There's a lot of things that financial bloggers talk about.
Save money, don't overspend, invest, stuff like that.
Today, I want to talk about 2 other things which not many people in the financial blog-o-sphere talk about.
1. Don't tell people you have money.
I learnt from a young age not to talk about what I have. Don't tell people you have money.
The thing is, many people aren't prudent with their finances.
I don't have many close friends. Usually, if they are close, they share similar values as me, so they are pretty frugal as well.
But there are a lot of other people who aren't cautious with their spending.
Friends, family, acquaintances. And that's troublesome.
People have expectations when they hear/know you have money.
Maybe they expect you to pay more when it's time to take care of your parents, or their medical bills.
(Not saying you shouldn't take care of your parents or anything, just saying that people may have more expectations and I don't think that's fair.)
Or they may expect you to pick up the bill on a family meal.
Or they may think, "Oh this guy so rich, why is he so cheapo on his kids' birthday party?"
Stuff like that...
So I've learnt to keep quiet about my finances.
I'm getting by ok. That's all. I'm unemployed. I don't have money.
I would dumpster dive for food if I could. Actually I'm broke.
I like this image that I try to create for myself.
When people think you're broke, they try to help you out. So that works even better for me.
And of course, the next problem that comes about when people know you have money.
Is that they may come and try to borrow money.
Friends, family, etc... and they may try to guilt trip you and say how bad their situation is and stuff like that.
They'll be like "Oh come on man, you can't even spare me $200 bucks?! How about $100? Ok just $50 bucks? I'm sure you have $50 bucks..."
Happened to me. It sucks.
2. Don't EVER lend people money.
NEVER EVER LEND PEOPLE MONEY.
You probably will lose your money and will probably lose your friend/family member as well.
I've lent people money 2 times in my life. Both were stupid decisions which I made. I don't know why I didn't learn from the first one and lent money the second time.
First time I lent someone S$15,000.
After I transferred the person the money, I regretted it right away. It was a friend.
He was doing some "investments" blah blah blah... don't want to get into the details of it.
I felt stupid after transferring him the money.
Cos the thing is. I lose control of the money once I send it to him. He could have bought a car and driven it around and all I can do is feel stupid.
I eventually got my money back after the expected loan period. I got an interest on it as well. Couple of hundred bucks. So no loss there. I had to bug him to transfer the money back though. But still got it back so no love lost. But it was a stupid move. We were still friends after the incident but we grew apart as the years went by so I don't know what happened to him anymore.
The loss of contact had nothing to do with the money.
The thing is... it's just not worth that few hundred bucks, to lose $15k... really.
Second time, I lent someone $4,000...
Similar situation. I would get an interest on the loan, I trusted (still trust) the person (only for certain things tho).
But even though I trust the person, I would prefer not to lend money to him ever again.
Same thing, I got the money back after a few weeks. Got an interest on it.
Still felt stupid after transferring the money, cos... same thing. He could have bought some stuff and enjoyed himself with the money and just not returned it to me.
Had to bug him for the money, and after a couple of weeks, within the loan period, he returned it to me.
So again, no love lost, but still a stupid move.
Just for a couple of hundred bucks, I could have lost $4,000.
Significantly different from investments in the stock market. At least for investments, I have legal rights to buy/sell/dividends, etc.
Loans to friends and family has no rights. Paying for a lawyer is more expensive than writing off the loan.
I've read about this a lot. People lend money... they never get it back. Didn't happen to me. I was lucky.
But it's like cigarettes... One could smoke and not get cancer... but mathematically, there's good chance to get cancer.
Same as loans. I know I was lucky for those 2 times. Hope I won't be stupid and try a 3rd round.
It's quite sad when I read about stories.
People lend money cos they trust the person. Usually the lender is a nice person and wants to help out.
But the person borrowing the money just takes it for granted. They might get over their rough period in life and they might go on trips with their family and stuff, but they never ever pay the lender back the money.
Other stories I hear about are that the borrower just disappears. Just can't be contacted. It's just screwed up.
So yea... Once you lend the money, you lose control of it. It's no longer in your account. It's in their account.
So remember...
1. Don't tell people you have money.
2. Don't EVER lend people money.
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Save money, don't overspend, invest, stuff like that.
Today, I want to talk about 2 other things which not many people in the financial blog-o-sphere talk about.
1. Don't tell people you have money.
I learnt from a young age not to talk about what I have. Don't tell people you have money.
The thing is, many people aren't prudent with their finances.
I don't have many close friends. Usually, if they are close, they share similar values as me, so they are pretty frugal as well.
But there are a lot of other people who aren't cautious with their spending.
Friends, family, acquaintances. And that's troublesome.
People have expectations when they hear/know you have money.
Maybe they expect you to pay more when it's time to take care of your parents, or their medical bills.
(Not saying you shouldn't take care of your parents or anything, just saying that people may have more expectations and I don't think that's fair.)
Or they may expect you to pick up the bill on a family meal.
Or they may think, "Oh this guy so rich, why is he so cheapo on his kids' birthday party?"
Stuff like that...
So I've learnt to keep quiet about my finances.
I'm getting by ok. That's all. I'm unemployed. I don't have money.
I would dumpster dive for food if I could. Actually I'm broke.
I like this image that I try to create for myself.
When people think you're broke, they try to help you out. So that works even better for me.
And of course, the next problem that comes about when people know you have money.
Is that they may come and try to borrow money.
Friends, family, etc... and they may try to guilt trip you and say how bad their situation is and stuff like that.
They'll be like "Oh come on man, you can't even spare me $200 bucks?! How about $100? Ok just $50 bucks? I'm sure you have $50 bucks..."
Happened to me. It sucks.
2. Don't EVER lend people money.
NEVER EVER LEND PEOPLE MONEY.
You probably will lose your money and will probably lose your friend/family member as well.
I've lent people money 2 times in my life. Both were stupid decisions which I made. I don't know why I didn't learn from the first one and lent money the second time.
First time I lent someone S$15,000.
After I transferred the person the money, I regretted it right away. It was a friend.
He was doing some "investments" blah blah blah... don't want to get into the details of it.
I felt stupid after transferring him the money.
Cos the thing is. I lose control of the money once I send it to him. He could have bought a car and driven it around and all I can do is feel stupid.
I eventually got my money back after the expected loan period. I got an interest on it as well. Couple of hundred bucks. So no loss there. I had to bug him to transfer the money back though. But still got it back so no love lost. But it was a stupid move. We were still friends after the incident but we grew apart as the years went by so I don't know what happened to him anymore.
The loss of contact had nothing to do with the money.
The thing is... it's just not worth that few hundred bucks, to lose $15k... really.
Second time, I lent someone $4,000...
Similar situation. I would get an interest on the loan, I trusted (still trust) the person (only for certain things tho).
But even though I trust the person, I would prefer not to lend money to him ever again.
Same thing, I got the money back after a few weeks. Got an interest on it.
Still felt stupid after transferring the money, cos... same thing. He could have bought some stuff and enjoyed himself with the money and just not returned it to me.
Had to bug him for the money, and after a couple of weeks, within the loan period, he returned it to me.
So again, no love lost, but still a stupid move.
Just for a couple of hundred bucks, I could have lost $4,000.
Significantly different from investments in the stock market. At least for investments, I have legal rights to buy/sell/dividends, etc.
Loans to friends and family has no rights. Paying for a lawyer is more expensive than writing off the loan.
I've read about this a lot. People lend money... they never get it back. Didn't happen to me. I was lucky.
But it's like cigarettes... One could smoke and not get cancer... but mathematically, there's good chance to get cancer.
Same as loans. I know I was lucky for those 2 times. Hope I won't be stupid and try a 3rd round.
It's quite sad when I read about stories.
People lend money cos they trust the person. Usually the lender is a nice person and wants to help out.
But the person borrowing the money just takes it for granted. They might get over their rough period in life and they might go on trips with their family and stuff, but they never ever pay the lender back the money.
Other stories I hear about are that the borrower just disappears. Just can't be contacted. It's just screwed up.
So yea... Once you lend the money, you lose control of it. It's no longer in your account. It's in their account.
So remember...
1. Don't tell people you have money.
2. Don't EVER lend people money.
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
Did you like this post? If so, could you "blanjah" me 1/4 cup of my morning coffee pls.
You may also consider subscribing to receive the articles in your email, link in the column on the right.
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