How did my AIAP selection round go?

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in the selection round for the Artificial Intelligence Apprenticeship Program. This is one of the most challenging try-outs I have ever attempted, because to qualify for this round, I must successfully write a program that employs three machine learning models to process a dataset. 

For this dataset, I need to predict the activity levels of seniors living in a habitat equipped with various sensors, including those measuring carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and humidity levels. I completed the programme within the deadline, but my accuracy was about 59%, which is not particularly good. Nevertheless, my submission made it to the final round.

In this final round, I had to first present my solution and then undergo a technical interview. After that, I would be grouped with other candidates to solve an extension of the earlier problem set that I had already solved. The final exercise was really exhilarating, as two hours is too short to run a new dataset through even one machine learning code; making matters worse, we still needed to shape the output in a form that is acceptable to the invigilator in the form of a Python program. This really reminds me of a concept known as the "Kobayashi Maru" from Star Trek.

Furthermore, I suspect that I was grouped with the "uncles" team, basically the oldest folks in this batch, but ultimately this was a good thing, because everyone was calm and mellow. I was tasked with cracking the data cleaning part. At the same time, a buddy prepared his Python program to accept my output, and we barely squeezed out a solution at 88% accuracy, 15 minutes before time was up. 

During debriefing, the investigators had to ask more probing questions about what we understood about the problem and how we thought the ideal approach should be taken to crack it. The rumour was that 50% will be culled in this round, so the final batch that qualifies for deep skilling in AI will be small. 

In an ideal world, this is what skills training should be. The starting point is an asynchronously delivered lesson, and to qualify for deep skilling, you need to produce a functional product to advance to the next level after attending a short course. After which, you still need to get together with others to see whether you can coordinate with a team to get real results. If you want to prioritise skills over qualifications, then to qualify for skills training, there must be a high rejection rate. 

My results, which will be announced by the end of October, are ultimately in the hands of the judgment panel, and I've done my best. If my best is not good enough, so be it, as it's been a challenging and rewarding contest.

For this upcoming week, I will be extending my discussion on covered call strategies. The last video on covered calls did not receive a decent amount of views, but it had great interaction, so I conducted further backtesting to address some questions from my viewers.

On Thursday, I take my biggest risk ever as I deviate from my ordinary discussions to talk about Incel life and the Manosphere. I discuss how to raise boys without them turning into incels and the possibility of financial education that can direct men's energies into more positive pursuits.

As I discuss thought leadership in the Manosphere, such as Andre Tate, YouTube has flagged some issues with my content and reduced monetisation opportunities, but I have appealed that decision. Therefore, I may not be able to discuss this in the future.

 

Hanging out at FL Asia as a defensive habit

 

Whenever I feel insecure during my career, I pay a visit to the annual FL Asia exhibition to look at what kind of businesses are seeking franchisees. And it was never a waste of time. How else can you find an exhibition that has free admission, thin crowds, free food/drinks, and folks eager to dish out freebies?

With my first visit over two decades ago, I must say that nothing serious ever happened. The only time I signed up for more information was when I was on the verge of being outsourced to HP many years ago; I wanted to explore the idea of owning my own Cheers outlet. In every single case, the profit margins are razor-thin, and it felt more like buying myself employment than really becoming a boss of my own firm.

This year, I did not go because I was feeling insecure. If I even wanted to move my wealth to the next level, I had to either find myself a franchise or buy up some kind of business from a retiring founder. So I convinced some friends to attend the session with me. Friends are helpful as a sounding board when looking at potential companies.

I found an academy that trains kids in public speaking, which is up my alley, but it has a hefty six-digit price tag to get one outlet out in Woodlands. My pals seemed fixated on an F&B concept involving a shawarma done in a Taiwanese style that tasted quite good. But nothing really inspired me enough to liquidate some of my investments to get a business running. 

As for the upcoming week, I have just one video on geo-arbitrage ready to launch tomorrow :

But over the week, I will be coming up with more content as we go along.

Am I in a Gen Z simulator?

After running two courses within two weeks of each other, I'm onto my next challenge, which is to qualify for a one-year training stint with the Artificial Intelligence Apprenticeship Programme. Apparently, the software solution I built to predict the activity levels of seniors based on data from several different sensors is good enough to warrant a complex round of interviews this weekend, including a presentation of my solution, a 50-minute defence, and a Q&A on why I decided to build it in this manner. After that, my odds of qualifying for the training are slim, as I will be thrown into the pit with 3-4 fellow interviewees to solve a new problem together, and we have mere hours to engineer something in the afternoon.

The question I've been asking myself lately is whether I'm actually playing a Gen Z simulator.

I have multiple gigs where I barely make enough to get by and settle my personal expenses. To secure a training programme (or, not necessarily a real job thereafter), I must demonstrate actual skill in building a workable solution, but that's not enough; I also need to be work-ready. Hence, people have to observe how I work with others before I qualify for the next round. 

If what I go through is what the latest graduates need to land a job, then most Singaporeans are in serious trouble.

Fortunately, armed with investment income, I can just enjoy the ride and deal with whatever challenges come along.

The first video this week is already out. I really dived deep into the "Safe Rate of Withdrawal" after devouring William Bengen's latest book on how to retire richer. The book is very numbers-driven and quite hard to follow, but I think the attempt to build a video around it has made me wiser to all the issues surrounding the calculation of how much you can withdraw from your funds in retirement. 

On Thursday, I will discuss a highly effective strategy of betting on stock market spin-offs. Link is here: https://youtu.be/xuz-HxIaAZY

On Saturday, I will conclude the Journey to Your First Million series: https://youtu.be/vCufMhJEk_M

As things will get intense over the week, I have yet to plan the next series of videos. So if there is anything you'd like to see, do let me know!

Letter to Batch 39 of the Early Retirement Masterclass

Dear Students of Batch 39,

It's been a great honour and privilege to conduct a 5-Day Early Retirement Workshop for you. 

A lot of peculiar things have happened to the ERM program before this batch. One student wrote to me a while ago that he had tendered his resignation from his job at a multinational. He is in his early fifties, like me, and this is about five years after he attended the program. Another wrote to tell me that his passive income has breached the $1,000 mark. 

However, the marketing arm of Dr.Wealth ended up going away empty-handed, as they preferred to maintain their privacy so that they couldn’t reveal their names for the testimonial. 

The nature of the dividend investor does not have the same flash and bang as other investment methods, where some fantastic gains are one-off.  This is a slow burn involving years of steady wealth accumulation. When you win the dividends arena, the wins are likely persistent and life-changing. Your life changes as you now have the freedom to design a life in any form as you wish. It can also attract negative attention, so I respect the desire for confidentiality.

As for the financial market, we are entering a period where the STI has reached above 4,300 points, so the question from retail investors is whether we are reaching the peak of the stock market. The answer from our course materials is a clear no, as our price-earnings ratio has barely cracked 14. Even so, tailwinds like EQDP and local market reforms will provide enough fuel to reach a PE of 16. 

So don’t let the knowledge go to waste. This batch built a portfolio that can generate an average of $100 per month with a capital injection of slightly more than $18,000. Once you gain some momentum, start scaling up your dividend operations, and I hope that in due time, the success stories of financial independence will come from you. 

Lastly, I hope Batch 39 will participate actively in the FB group.

Hope to see you then!

Christopher Ng Wai Chung

About this week's appearance in The Financial Coconuts

This has been an exciting week for me as I've managed to be featured in The Financial Coconuts. You can watch that video here.

As a small YouTube content creator who barely knows how to create content, I'm lucky to be monetised in 4 months. However, to reach a larger audience, I need to leverage the influence of more successful channels. And TFC delivered in spades, giving me about 200+ new subscribers within a matter of days.

Over the next few days, I will carefully review the numbers for my videos on TFC to determine whether I can effectively document my reach and pitch an appearance on other platforms. My videos with Budget Babe were record-breaking numbers, and my Money Mind episode performed respectably with 191k views over more than a year. 

The bottom line is that cooperation with other channels can be a win-win initiative, with that channel getting high viewership and my smaller channel getting more subscribers. 

So if you have a YouTube channel with a decent audience and want to work with me to produce some content, do let me know!

Ok, now onto the programming for next week. As I will be conducting a class next week, I don't have the mood to make long videos, so the videos are slightly shorter.

On Tuesday, I will be discussing the trend of mini-retirements: https://youtu.be/2uVnsHKZR3w

On Thursday, I will be discussing ComfortDelgro: https://youtu.be/lAuxk650GaY

And finally, on Saturday, I will talk about getting your first $1,000,000 here: https://youtu.be/zVcmFgPwJMc

We should return to regular programming next Sunday.

What to expect this week, and personal update

Last weekend, I had one of my most successful runs in my investing course career. The All-Weather Portfolio Investing course is not expected to attract a large customer base. Still, we were able to find 10 students who were not intimidated by Python Jupyter Notebooks, which we primarily used to generate trading signals. 

This class is special because there are Gen Z software engineering types armed to the teeth with AI tools to debug and enhance my programs in real-time while my lesson is taking place. I conducted a short hackathon between chapters, where I challenged students to beat my Sharpe ratio, and students delivered superior results for all the scripts I presented to them. 

I spent the rest of the weekday evenings, incorporating the students' ideas to improve my programs and will deploy real money behind their improvements. 

My videos were delayed this week.

Tomorrow, we will have a discussion on MAS's EQDP program and how to analyse brokerage house picks that align with that theme.

On Thursday, we will continue our discussion and explore a dividend stock that leverages the EQDP stimulus theme, specifically UOB Kay Hian.

Finally, over the weekend, our journey to become a millionaire continues with a discussion on moving from $10,000 to $100,000 in net worth.

Even though one course is complete, I'm still not totally off the hook, as I have an ACLP assessment this Friday and my next ERM course starts next Tuesday.

Folks interested in the ERM or a resit can contact Dr. Wealth's staff.