Personal finance and investing can be stressful especially with Covid and now global inflation. I want to take this opportunity to write about financial well-being because it’s important and people don't talk about it enough. 

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In another post, my partner Nick discussed why we are building Simpan and what it means for our customers. We ultimately want to take the noise out of investing so that our customers can focus on doing what they love and maintain peace of mind, while achieving their financial goals.

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What is financial well-being? Financial well-being is a state of being wherein a person can fully meet current and ongoing financial obligations, can feel secure in their financial future and is able to make choices that allow them to enjoy life. It’s the ability to feel secure about your daily expenses, upcoming expenses, and future financial needs for you and your family. It allows you to focus on the present whether it is work or spending time with your loved ones and as a result, lower your levels of stress. 

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As I was writing this article (and as I was firming up my exercising plans), I figured getting physically fit and financially fit are pretty similar. So I figured it may be worth sharing about the journey towards physical and financial well-being.

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Define Objectives. Everyone has different goals, whether it be financial or physical. Some would save to buy a house, to retire, or to save for a child’s education. Equally, some would strive to lose weight, or get toned. For example, right before I relocated to Jakarta from Singapore, I wanted to lose weight! (I had gained a lot of weight while in Singapore!) Equally, my goal financially, was to save enough so that I can build Simpan! 

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Be Disciplined. As we define our objectives, practising discipline is the golden step that allows us to achieve our goals. When trying to lose weight, it means Calories In, Calories Out. If you want to lose weight, then simply you have to burn more than you consume. Of course in all cases, getting physically fit and healthy also means consuming the good kind of calories. Financial well-being is similar. In a sense, Income In and Expense Out. At a younger age, we want to always save and invest for the future. But once we reach a retirement age, we might want to use the savings to travel, or spend for family, or simply make that bucket list purchase for yourself!

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Take Action. Once you set your objectives and determine a disciplined routine, the next step is to take action! Being physically fit and healthy requires you to eat healthy and exercise. Similarly, to achieve financial well-being, you ought to save and invest to meet your financial goals. To lose weight, I decided to reduce my carbohydrate intake, such as white rice until I reached my target weight. I also practised intermittent fasting. I regularly exercised - running, yoga, and high intensity body weight training. Similarly to achieve my financial goal, I regularly save and contribute to my investment portfolio which consists of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

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Be Consistent. Have you worked out for a couple of weeks or months, then stop? Or eat healthily for one month then go back to their normal eating habit? Being consistent is key to achieving your goals by making those incremental gains! In the past, when I was in college, I used to do quite intensive weight training, I could have easily overtrained or been prone to injury. So when I started working, I focused more on a sustainable exercise regimen such as yoga, pilates, swimming, running and bodyweight exercise. Investing in pursuit of your financial goals also requires consistency. For example, it's not optimal to put money into your portfolio of stocks and take it out shortly thereafter. Not only does it add to more trading fees, it can be very stressful and time consuming to keep figuring out when to enter and exit out of markets. Timing the market is also very difficult and even the best investors get caught on the wrong end of the stick! We always believe it makes sense to stay invested in the markets so you can have your savings compound and achieve your financial goals.

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Be Knowledgeable. Finally, we think that in the end investing in yourself is equally as important. Warren Buffet famously said, “The best investment you can make is an investment in yourself … The more you learn, the more you’ll earn.” We want you to be knowledgeable about your goals and how to achieve them. It’s important to understand your body as much as it is to understand your investments - knowing what works, what doesn’t, and the risks associated through your actions.

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At Simpan, our goal is to help our clients achieve financial well-being by providing the necessary investment solutions for you to meet your financial objectives. 

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You tell us what your goals are; we do the hard work to invest for you - from creating the most optimal portfolios for your goals, to assessing the best investment opportunities, watching the markets, and evaluating the risks.

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Beyond that, our commitment is to give you a front row seat to how your investment portfolios are being managed. That means providing frequent updates about a market correction, a stock pick, or updates to our asset allocation to make you the smartest investor you’ve ever been.

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PS: The point of all of this - living a healthy life and achieving financial well-being: is to have more time to enjoy life. For me, it’s to eat what I love to eat, and not have to worry about future health issues, and have enough money stashed away to indulge myself when I retire. 

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