Best of mr-stingy

Everyone feels like a fraud sometimes. And a lot of times before I hit the “Publish” button, I worry that my writing sucks. A lot of times it does.

But every once in a while, I write something that people love. That for some unknown reason, they’ll share, tell their friends, or even write to me about. Revisiting these articles always makes me smile.

Here are 10 of my all-time best:

1. The 5 Levels of Wealth — How To Know You’re Rich — Many ways to answer “How rich am I?” but this one is mine. Includes a powerful hack to feeling rich, even if you haven’t reached the upper levels.

2. Seven Things I Learned From the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) Movement — The concept of FIRE blew my mind in my late 20s. Nowadays I don’t aspire to retire anymore, but there’s still so much I’m grateful to have learned from the FIRE movement.

3. The “What I Don’t Want List” — Goals are commonly written as “What I want.” But thinking about “What I don’t want” can also be a powerful way to find success in life.

4. The Journey of Finding Satisfaction In Life — Wrote this one as I was entering my late 30s. Having spent my 20s trying to win the status games of money and power. It turns out life satisfaction comes more from choosing the right games to play, instead of trying to win every game.

5. This Is the First 10 Years of Your Career — An almost-true story of a young person navigating a turbulent first 10 years of their career, inspired by my own.

6. Why I Bought a Cheap Second-Hand Car — Somewhere out there, there’s a young guy who thinks people won’t respect him and girls won’t date him if he drives a basic car. This one is for you bro.

7. How I Paid Off My 58K Education Loan — My story on how I got out of 58K of education debt, through a combination of the Internet, credit cards and help from God.

8. How To Overcome Jealousy In Life — Jealousy is a useless emotion, yet all of us have to struggle with it. Here’s eight tips I’ve learned to overcome jealousy in life.

9. Why I Give My Parents Money — I give money to my parents for selfish reasons. This short essay explains why.

10.  Time, Money or Love — Which Is Most Important? — Multiple friends have told me this is their favorite article of mine, ever. It’s one of my favorites too, and explores the relationships between time, money and love. Like my own “unifying theory of the universe.”

(Updated March 2024)


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33 comments

  • Hi Mr Stingy,

    I have read the articles in your blog. It is very interesting and your writing is sincere.

  • Hi,
    May I know if a PLT can pay out dividend as opposed to profit distribution.

  • Hi, I’ve always wanted to write for a living (I’m working in an office job)- can you share some ideas on what/ how to start?

    Perhaps you can share on how you got started in this? I know it would probably depend on interest, skills and I’ll like to know what is the ‘demand’ from the internet market so that I can write that aligns to those.

    More importantly, writing is therapetic for someone like me, so I would still do it without a pay. Of course, abit of motivation on top of that will certainly help..

    Thanks bro. I appreciate your contents here and I identify myself with them alot.

    Regards- SJ

    • Thanks SJ,

      My suggestion is to actually start writing without having to rely it on a living, and see how that goes first? Very often doing something you’re passionate about PLUS doing it to support your living can turn the dream into suffering.

      Give it a try first, see if you enjoy the process and if your writing gains traction with your intended market? All the best!

  • Hi Mr Stingy

    My name is Brian from Ipoh working in Singapore , have been following your blog since 2015. Love your articles a lot, alot.
    Read some of your history , known that you are from Oil and Gas Field in the Past

    We have share the Same Background as well . As i am an E&I Engineer in Oil and Gas

    Your Article has inspired me to start my own Part Time blog

    Looking forward to collaborate with you in Future if there is a chance

    • Hello Brian! Nice to hear from you. Wishing you the very best in your blog! Hoping to see some really good stuff there…

  • All the stuff you’ve written really hits home. I look forward to read more of your articles. Awesome!

  • I have only just started reading your articles, and I am enjoying every moment doing so. The publications are very well articulated – perhaps due to personal experiences and matters that come directly from the heart. I do hope that you will keep your publications rolling in – I for one, will be an ardent reader.

  • Hey,
    I guess I’m extremely late to join the club. I’ve always enjoyed reading and only recently came across online writing.It’s 4 am and I am still hooked to your content.This is also exactly something I am trying to start.I’d really like to keep in touch via e-mail.I have so many questions!Again,love the whole idea.

    • Hey Wangechi,

      Thanks for your kind words! Feel free to drop me an email and I’ll see if there’s any way I can help. 😀

  • I dunno how i came over this blog, but once I did, I found so much connections with me. It’s like I’m watching a completed form of all the ideas stuck inside my head: blogging, freelance writing, taking bold steps to materialize dreams, and yes reading blogs and stuffs from Mark Manson. When first come across this blog i was like: why does this guy thinks exactly like me, except he has practice all of them out while I’m still falling back into my sad, little comfort zone. But first time I read this blog I felt such a connection with you that makes me want to know more about you. No ulterior motives, I’m always an open person and I don’t like manipulating anyone. But I will be very blessed if I was able to keep in touch and get to know more about my inspiring senior. I don’t usually comment on blogs but this time there’s a voice telling me to do so. I hope you won’t find me weird. I’m inexperienced, but I always say out what I thought. Hopefully you’ll notice me. Btw your articles are the nearest to Mark Manson, so far I’ve come across. Yes, they are awesome. Very.

    • Thanks Zhe Wei for your very generous praise. Maybe it’s also because I shamelessly copied ideas from Mark’s website design 😉

      Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, since you’re still so young. And yeah — let’s keep in touch via email.

  • Hi. Nice article u have on the second hand car vs new car. Btw, do u kind sharing the contact of ur good mechanics who could help to check in the condition of a second hand car?
    Thanks!!

  • just want to say that have enjoyed reading your articles, thank you J.D.

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