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I am Voltron!
By Derek  •  September 28, 2018
This post was inspired by Dr. Wealth, My 15 Hour Work Week, Minimalist in the City and my 'encounter' with Voltron. There are three characters introduced by the bloggers – the farmer, the monk and the warrior. In a nut shell, the farmer is your typical 9 to 5 working class, the monk is one who can resist the temptation to spend and the warrior is the entrepreneur. I can easily relate as I see a bit of myself in each character. I am your typical salaried employee (farmer). As the job gets 'suffocating', I explored other opportunities (warrior) and in wanting to retire comfortably, I curbed my urge to spend (monk). However, I started to question why should I classify myself as a farmer? Why should I be restricted to these characters? Every individual is unique, and you are free to choose your own class. Even if I want to be a farmer, I can be a super farmer but I choose to want to defend my own universe, I choose Voltron! As a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, I grew up in the golden age of toys and the start of the IT era - Mask, Transformers, He-man, Thunder cats etc. My parents are your typical middle class and being the only child, I was pampered with lots of toys. I was even fortunate enough to own a 486 computer. However to a young boy, toys and gadgets are never enough – I want more and I want them bigger and better. I made a silent vow that when I grow up and start making money, I will buy myself all the toys and gadgets that I have missed out. Fast forward to a young man in his 20s, and with my first pay cheque, I spent it on building my first custom Personal Computer (PC) – a shiny aluminium casing decorated with blue and green neon lights. However, while the outside looks glam, the internal hardware is quite mediocre. Hence, I spent my next few pay cheques upgrading the PC. The satisfaction of finally being able to fulfil my childhood dream lasted until I was introduced to the world of Personal Finance. As I started to learn and immerse myself into Personal Finance, so did the young boy who loves toys and gadgets started to fade away. In my mind, I started to think how can I spend more prudently? With my limited income, I have to set aside money for emergency, insurance, retirement, future expenses etc. Naturally, the building of my dream PC was shelved aside. There are many other instances where my childhood dreams comes into 'conflict' with my financial targets. An example is my love for gaming. Diablo is one of my favourite games because I get to play with my friends online. When Diablo 2 was launched in year 2000, I have not stepped into the work force yet and could not enjoy the game as much as I wanted. I promised myself that when Diablo 3 comes along, I will have the best hardware to enjoy the game. Diablo 3 was released in year 2012 and at this point, I should be able to afford the hardware to enjoy the game. However 2012 was also the year where I am totally into Personal Finance. I cannot bring myself to spend a few thousand dollars on a new computer. I still manage to play the game albeit on a older computer and my friends are always commenting that my character is laggy and I am often disconnected from the game. This went on for several years. As long as I disconnect the young boy in me and suppress the urge I was fine. However, all this changed when I met my wife. She also believes in savings and spending within your means but that does not mean that you should become a miser, especially towards yourself and people you treasure. No matter how much money you plan and save for the future, the future is something that you cannot control. However, you are in control of this moment. Once you miss this moment, you cannot buy it back no matter how much money you have. Take a holiday for an example, travelling in your 30s vs travelling in your 60s is totally different. The country may be the same but the landscape, your health and the people around you may have all changed. Meeting my wife ignited the young boy within me. I suddenly thought about the vows I made and the many toys and gadgets that I promised myself. Of course, I still have to spend within my means. The first purchased I bought last year was the Lego Millennium Falcon. Lego is one my all time favourites and I recall the many hours building and dismantling the plastic bricks. What better way to reignite my childhood dream by combining my favourite toy with a piece of movie icon. [caption id="attachment_398127" align="aligncenter" width="1104"] Lego Millennium Falcon[/caption] The Millennium Falcon is priced at $1,090. I was still hesitating prior to the purchase but with a little encouragement from my wife, it will become the centre piece of our new home (my wife will probably disagree). Just last week I chance upon Voltron also by Lego. It got my heart pumping and I immediately text my wife that I have to get it. However once the euphoria died down, I started hesitating again. [caption id="attachment_398125" align="aligncenter" width="1137"] Lego Voltron[/caption] I still remember holding my first Voltron made of die cast metal. I played with it so much that it broke into several pieces and I cried bitterly. Getting to know that I can finally 'rebuild' my beloved toy got my adrenaline going again. Although it will probably last a few hours before I tuck Voltron away in a corner, but for that few hours, I will feel like a little boy again and that alone is worth every penny. Oh and that bad ass computer of mine, rest assured that I will fulfil it once Diablo 4 is out. I cannot wait for the day my character re-enter the game and charge into the Lord of Destruction. Feature Image credit: inverse.com
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By Derek
Derek is an investor who follows Peter Lynch style of investing. He prefers to use simple and straight forward information for stock analysis. He started TheFinance.sg with the intention to bring together all bloggers and professionals who are interested or already in the area of Finance and Investing, and to create a community where everyone is free to write and to share their articles, experience and opinions.
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