a financial lesson

had quite a long chat with mum and bro last night over investing and other related financial stuff. i think bro and i are at the age when we're quite interested in putting what we learn in school to better use. but i suppose with our available 'funds' currently, the most we can afford for smaller stocks now is just one or two lots, so nothing significant would probably come out of it.

but somehow it led me to think about our financial situation at home. we're probably at the 'average' level of the economy. enough to afford a decent house and car, but constantly running on limited liquidity. so if there's anything that requires any huge amount of money, we're possibly not able to finance it unless my parents start selling their illiquid assets.

i guess this applies to why my mum is so hesitant about letting me go on an exchange, or even finance my birthday party, cos they're probably not able to foot the bill without doing anything to any of their investments. somehow, everything seems to be tied up somewhere. now i finally get it why even though we belong to the average income level, my parents are somehow so caught up with the idea of being thrifty and so fussy over who foots the bill and all.

i think i used to be a really horrible money manager, and i am possibly one too now, which led to why i was running on terrible debts especially during the entire A levels period. now that i'm teaching tuition and had gone for several rounds of temporary jobs, i realised how making money is actually quite difficult, and i should always try to save some of these hard-earned money for rainy days.

you know i never tasted the feel of having excess cash in my wallet until i started giving tuition. like i felt as if i didn't need to withdraw my allowance and simply use the money i earn for my daily expenses. but of cos there are times when more cash is required that i have to tap into my bank account. i guess now i just appreciate money more and so trying not to anyhow spend so well at least i can finance my own stuff like my birthday party and my summer program.

now i know why my parents wanted us to be financially-independent since we were so young. we had to pay for our own overseas holidays, clothes we buy, handphone, laptop, camera and everything else that we demanded from them.

i suppose it's time when i stop comparing how come i dun have this and that when others possess them. every family has their own set of problems, and i suppose money is just one of the very common topics brought up in our family discussions.

bro and i were also thinking of sponsoring a child from one of the poor countries. went to do some research on it and realised it's about $45 a month. it's rather tight on us i suppose. haven't decided if we should but i think it's a really good cause and i'll definitely take it up once i start working!