Nothing much to wish for in 2021

As the years roll and I am already 46 years old, I am finding it increasingly harder to set really hard resolutions or goals for myself. I have fine-tuned my life to the point where I have very few wants. If I really do have a want, I can probably get it with a snap of my fingers. 

a) Personal finances 

The amount of money I directly manage not counting real estate and CPF exceeds what people would normally term as Fuck-You money. Even if I yield 4.5%, it would mean a five-digit stipend every month. So 2020 was the time I shifted from wealth accumulation to wealth preservation - balancing outperformers to offset the laggards so income can be maintained at a comfortable level. 

I think the work of capturing the upside of 2021 has to be done in 2020. Like many investors, I have already started adding hospitality and aviation tilt into my mix. 

Anyway, while I do hope the portfolio outperforms the benchmark, but even if it struggles with a 3-5% capital gain it's good enough for me. So in 2022, if a younger investor tells me of his 200% return because of his investment in some weird alt-coin, SPAC or some new-age-brothel-trust, I'd just give him to go fuck himself.

b) Business

With five-digit a month from investment sources, the question is what about the training business? Business is still down, and I've also reduced my effort to do it. The worse-case scenario is halving my profits of 2020. This cannot be helped as Singapore is a sluggish market and students preferring tech stocks and bitcoins over dividend counters. 

The silver lining is that it would genuinely free me up to do interesting projects.

c) Personal Projects

A riskier proposition is personal projects I'd like to do if the business really drops by 50%. I think I can start writing my next manuscript to codify ERM into a text-book. I hope to also get on with pro-bono talks if there are opportunities to do so. These projects will not grow my bottom line but develop me as a human being. 

d) Health

I will probably need to get back to the gym with my personal trainer once I get vaccinated. I've been losing momentum, stopped intermittent fasting and exercise thanks to the weather. 

As in all things that fail in 2020. The best solution is shock therapy. Back to the gym once I get jabbed.

It was hard barely passing my HbA1c in 2020. I still have high triglycerides. 

e) Travel with my family

Like everyone else, I hope to resume travel in 2021. Before that can I happen, I need a vaccination first and countries may need to allow some sort of vaccination passport for tourists. At this time, I'm not fussy about where to go, somewhere relaxed like New Zealand or Japan where my mum can come along with my wife and kids would be great.

f) Friends

2020 is a tough year for socializing. I'm grateful to be invited to lunches by younger bloggers, forums and investors. 

I was joking with my wife that I don't want to hang out with 40-something-year-olds like myself anymore. If they are not fishing for stock tips thinking I'm some kind of mystic oracle, it's no fun to see your life plateau and you got kids to feed, and mortgages to pay. 

Truth is that I suspect Gen Z will have a harder time than Gen-X when they hit their 40s, they don't have an idea of how pressing that issue is right now. They still have dreams and aspirations that the System has yet to attempt to destroy at a much later stage of their life. 

Still, on balance it is still better to plug into their pop culture and media they consume. 

But not BTS. I can't tell whether BTS is a boy-band or a girl-band.

BTS can suck my balls.