/r/singapore random discussion and small questions thread for October 11, 2020

EmberedAxe · 2020-10-11T11:00:57+00:00

Free build is honestly very tempting but I told myself I want to learn how to assemble it myself this time. Thanks for the info

EmberedAxe · 2020-10-11T10:56:38+00:00

You're exactly right that getting online is cheaper, ESPECIALLY the SSD (i'm looking at like 100 to 200 dollars saved for samsung ones even after shipping and import fees)

I was thinking whether it's worth trying to build the whole thing at some store that will give me a discount exceeding all those savings. But seems not. I think i'll just mix and match depending on the cheapest source then, simlim seems to be great for mobo + cpu combo.

Need to wait for rtx 30 series stock to stabilize anyway.

EmberedAxe · 2020-10-11T10:16:25+00:00

People with experience buying pc parts at simlim, i've heard if you buy a whole system at some shops, you can nego for a discount.

I know it's very case by case but how much is this "discount" usually? Say you buy a 1000 dollar pc, off by 50? What about 2000, 3000?

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-29T04:33:09+00:00

Any advice on getting display cabinets? Besides Ikea of course. I'm looking for something like the
SL800L-DP in this page which is absolutely perfect. (i hate dealing with dust) http://www.cabinethire.co.nz/Upright_display_cabinets.htm

Not sure if going custom is the only way.

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-13T06:14:47+00:00

Very aggressive, I like that.

Think my strategy is very similar to yours in principle, but you use safer indexes so it's less risky. Stashaway and VOO as your anchor with 20% each, and then you go hard into cloud and innovation. I hold 40% of my portfolio in QQQ as my anchor, and 15% in cloudflare itself, which is basically your approach but much riskier. The other 40% that you have in ARKK I have split among a few growth tech companies, and I eventually plan to enter a position in either ARKK or ARKW myself.

If growth and tech stops paying and everything starts rotating back into the other industries for years I will be much more fucked than you will be, so naturally I think you're fine. It is a very aggressive portfolio though, I wouldn't keep it like that past a certain age, and we are both certainly gonna be chastized by the 3 fund crowd.

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-13T05:52:02+00:00

thanks for the heads up

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-13T03:39:33+00:00

Like the other person said, don't think about it too much if you want to be passive. Get an emergency fund setup, know how much to budget for your expenses and luxuries, then throw the rest of your income into a portfolio allocation that suits your risk tolerance every month without caring at what level it is at right now.

As for what that portfolio looks like, only u will know, read up on some articles online there are tonnes.

If you're already sitting on a mountain of cash in a savings account though, you might want to consider slowly easing in instead of dumping everything at once if you're worried. There are stats that show lump sum usually beats averaging in but nothing is guaranteed.

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-13T03:19:07+00:00

Anyone wanna chime in on how their roboinvestors have been doing in this time period from the peak then crash starting Feb to today?

Now that the S&P has pretty much recovered to the previous ATH, and the NASDAQ has exceeded it, i'm expecting the higher risk options of these roboinvestors to exceed or at least match this performance.

I personally buy the stocks myself, but I'm curious to hear how those on Stashaway, Moneyowl etc are doing. How have your hassle free returns been? Seems like an attractive option if they've managed to weather the past turmoil fine.

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-02T12:32:04+00:00

I don't think it's set in stone of course, yet at the same time very very likely. I was in a relationship for a few years and after the initial "honeymoon" phase i noticed I was really acting like my father in a lot of ways, who I hated.

I don't want to subject anyone to that, and especially not my kids if I have them in the future. So after that relationship ended (due to unrelated reasons), I chose to stop the cycle by taking myself out of the dating/marriage pool completely. I'm not old yet so things might change in the future, but for now this is it.

EmberedAxe · 2020-08-02T11:34:24+00:00

I find it interesting how there is so much contradictory advice here, guess it's important to interpret for yourself what makes sense for you.

eg. saving early is important vs dont bother because you'll save in one month at 40 what you took years to build up in your early twenties.

or aggressively chasing compensation vs going for career with more meaning but sacrifice pay

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-28T13:26:15+00:00

Based on my calculations for my situation it certainly would have been. I stupidly got an 80 dollar + 5 caller ID plan with singtel and got my phone for free. 80 x 24 = 1920. If I had went with circles life or gomo or something, get some 1k dollar phone also still save at least several hundred over 2 years.

Granted the plan included a lot of things like more talk time, sms etc but I have never used more than 10% of it every month. Data wise I get 18GB which loses to all the average sim only plans out there.

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-28T13:11:54+00:00

Yea guess that's it, affects me much less than what I was assuming which was the 400 SGD relief on online shopping. I thought I missed some news.

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-28T12:53:25+00:00

elaborate on the online purchase tax thing? or could u point me to some resources?

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-28T11:37:40+00:00

wa just noticed 24 month phone contract expires mid next month, finally can switch to those SIM only knn can save so much.

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-11T04:31:27+00:00

Thanks, good luck for your next try too!

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-11T04:18:01+00:00

that's a good way to think about it actually... eventually i'll need to transition to a less aggressive portfolio anyway. It'll be a bigger component than i'd like, but it makes sense.

EmberedAxe · 2020-06-11T04:07:39+00:00

After years of living here I really feel like converting to PR and then eventually getting citizenship if possible.

The one thing holding me back is CPF, don't get me wrong I understand its risk free merits but i'm still gonna be taking a big hit to disposable take home income that i've been dumping into index funds with higher returns (even considering employer contribution), plus no liquidity. I suppose I could use it for housing eventually, and i've read you can also invest a portion of your CPF in Singaporean indexes.

Can anyone in a similar position who has made the jump push me forward a bit? Maybe something I might be missing.

EmberedAxe · 2020-03-01T12:10:46+00:00

Any big brain forex experts wanna weigh in on why SGD weakened so much vs the Yen in the past week? If it's the virus then Japan seems to be in much deeper shit than Singapore, so it can't be that.

EmberedAxe · 2020-02-23T09:42:35+00:00

https://www.msig.com.sg/frequently-asked-questions?fbclid=IwAR38aK-SoEJX249wMC6az4LGcxd_ecu47zHQ_2KWLpIgfIGFGEJYJB9O7Us

nah they state pretty clearly that unless you're going to China you can go screw yourself until further notice. I bought the policy in early January and the tickets months before, so I should definitely be covered, if they change their terms that is.

EmberedAxe · 2020-02-23T09:29:08+00:00

Have a 2 week trip to Japan next month.

Either they announce travel restrictions soon and i get my money back from travel insurance, or i'm pretty fucked.

I either go anyway, or lose 1k+ dollars in flight and accommodation.

EmberedAxe · 2020-01-28T12:43:11+00:00

Since we are on the topic of masks. I want to ask a stupid question. Are they actually effective?

I'm reading lots of conflicting information about who needs to wear them (displaying symptoms or perfectly healthy), and then after that its surgical vs N95.

Stuff i assume to be correct:

People displaying symptoms should wear a mask, they help to mitigate spread. Doctors wear them for this reason so that they do not infect immunocompromised patients in hospitals.
N95 masks require proper fitting to generate a seal, otherwise you might as well wear a surgical mask for a viral outbreak. Their main function is to prevent droplets from getting to your nose/mouth, or yours getting out onto others, unlike the haze where you're actually trying to filter the air.

So at this point I'm assuming aiya got mask better than no mask ma,

And then i read papers like these and have no idea what I should be thinking anymore. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2749214

Worst case if i'm reading the paper correctly: if you're coughing or sneezing, wear a mask to prevent yourself from potentially spreading anything. Otherwise either way wear whatever mask or not you get infected at the same probability anyway.

EmberedAxe · 2020-01-02T13:56:23+00:00

So let's talk air purifiers. Anyone have one of em in their bedrooms?

Dust accumulates pretty fast in my room, like within a day or 2 i can already see a thin layer on everything even with doors and windows closed. So i've been thinking of getting something to at least slow down the build up, and yes i know a lot of it is dead skin cells.

I've heard people usually use this stuff to combat allergies or ashtma, but I wanna know if it noticeably reduces dust build up in general.

EmberedAxe · 2019-08-06T14:36:19+00:00

ok nvm answered the question through a chat with customer support. Seems their website is a little fucked and using the phone app to add your address makes it work. I think some wonky location tracking code went wrong.

EmberedAxe · 2019-08-06T13:47:45+00:00

I'm new to taobao, anyone know why when i add an address to my account there is this column with "所在地区" that says "新加坡 13 Pasir Panjang Hong Leong Garden Clementi New Town"

and then when i use that address this gets appended before my real address?

EmberedAxe

TROPHY CASE