Kudos to you for reaching 200k at 26! Finished the entire vid btw, pretty long but impressive you are so eloquent and can speak at length without looking at script. Still a challenge to me even having worked a couple of years in a presentation heavy environment. Personally i graduated at 26, so this title is truly impressive as i had negative NW at 26. Over the course of the past 3 years as i started working, I managed to get to 200k at the start of this year, and to c. 400k now. I started off 2 years ago investing, since the first year after graduation is always rocky (I graduated and started my career in London). It is a great feat for me personally as I have to pay a good amount of rent/mortgage (very easily 2-3x your current expense) and c. 40-45% taxes. Would love to connect personally!
Yes, I do have the privilege of staying with my parents that cuts my cost of rental. You can always reach out to me via Linkedin or email (chikengtay@gmail.com)
You will do well, CK. When I was your age, I was in the negative due to car and gambling. I changed at early 30s. Now in my 40s, have manged to get to low 7 digits.
I started seriously at 29, only to burn it all by 30 (34 now). You have a huge advantage plus connecting with the bagholder pods + piranha profits. Thanks for making financial knowledge openly for all. Our next generation will definitely do much better.
Every month I try to allocate a portion of my income into high yield investments. But I’m curious, how feasible is it to make my yearly salary in just one month without jeopardizing my portfolio
Can watch my latest video - Alibaba still sitting on ~10% paper losses, maybe still down around 5k USD (after holding 3 years?). All things considered, tracking of the simple returns for both realized and unrealized, not too bad - still got 30k+ USD in profits that helped push the number well above 200.
By staying on the course, it will make you numb and think less about things about daily fluctuations and more on the company, its valuations and the factors or news that might affect the businesses of the company and its environment At 26, you definitely have done very well, i think you will do very well in the future as well if you keep up the enthusiasm and hardwork.
(Sound of keyboard being smashed) Jokes aside, thanks for sharing. It's insightful and good that you clarified that you aren't the top 1% rich in Singapore.
Hey TCK, i have been investing for 2-3 years. I managed to outperform the SPY by 1%. Am wondering if i should just put my investments into an index instead? While i do enjoy researching and understanding how the market will impact the companies. Should i instead just put into etf's such as VWRA, while reading about the markets as a side thing?
Heyyy.. like I always say, don't ring the bell too early - it's always a snapshot in time (and people can look both like a genius/fool if you just cherry-pick a timeframe). Just don't be too sure ;)
Its really amazing you got to 200k invested at 26yo, albeit with some external help 😆. Realized that lifestyle choices do make a difference to hitting that amount, and agreed about the part where assuming if your parents waive off your uni student loans, you are off to a great footing. Personal thought here, I felt think uni kids nowadays look at NW as a benchmark, but still rely on parents to provide for them or get pocket money, would you consider that as a societal problem uniquely to Singapore? Both me and my sibling do not take a single cent from my parents once we hit 18yo (hostel/food/miscellaneous cost/telco/uni/overseas exchange) where we were expected to pay out of pocket, i.e. we only have a roof. I personally think that breaking the 6 digit NW mark, and retaining it on personal merits is a struggle, but many people around me just jumped through the accumulation phase so easily 😅
Singapore parents love/dote on their kids too much haha - it could be a double-edged, but hey, I benefited from my parent's planning and savings too. So it's not entirely my merit. The lifestyle choice thing, I'm just born with it, so I can't say that everyone should follow me
On the same thought - if i bought a million-dollar condo - its paper value is also true. Am i a millionaire? (really curious on your thoughts - not hate, just the TOV online not as friendly)
Finished your video - curious again - how much cash do you have then? If you only have $200,000 in equities, 2 years down the road you get married and buy a BTO - take out 100k worth for wedding cost and house downpayment, (assuming you want to reduce the HDB loan) is your NW still$ $200,000 or?
@@bl2215 No. that is different. your net worth is asset minus liabilities. so if you buy a million dollar condo and took a loan of 800k, and you have 20k cash on hand, then you are net 220k liquid 800k in debt hence paper value not 1million
To answer your series of questions; - NW is just assets minus liabilities, regardless realized or not. Because the current value is effective as of that snapshot in time, and you can definitely convert it to cash almost immediately. - Buy million-dollar condo, full cash? Then yes, it's your assets. - 200K is an estimated figure, I do have some cash in brokerages, still waiting for opportunities. BTO buy already (not stretching myself to the fullest extent, CPF should be able to cover everything) - mortgage can pay slowly with CPF, should be fully covered - Wedding / Reno should be the biggest expected expense in the next 3 to 5 years. I have a bond component in my networth (not counted in the equity position) - not big, but is still a sizable sum. And fortunately I don't have to tank 100% of the cost? But yes, this would be an expense that would hit my NW soon - but it should be building up in the meantime before this drawdown
Your adsense revenue from youtube, amounting to 300 , 400 a month.. is similar to me using carousel doing buying/selling or products. some months i . can get above $1k, most months is around $400 to $500. Minimal effort from me just buy certain hype products and reselling them. Buyers self collect from me
How do u keep ur expenses at $500-600 per month when you have a partner? Do u guys eat at home or don’t really celebrate occasions or buy things for each other?
This comment very interesting, I went to look at my tracking/breakdown to really confirm it myself. Transport - I go office 3 times a week, assuming $2 per trip, that's $12. Assume that I take public transport maybe sometimes after work elsewhere / during weekends bump that to $25. Means it's $100/mth. But long story short, I don't often hang outside much tbh (saves a lot of cost). I don't spend much on subscription, I do share spotify / netflix, and some cheap China video sub, should be under $25 per mth. That means the largest pie would be on food. Let's assume $150 is used, 600 - 150 = 450. Divided by 30 days = $15/day on food only. Fortunately or unfortunately, we are perfectly okay with hawker / cheaper alternatives. Every meal ranges between $5 to $8 max? I don't meet her everyday as well, so outflow is not expected to be huge - and even if we do meet often in some weeks, we are okay with normal meals. On normal days on my own, I'm ok with caifan/chicken rice that are all under $5 per meal. I usually skip breakfast. I sometimes even just eat 1 meal a day because I'm not hungry? Maybe a waffle/bread for dinner (and that's $2.5). On office days, the kopitiam is a little more expensive, but $7 is the budget that I can easily keep with. I might get something on the side, bump it to $10, and that's about it. On occasions where we want to go to "better places" - that'll usually work out to between $20 - 50/pax, ($50 is rare, usually 30ish max). So if you just average the cost out, on days I'm alone, I don't even spend the $15 budget. Sometimes not even $10. So those will cover the "additional" budget for the night outs - and also thankfully she doesn't expect me to treat all the time. So cost is being shared. Celebration of occasions, do you do it monthly? At least I don't, I think birthdays and anniversaries yeah, but those are exceptions - that are discretionary. I'm just trying to take a very vanilla approach in calculating the monthly outflow. And we've not yet tried those $100+/pax kind of dinner before - at least for myself, I have a poor man's tastebud and might not be able to appreciate it to the fullest extent. What do you usually buy / celebrate until it becomes such a big part of your budget?
I hear you bro. 27 here with 420k invested. I feel so utterly behind the rest of my age group who are already drawing million dollar salaries. My humble goal is to reach 1m by 30. I'm likely way below average, but it is what it is. I'm happy with what I have.
Erm... ok la, but lower than median? I do love working with Adam though, cannot change that for anything! But I can share, amongst my group of friends, I think I'm bottom 20% if you judge solely by gross salary.
Saving skill is important. You save very well in your ageng age. 🎉. Next time when have family and kids the saving rate might be challenging. Jiayou ck
hey bro, watched till the end, great achievement from my POV do you invest everything or hold cash as well? (t-bills, savings accounts etc) what about saving for housing? cus a bullk of my networth would go to saving for wedding, reno and furniture etc
No T-bills/short term bond, I like to stay fully invested. I'm usually fully invested unless I sell a position (for whatever reasons) - I did sell out a sizable position mid-2024, so I'm still sitting on roughly 10-15% cash right now. I do however have 6 months emergency on the side, but it's in a normal savings account, but the amount is not much too. Housing is BTO - everything should be covered by CPF. Wedding/Reno/Furniture is a consideration in 3 to 4 years. But yes, it will affect me soon. I do have a small allocation to Astrea bond to help weather that a little, but have to see how much I want to spend, and considering myself (I don't think it would be much lol...)
When I was 26, my low salary was just enough to provide my monthly livelihood. Ang pao $5k? I guess majority of us only able to get about $300 or less. Army pays = $12k savings. My view is majority of us don't have such monies at 26. So, did you pay income tax to IRAS?
Angbao since young until 18 don't have 5K? Depends on family environment I guess? 300+*18 should be around there? I think mine should be above 5 I think when I younger, can study quite ok, so usually every year got some bursary or something Army if you count you really don't spend, $600*6 = 3.6k, $900*18 = 16k, total around 20k? Part-time sales role, no fixed salary - comms based, remember contributed to Medisave only cuz hit the minimum 6k? SG income tax minimum 20k/annum? I'm not too sure about internship - I quite sure the pay 1 to 2k, also won't hit the quantum? For the 6mth long internship, pay was higher, got CPF also, so everything trackable On and off tuition, declaration should just need to contribute to Medisave as self-employed income? Strated working last year - this one black and white, don't need to run (draw 18 months salary liao, don't need run) On top of base salary - will declare extra income, this one will tax me. Only after working full-time then I confirm need pay a lot more taxes. 200K-don't forget investment/dividend income-at least based on my simple tracking, realized and unrealized gains sit around 40+ to help me comfortably break 200. Main point still stands, if start savings/investing early, the money will roll faster and much more aggressively, 200k, if you live like me + have the privilege of no pay rent, no student loan, it's just a natural progression
Kudos to you for reaching 200k at 26! Finished the entire vid btw, pretty long but impressive you are so eloquent and can speak at length without looking at script. Still a challenge to me even having worked a couple of years in a presentation heavy environment.
Personally i graduated at 26, so this title is truly impressive as i had negative NW at 26. Over the course of the past 3 years as i started working, I managed to get to 200k at the start of this year, and to c. 400k now. I started off 2 years ago investing, since the first year after graduation is always rocky (I graduated and started my career in London). It is a great feat for me personally as I have to pay a good amount of rent/mortgage (very easily 2-3x your current expense) and c. 40-45% taxes. Would love to connect personally!
Yes, I do have the privilege of staying with my parents that cuts my cost of rental. You can always reach out to me via Linkedin or email (chikengtay@gmail.com)
Most kids at 26 ya only are starting out at 20-30k. Way to go chee Keng. By the time you’re at 40s, easy mil
Thanks Chi Keng, very valuable personal thoughts.
You will do well, CK. When I was your age, I was in the negative due to car and gambling. I changed at early 30s. Now in my 40s, have manged to get to low 7 digits.
Thank you Chi Keng! It is definitely one of the most relatable videos I've watched
I started seriously at 29, only to burn it all by 30 (34 now).
You have a huge advantage plus connecting with the bagholder pods + piranha profits.
Thanks for making financial knowledge openly for all.
Our next generation will definitely do much better.
Good job, Chi Keng. You have done well. At your age, I don't even have 2K, let alone 200K.
Great sharing! Have to share this video to my kids in 5 years time
Congrats Top G!
Well done! I was in negative when I was 27yo. So you will do well in future.
Every month I try to allocate a portion of my income into high yield investments. But I’m curious, how feasible is it to make my yearly salary in just one month without jeopardizing my portfolio
28 now and near 200k invested, if only can go back in time and watch this video again and start investing earlier …
200k invested. But how much is left after Alibaba 😂
Can watch my latest video - Alibaba still sitting on ~10% paper losses, maybe still down around 5k USD (after holding 3 years?). All things considered, tracking of the simple returns for both realized and unrealized, not too bad - still got 30k+ USD in profits that helped push the number well above 200.
how do you even have $200,000 at 26? isn't that pretty good for 26?
Good parents
Depends who you compare it too, if your social circle is rich, you won't feel rich, if you compare to the world, ye you're doing pretty good.
He showed it at 3:14 mark
im 26 but only have 40k invested....
My grandparents never even came close to this amount their whole lives.
By staying on the course, it will make you numb and think less about things about daily fluctuations and more on the company, its valuations and the factors or news that might affect the businesses of the company and its environment
At 26, you definitely have done very well, i think you will do very well in the future as well if you keep up the enthusiasm and hardwork.
(Sound of keyboard being smashed) Jokes aside, thanks for sharing. It's insightful and good that you clarified that you aren't the top 1% rich in Singapore.
Awesome job 👍 congratulations 🎉
Hey TCK, i have been investing for 2-3 years. I managed to outperform the SPY by 1%. Am wondering if i should just put my investments into an index instead? While i do enjoy researching and understanding how the market will impact the companies. Should i instead just put into etf's such as VWRA, while reading about the markets as a side thing?
Impressive the way you saving up the money i think this saving skill is more impressive than your investment skill for SURE
Heyyy.. like I always say, don't ring the bell too early - it's always a snapshot in time (and people can look both like a genius/fool if you just cherry-pick a timeframe). Just don't be too sure ;)
Was this a G2000 T-Shirt?
Its really amazing you got to 200k invested at 26yo, albeit with some external help 😆. Realized that lifestyle choices do make a difference to hitting that amount, and agreed about the part where assuming if your parents waive off your uni student loans, you are off to a great footing. Personal thought here, I felt think uni kids nowadays look at NW as a benchmark, but still rely on parents to provide for them or get pocket money, would you consider that as a societal problem uniquely to Singapore?
Both me and my sibling do not take a single cent from my parents once we hit 18yo (hostel/food/miscellaneous cost/telco/uni/overseas exchange) where we were expected to pay out of pocket, i.e. we only have a roof. I personally think that breaking the 6 digit NW mark, and retaining it on personal merits is a struggle, but many people around me just jumped through the accumulation phase so easily 😅
Singapore parents love/dote on their kids too much haha - it could be a double-edged, but hey, I benefited from my parent's planning and savings too. So it's not entirely my merit. The lifestyle choice thing, I'm just born with it, so I can't say that everyone should follow me
Nice video Tay!
left 170k now?
200k is paper value? If you have not withdrawn nothing of it is realized - thoughts?
On the same thought - if i bought a million-dollar condo - its paper value is also true. Am i a millionaire? (really curious on your thoughts - not hate, just the TOV online not as friendly)
Finished your video - curious again - how much cash do you have then? If you only have $200,000 in equities, 2 years down the road you get married and buy a BTO - take out 100k worth for wedding cost and house downpayment, (assuming you want to reduce the HDB loan) is your NW still$ $200,000 or?
@@bl2215 No. that is different. your net worth is asset minus liabilities. so if you buy a million dollar condo and took a loan of 800k, and you have 20k cash on hand, then you are net 220k liquid 800k in debt hence paper value not 1million
Unrealised gains
To answer your series of questions;
- NW is just assets minus liabilities, regardless realized or not. Because the current value is effective as of that snapshot in time, and you can definitely convert it to cash almost immediately.
- Buy million-dollar condo, full cash? Then yes, it's your assets.
- 200K is an estimated figure, I do have some cash in brokerages, still waiting for opportunities. BTO buy already (not stretching myself to the fullest extent, CPF should be able to cover everything) - mortgage can pay slowly with CPF, should be fully covered
- Wedding / Reno should be the biggest expected expense in the next 3 to 5 years. I have a bond component in my networth (not counted in the equity position) - not big, but is still a sizable sum. And fortunately I don't have to tank 100% of the cost? But yes, this would be an expense that would hit my NW soon - but it should be building up in the meantime before this drawdown
at 27 i only got 10k in fixed deposits
Poor
Your adsense revenue from youtube, amounting to 300 , 400 a month.. is similar to me using carousel doing buying/selling or products. some months i . can get above $1k, most months is around $400 to $500. Minimal effort from me just buy certain hype products and reselling them. Buyers self collect from me
Nice, that's a great side hustle!
you shall be top 5 % at your age group if compare to country samples.
How do u keep ur expenses at $500-600 per month when you have a partner? Do u guys eat at home or don’t really celebrate occasions or buy things for each other?
This comment very interesting, I went to look at my tracking/breakdown to really confirm it myself.
Transport - I go office 3 times a week, assuming $2 per trip, that's $12. Assume that I take public transport maybe sometimes after work elsewhere / during weekends bump that to $25. Means it's $100/mth. But long story short, I don't often hang outside much tbh (saves a lot of cost).
I don't spend much on subscription, I do share spotify / netflix, and some cheap China video sub, should be under $25 per mth.
That means the largest pie would be on food. Let's assume $150 is used, 600 - 150 = 450. Divided by 30 days = $15/day on food only.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we are perfectly okay with hawker / cheaper alternatives. Every meal ranges between $5 to $8 max? I don't meet her everyday as well, so outflow is not expected to be huge - and even if we do meet often in some weeks, we are okay with normal meals.
On normal days on my own, I'm ok with caifan/chicken rice that are all under $5 per meal. I usually skip breakfast. I sometimes even just eat 1 meal a day because I'm not hungry? Maybe a waffle/bread for dinner (and that's $2.5).
On office days, the kopitiam is a little more expensive, but $7 is the budget that I can easily keep with. I might get something on the side, bump it to $10, and that's about it.
On occasions where we want to go to "better places" - that'll usually work out to between $20 - 50/pax, ($50 is rare, usually 30ish max). So if you just average the cost out, on days I'm alone, I don't even spend the $15 budget. Sometimes not even $10. So those will cover the "additional" budget for the night outs - and also thankfully she doesn't expect me to treat all the time. So cost is being shared.
Celebration of occasions, do you do it monthly? At least I don't, I think birthdays and anniversaries yeah, but those are exceptions - that are discretionary. I'm just trying to take a very vanilla approach in calculating the monthly outflow. And we've not yet tried those $100+/pax kind of dinner before - at least for myself, I have a poor man's tastebud and might not be able to appreciate it to the fullest extent.
What do you usually buy / celebrate until it becomes such a big part of your budget?
I hear you bro. 27 here with 420k invested. I feel so utterly behind the rest of my age group who are already drawing million dollar salaries. My humble goal is to reach 1m by 30. I'm likely way below average, but it is what it is. I'm happy with what I have.
USD?
Adam Khoo paid him a lot of salary
Erm... ok la, but lower than median? I do love working with Adam though, cannot change that for anything! But I can share, amongst my group of friends, I think I'm bottom 20% if you judge solely by gross salary.
You are 26 this year ?
Positive
I swear bro you sound exactly like me
Saving skill is important. You save very well in your ageng age. 🎉. Next time when have family and kids the saving rate might be challenging. Jiayou ck
Thanks!
Enjoy your sharing very much
hey bro, watched till the end, great achievement from my POV
do you invest everything or hold cash as well? (t-bills, savings accounts etc)
what about saving for housing? cus a bullk of my networth would go to saving for wedding, reno and furniture etc
No T-bills/short term bond, I like to stay fully invested. I'm usually fully invested unless I sell a position (for whatever reasons) - I did sell out a sizable position mid-2024, so I'm still sitting on roughly 10-15% cash right now. I do however have 6 months emergency on the side, but it's in a normal savings account, but the amount is not much too.
Housing is BTO - everything should be covered by CPF. Wedding/Reno/Furniture is a consideration in 3 to 4 years. But yes, it will affect me soon. I do have a small allocation to Astrea bond to help weather that a little, but have to see how much I want to spend, and considering myself (I don't think it would be much lol...)
I’m smashing my keyboard! Grrr😂
Chi Keng do you read a lot? I mean books?
My only guilty pleasure, I don't look at price tags when I buy books. But I control the number (based on my reading speed) every year
@@taychikeng Does that mean you read a lot of books? If yes, average how many per month of books you read and what type of books?
How tall are you?
1.72 I think, but 175 on good days, with soles HAHA
Nice. BTW, is your gf a Singaporean?
Yes
Beasting.
just all in china stock you can 10x and retire at 35
🤣
I had $20,000 at age 26 lol
can give me some chi keng korkor pls
You are no plebian, that’s for sure. I would say lucky in fact.
Yes, acknowledge the element of luck multiple times in my video. Being born in Singapore itself is the biggest lottery I won in my life
Cash me outside, howbow dah
👍👍👍
台积电买入价太香了
When I was 26, my low salary was just enough to provide my monthly livelihood. Ang pao $5k? I guess majority of us only able to get about $300 or less. Army pays = $12k savings. My view is majority of us don't have such monies at 26. So, did you pay income tax to IRAS?
Angbao since young until 18 don't have 5K? Depends on family environment I guess? 300+*18 should be around there? I think mine should be above 5
I think when I younger, can study quite ok, so usually every year got some bursary or something
Army if you count you really don't spend, $600*6 = 3.6k, $900*18 = 16k, total around 20k?
Part-time sales role, no fixed salary - comms based, remember contributed to Medisave only cuz hit the minimum 6k?
SG income tax minimum 20k/annum? I'm not too sure about internship - I quite sure the pay 1 to 2k, also won't hit the quantum?
For the 6mth long internship, pay was higher, got CPF also, so everything trackable
On and off tuition, declaration should just need to contribute to Medisave as self-employed income?
Strated working last year - this one black and white, don't need to run (draw 18 months salary liao, don't need run)
On top of base salary - will declare extra income, this one will tax me. Only after working full-time then I confirm need pay a lot more taxes.
200K-don't forget investment/dividend income-at least based on my simple tracking, realized and unrealized gains sit around 40+ to help me comfortably break 200.
Main point still stands, if start savings/investing early, the money will roll faster and much more aggressively, 200k, if you live like me + have the privilege of no pay rent, no student loan, it's just a natural progression
@@taychikeng my point is majority cannot achieve what you shared. Open to all to comment.