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Kopi and Soft Boiled Eggs (Musing)

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Kopi and Soft Boiled Eggs (Musing)

There is something quite whimsical about sitting at a coffee shop and eating soft boiled eggs with a cup of kopi. It’s almost as if time had come to a standstill and we were all still speaking dialects and stirring guttural sounds out of our throats, aiming and spitting and missing the spittoon. Ah, the good old days of acting like a gangster and flicking the singlet rapidly with finger and thumb in the sweltering heat of the afternoon sun. These days that same experience is now diluted with air-conditioning and perfectly boiled huge omega-infused eggs the size of buffalo testicles. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating, but you sort of get the idea. Eggs today are perfect; too perfect.

Even the old familiar smells of melted butter in the coffee seems to be missing as some coffee places have opted for fine arabica beans over local coffee powder suppliers. There are very few places that reminds me of the old-school charm of a coffee shop. Good thing I found a coffee place near my office that still offered some semblance of a by-gone era. Nothing like getting your fingers burnt while cracking open the soft-boiled eggs. Nothing like getting the timing correct for the eggs and seeing perfectly congealed egg whites and runny egg yolks. Or even getting them wrong is not such a bad thing. I usually start the timer function on my smart-phone and make sure that the buzzer goes off after 5 minutes. That is usually how much time it takes for eggs to form perfectly cloudy rounds of golden yellow goodness.

Some things are worth missing; some moments worth reminiscing.

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Investing in REITs – The Ho Sim Lang Way

Ho Sim Lang

Investing in REITs – The Ho Sim Lang Way

Some of my friends have been asking me how to invest in REITs, and as much as I know next to nothing about investments in REITs, I also realised that what was hindering me was my lack of knowledge about them. Essentially I was stuck at the “I don’t know what I don’t know” stage. The challenge was really to move from that to the “I don’t know” stage. And everyone knows that if you say you don’t know something, you can actually go read up about it and find out. So that was what I did, and oh, how it unravelled from there.

I decided to ask around, read newspapers, read online blogs, read the astrological signs in the darkened night sky (it helps you know) and guess what I found out? It is interesting to say the least.

So since I know, I thought, why not share. Ho Sim Lang mah. But I say first ah, this is not advice on what to buy hor. You read and make your own decisions. If make money, donate to charity, if lose money, blame yourself for not reading up more.

I would first read up on the following indicators before embarking on anything to invest in.

1. Area of business – The REIT could be managing shopping malls, service apartments, or industrial estates, etc. You should also notice that some give higher yield while others give lower returns. You must first understand why. Those in areas where demand is inelastic, like in your heartland malls or healthcare tend to pay lesser. Recession or not, people still need to eat and shop. If you need to rest in hospital, you will lie there whether you like it or not.

In a factory or industrial plot scenario, they are usually the first to be hit by recession. When that happens, they either tahan or they call it a day. Industrial assets are also on very short lease. That is the reason why Mall Reits are typically giving out lower yields while Industrial Reits are giving a higher yield. You must also know when this will change and be aware of the changing conditions. Keep your eyes peeled opened.

2. NAV against the share price. NAV means Net Asset Value (not Norton Antivirus). Avoid paying way above NAV. People who pay above NAV tend to say there is potential for the NAV to appreciate in value. You must be aware that Singapore REITs have to pay out at least 90% of their income. There is hardly any capital left for growth. So if that is the case, is there any reason to buy REITs for appreciation in value? If anything, price increases in REITs could be due to speculation. True bo? 

Or any appreciation in the NAV might be due to inflation, which is more likely the case. People buy REITs for passive income, so you would really want to buy at a price lower than its NAV. Pay way below book value if possible, as the assets will go at a huge discount when a REIT has to do the unfortunate thing of liquidating its assets. Think property fire-sales and you would understand what I mean, everything is often let go at a discount.

3. Gearing – and I am not talking about mechanical gears. Gearing refers to the percentage of borrowing. The REIT manager will want to keep expanding the REIT so that he gets more commissions and a higher pay. I would do the same if I was a REIT manager. He is paid more managing a $100 million dollar REIT than a $10 million REIT. He will naturally want to expand the REIT through borrowing more money in order to buy more buildings and assets.

Guess who bears the risk of his actions? You.

It’s risky when a REIT manager is in Godzilla-mode because when there is a credit crunch, eg. like the last financial crisis, banks will usually refuse to refinance the assets as the prices of these assets would plunge, sometimes below sea level. Many REITs got themselves into trouble and needed to dispose of their assets at dirt cheap prices. The REIT holders will see the market price of their share holding drop like a stone from a multi-storey carpark. But guess what, the REIT manager still gets his pay. So REIT manager on Godzilla-mode is bad. That said, on average, a gearing of 30%-40% is about the limit. I personally like anything that has less than 35%. If possible, less than 30% gearing.

4. DPU – This is the juicy part. This is what will set you free to fly like a bird. When you invest, you would want to get a decent return. Compare it to Bonds, FD, PPS (google it!), you would want a higher return when you invest in REITs, otherwise better to invest in those other instruments. Next, you would also want to assess if there is a potential for the yield to increase or drop. What is the percentage of payment and what percent of the total revenue and profit make up the DPU. Part of the income must be kept for maintenance or else your DPU will drop in years to come. It is the yield that you need to watch. DPU refer to Dividend Per Unit by the way.

5. The REIT Manager – Hopefully they are honest and skillful. Is the manager only interested in self-interest or overall interest? Are they skillful enough to extract the most out of the property. Simply compare with others in the same sector and you can tell, i.e. rental, vacancy and the yield. Some REIT Managers are all out to acquire more properties (think: Godzilla-mode) and increase their professional fees for managing more properties. But the yield on some seemingly good REITs are surprisingly lower than others in the same class. The property manager is very important in your consideration for a good investment.

6. Financial Ratios – Once you are familiar with the above 5 indicators, then it is time to start to compare their financial ratios of the different REITs and you will start to know more. Financial Ratios don’t lie, and will offer more insights into the investments, in fact for any investments that you may be thinking of putting your money in.

 

So you’re ready, where do you go from here?

Go open a Securities account at CDP (which is now located at Metropolis, Bouna Vista), then you link a bank account to your CDP account and all dividends will be credited automatically to your account. You will not miss any payout. If you did not link an account, you will get your dividend payout via cheque.

To learn more about REITs, just go to the REIT’s website and read about the REITs. Pretty much a no-brainer. For example, if you want to know more about ABC Kiam Chye Char Loti REIT, just simply go to their website and read all about them. They are public listed, therefore all information must be made public. The other website to visit is SGX website. All their announcements must be published on the SGX website. There are no misinformation or lies in these official sites. It is pure reports and facts. Sometimes those unofficial blogs or REITs focus blogs tend to offer their personal opinions about the performance of the REITs, etc. That at the end of the day is someone’s opinion and in a way could be speculative. True?

So if you ask me where to go to sieve out and scour information on REITs, I would say the best thing to do is to read up on what they do and read the official news. Blogs are best to offer some advice, but these are not very accurate. Forums are probably the worst because the comments and opinions there are really unsubstantiated rumours sometimes. I typically won’t encourage reading up any blogs or discussion sites as these are full of misinformation. Read them for a feel of what is going on. But rely on them at your own risk. It is a free for all kind of environment. Serious investors go to paid-forums.

Happy learning and investing peeps.

Old Friends, New Friends (Musing)

Ho Sim Lang

Old Friends, New Friends (Musing)

My wife and I have a lot of friends, and between the both of us, our friend-lists combined could populate a small island. The only thing that has remained constant is time, and we found that as it goes by, it was harder to stay connected with friends that we got to know years ago. Our time now is spent with new friends, and old friends have taken their place in the archives of our phone-books, tucked away in the corner of the store room (read: HDB Bomb Shelter). So Facebook is really a good thing albeit all the privacy and security issues.

So instead of calling up these old friends and throwing a huge bash (think: wedding reception), the softer alternative would be to secretly invite some friends to come over for dinner. We do that because I love cooking (and she loves washing up!), and nothing beats dining in a home environment with wholesome home-cooked foods and heavy duty after-dinner desserts and drinks. There is no need to leave early because the restaurant is closing, or order more food because there would be more than enough to stuff our faces and drinks are free-flowing like the Singapore River.

The world has gotten bigger by the day, or should I say, our world. We have added more and more new friends into our listing as we stuff more and more old friends into the bomb shelter. Staying connected with everyone is a challenge, and if you’re our friend and you’re reading this, don’t be dishearten, we will get round to inviting you one day, once we clear our store room.

For those that we invited, come just as you are, no need to bring anything (although it would be nice if you did!). Come with an open heart for great conversations, an empty stomach for a happy meal (not that happy meal) and enough space in your brains for one more memory. See you.

Being Brief (Musing)

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Being Brief (Musing)

As a wannabe writer, I don’t like being edited. I mean who does? Would you want editors to rummage through your content and make cuts and change the essence of your writing? I bet not. But the problem comes when writers write without being edited. Or worse, they practice a semblance of self-editing, which basically means no editing. You know, I know.

My problem as a wannabe writer is, trying to be brief. And since I am also playing the role of editor, I often fall into the trap of skimming through my article before posting. At best I will correct my spelling and some grammatical mistakes, but that’s just about as much as I would do. But that said, I also think good writers should write briefly. Be clear, simple to understand, concise.

But sometimes in the course of writing, I kena lulled into thinking that the more words I use, the more power my article will be, and people would be somewhat impressed with my verbose and ability to rant.

Nothing can be further from the truth. Conversely the reverse is true, the more I yabber on, the more I reveal my inability to convince. It also shows my lack of mastery of the subject. In fact, if I can say the same thing with less words, it shows my knowledge on the topic. So more is less and less is more. Ironic isn’t it?

So in order to say more, I shall now say less and end here.

O’nya Sayang (review)

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O’nya Sayang (review)

This is my second time eating at this nonya food establishment, if I can call it that. My first impression of it was that they were more like fast food, quick nonya peranakan eats for the modern gourmand in a hurry. Perhaps that’s the niche that they set themselves to serve.

Their meals are cooked communally in the pot with the sides cooked at the sides (pun intended). It’s actually a very open and simple set up. The eatery whips up traditional peranakan favourites in a matter of minutes. In fact they have managed to piecemeal the entire preparation process to the critical five minutes. That’s about as much time anybody on a tight lunch hour would give any one eatery. It’s like make it in five minutes if you want me to patronize your stall again. Ironically peranakan cuisine is not known to be associated with quickness or smart culinary short cuts.

Most of their foods are typically cooked and stewed over long periods. So to have it prepared in five minutes, something’s gotta give.
In this case, I suspect it’s the quality. But even more interestingly they have somehow managed to ensure that that was not compromised. So it is nice to know that they care about their foods as much as they cared about their bottom-line.

I had their Ayam Buak Keluak which is a traditional favourite that is synonymous with peranakan cuisine. Do this right and you can assume that everything else in the shop will carry that old familiar flavour. The chicken is of course well cooked but not to my liking which kind of shows the level of skill of the cook. The Buak Keluak was excellent. I don’t remember the taste so vividly with the other peranakan restaurants but O’nya has set the standard for me. Everything else is forgivable. Ha! All in, they have managed to retain the flavour of peranakan cuisine, and that is a good thing.

There’s one outlet at Tampines Mall that I went with colleagues. I think I might go there again to try something else. Maybe the rendang.

Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

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Eat Bak Chor Mee (review)

Today my colleagues and I went to EAT to eat Bak Chor Mee. We really love eating it at EAT. However, it was not to be so at EAT today when we ate it at EAT. There seemed to be something quite wrong with the EAT BCM noodle master’s powers of estimation.

I asked for BCM but I also wanted to add fish cake, thinking that it was going to be the deep fried fish cake that they sell on the side. I love the EAT deep fried fish cakes by the way, they are excellent, even on their own. The stall lady asked me how much fish cakes I wanted to add and suggested a top up of a dollar. I thought it was fine to add a dollar’s worth of deep fried fish cake.

To my dismay and much disappointment, the fish cake that the noodle master gave me was a mere four slices of the delicacy. I had a shocked when he presented the completed product to me and I could only let out a futile yelp of despair.

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I had to portray exactly what $1 of fish cake was worth at EAT or else you might think I was joking and trying to pull a fast one. What you see in the picture above is one dollar’s worth of fish cake. Wow.

Either inflation has swept through Singapore right under my nose or the noodle master had something against customers who liked adding fish cakes to their BCM. Maybe it was against internationally acceptable BCM standards to not have fish cakes added into BCM. Maybe his strict adherence to this rule might have had some manner of impact on his sense of duty in the guild of international noodle masters that caused his deft fingers to show great restraint when scooping the fish cakes into my bowl.

Four miserable slices of fish cakes.

I hope that your $1 was worth more than mine.

New Dawn (Musing)

Ho Sim Lang

New Dawn (Musing)

It’s a new dawn. Not the twilight sexy good looking kind of new dawn with werewolves running around in their skin tight furs. My parents are moving house, and that presents a couple of issues for us that we have taken for granted till now. If there is someone that says “you are taking your parents for granted” – then let me be the first to admit it. You don’t have to say it. I have always knew from day one that the current arrangement while being perfect for us, was really not a solution in the long run.

Ultimately we have to manage on our own how we are going to do this.

So I have decided that I would do the cooking from now on. I know I have been doing most of the cooking anyway. But going forward, it is now a matter of survival. I won’t be cooking for leisure or pleasure, this is the gritty stuff. I have to be determined to cook my way through. So the next thing is to embark on a plan. Yes, we are going cold turkey from next week onwards and how we balance it will show.

I woke up this morning and I had a severe case of heart burn. Possibly it could be reflux from the ginormous amounts of rainier cherries (I should do a post on that) my wife and I had consume the night before. And in between then and now, I had massive LS and multi-fartilosis. It was bad. You won’t want to be within range.

Anyway, so the heart burn made me really uncomfortable, and I knew the reason why, so I wasn’t so disturbed by it. I went to the wet market as it is my usual practice and this time around, I knew I had to refresh my kitchen condiments and stock up for the week. I wanted to stay within budget so the strategy for the wet market on saturday morning was to really buy the basics and then buy the rest of the items throughout the week. That way I can pace myself with what I want to cook. At the moment, my mind draws a complete blank. It is hard to think when you have heart burn.

I purchased my four best friends – sea salt, olive oil, thai fish sauce and light soy sauce. They have been with me for so many years, and I knew that I could always depend and count on them for flavour. My wife’s a picky eater, so I have to be very careful when I prepare my dinners. But really, food is to be eaten.

So my total marketing for the following groups today is $57.60. I got chicken, pork, fish and vegetables. Not bad for starters.

Now the problem is thinking what to cook and to do it efficiently so that it fits into my time schedules.

Dig and Flick (Musing)

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Dig and Flick (Musing)

This seems to be the national pastime of many in Singapore. But not only in this sunny isle, but possibly it could be a worldwide social phenomenon as well. I am almost quite sure of it because it’s what we do as humankind.

In fact, I am also quite sure superheroes do the dig and flick routine, albeit privately and away from the public’s sight. Batman must have done it as well, maybe while hanging upside down, Superman could have done it also while flying from one destination to the next. We only hear of their great exploits because that’s what people are mostly interested to know, but wouldn’t it be nice to know that our superheroes are also human, and that they also like doing the dig and flick routine?

It is as what someone said, this is what makes us human. My son here definitely have that ability as he is already showing competency in this area. He seems to enjoy digging and flicking the clothes in the luggage, out of the bag. Like a tiny explorer in search of hidden treasures. His actions are not as refined or accurate, but I am sure he will get there one day.

I was on my way to work one time and I was in the subway train and there in front of me was this lady deep in thought albeit in her own world. I say she was in her own world because she was enjoying every moment that she was digging her nostrils, her eyes glazed and hollow as she rolled the debris into a rounded mass before she flicked it. The flicking off part is perhaps the most scary bit as the ball-shaped object would be hurled haphazardly like a scud missile with an unknown trajectory into the air. All the best to whoever that is its intended beneficiary.

Then I got off the train, and got on the bus as I had to transit. While sitting by the window and peering out into the myriad of vehicles stopped at the traffic junction. I happened to chance upon another guy looking back at me from his van. Interestingly he was also picking his nose while waiting for the traffic lights to turn green. The man smiled when he saw my disapproving looks and turned away, but continued digging now even more vigorously as the lights suddenly turned green. Clearly need was above propriety.