Personal Updates

As you might have realised, my updates are getting less and less frequent.

I'm bogged down by work and tuition as usual. But my time for writing blog posts have now been mostly re-directed to working on authoring my A level physics guidebook. As such, I will be reducing  updates to this blog substantially till I complete this book, this aim, this dream of mine.

Granted, such a guidebook will not yield high margins when it gets published. According to http://www.business.gov.sg/, publishing gives the lowest margin compared to other businesses. Indeed, the ROE is probably between 50% to 100% after most expenses are deducted if I'm the author.

Then again, while I do need the money for food (I'm being practical), I'm more concerned on getting a book out and attempting to make a small contribution/impact on the learning of physics in Singapore. I find that a number of students get disillusioned about physics around O levels, and most ceased to take it at A levels, or perhaps struggled at A levels physics because of self-beliefs that physics is hard.

In my opinion, schools have to take a responsibility, and I do think that most schools perhaps do something wrong in teaching physics. I have my own beliefs and ideas, and by implementing it, I have successfully gotten a total of 5 As out of 7 students I taught over the past year for O level physics. That is 71.4% of my total number of O level students in my group class. The remaining students, 1 received an unexpected B3 of which he was sorely disappointed, the other received a B4 of which he was extremely happy because he fought back from a fail grade without giving up, perhaps because I did not give up on him.



At the same time, I'm planning a personal road map for growth. This is to complement Goal 2013. For my current engineering job, I would probably stay till the end of this year, or latest, end of next year, before I decide on either of the following paths

(1) Find a new job to get new experience in a different company environment and culture.

(2) Freelance Tutor like LP.

(3) Start a business with the aim of learning how to build working systems, while living on my savings and dividends. My first aim is to have one focused on creating high quality educational materials, of which my first target is the guidebook I'm authoring. However, I do not think I could fit into the timeline I set for myself in Goal 2013. Nevertheless, I shall try.


(3) is more important to me at the moment. Perhaps I would do all 3, but I wouldn't be sure at this juncture. I'm pretty sure that if I embark on such a path, my income and growth rate will initially drop a great deal such that

(i) on financial status, I would start lagging behind
(ii) on emotional status, I would start doubting
(iii) on relationships, I would perhaps need more support



As for my equity portfolio, I will be waiting for the next bullish phase. I believe STI is now under-going a correction, and it will soon be time for STI to cross 3200, to move to 3400~3500 region. That will be the time when I start taking some money off the table, perhaps leaving only profits and money in my perceived more stable dividend stocks like Starhub and SPH. I will be looking to offload Aztech after being sorely disappointed at their results and their IR who do not even bother to reply any email.

As you can see, while equity investment is a huge portion of what I have now, it is probably going to play a smaller role for me in time to come. That's my plan for time to come.


Last is housing and marriage. Currently, I'm expecting this to occur in about 2.5 years to 3 years time. But I guess I will put my energies and focus on this after I finish my book, which will currently be top priority.