Growing up, I never thought about money. My dad earned it. My mum ran the home. When my brother and I went overseas to study, my dad paid for all of it. Money was just there when we needed it. So without knowing it, I grew up with a story. No matter what happens, someone will take care of me. I never questioned it. I didn’t even know it was there. Until life put it to the test. What I believed in no longer made sense My husband and I quit our jobs to start a café. It didn’t work out. We...
7 days ago • 2 min read
This month, I settled my son into university in the UK. I talked about it on my LinkedIn post HERE. It was exciting, a little heartbreaking leaving my son there while I came home. Then the bills started arriving and all the old stress and anxiety about money resurfaced, even though the money was there. It was more a timing issue. Some funds just hadn’t come in yet. But I felt it. That familiar tightness in my chest. The quiet panic I used to live with every day. I hadn’t felt it in a long...
14 days ago • 2 min read
What my weight taught me about money Last week I flew home from the UK just in time for my daughter's graduation. I'd spent two and a half weeks helping our son settle into university. Then I was back in Singapore, sitting in a school hall, watching my daughter cross the stage. At the graduation, we bumped into a teacher who had taught both my kids. My husband and I noticed straight away how well he looked. He'd been making changes to his eating for health reasons over the past year. We asked...
29 days ago • 3 min read
I imagined this vision of the farm What a quiet morning in the UK showed me about looking back, and why I stopped waiting for a job to look after me. I'm writing this from a hotel in the UK. This week's podcast was recorded in the hotel bathroom. It was the only quiet room. My son was out in the room on his laptop with his friends, and I had about 15 minutes. That's what this season looks like. He starts university next week. My younger one starts next year. Before the city, we spent a few...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Four months ago, I did the math on sending both our kids to university in the UK. It would be about $200,000 a year, for three or four years. I had no idea how we would do it. Today, I'm writing this from the UK. I'm here helping my son settle in to his first year of university. I'll tell you how it came together in a moment. But first, what I noticed along the way. $30,000 is not always $30,000 Think about $30,000 of debt. Now think about $30,000 landing in your account as a bonus or as...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
The call I wasn't expecting Last week I was in a meeting when my phone lit up with a number I didn't recognize. I let it go to voicemail. A minute later, a text: "Call me back as soon as you can." It was a police investigator. I won't go into the details, but it meant a sudden change to who's helping run our household overnight, no warning. On top of that, my previous boss who brought me into the company was let go and replaced by a new one who was parachuted in by head office. As a result,...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
$1k/month isn’t life-changing money. But it’s transformational. It’s proof that the skills and experience you already have are enough to start, without quitting your job, without burning out, without a five-year plan. New here? Start with the worksheet "What's your $1k skill?" Download it here.
4 months ago • 1 min read
Most people are taught to build their lives around one source of income. Go to school. Get a good job. Work hard. Stay loyal. And everything will work out. I believed that too. Then life taught me otherwise. My husband and I shut down a business and were left with a six-figure debt. I returned to corporate life to recover. Shortly after, I was laid off while I was the sole provider for my family. That experience changed how I think about work forever. Not because jobs are bad. I've spent...
5 months ago • 1 min read
Hello Reader, 🎧 Prefer listening? Apple Podcast | Spotify — I felt a little sick after making that payment. It was for a mastermind I’d been thinking about for months. And the next day, the doubts came almost immediately. What if it doesn’t work? What were you thinking? You could’ve used that money for the kids’ university. — This is something people don’t talk about enough. Making decisions about money when you’re responsible for more than just yourself. — I didn’t make this decision...
7 months ago • 1 min read