Buying without looking at the price tag

My friend and I talked recently as we both just started working.

So we asked each other what our ultimate goal of working shall give us.



He told me that he hope he would be able to like treat his friends at a restaurant or buy things without looking at the price tag.

Well, that would be crazy but at least it is something that he is aiming for and it’s really nice of him to think of the people around him enjoying as well when he becomes rich.

Many people want to achieve financial independence for certain reasons, maybe to have more time to spend with their loved ones or to start something that they always wanted hence retiring early.



I read somewhere that why most people want to achieve FIRE is because they have that FIRE (interest) in them to want to do things that interest them. 

And being financially free would give them much more time to cultivate or grow that FIRE in them.

For me, I would like to be financially free as in that I would continue working but not for the sake of money.

When I met up with my secondary school friend recently, she told me that when her friend meet up nowadays, it is always to complain about their work and how tiring it is.

Out of all her friends, she only has one friend who truly enjoys his work and looks forward to going to work everyday.

I mean work really takes up a lot of our time. From being in school, where our time is so flexible and free, we enter the corporate world where we spend about 8 hours (minimally) each day 5 times a week.



That's crazy if you ask me. Especially when you are starting out and the pay is not yet that attractive for you to spend so much time on it.

Back to the point of why I want to achieve FI is not to have the burden of worrying about money.

So for me, the focus is not on retiring yet but being able to be financially free.

Of course, being financially free might have it's own set of problems but I wouldn't know for now. HAHA.

Of course, at every phase of life, we have different commitments and goals and for now, I would like to save and increase my income at the same time.

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Simple Meal Prep for work - How much is it?

So I just started work recently and am into my first month of work.

I wrote previously that my colleagues do spend quite a lot for lunch and so for this week, I have decided to prepare my lunches for three days so the other two days I would eat out with my colleagues.




If you haven't read about that, maybe you should check it out: Updates on my first week at my new job - Expenses, Colleagues and Environment  


For the week, I prepared pasta with chicken and an egg for each day. Not a very balanced meal because there is no vegetable but since dinner I would go to my grandma's place where there would be vegetables so it isn't so bad.

But I would include some vegetables the next time round.




So here is a picture of my meals.

To prepare this, I used Sadia Chicken Boneless Leg ($6.55) and San Remo Pasta - Penne ($1.95) from NTUC.

Of course I didn't use up the whole packet of pasta and I used 2 chicken thigh.




So let's say $1.95/2 = ~$1 and ($6.55/5) X 2 = $2.62. My total cost for the three days is about $3.62.

I didn't include the seasonings (soy sauce, fish sauce and sesame oil), garlic and chili price. But I would say that it is cheap to meal prep.




I added green capsicum the previous week and in terms of flavour, the previous week one was much better so I would be including it next week as well. Maybe I would use rice instead of pasta.

I would continue to meal prep though it takes up some time on Sundays but I can really save quite a lot over the week. 

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Financial tips for Millennials - Getting to your first $100 000

I came across this article on Straits Times which wrote about millennial's financial status and how we can go about managing our finances. It starts off mentioning that millennial, aged 22-37 years old have actually started saving early as compared to the baby bloomers (1946 and 1964) and Gen X (born after the baby boomers but before the 1980s).



They gave 9 main tips to how millennials can go about about managing their finances.

1. Start early

2. Cultivate proper money management habits

3. Set financial goals

4. Set aside emergency funds

5. Avoid bad debts

6. Think health insurance

7. Consider compounding

8. Invest

9. Plan multiple income flows 

You can read more: 9 financial planning tips for millennials




Even though the article is kinda like an advertisement for Manulife, I believe that the tips mentioned there can help not just millennials but people who want to get started in managing their finances.

I was particularly intrigued by this image of how you can work your way towards $100 000.

It provides a guide and allows you to know how much you will need and the kind of investment plan you can use according to the rate of return to achieve your $100 000.




I have written before that I would like to achieve getting $100 000 before the age of 30 so this particularly attracted me.

Read more: My Financial Goals - Is $100 000 in 7 years possible?

The article also mentions that millennials are least thinking about retirement and I mean I do agree, when you are only in your 20s and 30s, retirement is definitely not something you think about. I mean life is so unexpected so that's why retirement is not so much in our plan.




Retirement could perhaps be our grand goal and what we are doing right now is taking small steps towards that grand goal of RETIREMENT!

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Should parents hold on to a child’s savings?

I was talking to my classmate recently about saving and investing. She knew that i actually do invest a portion of my money and she was really curious on what made me started on investing.

Read more: About me and why I started investing




After telling about it, she told me that she was pretty interested in it as well even though she has zero knowledge. I told her that she can start by reading up online first and also to find out more. She then told me that actually, she has no money on hand that she can invest in because her bank account is a joint account with her Dad.

She doesn't have access to that account as her Dad holds the ATM card. Her parents instead, gives her allowances. So I asked her what about her part-time jobs because I was aware that she works during holidays.




She told me that the part-time job pay directly to the bank account and she cannot access them. This was particularly troublesome for her because recently, she wanted to get a ticket for a concert but was short of money and when she asked her parents they told her not to waste the money on the concert.

She told me that her parents have the bank account kept from her as they want to help her save and not let her spend it all. She understood why her parents do not provide her with access to her bank account but when she wanted to get stuff, she had to always them for it and she didn't like doing that.

I think it really is a case of the parents not really trusting her to have the capabilities to control her spending. Maybe if she were to explain to her parents that she would manage her money well, they would maybe allow her some access to it.

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My Financial Goals - Is $100 000 in 7 years possible?

I have been delaying this post for awhile and it is a rather important post to be honest.  Just as this quote, "Begin with the end in mind. - Stephen Covey", goals are the first steps to every journey we take and are also our last. It is important to set goals and work towards it in your life.

I have listed out a rough guide for myself of the amount to save and how much I hope to save at the end of that year, I did not include investment gains or bonuses for now. Right now, I am currently 23 years old with about $8000 invested in the stock market, $2000 in Singapore Savings Bond and about $3000 in my bank accounts. Of course, the value right now would fluctuate due to income from part-time tutoring, deductions from my savings plans and daily necessities.




Read more: Savings plan - Yes or No

Current Situation:

• Total asset at $12 000

Read more: Total Current Assets - Breaking $10 000

Here is my rough plan, after listing it all out, I have realized that to reach $100 000 in 7 years time will really not be so easy. Total includes current asset of $12 000.

In 7 years time, where I would be 30 years old (It will be a great gift as I enter my thirties, if I am able to achieve it), I hope to:

• Reach $100 000 in total assets (cash savings and stock holdings)

Of course, the goals I have set for myself could be easily attainable by some or might seem ridiculous to others but I think it serves as a guideline for me to work about it every month. I haven't started work yet as my semester ends on October. I am currently in the process of trying to clinch one and once I do, an estimation of how I can achieve the $100 000 and how long it will take me would be much clearer.

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Tips on saving money on a trip

I am currently in Japan for my family trip. Japan is not a cheap country to travel to hence we were actually considering between Taiwan and Japan. However, we decided on Japan in the end as I went to Taiwan last year and I have never went to Tokyo before. My brother also preferred Japan as he went recently and wanted to explore more places there.

 

 From the beginning, we wanted to book the air tickets first so we went to see air ticket deals. We had a few options, namely ANA, Japan and SQ. We checked the respective prices for the 3 airlines and found SQ the lowest. We tried to fly on a day that would cost cheaper and also flew back on a cheaper day. So we are flying off on a Tues and back on a Thurs. Each person came up to a price of $747 return trip.


Going on a trip definitely wasn't going to be cheap. For past few years, I have been traveling with my friends and usually we sit budget airlines like Tiger-air or Scoot. So it has been awhile since I have sat a non-budget airline. Well, since we have spent quite a lot on our air tickets, we decided to save on our lodging. We considered Airbnb since staying together would save much more than having 2 separate rooms. However, my brother did not have a good experience with the airbnbs that he stayed previously in Japan as they were dusty and not very well kept. I tried looking around for a few good ones. And while searching, I came across a gem, it is not an airbnb but an apartment hotel. It is rather new so there are not much reviews for it. SO...GET READY FOR IT.




It's called MIMARU TOKYO AKASAKA. When I first saw the listing, I saw the Ueno branch and really liked the layout of the room. Hence, I searched further and managed to find the Aksaka branch, we found the location of apartment hotel to be 400m from Akasaka Station and 800m from Roppongi. It was at a reasonable location and price range was good.

Through the planning for this trip, I learned a few tips for saving money during your trip.

1. Using a private window to do your bookings.

I am sure this is a common tip that has been passed around. When we wanted to make our bookings for the air tickets, we used an incognito window to do it and the prices were constant. I booked tickets for my previous trips before and did not use an incognito window, and the price tended to fluctuate much more. I am actually not too sure but the prices seemed to remain the same when I booked it through the incognito window as they won't be able to store cookies.

2. Using Shopback while booking tickets and accommodations

I really loved this, I actually created an account on ShopBack a few years back as they had a promotion where they would have a signup bonus of $8.00, so I went ahead to create. I forgot all about it until this trip and managed to book my accommodation through it. The cashback for Agoda was pretty substantial, at a 6% cashback value. It's really great feeling that you didn't need to pay the full price for something, I guess psychologically you feel like you have saved and benefited from the deal.

3. Booking lodging near to stations

This was a point brought up by my mum, she went to Japan a few years back and the hotel that they booked was quite a distance from the station about 1.5km away. Every morning when they needed to make their way out it was okay but after they were done for the day, lugging all their purchases and to walk back 1.5km was tortuous. They did a few times took cab back. However, accommodations nearer to stations could cost higher and this is when you can maybe gauge if you would spend more on transport or lodging. For example, Japan taxi are on the expensive side while Thailand would be cheaper so maybe in Japan, accommodation would be good to be nearer stations while in Thailand, it can be further.