On the impact of GST by Prof. Paul Tambyah

I heard a rather interesting point about GST by Prof. Paul Tambyah at his rally:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ormN-qUD46M 

Go to 2:31:50.

I quote him below:

The whole thing about GST is that it is really a regressive tax*.

The median income in Singapore is about 11,000 and the average household in Singapore spends about 6000 in Singapore for routine expenses.

So 6000 you pay 9% GST it ends up about 530 dollars, and that is actually 4.7% of your income. 

In contrast, you take the average minister earns 128,000. 

Even assuming he spends a luxurious lifestyle, spending 5 time that of the average Singaporean, 30000 a month, they still pay only 2600 in GST and this represents only 2% of their income. 

So basically what I'm trying to say with all that math is that the average person pays a far higher proportion of their income in GST than a high income person like a minister, and this is clearly unjust. 

And this is what we are trying to do, which is to get rid of GST for essential items and to bring the GST down to at least 7%, maybe 5%.

And we have done our sums - the actual savings or the reduction in income is actually even less than the budget surplus that has been projected now.

This is a rather fresh point for me, since all I've heard so far about GST is that the PAP's view that the GST taxes the rich by taxing people if they spend more. 

However, this view omits the high income of the rich. It will be a more substantial analysis if the high incomes of the rich are factored into the analysis. 

Going by his logic above, I ran the numbers in my spreadsheet and his numbers are correct ie. the average household does pay a higher percentage of their household income in GST compared to the ultra-high-earners (almost double).

What if we reduce the GST to 5%? While GST payment is definitely reduced, the problem I mentioned above is still there. In terms of percentage of income, the ultra-high-earners still pay half that of the average household. 

Now then, for this to be fairer, such that the ultra-high-earners pay as much as or more in terms of the percentage of their household income in GST, how much more should they pay if not 5 times more?

It turns out they need to spend 12 times more than the average household (see below), or 72k a month.

In other words, ultra-high-earners need to spend 72k a month for GST to hit them as hard as for the average household.

Granted, we are not living in a fair world. 

*What is a regressive tax?
A regressive tax is a type of tax where lower-income individuals pay a higher percentage of their income compared to higher-income individuals.[ChatGPT]

Portfolio Returns for Apr 2025

I felt it would be good to track the returns regularly since they fluctuate frequently depending on the stock market.

Here are the movements for this month. There is a general decline across all my portfolios due to Trump's Liberation Day tariffs.

                                

For the Robo-Advisors, there is a general decline across all 3 of my robo-advisors as well. This is because there is increasing talk that the impact of Trump's tariffs will drive the US into a recession.

                      

Additionally, I think it will be interesting to see the breakdown of my portfolios in percentages (below). There is a component 'X' which I do not want to disclose for now. The concentration of 'X' is now 4.4% but is still too high. 

​In April 2025, financial markets experienced notable volatility, influenced by both economic indicators and political developments.​

Market Performance:

• The S&P 500 declined by 1.5% during the week ending April 17, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 2.7% and 2.6%, respectively.​Investopedia

• Year-to-date, the Dow and S&P 500 have decreased by 8% and 10%, respectively, with the Nasdaq experiencing a nearly 16% drop.​Investopedia

President Trump's Actions:

• President Trump announced "Liberation Day" tariffs on April 2, imposing a 10% baseline tariff on all imports, with higher rates for specific countries. This move aimed to address trade deficits but led to concerns about a global trade war and contributed to market instability.​Wikipedia+1New York Magazine+1

• Trump is considering removing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, citing disagreements over interest rate policies. Such a move could impact the Fed's independence and market confidence.​Reuters

• In foreign policy, Trump indicated that the U.S. might withdraw from mediating the Russia-Ukraine conflict if progress stalls. Reports also suggest he is contemplating recognizing Crimea as Russian territory, a stance that could have significant geopolitical implications.

Also in this month I saw this on the TV:

Inspired by the above, I decided to keep a record of the wild swings of my portfolios:

 

Dividends for Mar 2025 - Towards 5k a month

Here are my dividends for Mar 2025:

                                    

So I collected $3,010.58 in dividends for this month. 

 
In case you are wondering, some stocks are repeated because I have 2 brokerage accounts.

Here are my monthly dividends over the last 6 years:

                                 

Here are the dividends I collected every year until the current day

                                

Here is the progress of my average monthly dividends over the years:

                         

The value for 2025 is just based on three data points though, and it should decline as we get more data points.

I plan to first receive $2500 (achieved), then finally $5000 in dividends every month on average.

Additionally, I share the interest I received from the various banks for the deposits in this month:

                                        

So I collected $317.41 in interest payments this month. I didn't hit the criteria for the UOB bonus interest this month. It was a screw-up on my part. Salary was transferred using FAST instead of the required Giro transfer. It is totally my mistake and I need to make sure it won't happen again. 

Also, in this month I made $46.40 from my side hustle - Grabfood delivery. 

All in, I made $3,374.39 this month from dividends, interest, food delivery.

Onwards!   

     

Trying out a new investment strategy: Solo Leveling

I'm trying out a new investment strategy.

I figured that DCA meant buying at regular intervals of time. How about buying at regular differences in price?

Let me explain,  it works like this. Say you want to set up a portfolio in QQQ. I will buy first round when price drops to 90% from the all-time high ie. QQQ is in correction mode. Further when price drops to 88% from the ATH, buy another round. Similarly, buy when price drops to 86%, 84%, 82%, 80%, ... and so on until 70% of ATH. 

I have been trying out this method the last few days. I didn't manage to catch all the levels but below were the levels that I caught:

How big is each round? First you need to know how much cash on hand you want to deploy. Then since there are 11 levels, simply divided the cash by 11. That will be how much you can deploy each round. 

Is this better than DCA? I think so, because with DCA, you won't be able to catch the bottom unless you are incredibly lucky. With the above method, you might be able to catch somewhere near the bottom. After all, 70% from ATH is a HUGE drop. The disadvantage of this method with respect to DCA is that you need to do more work, which is you need to monitor the price. 

I call this method solo leveling, since you are supposed to catch all the levels. 

Let time tell whether this method works or not. 

Anyway, based on current market price of QQQ which is 466, I am already in profit ... for now. 

Update: As of 11 Apr 2025 SGT, I just cleared another level - 443.50, which is 82% of the ATH. 

FI Status after 2 years of FI [Financial Independence]

I have achieved FI status in Mar 2023:

https://financeopti.blogspot.com/2023/03/breaking-free-i-have-achieved-financial.html

Now it is timely to re-evaluate whether I am still FI.

I did my spreadsheets and arrived at the following:

                            

As long as the cell in the red box is negative, I am FI. 

I will do this analysis at the beginning of every quarter. 

From the above, it seems I am still FI. 

I have also attached a chart showing the % change in my total investable assets over the years.

                        

For this quarter Q1 2025, total investable assets decreased. This is due to the volatility and uncertainty of Trump's tariffs. Time will tell when this volatility will play out.