Humble Beginnings

It is fairly odd that the blog of a 23-year-old is intertwined with the word "finance". This is probably a fuzzy word, a vague word, an obfuscated word, an obscured word which many people tend to shut out of their mind once it attempts to get into their minds (me included, initially). Probably like many others, I used to have the conventional mindset of studying hard, attain good results, get a 'good' job that pays well. Subsequently, hope to get promoted, get pay raise, get promoted, get pay raise. This goes on and on and on. When the time reaches, then retire happily ever after.

I am occasionally a dreamer and I think of things that occasionally link far off. Then comes one fine day in mid-2006, my mind starts to wander. "Wait a minute... Is this really what I want for myself in life? Up till this point of time in life, I seem to be like a leaf that fell into the river, drifting wherever the river flow takes me. " The society's influence has indeed been very strong.

My mind began to seek answers, to think beyond what is usually accepted as the norm in the society. "Will there really be enough financial resources for one to actually retire upon? Say at the age of 65?" I did a quick visualization of numbers in my mind, some rough calculations. It occurred to me that, it is a little queer for one to work hard all his/her life, then ultimately having to retire and live upon a sum of money each month, which would not really match his/her current standard of living and lifestyle. "When one works hard the whole life then retire, shouldn't one be at least still maintaining the current standard of living? Isn't it quite pitiful if it isn’t true?"