My Pitiful Returns from my Investment Linked Policy after 17 Years

So I recently terminated my Investment Linked Policy (ILP), in order to provide $$$ during my upcoming sabbatical. 

This ILP was started 17 years ago when I was still a young man.

From time to time I recorded the surrender value and how much I paid thus far, in order to figure out the returns. The returns here are calculated using the fv() function in Google Sheet and is equivalent to CAGR or time-weighted rate of return. 

The maximum return was only 4% in 2018!!

What is more, during the Covid-19 recession of 2020 the returns were 0%.

The returns were disappointing, to say the least. Hence I decided to terminate the policy while the returns were still positive at 1.9%.

This is also taking into account that there is more and more talk of an upcoming recession in 2023, such as those below:

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/04/14/singapore-cant-avoid-a-recession-economist-says-.html

https://www.straitstimes.com/business/ceos-delay-and-halt-investments-expect-upcoming-recession-survey

I will also share something which I believe is a totally inadequate effort on Income's part. In the portal, they only shared the simple returns but not the time-weighted returns. This is totally inadequate. Folks not versed in finance will believe their returns are great from the below, which shows 20.98%. They will think: Oh! Better than bank returns! That is wonderful!

In actual fact, after taking into account compounding effects, the returns are merely 1.9%...

Also, I looked at the performance of the fund versus its benchmark:

It says 10-year returns are 7.21% since inception returns are 5.96%. Incredulous! No idea where these numbers come from. Likely it is before fees are deducted. I certainly didn't get these returns with my hard-earned money, I only got 1.9% after 17 years.

Taking a Gap Year

This article popped up in my feed today:

https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-to-career-break-gap-year-resume-gaps-2023-4

I think it is worth a read.

The author has always wanted to write a book. She tried doing it while she was working, but could not manage due to other commitments such as family, work, etc. She summed it up best in:

Unfortunately, I just couldn't find the discipline to also be a good writer. And so, I felt like I needed to not be working at my job anymore. 

Finally, she made her decision:

I decided to prioritize my family and my dream of writing, and I handed in my notice in December 2022. 

Three months into her gap year, she quipped:

The pace of my day is so much slower now, and the freedom of that is shocking. I hadn't realized how much tension I'd been holding in.

I feel this pretty much mirrors my situation as well, except I have more things I want to do than her. 

Sometimes once you have prepared all you can, you just have to take a leap of faith. 

Take risks, dream big. 

Dividends for Mar 2023 [Financial Independence]

  Here are my dividends for Mar 2022:

So I collected $1,465.60 in dividends for Mar 2023. 

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

Here are my monthly dividends over the last 5 years:

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

Onwards!