Mar 28, 2016

Cory Diary : Middle Age Crisis - do I have a plan ?

Remembered countless once running in the military with SBO, Helmet and Rifle. The run is like short 10 minutes but I swear is like forever. This is felt by most with varying fitness level. Reason being the pain to endure the gruelling training is agonizing. Time clicks at it slowest. After which when returned to bunk, an hour of rest time quickly past. Well I did feel good about my achievement after.

Time flies very fast when we are enjoying life. Most will likely earn good salary between age 35-45. And this is the time where we feel the power and the wealth generation capability of ourselves. The joy of family, car, kids, condo and vacations. But one thing fall to many folks especially those working in MNC. You can be made redundant at your prime for the very thing you have as the corporate renew itself with the business cycle with new blood and cost structure.

Life do not maintain an even course of distribution. It is up to us to even them out. Uneventful things happens to many. Just like sickness and death, it will comes. Unlike something beyond our control, fall of income or no income is a logical expectation that it can happen to many and not a rare occurrence. Therefore one must always be prepared for it. There is no excuse of not doing the required for the rainy days when we are in the height of earning power.

I always think how can I manage my life if I am to be retrenched. Do I have the needed skills to find equivalent salary scale job. Will I have to start from basic from economic standpoint since i may not be much better than a fresh graduate hire. Should I try to be housing agent or taxi driver ? Attempt some business ? Or am I capable to call it quit and retire for good. This needs to be planned out especially so for those with kids and non-working partner.

If one has done some homework, even a 50% saving of a 10K job may not be enough after 15 years of  good salary to maintain certain lifestyle. Once we know the limits and expectations, we understand the problem better and manage our budget wiser at our prime. So when the day comes we are prepared. Once we reach our goal, every day is a bonus.



For myself, I prefer to call it quit for good at the minimum end. Wife no work. Children at University. Life till 90.  Outstanding loans. Insurances. Allowances ... And then work back with my family on what we should do. Using a semi-passive portfolio to sustain my family expenses, and work back all my asset class to determine how much is needed. Then I determine how much I need to save to support my plan. I also need to figure out what I can cut and reduce to be practical. And what I can put back as I work longer. I also need to make sure I have sufficient experience and knowledge to tie me through the up and down of the markets. This comes in handy as I can be very speculative and learned some lessons. Notice all the the "I"s. Is about owning the problem. Not the government, parent, company or god.


Cory
20160328




8 comments:

  1. In my opinion, u should not come up w a plan to handle your mid-life crisis. U should instead work on finding yourself a good wife to make your life more fulfilling.

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    1. Of course. The purpose of the article is about supporting a fulfilling life due to financial issue.

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  2. Hi Cory,

    I totally agree with u that corporate MNC is never stable since I am in one. Need to plan for the worst, so that you are not caught in a situation that u r desperately at the mercy of the company both financially and even more important mentally!!!

    Love ur job or what u do, not ur company! ur company esp MNC will never love u forever!

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    1. Yup. I always remind myself company and me is just a contract. I provide the value, and they compensate me. When they do not need me, I need to be ready.

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  3. Hello Cory, I agree with you.

    1. The company is not our family. When times are bad, family don't forsake us. Company will.

    2. A plan is needed to identify what is the minimin amount of money required for expenses. I used an app called Wally to track my expense. Not always successful in keep to monthly budget.

    3. Finding out what we can do should we suffer a retrenchment. I know people who were earning a fat salary but are jobless for a few years. I am looking at working in retail. There is a fair bit of demand. Not affected by ego now. Hopefully it will not affect me when the day comes. I have a degree in electronical engineering and accounting. This will be a big change.

    4. 'I' is the most important for a change. While I hope the Singapore goverment will limit manpower import and help the many Singaporeans trying to get a job or even a better job, it only remains a hope. The government does not work for me only.

    Hope to read more of your post.

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    Replies
    1. I am amaze with your maturity level. One thing I left out in my article is ensuring my Value able to scale with time so as to minimise my chance of being retrenched. Corporate are make up of humans too. If they need my value, they will pay for it.

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