Anyway, here’s what I have so far!

$189!

That works out to $50 per month since I still have about more than a week to a full 4-month period. Fifty bucks just on coins alone – not too shabby.

I’m going to embark on something different soon.

Kids who waited generally did better in life.

We’re faced with the marshmallow test everyday, except the marshmallow for us is money – another M-word that brings about its own set of conundrums and temptations. Having trouble delaying gratification is a problem not exclusive to children, but some kids can do it, while some adults can’t.

There are a few rules I shall observe. I shall not spend any dollar coins that come into my possession, and will store them all in a jar at home at the end of each day. Next, I will attempt to receive change in $1 coins where reasonable. Finally, I shall drop a $2 note into the jar should there be no $1 coins to be deposited.

I think this should generate some $40-$80 every month, more than enough to cover certain monthly expenses such as transport costs, phone bills or smaller insurance policies.

More importantly I think it will stem my spending in petty expenditures. Small change are very easily spent without much thought, but can add up quite significantly in the long run. Ultimately this will give me a more conscious effort to reduce my spending on wants and result in a pool of money every month that I can focus towards different needs.

So far I have found this quite a fun thing to do, and it’s nice to see the pile grow. It stands now at $8.

It is human nature to procrastinate, and procrastination is what we do. At times subconsciously, and sometimes very deliberately. I have met so many people. So many, so many who feel that now is not the time. If not now, when? National servicemen tell me when they are in university; Undergrads tell me when they graduate; Graduates tell me when they find a job; People with jobs tell me when their job is stable; People a few years into their job tell me when they are less busy; Retirees tell me when their retirement funds run out; Parents of kids almost in their teens tell me when their kids are a bit older. All kinds of people, all kinds of scenario – been there, heard that.

Immediately, when one says “I’ll start next year”, he has declared the next 365 days to be lost. After a year has come and gone, the most likely thing to do is to put it off some more. As young people, we have time on our side, for now. It is our single most advantageous strength which is overlooked just because we think that we will always have the luxury of time. Those who make use of it reap the rewards; Those who don’t just squander this advantage.

The difference a few months can make is astounding, not to mention a few years which some of my peers have so readily gave up. Sadly, not many recognize this very simple fact. I am coming to the realization that I really don’t have to care too much for people who are just too stubborn. Now that I have more or less settled most things amongst my family and loved ones, anything else is just a bonus. You want, it’s win-win. You don’t want, I lose a chance to gain some commission, you lose more.

First, I must apologize for being rude. You must understand that it is very frustrating for me to be outside working 14 hours a day trying to convince people of the importance of insurance and savings. A lot of people do not get it, but we of all people must. I don’t care as much if other people don’t understand, because it is their own problem if they run into financial ruin.

We are very lucky to have wonderful parents like mummy and daddy. They have showered us with whatever they can provide, and we have always been better off than most people who are not so lucky. Our parents did not get all of these by luck. We managed to stay relatively well off because mummy and daddy have always been very careful in their finances.

Ah Gong and Ah Ma incurred huge amounts of hospital bills that were paid for by insurance. Daddy’s operation back then was also paid by insurance. Our education fees are funded by the money our parents saved for since decades ago. But mummy can’t pay for everything herself, and so now it is time to repay them in whatever small way we can. She is willing to pay for you now so that our family can be protected from huge medical bills that may bankrupt us.

In future, you will also reap the returns of the policies. Your very own children will depend on you for money much like how we depended on mummy and daddy. You will want them to be protected from huge medical expenses. Hopefully you and I will become as great as our parents are to our own children.

I am taking up the exact policies. We have been having it easy all these years, and I hope you understand where I am coming from.

弟弟

There’s no need to save for the future now, because in the future I’ll have more money to save for the future!

There’s no need to do financial planning now. I’ll just celebrate my 21st birthday or university graduation and leave financial planning to my parents. I mean, I should celebrate the fact that I am an adult and more independent.

Humans are rationale creatures that enjoy being illogical.

Today I had a bad appointment. Bad appointments happen when the client leaves feeling like he has just wasted his time. They are far and few in between, but very demoralizing. Most times they occur because the client is a non-believer in insurance, but today I felt that I could have done a better job. If I were a doctor today, it would be the equivalent of me diagnosing a health problem in a patient that will only manifest its symptoms years later, and then failing to persuade the patient to take up a preventive medicine that will go a long way to help.

Doctors have the advantage of people agreeing with them much readily, of course. Even then, my analogy still holds true. How many people have gone for non-compulsory vaccinations to prevent medical ailments?

Exploring the analogy further, let’s look at the government’s hand in every citizen’s personal healthcare and insurance. There are mandatory vaccinations to prevent tuberculosis and hepatitis B; there are mandatory savings in form of CPF, and default hospitalization coverage in form of MediShield. For better or worse, Singapore is a nanny-state. Like it or not, injections are painful and insurance requires you to set aside money every month, but both are ultimately for our good.

Prevention is always better than cure – a statement that is cliché only because it is true. Much like a doctor can do little to cure one of an incurable disease, a financial consultant cannot do much for someone who is uninsured and financially unprepared when the time of need arrives. I am 21 now, and one of my prospective clients – a man thrice my age and completely uninsured – is urgently looking for medical insurance, after suffering a relatively low hospital bill of $17,000.

Unfortunately he will be excluded from coverage for whatever reasons he ended up with that hospital bill in the first place, but at least he realizes the importance at long last after some forty years of adulthood, and is lucky that nothing too serious happened to him during that time.

It thus irritates me when friends my age say, “I don’t need financial planning now.” If not now, when?

If one saves $100 per month over the next 25 years, one will get $30,000. To Person A earning $500 now, $30,000 is significant. This is because $100 makes up a significant 20% of his income. $30,000 is less significant to Person B who draws a $5,000 monthly salary. However, if Person B saves the 20% of his income every month for the next 25 years, he will get $300,000, which is significant to him.

Person B will find saving $100 a month very comfortable, but that will result in a sum of money that is insignificant to him. As income rises, it is only logical that savings increase such that it will amount to something significant.

Savings is plainly a trained habit. There is a reason why we are all encouraged to save even when we were young. The significance lies not in the cents we saved when we were in primary school, but in the discipline that we build up. If you are used to not committing yourself to save when you have a $500 income, you will not commit yourself to save when you have a $5,000 or even $50,000 income.

Yes, one will have more money to play around with when one is drawing a higher salary. And that is precisely what one would do – play with his money. As your income goes up, your expenses will follow suit. Why is it that one used to be able to live with $1 a day in primary school, but can hardly make it through a day with $10 ten years from then?

It’s not how much you earn, it’s how much you save. One who earns $1,000 but saves $500 will be richer than one who earns $2,000 but saves $250.

Of course, the latter person will find it more comfortable.

It wasn’t long ago when our grandparents put money into biscuit tins. Why put money in the bank, they would think, when it’s not safe and I can’t get it out anytime I want?

As people became more financial savvy, they recognized that they should reap the interest that banks offer, and banks replaced the biscuit tin as the default place where savings ended up.

At the same time, however, instruments for investments and savings growth also evolved. This has quickly made bank savings the biscuit tin of our generation.

Aptly, the interest they give is also what you would find in biscuit tins – crumbs.

Even if you don’t consider inflation, that’s a really inane way of saving. If you consider inflation, your money is actually depreciating in value rapidly.

Saving is a virtue. Saving foolishly is just plain foolish.