So, I took some time off from my previous job because it was giving me a mental breakdown as well as a job fit. Most importantly, I didn’t feel that I got a good start, everything just felt off from the onset. The last three months have been exciting, scary, enriching, anxious and everything else mixed together.
For the best part of my work in the last five years, was the pure flexibility of it. I enjoy the work and I enjoy how flexible it is. Honestly, it feeds me and the family well too. Everything has to end eventually so the transition was not too great. As for me, I didn’t feel that worried but once I stopped receiving calls for interviews after three weeks, something didn’t quite click and I reached out to my contacts for help. Meanwhile, I also seek my own spiritual help.
I didn’t come from a privileged family but I always had an issue with applying for jobs. It doesn’t come that easy compared to many others that I have known. There’s always something available for others. Personally, social capital has always been a help to me. Perhaps my role is niche or my experience is different from others but it is always the “highly recommended” that gives me the first call for interview. Whatever happens next is up to the individual.
There was a bit of a hiccup during my onboarding process but eventually, with the grace of God, everything worked out.
The thing about this process of job hunting is that often it is nerve-racking. For some reason, it didn’t feel this way. It just felt that something will come back at the right JD, the right remuneration. Given the external factors, it does get a bit anxious when you keep hearing about the job cuts in several key industries that have boomed over the past few years.
I definitely feel those who are still hunting for a job, looking for their next work. I also feel for those who have been retrenched, who had to resign for whatever reason and who have no work for any reason. All these take a hit on their retirement planning, life plans, child and many more. I will pray for you and everything will be fine with God.
This is just a random thought that I would pen down. In five or ten years, I will probably come back and look at it and see what has changed. But for sure, many of you out there don’t despair and don’t lose hope. Because with time many of the answers will be revealed.
This year, 2023, GPay has updated and made minor tweaks to their Huat Pals. Gone with BB Loh and Panda and incomes CNY goodies. I don’t know why but it intrigues me every year that I spend some time every year doing a little bit more research.
With the social aspect of CNY back after the Covid years previously, there are some additional items that give you more opportunities to get more goodies. That said, it also means you have to make more effort to get more.
Step number one: You need to set up and download Google Pay for a start.
You can sign up for a new account here: g.co/payinvite/t74cf8ffrom your mobile app or use this link here at Download Google Pay you’ll earn $3 when you opt-in to Google Pay offers and rewards and make your first payment (min. $10)! Download the app and use my referral code t74cf8f to get started.
Next Step number two: You will need to understand how the mechanics work.
Now, different things tick with different folks so do what comforts you. Do take this article with a pinch of salt and a guide. If $8- $88 is not worth your effort then do proceed to do what comforts you and gets you more for your time. It should not make you anxious and keep your mind calm.
In order to get a scratch card or an opportunity to win prizes:
Once you have collected all 5 goodies, you will win one of the following (It is random so please don’t over-react if you don’t get any):
Scratch card worth up to S$88.88; or
Pixel 7 Pro worth S$1,299; or
Pixel Buds Pro worth S$299
The rare item that I am putting my money on is the gold/ingot. Just saying since it has an auspicious gold shine to it and google being google is pretty local in Singapore.
Once again, this game aims to have as much activity as possible. It isn’t a game of fastest fingers first so you kind of need to strategize and spend money in general.
Step number 3: Available and activity required to get goodies (This year there are more options) but also slightly more difficult to get it.
These are the same as what is in your app in the same order so GPay has nicely done it in a way that you can work on the tasks as if it is a list of times to fulfil daily.
A. PAYNOW to merchants (You can do it 1 time daily)
You need to spend a minimum of $5 to make this eligible. Small tip, YouTrip DOES NOT work Now. I’m sure there are other apps that work as well. I will make it subtle and quiet on each option.
You can get $5 when you top up your YouTrip card. (25 Jan 2023 Update: YouTrip, Shoppee Pay and CPF QR code works. The reset timing is 10 am daily. Please note. Sorry for the mis-information)
B. Make a FavePay transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)
In all honesty, this is pretty tough and you need to spend a minimum of $5 as well. However, if you have a merchant that uses FavePay, then it kills two birds with one transaction. My bad. Fave Pay transactions through GPay is from a bank payment or from PayLah. You can’t kill two birds with one transaction.
C. Use your Fave Pay cashback in a transaction (You can do it 1 time daily)
Well, again it is probably to reward those who go out of the way. You need to have Fave Pay cashback equivalent partners and this would offset options A, B & C, killing three birds with one transaction (I will have to test this out first before I update my article) meanwhile, today (19 Jan 2023) is the first day of Huat Pals launch from Gpay so there will be some exploration steps I need to take.
My bad again. cashback earned from the Fave Pay App doesn’t appear on GPay. So it has to be a repeat transaction. Again, good to know but difficult to execute once more. Also GPay has this few seconds lag which kind of stresses me a little with the queue behind me.
D. Tap to Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)
Yup. As simple as it gets. Contactless payment with a minimum of $5 charged.
E. Buy movie tickets on Google Pay (You can do it 1 time daily)
This is pretty clear-cut to me but I’m not the kind who purchases a movie ticket at GV or Shaw these days. The comfort of home and the price of movie tickets deter me. But again, it may work for others.
F. Split an expense with two other friends (You can do it 1 time daily)
Anyone knows that in an essay, the number 2 should be spelt as Two? Anyways I sidetracked. Instead of one friend to split expenses, you need two others. That means you are splitting your bills three-way including yourself with the minimum charge of $3.
G. Gift a goody to your friend (You can do it 5 times daily)
Finally, the last daily activity is to give your extra goodies to another friend (Aka trade) Those who know where to trade will know. It takes a bit of effort but yeah just enjoy the process.
Step number 4: Additional quiz or mission-style requests
So random quizzes or daily requests such as taking photos of items will get you additional goodies and these come in random. These are known as Huat Scanner and Huat Quizzes. (It is a QR scanner and answering quizzes) My thoughts are similar to how google search functions. The more you engage in the activity, the more these requests will pop up. Though random, there is some AI to it (i.e. robots related) We will not know but like any other games you played before, the more active you are, the more likely you are going to level up and do better. Whether it gets difficult, I’m not sure but let’s just have fun.
Side note, thank you google for the media announcement but perhaps you can send it to me earlier than the next event because my day starts, I have a day job and creating all these takes time and effort. You are always welcome to reach out to me to have a chat via my email. I’m happy to explore. Cheers anyway for providing media items so that I do not have to source for those on my own.
Conclusion
I can’t tell anyone this is worth your time to do all these because we have different values in terms of time and what it gives back to you. However, during the promotion period, there will be changes as Google work on bugs and several things to make sure that they can be as fair as possible to everyone. May luck be with you. Remember two things: The more you want something, the less it will come to you. (Because of the state of the mind) & This should not shun you away from doing the proper and real things in life that matters to you. (Be real, be yourself)
If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations
These pictures were taken off the Google Media Kit for reference.
Regardless of the situation, you are in. Always be calm and alert. It is with a clear and calm mind that one can have a clear and concise decision about whatever that you are doing. Easy to say but difficult to execute – Many may say. It takes time and eventually time will create this vacuum of space where you can resolve your issue and come to a consensus with your mind.
If staying away from social media helps, then do it. Be positive and talk to people who are positive. They will always shed a light or rub some positivity of some sort. Remember that only with challenges and struggles, will you grow and nurture to your potential. Struggling is part of life and it is also the wonder of life as it allows one to realise, slow things down and think about many things. The power of manifestation has been in the talks for many years. First of all, you have to believe in it, then you manifest with the thought and finally the mentality. These are the powers of being able to think clearly.
With distractions out of the way, then things can work out. No matter how many baby steps, how much is the disappointment or expectation. It is a roller-coaster of events. There are things we all should say no to more often than not.
Naturally, we are all emotional human beings. That makes us what we are so you did not do anything wrong. I am not a great fan of social media. I don’t see it as a way to catch up with what my friends are doing. If it is my family, I would happily call or meet them, not follow their social media accounts.
Time will heal and will find a solution. It is a process that is daunting. If you are feeling it, you are not alone. Baby steps at a time. Meanwhile, find things that interest or helps your own growth. It may fuel into something great one day.
When discussing the portfolio of Financial Planning, it is common to waive it off if you have no interest in it or talk about investments only. Like any broken recorder, the basis of Finance Literacy is fundamental however you dislike it.
Let me put it on a storyboard – As a child or if you have a child, you would want them to learn skills from a young age. (NO! I am not talking about enrichment). Here I am talking about pure survival skills like swimming, psychomotor skills, being literate, learning to drive when you are older, learning simple skills like dealing with disappointment, etc.
Similarly, financial planning is no exception to life skills. Imagining a pyramid, the top layer is not investments but insurance. Meaning risk transfer. Now, skip the boring part of insurance planning. There are a few alternatives to cheaper insurance coverage.
One of them is actually SNACK by Income. Yes, Income Insurance.
Don’t miss out now because there’s a good deal going on at the moment.
The Promotion
Here’s $50 for you to start your investment journey!
All you need to do is: 1. Download the SNACK by Income app (https://income.sg/dl-snack) 2. Enter my referral code “PAU4055” and tap on SIGN UP 3. Complete your SNACK account creation with MyInfo 4. Start SNACK Investment and ensure that you have boosted Investment! (Refer to steps 1-4 here: https://income.sg/si-start)
Get your complimentary $50 investment credits in your portfolio the following week!
Technically, it can be termed as an ILP (Investment Linked Plan) and honestly I am not a big fan of it. But you can exclude the investment option if you don’t wish to. However, for a start, you probably should do the investment portion until you get the signup rewards.
The Limit
I use the personal accident, critical illness and life insurance portion to supplement my current insurance. In any case, there is a maximum that one can be insured and it starts from $0
Life – $200,000 coverage
Accident – $ 100,000 coverage
Critical Illness – $200,000
How it Works
How this micro insurance work is that:
You need to set your lifestyle activities for different classes of insurance coverage and investment (if any). For each activity that is fulfilled, a new policy will be created and added to your total coverage. In this step, you can also set a daily cap so that you don’t spend more than $0.30 (for example) per day.
Food & Drinks
Transport
Retail
Groceries
Entertainment
Utilities
Petrol
Steps
Then you set your activity source. These are the ones that measure your activities such as step or visa credit card if you spend on certain categories.
Apple Health
Burpple
EZ-link
Fitbit
Garmin
Visa
Then set your weekly cap – This is for the investment cap. Up to one to decide
You will need to have your investment objective assessed such as CKA – Customer Knowledge Assessment
Risk Profile.
There you go and your SNACK account will be set up for you. That said, you can redeem the fund units anytime and can stop using the insurance app anytime you want.
I get that it takes a while to get used to it but you need some time to get used to it as it is pretty automated.
If there are some brands which interest you, you can also spend and get additional coverage from them as well. Once in a while, they will run some promotional campaigns and you can get additional investment credits. So far, luck has been on my side, I have collected more than a couple of hundred in investment funds terms. Like any insurance, this is pretty efficient for an ILP since I investment directly into a fund I am comfortable with.
Disclaimer
If you decide to sign up with SNACK, do remember to use my referral code: https://income.sg/dl-snack and my referral code PAU4055.
If you like what I am sharing or if it resonates with you, do use my referral codes for other services at Referral and Recommendations
These pictures were taken off the Endowus website for reference.
Ever used Carousel or Gumtree to purchase or sell your items. To be very honest, Carousel has been a great game changer to date. Though I really doubt the way they can make money and how it is possible to raise so many funds. Users stand to benefit from setting up stores. However, their systems have been breached twice and they ought to make some security improvements to protect consumer interests.
In a way to recycle and reuse items, in a way to help the world and not generate waste. There is a Chinese saying that says do not do or give anything to anyone if you do not want them to do the same to you. So, I really dislike it when someone tries to dump their stuff on me in the context of good faith. (It just means they want to declutter but yet want to be a good saint)
Some items that I have at home are rarely used and they have been bought new (6 months to 1 year) bar fridge, toaster, baby items, etc..) and I think they can be put to good use. Though I can’t stand the bargaining and “quick sale”, These products find a second lease on life.
It does sound like I am ranting a little but I get a teeny weeny bit irritated with the bargaining and the emotional plea of budget. I think many people lack flair and being fair. This is a second-hand platform and not a brand-new store. Don’t think NEW, think about the condition and electronics are meant to be lasting at least 3-5 years. To also be fair, I do know of some people who don’t take care of their stuff. It could be that they can’t be bothered or just pure negligence (I don’t know – It doesn’t get you anywhere if you say you don’t know)
These images are obtained from the carousell website
Be respectful to yourself, and don’t take others for granted. When others help you, don’t treat them as a help desk. Personally, I prefer the DIY route because customer service is negligible in the current world. Very few companies out there focus on customer service B2C.
It just came to my mind when I got a message that someone wanted to purchase something from me and that there is no such thing as no demand.
a. If the product is not sought after by anyone. Sell it at a discounted price – There will be takers eventually because everyone has a reservation price regardless of how low it is. It means that 99% of people actually know that they have to open their wallets to get something.
b. If the item is a branded/well-known item, you don’t need to discount it too much. Why?
If you sell it way too low, people actually think that it is a fake product (What’s the catch? That’s how Singaporeans are)
Brand products typically sell. Singaporeans know the good stuff.
c. If the seller has a reservation price that is higher than the buyer then you got to wait before you get rid of your stuff.
These are simple economics, subtract the communication portion which I really dislike a lot. There are a lot of lowballers and people who don’t respect. Just because they are behind a digital app, doesn’t mean that one can do that.
Meanwhile, good luck with decluttering.
This post came about because Christmas is coming (Wastage is coming) and the Chinese Lunar New Year is around the corner and it pays to plan in advance.
Please do check out my referral store to see if any stuff works for you to get your free cash. These keep the light on this blog active and I thank you in advance.
On 4 November 2022, 3 working days after OCBC rolled out their new interest rate on their flagship 360 accounts, DBS followed up with an email that the DBS Multiplier has increased from 3.5% to 4.1%. The balance cap amount is also increased to S$100,000
The Multiplier account has always been proportioned by the transaction amount.
below S$2,000
S$2,000 to below S$2,500
S$2,500 to below S$5,000
S$5,000 to below S$15,000
S$15,000 to below S$30,000
Above S$30,000
The next layer of categories to fulfil will be the number of categories. They are known to be:
1. Salary/Dividends/SGFinDex
The Salary portion has to be a GIRO transaction with code “SAL” or “PAY”, which seems pretty strict given that there are increasing numbers of the next generation in the ‘gig economy’
For dividend crediting, these eligible dividend has to be from CDP, DBS Vickers Securities, DBS Online Equity Trading, DBS Unit Trusts, DBS Online Funds Investing and Invest-Saver (Promotion their own eco-system)
Connecting and sharing financial information from SGFinDex to NAV Planner (I would think one needs to do this on a monthly basis
2. Credit Card Spend
For the monthly card spend, it has to be on any DBS credit card and has to be eligible spending. Eligible will be the usual suspects and it will be very much dependent on the MCC codes.
3. Home Loan Installment
Home Loan financing has to be from DBS or POSB (New or Refinancing). The eligible amount will be from the monthly home loan instalment amount.
4. Insurance
Similar to my previous post on insurance and investment in these high-yield accounts. These are usually valid for a limited period and interest rates are always subject to changes. Further, only selected insurance are eligible.
5. Investment
Nothing much to comment on here. This section will be pretty hard for most people to fulfil.
Additional option: The PayLah! Retail Spend. Honestly, don’t seem like a good deal to me.
The ideal interest rate will be between 0.9% to 2,5%. Frankly, nothing much has changed though and I don’t think it is even worth announcing via their communication channels. I feel like there wasn’t even much thought placed into it. I just felt like it isn’t any effort to compete with these changes. With the most recent 0.75 bps increase by the US Feds, this is not anything competitive and not quite worth looking into for now.
The week has been intercepted by headline interest rate hike news and OCBC 360 certainly did take out their competition with a banging headline. As of the 1st of November 2022, the entire suite of the OCBC 260 flagship account will revise its interest rate across the board.
As of their online quote, “The OCBC 360 Account has six bonus interest categories – Salary, Save, Spend, Wealth (Insure), Wealth (Invest) and Grow. By tapping on just three of these categories – Salary, Save and Spend – customers will be able to earn interest of 4.65% p.a. on the first S$100,000 in their bank account.”
Prior to this due to the interest rate environment, the first S$100,000 could get you 1.85% p.a. The biggest update is that for their spending options, you can use the OCBC 365 credit card, OCBC Titanium Rewards credit card, OCBC 90°N Visa card and OCBC 90°N Mastercard.
There are a total of 6 categories:
Salary, Save, Spend, Insure, Invest and Grow.
The basic of the high-yield account is to fulfil the following – Salary, Saving (Keeping the average daily balance by $500 increment monthly) and spending S4500 to the above-mentioned OCBC credit card each month. Quite simply put, by fulfilling these three options, your interest yield is 4.65% p.a. for up to $100,000. (technically 4.64962903% p.a.)
Over 365 days, the interest earned is S$4,649.63
Salary
You need to credit at least S$1,800 of your salary to fulfil the Salary Category. That is if your HR allows that or if you are not employed in another rival or financial institution.
Save
You need to have an incremental S$500 in your monthly balance. However, if this is your transaction account then it might be an issue. But as long as it is an incremental (Average daily balance)
Spend
You need to spend S$500 on selected OCBC credit cards. You can use the OCBC 365 credit card, OCBC Titanium Rewards credit card, OCBC 90°N Visa card and OCBC 90°N Mastercard.
Insure & Invest
Forget about the insurance and Investment portion, there’s probably no way around those.
Grow
For the Grow category, if you have an additional S$100,000 to keep the average daily balance of S$200,000, the first S$100,000 will get an additional 2.40% p.a. while your remaining S$100,000 remain at the 0.05% p.a.
To illustrate, the interest over this S$200,000 will be S$7,099.60 hence the yield for this amount will be 3.55% p.a. (technically 3.54980161% p.a.
To calculate your interest amount, use the link to calculate the expected interest on your saving amount here: Calculate your Interest Amount
Conclusion
This is very interesting indeed. Because competitors will drastically make these changes as well. The interest rate hike might be a good and bad thing. However, take note that these rates are never confirmed or fixed. They follow the current market conditions. By taking on investments or insurance, these interest rates might change fast and furious. Overall, valiant effort and quite good timing as well. In the next few weeks, we might see revisions to compete with this increase in interest rate.
Quick update on the recent spate of changes regarding bank interest rate changes. I decided to take on a review of all the interest rate reviews that I’ve picked up over time. The first of this series will be from Trust Bank. If you did not know, Trust Bank is a digital bank that is in collaboration with Fair Price Group X Standard Chartered Bank Singapore.
All right, if you have not signed up for this Trust Bank Freebie, I think it is still available now. Please do sign up using my referral code “MREC9F7G” at Sign Up here at Trust Bank
a. You will get a $10 fair price voucher that you can use when you visit any Fair Price Supermarket outlet.
b. You will get an additional $25 fair price voucher once you make your first spend on your card (no minimum spending amount) Pretty sweet, I would say.
c. On top of that, you get some perks of free coffee when you go to Kopitiam to name a few.
At a first glance, I didn’t really like the logo and branding. It does feel too corporate and dated but that is my own opinion
Next, I always believed that all new businesses should be revolutionary from traditional ones. I expect no less from digital banks. Instead of making things easy to understand, It seems like it isn’t too simple. I’m a simple person, if I don’t understand, I think most people don’t and will not bother to find out more. I don’t really know how is it like in terms of their sign up but I’m pretty sure it has stagnated.
In any case, Just see it as Bank Account and Link Point Reward for simplicity.
Bank Account
For Bank Accounts, you will get a base of 1.5% for amounts up to SGD 75,000.00 (In any case, they are also SDIC insured for up to the same amount of SGD 75,000.00)
If you spend 5 transactions on your Trust Credit Card Every month, you will get an additional 0.5% for amounts up to SGD 75,000.00 and hence your total interest is 2.0% p.a.
If you are a Union member, the 0.5% is upgraded to 1.0% and hence your total interest is 2.5% p.a.
a. You will save up to 21% (Credit Card) worth in rewards for a total spend of 350 monthly on that card other than at FairPrice Group, which is in summary
2.5% base rate (Earn unlimited savings of 0.5% on FPG groceries^ and 0.22% on all other eligible spend^^. Exclusive for FairPrice members only! Earn an additional 2% on FPG groceries^, capped at 12,000 Link points a year)
This spending on the above-mentioned has to be on FairPrice Group purchases only.
8.5% monthly bonus (Earn 8.5% on FPG spend^^^ when you meet a monthly minimum eligible spend of S$350 outside of FPG, capped at 5,500 Link points)
You need to spend $350 monthly outside of FairPrice Group spending.
8.0% quarterly bonus (Earn 8% on FPG spend^^^ when you meet your monthly minimum eligible spend for 3 consecutive months, capped at 7,500 Link points)
This quarterly requirement has to be fulfilled for 3 consecutive months, otherwise, that is a fit fat 0.
2.0% FairPrice annual member bonus (Earn 2% once a year on FPG groceries^, capped at 12,000 Link points)
Really not too sure if the 12,000 link points cap is inclusive of the link points earned a year or separate. This is why I really dislike complicated rewards programmes.
b. Up to 11% savings (With the debit card) I suppose this is for customers who are ineligible for the credit card. I shall not dwell on this. You can click on the link above to read more. My question is really that if the digital bank is to serve the underserved, then why penalise those who can afford a credit card. Also, if aunties and uncles are the targets, maybe online is not the best way to go for now.
All these may change at the end of 31 December 2022. Note that there is a cap of 12,000 Link points per annum. I don’t really like the cap on rewards. It is just too troublesome.
Pros
What is good is that there isn’t any lock-in period, it works just like a saving account
There aren’t any monthly fees
There isn’t any minimum balance
There isn’t any minimum period to close the account and hence an account closure fee
There’s also no card replacement fee (That’s one good thing)
Cons
Online only, not too sure about the customer service and customer care
Not sure about the service recovery
Not sure about how well they are protected in terms of security and how they manage fraud/compliance-related issues
Not sure what’s the target market.
Conclusion
Overall, it has decent rewards in terms of account-related perks and interest rates. However, I still feel like they can do more to offer a unique selling proposition. I just can’t see their deviation from their own Fair Price Group which is very local in this sense. I’m not too sure what they really want to achieve from this digital bank license.
However if it fits your bill and Fair Price is your go-to supermarket, why not? Also, If you are comfortable with online-only service as well as getting another account to remember that you have. I still think it is a 3 out of 5 stars at this point in time.
Please sign up using my referral code “MREC9F7G” at Sign Up here at Trust Bank. Thank you in advance for keeping the lights running for this blog.
Now that we are all living with the pandemic aka living with covid, travelling is on the cards for many people and there’s pent-up demand. For a moment, while I was searching for travel next year, everything settled down and the restrictions for other countries started to ease. It became quite an overload of information. No doubt reading and watching travel logs do inspire the places to visit in the future. Suddenly, it seems like there isn’t much time to visit all the places
It felt as though travelling is such a luxury all over again and very much preparation seemed like a hassle. Have I been living like a hermit for a while now? I’m not too sure. One thing I am sure of is that many people are looking forward to their travels. I just want to say that do remember to get your travel insurance and be safe from any form of sickness.
Another query that I had in my mind is that I wonder how many of those shops or places that were once of interest, survived the pandemic and managed to carry their business. Maybe I’m just overthinking it but I’m just generally more risk-averse since there are kids and old folks. I’m worried about the health of young and old all the time. In recent months, I’ve also been wondering if I need to do something to make sure that my own health is being taken care of.
Having time to think and ponder indeed is a luxury. Once it has been taken away from me, I learned to treasure time more. Been less diligent to apply for jobs this week since I ran most of my errands this week. I scheduled time to relax and also a couple of appointments in the next three weeks.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed on the recent interview and it does seem promising. Again, nothing’s confirmed till they call me up for an offer. Once that is done, I think I can then peacefully make some purchases that I have been putting off over the last few months. Then hopefully, preparing the next year for a full-on work and family schedule.
Whether there’s a recession or a market boom, I should ready myself for it. I’ll also probably take some time to put a good year’s resolution and rate them once the year has passed. Till then.
Life is very different for everyone. Every nook and cranny is different for each one of us. Eventually, that moulded all of us very differently. (i.e. How do we react to certain situations? How we seemingly lose common sense at certain things. With those things in mind, we can then empathise with others in their situation. While we may focus on how others are lacking, in the same sense we also need to be patient with others.
It is very easy to fall into the trap of looking at others and as always the grass is greener on the other side. (Until you reach the other side) Let me just sum it up. Only a small proportion of people get it lucky, they get the best of both worlds – What is rosy is also what is the true portrayal of their lives. The rest of them is living the beautiful lie (It doesn’t always come easy)
I can only speak from my own experience and while things were rosy. I had the opportunity to enjoy work and make good money while doing so. So, many times I try to look toward others with more empathy. Managing your own expectations is the hardest and because we all have our own aspirations, it often leads to less than expected results. However, we should always hold our heads high. Bite the bullet and move on. Sometimes pacing, slowing down before searing forward again. Easier said than done.
All of us are different and I do implore that no one look at other portfolios at 1 million, 500k or 250k at an envious level. Rather, look at things from a goal perspective and practicality. After all, everyone’s starting point is different. Look toward the end goal. Never give up and remember it is never too late to start.
One have to manage yourself as well as manage your own expectation. Every situation is different. Sometimes just purely managing time and break is not sufficient. We are built this way, some stronger than the other but lacking in other atrributes. Similar to thr concept of there are no perfect systems, there are no perfect human being. Behind the scenes, do you not think that those who seem fine has it easy too?
It is very similar to investing where everyone’s starting point is different. Today, I am lucky to have additional funds to explore and invest. Some may have just start while others may be struggling with debts or even many other issues.
I am glad I had basic financial knowledge and I understand some thing better than others.
Don’t see it as a hind or head start. It always start with an idea or a dollar. Be confident, no one else should tell you how you should be.
Remember you are not alone. Find support and community that are of like-mindedness
