My Sweet Retirement Annual Review of 2019

We are coming to the end of the year 2019 and soon we will be welcoming the year 2020. This is also the time whereby I do some self reflection for the year related to my work, investments and family.

Work

This year, I was involved in a large scale challenging project. It took up a lot of my time, meaning I worked a lot of overtime to deliver this project. This also means that I have less time to focus on my stock investments. I am glad the project is almost over and multiple issues have already been resolved. The good side of this project is that I have learnt a lot and this has enabled me to further uplift myself as a leader. While others ran away from their responsibilities, I stood firm and responsible for the decisions that I have made. My bosses expect no hiccups but realistically, this is never possible. It is only how we find solutions to these issues that we encounter.

The last important thing that I wish to highlight is that I will be transferring to a new department. I am nervous and at the same time excited about the new challenges ahead.

My self reflection: Self Improvement

Investments

Ok, enough of work. Let me touch on my investments. The only big investment I made this year was the addition of SPH REIT to my stock portfolio which now makes up 10%. The REITs arena has been pretty active this year. We have seen the merger of OUE Hospitality Trust and OUE Commercial REIT and recently, Frasers Logistics and Industrial Trust and Frasers Commercial Trust also announced their proposed merger but this will likely take place in 2020.

This year, Mapletree Commercial Trust also announced their preferential offering in order to fund for their acquisition of Mapletree Business City (Phase 2) which I have took up. With all these activities, it prompted me to set some cash aside next year in the event there are more preferential offerings or rights issue.

Singapore Savings Bond performed poorly in the year 2019 with the interest rates falling like nobody business. Nevertheless, I am still setting aside a portion of my monthly salary into Singapore Savings Bond which acts as an emergency fund in the event I am being retrenched.

My self reflection: Set aside ample war chest (for investment) + emergency fund (for retrenchment) (6 months x monthly salary)

Family

Last year, I mentioned that I ought to spend more time with my aging parents which I did. I brought them out for meals over the weekends and sometimes to shopping malls for window shopping. As a result of this, my expenses have also increased.

My weekends are usually hectic as I have to drive my kids to tuition classes and sport activities such as swimming and sometimes basketball lessons. I have realised time management is very important as I can only find pocket of time between my kids lessons to do the things that I want to do, such as stock analysis. Alternatively, the only time that I can spend doing my own things is when my wife and kids have gone to sleep.

My self reflection: Time management

Goals Achievement for 2019

I am really bad with goals as I realise I have been missing the goal of achieving 11K of passive income every year.

#1 Achieve 11K of Passive Income (Not Met)

As shared previously, the total dividends that I have collected in the year 2019 is S$10,547.40. This means that I have missed my goal again. What has gone wrong? Perhaps I have been too conservative and concern about the right price to enter into a stock or REIT?

#2 Declutter (Partially Met)

To be honest, I almost forgot about this goal of mine. I still buy multiple bottles of shampoo as they cost less if I buy them in bulk. There are still empty bottles that I collect and store them away in my cupboards thinking that they will be useful for storing things one day. I also have a least 10 free cups that I got free of charge for purchases I made at shopping malls. However, I am glad I have donated or throw away all these unnecessary items that are lying around my house before Christmas.

There is still much to be done and I will continue to work on decluttering my house. Believe me or not, you feel happier when you see less things cluttering your home.

#3 Contribute Back to Society (Met)

Using the advertisment earnings from my blog, I contributed to Hair For Hope and Touch Community. I hope to continue doing this next year as this add additional purpose for maintaining My Sweet Retirement. Please add a link to My Sweet Retirement if you have a financial blog like mine as well. I will be glad to do a link exchange.