Basic needs and progress

What are our basic needs that will form the bedrock upon which we build progress/suffer setbacks?

A safe and stable place to live.

Medical care

Food

Clothes

Above are the basics to survive. Mess them up and everything else crumbles quick.

But get them right, you’ll live. But barely.

Why

Relationships and meaning are next to ensure you thrive

A toxic relationship wears you down. It’s like friction on your supposedly smooth slide to happiness

No matter how much you push, the friction slows or even stops you.

Doesn’t matter how nice your home is, how good your medical care is , how much good food and clothes you have.

So, unless you want to walk around like a zombie

Comments

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...

The joy of freedom

As a parent with young school going children, you want to be there for them all the time, being available when they need help, guidance, company etc. You also want to not miss major milestones, achievements, celebrations as they grow up. This by itself is a luxury that not many parent can afford in Singapore. With most families having both parents working full time, what happens to their kids? When they are very very young (below school age), there's full day childcare, either with professionals or with extended family help. When they start going to school (primary, secondary), there's after school student care options, or someone could be at home (a grandparent), or a live-in domestic helper, or maybe even just the kids will be home alone after school and before parents leave office. Then when you finally got vacation leave approved, maybe for 7-10 days a stretch, you plan efficiently for your family overseas trip, squeezing as much itinerary as you can possibly afford to, ...

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 ...

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