‘Losing’ a bit now to have a ‘Winning’ surprise in future.

My parents find it hard to understand why people could spend RM13 for a latte. They have advised me to save, save and save as soon as I started working. Well, it’s tough to save on a monthly basis and therefore, I forced myself to ‘lost’ some money. Yes, I put it somewhere I would not be touching it again for an extremely long time. For me, savings is a must even if investment is the thing that may determine if I get to retire earlier or later. In my early days when I did not know much about unit trust, I chose to believe my ex-colleague who sold me savings plans. The first plan I ever bought was RM200 per year for 20 years. Yes, I am about to get that whole chunk of money in a few years’ time.
savingsDo we know how much we could have saved if we only put RM200 into a savings plan or even a conservative unit trust for a period of 30 years with just a return of 3 percent? Take a look at the image of what happens. Assuming we found a RM100 note in our car when we were cleaning it, we would be extremely happy at our luck, right? Well, what if we suddenly receive a cheque for RM115,000. Bearing in mind I have already forgotten that on a monthly basis, my account was debited with this amount. Too used to it.
I know, some would now say but inflation would have eaten most of it. I am not sure about you but I am quite sure RM115,000 can buy me at least a few years of lunches even if inflation has consumed a lot of it. If you really must know, then assuming the economy rice by then costs RM50 per one meat and 2 vege, this money can give us over 6 years of lunches. Since this is a sudden surprise in future, it would be a good one. What happens if we were to spend an extra RM200 per month? You just need to spend RM50 per lunch in the future…… Yes, over the years, I have added a bit more into these kind of ‘forced’ savings. For now, I am just waiting for the cheque for my very first savings plan. Not much, I know but still a pleasant surprise. Perhaps I should just bring my parents for another short holiday. Oh yeah, saving is also the start of an investment journey. Happy ‘losing’ today and ‘winning’ in future.
 
written on 29 June 2016
next suggested article:  Malaysia: 42 percent senior citizens have zero savings


Comments

  1. To be honest, it is not jealousy, i have been noticing some of my surrounding people are more toward materialistic, most of them drive quite a luxury new car, it is not only at minimum of import one but also big one. for instance, Mazda, hyundai and Honda CRV.
    I wonder that maybe they are really super rich or squeeze their monthly repayment for the sake of showing up their wealth status or for business purpose. Anyway, it is none of my business : ) but good luck to them if they squeeze their budget for the sake of wealth status or luxury. Perhaps, i am too conservative enough : ) and can’t be part of their group for sure.

    1. We should focus only on us. The rest we don’t need to try. Haha.

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