A country is a collective of humans, run by supposedly the top minds from among them. Hence in many ways, the behaviour of countries are often very similar to the behaviour of a human. There are successful countries, and there are failures of a human. The success of the country is largely dependent on the people and the leaders who manage them. By looking at successful countries, we can learn a lot from them. Although we are aiming for financial freedom, but to really enjoy our freedom and to live a happy and successful life, we cannot just be concentrating on money, but to also have a healthy balance of other aspects as well.
Internal – Healthcare
Any decent country should provide a good healthcare system for the people. A good healthcare does not necessarily mean it is free healthcare. It is affordable yet quality healthcare provided for the people. The US, despite being the most powerful country in the world, has its healthcare being a contentious topic every presidential election. For countries like Singapore, despite its flaws, still has a pretty decent healthcare system. A good health healthcare system allows for a healthy population, where people can get treated for illnesses, big or small, in order to function properly in the society. A country with abysmal healthcare system have a high mortality rate, and I think I do not need to explain why this is bad for the country.
Individually, we will need to keep our bodies fit and healthy in order to enjoy the successes we have worked on. A balanced diet, regular exercises, regular sleep cycles etc all contributes to a healthy body. Without a functioning healthy body, one will realise that all wealth and successes are merely fluff. In our pursuit of financial freedom, we may sacrifice a bit of health, such as a lack of rest, some alcohol to destress, unhealthy comfort food etc. My health have also suffered in my endless work, but once my health has deteriorated to a certain degree, I also understand that if I do not take care of my body, everything else will be for naught.
Take care of your body, so that you can run longer and further, and at the same time enjoy the fruits of your labour.
Internal – Finance
The country’s budget is something every citizen is concerned about. How much is allocated for defence, healthcare, education and the different aspects of running the country directly or indirectly affects everyone in the country. A good budget planning will ensure that despite the limited resources, every important aspect of the country’s operation is at least covered, with strategic goals being allocated more. Such budgeting is not decided on a whim, but with data and statistics to back it up.
Individually, I will just briefly touch on this since we have covered this topic more than once in the previous articles. Plan your budget well, live within your means, use your money for strategic goals instead of needless luxuries. Ensure that you have multiple sources of income so that you will not be caught in a bind should one of the streams broke off.
Internal – Education
Singapore is a country with almost zero natural resources. Singapore’s food and water have to be imported. This lack of natural resources led some to believe that Singapore will never make it. However, Singapore did end up becoming a developed country today. One of Singapore’s policies is to prioritise the development of their human resource – their population. A well-educated population will lead to a higher quality workforce and a population that will bring the country forward. Over the years, Singapore built many regional libraries throughout the country, made education compulsory and especially competitive at many levels, starting from primary school.
Starting from primary 4, Singapore students have to go through streaming, an exercise which sends the students to different streams in accordance to their academic proficiency. Such streaming occurs at primary 4, primary 6 (Primary Six Leaving Examinations), secondary 2, secondary 4 (O or N Levels), after which students will take different paths in their academic pursuits. Singapore’s curriculum is heavily focused on Mathematics and Sciences. The focus as well as the streaming led to many unhappiness as those who were inclined in other areas were often sacrificed. Not the ideal situation, but given Singapore’s circumstances, practicality has to come first, and Singapore benefitted from the policy, though with certain sacrifices.
As individuals, if we already have a decent and proper job, while ideal, there is no need to force ourselves to learn something practical. But it is also necessary to have continual learning in our lives. Be it another skill, be it on investment and trading, be it a side business, be it on analysing current affairs or even starting your own website, we need to keep doing things out of work and learn. Children are very curious and continually explore the unfamiliar world around them. However, as they grow into adults, they often lose their curiosity, not bothering to find out things that they do not know, nor having the willingness to explore beyond their comfort zone. Whether it directly leads to an additional source of income or not does not matter, but as adults, we should never stop learning.
External – Foreign Affairs
When we look at how countries conduct their foreign affairs, we notice it is very different from how individuals handle their relationships. For countries, they can attempt to sink each other in certain areas yet collaborate in others. There is no such thing as purely friends or enemies, that if I like you everything goes and if I do not like you nothing will come to pass. China and US, Russia and Europe often exemplify this to a great extent. I will not explain further on this, but politics is just like business – there are no forever enemies and no forever friends, only forever interests and benefits. If our interests match, then we can work together. If your actions reduce my benefits, then I will simply go against you. We can eat together in a restaurant and bomb each other after that.
I am not saying that as individuals we should conduct ourselves in such a manner, and it is nice to have friends whom we expect nothing out from and to snub people we simply cannot stand totally. However, the way foreign affairs are conducted is noteworthy and something we should learn from. And we should always make ourselves to be of value to others. That way, our relationships with others are far easier to manage.
In the words of Chairman Mao, ‘Politics is about making many friends and very few enemies.’
External – Defence
No, I ain’t going to recommend learning some self-defence techniques like mixed martial arts. I am not going to recommend joining an alliance for protection, such as a gang. Just keep yourself fit and healthy, not only in the body but also in the mind. Be situationally aware at all times, especially when dealing with unsavoury people. These people may come from the workplace, from your friends or even from your families. Do not let people take advantage of you easily, though at times you have no choice.
There are many people who are very weak-willed and timid, not daring to fight back but instead quietly suffer in silence, hoping the aggressors will ease off once they are satisfied. Unfortunately, this will never happen, as the aggressors will keep pushing the boundaries until the victim is squeezed dry. Whether it is a nasty boss at work trying to take away all your credit, or a blood-sucking family trying to squeeze every drop of money out from you, or simply outright bullying in school etc, learn to stand up strong and defend yourself.
When we look at wars, it is common sense that both sides suffer losses. The Russia-Ukraine war, the Israel-Palestine war, or any other war you name of, there are always casualties on both sides for both the aggressor and the defender. The difference in military might will directly affect the number of casualties though. Many people do not dare to fight back because they fear of getting hurt further, that the revenge will be greater. But one has to stand up and fight for their own rights, even if they have to suffer for a bit, if it meant getting the aggressor off. Such is war.
There will be no change without bloodshed. If one has to die either way, die fighting. The readiness to defend yourself, to fight for your own right, is essential in your path towards financial freedom.
Conclusion
As individuals, we will never achieve the same level of rationality as a country. Leaders run their countries with cold-blooded rationality and merciless greed, where every individual is just a number in the overall statistics, where the minority can be sacrificed for the greater good, where the majority can be squeezed to benefit the top level feeders. It is impractical for us to mimic them in all aspects, but countries are ultimately a collective of individuals and run by a group of individual elites. The actions of a country often reflects the nature of human beings, and by studying them, we can hope to improve the way we run our lives.
Towards a better future, through practical and rational decisions learnt from the very best while retaining the humanity inside us.
