I stayed in my parents' rental property for too long

I stayed in my parent's rental property for too long. It was near the office, hence everything was so convenient, walking distance in fact. I stayed for 7 years, and I missed out on 7 years of extra dividend income.

Lets take a very conservative rental of $3600. Over that period, it was $4k+, subtracting expenses, yields $3600 a month. Subtracting the amount I would have to pay to rent somewhere cheaper, say $1800/month. I would pocket $1800/month, or $21.6k/year.

Investing that spare cash into a safe dividend stock of 4%, would yield $176k over 7 years! I would still be getting around $6.4k of dividends every year.

It pays off to live frugally early on. Singapore's MRT system has many apartments/condos integrated or nearby. I could've easily picked a place further out, close to a MRT station or with good bus connectivity to the office. I was a spoiled kid. I now live at the far end of Singapore, and it's definitely still manageable. A 30-40min journey to the office is manageable. Don't make the same mistake.

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