FOMO (and a good one)

I woke up with a cracked throat, went to work, and went home shortly afterwards because I was feeling awful and might be having a fever. Anyhow, I got sick around this time of the year (around Xmas and birthday) without fail for every year known to me. 

Back to the topic: FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

I went to visit a friend in her new apartment last week, the same friend I talked about HERE before.

Well, she and her bf bought that house (notice the word bought), and now the price of that property has gone up, way up. I know some of the figures incurred in the home purchase, together with down payment, closing and mortgage fees, fitting out (a handful of furniture and decor), now that's where my problem is.

If I were to shell out this amount of money, I can just barely make it. 

Mind you, the above sum is minimal by any standard: by that I mean, the apartment is not big, its price is not too unreasonable for its size, it's not a prime location, it's a rather new-ish property, the house is furnished with decor and stuff so only a handful of furniture, new lock, and electrical appliances had to be added. In short, it's second-handed but still new, with the bonus of existing decor and furniture. I would say that's a gem in the market. The view was quite nice, it's high up in the building, reasonable price. It's hard to come by now, because the housing market has gone crazy high. Her house has become an investment in itself if she wishes to sell it or rent it out in future.

Back to the problem: If I were to shell out this amount of money, I can just barely make it. That amount makes me cringe. Although I can foresee the amount of payment I expected to pay when buying my own home is higher than hers, it (still) even makes me cringe further.

"I make more money than her, and I can't help but wonder where has my money gone?!"

OK, ready to move on for more?

This said friend also has money in stocks, funds, US stocks, investments, and they are up and running, generating money. After graduation, she has studied for a full year WITHOUT INCOME. She's thinking about taking up another program for 2 years ALSO WITHOUT INCOME. She has confidence that money won't be a problem (tuition fee, living expenses, mortgage). At this time, she is paying her monthly mortgage, still give money to her parents monthly, daily expenses, YET she is confident she can make it through 2 years on no income!!! She told me she never check her bank balance, as long as she can withdraw money out she doesn't care what the number is.

Let's pause: How is that even possible? Can that possibly be true (with the amount of money she's making)?

Or maybe I should ask: How can I do this? Why does it look impossible to me now and in the near future? Where has my hard-earned cash gone?

Of course, everyone's (financial) situation is different. Maybe I pay more to my parents than she does, maybe she already was sitting on a mountain of cash when she graduated, maybe she's way more frugal than she looks (I'm sure she is), maybe.......maybe.........

That made me really unhappy where I'm at right now, ultimately it's not (only) about comparison, catching up, but really something was wrong. With the salary that I'm making now, I should be doing much better than her (and yet I ain't). Really unhappy about that. PJ, you can't let this silly spending continue, a complete overhaul of your mindset and your life is direly needed. 

In that sense, this FOMO is a good wake-up call (I'm sure I said that in the last post already)!