Build our wealth but take care of our health.

I met up with a friend for dinner recently and he remarked on how I used to blog about my cooking. It has been a while since I last had such a blog, has it not?






Well, although not as often as before, I am still cooking but I am just too lazy to blog about it. What's new, right? AK is a lazy fellow.

Anyway, I was in the mood. So, this was lunch today:

Fried rice and seaweed. I used:

1. Cooked white rice.
2. 3 eggs.
3. 3 tbsp. coconut oil.
4. 4 gm of seaweed.

And I ate the fried rice with seaweed. You can tell I have probably been watching a bit too much K-drama. 

I still think a high fat, low carbohydrate diet is good for me but I am no longer very strict. 

I used to keep my carbohydrate intake to less than 50gm a day. For a while now, I have allowed myself between 50gm to 100gm of carbohydrate a day.

Still, I have rice (which is made up mostly of carbohydrate) only once in a while. Half a bowl of cooked white rice has about 22 grams of carbohydrates. That's plenty. 

Eggs have about 1 gm of carbohydrate each. Per serving of seaweed (2gm) has 0.2 gm of carbohydrate and I had two servings.

We want to build our wealth but we should take care of our health too.




Finally, for readers who want to lose weight, remember, losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. Less carbohydrate is the way to go.

Related post:
A topless pic.

Not giving in can only make us richer.

Although we like to say we have saved money when we buy something at a sale, the truth is if we spent money at a sale, we did not save money, we just spent less money.

Happily, this reader didn't spend less money, he saved some money.

Hi AK,

Thanks to you ! I have just cancelled my 3 orders brought from Amazon's Black Friday. (around 350 USD)

Upon re-reading one of your blogs again, I decided that they are non-essential items and I can live without them. 

But I did not cancel the birthday present for my wife because I still want to have my marriage and it is already shipped (I may have to pay for the return good) hahaha. I know it's an excuse but I cannot expect my wife to understand why she does not have a birthday present because I tried to save some money.

I do a lot of thinking especially retirement early plans, your blogs constantly remind me whenever I lost directions and it feels like a trusted companion walking with me on my journey to my dreams. (its also feel like the journey to the west where there are demons and temptations) You just have to stay focus but it is never easy. 

Working in Singapore is so stressed that you will always feel like taking a deserving good "detox" rest and indulge yourself with materialistic pleasures eg buying a big condo, car, branded clothing, lavish & exotic holiday, eat out at expensive food outlets etc. 

You worked so hard why you cannot enjoy ?! many time we fell into a cycle of bad decisions......

Sometimes I ready hope we have more simple answers and I can see you are doing your best to write them in your blog. 

Please find time to continue writing and thanks a lot for being there when we need some guidance.

Have a good day.

Best Regards

SK

Hi SK,

Thanks so much for the email which I enjoyed.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are lost on me. I am a marketer's worst nightmare. ;p

You have probably read this blog post:
http://singaporeanstocksinvestor.blogspot.sg/2015/04/wealth-is-attracted-or-repelled-by.html





On our journey towards financial freedom, it is worth remembering to keep our needs simple and our wants few. 

Keeping your wife happy is, by the way, a need. Good job! 

Gambatte,
AK


If we could, we probably should cut ourselves some slack once in a while but, remember, not giving in to our buying impulses can only make us richer. 

A shorter time to reach financial freedom? It's your call.




Related posts:
1. An unbeatable level of certainty.
2. Retirement (Needs and wants.)

Audio books on saving and investing money.

I receive many emails each week. Unlike my early days in blogging, I might not reply to all of them although I still try. Believe it or not, I also receive emails in Chinese.

My proficiency in Chinese has never been high. The best grade I received was a B3. Not bad but not good either. 




Unfortunately for me, emails in Chinese are the second most common after emails in English and they are usually a bit of a struggle for me.

Anyway, with the help of Google Translate, there is my translation of a recent email:

"My husband is a big fan of yours. I hope you will not find my request rude.

"Since he started to read your blog a few years ago, my husband has become very careful with money and he has also invested in stocks.

"I am an ignorant housewife but my husband would explain to me what he is doing. From having nothing a few years ago, my husband tells me he receives almost $10,000 in passive income each year now.

"He likes to say, "Imagine what we could have when we are AK's age!"

"He would read your blog every night and his favourite ones are about saving money. 

"Unfortunately, because of an accident recently, he won't be able to read for a while.

"I thought of how to cheer him up and wonder if you could talk to him?"

I left out plenty of details.

Anyway, I think regular readers would know what my reply was.

However, I decided that I could still do something for them. Took me a while to do this and I hope it does the trick.

Here are my first audio books (or blogs) for your listening pleasure:

Book one.

Book two.

Book three.

Book four.

Book five.

Read the full blog posts:
1. Mr Lee Kuan Yew was very frugal.
2. If we are not rich, don't act rich.
3. Is AK a rags to riches story?
4. A piece of advice on saving.
5. Save 100% of your take home pay.

To pay down HDB housing loan faster or not?

Not only do all of us have different financial circumstances, we also have different capacities to stomach stress.

What works for one might not work for another (i.e. what might give someone peace of mind might be quite stressful for another).

So, listen to what others have to say but, ultimately, make our own decision, one that will not rob us of our precious sleep.



Chat with Reader #1

Reader:
 Hi there Ak. I have a question. I have a new bto flat that im staying in with abt 200k hdb loan spread over 25 years. It takes up abt half of my oa contribution every mth to pay it. Should i use the excess oa funds to channel it to sa or focus on paying off the house asap?

Like · Reply · 1 hr

Assi AK
I would max out my SA first. Money should go to where it is treated best. Doing so, I would maintain a buffer in my OA sufficient for 24 months of loan repayment in case something goes wrong.

Like · Reply · 2 · 33 mins

Chat with Reader #2

• 
  

  12:31pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Hi AK, do you think i should pay off 10k of hdb housing loan whenever my OA accumulates to 20k so that it stays below 20k to enjoy the additional 1% interest? i.e. 3.5% instead of 2.5%

  
  
• 
  
• 

  12:51pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Earning more interest is always appealing to me. ;)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  1:11pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Cos I have a friend who says it's more impt to pay off housing loan as the 0.1% on a big loan is more than 1.5% on the 10k transferred. I.e. It only makes sense if the housing loan is less than 150k, correct?

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:37pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  It depends on what you are after. :)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:38pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Maximized returns lor

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  
  

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  You have to remember to compare like for like

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Reader
  

  Meaning?

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:41pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Compare $10K with $10K, $150K with $150K

  
  

  It is meaningless to compare 0.1% on a $200K loan and 1.5% on a $10K savings

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  2:42pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Ah. So for 10k, where can it get maximum returns

  
  

  
  
• 

  2:43pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  By paying $10K of your loan, what are you saving? By putting $10K in your SA, what are you gaining?

  
  

  You will have your answer then

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  3:00pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  Ok, I get it. Only that the SA monies cannot be used for other purposes in future.

  
  

  Thanks AK! 👍🏻

  
  

  
  
• 

  3:01pm
  

  
  

  Assi AK
  

  Yesh... ;)
  

  
  

  If you are saving for retirement, go for it. :)

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  3:02pm
  

  
  

  Reader:
  

  姜还是老的辣

Whenever we do something, it is important to be clear what our motivation is. Then, we will know if we are doing the right thing.

Related posts:
1. Pay off home loan and hit MS.
2. Related to housing loan repayment.
3. Fixed rates, SIBOR, FHR18 or HDB loan?