Seeing that this is the first blog post, allow me to give readers a simple short term planning that I have decided on after much consideration.

Occupation: Flight Steward (I stress this as many people assume that I'm a female)

Nett Income: Ranges from $3200 - $3600 on average, may hit $4000+ on certain months

Current Income Allocation Breakdown:

Investments: $600 ($300 in Unit Trusts via iFast, $300 in POSB Invest Saver)

Savings: $1000 per month (at least)

Foreign Currency: I change up to $500 of foreign currency a month

Expenditure: Around $1200 a month, inclusive of family allowance, ongoing medication (due to stop in 5 months), travel and so on, you get the picture.

As you can see, I split my income as such, 20/30/50, which in it's entirety is 50/50 because I technically only spend half my income. I find this a good measure for myself as I am currently setting up emergency funds. I hope to be able to make it 60/40 after my medication ends (costing me $300 a month).

I am currently into two types of investments. Unit Trusts (higher risk) and ETFs. Understandably most people discourage the investment of unit trusts for obvious reasons. However at the learning stage I wish to be exposed to such funds so I know what's available in the market. In a month or two, I will definitely share the performance.

With regards to the POSB Invest Saver, there are plenty of avenues where you can garner information about whether you should invest thru this channel. However, I'll share my personal view in another blog post soon.

If you're as new as me, just three advice for now.

1) Unless you don't plan to learn about finances and passive investing by yourself, do not jump into any endowment/investment-linked policies recommended by your friends or agents. As someone who has just gotten his/her first job, focus on getting the proper coverage, don't jump the gun. Passive investing is probably a better option as you will learn that you should (most of the time) never mix insurance and investment. (I.e, if the policy isn't term/hospitalisation/accident, I would probably avoid it.)

2) Set up your emergency funds and get protected/insured for the unforeseeable future.

2) Start getting books to read up, and read from credible online resources. Don't rely on instructions you read from forums and follow suit. In the end, if you lose your money, it's your loss. Have a book that you're reading now? Share it with me! I'm currently deeply into Millionaire Teacher by Andrew Hallam. It's the best book you can get to start your learning journey.

If you don't start here, it's going to be a tough climb.


I'll start talking about as a novice investor, why I would make the choices and statements I have made above. Stay tuned!

-WC