A bit of my (finance/saving) past

As I write this article, I found that different stages of my life can be categorised by "saving rate". I do have a relatively high saving rate even in all years. One thing for sure is, there is no direct correlation on how much I spend v.s. how happy I am.  

Blank Slate

When I graduated from University, my bank account was literally a blank slate. I had 1 digit balance (or was it 1 digit overdraft?) when I started my first job after school.  While my friends took some time off to travel before they step into the society, I decided to start working immediately to "earn a living".

Work hard save hard

I was still living in student mode the first few years out of school. I don't track my spending religiously. Instead, I track my spending maybe two months a year just to get an idea of my average spending. Looking back at my record, I was actually saving 48% - 60% on my after tax income!

Saving 48% - 60% on my after tax income

I was having fun while at the same time saving lots.  How did I keep spending low? I didn't own a car, which make a huge difference. I also shared a rental apartment (i.e. those with coin laundry in the basement) with my sister. The building comes with an indoor swimming pool with outstanding view of the city.  Being fresh off school earning my own money, I did make some fancy brand purchases. However, I lived like a student in general. Those few years were some of the most carefree years in life.

Work hard play hard

Luck stroked. I landed a job in the New York City! The huge pay raise all went towards my rent (solo) right in Manhattan (Gramercy / Union Square area). At a saving rate of approximately 31%, I didn't do much budgeting/planning back then.  Regardless, those were some of the best times in my life. I still miss every single moment of it when I look back. I still keep in touch with other expat friends I made in NYC. I really enjoyed my time in the Big Apple.   

That life style continued for a few years when I transferred back to Hong Kong. Those few years were the dark age in my life from work and family perspective.  I can only say that in Hong Kong, one needs to be more aggressive with ones own career.  Luckily I had a great flatmate which was the silver lining to my life at that stage.  

A job I call a career

After long job search, I joined an investment bank. I got the best boss who not only adjusted my salary to market but also helped me get a well-deserved albeit long-delayed promotion. I work long hours most days but I feel "on track" and that I have "achieved" something.  My saving rate has always been over 45% since I joined the bank. Mister and I traveled wide and far (averaged 5 trips a year?).  Life was promising and we moved on to the next chapter of life together.

Newly wed

Wedding was costly. I was reasonable in some aspects (no fancy engagement photo session, no huge banquet) but went overboard in some (my make-up artist was not worth that price). Some said you save money living as a couple. But since I had a flatmate before getting married, it didn't make a huge difference for me. As we earn roughly similar salary, we don't share our finance. Mister did pay for rent. 

Change for the better

Mister is somewhat an "investor" compared to me. The only thing I invested in so far would be some mutual fund, government bonds, GIC but Mister has invested in stock and properties (like most normal male). He decided we should buy a family home for our future.  I guess it is about time as we welcomed our little one, Mochi, to our lives. 

If not for the crazy bidding wars in the property market, we may have purchased a house or two earlier.  After countless failed bids, we finally each has a detached house under our names. Now we are cash poor but asset rich.

Finance mixed up

Our money kind of all mixed up when we combined our savings for the down payments of the two houses. However, we are still not fully transparent with our finance. We have a joint account mainly for money transfer. Other than that, I don't know exact earnings/spending of Mister. I guess he wanted the freedom and does not want to be judged and commented on his spending.  So now saving rate is a myth for me.  However, assuming we earn the same level of income with Mister earn a bit more, our saving rate is around 45-50% now.
Our currently model is that he pays all family expenses (e.g. the Nanny, tuition, trips) while I am responsible for saving and my personal spending. Based on that, I would say we save roughly 50%. 

Next step

Now we have 2 houses, some investments, some retirement funds (RRSP & ORSO). We need to decide what to do with our money next, and how/when to retire comfortably.  I have some options and ideas in mind. Let's see if we can live our dream as we plan our longer term dreams!