Vomero 18 Coffee Bean: S$99

 

NVO and NKE are competing to be my portfolio's "biggest loser." At the same time, I believe in them. Nike keeps to making stuff that I actually want to buy (and actually use for running). The Nike Vomero 18 is a cushioned and comfortable shoe that is ideal for easy runs. Most importantly, it fits my feet well (crucial to try before buying). The Vomero 17 and Invincible 3 (it would be called Vomero Premium 17 under the current Nike naming convention) had heel lock problems.

So when I saw the special edition Vomero 18 "Coffee Bean" (yes it comes in the usual Nike cardboard box plus a metallic coffee bean bag) on sale for S$99, I couldn't resist and grabbed myself a pair. 

Asics, on the other hand, seems to launch shoes with attractive colorways, then later on, makes only the monochromatic and boring colorways available. Take the current colours of the Megablast for example....

FIRE Lifestyle: Food Reviews

Blog Labels

I have decided to better organise my blog by using labels. From work, I know that maintaining and updating metadata is tedious so I am just starting with a couple of simple labels

• FIRE Lifestyle: For my travel, food, and other posts about how someone who is Financially Independent spends his money
• Credit Cards: My own experiences with Credit Cards 
• Health & Fitness: Health is Wealth!
• No Label: Probably everything else pertaining to my investments

Gyukatsu or beef cutlet is just lovely. When in Kyoto, I am more of a fan of Gyukatsu Kyoto Katsugyu because of their wider selection of cuts of meat compared to Gyukatsu Motomura which is more 'mass market'. Do note that not all menu items are Japanese beef. They also use Australian beef. That's why my go-to order is the Wagyu Sirloin which is Kuroge Wagyu beef. 

The beef already comes prepared medium-rare, so you just press it briefly on the hot plate to make it medium and a bit warmer. I have seen so many Westerners just put the cutlets on the hot plate for ages as they seem to only take their beef well done. One American group recently asked the waiter to relight the fire as they had been cooking the beef for so long the fire had gone out!

I have tried the Singapore version at One Holland Village and the beef was strangely not as good. I have eaten at a Kyoto outlet 3 times in the last 9 months so I still have a good "memory" of what is good Gyukatsu.

Tonkatsu on the other hand, is pretty good in Singapore, with Iberico pork options roughly comparable to premium Japanese pork. On the other hand, the traditional high temperature cooking doesn't allow you to taste the subtleties between different types of pork. "White" Tonkatsu  are pork cutlets cooked at a low temperature which makes the meat look "white."  

Because the cutlets are cooked on the spot at low temps, it takes 20minutes so it probably won't be viable in Singapore where high rents mean you really need to move products quickly.  Also, they need to be certified pathogen free (Japan has pathogen free certification).

Hakkinton Pork comes from Iwate Prefecture and has more fine muscle fibres and you can experience the chewy texture. First-timers that want softer meat can go for Hayashi Pork from Chiba prefecture. (I've taken both types and like both).

Price-wise, its still cheaper than Wagyu Gyukatsu. As for regular Tonkatsu, I actually quite like Matsunoya's 800+yen 'fast food' Tonkatsu or if I want ambience, then Katsukura in Kyoto. (not to be confused with local Tonkatsu chain Katsuya).

Finally, Kobe Beef and A5 Wagyu in general. As I want to keep my cholesterol down, I generally avoid eating steak in Singapore and eat steak when I visit Japan (3-4 times a year). Since I eat steak so rarely, I want to make it count and not spend my 'saturated fat' quota on cheap coffeeshop steak but on something good.

A5 Wagyu served Teppanyaki style is great. You get the experience of a chef preparing the meal for you and what is usually pretty good ambience if you choose a nice restaurant. If you eat steak rarely, make it count.

While eating in Mouriya in Kobe was a very nice experience, I don't actually find Kobe beef to be that fantastic (sacrilege?). The meat is softer and more tender, but is it also a question of fat content? I am honestly totally ok with regular high quality A5 Wagyu served in a nice setting (actually Mouriya also serves regular A5, not just Kobe beef, but if one goes to Mouriya, might as well go for the Kobe beef?)

3070.HK AI guided portfolio reorganisation

   

I have a large position in First State Regional China using CPFIS since the GFC. In 2008, there were not many options for CPFIS. Most of my money went to STI ETF but since I wanted to diversify, unit trusts with FSMOne seemed to be the only option. Due to inertia and the fact that I can't use my CPF for anything else, I have left it there. As long as it returned more than CPF interest, I guess I am content. 

However, as I have reached the 50 year milestone, CPF is looking more like 'real money' that has to be managed properly.  I am looking at an 80/20 allocation of equities/fixed income-near cash and CPF at age 50 is pretty close to cash, maybe equivalent to a 5-year fixed deposit?

At the end of the day, Martin Lau, the famous fund manager for First State, is not getting any younger and its inevitable that someone will have to replace him. Given the 1.73% expense ratio of the fund, it's time to take steps to exit. Should have done it earlier, but better late than never.

This means that I will sell the fund and the cash is refunded into CPF-OA, while I use my cash to buy a China focused ETF to replace it. I told Claude.AI what I was holding, including another existing dividend ETF 3110 and asked it about 3070 and to generate various comparison tables and analyse their holdings. Given that 3070 and 3110 most interestingly do not duplicate each other (their top 10 holdings are totally different), Claude concluded that they are complementary.

While 3070 has a slightly higher expense ratio of 0.77% compared to 3110's 0.68%, its manageable and 3070 holds the Chinese Banks whereas 3110 seems to be focused on industrials, and I am always a fan of financials (even though China banks may be called upon to do national service by bailing out State Owned Enterprises). The infographic above shows the reasonable P/E (the 'SOE effect'?) but more importantly the totally reasonable dividend payout ratio which implies that dividends will be sustainable.

So I am gradually selling my First State Regional China bit by bit and buying mainly 3070 but I will increase my monthly RSP of 3010 and 3110 as well.

Time in Market > Market Timing

 

Just recording today's headlines as an illustration of why time in market > market timing. As I have mentioned in my earlier posts on crash buying, I started buying the moment the market started moving downwards. It is impossible to time the bottom so those influenzas who have been advocating waiting for a big crash will probably have missed the boat, or at least missed the 5%+ upswing in one week. And as the previous studies have shown, missing the initial market upswing greatly reduces one's total returns, hence the saying time in market > market timing.

Sometimes it also helps to be lucky. Thanks to the Astrea 6 redemption proceeds of $50k+, I am deployed more cash into equities than I would normally have done.

Dividends Collected: March 2026

 

Dividends collected YTD ahead of 2024 and 2025. The key test will be how much I collect this month versus 2024 when I collected 25k.

April 2026: Holidays and a relief rally.

 

Advance Holiday Planning Bears fruit.

I have gone for my first Japan trip of 2026 though it was too early to see Sakura. I still enjoyed. My next trip in April will be after the peak Sakura season on a redemption ticket (redeemed during the sale) but there should be some left to see (I was also in Japan in mid April 2025). Thereafter, I have 3 more trips to Japan and Australia. Since I have booked/redeemed/paid for all the tickets, I fortunately do not have to pay the additional fuel surcharges that have since been introduced. I also wonder if the fuel surcharges will reduce the number of tourists visiting Japan but I'm not so confident of that because of the substitution effect. Many in the region may not want to fly to Europe because of the increased cost and/or perceived risks, and may choose to fly to Japan instead.

Hopefully the situation and prices will stabilise soon, because I still need to book  a couple more year-end holidays. 

Relief Rally? TACO?

Trump as expected TACO and announced that the war will end in a few weeks, which triggered a relied rally. I bought on Monday S&P500 ETFs listed in London before the US market opened and rallied hard. Notwithstanding that jump, I bought more today. As I have mentioned before, I feel that if my warchest is of a healthy size, I shouldn't stop buying the moment the market turned. Even though the price is going up, it is still lower/same as early March so I should still buy more because the market should be up further than today at end 2026.

Endowment Fund

 

ST Reference: Endowment Fund

TL:DR, a Doctor in her will gave $2m to a charity to set up an endowment fund. ST explains that:

An endowment fund is a pool of donations that organisations, such as universities and charities, invest for long-term financial support. The initial sum is preserved, and only the returns are used by the organisation.

I am posting this here for my reference so I don't lose this link as the idea of an endowment fund where the principal is forever preserved and you spend only the returns is obviously attractive to me and matches my own investment/retirement strategy of only living off my passive income.

What I found interesting was that this couple was obviously passionate about charity and had very little spending needs. Why did she wait till death to start giving away her $20m fortune? One hint can be found in this part:

The couple, who had no children, owned properties in Singapore and overseas. Despite their significant assets, Mr Chia said his wife lived frugally so their money could be used to help others.

They saved and invested their sizeable incomes in illiquid properties. So they probably had modest liquid assets suitable to their frugal lifestyles but a lot of property wealth. It may be a stereotype but the elderly seem to find it really difficult to 'sell property' (whether to downsize to a smaller more appropriate home or otherwise). So have to wait until they pass away before the property is sold.