A Singaporean millennial's journey to adulting

I began this whole personal finance journey proper only after graduation , when I got my first proper 9-5 job. I had this whole ‘the world is your oyster!’ mindset, and I felt like I could finally have the freedom to exercise my own financial choices, and be fully responsible for it . When I first came across the idea of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), I was hooked. You mean, it’s possible to not slog away 40 years of my life and then reach the point of retirement? What wonderful amazing idea is this!  Wow, now THAT sounds real tempting.  I started reading up sites and blogs, looking through articles which were written by people who were already on this journey, and I was feeling super pumped.  Not just random people living in the States too, there were articles written by Singaporeans, as this FIRE trend started taking over globally.  Something about people practising it in Singapore which makes it more.... relatable?  Like, even Singaporeans ARE achieving it ! It’s p

Here we are, already in the middle of 2020. Time is sure flying by in the scariest speed possible. Here’s one thing about Aging - nobody tells you how your perception of time changes. I truly understand why they say that time waits for no man lol. Once you’re in your 20s, you just gotta blink once and the next thing you know - you’re someone in your mid-30s, being all astonished because you’ve survived unknowingly in the workforce for more than 10 years. BAAAM. #adulting Now, now. I almost forgot how Dec 2019 was like. I guess I was a different person back then. I was still comfortably in the govt sector, and happily collected my AWS. Who knew how much the world would’ve changed in a span of.... 5 months? Worldwide pandemic. Markets hitting a new low. Us being forced to accept lifestyle changes as new norms. It felt so surreal. It was as if the world were suddenly moving at twice the speed. In the midst of all these, I was struggling with my own personal choices. What