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6 Ways You Can Invest In Yourself (And Maximise Your Lifetime Earning Potential)

How to invest in your most valuable asset: Yourself.


“The best investment you can make is in yourself.”

As cliché as that might be, it does not make it any less true.

Read Also: 4 Career Decisions Young Singaporeans Have To Consider Today That Our Parents Didn’t

Your 1.85-Million-Dollar Asset

Investments of any kind that you make can pay off or lead to losses. While it is easy to be carried away with picking stocks or analysing market trends, the truly wise will not neglect to invest in their most valuable asset: themselves.

According to income statistics from the Ministry of Manpower, the median gross monthly income of employed residents in Singapore is $4,056. If we assume that a typical career begins at age 24 and concludes at the retirement age of 62, the average Singaporean can expect to earn about $1.85 million dollars throughout their career ($4,056 x 12 months x 38 years).

Read Also: What Is The Difference Between Retirement Age And Re-Employment Age In Singapore?

Investing in yourself to protect and increase your own income-earning potential will lead to great returns. Here are 6 concrete ways you can do so.

#1 Education

Certain jobs require specific educational qualifications or professional certifications. By putting yourself through school and self-learning to earn these educational qualifications, you open doors of opportunities for yourself. In addition to accessing a wider segment of the job market, the starting pay also goes up for each educational level attained.

Aside from enabling you to land a job, the pursuit of further education expands your knowledge in a particular area and develops your mental faculties – allowing you to be better equipped in the workplace to learn more and do more.

#2 Skills

By investing time and money to pick up new skills, you become a more valuable member of your company or organisation. With the internet, there really isn’t any skills that you can’t learn, if you are willing to put in the time and effort. You can learn how to take the perfect selfie, cooking, programming, parkour, and even the proper way to tie your shoelaces.

If you haven’t already, you should use your SkillsFuture credits to pick up a new skill. We even have some suggestions.

Read Also: 5 Useful Finance-related Courses To Enrol Using SkillsFuture Credit

#3 Relationships

For better or worse, our relationships shape who we are. In times of difficulties, it is often our relationship with our friends and family that provide support, inspiration and perspective. It is easy to be overwhelmed and make rash or irrational decisions when we are facing a crisis at work or in our personal lives. Our relationships can keep us grounded and direct our focus on the right things.

Taking time to strengthen our existing relationships and forge new connections with others is immensely beneficial. This also means that when we’re able to, we offer and extend our support to the people around us who are struggling.

#4 Experiences

Investing in experiences simply means to seek out things to do. The act of doing things can be extremely rewarding in many aspects. Volunteer. Travel. Try. Do.

The transformative power of experiences can enrich you, broaden your perspective, and make you wiser. It also allows you to better connect with others that you work with and encounter.

#5 Personal Brand

Being known (for the right reasons, of course) in your chosen field can help you secure jobs and business opportunities. You build your personal brand through the quality work you produce, day in and day out, and by the way you treat others. These form the foundation of your efforts to network and promote yourself.

#6 Health

You can only continue to earn money if you remain in the peak of health. Aside from the obvious pain and discomfort of being ill, medical bills in Singapore have been increasing at a scary rate and can cause a substantial dent in your financials.

Being out of commission for days, weeks or even longer will mean your income-earning potential is also affected. Even after returning to work, you might (rightfully) take a slower pace as you recuperate.

Investing in your health means to set aside time to exercise, get sufficient rest and make healthier diet choices. Doing so definitely pays off.

Keep Investing In Yourself

As with investments, you need to upkeep them.

Educational certificates may need to be renewed or perhaps you would need to upgrade yourself alongside the changing demands of your job.

There might be new skills you have to pick up as a result of new technology or industry disruption.

If you do not upkeep and strengthen your relationships, their value would fade over time.

As with investments too, don’t be impatient if you do not see returns right away. Keep at it, and look forward to a better, more awesome you. In years to come, you’ll probably agree that “you” were the best investment you could possibly have made!

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