This is something I only really understood in my eighth year working in wealth management. Like many people, I started from zero savings right after graduating. Even though I studied accounting and finance, I actually didn’t have much awareness about personal financial planning when I first started.
People who know me always ask, “Aren’t you from a finance background? Shouldn’t you be good at managing your own money?”
But the truth is, many people who work in finance or accounting spend all day dealing with company finances and barely have time or energy to manage their personal finances.
So my point is this: you don’t need to be a finance expert to manage your own money well. What you need most is self-discipline and the ability to delay gratification.
And that brings me to the real question — where does wealth actually come from?
Before we even talk about financial freedom, we must understand one thing:
Your wealth is not determined by your income or your intelligence. It’s determined by whether you can save your first RM100,000.
The most painful part is always the beginning
If you started from zero like me, the toughest part is at the start. This stage is boring, slow, and feels hopeless. You don’t get rich by being smart — you get rich by not wasting money when you’re bored. That’s the first lesson.
Most people struggle here because the first RM100,000 grows painfully slowly. Your money feels like it’s mocking you — “Is that all?”
But if you manage to push through, once you cross that point, compounding takes over. It becomes like a loyal worker. Money is far more reliable than people — it doesn’t take leave and it doesn’t complain.
But first, you need enough of it.
Your first RM100,000 is simply your entry ticket.
The biggest difference between people who stay poor and people who eventually become wealthy is just two things:
patience and delayed gratification.
People who become financially free would rather skip a nice meal than break the rhythm of compounding. Smart people can endure boredom; foolish people complain that the process takes too long.
Saving your first RM100,000 is a character test.
If you can do it, it means you already have the core ability needed for financial freedom.
After that, you realise something important — you are no longer scared of career inflation, recessions, or bad economic cycles. Because now, you have choices.
And options are the true definition of freedom.
If you ask me how to start investing, my answer is simple:
Save your first RM100,000. Without it, there’s nothing to talk about.
The RM100,000 is not the finish line.
But if you don’t have it, you haven’t even reached the starting line.
Your first RM100,000 isn’t really money — it’s a fight between your rational mind, your discipline, and your desires.
Lose that battle, and you stay poor forever.
Humans hate waiting. That’s why people spend money meant for investing. It’s not that they don’t understand financial planning — it’s just their brain hasn’t learned how to delay rewards.
After seeing so many real cases, I realised something:
Wealth is about your ability to wait. Not your income.
Poor people, even high-income poor people want instant comfort.
Rich people want their money to multiply.
It sounds simple, but very few can actually do it.
Because waiting feels like boredom, loneliness, and sometimes insecurity.
You need to tolerate having nothing to show while others show off new cars, new bags, new holidays. Most people can’t handle that. They prefer to look rich rather than be temporarily poor. That’s why their bank accounts leak like a bathtub with holes.
Why some high earners still stay broke
Some people make very good money but still end up with nothing. They always tell themselves, “Never mind, I’ll earn more next time.”
That mindset keeps them stuck living paycheck to paycheck — until they reach 50 and still don’t have RM100,000.
Meanwhile, the wealthy people in their 60s barely need to think about money anymore. Their money works for them because compounding has been running for decades.
The difference isn’t IQ.
It’s self-control.
Wealth is not built from your salary.
It’s built from the money you managed not to spend.
The journey to your first RM100,000 is full of traps
Trap 1: Comparison
Others buy a car or luxury item, and you feel you should “reward yourself” too.
That’s not a reward — that’s a slow path to bankruptcy.
Trap 2: Debt
Credit cards make you look rich, but in reality, they just push you deeper into the poor zone.
Trap 3: Fantasy
You think your high salary will save you.
But a high salary without discipline just creates a high-level poor person.
Some people work their whole lives, make a lot of money, but save nothing.
If you want a different life, you need to shift your desire from buying things to building capital.
Buffett’s Snowball Theory
Buffett says that success is like rolling a snowball — you just need a long enough hill and the right snow.
What he didn’t emphasise enough is this:
Before the snowball becomes big, you’ll be pushing for a very long time.
Most people give up halfway. They turn around and buy something they think they “deserve”, and that becomes the graveyard of their compounding.
In the world of compounding:
time is your friend; impulsiveness is your enemy.
Early in my career, I saw people making quick money from stock trading. Meanwhile, my own investments seemed so slow. I felt itchy, tempted to sell everything and chase trends.
Luckily, I didn’t.
I learned something important: the market’s craziness won’t last, but compounding will.
A few years later, many of those “genius” investors vanished.
My money was still quietly growing.
That’s when I truly understood:
Compounding isn’t exciting — it’s stabilising.
People who chase excitement in investing are usually just casino regulars.
Wealth itself isn’t freedom — rationality is.
Money simply gives rational people more space to make good decisions.
When you finally reach that stage, you realise you don’t obsess over money anymore.
You start caring more about whether your time is being used meaningfully.
The end point of wealth is not luxury —
it’s peace.
That peace comes from not needing to prove anything, not needing to outperform anyone — except your past self who lacked patience and discipline.
That is true financial freedom.
Financial freedom doesn’t mean “I can buy anything I want”.
It means you no longer need to do the things you don’t want to do.
If this article helps you in your financial journey, feel free to share it.
