5 things every young adult need to know when stepping into workforce

Now this is based on what i had experience through and what i had seen from the people around me.

1. Set a basic financial plan/goal before you received your first paycheck

The most important first step is to plan your next month's budget before receiving your monthly paycheck. Even if you are receiving paychecks on a irregular basis, it is still advisable to plan ahead how to use this sum of money before receiving your paycheck. If you want to note it down somewhere about the plans for your monthly paycheck, please do so and put it where you can see it first thing anywhere you go.

Do not delay planning your budget, it is because the more you delay after receiving your paycheck, the more likely you will have limited options to plan as money is already spent on daily expenses.

So plan now before receiving your paycheck!

2. Put a monthly budget for passion/hobby expenses

I strongly recommend setting aside a monthly budget for your entertainment, hobbies or just pampering yourself. Regardless you are financially sound or not, it is very important to take good care of our mental well-being.

Let me break this into few pointers

• It allows you to have something to look forward to after work or during weekends, this sort of feeling makes you more focus on your main job

• Able to socialize more and learning new things outside work

• Spending time on things you are passionate about allows you to reduce negative emotions incur from your main job

• If you are able to portray positive emotions, given time, you will do well or even excel in both your job and your passion side hustle

• When you do well in both your main job and passion side hustle, you may have chance to earn more in your main job and additional income stream from your passion side hustle. However, the main point of passion/hobby side hustle is to keep you active and happy.

• Last but not least, when you are positive and doing well in both your job and passion, you will also be able to network better too which may or may not help you further your career or passion. The main point is meaningful relationships.

I want to emphasize on this point as the pace of life is increasing at an accelerated pace and ever increasing living costs, the only thing you can control is both your mental and body well-being. Life is a marathon race, happiness grow in time, set the groundwork and grace this marathon of life💪😀

3. Go read about the basics of investment in stock market

Being knowledgeable in investments is one of the important things to stay financially healthy and growing of wealth.

Forget about timing the market, this is like buy 4D/TOTO and you can make accurate guess that your number will strike 1st prize. The only advice i am giving you is Time in the market.

Why time in the stock market is more important than timing the market?

• First of all, the power of compound interest which grows your capital investments into significant wealth with given enough time.

• There are way too many factors affecting stock prices, from politics to internal company issues to unexpected environmental issues.

• Throughout history, even with recessions, the stock market had always been able to bounce back, we just have to be patient.

Personally, one of my first books that is related to finance and investment is "Rich Dad Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter. It was introduced by one of my friend and after getting one, i feel the contents are easily reachable to humble people like us. I will link the book below if you are interested in its contents.

Rich Dad's Guide to Investing: What the Rich Invest in, That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

4. Be aware of who you surround yourself with

Who you surround yourself with can actually make or break your fortune and yes it really does.

Let's talk about your social circles, there are a few points to look out for and try to avoid if you want to lead a more humble life and grow your wealth exponentially.

• It's normal to spend on luxuries together but what if most of the time, all of you are spending at the higher tier of luxuries?

• Friends always jokingly ask you to treat meals and in fact pressure you in their joking manner

• This point is needless to say, when you surround yourself with people that borrows your money and almost never return

• The moral compass of the people you surround yourself with is very important, a person's moral compass can dictate one's direction in life and can also affect other people's direction in life too. For this point, you will really need to follow your gut feeling.

5. Advisable not to rush things in life and think through

Starting your career, getting your stream of steady paychecks may get you into the mindset of wanting to achieving alot of things at once. Some things once decided will be very hard to reverse or even salvage if things go wrong. I want to keep this short so i will nail at one of the most critical point everyone will face someday.

Starting family

If you had just step into workforce for not a long period and you already have plans for engagement or marriage, that's great! What is the next step after marriage? It will most likely lead to starting a family. This section is not to discourage any individual from starting family but here in 21st century and in Singapore, it is very expensive to do it and maintain quality of life.

Make sure both you and your partner had starting saving for property downpayment, property maintenance, children's education fund, family necessities fund and banquet (if there is). All these require cold hard cash and with that much financial commitments, it is advisable to take some time to accumulate wealth first.

With advance planning, starting a family will not be a big financial hurdle for many. Without proper planning, it is the children who bear worse consequences than the adult.