Simple Budget, Simple Life

This year is definitely going down as my WORST financial year. For the first time in my working life, my net worth DECREASED, although my income increased. But I'm still holding on some hopes till 31 Dec 2022.  Praying for better stock and crypto market. This year hasn't been kind. If not for my own intuition and initiative to job hunt, I'd be jobless. I am thankful to myself and any higher beings for blessing me.  I now have an inkling of how it feels like IF I had no income stream. While I have at least $100k cash savings across FD, banks, it's not as much as before. Most of it are stuck in stocks, for which I'd incur losses by selling now. A good portion is in crypto, which I'm preparing to write off as 0. I blame my poor planning and eagerness to strike it rich, fast.  If I had been more careful with my money, I'd be richer. I'd have more disposable cash to plonk into high interest accounts. I'd feel less jittery if I had no income for a while. B...

I wished I had good news to relay, but there's nothing exciting to talk about.  Work It's all over the news that layoffs are happening, even in Singapore. While my company has yet to be affected, I can't help but be worried.  I'd be hitting my one year mark in the company soon. It seems like I will never be happy working anywhere. Firstly, we are forced to return to office - as a social hermit, I dread this. Secondly, I feel that my work is getting monotonous and I'm not learning much. While I can pass time, the issue is I'm shortchanging myself in career growth. I'm not looking for upward movement or climb the career ladder, but I want to be skilled enough to move laterally. It is sad that I'm only in my early 30s and feel uncompetitive in todays' market; I am already starting to feel that I could be expensive to hire and getting too old for some companies.  Yet, while I could be expensive compared to younger folks, my pay has not risen.  I would be...

I've always been appreciative of WFH. Even before the pandemic, I enjoyed telecommuting because it gets me away from office politics and tensions with people. I really hate (fake) social interactions. So after close to 2 years (time flies), I'm documenting my quick thoughts about my mundane rhythm so that I can look back fondly if we were to ever be forced to return to office😠. For context, I love staying home. I'm glad to be able to move into my house and settled the renovations before the mass disruption. Having 3 bedrooms meant my husband and I have our own room for work. We started off working in the same room, but given the number of calls and meetings we need to attend, it was difficult to be together. Nope, we didn't quarrel. Now that I reflect upon it, it seems like my husband is the BEST co-worker I've ever worked with! We are comfortable with each other, and shoot what we think, yet are respectful of each other space. He doesn't judge me regardless o...

It was a sudden awakening - I've already worked for more than 5 years. But what have I achieved? I stepped into the rat race as a noob (nobody uses this word now, I admit I'm old), being tekan by unhelpful "seniors" who thankfully left after 1+ year of torture and earning lesser than my peers, to slowly building up my confidence, emerging stronger and being more courageous to say "No", proving myself along the way and getting rewarded with better bonuses and increments. I know I'm working just for the money (and the medical benefits that comes with it). If I look at the money, so far, I should be doing it right in my career. I've decent bonuses and decent increments. I'm in a general profession, but I'm doing pretty ok. So what has my 5 years of work got me? Money.  Through employment, coupled with my thrifty habits, I managed to hit  $100k savings at 25 years old . And it took me another 2-3 years to get another  $100k at 28 . ...

Hi guys. I wanted to blog only after I'm settled down at work and with my life event but I needed an outlet to complain and release my pent-up unhappiness. So, I mentioned that I've changed job. I'm still adjusting myself and enjoying my honeymoon stage since I'm new, though it's not like I'm not working la...just that in comparison to others who worked longer, my full load hasn't come in yet. I'm lying low for now given that I've my wedding to prep for. Within these few weeks here, I've some thoughts on this job and here goes: The Good Higher monthly salary than before albeit just a few hundreds more (better than staying put...) Cheaper transport than before (~$1 saving/day) Don't need to bring work home FOR NOW More capable bosses and seemingly, their Senior Management than before The Bad Not much increase in annual package given that my bonuses were more at my previous job Everyone else work like sh*t....my bosses sends ...

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 ...

For the past 2 months since the end of December, I have not been resting well. December was supposed to be a dull period; workload should have lessen since the bosses are mostly overseas; but it wasn't. Due to a big project I'm handling, I've been working really late every day. I've also been waking up early and reaching office before my official start time - not because I want to, but because my brain is constantly alert and worrying about the mountain of work that needs to be done. I haven't been sleeping well. It's Feb now. Things are not turning better. In fact, I would have more OTs and more stress as things are moving so quickly. Staying late in office is one thing, attending constant meetings, preparing for constant meetings, presenting, then working on the agenda items after meetings is other. Things are made worst because I'm the only one in my department involved in the project. Over the past week, I got to know of 2 good news. One, I receive...

Cash is king. Or so the old saying goes. As we move towards a cashless society, we should rephrase into this thinking - money is forever king, but cash? We probably can do without it. Take my case for example. I have been living nearly cashless ever since I have my credit cards four years ago. I barely have much notes in my wallet. Receipts? Aplenty. Ask my mom and she can testify. "Aiyo, your wallet always no cash, so poor meh! How you buy things?" "Use cards lor!" You see, the moment I step out of my house. I have no need for cash. Very very minimal actually. My credit card with auto reload function, works as my ezlink card. Tap, and off I go to my office. During lunch, I’d dine at restaurants where visa, mastercard are accepted. Even for Food Republic, I'd tell the cashier, "paywave pls". Occasionally, we'd dine at coffee shops which requires cash transactions. That's where if my wallet lacks cash, I'd just withdraw at nearb...

Growing up, I never had any insurance plans. My mom defended that my dad never had enough money, so how in the world would they have money to pay for our insurances? You may judge me, but I felt that was an irresponsible thing to do. Thank god we never had to be admitted to the hospitals, but what if something happens? I was really emotional about our lack of insurance plans. I felt that they didn't care. The only thing they bought was an endowment plan that matured when I turned 21, I believed. The last I knew, this plan didn't even give profits. I was angry, but my anger subsided after I reflected on this - my parents are not well-educated. They didn't even have their own hospitalisation plans, and my dad even thought that he could rely on his company's hospitalisation subsidies should anything go wrong. I chided him for thinking this way. He's in his 60s already. If his employment ends with his company, who is going to insure him? Who is going to pay for hi...

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...

As I trawl through the comments , people were sharing their PSLE scores along with how and what they're doing now. Some are doing well, and some are still finding their way out in life. Now here's my story. I grew up in a vicious environment. A vicious environment perpetuated by bitchy relatives who compare my results EVERY SINGLE TIME. I hated them for their endless comparison and in turn berated myself for not being academically smart. They always had something to say or to belittle me. I had a big ego but a meek personality. Whenever I hear them snickering about my results or "consoling" my parents that my results are "okay", I cry. I was an average student in school. In my primary school, I was streamed into EM2 but was doing okay for most of my subjects, except Maths. I usually top my Chinese, but Chinese was not important. During PSLE, I was hoping for a score of at least 235, so that I could get into a neighbouring girl's school. When my res...

It's mid Nov. How time flies. I remember celebrating Xmas in the office not long ago and exchanging gifts. It's going to be another Xmas soon. In the past 11 months, I don't think I've made much significant achievements. But as I squeeze my brain cells hard, I recalled achieving my goal of having $100k cash at 25 . I recalled that I was proposed to, but hey, no progress in terms of marriage/wedding. I recalled that I took on a new portfolio and am not liking it very much. I recalled spending a lot of money on my SC Singpost, Manhattan and BOC Family card just to chalk up rebates, and am now at the stage where I barely spent much - I didn't even spend anything on 11.11. I recalled getting a good performance bonus, and will probably not get this grade in the future. I recalled crying in office and back home because of mistakes, criticisms and stress. I recalled the quarrels with my fiance because I felt that he does not care about my feelings and even thought of c...

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...

It's rather funny that I'm talking about this at this age, when most of my peers receive their licenses after "A" levels at 18. But, I've never been bothered to learn driving. Here are the reasons why: 1) My family has no car and the only one with a license is my dad Many of my peers have family car. They were used to being driven around by their parents, and learn about driving through their trips. But our family never had a car. I had no sense of cars, driving or traffic rules and laws. Driving was unfamiliar to me and the closest experience I had was Go-Kart. Most of my peers who learn driving has a car at home, and it stems from a need to learn driving because their parents asked them to. Some were even sponsored a car after learning driving. Also, because my mom doesn't have a license, and we get on well without a car since we live is such a convenient location, it just doesn't strike me that I MUST learn to drive. 2) I'm clumsy, careless ...

Take a good 5 minutes to read this article . We all know life is short, life is fragile and life is unpredictable. Who knows if we'll die the following day, just like how Christina Grimme died unfairly. But, we don't live each day having this thought on our mind every single time. Honestly, how is it possible, and how is it healthy if you have that thought...constantly? We'll be so risk averse that we could do nothing. And maybe, doing nothing could lead you to death.... It's early morning on 13 Jun and I'm on leave. On a break from work. I woke up without a aim - no work = a dull day, but work = a strenuous, mentally and physically exhausting day with meetings, spamming and replying of emails, doing extra work (the so called CCAs) that are not relevant to my core portfolio (and I hate it). I'm someone who can't sit still. I could sit still only if my hands and brains are moving - that is, using the internet via phone or computer. Time goes too sl...