Recently, I was very fortunate to have another opportunity to share about my personal experience with CPF at their biggest digital event this year. I shared about how CPF helps me navigate through my financial challenges at different life stages which includes purchasing a flat with my parents and funding my sister’s tertiary education in my 20s, purchasing my first BTO in my 30s and eventually achieving FRS at the age of 40.
I had the honor to speak alongside Mr Soh Chin Heng, former Deputy CEO of CPF Board and Chung Yin Wah, the author of “Retire Happpy“. We had some pre-event chats and was pretty impressed about how each of them still continue to contribute back to the society meaningfully.
Mr Soh termed himself as a tri-vocationalist, currently pursuing a Masters in Counselling, working as a part-time executive director of a charity organization and he is also providing consultancy to the Mongolian government on reforming its social security system. As for Yin Wah, she wrote a book “Retire Happpy” during the pandemic to provide a comprehensive and practical guide that will help you to transit from having a vague idea of retirement to becoming better prepared for a meaningful retirement. She is currently learning about everything Spanish and will be taking extended travels to Spain and South America soon. She is an active volunteer for several organizations. I was really grateful that she gave me a copy of her book and hopefully I could write a blog review for her book once I finished reading it.
In my own pursuit towards financial independence, I discovered minimalism which changes my perspective towards money and lessen my attachment towards physical possessions. The pandemic further reinforce this perspective where life is unpredictable and we should feel contentment in our lives regardless of what is happening around us. I shared about my roller coaster ride of my personal life journey on The Financial Coconut (you may listen to the podcast here). After going through all these challenges, I could proudly say that I experience certain level of contentment in my life right now.
Below are some of the reminders to myself on my journey towards contentment.
- Live simply and enjoy the little moments in life
- Spend more time with loved ones and be 100% present when you are with them
- Organize more family road trips with kids to experience life on the go (First stop – Malaysia)
- Maintain good health so that I could continue to pursue my passion in cycling and trekking
- Follow my daughter’s mantra “If you are not having fun, you are wasting your time”
- Achieve Ikigai by pursuing my passion projects
- Giving back to the community, inspire people to live a life bigger than themselves
- Always find opportunities to challenge my weaknesses
Below is the video of the CPF event on how to build financial security to support your passions.