First, let's rewind back to May 2025

My final day of corporate was May 1st, 2025. Shortly after, I signed my first ever 3‑month brand partnership contract. Apart from my emergency fund, that contract was another thing to keep me afloat, so you can imagine how grateful I was.

On May 18th, I flew to Queenstown (NZ) to celebrate my 24th birthday. I needed that trip, not because travel heals you, but because I wanted to honour the courage it took to walk away from my job, and from an almost 5‑year relationship.

It takes so much time and energy to pour into things like our careers and our relationships. At some point I had to ask myself whether those things were pouring back into me. And yeah… you can probably guess the answer to that 🤠
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ANYWAY, no pity party here. Just need to humanise the plot before I spend the next year yapping about money and progress. Unfortunately money and numbers have no feelings, but I can assure you, I do 😮‍💨

"Why invest the $100k? Isn't that risky?"

There’s a reason I started this post by talking about Queenstown. Something happened on that trip that I still think about whenever people ask me why I invest, especially when they ask about risk.

On May 20 (my bday 🤭), I booked a 6pm session at the Onsen Hot Pools thinking I’d catch the sunset.

What I didn’t realise is that Queenstown is surrounded by mountains (obvi), which means the sun disappears EARLY like… 3pm early. By 6:30pm it was basically pitch black.

My session ended at 7pm, and suddenly I was alone, in the dark, in the mountains, with NO reception. And I had a 20‑minute drive back.

I was scared. Like genuinely scared.

BUT GUESS WHAT!!!
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I 👏🏼 DOWNLOADED 👏🏼 OFFLINE 👏🏼 MAPS 👏🏼 before my trip

This is the exact screenshot I took because I wanted to remember how this "small" decision saved my night. It was my birthday too so I was very proud 🤪

Thankkkk goooodnessssss.
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Driving through mountains in pitch darkness (alone) is NOT for the weak… and I am weak, so it was absolutely not for me.

I still had to drive 20mins in pitch darkness, but at least I had a map. At least I had something guiding me home.

It honestly looked like this:

But Alyssa, what does this have to do with investing?

OKAY. Here’s the point I’m getting at. If I didn’t download offline maps, do you know what I would’ve said? It would’ve gone something like:

“I wish I downloaded offline maps earlier.”
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​And that’s exactly how I think about investing.

Just like downloading offline maps, it’s something you do before you lose reception. You do it in case life throws you into the dark.
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Did I know I’d be driving alone through mountains in pitch black? Absolutely not. But past‑me prepared anyway, and future‑me was grateful.

The point? Investing is risky, and so is everything else in life.

Life is full of risks. Leaving a perfectly good corporate job. Leaving a long‑term relationship. Driving through mountains at night. Investing is just one of the ways I soften that uncertainty, not because I know what’s coming, but because I don’t. No one does.

My word of advice is if someone tries to make you second-guess or stop you from investing, just do your own due diligence. Do your own research first, then make a decision. Talk to people who have actually done it.

Don't let anyone's fears or past experiences deter you from your own agency.

Anyway, here's my Investment Strategy

For the sake of simplicity, my strategy is just:

• Long-term investing in Exchange-traded Funds (ETFs)​
• Follow the Core-satellite investing approach

"What's core satellite", you ask?

The “core” is the big, stable centre, usually broad‑market ETFs that track entire economies or indexes. They’re diversified, boring (in a good way), and designed to grow slowly and steadily over decades.

The “satellites” are the smaller, spicier bits that orbit around the core. These are things you believe in, want to experiment with, or feel excited about. They’re higher risk and higher potential reward.

Most people aim for something like 70% core, 30% satellite. That’s the classic balance between stability and growth.

Where I’m honestly at

Right now, I’m sitting at around 55% core and 45% satellite which is not the plan LMAO. It’s not necessarily “wrong,” it’s just a little more adventurous than I intended 🤣

So over the next year, I’m slowly rebalancing:

• adding more to my core ETFs
• letting my satellite positions shrink relative to the whole
• shifting the weight back toward that 70/30 split

Nothing dramatic. No selling everything. Just gentle, consistent adjustments so my portfolio reflects the kind of stability I want long‑term.

That's all for now I'm sleeeeepy. Thanks for reading <3
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Next post is... i'm not sure yet, you'll have to find out (you'll get notified if you subscribe though hehe)
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💌 With love,