Happy Birthday! Today is my birthday. I have turned 32 now. I know I haven’t blogged for 2 months now. So, here’s a quick update.

Bought my first investment property

I have bought an office unit. I’m so excited at the thought of me becoming a landlord. Buying a property is not as easy as I thought. I made a downpayment in Dec 2009, and until today my lawyer is still finalising the terms with the seller. I hope this deal could be completed quickly, so I can start earning rental income.

Busy with work

I have been drafted into a project with my company. The duration of the project is about a year. I have to travel quite a bit and I have to put in some time commitment. But the experience is worth it. It’ll expand my career options and enhancing my value as an employee. Only then will I be able to justify a higher salary.

Talking about higher salary, there’s been a lot of publicity lately regarding moving towards a high-income economy. The New Economic Model (aka NEM) is to bring us from the current per capita income of USD7,600 to between USD15,000 to USD20,000 by the year 2020. This is an increase of between 7% to 12% per year, for the next 10 years. Does this mean that my salary increment should be at least 7% to 12% just to keep up with the national average income increment?

I’ll try to blog more often, if I’m not busy with work

Have a good weekend.

I know I should have posted this earlier, but today’s still January, the first month of the year

My investment Returns.

So, I started investing about 14 months ago. How’s my performance for 2009?
Stocks: Including capital gains and dividends, my stock has produced a great 17% return.
Futures: I’ve net about 10% gain from my trading with futures contract.
Unit Trust: I took out money from my EPF to buy Unit Trust. So far, my UT has produced a 7% returns for me.

Goals for 2009.

1. Save RM65k in CD by Feb 2009. This amount is allocated the down payment for buying property. (Achieved: Feb 2009)

2. Buy insurance by Mar 2009 in anticipation of buying a property in May 2009. (Not achieved. There was a couple of times I participated in auction properties but I was outbid. It is not easy to find a good property with discount even in the midst of an economic recession. I have therefore changed my strategy. Instead of looking for properties with at least 20% discount from their fair value, I am not looking at the cashflow instead. As long as the rental income is able to pay for all the expenses associated with the property, then it’s a buy.)

3. Earn a side income of RM6,000/mth by Apr 2009. (Not achieved.)

4. Buy a property in May 2009. (Not achieved.)

5. Earn a side income of RM8,000/mth by Jul 2009. Quit my job once this threshold is achieved. (Not achieved. Glad I’m still keeping my job)

6. Side income of RM10,000/mth by Oct 2009. (Not achieved.)

7. Trade up the value of my stock portfolio from RM8k to RM16k. (This is debatable. I have unrealised gain of more than 8k. But if strictly referring to “trading”, then I made a trading loss instead of a trading gain.)

Highlights of 2009.

1. Achieved my RmM100,000 networth.

2. Invest in unit trusts using money from EPF.

3. Started trading with futures.

New Goals for 2010.

1. Accumulate my second RM100,000 net worth.

2. Buy a commercial property, ASAP.

3. Side income, target RM1,000 a month, from various sources but excluding the rental income from (2).

It’s amazing how the Government and the Press can spin bad news into good news. The latest being “New toll rates to reflect consumer satisfaction.”

It is presumed that consumers would be willing to pay a higher toll rate because the highways will be widened, and hence consumers will enjoy a smoother journey. As far as I know, along the whole stretch of the PLUS North-South Expressway, there are only a few stretches that are congested and in need of adding more lanes. No doubt consumers who ply these stretches will be satisfied. But what about the other millions of consumers who DO NOT ply these stretches? These other consumers are already enjoying smooth rides, and an increase in toll rates will only mean they have to fork out more money. Where’s the satisfaction in that?

Another example, recently the price of sugar has been increased by 20 sen a kg. And the media keeps publishing positive views on this move. Here are two of the articles. “Withdraw sugar subsidy” and “Weaning off subsidy mentality“. But where are the voices of the people ever published? I haven’t read in any media about the consumer complaining of the exorbitant price increase of drinks at restaurants.

Somehow, I’m starting to feel that the Government is using the print media to influence the public to accept and embrace the Government’s decisions and policies.

In Jan 2009, I loan some money to a stranger to help her repay her debt with the loan sharks. In the interim, she has asked for more loan. All in total, I’ve loaned more than RM5,000 to her. And yesterday, she has started to repay me…. after many calls to her.

At the rate I’m being paid back, it’ll take about 4 years to collect all my money. It’s good that I am finally getting paid back but I need to press her harder for more money. I’ll keep chasing. I have a goal to reach my next hundred thousand before the end of 2010.

The lesson I’ve learned from this episode is, think thrice before loaning money to anybody.

It’s the time of the year again where I ask my colleagues around the office if they have any desktop calendars to spare. Yes, it’s been 2 years in a row that I haven’t received a calendar without me having to ask for it.

I still remember those years when businesses and companies would print calendars and diaries and give them away to their customers and business associates. It was a form of advertising for them. However, since the economy slowdown which began last year, businesses have cut down on spending. The first item on the budget that gets cut is always the advertising budget.

Maybe tomorrow I should give my banker a call and ask about a calendar.