Unpopular Opinion/long rant: i don’t see a point of working extremely hard for the future
I’m a fresh grad in my 20s and i don’t see a point in mindsets like $XXXXXXX by 30/40/50/60 etc. Instead, i am very against of saving money – to the point you live semi-miserable (eg. Wants to hang out with friends but spending quota met/unable to buy things to make you happy on a sad day)
I do save money –
40% goes to savings, 10% goes to investments, 8% goes to my parents (working adults that didn’t even ask for my money) and remaining 42% goes to my expenditure. Honestly i’m not even sure if I’m spending too much, but i think it doesn’t matter because if i have to or want to i will still tap into my savings because i’m not out here to live sadly for a not-guaranteed future. Why not-guaranteed you may ask. Because we may all die, anytime, unexpectedly. And when that happens, what’s the point of working so hard and living so miserably if you can’t even spend the money?
You may think, then what happens if i’m met with an accident and don’t have enough money for treatment? Bold of anyone to assume i’d like to continue living or what happens if I suddenly lose my job? I’m sure that if i see signs of me losing my jobs i’ll quickly find a new one, and ensure i have a back-up plan before it happens.
But all in all, I’ve realised i’m not a passionate person. I do not work extremely extremely hard to get a promotion. But i do do my best at my job, just not go out of the way. And i do admire and feel jealous when i see people being driven passionate about their job/a topic/a hobby. Because i’m not sure when and where, i lost them (passion, extreme will to live, drive and motivation) all.
Maybe its because:
-i’ve had a very depressed and suicidal time during my education period (not those attention seeking kind, but the kind that would actually act on it and has to go for therapy)
-or when my parents slapped the shit out of me when i didn’t want to go Sec 5 for O’s (in the end i did my O’s but it was the most miserable and depressing time of my life because no matter how hard i studied, i didn’t do well.)
-or when my grandma unexpectedly passed on and i (her only grandchild), couldn’t say my last goodbyes
I think these experiences added up and shaped me to just live in the moment. What future? Who knows maybe i’ll get into a car accident after this. And if there’s any family members or loved ones out there keeping me around for my assets if i one day passed, they have bad judgment.
I’ve to admit i’m blessed that my parents has a stable job and a retirement plan. I never had to work for money during my studying period. But sometimes i wish i had it in me to work extremely hard, because passionate people seems so attractive to me.
That’s all i wanted to put out there.
If anyone’s curious about what i tap into my savings for:
-treating my friends during meals (that are unemployed/studying/NS)
-buying my partner something he really liked that is out of his budget (that is something he needs and i think the price and quality is worth)
-lessons for fun (i signed up for sign language class! just like CPR i feel that its a skill that is good to have although you don’t know if you’ll ever use it)
-driving lessons (because i hated seeing my family get mad for not having a grab ride LOL and hated leeching off my relatives during CNY)
To those that a driven, motivated and passionate, i hope you don’t lose that fire in you. But make sure you’re living happily, because what if we all died tonight?