Skip to main content

To all those still grinding

 Not to those who have no choice or are unfortunately too lowly paid to consider any options

But to those who are already in their late 40s and well established and have enjoyed high income for at least 15years. 

What drives you?

Are you looking for a way to stop working and smell life?

Everyone puts on a mask.

“I enjoy building this!”

“I love my team mates”

“Can’t wait to embark on this journey with company ABC!”

All these masked posts in LinkedIn, FB etc. really?

You celebrate your freedom or loss of freedom?

I do that too myself. We put a mask on to hide our dissatisfaction and to endure things. So that we can give a finger later.

When will that be?

Will it be too late? Or perhaps never come and we get the finger by the company instead when we are too old, too sick, too slow?

If you are like me, awaken since witnessing the first team reorganization and layoffs? And started building a life towards not working for decades and decade and being a slave, good for you! Wish you success and you better wish me too lol

To those not, please take time to think and plan. That extra hour put in, that time lost that made you miss a family gathering, a birthday, a school play. They are irreplaceable. Irreversible. They are a black mark. Permanent ink. Think of your loved ones. Those who look at you and wonder “when is it enough? How much more work do you want to do? Why can’t you slow down? I don’t need more fancy presents, I want your attention.”

I am fucking lucky in my career. I was already enjoying remote work and work from home when my first child was born. I was there at home everyday from the day she was brought into this world. I cuddle her every day. I witnessed all her milestones. I am there when she gets off the bus. To listen to her stories of her time spent. To endure her tantrums. And then second kid comes. I am fully 100% WFH. Same deal for this kid. Daddy is always at home. They have no experience of seeing me go office except when I have to travel to HQ for team meetings. They just know I will be around. I am so lucky to experience this. It’s unique and not every working dad here can do that. Well, some actually told me the prefer to go work in office. Really? Really? Well good luck to you. You are spending hours toiling while your boss goes home early for family time. Think about that. 

And now, I think I have sufficient resources to let my kids have a good education wherever they want and whatever they want. I don’t spoil them, but I’ll support their hardwork. And that I am grateful for. To have resources.

And not just to provide for my dependents, but to also ensure I can deal with my retirement and my wife’s without burdening my adult kids. 

This will be my ultimate legacy. 

And I hope my kids will do same for theirs if they start a family. No more sandwich class. No more lifetime of hardwork and regrets. More time to listen to music, read books, enjoy good company. Good coffee and good food. And be a good person in general. 

So, when should I retire? Let me think ….



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

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, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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