Krisflyer Redemption Sale - worse than last year.

 

If there's one certainty in life, its that your Krisflyer Miles will continue to be devalued, whether directly (increase award cost) or indirectly (reduce the sale prices). Which is why I never understood why those influencers want to flex that they have a million miles in their account. The value will erode over time. I emptied out all my miles last year at the SQ redemption sale which was a 20% discount on redemption tickets, which was worse than the previous years' 25% discount.

This year its even worse with only a 15% discount AND fewer flights are eligible. Previously, all flights to Kansai had promos. This year, only the less desirable 2.10pm flight (arriving 9.35pm which means you will reach your hotel near midnight depending on your destination) is available for redemption.

I am still thinking about this ticket to Osaka. As you can see from the date, this is within the cherry blossom season so at least that's a plus that the cherry blossom season is not a blackout date.

On the other hand, with the reduced redemption discount, I think that my miles might be put to better use waitlisting business class saver awards to Australia. I managed to clear the waitlist last year, so I am trying my luck again. 

2027 Travel Planning

SQ is having a 'sale' at the moment, which is unusual since their Annual Time to Fly Sale is scheduled for October. But I was pleasantly surprised that the sale prices of business class to Australia are really good (I bought tix at the 2025 Time to Fly Sale) so I bought some now. It makes me suspect that Time to Fly Sale is a little bit of a sales gimmick. 

Also a quick note. I entered a SIN-SYD itinerary a few days ago when the sale started. For some reason today the price dropped by $200 and was therefore lower than the 2025 prices so I grabbed it. SIN-SYD is their A380 route with plenty of biz class capacity

DragonPass - Can redeem decent restaurant meal at Changi

 

OCBC Premier customers get 2 lounge visits per year but Dragonpass lounges are very basic and crowded. So for the whole of 2026, I still haven't used up any of my lounge entitlements.

Thanks to Milelion, I learnt that instead of a lounge visit and eating very basic food, I can redeem one of my visit entitlements for a pretty decent meal in Changi Airport. I'm sure most people know this already but I don't frequent travel forums so whatever I learn depends on what Milelion publishes 😅

Full list of Priority Pass & DragonPass restaurants at Changi Airport - The MileLion

I have 2-3 more trips on economy this year so I will definitely give the restaurant redemptions a go.

Even Ben Felix is talking about Health & Fitness

 

Investing in Your Health

Ben Felix, a pretty decent Canadian finfluencer, just released a video on health and fitness. The instant noodle thumbnail brings to mind the FIRE chap featured in the CNA video who had a shelf full of instant noodles. Basically, bad life choices in relation to health and fitness will come back to haunt you later. This is a big risk with the FIRE lifestyle - some may choose to sacrifice health and fitness in their prime years in the hope of retiring a few years earlier. 

Anyway, as you can see from the screenshot, Chronic Stress is the biggest $$$$ factor. There are of course many reasons why this is the case, including the fact that elevated stress= elevated cortisol = elevated visceral fat deposits. See: Chronic stress and impulsive risk-taking predict increases in visceral fat over 18 months - PMC

At 6:30 in the video, he even mentions VO2Max.

Checking my 1-year average Stress level on Garmin, I'm glad that I managed to remain in the low stress range, otherwise I might become stressed about it (haha). Life is variable and as the peaks in the chart shows, sometimes there are period of more stress. Fortunately, the standard deviation is not large (I don't have months where it spiked to 50+ for example). 

Caveat: Your smartwatch can't distinguish between Excitement and Stress. So watching the World Cup could lead to elevated stress readings. But on a 1-year average, these special events would be 'smoothed out'.

Barramundi

 

Barramundi with broccolini, potatoes, and saffron aioli. Lovely meal and fish is relatively healthy (compared to beefsteak 😀). Will be back to regular investing posts soon. If market continues to correct, hope there are bargains to be had...

Eating Healthy vs 'Longevity powder?"

 

After reaching FIRE, many investors are understandably concerned about health and willing to spend on it. I just read that this blogger spent $200 to buy the special longevity powder marketed by the billionaire that wants to live forever.

https://treeofprosperity.blogspot.com/2026/07/personal-update-cheating-death-and.html

Maybe one day there will be such a elixir, but based on the current science, we are not there yet.

I just eat health(ier) and enjoy my food. In order to compensate for my next Wagyu steak meal, I ate a vegetarian Kitsune udon meal with tofu (in the salad and as aburaage) and some mushroom today as the protein source, very tasty. And as always, Matcha Latte.

For information on longevity, its a crowded field with many people pushing their own theories (and maybe marketing products). I strongly recommend the following books as being science-based:

• Out Live by Peter Attia
• Food for Life by Tim Spector

TL:DR?

1. VO2 Max is the no.1 physical metric for longevity
2. Protect your gut health and this will strengthen your immune system
3. There's no magic pill to cheat your way to high VO2Max. You have to put in the work.
4. For gut health you might think you can cheat your way to good gut health by eating probiotic pills but eating health(ier) is the best way to good gut health.

Going on holiday soon

 

I am missing Japanese cuisine so I went to Mashi no Mashi in the CBD area for some A5 Wagyu Tsukumen. It was really good and there was 15% off with Grab Pay. One of Singapore's strengths is that the Ramen brands that they 'import' from Japan tastes 'just as good' as the Japan version, perhaps a little more expensive.  I say that having eaten at two different Afuri Ramens in Tokyo and Yokohama respectively, and fondly remembering Afuri Ramen in Funan before it closed. When I'm next in Tokyo, I will try the Mashi no Mashi there and compare. I suspect SG shops use "Australian Wagyu" rather than Japanese A5.

Its obviously way too hot to go to Japan in July, so I'm off to Australia to enjoy the cool weather. I shall report back on any good food I find, and of course, good coffeeshops for Matcha Lattes.

Unless something exciting happens like a major crash, my blogposts will be on food instead of investing for a week or so.

1 out of 7 chance of household income >$30k

 

The Straits Times on 30 June 26 reported that in 2025, 13.4% or 1 out of 7 resident households have a monthly income of $30,000 or more.  

Having a 1 in 7 chance that you are living in a household earning more than $30k a month is not super common, but at the same time not super rare as well. 

Just posting this info here for my reference.

On holiday in search of great coffeeshops

 

I'm back from my 4th short holiday this year. I flew business class one way to Australia as I managed to clear the redemption waitlist and economy return. I took a red-eye flight so I informed the stewardess that no food or drink service was necessary, and went to bed. To me, the lie-flat seat is the main point of business class. If the flight is too short to sleep, then not sure what the point of a lie-flat seat is....

My holidays mainly involve reading in coffeeshops, finding a nice park for a shakeout run, reading in coffeeshops again, participating in some running event or other, and back to reading in coffeeshops again. Holidays are a great time to clear my reading backlog as well. Nowadays I read mainly non-fiction and I have notebooks in which I take notes. Basically, its a pleasure to write and the pleasure is increased if the writing is done using a nice notebook in a nice environment. This is what holidays are about.  

One of my holiday 'side quests' involves a  search for great Matcha Lattes. This time, I found a lovely coffeeshop with plenty of natural light (a sense of space in the environment also promotes creative thinking) and a lovely selection of pastries. I paired my matcha latte with a Basque Cheesecake and accompanying Greek Yogurt. 

For the rest of the year, I have tickets for 1 more holiday already bought, and planning 3 others.

By have multiple short holidays to nearby destinations, I maintain a regular cadence of holidays that I can look forward to as the next holiday is no more than 6-8 weeks away, and the time I am away is so short it doesn't cause any stress for me at work. In fact, I was able to buy the tickets in 2025 as I know the holidays I'm taking are so short that I'm sure I'll be able to work around any work commitments. 

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?)

Experience in clearing SQ redemption waitlist

 

I was thinking of a Gold Coast holiday in June. Unfortunately, that only coincides with the June school holidays so prices are higher and there are no Business Saver Awards but you can put yourself on a waitlist. I decided to try out putting myself on a waitlist for business class saver redemption ticket (72,000 miles) for a desirable red-eye flight to maximise the time I have there, and 7 hour flight is just enough to sleep on the plane. Flights to Japan a bit too short for a good sleep.

About a month later, I get an e-mail with the nondescript message "Ticketing time limit" which meant that the waitlist had cleared and I can redeem the biz class ticket I had waitlisted. I had to pay taxes/fees of about $100 over and above the 72,000 miles but it still beats buying the ticket.

For the return to Singapore, I selected an afternoon flight and redeemed an economy class ticket (no need to waitlist, all available), since a 7 hours day flight is just about manageable.

While it is pretty likely that PPS members get priority waitlist clearance, I don't even have Krisflyer Gold at the moment so it's pretty nice that I still managed to clear the waitlist for a school holidays flight. I plan to try to book my October holiday through the waitlist method as well.

Stanchart Priority Private

 

I received a 0.15% brokerage comms promotion from SCB earlier this year which was valid till the end of the year. Recently, I received an invite from SCB to sign up for Priority Private in order to extend this promotional rate for another year. As the stock market has been kind to my  portfolio, I had enough to qualify.

While some of the benefits depend on holding the requisite SCB credit card (unfortunately Milelion doesn't rate their cards highly and I agree they are not the best), the brokerage comms and the airport transfers do not require an SCB card. The transfers are limited to 2 per quarter, which is fine. Since I stay in the West, that's an approximate savings of $30 per trip. Had the opportunity to book a transfer, got a premium MPV instead of S-class but still more comfortable than a Prius.

In summary, I think SCB Priority comes with real benefits (online trading no min comms + lower comms), and if your online trading is successful, you get even more benefits without ever needing to buy overpriced investment products from your RM.

SQ redemption sale

 

SQ is having a 20% redemption sale globally with certain blackout periods. Credit to milelion for constantly scanning the SQ website so the rest of us don't have to. 

Looking at Osaka, there is a blackout for the peak Sakura season 12/3-9/4.  But the week after that, there are still plenty of cherry blossoms left (I went to Japan in mid-April in 2024). 

The availability of tickets to Japan is pretty good (eg: Haneda, Kansai have 3 flights a day and redemptions for all 3 flghts are generally available). I have redeemed a couple of tickets for next year.

As my plan is to go for short trips, I will be able to adjust my schedule to accommodate this and I did this successfully in 2024. I can still take Zoom work calls when in Japan since the timezones are not so different.

Back from holiday

 

Back in Singapore after a short break. LSE is closed for trading on Monday but NYSE will be open. Looking forward to buying more stocks. 

One piece of good news, there appears to be a new lounge in KIX and SQ is no longer using the JAL Sakura lounge which was too cramped. The new lounge is pretty large as this photo shows and so it was pretty empty in some areas (its more crowded nearer the food.... ) and I can sit quietly and relax.

Short break from trading (Krisflyer Gold isn't that bad)

 

I probably won't be trading for the next few days (though technically nothing preventing me from logging into my trading account) as I'm taking a short break.

I'm flying economy this time so I get to visit the Krisflyer Gold lounge. While it was perhaps a bit more crowded than the Silverkris lounge, I could still find a seat and it was overall a pleasant experience.

More importantly, the Chwee Kueh in the Gold lounge tastes just as good as the one in the Silverkris lounge. I notice that it was only the locals that take the Chwee Kueh and the Westerners just go for the more boring stuff. Anyway, I don't stuff myself with food when I visit the lounge, so an extra round of Chwee Kueh after finishing the first plate is more than enough for me.

Happy CNY

 

SCB was the only bank that sent me red packets this year. I don't buy any products from bank RMs so I fully understand why I shouldn't expect to get anything from any bank. So it is nice that SCB still sends me red packets. Maybe its because of all that forex premium I have been paying whenever I buy US$ to DCA my ETFs

 

Hope everyone has a great CNY. There was some volatility in the stock market with the biggest one-day rout of Nvidia shares in US history so I bought some VUSD and more US stocks last night.

 

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As health=wealth and I always eat too much during reunion dinner. I did a workout in the afternoon to burn some calories and it felt easier than normal, probably because I was well rested. The nett result is that Garmin thinks that my VO2Max has improved and that I am now in the top 5%. It will probably drop shortly after this since my workouts usually aren't as good after a day at work.

 

Free Money from Amazon?

 

First time I am seeing Amazon offering re-usable promotion codes when you purchase Amazon gift cards. I am planning to buy a new laptop in a few months so I have bought several gift cards for myself and accumulating the $10 credits.

2025 Holiday Planning

 

SQ's Annual Time to Fly sale is back for travel period Jan to Sep 2025. I booked two short holidays to Japan and Australia. I was monitoring the pre-sale prices so that I can be 'sure' that the discounts are genuine and they appear to be. SG-Sydney is usually $4.4k but dropped to $3,688 so thats fine. Its an 8 hour flight so its long enough for me to fly Biz. Suites doesn't seem to be part of the sale so not worth it.

I am a regular visitor to Japan but I have never done the "Cherry Blossom" season. For 2025, I have decided to give it a shot with Economy Lite, and will see if I regret it (more people than cherry blossoms?). At least with Krisflyer Gold, I can do priority check-in and security clearance at Osaka KIX, as the economy queues are super long and painful during peak periods.

Remember to set aside some time and funds for 'self-care' activities, such as going on holiday. 

Flying Economy with Krisflyer Gold

 

I am a beginner when it comes to the miles game. I only have a small amount of work-related travel and the miles I earn are not enough to qualify for anything. However, after reaching FI, I have started to take business class flights so that I can get better sleep on the plane (allows for better quality workouts on landing, versus needing to get over jetlag before you exercise). My business class miles + work trip miles finally got me to Krisflyer Gold.

After taking my first economy class flight on Krisflyer Gold, I think there are advantages where the departing airport is not Changi. Changi is so efficient I don't even bother to do business class check-in - its faster to just self-service check-in and bag drop.

However, for flight from Kansai which is full of tourists and long queues. Krisflyer Gold turned out to be useful.  First of all, I could get past the extremely long economy check-in queue, and thereafter to get into the priority security queue and avoid yet another long queue. The JAL Sakura lounge was crowded (all the Star Alliance Gold members will go there) but not too bad. Boarding was nice as I could board early (after the PPS members) and get my stuff into the overhead luggage. The one area I did not take advantage of was the 40kg economy luggage allowance. I don't go overseas for shopping and I think my check-in luggage was under 10kg. On the other hand I can see that many Singaporeans love going to Japan to shop....

I should try to fly more SQ economy while I still have Krisflyer Gold, rather than try to requalify by flying business. After it expires, then maybe I will consider flying more business to quality again. I am looking forward to the SQ "Time to Fly" sale to book a few more short regional holidays.

Sep Strategy: Getting ready for the holidays

After exiting NKE, I have been looking for an opportunity to continue learning more about trading. I felt that $78.40 was a reasonable entry point and I have re-initiated a small position with a view to averaging down and building up a position.

However, the holidays are approaching for me and I am going on a couple of trips in Oct/Nov. I don't go for holidays in Dec as that's usually the peak school holidays crowd. So I will probably have to put my investments in "auto-pilot" mode soon and not hold any trading positions before my vacations.

This will allow me to use my Krisflyer Gold for lounge access (its not PPS but better than nothing). Work-related travel + own holidays with the occasional business class ticket helps me just barely qualify. After I FIRE, I am not sure if I will earn enough miles to requalify - another benefit of staying employed? 😅

Hope everyone takes this opportunity to treat themselves to a nice year-end break!

Its not PPS, but at least better than nothing....

 

Retirement Goals: v0.1 of my checklist

I was playing around with graphics design online and decided to create a Retirement Goals checklist using an online template as an experiment. This is only version 0.1 and I will continue to iterate and improve it, and at the same time, learn something about designing graphics.

When I was thinking of what my retirement goals were, I basically only had one financial goal, which is to ensure that passive income exceeds current and expected standard of living. I use the term 'expected' standard of living as my retirement standard of living may involve more travelling expenses versus my current standard of living.

On the other hand, since Health=Wealth and I really want to retire healthy and fit in order to enjoy retirement, I have a lot more health and wellness goals to track.

My most recent cholesterol test unfortunately had a result of 210 though previously, I was always under 200 (though admittedly too close to 200 for comfort). Based on diet changes, I'm pretty hopeful that my next test will be under 200, so for now, this is just 'pending'.

For stress levels, I just go by what my watch says, which is generally low stress, which is pretty much accurate. Obviously there are stressful situations in life, but the key is not to bring it home with you. If you go home after work to rest and relax and continue to be stressed, that is not a good thing.