Financial life after Cancer

Dear all,  The first half of 2025 had passed. I hope that everyone is doing well in all aspects of your life. Do you still remember the financial goals that you set and if you are on the track to achieve these goals? I still remember that in my financial goal setting which was done in Dec 2024 when I decided to aim for earlier retirement in 10 years time at the age of 55. I worked out all the necessary details including the total amount ($6,000 a month or $72,000 annually) that I will need to live in comfort plus a bit more for future investment and inflation. (Everyone will need a different amount due to different lifestyle and planning.)  To achieve this, I will need to break the $6,000 a month target into yearly short term, medium term (3 years) , and long term (5 years) targets. Once, I completed my setting of the targets, I would set up the actions (how much to save, how to reduce spending to increase saving, how to invest the saving, and when to invest etc)   Yearly...

Dear all,  Last Monday, it was to my dismal to learn that my aunt had passed away in the early morning during my work with my consultant. My aunt had been the one who fostered me when my parents were working since I was 3 months old. I only went home at the age of 5 and visited them for a short holiday once a while when I was in my school days. We continued to gather during the Chinese New Year and the Christmas Seasons. I had been busy with all the work and to recuperate from my thyroid cancer treatment so my connections with my relatives were not the strongest last year. Made worse by my stress at work. Last November, during my Radioactive Iodine medication which requires me to be isolated from the senior citizens, my eight aunt died (yes, my dad came from a very big family in the mid 40s.) So I had lost two aunts in a span of seven months. It was a big blow for me, much worse for my dad. He would take the news worse than me as he spend more time with both his sisters.  My d...

 Dear all,   I went to the inclusive career fair held at Raffles Place Wework Office on 21 Jun 2025.  While the career fair was held for LGBTQ in mind, I registered to go to the fair with the intentions to find out if there are any job opportunities for people with conditions such as cancer survivors, cancer patients or people who need special care (i.e. dialysis).   I went in with an open mind not knowing what to expect. I waited patiently at 9.50am and was surprised to see many people waiting patiently for the registration for the events. There was security check and the security personnel were very pleasant and professional in their job. I waited patiently for my turn for the registration. The organizer was very efficient in the registration.   I was surprised to see many of the famous companies in the fair such as Apple, Citi group, Air BnB, Property Guru and Stan Chart. There was even a company called The Standard, a boutique hotel just started op...

Dear all,  The world seems to be going mad with the riots plus mad actions from Donald Trump and the crisis in the middle east.  The world seems to be in panic. There will be some gloating from the people who wanted to see the end of America domination. USA is a global partner in trading and most of us will have some investment in US. If they are going down, it will affect everyone even the Chinese.  While we are concern, we do not panic. Like what i always said, we should always invest in good or bad time. Do not allocate the fund based on what you think the market condition will be in the next few months or years. Go on dollar cost averaging on a constant manner. If you are investing at least $1,000 a month, continue to do so. You may want to increase it along the way when you have a bit of extra fund. Personally I would invest at least $1,000 per month into the income funds that I am investing on. If I do have a little more, I will put in more without compromising my d...

Dear all,  With the tariff war looming to a strange ending, most of my investment managed to recover and grow for the month of May.  It is almost mid month when I finally get the confirmation of dividend of Multi-Sector Income fund May 2025 Dividend Received Multi-Sector Income Fund - $521.75 US Income and Growth Fund - $527.32 SYFE Pimco Fund - $68.24 Trust Income Fund - $5.20 Total Dividend Received - $1,122.51 There is a slight increase of $0.45 dividend earning. This is a surprise considered that I invested over $1,000 into SYFE Pimco Fund. I did a check with the SYFE administrative. I was told that I invested after the dividend was declared and calculated hence, my investment was not taken into consideration when the dividend is calculated. May 2025 Investment  Total Investment amount  made for May 2025 - $1,220  I had invested $1,220 into SYFE Pimco Fund to continue my strategy to reduce my reliance on Multi-Sector Income Fund and US Income and Growth Fund...

Dear all, As I am progressing into the sixth month of my journey, it is becoming increasingly more and more difficult for me in my career. Things are getting more and more tight as we are shorthanded while workload increases. I am feeling the pressure especially with the crazy workload, toxic people, and terrible work culture with an disagreement in the general management direction. I am more than likely to look for a job change and a side income career.     Right now, I am going to make plans on it. Not sure where it would bring me but I am not going to sit around with the additional stress driving in. It is not worth it when I am planning for my eventual retirement.  In term of investment, I will like to think that I am in the right direction. I will need more time to get the dividends and for the dividends with any extra resources to be invested into my portfolio and let it grow. I will give an update on my 1H 2025 investment amount and dividend received once I re...