Part 2 – My Vision Of The Future

I have gone through a life pattern. A pattern which consists of Schooling, Working, Paying Debt and Investment. Probably many people have also gone through this similar pattern. Can our lives go on with such a pattern? Of course we can. This pattern of life has existed for many years. The main motivation for people to work hard, to study hard, to sacrifice more time in the bid to acquire more money so as to lead a better lifestyle. Whether you are into a job or into your own business, the primary motivation is still similar. The above statement is meant generally for most people. Your motivation factor may be different though.

Before I can create the vision, I have to first know and understand what I have gone through.

School Days
I worked hard during my school days to achieve good grades. Good grades for what? Mainly to satisfy the expectation of my parents (initially) and also in the hope for a good job and good salary.

Working Life
I applied for jobs, went through interviews and secured a job. Worked hard and get annual increment.

Life Transition, Debts, Loans and Savings
I got married and established a home with my wonderful wife. The monthly salary is used to pay for bills, mortgage loans and other types of expenses. Of course, there is also money set aside for savings. These savings are used mainly for investments.

Investment Journey
During my investment journey, like many of you, I have started with unit trusts, singapore stock markets and HK stock market. I learnt fundamental analysis and technical analysis. I had my ups and downs in the investment arena as well. At a later stage, I have also gone into US stock market, Forex and all the way to stock options, ETF options, index options, index futures and commodities futures options etc.

 I would not want my future generations
to go through the same cycle that I have gone through.

I can visualise a lot of competition and stress starting from schooling up to retirement for our future generations. The stress and pressure from the society will get bigger and bigger over the years. The working hours will increase for sure.  The time for family will be lesser. The overall lifestyle will not be good.  Will all these come true?

Parents want children to excel (Higher Expectation)
The education will create a great pressure to children in the future generation. Parents will continue to exercise their thinking of having great children who will excel well in their studies so as to ‘shine’ in front of other students. There will be more tuitions for the students and higher expectation from the parents. Not only the parents want their children to excel in their studies, they also want them to excel in other areas such as music, sports and other activities. As this society gets tougher, parents will put more pressure on their children so that they can excel well and survive well in this harsh society. This will create enormous pressure and competition on the children.

More Competition For Placement And Recognition
Children of future generations will continue to compete with one another and with foreign talents to fight for a placing and recognition in the academic arena. In order to compete, they have to study very hard in order to stay in this competition.

Greater Number Of Graduates And Post Graduates
There will be more graduates and post graduates (masters and above). In my generation, there are already so many graduates around. Just ‘throw a stone’ across the street and it will hit a graduate any time. The numbers will be much greater in the future. The bigger the number, the more competitive life will be.

Future Generations Will Face Great Stress In Their Journey Of Studying.

They have to get very good grades, fulfill parent’s high expectations, compete with local and foreign students and to get a high level of qualification in order to ‘get a good job’.
Lots of time spent in the studying and competition.

People in general, without good qualifications will not be able to “survive well” in the future society.

Joining the workforce with high expectation
After school, most students will join the working force. There will be a lot of graduates in the future who will be competing for the same kind of job – the best kind that gives recognition and prestige with good salary. The best candidate wins. How many best candidates will we have?

Expecting a high salary (may create disappointment)
After studying for so long and getting a good qualification, future generations would want to have a good salary as well. Most may not compromise for a lower one because they have “good qualifications”. Greater salary expectation will yield greater competition and may also create greater disappointments if they did not manage to find one. Unless the expectation is lowered, the future generation may find it tough to get a job within the 1^st few years of their working life.  

Competition with Foreign Workers/Talents
The influx of foreign talents and workers will reduce the number of jobs for the locals. This in terms will yield more competition for the same number of jobs. Will the same amount of salary be attractive to local people or overseas people?

Working harder to sustain their job
Future generations will need to work hard in their jobs in order to ‘keep’ their jobs and prevent from being replaced by other candidates. More time is being exchange for the sustaining of their jobs. The rat race gets longer and they have to run faster and longer.

Self-Employed (The numbers will increase)
The numbers of self-employed personnel will increase. People wants to attain great wealth fast and to retire early. Or maybe to create huge wealth for their family. With people dropping out from the “employee” status and into the self-employed circle, the competition will increase in the self-employed sector too. Do you see many self-employed personnel in the market now? There will be many more in the future. It is going to get more competitive. The strongest survive. Or shall I phrase it as “the most hardworking” will survive. To me, hardworking means sacrificing more time to earn the dough.

 Future Generations May Face Disappointments and ‘Hardships’.

Will our future generation lower their expectation despite studying so hard?
Are they able to accept a job that only pays them “reasonable salary”?

Stress and Competition will definitely be much higher

 

High Property Price

Yes. In the long run, property prices will go higher. When property prices go higher, married couples will need to pay more as down payment and borrow more in their mortgage loan. I believe that the government will place in sufficient policies to slow down the increase in the prices. However, salary increment will not be able to catch up with the price increases.

High Property Prices Will Mean Less Savings And High Commitments
For The Future Generations
Most of the cash will be sunk into the property (mainly the first property).

High Qualification and Better Jobs Create High Complacency.
Future generations will have better qualifications and better jobs. They will also start to create bigger debt. They believe that they will get high paying jobs and they can afford to have more luxury items. Luxury cars will soon become a necessity for them and they will need to have one to show that they have done well in life. High complacency creates high bad debt.

Mountains Of Bad Debt Create Mountains Of Stress. 
Our future generations will be burdened with lots of debts due
to their ‘ability’ to be able to borrow bigger loans to service both the car and the property.

Once bad debt has reached a certain high level, life will become very stressful.

Huge Commitments and Debts

As I have mentioned before, a heavy body needs very strong arms to lift it up the bar. Having such a heavy body(High debt), the lifestyle will definitely be ‘heavy’ as well. It will not allow one to move freely. The lifestyle will be filled with many commitments and the future generation will have to keep working and finding higher paying jobs to pay the debt. They will be exchanging lots of time to work and earn the money. 

Future Generations will have Huge Commitments and Heavy Stress for Many Years.

Much of their time will be used to earn the money and pay the debts.

 

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Using Most Of Our Time To Earn Money and Pay For The Debts That We Have Created.
Is Our Life Meant To Be Lived In This Manner?

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