Do you want to know a secret?  Shhhh…  

I am a conservative feminist.  This may come as a shock to my friends.  In this day and age, I still believe in happy endings, that there should be a proper courtship initiated by men, that men should be the main provider and thus should provide shelter by buying a property while they are still single.

This is one of the reasons why I never considered investing in real estate before.  Because I always thought that when I get married I would move in from my parents’ house to my husband’s house that he has purchased beforehand and I would just happily decorate it.  I also thought real estate is such a big hassle.  If you buy a land but you don’t build a house, then people will just occupy it illegally. If you buy a house and lot but you don’t stay in it, it will deteriorate and it’s such a waste of money.  You have the option of renting out but if you are unlucky, the people who might rent it will not take care of the house or worse they are not good payers.  That’s why when I first got introduced to financial literacy I wasn’t really paying attention to real estate investing also since it’s an advance level of investing (after insurance, mutual funds and stocks).

But this past week, especially during the long weekend (only Good Friday is a public holiday in SG), I took the time to reflect, to do my household chores, sort and dispose some of my clutter and start planning for my future holidays (one confirmed in early May and another tentatively scheduled in Aug).  All in all, it was a very productive 3 days.  My biggest realization is I am slowly growing up (indeed, it is never too late to grow up) and I am now open to seriously consider investing in real estate for future source of income.  I know that it is going to be financially challenging that I will really have to make some sacrifices but if I don’t start now, when will I start?

Lately, I have been feeling the 7-year itch (it usually happens in relationships) but for me I have been feeling restless lately.  Like wanting to go home like some of my friends who have moved back to the PH for good but for me it is not an option as I am not yet ready financially especially if I look at my dream board.  I feel like a change of environment like maybe as simple as work or flat or even more complicated as country.  But the funny thing is, I am not doing anything to support the change in work or flat or country so it maybe I just need to have a change in mindset, to further challenge myself to think, plan and prepare for my future like investing in a condotel or condormitel and in a full cremation service.  One is a plan to have additional source of income in the future and the other one is in preparation if I leave too early then the people I would leave behind will not have to worry about funeral services.  Morbid but it is a necessary evil that we all must face and plan for.

Speaking of planning.  I have to set up my office laptop in a bit as I will be in call later from 1:30 to 4:30am to do some testing due to a system upgrade.  Till my next blog…