How many of you here tried, and actually followed through, on the #financialfast that I proposed in the first week of January?
Obviously this title isn't about me (and neither do I have the will to see it through for 365 days lol) but someone actually managed to stay on the financial fast for a whole year in Australia!
Y'all can go google for the original article if you wanna read. This woman is amazing seriously!!!
"The personal financial journalist became a minimalist, and stopped cluttering her house with possessions and making unnecessary purchases. Now she is about $27,000 better off for it."
Now her method was, frankly, extremely rigid. It meant no cinema trips, no nights in the pub, no takeaways or restaurant meals, no new clothes, no holidays, no gym memberships, not even a KitKat or snacks, no outside coffee, and neither did she spend on transport. (She rode her bike everywhere).
It'll be very hard to replicate the same here in Singapore. I think my makeup will all melt and I'll die from the heatwave lol.
"After a year of no spending I realized that I valued financial security over material possessions:
I don’t want to be forced to stay on the treadmill of work just to pay off a home loan for the next two decades or accumulate more stuff."
I know of people who can't quit their jobs because they have such high bills to pay for. Just over the weekend, I was talking to my JC friends who shared that two of her friends spend over $1000 every month on insurance.
$1000?!??!??!?! 😱😱😱😱😱
She also said her friends feel compelled to keep working even though they hate their jobs because they cannot afford NOT to. How to pay the bills otherwise?
If we were to use the common gauge globally of not spending more than 10% of your income on insurance, then these two people obviously fail the test. They don't earn $10k a month.
Isn't that a little too excessive? Who sold them these products? What are they paying for? Do they really need so much coverage?
(From Dollars and Sense):
"In 2012, MAS conducted a mystery shopping exercise. The results are telling. The results show that about 30% of recommendations made were suitable for the client, and 30% were unsuitable. The remaining 40% may be suitable.
From this, we can gather that 30% of agents are crooked, 30% are straight, and the remaining 40% lie somewhere in between."
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Some people might think, "Why can't I spend my hard earned money on the things I like? Why can't I buy these makeup #dayrebeauty / clothes / branded bags if they make me happy? Who cares if you have more money in the bank than I do?"
That's right, NO ONE cares. No one cares how you spend your money, no one is judging you for your choice of purchases, and obviously who cares if you or I have more money in the bank?
This isn't a competition. Your life and mine are completely different.
If you value your material possessions now instead of achieving financial freedom at 45, that's your prerogative.
If living in a big house and owning a big car that requires you to finance huge loans every month makes you happy, that's your choice.
Not mine.
Similarly, some people might believe in spending $1000+ a month on insurance, but it just isn't something that I would personally do or advocate. You don't have to shape your life around my beliefs or opinions.
But if you have the same goal as me in wanting to make your money work harder for you, maybe that's where we'll find a common ground. And in a world where everyone is talking about their latest buys, we can find comfort together in a community that chooses not to spend so much because we have our eye on the longer term goal of financial independence.
Like the Aussie woman, I value financial freedom over ownership of material possessions.
I get that not everyone may think the same way. And that's fine.
I'm the odd girl who talks about stocks and #dayrefinance LOL not very girly at all 😂
Going on a financial fast isn't about deprivation or about how much you save.
It is about the self-discovery journey you embark on. It is about realising that things you thought you originally couldn't live without (like that morning Starbucks cuppa)…in fact you can.
And that knowledge is extremely empowering!
During my A level years, I believed that I needed coffee in order to stay awake / productive / be alert / do well in my exams and revision. Even though it was all homemade coffee, buying so much coffee powder to make my 3 cups a day did take a toll on my wallet.
We need water for survival, not coffee. But I believed it to be essential to my survival.
Until I cut down on it completely in university!
Once I realised it was my own psychological barrier that was making me reliant on coffee to stay awake, I found other (healthier) ways to not feel sleepy. Such as patting my cheeks, doing a few jumping jacks, or just forcing my eyes wideeeeee open (it works!).
No need for coffee anymore!
You may think you NEED that latest lipstick, Kate Spade bag or $1500 wedding gown for your wedding. That's fine. We're in no position to tell you how to spend your money.
But what I've learnt from doing a financial fast every now and then (only for a few days to a week max cos I don't have iron determination like this Aussie woman sia) is that what I thought I originally needed turned out to be more of a "good to have" rather than a "must have".
So I hope that by sharing this article about this amazing Australian woman today, it inspires you to rethink your financial life.
What did you think you can't or couldn't live without? Are they realllllllly so?
😊
