Living on the Knife’s Edge These Days- Investment Portfolios Heavy Losses and Personal Wealth Maybe Already Destined at Birth

Just when everyone thought that the China-US trade war has simmered down, the King of Mayhem, Donald Trump, unleashed another round of turmoil to the global stock markets by threatening a 50% tariff on the European Union (“EU”) and a 25% import tariff on Apple iPhones not made in US. This is hundred of billions in trade with EU. Retaliatory actions-which we are sure of-by the EU will basically mean the end of trade between US and the EU. It does not matter whether this is another brilliant negotiation tactic out of the “Art of the Deal” book by Trump as he has succeed in damaging trade and bilateral ties with EU even if he were to change his mind later on. 

1. Local bread and butter- potential loss of jobs in upcoming market slowdown.

There has been a slow down in business in retail definitely. I have been living on the knife’s edge (刀口上舔血) for the past 2 years. Despite my company making record profits in 2024, the senior management at HQ has not approved any salary increment again. I guess the uncertain economic outlook contributes to the current predicament. Maybe should have applied to be a civil servant in government for stability instead of taking a private commercial career path. Now too old to change with a short runway once you hit middle age.

2. REIT heavy portfolio going lower.

Wow, the recent see-saw up down up down for REITs is never ending. With bond price crashing due to higher yield demand for the supposingly risk free US Treasuries, this mean that REITs must also produce a higher income yield which puts tremendous downward pressure on REITs. We can see the Mapletree family of REITs crashing to near recent low again. Will it go down further? Yup, this is definitely possible given the antics of the King of Mayhem.  

3. Transferring CPF Ordinary Account to CPF Special Account for higher 1.5% more interest income.

When we talk about the strategy of transferring CPF OA to CPF special to get the higher 1.5% more interest income, the property guru and YouTuber Eric Chiew always come to my mind. This is because Eric will mock folks who do this as it means not much money left in the CPF OA to upgrade to bigger private condominium to make tons of money. 

Sometimes, one has to accept one’s wealth destiny. My ex-colleague (68 years old) who has retired told me that in everyone’s life, how much money one can made in this lifetime is more or less already decided at birth. Haha….so not everyone can expect to be like Eric who keep flipping properties to get wealthy and then get to live in landed property. If your destined life is like salted vegetable, chances are when you try to buy a second property to Huat big big, you may end up like in 2008 or 1990s where the property market crash over 20% and get very stressed up for 4-5 years trying to pay off the mortgage like a slave to the bank and your work place boss.

Or to share another tragic story, I had another colleague who suddenly got into a car accident (you can’t control other drivers from recklessly driving into you) with multiple fractures and also pain medication withdrawal side effects that effectively diminish your ability permanently to function effectively as an employee and business owner. Then how to pay for huge monthly mortgages?

Parting thoughts

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that Donald Trump only has 4 years tenure as president of the United States. Making America Great Again (“MAGA”) seems to be destroying everyone including US itself with the high prices for daily necessities and other imported products.