Thirsty for financial freedom?

I remember reading the science fiction series by Hugo award winner Frank Herbert titled "Dune". It is a facinating book because it talks about a future on a desert planet aptly named Dune where the rarest of commodities know as melange or "spice" exists and where interplanetary travel is only made possible by Guild Navigators who ingest and consume this exotic additive. The main character Paul Atreides finds himself trapped on the desert outside of the protection of the city and in the desert among the fremen, spice itself is not the ultimate treasure... The ultimate treasure is water!

What has water got to do with financial freedom
That's an interesting factoid but how does it relate to personal finance and money?

The reason I am bringing up this story is to share with you that while we may think making more and more money is the ultimate goal for our financial freedom, we need to consider see ing money as a means to our ends and not the ends itself.

Let me explain further. Many of you want to achieve financial freedom. I want to achieve financial freedom. Your boss, colleagues, neighbours, friends, relatives and most Singaporeans all want to achieve financial freedom. To what ends?

What is your true thirst in life
In the novel, Dune, although spice was the equivalent of money, water was ultimately life itself because without water, you would have no life and no amount of spice could save you from death if your die of thirst. In your quest to earn more, save more, invest more, do you pause to seek the objective that you are trying to achieve with your activities? What is the true thirst that you are trying to quench in your pursuit of wealth and financial freedom?

Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory teaches us that we will stop being satisfied by the material side of life (food, shelter, safety) i.e. financial freedom considerations, we will start to yearn for the spiritual side (self-actualisation, fulfilment). This is a continuing theme that I alluded in one of my earlier posts that as we drive towards our destination of financial freedom, do we spend equal time thinking about what drives us?

Quenching your thirsty
Financial freedom as represented as having sufficient passive income that exceeds your living expenses allows you the choice to decide what the life you want to live that will satisfy both your heart and your soul. Some of you do not even have to wait for that if you have already examined yourself and know what exactly it is that thirst that you need to quench with life-giving water.

I challenge you to look into your own hearts and minds and see if you can find out what makes you thirsty?

Be well and prosper.

Bring Your Own Portable Hydration Unit (Water Bottle)

Saving money is sometimes about pinching pennies, other times it is pinching pounds! :-)

One of the great money saving techniques which has a strong health benefit is to bring your own (BYO) water!

All of us have to drink water. H2O gives us life and 2/3s of our bodies are actually made up of water. Did you ever stop and count how many soft-drinks or coffee/tea that one consumes that makes up our fluid consumption? If we drink say, 8 glasses a day and drink 1-2 glasses of water, another 1-2 softdrinks and the remainder through milo/coffee/tea etc. How much would that cost is a typical work-day (assuming you have to pay for it yourself?)

2 glasses of water : $ negligible
2 cans of soft-drink: $1.20 per can = $2.40
4 cups of coffee/tea: $0.90 per cup = $3.60
Total daily expenses on fluids = $6.00
x 20 days a week = $120 a month
x 12 months in a year = $1,440.

Wow... That means we could potentially be spending about more than a thousand dollars a year on soft-drinks! The good news is that there is an alternative we can turn to, good old PUB water direct from the tap or from water coolers. Generally, water is "free" to the consumer if you get it from public water coolers or if your organisation provides water coolers for one to fill up one's bottle.

Invest in a good Lexan/Rubbermaid/SIG type of water bottle to the size of your preference and you are good to go in your quest to save money!

Hydrating yourself throughout the day makes you feel less hungry and you tend to eat less. Drinking water also helps moistern the throat and for those who need to speak a lot at work, this will help your voice last longer. Also, drinking water helps the circulatory and lymphatic systems and waste products in our body makes. The amount of money we save from buying softdrinks and coffee/tea would also offset our investment in the water bottle! It's a win-win-win strategy :-)

Of course, that does not mean we have to swear off softdrinks and hot beverages outside. Simply carry a water bottle around and reap the benefits of spending less money on purchasing them. When I was in New York, I realise most New York office workers actually walked around with their Evian/Dasani water bottles and it was part of their culture.

So let's bring out our water bottles and say "cheers" to the money-saving benefit of bringing your own water bottle.