Importance of Work-Life Balance...

To start off this post, I would like to share the outcome of a discussion I had with a close friend regarding work-life.  We concluded that there's possibly 5 types of people (this is just our opinion and perspective, may not apply to everyone or every scenario).  

1)    Someone who puts work in the highest priority, and has always been working hard throughout his/her life with minimal play.

2)    Someone who puts play in the highest priority, and has always been enjoying life and playing throughout his/her life with minimal work.

3)    Someone who works hard in his/her initial years without much play, and after a threshold level, converts to mostly play with minimal work in later years. 

4)    Someone who plays hard in his/her initial years without much work, and after a sudden change in perspective, converts to mostly work with minimal play in later years.

5)    Someone who values work-life balance all the time, and has consistently toggle his/her time well between work and play throughout their life.

Personally, I regard myself as the third type.  Prior to 2020, the number of overseas trip (my definition of play) I had since young is less than 10 times.  Overseas travel is not possible for me when I was a child, as my dad is the sole breadwinner of the family, and my paternal grandmother is afraid of flights and cruises (due to motion sickness), thus the only family trips we had is just a short drive around different states in Malaysia.  This also somehow mould my lack of interest in travelling since young, as I view it as something unnecessary.

After I graduated and started working, I was more concerned with having a financial safety net, thus I was busy working (initially as a process engineering, before changing field to become a full time tutor at a tuition center in 2010) to try to save up as much as I could.  My hours were rather fixed as a process engineer, and OT hours helped to increase my pay a little.  After I became a full time tutor, my time was dictated by the center, and I continue to opt to fill up all my slots as much as possible to try to increase my pay.  In 2015, I chose to venture out on my own to be a full time private tutor.  Since then, as I get to schedule my own working hours, I have the flexibility to choose how long I want to work.  From 2015 till 2021, I tried my best to pack my schedule as much as I could, even during the pandemic, where I got to start learning to use Zoom to conduct lessons, and later Google Meets.  

The turning point for me came in September 2020, when Taiwanese Singer Alien Huang, aged 36, was found dead in his home.  This impacted me a lot as I was the same age as him, and I found that there were many things I have yet to see, yet to experience.  I do not want to just die working.  However, there was nothing much I could do at that time as it was the pandemic, and there was travel restrictions everywhere.  Since I have nowhere to go, I continue with my work, but deep down, I know I need some changes.

At the beginning of 2022, as only Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) is available between Singapore and Johor, I decided to pack my schedule as much as possible for the year.  This is because I have no idea when I will be able to travel freely to Johor to visit my family, and since I am staying alone in Singapore, there's no better way to spend my time via working (or that's what I thought back then).  Therefore, I tried my best to arrange my schedule and end up working 7 days a week (with only 2 lessons on weekdays, but more on weekends).

For the first half of the year, things went pretty well.  I just focused more on working and hope to save a little more.  However things took a small turn in April, when unrestricted travel resumes between Singapore and Johor.  Due to my already packed schedule, it makes it hard for me to resume my pre-Covid schedule of going back to Johor Bahru weekly to see my family.  In addition, work is starting to drain me a little.  Though I always feel that I work much shorter hours than my friends in the corporate world, as I only begin my work from late afternoon to night on weekdays, and only work full day on weekends, but I am starting to feel burnt (or maybe I became too pampered and laxed with my working hours all these while - first world problems).

The final straw for me personally was the June holidays, where I got busier than usual as some students requested for additional lessons (yes, on the contrary it also means I get to earn a bit more... better than without income!).  Complementing that, the gradual reversal of travel restrictions by many countries finally tipped the scale for me and caused me to “severely” think that I need a break.  Without much planning, I started my first vacation since 2020 in July 2022, on a solo trip to Cambodia.  From having initial thoughts about it to the actual date of my flight, it took less than a week and I have talked about it here. I guess that's what revenge-travel is all about.

After that trip, things kind of gotten “out of hand” as I booked and went for the Royal Caribbean Cruise trip in late August.  In addition, I have also booked a short trip to Bali at the end of the year (more details will be disclosed near the end of 2022 as I used the promotional cashback to subsidize this trip), a family road trip to my mum's hometown in Ipoh and another trip to Bangkok, all in the first quarter of 2023 (flight tickets bought in late August when Jetstar announced promotional price for their air tickets).  At this point of time, it seems that my actions are going against my plan of Barista FIRE.  However, in my defense, I believe it may very well be the balance that I need.

As introduced in an earlier post, I talked about Vacay FIRE for fun, which I see as a hybrid between Barista FIRE and Coast FIRE.  What that entails is my main income from tutoring will cover my necessities and mortgages (and investments), while my dividends from my Dividend Portfolio will partly fund my holidays (I am planning for approximately 1 trip per quarter, and each trip has a budget within SGD 750.00), and the remainder will be reinvested to build up the portfolio further.  How well will this work, I am not sure.  I would say I am taking these couple of years of try out this strategy and check its feasibility in the long term.  If it is sustainable for me, that will be great.  If not, I will reduce the number of trips to probably 3 per year, and fine-tune from there on.  Considering that I am still a few years from my Barista FIRE goal, I am still able to tweak my spending patterns in search of the balance.  Despite the revenge-travel, I believe the logical side of me is still keeping tabs of the bills and reminding myself is spend responsibly within my means!

As they say, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”.  I believe my mindset at this juncture is seeking balance even in the pursuit of FIRE.  Play within my means, save as I earn, and invest patiently.  Things should work out as plan.  Meanwhile, Barista FIRE, here I come...!