After touching down from Istanbul, I have been working with the Channel News Asia team on a dividends investing segment on Money Mind for the past week. The episode aired last night and will be shown twice daily until Tuesday. It is likely that in a few days, the episode will be posted to MeWatch at:
I've worked with mainstream media quite a few times, but this has been limited to newspaper articles and commentaries, so appearing on Money Mind is my first significant appearance on TV.
In the past, whenever the idea of living on dividends was to appear in mainstream media, a lot of negativity would follow, so this article could capture some of the more controversial points about this appearance. I'm no stranger to controversy and brickbats from fellow investors, as my impression on Me and My Money generated over 100 pages of threads, some particularly mad at me for no valid reason.
a) The recording was over an hour long.
For a start, my precious few minutes of appearance on Money Mind was very different from previous collaborations with Dr Wealth and iFast. To create that few precious minutes of air time, I was interviewed for over an hour. The questions could also get repetitive, maybe like a coffee session with CPIB. I don't blame the producer, as the idea of living on dividends is still entirely foreign to mainstream media and tough due diligence questions must be asked.
b) How I built my wealth to become financially independent.
This was not shown on TV, but a lot of discussion was made over the question of how I built my wealth. I said that I achieved a higher dividend payout than my take-home pay in my last job on a statutory board with a portfolio size of close to $1M at age 39. It created an impression that my salary was about $5k per month throughout my career.
My IT career actually spanned 14 years, and I was drawing a healthy five-figure sum monthly, even during the Great Recession. My take-home pay went down when I left the private sector, but only because it was moved to the bonus component. Still, there was no need to feel sorry for me when I left the private sector - my pay dropped towards the point whereby I could qualify for my EC, making the move, in hindsight, one of the best moves of my life.
I'm sharing this because I want to dispel any notion that we can beat the markets with some magic formula - yes, I have superior backtested results and equity returns are way better than a coin flip, but making money requires persistent investment over 2-3 market cycles. So, I was out of the rat race due to a high savings rate and decent pay - I basically did not touch my salary since I was 32 years old. The rest of my net worth has gone up since financial independence because I inherited money in 2018 - I was transparent with CNA on this point.
c) On that strange sedan chair comment
I was glad CNA preserved my comment on the Sedan Chair, but most of the comment was truncated, and viewers might need clarification about what I wanted to say.
In that statement, I mentioned that I admired President Tharman and liked his metaphor about Western welfare systems as a Safety Net. Still, Singapore takes another step by creating a Trampoline, which is about returning from hardships like reskilling and Skillsfuture.
I said that, in this case, dividends investing is like a Sedan Chair. Each stock is like someone carrying their chair for you. Do this long enough, and you will have a stable platform that can carry you anywhere you want to go.
Maybe in a podcast or a future appearance, I will talk in greater detail about the evolution from a Safety Net and trampoline to a Sedan Chair.
Yes, I am very aware that the metaphor of a Sedan Chair does connote a certain degree of decadence.
d) About that gold dragon I was painting
I try my best in everything I do to pay homage to my gamer roots. I spent much of my life playing Dungeons and Dragons and just completed 100+ hours of gameplay solving Baldur's Gate 3. The crew wanted me to act out a "normal scene" in my family, so I had to suggest something that showed my inner geek.
I have an Adult Gold Dragon from Wizkids that has yet to be dry-brushed, so I opened up a Citadel paint can and got my son to join me in painting the Gold Dragon. But he's not familiar with dry brushing techniques yet.
I paid close to $200 for that Gold Dragon, one of the most expensive items I have in my house.
e) Naturally, a lot of stuff was missed
CNA could not put everything on TV because the interview lasted over an hour. I did criticise dividends investing as slow, and investors will be constantly mocked by tech investors and folks looking for a faster buck. Another important point I raised is that dividend investing does not work in a vacuum; most of us have a balanced portfolio of human capital, residential property and CPF Life annuities, and a dividend-paying portfolio. These asset classes complement each other in different parts of the market cycle.
Coincidentally, even the mighty AK71 has been labelled a dinosaur on social media.
Anyway, this blog will take a break for 10 days as I will fly off to Osaka tonight to escape the haze with my family.
After returning, I have exciting career developments to share with everyone!
For folks who are curious about my life, I run free investment workshops. You can sign up here :
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