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My wife’s friend talked about her 2-year-old son being admitted to the hospital.
She said that she felt fortunate to have bought a medical card for her son when he was born.
Otherwise, she had to pay the medical expenses of RM40,000+.
From her story, I realized that what I had purchased was not merely just an insurance. It is something that most people neglect but is so important in life:
Peace of mind.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy peace of mind in many scenarios.
In today’s newsletter, let us talk about why peace of mind is important to us and how we can use money to buy more peace of mind in our lives.
Why is Peace of Mind Important
Let us think in a reversed way.
Imagine a life where
- You always worry about having enough food for your family, and there’s only dust left in your kitchen.
- You are struggling to pay the medical expenses for your family member who is being hospitalized and has no idea where to get more money.
- You are living your life in fear of loan sharks coming to your house to cause a commotion because you haven’t paid them any money for months.
And let’s come back to reality. Without those above, we are indeed living in a peaceful life. That’s why peace of mind is so important for a better life.
Let us look at some ways in which we can utilize our money to buy peace of mind:
Hire A Guide
Your life becomes better or more interesting when you take the first step to learning about new things. And there are 2 ways to do it.
You either learn it by yourself or hire a teacher or coach to help you learn it.
For example, you want to improve your finances, so you start to follow financial content creators like me and learn new knowledge by yourself.
But you are probably unsure what is your next action to do under your financial circumstances.
If you spend some money to hire a licensed financial planner to analyze your current financial status and then give you a long-term financial plan to follow, it gives clarity to you.
This doesn’t mean you can’t learn finance by yourself, but if you hire an experienced one to help you, you are buying peace of mind for yourself.
Get Protections
You might be thinking, this must be about insurance. Well, you are 50% correct.
Yes, insurance protects our finance and give us peace of mind.
Another kind of protection is for our physical bodies. The most basic protection is shelter, which is the house you’re staying in right now.
But a simple house may be prone to threats such as theft. With money, you can upgrade the security in your house with an alarm system or an anti-theft main door.
With better protection, you will have more peace of mind while sleeping in your house.
Prepare for Uncertainty
Life is full of uncertainty. The good news is you can reduce these uncertainties.
First of all, we all should have an emergency fund. In case of any unexpected event that requires unexpected expenses, emergency funds are there to cover us.
So having it covered gives us peace of mind.
Secondly, we all should invest for our retirement. Of course, how long we will live is still uncertain. But an extra retirement fund other than EPF will ensure that we have enough to live if we have a long life.
Investing for retirement is to buy peace of mind in case you live a long life.
Verdict
To me, peace of mind is a wonderful thing to have in life. It made me feel more free and able to take on challenges and calculated risks in life, which further improved my life.
I hope this newsletter gives you some new perspectives on money and peace of mind.
That’s all for this week, my friend!
Talk with you again next week.
Your Money Buddy,
Marcus
If you’re interested to know what financial tools I use, here are some of them that I use most of the time:
→ Rakuten Trade – Where I invest in US index fund ETFs. Get RM22.88 worth of RT points if you register & unlock foreign trading with my referral link.
→ Wahed Invest – Where I invest in Shariah-compliant US ETF. Get free RM10 if you register a new account with my referral code “markeo1”
→ Versa – Where I invest my emergency fund for a 4.3% return (up to RM30k). Get free RM10 if you register a new account with my referral code “AL9JZJ9H”