TRIED & TESTED BY US 🤭💰💙

𝘈 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴' 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴' 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘮𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

1️⃣ 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 $𝟭𝟬𝗞 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

Looking at the standard of living in SG these days, (we opened Grab the other day and can’t help but to be a little surprised that a 🍔 from a fast food chain could cost $10, a la carte…) we really believe that earning a salary and saving cannot be the only means of money management anymore and investing has shifted from an option to more of a necessity.

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️ 𝘼𝙎𝙆 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙑𝙀𝙎:

💙 Is one of us more into investing?

- If that is the case, should that partner be in charge of strategising your monthly contributions and allocations? Are you both comfortable with that?

💙 Are we figuring things out together?

- Sometimes, having a partner to do things together can add a fun element to a mundane task; and having someone to be accountable to can also speed up your progress, provided you are both committed to actually starting!

💙 Are we going about this 50-50?

- There may be some income disparity, or personal commitments in your circumstance, it is important to work out something you are both comfortable with

💙 Are we comfortable combining our money or should we have our own accounts?

- Don’t rush into something you may not be ready for, finances is a sticky thing especially when it comes to separation.

- 🤔 If there is even a shred of doubt, collaboration could be a better option than joint because that involves A LOT of trust!

😊 The good news is that if you start on this early, when the time comes for a wedding / renovation downpayment - you’ll find that this fund is pretty handy!

2️⃣ 𝗚𝗼 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿

Not your 3D2N JB or BKK trip but that is a start, especially if you are young. We have a very strong stance that dating is a completely different experience than living your lives together (showing up at your best / happiest for a couple hours VS having to deal with each others’ habits, temperaments, bad days etc on a daily!)

Going to a completely foreign environment is such a strong test of how you can show up for your partner. How?:

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️ 𝘼𝙎𝙆 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙑𝙀𝙎:

💙 Who pays for what?

- Plane tickets, accommodations, daily expenses … is it all 50-50? Or?

- What if 1 partner wishes to do something the other doesn’t particularly enjoy? (Does he/she then pay? Is the other party okay with that being in the itinerary?)

💙 Is my partner dependable? Am I pulling my own weight?

- Navigating is going to be complex, these countries are all bigger than SG and have an extensive train system + you may be dealing with some foreign language as well

💙 Are there any potential conflicts we have to be aware of?

- How do you handle give and take? If it is imbalanced, are both parties okay with that?

- Are there any tension points you didn’t see coming?

- Can you imagine living with any of the above every single day?

😊 If you can get through all that and still have a great time, congratulations - you are on your way to yearly trips like us because travelling is such a fun way to make new memories!

3️⃣ 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗞 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀

Children, Housing and Money are big topics - throughout your life together you will definitely be going through different seasons and phases where your priorities will change even personally as well so it is important to have open conversations and stay aligned for any relationship to work long-term!

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️ 𝘼𝙎𝙆 𝙔𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙎𝙀𝙇𝙑𝙀𝙎:

💙 Joint Account - do we need it? What is the point of having one?

- For us, we’ve gone through investing, splitting expenses and paying for a renovation before having a joint account for future child planning purposes!

- Combining finances is actually a huge commitment and trust, simply spending out of it didn’t seem concrete enough for us … be careful also - Mik has had several friends lose everything in nastier break ups 🤣

💙 Children - do we intend to have one? And in how many years?

- A child is going to be your commitment for at least the next 18 years, not to mention child birth costs have increased significantly over the last 2 years alone ($10K with epidural 2022 & $13K without 2024 in TMC 🙃 - from a close friend)

- Oh, and primary school allowance is no longer $2 a day like we were given last time… (where are the 90s babies at 🤣)

💙 Housing - are we going to BTO?

- The BTO completion will take a couple of years, and it may seem tempting to just try your luck early on but you should also be very aware of the costs incurred if you were to give up your BTO at various stages (the ballot is the cheapest haha, following which it would be upwards of $10K in most cases)

- Will your combined income cross the income ceiling?

- If not a BTO - Is a private property a need or a want? Are we okay with resale or SOB?

- Is there an eventual goal to flip our property?

- Do we intend to get a second property for investment purposes - if so, is it wise to tie up both names in the first, or do we have other options?

4️⃣ 𝗚𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗽𝗹𝗲

Being in the FA industry for > 15 years combined, Leo and I actually have monthly and yearly financial meetings for ourselves to ensure we are on track for our goals (we are looking at $1M cash by 40, and grow it to $3M by 65 so we can live a very very comfortable lifestyle off a robust dividend portfolio 😉) Considering we are only 10 years away from that goal, we are pretty disciplined with ourselves in order to stay ahead! 👀 for what we talk about in our financial meetings, 👉🏻 follow us to be updated in the next post!

🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♂️𝘽𝙀𝙉𝙀𝙁𝙄𝙏𝙎 𝙊𝙁 𝘾𝙊𝙐𝙋𝙇𝙀 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙉𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂:

💙 Big goals seem less daunting when you work on it together

💙 You are a team - if any one party is falling short on his/her personal planning … it could very well derail what the other one has built too :(

💙 As Asians, it may be difficult to broach “tough” conversations - even if you wanted to you may not know where to begin! That is where a professional could really help to facilitate the conversation

😊 After all, what could happen? Either 1) you are both assured that all’s good and you move on with a peace of mind and clarity, 2) you discover new opportunities you never thought of before, or 3) you walk away with +2 new friends to have deep conversations with - since you’ve read all the way till here, you must find what we say makes a lot of sense hehe :)

𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳: 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵

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