Scrapbook of Thoughts

1Malaysia? Sure or not....

2011-11-06T02:32:00.001+08:00

I learned something from my trip to Kuching, Sarawak, yesterday. I'm not sure whether Sarawak is Malay-sure or not.

I was one of the speakers for Popular Bookstore's new branch opening in Kuching. The Tun Jugah branch, recently renovated with 12,000 sq ft of shopping space, is the largest bookstore in East Malaysia.

Upon reaching Kuching yesterday I had to queue up at the Imigresen counter, all the time wondering had I left the country. Which country am I in right now? They took my I/C, checked and then passed back to me together with an "Immigration slip" stating that I am allowed to stay in Sarawak for only 90 days.

I did my talk show at Popular and was soon on my way back to KL. Upon reaching the airport, I had to look for the departure hall. This is what I saw at first.

In case you can't read, the sign says "Pelepasan Domestik (dalam negeri Sarawak). Now do you think I should go in there? Obviously not, right? I would only be travelling to other parts of the big state of Sarawak.

This is what I saw next...

The sign says "Pelepasan Antarabangsa". Now do you think I should go for this? I don't think so. I'm not leaving Malaysia for another country, why should I?

Shit! I'm stranded. How the f am I supposed to go back to KL when you can't go in by both these doors? OK, before you start cursing, look a bit further, and you see this...

Wow! "Pelepasan Domestik (Luar Negeri Sarawak). Ah! That sounds more like it. Phew, safe at last. Or so I thought. I went to that door and after looking at my boarding pass the jaga fella pointed me to the Immigration queue at the Pelepasan Antarabangsa counter! Now why do they have two doors which lead to the same counter? That is what we call "take off your trousers in order to fart".

At least I made it back to KL, safely in one piece, but not after one last round of scaration. The officer at the Immigration counter asked me back for my Immigration slip (the one which stated that I'm not supposed to stay more than 90 days). I had thrown that slip into the waste paper basket at the hotel earlier! But, it turned out that he only asked for fun. When I said I didn't have it, he waved me in anyway. Say so earlier mah, scare until people small heart bob bob jump. Niamahai!

And some idiots are still trying to sell 1Malaysia... damn cunfusing.

Update on Euro Crisis

2011-10-16T22:29:00.004+08:00

What is the latest status of the Europe Crisis? Is the market going to crash? These are the questions on a lot of traders and investors' minds.

We have read a lot of stuff on the situation there from a lot of people. Most people are confused, including Soros, but Soros seems to have written quite a bit on the topic and I'm trying to summarise his thoughts here.

Firstly, the Crisis, as we know, came about because Europe (and of course, US as well) has spent beyond their means, resulting in a lot of debts. Some countries in the EU are weaker and some are stronger. Some owe more debt and some less. Of late, a few of those weaker countries are in for reckoning for the amounts they owed, Greece for example. The fact that there is the EU means that they sink or swim together, giving rise to the fear that if Greece (or any of the PIIGS countries) go down, they may bring down the rest of the guys.

The Crisis came to a boil as all eyes are on Greece to see what would happen if they really default of their sovereign debts. Almost everyone came to the conclusion (eventually) that the results would be catastrophic. The next question is, how do they save Greece? Soros' solution would be to set up a central credit body to bail out Greece. This would mean all the EU countries would have to cooperate to set up this body to bail out Greece. The confusion started when Angela Merkel, the PM of Germany, which everyone would agree is the strongest country in the EU, finally agreeing to the fact that Greece needs to be bailed out. However, the rich in Germany (as well as many other richer countries) don't like the fact that their money would be used to bail someone out. They would rather that someone sink for all they care.

If such an event is allowed to happen, Soros said that the result would be disastrous. Almost everyone agrees with him. That was why we saw the Dow and the European markets falling quite sharply over the past 3 months on these fears.

However, over the past week or so, the market suddenly became very optimistic as all the European leaders said that they are aware how critical the situation has become and they have vowed to solve the big problem together.

Now, if they can really sit down and work together as Soros mentioned right from the beginning, then the Crisis in Europe may finally be solved, at least for the next couple of years or so.

The next move right now would determine whether EU would be headed in the right direction in solving the problem. If they are headed in the wrong direction (regardless of the fact that they are all now rowing the boat together), then the boat would still sink, and quite quickly as the default date nears.

Soros is saying that the next correct move would be for European governments to guarantee their banks (I think he's referring to deposits, loans and bonds) so that the banks in all of Europe will not have the possibility of collapsing. He says that governments have the power to do that because they have the ultimate power to print. However, Soros is saying that the EU countries right now are on the verge of making the wrong move of recapitalising the banks first. The process of recapitalising the banks is crucial because the banks are not financially sound due to under-capitalisation. However, the process of recapitalising banks is not an overnight one. It takes time, and time is right now not on their side. Soros says that countries should immediately issue a guarantee first, then recapitalise later. These two steps will solve the whole EU Crisis, at least temporarily. So, in the coming days or weeks, we will need to see this step taken to save the EU.

On a personal side, some of us, including myself, have taken short positions on EU and the US, believing that this Crisis and the accumulated debt problems are too big to be solved. If EU survives this round, it would mean serious damage to our trading account. Having placed the bet (with or without stop loss), we would now have to just fold our arms and wait for the interesting outcome.

I still believe Europe would not be able to solve its problems, because some guys there may not believe Soros' analyses. Even if they do, they may still be selfish enough not to help bail out their neighbours. Our chances of doubling or tripling our money are still there, unless those guys really sit up and do exactly what Uncle Soros prescribed.

What's in a name?

2011-10-02T04:06:00.014+08:00

Today I am going to talk about English names used by Chinese people.

To a man, his name is the sweetest sound on earth. It was chosen and given by his beloved parents. There is a Chinese saying - You don't need to worry even if you are born ugly, but you should be afraid of having a bad name. Now, what does a bad name mean? It means many things, amongst others, something that is difficult to pronounce, or something that is not auspicious, or something that rhymes with bad luck or vulgar words. Brad Pitt recently commented that his name rhymes with shit.

So, make sure that your name is not only the sweetest sound on earth to you, but also to anyone who hears it. A random survey conducted in the US showed that people believe that a girl with a name like Grace or Geraldine would definitely look more beautiful that a girl with the name Gertrude, of course, without meeting up with any of those girls beforehand.

You can't have both

You can't imagine the amount of thought your parents put into just thinking of the best name for you. There are usually two considerations. They would like to choose a catchy name for you, at the same time the name must be very meaningful. It must stand for something important, such as your character, your destiny or some noble or righteous virtue. That is really quite a handful. At times it is quite impossible to have a meaningful name that sounds catchy at the same time. You can't have both. Parents trying to accomplish both fall into the classic trap of doing too much with too little. After all, it is just two words (for a Chinese name; the surname is fixed). They either end up having a splitting headache or compromising with a name that is meaningless and sounds awful. It results in the classic example found in Stephen Chow's movie, Kungfu, where the hero (none other than Stephen Chow himself) was saying, "Do you want me to whack him or do you want me to whack his mother? Please say it clearly; you're getting me very confused!"

Usually, and eventually, parents are forced to give up either one criteria. Many parents go for a meaningful name, thus sacrificing the catchy part. That is why at times, Chinese names can be quite a mouthful. Like Polish names, you may need two tongues and three sets of teeth. Try this, Hneoh Pneah... famous, 150-year old biscuit in Penang.

Rhyme time is the prime time

I personally would sacrifice the "meaningful" part and go for something that is not so challenging for my child's friends to pronounce when he grows up. After all, it's just a name, something whereby another person can address you. The Chinese say, it's just something to call you by - 都是一句吧了. But I have so far not found anyone who agrees with me. To almost everyone, a name must stand for something; it must be meaningful. I beg to differ, although I have nothing against a name that is meaningful. I just can't accept a guy having a name that is challenging to pronounce, thus giving everyone a hard time just trying to call out to him.

My first criteria, therefore, is that a name must be pronounceable so that anyone can have no problem hollering out to him.

If the "meaningful" part can be incorporated after getting it pronounceable, great. It not, so be it.

The other consideration that parents should be careful of is that the name should not be easily converted into a bad word, especially in Chinese or Cantonese. Back in my school days, almost all my classmates have nicknames, thanks to a few very creative schoolmates. Of course, some of these nicknames are not so flattering. Some are outright vulgar and insulting. And, given the amount of imagination that young kids have, parents should take some care to avoid having their kids' names turned into something embarrassing. Can you imagine a harmless-sounding and meaningful name like Chee Wai (wisdom in Cantonese) being converted into Chee Bai (cunt) by our little geniuses in school?

OK, coming back to English names. Why do Chinese people have English names? Simply because English names are easier to remember and usually (but not always) easier to pronounce.

Now, what is the problem with English names? Again, it is the classic example of not knowing who to whack, the guy or the guy's mother. What do I mean by that? You see, as a Chinese, if you want to adopt an English name, by all means adopt an English name. There is nothing wrong with that. The problem with some people is that they want an English name but at the same time they want to preserve their Chinese identity. At other times, they would like to be unique by not having their name spelled the same way as another human being on this planet. Pardon me but I think that is stupidity of a higher degree, simply because you are making it very challenging for your friends/customers/anyone else on Planet Earth. Just spell your name the way that an English person normal spells it. What the heck - life is already difficult as it is; you don't need to make it more difficult for your friends.

To be fair, not only the Chinese do that. Even English people love to be unique. Just that I noticed the Chinese do that very often.

It hurts me to see my friends having names that are difficult. I always feel they are shooting themselves in the foot, even though I think they are blissfully unaware and seriously think their name is wonderful. I would actually suggest my friends with names below (real people, these are my friends) change their names. Of course, most people would be horrified at that thought, but why not? I changed mine. You see, Andrew Chia is not my real name. It's only my pen name which I conveniently adopted to be my real name. My real name is not only difficult to pronounce but it sounds like a bad word. I even changed my son's surname so that it doesn't sound so bad like mine. Most people are shocked that I go to that extent (my son and I don't share the same English surname!), but I'm a Chinese, so the English spelling for my name is not really that important to me. After all, in life there are two things that are important and the way to spell your name is not one of them. The two things are, staying alive and staying healthy. Everything else a bonus.

I still remember having this little conversation with my beloved mother when I was just a kid. "Mom, I'll be ten years old next month. I'm so happy." "Don't be silly, Son, you're already eleven years old this month accordingly to our Lunar calendar." "But I go to school and learned that I was born in xxxx year and according to the calendar used by everyone, I'm nine years old right now." "OK, boy, always remember this; you are Chinese and we Chinese follow the Lunar calendar. Ask yourself, are you Chinese or are you guailoh (Westerner)."

OK, here goes... (sorry again to my dear friends)

You : What is your name?

New Friend : Alycia Yap

You : Let me save your name on my handphone. That is A-L-I-C-I-A, is that right?

New Friend : No! It is A-L-Y-C-I-A

You : I'm sorry. (Quietly... What the fuck!)

You : What is your name?

New Friend : Sky Wong

You : OK, sky as in that something blue over our heads?

New Friend : Yes

You : (Quietly... OK, sun, moon, Sky, planet, fish pond... Fuck!)

You : What is your name?

New Friend : Angylia Yong

You : Angela?

New Friend : No! Angylia.

You : How do you spell that?

New Friend : A-N-G-Y-L-I-A

You : TLMKCH! (Cantonese bad word)

You : What is your name?

New Friend : Aeric Fong

You : Give me a minute; let me save that on my handphone. E-R-I-C F-O-N-G.

New Friend : No! It's A-E-R-I-C

You : KNNCCB! (Hokkien bad word)

You : What's your name?

New Friend : Eling Choong

You : Ok, Elaine, I'll call you tomorrow.

New Friend : No, not Elaine. It's Eling.

You : What kind of English name is that?

New Friend : Sorry, it's not an English name. It's my Chinese name.

You : Tiew.......... (I mean I want to tiew your mother for giving you a Chinese name that sounds like English.)

SMS : Hi, my name is Heaven Chia and I'm from CIMB property loans division. Pls call me if you need the best housing loan rates and highest valuation for your property.

You : Great! Heaven, sun, moon, sky, hell, WTF.

(You reply the message: "Hi Heaven, can you tell me whether I should address you as Mr or Ms?" I'm cunt-fused.)

New Friend : My name is Janicce Tan. Please text me if you need any assistance, ok?

(The next day...)

You : Hi Janice, can I buy some cream from you?

New Friend : Sorry, Jack, my cream is sold out. BTW, my name is Janicce, not Janice.

You : OK, you go and shiok sendiri la.........

New Friend : Hi, my English name is Marice Wee

You : How do you spell that?

New Friend : M-A-R-I-C-E

You : Wow! You've got a nice Phillippine name...

You : What is your name?

New Friend : Nakrooz Fou

You : OK, how do you spell that?

New Friend : That's N-A-K-R-O-O-Z

You : (Speechless...) I have a friend, her name is Wangari Maathai I'll introduce her to you. (world renowned environmentalist who just died.)

You : Hi Lenglui, what is your name?

New Friend : Renesial Leong

You : (Quietly... Siao chabo... I'm sure the Malays will ask why sial...)
(Renesial is Andrew Chia's most respected property investment guru.)

You : Lenglui, what's your name

New Friend : Theresa Ng

You : Let me write that down, That's T-E-R-E-S-A, right?

New Friend : No! It's T-H-E-R-E-S-A

You : Mother Teresa, help me!

You : What's your name?

New Friend : Whygers Lim

You : OK, you don't need to explain...

You : Hi, what's your name?

New Friend : Xueer Gan

You : You must be Whyger's friend. Excuse me, I'm going back to my planet...

You : Lenglui, what's your name?

New Friend : Ynshxien Goh

You : Come again? Ok, never mind. I know your two friends...
New Friend: Oh, you don't know nothing. I have more friends... Allem Kiong, Apel Woo, Collaborate John, Frankleen Ong, Ginp Luu, Jenice Lee, Jonick, Kylee Wang, just to name a few... I'll introduce them to you one by one when you are free.
You: Thank you, I'm busy producing my new film Jurassic Park, The Beginning.

Jet Li is Fahai in his latest movie. Shall I say more? And yes, my friend's shop selling baju on the 3rd floor of Times Square is Lacroix. Yes, WTF, you would say; we are already struggling with English and here comes the French...

Talking about French, guys, the place behind Sunway Pyramid, South Quay, is pronounced South Key and not South Kuih, ok? Niamahkahai, you would say, fucking developer trying to play high class, giving problems to people who don't go to school like me. Tiu..........

How to become rich in a bad economy

2009-01-23T01:47:00.003+08:00

Are you sick and tired of being poor and running the rat race?

How would you like to be in the same class as the rich? Living in big houses like they do and moving around in big cars? Giving to charity like they do?

Would you like to live a life that is free from financial worries? Are you dreaming of retiring at a young age?

If you have the above dreams, you are on your way to becoming The Final Winner in the race to financial independence and early retirement.

But first, you need to know the answers to these questions:-

1. What are the assets that they rich have?

2. What is the practical difference between the poor and the middle class?

3. How to avoid operating your finances on the red line, as in our car speedometer?

4. What is Einstein’s greatest mathematical discovery of all time, and, how can you use it to become very rich?

5. What is the cost of your procrastination worked out mathematically?

6. There is only one way you can retire. What is it?

7. What causes the downfall of rich and powerful people and, how can you avoid it?

8. How can you break the “three-generation curse”?

All these questions, and more, are answered in Andrew Chia's e-book The Final Winner which you can download by clicking on this banner,

The Final Winner - Make Your Vision Come True

The proceeds from the sales of this e-book will go towards the development and marketing of CharityMalaysia.com, Malaysia’s first online fundraising and donation portal.

Concept of Industry Standard

2008-10-31T09:41:00.002+08:00

Industry standard means a product or service that is used by the most people in the industry. Using "industry standard" means you can be cost-effective on the things you buy, and spare parts will be easily available.

I was first exposed to this simple idea while my partners and I were working on our IT project in the 80s. Our supplier who is also our schoolmate, Rico Ho, taught us the importance of being "industry standard".

Rico, being a programmer, said that the industry standard (at that time) was dBase. The advantage of using dBase was that he could easily find other programmers who are well-versed in dBase to edit or build on his works.

If you buy expensive things like a house or a car, for example, it is important to bear this in mind. Say, if you buy a town house or some kind of duplex, you may find it difficult to sell because most people prefer standard things like terrace houses or condos. And, if you buy a house with a number 4 in your address, you will find that you can only sell to the Malay market.

If you buy a Toyota or a Proton, the price will be cheaper. Spare parts will also be cheaper because they are easily available.

This idea applies to other products like electrical items, furniture, computers, mobile phones and software.

So, next time before you make your purchase, bear in mind, "industry standard".

Scarifies.........

2008-08-19T00:21:00.001+08:00

Why do we scarified? We scarified something because of some trade-off or somebody close to you or your love ones. But then why does this happens?

Betrays...........

2008-07-15T00:44:00.000+08:00

What is betrayal? This kind of situation happens commonly in our life, whether it is personal life or business partnership. But today we will talk about betrayal in business partnership, very often the partnership kick-off with a very positive manner. Most partnership started with close friends, relatives, brothers & sisters or even parents, and they all started to plan on how to run the business, who to do what and mostly technical issues.

But then a lot of businesses failed to plan the life span of the business, the changes of the life styles of the partners and the withdrawal plan. As the business runs, competition sets in, market forces are causing the company to evolve or the partners plan for the evolution. Then sooner or later it will reach a point when times will be very tough or very good. The problems start to surface, politics sets in and changes are an eventuality. Why this happens?

Simply because, at the beginning of the business, and the partners failed to forecast the life span of their business or partnership. Why do we need to forecast the life span of the business? Because as time goes by, life styles and needs changes, some might have a family commitment or some might want to pursue their interest after making some money. But all these factors are not taken into account when they start the business.

They will put in their love and passion to run the business. As years goes by, changes in the market as well as the partners’ life styles become visible. They will try to toggle between personal life and business. Because they are running the business with love, they will get emotional upset when things do not go their way, when there is love, there is hatred. Then finger pointing will starts and the feeling of betrayal sets in. A lot people have the misconception that their business is their baby and they fall in love with it and very reluctant to let go of it even though it is a sinking ship.

If they runs the business with only winning and losing in mind, and a mature attitude towards losing, then betrayal does not happens in the company, unless your partner is going after your wife. Then it is your wife that betrays you and not your partner…..

Life's Goals

2008-06-20T00:03:00.000+08:00

We all attend motivational courses at least once in our life time, but a lot of people have would have attended numerous courses. And after awhile it is more like an addiction towards these courses, it happens most often to people who seek career in the insurance industries and direct selling business. Are these courses beneficial to the attendees? Most people will give a solid yes without even a blink of the eye, why? Because all attendees will feel recharged after the course and energetically continue to pursue their career, this is very great, but then if we look deeper, motivation shall come from within ourselves. And what is within us? Then it boils down to the goals in life, which is the most favorite topic of all motivators, goals setting.

They will ask you to list down what you want to achieve and by when? Everybody will start to take a pen and paper to write down what they want, and most of the time is mostly material objects, like cars, houses, vacation and so on. They start to work on it and achieve it, then the car is not big enough and the next goal is to acquire a bigger, and will never end. One day this person will sits down and ask himself, did I achieve success in life?

Then he will ask himself what success is and what are the goals in life? This is an age old question in life, but there is no definite answer to it. But if we look closer into ourselves it is all about having a good life and always feels good about it. Very vague isn’t it, but nobody can answer it, to answer it, we need to look into the seven goals in life.

Financial Goal – By achieving financial goal does not means an enormous sum of money, but is about achieving financial freedom.
Physical Goal – Is about having a good health to see through your life time. And this good health will gives you the energy to carry out your missions in life.
Family Goal – Are you having a healthy and a happy family life?
Mental Goal – Are you acquiring new knowledge, keeping abreast with changes in our world, and using this knowledge?
Human Relation Goal – Are you having a good circle of friends, and this circle of friends will always welcome your presence?
Social Goal – Are you contributing for the good of the societies, and helping the needy, which in short is, are you philanthropy?
Spiritual Goal – This come into play, for you to attain a peaceful self, do the good things in life, as all religions teaches us to be good and morally strong.

Only by attaining the above seven goals, then only we can consider ourselves to be having success in life, and there is no yard stick or bench mark to measure it, it all comes from within us.

Consumerism Pattern

2008-06-19T01:18:00.000+08:00

What is consumerism pattern? It involve how we buy things, how businessmen sells their products. The consumers' patterns mainly revolves around our desires, thoughts, emotion and skills and behavior towards SEX( Scheduled/Spontaneous Emotional Experience) also plays a role.

Consumerism is define as an over indulgence in consumer spending which give rise to consumers buying unnecessarily.

How a selling process starts? It all started when somebody have something to sell. This person who has the things to sell will crack his head on how to sell it. The sellers will always create or trying to convince you that you needed their products and hence, gives rise to impulsive buying. The person who sells what people needs will most probably end up poorer than people who sells what people want.

What is buying? The process starts when a person have a needs or wants to purchase a certain item which he feels is necessary. This will give rise to impulsive buying when a person in confused between his needs and wants. This emotion will motivate or initial him buy the product. But after careful analysis on the function of this product, and how it will help him in his daily life, very often we will found that this particular purchase is more of a need rather than want.

When we are motivated into buying items based on emotion, the joy of having it is quite short live. This will generates further desire to purchase an upgraded version of the model which have features which you feels that you needed it.

All human beings have invisible floodgates within them; these floodgates control their emotional, thoughts, skill and desire. The emotional floodgates control how you feels towards someone special, how emotional you feel to an object or ideas. If your emotion is controlled, this person might not be able to feel your love; this will caused numerous problems in a relationship, whether it is marriage or business partners. This paper will only touch on business activities only, however, the way we handle our business will indirectly affect the way we handle our personal affairs.

A lot of businesses faced problems because the owner makes too many emotional decisions and too emotional attached to their ideas and business plans. Emotion should practice with care and considerations an over flow of emotions will give unnecessary stress on the business. Example; when a project had faced with some hitches. The project manager thinks of a method that can resolve it, but then numerous factors had pointed that his idea cost too much and might not be effective. But, this project manager is too emotional attached to his idea and force a go ahead, if the idea pulls through, but at what cost, if not what are the consequences? This is a case of unable to control their floodgates of emotion.

The Overlooked Subject

2008-06-18T21:17:00.000+08:00

Financial intelligence is a subject not taught in schools.

Mathematics and Science are subjects. History and Geography are subjects. The Languages, Arts, Physical Education, Engineering, Law, Medicine, Agriculture and Architecture are subjects. Even Beauty and Skincare, Flower Arrangement, Hairdressing and Auto Maintenance are subjects.

Subjects take TIME to learn. It can take anything from 6 months, for example, Flower Arrangement or Ancient Massage, to 20 years. To be a doctor you have to go to school at age 7 and graduate at age 27. We are not born to know subjects, unless we are geniuses. Even geniuses like Mozart still have to study the Music subject formally.

There is one critical subject that is not taught in school. Neither is it taught anywhere outside the school. That subject is called Financial Intelligence. Some professionals mistake this subject as Accounting, Financial Management, MBA, Economics, Management, Commerce, etc. No, these subjects may be part of the syllabus of Financial Intelligence but they are not the subject. Financial Intelligence teaches us things like Assets and Liabilities, the differences between the Rich, Poor and Middle Class, and Investing.

Just like any other subject, Financial Intelligence takes time to learn. Contrary to what most people believe we are not born to know this subject.

We do not know whether this subject is as important as Medicine, Engineering or Law. But one thing is certain; not knowing this subject may cause a lifetime of hardship. One who has mastered this subject will have the power to do good to mankind. In 2006 Warren Buffett donated 85% of his wealth of US44 billion towards charity.

Financial intelligence is an overlooked subject.

The Dark Side

2008-06-18T21:14:00.000+08:00

There are many books written on positive thinking, right mental attitude and self-help. This is because there is indeed a force that chains people to the dark side so that they are not able to succeed in our money world.

Napoleon Hill once said, "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." The reverse is true. We cannot acquire the skill to make $600,000 a year if we are trapped in an unbelieving $60,000-a-year brain. The two most powerful words on earth are none other than, "I can't".

You can choose to break free because it is our Creator's will that we live a life of abundance.

Can you see yourself associating with any self-limiting attitudes mentioned in Robert Kiyosaki's best-selling book Rich Dad Poor Dad mentioned below?

Poor Dad says, "The love of money is the root of all evil."
Rich Dad says, "The lack of money is the root of all evil."

Poor Dad says, "We can't afford it." (Brain stops working.)
Rich Dad says, "How can we afford it?" (Brain starts working.)

Poor Dad says, “The reason why I’m not rich is because I have you kids.”
Rich Dad says, “The reason I must be rich is I have you kids.”

Poor Dad says, “When it comes to money, play it safe, don’t take risks.”
Rich Dad says, “Learn to manage risks.”

Poor Dad always said, “I’ll never be rich.”
Rich Dad says, "I’m a rich man," even when he was broke at times.

Poor Dad says, “I’m not interested in money. It doesn’t matter.”
Rich Dad says, “Money is power.”

The Poor work harder, take a second job but accept a smaller pay.
The Rich keep using their brains to think of new ways to make money.
OUR BRAINS make the difference between whether we are rich or poor.

Do not be encaged by self-limiting attitudes. Break free today!

You Need Two Jobs

2008-06-18T21:08:00.000+08:00

Working to get income means working for our company. Working to pay tax means working for the Government. Working to pay our liabilities means working for the bank. We should work for ourselves!

In 1974 Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s stunned the world when he said, "My business is actually real estate and not hamburgers!” Today many people know that McDonald's make more money in real estate than selling burgers. That is their actual business.

Now, in order to be rich we need to look for another job for our money to work, while doing our daily work. That should be our actual business, not our day job.

Money working at the bank's time deposit account will get only a very low pay of only 3% a year with no other benefits.

Money working at properties may get paid about 10% a year in rental plus high bonuses in terms of appreciation.

Money working at the stock market may get dividends, bonuses in the form of capital appreciation and other benefits such are rights and bonus issues.

Money working at a business as capital will get paid in profits.

Find a job for your money today. That's how the rich do it.

Get a good job for your money today.

The Only Way to Retire

2008-06-18T20:56:00.000+08:00

Asset means residual income.

Yes, for those of you who are still not sure exactly what assets are all about; assets put money into your pocket. That is what residual income does!

Residual income simply means that you are getting paid many times for doing work once.

Elvis Presley went into the recording studio once and gets paid each time his album is bought. And that means millions of times.

Walt Disney makes Pirates of the Caribbean once and each time it is screened anywhere on the planet they get paid.

You buy a piece of property once and you get rental each month for a very long time.

Warren Buffett studied hard to find a good company's shares to buy at a cheap price and he is rewarded with high dividends and capital gains year after year.

Bill Gates licensed his software to IBM and many other organizations and individuals including you and me. He also gets paid millions of times.

JK Rowling writes a book on Harry Potter and gets paid millions of times.

Internet marketing gurus sell products and services over the internet and get income over and over again.

Network marketers can have hundreds or thousands of down line associates working for them while they sleep and generate millions in residual income.

Businessmen and industrialists generate profits by having money as well as people working for them.

Assets generate residual income.

Breaking the Three Generations Curse

2008-06-18T19:12:00.000+08:00

You may not have heard of it but the "three generations curse" is a proverb in Asian countries, particularly among the Chinese. The first generation earns it, the second accumulates it and the third spends it. It is no less true in the west although we may not have a fancy name for it.

Some are lucky to be born on the right side of the coin but they never figured out the way to get there.

They soon find themselves back on the wrong side of the coin. And because they have not figured it out they plunged back into the rat race reserved for the poor and middle class.

The way to break free of the three generations curse is just to accumulate assets! With assets you gain back your financial freedom. And thereby regain your time freedom.

You can break the "three generations curse" by acquiring and accumulating assets.

Eighth Wonder of the World

2008-06-18T19:08:00.000+08:00

Albert Einstein once said that the eighth wonder of the world is compound interest. He also says that it is the greatest mathematical discovery of all time!

The simplest way to riches is to save and invest. Save. Invest. Save. Invest. It might be boring but I'm sure you have heard of some old, uneducated ladies who have gotten rich just doing this. They beat some college professors with their sophisticated methods. Einstein was right.

$10 a day can grow into a million...

in 74 years with a time deposit rate of only 3%.
in 34 years with a good property investment rate of 10%.
in 20 years with a good stock market dividend and capital gains rate of 20%.

Our parents were right when they said, "Live on less than you earn. Invest the surplus. Avoid debt. Build long-term security." It is not the exciting get-rich-quick rabbit but the tortoise laughs slowly all the way to the bank. Einstein foresaw it.

The eighth wonder of the world is compound interest.

Red Line

2008-06-18T19:06:00.000+08:00

The maximum speed your car can go is up to the red line on your speedometer. If you go faster than that your engine may blow up.

Many people, including the rich, operate their finances constantly at the red line. They spend money as fast as it comes in.

Earn $800, take a bus
Earn $1,000, get a small car
Earn $1,500, get a medium-sized car
Earn $2,000, buy a condominium
Earn $2,500, change into a bigger car
Earn $3,000, get married
Earn $3,500, have kids
Earn $4,000, change the house
Earn $4,500, spend more credit card
Earn $5,000, time to change car again
Earn $5,500, buy a more decent house
Earn $6,000, buy a golf membership

Not enough money? Do overtime, get a second job, do network marketing.

When they reach retirement age they still don't have any assets.

Doctors say the problem today is stress caused by working too hard and not having enough money. One doctor says that the biggest cause of health disorders is "cancer of the wallet". When people feel financial anxiety what do they do? They hurry off to work and work hard. Or, they shop for house or car to buy or go play golf.

More money will not solve the problem, if cashflow management is the problem.

You will have no money left to buy assets if you live constantly on the red line.

The Difference

2008-06-18T19:02:00.000+08:00

Do you know the difference between the poor and the middle class?

The poor have expenses only. He does not qualify for any liabilities like housing loan, car loan or credit card. Whatever the poor earns as income is fully used to pay his bills and expenses. The poor live in fear of losing money, try to be cheap and live frugally.

The middle class have liabilities besides expenses. The middle class guy even thinks that some of his liabilities are assets, that is, his house and his car.

If we have more money but increase our expenses and liabilities, we won’t be rich. The rich, poor and middle class go broke because they lose control of their expenses.

The following is a survey done by the US Dept of Health, Education and Welfare. By the age of 65, for every 100 people...

36 are dead
54 are living on government or family support
5 are still forced to work
4 are well off
1 is wealthy

The middle class have liabilities besides expenses.

Secret of the Rich

2008-06-18T19:00:00.000+08:00

The rich have assets.

What exactly is an asset? An asset is something that puts money in your pocket. Examples of assets are real estate or property, stocks and shares, mutual funds or unit trusts, time deposits or fixed deposits, bonds and business.

The rich have real estate that give them rental income.
The rich have stocks that give them dividends.
The rich have mutual funds that also give them dividends.
The rich have time deposits and bonds that give them interest.
The rich have business that generates profits.

The rich became rich because they build up their assets.
The rich stay that way because they keep accumulating assets.

Your house is not an asset because it does not generate income or put money into your pocket. Even paying it up fully does not make it an asset.

The rich have assets.

The Great Misunderstanding

2008-06-18T18:57:00.000+08:00

The Great Misunderstanding in our money world is thinking something is an asset when it is actually a liability. Liabilities cause recurring expenses like monthly instalments, interests, repair, maintenance, insurance, taxes and depreciation.

Most people suffer financially when they buy liabilities and think that they are assets. This minor oversight causes a lifetime of financial struggle. Just because something is listed under the asset column does not make it an asset. Don't feel bad. Many adults including very qualified professionals always get asset and liability wrong! This is because the accepted method of accounting allows liabilities to be listed under the asset column.

Before we can be rich we have to be financially skillful. Understanding accounting is part of financial skill. With this skill you can create your own luck.

One who cannot read a financial statement will have the least money and the biggest financial problems. An average investor cannot distinguish between a security and an asset. Don't be average.

Your money life will spin out of control if you have nothing under the asset column, huge liabilities and many items under the expenses columns.

Mistaking a liability for an asset may cause a lifetime of financial struggle.

Edgewater

2008-06-18T18:52:00.000+08:00

In 1923 a group of America's greatest leaders and richest businessmen held a meeting at Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Among them were:-

Charles Schwab, head of the largest independent steel company
Samuel Insull, president of the world's largest utility
Howard Hopson, head of the largest gas company
Ivar Kreuger, president of the International Match Co., one of the world's largest companies at that time
Leon Frazier, president of the Bank of International Settlements
Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange
Arthur Cotton and Jesse Livermore, two of the biggest stock speculators
Albert Fall, member of President Harding's cabinet

Twenty-five years later, nine of them (all listed above) ended up as follows:-

Charles Schwab died penniless after living for five years on borrowed money
Samuel Insull died broke living in a foreign land
Ivar Kreuger and Arthur Cotton also died broke
Howard Hopson went insane
Richard Whitney and Albert Fall were just released from prison
Leon Frazier and Jesse Livermore committed suicide

No one can really say what happened to those men. If you look at the date of the meeting it was in 1923, just before the market crash and the Great Depression in 1929. We suspect that it had a great impact on these men's lives.

We believe that it is possible that these rich and powerful people may at the same time lack financial intelligence. And money without financial intelligence is money soon gone. - Rich Dad

It is not how much you make, it is how much you keep.

90/10 Rule of Success

2008-06-18T18:46:00.000+08:00

90/10 Rule of Success: In any field, less than 10% of people will excel.
- Andrew Chia

Observe the fields of study, sports, money-making or even hobbies and you will find that this is not far from the truth. Understanding this rule will encourage us to strive to be among the 10% who succeed. It will also guard us against complacency as we will not want to be among the 90% who fail.

Rich Dad's 90/10 Rule says that 10% of the people had 90% of the money. Wall Street Journal (13th September 1999 issue) says that 90% of all corporate shares in America are held by 10% of the people.

In the United States, statistics show that 90 out of 100 businesses fail within the first 5 years. 9 out of the remaining 10 fail in the next 5 years.

Thought making money is easy? Now you know the odds. Take up the challenge. Go for it. Make a commitment not to stop learning something new about making money each day.

Be amongst the 10% who succeed.

Be Hungry!

2008-06-18T18:30:00.000+08:00

All of us want to be rich. But before we get down to seriously learning about money we need to understand the first criteria for success in any endeavor, that is, hunger. Hunger creates the passion essential to produce excellence in any field, be it studies, sports, business or simply hobbies.

Do the following statements echo what is in your heart?

I hate being poor.
I hate being ashamed of being poor.
I hate being forced to work all my life.
I hate not being able to do what I want.
I hate not being able to buy what I want.
I hate not being able to go where I want.

I love being rich.
I love being proud of being rich.
I love to be free to do my hobbies.
I love being able to help my loved ones.
I love being able to buy what I want.
I love being able to go wherever I want.

We cannot tell anyone how to get rich if they do not know why they want to get rich.

Hunger creates the passion needed for success.

Women Don't Need Men

2008-06-14T13:08:00.001+08:00

Women today either marry late or they don't marry at all. Statistics from many countries especially developed countries like Singapore show that many women marry after their thirties compared to the early twenties or even in their teens less than half a century ago.

The world today is very different compared to yesterday. For example, yesterday only straight sex is acceptable. Today we can hardly keep track of the variations. We not only have heterosexual but homosexual, bisexual, transexual, transvestite, gay, lesbian, pondan, bapuk, hermaphrodite and many others. All are clamouring for acceptance and recognition. The world has since been more understanding and tolerant to other sexual inclinations.

Not only the marriage age has gone up but the divorce rate also has shot up. In America, at least one third on all marriages ends up in divorce courts. (Some say the actual figure is as high as 50%). In fact there is a standing joke that says that marriage is the present tense of divorce.

Woman today are also different from her sisters of yesterday. Yesterday she can accept her man having affairs. In China for example, a wealthy man can have "three wives and four concubines". It is perfectly acceptable. Today, she says, "over my dead body".

Women of yesterday are not independent. They depend entirely on their husband for their livelihood. One of the main factors is education. Women were not given the chance to go to school. They are therefore not able to command jobs and earn high income. They have to stay at home and answer to every beck and call of their husband.

Today, women are educated, can command a good job and earn enough to support themselves. In some cases they even earn more than their husband. They are now independent. That's why today they do not need to get married for economic reasons. They do not need to put up with all the "nonsense" by their husband.

In Asia, a lot of women nowadays do not even get married because of many stories by their friends who have less than a fairy-tale ending with their spouses.

Men therefore have to work double hard to win the hand of their dream lovers. They are now less of the weaker sex compared to before.

Difference Between Man and Woman

2008-06-11T21:42:00.000+08:00

Men are generally more promiscuous than women. A visit to Adultfriender, the largest adult social networking site in the world started in 1996, reveals that there are 90 men looking for women but only 10 women looking for men. At last count (June 2008) Adultfriender has more than 24 million members.

Why is this so? The logical explanation is that it is nature's way of propagating the human race. If we use a little bit of our imagination we can see that men need to be more horny. If the situation is reversed, the world today would have a population of only 0.7 billion instead of 7 billion. I cannot expound more on this because it would be crude.

Most men can love a few women at the same time. They don't see anything wrong as they have lots of love to give. They can spend the time and money on the women that they love. However, most men marry only one woman and they don't have affairs. This does not mean they don't love many women. Maybe they just can't afford the time and the money.

Some men love only one woman; usually their wife.

Some men sleep with many women but they love none of them. They just need to fulfill their lust. It doesn't mean anything more.

When man looks upon the woman for the first time, they just only think about sleeping with her. They may or may not fall in love with her later. Men think about sex every six seconds. When a man says, "Can I buy you a drink?" he means can I have sex with you.

Most women love only one man; usually their husband. They feel bad if they love another man other than their husband. Women are generally faithful. Furthermore, they are more sensitive to other people's opinion. They are afraid of other people calling them a slut. Therefore, they cannot tolerate if their man love another woman. Just as every woman must not cheat on their husband, so every man also must not cheat on their wife.

Some women love more than one man. They have affairs with other men; sometimes other women's husband. They don't mind because they have enough love and time for another man other than their husband.

Some women sleep with many men but they also love none of them. They just need to fulfill their lust. It doesn't mean anything more.

A woman usually falls in love with guys who are kind, gentle, loving and considerate. Even though they also think about sex, they put love first. When a woman says, "Can I buy you a drink?" she means can I buy you a drink.

If a couple is aware of the above differences they can communicate better. For example, the Clintons are understanding about each others sexual needs and are more tolerant. Otherwise, couples will need to carefully hide their true feelings from their partner.

Improving Your Vocabulary

A kid asked his father, "Dad, what's the difference between confident and confidential?" The father replied, "You are my son, that I'm confident. You see your friend over there? He's also my son. That's confidential."

Your thoughts

2008-06-09T17:24:00.000+08:00

Positive thoughts always

Renovation Tips

2007-03-31T10:01:00.000+08:00

Want to renovate your house? Where do you start?