A lesson from an elderly couple

I helped an elderly Indonesian couple in their financial planning matters. 2 years ago, the goal was to transfer their wealth from Singapore back to Indonesia because they felt Singapore was too expensive to live. They bought a piece of land in an exclusive area on a mountain range, built a nice bungalow which is surrounded by the beauty of nature.

This time round, I was surprised that they wanted to shift back to Singapore. Below were excerpts of our conversation:

Me: "Why do you want to shift back? You have already spent so much money and effort."

Elderly man:"Yes, we love the house, the beauty of nature. But in life sometime you just mis-calculated, and life have to go on."

Me:"Is it because of your wealth and the locals got uneasy with you?"

Elderly man: "No, we kept a low profile, dress and eat simply. But somehow we are not being accepted by the local people."

Me: "But you and auntie(wife) were born and grew up in Indonesia, you speak the local language as well as anybody there?"

Elderly man: "Yes we were born there. But because we are Chinese, a line has been drawn between us and the locals. We get along well, but only superficially. We were lonely most of the time. This problem will be serious if one of us dies. The surviving spouse will have great difficulty living alone. Over here, we know fewer people, but we made more friends."

I learnt a great deal in this meeting. Sometime, we like to view the grass is greener at the other side, and neglect our own turf. It is good wisdom to spend time to nurture and work on the grass in our own turf. The grass will always look greener at the other end (i.e. place of residence, career, spouse etc), but it is the grass in our hand now that is real, solid, and meaningful. It is up to us to make it beautiful.