Why invest? Some of you may say that this is a ‘no-brainer’. After all, we invest to get rich, to make our money work harder, etc, etc. There’s nothing wrong that, but it’s a good thing to re-examine our motives once in a while, because afterwards we can move forward in a more focused way.

Living a dream
Some of my friends want a simple lifestyle when they retire, staying at home and perhaps visiting Batam or Malaysia once a year. But what if their desires change along the way? It would be good to avoid having regrets in the future because of the poor financial goals that we set in the past, so it’s worth setting higher goals for ourselves in case you have to cater for new dreams that will only reveal themselves as we approach old age.

An income that never runs dry
Most of us have planned to draw down from our savings for our retirement years and, hopefully, have some spare cash to transfer to our next generation. Well, there is an option that few of us have thought about – perpetual income. Wouldn't it be nice to have set aside a large sum of money by the time we retire and just live on the earnings alone?

Education – looking beyond our shores
Have you already decided that your children will be studying in Singapore? That seems to be the natural choice for most of us as overseas education sounds expensive. But have you ever wished that you had the opportunity to study overseas when it was time for you to attend university? Why not give your children that possibility in the future? They might prefer to study locally when the time comes, but at least you enabled them to choose.

Making a difference
You may have read in the news about how Bill Gates and his wife have set up a foundation in support of education and health initiatives that help low-performing schools or seek to control infectious diseases in less-developed countries, for example.

But if we had a similar amount of wealth, how much would we give away and how much would we squander? Some of us may have no children and when the time comes for us to pass on, we could leave a legacy to help others who are in need by creating a trust that continues to invest your wealth and thus provides a continuous stream of income to a charity or institution of your choice. Isn't that better than a well decorated grave?

Hopefully the day will come when we or those around us can enjoy the fruits of our labour, and ideas like these can be a great motivator. As for me, I am working hard towards building up a perpetual retirement income fund for myself and creating an Ernest Low Foundation for others. How about you?

THIS ARTICLE IS REPRODUCED COURTESY OF SMART INVESTOR MAGAZINE