17/1/2018 Interesting Encounters

This morning I sat outside Starbucks and I was about to start my revision on CMFAS M6A when a guy called out to me. He used to be my assistant project engineer a decade ago. 

I think he is a messenger sent from God.

He told me he left the last company two years ago and has been self employed since. He has been driving Uber. It is easy to break even but to be profitable is not as easy as it seems. There is a lot of strategic planning with route, fuel efficiency and where the passengers are to increase the hit rate of getting a customer. He told me a lot of his friends who are driving Uber dropped out because there is no CPF contribution. Getting a job with CPF seems like a better choice for them. I agree that CPF contribution compounded over the long run can be an astonishing amount.

He explained further he will drive Uber in the morning till 10am, he will proceed to warehouse to pick up goods and use the rental car to make delivery. Then he will go back to rest from 2-4pm before driving the evening shift. In addition, he has an event management business. He explained that you need to have a few businesses or streams of income to see which works better. This year, he is 35 years old and he set a deadline by 38 years old he needs to make it in business, if not he will go back to get a job.

I went to the library and queue up at 10 am to enter. All the staff came out to greet us to start the day, it was a good feeling and I felt like a super star. Haha. In addition, I found a nice spot in the library with a nice view.

While studying these two days in the library, I saw a middle aged man dressed up formally using his laptop. He is actively sending his resume and apply for jobs. I was thinking does his family knows that he is out of job and he still dress like he is working and goes out everyday. Maybe tomorrow I will reach out to him and talk to him. Sometimes, he will check the status of his stock holdings. Maybe I will use that as a conversation starter. 

Today I clear all the trust fund and acquire more HK shares. 

15/1/2018 - First Day of Liberation

I woke up at 7.30 am. I brought my son to the doctors in the morning, had lunch at about 11.30 am. Then I went to study for my M6A exam. 

I save 1.5 hours to travel to my previous work place. I save another 1.5 hours to travel back to home. In total, I save 3 hours commuting to work. I have worked in the Eastern side of Singapore since 2009. Assuming all the time I was in Singapore and I used public transportation for calculation purpose.

9 years -> 22 days/ month x 12 months x 9 years =  2,376 days
2,376 days x 3 hours = 7,128 hours on commuting which is equivalent close to 1 year. 
I have spent numerous hours waiting at the airport, transiting, traveling on taxi, stuck in traffic jams.

1) I get to save time on commuting and create 3 more hours to spend time with my love ones, pursue my interest, read more books and financial reports.

2) I feel a strong sense of urgency to make money and motivated. An urgency to make money. I am self-employed, what I make everyday will determine the pay cheque at the end of the month. If I am a business owner, my daily revenue will determine the month end revenue. This is different compared to when I was working for someone, I always feel end of the month comes very slowly and always wonder when the pay cheque will come. However, I feel that now everyday passes very fast.

3) I feel that my brain starts to work. I start to think of all the possible ways to make things possible. 

This afternoon, I continue to buy more HK stocks. Recently, I went on a buying spree, rebalance some of the stocks which I have held for 2-3 years. 

Close of a chapter

10/1/2018

I understand where my managing director (friend) is coming from, he must be thinking that when previous company closes the Singapore office in April 2017, he gave me this opportunity to join them. I was hired to tender for a major project which if the company wins it, will guarantee them 20-30 years of cashflow.

In addition, I started work one week prior to joining them to prepare for the tender documents and I was not calculative to charge them for this one week. When I joined them, they fail to fulfill the part on the transport allowance which is SGD 1,000 per month. When we traveled and worked on the weekend, I was not calculative that they need to compensate me off in lieu or compensate me for my annual leave. I remember for the first three months while preparing the tender, I was working every weekends for the entire duration. 

I am not going to ask for full compensation (3 months notice pay + 12 days of annual leave) as the company doesn’t have the cash. However they cannot just leave me in lurch and just ask me to go without any pay. All I wanted is a soft landing. The chairman chooses to terminate me before Christmas is a horrible man, spoiling my holidays season.

To add, if they have won the project, I will not share the upside but there should not be any downside on my part. If they cannot honor a 3 months notice period, they should amend the contract in the first place.

Definitely, there are instances on my part that I fail to deliver. There are days which I just bum around and try to act busy when there is not much work. I am just ranting about the negative side of the story.

11/1/2018

When I spoke to the chairman, the initial conversation goes like this," You can stay on to do your own things, we will take back the laptop and you can sit here for the next 3 months. The company will pay you. If the company cannot pay you, you can sue the company. However, you must take note that I am one of the directors here, I do not owe you anything, it is the company which will owe you." I know the company law and how a private limited company works.  

I negotiated a deal with the chairman to compensate me just a full month salary excluding the annual leave and allow me to leave immediately. We got into a quarrel at first but after understanding that this is a good deal for both parties, everyone cool down and close it amicably. For him, it helps the company to save 2+ months of salary cost and I will get my pay upfront to avoid unnecessary stress and disappointment at a later stage if they decide to close the company. A bird in hand is better than the bird in the tree.

He bought me to lunch which was a Nasi Bryani and divided it into two portion. He finished his and started to eat into mine. 

12/1/2018

I got my cheque for one month salary. Chapter closed and time to move on. I am officially a free man and there will not be another pay cheque coming in anymore at the end of every month. It is a scary feeling but what the heck! I hope I will not panic, just focus and take one shot at a time.

Lessons learnt after this incident:

1. Always check the paid up capital and cash flow of the company. No cash flow means sooner or later the employees have to leave.

2. It is not advantageous for an employee to sue a company with small paid up capital

3. If you have observed that other colleagues/personnel are not paid, this is a red flag that this will happen to you one day

4. Remember if someone bad mouth of others in front of you, they will do the same about you to others. If they do not pay others, they will not pay you as well. There will be consistency.

5. Always try to put yourself in others' shoes and understand what they want. Then it will be easier to get what you want. 

6. Sometimes you need to give in to get (or cut your losses). 

7. Learn to let go.

8. You reap what you sow.

9. Always be compassionate to others. 

10. This too shall pass. In another year, this incident will not affect me anymore but I hope I have grown wiser in reading people.

Pray that my cheque won't bounce.

A series of unhappy events at work

4/1/2018

At the start of the new year, I am counting down to the day when I leave the company. The chairman who is my Managing Director's Uncle tried to use a scare tactic on me yesterday. He told me that my situation is kind of embarrassing. I am considered the new "middle age" group. 

1) A new industry will not want to hire me as it involves training and by the time I am competent, i will be around 40 years old. I can only work for another 10 years in the company or industry.

2) There are a lot of very experienced 40+ years old candidates out there.

3) On the other extreme, the young fresh graduates commands a lower pay, they are more energetic and filled with drive. 

Therefore he told me either I cut my pay by half or I start my own business.

5/1/2018

Today, it took a drastic change, the chairman told me that he doesn’t have any money to pay me for my three months notice period and ask me to leave immediately in order not to waste my time. Even if I wait on till the end of the money, he told me the money will not come.

I checked with other friends who used to work there previously. Similar situation happens to them as well. One of them told me that he was not paid for the last three months and everyday he turn up at work begging them to pay him the salary. He suffered in 2016, the family did not enjoy the Christmas and Chinese New Year.  

I cannot understand why an employer can just drop you if they do not have any need for you anymore and declare that "I do not need to fulfill my part of the contract and do not need to pay your notice period".  

9/1/2018

I am feeling more settled down and I have called MOM. I spoke to a lady called Pamela who is not the best customer service representative. All her questions were targeted to understand whether you are a PMET or not. I just have to wait till the end of the month.

In short, our government is pro-SME and businesses. They will take care of employees with lesser than SGD 4,500, which are covered under the employment act. However, if your pay is more than SGD 4,500 and you are a PMET,  you need to take care of your own self. 

I concluded it is never going to be easy for the middle class population. Yes, you may have higher than average pay but you will be the first to go when the company wants to cut cost. You will be taxed the highest which is fair. You will not get to enjoy all the government subsidies, buy BTO, etc. All these I understand and it is a fair system. 

All in all, this strengthens my belief that I need to move into self employment or business. 

Internally I am not used to not receiving a pay check at the end of the month. Never in my decade long of employment, I have a single break with no salary coming in. I have pride myself for able to have full employment one job after another. I did reach out to industry friends to ask for jobs. 

There is another stress factor when my wife told me that her work may further be outsourced. We are all vulnerable. Worst case scenario is for both of us to go out of jobs at the same time. I suffered during Christmas and New Year. I think I will be kind of sad this Chinese New Year. 

December 2017 career update

I felt fortunate at times because I have met my mentor in army, he was the one who introduced me to the realm of investment. I lost my confidence in stocks in 2007 due to market crash, wiping out more than 40% in a single day. I continued to invest together with him, buying a lot of rubbish companies as we learnt. Fast forward to 2017, I have built a portfolio which gives dividend. I am always grateful towards him. This portfolio gives me the peace of mind on what happened today.

My boss sat down with me today and told me that I am being made redundant, I will start serving 3 months notice and my official last day should be end of March 2018. I did feel lost when the realization set in. I was walking across the zebra crossing when suddenly I paused and stand in the middle of the road. I felt lost. I was contemplating should I go for a cup of coffee, so that I can spend some quiet time thinking about my future. I returned home and sat on the toilet bowl (feeling down), with my palm over my face, thinking why must my boss break this news to me before Christmas and why I need to experience two redundancies in a year. I knew this will happen. 

Worst case scenario, my family can live on the dividend based on a simple lifestyle. I do not need to fret over expenses immediately. I can spend some time to think clearly what I really want in my life. 

Recently, I was reading this book by Robert Kiyosaki's "Guide to Investing". At first, I thought this is a book on investment but it is not. Overall, it is still a good read, teaching several theories which are true in today's context in terms of an abundance mindset of the wealthy. There is no security as an employee and true security comes in running your own business. When you are self employed or in the business quadrant, it is your own business and you have control over your expenses, taxes and income. In the business quadrant, you will get more relaxed when your business is self sustaining when there is a system. This free you up with more time and cash flow so that you can pursue the next project. 

I was toying with the idea of seeking new employment for another 5 more years, with our combined income, JC Fund should reach SGD 3 million in terms of net worth. We should be financially free by then. Now, I think I need to put then plan on hold and try different paths. 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

A message to myself, "Stop looking for employment and let employers squeeze you on your salary to reduce cost, this will not work. Sooner or later, they will use a younger and cheaper employee to learn what you know and replace you." 

Now, go forth and do not despair.  Be courageous and take bold moves in 2018.