Quote:
Originally Posted by Unregistered
Secrets of saving:
1. Buy a home you can afford. Be happy with a BTO HDB flat. This is very cheap. If you are a graduate couple who bought your BTO flat for $200k, you can easily pay it off within 5 years from your annual combined bonus. If you have a $150k loan, if your take home bonus combined is $30k pa, you can clear within less than 5 years.
2. Do not buy a car, take MRT and bus. You can save as much as $2000 per month.
3. Do not eat at expensive restaurants. Just buy $3 meals from hawker centers. Take away and you will save on drinks.
4. Do not gamble. Gambling is stupid as you will definitely lose money, for sure.
5. Do not smoke or drink. Total waste of money as well as incurring medical cost in the future as you will get lung cancer, liver cancer, etc.
5. Do not womanize. You will be in a costly divorce. You will also get all sorts of sexually transmitted diseases, AIDs, and you will spend so much money on medicines and doctor fees.
6. Do not sodomize and be a gay. You will get AIDs and will incur huge medical bills and will die young.
7. Do not be a glutton. Eat in moderation and fast. You will get diabetes, heart diseases, etc. |
The advice given above on Saving is simplistic (almost to the point of constant self denial). It assumes that to Save, all people should live a very simple life, without the little luxuries that make it bearable.
Instead of reducing expenses only, we should think about how to increase our income. For example, a second property. There is nothing sinful or harmful about enjoying little treats and luxuries now and then e.g. eating out once a week. having a glass or two of wine.
My approach (together with spouse) to saving was not to buy a car. Without car expenses, we managed to put together a downpayment for our small freehold condo. Because the condo was relatively small and cheap for our incomes, we managed to recover fast from the cash outlay and save enough cash again buy a second investment property 3 years later and it is now tenanted out.
We still eat out at least twice a week, enjoying the good food all over Singapore. We have a little wine fridge which we fill with reds, whites, dessert wines and beer and we drink in the weekends or after a particularly hard day of work. We go for walks in the neighbourhood (all condos and greenery) at night. We still save, but our lifestyle is very comfortable. Why suffer so much just to save?