A Singaporean In Australia

It's not that I want to shove it down your throats that you must be a kiam siap as a new arrival. Unfortunately in modern times, it isn't practical to squat on a piece of land that doesn't belong to you and live off it. Obviously the pivotal point of this issue is money, since everything revolves around it. The foremost focus of a migrant is providing for the future. This leaves a newly arrived no choice but to regard for his or her own interests with a strict requirement in provident care in the management of his or her resources. In short, there are two crucial money aspects to focus on. One, the past money. Two, the future money.

Allow me to elaborate. Past money represents the money you are bringing along. Those with a continual stream of income trickling in, such as income from estates, investments or previous work done has obviously less to worry about. With the exception of some groups of people, most migrants leave their countries with no residual income. That often mean the pool of money they bring along, in gaming terms, is their HP. Obviously the higher your HP, the longer you survive. One critical factor that most fail to address is control the amount of damage inflicted on you. Again obviously, the lesser damage you take, the longer you can survive. Since we have limited power to control how much money we can bring (unless of course you can conjure notes out of air), we have to put in extra effort to be frugal. 

Extremely frugal. I'll leave you to figure out what I mean by being frugal, since everyone has their own definition and limits. If I start giving out examples, it'll be an endless list of naming and shaming. Since everyone, if I may assumed so, is an educated, intelligent and well informed individual, I trust you to understand what I have been stressing time and again in this blog.

Relax, this is only temporary. This allows you to last the longest possible you can. In other words, it buys you precious time to allow yourself to hunt for the all important resource to provide for your future;

Future money.

Your first streams of income in the new land will slowly but surely, open up a world of possibilities to you. Therefore, allow me to iterate, it is of paramount importance to make sure you can last the longest possible so that you can get your new streams flowing before the well dries up. That is no time to be complacent. For the next few years, you are to reflect on your expenditure choices repeatedly and weed out unnecessary spending. Unlike in the old island, competition across service providers in the new land is very high. Thus a well informed choice makes the difference between getting good value for money and getting ripped off. The new streams must not be an indication to spend unwisely. You must build a well, fort and moat in exact order. This must be done before trading your donkey for a fine chariot.