How EzHuat got started...

Singapore so expensive! Living cost so high! My salary so low! I need a car! I want the latest iPhone 7! I want to travel! Money no enough!!! Ahhhh~

Feeling squeezed? This is the new normal.

Very often, we hear these common grouses in our daily lives. Based on the latest report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Singapore is indeed one of the most expensive cities to live in[1]. Clearly, this report is so conspicuous that it resonates highly amongst the majority sandwiched class of Singaporeans. Many find themselves caught in the seemingly endless rat race in pursuit of higher quality of living while some laggards struggle to keep up with the fast pace amidst the growing economy. Likewise, the onslaught of these led us to blur the line between needs and wants. With rising cost and inflation, it is no surprise that Singaporeans are one of the most overworked, clocking more than 2,370 hours per year[2]!

After a balance check, you start to panic and worry. It is always easy to say - you must save, you must invest, you must this, you must that! This is what you've probably heard umpteen times and all of the sudden everyone seems to be your ‘financial consultant’. But in reality, how many people actually practice what they preach, including those 'financial consultant' themselves? The fact of the matter is that not many people can instill that level of discipline simply because we live in a consumerism and materialism society.  

Why am I Writing a Blog?

Basically, my purpose of writing this blog is to share and chronicle my financial journey – same for GoHuat and YoloHuat. In addition, we want to give our readers three perspectives in a blog. We would love to hear from you too! In my first blog post, I will share how I started to embark on the path to financial prosperity. My goal is to attain early retirement before 50 or earlier. With proper and structured planning, I believe it is within anyone's reach. Instead of working hard for money, why not let money work hard for me? Sounds cool?

Essentially, it is easy to huat if you commit yourself and just do it! :)

My Investing Journey

Okay let’s just started. My investing journey began in 2013. My very good friend, GoHuat was the one who piqued my interest in investments (go read GoHuat's post!). Once you put your mind and soul to plant the first seed, the rest is history!

 

At the initial phase, I knew nuts about investments. All I knew was to save because I wasn’t born with a silver spoon and was brought up in a frugal lifestyle. My father is the sole breadwinner and my mother, a housewife. My parents taught me the value of saving for rainy days as they had went through tough times in the early days. Their perseverance and hard work made me what I am today. Innately, I grew up with those values and saving became the cornerstone of my early financial journey. I studied hard and graduated from NUS. Eventually, I started my career in the public sector.

Ever since I started to earn my own keep, it dawned upon me that saving and putting your money in the bank is going to take a very long time to achieve my financial goals. Simply because bank offers very meagre interest rates. I needed something else to grow my money better and faster.

As I have zero finance background, I attended various investment related courses and platforms such as SGX seminars, SIAS investment week, read The Straits Times Invest and numerous financial blogs to gain a better understanding and get acquainted with financial terms. As a result, the stock market came to my attention. It is one of the means to generate additional income. It took me more than 10 months of ‘homework’ before I bought my first two blue-chip counters in late 2013 – SingTel and Keppel Corp. Gradually, I developed and fine-tuned my own financial system and risk appetite. 

What’s My Personal Financial System?

In fact, there isn’t much change to my lifestyle. I still lived the same for the past 20 odd years. I saved and spent money wisely. Similar to GoHuat, I am contented with hawker fare and love home-cooked meals. I take the public transport even though I can afford to buy a car now. Occasionally, I indulged in café/restaurant with my foodie girlfriend and in social gatherings.

In spite of my thriftiness, I have a very lovely and supportive girlfriend who understands me well because she knows that I am building a solid foundation for our future. She too, is simple and prudent. Indeed, I am fortunate to have met this wonderful lady because she frowns when it comes to shopping! (A boon to guys eh! hahaha :P). Besides, my girlfriend always jokes that she will find me when it comes to value-for-money lobangs! 

The key is: You must discern between needs and wants. It is a crucial balancing act.

 

In order to have better sight of my cashflow, I tracked my expenses and income consistently for more than three years. Every quarter, I would reconcile the records and work out my personal financial report. This allows me to have a better overview of my expenses and income for the year. It has benefitted me a lot. I used the data to assess how I can trim my expenses so that I have more savings to plough into investments and explore new areas to increase my income.

At my peak, I managed to save 80% of my overall income minus all expenses for the entire year without comprising my lifestyle. What! 80%? Are you sure?! Yup, that’s the merit of tracking your balance sheet because it gives you greater control. The 80% savings was then compartmentalised into stocks, emergency fund and my investing coffer. The reason why I only have these categories is because I am still young and able to take on more risks to seize any golden opportunities. That being said, youth is the one of the most valuable assets in investing. So my advice to my young readers is: Save reasonably hard while you are young! 

It is easy to say this but not easy to do it because we are constantly thinking of enjoying life first while we are young and working in a stressful environment i.e. the YOLO mentality. To be honest, it is hard to resist temptation when airlines are dangling cheap airfare promotions especially when I love to travel! 

Additionally, I ensure that I ‘pay’ myself first whenever I receive my monthly salary and clear all my bills on time so that I am debt-free. Once you’ve instill this habit, you’ll be surprised at the results. The reason is simple; doing this will give you more leverage to tap on more opportunities to grow more money. Period.

Most importantly, you must have the discipline and you reap what you sow.

What’s Next after Saving?

It is an open secret that Singapore banks give very low interest rates. Ideally, it is not advisable to park my cash there. To grow my money, I had to leverage on the power of compounding effect to build a sizeable chunk of income for investing.

In my next blog post, I will be sharing “What’s next after saving?”

I hope you enjoy my maiden post and stay tuned for more tips and strategies to size up your finance war chest! 

Please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and share your experiences. We get better and stronger by learning from one another!

Together, it can be easy to huat!

Cheers,

EzHuat

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[1] TODAYonline, 10 March 2016: Singapore ranked world’s most expensive city for 3^rd year running; http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-worlds-most-expensive-city-third-year-row-says-eiu-report

[2] Ministry of Manpower, Singapore; http://stats.mom.gov.sg/Pages/Hours-Worked-Summary-Table.aspx