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chinkiasu Master	27-Jan-2007 17:23        chinkiasu About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	shareplayer, absolutely agreed sir! good post! another way of looking at it is that when you have the $$$ people will give you face.... but seriously speaking, my way of looking at it is why so concern about that kind of "face"..  but if it make you feel good and want to occasionally splurge on that mercedes ok lah.. but to do that for the pleasure of seeing, for the few seconds, of people envying you I think not so worth it leh, however if you do it because you just feel good driving it ok lah... I believe the type of face I want is when I do the right things, positive things, help / bless others etc I know I have done something good.. the internal satisfaction .. I think people would give your the face for that too....
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shplayer Elite	27-Jan-2007 15:30        shplayer About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 1   x 0  Alert Admin	Hi All, Yes, I can understand the need to have 'face' or 'Keep up with the Jones''. Sure, once in awhile, pamper yourself...but if you keep spending to the hilt to have 'face', then as a working person (employee), you may not achieve your dream of financial independance....that is the choice you have to make. Lets put my suggestion in perspective. Say, besides your other savings, you are able to save $1000 every year by foregoing the 'face saving' items. You take this money and invest it wisely and say, you get a average compounded return of 15% pa...(in my experience, this is very possible), and you reinvest your gains. After 10 years, you have put in $10,000 ($1000 each year for 10 years)....but this $10,000 would have grown to $23,350. If you bought that expensive handphone, that Prada bag, etc....in 10 years...what is its worth????? Probably already in the garbage long ago....i.e you have $0 to show for...except...perhaps your 'face'...which would have grown 10 years older anyway...ha ha ha. We are all entitled to make our choices...but as the saying goes...'You can't have your cake and eat it'.
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elfinchilde Elite	27-Jan-2007 13:50        elfinchilde About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	hey forrest, glad to  know you're enjoying yourself here! :) no msn tho, sorry. i'm an anomaly in my generation. haha. geojam, agreed. it's all about the right combination. which unfortunately isn't so easy to find. sigh. giantlow, what you said doesn't contradict me what....when i said happiness is a choice you consciously make i meant precisely your 3rd paragraph--that yea, we might be sad, but we choose to let go of the sadness, after a period of grieving/whatever. It's impossible to be 100% happy all the time. And to deny your emotions is just self-deceit, too. But to me the entire idea is to let go of whatever hurt/pain etc; can't let it keep eating you up after all. (that's also what i meant by state of mind. You choose to let go or cling on. that's what 'price' meant, too.) and yea, comparison is good if it motivates you positively; but if it eats you up (ie, obsession) then, it's not good.   so you see....no contradiction what....
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FORREST Member	27-Jan-2007 11:15        FORREST About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	nice to know there are people in this forum who see beyond $$$. i'd really enjoy chatting with you guys and getting to know you. if you have an msn messenger, just add me: forrestme@msn.com hope to see u. cheers!
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geojam Member	27-Jan-2007 11:05        geojam About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	Three important ingredients for happiness. healthy,wealthy and wise. one has to find the rite combination of the 3 ingredients.Too much of one and not enough of the other 2 will not make one happy. over the many years mankind has been trying to find the rite combination.To the extent they seek religion or sage,like confucious,to get the combination rite.
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giantlow Master	27-Jan-2007 01:48        giantlow About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	hmm. i going to take a bit of a contarian view here. comparing with others??? imagine in a competition since the winner who recieve a gold medal is happy, would it make everyone happy is everyone is given a gold medal instead? Of course not rite? i think that we should continue to compare ourselves with others but not be obsessive. see it more as a learning opportunity to improve ourselves rather then as a sore point. lets also remember not just to compare with just the physical stuff such as $$$, houses, cars etc, lets also compare amt of time to spend with family and friends, going on holidays without worrying about office work etc happiness is a state of mind??? hmm. lets say someone hurt our feelings real bad. can we realli wire our brain to remain happy and perhaps even laugh at the person? that would be like putting your hand in a pot of hot water and trying to force your senses to feel cold. there is a time for happiness, there is a time for sadness. we as humans, all have emotions. the thing is not to be controlled by these emotions. if we lose a loved one, we are expected to feel sad. dun go trying to suppress that sadness. cry and let it out. but after crying, dun cling on to the sadness, let it go and move on with our lives just my thoughts lah, not purposely trying to go against my good fren, elf. = )
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elfinchilde Elite	27-Jan-2007 00:54        elfinchilde About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	i think happiness is a state of mind. the trouble with being human is that we're always comparing ourselves with others. But perhaps happiness should only be dependent on yourself, and not your physical possessions. I mean, to reduce your sense of self-worth to the number of diamonds you possess, or the model of handphone you carry? And, having come from the gutters,  i don't believe there's such a thing as 'no choice'. Happiness is a choice you consciously make, regarding who you are, where you come from, where you want to go, and the price you are willing to pay for all these. Since of course, nothing comes free. Because it takes more strength to be happy than to be angry, or sad, or envious, or depressed. agree with shplayer and lewsh. The first rule of financial management: it is not how much you earn, it is how much you keep.
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YongJiu Veteran	27-Jan-2007 00:37        YongJiu About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	hehe interesting... indeed we all should read this new book Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
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iPunter Supreme	26-Jan-2007 20:59        iPunter About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	The handicapped, whether physically or financially, both deserve and need our sympathy and love. They have no choice but to make themselves 'happy' in an otherwise uncaring world.
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IreneL Senior	26-Jan-2007 19:57        IreneL About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	I've enjoying reading all the postings on this thread and I cant agree more with the various views expressed. While I have my grouses about living in Singapore (worst before I quit in Aug 2005), I must say that Singaporeans are very lucky.  I can compare myself  (or ourselves) with either the so called first world citizens like the Americans and the Europeans where material abundances is something not to be taken lightly, or with the so called third world countries where happiness does not depend on material possessions.  Yet whenever I touched down at Changi International Airport I cannot help but feel a deep sense of gratitude for what Singapore has achieved todate. In Vietnam, a population of some 82 millions people, only a slight portion of the population lives in what I would call our standard of living of 20 years back.  There are poverty aplenty, especially in villages with the nearest villages taking about an hour's drive from Ho Chih Minh City.  I know, because I have been going up and down HCMC these past few months, doing my stuff and helping a young Vietnamese village lady seeking eye treatment at the Singapore National Eye Centre.  She's just 32, is blinded in the right eye, had only finger vision in the left, whose face is badly scarred with the tip of her nose melted away and both arms badly scarred as well.   All because another woman threw acid at her.  But despite all these, she is a happy and positive person. I am therefore of the view that happinesss is relative, and I hope I have not offended anyone with this sharing.
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iPunter Supreme	26-Jan-2007 18:11        iPunter About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	That is true... To some, having nothing (but with millions in the bank) is happiness. But since a limited life is for living, one must live a life having, using and enjoying all that life has to offer. Otherwise what's the point of living with nothing but just the happy thought (attitude) that one actually have loads of dough in the bank?
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lewsh88 Senior	26-Jan-2007 17:58        lewsh88 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 1   x 0  Alert Admin	geojam asked the mother of all questions: "How much wealth or money in the bank or shares is enough to retire." To some (in Singapore), baring major illnesses, a steady income of $1,000.00 per month from interest and investments would be sufficient. No car, no morgage, no high end handphones, no branded apparels. To some, nothing is enough. I believe some answers lie in shplayer's advice: be frugal and prudent; buy what you need and not what you want; be contented. Wealth and Happiness is relative. -To all, health. -To many, be charitable. -To some, be stingy and keep on accumulating wealth until death. -To me, I believe: make money honestly, invest it wisely, give it generously and spent it happily.
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iPunter Supreme	26-Jan-2007 17:52        iPunter About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	I know many can agree... but I am sure for the many who agree that cheaper things with less class can do as well, one must not forget the human need to keep up with others who can afford the class and who will unconsciously judge you on how well-off you are... Face is a very real thing in the real world. Take the simple handphone for instance... Why do you think everyone must have the new models if not the latest models? It is because of the need not to appear inferior to the other person/s.
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chinkiasu Master	26-Jan-2007 17:19        chinkiasu About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	i too agree, sir... thumbs up! great (painstaking) post..
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jackjames Elite	26-Jan-2007 16:57        jackjames About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	good post, shplayer! I agreed with you, two tumbs up!
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shplayer Elite	26-Jan-2007 15:46        shplayer About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 3   x 0  Alert Admin	To all members who have responded to this thread, the majority of you have expressed the wish to achieve financial independance. Well, let me say, this is not an impossible dream. However, may I take the liberty of dishing out some unsolicitated advice. Be frugal with your spending- don't spend on the unneccssary...why pay 5, 10 X for branded goods when a lesser brand will serve the purpose just as well. Why get an expensive handphone with loads of features if you are only going to use 20% of it. In Spore, cars form the second most expensive item (the first being a home) and is a depreciating asset (homes appreciate in the long term). So, if you really need to drive, then get one that is within your affordability.....without too much loan(if you must). Today's car loan is running at about 3.5% - upfront straight line interest. This translated to an effective rate of about 7%.   Don't get into credit card debt (20%+ pa)....or anyother debt...save for housing mortgage and car loan (if you must). Most, if not all, members are into the market. Invest prudently, do your homework and don't take risks you cannot afford. This way, you will see your money grow in the medium to long term. Today, almost everyone in this blog is laughing cos of the current BULLRUN. But, if you recall, the short post election downturn in May - Aug 06, SJ was pretty quiet then....presumeably many were licking their wounds. That was a small BEAR...but I assure you, there were and will be much bigger BEARS around the corner; and they can be stay for a much longer period....so, don't let the current exuberance fog your judgement. Finally.......Good luck to all in achieving your dreams.
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hughsh2004 Member	26-Jan-2007 15:01        hughsh2004 About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	need S$500 ~ 800k cash (assets in stk, FD, savings, unit trusts but exclude HDB flat value) targeted by age mid 40s , then work up to accumulate to at least S$1 million ( to cater for me & wife' retirement basic needs, as well as child's education, etc).... still a long long long way...
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chinkiasu Master	26-Jan-2007 14:46        chinkiasu About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	for me, if I stay in singapore, down grade to two room HDB flat, i think I need S$2 million.  If GST go up some more, figure may have to change. ;-) btw, I sometimes wonder if our stock play is a zero sum game, some poor guy will have to lose for others to make... like a casino, with SGX the ultimate winner..
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elfinchilde Elite	26-Jan-2007 12:27        elfinchilde About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	yongjiu, genting. ahaha. i did tell you guys to stay off that counter...even without insider news (so-called), by TA or FA alone you wouldn't touch that stock. all i can say is, expect delay and/or modifications to their IR construction.
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elfinchilde Elite	26-Jan-2007 12:26        elfinchilde About Contact  Quote this Post!
x 0   x 0  Alert Admin	hey geojam, finally someone asked the question i was waiting for. hehe. yep, it's what i meant when i asked, what do you want the money for. 'cos, most of us will have hazy ideas of wanting this and that, but if you were to exactly quantify it, then, you'll realise that it's actually achievable, in terms of discrete dollars, and how much you need to make; and people don't need that much money to be 'happy', as defined by the attainment of desires. ok, back to work, cheers all! :)
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