If savings is the base of everything, we need a strong one.

My mother has never failed to remind me time and again that savings is a must. I agree but I think that call to save is no longer as strong for my generation and perhaps a few more generations down the road. My father still could not understand why I could pay RM10 for an Americano. Materialism is the ‘in-thing’ today. However, I would like to remind all of us that things that we do could affect the money that we could save for other investments. Not a lot, just three.
Technology gets cheaper. Remember those days when 32 inch LCD TV was the craze? My brother-in-law paid RM3,800 for it. Perhaps I was stingy but I used my 29 inch Samsung Slim-TV for just 1.5 years more and the LCD TV’s price dropped, a lot. He bought a new 40 inch LED TV for the same price he bought his first, RM3,800 because he said LED TV is better and it will last longer. 3 years ago, I changed to a 51 inch PLASMA TV for RM1,300 (clearance sale). Within just these few years, the savings would have been easily a few thousand if we control our emotions a little. Reminder, no one goes and touch your TV, admire it, ask you what’s the brand and so on……. It’s what is shown that will glue them to your TV.

Forget about it. Of course, it’s not always easy for me to think objectively before I buy something. So I do one extra thing which limited my spending. I bought a few savings cum insurance plans. Those where you either save on monthly or half yearly or yearly and after a period of say 20 years, you get some returns plus during that period, you get some form of insurance coverage. If you look at the return, it’s small but every month, my credit card will be debited and thus I ‘forced’ myself to save that amount automatically. It is not a habit but the effect is the same. By the way, I have not noticed all these ‘missing’ money for many years.
Planning is key. Everyone loves a holiday. Last minute decisions are always costly, when it comes to holidays. Unless you have a boss who will kill you whenever you take leave, I am very sure you can tell him 4 months in advance that you are going on a holiday. It’s not just Air-Asia, you can get cheaper MAS fares when you buy ahead. We can also create an itineary and then book accommodation nearby to minimize our transportation costs. The last I counted, two of such planning saved me thousands. (Yes, for a family of 2 adults and 2 kids).
We may fail to see but actually just a few thoughts would save us much more money that what we get for our bonuses. Investment needs a conscious effort, of savings. Else, we do not have enough to build our wealth faster. Value of money will get smaller and stop thinking that in this whole world, only ringgit is getting smaller. Look at the average salaries of fresh graduates in Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and many other countries including Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Then, compare it to the property prices. Everyone is also facing the same pressure. However, what we do would return us different results. Cheers.
written on 30 Dec 2016
Next suggested article: Yes, it’s definitely safe for along time yet; property investment

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