.
ERE scorecard:
Savings rate year-to-date sits at 37% - way off my target, but bound to improve in April.
Portfolio performance
The value of my portfolio increased by 6.6% or SGD 5,009 to SGD 80,909. (= USD 59,500) For the first time my portfolio broke the 80,000 barrier and six digits are now finally in sight! March’s gain was made up of portfolio gains of SGD 2,557 and fresh investments of SGD 2,452. This strong month decreased the year-to-date unrealized loss to SGD 2,008.
Investment targets
In March I invested SGD 2,452, a tiny bit more than I had originally planned. I was hoping to do better, but all this traveling messes with my savings rate.
Dividends received
In March USD 110 = SGD 149 of tax-free dividends from my bond index funds made it to my account.
Hypothetical monthly passive income (assuming 4% SWR)
Total hypothetical monthly passive income increased to SGD 270 this month. It is nice to see this figure climbing up albeit slowly. I have to remember that the power of compound interest will make me see stronger improvements down the road in a few years.
Confessions of my ERE sins
Sadly I have committed quite a few sins in March, lowering the savings rate quite a bit.
* Bought an iphone 6S for my girlfriend's birthday (even though I myself really dislike Apple and use only the terrible corporate windows phone issued for free by my company) (USD 890)
* Splurged on a fancypants bicycling helmet (USD 60)
* Bought new bicycling computers for myself and the gf (USD 70)
* Bought a very nice pair of Nikes which are much more expensive outside the US. I have tons of shoes and do not need an extra pair (USD 90)
Reading this list I realize it is quite face-palm worthy...
Outlook: Austerity April
Needless to say things have to improve in April and I am committed not to buy any unnecessary stuff and not to waste any money this month.
My annual bonus will arrive this month and I will also add my European pension plan cashout to my low cost portfolio, so a lot of things will to my portfolio.
On Taiwan's great roads
I traveled light with just two small saddle bags on the back of my bike and covered about 430 kilometers. Can imagine that I will do a lot more of this once I am retired! Taiwan turned out to be just about perfect for long distance cycling with a myriad of dedicated bicycle tracks, fantastic infrastructure and wonderful people.
Monthly update March
In March I decided to restructure my monthly European pension savings plan. I had a close look at the fees and realized I paid front load fees of 4% and other assorted fees. So I cashed out the plan and will move it to low cost index funds. More about that in my next update.
Savings rate March
In March I saved a paltry 27.7% of my income. This is mainly because I discontinued my terrible European pension savings plan and things will improve dramatically this month after the restructuring has been completed.
ERE scorecard:
Savings rate year-to-date sits at 37% - way off my target, but bound to improve in April.
Portfolio performance
The value of my portfolio increased by 6.6% or SGD 5,009 to SGD 80,909. (= USD 59,500) For the first time my portfolio broke the 80,000 barrier and six digits are now finally in sight! March’s gain was made up of portfolio gains of SGD 2,557 and fresh investments of SGD 2,452. This strong month decreased the year-to-date unrealized loss to SGD 2,008.
Investment targets
In March I invested SGD 2,452, a tiny bit more than I had originally planned. I was hoping to do better, but all this traveling messes with my savings rate.
Dividends received
In March USD 110 = SGD 149 of tax-free dividends from my bond index funds made it to my account.
Hypothetical monthly passive income (assuming 4% SWR)
Total hypothetical monthly passive income increased to SGD 270 this month. It is nice to see this figure climbing up albeit slowly. I have to remember that the power of compound interest will make me see stronger improvements down the road in a few years.
Confessions of my ERE sins
Sadly I have committed quite a few sins in March, lowering the savings rate quite a bit.
* Bought an iphone 6S for my girlfriend's birthday (even though I myself really dislike Apple and use only the terrible corporate windows phone issued for free by my company) (USD 890)
* Splurged on a fancypants bicycling helmet (USD 60)
* Bought new bicycling computers for myself and the gf (USD 70)
* Bought a very nice pair of Nikes which are much more expensive outside the US. I have tons of shoes and do not need an extra pair (USD 90)
Reading this list I realize it is quite face-palm worthy...
Outlook: Austerity April
Needless to say things have to improve in April and I am committed not to buy any unnecessary stuff and not to waste any money this month.
My annual bonus will arrive this month and I will also add my European pension plan cashout to my low cost portfolio, so a lot of things will to my portfolio.