Part of the reason why I invest, is that deep down, I still feel insecure.

So let me share with you something I seldom tell many of my clients unless you know me very well.

On the outside, people look at me as somebody who hit my first $1 million at 29.

I'm financially free.

I don't have kids or many liabilities to worry about, so life is good.

And I agree. On some level, life is good.

But I've never really personally shared why I actually invest.

We all invest for a couple of reasons, but for me, part of the reason is that deep down, I still feel insecure and worried.

Why?

I feel, unfortunately, it's because, similar to all of us, I too live in Singapore, and I know that I have no idea what the future brings.

So I just want to bring across this point today: the reason we invest, a lot of times, is not just because we want to hit a million, 2 million, 10 million, hit whatever financial goal it is.

The reason we invest is because we have no idea what life will throw at us in terms of curveballs.

Let me share a real incident that happened just today.

So earlier today, I went over to an old folks' home for volunteering services. It's called the SWAMI home (Sunshine Welfare Action Mission) located in Sembawang.

So you can see this image of me and the ukulele. Taken at the outside of the elderly home.

It's a ukulele that I painted myself.

So this is a community service day that my colleagues and I do once a year, where we participate in something meaningful.

So this year, the theme is old folks' homes, and I personally love old folks a lot because, for me, the elderly have a very, very big place in my heart.

Reason is because I'm very, very close to my grandma because she really protected me and doted on me when I was young.

So I have a very soft spot for elderly people, and I have visited old folks' homes multiple times before.

Every time I go to old folks' homes, I always feel extremely impacted by the experience.

We were all supposed to paint a personal ukulele and then bring it to play some songs for the elderly folks.

And as I was there observing all these elderly folks, many of them looked extremely frail.

Some of them even have dementia.

They have no idea what's going on.

I'm reminded of why I'm investing.

I'm talking about me investing my own money.

And part of the reason why you see me have so much belief in what I do, why I keep encouraging my clients to invest their money, don't let it sit in the bank...

Apart from the very typical reasons like fighting inflation, like being able to make the money work harder, hit financial freedom—those are the things that are nice to have.

The real reason is because I know deep down, I very likely will be in that position.

Because for me right now, being single in Singapore, honestly, I don't think I have plans to get married.

So because no marriage, no kids, I likely gotta look after myself.

And yes, while I think my finances are quite strong as of today, don't forget I'm only 37 years old.

So I could one day be 77 or 87, and I foresee a future where, when my body, my health, my mental faculties start to catch up with me in a more serious manner—we're talking about illnesses and stuff—I likely will need to go check myself into a home.

And having done the research on elderly or nusring homes in Singapore, I believe we're likely talking about like $5K, $6K a month at the very least, just to be able to be in that home, to have somebody look after me so that I at least have the basic needs taken care of.

Because by then, I probably won't have any family members.

And the next reason why I invest so hard is because I realize that these are a lot of things that you cannot fully prepare for.

Yes, can you get sufficient, more than enough insurance coverage so that, in the event you get ill, it pays out something to support you?

Yes, you can.

You can have all that insurance.

But at the same time, just having insurance, to me, is always just the bare minimum because there are some things that insurance cannot cover.

Maybe the insurance covers your medical bills and expenses.

But your own lifestyle expenses still need to be covered.

And all these additional things like the elderly homes and stuff, not everything can always be fully covered.

So that's why I invest my own money so hard as well, because deep down, I know it's not just about growing the money. It's about being prepared for the day when life throws me a curveball I cannot expect.

And honestly, I share with you, this stems from a place of... It's not a very nice feeling. It's pretty insecure.

I'm also worried deep down when, in future, I gotta check myself into that home. $5K, $6K a month.

I mean, you can say I can move over to Malaysia and do that, but honestly, I doubt it.

So I think I much prefer being in Singapore for my own personal reasons.

So being able to do this in Singapore every month... I have no idea how long I'll live.

Just to give some context, my grandfather lived till 94. My grandma passed away at 89.

So assuming I have those good genes, it may or may not be a good thing if I have illnesses and I live so long.

$5–6K a month just to be able to be in a home. In a year, that's 72,000.

If I just stay there for 5 years, that's almost 350,000 Singapore dollars, and that's not counting other expenses that I do not foresee.

So the main reasons why I still invest my own money so hard today and why I preach it so confidently:

1. we never know what the future will bring

2. personally, because of the context or the dynamic nature of Singapore and its expenses, its high cost of living.

I'd rather be overly prepared than underprepared.

3. I'm investing is because, yes, deep down, I still feel insecure and worried about the future.

And to some people, this may seem like a not-so-positive place to be in, but this is me being very real here.

I feel that's just the nature of life. We just have to prepare.

And I'd rather be worrying today than be in the situation and realize it's too late.

“I could have worried about this 10 years ago, but I didn't do anything.”

And so that's why I want to remind you guys as to why you're on this journey.

Oftentimes, it's not just for the positive things, but it's also so that we can prevent the negative outcomes early.

Max