Liquidity: the anxiety antidote

Inflation is stacking up in ways that a budget alone cannot absorb. Higher petrol costs, astronomical COE prices, rising electricity tariffs and grocery bills that seem to creep up every month. None of these is a single catastrophic event. But together they are quietly eroding the financial cushion that many Singaporeans assumed they had. The gap between looking financially stable and actually being financially prepared is wider than most people realise.

In this episode of Money Hacks, a podcast by The Business Times, Howie Lim speaks with Walter de Oude, founder and CEO of Chocolate Finance, about why liquidity has stopped being a preference and become something closer to a survival tool. de Oude has spent years thinking about this specific problem and he is refreshingly direct about the habits that leave people exposed.

Why listen

• Why having emergency savings does not automatically mean you are prepared  The money might be there but if it is locked in an insurance policy, tied up in ETFs or sitting in a fixed deposit, it may not be truly accessible when you need it most. de Oude explains the difference between saving and genuine liquidity.

• Why financial stress today is more likely to come from stacking small costs  Rising inflation does not arrive as a single bill. de Oude describes how incremental increases across petrol, groceries and utilities quietly compound into real financial pressure before most people notice.

• The three to six month rule and how to actually apply it  de Oude gives a simple, practical framework for calculating how much accessible cash you should have and where to keep it to make sure it is both safe and earning something useful.

• The one stubborn habit de Oude cannot seem to break people out of  Fear of getting started is more universal than most people admit. de Oude is candid about why inertia is the single biggest obstacle to genuine financial preparedness.

Being financially organised and being financially prepared are not the same thing. This episode helps you figure out which one you actually are. Listen now.

Money Hacks is the flagship personal finance podcast from The Business Times. Catch past episodes at bt.sg/podcasts. Have a burning question or episode idea? Email the team at btpodcasts@sph.com.sg.

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Written and hosted by: Howie Lim (howielim@sph.com.sg)

With Walter de Oude, founder and CEO, Chocolate Finance

Edited by: Howie Lim & Claressa Monteiro

Produced by: Howie Lim & Chai Pei Chieh

A podcast by BT Podcasts, The Business Times, SPH Media

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