Giving My Kids the Freedom I Never Had

I have two kids. This year, they will turn three years old and one year old.

Becoming a parent changes the way you see life. For me, it also made me reflect deeply on why I am who I am today.

I did not grow up in a wealthy family. My parents did their best, they gave me food, education, and a stable upbringing. For that, I will always be grateful.

But as I grew older, I began to realise something.

What my parents gave me was like a pair of running shoes, while some other parents had already given their children a motorbike, a car, or even a rocket.

So while I managed to do well academically and eventually landed a decent job, my financial position today is still something that many of my peers had already reached five to ten years earlier, largely because of family support.

That difference in starting points matters more than people like to admit.

What I Want for My Kids

Because of that, I often ask myself a simple question:

What am I doing for my kids?

I do not want them to feel trapped into studying and working simply because life forces them to.

If they want to be a singer, play guitar, teach yoga, or pursue something unconventional, I want them to have the freedom to choose. Even if those paths do not earn a lot of money.

Freedom to choose a life you enjoy is one of the greatest luxuries anyone can have.

But that kind of freedom does not appear out of thin air.

If I want my children to have choices, then my responsibility is to create a financial base strong enough to support them, whether that comes in the form of a large capital base or recurring passive income that can support their lifestyle.

Step One: Protecting and Growing Their Money

The first thing I did was simple.

I do not touch their Baby Bonus cash or their ang bao money.

Instead, that money is invested.

For now, I keep things extremely simple and relatively low risk. All of it goes into the STI ETF, and every dividend is reinvested to allow compounding to do its work.

Some people may say this is a bad strategy.

They will say that the US market, ETFs like the S&P 500 or Nasdaq, grows much faster.

And they are not wrong.

But my thinking is slightly different.

At the end of the day, we are Singaporeans.

Our lives, expenses, and long-term stability are tied to the Singapore economy and the Singapore dollar.

When you invest in foreign markets, you are also taking on currency risks, geopolitical risks, and economic risks that are outside your control.

If the US market performs well but the USD weakens significantly against SGD, part of your gains disappear.

On the other hand, investing in Singapore’s market aligns your investments with the economy you actually live in.

It is also a form of lazy investing that makes sense for our situation.

If Singapore's economy collapses one day, the reality is that most Singaporeans will be affected regardless of where their investments are. Our jobs, housing market, and financial system are all tied to the country.

So rather than trying to chase the fastest horse in the global race, my goal is simply to let their money grow steadily in the system they will likely live their lives in.

Slow, boring, but reliable.

Step Two: Building Income Through Property

Beyond investing their savings, I am also building wealth on my own side.

Recently, I have become very interested in property, especially commercial property, partly because of a new side hustle that exposes me to this space.

My longer-term strategy is gradually shifting my stock investments into commercial real estate.

Why?

Because property can produce recurring rental income.

And that income can become a safety net for my children.

If one day they choose to pursue something they love but that does not pay well, they will still have a financial cushion.

In simple terms, I want them to become landlords.

Not because I expect them to be property moguls.

But because managing property and collecting rent is one of the simplest and most durable wealth structures that can last across generations.

Learning from Generational Wealth

Through my work, I occasionally get to meet families that are already very wealthy, sometimes third-generation wealthy. Grandchildren of billionaire in Singapore. 

Interestingly, many of these third-generation individuals are not doing anything particularly extraordinary.

They are not startup founders. They are not investment geniuses.

Most of them are simply preserving what their parents and grandparents built.

Many of these families own commercial buildings in Singapore.

The parents still run the core businesses as CEOs, while the third generation often works in the company as management associates or mid-level managers.

Nothing flashy.

But the buildings continue generating rental income.

And because many of these properties still have 40 to 50 years left on their leases, they will likely support the third generation, and possibly even the fourth.

In other words, the wealth engine keeps running quietly in the background.

My Conclusion

I do not expect my children to become the richest people in Singapore.

That is not the goal.

What I want is far simpler.

I want them to grow up knowing that they have options.

Options to pursue things they care about.

Options to live life on their own terms.

And if one day they decide to work a normal job, that is perfectly fine too.

But if they choose a different path, music, sports, art, teaching, or anything else, they will not feel forced to abandon it just to survive.

My role as a parent is not to control their future.

My role is to build the platform that gives them the freedom to choose it.