Things I am not keeping MUM (advice) about Money Management

I love my mom, but she is not the best in terms of her financial management skill. Growing up, I used to keep my pocket money in my piggy bank and count them daily (yes, you heard it right, DAILY). It wasn't as if the money would grow by leaps and bounds; I came from a very humble background, and in order to save up, I had to sacrifice meals during recess to see a slight increment in my reserves, but I would do it... just because I enjoyed counting coins (call it my pet peeve).

Mom used to ask me what I would spend on after saving the monies but I didn't have anything in mind--I literally just enjoyed the thrill of counting that additional coin in that stash. Somewhere, somehow, Mom's words hung at the back of my mind, "Keep that money well, keep in the bank account-- it is safest that way." It brought me a lot of comfort to know that I have a lot of coins and they were "safe", except that Mom didn't factor in that inflation would soon make the worth of these coins that I had amassed from Primary School lesser than its original worth.

Somewhere, somehow, Mom's words hung at the back of my mind, "Keep that money well, keep in the bank account-- it is safest that way." It brought me a lot of comfort to know that I have a lot of coins and they were "safe", except that Mom didn't factor in that inflation would soon make the worth of these coins that I had amassed from Primary School lesser than its original worth.

When I grew up and got my first paycheck, I did what Mom taught me-- to keep saving into that bank account, but I wasn't happy to see that every month, there was literally little growth in my funds. "Money in, Money Out and Money was out FAST"-- while I was earning more than my previous student allowance of $200 a month, I also increased my spending powers... I had assumed a lot of my household expenses and I had to repay my student loan that I had taken from a local bank to fund my university education.

At 24, I was debt-laden, with no means to increase my savings. I spoke to my then Financial Advisor who suggested to do a 20 year endowment plan with my monthly salary since I was getting pittance for the cash in my bank account.... This was my first foray into building wealth-- but this wealth can only be realised in my 40s. Back then, it seemed like the most logical thing to do, because the returns (IRR 2.5-3%) still beat inflation and the monies would have to reside somewhere-- either in the bank account or the endowment plan-- and it was logical to be earning a higher yield for funds I don't intend to touch anyway.

Then I tried other tools to increase my wealth-- "Investments" they call it, except I had no idea what "investing" was about as a silly 24 YO young graduate. I dabbled into penny stocks and got my fingers fried and burnt. I remember swearing off investing but I now know that I was not actually investing-- I was gambling with my monies in hopes that my stock picks would yield me a windfall. It was a costly lesson but I am glad I learnt that if I have no time to know about investing, I need to stay diversified and partner with someone who does know about investing; that way, I am able to excel at work (which is my main revenue source) and allow the advisor to help me grow the passive income (which is the ultimate income source for retirement).

I was gambling with my monies in hopes that my stock picks would yield me a windfall. It was a costly lesson but I am glad I learnt that if I have no time to know about investing, I need to stay diversified and partner with someone who does know about investing; that way, I am able to excel at work (which is my main revenue source) and allow the advisor to help me grow the passive income (which is the ultimate income source for retirement).

Thankfully, in my search for higher yielding instruments, I met someone who initiated me into the investment world. I did some mutual funds investing, which gave me very decent returns over a span of 10 years.

In 2011, I became a financial representative in a bank and over the 10 years, I truly learnt to appreciate the value of investing in diversified tools and allow time in market to compound and grow my monies. In my previous role as a Relationship Manager (RM) of High Networth clients, I realised one unique thing of this profile of clients: they all hustle hard at work, and most importantly, they understand the principles of money-- Money has to be worked harder so that their hard-earned monies can grow while they are sleeping. They work with wealth planners to deploy their income to create assets that ultimately give them a retirement income when they decided they no longer want to "hustle and grind" but want to enjoy the "bustle and wine"-- and most of them don't stop investing, even in their retirement years.

They work with wealth planners to deploy their income to create assets that ultimately give them a retirement income when they decided they no longer want to "hustle and grind" but want to enjoy the "bustle and wine"

I have since learnt from these wealthier clients that there is no shortcut to wealth, it is all about getting started, staying invested and doing necessary profit taking and loss-cutting. Like what Warren Buffett says, “Start early. I started building this little snowball at the top of a very long hill. The trick to have a very long hill is either starting very young or living to be very old.” I have learnt to apportion a large amount of my monthly income to investing and intend to do so through the market cycles and over the years because I know time in market will compound my monies and its growth.

My only regret, " I wish I started investing earlier."

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