How to Tell If You’re Rich

[paullow]

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i am glad that when i was starting to becone successful more than 5yrs ago, i did not lose my head n blow my cash on a supercar like a rolls royce or boat or some silly resort island.

But u blow it on a car plate number. Does it have investment value? I read that some single digit numbers can be sold for a huge amount.

true, i blow it on a car num.

BUT: i don't view it as a liability. for eg if i had bought a S class in 2008 costing 300K, right now, maybe it would cost 150k.

that S plate is no ordinary plate. it is 100 years old. just S and two digit) (i won't reveal the number).

it belonged to a relative of a billionaire. thanks to his kind understanding, he allowed me to have it.

i have offers of around 1mil for it today but i am not selling it.

[KopiKat]

Let me share with you my side of it. retirement and financially free is over rated ! once you get there you will know what i am talking about.I am now in this category and recently I have started a biz to kill some of my time and to network, not so much as for the money. 2 problems you will have to address. one is lonely as suddenly you don't have working friends and the other you would have lost the purpose of life now that you don't have to chase that pot of gold. there is so much golf that you can play, so much places that you can visit before you are weary of travelling(believe me I have travel a lot to many far flung places) and there is so much you can eat. i have tried eating restaurant food for 6 mths and finally decided that i am not going to die eating. so now my favorite food is teochew porridge and the occasional restaurant food.

I have a totally different experience... Till date, I have not found the free time to be able to do what you'd done till you were bored... Perhaps the difference is that I have a few young kids to look after? No maids, no sending them to a Day-Care,... My life revolves round their needs and I have to manage it with house work... Any free time that I can squeeze out in between, would be spent on stocks related activities (reading, research, forum, blogs,...) + a few other hobbies...

Holidays? Now confined to term breaks and to places that're more kids friendly and safe.

I think (and hope) that I'd have your kind of freedom when my last kid reaches Secondary School....

PS. I'm not complaining... On the contrary, I'd not have it any other way. Despite the many difficulties of hands-on in caring, developing and nurturing my kids at the many different stages of their growth, I do find a certain contentment that's intangible and hard to describe...

[Share Investor]

Congrats !!! How does it feel to be out of the rat race? Can share share? I believed you were out of it a few years back

Let me share with you my side of it. retirement and financially free is over rated ! once you get there you will know what i am talking about.I am now in this category and recently I have started a biz to kill some of my time and to network, not so much as for the money. 2 problems you will have to address. one is lonely as suddenly you don't have working friends and the other you would have lost the purpose of life now that you don't have to chase that pot of gold. there is so much golf that you can play, so much places that you can visit before you are weary of travelling(believe me I have travel a lot to many far flung places) and there is so much you can eat. i have tried eating restaurant food for 6 mths and finally decided that i am not going to die eating. so now my favorite food is teochew porridge and the occasional restaurant food.

Yes, I think I can understand how you feel although I am not at that stage yet. I started having more overseas holidays a couple years back. The feeling is not as great as when I traveled less frequently.

Same with going to restaurant...not as enjoyable as when I was a kid when restaurant outing was rare.

Important is to have hope and purpose in life. It is the journey that matters.

[Musicwhiz]

thats a common nistqke pple make when they hav little more money.

Do you see this mistake happening a lot? As in people starting to spend proportionately more when they start earning much more?

How can we prevent ourselves from falling into this money trap?

[paullow]

thats a common nistqke pple make when they hav little more money.

Do you see this mistake happening a lot? As in people starting to spend proportionately more when they start earning much more?

How can we prevent ourselves from falling into this money trap?

i think not easy. with low interest rates n 10yr car loans, readily available credit cards how? even hoidays can pay via installments...so can furniture. totally a joke!!!
even if one is very savvy, if his wife isn't how?
i dun think its a simple solution.

[cif5000]

Let me share with you my side of it. retirement and financially free is over rated ! once you get there you will know what i am talking about.I am now in this category and recently I have started a biz to kill some of my time and to network, not so much as for the money. 2 problems you will have to address. one is lonely as suddenly you don't have working friends and the other you would have lost the purpose of life now that you don't have to chase that pot of gold. there is so much golf that you can play, so much places that you can visit before you are weary of travelling(believe me I have travel a lot to many far flung places) and there is so much you can eat. i have tried eating restaurant food for 6 mths and finally decided that i am not going to die eating. so now my favorite food is teochew porridge and the occasional restaurant food.

I'm working for my IM tri in 2014...I'm rich enough to do it now. Something for you to consider...

It will soak up whatever time you have and surely there are intangible benefits as well, e.g. diet, health, discipline...

[yeokiwi]

Another benefit of financially free, no one can piss you anymore during work.
If you need my help and ask me nicely, I will consider.
I will show you the middle finger if you try to pull rank.

[Janjansen]

Let me share with you my side of it. retirement and financially free is over rated ! once you get there you will know what i am talking about.I am now in this category and recently I have started a biz to kill some of my time and to network, not so much as for the money. 2 problems you will have to address. one is lonely as suddenly you don't have working friends and the other you would have lost the purpose of life now that you don't have to chase that pot of gold. there is so much golf that you can play, so much places that you can visit before you are weary of travelling(believe me I have travel a lot to many far flung places) and there is so much you can eat. i have tried eating restaurant food for 6 mths and finally decided that i am not going to die eating. so now my favorite food is teochew porridge and the occasional restaurant food.

Financial freedom doesn't mean that one has to stop working and start pursuing leisure 100% of the time. As human beings, we require a purpose to continue living. Our bodies and mind will degenrate if it is not put to productive use. Unfortunately, a large majority spend so much of their life working that is it the only thing they know. The sudden influx of free time upon retirement can rapidly lead to boredom and even depression.

Based on my observations, those that are happy post retirement have one or more of these similarities:
1. young kids or dependents to take care of
2. religion or other special interest groups where they play an active role
3. physically demanding goals e.g. training for and completing a maraton that takes up a lot of the day

The point is that financial freedom should free you to pursue other goals that you have, but could not devote the time due to the 8-5 working hours. If one does not have purpose outside of employment, achieving financial freedom has less meaning.

[greypiggi]

Congrats !!! How does it feel to be out of the rat race? Can share share? I believed you were out of it a few years back

Let me share with you my side of it. retirement and financially free is over rated ! once you get there you will know what i am talking about.I am now in this category and recently I have started a biz to kill some of my time and to network, not so much as for the money. 2 problems you will have to address. one is lonely as suddenly you don't have working friends and the other you would have lost the purpose of life now that you don't have to chase that pot of gold. there is so much golf that you can play, so much places that you can visit before you are weary of travelling(believe me I have travel a lot to many far flung places) and there is so much you can eat. i have tried eating restaurant food for 6 mths and finally decided that i am not going to die eating. so now my favorite food is teochew porridge and the occasional restaurant food.

I am also one of those who no longer need to work since mid 30s, but i have chosen to carry on with a full time job running the company i sold. But there is an immense difference in stress levels and attitude. I still work hard but i have very little fear. I can focus on adding value and really doing a good long term job. I also am totally unafraid of staff leaving or anything happening since it is only that few hundred thousand of pay annually that is at stake. I think the company will do better with me in charge with this kind of attitude rather than the old me who owned it and so felt every pain and had all kinds of owner stresses.

I also decided to become healthy this year. Trying to get back those 6 pecs and aiming for a IPPT gold. I have small kids, so i also spend a lot more attention and time on them. Also with parents and wife.

My first 18 months since financial freedom was quite tough. Spending went up by about 25% and now stablise already at the high mark. i felt quite lost without rat race competition and constant benchmarking. But for now, i have decided to just focus on health and relationships (even with colleagues) first. Maybe in 1-2 years, i will go back to race and aim to be top 1000 in Singapore rather than just top 10000. See how....

So Jacmar is half right, there is a boredom. But it depends on what we replace it with. Kids, health, spirittuality, relationships all work. And we can always go back once we are bored with that. Make sense?

[corydorus]

Wow another 30s .... Singapore is certainly a land of opportunity