Portfolio rebalanced

My unit trust buys and switches have been priced. This is my current allocation, which is much nearer to my original strategic allocation.

Core portfolio - 71.88%

Asia ex Japan Equity - 11.58%

Asia ex Japan Balanced - 5.35%

Emerging Markets - 9.41%

Europe Equity - 8.83%

Global Bonds - 6.45%

Singapore Equity - 11.94%

Singapore Fixed Income - 9.66%

US Equity - 8.66%

Supplementary portfolio - 28.12%

Commodities - 4.28%

High Yield - 2.16%

Taiwan Equity- 4.68%

Technology - 6.57%

China Equity - 10.43%

This would be around 76.38% equity, 5.35% balanced, and 18.26% fixed income. It is obviously skewed towards the aggressive side.

I have a RSP into Asia ex Japan Equity and Singapore Equity, so I shall leave them as it is. But I am still considering topping up into high yield, but none of the high yield funds my company carries are included under CPFIS-OA or CPFIS-SA (I am feeling a bit cash poor currently). Also, while I am confident that China will still grow in the long term, I wonder if I am over allocating to China, since my Asia ex Japan Equity already includes China (21.3% in China/Hong Kong). But as China increasingly becomes a global market leader, perhaps we should consider China as part of our core portfolio in the sense that, everyone should have at least a bit of China holdings?

iPad 2

The iPad 2 was launched today, and my company hired five temp staff to queue for the iPad 2. Each person could only get two iPads, and we were paying them $8 per hour. 

Upon hearing that, a colleague was visibly outraged and unhappy, thinking that the company is wasting money to hire people just to queue for the iPads. 

However, is it really a waste of money? 

The temp staff are getting paid $50 to get two iPads. Effectively, each iPad 2 costs just $25 more. 

I ordered my iPad 2 online this morning, and to my disgust, it will only be delivered on 18th May. I would be very willing to fork out $25 more - no, even $50 more - to get my iPad 2 now. 

This colleague thinks that the company need not spend this amount of money, and it is all right to wait till around 18th May to get it. But $25 more to get it three weeks earlier - is it really a waste of money? Within these three weeks, our company can start using it to start IT development, for presentations, and to send the message out to clients and partners that we are embracing the adoption of mobile devices. The iPad 2 will make a maximum impression these three weeks while it is still in short supply (the iPad 2 is already out of stock at the iStudio near my office). 

So is $25 really a lot more?

East West line morning peak hours

Two days ago, I had to attend a seminar at Hotel Intercontinental at 830am. Since I stayed along the Circle Line, I decided to take the CL to Paya Lebar and transit to Bugis MRT. It was the first time I took the East West line during morning peak hours. 

Upon reaching Paya Lebar, I boarded the EW line and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty of room in the train. It was only half a minute later that I realised... that I had boarded the east-bound train instead.

I got off at the next stop (Eunos). And then I experienced how bad the rush hour crowd was. There was totally no room for me to squeeze in, and I had to wait for 4 trains before I could squeeze in. In my 3 years taking the south-bound train at Bishan MRT, I have only not managed to board the train twice. 

Conclusion: I am never going to stay along the EW line. 

Of buns and bread

On my way home, I went to the vending machine at the lobby of my condo to buy a bun (for my dog). I inserted the coins in, punched the buttons for my selection, and watched the bread get pushed out and fall down onto the collection tray.

While keeping my coin pouch, I wondered to myself, "What if I forget to collect my bread after I keep my coin pouch?"

Then I inserted my hand into the collection tray and saw my bun - and an extra loaf of bread. Evidently, someone had purchased the bread but forgot to collect it. 

What irks me in the MRT

• People who are fortunate to get a seat and yet cross their legs and stick their leg out, eating into the standing space of passengers (culprits are mostly women)
• People who lean on the support poles, preventing others from holding it for support
• People (inside the train) who start squeezing towards the door when the train hasn't stopped moving
• People who stand in front of the MRT doors (with their noses practically touching the door) waiting to rush in to grab seats. This is very prevalent in Raffles Place MRT in the evening

Why I never order beef steaks

When I go out for meals, I never order steaks. Why? Because to me, they aren't worth it.

Some background first. Beef can be very roughly segregated by their country of origin, for example, US, Australia, New Zealand. Generally, US beef is the best, followed by Australia, then New Zealand. One also has to look at the beef cut - tenderloin, ribeye, striploin, sirloin, rump, just to name a few. The tenderloin is more expensive because it is the most tender, while the rump is cheaper because it is tougher and dries more easily. Personally, I favour the ribeye most. 

How do you cook steaks? It is very easy. With just salt and pepper, you can make a steak taste fantastic. As for how well done you want it to be, it depends on individual preferences. 

1) Season the steaks with salt and black pepper

2) Ensure that the pan is hot before you add a bit of oil

3) After the oil is hot, put the steak in

4) Fry it for around 1.5 to 2 minutes for each side (for medium rare, but also depends on how thick the steak is)

This is just a rough guide and the timing depends on how thick your steak is, but you can play around. And there, you will have a delicious steak. 

If you were to order a steak at a restaurant, it will probably cost more than $20. Let's use Jack's Place as an example.

Jack's Place

NZ Tenderloin = $24.50

NZ Striploin = $19.50

US Sirloin = $24.50

US Striploin = $28.50

US Ribeye = $32.50

Their prices are already considered quite reasonable. Aston's should be cheaper, but I can't find their menu online. 

What if you were to DIY?

From supermarkets, one can get beef steaks at very reasonable prices. For example, I am able to get 250g of US Ribeye for around $12 - $15. And steaks are quite easy to cook, require little preparation, and can be done in a short time. This separates it from other foods, which also have a big price mark-up from their cost value but requires much more time and skill to prepare.

In fact, a few days ago, my family bought some Wagyu ribeye (Grade 4 to 6) from NTUC Fairprice Finest's Culina. It was on offer - $11.70/100g instead of $13 - so a 200g steak would cost around $24-$26. Contrast this to Jack's Place. Personally, I don't think its worth it to pay $32.50 for a US Ribeye while I can fry a Wagyu ribeye steak myself for $24! My estimate is that a Wagyu ribeye steak would cost at least $70 to $100+ outside, depending on its grade.

If more skill and/or time was required in preparing the dish, it would be arguably more justifiable, but as I mentioned, beef steaks are so easy to prepare yourself. So why order outside?

How big are your hands?

I have always known that I have big hands (9.5 inches, or 24 cm), but I also know that Rachmaninov's hands are way bigger than mine. I can stretch from D to F# (10.5 notes) comfortably, while D to G (11 notes) is my limit. Rachmaninov can do 13 (D to B!), and that's like one foot long. Just imagine someone with a handspan of a long ruler!

The website below shows a collection of handspans. According to their data, I would be around the top 6% in terms of handspan size. But interestingly, the biggest handspan collated in their research is only 10.2 inches, which pales considerably in comparison to Rachmaninov's 12 inches.

http://www.steinbuhler.com/html/handsizepage.html

Time to rebalance my unit trust portfolio

Despite having attained my CFA charter last year, today is the first time I sat down and took a long, hard look at my unit trust portfolio. True enough, it required quite a lot of tweaking.

Before I looked at my portfolio, I thought about what my strategic allocation should be so that I would not be influenced by what I have now, and whether each investment had made profits or not. It took me a while, but this was what I came up with.

Core portfolio - 70%

Asia ex Japan Equity - 12%

Asia ex Japan Balanced - 5%

Emerging Markets - 9%

Europe Equity - 9%

Global Bonds - 7%

Singapore Equity - 10%

Singapore Fixed Income - 9%

US Equity - 9%

Supplementary portfolio - 30%

Commodities - 5%

High Yield - 3%

Taiwan - 5%

Technology - 7%

China - 10%

But my actual allocation was:

Core portfolio - 70.09%

Asia ex Japan Equity - 19.63%

Asia ex Japan Balanced - 12.86%

Emerging Markets - 5.52%

Europe Equity - 0%

Global Bonds - 0%

Singapore Equity - 12.77%

Singapore Fixed Income - 19.31%

US Equity - 0%

Supplementary portfolio - 29.91%

China - 11.32%

Commodities - 4.55%

High Yield - 2.31%

Taiwan - 4.87%

Technology - 6.87%

Well, well. Surprisingly, it seems that my supplementary portfolio is pretty much in line, but my core portfolio required some major rebalancing.

So I switched a portion of Asia ex Japan Equity/Balanced and Singapore Fixed Income into Emerging Markets, Europe Equity, and US Equity. I also topped up into Global Bonds. After my switches and purchases get priced, I will update it on another entry.

The recommended core portfolio should be around 80%, but I have a longer time horizon and can take more risk, so I allocated an extra 10% to my supplementary portfolio to 'play around'. 

All Pets go to Heaven, by Sylvia Browne

I chanced upon this book last week at Borders, where it was having a 30% discount clearance sale. I found it intriguing and reassuring, especially in the first half of the book (the second half was a bit stuffy though). Some points to share:

"An animal's loyalty is unfaltering, and a pet doesn't care how you look or what mood you're in; they just love you unconditionally, which we could all really learn from."

"As long as man continues to be a ruthless destroyer of lower living beings he will never know health or peace. For as long as man does needless massacre of animals they will kill each other." - Pythagoras

"Just because God supposedly gave us dominion over all living things (according to the Book of Genesis in the Bible), does that mean we can kill and mistreat them? Could not the world "dominion" also mean a responsibility to care for and ensure the survival of all living things as many think it does?"

On why animals do not need to reincarnate - "We humans are the only ones who have something to learn, whether that is patience, tolerance, how to combat negativity, or one or more of a myriad of lessons that we choose to go through."

"Man has responsibility, not power." - Tuscarora

"We all have an all-loving, magnanimous God. Not a God of humanized, "baser" qualities such as vengeance, jealousy, greed, or anger - just all love. The other God is man-made. Why would He or She ever destroy or neglect these marvelous creatures (animals) that He/She made to be loving companions and aids to humankind?"

This is an interesting quote, because in Christianity, the Old Testament seems to convey that God slaughters humans and animals alike if people go against him. But of course, let's not delve into that.

And finally, "I prefer my pets to some people I've met - the truth is, they are more loving, loyal, compassionate, and, yes, even smarter in some instances." I couldn't agree more.

Two Great Concertos (9 Apr 2011)

This concert was at the Esplanade Concert Hall, with Darrell Ang as the conductor and Sergio Tiempo as the pianist.

The programme:

Yuan Peiying - Through Bifocals for orchestra

Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op.30

Bela Bartok - Concerto for Orchestra

The first piece was by a young Singaporean called Yuan Peiying, who is only 27 this year. As expected from such modern compositions, I dunno wtf this piece is about. Too many clashing sounds, and I totally couldn't get any of the imagery she wanted to convey. 

Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto was the main reason I bought tickets for this concert. I had listened to the same piece performed by Boris Berezovsky in 2009, and it was nothing short of spectacular - there was a standing ovation and I was swept along by his performance from the first to the last second. Compared to that, one could see that Sergio Tiempo was obviously several levels lower than Boris Berezovsky. 

The Straits Times gave rather good reviews for him. "Accuracy and clarity were never a question for Tiempo's prodigious fingers, spitting fire at giddying speeds." I beg to differ. The first and second movements (Allegro ma non tanto, Adagio), while relatively quite free from technical mistakes, were uninspiring, unmoving and had occasional minor clashes with the orchestra. The rush from Adagio to Alla breve was too hasty, with the orchestra trying to catch up. The third movement, Alla breve, was the epitome of chaos. This time, the piano and orchestra were frequently at odds with each other, and I found myself cringing occasionally at particular bad intervals. 

The last piece was the one that sought for redemption for this concert, and got it to some extent. While I have never heard this piece before, it felt somewhat refreshing. There were five movements, and overall this concerto was a light-hearted one that reminded my companion of "Walt Disney music". The second movement was my favourite, which the concert booklet described as being "jesting". Truly an apt description.

PS Cafe @ Dempsey

Went to PS Cafe (Dempsey outlet) for brunch yesterday. They didn't accept reservations, so I figured that business gotta be pretty good. Indeed, when I reached there at 1115am yesterday, it was fully packed with more than 10 entries on the waiting list.

To sum everything up:

Food: Good, but not really fantastic

Ambience: Great if you sit outside and the weather is cool. The inside was a bit too noisy and the chairs were not too comfortable.

Service: Great - despite being very busy, the staff were still friendly and enthusiastic in serving customers

That leaves the last thing - price, or value for money. I ordered a PS Big Bacon & Eggs, which comes with 2 eggs done any way you want, bacon, sausage, roasted tomato, and a slice of toast. It was pretty good, but  at $22, I found it rather overpriced. So a meal for 2, along with a coffee and tea, cost me $65. To think that I used to feel that Canopy (Bishan Park) was a bit overpriced! The items at PS Cafe cost, on average, 60% to 80% more than Canopy's, but the extra satisfaction I get is definitely not proportionally more. 

Wisdom tooth surgery

Today, I went for a surgery to remove my lower left wisdom tooth. It wasn't really giving me any significant problems - in fact, 3 of my wisdom teeth came out without my knowledge, and the last one is still comfortably nestled deep in my gum. But a visit to the dentist 3 months ago made me realise that one offending wisdom tooth was tilted at a 45 degrees angle against its neighbour, effectively creating a small pocket to collect food. While it could be brushed away, some food would inevitably be forced in between the 2 teeth and create a cavity. An X-ray already showed a light shadow at the neighbouring tooth - evidence of a slight cavity.

The surgery went quite well. The dentist rubbed some cream around the tooth to make it a bit numb first, before giving me local anesthetic via several injections. The injection almost didn't hurt at all - just a slight stinging sensation, probably thanks to the cream. My face and hair was then covered, exposing just the mouth for the surgery.

Honestly, I couldn't really tell what the dentist was doing. He used a drill, but I couldn't really feel anything. I only knew that the offending tooth was gone when I felt stitches in my mouth. He then gave me 4 more anti-swelling jabs - this was more painful, but still not unbearable. And I am officially one wisdom tooth less.

My wisdom tooth looked gross. Not the tooth itself, but rather, the pieces of gum around it. Eww.