word for word

Rebirth

2014-04-19T18:59:00.000+08:00

'...human beings are not born once and for all on the day their mothers give birth to them, but that life obliges them over and over again to give birth to themselves.'

- Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

My granny's bakchang recipes

2011-05-28T11:04:00.002+08:00

It's that time of the year again, and this year I thought I would blog about it for posterity. There are no quantities - just estimate. Glutinous rice will have some regular rice mixed in. For a better texture, pick out the grains of plain rice (they are translucent) if there are any. My mum has found Sheng Siong's Happy Family brand to be of good quality, with hardly any regular rice grains mixed in. Bamboo leaves have to be boiled and wiped down with a wet towel. Hemp string bundles should be washed. Keep leaves damp until you are done wrapping.

Savoury bakchang

Glutinous rice: rinse, drain well, and stirfry lightly with shallot oil, white pepper, five spice powder, salt, light and dark soya sauces. Do not overcook as the rice will get sticky.
Pork belly: remove skin and brown bite-sized pieces in shallot oil, white pepper, five spice powder, salt, light and dark soya sauces. Cover and let cook for awhile, but take care not to overcook.
Chestnuts: scald. soak, remove skin, and (optionally) brown in shallot oil.
Dried shiitake mushrooms: braise with juices from cooking pork belly. Cut into four.
Salted egg yolks: clean salted eggs, separate yolks and white and rinse yolks. Add a bit of oil to keep yolks from sticking together. Divide into thirds with thread.
Dried shrimp: pick out shell and brown in shallot oil.

Once ingredients are assembled, you are ready to start wrapping. Before cooking, tie a second knot in the bundle at the top, nearer to the dumplings. This is to prevent the excess string from getting tangled up in the pot. Excess string at the other end can be trimmed.

Finished dumplings should be boiled for 3 hours. After 1.5 hours, remove dumplings and replace them in the pot so that the ones at the bottom are on top and vice versa. Be ready to top water up with boiling water, so that it covers all the dumplings. After dumplings are cooked, allow them to cool down first if you intend to refrigerate them. They freeze well. Reheat before eating.

Sweet bakchang

Glutinous rice: rinse, drain well, and mix with alkaline water and cooking oil.
Red beans: cook in water till mushy in slow cooker, then cook again with sugar and oil till dry enough to form balls.

Procedure as above, but cooking time is a total of 2 hours (swap position of dumplings after an hour).

The wrapping
This seems to be the most intimidating part, but it really only takes patience and practice. Start small and slow. If your leaves are small, it's near impossible to make big dumplings and vice versa. We usually double leaves up for a more solid dumpling. Wrap string around twice before knotting.

Tokyo 2010 pictures

2011-04-23T23:38:00.002+08:00

London/Paris 3-13 August 2010

2010-08-19T02:25:00.001+08:00

A new start, in the land far, far away

2010-07-07T10:58:00.001+08:00

I'm way overdue for an update, I know.

So, I started my new job last Thursday. I was pretty apprehensive, for various reasons. For one, this is the first time I've worked full-time in a university. The worst thing was really the transport arrangements. While it's nice to have a chartered bus taking you there directly, it doesn't give me any flexibility with regard to timing, especially since I realised I do have some flexibility.

A pleasant surprise was getting my own office. It does make for a rather lonely time at work, though. There's plenty of space for my books now, but I don't dare bring too much of my stuff to work, in case my contract doesn't get renewed next year. The thing I dislike most about this office isn't the lack of a real window, or having to manually lock the door whenever I leave, but the location, which is very far away from the main department office, not to mention the nearest toilet and pantry. My previous office had both just next door, and I'm spoilt by that.

The new semester starts in September (delayed due to YOG, which also has resulted in our spending August working from home). I have 5 classes lined up, plus facilitation of a community service project. Staggered start dates mean that I'll be teaching right up to Christmas, though. My students will be diploma and PGDE students training to teach in primary schools. Because I'll be working under coordinators, I don't have to do a great deal of prep, which is nice. I think I'll be learning a lot from the courses myself.

What with the new job and driving lessons (always painful, especially when executing turns), I haven't been very good with the other things I ought to be doing. I haven't been practising my forex trading, which probably means I'm not getting as much out of hands-on sessions as I could be. I haven't been working out daily. I was supposed to do 20min or so after work, but I'm just so tired it's hard. I hope to overcome that as I get used to the hours. I haven't restarted my Fast-5 diet either. I just couldn't quite bring myself to explain to new colleagues why I'm not eating lunch. Something maybe I can get around when classes start.

Mid-June update: forex trading and other money matters

2010-06-17T10:34:00.000+08:00

I spent the past weekend on my forex intensive. It was incredibly draining and frankly I'm not sure how much of it I actually got. We were supposed to practise on our demo accounts till the first hands-on session today, but I only got my log-in info late Tuesday, and my experience so far has not been encouraging. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't really "get" it and am barking up the wrong tree as a result, or am just unlucky. I tell myself that I'd intended to practise for a good long time before I jump in for real, anyway. Will I earn my course fees back at least, as promised? Eventually, I hope. The bigger question may be whether this is something I enjoy enough to do for supplementary income, or if I should start looking for other avenues.

In other news, I've yet to settle the issue of my integrated shield insurance plan, which is annoying. I'm also not too happy with the life plan my parents got me years ago, which isn't due to even break even for a good long time, from what I can see. I think the hefty annual premium can be put to better use, and will most likely terminate the policy at a loss. I also plan to terminate the foundation policy my parents got me as a child. The premium is not substantial, but I feel that every dollar invested counts.

Not that I've been that virtuous, financially speaking. I've been lusting the new HTC Desire since I knew it existed, but my plan isn't up for renewal yet. I couldn't face the thought of paying full retail for the phone, and ended up trolling the internet for a good deal. In the end I paid cash for a 2-week old European import. I would have preferred a local set, but I saved over 20% on retail, money which could go towards a nice Noreve case. Will be really cash poor until UniSIM pays me the balance of what they owe me at the end of the month.

Re my fitness plan, I was doing 30 minutes on the crosstrainer until the forex intensive weekend basically knocked me out. As I'd feared, my self-discipline faltered. My strategy when the spirit is weak is to make a compromise with myself: any workout is better than none. 100 calories or even 15 minutes fulfils my obligation to myself on bad days. I have yet to motivate myself to resume yoga, though, which is bad.

Work begins on 1 July, and it occurred to me that since the semester doesn't begin till 30 August, I could actually take the holiday I'd wanted. I'm not sure what sort of budget I'd have to work with; even with the savings on accommodation it's $1.5k for a ticket to London. The plan right now is a week away in August, maybe in the first week, after the campus lockdown starts and before YOG opens.

Saving and investing basics

2010-06-08T00:25:00.001+08:00

The author of Saving and Investing has a great series of YouTube videos.

NYT: The Low-Cost Power of Exchange-Traded Funds

2010-06-07T13:35:00.000+08:00

April 9, 2010

By CONRAD de AENLLE

TWO trends in fund investment have progressed side by side for several years: strong flows of money into exchange-traded funds and into portfolios that track the movements of a stock index.

The coincidence is no coincidence. Nearly all E.T.F.’s — so far — are index funds, so as each type attracts investment, so does the other.

The trends indicate a broadening realization that the lower expenses of running and owning both kinds of funds give them an edge in performance that’s hard to overcome over the long term. Index fund managers have no research to conduct or buy, make no visits to companies and trade relatively few securities. E.T.F.’s, including the handful of actively managed ones, have additional cost advantages.

The widespread view of portfolio managers and other investment professionals is that the migration of assets will continue, affecting performance, costs and the types of products available. “This is a very dynamic time in the asset management space,” said Christian Magoon, chief executive of Magoon Capital, a consultancy that advises fund issuers. “E.T.F.’s are a disruptive technology similar to the digitalization of music. E.T.F.’s are disrupting mutual fund vehicles.”

What’s so disruptive is that E.T.F.’s trade throughout the day, unlike mutual funds; that makes E.T.F.’s useful for professional investors, including mutual fund managers. Even more disruptive, maybe, is that E.T.F.’s can often replicate mutual fund portfolios, actively or passively managed, at considerably less cost.

Total expenses, including management fees and costs for marketing, trading and legal and regulatory compliance, are 1.26 percent for the average actively managed mutual fund, according to Morningstar. For index mutual funds, the corresponding figure is 0.99 percent, while the average E.T.F. is run for just 0.57 percent of assets.

That helps to explain why E.T.F.’s have grown at a faster pace of late. Assets rose 67 percent in the 12 months through February, data from Morningstar show, compared with 49 percent for mutual fund assets.

The growth of E.T.F.’s seems to be coming at the expense of actively managed mutual funds rather than index funds, which are more than holding their own. Assets in index funds totaled $1.7 trillion at the end of last year, triple the amount at the end of 2000.

There is another cost advantage to E.T.F.’s that leads analysts to predict continuing expansion: taxation is less severe.

“E.T.F.’s are substantially more tax-efficient” than mutual funds, said Harold R. Evensky, president of Evensky & Katz, a financial planning firm. That is especially true when the portfolio follows indexes dominated by large companies like those of the Standard & Poor’s 500 or the Russell 3000.

The reason is arcane and comes down to differences in the way E.T.F.’s and mutual funds create or eliminate shares to meet investor demand. A rule generally allows E.T.F.’s to do so without triggering taxable transactions.

“If you’re invested in an S.& P. or Russell 3000 E.T.F., there is no tax consequence until you sell,” Mr. Evensky said. In an equivalent mutual fund, he added, “you may have tax consequences if you just sit there and hold it and haven’t done anything.”

“An E.T.F. is almost like having money in a retirement account.”

The various ways to enhance returns through E.T.F.’s have not been lost on investors — or on portfolio managers. Scott Burns, director of E.T.F. analysis at Morningstar, said that several large firms, notably Legg Mason, Pimco, Goldman Sachs, T. Rowe Price and Eaton Vance, have taken steps to introduce actively managed E.T.F.’s.

Mr. Burns has called active management “one of the hottest areas in the E.T.F. market,” although it still comprises just 0.2 percent of E.T.F. assets. He also noted that firms like Charles Schwab and Fidelity had begun offering some E.T.F.’s for little or no commission.

Active E.T.F.’s are likely to be more expensive to run than index E.T.F.’s, although more economical and tax-efficient than equivalent mutual funds. Mr. Magoon, the fund consultant, expects the cost gap between active E.T.F.’s and active mutual funds eventually to be anywhere from 0.4 to 1.5 percentage points annually. Such a discrepancy is “going to be hard to ignore,” he said, and mutual fund managers will come under increasing pressure to cut expenses and fees.

Some firms will convert their products to E.T.F.’s or run identical portfolios using each structure, Mr. Magoon predicted. Others will see their best and brightest managers go off to run hedge funds or something else with high potential rewards.

Active E.T.F.’s are most likely to grow at the expense of active mutual funds, not passive E.T.F.’s, investment advisers say. The trend toward indexing is likely to continue, and it may cause problems, in theory, for the markets and investors. There could be such a thing as too much indexing.

“If everyone’s an indexer, then they’re not investing on fundamentals, just buying the biggest stocks in the index,” said Jeremy DeGroot, chief investment officer of Litman/Gregory, a company that creates portfolios using multiple active managers. That could create a pattern in which the big index components are bought, become bigger, then are bought some more, no matter the price, until a violent reality check brings valuations back in line.

He considers that a long shot, because an overwhelming majority of assets is still actively managed. But he pointed out that something similar has already happened. In the late 1990s, Internet stocks soared and portfolio managers kept buying to keep from underperforming the benchmark indexes that the small group of stocks increasingly dominated. What became a few enormous companies — mega-capitalization stocks became “mega-cappier,” as Mr. DeGroot put it — kept soaring until they crashed in 2000.

OTHER, more subtle effects are expected as indexing proliferates. Mr. Burns, at Morningstar, suggested that as outperformance by active mutual fund managers becomes harder to achieve, some will be tempted to “swing for the fences,” taking on more risk in the hope of beating their peers. Finding winners among actively managed funds is not easy now and would become harder as the number of consistently strong performers dwindled. That’s why fewer investors seem to be making the attempt.

“What you’re seeing is more advisers embracing lower-cost asset-allocation strategies and embracing E.T.F.’s,” Mr. Burns said. “They’re throwing up their hands and saying, ‘I don’t want to beat the index; I want to get the index.’ ”

The case for passive investing

2010-06-06T23:51:00.001+08:00

From the author of Index Funds: The 12-Step Program for Active Investors.

Home recipes: Cantonese soups

2010-06-03T18:59:00.002+08:00

I imagine there are as many Cantonese soup recipes as there are Cantonese mothers! Here is a list, mostly from my granny. I collect new ones from my aunt in HK, tv programmes on TVB and the web.

When I say Cantonese soups, I mean soups that are slow-cooked (老火汤, to 煲汤).

Watercress
Dried jujubes (red dates)
Dried octopus
Pork bones

Radish (daikon)
Dried cuttlefish
Pork bones

Old cucumber
Dried oysters
Pork shin/shank/hock (muscle) 猪展

Lotus root
Dried jujubes (red dates)
Dried octopus
Pork muscle

Black beans
Pork muscle
Dried jujubes
Chicken feet

菜干
Dried jujubes (red dates)
Dried octopus
Pork bones

Dried straw mushroom/shiitake with chicken

Pork ribs
Snow pear
Apricot seeds (南杏北杏）

Watercress
Pork muscle
Dried figs
Apricot seeds
Snakehead fish

Ginseng
Dried whelk/chicken

Dried whelk
Chicken
Wintermelon
Jinhua ham
Dried scallop

六味湯
Pork muscle (omit and add sugar to make 糖水)
淮山（山药）
玉竹
龙眼
芡实
百合
莲子 (or Chinese barley 薏米, which is the recipe my dad remembers from his childhood)

Chicken
北芪
党参
杞子（构杞子）

Pork muscle
Beetroot
Green apples
Carrots

Pork muscle
Sweet corn
Carrots

Pork muscle
Pumpkin (or kabocha or butternut)

TBC...

Home recipes: chicken

2010-06-03T18:48:00.000+08:00

Marinade for grilled/roast/BBQ chicken

Premium dark soy sauce (generous amount to get a better colour)
Ginger juice (from freshly grated ginger)
Shaoxing rice wine
Sesame oil
Maggi seasoning
A generous amount of salt

You get the best results by marinating the chicken (whole or pieces) overnight. I like to salt my chicken really well, which also helps to produce a crisp skin. Alternatively, you could put less salt in the marinade, and brush on more salt before cooking - that should give you a crisp skin without the flesh becoming too salty.

Steamed chicken 蒸鸡

Chicken pieces, chopped small for faster cooking
Salt
Shaoxing rice wine
Sesame oil
Soy sauce (light and dark)
Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked, steamed and sliced thinly
Black fungus 云耳, soaked and sliced
Dried lily buds 金针, soaked, hard ends removed and knotted
Preserved large-rooted mustard 大头菜, julienned and soaked
Ginger, julienned
Spring onions to garnish

Season chicken with salt, wine, sesame oil and light soy sauce. A little dark soy sauce can be added for colour. Marinate for at least 3 hours.

Mix chicken with other ingredients and arrange on a large plate. A thin layer will ensure faster cooking. Steam. Half a chicken will take at least 20 minutes to cook (stir after 10 minutes).

Garnish with spring onions.

Ho See Fatt Choy (sounds like 好事发财 in Canto, thus eaten for CNY)

Chicken back, feet and fat
Dried shiitake (keep the stems if they are Japanese - will be tender enough to eat when cooked)
Ho see (dried oysters - bigger ones are better for braising)
Light soya sauce and salt
Water

Simmer chicken parts and fat, and mushrooms together with water and seasoning. The whole braising process will take about 3h. In the last hour, add oysters. Fatt choy can be added towards the end if you have it (add too early and it'll dissolve). Serve on top of veggie leaves (my grandma says lettuce but I guess cooked bakchoy will do too). If you want more chicken to eat, you can use chicken wings too.

Braised sea cucumber

Dried spiny sea cucumbers are the best, if you can afford them. Soak them overnight, then boil till they are soft enough to cut open. Scrape away as much of the innards as you can, then boil for an hour or so and scrape again. If it's still not clean, you'll need to repeat the process from soaking overnight onwards, till they are clean - the sea cucumber is dirty lil bugger! As you do this you have to be careful not to overcook them till they disintegrate. Braise the result with chicken, chicken feet and dried shiitake.

Scott Adams's 'Unified Theory of Everything Financial'

2010-06-02T16:34:00.001+08:00

Make a will
Pay off your credit cards
Get term life insurance if you have a family to support
Fund your 401k [like CPF/SRS] to the maximum
Fund your IRA [ditto] to the maximum
Buy a house if you want to live in a house and can afford it
Put six months worth of expenses in a money-market account
Take whatever money is left over and invest 70% in a stock index fund and 30% in a bond fund through any discount broker and never touch it until retirement
If any of this confuses you, or you have something special going on (retirement, college planning, tax issues), hire a fee-based financial planner, not one who charges a percentage of your portfolio

Investing rules to live by

2010-06-02T11:54:00.001+08:00

As I come to the end of Smarter Investing, I thought I would post some of the great lists and quotes from the book. The lists below pretty much summarise what the book is about.

This is a list of "eye-openers to get you thinking", from the introduction:

It is not too hard to be a great investor.
The market beats the 'average' investor.
The average investor is terrible at investing.
The market beats most professionals.
Industry costs are excessive.
Past performance tells you almost nothing.
Picking winners is hard.
Many will be poor in their retirements.
You can easily avoid these pitfalls.

In Chapter 2, he gives the reader 10 points of focus:

Make better evidence-based decisions.
Accept that higher returns come with more risk.
Spread your investments around.
Use history and research wisely.
Understand your portfolio.
Obsessively seek to minimise costs.
Try to keep your emotions in check.
Plan for inflation.
Understand the power of time.
Harness the power of compounding.

Chapter 3 has 20 tips for smarter investing:

Start investing now.
[Decide on your] investment period.
The mix of instruments is the most critical decision you will make.
[Use] rules of thumb for defining your mix.
Be conservative in your estimates of future returns.
Diversify using funds or equivalent baskets of instruments.
Don't try to beat the market, be the market.
Own the broad (total) equity market.
Own high-quality domestic bonds.
Reduce costs at all times.
Don't buy products you don't understand.
Beat the taxman -- legally of course.
[Use rules of thumb to decide] how much to contribute.
[Practise] lifecycle investing.
[Limit the] income [you take] from your portfolio.
Maintain the mix.
Stick with your mix through thick and thin and avoid chasing returns.
Don't look at your portfolio too often.
Avoid the noise.
Pay for truly independent advice if you need it.

Hale, T. (2009). Smarter investing. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.

Fighting cancer

2010-05-29T21:05:00.000+08:00

I've always believed that a healthy diet is one's first defence against diseases, but in recent years I've been consciously trying to eat disease-fighting foods regularly, and making sure my family does too. (Fibre was my previous focus, with success.)

After watching this video I read up on anti-angiogenesis and decided to focus on soya products and cooked tomatoes, both of which we do eat but probably not enough of. I'm happy to say that in recent years I've conquered my dislike of soya milk, and now like it best unsweetened. Tofu is delicious, especially cold Japanese tofu. The tofu they make in-house at Meidi-ya is superb and quite reasonably priced. Morinaga Longlife tofu is great if you want something on standby. With Meidi-ya delivery, I can have my regular fix without making the trip down. I also stocked up on tinned tomatoes (great for making puttanesca pasta sauce and yesterday I added it to a butternut stew with chickpeas) to help make up the minimum $50 purchase. For my order this week I added frozen edamame and natto. Can't say I'm a big fan of natto, but I'm sure I can learn to like it since I've liked most stinky foods (eventually).

I've also started the habit of brewing tea for the family every day after lunch. It's hard to drink hot tea in our recent weather, but a couple of ice cubes usually helps. According to the video tea of all varieties are beneficial, not just green.

On the whole, I think the evidence is clear that fruit and vegetables are far more beneficial, and sometimes I really wished I could turn vegetarian. I can't give up meat and seafood, but I can make sure they don't form the bulk of my diet. I've already started limiting my dairy intake, so I know I can do it.

Incidentally, I've modified my supplement regimen recently by adding beta-glucan to it. There is strong evidence that beta-glucan protects one against cancer, infection, allegic rhinitis and arthritis, and lowers cholesterol. This will replace acetylcysteine since I dislike swallowing too many pills. I will continue taking multi-vits and fish oil (another multi-purpose supplement).

Back to Blogger

2010-05-29T01:33:00.000+08:00

I've wanted to escape from Vox for quite some time now, but was put off by the fact that they don't allow export of blogs. I decided today that I don't care anymore. I've recently reached a turning point in my life, and this is as good a time as any to start an entirely new blog. Blogger has matured a lot since I was last here, so I'm happy to be back. My Vox will still exist, but it will no longer be active.

A Vesak Day update

2010-05-28T01:50:00.001+08:00

First posted on Vox.

I am doing 20 min daily on the crosstrainer now, and plan to increase it to 25 next week. It can get quite boring, so besides varying the programme, I also do a combination of forward, backward and handsfree "riding". I find it best to do it in the morning, but when I start work I don't know if I can motivate myself to do it after work.

I realise that I can't do the Fast-5 thing while lunching with family. Aside from the fact that I might freak my folks out, it really does inconvenience them. Must restart in July.

This week I finally have all the log-in info I need to make my virgin investments. Using CPF, I bought a lot each of STI ETF, A-REIT and PLife REIT. I can buy more, but I prefer to spread my money out and there's nothing else I can buy with my CPF money that I want. With cash, I bought 60 shares of Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF and 110 shares of iShares MSCI Europe ETF. Can't really afford anything more for now, so will buy the others on my list as my paycheques come in in the next couple of months.

Even though I have an investment strategy all planned out, the whys and wherefores didn't really crystalise until I started reading Tim Hale's Smarter Investing, which came in the post this week. I think this should be the very first investment book anybody reads, before they buy any insurance or bank product or shares or unit trusts. It's a very sobering read - who knew what a giant scam financial institutions run? Even with the recent crisis, I don't think people really understand where their money is going when they invest. This book isn't about making your fortune on the stock market, like the previous investment "classics" I bought, but about staying ahead of the game. It's not about developing an eye for winners, or for analysing charts to time the market. It's about working out a strategy based on historical data, so that you beat the odds. A very scientific, systematic way of going about it, but written for the newbie investor. I highly recommend this book for anybody who wants to ensure a comfortable retirement despite volatile markets.

Insurance plans I applied for this week are AIA Critical Protector Plus ($100k CI), AIA Glow of Life ($50k early-payout CI plan for women) and TM AsiaLife CancerCare ($200k early-payout for cancer-only CI). If they go through successfully, this gives me $350k CI coverage in addition to the $20k from my AIA WL plan. Due to strict underwriting, I have yet to settle the more urgent matter of an integrated shield plan. We'll see what happens in the next few weeks.

My Basic Theory Test is in late June, and I've already booked my first month of practical lessons in anticipation of passing it (fingers crossed). The lessons are costing me a small fortune, so I've reluctantly decided to put aside my plan to buy the HTC Desire. I also spent quite a bit on my Forex course and an IPL package at Regina. Fortunately, I do have pay coming in from UniSIM and Curtin in June.

Health and money matters aside, I'm trying to rev up my social life. This is actually harder work! It's so hard to find interest groups that allow you to meet new people. Last night, I attended a meetup for folks who want to speak or learn Cantonese, and it was actually quite fun, but active groups like these are on the rare side. Or maybe my interests are just too limited. I welcome all suggestions as long as they don't include SDN and similar. The thought of attending an event expressly to find a potential mate is just too scary!

Birthday update

2010-05-23T01:48:00.004+08:00

First posted on Vox.

This birthday I feel is more meaningful than the last because it comes as I'm trying to change the way I live. Specifically, actively controlling my finances and health.

In the case of finances, I'm almost ready to make my virgin investments (just waiting for my account passwords). The euro situation is making me nervous, but I keep reminding myself that I never intended to time the market anyway. I've also done a lot of reading up on insurance policies in the past week, and have determined a strategy for maximising my CI coverage (my biggest worry) without paying too much. It's still a hefty cut of my salary, though. Now it's just up to the underwriters.

For my health, I succeeded in doing my version of Fast-5 (eating in a 6h window instead) from Monday to Friday this past week. I hope to see results soon. I read that most people lose inches before they lose weight, which I'm looking forward to! It might take awhile since I give myself a break at the weekend. I'm also very happy today to do 20min straight on the crosstrainer today (over 4km, approx 100 calories). I hope to gradually improve till I can do 30min without killing myself.

Day one of Fast-5 (or 6)

2010-05-17T02:00:00.000+08:00

First posted on Vox.

Today I attended a Terraseeds workshop with a friend from a previous intake of their forex course. It was mostly about online channels of communication between trainers and trainees, so I wasn't too lost. Forums, Twitter and FB are all things that I'm very familiar with. After the workshop I paid for the next intake, which is in June. It's on the pricy side, so I hope I make it back eventually!

After that I deposited my Income bonus cheque and opened an SRS account. By then my eating window had opened (3pm) and I was slightly shaky with hunger. I didn't have much of an appetite, though, so I had sugarless soya milk and a couple of buns from Toastbox. As I write this I'm feeling more normal, and will do my 15 min workout before dinner.

My AIA agent (a neighbour that we approached) called to say that my ILP application had gone through. Which made it quite embarrassing to tell her I don't want it anymore. She'll come over in a few days to discuss other term insurance plans they have to offer, as well as the early-payout CI plan I'm interested in. For my healthshield plan, the underwriter wants to exclude "generative organs" despite my recent ultrasound that proved everything is fine! This underwiter is giving me problems again :( My agent will appeal - hopefully she succeeds.

Turning my life around

2010-05-17T01:00:00.002+08:00

First posted on Vox.

So in the last few weeks I've been thinking about my health, both physical and financial. I want to have a long and comfortable life, and realised I couldn't leave it up to chance. It occurred to me today that blogging would be a good way to chart my progress.

Health
I came to the realisation that there's no point paying the big bucks to clubs and gyms, simply because I find dragging myself there a deterrence. The solution is not to give myself any excuse NOT to exercise. I also realised that doing it daily is the only way to keep myself disciplined.

I started off my regimen by climbing the stairs. I actually like this because it's simple, free and out of the sun. It's an excellent cardio workout. I take the lift to the void deck (I only go up, never down, to save my knees), climb up to the top floor (12th), go back down, and come up the other staircase to my floor (8th). Great returns for very little time.

I also needed alternatives at home, so I started to think of equipment. I got Wong Lilin's Loopz (basically a resistance band with loops), and some yoga stuff (blocks, belt, books). I also decided to invest in a second-hand home gym machine. At first, I was ready to go for a treadmill, but then read about how noisy it was, plus a good one that lasts costs a few thou. I never liked running anyway, and always thought treadmills were dumb. My favourite machine at the gym was always the crosstrainer, so why not get one? It's quiet, doesn't use much electricity and is low-impact. I found a nice Kettler going for half-price ($750) on local eBay, and with the help of an extremely kind friend, carted it home. It's a bit creaky, but Kettler will do maintenance for free before the end of the warranty period this month. My mum enjoys it too, and we are starting off with 15 minutes a day with a resistance interval programme. I would like to do 30 minutes daily by the time I start work.

The other goal I have is to bring my weight down to an ideal BMI (between 41 to 51kg). I have to lose at least 3kg, and never having been a dieter, don't really know where to start. Today I remembered an article I read about calorie restriction, which studies show improves your health dramatically, but is also quite hard to do on a daily basis. What many people are doing instead is intermittent fasting (IF). The easiest programme for me I think would be something like Fast-5, where you eat only during a 5-hour window everyday. I have always found it hard to eat breakfast consistently and late lunches I've had enough to know I can take it. I plan to start with a 6-hour window, with 3-9pm being ideal. I can't see myself giving up my morning coffee (black with a little sugar), though, and I'll probably break the rules on weekends. I'm really aiming for the long-term health benefits here, but the weight loss is a real plus.

Finance
I've always had a very short-term approach to finance, which seems odd coming from the daughter of parents who worked in banks most of their lives. I've always been pressured to be frugal, but never taught financial management as such. I actually think this is a skill that ought to be taught to kids as soon as they are old enough to understand, so that they don't develop bad spending habits like I did.

The first thing to do was to settle my insurance. I was frustrated with AIA last year and let my applications lapse, but this year I went for the required medical examination and hopefully AIA finds it sufficient. The most important thing I want to add to my current life insurance plans is as-charged health insurance. On top of that I was going to take an ILP, but have second thoughts now. Maybe I'll get an early-payout CI plan instead.

After visiting various websites and forums, I decided that I want to be primarily a passive investor, using Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). I am especially inspired by this blogger, and will be using his portfolio as a guide to developing my own. When I first decided to trade, I opened accounts with various stockbrokers, but having compared them carefully will stick with POEMS for SGX and Saxo for foreign markets. My goal is to invest about $20k yearly in equities, drawing both from cash and CPF-OA. Cash investments should be drawn from my SRS account when possible, so that I can pay less tax. I was ready to deal with bond ladders for my fixed income, but decided in the end that using my CPF-SA would be a good stand-in for now.

At the same time I also need to save for my doctorate, since there's no guarantee I'll be able to get sponsorship. This $12k yearly can be parked in a money market fund, which gives me a better interest rate than my bank, while providing liquidity and low risk.

It's going to be bloody hard, having so little to spend a month. I suppose it's just as well that 5 days a week I'm going to be stranded in the campus Far Far Away, where there is no real shopping to be had. The institution apparently doesn't believe in AWS, so I can't depend on that and bonuses for savings. I'm going to have to be very disciplined.

The last thing I want to do is to find an additional source of income. Previously, I got that by doing more of the same thing I do everyday, which is incredibly draining. I thought of freelance editing, but that is tiring work too, and a little too close to my real job. I'm going to try forex trading, having been inspired by a friend. If I have the right temperament for it, it could be a very nice change of pace. The initial investment in training is a bit daunting, but education is never a bad thing.

Another thing I'm doing for my financial health is to focus on discounts and rebates for credit cards, and forget about reward points, which I find hard to use most of the time. I've cancelled the cards I never use anymore (so that I don't have to bug them about annual fee waivers), and will concentrate my spending on the UOB One card when I get it. I think it has the best rebate programme of all the cards out there. Every cent saved is another cent for my nest egg!