At the end of the day, it's about balance and moderation. All my life, I have lived a frugal life and saved. Then you asked yourself what is enough and what is it you are saving for?
We had no car for a long time, and we had to wait for / take cabs wherever we want to go as a family of 5. It was not convenient in our humid climate and children are not as patient as you hoped. Then we got a car, and our quality of life went up. Everyone was happy.
Then we moved into a condo, and our quality of life went up a few more notches. As we are older now, we are more aware of our mortality as we are at that age where you do see former classmates passing on. We are also not as physically fit as before. Then we looked at our savings and returns from our investments and said yes, we should indulge in ourselves a little more. Now we got 2 cars. The 2nd car was fully covered by one year of passive income.
Balance is key. We need to know why is it we are saving money for. It is so that we can have a comfortable and enjoyable life while on earth.
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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Why no car? In SG, its constantly depreciating purchase, expensive, and can only be used for 10 years. From a financial point of view, not a good buy. From a necessity point of view, does a couple with no children really need a car? But from a convenience and image point of view, yes having a car has its advantages.
Property #1 was acquired with parental help. But the other properties 2 and 3, were fully acquired thru the savings from our income (spouse and I), and the savings from not buying a car. Do remember that a few years ago, property was much cheaper than now, no such thing as TDSR or ABSD either. So, its possible.
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