One of life's best pleasures is to travel. I can't possibly live my whole life here on earth & only travel to certain countries. That's not the way life should be. There's no difference to being a prisoner in jail. In this instance, singapore being my jail cell and I can never "break" out to travel and explore the "outside".
One of the biggest reason to embark on this journey to financial freedom is so that I can travel and travel and.. travel.
Different people have different goals in life, what's yours?
Financial freedom to me means that my passive income does not exceed my expenses. For e.g if my passive income is $2k/month and my monthly expenses is less than that, then I have reached my financial freedom!
Financial freedom isn't hard to obtain but it does require a price to pay just like anything else. It requires you to save and not spend extravagantly & to invest at the right time in a particular REIT or any other stocks depending on your risk appetite.
If you don't invest and only put the money in the bank, inflation will eat your hard earned money away. That being said, it's still better than taking your hard earned money and speculate/gamble in the stock market! So please, it really depends on how motivated you are & how willing you are to invest time to educate yourself before embarking on your own journey on financial freedom. Personally, I'm very motivated as I really wish to travel and not work forever or til 60+ years old. I don't like the idea of being a corporate slave for the rest of my life driving posh cars/staying in big landed houses. In fact, people who do that aren't exactly rich as they are in huge debts! They have to keep working til they finally pay off their debts (if ever). They can't sleep at night in an economic downturn or recession as the fear of losing their jobs keeps them wide awake, tossing in bed.
That's not the kind of lifestyle that I want or wish for anyone. Life can be simple, live within your means and pursue your goals. For me, my ultimate life goal is to set my foot onto almost every single country known to mankind.
Why work your whole life away when you can work 10-15years and then semi-retire or even fully retire because your passive income allows you to do just that after much self-discipline & adopting a relatively conserved style of investing? That's exactly what I'm going to do.
Investing is risky if the investor is financially illiterate & takes a gamble with the market. That's no different from someone trying their luck at the casino. But if a person is financially literate, knowledgeable & familiar with the market then it's less risky. Investment is never 0% risk.
Of course I won't be solely investing in REITs. I have another life endowment plan that I took on a few years back and I may also take up another similar plan once I enter the workforce for diversity purpose. However, the bulk of my savings will be going into REITs where it will generate at least 6-9% return on my invested capital. For instance, if I'm vested 150k into REITs and have an average dividend yield of 9% annually means I'll receive $13,500 in passive income annually. That translates to $1,125 monthly. Now, the question is, will I be able to survive on $1,125 monthly? If no, it means I have to invest more to get more passive income. Simple, isn't it? Don't forget that on top of dividends, there's also stock price appreciation. Also, these dividends that I receive while I'm still on full time employment can be used to re-invest into REITs.
Most people are intimidated by the stock market & no doubt, I used to feel that way as well 2years back. Look at it this way, it's like trying to befriend a stranger. Initially the stranger is unfriendly or may even appear hostile but when you finally befriend that stranger, you realized his/her other "side". Or it's like learning a new language, the more you study, learn and practice, the better you get. It's likewise for the stock market.
Many people today think they are rich just because they own big cars and houses. If those assets are not fully paid off, they are considered liabilities, NOT an asset. Most people are "poor" today due to their inabilities to manage their personal finances or they don't realize how much debts they have. Doesn't matter if you earn 10k a month. You still aren't gonna be "rich" if your expenses are over 10k.
I definitely do not want to work forever or til I reach the supposedly retirement age. The world is our playground, I believe we were made to do so much more than sit at our office desk for 8-9hours daily.
We spend 1/3 (1/4 for those who sleeps lesser) of our life sleeping away. If we spend another 1/3 working.. Then we're left with 1/3 for all else such as meeting friends, doing groceries, taking bus to work, eating, slacking etc.. Is that honestly enough? Well, it isn't enough for me and I ain't gonna be just another person working my life away just to pay off bank loans for my lavish lifestyle. Furthermore, I dont fancy the idea of working an entire year only to be entitled to 21 days of leave. That's tragic in my opinion.
Stop being in the rat race. Get out quick & live your life the way you want to. Stop being the office warrior where you sulk all day long. However, if you love your job then I wish you all the best & I encourage you to continue if your job truly gives you happiness and meaning.
Somtimes, I think its all a conspiracy. Bank lend people loans so that people will continue to drag their feet to work and pay off their loans. This in turns helps corporate companies as they will always have employees working their ass off afraid of losing their jobs. Nowadays, foreign talents are cheaper and an influx of them will be coming here to live in the next few years. Dreadful, but that's the harsh reality. Someday, you might just lose your job to someone else who's younger & cheaper. What will happen then? Will you still be able to finance your car loans and your house mortgage? Society labels you as "rich" but the next moment, you're jobless & in serious debts. "Loser" is probably what society will label you next.
All of that, I want out. I want to be financially free.
Because we were born to run, made to explore, to roam the world.
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