Topic: Surrounded by woman, inspired by woman Background: I grew up in an environment of 3 sisters (1 elder, 2 younger) and despite working in IT field of work, I am surrounded by woman (again), 5 powerful woman. The person whom inspired me the most is my current team lead (TL), 1 year my senior, mother of 2, mighty woman at work. To earned my respect and to get me inspired is never easy, I often play the card of “morale authority” where I been there done it (perhaps better than you), I can never get inspired by someone whom is below my standard from my tainted glasses. Getting inspired: My TL is well respected within the department and cross functional departments. Apart from work, she manages her home finances, from holidays, to groceries, to investments. In short, she’s the CFO at home, which might be a rising trend in woman power. As an “absolutist”, I believe in results oriented and often disappointed when I get poor returns / results. My TL led by example by sharing her stories as well as asking me to focus what I can consider focusing on which is sustainable, which is strategies. You may get poor finance results from your planning now, but if you constantly refine your strategies, results will follow. For someone whom you respect at work’s context, you know you can trust her for personal finance context to a high level of trust too. We briefly discussed on the strategies and action plan, just like work. A regular review should be scheduled quarterly and revised according to your situation. Ultimate respect and inspiration: To be honest, the discussion and advice on financial planning could come from anyone. However to come from your TL whom you respect a lot and led by example, it ignite the passion of F.I.R.E within you. Someone whom manages their finances well at home, have a happy family, super awesome at work, still need to spare time to pump milk for baby at work, and plan for family bonding activities. Feeling inspired and confident that I can do the same. What is the outcome?: Apart from being (very) result oriented, I adopted to look at personal finance from a strategic level. This is often misunderstood that you need to have a lot of monies that’s why you are doing this, however it is exactly the opposite. Because you have limited funds and you want to fully maximize your spending power without compromising the enjoyment, the nice food, the nice holiday that you can have. What I learn the most from my TL is also the power of family, she might not have the same power if she didn’t get good support from her family. I do believe the smile from her kids when she reach home, her husband warmth hug and great colleagues to keep her going, thus keeping her charged up to face many difficult and challenging situations. Conclusion I am inspired and I will continue to inspire people around me on personal finance management. I met many strong woman in my life and I hope to have a strong woman by my side in time to come. Happy International Women's Day! Cheers Bang

Why no bring girlfriend/boyfriend ? (What? Because I don't have?!)

I don't have a physical piggy bank those days, but I do "invest" or lets say buy things that people at my age values. During those days, I started buying FIFA cards (From Pcakets) , Dragon Ball cards (From 20 cents card-machine). Slightly older, I am into Tamiya cars , WWF gaming cards. In contrats, today I still don't have a physical piggy bank, haha! I started buying Physical Silver coins and Gold coins for investment and leisure. Moved on to Unit Trust, Indexes, Forex, Options and finally Stocks. I don't really believe in saving monies in the past but during volunteer work at a regular old folks home and cancer foundation, many people shared with me their life regrets. Most common regrets are financial management and spending time with their loves one. I am fortunate to have value investing mindset and act on it. However that is not enough, to share knowledge to family, relative and friends is equally important. To encourage proper financial management for them to save into their own version of piggy bank is important, that would likely eliminate more than half of potential issues arising with monies disputes. There is no "right" time to start a piggy bank saving, the best time is now.

There are 14 Christmas trees sighted... Ho ho ho, merry Xmas and a happy new year people!

Surprised look when I learn new things or discover interesting stuff. Keep this going, keep me surprised! Upvote for Pikachu!

My personal finance resolutions are 1. Dig deeper into critical illness insurance (early ci), exclusion, etc. To forge a better understanding to determine which plan to buy extra for ci. 2. Diversification, Monitor and pick 3 dividend stocks to invest in. Research on respective industry of stocks and nature of revenue generation not only from balance sheet. 3. Jobs opportunities and side income jobs. To dig deeper to see if there's anything worth doing. 4. Traveling cost optimization by doing more research and staying at a cost effective accommodation and air tickets.

There are pleanty (i.e. GSC) and many others. Precious metals market in SG is dead, personally that was my first few investment for physical gold/silver, including graded ones like MS69/70 silver panda 1oz. Yearly there is a coin festival at MBS which you can visit to buy/sell/trade as well. But I have to say market is very very small with most people bleeding like myself (Entered market 5-7 years ago, bleeding ... still bleeding but not dead yet).

Didn't attend such seminars that require paying. I am building my own Dividend portfolio by researching and reading books. It doesnt take rocket science to build a simple dividend portfolio. If DIY is not your thing, go for plans instead. Even with the overheads included in the plans, it save you time so that you can focus on other things more important in life.

No straightforward answers here. I will advise to top up MA/SA to enjoy tax relief if the following are met (But not limited to): 1) You will confirm + chop reach FRS at 55 years old, with the projected increment of the minimum sum. 2) You enjoy a "good" tax rebate, meaning your income is on a higher tier tax bracket and not the 1st/2nd bracket for instance 3) You do not need the cash until you reach 55 years old (With assumption #1 is met). You should have reserve monies from other places. 4) If liquid monies is important to you, can consider SRS. At least can withdraw at a penalty for early withdrawals subjected to 100% tax for that year.