What is your key principle to keeping your personal finances in check and why?

Save first, pay bills second, spend the rest!

If you have some extra money after that, add on to your savings or investments.

"Save as much as possible and invest in the future."

Something I have learnt throughout the years, albeit a little painfully for my bank account, is the importance of small savings every day. Whether is it that extra $0.20 to dabao food or that one extra cup of KOI on a hot summer day. You should always be conscious of how much you are spending and limit it according to your planned budget.

Investing in the future means always having the end goal in sight. For some people, it may mean getting married and buying a BTO, funding your children's education or early retirement. For me, it means financial freedom. I want to be able to live comfortably in the future without having to worry about money.

Most important rule is cash outflow <= cash inflows, then do budgets and try to keep within them.

Use automated bank transfers and giro deductions for additional discipline and takes temptation away from the process.

Because the amounts I can spend for each purpose is already determined in my budgets, I make my processes simpler because I only can spend within the budgets.

When overspending happens, I actually have to figure out ways to save or cut some other spend to fill the gap / overspending. Eg I had to cut a few beers and eat more cheaply for two weeks to carve out money to pay angpow for a wedding that I didn't budget for.

Dont sweat the small stuff, focus on the big ones.

Dont scrimp and try to save twenty cents.

When later on you spend two hundred dollars on an item because you just feel like it.

Be prudent with big expense items like high-class restaurants, while you can afford to go generous on cheaper alternatives like hawkers.​​​