Earning and Saving Money

“There is a gigantic difference between earning a great deal of money and being rich.” —Marlene Dietrich

Earning and saving money are both important steps to achieving your financial independence. Which is more important- earning or saving money?

Saving Money is More Powerful

Saving money is much more powerful than earning money for you if you have high taxes to pay.

I am always wondering why I work so hard to earn money? In fact, all the monies I earn, eventually half of them go to someone else pockets.

My calculation goes this way, for every MYR100 I earn,

MYR 28 goes to the government, MYR 10 goes to the hospital management.

Another MYR 1 goes to my clinic rental which eventually goes to the hospital management. The last tiny portion MYR 0.10-0.30 goes to my clinic assistant pay. She works as hard as me and we are both at the losing end!

And the worse and often scenario, I might not get back another MYR 5-10. Patients often refuse to pay up and ended up with bad debt!

At the end of the day, I get back MYR 50.9 ( 50.9% of what I earn). Even though I put my MYR100 effort to do so.

MYR 100 that I save is exactly MYR100 I get!! No deductions, no surprises! I pocket the exact MYR100 I save!

Think Twice Before You Spend!

Next time when you go out to buy a cup of expensive coffee or wanting to eat in a nice restaurant, think TWICE. Remember that by spending that MYR100, you actually need to earn MYR196.46 to pay your bill!

Saving MYR196.46x 2 times per month will make you MYR4715.04 richer after one year! And putting that money in an investment that returns 7 percent would make you MYR 65144.55 richer after 10 years!

Saving money is certainly more powerful than earning money! How much you earn will not make you a millionaire but rather how much you are ready to save!

To make your FIRE ( Financial Independence, Retire Early) journey smoother, earn as much as you can but it is not enough! Saving a large portion of what you earn every month is more crucial!

Conclusion

Earning money is your first step into financial independence but earning is not good enough.

You soon would realize that saving is the one that matters your retirement timing.

Earning and saving are not good enough. By combining consistent investing and patience, you would be rewarded with wonderful returns!