A series of events

I know I haven’t been blogging much recently. To be honest, the number of things that have happened so far and might happen going forward is fascinating. There are many reasons why I have been rather MIA this month and I feel like running through them just out of interest.

Work

I have been tasked to take on a new advisory portfolio and it’s been tough managing the additional work. I must admit that I was getting used to the lighter workload previously and probably getting lazy. Nothing like a heavier workload to bring me back to reality.

I can always tell I’m busier when my work day and week passes faster. Before you know it, it’s coming to the last week of Apr. My wife might also be taking on a new portfolio and looks to be getting busier with work as well. Sigh, the pitfalls of getting promoted and being paid more are the higher expectations in every way.

Personal Care

Can you believe my entire annual performance bonus has been spent? It’s one thing to expect it but an entirely different matter to see it happen. I reckon I can reveal the main reason for 80% of the spending by now – lasik surgeries for both my wife and I to correct our eyesight. My wife had another contact lens infection of the eye a while back and that was the last straw for her.

I decided to join her for the lasik consultations, got approved as eligible candidates and we both ended up doing the lasik surgeries soon after that. We are still recovering, going for follow-ups and hope our corrected vision gets better over time. These are expensive procedures and it was a good thing I had my bonus to pay for them.

Wife’s 30th Birthday

I guess you could consider the above Part 1 of my wife’s 30th birthday celebration and present. Part 2 involved dinners & drinks with friends and by ourselves along with a nice bracelet to complement her existing collection. That was the remaining 20% of the spending. Haha, I still can’t believe I managed to spend my entire bonus in 1 month. It has to be a record even for us.

Flak for bad investing approach

I can understand why my investing strategy doesn’t sit well with people. I incur higher fees, buy overlapping products and don’t seem to head in any specific direction. I receive flak quite frequently over what is apparently a poor form of investing.

But I’m going to stick to it for now because I really don’t have time and energy to come up with something better. It’s a drain to ensure we keep moving up in our jobs and the higher salary income is helping us with so many things (e.g. paying for those higher fees and living expenses). We are still trying to balance work with every other aspect of our lives so we also keep our focus on what’s important to us outside of work.