To The Moon

Happened to read on Charlie munger this weekend, then decided to just pen my thoughts down With regards to my journey to 100k.

I always believed in paying urself first. Hence once pay comes in, fixed % goes into savings and investment. Then the rest goes into expense and spending. 

I thought back about my journey to 100k. Thinking back, it wasn't easy.

I blew up my trading account once, setting back 30k. 

Then i chose wrong partner to get married to, lost my property deposit and I ended up in debt, as i took the majority of the loss. This damage wiped out my savings of 3 years and also dragged my future savings. 

I also lost the deposit on the wedding catering, I ended up having To pay someone to takeover my package, yet another 20k gone. 

Then I bought my 1st car Cos of work requirement, again set back 20k.

Everytime I come close to 100k, something will happen to mess up the target. 

However, I just continued trying to save and invest. 

Over time pay increased, which increased the amount If savings I can save each month, and I avoided lifestyle inflation as much as possible. which further increased the savings and investment amount.

But the growth of investment when <100k does look miserable. Imagine 5% dividend yield on 50k portfolio is $2500 per year. When split over 12 months is around $200 per month.

During that time, I told myself I cannot regard small inflow as neglible. The moment I do that, I will give up on investment. 

I started to brain wash myself to cater for 5% dividend yield to pay for my monthly phone bill of $50. Which is $600 per year. Capital required $12000. After reaching that, I knew that my Phone bills can now be covered by my dividends. My next target is water bills.

i catered for monthly target of $100. Annual, 

$1200. Based on 5% dividend yield, $24000 invested.

Then I progressively moved up my target to combined utility bills of $200 per month, then to petrol bills of $300 per month, car installment of $500 per month.

These small small milestones set me on a journey to slowly but steadily increase my portfolio. When I hit $500 per month, it translate to $120,000 capital. Through it all, I didn't really monitor the amount of dividends collected as dividends go up and down due to market conditions. My focus is just on getting capital up. 

Through slow steps I eventually hit 100k Quite a while back.

First 100k, requires determination and focus. 

Increase income, reduce expenses and gain financial literacy. Expenses and life events will cause havoc during the first 100k,

Examples like marriage, illness, buying first property, renovations, being young parents are part of the reason why the first 100k is so tough. Debt is also always lingering, study loan, car loan and property loans. 

Once past first 100k, life events will Be less impactful either cos they are already over, life is more stable and/or the costs are smaller % compared to when we are at route to 100k. 

Route to first million is my current challenge. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel... I just need time to achieve it and hopefully life and stock market throws lesser spanners at me.

Hope that the post will be helpful for those who are working to hit above the 100k mark. journey is tough, but it will be rewarding. [Victory]