Retirement Income Model - End Game Walking Down The Mountain Strategy

 

In gacha gaming, there're early-game, mid-game, and late-game strategies.

Often, newbies to a gacha game get themselves all tangled up when they watch late-game players play and try to copy or replicate their play styles.

That's how some get burned-out or discouraged and left the game after a few months.

Similarly, when it comes to FIRE or retirement planning, there's walking up the mountain and walking down the mountain strats.

Before I begin, I would like to remind everyone words are very powerful as they do affect our thinking.

Be an open umbrella

Noticed I removed the Dividend from Dividend Income Model?

Dividends locked us parochially into equities only. 

As some may have already discovered, once we just use a broad and grey definition like Income, we have a lot more options as in interests from fixed deposits, bonds, CPF; etc.

Then there's also income from rentals. Don't just think and limit yourself to properties. Anything you owned that you can "rent" to others also can!  (Illegal money lending is a crime OK! So don't get carried away...)

How about private annuities to complement CPF Life for those who want to pump in more beyond the CPF Enhanced Retirement Sum (ERS) limits? 

We can also continue working beyond retirement (freelance, part-time, ad-hoc); that's Retirement Income too. No? 

Passive my foot!

Long time visitors to this watering hole know how I feel about passive.

Well, no one stopping you if you really believed no need do anything and money will drop from the sky to you.

Maybe you're best friend forever with your God/Gods? Or Luck is your superpower!?

Hence there will be no Passive in front of Retirement Income Model for me too.

Walking Up The Mountain

I noticed some youths have a goal to have $100K by age 30.

Let's use that as Index 100.

If you wish to FIRE at age 35 or 45, do you think an Investing/Retirement Income Strategy would help you get there? Or in gacha gaming, is that a meta strat?

OK, you enjoy your day job and not into early retirement and all that jazz; you just want financial independence when you retire.

If you just aiming for 1M65, that's probably doable. But if you want 4M65, would an Income Strategy help you now?

It won't take you long after doing the math that an Investment Income Strategy works better when you're doing splendidly in your day job; or you have your own business that's growing exponentially. 

That's where the major compounding comes from - it's the annual cash injections into your Investment Income Portfolio!!!

Walking Down The Mountain

Once we have got our hands on the whatever amount that's "enough" for you, it's a lot easier to switch to the Retirement Income Model.

You think why I wrote Look at Goldfish instead of Modelling them?

If you bother to look under the hoot and at actual Goldfishes, the Retirement Income Model is not how most walked up the mountain in the first place.

Most got there through properties.

How many suck at their day jobs? 

A well-paying job means more cash injections annually for the win! 

Save More can oredi!

How many can show 10 baggers like our fisherman CW? 

If day job sucks, must make up for it at investing/trading! 

Earn More. Period.

P.S.  After 10 years of journey, we are starting to see and read former youths starting to doubt their Investment/Retirement Income vehicles...

It's not surprising; it's science.

Same strategy, but it's different when you're walking up against gravity; versus when you're walking down with gravity now on your side. Wink.

To Serve Man

 

Can't assume all readers to this watering-hole are from my generation.

Some of the words and stories I've shared in the comments may flew over the heads of younger readers who don't share the same context and experience growing up.

I would like to share this very memorable Twilight Zone episode to you - To Serve Man.

That is why I cringe whenever I hear some snake oil proudly shares it's his "mission" to create X number of millionaires in Singapore!

I immediately think of this Twilight Zone episode. Wink.

By the way, if you are financially literate, you wouldn't want anyone and everyone to be a "millionaire" in Singapore. 

That would be pointless.

Just visit Indonesia or Vietnam. 

Anyone and everyone there are Indonesian Rupiah or Vietnamese Dong millionaires!

Maximum Pain versus Maximum Sheepishness

 

Those of us on the Earn More path, we'll discover soon enough that the sole purpose of Markets is to extract MAXIMUM PAIN from all its participants!

True right?

Just ask those who have chopped fingers and swear off "investing" forever. 

For survivors, we've become "philosophical". 

Have to. 

If not how to explain the insanity of doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

The good news is that if we switched to the Save More path, there is no MAXIMUM PAIN, just MAXIMUM SHEEPISHNESS.

How so?

Remember the electricity liberalisation move by big daddy? 

How not to love -20% discounts on our electricity bills!?

Then some discovered choosing the wholesale electricity plan "saves" even more than -20%!

(Conveniently forgetting "wholesale" meant it's for big consumers of electricity who are expected to do the electricity price hedging themselves)

Yup, imagine the sheepishness to find you are paying more than those "stupid" households who remained with PUB ....

How about HDB bank loans?

Who so stupid to choose HDB concession loan at 2.6% interest when we can easily get much lower housing loan interest rates from our nation building banks!?

Well, now some have discovered what maximum sheepishness felt like....

Remember CPF?

One could be forgiven to believe 1M65 never existed, judging by the queues at our banks and the topic of the month in our community!

First it was Singapore Savings Bonds, then Singapore Treasuries, then it didn't take long before someone shared bank fixed deposits give out more lah!

Ink haven't dry, WAIT! 

That bank over there got savings promotion that gives much more than fixed deposits!!!

Just as long we're willing to jump a few hoops like spend X minimum sum per month with the bank's credit cards; and transfer our salary deposit there. 

Fetch. Rollover. Kneel. Woof, woof! Good boy/girl!

Not maximum sheepishness, but it's the awkwardness you feel when you find what you thought was good, better, best has become 2nd best in a month or two....

In the gacha gaming community, we call it MIN/MAX. 

It works until the game developer power creeps your best built hero with a NEW must pull character! 

I'm a cat person. But I do notice dog people do become more cat like as they mature.

I mean we are both probably a bit bemused with young puppies - see hoop must jump, see ball must fetch...

We have this old fogey Tarzan at this watering-hole. 

I'll poke him like Swiss cheese if he now tells me he is diverting his planned CPF voluntary contributions to better yielding savings vehicles! LOL!

Nah, he won't!

What's the point of long-term planning if we can get derailed just with 1 or 2% extra interests?

And I thought I'm the man-whore!

Another interesting observation I would like to share with readers. 

This Tarzan and me are going in opposite direction - he adding to CPF; while I taking as much out as possible - but we both have the same destination in mind. Wink.

The 8 immortals' analogy probably flew over your head if you're not Chinese, or Chinese banana...

OK, this New York analogy clearer. 

To get to New York from Singapore, we can fly to London, and then New York.

Or from Singapore to San Francisco, then New York.

Earth is round.

Ding!

Thatcher's Last Stand Against Socialism

Just glad our big daddy is on the Earn More camp!

Imagine one day if they ran out of ideas on how to Earn More, and all they do is focus on redistribution of the shrinking pie I think that would be the time for regime change!

I mean austerity, as in Save More, can only work for so long until the people are fed up and begin to revolt!

Socialism and communism can be so seductive, especially if you are spending other people's money!

The problem is whether our Opposition parties have the competence to help Singapore Earn More?

This is something I hope to hear more from them in future elections.

Look, anyone and everyone can also propose policies if all we need is just spend other people's money!

Hello!

One Gone; One Bank Run

 

Recent events remind me of the bankruptcies of Icelandic banks during the Lehman financial crisis of 2008.

And the 2012-2013 Cypriot banking crisis where the bank depositors (savers) have to "bail-in" their failing banks!?

For crying out loud! 

These savers must be kicking themselves since they are not even investors or speculators... (But they got to admit, they are yield hogs!)

I mean if the maximum upside is at best 10% or 20%, and the downside can be -100%, like that they might as well join the speculators and jump onto those risk assets that can 100X and shoot to the moon!!!

They got the risk/reward ratios all backwards!?

Contagion?

Smart is telling others to hold on for dear life, buy the freaking dip, or diamond hands all the way...

While you secretly run to your bank and withdraw as much money out as possible.

Vehicles different; human behaviour, same same

 

You Are Not Their Customer If It's Free!

 

In gacha mobile gaming, its the Free-to-Play players that make the most noise and laughable complaints.

I'm FTP by the way. (Its an inside joke in the gacha gaming community)

But at least I know my place.

These FTP players are clueless they are not the customers of the mobile game. We are part of the game design!

Why do players dump money into a game as Pay-to-Win players when we can play for free?

Because it feels good to thrash other players!

I mean no one will brag about beating AI characters; we all know AI bosses suck.

But its different when we know there's a real life person behind that nick we are beating into a pulp. Wink.

There's a running joke that gamers have no life, no friends in the real world, that sort of thing...

So as a form of "escapism", who doesn't like the accolades and adulations you get as one of the top players in the virtual world?

Have the rarest of rare heroes, or god-like gear that we FTP cannon fodders can only dream of?

(You think why men buy flashy cars and women buy luxury handbags in real life?)

This only works if there are enough FTP weaklings for these PTW players to bully. 

Hence game developers have to attract enough FTP players or else the game dies.

Have you ever thought how do brokers that offer "FREE" trading make money?

Of course you are NOT their customers either.

With access to all the collective order flows (you are part of the product), these brokers will sell this valuable information to their real customers - the PTW institutional players.

You may also want to check around. Do institutional traders/investors, with their millions in transactions, use these "FREE" brokers? 

They could be saving tons in transaction fees alone!

Strangely, "FREE" brokers are only targeting retail traders/investors. Hmm... I wonder why?

In retail, when you purchase something for $100, and it turned out to be a lemon, of course you can bang table and ask for a refund.

The retailer will give you your $100 back. 

When you use a "FREE" broker, just when the market is most volatile exciting, the platform dies due to overload, causing you to either miss an opportunity of a lifetime; or worse, drowning you in steep losses because you can't get out in time...

How do you get compensation?

You paid "FREE"; they refund you "FREE".

There Goes My Nostrils Virginity!

 

This morning, I ownself violated my nostrils by my ownself...

I'm no longer a 54 years young nostrils virgin anymore!

Starting this coming Saturday, my weekend sales place (the showroom I'm stationed at) require all sales and promoters to do our own weekly self-test for the Wuhan virus thingy before coming to work.

This is good.

For our own safety, and for our customers.

I am supposed to collect more ART kits from my company (the brand that I work for) tomorrow.  

In order to be sure I'm not putting my office colleagues in harm's way, I just used the free ART kits that big daddy gave to every household. 

Cool.

I'm negative.

I tell you. Let's move forward already...

Can't wait for us to join the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark) in getting on with our lives to pre-pandemic levels.

In one study, around 588 persons die of influenza annually in Singapore. Yes, you guessed it - mainly amongst our elderly.

That's why those elderly who "kiasi" will go for their annual flu vaccine shot.

Let's treat this Wuhan virus as endemic.

And stop moving the goal posts.

 

We'll Drive Safer With A Big Spike On The Steering Wheel

 

I sometimes drop little nuggets while "talking male-chicken" in the comments section.

I know its a bit far-fetched, but this putting a big spike on the steering wheel is not made up! I stole it with pride from an article I've read in the past... (Yah, surprise! I read!)

I couldn't remember the source, but here's one link I found that's close enough. And the spike got an actual name!

Tullock Spike

You know why I use my real name at this watering hole? 

Its precisely I'm driving with a big spike on the steering wheel! (行不更名，坐不改姓) 

This way, I write as if I'm speaking in public. No, you not talking to a man with brown paper over his head. 

Unless you are an IT hacker who knows how to cover your digital trails, even if you use anonymous or made up nicks, if people want to get you, they can easily CSI you out!

We know what happens to those who stir shit in the internet, thinking there are airbags in front of them just by being anonymous or have fake nicks... 

Why do some Singaporeans obey the law in Singapore, but when overseas, have no problem littering or spitting? 

And this one most shepherds know. Why is it so difficult for get feedback from Singaporean employees at a company meeting, but at the water cooler, the same church mice Singaporean employees have no shortage of opinions about management? 

Now look at your own investing/trading/saving paths. 

Yes, even the so called "safer" Save More route is included!

 

Is it possible those who are on the Earn More path, who assumes there's a spike on the steering wheel, are more cautious than those on the Save More path who assumes nothing can go wrong with the supposed "safety" of airbags? 

Just ask those UK savers who had savings/fixed deposit accounts with Icelandic banks just because of a few percentages more in interest rates during 2008....

Of course we had our own Lehman minibond saga in 2008. I mean they were sold and distributed by reputable banks in Singapore, no? Not from some clickbaity internet scammy ads right?

And yes, don't make statements like if this company goes down, the whole of Singapore will go down too...

You are just putting an "exclamation mark" over your head to alert all the snake-oil wolves in the vicinity,

"Hello everyone! I'm a bei-kambing!"

  

 

Change Sucks For Old Fogeys!

 

Its harder today right?

Especially if you are in your late 40s to 50s...

Things just change and move so fast nowadays!!!

Remember that time when you were eyeing your boss' job?

Now that old fogey has retired, you finally got his job! Whee!

You not stressed on the greater responsibilities. Why say no to better pay and prestige?

I mean you have been his/her lieutenant, deputy, assistant for donkey years, its just wash, rinse, repeat. You can even do it with your eyes closed!

How hard can it be? Just follow the past precedents, and chant, "Faster, quicker, cheaper!"

Its all about Efficiency, isn't it?

Now imagine you are working in Comfort Delgro. A bit stunned and blindsided by the private hire competition right? Who the hell in your company knows how to code? 

How about Singtel? Your wash, rinse, and repeat tactic of buying other telcos overseas for growth is getting old... (Limpeh got money!) 

Now you got to relearn new tricks and explore opportunities outside your field of expertise?

Should you get into the mobile/PC gaming market? Let's sponsor a professional gaming team!

Or compete with the traditional banks and other smaller and more nimble startups to claim a slice of the fintech pie?

Then there's the ultimate - when all things fail, become a property play! (SingPost, SPH can, so can we!)

No need to say more if you working for SPH. How the hell do we compete with "free"!?

You finally understood and empathised when desktop publishing made typesetters obsolete in your industry so many decades ago... 

When the pin pricks your own skin, you don't become so smug like when you were a management trainee back then, 

Mind you, I'm not talking about CEO positions here.

Just you finally replacing your old boss to be a department head in your late 40s or 50s...

Not what you expected right? You envy your old boss can coast along for so many decades when change isn't so rapid...

You? Its so fxxking stressful! And no fun!

Especially when the pivot today is towards Effectiveness.

But that's like telling an old dog to do new tricks!

If I had to be "entrepreneurial" in thinking, I wouldn't have chosen a stable and consistent paying job in the first place!!!

In case you want to learn more about Efficiency versus Effectiveness.

Its the same for politics and religions too.

To win new converts to your sales funnel banner, you got to do Twitter, Facebook, Instagram?

Kissing babies during weekend walkabouts no longer enough...

Its so funny to see Trump sharing his ideas and policies on Twitter! Can you imagine our PM doing it?

Oh! It will come! "Akan datang"!

Of course youths would have the edge over us old fogeys!

You grew up with all these rapid changes in technologies and cultural changes. Its not new to you! 

We can see it in our community.

How would 1M65 be attractive to youths? When youths have goals to retire by 35?

 

A few have indeed done so by being early adopters of cryptos and are now millionaires in their 30s!? 

All the power to them!

There is some truth in the meme about not trusting any adults above the age of 30...

Go big or go home! (This works best when we have nothing much to lose anyway!)

Oh! What I would give to be young in my 20s again!

It sucks to be old IT dinosaur in a rapidly changing world.

Just when I'm finally comfortable with Windows 10... Windows 11 is coming!?

You got to be freaking kidding me!

 

Leaders and Followers

 

This happened a few years back.

I was having my fast food fix one afternoon, and a group of secondary school boys of five had just finished their meals.

Four of them just stood up and started walking off.

Only one student stayed back and started clearing the trays. 

Two other students saw what their friend did, started walking back to help him clear up the trays. 

Their expressions like how we walked out of our homes and forget our masks, "Shit I forgot!"

The other two students who walk out without clearing their trays, looked back and gave the three a look of disdain and continued walking out. 

Then the funny (or sad) part occurred.

One of the two students who went back to help clear their trays, decided to join the other two students who walked out when he saw they didn't come back to help out.

I can see the vacillations on his face.

Instinctively, he knew what's the "right thing" to do.

If not he would have continued walking out like the other two boys. 

I guess the need to "fit-in" with the other two boys has triumphed in the end. He quickly ran after the two who left. 

I just sat there sipping my coke as I watched those two boys who stayed behind, cleared all the trays - their own and their friends' ones. 

This happens a lot in our lives, doesn't it?

 

 

 

To Invest - We Need Capital

 

Gamers out there know when you grind your way to end game, that's when the real fun begins! 

And that is true for the path financial freedom too.

To invest, we first need to have CAPITAL.

That's where SAVE MORE comes in.

All we need is discipline. 

Yet not everyone and anyone can do it. 

Some people earn $1 must spend $1. 

Some earn $1 can spend $1.20....

So when schools or big daddy introduce financial literacy workshops to the public, it has to focus on SAVE MORE. 

Start with the basics.

Its also why we see so many financial portals and blogs talk about "earning" miles, comparison of bank or credit card interest rates, discount this, offer that; etc.

If we move to the realm of EARN MORE, it starts to get murky and where dragons and snakes co-mingle.

On one side we have snake oils who unabashedly proclaim they can help you to become millionaires or financially free (rich say rich lah):

No money down!

5 minutes a day!

Passive (which means you get rich while you sleep?)

Easy!

Anyone and everyone can do it!

All you need is faith (???)

Then there are initiatives done with the best of intentions - like SRS, CPFIS, offering discounted SingTel shares to the general public (one time deal only?) - all in the name of encouraging more people to dip their toes into the realm of EARN MORE.

But that's hard.

Sometimes, the more we invest, the more we lose...

Some of us know it all too well. 

That's why we don't encourage or give investing/trading tips to friends and relatives anymore....

Make money they don't thank us; lose money we get the blame.

Spare us the grief!

So we stick to SAVE MORE tips.

And that's safe!

To invest, we need CAPITAL.

(If you then go and lose all that capital, its all on you!)

 

Attracting New Blood Is Important!

 

Last month, if you're waiting for your MRT train, you may see the advertisements for this new Genshin Impact game from China plastered all over.

Its the latest "hot" game. It reportedly took $300 million USD to develop. And in it's first week of launch, it took in $300 million USD!?

Now that's success!

There were some in our community playing Epic 7 that were worried Genshin Impact's success may impact the game we are currently playing.

Whales (players who spend thousands) will only whale on a game that's hot. What's the point of flexing when most people don't care for the game you playing?

When whales leave, once upon a time popular game will die a slow death... All the legions of free-to-play players won't help since they are not paying customers... They are freeloaders!!!

I'm one such freeloader. Wink.

I used to collect stamps. 

Got "whale" (buy from stamp shops) in the beginning, then switched to "free-to-play". Meaning I'll make friends with receptionists and ask them to give me those discarded envelops with postage stamps on them. 

Now this "lobang" is long gone. 

When was the last time you saw stamps on an envelop?

I hate this franking thing...

Out of sight; out of mind.

As a result, I believe less youths would collect stamps as a hobby. Which in turn may mean there could be a lot less enthusiasts who will grow up able to appreciate stamps as an "investment"...

Yes, its a bit like cryptos, art, comic books, and Hello Kitty toys.

When a lot of people are hyped up about something, that something will appreciate in price.

Have you noticed something in our community of money chasers recently?

More and more youths are moving over to the US or HK markets. There's a lot of excitement over there! 

In comparison, our STI this year a bit boring and range bound, isn't it?

Of course a swallow does not make a summer.

But if we don't come up with another flavour of the year theme/hype like REITs, Oil and Gas, Myanmar play, etc; those who own the STI ETF or SGX individual stocks may start to sweat a bit...

The logic is similar to property.

If foreigners are not coming to Singapore, and our population is not growing, who we think we are offloading our properties to?

If there's no new blood?

 

Free-To-Play & Virginity

I must share a recent funny episode about this mobile gaming community in Reddit.

A gamer proudly screenshot his rank in PVP (player-versus-player) arena but titled his post as F2P (free-to-play).

Basically he was trying to be passive aggressive against those P2W (pay-to-win) players, implying as F2P, he too can achieve such a high ranking...

Making his "achievement", all the more impressive for all to see.



The trouble with internet is there's a paper trail.

Other Redditors were quick to dig up his old posts to show he indeed has bought gaming packs from the game developer during his early gaming days; and his previous posts boasting his collection of hard to get heroes were coming back to haunt him... 

F2P?

Many were calling him a liar. A fake.



Then there are others who are quick to defend this gamer. 

Look! He only bought those gaming packs during his first few beginning months. Sure, they helped, but he has not bought anything since for the past 8 months. 

For all intended purposes, its perfectly fine to consider him "F2P" now. 

Don't be a pedantic and argue over semantics!



I couldn't stop myself laughing.

It made as much sense as your new girlfriend telling you she's a virgin for the past 8 months. 

Try it!

Next time people ask you whether you're a virgin, tell them you are one for the past 3 days.

See if they catch on to the joke... 

LOL!



Jokes aside, you can see this kind of mental gymnastics in our financial community.


Let's take property.

The BTO flat prices offered by big daddy are very interesting. The top 2 floors are being offered at the same prices. 

If you had bought the 2nd highest floor, do you think you can advertise or pass off your flat as the "highest" top floor in your block? 

Do you really think you can get the same selling price as the ones on the top floor when its time for you to sell?  

Yet you are willing to pay the same price as the top floor when you can get the 3rd and 4th highest floors at lower prices...


How about perpetual bonds?

Now think about it. A "bond" with no maturity date...

Can it still be considered a bond?

Or maybe its more akin to equity in practice?

Don't look at me!

That's like lending money to a "friend" who promises to return it back whenever he feels like it. 

I should get more generous friends like you!


Then there's the home-made definitions when it comes to networth or calculating investment returns.

I forgot or didn't include this or that...

This I count, that I didn't....

Look! I only smoked; I didn't inhale...

OK...

Those of you who knows something about accounting will understand that's why we have Accounting Standards.

If we let companies decide what to include and what not to include, and come up with their own interpretations, then no need to pay taxes anymore!



Have fun! 

See if you can catch yourself trying to justify to yourself or others whenever you try to do something that makes no sense whatsoever.

But hey! What's life without a few little lies to ourselves?

Shh....

Is Investing/Trading a Team Sport or Solitary Game?

In PC or mobile gaming, its easy to observe 2 main kind of players.

There are those who enjoy playing in clans, join guilds, actively participate in group chats. They love debating the most META strategies, and flexing on the in-game gears and trophies acquired. 

Gaming is a social thing for them.


Then there are the lone rangers. They are more into PVE (player versus environment) over PVP (player versus player) gameplay. They do their own thing. Like collecting waifu characters or playing the game in a non-linear manner...


Make a guess if you are the game publisher, which group is easier to monetise?




Its the same with religion.

Some are in it for the social interactions. They are "religious" only on certain days of the month or week. The rest of the days, they don't act or speak as if they are "religious".

And definitely not deep into the theology or philosophy. Just as long can "parrot" some catchy hackney phrases, they are good to go!


On the other spectrum would be those who prefer to practice self-cultivation. Maybe an occasional meeting or discussion here and there, but mostly they prefer to walk the path themselves. 

These people don't ask others what shoes they should buy; or need others to tell them what shoes they should buy.




Have you noticed the same in our community of traders and investors? And those who seek FIRE?

Of course the biggest "sell" of being in a group/club/discussion forum is we can pool the resources and individual research of everyone. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole...

Surely an investment thesis or trading idea from the "herd" is better!? 


The reality is a few "Indian Chiefs" or "Star Shepherds" are doing all the talking. The rest just parrot or monkey see; monkey do

Ask yourself: Do you feel good when the stocks you owned are also in the portfolios of others?

That's a silly reason to own stocks right?  




Nowadays, there's so many forums and platforms to gather and talk shop. As we speak, many more are popping up.

Its just a numbers game. 

The more people joined, the easier it is to monetise. Its a business. Cool. I get that.



Is investing/trading a team sport or solitary game like chess or golf?

This you have to figure out for yourself. We are all different.

Its quite interesting to read some bloggers sharing their reflections on this topic.

(A quick shoutout to 15HWW for taking personal responsibility and not blaming his friend)

Free to play

It's understandable if the free-to-play whiners and chronic complainers in gatcha games are children or teenagers.

Especially if they are used to getting things handed to them - just for showing up. 



In reddit, whales would ignore such free to play minions. I mean when was the last time you stopped by the path and try to have a conversation with ants?

But sometimes, when the whining gets too strident as in crying "unfair" when the game developer introduces changes that favour the pay-to-win players, some exasperated dolphins will come with rebuttals to put these chronic whiners in their place...



In the social/political arena, we see this all the time too.

The loudest critics of ministers' pay are those who hardly pay any income tax at all. As if the ministers' pay are coming out of their pockets....

And then there's the perennial favourite about the wealth gap - the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer. The "system" favours the wealthy... This not fair, that not fair...



Let's explore this "free-to-play" business model that's becoming more and more prevalent with technology companies. I find it so interesting!

In the old days, companies make money by selling products and services. Simple and clear-cut to understand.

Then came companies that offer their products and services to us for "FREE"!?

Do you pay Goggle for the convenience of making a search in the internet?

How about Facebook? Free to use, right?

Netflix must pay, but watching videos on Youtube is free!

Those older like me may remember we once had to pay for our own email accounts by subscribing to those dial-up internet providers. Now? Anyone can get multiple free email accounts from Gmail, Outlook, or Yahoo! Now that's cool or what?



Guess what? We are not the "customers" of the above companies.

How are we customers when we don't contribute to these companies' bottom line?

Their customers are "pay-to-win" advertisers, public relations firms, political parties, mind control consultancies, puppet masters, pied pipers; etc.

What are we?

We are the "product". 



Now back to gatcha gaiming. 

If only the complaining free-to-play gamers realise their role in the game...

They are part of the game design.

There's only so much fun in beating non-player characters (NPCs) in a game.

But if we design a game where we offer whales and dolpins the opportunity to trash real people in a cyber setting...

$$$$$ Kaching!

Or-yi-oh! 

Who doesn't want to be Tarzan or Master of the Universe?



So there you go!

Next time you grab the next "FREE" offer, subscription, or workshop, just have awareness of your role - whether you are the product or a customer. Wink.



Its OK lah!

If the other party is just trying to milk or fleece you. Won't die one.

But if the other party is a glue factory or abattoir, sometimes its better to say, "No thank you. I'm good. I'll pass."

Walk away.

Dolphins - Pay to Win?

Dolphins in gaming are like "middle-class" in our social/political context.

And just as "easy" to define like FIRE.

I mean its "understooded", but people still like to ask how much we need to be financially independent or free?

And retire early? How early is considered early?



Eh...

If you can live on USD1,000 per month (like our CPF Life FRS payout)... Hey! You are financially free!

Official retirement age is 62. So retire at 60 is considered "early" retirement, no?

When official retirement raised to 67, then everyone who retired at 62 now can pat themselves on the back and brag they have retired early!

Those who retired (forced or voluntary) at the official age of 55 decades ago must be wondering what's the fuss with "early" retirement at 60... (moving goal posts mah)



How about if you're a stay-at-home dad or wife with a spouse that brings home the bacon. Aren't you financially free now too? Although the offset is there's no retirement age... Unless you exercised the escape clause as in divorce... (Can still be financially free with alimony!)

This group can be the "easiest" to manipulate to a dungeon master.

Why do people pay to try to win a game when its clear they can never outpsend the whales?

Well, why do people buy tiny condos in suburbia that are surrounded by HDB flats anyway?

When they are eligible for a bigger HDB flat just across the road?

You know, I know.



During my staycation at Orchard Road, I like to roam the off beaten paths as in exploring the Cairnhill and Claymore hill areas.

Condos favoured by whales are located where they are no public transportation on the roads leading up to their locations. All I saw during my walks were maids walking the dogs. Now that's quiet and exclusive!

Yet, how do dungeon masters market their condos located in HDB heartlands?

5 minutes walk to MRT? Bus interchange at the bottom of your development? How convenient! LOL!

That's because they know you can take the girl out of the country, you can't take the country out of the girl. Wink.

Of course they are gamers who like to claim spending a few hundred US dollars per month on a gatcha game is considered whaling - especially if they are from Vietnam, Philippines, Mexico, etc. Must consider purchasing power parity and all that jazz...

Yup, its the same here in our FIRE community. Some like to invent their own definitions as in not counting the property they stay in as part of their networth (HDB dweller alert!); or have their own voodoo home-made formulas to calculate their investment returns.

Why lie to ourselves?

To feel good mah!


These are the people who ran 50 steps admonishing those who ran 100 steps ahead for spending on attas coffee, buying cars, paying for experential enjoyment.... (So waste!)

And yet got the cheek to turn around to be condescending to those who are just 5 steps into their journey. Look! I'm staying in a condo, you know? Nevermind its just a tiny apartment a stone's throw from a HDB block...



Yup, dolphins know they can't beat the minority whales. But hey! They sure can beat the hell out of the legions of free-to-play krills!

Pay to win - Whales

Many years ago, I heard this phrase from one of those Hong Kong movies that made a lot of sense:

"If a problem can be solved with money, then its no longer is a problem!"



In mobile gatcha gaming, whales are those players who think nothing of spending thousands of dollars per month just to summon rare and hard to get strong game characters.

Or furiously spend on "upgrades" generously offered by game publishers to develop and grow their charaters to "steamroll" other poor hapless players.



To a game publisher who introduces a "free-to-play" mobile game, whales are of their most important sources of income. 

For most free-to-play games, only 2-5% of their playerbase would pay for "powerups" or more summoning chances. And this include the dolphins (spend hundreds monthly) and guppies (spend tens of dollars monthly).

1 million players downloaded your game globally. 

Let's take 2% willing to pay. That's 20,000 players.

If per person they spend a lowly $10 per month, that's...

And if they now spend $100 on average per month... Rice bucket! (Say it in Hokkien for more impact)



Its the same in religion and social/politics. (And our FIRE community)

The minority pays so the majority don't have to.

That's why you don't go round bragging you don't pay any income tax... Its like telling everyone you earn less than $22K annually. 

No, the showoffs are the ones who "complain and whine" how much taxes they have paid...



Its cool to be a whale.

If you "spend" enough, you can have your name on hospitals. Cool or what?

And if you are willing to invest billions, your children have no problem getting shoe-horned into a good school.

Got a medical condition? Can fly anywhere to the best medical authority globally. What waiting time?

That's why many in the FIRE community "aspire" to be a whale one day. 

The honest ones have no problem admitting they want to be filthy rich.

Some, maybe due to their religious or cultural upbringing, may find too overtly pursuing wealth to be tacky... So they prefer to hide behind "empty" euphemisms like FIRE or minimalism.



When it comes to trading or investing, whales get the most favoured customer treatment from their brokers and investment bankers.

Want to bet that "free" analyst report or "hot tip" from your broker is already yesterday's news to whales?