Twenty Eight

Last evening my good frenz, maeve, was in extremely good mood and gave me a ring.

We were chatting when she asked how do I want to celebrate my birthday this year.

In 22 more days, I will be turning 28.

I would have passed 28 springs, roamed on this earth for 10220 days and survived a few recessions.

At 28, I have no career, no love and no money.

There seems to be nothing worth celebrating about.

At this age, my dad was already supporting his family of seven siblings, as well as his nieces, nephews and us.

My brother was already a consultant.

My mom has already given birth to my sis.

Audrey Hepburn would have already won her first oscar.

I seem to have achieve nothing.

The pressures of the society have succumbed us much to the overwhelming demands of the employers, raising loans and prices of commodities and yet pathetic wages.

A bowl of noodles cost 10 cents fourty years ago, but the same bowl will have cost at least $3 now.

Just today, a colleague was whining about how much money she needs a month to support her demanding mother and upon retirement, she will have nothing much left through old age if she remains single, and have to scrimp from her savings and CPF from her non-grad job.

I am lucky. At least I have a degree.

But judging from the much paper prowling singapore, if you are to hurl a stone onto the street, chances are you can hit a graduate 6 out of 10. Having a degree is no longer big deal now, that you are having higher qualifcations and will be promoted to a higher level easily.

I already have a friend who has started on pursuing his Phd, not being contented on his masters, and he is only 28.

In the near future, singapore will also have an over supply of graduates. You may even see graduates taking up jobs as watchman, road sweeper due to lack of jobs in the market.

Is this the price of moving from a developing country to a developed country?

The invitation of foreign talents by the government has made the situation worse. But our government has much foresight to force us to save by imposing the CPF, such that about 20% of our monthly income is being credited into our CPF account with an additional 20% given by the company for our retirement in the future.

But judging from the increasing inflation and medical expenses over the years, in order to retire comfortably to a ripe old age, it has been calculated that about $1million is needed to achieve that.

Assuming you start working at age of 25 and retire at 55. If you are going to live till 80, that means whatever you have been working for in that 30 years, will go into financing the daily expenses in the later 30 years for your old age. And to top it up, there is also the medical bills to consider.

Most singaporeans will have to spend 30 years financing their flats of which we will own it only for 99 years under the law. That means the house wun be passed down to our grandchildren. If you throw in a car as well, each month the burden will be heavier. And over here, not only you need to pay for the car, you need to pay for the COE, a cert of entitlement to the ownership of the car, which can cost almost the price of one car in most countries as well.

No wonder there has been a saying that singaporeans are forever in debts.

What people have been stressing in this millemium is passive income. Whatever we have earned as an employee is only sufficent to pay for the expenses in our life.

A friend of mine at 30, not wanting to be an employee his whole life earning that miserable amount, has taken a huge step forward to start his own business and is on his way of pursuing his mba now.

I greatly admired him for his courage and determination.

As we all are pondering at one moment of our life or another, just how much is sufficient to consider a success?

Having loads of money in your bank account? Living luxuriously in large mansion? Driving posh cars? Break a few world records?

If so, then I am very far from the goal.

At this point of my life, I am still searching for a direction wondering if I should continue to toil in my current industry.

I am still struggling for my existence.

This is perhaps what some may call the quarter life crisis.

The sad thing at this stage is, I am still a nobody at this point of my timeline.

The good thing is, it is only a quarter life. I still have at least two more quarters to strive for.

For better or worse, I am determine to make changes in my life this year.

Tomorrow I will have one more strand of white hair, one more crease on my face.

I may be an under achiever now, but that does not mean I will not be a good wife or a mother in the future for my family.

It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead.
The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.
~ Sir Winston Churchill

Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.
~ Bernadette Devlin

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
~ Albert Einstein

Your persistence is your measure of faith in yourself.
~ Author Unknown