Wrapping up my 26th month of Financial Independence [FI]

I just finished my 26th month of FI (Financial Independence) in July 2025.

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

Eating

Classic but nice.

Assam fish is hard to find nowadays.

Zi Char yummy tofu.

Zi Char long beans.

Zi Char lotus root.

Zi Char crispy chicken.

Zi Char prawn rolls.

Mini-cakes.

My usual home-cooked avocado meal.

Fun

Went to watch NDP rehearsal fireworks! Boy, was it crowded! Seems many have a similar idea.

Expenses (Discretionary only)

All within budget this month. CDC vouchers helped. 

 

Eating Out Target: $650

Eating Out Actual: $629.05

Household Target: $600

Household Actual: $259.58

Travel Target: $100

Travel Actual: $76.70

Entertainment Target: $50

Entertainment Actual: $35

Personal Target: $250

Personal Actual: $220.20

Onwards to the next month of FI! 

  

 

Portfolio returns for Aug 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 an upward tick across most of my portfolios. 

                             

For the Robo-Advisors, also an upward trend across all my portfolios. It's interesting how correlated/aligned the Stashaway General Investing and Endowus General Wealth Acc funds are. 

                                            

Additionally, I think it will be interesting to see the breakdown of my portfolios in percentages (below). 

                                  

Market trends from the last 30 days:

• The S&P 500 rallied strongly, gaining around 8% since June, surpassing early April lows—and marking nearly 30% up from those levels
  
  
• Investor optimism grew about possible interest rate cuts in September, helping lift stocks early in the month
  
  
• For Singapore, the trade tariffs are fixed at 10% and seem non-negotiable (for now)
  
  
• The US-China trade truce has been extended for another 90 days

• As of the last 2 days, there has been a meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, where they sketched the first skeleton of a path towards ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Hopefully, peace will prevail soon
  
  
• The war in Gaza is still ongoing, with much famine and suffering

Onwards to a better future for everyone! 

Learning to Code changed my Life (and Finances)

When I was growing up, coding wasn’t something kids were commonly exposed to. Unlike many young people today who learn to code in school or through YouTube tutorials, my first encounter with programming was during university, in my electrical engineering course.

To my surprise, it quickly became one of the most fascinating subjects I had ever taken. There was something magical about writing lines of code and seeing them come to life—doing exactly what I envisioned. For the first time, I felt like I had unlocked a new kind of power: the power to build, automate, and create from scratch.

But it wasn’t just fun. Learning to code turned out to be one of the most financially rewarding skills I’ve ever picked up.

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Coding as a Doorway to Opportunity

With coding under my belt, I found myself stepping into fields I never imagined—data science, automation, and eventually, artificial intelligence and machine learning. These aren’t just trendy buzzwords. They represent industries filled with opportunities, high demand, and, yes, excellent pay.

And the best part? You don’t need to be a genius or get straight A’s to get started. Coding, like financial freedom, is a journey. What matters most is your willingness to start and keep going.

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Logical Thinking = Better Decisions

Even if you don’t end up working in tech, learning to code teaches you how to think in a structured, logical, and problem-solving way. This kind of mindset is incredibly valuable—not just in software development, but in managing money, running a business, or making career decisions.

Coding teaches you how to break down complex problems, find patterns, and test solutions. These are exactly the same skills you need to budget effectively, invest wisely, and build wealth over time.

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A Path Toward Financial Freedom

I started this blog to help others achieve financial freedom, and I firmly believe that learning to code can be part of that path.

• Want to freelance or start a side hustle? Coding can help.

• Want to automate boring tasks and save time? Coding can help.

• Want to increase your earning potential and explore remote work? Coding can help.

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It All Starts with Coding

So here’s my advice: If you’re young, start learning to code today. If you’re not so young, start anyway. You don’t need to become the next Mark Zuckerberg—you just need to open the door and walk through it.

Because when you gain the ability to build something from scratch, solve problems creatively, and understand how the digital world works, you’ve already taken a major step toward financial freedom.

And for me? It all started with coding.

On the meaning of retirement and finding joy in work

I saw 2 pieces of news that provided pretty good life advice recently. 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/today/up-close/sg60-retired-engineer-entrepreneur-outdoors-5279566

The article above talks about this engineer who worked punishing hours and left his semiconductor job at the age of 54.

Then, he launched his home-based food business, and another one organising outdoor adventure programs for schools and companies.

It sounds like he is busier than ever. Is he considered 'retired' then?

According to him, he is considered 'retired':

"I decided I wanted to do something else. The concept of retirement is that you get to do something that you like … you don't totally retire (from employment) but you get to do what you like, so it doesn't feel like a job," he said.

This is an interesting thought. If that is the case, I believe many who enjoy their job can be considered 'retired' as well. Some folks come to mind, such as Warren Buffett. As he said, he has probably never worked a day in his life, he has been retired since his 20s lol.

From Warren Buffett:

“if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life”

The second is DPM Gan Kim Yong's dialogue at the SG60 IPS-SBF conference: 

A question was posed to DPM Gan that went like this:

You have a very demanding job. On social media, we see two variations of your post. One is where you are flying somewhere for work. Another is where you are meeting your residents at MPS. How do you think this is sustainable? And what does it take to attract talents to do this very demanding job you are doing right now?

His answer:

I think the key really is that you must enjoy what you're doing.

When I visit countries, I enjoy meeting people and getting to understand their thinking. I always find it fascinating to discover that their ways of thinking can be very different from our own. When you meet Americans, for example, you begin to understand their psyche, their approach, and why they do certain things. When you understand their reasons—the rationale behind their actions—you compare it with your own perspective, and you realize the differences. Sometimes, these differences are very enlightening. They help you better understand how to deal with them and how to cooperate with them.

It’s not just Americans; every country is different. So when I visit countries, beyond going to expos and visiting our pavilion, I find meeting people and discovering their perspectives to be very exciting.

In Punggol, for instance, there’s a different approach. When I spend time there, I always treat it as spending time with my friends. In the evenings, I’m sure you also go out with your friends—have dinner, engage in activities, and do things you enjoy. Similarly, whenever I go down to visit my residents in Punggol, I treat it as visiting my friends, having dinner with them, and doing house visits as though I were visiting a friend’s home.

In that way, you get to know your friends better. You enjoy doing it and look forward to it. You don’t feel tired, because just like going out with friends at night, it energizes you. If you take that approach, you’ll find it more sustainable—not in the carbon emissions sense, but sustainable in terms of your interest and engagement.

If you look at it as just a job, you’ll get tired and burn out quickly. When we do these things, we need to approach them with genuine interest. You must really like doing them. That way, when you wake up in the morning, you’re excited: “Oh, I’m going to do this and that today.” But if you wake up thinking, “Oh no, I have to do this and that today,” it becomes very hard to even get out of bed.

So I encourage all of us to take a positive approach to whatever we do, so that we enjoy it and can sustain it in the long term.

In other words, try to find joy in what you do—don’t just treat it as a job. Inherently, this also means you need to find work that aligns with your personality. If meeting people drains you, it’s best to choose a role that minimizes such interactions. On the other hand, if engaging with others energizes you, look for opportunities that involve collaboration, relationship-building, and community engagement. The better the fit between your personality and your work, the more naturally you’ll sustain enthusiasm and avoid burnout.

I find what DPM Gan said above quite surprising, actually. How can the MPS session possibly be similar to meeting friends?? Those people come with their problems, you have to listen to their problems and think of solutions. If you can't solve their problems, they won't be happy. There is definitely stress involved. I don't think meeting friends involves such a situation. I think ordinary people will be burnt out after just one session. 

Blessed are those who are able to find the job they like, for their work will become a source of joy, not just a means of survival.

Dividends for Jul 2025 - Towards 5k a month

Here are my dividends for Jul 2025:

                                    

So I collected $4,472.56 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:

Already surpassed the yearly dividends from 3 years ago.

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

                         

The value for 2025 is just based on 7 data points though, and it may 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:

                                        

Also, in this month I made $18.70 from my side hustle - Grabfood delivery. 

All in, I made $5,182.43 this month from dividends, interest, food delivery.

Onwards!