Live within your means

Mr. Tan,
Just to share from my personal experience, as a young working adult with a very young family.

Based on the advice of good friends, my wife and I planned our finances based on one of our incomes only, in case either one of us becomes incapacitated, or decides not to work.

We started our marriage with a combined annual income of about 80K. If we based it 5 times our annual income, we could have gotten a property of $400K. Instead, we got a 4-room flat at about $200K.

As our family members increased after a few years, we sold off our 4-room flat. Then, our combined annual income was about $200k. Once again, instead of getting a $1m property, we opted for a $500K property.

With our proportionately low financial commitment, we were able to live worry free financially. In fact, as a couple, we hope to be able to pay off the mortgage soon, with a view that my wife can stay at home to be a fulltime stay home mum.

While I am sure that different families have different financial circumstances, and that our financial circumstances are a lot fortunate than many people, I believe "living within your means" is a hardly a virtue nowdays as people are encouraged to live beyond their means, be it getting a too big/fast/flashy a car, rolling credit card debts, too big a mortgage etc.

Mr Tan, just as a suggestion to your posting about financial planning, perhaps you may want to encourage your (numerous and growing) readers to live within their means. Thanks for your hard work!