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Saturday, November 7, 2020

Why I'm living Below My Mean (Frugally) Despite My Wealth

Readers who have been following this blog probably know about my frugal behavior in spending money. Even though I come from a well to do family, I am still living a life below my mean. I believe in creating my own personal wealth of my own since I want to feel its challenge.
 
It has been almost seven years since I moved back to Jakarta, Indonesia, and working in my dad’s company. I started with a decent salary since working for him; however, I have not received a single raise yet. I am not complaining about it since I am only working part-time for him. In fact, I believe I am more of a freelancer in the company but still receive a monthly wage.
 
I am really fortunate and blessed to have this kind of privilege since many people out there don’t have a job. Even though my wage is quite low if comparing it with workers from the United States, my monthly wage is considered pretty good in my country.
 
Since the first day I start working with my dad, I have been very conservative with the way I spend my income. I was living very frugally back then to save up 80% of my monthly wage. However, I am now saving about 60% of my monthly wage and spending 40% of it for everyday use.
 
Many people are confused about why I am living frugally, even when I am considered wealthy. I have many friends who complain about my spending habit and think that I am overdoing it. In this article, I am going to explain why I am living below my mean. Living a life unlike many others, will eventually result in me to having a life without any financial worries in the future. I hope the things I am doing can make my parents proud of me.
 
Prove to My Parents.
This is the prime reason why I am doing all the things I’m doing now. I could simply live a lavish lifestyle with the money my dad has. However, I don’t feel the challenge of achieving that. What my dad has is not something I work for. I believe in doing and creating something on my own. I want to make my dad and mom proud of me for doing something.
 
I believe my parents have raised my brother and me properly. Yes, they can be strict sometimes, and it can be annoying. However, if my dad had spoiled my brother or me, we won’t be who we are today. I feel that because my dad is strict about giving money away to us makes me the person I am today. I probably will not learn to invest in the stock market if I was simply handed free money from my dad all the time. I will not feel the need to do something to achieve the things I want in life.
 
Being able to work on something and achieve something by myself gives me the pleasure of happiness. I like the feeling of building my personal wealth on my own. It feels really great! It makes me feel I have a purpose in life. I felt that if my dad has been too generous to me when it comes down to money, I probably would not feel any happier.
 
I want to challenge my parents that I can achieve success on my own. This gives me a purpose in life. It’s like having a mission of my own that I need to pursue. I am still working on how I can achieve the financial goal I wanted. It will take some time, but I believe if I keep working on it, I can somehow be closer to the goal. If you readers are interested in learning about my plan to achieve financial freedom, I have written an article about it.
Even though I am receiving a monthly salary for almost doing nothing in the company, I want to use it to create something great with it. I do not want to use the money I received recklessly and being financially irresponsible. I know it’s still considered cheating since I am receiving a monthly salary for almost no work at all, but if you actually read the article about my plan to retire wealthy, you readers can understand what I have in mind. I will keep trying to create value for myself even though the chances of it being successful are really slim. Doing what I do now, like saving and investing, can make my parents proud of me. This means a lot more than just money to me. It makes me feel that my life has a purpose.


Being Able to Invest More When I’m Still Young!
The second reason why I am living below my mean is that I want to invest more of my money when I’m still young. You, readers, are probably confused about why I want to invest more when I’m still young. Starting investing early in life can result from having compound interest work best. Being able to invest more now can result in massive wealth in the future. I want compound interest to work for me when I am still young. 
 
Investing early in life can have compound interest work best for you. I have written an article about the power of compound interest and why you should invest early. Basically, by me, investing now can result in more significant compared to investing later on. I do not want to procrastinate to achieve my financial goal. This is why I am investing most of my monthly income religiously.
 
Yes, we should indeed live life to the fullest. I know that I am missing out on many things that can’t be purchased with money. However, if I live like no one else, I can later live like no one else. I mean that if I live below my mean and have my money invested, I can result in massive wealth in the future. I am doing things many people hate doing, but I believe by doing this now, I can later live a life that many people probably cannot.

 
Benefits of doing All of This Now.
You readers are still probably debating as to why I’m doing this now. However, I want to share my reason so that you guys will understand. I believe that great results require scarification. You cannot reach a certain goal if you are not putting work into it.
 
I’m doing all of this, such as living below my mean and investing early in life because I want the future result. I have written an article about the plan I am going to do to achieve that goal.

I am already a millionaire at the age of thirty if I combine my Indonesian and United States stock portfolios. However, I am planning to keep doing this till I am the age of 45. That will be in the year 2035, and it’s about 14 more years to go. I calculated that if I keep up with being consistent in saving and investing the same amount now, I can be very wealthy in 2035.
 
I have calculated the future value with a compound interest calculator if I planned to be doing this for another 14 years. I estimated that I will have a personal net worth close to $7,000,000 in 2035 if I keep doing what I do now. If I can receive a 5% yield out of the $7,000,000, that would result in me having $350,000 pre-tax of passive income in one year. That is approximately close to $30,000 a month if I do have that much in the future.
 
Can you imagine receiving $30,000 a month in passive income for doing nothing? I’m pretty sure you guys probably wish you can get this kind of passive income. I can probably buy one brand new car every month without having to worry about money. I really want to achieve this level of passive income in the future, which is why I’m sacrificing my life now.


What Am I Going to Do Once I Reached that Financial Goal?
I still have another 14 years to go before I decide to enjoy the fruit I have planted since the beginning of working with my dad. If I reach the financial goal I am planning now, I plan to live more comfortably. I probably increase my monthly budget to about $10,000 a month if I hit $7,000,000 net worth in 2035.
Even considering inflation, I still believe that a $10,000 monthly budget is a handsome amount of money 14 years from now. I will use the remaining sum of money to be invested in the portfolio to keep building wealth.
 
With the estimated $10,000 monthly budget, I am planning to live a really comfortable lifestyle. For example, I am willing to eat in a fancy restaurant every weekend with my loved one. I enjoy eating out a lot and trying out different kinds of food (This is why I am Fat). I want to see the scenery of eating out. I like to see the interior design that gives a good experience vibe for anyone who goes there.
 
I am also planning to travel around the world once a year. I probably can travel a lot more; however, I am not the kind of person that loves traveling. I really enjoy living in Jakarta, Indonesia. I believe my hometown has all the things I need. For example, my parents’ house I am currently living in is more than enough. I am blessed to be able to live there. I hope my parents will not kick me out of the house, since there is a possibility I want to live there for a long time.
 
I am planning to keep the car I am currently driving now for commuting. Even if the car is complete junk by that time, I am still going to keep using it. I really love that car even when it’s really old. It has a great Focal sound system that my awesome brother installed. However, I have another desire on my wish list. I will keep my current car for a long time, but I want to have a sports car that I can use for the weekend. I am not sure what brand it will be, but it will probably be a Porsche or a Lamborghini. If I reached the financial goal by the age of 45, I think owning a sports car like that is acceptable. I am not going to buy it brand new but buying five years or older sports cars. I want to make sure that the sports car I will buy has gone through the price depreciation. Yes, I am getting something that is considered a luxury; however, this does not stop me from getting excellent value for the money.

 
More Responsibilities as I get Older.
This is another strong reason I should live below my mean now and consistently invest most of my income. I believe as we get older, we will have more responsibilities. I am currently still single right now; however, I will have a family of my own in the future. I am very positive that once I have a family of my own, I will have more responsibilities. I will need money to keep my family survive.
 
By working towards financial independence now, I can have an easier time with my own family. I want to make sure that I can support my family to a more than enough life. I do not want my wife or kids to be worried about financial problems. I want them to have a great life. By starting early in life working on my financial plan, I can support my family when required.


In Summary
I hope this article helps you explain why I am living below my mean despite the wealth I have now. I believe I want to sacrifice a little bit more before enjoying the result I worked for. Most importantly, I want to prove to my parents that I can achieve something in my life. I do not want to live a life where the money is just simply given by my dad. I want actually to work and do something to achieve that. Moreover, I want to make sure I am financially stable when I have my own family.
 
I will celebrate the financial goal I am trying to achieve by enjoying the money I will have in the future. I have high confidence that by living below my means now and being consistent in investing will lead me to become wealthy. I will reward myself with a more luxurious lifestyle, such as increasing my monthly budget and owning a used sports car. I am indeed using the easy salary from my dad to build this wealth; however, I believe I am actually trying by delaying my gratification now. I hope this article I have written can inspire you guys also to sacrifice something to achieve more significant results in the future. 

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