Unhappy Singapore employees!

According to the Randstad World of Work Report which surveys employees from Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, India, Australia and New Zealand, Singaporean employees rate at the top of the "unhappiest" ranking. Moreover, 64% plan to leave their current job in the next 12 months.

Is this surprising?

I think anecdotally, in the mornings when I take the MRT, I can clearly see the general mood of the crowd as we hustle to work. The atmosphere is grim as everybody tries to avoid each other's faces and look busy, most opting to glue their eyes onto their handphones.

It is not difficult to tell that we are a unhappy lot!

But why is this so?

Many of us would throw out the usual suspects, namely, long work hours, horrible bosses, meaningless work and office politics. I am sure we are all familiar with these, and there is not need to elaborate on them.

But must this be so?

There is a popular acronym in the world of Personal Finance, which is FIRE. This stands for Financial Independence, Retiring Early, and embodies the concept of achieving sufficient passive income from assets to cover all necessary expenditure, and thereafter being able to retire, or choose to leave work if one so chooses.

Are you trying to be on FIRE?

I am unashamed to say to I am trying my best to reach this goal. The reasons are as such:

1. I was introduced to the world of personal finance by the very concept of FIRE. The idea intrigued me, but I did not believe it made sense, or was even possible. However, the math was indisputable, and I learnt the importance of having financial literacy that day.
2. I work in an industry where 80+ workweeks are common and 100+ workweeks are not unheard of. This is a line of work where not having a single day off in 3 weeks is simply an event one shrugs off. While I am sure there are those who may face similar challenges in their workplace, wouldn't we all wish to have a choice otherwise? I believe that time is worth so much more than money as time is a very limited (and unpredictable) asset. I would prefer to invest this limited asset with people who matter to me. To preserve more of this limited asset of time, achieving financial independence is my chosen strategy.
3. Having a family changes your perspective on life. No longer am I aiming for the extra dollar to pay for an extravagant lifestyle. Rather, I would seek additional income only for the sake of feeding my family, and enjoying their company. Hence, I do not seek to climb to the very top of the profession anymore (with the attendant sacrifices), and would prefer a conservative strategy to live within my means.

To achieve this goal, there are sacrifices to make as well. As a family, we will choose not to spend lavishly on restaurants frequently, go for exorbitant trips to exotic places and buy unnecessary but highly desirable items for ourselves such as a car. Instead, we choose to have a simpler lifestyle, occasional meals in mid-tier restaurants, conservative trips perhaps once or twice a year (coming up in Nov!) and saving regularly. With this, I hope to progress on my journey to be on FIRE.

Are you unhappy at work and would like to consider an alternative? Would you try to be on FIRE?

Cashflow Quadrant

I spent the weekend reading through Robert Kiyosaki's Cashflow Quadrant. It was an awesome read, and very captivating, and there was no difficulty coming back over and over again to continue reading until I've completed it cover to cover.

I was inspired to read this book from millennial-revolution, who "LOVED" this book.

In the book, Robert identifies that there are 4 groups of people, namely, the E (Employee), S (Self-employed, B (Big business) and I (Investor), with E and S on the left side of the quadrant and B and I on the right side. These groups of people derive their income from different sources, with E and S working hard with their own effort and time to mind other people's business, while B creates the business and I uses money to grow money. The author also goes on to illustrate the different characteristics of the people in the different groups.

The book strongly emphasizes the different approach the groups have towards security and risk. In particular, the E and S groups prioritize security highly, while the B and I groups prioritize freedom and risk-management. The author also notes that the government treats both groups very differently, with oppressive tax regimes for the left quadrant and numerous tax breaks and exemptions for the right.

The author also advocates financial literacy, encouraging people who wish to transit from the E and S groups to the B and I groups to educate and change themselves, in the process of BE-DO-HAVE. Finally, he gives a short course on the baby steps one can take to make the move from the left to the right, including knowing oneself better, managing own cashflow, seeking good mentors, mastering disappointment and keeping the faith.

In this book, Robert Kiyosaki showcases his ability to present his ideas in a manner which is simple for his audience to follow. These ideas are then developed into more complex concepts, and illustrations are provided to present these concepts graphically.

One part of the book that stuck greatly with me was how differently we're treated by the government. The book shows that the cashflow for the left group goes as follows: Income -> Taxes (Income tax) -> Spend, while the cashflow for the right group goes as follows: Income -> Spend -> Tax. This struck me particularly because I've understood EBITDA in income statement for a period now, but the significance of how tax is calculated after spending in a business versus how we are taxed on our incomes as employees did not occur to me until I've read this book.

It was an inspiring book, and I hope to continue my reading journey as I seek to further educate and improve myself. I do encourage those of you who have yet to read this book to consider picking this up (perhaps in the library?), as it is an easy read and there may be good ideas that you may want to pick up and use.