Financial freedom and Parenthood

Having a baby in Singapore can be a costly affair as the plethora of baby essentials and accessories available for the baby are unlimited and your budget will be limited when you become a father or a mother to your first-born child!

Parenthood and financial freedom
Many Singaporeans are delaying marriage and parenthood due to a variety of factors. Some of these include establishing our careers, others include saving money for the wedding, home and other family expenses. Many of us wait to be more financially stable before we take the plunge and plan for the first child. Singapore Inc. is a very competitive place and as parents we want to give the BEST for our children to grow up and have fulfilled and successful lives.

I also took the similar route in that I got married after working for about 7 years and our child only came some years after that. One of the reasons for starting a family is that my financial situation has improved over the years. I have worked more than a decade plus without owning a car and used the savings generated from living a relatively simple lifestyle into paying off my loan for my home. Thus, it is with the stability of having no debt for the house that perhaps subconsciously facilitated the conception of my daughter, Baby A!

The more steps I take towards financial freedom, the more it opens up possibilities for me in life as I am less stressed over my job even as I have another mouth to feed. With my liabilities managed through living within my means, saving and investing and trying to grow my means, I am better able to focus on bringing up Baby A and to be a supportive husband for my wife who has endured much to bring our daughter into this world.

Time for work, time for family
We come back to the work-earn-spend-work cycle where it is a trade-off between time and money. We trade time (and our talents and skills!) for money and use the money during whatever leisure time we have. I realise that each of us needs to find that balance. I am starting to find that little bit of equilibrium because of the choices I made when I was much younger.

The simple living, low expenses and not keeping up with the Lims, Alis and Muthus allowed me to concentrate on building up my reserves to fund the most important asset that one needs, my home. When you are closer to financial freedom with the building up of your net worth, there is something you can leave to your child as she steps forth into this new world. Each day that you apply the principles of financial freedom, i.e. to live within your means, to save and invest and to grow your means is another day that brings you closer to breaking free of the work-earn-spend-work cycle that can be such a significant force that chains you to the value-chain of Singapore Inc. When you are less dependent on that cycle, the more you can spend more time with what is important to you in life.

What is important now to me is my baby and my family. The steps towards financial freedom are steps towards giving me more TIME to spend with them.

Be well and prosper.