My family almost went bankrupt.

As my blog grows in readership, there are many more questions which are repeated. There is some level of predictability when it comes to questions from readers, I see.

This is why I find it useful to share some older blogs regularly on my Facebook wall. It is mainly for the benefit of my new readers and also readers who are more forgetful.




A question which I get asked before and which has picked up in frequency in recent months is why am I the way I am? 

This is a question I have addressed on a piece meal basis and to make it easier for me in future, I am blogging a reply in the comments section so that I have something which I can find easily to point to readers.





Read only if you are interested in my psyche:

I have some deep seated insecurities which I can never be rid of. I have provided glimpses of these in my blog before. They are, of course, very piecemeal in nature and scattered. 

I cannot remember where they are in my blog exactly. I do remember that I shared in the comments section but I have never really blogged about these insecurities in their entirety. 

I try not to relive those years.

So, I will be brief. 







My family almost went bankrupt when I was entering my teens and our financial hardship lasted many years. Those years left a mark on me. 

I hinted about the financial hardship my family went through in a few blog posts before and one which I can remember is:

The secret to avoiding financial ruin.







My family learned first hand that banks are fair weather friends and I developed a strong aversion to debt. I try to avoid borrowing money for anything.

Sleeping in the living room of a HDB flat for some years as a teenager was a humbling experience. It was awkward too.

I learned early on in life how finances could go wrong so badly and so quickly and how not having enough money was a terrible thing, how being indebted was much worse. 






Living with the constant threat of losing whatever we had left was very stressful but my parents tried to give us as normal a life as they could.

Those years of financial hardship left me with scars and I believe that anyone who had similar experience will always have shadows haunting them.

"Do I have enough money? Maybe, it is not enough. What about my parents? Do I have enough to take care of them? What about my younger siblings?"

So, I tend to overcompensate. 






I tend to save as much money as possible. I put away much more in my emergency fund than what some people think is necessary. 

I do this although, financially, we became more comfortable as I graduated from university and started working. 

I craved greater financial security. 







The CPF-SA was a natural candidate and I blogged about how I transferred funds from my OA to my SA in the first few years of my working life and that was almost 20 years ago.

There are many clues littered throughout the blog about the way I think and why. 

Of course, I don't expect anyone to piece all the clues together to understand AK the giam siap fellow. 







I vowed not to grow old and destitute.

The End.

Another peek into my past:
With some difficulty, AK says good bye. Thank you, mom.