[23]class reunion: why salary still relevant2frree

When I told Stephen.Y and YY.T that I can retire based on my savings + NNIA, what they don’t know is my salary now and in the foreseeable future. This is the invisible elephant in the room.

Q: Mathematically, my current salary is an irrelevant term in the retirement equation, in which the income side consists solely of NNIA. So why is current salary relevant, and highly relevant.

A: my current salary remains a huge factor affecting my motivation to continue working  — hardworking vs semi-retired vs fully retired. This decision is very relevant to my ex-classmates and cohort until we turn 60.

A: If they come to know that my income is 3k vs 30k, then this data immediately anchors their perceptions of my current burn rate and “quality of life”. They would have some idea about my “retirement equation” amounts.

A: As I told each audience, my ffree is mathematically barebones, based on a conserver lifestyle. Therefore, each month when I get a pay cheque, it /strengthens/ my nest egg and elevates my ffree “high ground”.

Attachment to salary? Impermanence? Indeed as we age, we would gradually lose income (similar to losing libido, erection, flexibility,,,) so income is not something to cling on to. In contrast, I think it’s more strategic to cling on to exployability, devTill70, family bonding, guaranteed NNIA,,,

ez2hit high return but..Sustainable@@ #luck #w1r3

MOETF return is likely lower than Buffett, which is likely no better than sp500
Do I envy those with higher annual returns? Typically we are seeing BTC or growth stock investors.

——

See also

  1. ##hot^beloved asset classes 喜新厌旧
  2. MOETF: lower return than SP500 likely which points to beatIndex^absReturn: choose your goals
  3. j4 MOETF #w1r4

Background: I often feel my MOETF “system” is under fire when lots of fellow investors seem to make higher returns either quickly or over a short few years. Are their returns sustainable?

It’s crazy to use (realized or unrealized) return alone to compare 2 portfolios, ignoring quality of return, fundamentals, crashes, and variouis risks (liquidity risk, credit risk, investor sentiment risk). Buffett’s portfolio probably shows better risk-adjusted return than sp500.

I would say if the investor pockets the realized profit and stand aside with detachment, then she is wiser than most. But such wise investors are rare.

Some investors make “enough” (like USD 2M) and then scale back risk capital level to $100k .. “cash out n quit”.  But such ungreedy investors are rare if under age 60.

— jolt: sustainable if buy-n-forget→ sleep]peace, focus@work. With high growth investments (including BTC), can you sleep in peace?

— jolt: Intern… Learning is an absolutely essential process (takes years) before people can have reason to believe your high return is sustainable.
There are various types of knowledge/experience to learn. Here I tend to think of EE/AA.

If higher return were sustainable without substantial learning and risk analysis, then this would be similar to an arbitrage or a Ponzi scheme.

— jolt: arbitrage or Ponzi/pump-n-dump
Q: deep down, do you really believe your SP500 ETF would show compound return at least 8% a year for the next 40Y, with at most one negative year in any 5Y window? I think many respected publication assume just that.

If you believe it, then to you this represents an arbitrage or Ponzi scheme. You should really borrow money to the max and invest in SP500 ETF.

— jolt: diversification .. A related perception is “To beat the broad SP500 index, you will need higher concentration on growth stocks.” — this perception is very dangerous. Look at Shopee. High-risk-high-return.

Diversify to international stocks .. is a recommendation for U.S. stock investors. However, if you allocate 30% this way, usually it would reduce your portfolio average return.

— eg: hot growth stock investors … even index investors can hit higher return than my div-centric MOETF system.
— eg: personal xp: 1997 commodity trading .. return too high. My agent said 18% a month. Clearly unsustainable.
leveraged trading !
— eg: dot-com boom-n-bust .. https://www.fool.com/investing/best-warren-buffett-quotes.aspx says “I can’t think of another period of time when it was easier to make money in the stock market. ”
— eg: bccy.. I think the believers of growth stocks would also consider cryptocurrencies (Zhang Jun?), even though they recognize the fundamental differences between bitcoin and growth stocks in terms of economic value.
— eg: leverage .. some investors even borrow money to trade stocks. With $100k capital, they get to trade $200k and hit higher returns on capital
— eg: xp of many non-US investors .. newbies tend to lose money in stock-picking outside the U.S. I guess this is worse with growth stocks. In contrast, index investing looks like safer.

cpfLife strength against inflation@@ 2phase analysis

As of 2021, my default retirement destination is Singapore ( roaming_retirement as a viable 2nd option). So there’s a real, valid question, raised at the recent DBS seminar:

Q: is CPF-life payout sufficient against Singapore inflation

My fundamental stance — I’m betting on Singapore government to manage inflation and sustain CPF-life pay out.

— Phase 1: now till 65 — Government bumps up ERS amount by about 3% annually to match inflation.
I’m basically confident to meet ERS, perhaps by liquidating some property assets.

— Phase 2: from 65 to my twilight years — Vance Chhoa pointed out that monthly payout amount won’t increase year after year and will suffer from erosive inflation.

Given that I plan to live 30 years in Phase 2, this erosion will be significant.

Basically I choose to put it out of mind for now. I will surely think about it in the future. No hurry.

See recreational_investing_for_retirees and MOETF

##which midclass aspiration ≠ LG2

So far, all the bposts on this broad topic (..) have called out aspirations that are non-consequential:

  • branded college
  • SDXQ
  • spacious new home with a view
  • car ownership
  • overseas vacations

Q: Is there one middle-class aspiration that I do subscribe to?
A: here are some choices. Not sure which ONE I would pick.

  1. a safer car
  2. orthodontics, skin surgery
  3. wife staying home? Common among the upper class, but some lower-class families also have this pattern.
  4. safe, conducive school and Safe, clean street? No. This is not just for middle-class
  5. yoga classes

%%big-ticket outlays: 55-65

This analysis applies to any amount I transfer to wife’s CPF-SA.

If between 55 and 65 I were to top up $100k to RA to earn 4% interest, that amount is locked in and can’t be spent on “anything”, but is there anything to need that $100k? If nothing, then who cares? After 65 I would start receiving CPF-life payout from that $100k.

— U.S. home purchase or property investment?

— college funding?

— Medical cost?

— cumulative repair costs in U.S., which tend to be much higher than SG

Is my eq/bond investment skill improv`@@ #R.xia

— some areas of visible improvements

  • focus on div yield, not windfall appreciation. See mail to Ashish on 2 Oct.
  • usage of limit orders
  • usage of zero-commission broker
  • experience with high-yield Reits
  • experience with name-brand vs unknown stocks

In Nov 2014 (email below) I set a target of SGD300/month cash payout from equity+bond investment. I did hit that target using my rental properties, but my original target was “using equity+bond”. Now I see a way.

My Unit trust experiment was disappointing and too time consuming so I just left some SGD 50k in there unattended. I guess my dividend yield was 3-4% but NAV was highly unstable, often dropping more than 4% a year. So I think my overall average return was below 3%/year. In conclusion, my experiments show that Singapore unit trusts are ineffective tools for generating cash income.

What I need is a portfolio with reliable dividends + more stability in NAV than I have seen. I believe it is possible — with U.S. dividend stocks. Many retirees seem to rely on stock dividends.

I’m sure those high-dividend unit trusts also invested in these same U.S. stocks, but the killer is management fee. If the portfolio generates 4.5% dividend payout, I can only get 3% in the form of cash payout.

Now 3% dividend yield is not very high in the U.S. stock market. I think I can earn more than that.

Another advantage with stocks is, i can choose my allocation , and take on riskier dividend stocks, to generate 6-8% dividend annual payout. SGD 300/Month = USD 2666/Year = $38k x 7% so I only need about USD 40k. Over the next few years I plan to deploy up to 50k in U.S. dividend stocks, to generate SGD 300/M.

On Sun, 30 Nov 2014 at 13:04, Bin TAN (Victor) wrote: >

> “Going forward, perhaps i will invest more aggressively, take on more risks, > > lose bigger amounts, learn more lessons, before I cut down.” > > Rong: “lose bigger amount” != found cutting edge. I lost a lot. When I look > > back what I did, my lesson is it’s unnecessary to use real money to try and > > error. Reading more books has the same effect but cost much less. >
In order to justify the 3H/week precious time spent, i need to > generate higher profit, which usually comes with (the chance of) > bigger losses.

So what dollar amount is “higher profit”? Right now, my dividend cash > (deposited into my bank account) is $500 – $600 a month.

The other investment profit (mostly unrealized) amounts to $20 – $100 > a month. The actual average is close to zero because some months my > portfolio loses value.

For me, higher profit means average monthly non-dividend income of > $300, to be achieved by 1) a bigger eq portfolio, and 2) a bigger bond > portfolio.

I have to say it’s not straightforward to measure my monthly > non-dividend income. So I don’t spend too much making accurate > measurements. $300/month is a rough (and tough) target.

##eg@higher-return lower-risk

Contrary to conventional wisdom, I have come across a tiny number of assets featuring higher return, lower risk than the standard assets, but not obvious so insight or due diligence are required.

  • (As I told ZongYang) SPY compared to the majority of familiar stocks. SPY DYOC is about 1%. Somehow, a higher DYOC would feel safer.
  • S27 .. stocks are supposed to be higher risk than bonds but I feel my s27 is higher-reward-lower-risk than bonds or most long-term investments
  • high-dividend stable (not all blue-chip) stocks, with consistent track record… See solid div stocks=hard to miss@@. However, return and volatility is often lower than hot growth stocks.
  • [b] IPO stocks .. compared to other stocks
  • [b] my Cambodia shops — many risk factors at decision time, but lower risk in hind-sight
  • my hdb + PEK properties
  • [b=bargains]