Simple Budget, Simple Life

And so, I've resigned. When my colleagues knew, many were shocked, given how stable I was at work (or how I seem to be). Some said they expected it, since I was still young. Some said they were shocked, yet expected it. Whatever it is, I've come to realise a few things during my notice period and I'm here to share my thoughts. Everyone is dying to leave this place During the past few weeks, I received varied comments from people. The most common comment I heard was - you must be happy to get out of this place. Hearing this comment, made me very unhappy. It actually reflects how the person feels about this place.  There are some who said they are envious that I'm leaving. I asked - can't you do the same? And then, they started rattling on things like they have too much work piled on them to leave, they have too much responsibilities on hand... that it got me thinking...aren't these just excuses? Which brings me to the next point... It takes cou

Aloha.  Some updates on what's going on with my life.... A. I accepted the job offer Ever since I received the job offer, I've been feeling jittery. I kept playing the angel and devil's advocate and in the end, decided to take up the offer. I still worry about the instability in the new place, but at worst, I'll just find another job if I can't survive there. The new salary, although not a lot, is also better than if I stay put. I figured I might only get this salary 2 years later. So, hopefully, things pan out well.... B. Transferred $7k to my CPF SA Next, I've transferred $7,000 cash to my own CPF SA. This is the 3rd time I'm doing so. You can read more about it here and here . I probably should have transferred the amount in Jan, instead of waiting till now...but well, better late than never.  My CPF SA now stands at $46,000.  C. Parking $40k with CIMB F.D at 1.8% and 1.6% Also, good lobang must share! I've done some house

2 months ago, I shared that I've thought about leaving my first job.  2 months later, I received an offer and I'm torn. I'm a practical person. At the end of it, a job is just for me to survive - I need a monthly stream of income to build a home, build a family, feed myself and my family, and to save enough for retirement. So when the offer came, theoretically I should without a doubt accept it, since there was a pay increase. The pay increase isn't a lot though, but it would still be one two hundred more than what I'll get next year. But I asked for some time to decide. The new place would be extremely challenging. The team is practically new because of high turnover. They are still busy filling vacancies. To think positively, a new team might mean everyone starts afresh (or starts equally blur); but there must be something wrong within to cause high attrition. Even the bosses are new. The people there also don't seem friendly either. Next, I usually do

I'm thinking of leaving my first job. Looking back, it was a struggle finding my first job. While peers started getting job offers and accepting them one by one, I was still attending interviews waiting for that one offer.  I only started my job 4 months after my graduation. That also meant I earned 4 months less salaries than some in my life 😛 I still remember my parents worrying if I'd secure a job. I could see it from their faces. I remember feeling disappointed with myself because I wanted to earn my own keep and start giving them allowances. I also remembered that arsehole cousin who said that my degree is worthless which was why I couldn't find a job (but it's ok. I'm probably earning more than her right now). Somehow, there was this fear that the longer you stay unemployed, the more difficult it is to find a job. But, come to think of it, was that 4 months of unemployment to compensate for the lack of it in the future? After all, now that I&

April. Rejoice! Last time this year, I blogged about how this is the most anticipated time of my work year. These few months, I was so busy that I even overlooked the news of my HDB ballot number. And when I heard about my promotion, I wasn't particularly excited. I was so mentally exhausted that I question, is this all worth it? But today, I'd like to remind myself. That this too shall pass. I'm still facing shit at work. I still feel incompetent and stress when I can't seem to get things done. I still can't sleep well some nights. But when I sat down and think about the decent bonus, promotion and the ~10% increment I received, I thought to myself, there are no free lunches in this world. At least, I was appreciated by my bosses. I look around my peers and some much older were bypassed for promotion. Even when things are tough, I must pull it through. Unless I win the $8 million TOTO today ;) Anyway, I had just ran through my finances and am pleased

This is a post to myself. I know you're a difficult person to please. You've expectations of everything. You take many things seriously. And, you play again and again in your head, what people said of you and to you. You wish to stop these thoughts from coming. But you can't. Those childhood memories keep flooding to you in your dreams. You dreamt about being looked down upon. You dreamt that you could hear what they were gossiping about, and it was all about you. You wondered how could they bear to say or joke about a kid. You were only a kid, you were only a teenager. What is there to compare about? You got frustrated. Why didn't your parents say anything? How could they allow people to say that you're stupid? How could they not shut them up? Thoughts like these still lingers and you cried. You also dreamt about the lack of parental love. You dreamt that your parents are biased against you. You remembered your mom coming out from the shower and spa

As we countdown to 2017, I was reflecting on my 2016. 2016 was an average year. Nothing exciting to shout about and nothing major happened.... Until I started to browse through my blog and reviewed my financial portfolios. As I browsed through my blog, I looked back at the little things that happened. I got engaged, got a shock from my health screening results which turned out to be nothing bad (pessimist really), achieved $100k cash savings and this is excluding CPF at 25, transferred money to my mom's CPF which made her happy, travelled overseas twice albeit to nearby areas, and got around $10k performance bonus. These are little milestones and achievements worth clapping for. Here's my throwback to 2016: Jan - Got engaged, but feels bad for wasting his money Feb - Started this blog to pen down my thoughts - Went for health screening.  Had a health scare because I didn't understand my health report. Took the chance to upgrade my hospitalisation plan to the best Ma

It's 1 Nov tomorrow. After a decent break from work, it's back to the grind. During my break, I had various thoughts: A) Quit this job - because I don't know what I'm learning - there's always so much shit to clear up and my bosses cannot lead - too much things on my plate and the bosses will always say they are giving me exposure - don't wish to stay till promotion because it could be at least 2 more years (that's a long time) - bosses don't communicate and don't give proper directions, leading to wastage of efforts and resources B) Stay because - my bosses like/trust me and my performance bonuses show - I should wait for my promotion -the economy is bad and I should stay till I get my increment which would at least be $300+ - everywhere else sucks, as said by everyone. Worst still, if I go into a company full of petty, competitive b* who play politics, I'll probably cry my way home. At the end of it, I chose to stay put. At

I'm not actively looking for a job. So when I received a call for an interview, I was puzzled. Turns out, I applied for this position months ago. I'm in my first job and feels comfortable with what I have now. The first 2 years were tough. High turnover led me to covering the roles of colleagues until we got people in, trained new colleagues who are much older and "experienced" plus expensive, feeling stressed out from the deadlines and non-existent SOPs, feeling angry because of messy instructions from different bosses who sometimes can't make up their minds, knowing that I'm not paid as well as others, having crappy colleagues who create politics, gossips and do not cooperate and the list goes on. There were times when I felt like giving up. But I knew I can't because, as a fresh grad, there's not much places for me to go. I wouldn't hire people who jumps around within 1-2 years, much less do it myself. And so, I shouldered on. As I got th