Weekend Musings

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Do You Really Need a Six-Month Emergency Fund? A Planner Says No

Do You Really Need a Six-Month Emergency Fund? A Planner Says No

A financial planner friend told me over supper that six months of emergency cash is unnecessary. He had a point. He also missed something.

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I Had Never Cut Anyone's Hair. Then I Volunteered to Do Exactly That

I Had Never Cut Anyone's Hair. Then I Volunteered to Do Exactly That

My first volunteer haircuts for the elderly were clipper-only and YouTube-trained. What stayed with me was a man's lament about a five-minute cut.

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Retirement Doesn't Start With Money. It Starts With Imagination.

Retirement Doesn't Start With Money. It Starts With Imagination.

A sermon on Genesis and human imagination sparked an uncomfortable question – have I actually pictured my retirement, or just assumed it?

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A Stranger, a Shared Table, and a Lesson in What Retirement Happiness Actually Costs

A Stranger, a Shared Table, and a Lesson in What Retirement Happiness Actually Costs

A chance lunch with a retired manager-turned-house-flipper in a Singapore food court says more about retirement contentment than any withdrawal-rate spreadsheet.

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I Ran My Slowest Pace in Years. Here's What I Did About It, Maybe.

I Ran My Slowest Pace in Years. Here's What I Did About It, Maybe.

A disrupted week, a 12km run at 7:50 a kilometre, and the question of whether "zone 2" is actually working, or just a story I tell myself.

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Liminality Has a Name Now. It Still Doesn't Make the In-Between Easy.

Liminality Has a Name Now. It Still Doesn't Make the In-Between Easy.

A church summit taught me the word for the space between what was and what's next – and a much older lesson about how to leave one room well before entering another.

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My Zone 2 Running Couldn't Save Me From One Basketball Game.

My Zone 2 Running Couldn't Save Me From One Basketball Game.

Two decades off the court, one steal from behind, and a swollen hand that told me my swimming and cycling never covered this.

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After Ten Years Away, My Home Church Taught Me About Simple Things

After Ten Years Away, My Home Church Taught Me About Simple Things

After a decade in Melbourne, I came home to my old church for a theology summit – and found the plainest things were the ones I'd stopped seeing.

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My Father Has Five Friends Left. He Said It Like the Weather.

My Father Has Five Friends Left. He Said It Like the Weather.

He counted them out like a shopping list. Five friends left, two of them fading. I had nothing useful to say, and I live five kilometres away.

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Home Again – And Already Thinking About the Next Move

Home Again – And Already Thinking About the Next Move

Back in Singapore after a decade away, I walked into a 60sqm apartment and found myself thinking about ageing in place rather than my own arrival.

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The Threshold: What Downsizing Actually Looks Like When It's Real

The Threshold: What Downsizing Actually Looks Like When It's Real

Three weeks ago I wrote about downsizing as a philosophy. Then I lived it. The gap between the two was humbling – and full of furniture nobody bought.

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The Strange Country of the Notice Period

The Strange Country of the Notice Period

Serving notice while your daughters stay behind and your life packs itself into boxes. The in-between has a shape to it, once you look closely.