Skip to main content

Luck in life

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 "luck", you must always address it on the spot, not to reprimand, but to set the record straight and make it known to that person that such a statement does not accurately nor fairly represent what had happened in your life. 

I will say "Yes, there's definitely a certain degree of pure luck and chance, but I also worked hard to grab them when they showed up...I am thankful for those chances that showed up without my intention, but I am also glad to know I didn't let some of them slipped past me." This isn't to say I am a better person than you, but I want you to be fair to me and respect my efforts that I put in to be successful in areas of my life as you witness today. I also want you to be fair to your own efforts in your life as well, and not simply discount them as "luck", or whine when things don't go your way because you weren't prepared enough to grab those chances. 

Someone who strike $10M in TOTO? Yes, that is almost pure luck, but hey, you still have to put some effort to buy the TOTO ticket right? Anyway, don't put your life success on gambling, the odds of success is extremely so, near zero. I do buy lottery regularly, but I don't spend more than $10 per month on it. It's more of a cheap game of chance entertainment for me.

I wish you good luck :)



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Getting comfortable without a salary from working

 Not sure if I am there yet. Basically I am effectively drawing down my cash each month, primarily due to 2 things : mortgage and income tax mortgage (after CPF) is about $9k per month income tax is about $5k per month My investment cashflow covers all my other expenses, including utilities, groceries, handphone/internet bills, insurance, property taxes, condo maintenance fees, personal spending. With some input from wife who is still working, I am still out of pocket by almost $11k per month.  She will continue to be able to save a decent sum per month and I'll let her grow that and managed it for her via safe investments. Am I comfortable? Not really. I will if I am not out of pocket per month. If I really stop working for good, the income tax amount will go to $0 after 2025. So only mortgage left We can pay off the mortgage but I think I said before, it doesn't make sense since it's our home and we will be locking the money up with little leeway to do other things. So I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Expenses of a middle-classy Singapore uncle with family

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

CPF balances 24 July 2024

  I think for SA, my balance is considered "self-sustaining" as the 4% pa for SA could ensure my balance will continue to meet the FRS requirement every year until I reach 55. from CPF website, my SA balance already exceeds FRS for 2024. Every year, the FRS increases a little for inflation. E.g. the FRS for 2025 is 3.4% increase compared to 2024. But SA interest rate is 4%, so as long as you already reach FRS amount for current year, you will be fine I think, even if you stopped working (i.e. SA stops having contribution)
Post a Comment
Read more