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Financial Independence is like.....

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.....watching paint dry. Do you enjoy watching paint dry? If you don't, you may get bored during your Financial Independence (FI) journey, especially at the middle to later stage. This is more for the majority of us who are employees.  The experience and challenges for those of us who are self-employed or business owners are probably different.  The Initial Phase It may start off with alot of budgeting, tracking and monitoring, rebudgeting and the cycle repeats like a habit or system. And repeats till we hit our comfort zone.  For myself, it started off with budgeting. I tried to track and monitor but it wasn't just in me to do so. I was okay as long as I have a rough gauge on the buckets that the expenses were flowing into. From this, I always wonder if I am more of macro person than a micro person. You know, the 'Big Picture'? Or perhaps I was just simply lazy.  Admittedly, a mixture of sacrifices and delayed gratification were made. Isn't sacrifice same as delaye

Revenue Growth or Cost Cutting??

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Source: Quora Thoughts When you read the above headline, which option did you pick at first thought? Without hesitation. Now, let us take a step back. From what position/ role in life did you make that choice? An employer? Business owner? Self-employed? An employee/ salaried worker? Shareholder? Breadwinner?  If you made that choice from an employee/ salaried employee, share with me your thoughts for you to make that choice in that split second? "Position-sizing" As an employee/ salaried worker, how high in the corporate hierarchy? Fresh graduate? Executive? Manager? Team Lead? Senior Manager? HOD? C-suites? Chairman? B-member? If I were a salaried employee at a certain hierarchy downwards, I would never wish for my employer to go on cost cutting programmes as this mean that rice bowls will be impacted. Even if cost cuts are being implemented, how far can an organisation go in this option without sacrificing or affecting future potential growth of the company's revenue? W

Ant or Grasshopper??

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Why not both at the same time during a serendipitous encounter? ;) If no such thing as both option A and option B .. then why not explore option C? Be a Honey Bee!! And you'll get.. the best of both worlds??

Moove to Groove #1

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Source: YouTube Everybody's got something They had to leave behind One regret from yesterday That just seems to grow with time I never had a dream come true Till the day that I found You You'll always be the dream that fills my head Is there anything that you had to leave behind? That one or two regrets from yesterday? Take charge of your life today and try to enjoy this journey with no regret. We are going to be at the same final destination anyways. It's the journey that counts. Do you have a dream *coughs* legal ones please *coughs*? What is it?  How about making it come true by starting to build it today ? Don't need to wait till you reached financial independence, make it happen during your journey to financial independence where possible.  Of course the caveat is that it must be done in conjunction with practical considerations (read bread and butter 🍞) in mind for yourself and family. No matter the outcome.. at least you tried and experienced the journey   :) 

Quest for Yield series (1)

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Note: This is not a sponsored post or in any way affiliated. It is also not an advertisement. All views are made solely on a personal basis and do not constitute as financial advice. Please always do your own research before embarking on any investment-related decision. Any reliance on the information and experiences shared is purely at your own discretion. Do Your Own Due Diligence (DYODD). China Taiping's i-Save June 2020 tranche In my recent quest for yield, I came across China Taiping's i-Save 2.05% p.a. 3-year term endowment. This June 2020 tranche is a single premium plan that is both capital and yield guaranteed, provided it is held till maturity.  "What? Are you sure such a decent interest rate still exists?", you asked. Yes, let's look at the details. How safe are my hard-earned savings? "My premium is guaranteed by who?" The insurer themselves, China Taiping Insurance (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. ("CTIS"). Eh say what!? Ownself guarantee own

Time Freedom – The Dream

Do you often hear yourself or your friends saying that “I am busy..”, “I am very busy..”, “Sorry, I am unable to make it..”? You get the drift.. Where did all our time go? Hours Each of us have 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week, 672 hours a month (4weeks), 8736 hours a year.  Let's assume we have a well-rested 8 hours each night to stay healthy, well-rested and ready for the new days each time, we have 16 hours a day, 112 hours a week, 448 hours a month, 5824 hours a year. Let's assume that we hold a normal 9-6 job, excluding OT which is rather prevalent in the Singapore labour market, and takes an average of a 45-minute journey per commute, we have 5.5 hours a workday, 27.5 hours a work week, 110 hours a work month, 1430 hours a work year left. All of us have 16 hours a day, 32 hours a week, 128 hours a month, 1664 hours a year over weekends on the assumption of a 5-day work week and no need to OT over the weekends. Combined, we have 3094 hours a year to ourselves at the upper

2006-2020: The Awakening

It was 2006. The lost of a much loved one made me question the meaning of life again. What we do what we do and why we do what we do. What is the end goal of studies? What is the end goal of work? What is the end goal of life? As part of the grieving process, I began searching for answers and exploring the Web. I believe that was Internet at the end stage of its Infancy stage and beginning to sprout in its Growth phase. It was during this time that I learned the concepts of F.I.R.E., Financial Independence Retire Early, but this term was not been born yet.  That's right. In Singapore, there was already a movement/ community of like-minded individuals back then. The concepts learned were from a few bloggers whose values seem to be aligned with mine, the "answers" that I had been looking for. However, for us, it was not so much of R.E. but rather F.I. I am grateful for having them around in that phase of my life - Bully The Bear , Uncle Createwealth8888 , Wealth Buch , Musi