Dividends for Dec 2024 - Towards 5k a month

Here are my dividends for Dec 2024:

                                    

So I collected $3,177.71 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

                                

For the year 2024, my average monthly dividends per month is now $2,514.39 - I hit my 1st target of getting 2.5k a month!. 

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

                         

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 $766.15 in interest payments this month.

Also, in this month I made $78.30 from my side hustle - Grabfood delivery. For the whole year, I made $567.80 doing food delivery. Overall, its great fun!

All in, I made $4,022.16 this month from dividends, interest, food delivery.

Onwards!   

  

Wrapping up my 19th month of Financial Independence

I just finished my 19th month of FI (Financial Independence) in Dec 2024.

Below is what I ate and did for fun, and a record of my expenses.

Eating

Christmas season so ate Hot Tomato

SIA food! The potatoes were really good.

Oxtail soup in Korea.

The highlight of this meal was the rice. Not too dry, not too soggy, very chewy.

Scallops! In Busan.

Some fancy restaurant with artisan dishes in Busan. 

Abalone rice.

More abalones in Jeju Island!

                                                    

Top it off with cake.

And ice cream snow dessert.

And coffee.

Fun

Vivaldi Ski Resort in Korea.

Nice ski slopes.

Busan. Leaves are still red even though it is Dec.

Mound in temple.

Busan.

Gamecheon village Busan.

Busan beach. I think Busan has better beach, though Jeju locals tell me otherwise.

Expenses

 

Eating Out Target: $650

Eating Out Actual: $864.63 (Dec holidays so ate more)

Household Target: $600

Household Actual: $1,242.11 (Bought a new washer dryer)

Travel Target: $100

Travel Actual: $66.07

Entertainment Target: $50

Entertainment Actual: $36

Personal Target: $250

Personal Actual: $1,002.84 (Wedding angbao)

Even though I busted the monthly budgets for some months, for the entire year, I did not bust my annual budget.

In fact, I underspent my yearly budget by $4,731.13. I will save this for a rainy day, when I need to spend more on household items.

For the record, also will like to add that I earned $567.80 doing my side hustle (food delivery) in 2024.

Onwards to the next month of FI! 

Author's note: I was pondering whether it is worth the time to write share these stuff.  In the end, I decided to continue this series for a while more, as it serves as a good record of my life at this point of time and how I manage my money.  

How much do I have in stocks? | Financial Snapshot - Dec 2024

This is a snapshot of my finances at the end of 2024.

Naturally, I do not want to disclose too many details or my net worth, the amount I have in banks, etc. so I will just share the following:

Not included in the above are bank savings, insurance policies, CPF, SRS, etc. The above is just the amount of stocks and cash in my stock brokerage accounts, the stocks in my BCIP, SRS, and Robo-advisor accounts, and the current bonds I am holding. Since I have worked in the US before, I have also added my 401K and Wealthfront investments to the above. Cryptocurrencies are NOT included in the Stocks portfolio.

 

For 2024 my stocks increased only 1.38% from last year. I think this is partly because I rotated some of my stocks into bonds (note my Bonds increased 32.64% YOY). Also, I no longer have extra cash to pump into Stocks.

Here's a visualization of the Stocks (SGD) and Bonds (SGD) over the years:

Onwards!

Portfolio Returns for Dec 2024

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

Here are the movements for this month. My cryptocurrency portfolio has surpassed the returns of my USA portfolio.

                                

The same chart as above but converted to a column chart.

For the Robo-Advisors, it did go up again this month. However, Syfe Reit+ crashed below positive again! This is because Trump is re-elected as US President, and his policies are thought to be inflationary. As such, the Fed will likely have to maintain high interest rates for longer period of time, which is bad for REITs. 

The same chart as above but converted to a column chart.

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 7.7% but is still too high. 

                                

In terms of market events, the Fed hinted at only 2 rate cuts in 2025 instead of the anticipated 4. This caused markets to drop. I think the next big event that will impact the market is Trump's inauguration on Jan 20, 2025.

Dividends for Nov 2024 - Towards 5000 a month

Here are my dividends for Nov 2024:

                                    

So I collected $1,233.08 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

                                

I have already surpassed my total yearly dividends in the previous year of 2023. 

For the year 2024, my average monthly dividends per month is now $2,454.09. 

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

                         

I plan to first receive $2500, 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 $693.05 in interest payments this month.

Yes! I have signed up for Chocolate Finance! If you need a referral link, please feel free to use my link:

https://share.chocolate.app/nxW9/nmo6sfup

Also, in this month I made $148.10 from my side hustle - Grabfood delivery.

I see a lot of benefits doing delivery:

• Exercise
• Earn kopi money
• Discover new places if I were to do delivery outside of my usual neighbourhood
• Charity - any tips that I receive, I donate to charity

Overall, its great fun!

Onwards!   

 

Wrapping up my 18th Month of Financial Independence

I just finished my 18th month of FI (Financial Independence) in Nov 2024.

Below is what I ate and did for fun, and a record of my expenses.

Eating

Some fancy stuff I ate at a fancy restaurant. The taste was OK. 

My usual avocado home-cooked meal.

Went for a day trip to JB!

Nice Kopi in JB Jalan Tan Hiok Nee cafe street.

Fun

A simple month where I spent quality time with the kids.

Bishan Park! Went cycling there with my kid.

Lovely Bishan Park with lots of wildlife.

Have a slot to go cycling around Toa Payoh while my kid goes for a birthday party.

Spent a whole day doing Grabfood! Started here...

And ended up here (Lavender).

Went to Ghibli Studio exhibit at Art Science Museum.

Went to Ghibli Studio exhibit at Art Science Museum.

Expenses

In terms of expenses, all green this month!

 

Eating Out Target: $650

Eating Out Actual: $736.42 (Not sure why exceeded cos no major family celebrations this month, maybe eat too much Sushiro. Or it could also be I cooked less due to my kid at home for school holidays so have to buy lunch for her.)

Household Target: $600

Household Actual: $148.09

Travel Target: $100

Travel Actual: $6.25

Entertainment Target: $50

Entertainment Actual: $31.50

Personal Target: $250

Personal Actual: $424.27 (Bought a gift for my wife and took the flu vaccine)

Onwards to the next month of FI! 

 

My Monthly Passive Income - Nov 2024

Sharing my passive income for the year 2024:

                                

Basically, I am collecting $3,502.22 in passive income monthly this year, compared to $3,101.26 last year.

This is cumulative sum from stocks, bonds, ETFs, SSB, TBills, fixed deposits, bank deposits, MMF.   

Here's what it looks like on a chart:

Any increase is good.

Onwards!