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The Dangers of Freedom of Speech, and the Lack of it

30/6/2020

Long long long time ago, I wrote about "Freedom of Speech" and it's a topic which I hold quite dearly in my thoughts.
I mean, I think about it a lot. From an academic point of view.
The values behind it, and the lack of values of it.

Freedom of speech, or expression...
Is basically, the right to voice your opinion, however, it doesn't mean that you can say anything you like. You cannot and are not supposed to accuse, defame anyone without evidence. Read my previous post about that aspect of the topic. I.e. the meaning behind freedom of speech.

Today's post is to talk about the merits or demerits about it.
And it's also important.

On one hand, the lack of freedom of speech inhibits the truth.
I always talk about the story of Galileo who was prosecuted, cos he said something that the authorities at that time didn't want to hear, even though it was true.

On the other hand, unbridled freedom of speech allows people to say anything. Hateful things, stupid things, etc...
There are people who believe in the "Flat Earth Theory", yes, there are people who really believe that the Earth is flat. And that all evidence is a conspiracy to make people believe that the Earth is round. These people aren't people who think they don't know and that they want to find out more. Rather, they really believe the Earth is flat and any evidence is a lie to them.

There are people who deny the atrocities of what Japan did during WWII.
Did you know that in Japan, school kids aren't taught what the Japanese did during WWII?
Yes, it's entirely whitewashed.

In freedom of speech, by right, you are allowed to say your beliefs. It's up to you to convince your listeners to believe it or not.
And if you reach a far enough audience, someone is bound to believe it.
That's why there's groups of people who deny what happened in WWII or believe that the Earth is flat, and other stuff.

Freedom of speech is a very sharp double edged sword with both sides equally sharp.

If Governments have laws against freedom of speech, then they can just as easily have laws that say that the Earth is flat.
The problem is that, in freedom of speech, it's usually one or the other.
Cos IF the Government starts getting involved in freedom of speech, then they can potentially get involved in ALL forms of freedom of speech.
If they don't get involved, then they cannot get involved in any.
You cannot look at it from a Government which is just, you have to look at it from the view that a Government CAN and WILL abuse it someday in future. Cos that's a big risk. It allows any Government to rewrite history.

Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
-George Orwell

This is being exposed many times when Trump speaks. When he denys evidence and the real truth.
And there are people who believe him.
Same as there are people who think that the Earth is flat.

The problem with freedom of speech, is that it is a very dangerous tool in the wrong hands.
And people need to have responsibility when wielding it.
BUT... humans have been known to abuse that responsibility.
Many people do not think, or have critical thinking skills. They read and forward rubbish all around the internet. Pseudo science, pseudo medicine, lies, conspiracy theories, etc.

Some things are harmless, some things are not.

For example, when Trump lies, it's not harmless. It influences people, it has the potential to instigate hate. Division of people. Such things can cause more crime or war.

And yet, without freedom of speech, it's equally dangerous. You cannot question or challenge a Government. They can basically shut down all dissent. Their power is absolute.

Freedom of speech can only be effective in a country, or population where the people are smart, educated, naturally curious, question things, seek evidence, exhibit critical thinking, etc...
This is highly unlikely in almost any country.
Mathematically, it's almost impossible.
Think about it. Look at a distribution curve.

Do you think that critical thinking is common? Common sense is not really common.
Look at the amount of fake new, pseudo science, pseudo medicine articles on the internet, and how many people forward and propagate these articles.
So if you look at the curve. Where do you think the average person would lie in terms of critical thinking?
Then if that is average, remember that there are people who have less critical thinking than this average person.
I would place most of my family members within the middle 68%. Although educated, they are unable to discern fake posts, unsubstantiated conclusions, etc.
When they read a statement... Example a politician says "I do not recall saying XYZ..."
They conclude that the politician didn't say it.
Whereas the politician is claiming that he doesn't remember saying it. He doesn't commit whether he said it or not. And such a response should be taken with much suspicion.

And I think many people are like that. So I believe that critical thinking IS not common.
Mathematically we should be looking at only 30-40% of the population at best.

Therefore, if we don't have a general population which is able to think independently, smart, question, double confirm things, then how can we allow freedom of speech? When it is so easily abused?

So for me, I believe that speech should be somewhat controlled. BUT YET... it's a slippery slope.
Why?
Example,
I believe that hate speech should be illegal and shouldn't be allowed.
The Earth cannot be denied as spherical.
I believe that certain historical facts should be illegal to deny. Cos we should learn from the past so that it doesn't happen again, such as the atrocities that happened in WWII.
But here's where it gets troublesome... who's to say what is real history?

For everything we know, we need to trust some form of authority. We trust that "some scientist" did some experiments, we trust that someone flew into space and saw that the Earth is round. How many of us did the experiments or flew into space?
For almost all information, we need to trust someone.
How do we know about history? Unless we have lived through it ourselves? We have to trust someone is telling the "truth". Or that enough people tell the same story so it becomes the "truth".

And so the thing is, freedom of speech needs to go hand in hand with critical thinking and having an educated and discerning population.
Without it, freedom of speech is and will easily be abused and the general population could easily be manipulated.

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1 Year Overseas

29/6/2020

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Okay, sooo.... I've been staying overseas for around 1 year.

Here's my first post when I reached Paris
15 June 2019, I landed in Paris...

And 6 months later, here's the post couple of days after I moved to Houston.
17 Jan 2020, I moved to Houston...

It's been quite an interesting experience.
Can't say it's good or bad, I'd just say it's interesting.
And yes, of course I'm biased cos different people experience a similar experience differently depending on circumstances.

I would say we are in a unique situation compared to the locals.
Firstly, we are living quite well. Many things are subsidized or covered by the company.
Then our lifestyle is also different, as we tend to be home-bodies, so we don't go out much. Thus our expenditure is probably lower than a local here.
We try to shop at cheaper places, not where the usual expats shop.
I mean... I used to get free food in Paris, and in Houston, I'm going to Walmart, which supposedly has cheaper food but lower quality compared to other supermarkets, whereas most expats would shop at the "Cold Storage" equivalent.
(Note: Lower quality means that the stuff is of a lower grade relative to other supermarkets, doesn't mean the meat is old or bad. It's like NTUC vs Cold Storage. One would say that Cold Storage has better quality and more expensive options than what is available at NTUC.)

I try to take note of how the locals live...
It's somewhat, same same but different.
Everyone is working, same like in SG. Everyone is trying to make a living, pay rent, entertainment, etc.
People are willing to spend on entertainment. Which is very similar to SG.
Eating out is more expensive in Paris and US compared to SG. So since our "hobby" is eating, it's not really good for us, we end up eating a lot more at home.

However, if your interest is in other things, travelling, museums, cars, trekking, many other things, then there's a lot more other forms of entertainment in big countries.
You just have to pay for it. There's really a lot more things to do, if you want to do it.

Eating out is only more expensive to me, cos I'm always comparing against home, SG.
So I feel "heart pain" when I have to pay US17 for a set for one person or €17 for one person.
And that's already on the cheaper end.
BUT to the locals, this is normal prices. So they just eat it as per normal.
In SG, it's like eating out at SG$17 for one person. It's not cheap, but that's pretty normal for a bowl of ramen.
Paris or Houston, US$17 or €17, is normal to them, but to me I see it as SG$24-SG$27.

However, due to the expense of entertainment, or lifestyle, I find that people in Paris/Houston don't really carry branded products. Or maybe I don't see much of them.
Whereas in SG, we see it all over, in the MRT, at work, everywhere.
Considering their earnings, tax rate, cost of living, eating out and entertainment, there really isn't much left to save or buy luxury products.
Somehow, in SG, many people are able to indulge in luxury items.

Folks in Paris and US really respect their summer season. They really take time off to go on vacation. It's common to have people in Paris take 3 weeks off, and in US, they will go to the beach or other states during summer.
I suppose that's similar to SG and the June/Dec holidays, where parents take their kids overseas.

Generally, life is similar, it's what I'd expect of any developed country. People work, most of their basic necessities are settled, they earn money for entertainment and play.

Western countries emphasize very much on the individual.
They really live for themselves. I'm not saying they are selfish people as individuals.
Rather, it's like the way they reacted to COVID.
Even if the Government tries to enforce rules, they will tend to want to do what they want to do. Until Government really enforces it strictly, then they will listen.
I would think in SG, or Asian countries, people are more civic minded.

Most of them move out when they are fairly young, so they start making decisions very early in life. It's a different way of living. The idea that... you can do anything you want cos your parents aren't watching you all the time. It's different.
They can party all they want, they have to earn money, they are responsible for their own lives.
So they have to think and decide on what's best for themselves and what they want to do and how they want to live.
This is a problem when the Government tries to tell them what to do, aka wear mask, stay at home, they don't want to listen to it, cos they are so used to living their own lives.

People are more involved in the politics in Western countries.
They talk about it. Quarrel with family members, protest, etc...
In SG... well... we all know... people just complain with each other but nothing is done.

I also learnt that we actually need very little things in life. In both Paris and Houston, we hardly unpacked our stuff from the boxes we brought over. Cos we really don't need much. We already packed very little stuff, just 13 boxes, which is considered very little when relocating.
However, even though we packed little stuff, we needed even less.
Just some clothes and furniture.
Other stuff like toiletries, groceries, can be bought as we slowly use them. A lot of things, we imagine we need, but actually, we don't need and don't use much.

How do I feel about living overseas?
This is a very interesting question.
If I look at it from the point of an expat, or immigrant who is leaving my home country for greener pastures.
Then I would probably just keep my head down, work, earn money and live my own life and try not to get involved with too many extra things.
Basically just do what I want to do and ignore the politics, racism, whatever.
It's highly possible especially for immigrants who are leaving their home country for more opportunities.
Which is what many immigrants do.

But for me, I don't think I'd like to live in western countries in the long run.
Both Paris and Houston are very livable cities. Expensive, but with financial planning and everything. It's still a good standard of living.
I still rather live in Asia. Maybe I'm racist. (Racism cuts both ways, I could be the racist one thinking that westerns are racist.)
I don't particularly feel at ease living in western countries.
As I said, I haven't encountered much/any racism when I was in Paris or Houston, but when I'm in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, China, Japan, I feel at ease. Also, people have mistaken me for locals in all those countries mentioned. Yes, there were Japanese in Japan who asked me for directions and I was like... errmm...

I could buy a small house in US and buy a car... probably a better standard living than what I would have in SG. Groceries and utilities are cheaper too. So if you're talking about emulating a "rich" Singapore style of living in US, it's possible. Cos it's now possible to buy all the stuff that's affordable in SG.
And yet I have concerns about my security. US is safe... well safe enough, but SG is abnormally safe. So I'd rather stay in SG. Even if I wanted to migrate to US, I wouldn't buy a house, cos it's not safe. It's easier for people to break into a house than an apartment.

Personally, I think if I don't have friends and family in SG, and if I was a westerner, for example a Singaporean staying in SG, or American staying in US, or French staying in France.
Then there's minimal difference between staying in SG, US, or France, also assuming there's no language barrier in France.
For a person born there, to live like a local, there's minimal difference.
Many people say this is better, that is better. Well, yes and no.
There is sufficient work life balance in all these 3 countries. Based on my past experience with work, and seeing my wife and friends. Things are ok. Even in SG. It's not like people have to work insane hours. (Except auditors)
There's a bit more freedom when taking leave in France, cos to them, it's their right to take leave. And it's normal to take long leave to go on a long vacation. So in summer, many things in France is working really slowly. And yet life goes on, it's a bit inconvenient, but not the end of the world.
Basically, if you just keep your head down and, study, graduate, find work, work hard, save, invest, then it's probably no significant difference in any developed country.

I would say, it's like ... a car...
Most cars have an engine, 4 wheels, seats, windows, air con, radio etc... The basic things which make a car a car.
But some people like a sporty car, some like family cars based on needs, some like fuel economy, some like electric, some people install their own sound system. So end up, there's many different types of styles and cars and preferences.

And I think, living in countries it's like that.
Most developed countries, if you want to work, live, eat, survive, it's pretty the similar.
But like cars, there are differences, and there's difference in price and some countries are deemed "better" than others.
But it's still a car... and for many developed countries, I think it's the same. They are livable.
So for living, I think no real difference

For retirement, now, I think maybe that's a different story.
For this, I think it depends on multiple factors.
For me, racism is still a factor, I won't want to retire in a western country.
But let's say race isn't a factor, and friends and family isn't a factor.
As a local, is it better to retire in US as a local, or France as a local, or SG as a local?

I do think for Americans and the French, there are options of moving to a cheaper state. For example, one could work at New York and move to Texas for retirement. Same as in France. There are options.
For Singapore, there's no option for Singaporeans. Property is cheaper at certain areas in SG but not cheap. Overall standard of living is the same almost everywhere in SG. The cost of living doesn't change, cos it's the same city.
Whereas when someone moves from New York to Texas, their dollars will go further.
Same as from Paris to maybe Normandy.

One very interesting observation I had after 1 year, is that I have almost forgotten about Paris now that I've stayed in Houston for 6 months. Paris just seems like a distant dream.
I don't feel much connection to it anymore. Just a bit of fond memories when I look at past pictures.
I don't really want to go back to Paris to live there for any long period again.
However home is still Singapore. I want to go back. Even after 1 year, I think about home a lot. Maybe it's cos of friends and family, or maybe the food, or maybe there's a lot of things I miss in Singapore. Walking in the malls and stuff like that. Even the malls in Houston doesn't give me the same sense. Maybe I'm just more used to SG. I suppose that's what I means to have roots in a country.

BUT... Maybe I haven't had enough experience yet. Currently, I've only lived in SG and western countries.
What if I had the opportunity to live in maybe Taiwan, or KL for a long period? Maybe I would come to a different conclusion. Maybe roots wouldn't be so important cos I'm nearer to SG, and the overall environment is more Asian and I might feel right at home there.

Hmmm that would be interesting. I wonder if my wife has opportunities to relocate to Malaysia or Taiwan. That would give me better insights on things. Cos maybe I'm just not used to things cos I, personally, feel that I'm a minority and I may be subconsciously having some resistance to the western countries.
So I think to have a more complete understanding of moving overseas, I think it would be good to experience other countries as well. And maybe developing countries as well. Like Thailand or Indonesia...

But I wonder if that would ever happen.
I'm half half about the idea. Cos I think it would be interesting cos I get to live and experience differences. And for me I like to learning experience. But yet, I'm tired of moving and I miss home.
I miss my old routine and just doing the usual stuff and hanging with friends.

Always thought it would be fun moving overseas, but in the end, I just wanna go home. LOL

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Singapore is Truly a Food Haven

26/6/2020

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I get really annoyed when people say, "Woah I love to go Japan cos the food is better...", or "Malaysia food is better", or "Food in France is better...".

It's like having a tall girl in class and generalizing and saying all girls are tall.

Yes. There are good restaurants in France, there are good restaurants in Japan, etc...

In Singapore, you can find almost ANY food, food from any country/cuisine, and that food is of reasonable quality.

In Singapore you can find a Japanese restaurant, and the food is of reasonable quality. SAKAE doesn't count, SAKAE is terrible. But there are many many good Japanese restaurants around, which are as good as those in Japan. Ramen, sushi, tempura, whatever...

You can find French cuisine in Singapore and the food is of reasonable quality. Might not be the best, but good enough.
You can really find almost any food in Singapore which is of reasonable quality.

So we can come up with some statements.
In Japan you can find good Japanese restaurants.
Some restaurants in Japan are good, some are bad. Most are acceptable.

In Singapore you can easily find good Japanese restaurants.
Some are good, some are bad. Most are acceptable.

And you can say this for almost any cuisine.

HOWEVER... IF YOU FLIP IT AROUND. IT ISN'T TRUE.
You cannot say...
In Japan you can find good chicken rice.
It is very hard to find chicken rice in Japan.
And it isn't of good quality.
In Japan you can find some good French food, cos the Japanese are highly influenced by French cooking.

In France you cannot find good chicken rice. It's very hard to find any Asian food in France. And it isn't of acceptable quality.
You can hardly find a reasonable Japanese restaurant in France, unless you're really willing to pay premium dollars for it.

Whereas in Singapore, you can enjoy almost ANY cuisine with reasonable quality at a reasonable price.

It is like this in almost every country.
They stick to their own cuisine. In Korea, it's Korean food. Japan has Japanese food.
Italy, France, US... all stick to their own cuisine.
If you want to eat the food of another cuisine, it's likely not very good, OR it's very expensive for one that is good enough.

HOWEVER, in Singapore. That's not the case. You can easily find acceptable food in almost any cuisine for an acceptable price. And this is one of the few countries/cities that have this.
Kuala Lumpur is close, New York is close, London is close...
Close but not yet there. In Singapore, difference cuisine is found EVERYWHERE. Go to any malls. Vivo City, Suntec, Capital Malls, etc... You can find many different foods from around the world.
Not the case in the other countries. You can find good multi cultural food in NY, London, KL, maybe other countries. But you have to look for them, it's not available everywhere.

Now, mind you, I'm not saying Singapore has the best French, Jap, or whatever food.
I'm saying that in SG, you can easily find acceptable quality food (usually quite high quality) of almost any cuisine at acceptable prices.
Whereas in most other countries, you can only find their own cuisine easily, and any other cuisine is usually sub-standard or very expensive for good quality (fine dining prices).

Most people go to Japan and gush about how wonderful the food is... Of course it's "better" cos many people go to Japan on holiday, so their mental state is already different. The ambience is different, cos well... it's in Japan, service is definitely better.

Or people go to France, of course they will say how wonderful the food is, cos... THEY ARE ON HOLIDAY THEIR MENTAL STATE IS ALREADY IN A BETTER PLACE. Service is terrible though.

So think about it... Imagine if you stay in a country and you eat burgers and chips and bread for an extended period... I know people who go to US or Australia and get bored of the food after 2-3 weeks of honeymoon.
And yes... You can get bored of Japanese food if you eat it long enough. If you haven't gotten bored of it, means you haven't eaten it long enough.

And for me, as a Singaporean, I get bored of food quite fast, cos I'm used to a wide variety at cheap prices. Cos I can't find cheap Jappy food in the US. I can't find ANY cheap food in the US for that matter. Same as France.
I miss the carrot cake, wonton mee, I miss eating reasonably priced sushi, tempura bowls, curry fish head.
Interestingly, I can get quite ok Korean food in the US though, cos there's a lot of Koreans in the US.

So you see, Singapore is truly a food haven.
No other country comes close.

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Investing in Gold & Silver

25/6/2020

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I did some research on Gold and Silver previously cos I was interested in them as alternative investments.
Both of them are considered precious metals, along with platinum and palladium.
But Gold and Silver are more mainstream cos... well... historically, people know them as currency.
It's real money. Real physical money, only a couple of hundred years back, people actually paid others with physical lumps of these precious metals.

As I did my research, I came down to a conclusion...
Gold has retained it's status as a "reserve" store of value, however, silver has lost it's place.

Gold and silver used to be used as currency cos it's pretty to look at, and it's rare.
Throughout the whole world, gold and silver were used as currency.

However, silver is no longer rare. Gold on the other hand has gotten rarer.

Industry trade group The World Gold Council estimates that since that first gold bead was smelted, humans have mined roughly 190,000 metric tons of gold -- roughly 77% of global recoverable reserves.

The World Gold Council estimates that remaining reserves worldwide amount to just 30% of what's been mined already -- 54,000 metric tons of gold in sufficient concentrations, and buried at sufficiently accessible depths, to be mined at reasonable cost.
-https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/05/12/how-much-gold-is-left-in-the-world.aspx

So basically, there's more gold that has already been mined compared to gold still underground.
Estimated 190,000 metric tons already mined with 54,000 metric tons still left buried and it's harder to mine them, cos the easier places to mine them have already been mined.

HOWEVER...

.... there is roughy 7.5 trillion kg of silver throughout the earth’s crust.
To date, some 1.4 billion kg of silver have been mined throughout human history. However, silver corrodes, and just under half of that silver no longer exists as a metal. Of what has been mined, only 777 million kg still exists.

-https://articles.royalmintbullion.com/how-rare-are-precious-metals/#:~:text=Using%20the%20same%20estimates%2C%20there,been%20mined%20throughout%20human%20history.

Reputable data on silver is harder to find cos a lot of the sites are sites which are trying to get people to buy silver or invest in silver. But let's say the data is fairly accurate. I mean even with a high level of error the numbers should still be somewhat close.

Anyway... There's a lot of silver still left available for mining.
Whereas for gold, there's not much left in the earth.
So when prices of silver increase, then companies will just go and mine more silver, driving the price of silver down again due to increased supply.
It's cheap to mine silver, cos it's easier to find.
It's not like gold, where it gets harder to mine cos there's so little of it left and at tough to mine areas.

So silver has become like any common industrial metal.
If there is more demand due to the economy, then companies will mine more and thus, push the price of silver down again. If demand drops, then they stop mining and the prices rise.
Just like copper or iron.

However, silver is consumed when used. There are medical uses, silver is used for photography, stuff like that... and silver is more reactive than gold. So there are chemical uses for silver.
Ok, it's noted that there are more and more new uses being discovered for silver but the fact is, there is still a lot left unmined in the Earth's crust, and usage isn't that much every year.

This is very different from gold.
Gold, has no real use, well... there are uses for electronics and computers but not much is used. Also, it's expensive. It makes more sense to hoard gold than to use it.
Countries hoard gold as a financial backing. Like China, US, Germany, etc...

So if you want to invest in precious metals as a store of value, gold is probably going to be better than silver. But do note, gold isn't a get rich quick asset. It's known as a store of value. Keyword... STORE... it doesn't grow. It stores. So it probably only counters inflation in the long run.

I read somewhere...
In the old days, a 1 oz gold coin could buy you a nice suit...
Now, a 1 oz gold coin could also buy you a nice suit...
Considering that gold is around $1700 at this time, yes, I'd say that's true.
But that's all you get. A nice suit. Nothing more. I'm talking about a really nice suit.
Whereas if you invest in a growth asset, you could probably get more than just a nice suit as time passes.
But of course in that case then you'll need to invest in the right asset.

Ok so bottom line...
In my opinion, gold is still considered a precious metal for store of value.
However, silver is no longer such an asset. It has become like any other industrial metal used for production of other things, BUT with a speculative characteristic, cos there are still a few people who believe silver to be a precious metal for storage of value.

There's just too much silver left in the ground for it to be considered precious. Maybe donkey years ago silver was still rare... but not anymore.
The number of uses of silver is increasing but not significantly.
Even rare earths are depleting faster than silver.

So... those Tiffany or Pandora jewelry... yea. Probably not worth much. Just paying for the brand.
1 troy ounce of silver (US$18) is actually quite heavy when you feel it in your hands. 31 grams.
A ring is typically around 5 grams.
So the value of the silver in the ring is just US$3... Anything more you pay for that is just design and brand.

Yea... nope silver isn't a store of value.
That's it...

Once again...
These thoughts are my own analysis and thoughts, please do not use it as an indication to buy or sell. Please do your own research before making any decisions.

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What I hope to see in the Politics of Singapore

24/6/2020

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Oh just in time... Election is coming soon.

Politics is actually quite a key ingredient to retirement.
It's not talked about much. I wonder why...

For me, I believe that people, humans, need to be... redirected.
People cannot have unbridled freedom.
Which is why Governments need to put in place policies to "encourage" the population to do certain things.
However, we also need a smart and educated population to understand how politics works and vote wisely.

The problem about discussing politics is that people tend to be "yes or no". You are either for the government or against the government.
If you support the government, you are known as a government dog.
Just look at the comments section of multiple news outlets. You won't see good debate. It's just name calling and pushing blame around.

What I find problematic about Singapore politics is that there is not enough discussion about it.
Since the olden days, people didn't like to talk about politics. Cos... they feared retribution. But discussion of politics... healthy discussion, is important for the people to get educated about politics and understand how it works.

For me, I see politics from a 3rd party point of view. I don't think, oh I like this party, or I don't like this party. I prefer to look at it from a holistic perspective. What is the ideal state which will benefit Singapore and it's citizens.

Politics is a game. There's a lot of mind manipulation and game theory and all that stuff involved. It's not as simple as vote for the one you like.

From a politician's point of view. The game is simple. Get into power.
You can/must say anything to convince people to vote you in. If you have the best intentions, you cannot do anything about it if no one votes you in. You can be super smart and have good intentions, morally upright. But if you don't say what the electorate wants to hear, they won't vote you in.
If you aren't voted in, you have no power and even with the best intentions, you can't do anything.

Remember that a politicians job is to get voted in, and to stay in.
After they are voted into power, the people tend to forget and ignore what they do for the next few years.
So they just cruise along. This is part of the game.

In Singapore, as a citizen, there are a few things to think about.
First, I think about Singapore as a country. And I think about me as a citizen.
So, somethings are good for Singapore as a country, but might not be important for citizens.
Somethings are important for citizens, but might not be important for the country.
BUT in the long term, what's important for the country will be important for the citizens.
What's important for the citizens will be important for the country.

For example, national service.
As a citizen, I personally don't like it. It's not fun. But yet, it is important for the country.
I wrote about that here. The price of peace.

CPF is important for the citizens, but as a country it's not really important. Until a lot of old folks cannot fund their retirement then there may be social issues.
It is my belief that CPF helps many citizens plan for their housing and retirement. It is "something", which is better than nothing. Otherwise, without CPF, it would be challenging for many young couples to fund their first homes and for many elderly to partially fund their retirement.

So there are things which aren't really important for someone living in SG in the short term.
For example, the issue of the race requirement for President.
As a citizen, it doesn't significantly affect my life. I mean. I have enough money to eat, shelter, live, etc.
So as a citizen, it's not important in the short term.
BUT, this could pose a very big issue for SG in the long term.
The ability for the government to change the rules of the game. That's an insane power. And very dangerous for any country. Potentially, they can do anything they want and this also means they can keep themselves in power by restricting the rules. It appears that there is a choice, when actually there is no choice.

Or the POFMAS law.
This is also potentially dangerous in the long run. But for me, a normal citizen, I'm barely affected. I can just go about living my own life. I mean, I'm not going to say anything radical about the Government. I just want to live my life quietly.
The problem behind this law is... the government can potentially dictate what is "real", but who can fact check them?
This was the case in ancient Greece, Galileo said the Earth went around the Sun, the authorities didn't like that idea and executed him for it for heresy. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, cos no one knows what the truth is, cos the government controls the "truth".
And potentially this law could be abused.
(Edit : Galileo wasn't executed as pointed out by Sinkie in the comments. Galileo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1633.)

And yet, I understand that there is a lot of fake news going around, and many many people are just forwarding rubbish and fake stuff to each other, especially the older folk.
So fake news is a huge problem as well.
Same problem as the above... fake news ends up being the "real" news cos it's forwarded and many people don't fact check it.
It's a die-die situation.

HOWEVER... I also can't say the current Government hasn't done a "good enough job" in managing Singapore. Come on... there is no such thing as perfect politics. So the best we can have is to compare relatively against other countries.
Singapore is a power house in the SEA region.
Many Singaporeans have enough to eat, a place to sleep, sufficiently educated, etc.
It's enough such that it's life goes on for most people. We have a strong passport, strong enough currency which allows the citizens to travel.
If you are Malaysian and you earn ringgit, how long do you have to earn before you can travel to Europe or US or Japan? If you are from Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia etc... same.
So I have to say that as a country, our progress is/has been great.
I've said before, you can't take all the best parts of every county and stitch them into one perfect country. It doesn't work that way. Each country will have good parts and bad parts.

Singapore has been raised to the level of developed countries such as Japan, Australia, US, many Europe countries in many aspects.
Healthcare is good, citizen wealth is good enough, housing, education, etc.
Look, all countries, even the developed countries all have problems, there is no perfect country.
But for these countries, the general well-being of the citizens has more or less been settled.

But that doesn't mean the Government should have a free pass to do anything they want.
That's dangerous for the country in the long run.
Personally, I find the state of politics in Singapore abysmal. And the electorate as a whole, naive, or having a lack of understanding of how politics works.

The Government has somewhat peddled the fear that the opposition could suddenly come into power when they are not ready. Yes there is the possibility of a freak election. Rare but not impossible. But looking at the current state of politics in Singapore, it's highly unlikely.
The opposition has to STRUGGLE to win GRCs, STRUGGLE to win SMCs.
So for me, I feel that Singaporeans should be less fearful of voting for an opposition party.
EVEN IF the opposition doesn't win, it provides a very strong signal to the current Government to keep them on their toes.
Example : In 2011, PAP got 60.4% popular vote. The lowest since independence. What followed in the next few years were many favourable policies for Singaporeans. Pioneer Generation package, more HDBs being built, etc.

Then there's also the problem of dysfunctional politics. IF Singapore ends up having dysfunctional politics like America or Malaysia, then Singapore is probably finished. As a small city state, we cannot afford to have such politics. So there's also the risk of that.
And yet... there's the risk of having a political party which is too powerful such that they could potentially abuse the power.

Which results in the need of a Goldilocks situation. Where there is sufficient opposition in the Government, to provide a check and balance, and yet not so much such that it causes dysfunctional politics.
And of course that's hardly possible with the current opposition party. The opposition party needs to be given the opportunity to grow. Which unfortunately, the current government isn't making it easier for them to grow.
But yet, it's not in the interest of the current Government to allow the opposition party to grow. Remember what I said above, a politicians job is to get voted in and remain in power.
A stronger opposition is better for Singapore, but not good for the politician or the party.
This is like your boss asking you to train someone to take over your job, so that you can keep yourself on your toes. So confirm you won't want to train the other person well.

For me, I think this is a sad and tricky situation.
Singapore needs a better political environment, more critical thinking electorate, better debate and discussion about politics.
Needs a stronger opposition party.
And yet if the opposition grows too much and politics becomes dysfunctional, then Singapore as a country, would be in danger as well.
I feel that the ideal situation would be for the opposition to take up maybe 25% of the parliamentary seats, to provide a check on the existing Government.

So if we go back to, what is good for the country may not be good for the individual...
It's good for Singapore to have a stronger opposition.
But as a politician, you probably wouldn't want a stronger opposition.
But yet in the long run, it's probably best for the country, any country, to have a stronger opposition.

It's similar to having free or low cost healthcare for everyone, is good for the country.
But as a rich person, you wouldn't want free healthcare for everyone cos the rich are usually taxed higher.
What's good for the population, or the country, might not be good for certain groups within the population.
Everyone has their own agenda.

Another problem is that Singapore is becoming more and more of (or has already become) a nanny state.
Cos Singaporeans everything also blame the Gov, so in response, it's in the Gov interest to nanny the people.
And this mentality keeps feeding itself.
Singaporeans blame the Gov, so the Gov reacts and imposes some new law or policy.
Then the Singaporeans learn that the Gov is meant to nanny us, so they continue to expect the nanny-ing.
So the Gov continues to nanny the population.
On the flip side, if the Gov doesn't feed the expectations, then the citizens won't expect the Gov to nanny the people and it grows the other way. People stop expecting the Gov to nanny them. But this would also mean that more people need to take more responsibility of their own lives.

As someone who is living in privilege, it actually makes more sense for me to keep the status quo. Many things don't affect me.
From an academic point of view, I appreciate the right and ability of the population to stage protests, and freedom of speech and many other so called "Western Freedoms". But once it affects my life and my convenience, I don't like it.
Like in France, they have strikes. As someone who thinks about these things, I appreciate the idea that the people stand up for their rights. But once it affects me due to disrupted train service, then, I don't really enjoy the idea of strikes and protests. Cos the agenda of the strikes doesn't impact me, whereas the disrupted train services affect me directly.

So this also is the case for many situations in Singapore and the political situation.
In the short run, many of these issues don't affect me. In fact, somethings may even affect me negatively, example, potentially higher tax rates.
When I return to SG, I expect life to continue as per normal.
However, I do have concerns about the long term situation in SG.
Problems don't arise overnight. They grow slowly. And it's never a problem until it is a problem. We won't notice it til it arrives. And when that happens, it's potentially already too late.
And to me, that is scary for the long term survival of Singapore.

So what I'd hope for the politics of Singapore, is for it to mature and grow.
For the Government to be responsible and held accountable for their successes AND failures.
For the Government not to have policies which exclude opposition constituents. That's just dirty politics.
For the opposition to be given the opportunity to grow and develop talent.
For the electorate to grow and learn and discuss and talk about politics. Proper discussion and not just name calling or party politics.
For the people to be more mature and think of the big picture, it's not about party politics. Even if one supports the Gov, doesn't mean they blindly support the Gov, or if one doesn't support the Gov, doesn't mean every damn thing also blame the Gov. The Gov is not always right, and not always wrong, similarly, the opposition is not always right and not always wrong. Doesn't mean you vote for the opposition means things will be better.
I hope that Singaporeans will be able to, and willing to signal to the Government that Singaporeans deserve better, that the Government should do better, and not have politicians patting themselves on each others back congratulating each other on jobs well done.

Now, of course, I don't see this happening. The electorate doesn't care, doesn't bother.
As a population, I feel Singaporeans are like sheep. As long as there is food and drink and shelter, most people aren't really bothered.
If the shepherd takes some wool, they are ok with that. They just complain a bit.
The only problem is, maybe in future, the shepherd may not want just only wool.

Disclaimer: People may read this post or my other posts as thinking that I'm not happy with the current Government. I'd like to say that for me, the Government has done really well in bringing Singapore to it's current level on the global stage. And that the environment in SG is actually very beneficial for me to thrive in. If I look at it from a personal level, I cannot complain.
However, if I look at it from an academic level, or as a country, then I would say that I am concerned about the future of Singapore. Concerned. Not saying that things confirm will be bad, things may end up fine for many years to come, or things may not.
I for one, do not think that the current opposition will be able to do a better job. However, I do hope that there will be more opposition representation so that there will be more accountability and so that the Government cannot easily pass dangerous laws which might then threaten the survival of Singapore.

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Your Perception is Based on What You're Exposed to

23/6/2020

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We see it all the time...
Some fancy branded food at the supermarket. It's more expensive than the other stuff we have.

You know... Atas butter... Or Pasta...

They are more expensive in the supermarkets in SG. It tastes better than SCS butter. It's creamier.
Not sure about the pasta. I've never bought it before...

HOWEVER....
In their home countries. These are the MOST BASIC FORMS of the commodity.
President butter is like the most generic butter you can find. One of the cheapest in France.
If I go to Carrefour in Paris, I can find the Carrefour house brand butter which is the cheapest butter.
Then the next cheapest or near the next cheapest is President butter.
I'm not saying it's bad. It's still a great nice and creamy butter. But it's not particularly... fancy in the home country.

And this is similar in Italy. Barilla pasta is widely popular. In Singapore, it's more expensive.
But in Italy, it's one of the most basic pastas available.
And once again, I'm not saying it's bad pasta. It's just not fancy in the home country.
It's widely available and sells well, people use it. But it's not fancy stuff.

It's maybe similar to IF a foreigner saying that Bengawan Solo cakes are fancy cakes...
To Singaporeans, that's normal stuff, it's ok, it's widely available but... not fancy to us.
Or maybe Breadtalk buns... once again... it's widely available, it's popular but... also not fancy to us.
(Not saying that anyone has said that, just an example.)

But in SG, it's common to go to NTUC, Cold Storage, and we go to the butter section and there it is... Woahhh... President butter... it's significantly more expensive.
And we think, it must be better. And it IS better than SCS butter.
Except that our perception is flawed due to our exposure, or lack of exposure to other things.
Since we are only comparing with the stuff available in SG, then yes, President butter is probably one of the better butters available in SG.

However, in France... It's a whole different ball game. The availability of nicer, tastier butters changes perception.

And I suppose that's what travelling and being exposed to different things is supposed to do to you.
You're supposed to be more worldly. Know more things. Get different perspectives.

I mean... I know people who go to Japan and think its a wonderful country and everything is beautiful cos they just go on holidays and see the nice things.
But yet if you look deeper into Japan life and culture, there's the usual corruption in politics, sexism in their work, overwork in companies, over studying in school, low birth rate, all kinds of issues...
But if one goes to Japan as entertainment then you'll only see the nice things. And likely such a person won't learn much about the world.

Singapore is a VERY small country. And most of us travel a lot, but not everyone learns things when they travel. You think the aunties and uncles on tour groups will learn about the differences in culture and lifestyles?

Even when I went to Paris, I'm a bit sad I didn't get to see more of France, cos... many people have said Paris isn't the same as the other parts of France, Paris isn't nice, the people aren't nice, people are in a rush, the French people have told me to go see other parts of France. Things are cheaper and people are nicer.

In the US, I'm only in Texas, groceries are cheap, roads are wide, the population density isn't high, no traffic jams, most places I don't need to pay for parking. Yea, I just drive, park and leave the car. I don't pay for parking.
So that's my current perception of the "US".
But my Singaporean friend in New York paints a different picture. I took a picture of my Walmart receipt and sent it to her, she says her food is 3 times more expensive in New York. Cos the rent is more expensive for the supermarkets. Roads are crowded, a lot of rubbish is left on the streets cos the garbage truck will drive by and pick up the trash left by the shops.
To me eating out in Texas is expensive. US$15 for a meal, add tax and tips. That's expensive to me. Cos I always compare against SG.
But to my friend, Texas is acceptable, cos she pays US$25 for a meal plus tax and tips. She told me to stop thinking about SG, else I wouldn't eat out in US anymore.
But yet in Paris, meals are €18, and I hardly ate out in Paris.

I've come to realize, that to fully appreciate anything... almost anything. You need perspective. A lot of perspective.
Americans criticize China a lot, they don't understand communism, they think that the Government is going to gun you down anytime. They think it's like North Korea. And yet... many Americans haven't traveled. Most Americans don't even own a passport. Cos they can travel without leaving their country. Cos their country is big.
Now, I'm not saying China is better, or America is worse. But to even comment on something without having been there, without having seen it, without having lived there. Is just ignorant and foolish.

As a privileged Singaporean living in the US, I can see why it's a good place.
If I was living in China, I probably would have no real issues with living in China as well. It's not like I'm going to get involved in any politics in either country.
And I probably wouldn't mind living in Paris too. If the language wasn't such a great barrier.

Most developed countries are good enough if you are living in privilege. Or even as a normal person.
In every country, people do the same thing. They study, grow up, work, save, have kids, retire.
That's the same everywhere. And if the countries suck, then it wouldn't be a developed country.
So for most developed countries, it's usually livable. For all these countries the average person can get by and live a fairly good life.

And for people who think that Singapore isn't good, my question to them would be... how do you know the other country is better? They haven't lived there before. What they know is what they imagine it to be.
Living in another country isn't as easy and wonderful as it sounds. Migrating isn't easy.
Making new friends and getting involved in the community isn't easy.

The basic... make money and find a place to live, food to eat... that's easy in most developed countries.
Everything else is what you make of it.

For me, I think the new laws China imposed on Hong Kong isn't going to change things. Life will go on just fine for 80% of the people. Things will be just the same. What do you think is suddenly going to happen? China starts kidnapping people and throwing them in jail for no good reason?
For most people life goes on, but for people who have problems with politics or want more liberty... then yea, they will probably face issues.

As I grow older, see more things, I've come to a realization... Most countries are the same.
And yet they are different.
Same in a lot of ways. Everyone is trying to make a living, make money, food, shelter, and for most of the people in developed countries, this has been settled. Then they want luxuries and entertainment.
Then they talk about freedom and all kinds of other things.
But for most people... life goes on as normal. And I think that's what keeps a country going. Most people complain about the Government. But yet, most ppl in SG are doing pretty ok. MOST, not all.
In ALL countries, someone complains about the Government, and yet most people are doing pretty well.
The US is pretty ok, France is ok, China is pretty ok, Hong Kong will probably be fine when China imposes more influence on it, etc.

But there are differences in culture, the way they do things, their education system, their beliefs, etc.
It's not as though... you suddenly migrate to another country you will become a king and have a better life. No, likely you'll have a similar life. There's other perks, like I can own a car in the US, and maybe a bigger house. But eventually, I'll get used to it and want more.

So... you see, everything is relative. Happiness is only valuable cos there's sadness.
Without experiencing sadness, we'll never understand happiness.
Without eating SCS butter, you won't realize what is President butter, without going to France, I wouldn't realize President butter is normal butter.
Since I haven't lived in China or HK, I cannot and should not comment on the life there. I wouldn't know.
The more I learn, the more I know I don't know. If I didn't live overseas, I wouldn't know that life is the same everywhere. US isn't a great country. It just thinks that it is.
Japan is not like some wonderful place. It's a pretty place, but life is normal. There's a lot of social pressure in Japan to conform. Same as in Korea... Girls aren't all pretty in Korea, that's just in shows.

I highly encourage people to go and travel more and see the bad things in their travels. Don't just be entertained. That's just an illusion. Marketing. Of course a country wants tourists to see the nice things. But that's not what a country is about. A country is about the lives of the people, the past, the culture, the food, how they treat others, how they treat the poor, stuff like that.
Not just the Effiel Tower, or the Statue of Liberty or Sakura trees. Those are just landmarks.
And that doesn't tell you the soul of the country.

See more and learn more, so that you are able to appreciate the things you have and/or don't have.

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Corona Virus in Texas

22/6/2020

3 Comments

I wrote about COVID being here to stay in my old post on 16 May 2020.

Today is 19 June, I typically write a bit earlier before I post so... This will be posted on 22 June...
And the latest graph looks like the below.

As you all can see... my last post was 16 May...
And now, the daily cases have almost doubled and looks like it's going to get higher.
The highest spike you see at the far right of the picture is on 16 June with 4098 cases for that day.

Now... Of course, Texas is BIG. So the numbers might not be as intuitive for readers.

Texas has a population of 29.9 million. That around 5-6 times that of SG.
BUT the land size is significantly larger. So that's not reflective.

I stay in Harris County. The place with the highest COVID cases in Texas.
Harris County has a population density of 2,302 per square mile.
1 square mile = 2.59 square km
So that equates to 888 people per sqkm.

Singapore has 8,358 people per sqkm.
Singapore has above 40,000 COVID cases. Of which, most are foreign workers.

BUT, all these numbers are retrospective. Meaning, they look back.
Cos... we already know the people who ARE infected, they are probably in a hospital or supposed to be under quarantine. So I'm not too concerned about the numbers which are ALREADY shown.
What I'm concerned with is the TREND!
The problem with Texas, is that, the number are increasing due to the reopening.

The thing about it is... many people are thinking like the virus has disappeared. Once the states started reopening, people just went out like nobody's business. It's like life is back to normal again.
People are going to supermarkets without masks, restaurants are getting crowds again... life starts again as though COVID is over...

It's truly a false sense of security, or maybe stupidity. Just cos the Government reopens businesses, people think it's all ok already.
IT'S NOT!
And I hope readers in SG remember that. The virus is still around and cases might spike again in SG if people aren't more careful about it.

Currently, I'm not too concerned. Life is still normal for me. I still go out to the supermarket once every 2-3 weeks. I try t go early when there's less people. Then I stay at home most of the time.
In the morning, 7am, when there's no one around, I sometimes go to the rooftop pool at my apartment and walk around the pool for some fresh air.
Maybe we might go and dabao some food if we feel like eating out. We've been doing that more often these days. Around once a week, we drive to the restaurant, order and get back into the car.

I think... American culture really isn't suitable to handle any pandemic. EVER...
They just don't care. They don't want to stay at home, they don't want to wear masks, they just don't care.
Culturally, they think it's no big deal. Well... not all of them, but enough of them that don't care that makes things bad enough for everyone.
They fail to take things seriously, until it gets really really bad, which might be too late.

Even now, I have no idea when I'm going to go back to SG.
I can't go back for a home trip, cos I'll need to quarantine for 2 weeks, then I might as well not go back to SG, cos I'll be stuck in a hotel room.

It's quite sad, cos I have no idea when this is going to blow over. Means I might not be able to go back to SG for another 6 months to a year. As long as the quarantine is in place, it makes no sense for me to fly back. Unless my wife is sent back by the company. Then of course we'll fly back and stay in quarantine.
But besides that... looks like I have no idea when COVID will blow over, cos in the US, it looks like it's going to be a long long battle. COVID is really here to stay, in the US at least.

The ridiculous thing is... they... the Americans, started the battle against COVID in Feb/Mar... they shut down their economy, and before things got better, they reopened again, and COVID is starting to spike again...
So they screwed up their economy for nothing. If they were going to do a half @#$% job, then they might as well have just followed in Sweden's footsteps and kept the economy going without any shutdowns.
Cos at the rate this is going, looks like we're back to square one. And the states which used to be quite safe, like Texas... is now going to get a whole lot more cases.
Whereas states like New York which used to be terrible... well, their trend is showing great improvement.

Oh well... not like I can do anything about it.
Just have to tahan and see how things turn out in the next few months. Hopefully it's only going to be a few months and not years.

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Knowledge vs Technology

19/6/2020

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I've been watching a lot of Youtube on science and quantum mechanics and the cosmos and relativity... and biology and all that stuff..

And I'm stunned... Absolutely stunned by the amount of knowledge that mankind has discovered.
The scientific discoveries, the mathematics behind it...
BUT what I'm stunned isn't that we have discovered it, but rather, how long ago we discovered it.

It appears that mankind has known of a lot of the mathematics of science for pretty long.
Quantum mechanics was already a thing in the time of Einstein, around 1920, although he was working more on relativity. Early quantum theory was profoundly re-conceived in the mid-1920s by Erwin Schrödinger, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and others.

In 1964, Belgium's Francois Englert and Britain's Peter Higgs independently theorized the existence of a subatomic particle that came to be known as the Higgs boson.
Many of us weren't even born yet!

It appears that many many scientific discoveries, scientists have calculated, made predictions of the existence of, analyzed things, many many years ago.
BUT only manage to be slowly refined merely recently.

And many of us, will never know or read about these discoveries, simply because it's not in our place.
We'll never know the history behind all these discoveries unless we are interested in it, OR it applies to some form of technology which we eventually use.

It is like... computers...
Long long time ago, there were computers, apparently in the 18xx somethings, some guy called Charles Babbage invented something like a calculator...
https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/who-invented-the-computer.htm
it's not the digital kind of calculator we know now...

Then we have those other computers which did calculations for the governments.
And for war time use for decoding encrypted messages...

And we keep fast forwarding that...
And now we have a laptop, a smart phone... Everyone has one... and yet just a couple of decades ago, it would seem that not everyone would own a computer.

We've come a long way. But we hardly realize that the knowledge has been around for sometime. Just that the technology isn't adequate yet.
It's like the calculation of the Higgs Boson was known for very long, but it wasn't proven until pretty recently when the Large Hadron Collider was built.
And that's what really amazes me. That really some of the brightest minds are looking into these things.
And many of these things we don't know about, we don't hear about it, cos it's not in our field of knowledge.
But it's out there. The knowledge is out there.
But we don't know about it cos it has nothing to do with us. Or nothing to do with us yet.
It's like quantum physics most of us don't know much about it... but we're starting to look at quantum computers. IBM, Google, Microsoft are all looking into it. And apparently it would potentially unlock significantly larger computing powers.
Once again these computers are big and need to be in sub-zero temperatures to work... but someday, maybe... we might get there.

So the thing is... I'm baffled. And amazed... and I wonder. What else have I not read up about?
I don't even know what to search for.
Maybe there's medical ideas which have been thought through but not yet actually practiced cos of the lack of technology.
Or other ideas which are mathematically possible but the technology hasn't caught up with the idea yet.
Or maybe the opportunity to test for the phenomenon hasn't presented itself yet...

Like gravitational waves, theorized more than 100 years ago, where there is a ripple in space-time due to a cataclysmic event like when 2 black holes crash into each other, similar to dropping a pebble in a pond, the clashing of the 2 black holes would send a ripple through space-time. But humans had to wait til only in 2015 when they had the opportunity to detect such a phenomenon cos the ripple took time to travel from the "crash site" to Earth so that we can actually detect it.
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/gravitational-waves/en/

And personally, I find all these sad, cos... for me, I love science and knowledge. Ideas, possibilities, thoughts, and... I feel it's a pity that we don't hear about these more often.

Many of us don't know that there are a lot of researchers in many countries working on the bleeding edge of science and technology. And the stuff we see and use... in terms of knowledge, these are obsolete.
It's just that all these different forms of knowledge hasn't trickled down in terms of technology to us.
The science is there, but the engineers haven't built stuff based on the knowledge yet.

So whenever we see or use any form of technology, actually, it's being built on science or principles decades old.

And I find it amazing... When I look at the stuff we use, the stuff we own.
We, as mankind have gone a long way. And I wonder what other discoveries and technology will be available for us to use in future.

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How I Retired Early

18/6/2020

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I'm not sure if I did a consolidated post on how I retired early.
I've talked about it in bits and pieces throughout the years but I think I've never really summarized it into a single post.

So I'll talk about how I did it.
Not how it's possible to do it. But rather how I, personally, did it.
Cos there's other ways to do it, and I know I'm starting off in a position of privilege.

Is it due to a high earning job?
I worked in the finance industry for around a total of 7-8 years. With a 2 year break in the middle.
My pay started at $2,500 and my last drawn was around $8,000 per month.
The numbers are fuzzy, cos I don't remember. But it's around those amounts.
Of course I didn't get to farm the $8k for many years. That's my last drawn so my accumulation was done way before I reached that pay.

Is it due to good investments?
I did my first big investment during 2008/2009. I think I made close to 80%-100% returns on those investments. It definitely contributed to my early retirement. Note, the total earnings aren't THAT much. Cos I was still young and my assets, relatively, weren't much at that time.

I think what helped was that AFTER I doubled up my investments, I switched to investing in REITs and got around a 5% return yearly. Then along with my salary, I continued to reinvest into more REITs. Similar to compounding the returns and investing my salary.

Is it due to spending less?
I don't spend much, personally. Since young, I just don't like spending. I don't feel happy spending money.
I know many people get happy when they spend money and they get the product. Even if it's just for a short period of time. However, I don't get that. I feel displeasure when money leaves my hand/bank account.

Currently, our overall expenses are high due to my wife working. Cos we have transport expenses, clothes, entertainment, buying gifts for colleagues, stuff like that.
However if we look at our non-work related expenses, it's around $1,500 per month for the both of us.
Here is a whole year expenses when I was in SG.
I always count using my SG numbers cos that's where I'm expecting to return to and retire sometime in the future.

Even now in the US, cos she's working from home, there's hardly any other expenses except groceries.
Simply put, we don't buy stuff. We don't have hobbies that need money. We don't go shopping for fun. We tend to walk around for fun, or find food. That's all.

Is it due to getting stuff for free?
Getting stuff for free was a game changer for me.
When I last left my job, I knew that I probably needed to return to work for around 3 years more for asset accumulation.
However, when I learnt that I could get a lot of stuff for free, I was more confident that I needed less for retirement. My expenses dropped significantly and I realized that it wasn't necessary for me to go back to work.
Basically, my accumulated assets could last maybe 5 times more than what I thought I needed.

I think what was fun about getting free stuff was that basic food and groceries became free. Then every once in a while, I would get a nice toy, like a coffee machine, or maybe some beers would be available or potato chips.

I know people who got basic food for free, then reallocated that excess money to other expenses. So they saved on one side, but increased their expenses on another side.

So HOW did I retire young?
I think it's a combination of all the factors.
I think they all have a compounding effect.
It's not linear. Each aspect builds upon each other aspect and multiplicatively enhances the end result.

I think I was considered a fairly high earner at my age at that point in time.
I did some good investments.
I don't spend much overall.
I get free stuff, which results in an even lower spending.
And all that that contributed to me retiring young.

Could it be done in other ways?
Yes. Of course.
To retire early isn't the same as retiring young.
One could retire at 45 and people would deem that as an early retirement.

Someone with less income could also retire earlier than his/her peers. They'll just need to spend less, invest and work a bit longer.

Someone who doesn't like risky investments could also do something similar.
They could have a fairly ok income, invest in low risk assets, but also have a low spending.
So they also have to work longer.

Someone with average spending patterns would probably need to work and invest for a longer period.
Someone with high spending patterns... well they better be super rich or forget about retiring.

Naturally, if someone is able to compound all the factors together, then they can retire younger.

What's the most important factor?
Personally, I think the most important factor is reduced spending.
It's the same as, "You cannot out-exercise a bad diet".
We can consume more calories than we can exercise in a day.

Or...
An elephant eats 100-300kg of food in a day.
But a mouse eats around 5 grams of food in a day.
The amount of food an elephant eats in a day, a mouse can eat for it's whole lifetime and probably feed it's family as well.

Most people don't have the ability to earn more.
I would think in Singapore, with some education, one would be able to earn $3k-$5k per month in the right job.
Investing requires risk, but I think an average 3%-5% per year return should be quite easily attainable.
So probably the most controllable aspect is to reduce spending.
The results are immediate.
Don't need to wait for annual increment or year on year returns.

Conclusion
And so that's how I retired young.
Yes I did start from a position of privilege.
Good education, good job, lucky investments.
But also discipline in saving, spending less, looking for even cheaper alternatives, looking for free alternatives.
No. I don't feel like I sacrificed much for it.
To me, this lifestyle is normal for me. I'm not proactively having to control myself from spending. I'm not suffering. I naturally don't like to spend. So maybe I'm lucky in this aspect, that my character is like this so it makes frugal living very natural for me.

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Having Difficulty Talking With People

17/6/2020

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I'm not sure when this started.
I realized I started having difficulty talking with many people on a deeper level.
It's like... a different frequency.

I would feel that, personally, I have a range of interests. Like, I like learning about luxury products, even though I don't buy them, I like cars, guns, the universe, science topics, cooking topics, games... etc... I don't really like media and entertainment...

So I thought that having a conversation with people would be easy, but as I grew older, I found it harder and harder...
Cos... Thing is... there really isn't much to talk about.
Or at least to me, I feel there's very little to say.

You see, I don't like to talk about things that "cannot be helped" or out of my control.
So when people talk about climate change, or politics... Ok, I have some opinions, but... so what?
2 people talking or 10 people having a discussion won't change the world.
It's basically a pat on your/my own back thinking... "well done, I've make people see my view", or "I'm smart, I've read about these so I can add to the conversation"...
But... so what?
Talking is ... just talk. So end up... I don't say much, cos to me, it's valueless.
There's nothing to prove, there's no action that will change things.

And so... most of the time, I just keep quiet, or just say "OK".

Even for financial planning or retirement discussions...
It's not a debate. Early retirement is possible.
The question is always what are you willing to live with. And if the person isn't willing to live with less, then early retirement is not possible. It's simple.
So once again, nothing to discuss or debate.

Or when people talk about their dreams or some crazy business idea...
I also... keep quiet. Cos, I know most likely not going to happen.
Dreams are easy to talk about, cos it just involves moving the mouth. Same as business ideas.

I think I'm at this point in life where nothing really matters.
Who am I trying to convince? Why am I discussing something with someone.
Is there a need to bounce ideas around with someone else? When there's so much info on the internet?

I could talk about religion, or evolution or whatever topic with someone... or I could do research online.
What additional knowledge could that "someone" bring to the table? This person cannot be worth more than the internet.

In the end, I feel it's hard to get into an in-depth topic with anyone these days. End up, I'm talking about, how's life? How are things going? What have you been doing? How's the kids?

I don't discuss what's the latest k-drama being shown... I don't discuss work topics, cos I don't work. The very idea of talking about office politics is super turn off for me. I just don't relate to it anymore.

So there's nothing really much to say. Cos, the conversation has ended even before it has begun. I think it's a personality problem. Cos to me, there's no action item required at the end of the discussion so end up, to me, it's not worth talking, cos... doesn't change anything. The world doesn't change, or I don't change...

OMG I'm turning into a hermit!

Now, of course, once in awhile, there's a nice discussion, maybe I might meet someone whom I find interesting, who has new information, data on a fancy topic that I never knew I was interested in.
Example was last time I wasn't interested in luxury watches, but someone was talking about them and I was listening intently cos it was interesting. I never knew I was interested until I met someone who could introduce it to me.

But that's more of... data and information acquisition.
It's not really a discussion. For such conversations, I'm really interested, I try to ask questions, try to keep them talking, cos there's a lot to learn. But it's not easy to find such people to talk with.
Most people are just interested to complain about things, about money not enough, the sad state of politics, how expensive things are, medical bills too high.
Of which... There isn't much for me to say, cos... these are the state of things. Complaining doesn't help.

Rather, knowing these, what can you/I do about it?
Knowing that money is not enough, what can we do about it?
Complaining about it, saying "ya lor, always so broke", doesn't help either party.
Knowing that politics is dirty and underhanded. Doesn't change things.
It's a sad state, but that's a fact, so what can be done? If nothing, then move on and adapt. Else find a way to migrate. But note, that every country has it's issues.
Medical bills too high? Then get insured. End of story, nothing else to discuss here.
Even in the US, the current protests about "Black Lives Matter". I agree with it, but what are the expected changes? Who's spearheading these changes? Just protesting without an agenda doesn't change things. It's like how "Occupy Wall Street" started and ended with nothing.

So to end... that's why I'm feeling it's hard for me to keep a conversation these days.
Cos... there's no action items most of the time. Most people are just complaining or ranting. Which is, for me, quite pointless. So end up, I have nothing to contribute to the conversation.

Quite a sad situation, I feel... Cos I tend to have difficulty relating to people these days.
I think... really different frequency...

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