“Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time”
Critical Illness?
Path to Investing: How You Should Begin
Investing can seem like a very daunting process. Here’s how you could get started.
The sooner you start, the easier it will be to build a big enough nest egg to make life easier in the future.
BUT
Investing always includes risk.
Risk of what? Well, simply put, it is the risk of losing your money, and your mind along with it.
Hence, it is important that you have a solid financial foundation before you begin.
What is a “Solid Financial Foundation”?
A solid financial foundation is your first line of defence: your health, hospitalization and accident insurance, your rainy day & emergency fund savings.
This serves as your first and most important line of defence for your financial health, as it protects your ability to continue earning an income (or at least weathers you through the days in which you can’t)
A couple of things to get right here:
1. For your “defensive” insurance, be sure to include adequate hospitalisation insurance on top of what your company already provides, as company insurance is not portable (you cannot take it with you should you be fired or leave the company). In the event you develop a medical condition during your company cover, and you subsequently get laid off, you’ll not be able to cover this medical condition in your hospitalisation insurance.
2. For self-employed people, ensure your emergency funds can cover expenses, liabilities and loans to be paid off, etc for a good 12 months (6-9 months is recommended for full-time employees)
3. If you have dependents such as children or if you’re supporting your elderly parents, speak with a financial consultant to ensure you have adequate insurance cover. Your financial consultant is trained in providing expert advice and solutions for you.
Ready to take charge of your financial health? Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
“Act boldly, and create your own circumstances instead of waiting for them to define you.”
Act boldly, and create your own circumstances instead of waiting for them to define you.
Work with what you have, and then some (more).
Plenty of us have a day job. On occasion, you chance upon this certain group of people who seem to have it all – time, happiness, money, and fulfilment in what they do. You begin to wonder why you aren’t in a similar position as they are, and how you could achieve the same.
Side note:
No matter what your circumstances are, and despite your circumstances, you have all the opportunities to become a happy and fulfilled person, too. Perhaps you’re not born with a silver spoon, served lunch on a silver platter every day, neither do you drive a fancy car, but that’s okay. Soon, you’ll realise life is more than fancy cars and houses. I’ll probably pen this down in a blog post later, for now, let’s focus on today’s topic on working with what you have, and then some (more).
Passive & Active Income: You Need Both.
When I first started freelancing at the age of 14, I honestly had no idea what personal finance was nor had I the slightest clue about financial planning and the importance of it. This led to a series of pretty stupid choices, from spending too freely and lending money too readily, ultimately destroying my financial stability. Picking myself up again wasn’t all that difficult, but it took some time getting used to.
I began to understand the kind of power time has on each and every one of us, and how it can be used to benefit or harm ourselves now and in the long run.
One of the key things I felt most strongly about was the ability to create both passive and active income streams. Perhaps this urgency is stronger due to my personal experiences and the fact that I’m a woman. Having both flexibility and a comfortable income was something incredibly important to me and thus urgent for me to establish.
Create Multiple Income Streams for Security and Wealth
Imagine losing your day job. Your family might have some emergency savings to cover for the next five to nine months. Now imagine having multiple income streams to give you the means to keep you afloat for an additional year or so, perhaps more. Neither will you nor your family feel the acute stress of having to find ways to unplug that stream of income. It will also provide much more time to clear your mind and figure out the next steps in your career, instead of jumping into just any job that would offer some semblance of an income and stability. You could even enjoy your period of unemployment and focus on building your side businesses.
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
Having multiple income streams in today’s world is key to financial security, but for many of us, it could well be the first time you’ll have to rely on investments and business income.
Currently, I’m building out two sources of income plus my full time job as a financial planner – an education business and an online health and wellness store. I’m considering adding a few more in the next year, too.
With that, let’s explore some possible passive and active income streams you should start tapping into to grow your income and achieve more.
Side note: As I grappled with my first month in a new career, I also learnt the importance of protecting my ability to earn and my future net worth, two topics I will be sharing in future posts.
Active Income: The Definition
Active income is earned by trading your time for money. As long as you find yourself spending more than an hour or two of your time per week on it, it is considered an active income stream.
Examples:
- A salaried full-time job, or hourly work
- A side business or gig, commissioned income (i.e. sales), or side hustle income.
Active Income: The Definition
Active income is earned by trading your time for money. As long as you find yourself spending more than an hour or two of your time per week on it, it is considered an active income stream.
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
Examples:
- A salaried full-time job, or hourly work:
There is tranquility in having a full-time, salaried job. From employer CPF contributions into your CPF account (think free money for your retirement) to a full range of medical benefits and even intangible benefits such as having coworkers to socialise with and an easier access to industry-specific networking, a full-time job always has its upsides. - A side business or gig, commissioned income (i.e. sales), or side hustle income:
A side business earns you income differently than full-time workers in that not only do you pay yourself a salary, but you also get to pocket the profits, which makes it a pretty sweet deal.
Side hustle income includes money earned from driving Grab or GoJek, freelancing in your area of specialty (e.g social media marketing) via Zomwork, or tutoring students by taking on additional tuition classes via tuition agencies such as A1 Tuition Academy.
Passive Income: The Definition
This is the sweet spot we all hope to achieve. Passive income is earned by investing either an upfront amount of time and/or money into investments, income-generating assets, and business ideas that pay you even if you’re not working.
It should be noted that no income stream is 100% passive. It simply requires significantly less amount of time to monitor and manage depending on their different levels of passivity.
For example, a savings account that pays interest needs very little monitoring, while dividend stocks require a bit more attention. A rental unit may require an hour or two of your time per month, or several hours on some days going through legal or renovation works.
Examples:
- Dividend income
Dividend income is turning out to be one of my favorite income streams for the ease of administering and management on day-to-day (or sometimes, month-to-month). Moreover, income from dividends is far more predictable than market fluctuations. - Rental income
As mentioned earlier, rental income is one of the most passive ways to earn a side income stream without having to do very much at all on a day to day basis. However, in order to have rental income, you would need a rather significant upfront capital to purchase properties (single or jointly).
Side note:
Most people turn to properties in Malaysia or United Kingdom for the affordability reason. However, don’t forget currency exchange risks and the additional management fees, plus air tickets or travel expenses should you need to visit your property for legal, management, or other purposes, all of which could add up pretty quickly in the long run and requiring much more of your time! Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy - Royalties
Artists, writers, and musicians can earn recurring passive income from royalties paid for the work they have created. This option does require effort upfront in creating these materials (e.g: a book or music album), but the effort pays off in the long run.
Talent, level of success, recognition, and a sprinkle of luck are needed too, in determining how well this passive income option can be for you.
- Investment products, investment-linked products, and various savings products from financial services companies
Many financial products out there are designed to help you earn your income (in the long run) passively. Depending on your age and financial circumstances, there are products out there that would fit your needs and take that headache off your mind.
How many income streams is too much?
My advise would be to start with one and calibrate.
There are some of us who in many cases tend to overwhelm ourselves with too many options and too many side gigs. Take some time to analyze if that income stream is working out for you. Here are some questions to ask yourself:
- Am I turning a decent profit?
- Is this impacting my mental health in a good or bad way? Can my loved ones benefit or be harmed by this effect on my mental health?
- Is my physical health and emotional well-being positively or negatively impacted?
- Am I finding both financial and emotional fulfilment with this side income stream (passive or active)?
- Am I on the road to burning out, or will I just need to grind this one out for a couple of months and be able to minimize efforts while maintaining the income stream?
- How sustainable is this income stream in the long run?
Consider also the security, flexibility, and wealth creation opportunities this income stream would provide for you.
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
Your family and financial outlook plays a lot into your decision. It would be good to review this with your spouse and a dedicated financial planner to help ascertain your readiness for taking on another income stream and the potential outcomes.
Secret to making it work? Accountability and Persistence.
The key to creating multiple income streams are two things: accountability and persistence. This is not a get rich quick scheme. In fact, most things in life are never a get rich quick scheme.
Getting started with the right mindset and approach is paramount. If you spend too much time ruminating or waiting, you’re losing out on time —something you cannot earn back.
At a minimum, explore financial products with a dedicated financial planner and perhaps open a higher interest-bearing savings account, invest $100 in a stock ETF (Exchange Traded Fund), which are perfect for beginners and those who wish to get a head start in building passive income-generating assets.
Recalibrating your mindset and kicking old habits comes next. You’ll need to actively pull your brain away from being the typical consumer. Smarter money habits help you spend less and earn more. Think constantly about creating sustainable wealth, rather than what drinks you’ll be having next Friday night and the available hangover options the morning after.
When you begin to see each dollar and cent as an opportunity, a potential building block of your wealth, you’ll start to notice how you want to hold onto more of them and keep them safe.
“Earn more, spend less, invest the surplus, protect what you have and what you will own in the future.”
Use your primary source of income (for most of us, that’s our full time job) as the main driver while you slowly build supplemental income. Exceed expectations at your day job. Celebrate the bonuses, the raises, the commissions, but don’t spend them mindlessly or piss them away (literally 🍺🍺🍺)
More importantly, focus on one income stream at a time. Build something that is sustainable and works as either passive or secondary active stream, one at a time, instead of taking on too much at one go and burning out in the end.
Lastly, keep on building, creating, reinvesting, sustaining, and protecting what you have.
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
Risks. And Stuff.
Why do some of the richest people go broke?
The herd mentality could be one reason. When you’re with a certain social group, you tend to keep up with the lifestyle and expectations and social norms of the group. If everyone’s spending $50 on lunch every other weekday, it would seem entirely normal and perfectly alright to do the same for yourself, since everyone’s doing it. If everyone owns a classic Chanel caviar leather flap bag, then it would too seem normal to purchase and own one (or a couple) of your own. If everyone’s blowing their cash and breaking the bank (and credit cards!) on the latest cars, or an entire collection of Macallan M’s, then it’s easy for you to imagine the same for yourself.
Whether that bag, that watch, that car, that lifestyle translates to a status of wealth, a feel-good factor, or is simply accepted as part of the norm within your social circle, it can be refreshing to take a couple of steps back and look at what truly matters to you.
Some of the richest people go broke because they partake all too readily in the herd mentality and readily welcome the kind of lifestyle their social circle indulge in, without seriously considering the risks and impact on themselves when things do go awry. When reality finally hits, it hits hard and fast. It will be nearly impossible to build the same sort of finances and income when you’ve reached that breaking point. Time to pick yourself back up again, hopefully?
How Does One Mitigate Such Risks?
NFL Player Justin Tuck* sets a great example of someone who’s had a great (and cash rich) career in his 11-year stint as one of the top NFL players, yet has made some seriously smart decisions to help him avoid the financial death trap of most NFL players raking in the same kind of income he’s enjoyed.
The typical career lifespan of a NFL player is anywhere between 1 to 10 years. Justin Tuck stretched his over 11 years, but conscientiously chose to mitigate the risks and impact that the end of his NFL career would bring about by investing in education (in one of the most prestigious schools for finance, I might add). He knew there was an end to his lucrative and awe-inspiring career as a NFL player, and he made the intelligent decision of investing in himself in a different industry, crafting out another source of income and career path for himself for those days when he will no longer be a part of the NFL.
When you’re caught up with living, you know, the whole “I am adulting, working, earning an income, trying to make sense of my life as a new parent, blah blah blah” shenanigans, don’t forget you’re still playing the game of life. You still need your long term strategy, and you will still have risks you need to plan ahead for to mitigate, and hopefully avoid without too much damage to your financial, emotional, and physical health.
Think about your life as a game, you know, one of those city-building roleplaying games where one city goes to war with another to expand territories and such. You know better than I do that in order to expand your territory successfully, you’ll not only need to protect what you currently have, you’ll also have to plan resources to both attain new land and protect that new plot of land. You’ll then have to allocate resources and time and effort to grow the new plot of land, all while spending resources in building a thriving community on the lands you currently own, protecting what you already have, and strategising on the next land acquisition.
Your lands are what you own – tangible and intangible assets.
Financial plans are a means of protecting and acquiring new plots of land.
Good financial consultants are there to help guide you on strategy, on products, and helping you acquire things you need to both safeguard and increase what you own.
“Any fool can spend money. But to earn it and save it and defer gratification — then you learn to value it differently”
“Any fool can spend money. But to earn it and save it and defer gratification — then you learn to value it differently”
Your Retirement Strategy & The Case of a Marathon Runner
At a tender age of ten, my physical education (P.E) instructor at the public, neighbourhood school I attended, would scream at the top of his lungs as we struggled to complete the entire obstacle course,
“BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND,”
Our feeble attempts were in vain. Most of us, myself included, collapsed by the side of the running track, desperately gasping for air. I sat clutching the side of my stomach, resisting the urge to throw up.
The end in mind for me was to complete the entire course.
No matter how many times I fell over, stopped to catch my breath, steady the unbearable churning in my stomach and attempt to swallow the hot acid sitting at the back of my throat, I was determined to get to the finish line alive and live to brag about it.
This is a story I enjoy sharing with my clients when I broach the topic of retirement planning and retirement strategy.
Whatever we’re doing right now, time isn’t going to stop and wait for us. It keeps moving ahead, waiting for nothing and no one. All the obstacles and challenges, all the distractions in life make tempting reasons to blissfully ignore the fact that we are all going to approach this one common goal that lies ahead of us: retirement.
What we choose to do right now, today, this month, this year, is inevitably going to impact how well we’re going to live in our retirement years.
We could choose to wait, for we might feel there are more important, up and coming challenges to address.
Challenges and obstacles we can see immediately ahead of us can be incredibly distracting.
A sprinter would think of giving his all for those ten precious seconds, while a marathon runner would decisively pace himself throughout the entire course, ensuring to preserve enough energy to complete the race well and alive, while exerting just enough to meet and conquer all the hurdles and obstructions and impediments that will come his way.
A marathon runner inherently knows and is always consciously aware that his progress will be impeded one way or another.
If he should exert too much energy at the beginning of the marathon in order to get ahead of some of his peers, he risks running out of strength to keep up his pace to complete the marathon.
By ignoring the importance of pacing himself throughout the run, and failing to effectively execute his pacing strategy, he knows that the likelihood of him ever completing the marathon would be much less than if he had a strategy and stuck with it until the end.
Our retirement is the end goal we should begin planning a strategy for as soon as we receive that very first paycheck. That paycheck acts as the whistle that slices through the deafening silence at the beginning of any marathon, telling you it’s time you give your very best shot.
What is your retirement strategy like and how are you with executing it?
Book your appointment for a financial review: https://calendly.com/cherietanjy
“Fall down seven, and.. take a rest, honey.”
“Fall down seven, and.. take a rest, honey.”
“Money that doesn’t work for you is money that is wasted”
“Money that doesn’t work for you is money that is wasted”
