Achieving financial freedom (FF) will allow me to pursue what I really want in life. This is what I believe in and have been actively planning towards.
FF at 65
I sowed my first FF seed when I achieved FRS in CPF SA by mid-thirties. Read my journey here.
This forms a “safety net” and reflects the longest duration I have to work before reaching financial freedom at age 65. I’m ‘almost’ certain of achieving FRS by retirement age (see my thoughts on CPF policy risks) as the annual interest from SA will exceed yearly FRS escalation rate, even if I stop working today. Every subsequent year of work will further contribute towards growing SA funds – enhancing the eventual payout from CPF Life upon retirement.
FF at 55
If I continue to work to 55, avoid using CPF OA for mortgage payment and investing OA in financial instruments to achieve >2.5% pa returns, achieving financial freedom by 55 is possible.
My retirement can be sustained by the interests from OA and SA after setting aside FRS in RA.
You can use the CPF calculator to find out how much you will have in OA and SA after setting aside RA.
FF at 50
Recently I added another potential stream of income – Cryptocurrency. After doing some research, I’m convinced of its blockchain technology and its future potential as an asset class. I have a 15-year investment timeframe to ride out the high volatility associated with cryptocurrency. At the same time, I’m earning interests from my coins. This a high risk/high reward strategy and knowing that I have CPF as my safety net allows me to take ‘risker’ bets.
Achieving FF is a long journey which involves a myriad of strategies including diversification and building assets through compounding. I’m a strong believer that CPF should be the foundation of FF, akin to a stable pyramid base, that we should work towards first. Once that is formed, we could then stack on other asset classes like Lego pieces. The “stable pyramid base” would allow us to dabble with riskier investments.
What’s Next?
I’ll continue building other assets to expedite the process of achieving FF at an earlier age. Will update this blog after I make progress along the way.
Thanks for taking time reading this blog post, this is just to share my perspective on FF and my plans to achieve it. I hope to encourage you to use the CPF calculator to help you with your plans towards FF if you have not started planning. Always have a plan and not leave it to chance.
Lastly, will like to leave you with a quote before signing off. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
