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How I Saved $200,000 in 3.5 years Without A Degree

Yes. I have finally hit the momentous milestone of achieving 200K!

It's actually a surprise for me because I have been busy with work for the past 2 weeks and wasn't keeping a tab on the whole picture of my assets. I decided to reconcile my assets today because the STI was inching towards the 2,500 support level so I wanted to figure out how much I can afford to invest in the market in case it is going to present another opportunity in near future. When I finally get the calculations done, I was taken aback by the overall figure. 

At the point of writing, my net worth, which consists of cash savings, investment portfolio, CPF, and a loan to a friend, adds up to a total of $201,074.97

Net Worth = Assets - Liabilities. 

As a side note, I don't have any debt, so my liability is zero. CPF is included as assets because I actively pump money into it and money in CPF can be utilised in many areas. The loan is to help a friend with his university's tuition fees and he has been repaying the loan dutifully for the past 3 years without lapsing a payment, so it's still safe to classify that loan under my assets.

After thorough consideration, I chose to start working right after graduating from a polytechnic instead of going straight to the university like most of my peers did. Armed with a diploma, I braced the workforce and have since worked for 41 months, which is around 3.5 years. During this period of time, I have switched companies and taken a pay cut to work in a new industry, throwing everything I have learned from school out of the window and started learning everything from scratch. Thankfully, this turns out to be one of the best decisions I have made. Throughout these times, I have made a lot of mistakes, at investing, life, and work, and am grateful for having those lessons learned at a younger age. I also appreciate having so many supportive and inspiring people around me who have given me lots of advice and encouragement.

Note: 

Okay, this is embarrassing. Apparently, the post was published at midnight without the latest draft. I had a list of elaborated reasons why I was able to achieve this milestone in a super long post, but it wasn't saved properly so it's all gone (argh my hours of writing) and I will have to write them up again. Will update again when I get those ready. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please stay tuned to my upcoming posts.

Comments

  1. QiongsterMay 27, 2020 at 5:24 PM

    Congratulations! Your achievements are worth commending and should be a role model to the millienials out there. It is important to stay away from materialism and owning income producing assets while staying frugal. The net worth will increase at exponential rate due to compounding effect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GenevieveJune 4, 2020 at 3:55 AM

      Hi Qiongster

      Thank you for your encouragement. There are already many role models out there and I'm still very far from being one. I'm still trying to figure out how can I own income producing assests other from dividends, because it seems that we need a huge capital to be able to have a sustainable dividend income. If you have any suggestion, please share with me. Thanks :)

      Delete
  2. CompoundingDividendxDividendMay 27, 2020 at 6:20 PM

    Congratulations..

    My 2 cents as below:
    1) I delay my university studies to start working
    If you want to climb the corp ladder, you will need to have a degree unless you are self employed, Insurance/Property agents and etc.
    Suggest you take up part time night degree while working full time to add value to yourself.

    7) I don't buy insurance
    Hospital insurance with rider & early critical illness insurance is a MUST.
    Else, you just need to tio once (touch wood) and majority of your saving will be wiped out.
    Insurance is for you to transfer your risks to another company :)
    Aside from focusing on your upside, you need to protect your downside (base you spent yrs building)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GenevieveMay 27, 2020 at 9:32 PM

      Hi CDD

      Thanks for your advice.

      On 2) Yes that's the plan, I never give up on pursuing my studies. I chose to work first just so that I can save up on my tuition fees so that I won't have to be in any form of debt. I'm looking to apply for a course next year because this I missed the application deadline this year and given the economy instability, I think it might be a good idea to work harder this year and prove my worth so that I'm not giving them another reason for laying me off because I'm 'not dedicated enough'.

      On 7), I'm still considering about it. My company offers really good and comprehensive insurance coverage, inclusive of hospitalisation and critical illness, and I heard we are not able to make claims from 2 providers, thus I'm not sure whether if it will be worth it for me to get a plan on my own if I'm not able to claim from it if anything bad happens.

      My original plan is to not buy insurance until I quit or lose my job, so that I can have more capital to build up my portfolio and use it to pay for my insurance after that. But to be frank, I'm not exactly sure if this is a good move :/

      Delete
    2. HenryMay 27, 2020 at 10:14 PM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. CompoundingDividendxDividendMay 27, 2020 at 11:44 PM

      Hi Genevieve

      regard to 7) Insurance
      Unless your company insurance is portable, else you still need to get your own. As we age, our health condition worsen. If you dont buy it when you have clean bill of health, those detected known health conditions will get excluded in your future insurance. That why need to get health insurance as early as possible.

      Delete
    4. jackyMay 30, 2020 at 1:52 AM

      Second CompoundingDividendxDividend that unless your company insurance is portable (most likely not), it is better to have your personal insurance plan as early as possible - it is cheaper as well since you are younger with no / less existing condition

      Once you have some existing conditions as you grow older, you won't be able to have them covered.

      Delete
  3. OwlcentsMay 27, 2020 at 9:11 PM

    Great job!
    I look back fondly on my journey back hitting financial milestones.
    I am so sorry that your long post got wiped out ):
    Looking forward to see you post your journey behind reaching the goal!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GenevieveMay 27, 2020 at 9:37 PM

      Hi Owlcents, thanks for reading.

      Haha I paled out this morning when I see the work was gone, hopefully it won't take too long for me to write them up again :P

      Delete

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