Last August, after I left my first job, I bared our total net worth on this blog. Since then, many things have happened. The Mrs left her cushy regional marketing role (too stressful and busy) in April earlier this year and I left another job just two months ago.
Therefore, it’s not surprising to find some changes to our net worth. Honestly speaking, since our work density (cool term?) was probably around 60% – 70% for the past year and with the markets tanking in the past quarter, I was expecting the net worth to drop, or at most stay constant.
But how wrong I was.
After tabulating all our assets (and of course debts) up for the past quarter, I was treated to a pleasant figure: $530,000
Here’s the breakdown:
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Liquid Assets: $150,000
Our two OCBC 360 Accounts makes up the bulk of our liquid assets. Easily $100k there? The Mrs has also terminated her AIA Achiever Plan recently and that adds up. Other deposit accounts (who doesn’t have a POSB account?), $21,000 of FCL bonds and $5000 of SSBs make up the rest.
Short Term Liabilities: -$35,000
$12,000 worth of student loans. $3,000 for me and $9,000 for the Mrs. There’s also another $23,000 that we pledge to return to our in-laws at an appropriate time. Those are the proceeds from an educational endowment plan they bought for my dear wife.
Illiquid Assets: $710,000
One of my favourite pastime during the GFC was visiting the HDB website to check on how much resale prices had fallen. Yeah, I was on the lookout for flats at the tender age of 23?
And even now, I use it (aesthetically enhanced recently) once in a while to check on the value of my 5 room flat in Punggol. However, there’s nothing to really benchmark against since most of the BTO projects nearer to Punggol Mrt are less than 5 years old. Things should change in a year or so as the MOP of some of these flats are met and I would have a better idea then.
Nonetheless, the $500k valuation I attached to the flat last year remains both relevant and conservative, so I shall stick to that.
Adding up the stock portfolio and our CPF Ordinary balances, we come to a figure close to $750,000.
Long Term Liabilities: -$295,000
My two siblings each have about $25,000 invested in the 15 HWW bond, which provides a 5% annual coupon. I have blogged about this here previously. And obviously, there is my home loan which after more than a year, is hovering at around $242,000. Half of the past year’s mortgage payments went to servicing the interest and the other half reducing the principal.
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It’s really quite incredible that we still managed to add $30,000 to our net worth even after downsizing our jobs and navigating a ~20% contraction in our stock portfolio this year.
Moral of the story? Recording and reining in our expenses seem to really help.
Wah! Shiok!
Glad to know that everything is working out well for you. I think net worth is not all that important. Both you and your wife have inculcated a great lifestyle and that’s going to power you through to an early retirement. 🙂
Hi Mickey J,
Thanks for your kind comments.
I think dividends, credit card cashbacks and the odd jobs here and there adds up. I guess an early semi-retirement is still largely on track?
Hi Mr 15HWW,
I’m curious why you classified the FCL bonds under liquid assets instead of illiquid assets.
As a retail bond, it trades similarly to stocks on the SGX, which means liquidating it takes about the same time as stocks, or worse given that liquidity for it isn’t that great. In the last 20 trading days (4 weeks), there has been 9 days where the total trading value is less than $100,000.
Although its capital value might not be so volatile and impaired under market stress compared to stocks, I would actually think retail bonds are less “liquid” than stocks.
I too would classify SSBs as liquid assets though. Even fixed deposits too.
GMGH
Hi GMGH,
You made an interesting point. I guess “liquidity” means different things to different people?
Because the FCL bonds are more likely to be less volatile, if I need money quickly, I would have little qualms about selling it. Whereas for stocks, although liquidating can be fast, the timing might be wrong, rendering them illiquid.
Actually, depending on one’s perspective, the SSBs can be considered illiquid. You might need to wait 1 month to sell?
Wow, I hope my spouse and I will be like you and your wife in the future! Those are some incredible additions despite the situations you’ve roughed out. Congrats!
Hi Budget Babe,
Thanks for your kind words. You are doing very well yourself now and I am sure t will be even better in future!
Hi 15hww
Congrats on the overall networth increase.
But more importantly, I think it is the ability of both you and the Mrs to break away free from the traditional 9-6 work in a cagey manner. It is difficult to take the first step away from it and I am still trying to mitigate doing it very slowly (and hopefully I’ll get there one day) but it’s a long way still.
I think there would be many more opportunities now that you can see the world, have plenty of time to think about than the workers who are stuck in the cubicle. 🙂
Hi B,
As I mentioned, “once you step away, you will wonder why you haven’t done it earlier”.
For most, we are likely to overplan and overbudget than the other way round. I am also surprised at how “smoothly” things have turned out so far.
this might be a stupid question. Since you have so much liquid assets, why not pay off the student loan first to avoid interest?
Hi dan,
The Mrs’ student loan has been settled by her parents, so what she owe no longer accrues interest. As for me, not redeeming my student loan has nothing to do with financial considerations. Due to personal reasons, I prefer to spread it out and pay back to my father’s CPF account every month.
Hi 15hww,
Nice! Enjoy the freedom…
Hi Richard,
Thanks! Hope you’re getting a breather at work.
🙂