It’s pay day today. Which is always an exciting time for me. In some months, I have so many plans for what to spend my pay on that I’m quite conscious of counting down to the day itself. E.g. Clearing the credit card bills, mortgage, investments, savings etc. In other months, the day just creeps up without me being aware of it.
This usually has to do with how busy I am at work. I like both types of months and it’s good to have a mix of them. It means my workflow is consistent but goes up and down depending on the timelines of the project. Having this ebb and flow makes work more interesting and less monotonous.
The problem with this particular pay day for the month is that all of it will be used to pay the credit card bills we racked up from the trip to US last month. Which now makes the whole thing a non-event. Sigh, would have been nice to have some savings this month. Good news is that my wife gets to keep most of her pay this month since her pay day is next week. But she doesn’t get excited about such stuff.
Anyway, I realised I’m getting better at ignoring all the financial news and commentary that’s happening every day. I used to think it’s important that I follow them on a daily basis to keep myself in the loop. Now, I only track major financial events and tune everything else out.
It got annoying trying to understand and make sense of all the financial information and opinions out there. Maybe if I start becoming more financially ignorant, I might actually stick to my index ETF investing strategy more closely. Less likely to meddle with the approach.
Yes, I know there is quite a bit of criticism out there on investing in ETFs. Honestly, it just seems more suitable to me as I get lazier in my own financial research and analysis. I have better things to do outside of work and the job already soaks up most of my work day. Which brings me to my next point about self-interest.
Everyone out there is predicting all sorts of stuff that can happen to the economy, jobs, stock and property markets. These are some of the things on my wishlist for the next year until Jun 2018 and I want to revisit them then to see if they materialised:
- Keep both our jobs and still receive annual pay raise & performance bonus after the divisional restructuring. Would be nice not to get retrenched and lose our salary income.
- Stable property market with gradually decreasing property prices. We already own one private condominium and are not yet in a position to invest in a second private condominium.
- Low housing loan interest rate below 2%. With a S$600,000+ mortgage, any spike in the housing loan interest rate has a significant impact on our monthly expenses.
- Stable equity market with gradually decreasing stock prices. We Dollar-Cost Average (DCA) every month into Singapore ETFs and it’s better to average downwards than upwards.
- On our way to having a kid. Since we are planning to start a family eventually, having our first kid when my wife is 30 seems about right. It might already be considered late for some people but it’s early enough for us. I reckon it will be a bigger adjustment for my wife than me but we are both going to have to work through it together.
I know the last point is non-financial but it’s important enough to be put in. You could be wishing for an entire different list altogether depending on your personal and financial circumstances. After all, we want what’s best for ourselves. I wonder whether hoping for these things to happen is a strategy. Just waiting patiently can be a skill in itself. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Kids are a tremendous blessing! We’re planning on having our second sometime next year as well, good luck on your first! But prepare for some sleepless nights. At least for the 6 months 😛
Haha, yeah, I’m sure it will be tough and a big adjustment for both of us. But as you said, a blessing nonetheless! Hope all goes well for you too!
Haha count yourself lucky to have payday on the 15th. I thought only civil service pays out so early in the month. Most private firms, even so-called “corporatized” ex-stat boards pay out on the 25th.
Yeah, I’ve also become a lazy “investor” ever since 2008/2009 GFC. Read the news & financial info for fun only. Most of the time it’s irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things & worse, BS. 🙂 🙂
My investing & long-term “trading” all based on momentum & trend-following. No need to think so much. In that sense maybe I’m a believer in EMH. Or maybe I think that Mr Market is *always* right, irrespective whether he is manic or depressed. Just like how professionals deal with schiz patients — you don’t challenge, you don’t reason, you only manage & respond accordingly.
My wife’s pay day is on the 22th but yup, lucky my pay day is on the 15th. I prefer for it to be in the middle of the month.
Good to know you have a clear strategy on investing and agree with what you said. Yeah, no point guessing which direction the market is headed in. Think less, stress less!
Congrats on your wife’s pregnancy! There aren’t many banks with pay day on 15th 🙂
Haha, my wife is not pregnant yet! But we are planning to have our first kid in 2018, see whether it works out. Yup, I was quite surprised that my bank’s pay day is on the 15th when I first joined. I guess it doesn’t really matter much whether you get paid one week earlier or later than others but it’s still nice to have the pay in the middle of the month!