5 Things I Will Commit to When I'm Rich
1. Eat home-cooked meals as much as I can.
Eating out/ ordering delivery is the norm in Singapore. But I'm not your typical Singaporean Wahahahaha.
2. Do not be lazy. Take public transport or carpool if possible. Don't hire a maid. Clean my own house.
I love how these rich people take public transport. Do they bring along body guards?
3. Do not live in excess. Donate money to charities and causes I believe in. With great wealth comes great responsibility.
Read what Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world does for charity. I'm not sure if he is just doing this because of public pressure though. It just sounds like he doesn't really have a cause that he truly believes in. As much as people think they deserve to live in excess due to their hard work, I think it's unnecessary and I hope I never get myself in the plight where I have a huge mansion and a swimming pool on the balcony. I just want to have the ability to earn the money and redistribute it the way I want. And I can't imagine living such a luxurious life that I might not even enjoy to such a huge extent while others are dying from starvation because of where they were born.
I had a friend whose parents would tell her not to clean off her plate because it looked like she was greedy or poor. See how our frugal Minister Mentor is like. I love how he told others off about wasting food. Especially going to the extent to ask about portion sizes before ordering food. Even if you were rich it is still a habit that we can all adopt. Actually this "cleaning off our plate" habit isn't so much a "rich people" habit because my friends aren't filthy rich and there are some who order lots of food and don't finish it. Most Singaporeans I know are very willing to live in the moment (spend first think later), even if they had financial issues. Not poor, but required some effort to make ends meet. Maybe because we are young and have the financial potential? Or maybe we're just not afraid to work plus we don't have dependents yet.
I heard something bad about the Lee family from an old doctor though. She said just before Kwa Geok Choo (Late MM Lee's wife) passed away, the law was changed such that rich Singaporeans no longer have to donate part of their fortune to Singapore's reserves (something along those lines- I haven't been able to fact check this though, but that doctor must have gotten that information from somewhere.) Singapore has the highest paid ministers in the world. This is how Singapore does it- if it's not legal yet, legalize it. This is the reason why as much as I am grateful to the Lee family for bringing Singapore to where it is now, they will never have my full respect. No one is perfect I guess.
4. Don't assume people can live on the minimum. Don't point out that things are cheap. Don't take money for granted.
Remember the time our government said we can live on $1000/month? It's reasons like these that make Singaporeans lose respect for our government. It's like, why should some of us have to suffer while others live comfortably because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths? Life isn't fair but we didn't vote for such a government. Also while I was still schooling (probably JC), there was a forum where they invited ministers to talk about issues in Singapore, and I asked what they thought about inflation and how our incomes aren't rising as quickly. Their answer was simple: it happens in every country. It's crazy how they can just brush people off. Yeah the govt has done great things for us but they can be so selfish and lack empathy at times.
People pointing out that things are cheap is also a pet peeve of mine. So what if they're cheap? It doesn't mean you should buy something just because they're on sale. It annoys me when people bulk buy but waste things in the end because they didn't need so much. I'm fine if you say "cheap" once. But repeating it over and over again (especially when you travel to a country with lower cost of living) just makes you sound like an annoying bird who doesn't realize it might not be that cheap for the locals there.
5. Don't buy things I don't need. (Be a minimalist.)
It's not just about saving the environment and being thrifty, but being able to keep track of what I have by having a small number of things. It is a "less is more" mentality because what is the use of having something when we don't even remember where we kept it?
Here is an example.
TTFN
Eating out/ ordering delivery is the norm in Singapore. But I'm not your typical Singaporean Wahahahaha.
2. Do not be lazy. Take public transport or carpool if possible. Don't hire a maid. Clean my own house.
I love how these rich people take public transport. Do they bring along body guards?
3. Do not live in excess. Donate money to charities and causes I believe in. With great wealth comes great responsibility.
Read what Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world does for charity. I'm not sure if he is just doing this because of public pressure though. It just sounds like he doesn't really have a cause that he truly believes in. As much as people think they deserve to live in excess due to their hard work, I think it's unnecessary and I hope I never get myself in the plight where I have a huge mansion and a swimming pool on the balcony. I just want to have the ability to earn the money and redistribute it the way I want. And I can't imagine living such a luxurious life that I might not even enjoy to such a huge extent while others are dying from starvation because of where they were born.
I had a friend whose parents would tell her not to clean off her plate because it looked like she was greedy or poor. See how our frugal Minister Mentor is like. I love how he told others off about wasting food. Especially going to the extent to ask about portion sizes before ordering food. Even if you were rich it is still a habit that we can all adopt. Actually this "cleaning off our plate" habit isn't so much a "rich people" habit because my friends aren't filthy rich and there are some who order lots of food and don't finish it. Most Singaporeans I know are very willing to live in the moment (spend first think later), even if they had financial issues. Not poor, but required some effort to make ends meet. Maybe because we are young and have the financial potential? Or maybe we're just not afraid to work plus we don't have dependents yet.
I heard something bad about the Lee family from an old doctor though. She said just before Kwa Geok Choo (Late MM Lee's wife) passed away, the law was changed such that rich Singaporeans no longer have to donate part of their fortune to Singapore's reserves (something along those lines- I haven't been able to fact check this though, but that doctor must have gotten that information from somewhere.) Singapore has the highest paid ministers in the world. This is how Singapore does it- if it's not legal yet, legalize it. This is the reason why as much as I am grateful to the Lee family for bringing Singapore to where it is now, they will never have my full respect. No one is perfect I guess.
4. Don't assume people can live on the minimum. Don't point out that things are cheap. Don't take money for granted.
Remember the time our government said we can live on $1000/month? It's reasons like these that make Singaporeans lose respect for our government. It's like, why should some of us have to suffer while others live comfortably because they were born with a silver spoon in their mouths? Life isn't fair but we didn't vote for such a government. Also while I was still schooling (probably JC), there was a forum where they invited ministers to talk about issues in Singapore, and I asked what they thought about inflation and how our incomes aren't rising as quickly. Their answer was simple: it happens in every country. It's crazy how they can just brush people off. Yeah the govt has done great things for us but they can be so selfish and lack empathy at times.
People pointing out that things are cheap is also a pet peeve of mine. So what if they're cheap? It doesn't mean you should buy something just because they're on sale. It annoys me when people bulk buy but waste things in the end because they didn't need so much. I'm fine if you say "cheap" once. But repeating it over and over again (especially when you travel to a country with lower cost of living) just makes you sound like an annoying bird who doesn't realize it might not be that cheap for the locals there.
5. Don't buy things I don't need. (Be a minimalist.)
It's not just about saving the environment and being thrifty, but being able to keep track of what I have by having a small number of things. It is a "less is more" mentality because what is the use of having something when we don't even remember where we kept it?
Here is an example.
TTFN
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