I QUIT my "Great" job after learning 3 things about MONEY - YouTube

oh hi! oh yes... i did... i quit. Oh! you too?  maybe? So, I quit. I was a mid tier lawyer  

in a Big 4 law firm in Singapore. For over  6 years I slogged my guts out. The job paid  

me a nice 6 figure salary. When i talked about my  job it always sounds, like, so glamourous. In the  

eyes of my parents, the people around me, I had  “made it”. I was “doing well”. Except, I wasn’t,  

not really. Really, I was just going through the  motions, day after day, and feeling so tired and  

so … alone. The colleagues working alongside me  all seemed happy enough. In fact most of them were  

actively buying into the whole thing, even when it  seems obvious it was a pretty toxic work culture,  

u know…. Stuff like bragging about how they worked  till 1am last night. Apparently right now, across  

the world and especially in America, there’s this  thing called the Great Resignation going on. More  

than ever before, people r quitting. they’re  throwing in the towel in droves. And there r so  

many different reasons why they’re doing it, but  something like that… it’s never an easy decision  

right? You go back n forth n back n forth. For  me, the turning point was realising 3 things about  

money. So that’s what I want to share with  you today. First, the whole job-salary  

configuration? It’s a money trap. Kinda like a  rat trap. You get stuck, and you can’t escape.  

So U go to work at your job everyday so u get paid  your salary at the end of the month, so you can  

then pay your bills and finance your life and so  on. And the thing is, once you got a job, you’re  

like - hey I’m all set. I did what I was supposed  to do. Money’s gonna be coming in at the end of  

every month. Financial problems solved. Time to  just chill with the limited time off from work.  

You can’t blame any of us for thinking that. The  job’s usually already pretty consuming as it is.  

So then for most salaried employees, the job  is the only source of income. That was exactly  

the case for me too. It’s all fine and dandy if  you’re happy with the configuration. But what if  

you wanted to opt out? It’s a trap, you can’t.  You could have been spending your life n time  

n energy n inspiration and all that good stuff  u hv to give, building your own businesses and  

income streams n dreams, but you didn’t. You had a  job, you spend all that good stuff building other  

people’s businesses and companies. And now you  need that salary so you can’t opt out of the job.  

Which brings me to my second realisation about  money, which is that money, even a lot of it,  

isn’t actually an adequate compensation  for what the job takes away from us..  

I think. Of course, that’s ultimately a value  judgement that you, as an individual hv to  

make about your specific job in your particular  circumstances. But let me elaborate a little bit  

more, you know, just in case you’ve been  too busy working to look up and realise  

what it is that’s being taken from you. With  your nice salary, they essentially buy your time,  

your emotions, your personal relationships, your  freedom, your physical health, your mental health,  

even your sense of individuality. Did you  realise? there’s no strict 9-5 really, is there?  

Especially in the wake of this pandemic  work from home situation these days.  

It’s weekends, it’s overtime, it’s when you’re  sitting on the toilet. … How many times have you  

cancelled on dinner appointments w your friends  or family, your dates, even your gym sessions,  

or therapy… because work demanded it? The  carousel never stops turning. You can never  

really totally switch off. There’s always emails  and blackberries and calls and urgent deals. Like  

the world is going to end if they don’t sign the  deal by 9am tomorrow morning. There’s that unique  

sense of fatigue especially reserved for those who  run the corporate hamster wheel and dislike it.  

It is that deep sense of dissatisfaction and lack  of fulfilment that comes from doing something you  

dislike and find meaningless, day after day. Plus,  you know, when there’s 500 other people in the  

company doing the same role as you, you’re totally  replaceable. Just another cog in the machine.  

Either you do what they ask of you, or they get  another “you” to do it. Way to motivate. So,  

like I said earlier, it’s all an individual value  judgment. But basically you’re talking about your  

health, your youth, your sense of happiness  and fulfilment, your relationships with the  

people in your life…. I don’t know about  you, but most, in fact all of that,  

appear to me to be stuff that money can’t  actually replace. And think about it this  

way. I was 29 years old when I quit. That meant,  roughly, about another 9768 more working days till  

retirement. The money will keep getting  bigger. But for most, your current work life  

isn’t going to change significantly. Get up in the  morning, commute for an hour or so to the office,  

leave only at night, and in between, perhaps  the only highlight of the day is when you  

gather around the water cooler in the pantry n  catch up on office gossip. Is that really ok?  

So then my third big realisation about money  is really what kicked me across the line  

to quitting. And it’s simple really. Money  controls us until you learn to control your money.  

When I was a salaried employee I never  learnt to control my money. I had my fat  

pay check every month, I spent it carelessly  in the little free time I had to do so, cos,  

u know, why else do I work so hard? I didn’t have  a budget. I didn’t track my expenses. I didn’t  

know a thing about saving smart and investing  cos hell, I was already making so much money.  

And guess what? I made loads of money in those 6+  years. But when I decided to quit n leave, sadly,  

I didn’t have a significant sum of savings with  which to start my new life. I had some money,  

but considering all that I actually earned in all  that time, it was just … sad. Where did it all go?  

Well, there were some clues…… a lot  of it was hanging out in my closet,  

branded clothes, handbags, shoes n what not.  A big chunk of the rest had been digested….  

And looking back I was like… OMG. What was  I thinking? The real power of money is not  

that you can buy all sorts of things that you  want. Feeling like someone else owns your time,  

your emotions and your life is horrible. The  real power is that you are able to buy the  

freedom to live on your own terms. To spend your  time how you like, when you like, where you like.  

Once you realise that, all the other  things… they become so easy to give up.  

I took a good hard look at my life. From the point  where I thought there was a chance I might quit,  

I needed to make sure I could quit. So first up  is always: Housekeeping. What are the liabilities?  

Mortgage. Car. Monthly expenditure. Take stock  and start to understand where all your money goes  

every month. Next: financial planning. In my case,  for example, If I quit & left singapore to pursue  

my dreams, I could rent out the apartment. I  could get rid of the car. My lifestyle costs would  

automatically downgrade as a consequence of living  in a place with generally cheaper living costs,  

reducing my expenditure. You get the idea. And  what about the future? How was I going to generate  

money for my life? Well, if I had been a savvy  financial planner back then, what I ideally should  

have done is to build up as much buffer of  savings as was possible before I actually quit,  

and to start investing the hell out of those  savings as early as possible, to grow my wealth,  

to build passive income streams, to diversify  my income as well. As it turned out,  

I wasn’t smart enough back then. I actually  did what most people wd agree is the dumbest  

thing possible in the situation. I quit with  the savings that I had, n then I went off to  

“figure it all out”. Well, luckily for me, it  turned out ok in the end, and so that’s a whole  

other story for another day. But hey, if you’re  watching this video n thinking bout quitting,  

don’t do what I did. Do that whole saving,  planning and investing stuff instead  

as much as u can before u quit. You’ll have a much  easier time of it after the quitting, I assure u.  

And beyond all these big hard hitting realisations  about money, there’s actually something more  

important that we all have to consider. I believe  we all need a why. I believe that for us to have a  

great life, we all need a good purpose to what we  do everyday. And just to be clear, loads of money  

usually isn’t good enough to fill you with  the same sense of fulfilment and satisfaction,  

for most people at least. Life doesn’t need  to be a dreary painful cycle one endures.  

Life should be colourful, full of joy and  passion. We should all be spending our lives  

doing what makes us feel alive and fulfilled and  motivated and eager for the next day and the next.  

When I quit, I wasn’t just running away from  my horrible salaried employee existence. I was  

actively running towards my dream. My dream  was to live an active life under the sun  

at a beach somewhere. To have time to do the  things I love, which was specifically surfing,  

painting and reading, and to have time to have  quality relationships w my family n the people  

around me. I had this really clear vision in my  head, this was what I wanted and I spent all my  

years after quitting just driving myself towards  this point. I wanted to do work in only that which  

I felt passionate about, having spent so many  years working pretty much just for the paycheck.  

I didn’t exactly know what that was  at the point when I actually quit.  

But over time I learnt that I love teaching  physical stuff, showing people the joy in  

yoga and surfing and gym, and I’m rather good  at it generally. And the thing is, when you’re  

working from passion, and not just because  of the money, you generally do a great job.  

And then, the money follows. That’s the magic of  the universe perhaps. So I had my why. It helps a  

lot, if you’re undecided about quitting. Now, in  case you’re one of those who haven’t found quite  

discovered your why in life yet, these days there  are so many ways to easily start doing that.  

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Success, 7 exercises to uncover your purpose,  passion and path. it resonated so much for me,  

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steps to transform intention into action. I just  wish so much that back when I was thinking about  

quitting, I had these resources. Because  Skillshare is sponsoring this video today,  

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more dimensions to ourselves accomplish real  growth. So my friends, if you too are thinking  

about quitting that job, I hope that this video  has helped shaped your thoughts on the issue more  

clearly. It’s not just about wanting to escape a  job that you dislike in the present. A lot of it  

is, sad as it may be, about money realities. Get  on top of that, and you buy your way into freedom  

and independence. You might at the end of the  day decide to continue in your job, who knows?  

But the important thing is, hopefully,  if you’ve understood the realisations  

about money and purpose that I’ve shared  in this video, whether you quit or not is  

really YOUR DECISION. Your Choice. And not  because you’re, you know, stuck in the money trap.  

If you found this video helpful or what I said  about my decision to quit resonated with you,  

Hit that like because a simple Like really helps  me out tremendously to get this message about  

money and jobs and salaries out there to reach  other people like you, who’re also thinking  

about freedom and quitting. I’ll love to hear  your thoughts about quitting and whether you’re  

going to do it or not. Everyone has their own  perspective and reasons why they want to remain  

a salaried employee or start afresh to build a  new life and new income streams for themselves,  

so I’ll love to hear your thoughts about it.  If you found this video interesting, consider  

subscribing & hitting the bell icon so you don’t  miss our future videos.All the best to you,  

whatever your decisions may  be. See you in future videos!