How Singapore became a rich & successful country & how you can learn from it, apply to yourself & become rich & successful too!

How Singapore became a rich & successful country & how you can learn from it, apply to yourself & become rich & successful too! 

The Short Singapore Reserves Story

We know that the Singapore government reserves have about $500 billion from foreign reserves managed by MAS & Temasek portfolio (obtained from MOF website http://203.211.150.164/cms-mof/reserves.aspx). But this amount still does not include government funds managed by GIC (not revealed). But we hearsay that it's probably about $1 trillion...well it could be more, but we don't know since it's undisclosed. Even so, the government is taking only about $79.9 billion for expenses in FY2015 (obtained from http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/more-singapore-stories/story/singapore-budget-2015-parliament-passes-record-799-billi). Probably about 8% or less of its total assets, & part of these expenses will contribute to even more returns for Singapore, e.g. Changi Airport development. Looking at GIC & Temasek portfolio returns, which are at between 7%-15% pa returns. Singapore is very conservative & basically spending only its interests earned on its assets. 

The Strategy 

Simply put, Singapore has a big mother goose (reserves & assets), that lays golden eggs (its interests & returns earned), but the government only spends the interest, & contribute the excess back to the mother goose. As long as one doesn't kill the mother goose or slowly eat up the assets, the golden eggs will keep coming. 

Thus, my goal is to build my mother goose assets & only eat the golden eggs. That way I'll never have to worry about not having another paycheck, & that's when I'll be financially free. Yeah!

The Reality 

Sadly, some of my friends & colleagues around me does not have growing assets. They live from paycheck to paycheck, which is very risky. Thus it seems to me, that they are far from being able to achieve their financial freedom. There would be those who make more money than me, but they probably not be able retire earlier than me due to their poor spending habits. On the other side, I do know of people who earn more than me, and invest better & more strategically than I do. These are the people who I prefer to mix with & learn more from. 

The Takeaways

It definitely takes discipline to live humbly & conservatively at the beginning and practise delayed gratification, this is so that one can grow their assets sooner, & eventually never have to worry about not having the next paycheck for the rest of your life. 

When talking about financial planning, insurance planning & investing, I do have much interests in it. I have picked up some skills and strategies in these areas over the years. It's important to me because it concerns my future. Just like how the government manages Singapore's reserves.