Happy Labour Day! Selling your hours for money vs Making your money labour for U? What's your choice?

AI generated images of Labour Day

Happy Labour Day to All today! This blog post arose from 2 recent events: Event (1):- While on my way home last night, heard on the radio about this game that could win a listener a $10,000 cash prize on air!

Then the radio DJ was saying how long the $10K prize could allow the winning listener away from work after the 1 day Labour Day holiday, 1 week? 1 month? 2 months?

Which set me thinking, how long can a windfall of $10K last someone away from work? Anyone's guess, but definitely not enough to retire on!

Event (2):- Then today, I chanced upon this social media post by Dr Wealth below (shoutout to Dr Wealth for their insightful posts and in-depth analysis of investment ideas and financial literacy articles!). Very wise words of wisdom indeed: "Your Salary Buys Today, but Your Investment Portfolio Buys Your Tomorrow (and more!).

I recall reading somewhere - Your salary is your future net worth; it's your future earning abilities.

So long as you are a working adult (salaried or self-employed), it doesn't matter whether you are a high earner like lawyer or doctor, banker etc., but once you stop working for whatever reasons (e.g. illness, accident, retirement, sabbatical, burnout, quitting without a job etc.), your income dries up...

As I mentioned in 1 of my earlier blog post (ckcbiz40.wixsite.com/moneyandhealth/post/ever-wondered-why-why-was-and-still-is-financial-literacy-not-taught-in-schools), having missed out on financial literacy not taught in our school years, not many people realised that once you graduate and start working, we are actually EXCHANGING our Precious Time for money, we are essentially selling our time (not to mention blood pressure, sweat, tears) for our salary!

Yes, even as we climbed up the corporate ladder, run faster on the hamster's wheel, so what? Once our hands stop, the money STOPS flowing into our pockets! To put in our parents or grandparents' words, in their time 手停 口停 (once your hands stop working, your mouth stop eating 😨).

Hence, the Dr Wealth's message on this Labour Day is an apt reminder for those of us who have not put their money to work. As Warren Buffett's famous saying;- “If you do not find a way to make your money work for you while you sleep, then you will have to work until you die.”

AI generated images of Selling your awake hours for money vs Building income that works for you

Remember:- Why do we invest? It's to have options, every dividend payout coming in quarterly, half yearly fattens your bank account, every year your investment compounds, it snowballs. The best part? It doesn't stop growing! Every dollar invested is a small step towards gaining your time back!

I will be the first to admit it's not easy to start! I wrote about this briefly here how much inertia it took me to get started (My 10th Year Investing milestone: On stage as panelist for Diligence Investment Membership club meet-up(19 Jul 25).

Although friends and colleagues tried to introduce investing to me in my early years of working in 2000s, I was stubborn/lazy/busy (insert whatever excuses you can think of) and refused to learn or thought of investing as gambling and just brushed it off.

But guess what? Remember how hard it was when you started to learning swimming or cycling or roller blading or kayaking? Recall how painful it was when you ran your first 10KM or when you first went to the gym? It's the same for investing!

For someone with ZERO financial background or training, and who got scared from watching old Hong Kong dramas (remember 大时代) on how stock market roller coaster crashes, it definitely put me off for a long time. Luckily 2 of my friends RC and WK (whom Mr MH is forever grateful to) finally managed help me achieve the AHA moment of the power of investing and dividends.

But once you get started, it got easier, and I hope to pass this forward and spread the financial literacy message on! In fact, after months of guidance, advice and cajoling, I just helped a close friend ("J") started her first DCA into a REIT ETF (a few hundreds per month) via DBS Internet banking. She hoped to use this as a form of disciplined savings and yet earning dividends for her future uses (e.g. son's university fees etc). A baby step into financial independence and freedom but a great start! 🥰

Some words of advice: (1) Start small (You dun need thousands or millions to start!); (2) Start soon (The best time to start was yesterday! Be amazed by the compounding effects of your dividends and capital gains);

(3) Start with what you are familiar with (e.g. Singapore stock market, REITs that you patronise, goods you buy and services you use etc.);

(4) Seek advice from those who are more experienced and advanced (in these days, there are lots of free investment knowledge available, of course go for those legitimate ones)

In line with the recent earning season, I leave you with some examples (and more to come over the next few weeks) of how we can make our money labour HARDER (pun intended😂) for us day-in, day-out, instead of trading our precious hours for money:

So do you want to have the CHOICE to work because you WANT to, not because you NEED to?

Well, nothing is ever easy when you start out but we need to push past the inertia to get going! Feel free to reach out if you need any guidance or a sounding board 😁

To end off, I leave you with this image to ponder over your choice and whether to take actions 😉

To your money and health,

Mr MoneyandHealth (Mr MH) 🥰

Disclaimer: The above article is just the author expressing his layman views talking to himself, if you are peeping or eavesdropping, please forgive if it doesn't make sense. It is NOT financial advice, and NOT a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or REITs. While the author has tried his best to provide accurate information and up to date details, readers shall do your own due diligence to ascertain the accuracy and facts before taking any actions. Pls consult a qualified financial advisor or insurance agent before making purchasing any insurance, stock or REIT, or taking any actions. Pls note that past performance is not an indicator or guarantee of future performance or potential.