SimonSimple

Hi People

The other day I had lunch with my daughter at Swensen’s at Bugis Junction. Yes, you have to be there early because it is jam-packed at lunchtime. Their fabulous offer of 1 for 1 is still on!

She was telling me that she was soaked one day because her umbrella gave way because she was caught in an unsheltered stretch from the train station to her office building because of the heavy rain and strong wind. Not to settle for cheap foldable umbrellas anymore, she went to the nearly departmental store to purchase the most hardy one she could find. She went through quite a number and observed that the sales girl all but left her alone while attending to others. She was wondering why? The happy answer came when she was about to pay for her purchase. The sales girl said that all the other customers simply left the umbrellas out of the casings or had difficulty attempting to push them back in but my daughter conscientiously and meticulously managed to restore all the umbrellas she tried nicely back into their original state. The sales girl remarked that her mother must have taught her the art of neatly putting away foldable umbrellas, to which my daughter assented. The sales girl then beamed and said, “Your mother taught you well”. My daughter felt real proud - with her purchase and her mother!

This week, as always, from Mondays to Fridays, my routine is to wake up at 6.30 am to feed our pet dog and take him out for his morning walk. Then it is back at the kitchen to prepare breakfast for my 3 children. My son usually gets his streaky bacon and tomatoes or some cut fruits for his breakfast. Sometimes he just takes some water or his cold Milo. As for my daughters I am learning to be more and more creative and try to give them a choice menu that changes by the day. This is a vast improvement from when it was just a sandwich of bacon or peanut butter or french toast that tasted like it should be, to be frank, tossed out (honest feedback from my wife).

These days it’s honey laced french toast on Monday by chef Simone. (Self concocted recipe: Take 3 eggs and a table spoon of honey and beat well. Then add a cup of fresh milk and beat until it is foamy. Take 10 slices of white bread and cut them into triangles. Heat up frying pan and then add butter. Soak the bread into the egg mixture and immediately place into pan. Make sure both sides of the bread are golden brown. Verdict from my daughters - very light, very warm & delicious, very grateful to the chef).

Tuesday they had Heinz barberque sauce baked beans & streaky bacon from Cold Storage.

Wednesday they will have mushroom chicken soup from Campbell’s and chicken pie from Sunshine Bread.

Thursday it will be Betty Crocker’s pancake and streaky bacon from Cold Storage.

Friday it will be plain white Man Tou with stewed pork.

You must be wondering why I do breakfast and not my wife. She does the dreaded ‘four letter’ work - wash, iron & dust the whole day long and needs her beauty sleep.

Why do I do what I do? Because I observed what my parents did. When my father had retired from his job he was the one who prepared breakfast while my mother slept on a little longer before facing the mountain of work that laid ahead in the day. Happily my parents divided the share of work to be done. I am merely following what my parents modelled for me.

My parents taught me well. Happy parenting!

Hi People

We spoke at a family seminar In Indonesia in early May. I just received a question from one of the participants regarding the question of ‘mummy tax’ that we imposed on our children since young. Here are my thoughts:

‘mummy tax’ is taken from Chapter 15 Price Fixing - Made For Life! from my book The Family CEO - Building A Happy and Successful Family

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To top it all, all of them contributed 10 percent of whatever income they received to their mum. This principle of ‘mummy tax’ is still in force today, whether they receive a monthly salary of S$1000 or S$3000. It goes without saying that mummy’s fortune will rise and fall according to her children’s work performance as they receive pay raises and fat bonuses or pay cuts!

Our children are taught to follow this model of allocating their monthly income:

10 percent to church/charity
10 percent to ‘mummy tax’
10 percent to save to invest
20 percent to the Central Provident Fund
50 percent to self

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The principles are more important than the amount that children give to their mother.

‘Mummy tax’ must be enforced at the earliest opportunity, ie the first time the children receive an income, the tax must be enforced. So if the kids earn some money from say a vacation job, they give 10% of that to mummy. If the kids get some income from giving tuition to other kids, they must also give 10% of that to mummy.

From the above we learn

Principle #1 Mummy tax begins the first time the children earn an income.

Principle #2 Mummy tax is enforced no matter how big or small the income is received.

The 10 % is a minimum. In Singapore there is already a high 20 % towards the Central Provident Fund for the individual’s old age and because of the high cost of living, we decided on 10 % for the ‘mummy tax’. So depending on the family circumstances and what is reasonable for everyone to help towards family citizenship rights & responsibilities, you can even set ‘mummy tax’ at 20% or more.

Principle #3 Mummy tax is set at minimum 10 % but could be more depending on what the family decides as reasonable.

So what if the family can well afford it and not need money from the children? We believe it is a good rule and tradition for the children not to take their parents for granted, so a good habit and tradition must be formed from an early age. So collect the ‘mummy tax’ even if parents don’t need the children’s money, then when they get married, the money can be set aside for a generous wedding gift or when you have grandchildren, the money can be used to bless them.

Principle #4 ‘Mummy tax’ is to inculcate a tradition of giving back to the family that nurtured and cared for them when they were growing up.

Running a family requires time, effort and money. Some members give their time and effort - like mothers who clean, wash & iron the laundry and cook for the family, like fathers who go out and earn a living and put food on the table. So even children when small can contribute a little towards the family budget and when big can contribute more towards the family budget and allow the father to retire comfortably in time to come. Money just doesn’t grow on trees.

Principle #5 ‘Mummy tax’ allows every member to contribute to the running of a family.

Remember “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods may vary, principles never will”. Happy taxing.