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.One of the hobbies that I enjoy doing is to read. I read fiction as well as non-fiction and as I approach closer to age 40 and start to gain more white hairs by the side of my closely cropped hair, I realise that what my Junior College tutor said was true.

“How do you gain knowledge without reading”

What my tutor was telling me then as a wee lad of 18 was that reading was the path towards enlightening yourself and making sure your little grey cells are fed.

The last year or so has seen me again devouring both fiction and non-fiction alike as my daughter is now approaching two-years old and hence I have (slightly!) more time to read in the evenings and on the commute to/from work.

All Marketers are Liars

What Seth Godin postulates in the book is mainly that in order to be successful in marketing, the marketer has to create authentic, consistent and compelling stories of the product or service in order to be effective.

Of course, his book goes into the whys and gives some examples of why people are lying to themselves in believing the stories of how the good or service satisfies what they want (beyond what they need).

Your Own Authentic Story

In your journey towards financial freedom, you need to also weave in your authentic story. The story behind why are you taking the day to day actions of living within your means, saving and investing as well as growing and protecting your means.

There was a time when I emerged the Division champion in Table-Topics contest in toastmasters locally. Part of the reason why I drove myself very hard and became the champion through club, area and finally division was because an ex-boss of mine criticised my involvement in toastmasters and said that it would amount to nothing.

I took her criticism in stride and it ignited the passion in me to excel in table-topics after intense preparation, attending almost 2-3 toastmasters meetings a week in the evenings and over weekends.

But all that effort paid off because I emerged the champion in my division.

I did it because I created my own authentic story that propelled myself to the heights of this particular task.

I wanted to tell my story of how I overcame disparaging remarks to become better, stronger and more effective in speaking off-the-cuff in a competitive setting.

As you progress today towards financial freedom, what story are you telling yourself inwardly and outwardly?

Is your self-talk that of negativity and pessimism or is it optimism tempered with reality and bolstered with a dose of “YES I CAN” spirit?

Your ability to lift your head high and know that your actions in living within your means and saving and investing is to make you financially stronger and to be better equipped to face the future is your own story.

Your ability to enjoy each day without an over-dependence on material consumption is your own story.

Your ability to continue this journey daily, even overcoming setbacks, is your own story.

Choose to tell your own authentic story.

The story of how you moved towards financial freedom.

Be well and prosper.

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.

Upgrade your home

Upgrading your home costs money. Basically, the proceeds from the sale of my existing unit would help but not cover the entire cost of the newer place I am getting. However, I count myself fortunate that I just need to top-up somewhat more and get a bigger, albeit older condo but with a location that is closer to my in-laws and to parks and amenities.

Effectively, I am re-investing my liquid assets into illiquid asset (i.e. my home) and building up more home equity. But the issue is that one cannot monetise one’s home no matter how much equity it builds up unless one downgrades or finds alternative accomodation through renting or staying with parents/in-laws etc.

By doing so, I’ll have less passive income since my investible net worth is now put into the cost of my new home. That means I’ll have to take another loan that I should be able to pay off comfortably in less than 10 years since my current executive condo is fully paid-up.

Thinking back, I was worried intially that this would set my plans of growing my investible savings and passive income back for a few years. And it has. But the strange thing is that I realise I cannot always rely on passive income as the main pillar of strength and financial security.

The more white hairs start to grow among my black strands of hair, the more I realise family happiness, health and the fact that with or without financial freedom, I would want to work so that I can productively occupy my time and have a balanced work/life.

Work doesn’t need you but you need work!

Having taken annual leave to spend time with my family allowed me to experience taking care of my daughter the whole day. I don’t think I can survive long 24×7 being a nanny as my daughter tires me out even after an evening with her after work!

Going to work is actually in some ways less physically tiring than looking after my daughter although I use my brain a lot more.

I’ve come to realise that the reality for me is that I will work until I’m 62 and God-willing, post-62 if my health permits me.

Thus, it’s more important to have a balanced life where health and family is well-integrated into work where one is able to carry on this journey in life in a more sustainable manner.

I’m not giving up my dream of being financially free. But I realise it’s not a race to cheong to financial freedom and find one without meaning and balance in life.

I’d rather arrive at financial freedom, having enjoyed the journey and gained more than just $$$ of passive income but having never truly experienced life for its flavours, colours, passions and emotions.

How is your own financial freedom journey working out?

Be well and prosper.

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.

Life is unpredictable

Over the New Year holiday period, the report of a 44 year-old CEO of a billionnaire dollar company hit the news when it appeared that his death was caused by cosmetic surgery – liposuction.

Stories like this and my own encounters with NSmen and regulars who passed away during NSF and NS (reservist) times remind me of the fragility of life and not to narrowly focus on the end result of achieving financial freedom and lose sight of enjoying the process.

“Your Money or Your Life” by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez echoes the same message and the key question raised by the authors is whether we are making a living or more akin to making a dying in our quest for money, money and more money.

Goals for 2010

Given the past events of 2009, I look forward towards 2010 with hope and anticipation. I realise that I will continue striving towards my journey of being financially free before age 45 and I will allow myself to enjoy the process and avoid being overly obsessed with the ends and neglect being alive to the means.

Thus my goals for 2010 will reflect the different aspects of my life beyond only financial targets.

Goal #1: Financial – Save 15% of income

This goal spurs me to continue to focus on my earning and spending and to save 15% in cash above my insurance and CPF contributions. This will be an interesting goal as I’ll be starting a mortgage a few months down the road for my new home.

Thus, the challenge is to fund my new home and yet save some cash on a rainy day while supporting 4 mouths (myself, my spouse, daughter and maid).

Goal #2: Health – Exercise 2 x a week, eat healthily and manage stress

We know that wealth without health is meaningless. Health requires effort. So far, controlling my diet is getting easier as I generally eat healthy breakfasts and home cooked meals except for lunch. I will continue with the diet part but know that the exercise part is lacking. I’ll try to swim more to build up my cardio-vascular fitness and some light jogging.

Managing stress is equally important. Much of this focusses on anger management and to “go with the flow” more about life issues. Recently, I found myself getting slightly better but can do more to improve this area.

Goal #3: Career – Build Up Experience and Team

My career will be the biggest contributor of income for the next 20-30 years. Thus, it’s important that I continue to build relevant skills and experience in my chosen career in internal audit. I am fortunate to work with a good team and I’ll continue to develop my people so that as a team we become more effective, efficient and innovative.

Goal #4: Family

My daughter is growing up fast. In a blink of an eye, she’s now 22 months old, running around, full of joy, life and energy! She tires me out so much during weekends that I find working in the office less tiring than looking after her.

I’ll continue to enjoy weekends and evenings with family and to build strong relationships with my spouse and daughter. I realise that no matter what happens to me, I will have a legacy through my daughter and that soothes me much when the going gets tough.

The goals I’ve set are not the traditional new year’s resolutions to be made and then forgotten as the year progresses. I’ll review them from time to time to remind myself to stay true to the direction I want my life to take.

What are your goals, financial or otherwise, in your own life?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

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.

The net result is that he has managed to continue to live within his means by ensuring that on most months i.e. 11 out of 12 he will have cash savings on top of CPF contributions.

Panzer hasn’t drastically changed his lifestyle and continues to focus on meeting needs first and satisfying wants later. His approach in spending 10%-20% of windfall gains or passive income on small luxuries gives him the impetus to continue on this path of living within his means.

Saving and investing

Arising from his spending below income, Panzer was able to generally able to save some money each month and slowly build up his investible capital. He was fortunate to realise some small losses only and was able to free up his capital during the run-up since March 2009 to date and manage to hit 10% return on investible capital. This refers to realised capital gains / losses from share trading, dividends, interest and blogging income.

He was fortunate because he managed to catch some of the upward correction in Singapore stock market to do so. Next year would be more challenging as he has liquidated a fair portion of his portion in anticipation of purchasing of property for residential use.

Panzer’s returns of 10% were contributed by realised capital gains (55%), dividends (34%), interest (1%) and blogging (10%). This showed him how dismal interest rates have been resulting in poor returns if he had not actively managed or deployed his capital and let his money rot in fixed deposits.

It was interesting to see blogging income contributing to 10% of total investment income though technically blogging requires slightly more effort though it gets easier over time.

Growing your means

Panzer’s career continues in his practice of internal audit and it has allowed him to develop a decent career. He believes he can continue in this field for the next 25-30 years and build up his retirement savings as CPF would continue mainly to be locked up in home equity.

He learnt now more to manage people in his career and going forward, his managerial skills would come in useful on top of his skills as a Certified Internal Auditor, Certified Public Accountant (non-practising).

Protecting your means

Panzer has not done anything significant as he is already covered by whole life policies, investment linked policy (which he knows is not the best solution and intends to let go before mortality charges get too high) as well as hospitalisation and surgical insurance.

Health is the next big focus as Panzer realises he must continue to spend time exercising, eating healthily and managing stress to keep himself in good condition to last the next 30 years of working life.

Personal Developments

Panzer’s daughter is coming to 22 months and she is teaching Panzer each day about being alive, being curious about the world and having fun no matter what.

He realises that family is critical to having a happy life and would continue to remember not to neglect family just to achieve financial freedom as it would have little meaning without family.

Friends of Panzer have also helped him let off steam and counselled him when he ran into challenges in life. He will continue to develop the close bonds with his ex-colleagues or “gang” as they are a source of inspiration and support throughout life.

The key reflection that Panzer has for 2010 after looking back at 2009 is to be ready for CHANGE.

Change is inevitable but how we react to it is the experience we gain from managing the challenges of life.

How was your 2009 and what are your thoughts for 2010?

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image "Al Capone’s house in Varadero, Cuba" by Scaturchio

I am currently suffering a bout of upper respiratory track infection and thus went to see the doctor after urging by the Wife. The doctor prescribed me the medicines to treat my symptoms of phlegm and cough and also a dose of anti-biotics to clear up the infection.

The bill for the clinic was $81.70 partly because I went on boxing day evening (Saturday evening) and the doctor prescribed “original” antibiotics. OEM stuff generally works but costs much less.

Other than feeling slightly ripped off, I realised that money is not everything especially when I am hit with bouts of minor illness.

This post is triggered by La Pappillon’s related post “Christmas Day Reflections” that really money is not everything and we use money to transform into experiences.

Money Makes the World Go Round

Money is needed to live in today’s world. Denizens of Singapore Inc. know this by heart. As the chinese saying goes, “Money is not everything. But everything is money!”

The more I travel along this route towards financial freedom, the more I come to realise that really money is energy that is transferred from one form to another. We expend lots of energy, effort and our life-force to earn money. And then we spend it away sometimes without thinking much about how the spending makes our life more meaningful, gives us value and satisfaction.

How we achieve this balance of spending our life-force to earn money and maintain some of it for other things beyond work and business to earn that money lies the answer to happiness.

Money by itself doesn’t buy happiness. In reality, happiness and money are not closely correlated once your basic needs are met. Once you get beyond worrying about your shelter, your next meal i.e. safety and security needs, happiness lies more in the experiences in your life. How you enjoy each moment while at work, at play and at home.

Your Money and Your Experience

One of the great break-throughs I’ve discovered in my journey towards financial freedom is to break free from a fixed mindset. The paradox is that even as I focus on living within my means, saving and investing and growing my means, I start to discover that the closer you are to your goal, other possibilities emerge.

For instance, I used to be against car ownership because of the high costs and that in general, it’s not a value-for-money proposition IF you can navigate with public transport.

Car – Necessity or Luxury?

After the birth of my daughter, my perspective changed totally in that I realised the usefulness of a car to run errands, bring my daughter comfortably and safely from point A to point B.

So that $56,000 that I spend on the car transformed my experience of travelling with my family on weekends. We are able to get to parks and gardens in relative ease and comfort, adding much value and fulfilment in our weekend experiences.

Now I am again looking at properties but not from a investment angle but more from a new home angle. My current place has served my family and I well but we want to move to a quieter neighbourhood.

After doing my sums, I realise there is a possibility of moving to a nicer neighbourhood and a bit more equidistant between both sets of parents that it makes sense. Of course, that involves additional capital and would result in my goal of financial freedom taking a few more years to achieve.

But I can live with that. It is because I realise that it’s not about just having investible net worth churning out passive income, it is also about transforming one’s experiences within one’s means.

I realise I do want to work even beyond 62 to keep mentally active and also to generate earned income. I also focus on increasing my investible net worth. It’s just that I’ll be taken a longer route to reach my goal but I get to enjoy some nice views while doing so.

How do you think your money allows you to transform your experiences?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image "Change We Can Believe In Tour, Muscatine, IA 11/7/07" by Barrack Obama

The journey towards financial freedom is a journey towards understanding oneself. In living the principles of living within my means, saving and investing as well as growing and protecting my means, I learn more about myself as I take each tiny step towards the ambitious goal of not having to “work” for a living.

One key lesson I continue to learn is to embrace change. Just as the President of the United States Barrack Obama came up with his slogans for CHANGE and YES WE CAN. I believe change is the inevitable part of learning and growing as a person.

While we may still be the same person in our physical skins, mentally, as we learn about new knowledge, skills and abilities, we change. And as we trade our youth and years for experience and wisdom, we emerge a slightly different person. We see things from a different perspective. We examine our past with better insights about the stupid things we used to do. We look forward to the future with growing confidence that, YES WE CAN adapt to the changes that will continually challenge us in our journey towards financial freedom.

How to Change Your Life Towards Financial Freedom

Each of us has to define our own paths towards financial freedom. The key thing is that we have to embrace change if our current lifestyle, work habits and investment approach doesn’t bring us closer to our goal of achieving financial freedom.

1. Change your mindset

This is what 99% of self-help books will tell you. And it’s because it’s TRUE. Your mind is truly what guides you in life. Targets you set or miss depend a lot on first being created in your mind. If you think this is some new age pooh-pooh, I’ll highly recommend reading Napolean Hill’s THINK AND GROW RICH.

I’m constantly amazed about how I am able to achieve the returns on investment even in brutal markets of 2008. Partly, I am fortunate to have holding power but it’s also because I come to the game with a positive mindset that I can ride out the storms and go for blue chips that have fundamental proftitable businesses to back them up.

2. Open Your Mind to New Ideas

Having an open mind is important towards financial freedom. It’s not being so open as to invest in any “too good to be true” scams that appear in the guise of “sure-win” investments which are in fact ponzi schemes.

But it’s to be open to listen to new ideas about living within your means, saving and investing as well as growing and protecting your means. You can first listen, but then you have to exercise professional scepticism to weed out the genuine investments from the koyok or snake oil.

It’s challenging to draw the line between the two but you can achieve it if you also do the next step.

3. Read Widely to Change Preconceived Notions and Dogma

Many things we learn in investing we tend to hear those motherhood statements. Whether motherhood statements hold true really depends on the context in which they are played out. To give yourself more context to evaluate ideas that help or hinder your way towards financial freedom, you should aim to read widely.

This is a big change as many of us would want to avoid reading books and especially non-fiction after finishing our education. But the reality is that there is so much wisdom and common sense in books recommended by many gurus that one misses out so much available context and histories in which to broaden our mind and sharpen our evaluation and critical thinking skills.

The best way to challenge and change preconceived ideas and dogma you learn from sources is to read widely. Good books abound and the trick is not just to browse in the library aimlessly but go find out good recommendations from people you follow and respect for those books.

I try to read books recommended by authors I read as they would recommend stuff that is relevant to the subject matter at hand. The best thing is that in Singapore, public libraries are relatively well stocked and free for citizens. So make full use of your rights as a citizen to access this wealth of knowledge.

4. Experiment, Learn, Try Again and Succeed

Life is not to be studied purely by reading and observing. We need also to get into the game by trying different things. My own explorations into equity investing started out in 2003 and has come some way to today.

Now I’m more confident about buying/selling or investing in stocks but I also understand the pitfalls more. This helps me to make use of equities as an asset class to achieve higher returns than deposits and savings and is a better way to deploy my investible capital.

The point is you have to take the plunge and experiment to truly learn. Reading books is a pre-requisite but the other fulfilment is to JUST DO IT. Do it within your means and experiment to see what investments turn out well or not based on your risk/return profile.

Ultimately, life is one big experiment.

Go try it out.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr! Image Grasmere in The Lake District, Cumbria UK by floato

Now that the end of 2009 is in sight, Panzer is in a contemplative mood because the Christmas muzak played all over Singapore is interfering with his brain waves resulting in the following Panzerian “predictions” for 2010.

These trends are all related to what he sees for the Singapore stock market and key trends going on from his Panzer street view. These predictions are made purely for entertainment value and because Panzer is trying to write blog posts more often. He now averages one every other week which isn’t very helpful to those who want to read more about financial freedom and his occasional quirky anecdotes about the not-so-secret diary of a CPA.

Panzer’s Predictions

1. Singapore Population will increase

This should be a no-brainer as the Government has said it intends to slow down by not stop the rate of immigration of people from PRC, India, south-east asia. Ultimately, the Government’s plan to develop Singapore as a global city can work only if there is enough human labour to supply businesses and industries who use are in Singapore to produce goods and services for sale and export.

2. HDB and general property prices will still rise (though more moderately)

So long as immigration continues and the overall population increases, the demand for homes will continue to increase. Given HDB’s supply is controlled by the government and is the monopoly for public and even semi-public (resale HDB) supply. The price of HDB will continue to rise if demand continues and supply is still relatively slow to catch up.

With more smaller families and singles, divorcees etc,  the demand for homes will increase as it will be less common to find 3 generations in the same roof. Ah gong and ah ma also want their own space even as ah girl and ah boy grow up, get married, move out and have kids. Don’t forget ah girl or boy who doesn’t get married will also aspire to have his/her own bachelor/ette pad.

3. STI will rise and fall but overall trend would be in line with GDP growth

So long as GDP growth is positive in Singapore and overall recovery in the world economy, STI should continue upwards. Of course, many (including Panzer) are banking on an election rally to pump up equity prices but would need to consider taking some profit off the table as the current administration is good at releasing good news to inject the feel good factor into voters before unleashing the unpopular policies very quickly after being elected back into power.

Thus, Panzer is still bullish from now until elections (anytime from 2Q to 4Q 2010) but would seriously sell some of his holdings if he feels the euphoria released by the mass media appears too good to be true.

4. Panzer’s return on investments should beat benchmark of 2 x fixed deposits (1 year) rates

Panzer counts himself blessed that he managed to achieve about 8% returns last year from realised capital gains from sales of equities, dividends, blogging income and interest from bank deposits. This is net of investment realised losses. While he is working to get passive income up to the magical $36,000 a year or so. The reality is that he has a long way to go and still have to continue to work until age 62 partly because employment income is still the main source of income and that Panzer knows his brain will rot if he doesn’t keep himself active even post 62.

5. Panzer’s will become 1 year older. He hopes he will be 1 year wiser

Panzer confirms that he will be 1 year older in 2010. The addition of a year to his age hopefully comes with an additional year of wisdom. He knows that his journey towards financial freedom has allowed him to do what he didn’t dare to do previously, be more aggressive in investing in equities and also to be more aware of portfolio management and also diversifying his sources of income.

Ultimately, the whole point of this journey towards financial freedom is not in just meeting the goal eventually, but learning what he needs to in order to become a better person in managing his life and his money.

What are your predictions for 2010?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.

Be well and prosper.

Flickr image Planet - Jones Valley Urban Farm by Southern Pixel

Those of you who are readers of science fiction author Douglas Adams would know that the title of my post is taken from one of his book titles.

It’s a useful title because it can be used for more philosophical posts which touch on many topics and come back to the key theme of my blog, i.e. achieving financial freedom and the reasons we pursue financial freedom.

Knowing the Why is Important

The whys of doing something become increasingly important the older one gets because Death is literally waiting for us at the end of our lives. The day we are born is also the day we start dying.

For some, the dying starts in the 40s or 50s when mid-life crisis hits and we start to wonder, what has our lives been for? What has the slogging, hard work, providing for ourselves and family got us? Are we happy?

For others, the dying could only start when we are literally near Death’s door, in our 80s, 90s and even 100s when we have lived a life filled with purpose, reason and happiness.

I see financial freedom as a means and not the ends in itself. Being financially free allows you to get out of the rat-race, if you so choose, and explore other facets of life besides being stuck in a 9-5 life behind the desk or out in the world doing what others tell you to.

Of course, some already have lives of their choosing, i.e. they enjoy the 9-5 life if their interests, skills and passions are aligned with their careers and jobs.

The important thing I have realised in my own journey towards financial freedom is to define what financial freedom means to me and why I want to pursue it. My key reason is to be free to choose how I can retire rather than be constrained by the rules put up by the Government to lock up my Central Provident Fund (retirement savings) through the CPF Life and Minimum Sum schemes.

I want to be financially free so that I can spend a more time with pursuits that give me immense satisfaction, i.e. my toastmasters journey where I get to touch other people’s lives through public speaking. That ability to influence, motivate and inspire people through public speaking is something I only realised after 5 years in the toastmasters movement.

I’ve met quite a number of retired people who enjoy fulfilling lives with the help of toastmasters because it helps people who are no longer working in touch with a social group and a common purpose.

Moving Through Life with a Purpose

Your own reason “why” for financial freedom is personal. It can be as simple as the need for financial security for yourself and your family. It can be because you want to do whatever you want and don’t want to have someone i.e. your boss or your customers to tell you what to do.

But when you’ve set your own reason towards the path of financial freedom, your decisions in life will be guided by the goals, i.e. to live within your means, to save and invest, to grow and protect your means.

Going through life with a purpose beats meandering around it aimlessly and waiting for things to happen. One of the benefits of setting myself the goal towards financial freedom is that it prodded me to take action and gain greater control of my finances. I now tracking my income and expenditure and net-worth Mondays to Fridays.

It allows me to eliminate fuzziness on how much I earn from my career and receive from investments, how much I spend on myself and my family and how much is left to grow my net-worth towards my investible target of $1m (excluding residential home).

The interesting thing is that as I track my journey and inch closer to my target each day, month and year. I become more encouraged to do more to move myself towards my target. There is progress, there is growth and there is also knowledge that I am moving towards my objective.

Smell the Roses and Drink the Cappucino

Yesterday, my staff told me that her father had been diagnosed with cancer which looks likely to be terminal. Thus, she would be taking a break from work to spend more time with him. Her father is only 55 years old.

Life can hit us with unexpected surprises. You can plan and plan but you cannot predict what will happen.

I now realise more than ever that even as one moves towards growing our net-worth by saving and investing, we should also allocate some money e.g. 10% or more of bonuses, windfall gains and other investment receipts for small luxuries in life.

That cup of cappucino at Starbucks or Coffeebean. That nice iPhone 3GS. That good looking outfit in the store.

Yes, live within our means, save and invest while growing and protecting our means.

But also live a little, enjoy life a little and take deep breaths of air and give thanks that we have our lives, our families and our health.

Be well and prosper.