The SG Hustle

I'm 35 now, writing this in 2026. Back when I was 21, I was still in National Service, drawing $960 a month as a 3rd Sergeant. I kept saving what I could, and by the time I ORD'd, my bank account held about S$10,000. That was 2013. I was 22. Then I went straight into university, and that S$10,000 became precious. It bought my laptop. It covered the gaps when my part-time work couldn't. It wasn't luxury money — it was runway. But here's the part I don't talk about as much: that S$10,000 wasn't enough runway. So I worked. And work took time. And time is the one thing university only gives you once. The University Life I Didn't Have My juniors talk about "Uni Life" like it's a rite of passage, the nightlife, the club mates, the CCAs, the late-night suppers after a night out. I didn't have any of that. I didn't even have an interest club. For me, university was: study, research, work, and date my wife, back then, still my gi...

Just about three weeks ago, I shared that I took a position in SpaceX. Fast forward to today, and I am sitting on a 20% paper loss. Am I panicking? Not even a little. Here is the truth: when you trade high-growth, high-volatility assets, the price action is only half the story. The implied volatility (IV) on SpaceX right now is massive, and that is where the magic happens. Because the IV is so high, the premiums collected from selling covered calls have been incredibly lucrative. While the underlying stock price has taken a temporary hit, the options premium is doing its job, mitigating the downside, lowering my cost basis, and generating consistent cash flow in the process. Market downturns are stressful if you are just holding shares and hoping for the best. But when you have a mechanical options strategy in play, volatility becomes a tool rather than a threat. I am comfortable playing the long game here. Are you holding through the current volatility, or using options to cushion th...

Every few months, it happens like clockwork. The government or employment agencies drops its latest reports. Suddenly, your social media feed is flooded with infographics breaking down Singapore’s latest median household income, or average earnings segmented by age, gender, education level, and sector. At first glance, this feels like helpful, transparent data. But if we are being completely honest with ourselves, clicking into those charts rarely makes anyone feel better. Instead, it triggers an immediate, involuntary defensive response. You instantly zone in on your age bracket or your industry. You look at the number, look at your own bank account, and the internal monologue begins: “Am I falling behind? Why is the median for my age group so high? What are these people doing that I’m not?” Suddenly, a routine government data release transforms into an existential crisis. But here is the truth we need to remind ourselves of: looking at macro data to measure your personal success is n...

Every week, someone tells me they're done with their 9-to-5 and ready to "start a business for the freedom." I understand the impulse. I've felt it myself. But there's a costly misunderstanding hiding inside that sentence, and it's worth naming before anyone quits their job over it. The story people tell themselves The logic usually goes like this: my job controls my time, so removing the job will give my time back. It's a clean story. It puts the blame on the employer, not on the nature of work itself, and it makes the solution feel obvious, become your own boss, and freedom follows automatically. It's also, for almost everyone, wrong. What a paycheck actually buys you When you're employed, you trade a fixed number of hours for a fixed paycheck. It's not a great deal in a lot of ways, but it has one underrated feature: a boundary. Outside your working hours, the job , mostly, leaves you alone. Start a business and that boundary is...

Some people have asked why I'm planning to let my sons access their investment portfolios when they're 21 and 23. The answer is simple: it's their money, not mine. As parents, we won't be around forever. Our job isn't just to provide for our children while they're young, but also to prepare them to stand on their own two feet. Based on the AI simulation I shared previously, if everything goes reasonably well, each of them could have a portfolio worth around S$130,000 by the time they're adults. I already know what some people will say: "S$130,000 won't be worth much in 2046." They're not wrong. Inflation is real. But if we use Singapore's historical inflation rate as a guide, S$130,000 in 2046 could have purchasing power similar to about S$70,000 today . That's still a meaningful amount of money. Ask yourself this: if your parents had handed you S$70,000 when you turned 21, would it have changed the choices available to you? For ma...

A father's attempt to turn baby bonus cash and ang bao money into a real investing plan, with a little help from AI. When my sons were born, like most Singaporean parents, I got a pile of well-meaning cash: the Baby Bonus, and stacks of ang bao from grandparents and relatives. The usual advice is "put it in a savings account" or "buy some insurance plan." I wanted to do something different, I wanted to actually invest it, and watch it grow alongside them. The problem was, I had no idea what the numbers would actually look like 10, even 20 years down the road. So I decided to try something: I asked Claude (an AI assistant) to help me model it out, year by year, using real STI ETF data. Here's what happened. Setting the Rules Before any modelling, I needed to lay out my actual plan in plain terms: Baby Bonus : I estimated I'd be able to invest about $1,600 a year until the elder son turns 6.5, then $800 a year until younger son turns 6.5 — roughl...