SMALL EFFORTS, BIG GAINS

If the movie Crazy Rich Asians has you feeling a teensy bit envious, well, we feel you. The film is set in Singapore, after all, and features mansions, glittering apartments, high fashion and fast cars. It is obscene that anyone should live like that… but you want all that too. How to get it? Well, getting rich – or at least, richer – is largely a matter of knowing what to do with your money and how to grow it. Here are five creative hacks to multiply your wealth – who knows, you could soon be throwing your very own private lawn party.

As a child of the digital age, there’s no excuse to be scared of investing your money. Thanks to the rise of robo-advisers and online trading platforms, even beginners can start investing – with as little as $100. Check out online investing platforms such as Smartly (www.smartly.sg), which completely automates all your trades for you. And if you’re worried about high service fees and hidden charges, you’ll be pleased to know everything at Smartly is transparent and upfront.

So how does investing make you rich? Two words: compound interest. Basically, the longer you invest, the more your money grows. That’s why how early you start investing is more important than how much you invest. Don’t wait, because investing early and often dramatically increases your chances of getting rich.

If you and your pals have been going gaga over a new app, you might want to pay closer attention to the developer. The latest thing keeping you glued to your mobile phone screen could be the next big thing in the red-hot technology sector and a timely investment could boost your wealth by no small fortune.

Admittedly, this strategy might not work every single time. Whatsapp and Instagram, for instance, are two runaway successes that nobody saw coming. Plus, the proliferation of start-ups – a new one surfaces almost every other week – does not make picking winners any easier.

Take a leaf from actor-turned-investor Ashton Kutcher’s book; when asked how he chooses which start-ups to invest in, he said: “I just try to fund the best and the brightest.” In essence, this means focusing on brands that solve a real problem, thus adding real value to consumers in the real world. You don’t have to throw every spare penny into every new app with a glitzy corporate video. In fact, you should strive to be shrewd and selective. Experience, instinct and a little bit of luck will go a long way in finding that big pay-off .

With globalisation now a way of life, the demand for multilingual professionals is on the rise. Take advantage of this and give yourself a leg-up in your chosen industry by picking up a new language. Attaining fluency in the language of a market that your employer is targeting is a good way to get yourself noticed, especially when the higher-ups need someone to head up a new overseas office. 

You can also make use of your language mastery to move from a smaller SME to a global MNC. Such a switch will allow you to pick up valuable overseas work experience that’ll enrich you personally, professionally and financially.

Ready for a hard truth? No matter how much you penny-pinch, you’ll be modestly rich – at best. And that’s after going through a lifetime of deprivation. We’re talking no holidays, no shopping, no hobbies, not even Christmas presents (okay, maybe the $10 office Secret Santa. Maybe.)

If you really want to get rich, you need to widen the gap between what you spend and what you earn. And the most effective way to do this is to start a side hustle. Yes, that means sacrificing your weekends and evenings, and even public holidays. The good news is, things are only difficult at the beginning – that’s when you have no clients, no portfolio and no idea what’s a fair price to charge. As you grow and establish your client network, you’ll start to settle into your niche.

Don’t go overboard, though. The idea is not to throw every spare waking moment into your side business; ideally, aim for your side gig to boost your income by 30 to 50 per cent. Most importantly, save or invest what you earn.

We can’t help it; “monkey see, monkey do” is hard wired into our brains. However, the era of the mega-influencer is waning, with consumer trust going on a decline. Microinfluencers – active social-media users who inspire higher engagement and brand loyalty, despite having a smaller follower count – are now increasingly favoured. Since anyone with 1,000 or so followers qualify as a micro-influencer, it means that it’s now much easier for you to monetise your love of a particular brand or product. Get it right and mini-celebdom awaits, along with some decent earnings to give your wealth a nice uplift.