Navigating our finances 💰
My fiance and I graduated from uni this year and upon graduation, we bought a brand new EV, paid our BTO downpayment, and started our wedding planning!
A disclaimer that we did not engage our parents' help for any of our purchases, and because of that we are so incredibly blessed to have all that we do.
How we did it
Despite being fresh uni grads, my fiance and I have worked quite a bit and managed to build up savings from there!
I've worked various part time jobs since completing my O'Levels, and continued to do so throughout the course of being in poly. The moment I graduated from poly, I took up another part time role in tech while waiting to start uni. I worked full time while studying in uni, and continued to do so until I started my full time job! At one point I was balancing both a full-time internship and full-time work - it was TOUGH 😭
My partner also had a full time job for ~2 years before entering uni and he was blessed with a high paying internship when we were studying.
Moreover, we managed to secure full time roles in finance/tech before graduating!
We also do some very low risk investments in ETFs, fixed deposits and T-bills. We are not very big day-to-day spenders either and I believe in terms of growing wealth, making money > saving money.
How we planned for it
We were completely transparent about our finances with each other very early on, and created an excel of our monthly projections - how much we would earn, save and spend while taking the car, wedding and BTO into account. From there, budgets were determined and we could gauge the feasibility and payment structures of our large purchases.
We also tried our best to stagger payments so that we could maximise liquidity and maximise credit card rewards!
What I've learned from this year of ✨huge✨ financial commitments is to really create a shared set of principles, values and beliefs with your partner! Not everyone would agree with purchasing an EV for example, but it makes sense for us. Ensuring alignment with my fiance on how we would view money and use money has really helped us to make decisions with peace 🥲
Our journey navigating finances has really been all about testimony of God's timing and provision, and we are grateful and blessed and acknowledge that it's definitely not prescriptive! At times we really felt all the stars align and everything falling into place before we swiped at the chance.
For example, getting our BTO as uni students meant that we were eligible for the Deferred Income Scheme and hence only paid a 2.5% downpayment, or purchasing our car in the 2 week window where COE dipped to the lowest it has gone all year and so much. Might make a separate post explaining it in detail :")
...now we are on to wedding planning !!
Navigating finances as a couple can feel overwhelming, especially when making major decisions like purchasing a car, securing a BTO, and planning a wedding all at once. Based on our experience, I found setting a realistic, shared financial vision early on was key. Not everyone may agree on every purchase—like our choice to buy an EV—but having open conversations about our values and priorities helped us move forward with confidence. One helpful tip was creating a detailed monthly budget spreadsheet factoring in salaries, expenses, savings, and upcoming big-ticket payments. This helped us stagger payments wisely, keep liquidity strong, and even maximize credit card rewards. Also, taking advantage of government schemes like the Deferred Income Scheme for our BTO significantly reduced upfront costs, which was a blessing as fresh grads. On the investment front, we kept it low risk, opting for ETFs, fixed deposits, and T-bills, because we believe consistent growth is more important than aggressive high-risk bets at this stage. Another thing I learned is that making money through multiple part-time or internship roles before graduation paved the way for financial independence. Lastly, patience and timing matter. We noticed opportunistic moments—such as a temporary dip in COE prices—enabled us to make purchases more affordably. While our approach wouldn’t work for everyone, sharing our experience might help others planning to tackle similar financial journeys after graduation. It's all about trust, communication, and practical planning between partners.
Great job!!! Do u mind sharing what ETFs and which fixed deposits did you go for, pls!