uncle lim kopi

 was reading some self help book recently (yeah, I like such books lol) The author said something that resonated with me. In order to be successful, you need to develop 2 things: 1. The ability or capacity to take action 2. Maintain a state of awareness This is a more detailed breakdown of preparedness meeting opportunities (which is something you can do to increase your "luck"). This is the "preparedness" part. When opportunities come by in your life, you need the ability to act on it, and that's only after you are aware of it being presented in your face.  I live by this motto all the time. Don't whine when you didn't put in effort to develop your abilities to act, don't whine when you are coasting all the time in life, without opening your eyes, ears, thoughts to what's going on in your life. 

 Given the advanced economy of Japan and the high standards of living, buying a home there is surprisingly inexpensive compared to places like Singapore and Hong Kong. No wonder I keep seeing YouTube videos recently of people moving there to settle down, mostly to retire or do some laid back work to gain residency status. There’s even this chap from SG who vlog his relocation of him and his wife and young kids to Japan.  Why? I do enjoy visiting Japan. It’s clean, safe and convenient. And food is good and suits my palate. But I am still not into their culture and norms, as I find it very rigid and intimidating, at least on the surface. I am sure if these are peeled off, they are not much different from us in Singapore. There will be ugly sides. Just that in Singapore, we don’t hide it as well haha. But I can imagine living a very nice life there as a retiree. You won’t have to deal with corporate Japan, or general work culture there. You just enjoy the fruits of their hardwork...

Now, this isn't about organisational goals or KPIs, but your private, personal goals. Goals that you or your boss set for your job, those are the easy pieces, it's all about faster, cheaper, better, not for you, but for the company :) Most employees will align their efforts towards such goals in order to meet targets and get their performance reviews in order. The more difficult, and yet, often neglected goals are those for yourself as a person. Your own private goals, that you probably will not share with anyone in the office, except for very close friends and family members.  I am talking about the answers to these questions: 1. Why I am in this job? 2. How long do I want to stay in this job? 3. How will this job help me in my financial objectives? 4. How much personal sacrifices am I willing to make for this job? These are very important questions. You must have crystal clear clarity on these things while you hustle daily in your job, else you will be running around like a h...

All of us heard about the term "rat race". Basically, it's a metaphor for being in pursuit of power and money, which in reality, is never ending.  Why never ending? Because the allure of the supposedly comforts that power and money will provide, so the more the merrier right? And hence, the rat race never ends. There is no finishing line unfortunately. You just keep running until you can't run anymore, maybe due to injury or worse, death from exhaustion. Are you competing with anyone in this race? Absolutely. But I think, these competitors are only living in your own head. No one will openly say they are competing with you. So someone you think you are competing with, may in fact be someone who don't really care about how fast you are relatively.  In this modern capitalist world, most adults are in the rat race. There will be some who knows and hate the race, and have clear plans laid out to allow them to leave the race intact. Think FIRE movement. There will be o...

I don't know what exactly is considered middle-class in SG, but I figured its the fat range in the middle section if we were to line people up based on income. There will be a steep drop off from the bottom 5% and a steep surge from the top 5, and another galactic surge from the top 1%. Uncle is pretty sure I am in that middle chunk of 90%, and based on my estimation, should be in the front 30 percentile in this chunk. Now, this is how my expenses look like for myself (excluding what my wife contributes). The numbers are on per month and in SGD Car expenses (loan, insurance, maintenance, tax, fuel) = $2,500 Insurance premiums = $800 Utilities bill = $350 Mobile lines for 5 = $90 Home internet line = $30 Services (Netflix, Spotify, iCloud) = $60 Condo maintenance fees = $350 Property tax = $250 Groceries and take out meals = $1200 Allowance for my parent = $1000 Allowance for kiddos = $200 School fees for kiddos = $150 Tuition fees = $270 Piano, and music classes = $900 Sub-Total fo...

Now that I am older, this seems to be more important to me personally. Previously, I don't think too much when starting a new job.  But now, I am more clear on what I want, and so I made it a point to tell myself what mindset I should adopt when I start a new job. Especially after almost 1 year of not working, enjoying life without stress, seeing what is possible, going through the emotions of being laid off, changing job, quitting without a job waiting, worrying about finances, wondering if my calculations could be wrong etc, these all gave me new perspectives.  So what gives? First of all, this time, my mind is clear on the time horizon. I will set a specific time period that I will work in a new job. Not because I don't like working, but because I want to balance my life and not just slog for nothing or without planning.  Then, I am very clear on what I want out of the job. It is to pay bills, allow me to save more for retirement, and also allow me to learn new things ...

When someone is successful in life, be it in specific dimensions like finances or marriage, or a good mix of dimensions, it usually will attract envy of others, and one common refrain will be "you are lucky lah!" Well, yes and no. Yes, in that there are always elements of life which you have zero control over whatsoever. This is the element of pure chance. E.g pure chance that you would meet your future wife somewhere in a social setting where you weren't really looking for a date or someone to pick up. Or pure chance of a job opportunity showing up right when you think your current career is over. Pure chance you were born in a certain country, to a certain type of parent. No,  in that if you didn't/couldn't seize the chance that showed up, nothing happens. If you are in a mental wreck when that dream job opportunity appears, you won't do well in the interview and the job goes to the other guy, right? So if someone were to comment on your success as "luc...