3 Ways to Get Rich

I want to be rich and I am figuring out how to get there. There are many ways to become rich and the definition of rich will be different to everyone too. Some may think being able to spend each day meaningfully is considered rich but what I am referring to is to have an abundance of money to spend, to lead a lavish lifestyle or to be so rich that you can retire right away and spend your time in any way you like. Salary alone won't get you there.

1) Invest

We need to make money work for us and one of the way to do so is by investing them in properties, shares or stocks. Investing our money can also generate passive income, for instance dividend income from shares, rental income from renting out properties. In good times, we can cash out our investment and get some capital gains. I am not suggesting that everybody should start to invest their hard-earned money right away because if you are not sure what you are doing, you might lose them all. 

2) Make More AND Spend Less

I have previously blogged about Saving Money vs Making Money and there is a formula which we should remember pertaining to wealth.

WEALTH = WHAT YOU EARN - WHAT YOU SPEND

Increase your income by doing some freelance work, starting a small business etc. At the same time, spend lesser and wisely. Start bringing your own lunch or cut down on buying coffee and make your own. 

3) Start NOW 

We can read many investment guides or do up a schedule to save a certain percentage of our income but we will never be rich if we do not start. Many times we think and tell ourselves we will start tomorrow, next week or next month, but why not now? You may say you are unable to save the intended amount you want but it doesn't matter, start small and slow is fine. If you have not heard about the power of compounding interest, you can read it here. 

Wanting to be rich requires some sacrifices but the end result is rewarding. 

To Retire at Age 35

I will get busy starting next week as I have found a job. Before even starting on the job, I have begun to think of retirement. My ideal retirement age is 35 years old. For your information, that is less than 7 years from now.

When I found out that Mr Money Mustache retire at 30 years old, I was very impressed and began reading his blog. There was one article by him on the math behind his retirement, which you can read it here, talks about the time to reach retirement depends on only ONE factor: Your savings rate, as a percentage of your take-home pay. 

I totally agree to that. Which is why I am very determined to save as much as possible and at the same time, put my savings to work by investing in blue chip shares listed on Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX). 

My Plan (Proposed)

• Save SGD1,200 per month
• I will invest SGD1,000 into shares and the remaining SGD200 will be held in cash
• Any dividend income received will be reinvested 

I will keep track of my progress and update it on the blog as time goes by. 

3 Ways to Stop Impulse Buying

Last week I wanted to buy a polaroid instant photo printer so that I can print out all the photos and display them instead of just keeping them in my mobile phone. Yesterday I wanted to buy a road bike so that I can cycle to places nearby instead of taking a bus or walking. I have also been contemplating whether to sign up for a cheap gym membership too. Well, this is ME. I have a bad habit of buying things on impulse and therefore it is important for me to keep my spending habit under control. Here are 3 useful tips which I think have helped me curb with impulsive buying. 

1) Avoid Temptation
I have stopped online shopping for almost a year by not stop browsing online shopping websites or online retail stores. This is a useful and good way because if you do not see, you can't buy. Avoid situations that will tempt you to spend and your money shall be safe.

2) Follow the Time Rule
Each time you have something you want to purchase, make yourself wait for a specified number of days before purchasing it. You can set your own rule, for instance a '30 Day Rule' means you would have to wait 30 days before purchasing what you have set your eyes on previously. If your urge to purchase that item has passed, then you can strike it off your list. 

3) Give Yourself a Splurge Budget
I love this! This is similar to the Play account of the Jars system of money management. You can read it here. Each month, you get to spend and empty the money allocated to the Splurge Budget. It should make you less likely to make big impulse purchases if you allow yourself some smaller discretionary spending. If you really fancy something costly, then perhaps you can save up the money from your Splurge Budget to buy that.

If you have habits of buying things on impulse, give the above methods a try. I believe you can stop impulse buying the way I did too!

3 Bad Habits of Home Based Business

I used to think that working at home means waking up at any time you like, enjoy your breakfast and then have a cup of coffee while you sit in front of your monitor. Nobody is going to control and decide what you do. You may even have the luxury of time to watch some videos, read a book or even take a power nap.

As you know, I'm on the look-out for a job and meanwhile I have been doing forex trading in the comfort of my bedroom. I started to note that I have developed some bad habits since I started to work from home. 

1) Not Waking Up Early
I no longer wake up when my alarm goes off. Instead, I started to wake up later and later each day. Some days, I might sleep until noon! I used to wake up early because I need to commute to work and since this is no longer required, I began to sleep in. 

Solution: After realizing this, I have since forced myself to get up the same time I used to. It requires a lot of self-discipline and also sleeping early helps. 

2) Working All The Time - Over-trading
There is no fixed office hours saying that I have to start work at 9AM and knock off at 6PM, which led to me consistently looking at charts or news whenever I am in front of the monitor. What happens if you stare at the charts too much? Your tendency of wanting to enter a trade increases and that is not ideal. Our productivity will drop when we do not have sufficient rest.

Solution: Identify what are my working hours. I have decided that I will start work at 10AM and end work at 5PM or after my daily objective is completed.

3) Spending Too Much Time at Home and Not Doing Enough Exercise
After I got up from bed, the next area I go to will be my desk. I will sit there the whole day and even after I stop working, I will still be in front of the monitor reading news or watching videos. On some days, I will get out of my house to meet my friends after they knocked off but that is usually once or twice a week. 

Solution: I try to go out for a walk before and after I end my work. My eyes need to relax and I need to breathe in some fresh air too. I have identified lunch break and tea-break as well so that I do not sit at my desk all the time.



I wonder if there are other people in the same shoe as I am or perhaps, it is only me who is facing such a problem. Nevertheless, it is always good to identify the bad habits and change them. Despite the above, I do feel happy and find it enjoyable to work from home. You can accomplish a lot of tasks once you better manage your time.

Saving Money vs Making Money

I am currently on the look-out for a job and starting to feel the importance of having savings, especially for rainy days like this. No job equates to no income, but the fixed monthly expenses like mobile phone bills, insurance, transportation and food expenses will still be there.

As I see my savings account taking a hit, I start to be thankful that at least I am able to get some pocket money from trading forex. It is very important that we do not rely on solely one income because we never know what will happen. For instance one can be retrenched, met with an accident or become so ill that he/she is unable to commute to work.

There is no doubt that everyone wants to be rich and wealthy but which is more important or likely to lead us to becoming rich? Is it save more money or should we look to making more money? In actual fact, I think it is both.

WEALTH = WHAT YOU EARN - WHAT YOU SPEND

It is easy to see that to be wealthy, we need to take note of how much we are earning and how much we are spending. Earn more and spend less will lead to a wealthy life.

How to Earn More?
The usual source of income for many of us would be salary. To get more from salary is a bit tricky and if we are like the average employees out there, it will more or less be capped at a certain amount. To have a high salary, we need to stand out from our peers, be value-added to the company or if you are lucky, just make sure your boss likes you enough to give you a pay raise and promotion.

Other than salary, I feel we need to know how to source for additional income. One can take on part-time or free-lance job. Otherwise, you can learn to make your money work for you by investing them in stocks that generate dividend income. Alternatively, you can be like me, trade forex for additional income.

How to Spend Less?
This is a tricky question because spending habits differ for every individual. For me, I start to shop online lesser as I know the tendency of me buying things on sale or on impulse is high. I feel you need to look at your spending habits and pattern and then identify if you are spending too much on unnecessary things or which area are you spending too much on. It would be good to install expense tracking apps on your mobile phone to help you control your expenses. If you realised that you have been spending too much on drinks and entertainment, you may want to cut down on your socialising activities for instance. Watching too many movies a month? Then you may want to consider giving yourself a quota on number of movies you can watch per month.

I know this is demoralising and you may feel that you are missing out on a lot fun. Unless you are earning a hell lot more than you spend, otherwise, stay frugal will be a good stepping stone to getting rich.