My wife’s annual performance bonus was credited this month and it was just in time for the recent market dip. The fall in equity markets has been significant and this is what we have been waiting for. Which is why we should be investing the entire amount of my wife’s bonus (maybe more) into the equity markets.
This is in the form of bigger manual investments in the Vanguard LSE-listed ETFs on our Stan Chart Online Equity Trading Platforms and increased automatic investments in bank/brokerage monthly investment plans & Smartly & StashAway robo-advisors. Especially in the past week and we are likely to continue doing so next week.
We still plan to keep a large cash position because it helps us feel safe and secure. But we are willing to draw down our cash balances further to make more investments if the fall in equity markets accelerate. As long as our jobs and salary income remain intact, we can always rebuild our cash position.
While my wife is out shopping for Christmas gifts and we prepare for the various Christmas & NYE lunches, dinners and celebrations, we are grateful to be where we are in life. 2018 has been a tough year in so many ways and I hope 2019 will be better for us.
One last update is that we recently found out that my mother-in-law is going back to work at a different private bank. She retired 1.5 years ago under difficult circumstances after massive negative changes at her job in the previous private bank. While my mother-in-law has made fantastic use of her time to travel and engage in her personal interests & hobbies, we could always tell she missed aspects of her job.
During the discussion we had with my mother-in-law, we could see she was looking forward to returning to work. It does look like a career break to rest and recharge can do wonders. We were surprised to discover she has somehow still preserved her market value in the job market despite not working for 1.5 years.
My mother-in-law’s total remuneration package with starting and annual bonuses at this private bank will be almost the same as at the previous private bank. Which is a lot more than the total combined remuneration packages including annual bonuses of my wife and I. This is definitely a learning point for us on how we can navigate our careers and increase as well as preserve our market values in the job market over time.