Cheap and Good – $630 ALL-IN 8D7N SG to Thailand Land Trip!

I am back in Singapore!!!

Holidays are tiring. Despite what people say about being refreshed after going on a vacation, I always feel even more sian (lethargic?) to come back. The holiday mood never seems to go away and I’m always looking forward to the next one. :p And the jet lag is here to stay for some time at work even though it is just a 2.5 hours flight :p

This trip, however, should most likely be the last for me in 2017 as I’ve allocated most of my fun money to it.

I missed Game of Thrones Episode One :(

Hey people!

Miss Niao will be taking a short break from blogging because I’ll be on holiday next week :p I initially had an upcoming post but couldn’t make it on time to publish it. Life has been pretty hectic recently with the transition of my new job and I only packed my luggage at midnight of my departure date.

In case you’re wondering, I’m actually going budget traveling on land from Singapore to Thailand. I promise to blog about my travels (and expenditures of course) when I’m back.

Also, I feel damn emo because I didn’t even manage to squeeze out time to watch Game of Thrones. Damn! I’ve been avoiding all kinds of social media and news websites about the show so please please please don’t post any spoilers or I’ll ban you from my website 😦

Take care and I’ll see you guys next week! Muacks muacks muacks.

Loads of love,

Miss Niao xoxo

Best $35 spent in my entire life – The Intelligent Investor

I am so excited to blog about this!!!

Earlier this month, I have finally managed to finish reading “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Graham. This has been my third book on investing that I’ve read so far within a span of 3 to 4 months and I can’t imagine how lucky I am to have read this before going head on with my investment career. It is very unlike me to buy something from a retail bookstore due to my spending habits but I wanted to get my hands on the book as soon as possible, so I walked in to Kinokuniya and got a copy.

And yes, I used my credit card to pay for it. :p

It was worth Every. Single. Cent.

Fail-safe investing – Building a Permanent Portfolio

Image source: https://seekingalpha.com/article/559931-6-etf-permanent-income-portfolio

In my previous blog entry related to investing in gold, one of my readers and fellow financial blogger, Warriortan, introduced me to the Permanent Portfolio, which is sometimes also known as a fail-safe investment strategy. He has been developing this strategy in his personal portfolio and you can read his progress by clicking here and here.

I must admit that I was initially intimidated by the words “fail-safe” because those two words just sounded too good to be true in the world of investing.

A Beginner’s guide to The Balance Sheet – A simple analogy

READ THIS: This is a continuation of A Beginner’s guide to The Income Statement – A simple analogy in part of Fundamental Analysis. Do read that article first if you haven’t done so as the same analogy is being used below.

The Balance Sheet is easily found together with the Income Statement (and of course, the Cash Flow Statement) in a typical annual report of a listed company. It has very useful information to understand the financial situation of the company at that particular moment. Many key financial ratios (e.g. Current ratio, Debt/Equity ratio)

Doing what you love V.S. Finding an ideal job

Warren Buffet has an advice and an old joke which he repeats time and again to fresh graduates who are looking for their first job. I quote him as below:

“There comes a time when you ought to start doing what you want. Take a job that you love. You will jump out of bed in the morning. I think you are out of your mind if you keep taking jobs that you don’t like because you think it will look good on your resume. Isn’t that a little like saving up sex for your old age?”

– Warren Buffett

If I’d have to be truthful to myself, I would have chosen to be a professional baker. I’ve always wanted to become one.

The Looming Clouds of Retrenchment – Are you ready?

A close colleague of mine told me recently that one of the Multi-National Companies has closed down an entire department. She used to be working there so many of her ex-colleagues are now looking for a new job. I have also been reading Unintelligent Nerd’s blog and it appears that his current employment is unable to offer job stability despite being in an 铁饭碗 or “iron-rice bowl” (which practically means close-to-zero chances of closing down) organization :O.

It is very upsetting to me because sometimes in life, such things aren’t within much of your control. Sometimes, taking away a job from someone is almost equivalent to taking away his life. Not every one is lucky enough to pursue a degree. Not every one is lucky enough to be debt-free when they graduate. And most importantly, not every one is lucky enough to be in good health to find a new job.

It is unfortunate that news like this is unsurprising to me.

Cheap and Good – How I spend $111 on Make-Up Every Year

This is the first blog entry for “Cheap and Good“. Yay!!!!! I have decided to share with my female readers (and male ones if you happen to be interested :p) about the different make-up that I use. Other than being a financial blogger, I am also secretly a make-up geek that probably watches too many make-up tutorials for her own good. :p

I don’t use make-up everyday but I do have a basic routine that I follow religiously if I want to look better on a particular day. The brands that I use are pretty generic and most of them are actually drugstore brands that are easily found locally.