My Story

Hello, my name is Christopher

My Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) journey begun in around 2014 when I learned about Mr Money Mustache and how he managed to retire in his 30s by living a frugal life. His story resonated with me because I was somewhat frugal as well and I didn’t like the idea of working for the rest of my life.

When I started tracking my net worth in 2015, I was in the red with -$109,258 due to my mortgage debt. Today, I’ve managed to turn that around with a decent 6-figure positive net worth.

I started this blog in late 2016 with the goal of document my FIRE journey. I was 33 at that time. The original purpose of this blog was to act as an accountability partner for my path to FIRE, but it eventually morphed into a platform to share my ideas and opinions about personal finance, investments, work, business, and other passions of mine.

My Life Wasn’t Always Smooth Sailing

I grew up in a middle income family and while I had the privilege of having a proper home and education, things weren’t always smooth sailing. My dad’s business didn’t do very well and money was tight when I was in tertiary education. I started working to earn my own pocket money instead of asking the family for allowances. I’ve done all kinds of jobs, from putting on a mascot suit to entertain kids at parties to being a disc jockey at prom parties. Eventually we even had to sell our home and move in with our relatives when my dad’s business and investments went south.After my dad passed away, we took what was left of his CPF account and used it to make a downpayment for a 3-room HDB flat with my name on the mortgage papers.With the mortgage debt weighing on me at an early age and only a diploma education, I had to work hard to save up enough money to take up a part-time degree course in a local campus of an Australian university. Juggling between work in the day and studies in the evening while living a frugal life to pay the course fees, I managed to graduate without any education debt.Fast forward to today, I’m grateful to have spent more than a decade working in the digital marketing industry and the connections that I’ve made over the years.

My Financial Planning Philosophy

Over the years, I’ve been constantly refining my financial planning philosophy as I grow older and have a clear vision of the future that I want to create for myself.