Nike Pegasus 40 (and Nike Stock) on sale

 

When it comes to buying sports equipment , one simple rule of thumb is wait for the new model to come out so that you can buy the old model at a steep discount.💸

With Nike Pegasus 41 just released in Singapore, I managed to pick up a Pegasus 40 in a nice colour for $65.94. Readers will know I managed to pick up a Pegasus 39 previously for $59 but in a not so nice colour.

At these prices, there is really no comparable running shoe from the other brands. 

How steep a discount actually depends on the brand. So far, I've only seen Nike offering 40% discounts for the immediate past model. If its a 40% discount for a model that is many generations ago, it means it has been sitting in a warehouse for many years and you don't know how long the shoe foam will last.

Nike Stock?

Finally, I wonder whether I should buy Nike stock. As the YTD chart shows, athletic apparel makers have seen pretty terrible stock price crashes YTD from 2Q24 onwards. The problem with Nike is that its P/E ratio is a bit high for my taste. Nevertheless, I've placed it on my watchlist and might initiate a position on Nike and maybe one other (to balance out). 

I don't know about Lululemon though, I have a vague impression it is yoga attire for ladies. I am not part of the crowd where people pay a lot of money for gym membership to 'dress up' and exercise, though I guess that would be a profitable market. 

Health update: Jul 2024

Since Health=Wealth and I just released my July 2024 portfolio review, I am also doing my July 2024 'Health & Fitness' review. No point reaching new heights of wealth without the health.

BMI

While I have made improvements, I am regrettably still overweight, hovering between BMI 23.0-23.1 (because weight varies throughout the day, BMI is a range).  Therefore, I am at moderate risk for obesity-related diseases. 

My target is to achieve a normal BMI of 22.8-22.9 which will take a bit of willpower and habit change to make it sustainable.

VO2 MAX

I am making good progress with VO2 Max, and my app tells me that I'm in the top 15% for my age and gender which sounds good but one must ask what is the reference population.

There's a high chance (since this is a US-based app) that the baseline could be the US population and according to the CDC, 40% of US adults are obese which is BMI >30.0! This means that the median US adult at the 50th percentile might still be overweight with BMI>25.0. Merely being 'above average' in such population is a very low bar.

Portfolio Update: Jul 2024 (Singtel and Santander!)

 

I had procrastinated doing a portfolio update because there was basically not much to report. Vodafone comes into the list as I had reviewed the portfolio and felt that it was worth upsizing my holding as it appeared cheap under £0.70 and there was some light at the end of the tunnel with the announcing of the halving of the dividend, which could only help in the long term given its debt load..

Singtel and Banco Santander had pretty decent 2024 YTD gains with Singtel even outperforming the S&P500. It took a long time, longer than Sembcorp, but Singtel has finally touched $3.00. The situation is still fluid and the day after writing this, it may drop as those who have been stuck in this counter for a long time may decide to take profits.

Your A$ and £ dividends are worth more

At the start of the year there were those who were fearful of losing money in foreign stocks because of their currency would depreciate against the S$

I was not one of those who believed that S$ could continuously appreciated against foreign currencies. Hence I was happy to continue to buying foreign stocks and REITs with foreign properties like Capitaland Ascott and Frasers Logistics & Comm Trust.

The recent change of government in the UK is not changing the momentum. Instead, the market seems to be bullish on the new Labour government, and the signs suggest that this will be a Labour government that is more 'centrist' than 'leftist'.

 

5th Portfolio Milestone reached: July 2024

  

It took 18 months and a very nice stock market rally, but I have finally reached my 5th portfolio milestone. In contrast, I reached my 4th portfolio milestone after 26 months which was also pretty good given that my portfolio had to spend time recovering from the COVID crash. A good reminder that time in market is critical for portfolio growth.