Can I Really Retire Early?

-
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 proven! It’s possible! 

Also found variations of FIRE (Fat FIRE, lean FIRE etc) and with these variations, you could set a goal for yourself to create more leeway, which makes it slightly more realistic or achieveable.

There were a few things which these sites mainly focused on, which were stuff like:
1) Frugality (in terms of spendings and lifestyle) 
2) Focusing on delayed gratification 
3) Saving xx% of your income 
4) Having a diversified investment portfolio

It usually revolves around these points (probably more, just off the top of my head). I read on and felt like even though it seemed that it could be doable (with a truckload of discipline exercised), it just seemed really tough. 

I mean, I have an always-below-the-median pay. Most of these people who are well on track for this journey are making it by leaping through promotion hoops at work, they are bright people who have high incomes and are able to save a large chunk of their income by living way below their means, and then achieving independence at 35 or something.

It was pretty discouraging, especially when you know you’re just an average joe who’ll only earn an average keep. 

However, determined to at least give this whole journey a shot, I decided to break this whole seemingly unattainable journey down into little digestible pieces. The road is long, and I didn’t want to give up just right at the start. 

I started little goal posts for myself, little achievable targets which might keep me encouraged and to keep going.

I'm gonna start sharing what some of my targets are in the next couple of blog posts.

P.S. They aren't BIG things, just something an average salaryman like me can handle. Little baby steps.

Keep ya posted! ;)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 lessons I've learnt at 30

-
Image
I turn 30 this month. If you were to ask 20-year old me, I would've dreaded this day. There's a lot of stigma when it comes to turning old, especially if you're a female. However, as I grow older, I slowly find myself being okay with it. Maybe turning old isn’t as scary as it seems. There are so many things I’ve learnt over the years and I’ve seen articles detailing lessons that were recounted which have given me insight to the writer’s learnings and perspectives. And so I’ve decided to create my own version as well, which could be something worth looking back on in the coming years. 30 things I’ve learnt at 30: 1) Be kinder to yourself. We tend to be really hard on ourselves. One way I’ve learnt to measure this is to imagine how certain thoughts I have for myself would sound when it’s verbalised to someone else. With this, it’s surprising how self-critical I can get. If we’re never like this to others, why are we so unkind with ourselves? 2) Your metabolism slows down grea
Read more

Saving my next $100,000 - How’s it going?

-
Image
The concept of $100,000 by 30 has been so popular in recent years. As someone who was mildly obsessed with personal finance, it was an idea I subscribed to too because of how this goal seemed within reach back then as a fresh graduate. With my ‘always-below-the-median’ meagre salary, finding ways to stretch every dollar became my personal mission. I was a big fan of food discount apps and cashback deals, and would also feel so pleased with myself for not having to fork out the full price for any restaurant meals. Slowly but surely, I reached the holy number that I (and honestly every other person out there) have set out to reach. Not gonna lie, seeing that figure in my finance tracking sheet did feel good. It gave me that little ego boost, and I even felt a little smug about it. It showed that even corporate peasants like me could do it. So what do humans do when they’ve achieved something? They look for a new goal. If you’re someone who frequently reads financial blogs, you would’ve c
Read more

Tracking my income growth since graduation

-
Image
There’s something about the end of the year that makes you particularly reflective. We tend to do a yearly round up or set new year’s resolutions, hoping that the next year would finally be the year that we make it. While I didn’t set any new targets for the year, I decided to still do something to take advantage of the do-something-to-feel-like-im-adulting-right feeling that I was having.  And being the slight psycho that I am (I might be the only person I know who enjoys tracking my net worth monthly ), I decided to reorganise my personal finance sheet - by extending the number of tabs I have to include more aspects in life.  Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels like my life’s more put together after noting down life’s figures on an excel sheet? Haha.  Anyway, after drawing inspiration from a few finance YouTubers/bloggers, I decided to track the following in this holy personal finance sheet that I now proudly own: - Financial port
Read more