Hi there!
If you are reading this, I`m most likely meeting you for the first time, so why not just give you a quick introduction of who we are and why we are on this journey towards Financial Independence
WHO ARE WE?
My name is C and I`m married to a beautiful wife D. We are both 33 years old in 2023, Singaporeans born-and-bred, and come from humble families through our growing years. We currently live in a 4-room HDB resale flat, do not have any kids and are both still working.
Growing up, like many other Singaporeans, we were inculcated with the traditional (and typical) values by our Singaporean parents to take the “safe route” :
Study hard, get a degree, become an employee, work till we hit our retirement age, and provide for the next generation.
I`m sure some of you reading this resonates with that.
But life is much more than that right?
WHY ARE WE ON THIS JOURNEY TO FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE NOW?
At the age of 32, I got into a severe health scare. One that threatens my freedom, one that would restrict my activity to only be around the house, and severely impact the quality of my life.
You don’t cherish what you have until you have lost it.
I wouldn’t say I have always been the most healthiest of persons, but I would say I am pretty resilient. I have been working in the fast-paced, high pressure finance industry for the last 8 years and have been in stressful environments all my life. Yet the thought of having to lead my life like this for the rest of my life… really gave me a wake up call.
And that’s when I sat down with my wife to discuss our future plans. She had been a teacher for the last 10 years, and recently moved jobs after increasingly being frustrated with the local education system and the job responsibilities of the role. We described the future we wanted, and we realized all we wanted was one simple thing..
FREEDOM
Freedom is a huge word to encapsulate everything that we wanted, but it was also the one singular word that represents what we truly desire.
Time is the most valuable commodity and currency in the world, and we wanted the ability to wake up each day – and own our day. No longer would we need to live our life on someone else’s schedule, and we can simply choose to do what we want.
I know what you are thinking – why not wait for “Retirement” at the legal age of 65, right? In short – we can’t wait. We will explain more of our thought process in future posts.
Choosing this off-the-beaten path of pursuing freedom and not working till retirement in present society is still not something common, and most would throw doubtful side-eyed looks when we explain our decision. I have to be grateful that my wife is on a similar wavelength to me, and we can pursue this dream hand-in-hand, no matter what people say 🙂
SO HOW ARE WE GOING TO ACHIEVE FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE?
That’s what this blog is going to be all about.
Most academia would suggest you need to start early in your life planning for it. But I am 33 now and I am only just starting. My target is to hit Financial Independence by age 43 (i.e over the next 10 years).
If you are younger, you are definitely in a better position, but if you are at a similar life stage to mine, join us on this journey! I`m pretty sure you can learn a thing or two.
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