Posted on by Quinn of Fortune

Moving on

Close my eyes and breathe it all out

This blog post will not be about how to make money or saving tips and tricks. It’s going to be more about the mistake that I have done and getting over it.

Reflecting

All you have to do is call for home

Wondrous life

In the past year, when everyone else was busy being dreadful about the change, I was busy finding my purpose and how I could earn more money. Why? Simple, I have a family to feed. And I had dreams of staying home and yet still earning as much as I am earning in a full-time job.

It is still my dream today. I never truly let that go. The thought of me being available for my children 24/7 while I earn a 4-figure income with the bills paid on time, and me making a difference in other people’s lives while I have the abundance of time and money.

I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who desires this lifestyle. Maybe some people already have.

So I reached out to someone I met many years ago. She was broke and broken then. But now, as she portrays in her social media, she had become a millionaire.

But things went downhill quite quickly and yet I was blinded. Blinded by hope and wishful thinking.

I kept on paying for her advise (mostly criticism) for a good 8 months

And it wasn’t cheap

By far, this has been my most expensive mistake and I am just grateful it’s not more than what it already is

I found out that many others have fallen prey into her trap of chasing after dreams that she is not sure of how to help us get them!

It’s just words and words and theories of who knows if it’s true!!!!

Angered by this scammer

As much as she denied that she is a scammer who overcharged her services, I needed so much time to finally realised it!

Mentor

What does that even mean?

From my understanding, it is someone who helps an individual get to their goal in the best way possible.

A mentor is an experienced and trusted advisor.

However, up till today, I do not see where I am heading. It’s either I have more money to invest, then I’ll get more money. Or, I have to rewire my mentality and keep reaffirming things to come to me as soon as possible.

Okay, imagine this, I need to make a bill payment within the next 24 hours, and all that this “Mentor” told me was, affirm that within the next 24 hours you’ll receive money! Do this, do that! As when I did, but nothing happened, I’m left to be responsible to find means and ways to pay that bill anyway.

So now what?

At the end of the day, I still have to find my solution?

What is she here for anyway? To tell me how useless and helpless I am?

To criticize my lack and tell me my logical brain is useless and not helping me to achieve success?

Come on! Be real! Robert Kiyosaki didn’t get rich by reaffirming the whole day! They learned practical things and applied that knowledge into the real world!

Al this while, she have been telling me to block out and say fake news to all the unwanted things that’s happening in my life. And her example was, Donald Trump.

What happened to America when he said Fake News to Corona Virus?

I’m sorry but this Mentor told me this. Say Fake News to unwanted reality. And what did I get myself into? More debts than I ever had before I met her. Just like how “Fake News” had America having the highest number of death from tragical disease. It’s sad. Truly sad. I feel for them because I too had been told to believe that what’s happening in the real world now is just fake news and it’s not my desired reality.

It made me feel like I’m a lunatic and I’m making illusions about what is only good for me but ignore the reality that I don’t get to contribute food for my children. How more sad can that be?

Lesson learned so let’s move on

Now that I’ve learnt the truth, I want to move on with my life and be back on the ground. My heart is more at peace now. Knowing that I can control and I am in control. No more manipulative words from an uncertified Mentor. A fake millionaire.

I’m just going to live and be me. Faithful. Mom. Teacher. Wife. Admin to my husband’s business and a loving daughter to my parents.

I’ve learnt that I don’t need to be rich to give the best life for my loved ones. I just need to know my priorities and settle down on what I already have. Being grateful is the best thing ever.

And I thank God for sending me my heart signals and emotions. Telling me to let go of what I know I can let go but was afraid to.

Now, I’m coming out stronger.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Quinn of Fortune

Being Financially Competent

You’ve got to tell money what to do or it’ll leave

Dave Ramsey

Personal Finance

What does it mean?

To be financially competent?

Why is it important?

How do I do it?

Can I do it successfully?

These are the questions I asked myself. And so I went in search of answers. And I utilised the SkillsFutureSG Credit to attend a full-day workshop

For Singaporeans, we all know what SkillsFutureSG is. For readers who are not familiar with this term, it is the source of money given by the government for adults to upgrade themselves through courses and workshops. And by gaining skills through the workshops or courses they attend, they will be better equipped for higher roles in their career.

And for some people, people like me, I use it to develop personal knowledge and skills instead of courses that’s relevant to my career. Because career wise, to be honest, I am just grateful I have one. I do not feel the urge to “invest” any more skills into my career. The competition is just too much for me. Good for those who are still going for it. But for me, I just want to be smart with my money.

I’ve been reading a lot and after much reading, I realized that being educated is not sufficient if all the money we have is not enough to sustain our current lifestyle unless we continue to work everyday.

And that’s is brutally sad

When will I get to wake up and have the freedom of choosing what I want to do?

Lifelong Learning

I strongly believe in lifelong learning and self-investment is worth every penny. So, I make it a point for me to never stop learning no matter how old I get.

Let’s get back to the topic of Personal Finance

So, this is what I learned at the start of the workshop. Just for you to know, the workshop was called Financial Competence for Modern Singaporeans

Obviously, the workshop targets for modern Singaporeans, also known as the Millenials in Singapore. I felt the connecting the minute I saw the workshop name.

I asked my father for advice and see if this is a worthy workshop to attend and he agreed that it is.

I loved every minute I was there and learned so much in just that 8 hours of learning. So here is my takeaway.

Personal Finance, what is that?

Personal Finance is the management of money and financial resources to fulfill life goals using financial planning techniques!

There it is!

As simple as that.

To understand this in-depth, it requires me to create a series of blog. Which I will make it a point to do every day.

This post is quite lengthy hence I want to make it a 5 part series.

Keep coming back for my updates!

Thanks for reading!

Come again soon!

Posted on by Quinn of Fortune

How to build an Emergency Fund?

(continued from headline) In this expensive country we live in, Singapore

This also applies to people who are not from the country I am from alright?

How big is your piggy bank?

It might seem like a massive challenge to set aside a couple of thousands of dollars, but you can quickly get there with a little planning, financial prudence, and a step-by-step approach.

You must gain control over your money. Or the lack of it will forever control you.

Dave Ramsey

Get the ball rolling!!!

  1. Set a monthly goal: Once you decide the best amount that works best for you, stagger your plan into smaller palatable monthly deposits.
  2. Use a separate account: this should be parked with the principle of out of sight, out of mind – this way, you are unlikely to get tempted to spend that money.
  3. Pay your future self first: just as you plan other financial goals, such as retirement planning or saving for a home, put aside a small amount every month as soon as you receive your salary/receive your business income.
  4. Trim your expenses: Controlling the non-essential expenditures would allow you to get faster to your savings goals. You don’t have to go cold turkey but prioritize your expenses
  5. Reallocate lump sum receivables: Set aside a small amount to enjoy yourself, and allocate the rest to your emergency fund. Adding any windfall gains can help fast-track your goals
Time spent with money is always worth it. (Caculating and planning of course)

Hope this helps you in one way or another! There’s another detailed blog post I wrote about how I segregate my money.

Thanks for reading!

Posted on by Quinn of Fortune · 1 Comment

My Money Organising Hack

I’m not an organizing guru or expert. However, I do organise my day to day money flow and get them done quite efficiently.

I’m a mom. Wife. Full-time day care teacher. Daughter during weekends. And also a hobby blogger. In summary, my day revolves around my kids, husband, home, parents, work and my little me time (blogging). I try to set things straight so that my day goes smooth and settled. And this is how I got my errands, expenses and bills done! And if you’re reading this and feel like we have a lot in common, you’re my virtual bestie. As I type this down, I just hope that my sharing helps in one way or more for another mother. 😘

So here goes nothing!

Create a MONEY group

1. Create a whatsapp/ telegram group labeled as ‘Expenses’ or ‘Money matters’ (Anything that you can relate to). In this group, it can either be you alone or you and your spouse or the people whom you share the bills with. Since money is quite a sensitive issue, you might want to talk with the person/people involved before you start creating this group.

Why I choose WhatsApp or Telegram, (you can use whatever messaging app that has a group chat feature) is because we are consistently looking at these messaging apps more than our calendar. Not to mention the number of finance tracking apps I downloaded just to do this. So far, this worked better. I don’t know about you, maybe this works for me, it doesn’t for you. Tell me in the comments okay?

2. In this group, you ONLY send information about your bills and receipts. So when it’s time for you to make a payment, the details of the account number are in one place.

Categorize them!

Every household has different needs. So you work out what’s best for you and your family. Here’s how I did mine.

– Expenses 30-50%

– Savings 10%

– Fun & Play 10%

– Learning 10%

– Investment 10%

– Gifts/ Charity 5%

Now how do we know which purchase falls under which category? I’m sure you’re wondering, how about tuition, food, allowance?

Well, read on till the end because the juicy information is hidden in between the paragraphs!

Let’s keep it simple!

Expenses are things that you need, essentials like food, cleaning needs, toiletries, home, water, electricity, phone bills. Netflix subscription is NOT essential. But if your family cannot live without it, then you got to stretch a little bit more to fit that in! Alongside other subscriptions such as games, essential apps like the one I’m using is Grammarly. It’s a necessity for me because I write a lot. Not just for blogging. But for my work too.

Savings are things you kind of need but will not die if you do not have. Such as clothes, gadgets, accessories. You get it. I know a lot of people who kept buying new clothes just to keep up with fashion or look “fresh” now and then. But really, is it necessary? I do not believe in gaining self-confidence through pieces of apparel for others to see. Yeah sure if you have been saving on that Fitbit because you want to upgrade your health habits, by all means. Just make sure you fall back out of line if the FitBit gets spoiled or lost. Just know, that you can still upgrade your health habits without the need for all these fancy gadgets! YOU are enough! You just need to move and go!

Fun & Play are for the outings you plan to spend with people who matter. Read this again. Fun and play are for the outings you plan to spend with people who matter. Don’t need to impress people who don’t matter. Don’t waste your time and energy! And especially your money!! For moms and dads, it’s kind of easy to choose who matters – kids! So let’s say you want to go to the park for a weekend morning cycle, don’t hold back! Spend this percentage of money on the tidbits or dining in! Don’t constraint yourself and especially your kids too much just because you’re trying to achieve a specific financial goal! You and your family deserve this! It can be one year of saving up this percentage of money for a staycation or theme park or anything that requires more than a month worth of saving. Now that we are going through precautionary measures and traveling has been restricted, of course, the choices for fun and play is limited to local attractions. Which is fine by me, to be honest. Because I do not need to think or concern about accommodations. Win!!

Learning is for education materials, tuition fees, books, courses, workshops. You get it. It’s super simple and straightforward! I am a hardcore believer in lifelong learning and upgrading one’s life, learning should never stop!

Investment is not for the weak at heart. If you fear business or the freedom of waking up to do whatever you want. Then this is not for you. This can be your capital or the money that works for you through investments. Disclaimer: Quinn of Fortune does not suggest or support any business, stocks, investing companies, or the likes. Quinn of Fortune is just sharing because this is what she desires to accomplish and heading towards to.

Gifts/Charity is for the times you need to buy occasional gifts. And also you got to pay forward don’t you think? 😏✌️ Oh, and parents’ or kids’ allowance doesn’t fall here ok? It’s under expenses 😘

Money Organization Hack