About Me

 

Hi there!

I’m a single lady who aspires to achieve financial freedom. I graduated from university with a salary of only SGD 2,200 per month and started this financial freedom project in 2005 when my career came to a transition. Being the sole breadwinner for a family of 4, I needed desperately to figure out how long I can survive without a job with my pathetic savings. While sorting out my finances, I came across my Central Depository statements and realized that passive incomes can be generated through dividends.

7 years after I started my project in 2005 with a 112K SGD budget, I managed to make my 1st million in 2012 with a yearly dividend income of SGD 51K SGD. During this journey, the world has been chaotic, we had Lehman Brothers Collapse in 2008 and Euro Crisis in 2009.

Moving forward, I am starting my retirement planning project where I seek to achieve passive incomes that exceed my current employment. I am also on a hunt to look for alternative sources of passive incomes.

The purpose of this blog is to document this journey, share my learnings and cross check whether my formula could survive the test of times. When I reach my silver years, will I be working at McDonalds, cleaning the plates in food court, selling tissue papers or enjoying the passive incomes that I have come to discover. Stay Tuned !

Cheers

Lady, you can be free 😉

Contact me at me@ladyyoucanbefree.com

 

Learn more about me via some of the interviews I’ve done

How a Singaporean grew $112K to $1 Million in 7 Years.

Interview With The Owner Of Lady You Can Be Free Blog.

 

View Comments

  • Hi Lady you can be free,

    insipiring blog and I like it. one question however, when you say total employment on each post, does it mean your annual salary for each year or cumulative salary from all your employment? cheers.

    • HI J,
      Glad you enjoyed the blog. Total employment is my annual salary for the year. Not cumulative.

  • hi there, i am a female investor (starting again) as well and v inspired by you! how did you manage to do it? hope you can add me!

    • Hi gagmewithaspoon,
      Always happy to meet another lady interested in investing ;). Have added you ! Looking forward to learn from you !

    • Hi Walter,
      Thanks for connecting. We don't have anything exclusive for ladies here. :-). I add blogger's URL in my "Financial Blogs I Follow" column. So if you drop me the url of your blog, I will be happy to add you in.

  • Hi Lady,

    I chanced upon your blog with someone sharing on my facebook. It's really impressive to see you managed to do a 6digits = 7digit in 7years! =D If everyone is like you, with the right mentality to do saving and then investing, I'm sure Singapore will be a better place, with less problems of retirements, less debts ratio etc... :)

    I myself is a lady and I love investing. However you are way better than me! *kudos*

    I read about how you intend to increase your passive income portfolio to be higher than your employment income - that's so encouraging to see your fighting spirit! How has your findings been so far? =)

    Perhaps we could connect further as I may have something you might be interested in that is related to shares.

    Cheers, Su

    • Hi Su,
      Thanks for connecting :). Yes, I wished we were taught financial literacy in school. Then Singapore will probably have a higher happiness index. My search for passive income is still ongoing. You can check out my findings and learnings through my blog. So drop by often :).

      For private sharing, you can drop me a mail at me@ladyyoucanbefree.com. Alternatively, you can add me at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lady-You-Can-Be-Free/339841642819954 and we can send messages with one another. Hope to hear from you soon and learn from you ! :)

  • I am keen to pick up investment skills from you too. I have just started investing last year but lost abit in REITs. I really want to drive up my passive income and learn from you. What do i need to do to learn the skills like you?

    • Hi Stephen,

      What works for me is through lots of reading and being curious. One place you can start is http://thefinance.sg. Another place is the bookshops or library, there are tonnes of investment books out there. What is important is that you find a investment model that resonates with your personality and risk profile. Hope this helps.

  • Big Sis , can do me a small favor? add me into the list of blogs you follow? mine isn't exactly a financial blog per se , but it might be helpful for your younger readers :)

    Cheerio
    Ken

  • Hi Lady, Can you give me some advice on how to start investing a similar 112k pot of money in today's context? I am open to both SG and US stocks. Just needed guidance on how should I deploy 112k. For example, if we turn back the clock and you are at the start of the journey in today's context where STI is 33xx and DOW is 17600, how would you deploy the 112k? Thank you for your advice in advance. =)

    Best regards,
    Edmund

    • Hi Edmund,
      I feel that you need to first understand what you are trying to achieve. Then understand the kind of risk profile you can take before you decide on a investment strategy / model that suits your profile.

      Here’s a high level guide :
      You may want to first set a financial goal for yourself (long term and short term). Analyse your current net worth and your spending habits. Determine your investment risk profile. Start reading a couple of investment books e.g. “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, Any books that documents different style of investment etc.. (e.g. warren buffett, andrew hallam). Check out the financial blogs available in Singapore http://thefinance.sg. Watch CNBC to get into the vibes of the market and jargons but please take a pinch of salt when they ask u to buy or sell something. Find an investment model that resonates with you most before you proceed to set up a trading account. Then set up a small sum “investment tuition” fund to learn the market. This fund should be money you are prepared to lose to learn the market. Then you are ready to start . To start a trading account, you need to choose a broker and check out this site who has done a comparison https://weinvest.net/blog/comparision-stock-brokerages-singapore/. But please please please don’t start trading until you are sure what you are getting yourself into. Hope this helps.

      • Hi Lady, Thank you for your advice. I have read quite a lot of investment books and tried all kinds of trading techniques on FX, Equities, Options etc. These days I'm so busy with work that I have kind of forgotten that I still got to grow my money base due to inflations etc. I guess I am lost in my investment planning again especially staring at these market high around the world where else can I invest in that makes sense in the medium to long term? The stock prices are no longer attractive in SG and US markets to me. Such a dilemma...

        • Hi Edmund,
          There are basically two types of people playing the market - the traders and the investors. Ask yourself which one are you.
          If you are an investor, you probably don't need to keep going in and out of the market nor monitor it that closely if you believed what you invest is good business. True, prices are on the high side right now. But there are still some bargains here and there if you look deeper for them. Else, wait for the next crash then buy ;)