Saturday 21 October 2017

Budget Cuts, Austerity, and Giam Kanas






We may like to complain about SMRT's past folly on trying to "save" their way to profitability by "sacrificing" engineering and maintenance.

What about ourselves?

Are there expenses we should be "investing" on ourselves now?

Or do we wait till things breakdown and shit hits the fan before we grudglingly open up our wallets?


Talk to your grandparents.

See what they say?

They can share real life examples of being penny wise but pound foolish...


Remember the example of the container with rocks, pebbles, sand, and water?

Don't sweat the small stuffs.

Focus on the rocks.


And wear that nice shirt you've been saving for a special day... Mai tu liao...

Tomorrow may never come...






12 comments:

  1. Asking the age-experienced - the ones who have more National Days behind them than in front of them - is always beneficial. They would certainly be able to identify the rocks in life.

    Things they might not say is that to be happy you should try to work as hard as you can to make money to buy the things you want.

    They might not say that it’s important to be at least as wealthy as the people around you, and that only if you have more than they do it’s real success.

    They might say that this sole money focus of ours is just crazy!

    Damned, I can't find that nice shirt that I have been saving for that special day ...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy,

      Sometimes its good to poke at ourselves least we get too full of it ;)

      Oh! I'm a minimalist! I'm super frugal! I don't buy things. I focus on needs only...

      Yeah right! But you horde money and think of money all the time!!!

      How is it any different from hording stuffs?

      No culture; no life; no relationships :(


      Excellent!

      Every shirt is a good shirt!

      Wait. Where did I hear it before?

      LOL!





      Delete
    2. Jared, the good news is that you and I we already have enough money to last us our entire life ...

      ... unless we buy something.

      Well, we owe it to ourselves to think a bit about money. Because from the day we’re born until the day we die, money will always play a huge role in determining how good our quality of life was, is or will be.

      Whether we like it or not.

      But life is not about more money. It is all about what we do with our money. Money is fluid. Its value only becomes realized when it’s put into motion. Therefore, money is a reflection of the owner’s values and intentions.

      I prefer to not waste money on little things that don’t matter, but to spend it on big things that do.

      Delete
    3. Andy,

      The Zen is power in you ;)


      Money is just stored "energy"; its meaning and power is only "realised" when its spent ;)

      Like investing, most only focus on the Accumulation part, but neglect on the Art of Spending.


      How we "spend" our money indeed reflects who we are :)






      Delete
  2. Hi SmOl,

    Damned !! When is the last time I invested in myself in courses, books and networks ???

    Sigh...

    Let me go take a nap. I am sleepy and laZy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sillyinvestor,

      No worries.

      Wait till you get retrenched, then panic.

      Hang on a minute. Schools have been closed and merged, that I know. But did MOE ever retrench teachers and principals before?

      Hmm...


      The ability to have a good night's sleep is a blessing! That means you have done no evil, and have no cares in the world :)

      You're in a good spot!


      Delete
  3. Alamak all my nice shirts. All kept til now cannot fit liao. I'm still dreaming that I'll be able to fit into them in future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Early Retirement SG,

      Buy and hope for breakeven one day...

      One day you'll fit into your nice shirts. Run! Run Early Retirement!

      Lose those kilos!


      When you've slimmed down and finally can fit and wear those nice shirts proudly, your friends will exclaim, "Nice retro look!"

      LOL!

      Delete
  4. Strange. How come super frugal people are willing to spend so much on insurance premiums for first class medical treatment?

    Is that what you mean "investing" on ourselves?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alamak, I just upgraded my health insurance plan again...... I must be wasting money??

      Delete
    2. Sanye兄,

      Insurance is a funny instrument.

      When we did not make a single claim, its indeed like flushing money down the toilet :(

      But when we make a claim for a serious accident or illness, the sense of elation or relief will only last a second, that's until it dawned on us it would have been so much better if we didn't have to make a claim in the first place!

      But if the claim is for a simple or little accident/illness, we can easily handle it from our savings, couldn't we?


      Buying insurance is making a speculative bet.

      Don't let me catch anyone poking people for gambling yet has insured himself to the gills!

      LOL!

      Delete

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