Why Young Working Adult Need to know the word 'afford'

I get it. I do get it. I was a young working adult once too. I know how it feels to be when one first started working, I had so many aspirations, wishes, and dreams that I wanted to do all at one time. I was ambitious and I was diligent. Needless to say, I had that vigor and raw energy to work hard. All of it I hope, in one day, I would be living the life of a successful person with a big house, a powerful sport car, and a beautiful wife. Of course, everyone had that one dream. There are people who plan, seriously, their life out of it. Some, they take what life has to give along the way. Then, they are some who think could not care less because you only live once. YOLO!

You only live once, yes, but it should not be without any plans to achieve some goals. I called that personal life goals. Any sane person without plans and goals, that person would not know what will be the next exciting thing to look forward to in life. Let us all face the truth, it is very low percentage that everyone comes into the world rich. Most of us, our parents had to work hard to get paid so there will be food on the table, there will be some money to buy their children some uniforms, shoes, clothes, stationery and so on that their children can go to school and learn. Now, their children has grown up and started to work and earn money on their own. They are push out the door from the university, from their own home into the fast paced, challenging, domineering, and tormenting rat race, i called it working. They are now known as the young working adults. These young working adults arm with just a scroll called degree has so little experience to offer to their employers that they are not able to negotiate a great deal of pay out of it. Seriously, fresh graduates are the freshest workhorse with zero experience out from the oven and out to the carousel for employers to pick and hire. Sounds harsh? Yes, it is as it is, working is tough. 

At the same time, fresh graduates had to endure the pain of renting, if one is working far from their home, the fluctuations of petrol price, transportation ire, and the expensive cost of living. By many considerations, leaving the education institution and joining the workforce is an opportunity for many because they can finally chase after their dreams. Little do they know that at these several years, they have to be very careful with their financial status. Many of them wish and dream for better living, better expenses, better opportunity but the realization to save and make better earning failed terribly. They failed not because of finding work opportunity but the wants to earn more money in the shortest duration. They are enticed to find work that gives them fast return. All hope that they could get the fashionable clothing, that expensive car, and that luxury home. In this sense, it shows the world they are successful; successful at that very young age. Honestly, I can tell you, success in life does not mean owning expensive cars and huge house but it is the process of going through hardship, respecting your skills, and the willingness to pick up the wrong and correct the mistakes. That is valuable life learning lesson. Many young working adults falls into the trap of getting expensive cars when their financial statement said otherwise. As a result, annual reports from the banks always indicate young workers are often mired with bankruptcy because they could not service the car loan.

Young working adults in any working fields should learn to accept that wants cannot be quantified by the working experience they have because the pay grade is not there. They need to know, working experience is a direct relationship to the question of how much one could earn from doing his or hers work for a month. At least, a month's pay is how much one justify a person's wage in Malaysia. Young working adults should learn to prioritize their savings and focus on self improvement. Luxury cars and big houses are worldly desires that will absorb a huge part of your life's earning. It can be disastrous even for the older working adults who are not careful with their finances. Young working adults need to be wise and think carefully as to what constitutes reasonable spending and that does not blow a hole in their saving account. I know, there are still many out there doing it wrong. It is wrong if you are struggling hard to overcome a car loan. Many things can be said for one who is struggling to sustain the car loan and it is the deficit of re-paying the car loan in many cases. Young working adult just do not have the financial capability to sustain an expensive car. It is the word called affordability that young working adults should learn to embrace it. The word afford puts a dot that determines whether you can or you cannot. It does not go that today is the day and tomorrow another care. Affordability, this word, does not work in that way. It cares nothing for tomorrow because if you cannot afford it today, then you cannot afford it right now. It is as simple as a child singing the alphabet song ABC. Unfortunately, many young working adults, they only have a mindset affixed at a very narrow view. The afford word usually comes to haunt them in another word called bankruptcy.