March and April is the time of the year that companies and businesses pay out their bonuses to employees for work done in the previous year.

My organisation pays the bonuses around the end of March and it’s the time of the year where some additional windfall gains are credited into our bank accounts.

What we do with such windfall harvests reflects our approach towards financial freedom.

80:20 or 90:10 or 50:50 Guideline

Some people adopt saving 50-90% of windfall gains and spending the rest. My own approach is to save 80% and allow myself to spend up to 20% of the windfall gain without feeling guilty that I am deviating from my journey towards financial freedom.

This reflects a balance between enjoying life a bit with the gains whilst maintaining healthy growth of investible savings that yields passive income in investments. I’ve recently channelled some of these funds to 30 year Singapore Government Securities (Bonds) that yields 2.84% to maturity on a 2.75% coupon. This beats fixed deposits hands-down even though it pales in comparision to 4.6% inflation figures announced recently.

Fragility of Life

I am reminded again how fragile life can be. Last week, there was a road fatal accident near the traffic junction near my home. I heard from a neighbour that the victim was a pedestrian who was waiting at the traffic light to turn green and was hit by a vehicle where the driver lost control whilst cornering and hit the traffic light (and pedestrian).

The victim was just standing there obeying the traffic rules and was hit and killed just like that.

Accidents like this make me understand more about having a balance even whilst pursuing my goal towards financial freedom. There are many variables outside of my control and it would be arrogant and foolish of me to think I can control them. I can only control myself within certain limits and just live life the best that I can with what I have. The rest is subject to God, “Black Swans” and other circumstances we cannot fully understand nor control.

Tasting One’s Harvest

The interesting thing I’ve learnt since adopting this approach to windfall gains is that I don’t go overboard and blow my windfall gains since I give myself permission to spend 10% of it guilt-free. That frees me up to be relaxed about giving myself the occasional luxury while being able to grow my net worth.

The taste of one’s harvest, i.e. hardwork that contributed to the bonus at work refreshes one’s spirit and helps one balance today’s wants against tomorrow’s needs.

How will you be enjoying your windfall gains this time?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

My net realised returns for 2011 was about 4.7% which barely kept up with total inflation. However, it did beat my internal benchmark of 2 x fixed deposits (12 months banks FD rate) interest rate of 0.4%.

Targets for 2012

Thinking ahead for 2012, I believe inflation will still hover around the 5% region, hence I would have to seek to grow my investible networth by 5% for calendar year 2012 just to keep the purchasing power of my networth portfolio intact.

Thus, my target for 2012 will be to achieve an 8% return, i.e. to beat inflation by 3%. Having a stretch target could provide some psychological impetus to seek new ways of new approaches to investing to yield that return. Increasingly, I realise growing my means rather than to rely on passive income would be key because realistic returns adjusted for capital risks would only barely keep up with inflation as my own experience seems to indicate.

I am currently 40 going onto 41 and my theme for 2012 is really on health and wealth. I.e. to keep healthy and to invest more time and energy in exercise and proper diet so as to provide me with the energy and strength to think out of the box to grow my means. I also want to keep up with my daughter who is coming to 4 years in a few months’ time.

I am exploring more on how I can be a semi-active business owner rather than a passive portfolio investor because I simply need to gear up to grow my net worth at a faster rate. A 4-5% portfolio return would need an investible net worth of about $1,000,000 in order to generate $40,000 to $50,000 passive income cash flows.

Tracking my progress online

Some finance bloggers like Musicwhiz post their portfolio online. I won’t be doing that but will start to post month end short statistics on realised investment and semi-passive (blogging) income gains on a % basis to help spur on my efforts to grow my passive and semi-passive income.

This should help provide some accountability and tracking as I would be conscious of the fact that monthly self-examination and accounting is something I would do on this blog.

What are some of your financial goals for 2012?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

The 1st of January 2012 started with a bang for me as I was woken to the sound of a car crashing into the road divider/barrier along PIE around 7 something in the morning.

Based on what I could see, there were no serious injuries though the car was severly damaged as it had hit the barrier whilst likely travelling on the extreme right lane. Fortunately, both occupants of the car could walk out of the car without help although the ambulance and police arrived not long after the accident.

What does an early morning traffic accident have to do with financial freedom?

Black Swans and Risk Taking

As a driver myself who does use the extreme right lane on expressways when I’m in a hurry, I can identify with the risks of driving fast (even within the speed limit of 80 or 90 km per hour) on expressways.

However, it really is a risk lane as vehicles are typically travelling at a very fast speed and if you make a mistake, you could careen over to the opposite direction of the traffic if the road barrier/divider was not able to prevent your vehicle from going into a head-on collision.

After reading Nicholas Nassim Taleb’s “Black Swan” and whilst reading Daniel Kahnemann’s “Thinking Fast and Slow”, I realised that people in general overestimate our abilities to make judgements or decisions under uncertainty and thus take more risk than we deem necessary without realising it.

Thus one of my 2012 themes is to understand my own limitations in judgement under uncertainty and use more real statistics and figures on decisions in life.

When it comes to financial freedom, the risk of capital losses from stocks are very much evident during 2011 and I’ve also become slightly more disciplined in not exceeding my equities to cash ratios (currently 60:40 or 70:30 after repayment of another lump sum for outstanding mortgage loan).

Thus, I limit my exposure to equities at maximum of 70% of my investible savings with 30% in cash and cash equivalents as a buffer.

Analysing Investing Decisions

A quick review of my 2011 trading patterns also reveal that although net punting profits exceeded losses, the net profits is really not commensurate with the capital at risk. Hence, I will do even less punting for 2012 and focus my efforts and energy in revamping my “Panzer’s Guide to Financial Freedom” which was written a few years back with my current thoughts and experience gained since the book was written.

I will also devote more efforts in developing the capability to produce more content going forward. This has seen me exploring animation production using online tools such as Xtranormal as well as trying out video editing.

2012 promises to be an exciting year. One where I have to be on the alert for black swans and opportunities to grow my means.

How is 2012 looking to shape up for you?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

I attended my second annual general meeting (AGM) of Singapore Press Holdings Limited (SPH) which constitutes 70% of my equity portfolio. It is the single largest shareholding in the basket of shares that I own. Attending a company’s AGM is one of the rare occasions where you as a shareholder can ask questions to board and management of its performance for the year as well as other related topics.

On a more practical level, attending SPH’s AGM allows you to get complimentary copies of the daily newspapers such as Straits Times, Lian He Zao Bao, New Paper and Business Times as well as have a free bento lunch after the AGM.

This Year’s SPH AGM 2011

This year’s AGM was more muted than previous years. Despite the poorer performance due to Sky@Eleven’s revenues drying up due to the project’s completion last financial year, there were fewer questions this year and nothing controversial.

The Deputy Chairman of the Board, Prof. Cham Tao Soon led the proceedings in a calm manner given that the previous Chairman Dr Tony Tan had resigned from the Board to successfully contest the Presidential Elections. This AGM saw Dr. Lee Boon Yang being voted into the Board and also assuming the Chairmanship of SPH from the temporary stewardship under Prof. Cham.

Shareholders queried the losses from the joint-venture businesses and the CFO reported that these were from different businesses across the region that were in start-up phases and hence they were loss making. This I suspect relate to some of the investments in new start-ups since no further information was revealed beyond that there were sound business plans for these businesses and the losses were part of the starting phase.

Another shareholder asked the Chairman for guidance about payout ratios going forward as if the current dividend payouts were sustainable. The CFO referred the shareholders to the historical payout ratios (page 79 of the annual report – 80-90%+ over last 5 years) but did not commit to a specific target.

A question was asked if SPH would consider scrip dividends. The CEO Mr. Alan Chan was of the view that because SPH’s free float was large, it was cleaner to pay shareholders dividend and leave it to them to decide if they wanted to purchase more SPH shares in the open market using their cash dividends. But the Chairman noted that SPH would look into it.

One other shareholder asked Dr. Lee Boon Yang whether he would have the bandwidth to handle the Chairmanship of SPH given that he was also the Chairman of Keppel Corporation Limited. Dr. Lee reassured shareholders that he undertook this appointment only after assessing if he would be able to discharge his responsibilities and he was confident that he would be able to do so with the help of the able senior management of SPH.

Ultimately, all resolutions tabled for business during the AGM were passed and the final dividend payout of $0.17 comprising $0.09 per share final dividend and $0.08 special dividends were passed by the meeting.

General Prospects Going Forward

The Board was understandably cautious in their outlook as the acting Chairman and incoming Chairman’s messages talked about challenging environments going forward. Hence, they basically did not paint a too optimistic forecast for business prospects next year except to point to SPH’s strong financials, human resources available to take on the tough business conditions ahead.

Their performance next year will likely move in tandem to the broader Singapore economy. If GDP growth is marginally positive, SPH’s results would likely still show profits but may not grow as much. Much of its businesses are still fundamentally local retail (Paragon and Clementi Retail Mall), core newspaper printing and magazines. Possibly the main impact on the European crisis would be their financial investments that would take a mark-to-market hit if the global financial situation deteriorates further.

I would continue to monitor SPH’s performance but will likely not make any major move in holdings as it’s a fairly defensive stock and generates decent dividend yields relative to fixed deposits. Its risk and business is reasonably monopolistic although newspaper print business under pressure from the new media and tablet revolution.

Have you attended any AGM recently and what did you learn from it?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

When I was reading “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, I recall the concept of having a mastermind group. I don’t remember the specifics now as it’s been sometime since I’ve read the book but it revolves around surrounding yourself with like-minded people who share you goals and aspirations to come together to fellowship, learn from and support one another towards the common goal or aspiration.

It sounds a lot like networking and mentoring doesn’t it?

In your own journey towards financial freedom, it’s helpful to identify which group can function as a form of mastermind group. People who have the interest and passion for all things related to financial freedom and the willingness to explore the principles of living within your means, to save and invest as well as to grow and protect your means.

Your Own Financial Freedom Mastermind Group

The closest thing that I have to a mastermind group or two actually is La Papillon’s Cbox. The other is my close group of three buddies who are my ex-colleagues and now good friends for life.

Finding and sustaining a mastermind group is not easy. The people should be those you are comfortable to interact with because you would be sharing topics quite close to your heart, that of financial freedom. It is interesting to note the dynamics of different groups that I count as my mastermind group.

LP’s cbox is an fun group made up of people from all different backgrounds but similar interest in achieving financial freedom or at least doing well in the stocks, bonds and for some, even foreign exchange markets. I learn a lot from them as some of them are technically financially free where their passive income exceeds their earned income, while others like myself are working our way towards achieving that target.

Some cbox participants are parents, some are single and the age group ranges from undergraduates to senior professionals. It is the diversity of views of the friends here that make it interesting. I have actually met some of these people in person though not all of them. You get to hear about the pros and cons of different approaches to capital allocation, specific stock picks as well as the success and failures when investing in the equity markets.

I learn a lot from everyone in this group. I remember my secondary four Confucian Ethics studies where one of the Confucian scholars did note that we can learn from anyone and everyone.

Gentlemen’s Club

The other group is my close buddies whom I’ve known for 15 years or so. We have matured together from fresh working graduates to professionals in our fields with families. We share common reference point being Generation X where we have lived through the Asian financial crisis in 1997/98, dot com fallout in 2000/01 and SARS 2003 as well as the global financial crisis in 2008/09.

We also share and learn from one another the different risk appetites in growing our network. One among us is more into property investments, I am more into equities and the other two are more balanced between equities and deposits.

The honesty we share helps us learn from each other’s mistakes as well as to see why we have the type of risk profiles that we exhibit when it comes to portfolio allocation.

Both these groups have enriched my own understanding of myself as an investor/speculator and have also allowed me to connect with like-minded people where I know the journey towards financial freedom is not only mine to undertake. Others have embarked on this journey as well. Together there is a common goal we are striving for and it helps to have company to share our thoughts and feelings as we walk along this journey.

What type of mastergroup or support group do you have in your journey towards financial freedom?

Do you think it will help or hinder you in your quest towards financial freedom?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

It’s the last three months for calendar year 2011. For some if your organisations have hit substantially the key performance indicators set at the beginning of the year, it’s time for staff to clear leave and set aside some down time to recharge, rejunvenate and to refresh.

For others, they may have to push harder at work, business or personal lives to achieve the goals they set out at the start of 2011.

Whatever is the reason, the coming of the end of year in the next 1-2 months heralds the mood for retrospection and reflection.

What have we achieved in 2011?

What do we want to pursue in 2012?

What will the future hold for us and how have we managed our time on the present and the past?

Busy is good

Work-wise, the ironic thing is that things are getting busier towards the year-end partly because I am pushing out some initiatives within my department to do new projects and initiatives to prepare my team for 2012. Hence, we are laying the groundwork now to be a better performing team in 2011.

On the personal front, I am pursuing my class 2B motorcycle licence at a fairly relaxed pace as it is really more for learning the skills as well as being exposed to handling a different vehicle. After my class 2B, I will likely either continue with my Thai language learning or perhaps pick up conversational Korean because of my recent interest in Korean popular culture.

I would also try to enhance my physical fitness routine as I’m averaging two jogging sessions per week instead of the ideal three to even four sessions. A colleague of mine commented half-in-jest that I put on weight so I’m taking it as feedback that I need to ramp up my exercise regime and watch my diet.

Returns for calendar year 2011

Financially, if I do nothing from now until end of 2011, my realised returns on my portfolio for the year will be around 4.5%. It beats my internal benchmark of 2 x fixed deposits rates but lags slightly behind inflation. Overall, I think it’s a decent result because the market has been very volatile in the last 3 months and I’ve become less of speculator and more of a value investor. I still occasionally punt for fun but only on very small amounts.

My blogging updates may get less frequent going forward as I realised that I should focus on my time on building up skills and knowledge that will help increase my earned income as well as passive income. At the same time, I am growing the portfolio of my work assignments partly to add more value to my job as well as to learn new skills doing so.

How will you be spending your time on the fourth quarter of calendar year 2011?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

The current market turmoil has seen my stock portfolio’s value decrease as prices of even blue-chips stocks go south. It appears to be 2008-2009 again for many investors. What can we do, how can we overcome the challenges of seeing our portfolios dwindle with the threat of global economic recession threatening growth over the horizon?

Not Having All Your Eggs in One Basket

The key take-away I got from the 2008/09 global financial crisis was not to put all my eggs in one basket. I.e. I should not invest almost all of my investible net worth in one asset class which in my case is stocks and shares or equities.

That painful lesson has served me well today because I am currently about 70% invested in equities and 30% in cash and cash equivalents. This allows me to ride out the market downturn as most of my portfolio is invested in SPH and UOB that are very sound businesses and continue to pay dividends at a yield higher than what I can receive from investing in fixed deposits.

The other thing I learnt in my journey towards financial freedom is that capability development is very critical in growing oneself. We are still the biggest asset in our portfolio as our ability to generate earned income during our economically productive lives is the main cash generator that allows us to build investible savings for passive income.

Continuous learning of new skills, abilities and relevant experiences allows one to develop capability to navigate tomorrow’s changed situations mainly because we have the capacity and skillsets to handle new situations and tasks arising from work.

The Markets are Not Everything

Nicholas Nassim Taleb’s point of not using the stock market as a repository of wealth rings true during periods of market downturn like what we are seeing today. As I was watching the Korean entertainment series “Invincible Youth” on youtube, it rekindled my interest and dream that one day, I would like to transit to a lifestyle where I can grow some of my own food and also provide eco-tourism activities on a farm or rural community. Living in the City-State of Singapore does not allow one to have many opportunities to experience rural life unless one travels to Kranji area or out of Singapore to neighbour countries smaller towns and rural communities.

I would like eventually, when my daughter is old enough to be independent, to settle down in some low cost Asean country in a smaller town to basically live a simple lifestyle based on sustainable living supplemented with the occasional creature comforts. In order to achieve this, I would need to keep myself fit and healthy to be able to continue to work the land for some basic subsistence.

The stock market is not everything, I would rather convert my paper assets to real world assets such as a farm with a water source and arable food, livestock and live a simple life till I depart from this world.

What is your own strategy for dealing with the current bad market?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

My current interest in the Korean girls’ pop group Girls Generation (SNSD) has led me to searching for their music videos as well as reality programmes subbed in English on youtube. Those who follow SNSD know that one of the earliest documentaries about them is “Girls Go To School” (GGTS) where it features the group’s inception, pre-debut and debut into the Korean market by SM Entertainment.

As I watched the documentary, I could not help from being inspired and awed by the amount of hard work put into their performances through practising their dance moves and singing as well as acting for the music videos and live and recorded shows. To be the best, you need a combination of talent, luck and sheer hardwork to see you through the end of your objective.

Working Hard Like SNSD

I can relate to what the girls went through in the GGTS documentary where the group of them being 17 and 18 years old are being put into a rigorous schedule that sees them debuting as a pop group. Behind the scenes you start to understand how some of the members got into the SM Trainee scheme in their early teens to hone their talents in singing, dancing, acting and hosting.

When I was 18 going to 19, I was drafted into the Singapore Armed Forces to serve my national service as a soldier. It was a time to work hard although unlike SNSD I could not choose not to enlist. But I can see how the tough schedule and regimes that one goes through at 18 does shape one’s future to some extent.

The army did teach me more about physical endurance and about enduring to see myself through my objective. In the case of NS, it was sacrificing your own comfort to fulfil your duties to the country as a soldier. I credit that experience to making me more thankful for the opportunity to study in NTU and to do well enough to secure a good job in my starting career.

Working hard is common at the start of any new endeavour. We need to put in the hours or the 10,000 hours rule of thumb popularised by Malcolm Gladwell to become competent and successful in the thing that we do. I can see how SNSD’s individual members’ efforts must have well exceeded 10,000 to allow them to perform as a group at such levels.

When we first begin to understand the concept of financial freedom, the beginning is the hardest, trying to internalise the principles of living within your means, saving and investing, growing and protecting your means.

Working Smart Smart Like SNSD

For some of the criticism that SM Entertainment gets for pushing their performers hard, one can understand the need to maximise the opportunities for commercialising one’s popularity. SNSD are into selling music albums and concert and live/recorded performances as well as commercial endorsements for products and services. They are into MCing and hosting events as well as dee-jaying and acting in Korean dramas.

The entertainment game is largely a popularity game that is fickle and ruthless. One strikes while the iron is hot to earn as much as one can while one’s star is shining brightly. As the meteoric rise towards popularity is fleeting and temporary, no-one knows what the future holds.

I realise that as I grow older, I can work hard but won’t be able to work as physically hard as I could when I was in my 20s or early 30s. Age catches up with all of us even if we can mitigate its effects by sensible diet, exercise and stress management. We trade age for experience and it is that experience that allows us to work smarter to get more things done in lesser time. To be efficient, economical and most importantly, to be effective.

To be financially free requires one to be smart in either increasing our available investible capital or to increase the returns we can get for it within acceptable risks. Working smart and avoiding being wiped out by market losses become even more critical when your investible capital grows to be of a significant size.

What phase of working hard or working smart are you in your own journey towards financial freedom?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

The Korean (K) wave or Hallyu of popular culture in terms of K-drama and K-pop culture reflects the globalisation of consumer taste in entertainment. The easy accessibility of music videos, television programmes and radio through the internet has allowed consumers who have a decent broadband internet access to tap onto the different genres of music, film and entertainment.

What has Hallyu have to do with financial freedom?

Interest in Hallyu

One of the key principles of financial freedom is to grow our means. For many of us, that means to develop ourselves through studying for a good education to get a good job or to embark on business to earn our incomes.

Earned income is still fundamentally the key driver of our investible savings. We can only start saving if our income exceeds our expenditures. The starting point of income generation typically is ourselves, i.e. we receive earned income from trading our waking hours to a trade, professional or business.

I started out watching youtube music videos a few years back and first discovered J-pop group SPEED which was enormously successful in their heyday. Since then, I’ve been consuming music videos through youtube of Thai, Japanese, English and Korean pop music groups. My current favourite is Girls’ Generation or SNSD – currently a very popular Korean 9 girl pop group that would be coming to Singapore early next year.

Their music is catchy but what strikes me the most is their synchronised dance choreography. As I started to watch their music videos and search for information about the group online, I discovered that they were featured in a documentary by Mnet called, “SNSD: Girls Going to School“.

It was a fascinating glimpse into the Korean entertainment industry where companies such as SM Entertainment are factories that manfacture pop idols for the consumer market. What struck me is how multi-talented the members of SNSD are. They are MCs, DJs, singers, dancers, models, actresses etc. all rolled into one. Some of them have been with the company as trainees since their early or mid teens. From the documentary you can see that it’s a tough life, involving lots of practices and long hours of events, activities and performances.

You Have More Than One Talent

I’d like to believe that we can learn from the Korean pop factory style in developing talent. I.e. although SNSD was put together mainly as a pop group, the members also work as hosts, MCs and DJs even when they are in the group.

While not all of us are talented in music, dance and singing or are born with good looks, we all have talents. The challenge is to groom the obvious ones but also look out for talents that can be developed or identified.

I started out and continue to work as an internal auditor for my career. But in my career progress, I’ve discovered that I have some IT skills arising from an adolescent boys’ interest in computer gaming. I’ve also discovered that I could do some public speaking and make presentations because one of my jobs as an IT auditor and security consultant required me to do training. I went into toastmastering as a hobby after I started to do some training.

It was from toastmasters that I’ve learn to properly MC (be a master of ceremony) for events and also learnt how to prepare and go for prepared and impromptu speech contests.

I realise that my own skills as an internal auditor developed more because I was exposed to different areas i.e. corporate governance in non-profits, IT audit, security and governance beyond the traditional scope of internal controls, compliance and value for money for internal auditing. I also picked up some skills as a non-executive director from volunteering to be on the board of a non-profit for 7-8 years or so.

Finding your own SNSD

My takeaway from watching SNSD’s documentaries (the other is Factory Girl) is that we can learn to build up diverse talents and make full use of the spectrum of skills that we have and some we may not even know we have. The key is to try to get out of our comfort zone once in a while and try something new. You never know if you can do it until you try.

So far, my Thai language foray as started getting me interested in learning other languages such as Japanese and Korean to allow me to better enjoy J/K popular culture but also to invest in myself to be able to function better as a future tourist to those countries and even other possibilities.

What have you done recently to invest in yourself?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

I was at a conference yesterday at a nice hotel along Orchard Road to give a presentation related to my area of expertise. Whilst I was at the conference, I got many good ideas from listening to the other speakers as well as thinking about some of the questions raised by the participants during the sessions.

It was a nice break from my normal office work routine as I got to do a formal presentation in a suit and powerpoint deck of slides and have a nice lunch and tea break in a hotel function room.

What does my break from routine have to do with financial freedom?

Taking a Walk out of One’s Comfort Zone

This post is partly inspired by LP’s “Breaking out of my comfort zone”, as it discusses how taking a break from our routine is sometimes good for us in our journey towards financial freedom.

I’ve been in my current role for 2.5+ years, the equivalent period that I’ve served national service. In that time, I’ve instituted most of the day-to-day work processes and hence things are run pretty routinely using standard operating procedures and checklists. There are some occasional new initiatives happening at the corporate level but by and large most of my work is similar in terms of how we approach it.

The familiarity makes some parts of the work become less exciting as it was when I first took on the role. Hence, it is a refreshing change from facing my same small team for a day when I attend a conference especially as a presenter instead of participant. One of the excitement comes from having to present before an audience. Although the subject is something I’ve delivered a few months back, it is still nerve wrecking every time I challenge myself and put myself in front of a professional audience who can ask questions relating to what I’ve presented.

Look Outside of Our (Brain) Box

The powerful thing about doing something different for a change on occasion is that we allow ourselves to look outside of our normal box of day-to-day routine. Breaking routine is important if we want to challenge ourselves to grow as an individual. To grow in financial freedom, we need to allow our minds to stretch by learning new frameworks and concepts on how to look at the world.

During the conference, I actually gained some ideas on how I could improve my work processes which was useful since my career is still my main source of income. But I also learnt more about areas not immediately within my normal circle of knowledge which helps to expand my perspective on things.

To be better in living within our means, to save and invest and to grow and protect our means is to continue to invest in ourselves. Learning, thinking and growing our minds reap plenty of dividends because it is the enhanced perspectives and consciousness that allows us to understand ourselves and our relationship with our surroundings.

This gears us up to be ready to tap on opportunities that appear in front of us. For me, the direct benefits of taking a break from my routine and doing conferences is that I get to network with people in a similar background and professional and in fact there was an informal query on whether I could share my presentation with members of their own organisation.

Whilst this may not pay off immediately, it continues to help me build up my CV as a speaker on internal audit related topics that is helpful should I venture into doing these for a professional fee.

When was the last time you took a break from your routine and did something different?

How did it help you in your journey towards financial freedom?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.