Avoiding Financial Pitfalls in Your 20s

Money Mistakes We Made in Our 20's | #DailyKetchup EP415

Estimated read time: 1:20

Summary

In episode 415 of The Daily Ketchup Podcast, the hosts dive into the financial mistakes they made in their 20s, aiming to help listeners avoid similar pitfalls. They discuss crucial steps like getting insurance, setting up emergency savings, and the importance of investments. With a blend of humor and real-life anecdotes, they share insights on balancing spending, saving, and investing while dealing with societal pressures and lifestyle inflation. The episode offers a blend of personal experiences and practical financial tips to guide young adults toward smarter money management.

Highlights

Insurance is the first step in building financial security. 🛡️
Set up emergency savings of 3-6 months of expenses to feel secure. 🚀
Investments should start small but early to leverage compound interest. 🌱
Day trading is risky, but it can be learned with time and patience. ⏰
Avoid lifestyle inflation – it’s a trap that can derail your finances. ⚠️

Key Takeaways

Insurance first! Before splurging, secure your health and future. 🏥
Emergency savings create a safety net. Aim for 3-6 months of expenses! 💰
Invest early! The earlier you start, the bigger your financial snowball grows. 📈
Day trading isn’t just for Wall Street – you can learn too with practice. 💻
Peer pressure can lead you astray. Embrace financial literacy instead. 📚

Overview

Navigating the choppy waters of finances in your 20s can be daunting, but The Daily Ketchup Podcast episode 415 is here to guide you! They dive into insurance, emergency savings, and investments as foundational pillars to secure your financial future. It's okay to YOLO, but not at the expense of your future security!

The hosts share their humorous and sometimes painful personal anecdotes about money management. They emphasize avoiding lifestyle inflation and peer pressure, stressing the importance of making informed decisions rather than impulsive ones driven by social media.

With practical advice and a dash of humor, they highlight the benefits of starting investments early, explaining strategies like using robo-advisors and understanding day trading. It's not just financial advice – it's a call to become financially savvy while still enjoying life.

Chapters

00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Overview The chapter titled 'Introduction and Overview' begins with a structured guideline on financial priorities, emphasizing the importance of securing insurance and establishing emergency savings as the first two steps. It then shifts focus to managing daily expenses, questioning how much is spent on necessities such as food and telephone bills. The narrative transitions into a personal anecdote, where impulsive spending habits are highlighted through an example of purchasing something seen in an advertisement for a mere few seconds. The influence of social media on spending behaviors is critiqued, humorously labeling it as potentially 'evil.' A disclaimer concludes the chapter, clarifying that the content should not be taken as financial advice.
01:00 - 05:00: Investment Basics This chapter discusses investment basics in a conversational tone, beginning with a brief introduction featuring a partnership with Octa. The discussion reflects on previous investment topics covered in collaboration with Ezone and other partners. A unique aspect of this session is its more personal approach, featuring a new team member, Chacha, experiencing her first full-time job and dealing with 'adult money'. This scenario highlights the company's tradition of engaging new employees with financial discussions, setting the stage for deeper insights into investment practices.
05:00 - 09:00: Emergency Savings and Budgeting In this chapter, the narrator discusses a company tradition where a more experienced employee, like John, provides financial literacy guidance to new employees. This is aimed at assessing their financial understanding and offering resources to improve their financial skills early in their careers, helping them avoid common financial mistakes.
09:00 - 16:00: Long-Term Wealth Planning The chapter discusses the dilemma faced by individuals who have started earning a substantial income, often referred to as 'adult money'. It revolves around the choice between spending freely and enjoying the money or starting to save and plan for the future. The conversation introduces the idea of finding a balance between these two options. It is hinted that there are some foundational financial moves that can be made to achieve a balance between spending and saving, allowing one to enjoy their earnings while also planning for long-term financial stability.
16:00 - 23:00: Importance of Financial Literacy The chapter titled 'Importance of Financial Literacy' begins by emphasizing the need for a balance between enjoying the present and planning for the future. Investment is highlighted as the most crucial aspect of financial literacy. The narrator stresses that the information shared should not be considered financial advice but merely personal insights. It is suggested that securing base-level insurance is a priority, and if finances are limited, acquiring a death benefit is not necessary unless someone depends on your income.
23:00 - 29:00: Discussion on Spending Habits The chapter titled 'Discussion on Spending Habits' delves into personal finance strategies, particularly focusing on the importance of having a financial safety net. It suggests that individuals should aim to have savings equivalent to three to six months of their monthly income or expenses. This serves as a precautionary measure in case of job loss or other financial emergencies. The narrator shares personal experiences, noting that they only achieved such a financial cushion in their 30s. They also mention the stability of the company they work for, implying it might affect the necessity of having a larger financial safety net.
29:00 - 38:00: Considerations for Young Adults The chapter discusses the challenges faced by young adults in managing their finances. It highlights the difficulty in saving 3 to 6 months' worth of expenses while trying not to miss out on investment opportunities. The speaker reflects on feeling financially secure with a certain amount saved, experiencing the freedom to enjoy life while also recognizing the pattern of spending and having to start saving again.
38:00 - 47:00: Spending on Material Goods This chapter discusses personal finance strategies, particularly focusing on the balancing act between saving and investing in material goods. The speaker emphasizes the importance of having a financial buffer—though they admit their personal strategy does not involve a 3 to 6-month buffer as some financial advisors recommend, reflecting a higher risk appetite. Once essential savings and insurance are settled, the speaker suggests that all other money management should focus on wealth planning, such as investing. They share their own approach of using a robo advisor for investment, though they acknowledge that others might prefer to invest independently.
47:00 - 59:00: Closing Remarks and Outro The speaker reflects on financial advice and personal finance strategies, emphasizing the importance of figuring out one's financial path. They discuss the use of robo-advisors and setting up automatic account allocations that grow with one's earning power. The speaker shares a personal approach of not unlocking these funds until necessary, such as when facing critical situations like family needs or retirement, at an older age of 50 or 55. The conversation underscores the importance of planning for the future while adapting financial decisions to personal circumstances.

Money Mistakes We Made in Our 20's | #DailyKetchup EP415 Transcription

00:00 - 00:30 Step one, insurance. Step two, emergency savings. Then step three is to How much you spend on food? Cuz right now you only got food, telephone bill, right? Oh my god. I tell you my huh what are you spending on? I don't know. Don't ask me. I literally saw the ad for 5 seconds. I bought it in the next like 10 seconds. Social media is evil. This cannot be for sure. This is not financial advice.
00:30 - 01:00 Okay, so today's episode is actually in partnership with Octa, but I think we've covered investment quite a fair bit already with the previous time with Ezone and and and whatnot, right? We thought we'd take a slightly different approach this time because talk about investment again a bit like you know. Okay, so today we have Chacha here with us. Hey, one of our newest full-timers just converted and this is her first full-time job. Yes. Adult money. Yeah. # adult money. Yeah, let's go. So, it's almost like a tradition in this company is that when we have new employees join
01:00 - 01:30 the company, John actually know I was quite old. You ask me. Okay. Okay. Okay. Fair fair. That means you wouldn't have had to talk with me because I feel like I might be overstepping. No, man. Okay. Okay. A bit the tradition is that John will usually give the new employee like a chat to see where they stand financially uh in terms of like financial literacy and if need be kind of like be able to offer them like a resource of knowledge to to to level up their financial game while they are still at the early stages and so that they don't kind of repeat the mistakes
01:30 - 02:00 that I guess he's been through. Yeah. Okay. So I starting to earn adult money, right? I'm torn between should I yolo and spend or whatever I want, right? just buy one or like save. The way she phrased it to me was slightly different. How long can she go spending enjoying the money first until she really needs to like okay put a stop to it. Let me now start working. The moment she said it to me, I feel like there are a very clear set of multiple foundational moves that she can make so that she can find straddle a balance of being able to
02:00 - 02:30 enjoy while also working for the future. And I think we're going to cover a bunch of these hopefully in a bit more detail for you. Uh but I think the first and most important one is investment but because the partner of today's episode why don't we start with investment okay sure but I want to say uh this cannot be consu as financial advice this is not financial advice but this is just how how I do it okay so after you get base level insurance if money is tight then you don't need to get death benefit yet because no one is dependent on your income you're still kind of taking care
02:30 - 03:00 of yourself only at this point right so you get everything else other than death that insurance settled then many people say you need three to 6 months of safety income. So basically how much you make or how much you spend every month then you times three * 6 that's the base amount that you need to keep. Personally I never really had that until I was 30s. I feel like I had one month then enough and I can tell you in this company at least one unless you plan to go root then you better do that. But if you never plan to go root this company quite w so I feel like one month one month feel like I spent one travel and
03:00 - 03:30 gone it. No, I agree. But also that back then because when I was trying to get into it, right, I realized it's going to take me so long to even save 3 to 6 months worth of expenses. I'm missing out on investing. Yeah. So, I wanted to be able to just have that. And then whatever 3 to 6 months look like, maybe 5K, right? 5K I feel damn rich as a 25 year old. I like go out then just like, yeah, let's order what we want, you know? Let's let's order let's go for dessert. Yeah. Then after I spend I do left 1 2k then ping again and sc again
03:30 - 04:00 then sc again wait for next month next month and do cuz now you scared you got no more buffer to do anything take any risk. Yeah. So I didn't personally do 3 to six month. I'm not asking you all to do your solar. Yeah. But that's my risk appetite. After you settle the cash savings and then you settle your insurance everything else is wealth planning already. So there's a few layers to my wealth planning. The first one is I use I the investment side I use a robo adviser. You don't have to use a robo adviser. You can just invest on your own like invest in the index or whatn not. I cannot give you financial
04:00 - 04:30 advice but you go figure it out right and if you want to use octa or yeah a robbo advisor or robot advisor with your bank and whatn not or octa or octa so that one is the one one cannot sell one every month I will put x amount inside yeah so that amount increase as my earning power increase yeah so that one to me is I won't unlock until I'm I really need let's say ch going to cancel my parents going to cancel what not right or I will only see that money when I'm 50 55 so that one at your age right I tell too. At the average rate of
04:30 - 05:00 returns, right, money doubles. That's just how that's how compound interest and math works. If at your age you can start 100, 200, if you can move to 500, right? If I'm not wrong, at your age, by age 50, right, $1 million is one. Huh? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, sorry. So, it's not 50. I just did a math quickly. It's actually at 55. you if you invested 500 every month in S&P 500 assuming annually it's about 10%. Oh 10% no 10% is too much. The
05:00 - 05:30 calculation here averages it GB based on that calculation is about a million at 55 right the total amount you have put in is only $180,000. So your $180,000 that you put in right the value of it because you put it here grew to a million. Yeah that is the crazy part. So you think about how many people that earn extra $500 a month, but then that $500 is spent on travel or food or whatnot, right? I mean, I also understand that a lot of people really don't have the $500 a month, but how many of you actually have and you're blowing on [ __ ] right? So if you put
05:30 - 06:00 that aside at age 50, your million dollar is ba. So that is my safe investment. I won't touch until 5055. Okay. Okay. And then I will buy some form of annoties/fixed deposits. Those are bonuses that I give myself because I know I like risk takingaking. So you all know that like I I don't like buy things but then I like going to casino or when I travel if there's a casino I will go. So I will lock up money that will pay myself every few years. Okay. How this thing work? I'm so confused. So basically how this works is that at the
06:00 - 06:30 start of the year I will put $6,000 I put for 5 years. Okay. So it's a bank. So it's 30,000 uh with my insurance company or whichever. Okay. Um so then I lock 30,000 aside. Right. When I'm 55 this 30,000 becomes like 200,000. Okay. Yeah. Because is the money locked up one. So the interest rate is better also something along that line. Maybe 170,000 to 200,000. So you imagine that's if you won't win 500. Imagine at this age you can 500. As you start earning more you'll be 600 800 1,000 2,000. You bring
06:30 - 07:00 that number from 55 down to to 50 to 45. It's super super sick. What my fear is that when I unlock that money when I'm 50 55, right? I would suddenly very cash rich, right? Maybe I invest in your business. and you have business or I go and do a new startup or I go and buy crypto then bus so then wow then what happened then that's my whole life saving I spent my entire adult life trying to work this number together so then my my adh so then I got this money that is locked up this whole time I couldn't touch that I only 55 or 60 years old then this money come out so in case I
07:00 - 07:30 blow that money right I got money stashed there right yeah so then I will collect more and more annoties at 55 60 65 70 oh and the very important thing is that all these parts are automated meaning the the day payday come in Right. You see this company paying never late one because mine is automated. Yeah. So one time late never one time really one time late. Yeah. Then I didn't get my interest complaint finance department. All these things all deducted already which means the balance right to me is off money. Oh which is I just need to
07:30 - 08:00 make sure I have enough for the month. The rest I fulfill my need for risk trading and whatever which you can do on octa. which which I I taught him how to trade on octa also. Wait, so your this plan, right? It's not ideal for people who like feel like yolo yolo huh to me this is the most yolo plan that I can think of that is but you 60 then no because I'm not saying that every month I spend finish my mind to zero that's not what I'm saying but I'm saying every month whatever that money is left if I this month just to enjoy I
08:00 - 08:30 will just enjoy and yolo right but I'm not sacrificing retirement I'm not sacrificing the years where I don't have income all my income will be cut yet at the same time I'm also day trading so what my day trading allows me to do is that maybe if I make a few right moves in the next two months I retire next year. You know what I'm saying? I know I cuz he always on his computer I see the thing moving then he suddenly he I show you example
08:30 - 09:00 it was like actually like proper thing like maybe $600 and he talk to me right then AC I lose 1K like what the hell no I mean you recover back I never closed the position. Okay. So just to break it down and simplify, step one, insurance, step two, emergency savings, 3 to 6 months, okay, of expenses for me is one to step three is to establish some form of this kind of invest long-term investment. Okay. Then after that the step four is the excess risk.
09:00 - 09:30 Step four is optional. Okay. Step four is optional. Wait. Okay. Okay. But but right for my favorite for anybody who doesn't really understand at this point about when it comes to the investing portion. When we say investing in this context, we're talking about something a little bit more long-term about an alternative to putting your money in the bank. And then when we talk about trading, that's almost like the excess money that you have that you are willing to risk that you use and apply to a uh
09:30 - 10:00 almost like a secondary skill set that you're trying to achieve for a secondary form of income. If you do trading long-term, is it investing? It's a job. Oh, trade. Yeah. To me trading. Yeah. No. Okay. So you know the people in the New York exchange Uhhuh. they like but this one is trading right? Some Yeah. We don't those people are just facilitating orders. Okay. Never mind. I think we jump too far. Okay. Then why I cannot just put in the bank? Why should I invest? Number one what you want to do is invest as a to invest right is you are trying to beat
10:00 - 10:30 inflation. Mhm. Okay. So every year the inflation is like 4% 5%. So if your bank give you 2% you lose. But one 2% better than nothing. What you're trying to do is at least match inflation so your buying power does not decrease over time. That make sense? Yes. Okay. We must know for a fact that the value of money will drop over time because the global banking system is printing money. Every time you deposit money in the bank, how the bank make money is they take your money, they lend it out in their books, in their books. So you give
10:30 - 11:00 me $1,000, right? Then he wants to borrow $500, right? So let's say my bank go, you give me $1,000, I lend you 500. So in my leisure, right, I have $1,000 of your asset and $500 of what I loan you, you owe me. So my ledger, I have $1,500 of assets. But where got $1,500? Only $1,000 walk through my door. So money has been created out of thin air due to our banking system. You understand? So if money can be created, the value of money will drop because got
11:00 - 11:30 more because got more. Okay. So if everybody in Singapore is given $1 million, then eggs will probably be 500 bucks. Because if X is continuously 60 cent, somebody will walk in buy all the eggs. Yep. So in order to make sure everybody has the ability to buy some eggs, they'll probably increase the price of XX probably 500 bucks such that everybody will still buy the same amount of eggs. Also to add to this, right, is that banks the base interest rate is not like 1 to 2%. Is 0.0 something, right? Depends the base interest rate. Why I
11:30 - 12:00 Yeah. But then after you do stuff do stuff. Yeah. Then it ranges but the base is 0.0 something. But is there a risk to investment? There is higher risk usually look at a higher reward. So for example if you look at 30 years ago would you have invested in Amazon? Because they used to sell books. Then after they sell books then you want to become supermarket. Then you're like why don't you stay in your lane cuz your book's not doing too well either. Then what makes you think you have to know how to sell everything. Yeah. But if you that day you dare to all in your $5,000
12:00 - 12:30 savings today you millionaire. Yeah. But you probably don't dare probably put like 200 bucks right then you continue buying a company that's doing well at it time maybe Microsoft then your return won't run safer for Microsoft but it's like that but if you hedge it all on Amazon then your return will be like that because it's not like 10% 20% return it's like 5,000 10,000% rate of return. Yeah. So either way when I age 50 55 I will become a millionaire is whether I can bring in this millionaire status when
12:30 - 13:00 I'm 40 45 I could if I manage to catch the next Amazon question to invest right I always assume like you have to have a certain risk appetite to do so correct depends also some really the risk is just very small because okay when I first started investing right I thought like I should do the safer ones like with maybe like a insurance company for example okay don't and then like they will ask me to do this like risk takingaking scale
13:00 - 13:30 and the agent tell me right if your risk is below right like half you cannot do like they would not allow you to buy a so they'll fake like go put like I am risky also I'm asking okay that was a mistake did you get scammed yes I did is there anywhere I can complain can someone tell me even if you explain to you properly you still got scammed yeah I got scammed no I did I did I really wanted to complain okay but anyway Okay. I was thinking like if I'm not a risk taker at all like I'm very scared of losing my money cuz in my head like if I
13:30 - 14:00 put in a bank right like okay maybe I will lose to inflation a bit but at least like the not maybe sorry if you put in a bank is not maybe you will lose inflation to a bit is you 100% will lose to inflation. Okay carry on. So now you tell me whether investing is a risk or not. Okay minus that one. So let's say I put my money in a bank right back to ignorance. I just see okay I just see the number like like nice nice nice number okay but if I put it in like investments for example and then it will fluctuate right yeah and then like I I'm
14:00 - 14:30 sometimes I feel a bit like um scared do you think like I'm not made for investing no I think I think you just haven't survived enough cycles I don't think it's just about surviving enough cycles for example if you walk on the street right then you fear the risk of getting attacked by somebody right is because you never educate yourself enough okay I only have my example okay so if you learn how to fight you learn how to self-defense you learn how to do something right you real you recognize and are able to calculate and mitigate risk then it becomes controlled then you
14:30 - 15:00 don't fear it so much because you understand it and I think for investment is very similar to that if you don't educate yourself enough right you don't even know how to measure it so by educating yourself then I think you slowly will realize and recognize what you are risking what kind of risk you are taking and how much risk that is involved then from there you can make a more educated decision. But I feel like this one is also for people who have a lot of other things secured already. When we talk about the foundational stuff, right? Because obviously if you don't know whether you're going to be able to pay for the the the certain
15:00 - 15:30 things, right? And and what not then then that's different already. Okay. Are you insured? Yes, I have hospital critical illness. Yes. Oh, you remember? No, I don't know. I must Yeah, correct. Okay, then. But you don't have death yet. No. Okay, never mind. Chill. That one you revisit before about 27? Because if I'm not wrong, 37 because as you get older, when you buy, right, it get more and more expensive. Also, we don't know when [ __ ] will happen. How much you spend on food? Food. Cuz right now you only got food, telephone bill, right? Oh my god. I tell you my gra is like $300 every month. Oh, then why don't take train?
15:30 - 16:00 Tired. I see. I see. No, no. Understand. Understand. Important. Important. Yeah. I save 500 aside for my future plan. Uhhuh. Cuz I just meet you. Congrats. Okay. So, every month you use finish your money except it's $500 around there. Okay. And this $500 you spending. No, because before you need a lot. Okay. Adult money. But before you you fulltime you intern with us and then our intern allowance is less than 1K. So like where did all the money go? I don't know. Don't ask me. I
16:00 - 16:30 think the biggest problem is lifestyle inflation. Okay. Okay. I fully grasp that. Okay. But I can also understand from her perspective at the start, right? Most people blow their first month. Their first adult money is for them to kind of like, okay, now I can customize my avatar to what I always envision it to be, right? I just need to eat to make it to the next month. You know, I need to survive so I can get the jump. I would personally in my own experience. Yeah. About 3 months. I think most people have a wake up call. I
16:30 - 17:00 think one of our colleagues off off camera, right? Uh he also shared with us that when he first got his first job, he also blow his money. Blow like I think a few months right until his bank account. He see only got two digit then that was his wake up call. Wait I I not do prevent yourself from getting early 20s right I hit below $20 one quite often you know why because that time credit card not maybe maybe cuz I feel since the 20s I didn't get a credit card until like maybe 27. Yeah I don't take I
17:00 - 17:30 purely use my debit card. I think because of that, right, my bank account won't hit the near zero mark cuz every time I see right, they're like, "Hey, I already have a warning." But I feel like a mistake that a lot of young people make is like maybe they think like with a credit card, I can buy anything I want. I just pay later and then I settle at the end of the month or whatever. Then when they don't hit it right and then they start to pay late and [ __ ] and then everything starts rolling, right? Cuz they spending money they don't have. Yeah. Yeah. That's what happened to me.
17:30 - 18:00 No, which is why I think for her case, the longer you put off these things, I feel like it will it will affect a lot more later. So 3 months, right, is maybe for you to calibrate, for you to enjoy and then after that slowly taper it down and calibrate, right? So you know, okay, what is a reasonable amount of my monthly expenses, right? That allows me to live a comfortable enough life but not be spending excessively. Then from there, right, then you once you cover out that amount, right? Let's say here maybe it's like 1K or even 1.5 okay then
18:00 - 18:30 the rest of the money right is then now you can start to divide up and figure out where it should be allocated to when I started off right earning adult money right I was just like okay I need to save a [ __ ] ton so I actually save a a good amount of money like but I never invest that's the worst part right I just save save save save I keep holding this amount this is the most scary part right when I got a large amount of money but I have no financial literacy Suddenly I'm introduced to trading. I'm
18:30 - 19:00 introduced to investment but I don't know anything about it. But I have large amounts to play with. Was that me? So what? It's not me, right? That was before that. Right. Uh before you before you. Okay. Okay. Thank God. In the middle. Yeah. Yeah. So then I put large amount then all disappear. So I had to almost re I did restart my entire savings journey and investment journey around 30 years old. Oh my god. Yeah. Everything reset. I like to say I was at the disappearance. Huh? cuz um my one mistake was I never I just follow
19:00 - 19:30 friends cuz I want to jump on the high and then my money also disappear all together. Yeah, that's my first introduction to trading. But that's why you need to start now. I tell you the privilege to be able to blow 10 $20,000 after that getting to not being in that when I was 30. I don't have that kind of money to blow it. I had three chapter markers in my financial literacy journey. In my first job, one of my first clients was CPF and then in this company, one of our first clients is DBF. So, we had to create
19:30 - 20:00 financial literacy content. Literally, we create calling to teach people about financial literacy while I struggling trying to swim out my debt and learning how to manage my money. But that one helped me understand the definitions of everything. The beauty of compound interest, the beauty of dollar cost averaging, what is a unit trust, what is the ETF, what is the index, blah blah blah. So, I learned all that but no money to do anything. But then that gives me the basics, right? almost like knowing the how to read the majong but don't know how to play majong right like know how to don't know how to hoola the second one was when I put $100 into the stra times index which is I started
20:00 - 20:30 researching why is my money not going up why is it going down a bit why only go up by this amount then people say oh don't buy Singapore index go and buy the the American index then I'm like why what is the difference aren't we like stronger or faster growing country like why is our index so [ __ ] having skin in the game right after you part with some money while you you go and download you go and download the investment prospectors you go and understand P&Ls you go and do all that so that was my second chapter marker after I got a bit of money inside and then my third one
20:30 - 21:00 was when I was going through a lot burnout phase where I don't know what I doing with my life I don't know what I doing with the company and then I needed to know who I am without the company that was when I started day trading because I needed to know if I run the company to the ground how will I live how will I survive do can I sit down like a computer I make money or not without doing drop shipping and I think the problem with my that third title marker was that I was very lucky in my first few trade made good amount of money I I thought I'm a god I thought
21:00 - 21:30 I've nailed this that was when the overconfidence came that's where I lost a lot of money then slowly had to fight back but that third chapter marker was very important to me in that learning how to day trade always if it leaves this weight off my shoulder that everything can go to [ __ ] as long as I still got $10,000 savings right I can still I can still trade my expenses back. You learn so many bol things along the way. No, about how the world works beyond with trading. Yeah. Beyond starting a pattern, but you can learn that with a lot of other things that you try. But you won't you won't care. The
21:30 - 22:00 correlation don't matter to you. When you see Trump play the tariff war and his tariff war, how does that swing affect the market? Now you may not care. But I tell you, when you got $50,000 in a swing trade at time, right? You super care how the Tiff war affects the market. You super care. Jerome Pow just came out yesterday. He says something that's rather neutral, not even good news. He didn't lower interest rate, but then all the the global market prices went up. Why he did not lower interest rate? What? Why did it go up? So when you got $50,000 stuck in the swing
22:00 - 22:30 trade, you figure out why it went up. You know what I mean? So if you're interested to learn trading, you can do so with Octa. They have amazing resources, a lot of information there. And they also have paper trading. You know what's paper trading? Means you can trade without real money. You start to learn the skill first. Do you happy already? Then you officially start. And when you officially start, use our exclusive promo code to double your first deposit. So for example, if you put in $200, you got an extra $200 to trade with your mail or your mail. Good.
22:30 - 23:00 But this for limited time only. Okay. This offer. So don't miss your chance. Faster go. More information is in the description box below. Description box. Description box. So most Singaporean couple including us, we plan to have wedding reno and the remaining house down payment in the same year which I think will be very financially burden if we were to do that. So it is very likely that if if your boyfriend gets a job right after NS and then you have four
23:00 - 23:30 years of working experience plus you contributing to your CPF plus the company contributing to your CPF. It's very likely that both of you by age 29 the remaining down payment of your house right is settled. You will have enough really should be settled shoe covered then cover you go and check your OA now assuming your salary don't change assuming his salary don't change just go and project your o until 2029 you should more than cover but he want to be the owner he want to be occupier cuz we plan to buy condo after that this girl making
23:30 - 24:00 plans well even I until now I never project so far yes no so what was it like for you and Pat when yall were deciding when the house is coming really is a bit no choice really. What I think was the good and the bad thing which in the same decision was that our house and our wedding and our renovation all came at the same time. That was good and also bad. Obviously it's bad because you spend a lot of money. Yeah. And it's super expensive then life become them jalot. You start loaning money and all
24:00 - 24:30 that stuff. But the good that came out of it right is that we could see our options and perspectives very very clear. We know the house comes first. Then we know renovation quite important to an extent because we are going to live there every day for at least the next five years. So which are the parts that's important to us. We know we need to put money there. Wedding to be honest is a party. Some people spend half their annual income which when you put things in perspective right then you actually don't make sense. Why do I divert $10,000 so that you can get the video? I
24:30 - 25:00 mean honestly I I had everything. I was very blessed. Some we paid for, some was partnerships and all that stuff. And then we got video, we got picture, everything. We don't we don't look at it anymore. We're done really. Maybe the first year, first 3 years worth of anniversary, we swam the photo. Then finish. No, like in 30 years, you'll be like, "Thank God I took the photo." You will still have photos. You know what I mean? But it's a memory. It is a memory. You will still have photos. So you still go and get a photo. If if by the time you get married, you still work here. I sponsor your wedding photography. Yes. I
25:00 - 25:30 will clip this part. You fire before. Sorry, we don't play with job security here. Now you know why it's optional. Yeah. Or at least when everything comes together, you are you will be able to see like what is really actually optional. You paint that one year. I tell you the super privilege that I'm in now. Okay. Is that my expensive big milestone finish? My next milestone is when I get cancer or something like that. Can you stop me? One in four. One in four. Yeah.
25:30 - 26:00 Then the next one is kids. Then since P and I have made the decision to very very likely not to have kids then also don't have the suddenly my wife pregnant then we need to go and do this kind have like 15 $30,000 save for that also no need really I remember like I think two three years after Pat and I move into our first BTO then we paid our final renovation installment just like finish I have run our installment really that feeling all different and if you save up now you don't even need to go through that feeling you don't even need to installments going by this theme and I'm trying to put myself in my 25 year old shoes again right one of the few things
26:00 - 26:30 that I regret not doing is investing in other things other aspects of life. So outside of learning another skill like if I had taken up a spot or joining a community and acquire something else right I felt it was very valuable. Another one that I would pay for is um a gym membership just for health like focus on the health aspect because that one I really regret when I started exercising after 30 your body really feel different different. Yeah. And it's very sad because you you you actually feel a lot better when you exercise and
26:30 - 27:00 are fitter, but it's also you can feel that it's so much harder, especially for women. Women lose a lot of muscle after after they hit 30. Thanks for the reminder. Yeah. You got anything that you you wish you did at 25? I say I wish at 25, right, I'm not so susceptible to peer pressure. Peer pressure or opinions. So when I was 25 and my mom passed right and then I got a certain amount of money then I started to panic because I feel like now it's only me I have to settle myself like I don't have any safety net. Yeah. So I
27:00 - 27:30 think I was a bit irrational. everything my insurance agents say or my friends say, right? I will like think like, oh my god, I faster must buy this, buy this, buy this or like do this. And it was 2019 in the era of like P where everybody start like buying things and like crypto, you know, they start earning a lot of things. Then robo investors was the like the new thing also and then I felt like oh my god, I need to faster like put all my money in these kind of places. But I think I feel like I didn't study and then when the
27:30 - 28:00 market deep because also my personal risk appetite is not high then I started panicking like I make all these mistakes and I don't know how to recover from them. Now after 6 years then I feel like I finally slowly learn from my mistakes. You know what I wish was different about money when I'm 25? I realized we both had no control of our money. But when Pat is 30, right? I can see where her money went. There's this bag. There is that bag. I had no idea where my money went. Okay. No, but your money go into
28:00 - 28:30 your business, bro. No, I'm 25. I working for other people. No, but but it went into that business. You know what I mean? Alcohol and I don't drink. You know, it's just buying. And then I look at pet, right? As much as I give her [ __ ] for buying her brand back, right? I look at it. I'm like, at least that's where the money went. I can see on the shelf there. It's there and she can sell it technically. Technically, the alcohol evaporated, but it's not Yeah. It's like I spend a lot of money and I don't know. I don't even have memory. It's not like I I I have a damn good experience or that's when I realized right save on food was the matter. No matter what you
28:30 - 29:00 put in your mouth come out is s no but treat yourself once in a while. Yeah. You go high alo at the end you feel like I too don't much. I think the only reason why people splurge right on all these unnecessary expenses and material things right is because they don't have anything else going for them. If you are driven and you have a purpose and you have all these other things right everything else will kind of line up. You don't have time to go and look at oh today Prada got sale oh they got this back I want to buy can I go see whether the the what color available and nonsense you you you are working on
29:00 - 29:30 something real I think D I think for girls there's a whole different set of like rule of the jungle why because they don't need to take care of themselves I'm not joining you in this I feel like really they go to their corporate environment and then they see that that lady power walk her way in with the bag you know that kind or Chanel lady or boy you They feel like if I have that, I will have that say. Yeah. And I feel like the currency for a lot of ladies in that age is attention. But it's the same for men, right? They want those material
29:30 - 30:00 things. They want that car because they see like, oh, like this guy also have or that their boss also have that kind of thing. But they again they're playing a game of comparison and of desire for these material things that is all so superficial. Okay. For girl to go, I give you a tip. Unfollow the brand and delete the app. Online shopping problem. Yeah. Okay. I No, I'm the kind of person when I see a Instagram ad, right? You know this necklace. I literally saw the ad for 5
30:00 - 30:30 seconds. I bought it. I bought this is like $50. I bought it in the next like 10 seconds. Fair enough. No, I don't even know the brand. Like I just Good. Means you just like the necklace. I respect that. No. Yeah. Okay. I like the Some people see a nail co into a bracelet, they'll pay $10,000 for it. It's a nail. But I had a phase, right? Every week, right? I will go and wait for the discount and then I buy like in bulk like $400, $400. So I think I can return free shipping, free return, but
30:30 - 31:00 then like I will forget about the return. Then I spend all this money. Lazy. Yeah. Then I have like my closet just filled with clothes, right? And then I start clearing every Chinese new year. Then I realize why I buy for it's all the same. Like I got this same pair of jeans but five. So I realized it's because I keep seeing then I keep being like hey well this they come out with new bag social media is evil. So if you say I don't want I see too much right then they'll be like okay then they show you other things right you're not interested but you can at least swipe away right like they show you like gym then you like whatever then you just next yeah yeah you must really spam the
31:00 - 31:30 not interested if not right you must block all this [ __ ] if not the internet is meant to corro your brain I tell you if you don't have uh watching this kind of [ __ ] if you don't have self discipline I advise you to just don't see but subscribe no I don't hit the like button last time would tell me like she likes this bag, okay, from Chanel. Then after she realized, wow, Charles and K got this bag. It look exactly the same. Then why don't you buy that one? $60. Yeah. Then she's like, no, don't want
31:30 - 32:00 copy one. Then we have so many conversations on, babe, you're always just buying the brand. You don't tell me you're buying for the design, the quality. Then she'll say, no, I like the I like the design. I like the the design very nice, very the quality very good. Then can sell. Then like but do you sell? You don't sell anything. You just want to have it. So especially when Charles and Ke our little homegrown brand love have one bed that looks exactly like the Chanel one and then you still don't want to buy and then to me is a disease. Why? No. Yeah, but what is the psychology behind it? Because you
32:00 - 32:30 know when we went to we went to Vietnam and then the leather shop, right? Then they make the the sleeper is the Hermes sleeper. I see like but I wouldn't wear that like I not I mean it's for women but if I was a woman actually no men can wear women's right to begin with. No. Yeah. Okay. What the Yeah, sure. But I I can still I can still feel the that's a copy. Yeah. Yeah. You know, but I don't know what what is that. But I say with watches all look the same. Watch a little bit different cuz the [ __ ] is made like like gold and silver and
32:30 - 33:00 platinum. But you bunch of precious. Yeah. Like Seiko craftsmanship. Fantastic. $300 diver watch, right? But then you pay $15,000 for a Rolex. But it's the exact same thing. So I have a G-Shock. I can water, can fall down, can throw up my watch. Then you just throw then I'm not even worried. I just catch and if I miss I miss I hit the table hit low, you know. Whereas my friends will have a $30,000 watch that when they walk and then they touch the wall they're like yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo yo bro, can you walk on the outside? Yeah,
33:00 - 33:30 it's a ego problem. Why is the thing? But I'm an egoistic person but when not can can buy just when you're not struggling. But why? I'm not even Why? I don't know cuz what else is there to do in life? Exactly. I think I think that that's what I think about all the time early 20ies, right? Enjoy yourself. I had this brand loyalty for this white tree. Wow. I go to their shop. I so excited. I finally got adult money. Right. The stupid part is I go there, right? I want to buy so many things. But
33:30 - 34:00 then this shots is the only thing that got my size. So I I just like I so desperate to buy, you know? So I buy the thing that I don't really like. But I thought like, okay, look nice. I go home and wear I see like So I spend 600 bucks, right? I never wore it again. is still in my in my room. But you won't throw too much money on it. Yeah. Why you sell your ugly? Yeah. And it's not even about that, you know. That's the problem, you know. It's so ridiculous. That stupid hoodie, the black hoodie that I wear every time look like uniqlo. Why tree? Same. I just like
34:00 - 34:30 for some reason I cannot shop. Yeah. I cannot buy clothes from shop. You know how I sold my own brain convince myself to buy that hoodie? Because it can turn inside out and can wear both way. Because stupid for the price of one. So how much is one? I can't remember. 400 or 200. Sorry. A lot of our financial goals are based on very material things. And if you remove all these material things, right, the amount
34:30 - 35:00 you need to live a happy, enjoyable life and continue to do the things that you need to do, right, is actually a lot less than you think. But it's when you add in all these funny funny literally superficial things things that that people are trying to sell you constantly and shove in your face and and market to you, right? Then suddenly you realize they're like, "Oh, I need to spend money on this. I need to spend money." But actually, no. Like I I think at this point I only have one subscription based uh app that I pay for everything else, right? I remove already. So when you look at like what you're spending on now, right, or you want to evaluate all
35:00 - 35:30 these other factors, right? And what your lifestyle look like, how much your cost, right? you I think you need to look at really what is necessary. Can you try now at this point in your life right have a spreadsheet for everything you spend on until account of account account all your money like every month even if you go high write down the high then after that you can look at categories and know how much you spend because after you take a step back then you realize oh my god I spent,0002 on food right then no need what you know or like you'll grab $300 maybe is an estimate or maybe they produce that account for you but then realizing that you spend $300 on gra no need why cuz
35:30 - 36:00 the alternative if you don't grab and use public transport the money is like is cut by 90% % on it. There was a month where I was consistently spending $1,000 on grab. Then after I like, wow, what the am I doing? Like I need to I move to where everything I know. That's the crazy part. I stay bish. Oh yeah, I stay bish but I grab like three times a day kind of nonsense. Then like what am I doing? I actually did that like a Excel sheet for a year. Yeah. So I go to my credit card, right? I open then I see all the inputs that I
36:00 - 36:30 put it in. So you know how much for food, transport, bills, subscription and like add any additional money you earn like outside of this job. Let's say you have then from there right I see the months that negative one then I highlight highlight rate. So it like push me to like know that I have to save more like is like a indication in my brain that I have to save more. It's super fun but you don't have to do it for a long just do it for a year. Again to reiterate for people like this is a
36:30 - 37:00 very early mistake is that people think okay I'm going to spend whatever and after I spend then the remaining is I will decide what to do with it but it should always be the other way around. It should be allocate all the necessary things already then the remaining excess is how much you spend like it's a budgeting strategy almost. Yeah. Okay. I hope you will learn a lot today. A lot. Yes. You're acting not convincing. Our only notes is our heart shape and our house. Okay. If you have any more questions, let us know in the comments down below or join our Telegram community. Maybe we'll set a topic and
37:00 - 37:30 then you got questions, then we answer. But, you know, it's not real financial advice. It's just our advice. Yeah. And once again, if you're interested to start trading with Octa, you can use our exclusive promo code right here for double of your first deposit. So, once again, if you put in $100, you're going to get an extra $100 that you can use to trade with. This is a limited time promotion. More information down below. Terms and conditions also apply. Goodbye. See you in the next episode. Bye. Opening and closing. We recently
37:30 - 38:00 BTO, right? Congrats again. Hey, thank you. Hey, CL. Enough. Faster. What's the question? Where do you get your video? Don't judge us. You're wrong. Oh god. Hey, never mind. You better save more. Actually, don't need much. Why did you buy car? Save. Why? Why you buy car? Honestly, this is a horrible financial decision. I know you got one thing I learned in my financial journey. Car is not asset is a depreciating asset.
38:00 - 38:30 It's a liability. You BTO foreign flat foreign flat four. It's likely that you don't need to pay some more. Hey, they pay you money when you go there. Please populate this place. No, but the train stations are going there now. So that's nice. No, the the MRT at J not even called Jurong. It's like pioneer or something. Turong. What's that? The worst part. Honestly, nobody half the people click out when you say wrong. After Tama left,
38:30 - 39:00 it's just dur now. Oh, that joke you [Music]