Frugal Living

I came across this article which I like so much and would like to share it here. It is not about the details or information in it, but the important message it conveys: delayed gratification. The author (a blogger) had a frugal living for the past 5 years after his graduation and start working; he lived as if he was still a college student. As such, he was able to build a healthy net worth at young age.

..... To net it down - What I believe I did right was disassociate my spending and living standards from my job salary. Instead every year as my net worth builds, my "expected" annual consumption and living standards grows with my worth.

And I truly agree with his principle, that is to disassociate the level of spending with one's earning. I am a strong believer of this, and this mentality has greatly helped me to leverage the value of my hard earned money. In exchange of some instant short stint of funs, I gained more years of easier life ahead by saving and investing those money. If you realise how significant the power of compounding effect, then you will agree how critically important to start saving / investing as early as you can.

Many do not believe an average working Joe can save up and become a millionaire one day. Worse still, some are struggling their whole life to become debt free. All in all, this is because many do not know how to appreciate a simpler life and keep on chasing a life style that is beyond their means.

The idea to be able to jump out from the rat race is my biggest motivation. Just imagine if one day that you do not have to work for living, then there will be so much more times for you to spend on more interesting and meaningful things in life instead. Better still, if that happens at young age when you have a lot of energy to try different things.

I believe I am on track to achieve my dream. If you ask me what is my secret formula, I will tell you to think twice about what you really want in your life. Is that the styling handphone, big nice 4-wheels, expensive massaging chair or the plasma TV for relieving your after-work tension, or a break from your mind boggling work forever... I believe you will know what to do once you have the answer.