WHYMOOLAH AND HOW TO SAVE MONEY

This whymoolah game first caught my eye when i read about the founders in a magazine.

SG Young Investment then blogged about it and so I decided I had to try it! 

In my usual obsessive compulsive ways, I played the game at least 6 times! The first time I played myself, and made the decisions of getting married at 29 and having a kid at 30. Funnily enough, although i bought a condo IRL, i could not afford the same in virtual and had to settle on a resale HDB. This was because of the 60% TDSR mostly and my partner's paycheque. 

(A nagging feeling was telling me i should not have overspend on my condo!)

After playing the other 5 or more times. I realised that to maximise your net worth you should: 

1. GET MARRIED AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE
2. with step 1, then you can BUY THAT BTO
3. be a lawyer
4. DON'T GO for social gatherings or give your parents money 
5. DON'T have kids
6. start selling shares in stages when the auntie wants to buy 
7. start buying shares in stages when the man on the street wants to sell 

Heh, some of the above advice should be applicable in real life! 

Go PLAY it! It was fun for me. 

My second topic is on HOW TO SAVE MONEY! 

The inspiration of this piece? A friend approach me to be a guarantor for 80,000 SGD. Would you? 

I was a bit shocked. He had been working for about close to 10 years - mid 30s. He disclosed to me that he wanted to pursue a change of careers and needed money for an education loan. He only had 30,000 to his name as savings and needed this loan to tide him through the payment of the course, and his living expenses. He lives with his parents and has no car, no girlfriend, no mortgage. He was already at mid management level and was earning close to SGD 8,000. He never struck me as an extravagant guy who would buy fast cars, designer jeans or watches so i was a little shocked that he had so little to his name. 

After thinking about my friend's lifestyle, perhaps i had some clue to why he had so little and how one should save even if he / she was earning a pretty decent amount:

1. Don't take taxis everywhere. Each trip is about 20 SGD. In a month, that's like 600 - 1200 SGD!!!
2. Don't buy that daily designer coffee. Seriously, opting for a 3 in 1, or even a kopi from coffee and tea will give you a savings for 80%! buying that starbucks every day is going to cost you a whopping 150 SGD. 
3. Say no to expensive lunches. He has a habit of eating in a nice restaurant over lunch. That's fine but not on a daily basis! Save it for once a week when meeting up with good friends. 
4. Say no to too many holidays. What's with the trend of going bali for a weekend? you end up more tired than before! Savings? close to 2000 SGD annually. 
5. Brand conscious? Save for that splurge! Instead of buying so many bell & ross / tissot / rado, just save for that ONE ROLEX / Patek 

In short: Don't upgrade your lifestyle too much! Every penny counts! Stick with your daily KOPI! 

So after much thinking, i won't be agreeing to be his guarantor. Until he shows he can control a spending, that's only harming him.... not helping. 

Finding happiness in your job

Do you think this generation has it easier or worse than the last generation in terms of work?

For many, it feels worse. Many of us are in an office job and yet, feel far from satisfied. For those of us in a professional job, we look back in envy at our fathers' generation - they did well enough to easily save up for a landed property within a few years of work, for the lawyers, doctors and engineers among us? I don't think any of us can really do that within a few years. We probably have to be shackled to our mortgage and jobs for a few decades if we bought that landed property. Our fathers' generation had no blackberries, smartphones, emails. And no law suits (even if there were, there were few and far between). They commanded respect just by being a university grad armed with a degree. Our time? I am sure we know of some professionals but are deeply dissatisfied with their jobs.

However, i think the key difference is that if we were born in our fathers' generation, very few of us would have got our university degree. Only the very rich or the very intelligent would have made it to university and get the degree. Most of us would not have made it so far. So it is not a fair apples to apples comparison. There is an education inflation everywhere in the world.

Those who are earning a lot of money are now in the financial industry. Bankers, lawyers servicing the finance industry are the ones racking in the cash. Bankers way more so than lawyers. But everyone seems unhappy. With a year long bonus, some still whine that it is not enough for the pain they go through. i wonder why.

sometimes i think that the human being is not made to sit behind a computer editing word documents, or keying in formulas in excel spreadsheet, or drafting long unwieldy emails to confuse others. Doing 9 hours of this kind of work vs 3 hours in the hot sun? Most of us would choose the 9 hours of office bound job. But perhaps this is not what the human body was made for. We can't see the fruits of our labour. The email we type? we can' see how it affects others or make a change in the physical world. And perhaps that is why, the paper pushing lawyers, the excel spreadsheet bankers are just clamoring for more money, more money as a salve to their pain. The pain which they do not even understand.

My take? We can't stop the modern madness. Get in touch with nature. With people. With the sakura flowers that are blooming everywhere, organise a little picnic with your family. I think that is the only way to balance out the glowing screens that is sucking the happiness from our jobs. And most importantly, count your blessings. Breathe. Smile. Live. Exercise.

Share Update - Nam Cheong

Sold Nam Cheong @ 0.355

I was pleasantly surprised that Nam Cheong went up a fair bit this morning. The financial reports for this share has been really positive. I must admit I have not looked at its financial report myself, and have merely read recommendations from various brokerage houses on this.

Well, the reason why I sold this was because I want to move my portfolio into a dividend based one. I need all the spare cash I have to purchase higher dividend yield shares. When i purchased this share awhile back, it was really based on a whim - you know how you just feel like punting on a good share? Yes, that is why i bought it. Not the best of reasons. With a family and work demands, it is just impossible to do this kind of punts on a regular basis. There are weeks and months last year where i just did not look at the share market or even read the news! and that is a big no no if you put money where uncertainty lies.

I know the TP for this is about 0.45 but in light of the uncertain market conditions, I think I will play safe and pull out of this stock. I do expect the share price for this to trend downwards next week, and if it does fall to a level i am comfortable with, I may pick up a little bit just for the sake of satisfying my risk taking appetite.