The Two Approaches to Making Money

Sometimes life can get really boring. Let's ask ourselves what have we been doing in our lives so far? Study hard, graduate, start working, earn money, spend money and what's next? What we are focusing on right now will change our lives forever. In this post, we'll explore the 2 different approaches to money and how it will impact us in the future. By the end of this post, you'll be able to differentiate and choose the path which you desire for a better future.

The first approach - Make money working for money

Most of us are at this stage. We studied hard to earn our certification, diploma or degree and then land ourself in a job with quite a stable salary to give us a decent life. Some are not so fortunate and earn lesser than others so they have a simpler life. But, for these 2 groups of people, life is actually the same. Both are working and earning money through the exchange of time. The person who earned a higher salary may seem to be living a better life with a bigger house and a bigger car but in fact, he or she is no different from the man who earned a lower salary. Why is this so?


Happiness does not come from living a more luxurious life

It has been reported again and again that Singapore, although being a developed nation, has one of the most unhappy people in the world. Our local newspaper, The Straits Times, reported on 20 December that Singaporeans are not only emotionless but unhappy as well. Singaporeans are apparently less upbeat than the people in places like Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Haiti. This is getting quite ridiculous. In the report, the main reasons cited for the negativity was the competitive culture, work pressure and rising cost of living. Are we focusing on making money so much to the extent we lose our happiness?


We do business but still focus on making money

When we can't earn enough from a salaried job, many people start their own business thinking it will give them more money to have a better future. Some work so hard to make their business successful that they neglect their family. They grow cold with their spouse and their children grow up without the love of a family. Before they realise it, it may have been too late to go back in time.


Trading in the stock market

There are also those who think it is easy to earn money from the stock market. Using $1000 to make $10,000? Its becoming a common mindset now. But what is the result? Most people lose money in the stock market, lose their sleep and even their lives. Yes, some people literally commit suicide because they lost too much money from the stock market. Trading in the stock market is also active income. It is a professional job which amateurs should learn the ropes before joining the leagues.


The problem with active income

Now, you might have realised money is not the source of happiness and sacrificing time for money makes it even worse. Having said that, money is not everything but everything we see around us involves money. It would be foolish to say that money is not important.

Most of us climb the corporate ladder to earn a higher pay check. As our salary increases, so does our standard of living.

Our lives evolves from this:

To this:

I'm not against living a luxurious life. But did you know most people's luxurious lives are short lived while a small group of people will be rich forever?

This is why most people's luxurious lives are short lived:

One year later:

Once this high income earner loses his job, he still has to pay for the mortgages for his house and car and other miscellaneous expenses. If we assume his savings to be $24,000, it can only last him for a maximum of 3 months. If he cannot find a job within that period, the consequences will be undesirable. 

The above person is having 80% of his income in debt which is very dangerous. That is why the TDSR was introduced to limit all debts to 60% of your income. For the above example, if debt is limited to 60% of his income, his savings would have doubled and can last him more than 6 months. That is the power of just 20% more savings in a year. 

You may ask how does the above calculation work out? Assuming the above person is limited by the TDSR of 60%, his debt repayment would only be 6k every month instead of the 8k loan repayment he has now. As such, he would have an extra 2k savings per month which is 24k a year. This brings his total savings to 48k a year which is doubled of his initial savings if he had a 8k loan. That is how with just 20% more savings per month, your savings would have doubled in a year. 

Fast forward 30 years later at retirement age, this person would have accumulated a savings of $720,000. But without any investment or passive income, the income could only last him 7.5 years if he stops working. We might say he would have finished paying for the house by then so his expenses would have been lower. Even with a lower expense of $5000, his savings over the 30 years would only last 12 years. 

Imagine working for 30 years and your savings could only last you 7.5 or 12 years. That is what happened to a lot of people who took the make money working for money approach.

The Second Approach - Make money letting money work for you

The second approach is what I call the visionary road. Only those who look far ahead will see it. You'll see how a person who take this road will have money that last him a lifetime.

This is how it looks like:

One year later:

This same person loses his job but because of his low expense and high savings ratio, he manage to accumulate a savings of $100,800 which can last him 50 months. This is approximately 4.2 years. Don't forget because this person focuses on letting money work for him, he has steadily achieved a passive income of $420 per month. 

The magic happens from here forward. Assuming this person finds another job but earns much lower now than before. He only manage to get a $5000 per month salary. 

Let's see what happens in 10 years time. 

In 10 years time, this person, although earning a lesser salary at $5000, managed to accumulate a savings of $553,330 through prudent savings and investment at 5% compounded. What he did was to just to invest, get dividends and reinvest the dividends. Within just 10 years, this person has achieved financial independence with $2305 passive income per month. Even if he loses his job, he still can live normally for the rest of his life. He could even choose not to work any more. 

Let's move even further to 10 more years ahead: 

With consistent savings and investment, this person's passive income more than doubled. Money does work harder for you at a compounded rate.

Key takeaways of the 2 approaches

1. High income with high expenses is suicidal
2. Money can work for you if you create passive income
3. Passive income grows at a compounded rate. 

The visionary road is accessible for anyone who diligently seek it. The people on the visionary road focus not on making money but on doing the right things. They build a strong base through savings and proper money management then invest the money slowly and steadily. They may only make a few hundred dollars in the first few years then thousands and tens of thousands for the next 10 years and for a lifetime.  Do the right things and money will flow into your life.

Enjoyed my articles? 

You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 

or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.

Related Posts:
1. Why extreme savings is more powerful than investing
2. Going from working middle class to rich with a simple tweak

Pocket Wifi for your overseas trips with VisionData Singapore

In Singapore, we're so connected to each other that we can access the internet almost everywhere. We can send Whatsapp messages, surf the net, browse our Facebook news feeds, check emails anywhere. Many of us will realise that once we travel overseas, we're constantly looking for wifi hotspots at our hotel, at cafes and we wish that wifi could be everywhere. Now its possible with the Pocket Wifi from VisionData Singapore.

I was in Jakarta last week and those who read my previous post on what I did during my trip would know that. Prior to my trip, coincidently, VisionData contacted me and offer to sponsor to try out their pocket wifi device. I found it interesting so decided to try it out. I'll be writing a review for the product below.


About VisonData Singapore

VisondataSG (VDS) provides low cost pocket Wifi rental services that covers more than 70 countries.

With the Pocket Wifi, customer will be able to stay connected while overseas.


My review

The internet browsing speed that you can get solely depends on the network in that particular country. Broadband service speed may vary depending on coverage, location, devices used, network traffic and the type of data being transmitted.

The package came in a pouch which was convenient for travel. Inside, there's an instruction sheet, the pocket wifi device and a travel adapter charger. The device is small which makes it easy to carry. You can just put it into your pocket and travel around.

When I arrived in Jakarta, I switched on the device while taking a taxi to the apartment which I would be staying in. On the taxi itself, I could already browse the internet through the pocket wifi device. My friends were actually quite surprised that such a thing can be done.Yes, the device can be used by more than one person. Each device can actually support 4-6 users. We had 3 phones that were simultaneously connected at the same time and it worked well.


Why VisionData Singapore?

Rental of the pocket wifi from VDS will be cost saving. I saw on their website that the price for Indonesia was $9 a day. Typically, each local Telco will charge $15/day for data roaming. Ordering process is simple as item will be couriered to the designated location two working days before travelling. You can also choose to pick up item from VDS office.

 VisonData also offer rental service for their power banks at $2 a day.

For more information about the device and the pricing for each country, you can refer to their website: www.visondata.com.sg

Like VDSG on Facebook: www.facebook.com/visondatasg

The End of 2014 - POSB Invest Saver, POEMS Share Builders Plan and OCBC Blue Chip Invest Plan

The following is a guest post submitted by Young. In the post, he writes on the subject of passive investing in Index ETF. Read it below:

It has been a while since I submitted a blogpost. 2014 has been a pretty decent year so far even though there were some rough bumps along the way. 

A little more on POSB Invest Saver, POEMS Share Builders Plan and OCBC Blue Chip Invest Plan,

The POSB Invest Saver, POEMS Share Builders Plan and OCBC BCIP are in my opinion, designed to cater to new and younger investors as they can invest from as low as $100 a month.

You might be wondering, what can one buy with $100 a month? As described by the relative offers, it is none other than Index ETF’s. For POSB, they offer just 2; ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund and the Nikko AM STI ETF. As for OCBC, they offer similar to POSB, but includes 18 other individual counters like ComfortDelGro, Olam International and Wilmar International. POEMS also gives one the option of investing in 19 other individual counters such as CapitaCommercial Trust, SIA, ST Engineering and the like.

However, one thing that may be of interest is that POEMS offers the option to reinvest the dividends you earn back into your Regular Savings Plan. Neither POSB nor OCBC has such an option for now. 

POSB charges a 1% fee on each transaction which is invested into Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF and 0.5% for the ABF Singapore Bond Index Fund. OCBC however, charges 0.3% of each transaction which invested but has a minimum fee of $5 per counter. Unlike POSB, OCBC also charges 0.3% or $5 whichever is higher when you liquidate or sell your positions.

Lastly for POEMS, it depends on the investment amount and how many counters you’re investing. If the total invested amount is less than SGD1000, a flat rate of $6 is charged for 1 or 2 counters. But for 3 or more counters, the  fee is a flat rate of $10. If your investment amount is more than $1000, the charge is 0.2% or $10, whichever is higher. 

I hope I managed to present the above information in a clear and concise manner. Hopefully this will be easier for the younger readers to comprehend and perhaps help them get started! 

A big event that is coming is none other than the Chinese New Year! Be sure to have fun visiting friends and relatives but at the same time do note to not gamble too much! It is after all your hard earned money!

One thing I learnt in the month of December is that one should always be prepared. I did not prepare my funds and hence missed the boat for 2 very popular blue chips namely Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine. I feel that one should always be prepared no matter what as no one can predict what will happen in the coming weeks or even tomorrow. To the younger readers who are interested in investing, or would like to learn more about it, do check out the OCBC Blue Chip Invest Plan or the POSB Invest Saver.

Lastly, with the recently short terms rallies in some of the local counters in O&G industries, I’d like to urge all to exercise caution! A hearty congratulations to all who took a nice profit this week! May 2015 be better than ever!

Happy New Year! 


My Thoughts:

Investing in Index fund is a good way to grow your money over the long term. I wrote on index fund investing previously in this article: Low Cost index fund investing (Passive Investing)

Index fund investing is also known as passive investing as you can just sign up for the plan and automate it to invest a certain amount on a monthly basis. Over the years, the price of the fund that you invest in will average out because you invest in it no matter when the price is up or down. For example, if you start investing now and the fund price is $3 but when the fund price drops to $2 and you're still investing in it monthly, the price averages out to less than $3. Over the long term when the fund price rises back up to $3 or even higher, you would have made a profit. The key is investing in it for the long term to see the effects of compounded growth.

For the case of Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine going down, it is actually an opportunity for those investors who have the capital on standby to deploy. Readers who've read my previous post on my Jakarta trip will know that I had personally invested a small amount in Sembcorp Marine when the price went below $3. This can be an opportunity fund that you set aside to take advantage of this kind of opportunities. Knowing how to allocate our investment capital efficiently can be the main factor to success and failure in investing. For myself, I would never invest all my money at once unless during extreme market pessimism. As what Warren Buffett says: "Be fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful".

Have a good weekend ahead in the first week of 2015!

Enjoyed my articles? 
You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 
or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.

Reflections for Year 2014: A Year of Amazing Experience

This is the first time i'm writing my reflection for one full year of blogging. SG Young Investment was started in June 2013. Till now, it has been just 1.5 years. The experience so far was just unbelievable that I thought I've been a blogger for much longer than that.

Never would I have expected that a blog which started out of nowhere could survive till today. I really have no idea what got this blog started. Perhaps its the desire to share on finance and investment. But, I wasn't really investing a lot of money back then in 2012 and in fact was just recovering from losses I had back in 2011. It was only in 2013 that I got back the confidence in investing and made some money. Looking back, it took me almost 2 years to come back again.

My first post was on My investing journey. I read my own writings again and it was just a sharing of my story in the stock market. Reading it made me think back on what I had gone through. In an instant, more than 1 year had passed.


Blogging Highlights of 2014

Took more than 6 months for the blog to reached 100,000 page views which I wrote a post on it on 2nd February 2014: 100,000 page views! This was right after Chinese New Year.

It quickly went pass 1 Million page views on 30th October: SG Young Investment crosses 1 Million

Writing on HDB, Condominium and marriage

I went on to write on topics such as buying a HDB flat, buying a condominium, cost of getting married. Researching and writing on these topics actually helped me to see what I need to plan ahead for. Naturally, because young people are worried about all these costs, these blog posts attracted a lot of views. I hope the posts have helped you plan better as it has helped me too. When we know the numbers and can see ahead, the future doesn't look that scary any more.

Writing on CPF and attending events

Another highlight is the post on the CPF. This was a hot topic among Singaporeans this year. I wrote a simple posts on the CPF minimum sum and CPF life. To say the truth, I have very little knowledge on the CPF prior to writing that post. It was only after hours of reading up that made me understand it better. After that, I was invited to the Forum on CPF and retirement adequacy. This was my first event attending as a blogger. Some other bloggers were there too but I didn't get to meet any of them as I only know that they were there after the event. Later on, I also went for the CPF Focus Group Discussion. It was fulfilling to contribute and interact with the other participants who were there.

Meet up with other bloggers and making new friends

Making new friends was one of the highlights too. From commenting on each other blogs to chatting on Facebook to meeting up face to face. It was great to be able to meet up with like minded people where we could just talk for hours and hours.


My Financial life in review for 2014

For the year of 2014, my active income increased, passive income increased while expenses remained stable. Actually, expenses did increase also but at a lower rate. I've been writing on passive income and this is the result of creating other streams of income. You can see it below from the green bar. This is a distinct difference from 2013 where there is very little passive income.

For the year of 2014, passive/other income has been quite consistent except for the months of Jan, Feb and June. This income comes from adverts such as Google adsense, sponsored articles, direct banner adverts and dividends from stocks. All in all, this income adds up to $3028 for this year.

On average, I've invested about 20k in the stock market this year. I've increased my stocks portfolio to 30k as of today and would probably increase again next year. This still makes up about 50% of my investment capital only.


Promoted and graduated from University

Besides focusing on passive income, I did not forget about my active income as well. This year was a tough year considering I was still studying part time for the first half of the year. But, I was still able to manage everything well and got promoted. Bonus was also better for this year.

Another relief is I finally graduated from the part time degree course which I was taking. This freed up a lot of my time for me to do other things such as meeting friends and writing more. I also took more time to reply the emails from you guys. I just checked and realised I've received more than a thousand emails so far. It's becoming a part time business to manage now.


Meeting new friends

This year is a year of meeting new friends. Through events, I got to network with more professionals. In summary, I got to know a lot more people who are passionate on finance and investments. Its amazing that as I set my path on the world of finance and investment, I start to know all these like minded people as well. Its the law of attraction at work. That is why if we want to attract positive people into our lives, we should also be positive.

As mentioned earlier, I also met some of the other bloggers. As for readers, I recently met the first one just before Christmas. This year, I been contemplating with the thought of forming investment groups for people to learn and interact together to know other people who are into personal finance and investments as well. There are students and young people who want to start managing their money better but do not really know where to start. Forming this group will create a platform for new friendships with like minded people. Let's see how this will develop.

That's all for my year in 2014. Its just 1 day away to the year 2015. I hope you had a good 2014 too. If not, always look on the bright side and 2015 will be a better year.

Happy New Year!! 

Related Posts:
1. New year resolutions and investment strategies for 2014
2. Reflections for 2013

Financial Expedition (FINEX) 2015 - Learn Finance Through An Amazing Race

Finance is a boring subject to many people. Learning finance seems to be even tougher. But what if I told you today that finance can be learnt in a fun and simple way? I'm partnering Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Interactive investment club to promote a Financial Expedition event which is happening on 17 January 2015.

This is a good chance for all students to learn finance through games and also interact with other people from other Junior Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities. There are attractive prices to be won too. I heard the first price is an iPad Mini. You’ll also get an attractive goodie bag together with a nicely designed event T-shirt.

What is Financial Expedition (FINEX) 2015?

FINEX is a team-based financial expedition challenge for students from Junior Colleges, Polytechnics and Universities to gain financial literacy in an engaging and exciting way. 5 game stations will be set around the Central Business District (CBD) in Singapore and participants can access to simplified virtual marketplace designed by committees.

There are 5 games stations with 1 Finale station. They are really quite creative to come up with the games to inculcate financial literacy. 

1st Station: Shop Smart

2nd Station: Pandora Box

3rd Station: Minesweeper

4th Station: Triopoly

5th Station: Young Warren Buffet

Finale Station: Wolf of Wall Street

I'll not go into the details of the stations itself. You'll find out more about it when you join the event. The finale station is quite interesting where students will get to experience how the trading mechanism works in real life. Those of you who're thinking of trading in the markets, be sure not to miss this one out.  

What will you gain from FINEX 2015?

Not just Financial knowledge, FINEX emphasis on application of financial literacy in our life. Each game station will focus on one specific financial instrument, participants are able to learn the basic knowledge or mechanism of that particular financial instrument, and apply the knowledge gained in the exciting games.

You'll get to learn everything from personal finance to investment to trading. You don't have to have any prior financial knowledge. Just go there and learn while having fun.

Highlights of FINEX 2015

Interested in financial literacy, but have low financial knowledge? We have you covered. This is a great opportunity to kick-start your journey, as FINEX covers basic knowledge and application in real life.

This year, organizing committee initiated the virtual marketplace, where it simulates the trading platform. Not just bid ask price, a candlestick chart and economic news which is updated frequently will also be included. Participants can get a taste of a simplified trading platform.

This simulated marketplace will give you an experience on how the markets actually move.

Below are the details for the event:

Date: 17 January 2015 (Saturday)
Time: 9am – 3pm
Venue: Central Business District

For more info, visit their website: www.finex2015.com 

or Facebook page: www.facebook.com/finex2015

You can register for the event directly from their website. Form a team of 3 and play together with your friends. Meet like minded people from all the other schools along the way too. Register for the event today and enjoy yourselves!

Share it with your friends and get them to come along! 

*This is a sponsored post by NTU Interactive investment club FINEX 2015

Chit Chat With Susurrate: Saving $19,000 In One Year

The following is a guest post by Susurrate. He's just like any ordinary guy out there but manage to save close to $19,000 in just one year. Here's his story and how he did it:

Hi fellow readers of SG Young Investment. Recently the Author has been writing about frugality and I guess I could write something as well.

Just a background information for you. I am currently 26 and single and I do go out and have fun with my friends. I come from a low income family, in fact, my parents are WorkFare Income Supplement recipients.

Through sheer hard work and frugality, my parents have supported my education up to a diploma. I am currently working full time earning a middle income and pursuing a part-time degree.

Being brought up in a low income family have allowed me to pick up frugal habits from my parents. Since young, I have been saving money to buy what I wanted instead of asking from my parents, so I guess that’s how I learnt early the value of money.

While I earned more than my parents combined, I do not splurge on luxury or status. Because of this habit, I find myself spending little and have a lot more disposable income than what the media portrays.

Rather than telling people that they should do this and that, or they should not do this and that, I prefer to show than to tell. I have been tracking my expenses for the past 2 ½ years and these are the numbers as well as my take home pay for the year of 2014.

I’d say I’m fortunate to be in a company where my lunch is provided. I have a bento set everyday IF I opt in, instead of rushing and competing with the lunch crowd. I also prepare my breakfast at home and have dinner at home when I have nothing on after work. Clubbing and smoking are not my cup of tea as well.

Total Take-Home Pay:	$38,656.31
Home related expenses:
Phone and Broadband	$710.88
Repairs	$74.84
Transportation:
Public Transport	$1,323.07
Food:
Groceries	$155.95
Dining Out	$675.37
Entertainment:
Vacations	$283.00
Movies	$53.50
Books	$85.01
Gifts / Weddings	$478.54
Others	$96.66
Insurance:
H&S	$781.70
Life / CI / TPD	$3,718.08
Personal Wellness:
Clothes & Shoes	$32.85
Haircut	$80.00
Wallet (one-off)	$56.58
Education:
School fees	$3,814.55
Stationery	$7.46
Parents:
Medical	$526.05
Allowance	$6,000.00
Income Tax:	$19.00
Total Expenses:	$18,973.09
Unaccounted Expenses (5%)	$948.65
Total Savings:	$18,734.57

So there you have it! A savings of $19,000 a year or almost $100,000 in 5 years for a middle income fellow, if I can keep this up (I could probably save more as I would no longer have expenses for my degree). Add another $15,000 in CPF contributions from my employment and I am $34,000 wealthier for the year.

If you notice, I spent more on things that matter, like parents’ allowance and their medical check-ups and outpatient bills, my insurance policies, and building meaningful relationships with friends. I believe that being frugal is all about spending your money wisely, not wasteful spending.. I am grateful for everything I already have.

Lastly, I’d like to leave a quote,

“The rich man isn’t the one who has the most, but rather the one who needs the least.”


My Thoughts:

The guy is a friend whom I've known for the past few months. He's the same age as me and we're on the same journey to financial freedom.

Like him, I do not come from a rich family. I too studied part time for my degree and paid it up completely with the money I earned from my full time job. Even after paying for my school fees which is a five figure sum, my financial position is still healthy and I'm on the way to meet the target of 100k savings in 2 years time. I'll update my income and expenditure on a separate post as we approach the end of 2014.

What has your savings been like for the whole of 2014? Hope you enjoyed the chit chat post. There'll be more to come. Stay tuned!

Enjoyed my articles? 
You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 
or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.

Related Posts:
1. Chit Chat With a 17 Year Old Young Couple on Financial Planning For The Future

Chit Chat With a 17 Year Old Young Couple on Financial Planning For The Future

I wanted to call this an interview but decided to call it a chit chat instead. I've received quite a lot of emails from young students from as young as 15 with regards to planning their finances and investing. I've always been curious on why some of these young students will realise the importance of financial planning while others will not.

Today, I would like to feature a young couple who's studying in a local Junior College. Yes, you heard me right. They are a couple who emailed me separately and I found out their relationship some time later. The interview questions were answered by the girl herself but they did discuss together beforehand. The below ME represents the girl and HIM represents the guy. They requested to be anonymous. In this interview, you'll get to see what triggered them to start financial planning early in life and how they balance it with their social life.

Let's get started!

1) Both of you are young and already want to start planning for your future. What triggered the thought of it?

Me: Hahahaha mine I don't have one particular trigger it was like a train of thoughts? So like one thing led to another then I suddenly felt motivated to plan for my future.

Ok 1. was that I really want a car in future. My family's car's COE expires next year, before I can actually get a license and drive it so that sucks and I really cannot imagine life without a car. I guess I am pretty pampered. Car to me is not a need but it'll be really convenient if I own one in the future haha. I understand that COE in Singapore is insanely expensive so since I have the benefit of still being a youth I should start planning like right now to reach my goal of owning a car even sooner haha.

2. Was that I worked as a banquet waitress so I witnessed many weddings and I can't be sure if it's true, but Singaporeans are getting married later and later haha. I don't know what's the actual cause of it but I guess the expense of wedding and the life after that is really huge so similarly, since I have the benefit of still being a youth I might as well start planning now.

Him: His parents didn't plan their finance properly which in turn affected the family's living condition. I guess in general, we both realised the importance of managing our finance and planning our future in order to have a future of our dreams.



2) Are you a spender or a saver?

Me: Spender I guess. I think my priorities are really wrong. I spend at the things like clothes bags and save on like food but I'm coping so I guess that arrangement's ok with me haha.

Him: Spender too HAHA he spends mostly on food but he works more than me in the holidays and his earnings are > his spendings so all is good too haha.



3) As a young teenager living in Singapore, there's so much entertainment around and food is getting more expensive especially for young people who likes to go to cafes. Are there any savings tips you would like to share? 

I myself really like to explore Singapore's cafes and people like my sister and her friends really often ask me where I get my money to go cafes. Last year Dec I came up with this plan: Stop going franchises like pasta mania, MacDonalds, Nihon Mura etc when deciding to go for casual dinner.

For e.g. if I were to decide where to eat for dinner tonight with my friend somewhere at my nearest shopping mall, I'd go for kopitiam food (around $2-$3) instead of pasta mania (around $7-$10++) so I can save the money to go cafes when I really wanna relax with my friends/bf. I like to either eat really budget at kopitiam or try new cafes so I'll cut the in betweens (the franchises). Also, I'd cut down on like Starbucks, Gong Cha which people like to buy and drink as they shop haha.

This way I not only save money I cut down on sugar too HAHA. I feel that since I really love exploring new cafes in Singapore, not just for the food but the ambience, I have to make adjustments to my lifestyle so on days where I just want a simple dinner, I'd try and eat cheap or at home. As for my bf, he splurges on food and I'm trying to instil this thinking into him haha.



3) Finance is a boring subject to many people. What made you guys interested in it?

Hahaha well I guess the idea of achieving the life and dreams we want that motivated us to do something about our current lifestyle and planning which includes understanding finance better haha.



4) Where did you learn most of the personal finance concepts such as saving money, investing etc? Does your school offer such classes?

I think in the past, my school (like my pri school) did teach us how to save. But of course it's those 'save 20% of your pocket money' kinda thing haha. As I grow older I manage my personal finance like saving money. I don't have a systematic way to save money which is not exactly ideal...... hahaha oops. I guess the way I save is to like have a minimum amount of money in my bank e.g. maybe this holiday I want a certain amount of money in my bank so once it's around that amount I'd stop withdrawing money from my bank and wait for my next allowance instead hahah. But recently I started a savings plan which I'll elaborate on it later on!

As for investing, I only got interested this holidays cos I always thought that was an adult thing. It was until this holiday my boyfriend told me there are actually people who invest at our age so that got me interested haha. My parents did a bit of investment. More last time until something happened so now they only invest in those stable ones? I'm not really sure either but I know my parents have some experience in it so I talked to my mom who referred me to her financial adviser so I guess from now on I can consult that financial adviser cos she's now my financial adviser too haha. Oh and of course, both of us also read up online (e.g. your blog) about personal finance concept. Nah as far we're concerned our school don't offer any classes on personal finance concepts haha.



5) Are your peers interested in finance stuffs too? If not, are there any ways to get more young people like you to get interested in planning their future? 

I guess in general, they would want money (of course hahahah) but they don't really know how and aren't exactly motivated to search for ways etc. Most of them are choosing the 'trouble-free' way out which is to work to earn money but they are unaware that that's a temporary solution and that planning/saving is more important for the future.

I guess most of them ( I admit I used to be like this too) are more concerned about life now than life in future. I feel that there's really minimal anyone can do to get young people interested in planning for their future. There can be talks and speeches by successful people, by finance consultants etc etc but i think their growing environment and their character plays a big part. If they are surrounded by like successful people for e.g., they would naturally want to be the same.

Then again, character acts as a factor as well, one can be offered many opportunities but if he feels contented with his life or something along that line, they wouldn't wanna do anything more. I don't know if I'm making sense to you haha I'm bad at words. I think the most direct and effective way to get someone interested is when they really look around them and realise there are many successful people and they want to be like them. If they are really uninterested, the talks, speeches, shows, any form of moral suasion will only bore them.


6) Are there any other thoughts you would like to share with the readers here?

Hahahaha I guess the takeaway of this whole interview/post would be, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and that applies to not just finance, but everything in life :)



My Thoughts:

You can see how bubbly the young girl is. I enjoyed interacting with them and am encouraged by their energy in life.

For myself, I realised the need for financial planning much later than the two 17 year old students above. I was still obsessed with the camera phones that were in trend at that time. I even bought a $300+ phone for myself at the age of 17.

To realise the need for saving money at a young age is good. Even though they may not have much money, the act of putting aside even a small portion of their allowance will instil a good habit of savings which goes a long way. 10% saved today may only be $10 but it will be a few hundred dollars when they start working.  The next part is to create a financial plan which is achievable for their long term goals. The purpose is to balance saving and spending money. We don't want to end up saving too much and be a miser or spend too much and worry about money later.

Money is not just an adult thing. Young people can start managing their own finances early in life too. If you're a student and reading this, I hope it will encourage you to start your journey to financial freedom too. Nevertheless, for young students, studies should still be prioritised and career planning is important too. Having a good income will give you a good headstart in life. This will be discussed in the next blog post.

Christmas is just one day away. Here's wishing everyone Merry Christmas and a joyful holiday ahead!

Enjoyed my articles? 
You can Subscribe to SG Young Investment by Email 
or follow me on my Facebook page and get notified about new posts.