Posted: 20 Jun 2008 09:36 PM CDT

Singapore is a consumer paradise. Shopping malls can be found everywhere. Flip open your newspapers and be greeted by 50% of the newspapers filled with advertisements for all manner of products and services. Turn on your television set and be bombarded with images that make you thirst for the latest gadget, fashion or services. Consume, buy, spend now using credit, shop till you drop comes the siren call to you sitting on your sofa allowing these messages to sink in sublimally or overtly.

Our entire lives are filled with messages to consume, consume and consume.

How can we save in this sea of spending, “live for now” and “enjoy life” culture?

Knowing what is enough

Regular readers would realise that I have been doing a ten part book review on “Your Money or Your Life” written by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin that teaches us how to transform our relationship with money and to achieve financial independence or financial freedom. One key message I got from the book was knowing when is “enough”.

Living within your means and charting how your monthly income flows out as expenses allows you to think about how each dollar you spend is a +1, 0 or -1 in terms of whether you receive fullfilment, satisfaction and alignment of your values when you consume. To survive, we need to consume. Fresh air, water, housing, food, transportation, leisure are the essentials we need to live on. But beyond that, we find that if we really pay attention to what we are spending on and examine if these make us happy, then we will realise we don’t need to consume, consume and consume to be happy.

Therein lies the answer towards savings. Establishing what is “enough”.

Take your morning cup of coffee. Starbucks, Yakun’s or neighbourhood coffee shop? What is enough?

Take your clothes for work. Mphosis, John Little’s or G2000. What is enough?

Take your home. Landed, private condo or HDB (5, 4, 3 room). What is enough?

You can save by…

Establish for your life, what is enough. Don’t look to your neighbours for guidance. Keeping up with the neighbours and ceaseless comparison to others makes you think you don’t have “enough”. Look at your own values and goals and ask if you want to be financially independent. If you do, savings is a critical aspect to this. Because when you save, you demonstrate you can live within your means. When you save you demonstrate the ability to delay gratification. When you save, you show that you can plan for the future and live with enough for the moment.

For more detailed tips, I recommend you read the book “Your Money or Your Life” or visit the summary here.

What is enough for you?

Be well and prosper.

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