Tips From Junus Eu of “The Building Financial Fitness Podcast with Junus Eu”
Have you ever wondered about how to better manage your money? Whether you’re still in school, or about to embark on your first job, it’s never too early to learn about financial literacy!
Prolific finance blogger Junus Eu aka MissFITFI, one of *SCAPE Podcast Competition+ Season 1 finalists, has recently launched a podcast series titled “The Building Financial Fitness Podcast with Junus Eu”. In her podcast, Junus brings on special guests to talk about topics ranging from gendered finance and the true cost of furthering education.
Junus believes that financial planning should begin young and it shouldn’t be daunting! Here, she shares some tips on how you can achieve your financial goals in your 20s. Read along as she reflects on her own journey, as well as things she wishes she had done better.
Key Factors to Consider
1. Set a Time-Based Goal
Having a specific, measurable goal of how much you wish to save allows you to keep your financial decisions in check. While it is a simple exercise, it is incredibly useful because you can then splice it down to how much net income you should have each month.
For example, if you wish to save $100k by the time you reach 25, and you start working at 22, that gives you 36 months to save $2.8k a month.
Evidently, if your starting take-home pay is $2.8k, it is not enough to get to your goal, unless you have zero expenditure which likely is not the case for most of us. Which brings me to my next point: To Start Saving Early.
2. Start Early if You Can
If you consider the simple math above, then it would be clear that if one started early in life to generate income, then the savings amount required each month would go down on average. This could mean doing side jobs while in university to gain both experience and money. Giving tuition is another common way to earn additional income in Singapore.
In my university years, I held a part-time internship job (which paid me $500 monthly with no CPF), and I taught tuition for 3 hours a day on most days. Additionally, I organised my lectures on weekends so that I could maximise my working time and earnings. My typical schedule would look like this on weekdays when I had to go to for lectures:
- 8am – 10am: Attend lectures in the west
- 10:30am – 6pm: Intern work in a technology incubator in the Central Business District
- 7pm – 10pm: Teach English and Math to two Korean students in the east
- 11pm – 1am: Study for 2 hours after showering etc.
With this schedule, I was earning around $1.3k a month at the age of 20. Most of my income was spent on paying for my university fees and daily expenses. However, that meant that I did not need to worry about student loans upon graduation, and I also had around $10k in the bank upon graduation.
Admittedly, it was not a very healthy lifestyle as it meant I ate my meals in haste (or not at all), and my entire day was a combination of work and study with no time left for much else. Even my parents were worried about my lack of sleep, and my mum would sometimes meet me at Simei to sit down with me to eat my dinner just so that she had the peace of mind that I was eating.
That said, I do not regret living this way for three years as it set the foundation for having the discipline and an aptitude for hard work.
3. Keep Expenditure Low
When I first set my financial goals, it was clear to me that my expenditure would need to be low. As such, one of my personal values in my early 20s was to live frugally and always look at value whenever purchasing an item.
However, I was not always this way. I was very blessed to have a lot growing up. Even in my secondary school days, I would be at Orchard Road having meals everyday after I got off school. It was a time where I did not realise the value of money, and was spending whatever money I was given by my grandma who was (and still is) very generous with me.
Keeping expenditure low takes a mindset shift. This means being able to resist the temptation of dining at nice restaurants all the time, or buying that luxury item just because you think ‘you deserve it’. When I was starting out, I looked to spend below $500 every month. Even till today, I wished I had saved even more.
Below are some actionable ways to keep expenses low:
- Packing food from home (ensuring that cost per meal is lower than what you would purchase it for outside)
- Keep expenses for outside food at below $5. Personally when I started in the CBD, I would go to Golden Shoe Hawker everyday and would spend around $4-$5. Even till today, I look to keep my lunch cost below $5, especially if I am eating alone. I am also a big fan of Chinatown Market hawker centre for the cheap and good food.
- Having a few quality and timeless pieces to wear to work, instead of fashion items that could become obsolete with the next new trend.
- Taking public transport. I would also walk if it’s just 1-2 MRT stations sometimes.
- Social activities kept low-cost. I don’t drink (which saves a ton of money), and don’t smoke (which also saves a ton of money). My favourite thing to do with like-minded friends is to stroll around unexplored places in Singapore, which is essentially free.
Fun fact: I recently met with a financial advisor who wanted to run a questionnaire over lunch, and this financial advisor was puzzled as to why I was eating $3 caifan at the food court given that my indicated income bracket was above $5k. To which I say, why not?
4. Increase Income
With that said, there is a limit to how much you can save by scrimping. Which brings me to the most important point in your early 20s: Your Income.
When I was putting out my financial goals, it was apparent to me that if I wanted to reach my financial goals by 25, there was no way I could get there simply by keeping my expenses very low. I was also not depending on investments to increase my cash pile. As such, the way to increase income is either through a monthly salary, side hustles, or a combination of the two.
In order to earn a higher salary, you will need to be able to bring something to the table that most other candidates cannot. As an employee, it’s beneficial to have high-paying skills that can earn you a competitive salary in your industry.
At the end of the day, we all have only 24 hours a day. This means that there is a limit to how many hours you can tangibly spend working. As such, what you can maximise is how much you can get paid per hour/day/month. It is important to build towards this, especially in your younger years. Look for a network and colleagues whom you admire and enjoy working with, and learn as much as possible in your youth. In essence, be hungry to learn. Don’t just see your job as a means to earn income, but think about what additional skills that you can learn (even if it is outside your job scope). Such skills would be beneficial in the future.
Additionally, if you have existing side hustles that have served you from your younger days, why not continue to do it if you have spare time? It always helps you to diversify your income streams, so as not to be reliant on a single income stream.
With all of the above said, saving $100k by any age should NOT serve as a barometer for success.
It merely sets a foundation for a financial buffer, which is especially important in such turbulent times. There are entrepreneurs who might have not saved much financially by the time they were 25, but their investment in time and energy building a successful business paid off financially later on in their life (and in most cases where an acquisition is concerned, far more than what a salaried worker could earn over a 30-year career saving 50% of their monthly $5,000 salary – $900k by the time you’re 50, assuming you start work at 20).
On hindsight, even though I did start investing early, I wish I allocated even more capital towards my investments, and how I *might* be regretting buying property at 26. More details on this in the next post!
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Like to hear more from Junus? Check out her podcast here for more interesting discussions on whether women are better investors or what makes an entrepreneur or business leader successful.
Follow her on her socials @Missfitfi and www.missfitfi.com
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And if you are keen on starting your own podcast, join *SCAPE Podcast Competition+! Cash and attractive prizes worth up to $4,000 to be won! The deadline is 20 October 2021, don’t miss this opportunity to get your voice heard!
