Spending during retirement

I manage my finances by keeping track of my expenses and cashflow

How do I approach it? 

Basically I have a spreadsheet that I have been maintaining for over 15 years or more

In it, I list down all my expenses and break them up into a monthly basis. To me, this is super useful as it gives me a clear grasp of where my outflows go to and how much, and whether my expenses are creeping up or coming down over the months and years.

But, I do not track my daily expenses to the dollar. I feel that’s a little too extreme and hard on myself. 

With my spreadsheet, I also track my cashflow from investments. And I also compile my total net worth each month and track it. 

So every month I will know if I had over spent or under. And if the delta isn’t that big or unexpected, I will be fine and I don’t worry. 

I think the key to retirement spending is to watch 2 things:

Recurring expenses and Big ticket expenses

Don’t ever underestimate recurring expenses like subscriptions. Always be very clear and keep track of what you need to pay every month (Spotify, Netflix etc) and always be very clear about if you want to add a new one since it will keep running. This will also allow you to easily cut some off should you need to tighten things. Else you won’t know what to cut first. 

For big ticket, these are usually the family vacations, big items like household appliances that broke, laptops for kids, celebrations, gifts.

Generally I think I am fine. There will always be unexpected big items, like dental issue, healthcare, wear and tear of home, car repairs etc. so just set aside a sum of maybe $20k per year as a buffer for these. Running a ship too tight is stressful.

I don’t sweat over a few dollars.

What I sweat over is the maintaining of prudent spending habits, so that my costs don’t creep up without me realizing it. Basically, don’t get surprised. Also, buy quality things so they can last and they give you value. Don’t cheap out and suffer and then buy again and again as cheap things break fast and also gives you lousy quality of life. Take good care of stuff you have so they don’t breakdown prematurely.

I don’t scrimp. I still pay for good coffee, but I don’t go fancy hotel to sip $20 kopi either. Look for value and quality.

Life is good

I don’t want to worry about small things 

Life is prata

If it’s too hot, flip and change direction 

Ok? 

Why I blog

 whenever things come to mind I write it down

sometimes its meaningful insights that I want to share, but mostly its insights that sparked and I wanted to pen it down for my own reference as I am very forgetful person

It also serves as a record of myself, as its interesting to look back at my own thoughts and see how I have changed over time

finally, I think its an interesting read for my children when I pass on in future. 

I can imagine, if I am lucky to live to ripe old age, my demise will come after months or years of decline, both physically and mentally. 

This means, I believe it will be too late to try to pen down thoughts or say last words by then. Maybe I would be so mentally deprecated that I won't even know I want to do that, and perhaps that would be a lucky circumstance.

Or worse, I would be severely limited by my physical abilities to write, talk in order to convey my thoughts to my loved ones who will outlive me. That would be such a frustrating demise. 

I am not going to leave things to chance like that

But from what I have observed in real life experiences, it's very hard for children to ask their end of life parents about any wishes or thoughts they want to express as the end is clearly coming. Being Chinese, we  all still very conservative in expressions, and also, we don't want to believe the end is coming, or worse, to think our actions will actually result in it happening early. But we all know the end will come, so I feel we should not miss the chance to express.

So, I believe a good option is to write when I can. Pen it down when I can. 

I will write this blog as long as I live.

So, when the time comes, even if I wasn't able to pen anything in the last months due to circumstances beyond my control, this blog will be available, assuming it continues to exists online lol. Well, pretty sure I will move it to another place if I know its going offline

So, all I need is to jot down the URL in my thumb drive and if my kids find it, so be it. If they don't , so be it.

If I am gone I am gone, I don't want to linger around virtually and let my old thoughts affect my kids. They write their own future

Of course, if my learnings in life can help them navigate or give them some ideas on what to do (or not to do lol), that will be great

Living in the moment and enjoy

Dream, plan for future, worry, think etc

All these sure have to do some

But don’t let them consume you

Especially when I am already retired

It’s way more enjoyable to live the moment 

Feel the chair you sit on.

Look at details of your surroundings 

Listen intently to the video or song

Taste the food and drink you have

Breathe

Listen and observe the people you deal with.

Live now

Not gonna let small things worry me 

success is freedom

 freedom

so sweet

so taken for granted by those who have it

so chased after by those still trapped in their jobs, their family circumstances etc

When do you know you have freedom?

Do anything you want? sure

But when? how would you know?

When I wake up in a safe place, breathing well, no pain in body, able to go wash up with clean water, nice toothpaste and toothbrush, able to just open my fridge and find fresh fruits to cut up to eat, nice milk to drink, clean water. And then having 15 minutes to slowly stretch my body, do some push ups

And then prepare breakfast for my loved ones, ensuring they have their best breakfast

And then maybe I'll drink some coffee, but not before taking my fish oil and multiV supplements that are so good and just costs less than $0.50

Then two fresh soft boil eggs, that costs $0.50

Now that is freedom that is success

OMG, what a life

Then, watch YouTube, read some news, check out the stock market, maybe sell or buy some shares to manage my portfolio

Then maybe learn a new language with all the free resources on web

Then go clean my nice condo, or maybe go for a drive in my nice car

Then relax for the day

Look for nice food to indulge for lunch

or find some friends for kopi session in the afternoon

Live life with happiness, with joy with intent to savour things slowly. Smell the coffee, chew the food, feel the nice cotton on your body, caress the nice leather wrapped steering wheel of your clean car

You are free to do all these 

Or I am

hehe

Success 

wealth is ?

 Yes, health is wealth, and wealth is health as the saying goes I think

But let's be pragmatic....

what is wealth?

Is the guy you see driving a Porsche 911 ?

Or the lady showing off her first class SIA air ticket to NYC?

Or whoever is buying the latest GCB in Singapore?

Those are visible wealth or at least, visible showing off of image of wealth. 

Trust me, many people driving flashy cars or staying in nice condos, and then showing them off whenever they get the chance to, aren't wealthy. They are just in debt, and bad ones too.

Someone who lives in a nicely/tastefully furnished HDB flat that's fully paid up, driving a decent mid tier car in SG (costs around $200k), and having no worries whatsoever about employment income or being retrenched as he or she has sufficient cash and cashflow to sustain themselves and their dependents lives...that's wealth. 

They will only get into trouble if they raise their lifestyle beyond their means. 

So they are technically in control of most things in life. 

but of course, with that said, they must also pay attention to their health. And TBH, with the wealth they have, they have sufficient mental bandwidth and real time to do so, so that's not an excuse anymore. 

And I hope you can recognise when you are in that situation, vs trying to get envy on others when you see what car they drove, what address they live at, what holiday destinations they go on vacation and so on. You are only seeing what they want to show you, and you also will only show your best outwards right? They won't show you their debts, their stress, their mental anguish at what they are comparing themselves with and so on. 

So, look at your own situation and assess for yourself what is wealth to you and go for it. Don't let others define it for you. Don't compare, and don't show off. Be humble but be proud of what you have achieved. And don't let anyone deny you that sense. 

Just do it

Certain things in life, you just do it. 

There’s no other way around it, so it’s better to immediately know this and go ahead and do it vs delaying the inevitable and then regretting for being too late.

Our parents are old, their time on this world is finishing up, it’s part and parcel of life. We will too.

Want to chat with them, do it.

Want to take them to their medical appointments, do it.

Want to bring them for a meal, do it.

Help them as they become too frail, do it.

The purpose of life

 Why must have purpose?

I didn’t choose to be born. 

However, it’s a gift

Gift of life

Now that I am financially secured, and retired, I have time

But not time to waste. 

So purpose isn’t actually required. But it also doesn’t mean I float around like a ghost

Do what I like, but still I should be selective. Do the right things at the right time.

That’s all.

Stay sharp, stay curious, stay engaged. Stay loving

Dare to hope

I used to be rather positive person, thinking things will always be ok as long as we deal with them logically and with maturity.

Even after several setbacks? I cling on to hopes that it will become better over time. 

Yet time and time again, I was caught off guard, and each time the hurt is harder than the last. Why? I think it’s precisely due to the fact that I still have hopes. But with that mindset, the hurt is much more when setbacks happen.

So, perhaps it’s better to be less optimistic? So that I can be pleasantly surprised if things do work out, or conversely, I will be neutral if they don’t, since that would be inline with what I expect. 

But choosing such a path is horrible to me. It means there’s no more hope. There’s no motivate to do the best. It’s just dragging my feet to move along life. 

It’s like in perpetual self preservation mode, vs what I want, which is perpetually working towards a brighter outcome with hope and confidence and vigor.

So, do I still dare to hope?

Maybe. 

After this recent episode, I realized I did my duty. Those efforts were not in vain. But at same time, I felt shortchanged. 

Why?

Like I am less important. Like I am taken for granted. 

Like my feelings are not important. Like I am ok with any treatment. Like rubbish. 

Respect must be mutual. 

Resentment is brewing nonstop and getting worse. It’s scary.

But to suppress and swallow it quietly is also not the way. 

So much to lose but so much pain too.

Sigh. 

Care giving

Care giving duties are no joke.

It’s not just the physical demands or financial outlay. 

It’s the mental load especially if it’s your close ones.

All these can add up to a distressing strain on your life, your routines and mental state.

Respect to those who have care giving duties.

I hope AI powered robots can help us within next 20-30 years. 

We all have longer lives now, and it doesn’t make sense to burden our younger folks with such long terms of care giving duties.