Running Our Own Race
Arising from the Covid pandemic, there has been a plethora of ads / content creators / influencers / groups that appeared and “encouraging” people to get rich via various means. Investment, business, money game, etc.
I’ve gotten various phone calls directly asking me to join their courses that can “help you generate more income”. In fact some of them uses “so and so has successfully generated [insert a big sum of money] in profits over the course of [insert very short time].”
I’ve previously shared about how being a FOMO-vestor can be detrimental to us. But it is also important to be reminded that this applies to life in general.
Why is this relevant?
More so in current times, thanks to social media. We are constantly being reminded by what our peers are achieving, getting or celebrating. Keeping up with the Jonses (whoever they are) has been more prevalent now than ever before.
Very recently, I’ve also had the chance to touch on a similar topic. During a casual chat, someone brought up that it is easier to start investing and growing our net worth because of a higher starting pay. Whilst I agree, I also think that there are a few more elements that will affect this. And this will determine what kind of a race we are running in life.
What are the forces in play?
Everyone is exposed to different circumstances in life. However, I believe these are what determines the race that we run.
(1) Family
With family, comes various important things that set the tone moving forward. It heavily weighs on the level of wealth and the family culture. Whilst it may be easy to say that a kid born into a rich family may have it easier, but I have friends who are fighting mental battles everyday as compared to an average income household that is much simpler.
This will end up shaping a lot of what we do and how our character turn out to be. This is also something that is hard to change once it has taken shape.
(2) Education
Education in the right field can give a better head start. For example, when I started in my field of professional service I had an income of above RM3.5k. That was over 10 years ago.
However, it does not in any way guarantee success. It just gives a better start, but as they say, with greater [income] comes greater responsibilities.
(3) Determination
If the first 2 has not been in our favour, then the last part that can potential change everything is how determined are we to make it happen. This is different from being just hardworking. It requires a goal coupled with burning passion to achieve it with laser focus.
The difference is like running a marathon vs running on a treadmill. One has an end goal, whereas the other doesn’t.
Bonus: Budgeting Done Right
Budgeting in the long term without succumbing to the societal pressure is essential to survive the life marathon. The math is simple: The more income we have, the lesser expenses we have, the higher the available money we have for investment / savings / other things.
Refer to my other article here on how I look at budgeting [Article here].
My race is not your race
“Huh? Your dividend amount is only RM100? So little”
How do we determine that RM100 is little or a lot?
For someone who has RM1,000 invested, and if he/she receives RM100 in dividend, that is a whopping 10% dividend yield. Granted, if you have RM100,000 invested, you will get RM10,000. The difference is huge, but so is the amount of capital available to invest.
As everyone has their own circumstances that puts us where we are today, we have to constantly remind ourselves that we have our race to finish. Heck, even my goal in life is going to be different from yours! We have to first establish what are we aiming for because chasing money is just an illusion.
As a mentor once shared:
“Life is like running a marathon. We all have a starting line and a goal to reach. But when the whistle is blown, we each have our own stamina, experiences and skills to rely on to complete the race. The important point is to finish the marathon. Run your own race.”
