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My Special Account Money (SA) in Central Provident Fund (CPF) – Cornerstone or Last Resort for Retirement?

Posted on by careyourpresent

Central Provident Fund (CPF)

I believe CPF formed a large net worth of most working adults in Singapore, including me. I have talked about my current stage of in my reflection article (Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old). In that article, I have mentioned that “Reach CPF Full Retirement Sum (FRS) in Special Account in Jan 2020 (Current: way exceeded 200k such that will still reach FRS even if not working).” Action and evidence speak louder than word. I shall show screenshot of my CPF in this post at the end of this post.

What is Central Provident Fund (CPF)?

In case for those not aware (especially foreigner) who are reading this post. Let me share some details.

CPF is short for Central Provident Fund in Singapore, which is a savings scheme designed to help Singaporeans save up for their future. It’s a mandatory savings plan that both employers and employees contribute to, and it offers a range of benefits such as retirement savings, medical savings, and insurance coverage.

Contributions to CPF are made on a monthly basis, and the amount you contribute depends on your age and income. The funds in your CPF account are managed by the government, and you’ll earn interest of 2.5% to 4% (with special extra interest, it can go up to 6% for the first 60k) on your savings too.

Overall, CPF is an important safety net for Singaporeans, and it’s designed to make sure that you have enough financial resources to support yourself throughout your life. Whether you’re saving up for retirement, a home, or your education, CPF is there to help you achieve your goals (hopefully).

One key term in CPF that one should know is Full Retirement Sum.

What is Full Retirement Sum?

The Full Retirement Sum (FRS) of CPF is the amount of money you need to save up in your CPF account to receive a basic monthly payout for life after you retire. This is really important because it helps to ensure that you have enough money to cover your living expenses and healthcare needs during your retirement years.

When you turn 55, you can choose to set aside your FRS in a special account called the Retirement Account (RA). The RA is designed to provide you with a monthly payout starting from the age of 65 years old, so you can enjoy your retirement without worrying too much about finances.

As of 2023, the FRS is $198,800, but don’t worry if you don’t have that much saved up yet. You can still receive a lower monthly payout under the CPF Life Scheme if you don’t have enough savings in your CPF account to meet the FRS.

Of course, if you want to receive a higher monthly payout in retirement, you can choose to set aside more than the FRS in your RA. This will help you enjoy a more comfortable retirement and give you greater financial security.

FRS has been increasing steadily over years (see screenshot below) and many people are worried that they can’t achieve it. This is fact and a real worry.

CPF website

How much monthly payout will I get?

The next question is how much I will get monthly at age 65. From the CPF website,

To receive a monthly payout of $1,470 – $1,570, you will need $288,900 in your
Retirement Account (RA) at 65. A much lesser sum of $192,000 is required if you set aside
the amount in your RA at 55.

For example, if I want 2k per month at 65, I need to have around 280k at age 55! Wow that’s a big amount. It’s difficult to achieve it – That’s why most people think.

CPF website

My CPF Special Account (SA) as of Today

Picture speaks a thousand words.

Why do I show SA only? Because I am making use of the compounding effect of CPF SA to achieve Full Retirement. The rest of money in Ordinary Account and Medisave Account to me are just bonus to me.

Assuming, I quit my job immediately, thus no further CPF contribution to work.

This is what I will get at age 65.

Ignoring the extra interest for first 60k and further work contribution, I would have 612k at age 65. Based on the payout table from CPF website earlier, $428,300 will give $2140 to $2300 monthly payout from age 65. I have 612K, thus it means I should have at least 3k per month. Together with my spouse, we would have 6k per month monthly at least. Decent lifestyle for old couple? (Don’t forget that this excludes my investment portfolio)

Power of compounding

Of course, this is a backup plan. My main plan is still my equity, bond, option, & crypto portfolio, which is way larger.

Plan early and build success.

My idea is just to get CPF FRS out of mind, hence I deliberately try to maximize it when I was younger. Hence, today, at 40, I totally don’t bother with how much I have in my CPF – just let it auto-compound.

It’s not difficult to achieve Full Retirement Sum – FRS

Contrary to most beliefs, it is not difficult to achieve Full Retirement Sum. There are few simple methods to achieve based on what I did.

  • Transfer OA to SA as early as possible. I did this after learning from A Singaporean Stocks Investor (ASSI) decades ago. This is my main method to achieve Full Retirement Sum. This is achievable as I didn’t buy expensive HDB and thus minimal amount is taken from OA to pay for my house.
  • Top up with CASH to get tax relief. I did some top-ups over the past decades (but in total less than 5k). Why? Because of the idea of shifting goalpost. It worries many people and of course me. Furthermore, I could get more than 4% outside from stocks etc, why lock my money for 30 years?

However, for the transfer of OA to SA, it is different, since money already trapped in system, why not make full use of it? Let the government interest play the magic of compounding for you.

What about you? Have you achieved your Full Retirement Sum? Do you plan to achieve it? It’s not difficult and I am the living proof of it.

Care Your Present

Lastly, I want to repeat one last thing. please learn to live in the moment, enjoy every single moment of your life.

“Time has no reset button” is what I used to be saying.

But this is not powerful accurate enough.

It SHOULD BE Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and most important yourself.

Read: Truly understand Living in the Moment now

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Side Hustle: Google AdSense’s earnings for 1 week and is it worth to start a blog?

Posted on by careyourpresent

Why blogging?

Many people started a blog usually with a purpose on sharing something which they are passionate about. Of course, there are many other reasons on why people blog. Some simply want to earn money which is absolutely correct too.

For me, there are many reason(s) on why I started blogging after quitting blogging for years in Dec 2014. Main reason is my son was born in 2015 and my work life was getting too busy at that time to continue blogging consistently. Haha, this is my last blog if you are interested. For those early Singapore finance bloggers who still remembered me, please say hi in the comments below 🙂

Objective 1&2: Finance Journey + Care Your Present

For my case, I would like to share my Finance Journey as well as how I learnt and grow on the path of “Care Your Present“. Take for example, I have moved on from understanding living the moment (see: Most Powerful Way to Live in the Moment) to really truly practicing it (see: Truly understand Living in the Moment now).

Objective 3: Reflection of Own Life Journey

Blogging also gives me a platform to reflect my own life journey (see: Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old) which I can refer back anytime, read and understand /reflect/reminisce how I felt that time when I wrote each article, especially months or years later.

Objective 4: As a Legacy

This site also allowed me to record my personal life story (see: Farewell Mum. You are always in my mind) that I can always go back and refer too or simply keep it as a legacy for my kids.

Maybe in future (hopefully decades later) when I passed on, this blog will be a legacy for my kids to read and understand how their father felt while they were growing up.

Hopefully also one day will be how their mother felt when they are growing up (I am still trying to chip in my wife’s help to write some articles on Care Your Present, hope that she will agree).

Practicality of Blogging

Of course, another objective which most bloggers have or those who plan to start a blog is to earn something – it can be referral fees from some services that they are using (Special thanks to those who have used my MoneyOwl Referral and Trust Bank Referral) or even simple advertisement fees. For me, ideally, I hope that it will at least cover my hosting and domain cost.

One of the users brought up a question on how much I am paying for my domain + website hosting in my last post on Side Hustle: Google Adsense finally approved!, I have shared in my reply that it cost me about SGD$135 for 4 years of hosting with Hottinger and SGD$14 per year for domain fees.

Other Options

Of course, there are other options such as Bloggers.com, WordPress.com, but those are not ideal to me as I can’t have an unique domain name, which in my case is “Care Your Present”. I strongly believe in this motto, wanted to remind myself to practice and share how I did it. You can read more about my story via the About page. Furthermore, the functionality (e.g Plugins) are very limited for these free blogging options as compared to self-hosting via WordPress.org.

Google Adsense Earnings for the week

As shared in my previous article on Side Hustle: Google Adsense finally approved!, my Google adsense’s account was approved last Saturday on 18 Feb 2023. It has just nice been a week.

I noticed that we seldom have bloggers openly sharing their earnings in their blogs to the Public. Perhaps people are more conservative or would like to have more privacy. However, for me, I decided to be transparent and share it to the Public so that in case anyone want to start a blog or have already started a blog can really see if it is really worth it to cover the cost of blogging (monetary vs efforts put in).

Within 1 week since last Saturday, I have published 3 Articles.

Below screenshot is how much I have earned from Google Adsense for this week – SGD$4.25! Barely enough for a meal in food court. For these three articles, I have put in about 4-5 hours. Worth it?

Judge for yourself 🙂

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

SAVERs – How to maximize your interest and my Market Transaction/Updates

Posted on by careyourpresent

Market Update – recession

Recession risks are getting higher each day.

For those who are into the market news would have realized that the conditions of the market are getting more and more volatile each day. It can up a lot one day and then down a lot for the another day (I mean for US market).

For Singapore Market, it is generally quite stable since most investors are just holding for dividends. However, do not forget that when the big brother sneeze (US), the rest of the world might get a cold too. If big brother sneeze consistency (perhaps coming soon), let’s better be careful. No matter how stable, it will still be affected somehow.

Interest rate

For those who remembered, the market started off quite well this year but starts to get a little volatile in mid-February. The interest rate also drop as people expects and think Fed “will pivot” early Feb.

We can see from the Singapore Saving Bonds for those who are more into Singapore. This month bond rate (SBMAR23 GX23030A) is 2.9% for 10 years are much lower than previous month rate of 2.97%.

Disclaimer: I have not applied for this month bond as I have already built my SSB bond ladder. I want to keep my cash more liquid to take advantage of the possible upcoming market weaknesses.

SBMAR23 GX23030A

Besides Singapore Saving Bonds, we can also see from the Fixed Deposit Rate. They have dropped a lot since February. You can refer to my previous post SAVERs – Best Options to maximize your interests (2) to see how much it has dropped. Just look around the local banks or even foreign bank like CIMB, you would have realized it in early Feb.

Things start to change

However, after a while, things start to change in mid-February (see below: Screenshot 23 Feb 2023 from CNBC). You can see that the US treasury rates start to go up after more news from US Fed. Seems like people thinking pivoting not happening?

Screenshot 23 Feb 2023 from CNBC

Let’s Compare

If you refer to my earlier article dated 13 Feb 2023, about 10 days ago (Portfolio Update: Feb 2023 and Reflection at half-life (hopefully) mark – 40 Years old), both the 6 months and 10 years rate have gone up with US6M even exceeding 5% from then.

https://careyourpresent.com/portfolio-update-feb-2023-and-reflection-at-half-life-hopefully-mark-40-years-old/

If we look at the history for FED, interest rate tightening doesn’t end well. Some investors may believe that this time is different, but I don’t think so. Hence, I will only fast trade now for good counters while holding 50-60% cash as per my update on 13 Feb 2023.

Transaction

To be most transparent, I only aim to trade as of now. Unless the price is super attractive, I won’t buy and keep. For example, today, I bought Wilmar at $3.96 for trade (if I get stuck, it’s fine too. Long term Wilmar will be good especially with potential food shortages). The price is not super excellent but is decent enough especially it still drops after good results. DBS and UOB also dropped despite giving special dividend and increased dividends. All these shares long term will be good, but meanwhile, I am taking the risk off mode. I will only trade for now unless super good price come which my guess should be in the next couple of months. Disclaimer: Please do your own due diligence.

Savers

Ok, enough of ratting about market and my personal opinion. Let’s go back to saving.

Saving is important especially in such high interest rate environment. With such high interest rate environment let’s not waste it and put our money to good use 🙂 However, as mentioned earlier, Fixed deposits rate have gone down for this month but quite likely it will go up again next month due to rising rate)

For me, I want to keep my cash liquid. I have already locked few hundred Ks in Singapore Saving Bonds (SSB) for the past few months as liquid emergency funds. Unless SSB for next month reaches above 3% again, then I may consider putting in more. Meanwhile I preferred to put into more liquid options.

What options are available for savers?

Recently I have put some money into Fixed Deposit with the most attractive being the 4.88% P.A. SR1B for 3 months with DBS. I posted this in private group but not the public telegram group. Next time, maybe if got good lobang, I should post in the public group too.

For now, I think there are only few attractive options which are still available (excluding the UOB One and OCBC 360 which require salary and some spending).

Personally, my eSaver exclusive bonus will end by 28 Feb 2023, I need to find a place to put these money. Quite likely I will put the money into one the options below. Most likely will be option 2 or 3 which are much more liquid as I want to take advantage of the market in case of market weaknesses.

Option 1: OCBC 4.08% Fixed Deposit Promotion

8 Month Fixed Deposit at 4.08% for OCBC 360 Customers. Don’t miss it! The caveat is you will need to have OCBC 360 accounts in the first place.

https://www.ocbc.com/personal-banking/deposits/fixed-deposit-account

Option 2: MoneyOwl WiseSaver

MoneyOwl Wisesaver is investing in Fullerton SGD Cash Fund – Class A (SGD) which invested mainly in SGD Fixed Deposit and backed by Temasek. MoneyOwl itself is under NTUC income. It is as safe as you can get!

The latest rate is around 3.99%. This is liquid and you can take out anytime.

https://www.moneyowl.com.sg/wisesaver/

Insure, invest, or do a financial planning with MoneyOwl and get welcome Grab credits when you join using my referral link/code. You can use my referral link (or key in 6SHU-93MC) to get free $20-$60 Grab Vouchers when you invest with them.

To earn the first free $20, simply sign up for WiseSaver which the underlying fund is Fullerton Cash Fund – invested in rolling SGD Fixed Deposit and backed by Temasek. Then put in minimum $10 via FAST transfer to fund this account to earn full liquid ~4% yield. Since free money and risk free, why not?

For those who have sign up using my referral, thank you in and hope that you have enjoyed the Grab Vouchers.

Option 3: Fundsupermart Autosweep

The latest yield is 2.751% which is very decent. But the most attractive part of this option is that I am able to use the fund to trade directly and immediately. Option 2 may take a few days to transfer the money out.

Personally, I am using FSMOne.com to invest in funds & ETFs (including money market funds).

FSM is good due to the low comms and the free transfer from FSM to CDP (last year I did a few transfers and took less than a week to transfer. However, my most recent transfer was initiated on 4 Feb 2023 but the transfer to CDP was only done on 23 Feb 2023 around 2pm). Hence, user might want to take note.

If you do not have an account, you can sign up here. Please use my FSMOne referral code: P0413007.

https://secure.fundsupermart.com/fsmone/cash/autosweep-account

Option 4: MAS Treasury Bills

This is one of the safest options as these bills are backed by Singapore Government. However, the money will be locked up for 6 months. If you confirm don’t need the funds for 6 months, it will be a good option. Moreover, the rates are going up. Quite likely you should be able to get more than 4%.

For those who are unsure what are Treasury Bills; what are the difference between competitive/non-competitive, do read this article (Treasury Bill: Competitive or Non-Competitive?). Personally, I would do competitive auction for at least 4% in case there is some weird freak result.

https://www.mas.gov.sg/bonds-and-bills/singapore-government-t-bills-information-for-individuals

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Keeping simple in Investing and in Life

Posted on by careyourpresent

The Human Mind

Humans are complex creatures.

We tend to over complicate things, making things hard, or at the other extreme – underthink things (read: Careyourpresent: Over or Under think your Life and Investment?). We don’t feel satisfied if we keep things too simple. Unconsciously or consciously, we become overthinker and tend to overcomplicate things.

But do you remember what happened when you were young (or simply at the kids/babies around you), simple things like $1 toy, small tibits, grass/flowers at roadside makes them laugh non-stop. As we grow older, these small little joys don’t happen anymore. We need more “sophisticated” things like salary bonus, find dining, vacation, option trading, atas condo, trading etc to drive up our adrenaline in order to make us happy. Small little things don’t work anymore.

This used to make us happy last time.

This is luxury and make us super super happy when we were young.
Now many need this or even more complicated things

Do you have the same feelings/realization?

In this article, I will share my views on how to keep things simple in Investing and in Life

1. Keeping Investing Simple

Let’s first talk about investing. The key topics that all finance blogs should cover.

There are many ways and strategies in investing. It is often deemed as very difficult/complex, especially for a person who is new to investing. That’s why we have so many courses created by many “experts” on investing. For those who have signed up for courses, please ask yourself if the trainers earn more from your course fees or from the equity markets? If they really earned so much from the markets, why do they want to waste time conduct courses for you? They might as well spend more time on markets to earn more money?

Of course, there are some courses that are really good and help you to get started on investing, especially for those who totally don’t know how to start at all. Once you know how to start, do the research on your own. Good investors spend hours to research, learn and test out their strategies using their real money in the real market. Can a 3-day course teach you all these?

If you’re just getting started with investing, it can be tempting to want to make things more complicated than they need to be. After all, investing is a lot like driving a car: The less experienced you are at it, the more you’re tempted to overthink and over-engineer it. For a start, beginner might want to read my article: Financial Literacy 101 – Art of Managing your Wealth for free!

But simple is best when it comes to your investments as well—that’s why so many people are turning to dividend stocks and index funds for their investment portfolios.

Index investing

Index investing is a great way to get started in the world of investing. It’s low-cost, easy to understand and easy to invest in. Index funds are broadly diversified and can be used for long term investing.

Index funds are passively managed, which means they simply track an index like the S&P 500 or NASDAQ 100 or even the MSIC World Index. The fees associated with these funds tend to be very low (often less than 0.1% per year). That means they’re more tax efficient than actively managed mutual funds because there are fewer trades happening within them–which means less capital gains taxes too.

The benefits of index investing

  • Index investing is a low cost way to invest in the market.
  • Index investing is a simple way to invest.
  • Index investing can be used as a long term investment strategy, or short term investment strategy, or income generating strategy!

Why invest in an index fund?

There are many reasons why you should invest in an index fund. They’re low-cost, easy to understand and have a diversified portfolio that can help you get started with investing.

  • Low cost: An index fund will usually be less expensive than actively managed funds because there’s no need for a manager or advisor who charges fees for his or her research and advice.
  • Easy to understand: Because they are simply tracking the performance of an entire market (or segment), it’s easy for anyone to understand what they do without having much knowledge about investing or finance. This means that even someone new at this type of activity could easily make decisions based on what they see happening with their investments over time without much effort on their part – which is why it’s often recommended as one way people can begin learning how markets work so they don’t feel overwhelmed by things like volatility when first starting out!

How to invest in an index fund

  • Buy ETFs that track an index.
  • Invest in a broad index fund that covers many companies in different sectors of the market.
  • ETFs are a good choice because they trade on the stock market, so you don’t have to worry about buying or selling them yourself if you don’t want to do it yourself.

It’s best to keep your investment strategy simple.

  • It’s best to keep your investment strategy simple.
  • Don’t get into complex investments unless you know exactly what they are and how they work. If you can’t explain it to a friend or family member, then maybe there’s no need for that particular investment right now.
  • Stay the course! This is especially important during times of market uncertainty (like now).

Dividend Investing

Another more common way in Singapore Context will be dividend investing. Of course, there are many people who like to invest in US markets for dividend but the 30% withholding taxes for foreigners are turning many dividend investors off. I have written quite a couple of articles in dividend investing. You can read them here.

Keep Simple!

So, what’s the takeaway?

It’s best to keep your investment strategy simple. Index investing (or Dividend Investing for some) is a great way to do that. It gives you exposure to many different companies and industries, so there’s little risk of losing money if one of them does poorly. You also don’t have to worry about picking stocks or timing market cycles–just invest in an index fund and let it work its magic!

This would work for most people who rather spend their time on more meaningful things to them. It can be simply Netflix for some; Spend time for families/friends for others; More alone time etc.

However, if you like the challenge of self-picking Stocks, Cryptos or Options as “passive income” and beat the market etc, please go ahead. Most important is to keep your life simple, happy and live to the best of your life.

This will bring me to the second part of this article – keeping Life Simple. Very often, we think too much and make life complicated.

2. Keeping Life Simple

I’ve been thinking about this for a long time, and I think it’s time to share my thoughts. The idea is simple: if you want everything in life to be simple, the first step is realizing that everything already is simple.

The next step is taking care of yourself so that you can live how you want—and no one else does—and then take action on those things that make life meaningful for yourself.

Image from Unsplash.com

The future is uncertain.

It’s important to understand that the future is uncertain. But you can prepare for it by setting goals and making plans in advance.

You need to prepare for the future, but don’t worry too much about the future. Plan enough for it, but not so much that you are paralyzed by anxiety when things don’t turn out as planned (or maybe even at all).

The past is unchangeable.

The past is unchangeable. You can’t change it, but you can learn from it and move forward by forgiving yourself for mistakes you’ve made in the past and not dwelling on those mistakes.

There’s no use in beating yourself up over things that happened 10 years ago or even five years ago—you’re better off focusing on living in the present without regretting anything that has happened before or after.

The present is yours to shape.

The present is yours to shape.

The past, on the other hand, cannot be changed and can only be recalled. You may wish you had done something differently in the past, but it’s too late for regrets now—you’ve already lived through those moments and made your choices then. The only thing that’s left for you to do is look back at them with an open mind and see how things turned out as best as possible given what was known at that time.

Learn how to Truly understand Living in the Moment now. Don’t wait until you lose your most precious things before you learn how to live in the moment.

Soul Crushed sadness. Created using https://creator.nightcafe.studio/

Time has no reset button.

Time has no reset button. You can’t turn back the clock. You can’t change the past, and you certainly cannot live in it. The only option you have is to live in this moment and make it count for something useful and good!

If you’re feeling stuck, the first thing you need to do is stop looking back. You have a lot of options in front of you, so take some time to consider all of them.

Live in the moment.

  • Live in the moment.
  • Don’t worry about the future, or your past.
  • Be present, mindful and aware of what’s happening right now.

This is a practice that can help you live in the moment, but there are other things you can do to increase your mindfulness.

Fill your life with meaning, not just things.

Fill your life with meaning, not just things.

This is a simple concept to understand but can be difficult to put into practice.

You might be surprised by how many people don’t take the time to think about what they want out of their lives and why they are on Earth in the first place. We spend so much time trying to achieve certain goals or impress others that we often forget about ourselves and what makes us happy.

For example: “I want this new car so I can look cool at work.” Or “I need this new computer because my old one broke.”

Instead of filling our lives with stuff we don’t need, fill them with people who care about you—friends who listen when you talk; family members who make sure everyone around them feels loved (and vice versa); coworkers who laugh with each other instead of at each other etc!

These are important relationships because without them we would feel lonely most likely since there wouldn’t be anyone else willing (or able) enough yet willing enough anyways 😉

Take care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually.

  • Take care of your body.
  • Take care of your mind.
  • Take care of your spirit!

Make time for rest and relaxation. This can be as simple as taking a bath, reading a book or listening to music.

Set aside time each day for exercise. Start with just 10 minutes a day and build from there.

Eat healthy foods and avoid unhealthy ones (foods high in sugar, salt, fat).

Photo by Ethan Rheams on Unsplash

Life is simple if you want it to be

Earth itself is simple. We are simple in the Universe if you think you are. 🙂

Life is simple if you want it to be. It’s not complicated or difficult, but it can seem that way if you get caught up in the busy-ness of life and forget to live in the moment.

You see, there are only two things that matter: now and then (and then). If we let go of our attachment to things—whether they are material or otherwise—we will find ourselves living an incredible life full of purpose, meaning and love.

Learn for Let it go! like ELSA!

KEEP SIMPLE!

As you can see, life is simple if you want it to be.

Of course, there are always going to be things that we need, but by focusing on the things that bring meaning into your life—things like love and family—you’ll find joy in the simplest of pleasures. We don’t live in a world where everything is perfect or easy; but if we focus on what really matters, then maybe tomorrow will be even better than today!

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

Side Hustle: Google Adsense finally approved!

Posted on by careyourpresent

Side Hustle

I have been sharing about side hustle in my articles recently. In this ever-changing volatile world, it is good to have additional income. In my article on Side Hustle Review on how much I have earned – Rakuten Insight Surveys, I have shared how much I have earned from doing surveys. Another common income that we can get is blogging income. Of course, this is difficult compared to the hours that need to put in.

However, my main objective of this site is not to get ad income. It is a good to have and of course a bonus for me. My main objective is to share my views and knowledge to the world and as platform to record my own thoughts. I hope people will not make the same mistakes that I have made in my investing careers as well as in life.

Some of the articles that I myself have read a couple of times to remind myself that I must lead a fulfilling life recently are Farewell Mum. You are always in my mind and Truly understand Living in the Moment now.

Anyway, in this article, I will share a bit more about Google Adsense and my application process.

Photo by Garrhet Sampson on Unsplash

Background

A little background about me. I was a financial blogger 10 plus years ago but stopped blogging after I became busy with works and newborns. I still vivid remembered chatting actively with AK71, Bullythebear etc previously. It was a fun period, but life goes on.

In March 2022, I decided to start blogging again to share my views of the financial world as well as sharing about Care Your Present which I realized that many people are missing out this important part in the journey to pursuit more and more wealth.

Previously I was using blogger.com but I realized that WordPress are getting lots of traction, hence I decided to start this site using wordpress.com in March 2022. I have actually paid for the careyourpresent.com domain with WordPress.com but I realized that WordPress.com only allowed redirection of domain instead of pointing to the direct domain unless I purchased their plans. Additionally, I can’t install plugins.

After writing and blogging for few months and some research, I realized that it is better for me to move to wordpress.org. Better to pay for self-hosting and domain such that I can have more functionality and the options to install plugins.

Hence, on 28 November 2022, I have moved my site from wordpress.com to the current site with wordpress.org. For those who are interested, you can read New Life – Reborn of The Careyourpresent Site.

Ad Income

Since hosting and domains cost money, I thought that I can apply for Google Adsense for some ad income to cover the cost too. I understand that the income will be very small as compared to the effort (hours) put in to write the articles, but it is better than nothing. It’s always good to cover some cost!

Short Review about Google Adsense

In case you are not aware of what is Google Adsense. Let me share a bit about it.

Google AdSense is an advertising network. The AdSense program allows monetization of website content, which means you earn money when someone clicks on the links on your site, not when they buy something from the other site.

The Ads that appear on Google AdSense are targeted with keywords so that they are relevant to your site’s content, which means they will always be relevant and never look spammy or annoying. You don’t have to sell products or services on your site; instead, the ads will generate income for you.

Why Google Adsense?

There are many advertising companies in the market but why did I choose Google Adsense?

Firstly, as a newbie to web hosting and advertising, this is one of the most common platforms that I have heard of. I have read up on some other companies but the pageviews are too high for my case. I must continue to work hard and write good articles. Of course, I have tried to apply to other companies too, maybe I will share more in future after I get my approval.

The application process

After migrated my site over on 28 November 2022, I went on to apply Google Adsense. I tried a few times since December 2022 but keep getting rejection with the reason(s) given mostly as low value content, violation of some contents etc.

However, I just continue to write and never give up. I reviewed my contents and make sure the contents are unique and of high quality. After searching online, I realized that the site needs to put up privacy and disclaimer policies, about us, contact information clearly etc. Each article should be around 1000 to 1500 words.

On 17 Feb 2023, I reapplied again and finally on 18 Feb 2023, I got this!

Conclusion

This is a relatively shorter post. Usually, I would write least 1000 words and above, but this article is only close to 1000. However, I just wanted to be transparent and let readers know that I have applied and obtained approval from Google Adsense. That’s why you started seeing Ads in this site few days ago. Please continue to visit my site. I hope the contents are useful to you. Do comments and share your views too.

Anyway since Saturday, to be utmost transparent, the ad income is 4c. It’s a good start although far way lesser than my daily dividend/other income.

Lastly, I hope to end this post saying that we should live every day to the best of our life and stay positive. Please live as though every day is your last.

Market will start to get volatile, stay safe and be happy.

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂

WOW amazing! QYLD with 13% p.a. yield and monthly distribution!

Posted on by careyourpresent

Passive Income

This term is one of the key terms that many people like and hoped to achieve. It simply means having income generated from non-active methods such as your 9 to 5 job. In my last article (How to earn passive income using options), I have covered the basic of using cash secured puts or covered calls as option strategies to generate “passive income”. Do take note of the inverted commas, I would like to reiterate that this is not as passive as one think and the risk level is slightly higher.

For those who still can’t understand options, one of the popular is to buy this counter QYLD.

What is QYLD?

QYLD is Global X NASDAQ 100 Covered Call ETF.

The Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD) follows a “covered call” or “buy-write” strategy, in which the Fund buys the stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Index and “writes” or “sells” corresponding call options on the same index (see QYLD).

In short, this counter will do the job for you by using covered calls to get “passive option” income for you. One just need to buy this counter and collect “monthly passive option income”.

What is Covered Call?

Covered calls are an option strategy that can be used to create a stream of income from the stock you already own, as well as potentially increase your overall profit.

The idea behind this strategy is simple: find stocks that are overvalued and sell call options against them. This allows us to earn premiums from selling call contracts while still retaining full ownership of the shares we hold.

Income from Covered Call

The covered call is based on buying an underlying stock and selling a call option against it at the same time. In other words, if you own 100 shares of Company X and sell one call contract at $10 (at-the-money), then if Company X’s share price rises above $10 per share before expiration date, then whoever owns this particular call option will exercise their right to purchase your 100 shares from you for $10 each–plus any dividends paid out by Company X between now and when their options expire (if any).

Why Covered Call?

Covered calls are an effective way to generate income and potentially increase your overall profit. They can be used as a strategy to:

  • Earn a premium on the stock you already own.
  • Take advantage of the market’s volatility to increase your profits at the same time that it may depress other investments in your portfolio.
  • Protect against losses if the market declines, while still generating income from covered call trades.

While selling covered calls isn’t something I recommend for novice investors or those with limited risk appetite, it can be an effective strategy for seasoned traders looking for a steady stream of income without having to deal with any sort of margin requirements (which most brokers require).

For most other people, QYLD might seems to be a good solution since this is a way to let the professional fund manager to do this strategy for them.

Why QYLD?

There are 3 main reasons stated in the Global X website itself.

  • High income from the covered call option
  • Monthly Distributions as option income
  • Save time and effort

Let’s look at some of the key characteristics of this fund

  • Inception Date: 12/11/13
  • Total Expense Ratio: 0.60%
  • Net Asset: 6.81 Billions
  • Number of Holdings: 102
  • Distribution Yield: 13.03%
  • Distribution Frequency: Monthly
  • Top holdings: Look at the screenshot below, they are all great companies that many love to owned!

Wow, one look at the above, 13% yield with monthly distribution! This is the dream of many “passive income” investor! Where else can you get such good returns from one single counter alone? It’s a must buy without regrets!

Hold on a second… let’s dug further.

Performance

If we look further into the overall returns over the years (see photo below), the annualized return since inception is 5.64% p.a. Not too shabby! But how come it is lesser than the 13% yield mentioned above?

Let’s look at the share price. The share price is actually declining since inception. What does this mean?

CAPITAL LOSS!

Hence it simply means that after discounting the capital loss + dividend return, the actual return is only 5.64% p.a since inception. Hence you don’t really get 13% “passive monthly” income after all but still not that bad after all since there is a 5.64%?

Yahoo Finance

Let’s dig further

I shared some key passive great dividend counters via my past article 4 Dividend ETFs that can let you sleep well even in the scary bear market. Do read again this article if you missed this post earlier. These counters are great for investors (especially for Singapore Investors that worry about withholding tax. London LSE ETF is only 15% tax).

Let’s go back to QYLD and compare the return of this counter with the famous world index fund – Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT). This is one of the famous US ETF by vanguard that track the performance of the FTSE Global All Cap Index, which covers both well-established and still-developing markets. This is equivalent to the VWRD ETF that I have shared in the article 4 Dividend ETFs that can let you sleep well even in the scary bear market.

Vanguard

If we look at the return of Vanguard Total World Stock ETF (VT), it gives 6.63% p.a. return since inception date of 6 Jun 2008 but give 8.52% p.a. 10 years return from today which mean (Feb 2012). 5 years return is 5.72% p.a.

If we compared to QYLD above, you get 5.62% p.a. since inception date of Nov 2013 and 3% p.a. return for 5 years return.

Given the figures above, judge for yourself if it is worth it to get QYLD for “monthly passive income from covered calls” or simply just buy world index fund like VT?

Alternatively, you can also compare QYLD with these 5 other shares that I have shared before to draw your own conclusion (5 Best Counters for Passive Dividend Investing).

Good articles that you should read!

People are drawn to dividend investing.

Why? Firstly, dividends provide a regular stream of income, allowing investors to receive a portion of the company’s profits on a periodic basis. This can be particularly attractive for individuals seeking consistent cash flow or looking to supplement their existing income. Additionally, dividend investing is often viewed as a more stable and predictable investment strategy compared to relying solely on capital appreciation.

I always write and share articles, especially on dividends which many people love them. Do read them!

Alternatively, you can go the right side of my page, there is a search bar where you can simply search “dividend” to see all my articles related to dividends!

Of course, you can search for other things that would interest you such as “Careyourpresent”, “Reits”, “Side Hustles”, “Fixed Incomes”, “Savings” etc.

CAREYOURPRESENT

Money just buy you the chance of freedom.

When you are young and working, you exchange time for money. When you are old, you can have lots of money but you can’t buy time back, especially the things that you have missed while busying striking out in career. Of course, if you love your career, and consciously know that you are missing out the first time your child walk or talk, that’s ok, but if you are the other spectrum, please do something about it.

Your kids grew up and they no longer need you to accompany them. They no longer want to sit on your lap to share/do things with you…all these time you spent in your 9 to 6 or even longer cubicles…can the money that you have earned by you back these?

We always thought we have more time with our old parents, but we are wrong. Time with them is ticking away every day. One day it will suddenly be gone. There is no regret medicine, no reset in time. Gone is gone and cannot come back. No matter you are billionaires or millionaires, you cannot reset this.

We always thought that we have more time with our spouse every day, but we are wrong. One day they will be gone too. When you read this, please go tell your spouse that you love him/her and he or she is the best thing that you ever had in your life.

I have picked out some of the more life reflecting articles of the CAREYOURPRESENT series. Do read them:

You can read more about my articles on Careyourpresent via the Category “Careyourpresent” or simply click “Careyourpresent” via the main menu bar.

REMEMBER:

Love your life daily.

You have one less day with your spouse, parents, children and yourself.

Time is ticking away.

For each passing day,

Enjoy and Treasure your Life!

For those who are interested in regular updates of my articles, please join the others to sign up for my free newsletter to has my newest blogposts sent to your mailbox for free!

For real time exclusive updates on market news/life (especially Crypto markets where the news move fast, important news will be shared directly via tweets or telegrams), do also join the platforms below and engage with other like-minded people!

You may also contact me via [email protected].

If you’re looking referral codes, do check out my referral and ebook page. Give it a try and who knows? You might end up loving these platforms! To be absolutely fair to all the readers, I am definitely using all these companies and they are useful to me! Likely will be useful to you too!

At the same referral and ebook page, you can also download my free ebooks and other free resources.

For quick references to these resources, you can see below.

  • Ebooks and other useful resources on enhancing productivity (Investment, Excel, Notion etc). Currently most of it are free at this moment (subject to change).
  • WeBull: A powerful brokerage with nice free welcome gift. You can refer to my guide here on how to signup! 4 Simple step only! Click here to register a new account!
  • MoneyOwl: You can use this 6SHU-93MC to get free grab vouchers and highly safe liquid cash fund account.
  • Trust Bank – You will enjoy free FairPrice E-Voucher referral if you sign up via my referral code KNDBPEPT. Simply download the Trust Bank SG App on the App Store or Google Play Store. Tap on “Use referral code” immediately after you start the app and key in: KNDBPEPT
  • FSMOne: P0413007. Good account to keep liquid cash in autosweep and to purchase investment at low fee.
  • Hostinger: You can use this link for hosting your new website. 20% off hosting!
  • Crypto.com: Use my referral link https://crypto.com/app/h92xdfarkq to sign up for Crypto.com and we both get $25 USD 🙂