Singaporean writer Junel Seet recently shared a heartwarming story online of how her father managed to save $10,000 after he cut lottery tickets and cigarettes out of his life.
Writing on her blog, Seet shared: “Don’t get me wrong, he wasn’t a heavy smoker nor did he spend an exorbitant amount on the Singapore Pools. He probably even spent a little less than the average Singaporean on these things. Yet, we were able to save $1000 a year since 2008, and that little bit a month has amounted to $10,000 today.”
Sharing that her father used to spend $12 on lottery tickets and $10 on cigarettes each week, Seet recalled, “I still remember the 4D lucky number would be our car plate number or house unit number — I’m sure many Singaporeans can resonate with this.”
The turning point for Seet’s father came when an old friend, who was in the lottery business, gave him this advice: “You just put that money aside and see, by the end of the year you already win second or third prize!”
Determined, Seet’s father returned home and asked his primary-school going daughter to loan him her extra piggy bank in exchange for a 10 per cent cut on his savings. Seet shared, “Honestly, as a little girl still in primary school at that time, I didn’t really care how much money he was going to give to me. But in hindsight, 10% was a pretty amazing deal.
“So from that day onwards, he would put the $88 he would otherwise spend on his bad habits into our piggy bank instead — and this went on for the next 10 years until today.”
Today, the father and daughter have saved $10,000 together and have bonded over their years-long practice. Seet shared:
“There is no magical formula involved, it simply shows how a typical Singaporean could change his lifestyle by just a bit, and make a whole lot of difference to his savings over time. He chose to put cash into a piggy bank instead of an actual bank at first because it was more encouraging to see cash accumulating every time he put money in, and he could also include his daughter in this process.
“What did he do with those savings? We would go for a nice family dinner every couple of months and the rest of the savings would be put aside in the bank for further saving.”
Read Seet’s story in full here.