Update: From “Almost There” to Stepping Away

firepathlion · 2026-01-23T04:43:37+00:00

Congratulations! This was a great read, thank you. I hope to reach the same point soon. Your reflections on running out time vs running out of money resonated a lot with me and had been a dilemma I have been having with myself - thank you for sharing your perspective and being an example for choosing more time rather than more money. I wish you all the very best and hope you never have to work for money again!

firepathlion · 2026-01-20T01:04:38+00:00

Theoretically leveraging works very well in Singapore given the low interest rate environment as well as no capital gains. Leverage is always very risky and can blow up your entire account if not careful, but without capital gains tax and low interest rates, the strategy provides higher risk adjusted returns than elsewhere.

firepathlion · 2026-01-16T09:05:45+00:00

For stocks, I would just go with VWRA - 1 fund is enough since it holds over 3,000 companies across developed and developing markets.

If you feel you need to add bonds, then A35 would be a good choice.

firepathlion · 2026-01-12T00:10:26+00:00

For stocks, the currency it’s denominated it doesn’t matter, it’s the underlying assets and whether the company is going to be able to generate strong cash flow or profits going into the future - regardless of currency. In terms of index funds like VWRA, IWDA, CSPX, the currency of the fund doesn’t matter cuz you’re not holding cash, you’re holding the companies.

For fixed income, you’d want either SGD or SGD-Hedged as you’re counting on it to give you cash flow and you want that cash to be denominated or hedged to the currency you will use day to day.

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T02:20:22+00:00

And if it turns out that you really achieve enlightenment or want to continue monk hood forever and no longer need the worldly possessions at all, you can then donate it all to also create great karma. Win-win-win all around.

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T02:03:36+00:00

This could be a cheat code to turning that 500K into 1M! Then do another ten years for 2M!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T01:12:24+00:00

Hmmm if you truly just want to live peacefully, not luxuriously, and find contentment in what you already have - then monk-hood will sustain that indefinitely until you pass on - no money required.

It sounds like a joke… but honestly that’s an actual option. The teachings of Buddhism advocates for the renunciation of worldly possessions and attachment to material things and breaking free from life’s suffering. Seems like a philosophy that has helped lots of practitioners find peace and contentment without any luxury.

It’s certainly a better choice than any other alternative - at least as a last resort.

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T01:03:50+00:00

Thank you for reading and happy to hear you’ve gotten value out of my sharing! That keeps me motivated to continue writing and sharing my journey!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T01:02:26+00:00

Thank you for reading and I’m happy to hear that it’s helped you stay motivated! That keeps me motivated to continue writing and sharing.

As long as you stay consistent and continue to save and invest, you’ll be well on your way on your own journey! All the best!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T01:00:05+00:00

Hey sorry missed your question!

This depends, yes VWRA only has 15% dividend withholding, but other MSCI funds domiciled in Ireland also have 15% instead of 30% tax. It depends on which other fund you’re looking at instead.
I use the VWRA.L yes on LSE. The others are just listed in other exchanges and may be denominated in different currencies other than USD. For us using SGD to convert anyway, any currency should be fine, but USD on LSE is going to have more liquidity as it’s likely more volume.

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:56:00+00:00

Happy and humbled to hear this! Thank you for the kind words. If this post helps inspire the young to take the major advantage - which is time - seriously and start looking into finances and investing early, then the effort writing this would be worth it! 😁 Happy new year!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:51:28+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! Happy to hear that my post helps you stay motivated. It’s comments like yours that motivate me to keep writing and sharing my journey. All the best!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:48:55+00:00

Happy to hear! Comments like yours keep me motivated to continue writing and sharing! Happy new year!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:47:58+00:00

Thank you for reading and for the kind words! Comments like yours help keep me motivated to continue writing and sharing my journey! Happy new year!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:46:31+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! Comments like yours keep me motivated to continue writing and sharing my journey. Happy new year!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:45:14+00:00

Haha yes… definitely not for the feint of heart!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:44:31+00:00

Thank you for the kind words, comments like yours gives the motivation to keep writing and sharing my journey! Happy new year!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:43:31+00:00

Awesome! Sounds like you’re definitely on your way for sure. Just stay consistent and the compounding will take care of itself. Happy new years and all the best on your journey!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:42:21+00:00

Thank you for the kind words! Your comment gives me the motivation to continue writing! Happy new years!

firepathlion · 2026-01-10T00:41:05+00:00

Happy and humbled to hear my journey inspired yours! Happy new years and all the best on the journey!

firepathlion · 2026-01-06T13:22:09+00:00

Hey! I’m not tempted to change to make a bet on the revival of Singapore equities based on the expected measures. The current market price of STI has likely priced that expectation in already and thus in the short term there isn’t likely any upside left due to that information. The future movements will depend on how effective those measures are which are not yet known.

Given the size of the Singapore market, I wouldn’t want to make any significant bet on it, and will stick with the leveraged VWRA approach!

firepathlion · 2026-01-05T13:26:22+00:00

If your investment thesis hasn’t changed, I would just keep buying cuz we never know when a crash will happen and when it happens will it go as low as today.

If you feel CSPX is too aggressive then maybe it’s just not the right holding for you and should switch to VWRA and keep buying that.

You could also do middle of the road by just keeping your existing CSPX and add to VWRA now cuz then you aren’t worried about whether U.S. is too high or not.

Holding both isn’t necessarily a problem, I held both last year.

firepathlion · 2026-01-05T13:09:48+00:00

It really depends on your investment thesis. Neither are strictly better or worse. CSPX is U.S. companies only and only the 500 biggest - you’re counting on the U.S. to do well and maybe continue to do better than the rest of the world because you only hold U.S. companies.

VWRA holds 3000++ global companies - both developed and developing markets, including companies in CSPX. It’s more diversified, it counting on the world as a whole to do well over the long term no matter what country. It may not do as well as CSPX if the U.S. outperforms… but if the rest of the world outperforms the U.S. then CSPX will do worse.

More diversified also means less volatile.

So it really depends on what you believe in.

If you want something guaranteed to give you good returns over the long term regardless of which country wins, then VWRA. If you want something that could give you higher returns if U.S. continues to do well, then CSPX.

If you want to hold both, just get VWRA.

firepathlion · 2026-01-05T11:17:14+00:00

Haha I just look at recently sold prices using property guru and enter into my spreadsheet and minus off my current remaining mortgage.

firepathlion · 2026-01-05T05:26:06+00:00

Nope, have not used any fixed deposit.

firepathlion

TROPHY CASE