Upon growing up , my naivete and dream of living happily ever after without any worries was shattered . It all started during primary school life, when the value of money would come into play and forever altering my shallow perception of life . I still remember during my first day of school , when I would walk to the school while my more well-off peers would arrive in dazzling cars , chauffeured by their personal chauffeur or parents . Back then , I remember asking why I have to walk while other parents would personally fetch their children to school . The response then was " because the distance was very short and we can save money by doing it " . Well, true enough , it wasn't much of a trouble to walk , it's healthy right? Besides, we do save money. So , I happily accepted that reason and get on with life.
In secondary school , the same thing occurred , except the fact that the distance is no longer short , in fact it was quite some distant away and I have to take buses home and walked from the bus station to my house every single schooling day ( which by the way is quite far ) . Under the scorching , hot sun , carrying big , heavy school bags while walking back home alone , I remember asking myself repeatedly " Why am I being subjected to such fate while others are spared? "
When I brought that question to my parents , their only response was simply " Sorry son , we can't afford it ( car or other means of transportation to fetch me ) . And the same response subsequently followed whenever I tried to request something that requires monetary funding. While I am truly grateful to my parents for bringing me up amidst the hardship and sufferings they were being subjected to , being the hot-headed , bad-tempered , testosterone-filled youngster undergoing puberty at that time, I would often throw tantrum around and being mad, at nobody , for having to "suffer" like this .
Often there are a lot of times when I would be thinking of the unfairness of life , of why some of my well-off peers were able to enjoy more of the pleasures of life due to some extra cash in their pocket , of why I can only make limited choices and decisions due to lack of funds , of how the world seems to be revolving around money and our current society is too preoccupied with materialism to care about other more realistic and pragmatic priorities in life , such as health, family and love .
As I grow older matures more , I slowly learn to respect and fear the value of money. There's a lot of stuff being said about money ( i.e Money is the root of all evil , Money is indispensable , Money can make or break a person depending on their personality and attitude, etc ) However, one thing's for sure , it is that no matter what one may say or think about money , it is undeniable that money is a necessary tool for survival for most people. Have you ever lived in the street as a homeless beggar ? Have you ever tried not having real food to eat and only survive on instant noodles and breads for months? These may be an exaggerated worst case scenarios , but I assure you , these people are very much real and they exists. In today's cruel reality , it's obvious that money is essential and we need them to survive.
Hence , I had always strive for and advocates financial freedom . It is my main goal in life to attain financial freedom , provide for my family and ultimately educate people and raise awareness of the importance of financial intelligence , in hope that more and more people would be able to achieve it .
For that purpose , I have created a blog called Financial Guide , hoping to share whatever little financial knowledge that I have and hope that more people may benefit from this together !
* for a more detailed and longer post about my past and how I started to learn more about money , click here .
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