Time flies and it is already Feb and I am late for my annual setting of new year goals to list my Key Performance Indicators to achieve for 2025.
This year is a bit different from previous ones. I have decided to join my wife and retire from full-time work. At 58 and 56 years old, we want to plan for our halftime life journey. We had both been working for more than 30+ years and decided it was time to take a well-deserved break.
Coincidentally, our younger son is about to complete his uni life and embark on his medical work career soon. This was similar to what my dad did in 1990 and retired when I graduated. Life is repeating itself.
My 2025 KPIs:
Read 20 books – They can be non-fiction or fiction books, short stories or novels. I will read anything that interests me, at a rate of 1 to 2 books a month. I will borrow the ebooks from the National Library to read on my PC or iPad. As usual, I will write a short summary of every book I finish as a matter of record.
Do 5 courses – Either physical classes or online MOOC, I will utilize the new Skillsfuture funds ($4k) to educate myself on topics I want to learn more about, with more than 25,000+ courses listed on the Skillsfuture website for me to explore.
Deep dive into at least 2 more new or existing interests, to continue on my life-long learning journey. With the Internet and AI tools available to help us, it should be easier. But we get an overload of information around us and the main problem is to sieve between the BS and discover the truth. That is getting harder to do nowadays.
Travel more – My wife and I have already planned for one major long trip every quarter to Portugal/Spain (Lisbon, Madeira, Porto, Madrid), South Korea (Busan, Seoul) and China (Chengdu, Chongqing). There will also be short trips between these trips to neighbouring places like Johor Bahru and cities in South East Asia. Given that we have more time on our hands now, we do not need to rush during our vacations and can slowly enjoy and absorb the local culture and vibe.
Be happy and healthy – to enjoy our 2nd halftime period. Life is short. We will take time to smell the roses. Have a regular exercise regime, and aim to constantly seek small feelings of happiness while exploring new experiences. We need to also count our blessings daily as we enjoy our retirement years.
I review my previous annual goals and KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) at the beginning of each new year for the ones I set out last year. This year I am running a bit late and it is already 02 Feb. So much has happened within the first month, with the new American president on 20 Jan and a shocking turn of events at work with a colleague plus the early CNY festive period of meals and celebrations.
My 2024 KPIs written in Jan 2024 and how I grade myself as the year ended:
Read 15 books – I completed 16 and exceeded this goal for the first time… I give myself an A grade. At the bottom of this blog is the list of the books I read and a summary of each for my reference. The friend who suggested this good habit to me a few years ago reads 40+ a year – I aim to achieve that one day.
Closed one of the 2 funds launched by our financial services company – We were not able to do so for various reasons which I may write about in further detail in the future. I give myself an F grade
Do 5 online and physical courses. I only completed one online course due to my full-time job in 2024 and I was too occupied with work to concentrate on actively pursuing more courses. I only did a simple Google AI online course. I give myself a Grade C.
Stay healthy and happy always – Generally an OK year with some ups and downs. I give myself a Grade B.
I will write up a new 2025 KPI list soon to keep me focused on my to-do goals for this year. I will be starting my next halftime journey as I officially retire from work and decide on what I want to do, besides looking forward to more travelling and visiting new places together with my wife for the next 10+ years.
Life is fragile and precious. We should make the most of it to treasure the time and create new memories and experiences while we can do so.
List of books I read in 2024 and a summary of each for my reference:
(1) Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson – Finished the final 25% in Jan. Good psychoanalysis of who Musk is as a person and his quirks. Surges and crazy madness, ultimate risk taker that cannot sit still, willing to bet the house all the time. Hard to bet with or against him via his sheer mental willpower.
(2) The Private Equity Playbook – Adam Coffey (2019) – 104 pages about private equity- getting the right team, EBITDA, leverage, growth surge, and hiring consultants. I wanted to understand more about the PE world in general and how they think.
(3) The Asia 21st century (2022) – Kishida Mahbubani – A collection of his essays from 2019 on similar themes. America plutocracy: government for the wealthy and not for the majority’s wellbeing. Supreme Court “Citizen’s United” Jan 2010 decision to allow unlimited spending to ensure the election of candidates sensitive to donor’s interest. Disenfranchised US middle class that is now worse off than their parent’s generation and turning to Trump to vent their anger. Distrustful of the media. Blaming others like China and acting like a bully, refusing to engage but starting new wars. No American wants to face the ugly truths and address them.
(4) The Coming Wave – Mustafa Suleyman – Co-founder of DeepMind, explained and helped me fill in the gaps I had in AI history, quite enlightening. Tied AI to data centre and climate change. The last part is about ways to proceed, inevitably to embrace change. Turned a bit preachy at the end though…
(5) The Algebra of Wealth – Scott Galloway – a bit rambling at times, mostly aimed at beginners into investments and talks about the basics. Does not appeal to an experienced investor as his thoughts may be too conservative eg. Buy ETFs, buy a house and keep things simple. I like his podcasts but this 2nd book of his I read to date does not impress me.
(6) AI Investing for Dummies – Paul Mladjenovic – How to use ChatGPT to enhance and speed up your research and recommendations – shortcuts. Though written in early 2024, the speed at which AI changes makes the recommendations a bit dated by the time I read it in Aug with new AI tools like Gemini and Claude being launched. Intro and refresher for beginners. A good start to using AI to turbocharge and sharpen your investing skills.
(7) Private Equity: A Memoir – Carrie Sun. The story is about her 2 years with a high-pressure private equity fund and experiencing burnout. Similar to Billions the TV series. The author is an assistant to the top man – rumoured to be Chase Coleman, the founder of Tiger Global Management. Too much of an emotional roll coaster ride and not enough about the actual workings of the hedge fund. May appeal more to females trying to figure out their lives in a high-pressure work environment where the boss does not get it.
(8) Chip War – Chris Miller. Rereading it a second time to get a better understanding of the importance of chips and leading to ASML, Nvidia, AMD and ARM investments. Able to absorb better during the 2nd reading how each country managed to capture a critical part of the chip cycle, how they developed in history, and the importance of Taiwan’s TSMC as a manufacturer of choice where American chip designers outsource fabrication like Nvidia. An eye opener to how significantly critical this sector is to the world.
(9) Lee Kuan Yew – How to build a nation – Tom Plate. Written in 2009, a different Western perspective and line of questioning with regards to LKY’s points of view. LKY – society before self, soft authoritarianism, unlike the American self before others. His views on China and the USA in 2009 also echo Kishore’s – they think alike. An aggressive and frank American journalist questioning him on sensitive topics with no holds barred- a surprisingly nice read of the 2 days session he spent with LKY that recorded precious nuggets of his thought processes.
(10) AI for Finance – Edward Tsang – Written in late 2022. Too much technical jargon and assumptions without AI solutions and suffers from being just before OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in Nov 2022.
(11) Living the Asian Century – Kishore Mahbubani. An interesting read from a man who experienced the founding fathers of S’pore (LKY, Goh Keng Swee and S Rajaratnam) on a first-name basis. Talks about his life journey and how lucky he was to be where he is today. Maybe with age (75), he has more circumspection about his life not to let pride and ego take centre stage. Highly recommended read to understand how S’pore made its name on the global stage and the many struggles its people had to fight and endure to ensure survival.
(12) Blue Zones Challenge – Dan Buettner. Short book on the introduction of blue zone regions like Okinawa for healthy living and lifestyle. A one-year program to proactively improve your well-being and track your health and happiness to live longer. More American-centric lifestyle fine-tuning. S’pore has recently been declared a blue zone.
(13) The Singapore Story – Lee Kuan Yew. A good read of the details from LKY’s life till S’pore independence in 1965. A lot of info on the various steps and near misses which could have changed history and sidelined LKY/PAP. The struggles with the communist threat, British rule and merger with Malaysia in 1963, plus the fights with wanting a Malaysian Malaysia against UMNO’s Malay Malaysian supremacy led to the separation. Seems like LKY was always prepared for that and wanted the Tunku to claim that it initiated that move.
(14) Cryptocurrency Uncovered – Your guide through the Digital Gold Rush – Nathan Venture (2023). A short 200-page book that could have been written by ChatGPT – a giveaway – the last paragraph of each chapter starts with “in conclusion, …”. Brief run-through of various topics associated with crypto, a refresher that does not attempt to dive too deep within each lesson.
(15) Yeoman – Charles Yu. An ebook short story (less than 30 pages) from the same person who wrote Interior Chinatown book which is now a new TV series I am watching.
(16) The Little Book of Bitcoin – Anthony Scaramucci. A short 200-pager book on the build-up to the case for buying BTC. Nice points made and advice on how to invest wisely. Good for newbies.
In 2 days, the great disrupter will again take over the office of the most powerful job in the world.
While he is more prepared this time than in 2016 with the crypto bros rallying him on, I cannot help but feel we will be in for a wild ride in the next 4 years. His main objective is to break all status quo systems/processes and see what happens. The recklessness will be unseen before; hopefully, the American nation will survive the onslaught. It will emerge either stronger or in a big mess. The probability of a big mess seems higher at this point of review.
There will be more trading opportunities with higher volatility and investors must have balls of steel to weather the swings. Some mega macro trends (eg. AI evolution, Climate Change) are clear. But it will be a crazy ride with multiple surprises ahead. So let the games begin!!!
A long-time friend and colleague suddenly passed on from cardiac arrest last Sat. Having known him for more than 20+ years, it came as a shock to all of us who knew him. We will treasure our best memories with him and value the fragility of life while cherishing our short time on earth. Let’s count our blessings every day. May he rest in peace.
Year-end is always a special time for us as we celebrate Christmas and New Year with loved ones and gather for good food. This year was even more special as our older son returned from HK to spend time with us and we squeezed in a 1-week family vacation to Hanoi too.
24 Dec – Our annual Christmas Eve dinner was held at home where a few of us managed individual dishes to serve everyone. After dinner, we went for Part 2 by visiting a relative’s house to join a bigger group gathering.
25 Dec – The start of our 1 week Hanoi family vacation. A 630 am ride to the airport for a sumptuous breakfast at the First Class lounge before our 9 am flight. The Grab app was the main cab-hailing method used in Vietnam and we took it from the Hanoi International Airport to the Pullman Hotel. The fare was less than SGD 20 for the 40-minute journey. After checking in, we went to the Old Quarters for a Don Duck restaurant lunch specializing in duck dishes. After the meal, we accidentally stumbled into the picturesque railway line of cafes where the train passes within a hair’s breadth of our cafe tables. We took photos and had drinks while waiting for the train to pass within inches of us. We walked about 1 km in the cool evening from the hotel to Tam Vi restaurant, which was booked in advance by our younger son. It was a one Michelin-star place that served cheap and great home-cooked Hanoi meals.
26 Dec – We woke up early to meet our guide for an 8 am Hanoi walking tour in central Hanoi. We walked to the main lake and its temples, then visited the St Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi. Finally, we went to the Hoa Lo Prison museum which was named Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam War. We then joined a food tour in the afternoon to sample varieties of Vietnamese street food. We headed to the Beer Street area in the evening for an outdoor Vietnam BBQ dinner.
27 Dec – Another early day for us as we had to set off at 8 am for the ride to Halong Bay. After boarding the cruise ship at noon, we had a buffet lunch before we set sail through the scenic bay. There was a brief stopover for us to kayak around an island mid-afternoon and soak in the jacuzzi aboard the roof deck after the exercise. Our connecting cabins had a lovely view of the cruise along the bay before the sunset for evening drinks at the rooftop bar before a sit-down dinner.
28 Dec – Morning buffet breakfast was served at 7 am before we set off to Cat Ba island via a smaller boat for an excursion through the famous caves. Check out by 11 am for the journey back to Hanoi to our new service apartment accommodations at Oakwood Residence. After checking in, we went for a massage at a local Spa experience which the tour guide recommended. It was very rustic with a local setup frequented by regulars. Dinner was Italian at La Fiorentina near our Oakwood Residence. We had a fantastic meal courtesy of my wife as a bonus. 2 bottles of wine and great food. That was the most expensive meal for the trip at VND 5.8 M (about SGD 300).
29 Dec – Another early day starts at 730 am for our full-day trip to the Ninh Binh province. We target to cover 3 places during the whole day. First was the Bai Dinh Pagoda complex followed by a buffet lunch. Then it was to Trang An for a small boat ride for 4 persons with a personal rower to enjoy the scenic sights. The final destination was to the Mua Caves where we climbed the 500 steps to the top of the mountain for spectacular sights from the peak. Arriving back in Hanoi at 730 pm, we dropped off at the Hanoi weekend night market to have a simple seafood dinner at a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant in the Old Quarters which had good reviews.
30 Dec – The final day in Hanoi was a chill day. We visited the gym in the morning before heading to the seafood Maison Buffet booked 2 days ago for brunch. The buffet spread was impressive, loaded with all the freshest seafood that Vietnam can offer for just VND 0.5 M (about SGD 25). Then we visited the newest Lotte mall before taking a short walk around the biggest lake in Hanoi. We spent a lazy afternoon watching the last few episodes of Squid Game 2 and opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate the end of a great holiday. We decided to explore the area around us for dinner and found Bao Wow, a quaint place for our final dinner meal in Hanoi.
31 Dec – Packed up and checked out by 9 am to set off to the airport for brunch at the lounge. The flight home was delayed and we finally landed at 6 pm. We then attended a lovely New Year’s Eve party till 1+ am. There was so much wonderful food filled with fun games and laughter till 1+ am.
2025 finally arrived… We are in for an exciting year that is likely to be eventful, and filled with twists and turns. Mostly thanks to the incoming American President. Hopefully, it will be profitable for my portfolio as we navigate the ups and downs of an unpredictable new management which will seek to destroy the status quo and move in a new direction. Happy New Year and wishing you a Prosperous 2025 ahead!!
I recently came across this annual report by futurist and author CEO Amy Webb. Via a long summary, she set up some thought-provoking 2025 Macro Themes which I had reread a few times to fully digest the various topics she was conveying. The future looks bright with multiple tech breakthroughs
I would like to revisit her predictions next year to see which will pan out. Also, the themes will help crystalize my investment thought processes and look at interesting public companies to invest in for 2025.
Meanwhile, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2025 New Year ahead. I am excited about family gatherings with good food and a family vacation soon.
Banksy, an artist who periodically appeared on my radar over the last twenty-plus years, always intrigued me.
He was a mysterious graffiti street artist who continued to deface walls and buildings with provocative images of current events. After careful planning, his pictures would suddenly appear overnight, and the world would lavish attention on his latest creations.
Seeing bits and pieces while not knowing the full story, has led me to want to attend “The Art of Banksy – Without Limits” exhibition that is currently being held in my hometown.
Though the pricing felt a bit steep (SGD 30-50 per person), curiosity got the better of me. I am a history buff and always like to explore deeper into a historical figure, to understand the person behind the name who does what they did and why they do it.
My interests could be as diverse as the Roman empire to Elon Musk the man. Book autobiographies, movies or TV series that expand on the lives and thinking of the person enlighten me tremendously. I started buying the Smash Hits weekly magazine to read the lyrics to the songs I liked when I began appreciating pop music during my teenage years. Having a catchy tune was not enough for me. I needed to know the lyrics to the song in order to fully comprehend what the singer was trying to convey.
Back to this Banksy exhibition. It was an eye-opener for me as I realized he was active for more than 20 years and has done so many varied works of art in multiple countries and geography.
The complete history of his beginnings and creation fascinated me for the 60+ minutes I needed to complete the exhibition, as recommended by the organizers. It was interesting to see him blend his interests and philanthropy actions while exposing the hypocrisy of human nature.
Some speculated that he was a roving band member who painted in the night during their tour dates. But others have also pinpointed him to be a bloke called Robin Gunningham, a rebel at heart. His images point us to the contrast of emotions and uncomfortable truths around the world. Why have hate and war when there can be love and peace instead?
To monetize his works, he sometimes uses auction houses to sell the physically movable painting items. A list of his works that were sold and prices transacted. Generally, his official website also offers signed and unsigned prints for sale at a few hundred dollars apiece.
Banksy encourages anybody to take and amend his art for their own personal amusement as long as it is not for profit. No one is allowed to lie that he had endorsed them when he has not.
This was a highly entertaining and enlightening exhibition for me. I learnt so much about a free spirit individual who truly enjoys creating new artwork to provoke and open the minds of everyone, to bring to attention the ironies of life and in a small way, to galvanize us to get off our butts and perhaps do something about it.
It has been 3+ months since my last blog. I have stopped posting regularly since starting full-time work late last year. It was also laziness as weekends became precious for me, to rest and do leisurely stuff to destress from work plus not having to think about a topic to blog about every week.
A new halftime turning point is about to begin for me in early 2025. Hence, it is time to kickstart my regular blogging journey again. The blogging process has been therapeutic for me since I started in 2016. It helped me crystallize my thoughts and improve my writing skills. Given that I will have more time on my hands soon, the adoption of this disciplined habit will help me stay mentally sharp.
The financial markets had been on a one-way upward trajectory since the US Presidential elections when Trump unexpectedly won. While the orange one was not someone I was rooting for, the win had provided my stock and crypto portfolio with a generous windfall.
Just before the elections, I had even taken on a punt via Polymarket. The betting odds for a Harris win were attractive. But alas, the hard lesson learnt that the market is always right has been reinforced in me again…
Whenever we discuss the US elections, I will tell my friends that we have no say in it because we cannot vote as non-citizens. The only consolation is that I believe that the Americans truly deserve whoever they have voted for. And they have elected for big changes and another 4 more years of chaos.
Trump has been busy announcing his nominees for various government roles. He seems to be more organized this time into his second term in office compared to 2016 which was a total mess. He seems to be adopting a shock-and-awe strategy now. To announce some of the most ridiculous candidates with zero or little experience into critical jobs, to reward the loyalists who were supporting him and the radicals who wanted to change the status quo. Whether they eventually succeed in getting appointed is irrelevant. If they fail to get nominated later, he could just say that he tried but the deep state stopped him. At the moment, he is doing a victory dance to reward his cult members.
Biden and Kamala’s biggest mistake was to ostracize Elon Musk and sway him to the other side. They constantly ignored and snubbed his Tesla and SpaceX accomplishments. Elon’s ego, which was as big as Trump’s, couldn’t help but be attracted to the GOP side after being rejected by the other side.
The richest man on earth now can give the Democrats the middle finger. Courting the tech and crypto bros while spending time on popular podcasts like Joe Rogan was also a masterful stroke that heavily swayed the male demographics to the Republican side. Old news media outlets are on the decline. A surprising report indicates that 54% now listen to podcasts weekly to get their news updates.
The bully tactics have also begun, with Ukraine and Canada getting the first shots of threats and arm twisting from Trump. His strategy is to make the other side succumb to his demands and blink first before the escalation gets out of hand. Remember Rocket Man and North Korea? But I am not too sure if this will work against China though. The Chinese have just decided to fire a warning shot on tariffs to Trump by banning the exports of some critical raw materials. Two can tango and play in the tit-for-tat tariff game…
We are in for interesting times immediately after the 20 Jan presidential handover. Elon and the Trump team, with so many egos onboard, will aim to break everything and try to rebuild from the ruins again. Hopefully, America will survive this massive onslaught to destroy the basic fabric of government institutions that have endured for years. The only thing I am in favour of is the new administration’s aim to dampen the woke culture of the left. In recent years, they have forced the beliefs of the minority down the throat of the conservative majority.
We are really in for a crazy 2025 and it will all start with a bang on 21 Jan. It is probably wise to take some investment profit into Q1 in case we end up with a shitshow. A comedy of missteps could take the American economy back to the stone age LOL.
The other interesting but sad thing that I experienced this week was on Monday when I visited my regular prata/teh tarik mama shop for breakfast. The hardworking staff member at the counter whom I had gotten to know for the past year had not been at work for a few weeks.
I was curious to know if something had happened to him and so I checked with another staff member. Initially, she just mentioned that he had gone back to India. I assumed that it was for a short holiday break and asked when he be back to work.
Her answer shocked me when she said “Never”. More details were then shared with me. He had been stealing and siphoning funds from the cash register. He was taking between $50-100 daily and the big boss finally confronted him with video evidence from the security cameras they had installed in the shop.
Looks are deceiving. I thought that he was an honest and hardworking person who always prepared my regular drink ahead of time the moment he saw me arriving. I did not expect that he had a dark side that could be fueled by personal debts and greed. Probably after stealing the first time, he thought that he found a fantastic financial loophole to exploit. It likely became a habitual addiction to easy money until he was caught red-handed with the video evidence.
Life continues to have many twists and turns. One just has to roll with it and control what one can manage while adapting to those events that one cannot. We have to make the best of every situation that confronts us.
An interesting story about how a small country has been able to leverage its abundant renewable energy resources via a digital solution to build up its strategic reserves.
Bhutan has been quietly mining Bitcoin (“BTC”) using its hydropower resources to the point that its $780M Bitcoin holdings are now equal to 25% of its total GDP!! (13,000+ BTC @ $60k)
To put that another way: Bhutan now has $1,000 worth of Bitcoin for every one of its 780,000 citizens…
Instead of mining resources/generating renewable energy before exporting it through continent-spanning physical infrastructure networks, Bhutan has exported their renewable energy digitally.
This brings a whole new meaning to the concept of “renewable energy exports”. #ThinkingOutOfTheBox
Fun facts about Bhutan: – It prioritizes “Gross Domestic Happiness” over GDP (~$3.11B) – It has the 5th highest $BTC holdings of any country in the world
“Bhutan’s entry into bitcoin mining and cryptocurrency investments offers valuable lessons for other small nations: – Countries can leverage natural resources, like hydroelectric power, for emerging technologies. – There is potential for economic diversification, reducing dependence on traditional sectors such as tourism. – Illustrates a model for quiet integration into the crypto space, avoiding unnecessary attention.”
