When Singapore missed its GDP target in Q2, Maybank said we are heading for a technical recession next quarter. A technical recession happens when there are two successive quarters of fall in GDP. I remember it was July 2001. Three years after I came to Singapore, the country was in recession. The economy contracted by 2 percent - a big contrast to the strong growth of … [Read more...]
The truth about people who have financial freedom
I was surprised to see the last post “The journey to financial freedom: my personal story” become my blog’s most viewed post in 2019 – in just 48 hours after putting it up. I thought financial freedom is a dry topic unrelated to properties that the readers probably won’t be interested. So, is it the keyword “financial freedom”, or the promise to share “my personal story” … [Read more...]
The journey to financial freedom: My personal story
I just read the book Financial Freedom: How People Live When They No Longer Need to Work. The author Gisela Enders interviewed seven Germans who generate enough income from investments to cover their living expenses so they no longer have to work for money. It was originally written in German and being translated into English. (Which European will talk to strangers about … [Read more...]
Buying trophy properties in a country
Before Chinese New Year, hubby told me he had prepared new banknotes and red packets like what he did every year. I also passed him the red packets from my relationship manager. “We can’t use those. Mine are special ones. I have to schedule an appointment at their priority banking branch in Orchard to collect these. See, they are all printed with the name of their priority … [Read more...]
5 property lessons from my early years in Singapore
30 June 2018 is a special date to me. It marks the 20th year of my relocation to Singapore. On 30 June 1998, I boarded a flight departing for Singapore, with a luggage of personal belongings and banknotes equivalent to six hundred Singapore dollars. When you are in your 20s, you don’t think too much because you have nothing much to lose. In the midst of the Asian … [Read more...]