I frequently passed groups of people promoting WSQ courses, and they would ask, “Sir, have you used your skillsfuture fund yet?”. And I will tell them I have already depleted my skillsfuture fund on courses and left with zero. Some will say, “Thank you”, and some may say, “You still can use cash to enjoy the subsidy for WSQ courses”.
I love attending short courses, learning new things, and making new friends. When I first became a father, I hoped to have a school to teach me how to become a good, effective & loving dad. But unfortunately, there wasn’t one. I must learn from those who have become one and tap into their experience.
Then came the next round when I became a grandfather; there was no school or classes to learn to become one but to learn from those already granddaddy. Now, into the retirement phase, no school or institutions are teaching you how to become a retiree. Not even a guidebook or any user manual.
Well, I guess we all go through such phases of life, navigating through it by tapping on the experience of others and then fine-tuning it to our liking or our lifestyle. We all make mistakes along the way, learn and become better.
Retirement is just another phase of life. There are no fixed rules and no templates to follow or copy. We are designers of our lifestyle and how we want to live. How fortunate. Living within my means is the call of the day. I think this is an excellent guiding principle to have. It should be able to keep me out of trouble. It is so blessed to be able to have the freedom of choice.
The world is our classroom.
William Kho
William Kho was a senior management staff member of a water treatment company. He is now fully retired and pursuing a happy and meaningful retirement life.
