Five Cents Ten Cents

The news that the richest man in Singapore (Mr. Ng Teng Fong) has passed away at 81 reminds us that truly, time and tide waits for no-one.

All the riches on this earth cannot keep us around if death comes for us.

I was reading some forum posts in Channelnewsasia forum and one forummer mentioned that it was ironic that the richest man in Singapore who could well support his retirement if he lived until 100 did not last past 85. While it was estimated that more Singaporeans would live beyond 85 and hence the CPF Life or compulsory annuity (with non-guaranteed payouts if CPF life fund becomes insolvent) was pushed down our throats largely using actuarial statistics.

The lesson to learn is that no matter how rich or poor one is, we all have only 1440 minutes in each day to do whatever we want in our lives. All us have start out with 1440 minutes, nothing more, nothing less.

As you walk along your journey towards financial freedom. How would you allocate your time and effort towards balancing your goals of living within your means, saving and investing, growing and protecting your means whilst still enjoying life as an experience that can only be savoured once?

I don’t have the answer but I know I’ll live a little bit more each day by immersing myself in work while at work, with family after work and to carve out a little bit of “me-time” to unwind and destress.

Be well and prosper.

I’ve just finished reading Seth Godin’s “All Marketers Are Liars” and got some interesting insights about marketing in today’s context.

Huh? Marketing? Has Panzer lost his marbles?

What does marketing have to do with financial freedom?

Read on and let Panzer explain the relevance of “All Marketers Are Liars” to you. Continue reading Your Authentic Story Towards Financial Freedom

Flickr image "The Long and Winding Road" by bbnick42

I have taken a longer road in my journey towards financial freedom. And strangely enough, I feel less burdened that I was at that fork in the road deciding whether to take the shorter path towards financial freedom or to do something that would be out of the question if I were to follow my plans rigidly without thinking about considerations such as family and quality of life.

The decision that I have taken is basically to sell my current place (Executive Condo) and to buy a new older condo at a location closer to town but has good amenities and a relatively quieter environment that my place.

Continue reading Financial Freedom (Deferred)

It has been an exciting year 2009 in terms of my journey towards financial freedom.

Returns for 2009

I have managed to achieve the highest returns on my investible liquid assets mainly in equities  (stocks/shares) since I started tracking my performance in 2003 and was fortunate to be able to ride out some of the recovery in the STI from March 2009 to December 2009.

I also learnt the important lesson of achieving balance in life and to enjoy the journey of financial freedom rather than to be overly fixated by the end result. Continue reading New Beginnings 2010

It’s the end of the year again and time to reflect on what Panzer has achieved (or not) during the last 364 days of 2009 in his journey towards financial freedom.

Living within your means

Ever since Panzer started his Excel expenses worksheet. He has recorded to around 98% accuracy most of his expenditures. His approach has been to take a cash flow approach, i.e. he records when cash goes out rather when expenses are accrued for simplicity sake and also to give a gauge of how much cash (life force) flows in and out of his life. Continue reading Reflections on 31 December 2009