Cory Diary : When Family Planning and Financial do not mix ... we have lesser babies

I have an exchange with a guy recently on why Singapore has dwindling birth rate. The reason he gives are cost of living and job security. Not surprisingly this looks common among developed world therefore internally I feel this reasons are derived from common sense logic and need not necessary be the case. We barely scratch the surface of the truth which I think could start from Stress.

Stress can comes from anywhere. Jobless, Insecurity, Lack of Self Confidence, No Money ... . But why mainly developed world ? Because we think too much. As we have better education, ability to plan ahead and see further actually becomes a hindrance to family planning. We also start to procrastinate for life partner as well. On top of this, lifestyle has changed and arrange marriage loses it's tradition and shine.

When the guy is in mid 30s and above, and more financially secure, sadly our lady biological rhythm do not change with time. When she hits 35, fertilization deteriorate rapidly. Women start to have difficulty getting pregnant as years go by. Even if she does, there is higher risk of birth defects and miscarriages.

To add further, Stress impacts on animal and humans alike. Our reproductive systems shutdown and we have more secondary effect like illness. An extract from an article. " In animal populations, as in humans, some individuals have better coping mechanisms to deal with stress, which gives them an adaptive advantage.".

The luckier ones have parent helps.  The much longer route would to be wait for financially security. How many hits it and in time is the problem. Unless one able to climb the corporate ladder quickly or in covert jobs this won't be easy. Personally I feel the easiest route would be not to think too much. Maybe the plan is to forget about family planning and just go ahead. :)


Cory
2018-1024

Cory Diary : Why are we trying to beat the system ?

Apartment loan

When I bought my apartment years ago, I wanted to have more cash flow therefore decided to tap of CPF OA. By then I have some knowledge on Good Debts.  Fast forward now, if I have to go through this again today, I would have leave CPF alone. First of all the amount I tapped is just 5% of the housing value. The hassle is not only unnecessary, and if the amount is to be compounded, I would have less saving in total as I need to pay myself the CPF interests that has been borrowed. In addition for comparison, CPF is AAA rated, backed by Singapore government. If I am to buy a private bond, it would be much lesser returns and unwarranted risk to private companies. This totally do not make sense for myself as my exposure to CPF is not major.


Minimum Sum

By age 55, I could withdraw amount above minimum sum. I would expect a number of people to do that. Let's think about it. Why are we so keen to withdraw the monies. CPF is design to support our retirement and to safe guard our golden years. So it seems illogical why people is rushing out the door once they hit the age. The main reason could be the mistrust of institutions. The other is they just want to spend it before their times are up. Both of which is illogical to me. For one, most of my monies will still be denominated in Singapore dollars. And if there are distress in government debts, even saving bank could be frozen or cut. So is either I have a stake in Singapore future or am I not. The later reason on money available to spend is not only irresponsible but there are high risk of financial difficulties if one reached 70s-90s. The one viable scenario I could think of is when I am much way above the minimum sum that drawing some out will give a better return (Not guaranteed) or lifestyle which I COULD AFFORD.


My CPF Plan

Unlike other segments where there are risks, CPF is safer than bonds of good interests. Personally to me this one of the best available investment tool available to be managed at portfolio level offering stability and respectable growth. Ironically, the lock-in is the best part of the system which provide robust protection to citizen. As most of my assets are Non-CPF it will be unlikely I will ever need to do early withdrawal. This will form a nice retirement portion to supplement my monthly income at 65. If I could exchange off min sum at 55 for higher interests, I would opt-in !















I am sorry if there are dissenting voices due to political differences therefore CPF. To me this is purely my personal judgement on financial standpoint as an average investor to go along with the system available to work with us. At the end, if there are money in my CPF-Life once I passed, that's my legacy to my children definitely but certainly I would't want to be HDB as this could mean I have failed as a parent to bring up my children sufficiently.


Cory
2018-1023

Cory Diary : Saving Rate

Pride

Always pride myself about personal saving because I don't really have to plan for it. Being an engineer before, I always have a better gauge feel of manufacturing cost and the quality of the product before I buy. Even after,  I will still think for a while. I would take a walk around the shop or do something such as striking a light conversation with the sales. Interestingly, I would often decided not to buy after. Quite a number of times I found the specs are not to my expectation. Another major reason is I dread of another thing to manage at home. And every time the thoughts come in this is enough for me to say no many times. Maybe I have this minimalist potential.


Value

Going back to value. There are few things I look out for. One of them is weight. Generally a metal object is more sturdy and harder to produce vs plastic materials. So it will often costly to make. The surface of the product is another factor I look into. The texture, pattern, smooth or old plain design. Some has water flow marks or poor plating. I will give a poor rating for non-branded plastic products use in food.

How the parts are jointed is a good indication of the design and the manufacturing process. If you buy a notebook with gaping holes between parts, and to make it worst, unevenness as well this could give an indication on the overall quality managed by the product team.

To go deeper, I would looks for design, durability and usability. But I would rather exchange for "disposable" products which is like 2 to 10 times cheaper rather than getting an expensive pen of high reliability that I hardly ever use unless the purpose is for decoration purposes or significance. The final is servicing. A recognize brand do command a better premium that I am willing to have more cash to let go. How large is up to individual.

Of-course is not always the same exact criteria. But this habits and what to look out for helps to contain my spending habits. Year 2018 is special because of a number of big ticket items. Excluding Pension/CPF and Stock dynamics into the equation, just take home salary, is about 30% saving rate. This is markedly down from 40% to 50% range previously but is all worth it because is for Immeasurable Value.


Cheers

Cory
2018-1021