Finance Smiths

I honestly didn’t think Florence Regency was going to be sold enbloc after the public tender for the collective sale had closed and the 3 bidders refused to raise their bid prices to match the valuation. To think that a deal could be closed under private treaty with another developer within 10 weeks of the close of the public tender is a good achievement by the marketing agent JLL.

There is still some ways to go for the legal completion of the sale but things are about to get interesting for my family. With approximate gross sales proceeds for my family’s unit at S$1.85 million, this will probably be my family’s biggest windfall gain so far if the sale can be legally completed. It also creates a problem for them. They now have to start looking for another place to live in.

To retain as much of the windfall gain as possible, they will have to avoid upgrading to a private condominium. It would seem like a 5-room or smaller HDB resale flat would make the most sense. They seem to prefer living in the same area but I wonder whether they are open to moving to another area. You also have to factor in the moving and setup costs.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the net proceeds, if the sale can be legally completed and after taking into account all the various relocation costs, is less than S$1 million. Nevertheless, it would still be a significant sum of money to manage if it happens. This would be another problem to deal with as they are going to have to learn how to build a sizeable asset portfolio with cash savings and investments to meet their financial needs. I hope they take the time to learn as much as they can about everything to prepare for this eventuality.

We are back in Singapore! Flew back yesterday and arrived in the evening. It’s been a great trip and we enjoyed the holiday. Still going through some jet lag and it’s good that we can sleep in today to get some rest. As we get older, the recovery time takes longer, which is why we try to have a full day of rest between the time we arrive to when we have to return to work.

We went to a number of cities, towns and villages on this trip and did quite a bit of walking & driving. It can get tiring sometimes to keep heading out every day to a new place but we realised we can only have such high intensity trips when we are relatively young without kids. I can imagine us slowing down when we are older with kids.

Anyway, this trip was only about one and a half weeks long because we had to be back this week for some work commitments. We usually go for about 2 weeks since that allows us to spend more time there. But it worked out for us this time round because we were more tired than usual before, during and after this holiday. Might have to do with the fact that we were dealing with a certain level of uncertainty due to the divisional restructuring and it’s been a busy few months as well.

I just caught up with our personal finances by updating the Google Sheet. Cash and credit card spending has gone up from the holiday expenses. We spent some time in Paris to do our shopping and my wife splurged on luxury goods as a reward for working hard and our anniversary celebrations. Looks like our next few months’ savings will be low as well since we still have end of year and Christmas celebrations.

This might delay our progress towards the S$1 million asset (excluding owner-occupied property) portfolio goal but I’m okay with it. The rate of increase has slowed but we should still achieve it next year when my wife is 30 years old. This is an important age for us because I reckon it’s when we transition from young adults to adults. We need to put ourselves in a stronger financial position to increase the likelihood of us meeting our personal goals.

In any case, this year has already turned out better than last year. I still remember taking over my ex tax manager’s role for a few months when she was on maternity leave in 2016. Although I was sufficiently remunerated with a pay increase and performance bonus for my efforts. However, her transition back to work did not go well and escalating conflict with my ex tax partner created a toxic work environment that I left soon after. Oct 2016 was in fact the month I left my previous job and started my new job after going to Italy for a holiday. Look at how different Oct 2017 is as I return to a job in a more stable and functional work environment that I like after going to France for a holiday.

It was actually a busier year for my wife as it was her turn to step into her manager’s role for a few months since she is on maternity leave until the end of 2017. My wife just finished her performance review and I wonder whether she will be sufficiently remunerated with a pay increase and bonus for her efforts as well. We should know this by the end of the year. Anyway, it’s good enough that she also returns to a job in a more stable and functional work environment that she likes after the trip. I hope we can keep this up and finish 2017 strong. This will allow us to start 2018 stronger as we look to make serious progress with all of our financial and personal goals.

I just realised I haven’t posted anything yet for the month of October 2017. It was a busy week at the start of the month as we had to finish up our work before leaving for our holiday to France. Anyway, we are here now and it’s been good so far! My wife is still sleeping so I thought I will sneak in a quick post before we drive out later for our day trips.

Even though I am on an overseas holiday, I like how easily I can still monitor our investments. Markets have been trending upwards so there’s no manual investing actions for me to take. The automatic monthly investment plans and contributions to the robo-advisor accounts are proceeding as per normal. I could get used to this. Not having to continuously worry, look for investment opportunities or think about how to time the markets.

The plan is for us to continue to travel more, see the world and we hope to do this even with kids. Once our asset portfolio in Singapore grows large enough, I plan to set up similar asset portfolios in other countries. Especially financial centres that are safe and will protect our monies while enabling them to grow. Really globalise our wealth footprint in accordance with our travel footprint. Ambitious goal but definitely something worth working towards.