Me & My Money Series (Sunday Times)

[Musicwhiz]

Hi Kazukirai,

Yes, I do agree he cannot be held up as a model for being financially free, at least not at this stage of his life. At least he was honest and upfront in admitting that cars were his weakness, so at least we can understand why he (seemingly) made such financial decisions to buy and sell a car within one year!

Just wondering though - this is one guy (out of probably 10 being interviewed) who does NOT invest in property of any sort; and he seems to be the one who is not financially free, or at least not on the way there as yet. General Question - Are we as a population tending to equate real estate investments with being financially free?

Note that his main "investment" if you can call it that is more of protection, as he believes in insurance for himself and his whole family. His coverage is about $1.8m for 3 kids or about $600k per kid; and I'd say I come pretty close as my own coverage is around $600k-$700k and I have one child!

You got a point though, he mentions "Managed Accounts" which usually charge a pretty hefty fee, rather than buy into endowment plans which give a steady return. Maybe he thinks such accounts can earn higher returns over the long-terM? He also invests in "some equities" though I think the amount is probably not significant enough to mention.

He's more of a saver and slogger rather than a savvy investor.

But I wish him all the best - life can't be easy and as a father I know how important kids are!