Before this, to me, dreams are just that. Living in a country with a high cost of living leaves one with no choice but to live in reality.
However, i kept a small tiny light of hope in me, that one day, my dreams will be reality.
Easier said than done.
When I was younger, my parents drilled into mine and my brother's head, to study hard to ensure a secured future. The common words will be "Don't be lazy to study, if you have a degree, it's easier for you to find a job."
My dad took 5 years to complete his studies, while juggling his career and his family (at that time, me and my brother were still quite tiny). I remembered him graduating when I was 7 years old, I was still in primary one then.
My mom, never completed her education. She studied until secondary 2 (a non-circular school) - honestly, up to this point, I'm not very sure if it was her personal choice. After dropping out, she worked at 2 different factories before settling down with my dad.
At that point, my dad was already an engineer at the company he worked at and my mum was just a normal factory girl.
While growing up, me and my brother were thought life's values such as hard work and independence.
My dad used to tell us that it is important for us to shape ourselves to fit the work environment, instead of complaining and whining that the work environment is not suitable for us. He also used to say that nobody will help you if you don't help yourself.
My mum was wise in the areas of making friends. She always told us to be careful when choosing friends. She taught me to be the independent person that I am today.
Back then, both my folks used to talk about their parents and how hard life was after World War II, and the struggles they had to go through to bring up my parents - my paternal grandfather was a policeman and retired at 40 (standard retirement age), while my maternal grandfather earns his living by ferrying passengers with his trishaw.
My family was hit by 2 recessions. One when I was still too young to understand anything, and the other was when I was 13 years old. My dad lost his job of 18 years.
You see, already at a young age, I knew what it is to be poor - of course, I've never really had to experience it first hand - but it was enough to make me want to have a life that is better than what my parents had.
Unfortunately, because of my upbringing, I ended up to be one of the norm, where my only goal was to get that Diploma / Degree and start working. Here is the depressing part. When I started my job about five years ago, I already thought about what I will be working as when I retire. This is my first real job after diploma by the way.
I guess it boils down to "What the eye sees, the mind believes" - Quoted from the movie Swordfish - because I know that this country is an expensive place to live in, and everything requires money. I was often exposed to stories where old folks had to work past their retirement age to support themselves.
Often, I see them at fast food joints clearing tables, cleaning the washrooms at malls, and sometimes I see them selling tissue paper by a busy street.
In my heart, I don't want any of these scenarios to happen to me, but I can't help to not push it away because AT THAT TIME, I really thought this was MY reality.
And to make things worse, when I got my first job, I was first congratulated and then told "Welcome to the work force. Now you're going to work until you die."
So, that was why I kept asking myself day in and day out about my retirement job.
Until one day, I hit a manic state and started thinking non-stop about a lot of things. My life, my dreams, my wants and my needs. I was thinking of different ways to get rich and the best I could come up with was to scrimp and save. It did sounded good at that time.
Then afterwards, I thought about working myself to death - just to earn overtime pay - which didn't work too because my body has a low threshold and it cannot feel too tired, otherwise I will fall sick.
And I continued to think and dream more until one day, opportunity strikes. I knew in my heart that I couldn't let this one pass. That was when I roped in my now business partner to join me to attend a financial seminar - my very first - and honestly it changed the way we think about things. In a good way.
Maybe we allowed ourselves to be brainwashed, but if it is that, then it must have been the best brainwashing session ever. That night, we went back and found ourselves restless in bed - we had to meet again the next day for a community walk, that was how we knew both of us had been thinking throughout the night.
From that point on, we have had many other opportunities that led us from one seminar to another talk to another cash flow session, and I am very thankful for that.
Now, while I still continue to dream about money, at least I know I'm heading somewhere with purpose and direction. People are encouraged to dream big but they always start small. No success is without hard work.
I want money not to lead an extravagant lifestyle, but I have this strong desire to help the under-privileged, believe it or not. I want to change the world, by sharing my wealth when I obtain it in future.
Of course that is dreaming big. So, to start small will be to be able to take care of my parents financially. Plus, since rich people don't really have to turn up at work if they choose not to, I will also have free time to spend with my family.
Do you now see the power of money?
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