First big spending in 2017

If you had read about 穷小子's style, you would have known that he does not like to have huge spending. Furthermore, he paid them on the spot this time without any much delay. So what did he had bought exactly?

A trip to Turkey, with Air Tickets, Hotels and taxes all in, excluding the tipping and optional. That's right. 穷小子 loves to travel. When was the last time when he spent thousands? Hmm. Think that would be another travel trip, a free and easy to Japan in 2015. He made the payment on the spot at the travel fair last weekend. Don't worry, he had actually did much surveys and comparisons beforehand.
$1389, the exact amount he spent. Fair enough. This is not really a huge amount, but it just doesn't fit into 穷小子's style. Too bad, he just simply cant escape the temptations of it. He loves to explore new things, experience new cultures and interacts with different people. Of course, there is still a passion for his photography. Frugal, but should spent when is worth it, else what is the point for living without its fullest? Experience and passion is something that you can't buy with money literally.

At the travel fair, these are what 穷小子 had observed.

• There are still a lot of people at the fair. Some maybe for enquires, some may have made the purchase, but the crowd is definitely there. Either we are still far from recessions, or we will only start to fear when the crisis really hit on us.
• Suntec seems to be losing out at travel events. Natas Fair and Travel Revolutions is held at Expo and Marina Exp respectively since long time ago, if not, for the past 3 years at least. Although the Chan Brothers and other agencies did held concurrently during the same period at Suntec, they are not taking the conventional halls, but only the concourse area.
• SIA is celebrating their 70th anniversary this year (some good thing to share), and they are partnering with Natas Fair and Travel Revolutions for last and this week respectively. With this, 穷小子 noticed that SIA is available for most of the long-haul flight, this will boost their sales this year if the promotions worked out perfectly for them.
• 穷小子 will be taking SIA for his upcoming trip as well. He did his homework before the fair since last year. He concludes that the price which he paid for the package tour is lesser than by purely purchasing the air tickets from SIA directly. Flights only to Turkey by SIA is more than $1400, but package tour with hotels is less than $1400. Dont know how they had managed it, but nothing new here, seems like there are some collaborations between SIA and the travel agencies. Not only SIA, other airlines as well.
• Travel nowadays is definitely much cheaper now than years and decades ago. The YOLO mindset by the younger generations are definitely affecting their parents or even grandparents. Teenagers and young adults are no longer the only target audience anymore, the crowds which 穷小子 observed are occupied by the groups of elder generations actually, who want to travel but avoid the hassles of planning the itineraries themselves.
• Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will invest billions of dollars into the US airline industry, for the second time within six months. The move showed a stunning change of heart for Buffett, who once referred to the US airline industry as a “deathtrap for investors.” Time are changing, and we need to adapt and adopt.
• SIA is hurting by the increase of budget airlines and from the pressure by the fellow famous Airlines brands. How SIA collaborate with travel agencies is an important factor for SIA to cut its edge out from this challenge industry.
• SIA has one unique advantage over its competitors, after all, SIA is our iconic brand which carries Singapore flag to fly across worldwide. 穷小子 confirm support SIA if the price doesn't differ by much, and bet that most of the fellow locals feels the same way too.

穷小子 not invested in SIA currently, but start to monitor it.

First time going for a guided tour instead of having a DIY trip. How would the trip be like? We will know it in April.

P.S. Hmm. No wonder he can save almost 50% of his salary for 2016, because he only went to Malaysia and Thailand for that year

Breadtalk $1 promotion

Starting 12:16pm daily from 14th to 21st July.

As part of Breadtalk celebrations for their 16th anniversary, it is having a special promotion. $1 each for the 16 top Fan Favourites bread. 穷小子's style favourites.
穷小子 used to be a fan of Breadtalk too, but had "boycott" it at least 3 years ago, since when the price keep increasing annually. But everything changed for this week (only).

Let's sees what had 穷小子 noticed about this promotion.

• It seems like every outlets are flooded with long queue for the past 4 days. Okie, maybe 穷小子 is a little over exaggerated, but even if is not every outlets, it is at least for these 4 outlets for sure which 穷小子 had visited, Toa Payoh, Yishun, Plaza Singapura and Vivocity.
• The promotion started at 12:16pm, but the long queue had started building up from 12 noon onwards. Seems there are many customers are like 穷小子, hungry for it, but had to "boycott" it due to its price.
• Once the bell hits 12:16pm, the cashiers and staffs start to clear the queue fast and efficiently. Wondering how much sales did this promotion had contributed.
• Despite having to say limited quantities for each outlets, Breadtalk has been generous about this promotion. Can see that trays and trays of breads are coming out from their kitchen during the peak hours without delay, and its staffs are encouraging the customers to get as much as they like. 穷小子 has not seen the promotion being sold out for the past 4 nights so far.
• They are using a sell less but many method. By selling at a cheaper price, it managed to get hold of a larger pool of market crowd.

穷小子 concludes that their sales revenue might increase significantly for this quarter because of this promotion. On the other hand, the company is having a P/E of 39.78 and dividend yield of 1.32%. No doubt it is a Growth company, but still, it does not have the traits to be included in 穷小子's watchlist (at least for now).

After its insensitive marketing tactic by selling our Ah Gong commemorative bun and the infamous Soya Bean Saga last year, can Breadtalk finally pull off a positive news headlines this year?

A gentle reminder, although it is at $1 only, please do not over purchased it. 穷小子 had bought 12 pieces in 3 days. Had to stop for now, else it became spending more instead of saving more.
This post may have came late, so, every one please enjoy the promotions before the deals ends.

穷小子's post is not and have no intentions of doing any advertisement for or against Breadtalk.

After 21 Jul, 穷小子 gonna resume "boycott" again. ^^

Frasers Centrepoint Limited - Will it gets better with the opening of Waterway Point and Safra Punggol?

Frasers Centrepoint Limited (FCL) was never in my watchlist until I visited Punggol Waterway Point. Most of the malls are managed by Frasers Centrepoint Trust (FCT), who is listed in Singapore Exchange too. *Do not confused between these two.*

I don't stay at Punggol, but I would go that area about 3 - 4 times each month. There are a lot of new HDB BTO around the area in the recent years, but it is not crowded, at least at Punggol station.

Waterway Point

With the opening of Waterway Point in Jan 2016, the game changes. Suddenly there is a surge in crowds. From what I can see, Punggol resident are hungry for shopping malls. Waterway Point reported that have it has 90% of tenants occupancy for its soft launch, with major anchor tenants such as NTUC Fair Price Finest (24 hours) and Shaw. Not only that, it has Timezone arcade for the kids, variety of cafes and restaurants (which is always long queue) for the teens, adults and families. I can say that it just have all the magnets to attracts the residents from all walks, and of course Daiso, 穷小子 style favourite.
To add on, managed to get Shaw as its tenant is one of the great move by the Frasers Management.
Based on the MRT North East Line, the only one cinema from Punggol to Serangoon is at NEX, Serangoon shopping mall, before the opening of Shaw at Waterway point. I used to stay at Hougang, the residents from the area are hoping for a cinema.

Safra Punggol

Furthermore with the opening of Safra Punggol at Apr 2016, which is less than 1KM away from Waterway Point, adds another plus factor to FCL. Safra Punggol is a different concept from the rest of SAFRA, as it is the first eco-friendly SAFRA club. I can see that the audience which its targeting are mainly young couples and kids, the Splash@Kidz Amaze indoor water playground answers it all. The first three-storey indoor water playground will not only attracts Punggol residents, but also from the whole of Singapore. I went there during the first weekend since it launched, the crowd for the pool was crazy, all the time slots for entry were fully booked till it closed.

I do not know whether my observations would means the stock price will increase, but what I can say is that all of these are plus factors which will bring in crowds, and these are certainly benefits to FCL. Another financial factor is that the price is currently at an estimated of 0.60 of its book value only based on today closing price. In layman term means the price is discounted.
Except that I don't like its high debt ratio and the low liquidity in the stock exchange, other than that, FCL is not bad for a thought.

By the way, I'm not vested in this yet, still waiting for an opportunity. News of US interest rate hike may bring the price down for a good catch. Who knows.