While we are busy working hard to earn money, don't forget to make the money we earned work hard for us too.

This was what I did since the first day I started work. Whenever I have saved up some money I would buy some shares. It's been 30+ years now and I continued to hold and add to those shares. Not too sure about the total outlay (probably around $600k), but the shares are worth about $900k+ now. Was above $1m+ before the start of this year. While the share values go up and down along with the economy, I just enjoy the dividends which was around $55k pa for the last 3 to 4 years. Enough to fund our annual overseas holidays and then some.

At the same time we also invested in a condo for rental income. It still has an outstanding mortgage, but the rental income is enough to cover the monthly mortgage payment. The mortgage has another 5 years to go.

As a risk mitigation measure, we also "hoard" substantial cash in FDs and bonds, as well as in CPF. The returns from these sources are not too shabby either. Each year we receive about $50k in interest almost risk free!

When the investment property is fully paid up in 5 years time, we should be looking at a passive income of $150k pa. It will be time to sit back and relax, and let the money work hard for us.