If you’ve been following me and my articles for a while, it’s very difficult not to discover how much I have changed over the past 1 year.  I have grown to learn more about and taking control of my own finances, as well as how to be a better human being; to care for my family, my loved ones, my friends, as well as the people I’ve come across.

On my financial life, I have slowly learn to take control of my finances.  As frankly as I have to admit, my initial investments that I’ve done have been almost a disaster.  I have never thought seriously what my financial health was.  All that I know was that I have a certain amount or figure in my bank account.

Only when the financial crisis hit did I realize that I have substantial investments then (and now) stuck in non-performing financial vehicles.

Now, the problem is not a significant loss on paper.  I take that literally as a valuable learning experience and move on.  And because I take ownership of my experience, I do not lay any blame on anyone now.  I took courses and attend as many seminars as I possible can to accelerate my learning on what has been proven to be my weakness.

Many people I come across blamed everyone, except themselves, on being unable to protect themselves and their own family finances.  They blame the fall of Lehman Brothers and the tragic loss of jobs world-wide as a problem that is caused by others.

Little do these people realize that their present lives are largely in their own hands, less natural and other catastrophic disasters.  All sages in the past, such as the Buddha, have already pointed out the universal law of Cause and Effect.

In other words, you will reap what you sow.

As in every crisis, such as the recent financial meltdown and the upcoming Swine Flu pandemic, do you ever pause to think why all these happen and figure all this out?

More importantly, can you do something about it?

—

Looking Back At The 2008 Financial Crisis

Back in late 2007, it never occurs to anyone that most markets were overbought and that a major US housing bubble was about to burst.  Even one of my old secondary school friend (whom I met rarely) was telling me that if the market continues to head North, he would have doubled his new capital invested in unit trusts (mutual funds) in a year time.

It did not occur to me back then that it was indeed a red flag!

Lacking an ability to sense for dangers and opportunities have taught me a very valuable lesson – that in the world of investing, one shall not be lazy and make financial decisions from rumors, public and even opinions of others.  One should assume personal responsibilities to make sound and decisive decisions based on one’s limited competency.  Any mistakes discovered in due course shall be one’s valuable learning experiences – and that nobody can take that away from you until you die of course.

Therefore, I urge you to take responsibility of your own financial education, or just about any form of education in the trade that you are seriously engaged in… to master and be extremely competent in.  Only then can you ever hope to improve your present situation, something that most people probably take a lifetime to figure out… of which you can have easily benefit over here from my personal sharing.

—

Looking Forward & The 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic

The very reason why I have progress much over the year is due to my constant reflections of what’s going on around on around me… that is the ‘outside world’, and the ‘inside world’.

Sadly, the recent outbreak of the flu pandemic may be a reflection of the collective state of all human minds.  Nowhere in history have humanity created so much wealth and fear until the last few decades.

Did you know that you and I (I suppose that since you’ve got a computer and you’re reading this blog post now!) are enjoying the lifestyle (if not better), what Kings and Queens have exclusive access to that were merely a century ago?

Has it ever occurs to you that we are so bless to enjoy all the goodness of life that is not even conceivable less than a century ago?

Yet, people in most part of the world are more unhappy in spite of better education and health care that we are all enjoying here right now (especially true in the context of Singapore).  Adults are more frustrated now about the amount of time and efforts they have to put in to cover a comfortable amount income to support their family.

The state of the human mind have collectively lead us to self-destruction if we are not mindful of our spiritual health.  Many people are now rather sick in their mind, as evidences are plentiful on the newspapers you read everyday.  Moral and ethics have gone down the dustbins as information is now disseminate faster with the rise of the use of the Internet.  Wealth are created faster as a result, but the human heart and mind have deteriorated significantly.

Just less than 50 years ago, Kampong life is a heaven for our parents and even some of us who are born before the 1960s or 1970s.  Everyone knows one another and cares for each other despite the scarcity of comfortable lifestyles.  Though we were poor, the hearts were happier.  Everyone were contented and lived in harmony.

Fast forward 50 years… globalization and capitalism had changed everything.

Most people are so cold to one another.  Very few people give way on the bus and MRT queues.  Most people refuse to give way to alighting passengers and attempt to get on-board the moment the train door opens.  Once in the train cabin, most people refuse to move into empty spaces of the train cabins.

When there are discounts or cheap sale in virtually anything, for example, tour packages, free airline/place of interest tickets etc… people will queue up early in the middle of the night and get into heated arguments when there are disagreements.

What have changed over the last 50 years?

Did we not have more and better lifestyle?

Why all these fear and unhappiness?

The problem usually lies in the widely adopted consensus on the scarcity of money (or as debt as I have discussed in my earlier post).  In fact, the real problem lies in the state of our minds, that we are all conditioned to think of scarcity of resources; be it time, money, sleep… whatever you think you feel you are lacking of!

But when you pause to think for a while, do you really think there is a scarcity of what you think it is?

If you ever think hard enough, our basic needs have not changed very much a century ago.

Do you ever need more food?

Do you ever need more clothing to keep warm?

Do you ever need to drink more water than our ancestors?

Do you ever need an advanced roof to protect your family?

As you begin to drill deeper, you may begin to dawn on the critical problems we are all facing.  The human body have not changed much over the last century.  But our hearts and mind have weaken and submitted to the ever unlimited temptations and desires.

The sad truth is, the human heart and emotions have not progress significantly ahead as compared to our material progress.  In fact, keeping your life very simple is one secret to a achieving self-fulfillment in all areas of the human life.

Here, I am speaking about spiritual development of the human mind.

—

The ‘Outside World’

Like it or not, we are all living in a dream.  We live in a state of conscientiousness and what we perceive as reality is merely a projection of what our mind perceives and understands.

The ‘outside world’ is what we perceives as real and permanent, when it’s actually not.

So, is the material world false, and that we abandon all pursues of them?

Personally, I have come to discover that the ‘outside world’ is where our physical form and conscience mind operates on.  It’s like a dimension or space; it’s where our senses and emotions are driving us everyday.

As you’re reading this, you are operating from your sight sense, your physical form.  As long as you and I are still attached to this form, we cannot abandon our material needs.  Therefore, it makes the most sense for me to maintain the well-being of my physical form (which is changing and non-permanent) while pursuing development in the ‘inner world’.

And how do we achieve this goal?  It’s through maintaining and developing our financial health with constant meaningful, compassion and spiritual purposes in mind.

—

The ‘Inside World’

Maybe all of us have forgotten our spiritual world – or what I call ‘inside world’.

Our material needs have long clouded our minds… and that we’ve forgotten that our very existence are the results of our past actions, our Karmas.

Since most people are so busy dreaming on the ‘Outside World’, it is rather sad that so few people have come to realize that we are so overwhelmed by it and pay so little attention to their ‘Inside World’.

When we look into the mirror, we see ourselves.

But why are there so few people who will even bother look at themselves in their spiritual mirrors?  And what I mean by spiritual mirrors, is constant self-reflections on our thoughts and actions.

Personally, I am getting very worried for our next generation.  But I know there is little I can do.  Kids are now getting more demanding and pressurized by the society to perform.  Our good cultures and values have been now been passed over by their maids and their parents do not care if their children are learning the good ethics.  Many have assumed that fighting hard pulling up all sorts of tricks to put their children in good schools will automagically turn their kids into successful and smart grown ups.

Sadly, nothing can be further than the truth!

Perhaps, many parents do not do self-reflections themselves.  Their sphere of compassion is getting very limited now and often assume a mode of scarcity.  This is very dangerous to their mental well being, not just to their children.

As I see teenagers and childrens behave on the trains daily, I can’t help but wonder what the world would be in the next 20 years.  The next generation adults are likely to turn for the worse, and because of this vicious cycle in the human heart, the universe response in greater rage far worse than the Swine Pandemic.

—

Conclusion:

Yes, the Aeon of the Pisces is definitely coming to an end in year 2150AD, as it did some 2009 years ago for Taurus.

Today, we all now have plenty of opportunities and tools to become really wealthy compared that to our parents and grand parents some 50 years ago.  Rest assure that humanity will continue to push for greater wealth and scientific advancements in the decades to come, as already predicted by sages.  However, are you cultivating your mind to progress in lockstep tandem?

I pray for your spiritual well-being!

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish, and

May all beings be Safe and Happy!

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• Room for Debate: Swine Flu: A Cause for Panic? (roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com)
• K-State researcher finds 1918 flu resulted in current lineage of H1N1 swine influenza viruses (scienceblog.com)
• Commentary: Why swine flu scares us (cnn.com)
• Swine flu roots traced to Spanish flu (cbc.ca)
• Swine Flu Reality Check: Really That Bad? (abcnews.go.com)

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Truth to be told, most folks never really take a serious thought what they have done, and more importantly, what they have not done in the year that is to be expiring (or have whichever point in time you’re reading this).  Even then, only a very small percentage of those who did so do not pen it down… or rather blog about it.  After all, we’ve advanced quite a bit technologically have we?  So there’s no excuse for not doing so…

Whichever is convenient for you, do keep a record of all your achievements for the year.  It’s your own report card – something only you along can create and review over if you’re serious about your own life.  Some areas of my life which I focused on  (I conveniently take them from my coach) are as follows:

1. Business (career etc)
2. Finances (relations with money etc)
3. Relationships (family, relatives, friends, enemies etc)
4. Life (spiritual development in general)

For me, it has been a very really fruitful year!  I have set out with an intention to attract an amazing amount of learning in many areas of my life, especially on core competencies such as managing my own finances and take charge of my own investments… and I’m happy and blessed to report that I’ve progressed quite a fair bit!

I know what you’re thinking about…

Most people by this time may have been completely wiped out financially as the major tsunami has finally crashed onto the shores of our economies.  And if you believe me, I have seen this coming at the beginning of the year and it is very obvious that the coming year will be an extremely tough year for businesses.  Many folks will be retrenched, more will have their pay cut or reduced, and many will witness their bonuses evaporated.

Many have asked, “Is there light at the end of the tunnel?”

My simply answer, “Definitely YES!“.

Financial disasters are excellent wealth creators and if you have been working smart (and not hard) by equipping plug yourself into the necessary networks, up your financial knowledge and boost your emotional intelligence by going against the fears of the herd (majority), you will be like me to emerge with for financial abundance when the tide goes down in the coming years!

Of course, financial success does not comes without a lot of environmental support and spiritual growth.  It is naive to pretend otherwise because the laws of the universe simply works that way.  Your inner mind and your outer environment is extremely crucial and it shapes your very present moment.  If you’re broke, it’s because your inner mind (or financial blueprint) has been subconsciously conditioned for financial failures.  Your environment is most likely non-supporting too; it drains you off your precious time and mental energy, resulting with very little time you can spare to concentrate on improving your own finances.

If you’re not so sure what I’m talking about, allow me to share my learning and may you be inspired too!

January-February 2008

• Getting Started in the year of the Flaming Rat – A sense of care for our lonely elders!

I began the year with a very humble beginning thinking how I can contribute back my time and energy for the community.  A rare chance came along for me to join some like-minded friends to give out food to lonely and elderly folks in Chinatown.  Although I didn’t know most of them, it dawn on me that it wasn’t really important after all because our common objectives were met.

Very few Singaporeans actually know that there are many unfortunate old folks who are living very much alone in the heart of the buzz of Chinese New year… commonly known as Chinatown.  Most Singaporeans only know Chinatown as a modernized shopping spot for the Chinese festive season.

Most of these folks live in a block of over 30 levels of single room HDB flat just next to the much elaborated Fuo Ya Si (Buddha’s Tooth) Temple.  It sounds very ironic isn’t it but this is the sad truth in life.  If you take the life up to the 15th (mid-way) level and check out its surroundings, you can quickly contrast the bright afternoon sun ray with the extremely dark corridors where hundreds of old folks live behind closed doors – some of them alone and no more relatives in Singapore.

It saddens me that some of these old folks have quite a number of children.  Unfortunately, most of them have decided to abandon them for their own families and careers outside the country.  The only consolation part is that there are often volunteers who come along to help distribute food and living necessities to them, and some even help out in some cleaning and mopping.

Having experienced the short trip and still being able to reply much of the memory till today has been a great blessing for me.  So while you’re struggling on to provide for your own family, do remember to spare some thoughts how you may end up be lonely and need someone else to take care of you when you’re too old or unable to feed yourself.

• Owning my very first and Powerful Digital Camera!

Owning one of these little digital gadgets has been one of my desires and I am finally blessed to be able to own one myself!  It’s a little hard to justify a $500++ gadget unless I can convince myself to put it to good use.  Now that I know how to work out the compounding mathematics, it turn out that this device will cost me $4231 if the money were to be put to compound 15% for 15 years!

9 months later, I have been enjoying this valuable gadget… something that can help me review lots of memorable moments, pictures and videos.  It certainly did add a lot more excitement and colours to my family and friends!

So was it worth $4000++ future money?

As the saying goes, there are some things money can’t buy! 

March 2008

• What Matters to You and I Most…

March was both a shock and a surprise for me.  It never occur to me that on my birthday, my father was admitted to the hospital for mild stroke!  Life is simply unpredictable.  Suddenly, I realize that our bodies are so fragile… and that our time on this little planet is so limited!  Even my elder brother admitted that his health has not been so good after years of hard work in the insurance business.  The money is good but one is trading health for wealth.  Is our time and wealth all that is worth?  It makes me contemplate deeply…

Waiting at the A&E (accident and emergency) at Changi General Hospital is one unpleasant experience.  You can witness all sorts of people who can carried in on stretchers for all sorts of reasons.  There was even one military escort case for a handcuffed detainee.

For the whole day, I was not quite sure what to expect… and it seems to me that the only thing I could do was to stay with my father.  Fortunately, the doctor finally declare that the stroke was not deadly and my father could recover well with proper medication for mild diabetes coupled with physiotherapy.

Through this incidence, I came to realized that now I am a lot more closer to both my father and my elder brother… especially my brother; for he is rarely at home.  Having a dialog with him in a month is most certainly a rare opportunity these days!

Do you have a very similar situation like mine?

Perhaps, constant in-depth communication with your family is the single most important aspect of your relationships.  I vividly remembered the wise words from my coach: “When the dialogue is stopped, the relationship is over.”  How beautifully phrased can that be!  If only more folks can appreciate the depth and wisdom behind that statement!

• Investment opportunities in Commercial Real Estates!

I’ve finally gotten a glimpse of what it feels like when I was introduced to the concept of investing in commercial real estate.  If you were like me who have never understand what various forms of investment is all about, much less about understanding the risks involved in each type of asset classes, you’ll be amazed at how much I have learned this year alone!

To most investors and speculators, real estate is commonly viewed as owning a piece of land, residential property, REITs or Royalty Trusts.  If invested wisely, real estate investment can generate substantial cashflow periodically along with possible capital gain if the property market is in your favor.

Unfortunately, Singapore’s property market is on the downturn since the beginning of the year and it is likely to hit its low soon.  Thus, many investors start to look for real estate opportunities such as those in Canada, USA, UK, Malaysia and even Thailand.  In my case, I was looking at fundamentally strong economics of oil, gas and tourism industry of Canada, in particular to the state of Alberta, Calgary.

As in any form of investment, liquidity and foreign exchange are one of the highest type of risks one can be exposed to.  It seems strange for me to get started but I guess one has to get take the first step after evaluating all the evidences of sound investment principles.  After all, I can either end up as a sucker or winning reasonably well.

So far, the rental income from that investment had increased in despite the severe decline of the US housing markets.  As of last week, I have received a 3% bonus and tax-free passive income.  The first rental income, as I was informed earlier, will be scheduled for payment in April 2009.  This is the first passive income stream that I’ve built this year. 

April 2008

• Connecting the Dots Looking Back by Steve Jobs

One of most memorable speech I’ve heard this year comes from the famous founder of Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studio in a graduating message to MBA graduates of Stanford University.

If you’ve noticed many of my previous posts, I’ve sign off using the tag “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”.  This is a really awesome statement when applied to your own life.

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

• Adam Khoo’s Leadership Foundation Course
  

I met Adam Khoo in a workshop last year and I quickly felt very blessed to learn from him.  Interestingly, I’ve gotten another chance this year to learn from some of his best trainers for the cooperate world!

Many folks are not well exposed to the styles of coaching in this part of the world, therefore some students may find the course pretty uncomfortable or unable to appreciate the depth of experiences that were shared.

In fact, the trainers gave a lot of insights on what our economy is heading and how one should develop certain competencies to engage the coming challenges.  I can tell that possibilities are boundless, and it’s only possible if one is constantly ready to challenge oneself, adapt quickly and embrace changes.

This is an obviously a new paradigm but it seems strange that most people are not ready for it yet.  The challenges of our generation (Gen Y) is facing an increasingly complex environment that demands us to handle a lot of information.   Information is useless until we make sense out of them, or find important meaning behind them.  This implies that thinking, understanding, imagination and creativity is absolutely necessary.  Finally, the ultimate purpose of these constant exercise is to find clarity.  Without clarity and purpose in what we are doing, there is no way we achieve what our mind set out to do.

It was a simple course, but there are profound messages embedded behind it.

May-June 2008

• Discovering my Simple Health Formula!

I started taking health supplements again after a 3-year break.  Looking back, it seems that I have already survived 6 months later! 

Combining with a special breathing exercise, I feel myself a lot healthier.  In fact, I have not been sick, not even once since the day I took the special supplements.  However, I still feel tired and very soon, I discovered that it is due to insufficient sleep.  With some good recommendations from a close friend, I have been sleeping before, on and around mid-night.

So whenever possible, I force myself to get to bed as early as possible (preferably before mid-night).  This practice also force me to concentrate only on the important tasks at hand and help me focus and get things done very efficiently.

On 25th November, I took a comprehensive health screening exercise (DaySpring Wellness) and received a scientific “report card” over my health conditions.  I am blessed to discover that all areas of the test appear to be normal and some even optimal.  However, I believe that my HDL and LDL cholesterol level can be further improve upon.

With this purpose in mind, and for a new commitment in year 2009, I intend to take on more natural vegetarian food as often as situation allows, and reduce on meat consumption.

Why Go Vegetarian?

Perhaps, you may not see the benefits I’ve seen recently in a series of videos.  Humans are not designed to eat meat.  By eating meat, we humans have created scarcity in food and create more hunger and poverty in 3rd world countries.  Furthermore, if vegetarian food is taken correctly, there are perfectly no health issues.  Personally, I am a bit “Kiasu” (a Singapore Slang – it means not to loose out) in nutrition and I will continue to take health supplements, solely for health insurance. 

If you’re so blessed like me, you are most welcomed to view the following short videos to learn all about going vegetarian – the whys:

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #1

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #2

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #3

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #4

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #5

A seed for a better world (让世界更美好的善种子) Part #6

Watch all 6 Parts Here!

—

A New Mobile Gadget For Me!

I’m a pretty frugal person.  Since graduation, I have never paid more than $50 for a mobile phone.  Interestingly, I caught a good deal this year in a StarHub roadshow this year.  This deal comes perfectly timely as my Nokia 6610 batteries are starting to fail quickly and IDA recently announced the freedom in mobile number retaining when customers port between Telco service providers.

Without a shadow of a doubt, I switched over to StarHub on a 24 months contract, paying $48 for the cool Nokia E51 security sensitive device!  Along with it comes a 6 months free subscription, rendering the service an 18-months deal.

It’s a no-brainier deal to a value buyer (Ha!  Speaking of value investing!).

July 2008

• Millionaire Investor Program -
  Perhaps The Only Course in Asia for Investing the Warrent Buffett’s Way!
  

July is a life changing month for me…

I have been studying diligently about investing in common stocks, attending free seminars so far but I have yet to make any progress in action.  As the saying goes, “Knowledge without Application is Lame”.  Indeed, no amount of books will prepare me to make any move until I discovered a very important deal in July…

I caught sight of a headline, an advertisement, in one of my private forums run by my close buddy Leroy.  It said: “Investing The Warren Buffet’s Way” or something like that.  It was a preview seminar to teach people how to evaluate businesses using Buffett and his teacher, Benjamin Graham, methodology.

I am not an idiot or newbie to this industry… that such preview seminars are out to sell you something by giving you an idea, or something free so as to entice you to sign up for a course.  Also, I am no new comer to the legendary value investor, Warren Buffett and his teacher Graham.  I have personally read his original publication, “The Intelligent Investor” and I’ve always found it inspiring if his methodology can be applied equally in this part of the world.

I invited a few guys to join me on this seminar, but only my colleague CY was interested.

Being a skeptic of scams myself, I still keep an open mind throughout the presentation and understood all the marketing gimmicks presented.  I was ready to shut off my mind when one benevolent presenter went on stage and presented a little game… and this game changed my perspective and understanding immediately!

I thought I was able to understand financial statements after all the reading I had been doing.  The game instantly revealed my deficiencies in understanding various aspects of the financial of any company.  The game had only 4 listed companies, yet I was unable to pick the only winner in the list.

I was no dummy.  I knew from the bottom of my heart that this knowledge and experience in refining this skill alone and itself will put me way ahead of most speculators, traders and so call professionals and analysists in the markets.

Unfortunately, there was one problem – the course fee started out pretty steep – $4,995!

I knew I had to pass this one off, but deep down inside me, I knew its value.  Price is merely a concept of money.  Value is what you can get out of it perpetually for the rest of my life.  I knew that if I had to pay that figure, I would… but my trained skeptical protection immediately kick in and warn me – “Not so fast baby!“.

And true enough, all sort of marketing gimmicks were thrown in… but I was not moved.  I gave myself a target price to pay for the value of the course.  Nothing more than $x,xxx.  Eventually, the price fell below my target price and I gave myself the green light.  I’m already sold on to the course at a huge discount!  It’s a steal – I know it intuitively! 

It’s still above 3 figures, but I’m not a newbie to paying for something valuable, especially for my own personal improvement that is invaluable for life.  Most people cannot understand beyond this and that is why most people struggle in life.  They failed to identify value and grab opportunities when the price is right.  I must warn you that there are plenty of opportunities around you everyday.  Unless you’re trained to see them, there is no way to know, much less take advantage of them!

That’s it!  I was glad to locked in at a very low price what others are still willing to pay about 2x more than I paid for at the time I’m writing this.  I suspect that there is a huge demand for this kind of course, and much more as economic cycles gets shorter and shorter.  It’s really easy to become really rich if you follow through at least 2 bear markets as it is happening right now.  Maybe by the time you read this, the course fee might have skyrocketed back to $4,995 AND without all the bonuses and access to our private mastermind group.

If you are interested to find out more, you are most welcome to send me a comment for more information.  There are no obgligations to take this course, but somwhat, I would like as few people to know about it as possible… ahh… my small self is kicking me again!  Well, let’s just let nature discover you then!  There is no enlightened wealth if folks are not convinced of the benefits.  However, I will be most blessed and grateful to share this with any willing and open individuals who are tired of trading for a living.

August 2008

• Opening up my CDP account at Invest Fair 2008!

Yes!  I have been doing a bit of research by now and I’ve zeroed in a few possible low cost brokers to get started and gaining ownership in my own investments!

I’ve identified CIMB-GK, Kim Eng, DBS Vickers and Philips Capital as one of the most established and lowest cost authroized brokers in Singapore.  Coincidentally, I found a $1 deal for 8 trades with CIMB and I signed up immediately!  Brokerage fees are at least $25 and this means I saved $200 already!  What a no-brainer especially for value investors!

The Invest Fair was a very good event to understand more about value investing and understanding the property market in Singapore.  It’s like a mini-crash course all in one seminar!

You can read in much more detail on the exhibition on the link above.

• Millionaire Investor Program Batch #1
  

End of August was a time for me to absorb the course I’ve taken up.

After the first day, I was like slapped on the head already!  I can challenge you that I have learn more in a single day than most investment courses out there you have ever taken – in a single day!

Investment psychology is so darn important yet people fail to take notice and treat investment like a big gambling game.  You have heard of the concept of “Buy High, Sell Low” right?  It’s a no-brainer, but most people take it the opposite way!  It’s no wonder why most people in the markets are loosing money!  Their psychologies are playing against them, and I’ve read somewhere before… that extensive research have already proven this phenominal, and it’s consistent even with folks who are very high in IQ.

As legendary value investor, Warren Buffett, pointed out: “You don’t need an IQ of more than 125 to invest.  Any more higher is wasted.”

I’m beginning to realize the wisdom of his approach.  The more I keep to that practice, the more I find it intellectually profound and easy to implement as long as you keep your emotions at bay by not following the crowd.  Achieving a compounded return of 15-20%pa is possible and achievable to most retail investors!

September-October-November 2008

• Secrets of Millionaire Mind Intensive by T. Harv Eker
  

Millionaire Mind Intensive is a 3-days seminar over the first weekend of November.  With over 5,000 people from all over the world, folks get to experience and understand their relationships with money.  Though the seminar was heavily peppered with marketing and sales talks, careful filtration enables one to extract really valuable information that can be readily applicable in one’s financial life!

One important concept I find very applicable is the 6 financial jars.  Personally, I like the concept of “Play Jar”.  It helps relieve one from the stress of spending money, which can cause one to feel guilty when one is supposed to be investing it or saving it properly.

The 6 jars form very important money management system which most folks do not have an idea how powerful the technique is.  For me, I’ve already established my FFA, LTSS, NEC and PLAY jars.  The 2 jars remaining I have not sort out is my EDU and GIFT jar.  I am currently adjusting my GIFT jar with my time so that I can maximize them for important FFA and EDU jars.

Besides applying the 6 jars concept, I’ve gotten to experience first-hand how powerful marketers can whipped up so quickly and got so many people to pay their hard-earned money.  It’s a lot like powerful Internet marketers who can craft emotional and triggering words to entice people to buy irrationally.  Having seen all their marketing gimmicks and very little genuinety in their offers, there were very little reasons to pay them any money.  Having said that, there is but one course, “Train The Trainers”, which I think makes the most sense.  Harv himself was a clear example of applying that single skill to make a lot of money in all his seminars.

• Millionaire Investor Program Batch #2

November was a great time to review the MIP after having seen the major market drawdowns in September and October 2008.  I was blessed to attend a complete and slightly revised MIP.  Through this review, I improved my understanding of financial reports by sharing my knowledge with my fellow graduates, as well as students of MIP #2.

You see, you cannot improve quickly unless you can share genuinely  with an open heart and mind with the intention to learn too.  And this can only be accomplished with people who are willing to reciprocate.

I was also blessed to meet many more like-minded friends whom I have increased my learning too!

• Dividends – My First Passive Income Stream!

It’s kinda hard to imagine that I have received my very first passive income stream at the end of the month only having stayed invested for a little over 3 months!

Now, dividends are very nice cashflow to receive in times of financial meltdown.  Coupled with reinvestment and proper money management skills, it its not hard to figure out amazing compounded returns over a long time-frame when one invests in the right type of businesses.

December 2008

• Rental Income – My Second Passive Income Stream!

On the second week of December, a 3% early bird bonus was credited into my bank account!  This cashflow is a one-time payment because I had stay invested since March this year.  Rental incomes are very exciting for me to receive when I know that I don’t have to do any more work and the cash keep coming in for as long as I hold an ownership to the property after paying off all expenses to maintain the professional management services.  It’s a small glimpse for me to be a little business owner… cool!

My first 4.5% rental income is scheduled to flow in by April next year.  It is interesting to note that by April, I will be taking time off from the market to focus on my Internet projects, and I’m still getting paid!

• “Tuesdays With Morrie” By Mitch Albom
  

I was really blessed to have a chance to borrow this book from LR and have invested a few days finishing it.  Man!  I must kick myself for not taking a friend’s advice to read this book when I was introduced to it more than 3 years ago!

This is an awesomely profound and spiritual book to read in under 3 days!  I urge you to read this little novel in the light of your own spiritual practice and see if you can find deeper meaning in your life.  Some of the most beautiful quotes I’ve extracted are as follows:

• “Once you know how to die, you know how to live.”
• “If you can accept that you can die at any time – then you might not be as ambitious as you are.”
• “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep, even when they are busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
• “A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything.”
• “Love each other or perish.”
• “Love is when you are as concerned about someone else’s situation as you are about your own.”
• “Love is the only rational act.”
• “Without love, we are birds with broken wings.”
• “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in…”
• “As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become.”
• “You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”
• “In truth, there was only one Christian, and he died on the cross.”
• “What’s wrong with being number two?”
• “You talk, I’ll listen.”
• “Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone.”
• “Money is not a substitute for tenderness, and power is not a substitute for tenderness.”
• “There is no experience like having children.”
• “People are only mean when they’re threatened.”
• “You see, you closed your eyes. That was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see, you have to believe what you feel. And if you are going to have other people trust you, you must feel that you can trust them too – Even when you’re in the dark. Even when you’re falling.”
• “I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations — one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it — you will regret both.”
• “Dying is one thing to be sad about, living unhappily is another thing.”
• “The sick are the greatest danger for the healthy; it is not from the strongest that harm comes to the strong, but from the weakest.”
• “I need to respect my children worlds, or else this disease will have ruined the three of us instead of one.”
• “The culture we have does not make people feel good about themselves. and you have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.”
• “Why are we embarrassed by silence? What comfort do we find in all the noise?”
• “People act as if death is contagious.”
• “Death takes away life, not relationships.”
• “You live on – in the hearts of everyone you have touched and nurtured while you were here.”

In fact, my buddy LR wrote a short article on his feelings and afterthoughts that moved me quite a bit.

This little book is selling in Popular Book store for as little as $16.00 ($14.40 if you use the 10% discount card) and it gives so much beauty to the meaing of our lives!

If you’ve never ponder how you are going to die, then I’m sad to affirmed that you’ve never learnt how to live.  Death is the beginning, not an end as you might have been taught incorrectly.  In fact, if you’re well versed in Buddhist teachings, death itself is not frightening.  It is when one is not prepared for it that is frightening!  Death is a natural process that cleans out the old for the new, a universal law that no man have yet breech, and cannot be breeched.  Not even great emperors, or the presidents of supernations.

If you happen to know a very famous MediaCorp artist, Zhou Chu Ming, you would have realized that he has forgotten all that is to life until he was dignosed with his terminal disease.  He has been doing financially well over the years with MediaCorp movies and all his part-time property businesses, and yet, he failed to realized the truth, even when his best friend MC King collapsed and died recently.

What do you want yourself to be remembered as when you die?

Were there anything meaningful in this world that you should be doing, you know it and you’re still not doing, however small it may be?

Give yourself a punch or a slap in the face and set a resolution to get started in year 2009!  You deserve it!

And don’t forget to grab this book and read it.  I promise that your life will become much more fulfil somehow!

—

• Investing In Pure Gold!

Gold to most investors are but mysterious and elusive diversifications.  Recently, I was introduced to this concept of investing in solid pure gold, 24 Karat and 999.9 fine gold bars!

I know, this sounds very skeptical to me too…

Nevertheless, I kept an open mind and checked out the presentation.  It was nicely presented with lots of information to follow up.  The gold bars presented were real 100g gold pieces that anyone can carry around in their pockets.

I’ve verified further that each gold bars were wrapped in special pastic wraps that were supposed to be tamper protected.  Tearing open each pack will breech the security marks which nullified their certification.  Each gold bar is certified by PAMP, that is claimed to be on par with International Standards and rating as solid as gold issued by Credit Suisse, Switzerland.

Indeed, these gold bars are highly in demand world-wide and are open to investors to buy at 2% discounts.  Under the contract, you can sell them back at the end of the month for the original price you’ve paid.  That is a whopping 2% capital gain while locking down the volatility of spot gold prices for 1 solid month!

Sounds too good to be true?  I’m not sure yet but I’ll probably will not be investing in this one.  I am currently quite strapped up for cash in some solid investments and business, so I cannot commit something new yet.

However if you are interested, feel free to drop me a comment with your details and I can get back to you.

• Onwards To Year 2009!

It’s been a long article, and I must thank you for reading my blabberings (if you have been so faithful, I thank you from the botton of my heart)!

Year 2009 is not going to be easy for most people, but with a little good planning, a little luck and some disciplines, we can expect a very wonderful year to accomplish great things for the benefit of humanity.  Do keep your comments rolling in and perhaps even to engage me intellectually too!

Stay hungry, stay foolish!

Be Blessed, Peace, Inspired & Enlightened in Year 2009!

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Two weekends ago, I was sticking around Singapore Expo, attending one of T.Harv Eker‘s Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar – and yes, Harv was here in Singapore!  There were an amazing number of people participating in this event – a whopping 5000++ crowd!

I was with 2 of my friends, whom they were quite irritated by the marketing throughout the entire seminar.  As much as they enjoyed or hated the heavy selling and marketing, I did my very best to listen and pay attention to what Harvey has to share.   Below are some of the key points, which I’ve learned from the 3-days intensive seminar.

• “Don’t believe a word I say” – T. Harv Eker
  

Yes!  You’ve read it right!  And Harv is right too!  Very often, folks take information for granted and have fail to exercise independent thinking.  And I must note that too.  Don’t believe a word I write here too.  Do your own thinking and figure out if I make any sense at all.

• The most dangerous English words are: “I Know That”

How many times do you hear your inner voice saying “Don’t try to teach me that… I already know…”?

In fact, there are so many instances when I caught myself thinking, “I know it”.  Fortunately, I learned over the years how to detect such dis-empowering way of thinking, by constantly opening up my mind and inviting myself to be challenged.  Of course, my ego often gets in the way… and that’s even harder to suppress!

• Pay yourself 10% first.

It’s so fundamental… I don’t have to explain this right?  Unfortunately, most folks never put this into actions.  The worse of the kind are those who already know it but never put any concrete actions into the doing.

Personally, I have an automatic investment of about 10% of my active income every month.  This simple and fool-proof strategy allows me to average up and down irregardless of market conditions.  After much learning about various forms of investments, I am also starting to set aside an extra 10% every month into my FFA jar (more into this later).

• Clarity Is Power

I’m constantly unimpressed by folks who says they want more money but they sit there and do nothing!  Some even have the cheek to tell you that it’s too expensive to attend courses or even time to attend free seminars.  Most importantly, they have no idea how much money is enough.  The usual answer is “The More The Better”.

Unfortunately, “The More Money The Better” is not acceptable!

This mode of thinking is obviously a source of scarcity.  Unless one is aware of this truth, there is no power to change since there is no clarity.  Therefore, financial success to many people is never possible, always suffering without even knowing why.

Clarity leads to power, where power empowers you with the ability to act.  By simply knowing absolutely how much is enough and by when, your financial path is all set once clarity is formed.  The rest is finding your way towards that clear goal.  For example, “$120,000 pa residual income in 10 years’ time”.

• Financial jars – a consistent and proven money management system.
  It forms the basis of your financial success.

For me, the jars are very useful principles that can be easily applied by just about anyone regardless of their income.  I was very inspired by this simple methodology that I started setting aside a PLAY jar.  Here’s how it works:

(Note: The percentages shown are purely suggestive figures.  You are free to adjust them to your needs.)

FFA jar 10% – Financial freedom jar.  You never ever spend this money until you’re financially free.  For investments only.
EDU jar 10% – Pay for your continuous financial education.
LTSS jar 10% – Long term savings for spending jar.  For buying large ticket items.
NEC jars 55% – Necessity.  Used for paying all your bills and living expenses.
PLAY jar 10% – For treating yourself well, you must bust this account every month or quarter.
GIVE jar 5% – Excellent money receivers are also excellent giver.  If you cannot afford $, then give your time.

If you’re married, you’ve got to talk to your spouse to agree on your common distributions.

Again, this is difficult if your spouse is a spender.  Be really honest and open up your communication with your spouse.  Have it agreed upon and set up a separate joint account for each jar.

If you’re just like me who use internet banking exclusively, you may like to open a few separate bank accounts or use an electronic spreadsheet to monitor all your deposits daily.  Either way, I feel that all the jars are very important.  The PLAY jar is something new to me and this is probably one of the biggest take away from the seminar for me.

• Financial Freedom Formula

If you’ve read Harv’s book, this formula is pretty clear:

1. Income
2. Savings
3. Investments
4. Passive Income
5. Simplify

If you’re concerned with your financial future, you must be putting in most of your waking time working to increase on one or more of the above.

• Financial Freedom?
  Formula: Passive Income > Expenses

This is one of the most abused term in the industry. When you hear folks saying they want to be a millionaire, just what  does a millionaire do and think?  The money itself is a result of actions from clear investment and/or business goals.  Even if you make a million and spend it all, you’re nowhere near financial independence!  Your expenses will scale upwards as your income increases.

Hold it there… it appears that the secret formula to financial freedom is to reduce expenses right?

That’s partially right in my opinion…

Most folks do not understand the rule of expense buster.  If you diligently keep track of all your daily expenses (and I mean it!), you’ve already discover how much you need in your necessity jar without shortchanging your survival.

Cutting down expenses is a daily routine you’ll need to be conscious about.  The key is to spend whatever you need based on the value you’re getting out of each item.  The longer the value you can derive out of a product/service without recurring payment, the better.

Of course, not only you’ll need an expense buster, you’ll also need to compound your money (ie. make your money work harder).  That is why I focus my attention to stable and recurring passive income streams through diversifying my investments to various classes of assets.

So what are the common types of passive income the rich invest in?  Personally, I’m not so sure because Harv did not mention all of them in the seminar.  Here is a possible list I’ve came up with:

1. Scalable and Systematized Business/Franchise
2. Network Marketing
3. Stocks/Equities
4. Commercial Real Estates
5. Internet/Affiliate Businesses
6. Royalties from Intellectual Properties (eg. Music, Books, Artwork, Software Licensing etc)

The key is to focus your time building pipelines of passive income, one at a time until all your expenses can be comfortable paid for from these passive sources.  Once that objective is reached, you have achieved financial independence… and you can then decide to choose to work or not, depending on your passions.

• Grow Your Golden Goose and Never to kill it

This concept is very simple but most folks find it hard to understand, let alone to apply it in real life.

The golden goose is your FFA jar.  Never, never, never, never ever spend it.  The main objective is to grow this fat goose to lay as many golden eggs as possible, have them hatch and allow each golden little geese to create that passive income streams for you.

Essentially, this means allowing the magic of compounding to take effect over a long time frame.

Never allow yourself to kill the goose (spend your FFA jar).  If you desire to pass them on to your dependents, set up a trust for this specific purpose such that they will never ever draw out the money, but allow the money to be re-invested and compounded for as long as your linage survives.

• Money Is A Result

As with all things, the amount of money you’ve accumulated is a result of your skill to handle (money management) and to grow them (investments).  If you’re broke at this time, you have to accept it that there is a problem with you, not the world… for the world does not owe you a living.

Your physical world is a result of 3 components:

1. Mental
2. Emotion
3. Spiritual

As Harv put it bluntly – “The only way to permanently change your outer world is to first change your inner world”.  Your emotional attachment to money is the ultimate factor that determines your financial results.

Don’t believe me?  Try changing one of your habits (eg. smoking) and you know how difficult it is to do so by your own will power.  Everyone knows that smoking cost you a ton of money here in Singapore.  It can cost even more money when you seek medical treatments, further destroying your relationship with money (and possibly relationships with your family too).

• Negotiation and Marketing skills.

Probably one of the most important skills that can benefit all areas of your life.

I’m quite interested in Harv’s “Train The Trainer” course.  Unfortunately, I’m already busy with a few matters on hand which will keep me really busy for over a year.  Thus, I can’t get distracted and get de-focused.

Information overloading is the sure-kill formula for failure.  Focus on one thing well first, establish mastery and them move on to learn another skill.

• Hypnotic therapy and anchoring techniques.

This is a big one.  If you’re familiar with the movie “The Secrets”, then you’ll know what I mean.
Using just mental recollection can cause every cells and muscles in your body to respond as if you’re already positioned in reality (as if you’re involved physically).  During day 2 of the seminar, we got a feel of applying it to relax the mind.  This relaxation allowed our minds to flow freely, while we work along to explore our inner most emotions (fear, greed, guilt etc) through writing exercises and sharing it with our partners in the seminar hall.

In neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) there is a term called anchoring.This is where you take an object and make emotional connections to it.  In the training, we placed our left middle finger and press it against our thumb.  This allows us to associate a reference to that emotion.

• “Teaching is a spiritual gift, it is the best profession in the world” – Harv Eker

Indeed, teaching is a spiritual gift.  Everyone has his/her own wisdom and it’s really up to individuals to play their parts and make this world a better place.

Unfortunately, Asians especially, are not too open to share their own knowledge, much less their wisdom.  It is probably a survival instincts that have grounded much into our own heritage – the great scarcity of the mind.

And as Harv pointed out, teaching can be very rewarding, both spiritually (not to forget emotionally), and financially.  Do not ever generalize teaching as only those you see in schools.  Teaching can be anywhere, and the best teachers will show you to path to all areas in you… ie business, relationships, finance, career and life in general.  Another take away I’ve gotten from teaching is, “The only way to grow love is to give love unconditionally”.

So the weekend was not all about money.  It’s about giving and receiving just as well, whether it is love, money or anything you consider important to you.

In case you’re wondering how much financial reward one can hope to receive, Harv mentioned something like, “Training is the most profitable profession.  You can earn $20k-$100k per weekend if you’re well trained to capture a large audience”.

And to add on further, he illustrated how possible it is using Network Marketing as an example.  Network marketing is really all about teaching.  It’s a teaching business in its very own rights.  You cannot really sell and build a monster network marketing empire without imparting or teaching others the ins and outs of the business, and of course not forgetting to pass along intimate product knowledge.

When one have mastered the art of teaching, the next best way to reap the rewards is to sell books/seminars or products to a pre-existing (and large) audience base.  If you’re observant enough, you will noticed how successful teachers like Harv (and network marketers) control their audiences.

These expert teachers uses accelerated learning techniques to capture audience attention, as well as getting their audiences to be involved in answering questions and raising their hands, even to the extend of standing up and dancing!  This is effectively managing high energy levels on their audiences.  When audiences are responsive enough, it is really easy to press their hot buttons and command them to buy at will.

Don’t believe me?  Just ask anyone who had attended the MMI seminar and they can relate how the marketers got hot audiences to literally run to the counters to pay up for courses and products (each worth over S$2000++)!  It’s really an eye opener for me and Harv and Success Resources have been making huge profits that weekend! 

• Finally, Train Yourself To Be An Excellent Receiver
  

In a world where we all live, bounded by the lawy of duality, it makes sense that in order for one to be an excellent receiver of money, one must also be an excellent giver of money.

• Friendly Final Hugs

I’ve never forgotten the touching story of Harv how he hated his dad for stealing his jar of coin collections, only to realized that he had been holding this anger for over 30 years.

When his dad returned from a hard day from work, Harv leaped onto his dad and accused him for stealing his coins.  His dad, being totally confused and now knowing why, very tired too, gave his son a hard slap on his face and shouted, “Get the hell out of my face!”.  That was all it took to send little Harv crying in his bedroom pillow, swearing never to talk to his dad ever.

Fast forward 30 over years later, he found out eventually from his dad that it wasn’t meant to happen as he had imagined.

His father, on that faithful evening some 30 years ago, was showing to his neighbors how proud he was with his son for saving up coins in his private jar.  While doing so, he spilled beer over the coins.  So he washed them and dried them using a piece of cloth, putting the coins carefully into a sealed plastic bag which he soon forgotten and went to sleep without putting the dried coins back into the jar.

Harv literally broke down and cried when he finally understood what happened.  Imagine holding that poisonous state of mind (harbouring anger and resentment) for sustained period of time only to discover that the poison itself have killed oneself in doing so!

Holding on to anger and resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die.
- Unknown

Harv never ever got the guts to say “I love you dad”, even when he knows he might never ever get to see his dad again in a year’s time while he travels all over USA conducting his seminars and workshops.  When he finally got it all straighten out, he drew up his courage, in his dad car while being driven to the airport with his gears in the car boot.  He finally drew up all guts in the risk that his dad will loose control of the car and have them both killed in a car accident.

Harv: “Dad, I have something I’ve always wanted to ask you…”

Dad: “WHAT IS IT ABOUT?!!” almost shouted (as usual).

Harv: (too scared then… but pressed on) “Dad… I’ve always wanted to ask you this… why is it that I’ve never hear you say, ‘I LOVE YOU SON’ ?”

Dad: (Tears rolling down cheeks…) “…”

Harv: (bracing for a motorist accident)

Finally, his dad stopped the car as they’ve reached the airport.  Still tears in his eyes, he didn’t say a word, but rushed to the boot to unload his son’s luggage.  Finally, Harv hugged him and heard him said for the first time in all his life, “I LOVE YOU SON!”.

It was an almost touching scene…

At this point, the seminar audiences (some 5000+ people) where gathered together in a huge circle in the middle of the huge Expo Hall 2, crossed our arms with our neighbors, and started singing a very touching song “The Living Years” by Mike and the Mechanics.  The lyrics was most beautiful and meaningful too!

Here’s a little video clip “The Living Years” I’ve found on YouTube:

Every generation
Blames the one before
And all of their frustrations
Come beating on your door

I know that I’m a prisoner
To all my father held so dear
I know that Im a hostage
To all his hopes and fears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Crumpled bits of paper
Filled with imperfect thought
Stilted conversations
Im afraid thats all we’ve got

You say you just don’t see it
He says its perfect sense
You just can’t get agreement
In this present tense
We all talk a different language
Talking in defence

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

So we open up a quarrel
Between the present and the past
We only sacrifice the future
It’s the bitterness that lasts

So don’t yield to the fortunes
You sometimes see as fate
It may have a new perspective
On a different day
And if you don’t give up, and don’t give in
You may just be o.k.

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

I wasn’t there that morning
When my father passed away
I didn’t get to tell him
All the things I had to say

I think I caught his spirit
Later that same year
I’m sure I heard his echo
In my baby’s new born tears
I just wish I could have told him in the living years

Say it loud, say it clear
You can listen as well as you hear
It’s too late when we die
To admit we don’t see eye to eye

—

10 hugs following that…

Of course, the final (Day 3) seminar ended with a grand ending song which I enjoyed pretty much, and was it called “One Moment In Time” by Whitney Houston.

My buddy LR related how he almost forgotten how to hug as he shared with me his past (and unhappy) relationship with his dad.  Of course, it was all sorted out and their relationships have been fantastic now!

Contemplating LR’s story, I have somewhat arrived with a little insight; that we all must have been fools in one way or another, taking for granted upon the people around us that we love.  Somehow, we have all forgotten how to say thank you to each another, or have we all forgotten how to hug our love ones?  At least we can still do so while we are all still alive.

That’s it all for now!

Be blessed and keep your comments rolling in!

Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

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©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Well, I don’t really call it “work”.  It’s quality time invested in boosting my financial intelligence, as well as equipping myself with sufficient knowledge to get started in the next phase of my life.  It hasn’t been my own philosophy to reveal secrets, but rather, share with some of my own findings over the month – a sort of intensive month growing professionally and investing personally.

Let me break things down by weeks (and sub-dates):

1st October 2008

While folks were busy celebrating Hari Raya Puasa, I had a secret meeting with a close friend discussing the possibilities of running our own automated partnership business.  It was a rather short 2hrs meeting, but I was quite convinced that a market downturn is the best time to get started when everything goes on sale and hiring and outsourcing jobs gets cheaper for same or better quality.

Don’t believe me?  That’s how Adam Khoo, a local entrepreneur, made most of his million dollar fortune in the previous two downturns (1997 and 2002).  In fact, the smart businessmen are now seeking to expand and takeovers in this financial crisis with all the spare cashes they have saved up during the good times (2004-2007).  Adam Khoo himself took advantage of the low flat interest rates to finance his property which he already bought at a huge bargain during the crisis!

—

9th October 2008

Secret Meeting with LR.  Can’t reveal much, but it got me quite excited just thinking about it.

—

11-12th October 2008

1. SMART Investment & International Property Expo at Suntec.

I was at the seminar twice to pick up some investment ideas.  Interestingly, I was stunned by Thomas Mathew’s presentation – “My Formula – Financial Planning for Lifetime Success”.  A retired professional with IPP Financial Advisers, he currently manages the portfolios of over 600 clients.

He is a darn frugal guy who doesn’t believe that he buys his own car, but rather takes the MRT.  I agree wholeheartedly with him, although most folks who are used to driving doesn’t think so.  I only consider driving one if it is sponsored, or that it comes around at a significant bargain.

Nanz Chong Komo’s (founder of ONE.99shop and author of ONE Business 99 Lessons) personal story to rebound from her own failure in business inspired me a lot.  Not only can she face her first business failure squarely, she turned her situation around her and gave to her children and to take time to plan her new business!  Of course, all these could not have been possible without her supportive husband.

Lesson learned: In life, your family and your friends (environment) will be one of the most important components to supporting your own financial success.

2. Secret meeting #2 with LR

I can’t reveal much, but the draft plan looks like a lot of details we have to fill in!

Planning to run a business is not as easy as it seemed!  It certainly requires a lot of research work in many areas that neither of us are aware of.  Also, I have no idea how things will turn out until we jump into it and get things started.

13th October 2008

An afternoon with Jim Rogers at NUS Culture Auditorium:

This is the first time I ever set my foot onto NUS (National University of Singapore).  Interestingly, it is my second time to see a billionaire (in person) life on stage.  The first time I saw a billionaire was last year – when Bill Gates was up on stage in San Francisco, California, USA, sharing probably one of his last keynote before he resigns from Microsoft and go full time into the foundations.

Jim Roger has an very deep understanding on the problems in China and he recommended that you have to make absolutely sure that your children learn the Chinese and English language very well.  This means a big NO-NO to Singlish and other Chinese dialect slang.  His toddler daughter, Happy, can now speak perfect Beijing Chinese accent under the excellent guidance of her nanny.

When it comes to investments, Jim rates the water problem in China to be the most immediate problem to handle.  In fact, his 100k+ mile across the world lead him to the conclusion that for China to move economically ahead, Water and Energy are two of the most important resources that are lacking (and pressing) at hand.

Smart investors can reap tremendous wealth by carefully analyzing his recommended Sino files, taking the actions and have a long investing time frame.

More information can be readily available from his latest book “A Bull In China“.

—

16th October 2008

My financial adviser was quite (sounded) excited when he texted me this morning out of the blue.  He was surprised to see me on the papers today, appearing in an advertisement to endorse a value investment course which I had completed more than a month back.  I thought it was a good idea to share the opportunity to learn about value investing which is literally unheard of in this part of the world.  However, he wanted me to give him the gits of it, without wanting to pay to attend.

I couldn’t of course and I believe any of our class can do that in a few SMS messages.

Frankly speaking, I have no intention to pursuade people to sign up for anything anymore.  I learned in the past that people who are curious enough will go and find out more themselves, for example, a preview seminar.  There is no longer an expectation that I used to carry in the past, whenever I got so excited in something I believe to be of great value, and wanted every of my valued friends know about it.

It was during one of my coaching lessons (more than 3 years ago) that I realized my invitation process literally turns people off when I got excited and became pushy.  It dawn on me that most people are just not trained to recognize opportunities, or are not ready for the good stuffs in life… so I have to learn to let go without further expectations.

It is lately that I discovered too, that most folks have strong egos in them which prevented them from opening up to new ideas, wisdom or whatever that will add a lot of value to their lives.  I have seen in my own eyes (in one of the preview seminar) that many old time investors (and by the way, they look really old!) are just too proud to let go and learn something new, or to take immediate actions and grab a rare opportunity when it slapped right onto their faces.

I guess there was nothing I could do really, but to maintain a compose and peaceful outlook in life. 

—

17th October 2008

I came across a very interesting article “Market Crash or Opportunity?“, recommended by CY and it was (possibly) written by Adam Khoo.  I said possibly because he could have taken a ghost writer to do that on his behalf.  On a way, that article alone can drive a stake through your heart unless you are a long term investor.

Further reading reveals yet another useful article by Adam Khoo, “Why I love market crashes and you should too!”

Wise investors are clearly aware of the huge opportunities now and take full advantage of this one-in-a-century financial tsunami that is now sweeping over Asia.  In fact, many rich people make their first bucket of gold in economy downturns in the past and this one can easily turn you in to one if you set your investment foresight right.  Everything is now tumbling to new lows, from the stock market to very soon to the property market.  In fact, savvy property investors now are eying to intercept foreclosures before banks take them onto the auction market.

Sure, a lot of folks are getting burned now by flipping stocks and properties when the time is good.  Speculators, like gamblers seldom win.  Many can make buck loads, and may loose them all due to one single ill judgment.  I hardly call this consistency!  In fact, I wonder how many of these folks are able to sleep soundly at night now.

As Adam Khoo already said, gigantic opportunities like this one now rarely come around.  Save as much as you can and make the best use of your time now to do your research and due diligence… and most importantly, act decisively!

The $1 commission opportunity:

I guess this isn’t any secret but in case you’re just getting started with the stock markets, CIMB-GK has an attractive deal that you can take advantage of right now.  When you sign up as a new customer between now and end of December 2008, you are give up to 8 trades commissioned at $1.  That to me is a huge savings in times like this, further taking advantage of the already undervalued and hugely discounted businesses that you will want to own over the next 5-10 years.

—

20th October 2008

I took a whole day leave in anticipation of a private forum with Mr Song Sung Wun, chief economist of CIMB-GK Singapore.  He someone which I believe, based on his extensive insights from the mountains of economic data he gathers, does point out where the economy may be heading in the next 2 years.

Interestingly, Singapore’s GDP may be revised downwards to 2% or less given the grim outlook that are not expected by the majority of Singaporeans.  When asked if STI will fall through 1,000 points this year, he gave a very optimistic view that we should not be that persmistic, while admitting that if that ever happens, he will probably be forced to return to China and become a farmer.

I don’t know if it ever happens, but anything is just about to be possible in this kind of once-in-a-century crisis like this one we’re all so fortunate today that we will be able to ride through, and rebound stronger than ever.

Later in the afternoon, I enjoyed an excellent afternoon at Marina Bay Food Court – all by myself!  It’s a real luxury for me really… slowly enjoying a nice big cup of ice coffee, in an air conditioned environment, gazing across the cool sea view outside, having the Esplanade and Singapore MerLion in the background, while doing one of my favorite activity – reading!

In fact, I did not realized that I had been sitting down there for more than 4 hours and actually finished reading the whole book, “A Bull In China” by Jim Rogers, all in one stroke!

Believe me, if you are an investor and you have not read this one book, you may be missing out one of the largest investment opportunities in your lifetime!

–

22nd October 2008

Light at the end of the tunnels for Lehman Mini-bond holders?

The ugly side of banking and financial professional had surfaced.  Local bankers are the main culprits who forced these professionals to meet monthly sales targets.  Pressures for survival caused irrational and desperate behaviors, ignoring risks and transfer these risk onto their customers.  How can professionals even recommend their clients to invest in financial derivative products they do not even understand in 30 minutes?

Interestingly, I found a friend who was also at one of my buddy’s wedding dinner (NTU final year project partner).  He related a horrible story when he almost bought it early this year:

Friend: “I saw this Ads on the papers early this year and wanted to go check out this safer investment.”

Me: “Really?  Why was it that I did not spotted it?” (Actually, I don’t even bother to because these deals are often not attractive to retail investors)

Friend: “Yeah, and guess what?  Luckily I didn’t plunge down 20k+!  Or I’ll $#%&  loose them all”.

Me: “What happened?  Was it some foresight you’ve gotten out from your research?” (I wondered…)

Friend: “When I reach the bank, a very nice banker came around me and gave me some sound advice…”

Banker: “You sure you want to buy this crap?  Let me show you something…” and he flipped down to over 100+ pages in the prospectus and pointed out a specific statement “Top 5 Reputable Banks… and 100+ B– rated financial banks in the list.   So if all these bad debt companies go belly up, 40% of you investment is guaranteed to disappear!”.

Friend: “Thanks man!” (You saved my a**!)

—

Imagine just how many security professionals saw that on the prospectus and I wonder even so, how many of those who read actually understand them, let alone giving sound recommendations to retired old man and ladies in their 60s.  Not even educated and financially trained professors are spared, or so that I’ve heard of one professor who got burnt in spite of his background in finance.

In my humble opinion, local professionals are not trained sufficiently in many areas, such as integrity, ethics and basic human morals.  Fresh and young graduates seeking to make a killing in financial industry should be carefully screened.  Bankers must do their due diligence and uphold their code of conduct, or prepare to be put behind bars.  As Warren Buffett ever mention before, unethical company management can easily rip of their shareholders in many creative ways, and this is what he called “Financial Crimes”.

If his standard were to be held strictly as of now, many financial professionals and even officials ought to be put behind bars by now.

—

23th October 2008

Today, the market forces tested the 1,800 technical support twice in the afternoon without breaking through.  I was quite excited again because this means either the market could go down further or rally a bit.  Either way, is this good news or bad news for value investors!  And Li Ka-Shing is throwing the towel in for a half-time.  Does that smell fishy?  I think so.

—

24th October 2008

The Asia market crash again!  Singapore STI slipped past 1,600 mark, breaking down all previous support life lines.  I will be planning to take a break soon. 

—

26th October 2008

Alright!  I’ll be taking a break off the markets and let my energy focused on some important projects I have been working on so far.  Coincidentally, I was lucky enough to pick up T.Harvey Eker’s book, “Secrets of The Millionaire Mind” from the local library!

I felt extremely lucky to read this book in the nick of time before I attend his 3 days Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar at Singapore Expo this coming November!  In fact, as of today, I have completed more than 70% of the amazing content embedded within.

I had to kick myself for not discovering this book earlier, reading and applying the simple formulas that only rich people understand.  I highly encourage anyone who aspires to build massive network for themselves and their loved ones, to read this essential book and start taking massive actions to apply the principles.  I can’t say anything than a big Wow for Harvey Eker for sharing so many valuable gems with respect to wealth building.

—

27th October 2008

Something mysterious happened to me today that got me very confused spiritually, but feeling joyous about that I had been longing for a long time.

I can’t reveal the details yet because I’m not sure how things will turn out for me, so I’m really keeping my fingers crossed, observe and react accordingly.  I guess I got to face it sooner or later anyway… so I have to let things take its natural course… and more importantly, to learn to let go as and when necessity comes…

31st October 2008

Today, I’m packing to run away from Singapore for a short while…

No No… don’t get me wrong!

I’m not running away from law enforcers, authorities, or anything of that sort.

I’m actually gone off to take half-time from my weekend to get involve in some of the company’s Annual Team-Building activities.  Sounds physical and stressful?  I don’t know… I’ll get to find that out real soon!

Well, it’s actually a good thing for me now since I’ve been too distracted by the recent volatile markets that that I pray I can cool off a bit off my emotional feel over the small loss from a bad investment I made – a useful and important lesson that is inevitable to newbie value investors like me.  As a matter of fact, getting away from the noise is a good way to focus my energy elsewhere, to relax, unwind from work and have fun!

—

Meanwhile, I still have a bit to touch up on this post, especially on some photos that I intend to include along with this post.  I’ll get them sorted out and keep you posted in the next 2 days.

Until then, keep your comments rolling in!

Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

I have been finding the sagas extremely dramatic while struggling with my heavy work load, and keeping an eye on the markets and scooping up bargains!  I know you can call me mad, but the Chinese has a great saying – Great Opportunities Within Great Crisis.  I am merely pointing out the blind spots that you should be snapping on while everyone’s mind are preoccupied with all the bad news and hoohars – US Financial Crisis, Diary Crisis and the over-hyped Formula One racing.

For the purpose of this article, I shall not drill into the news, but rather take a step back and examine how one can take advantage of the madness of the human minds.  You can read all about the recent happenings on Google or Yahoo News.

For now, let’s take a step back and examine for potential opportunities…

The China Dairy industry Crisis:

Let’s recap a bit:

The Chinese authorities have analysed products from all players in the Chinese dairy industry following last week’s announcement that melamine was found in products from the Chinese dairy company, Sanlu.  One or more products from 22 companies – including Mengniu Dairy, Arla Foods’ partner in the joint venture company, Mengniu Arla – have tested positive for melamine, a chemical that can cause kidney stones.

This unfortunate incidence has indeed put off most if not all milk consumptions after the death of 4 young children and over 6,000 taking illness in China.

Indeed, unethical farmers have taken the bet to increase protein content with deadly consequences in exchange for substantial profits.  In fact, the Japanese have long detected such abnormalities in their diary imports about 8 months ago and they have since switch to alternatives like New Zealand and Australia.

Nobody wants to die after consuming diary products.  Coupled with a massive withdrawal of diary products from the shelves of your local supermarkets or hypermarkets as advised by AVA, this can send a Tsunami wave of panic into the market!

I recalled a recent conversation that my good friend:

Me: “What’s up?”

TW: “My mother was asking me if the ice-cream contains melamine.  She asked me to throw away all of them, which I did!”

Me: “You know what?  It’s such a waste!  If you will die after eating those ice-cream which you’ve been doing all these while, then you would have died long time ago!”

Huh???

What do I mean?

You see, we have been consuming diary products all the while!  How many folks around these days can really avoid milk and related products?  Unless you haven’t been consuming any stain of milk or diary product of the last 8 months, chances are you are pretty safe from the diary crisis.

If you consider the facts, we have all been already poisoned by melamine months ago.  That leaves me with no exception.  Perhaps, we’re pretty blessed, that you and I are still kicking alive now – that I’m writing this blog post and you’re reading it. 

In fact, I ignored the herd madness and consume more ice-cream at home, taking advantage of the low price at Shing Song and NTUC.

Am I mad?!

In fact no.  I am very rational and I am a value buyer.  I believe that many savvy housewives would have agree with me!  What I’m doing is merely to take advantage of market inefficiencies in pricing valuable products which I love.

You see, the AVA of Singapore would not be dumb enough to allow importers to flood the market with poisoned diary products.  Since fear increased substantially and demand was beaten down, it does not require one to be a PhD to understand that it’s time to scoop up ice-creams selling at great bargains!

If you aren’t scooping up ice-creams now, then I think you are really mad (unless you’re not an ice-cream lover of course!). 

—

The US Financial Melt-Down and Crisis:

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Did you queue up at AIA Tower last week to withdraw your insurance policies?

Did you scoop up AIG shares when it falls to $1.60 last week before the US Fed takes over 80% stake to the group?

If you’ve done any of the above, I would consider that madness too!

Imagine AIG going belly up… a lot of financial institutes and businesses will likely face liquidity problems.  All your insurance will become empty promises and a ton of work are required to clean up this mess.  And I haven’t even mention the record number of people worldwide who will join the unemployment gang.

Image via Wikipedia

It’s horrible as everyone worldwide witnessed the collapsed of Lehman Brothers.  A massive number of employees suddenly found themselves carrying boxes of personal belongings wondering on the streets of New York.  Here in Singapore, 170 Lehman employees stood fearfully outside their office at Suntec City.

Frankly speaking, my brother who is an AIA insurance and financial planner, suggested buying AIG shares when it was about 2 months back.  Just imagine if I have not done my studies on the management of AIG and bought it at $20 two months back!  As of today, AIG is trading at around $3.

Sadly speaking, my brother has been following the crowd maddness and bought more at around $2.

Image via Wikipedia

I wouldn’t touch this one for a long time.  The reason is very simple.  I don’t understand how the Group operates.  The business sector is currently outside my area of competency and hence I am taking a lot of risk if I invest.  I suspect that many people now may get killed or burnt speculating or going along with the crowd.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you must stay away from AIG.  AIG has been a great business until some mismanagement.  If you have been financially competent like Warren Buffett in figuring out or analyzing the after-effects of the new take over, then it’s probably less risky.

–

Investors Are Irrational:

Countless of researchers have uncovered that investors are in general not rational.  Bear markets are a test of skills for both traders and value investors.  Since majority of investors are really speculators, it is no wonder so many people loose money in the stock market!

I came across an article by local Business Times financial journalist, Tay Hooi Ling of Singapore Press Holdings.  She mentioned about a remarkable behavior in finance from Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky.  Kahneman and Tversky found that people are much more distressed by prospective lossers than they are happy by equivalent gains.  They also found that faced with sure gain, most investors are risk-averse, but faced with sure loss, investors become risk-takers.

She went on to quote an example:

Given a choice:
(A) A sure gain of $240 or
(B) A 25% chance of gaining $1,000,

most people would opt for (A).

However, given a choice of:
(C) Sure loss of $750 and
(D) an 80% chance of $1,000 loss,

most people would go for a gamble and opt for (D).

In reality, people are reluctant to cut loss in the face of falling knifes.  Humans have the tendency of avoiding realized losses to avoid the pain and regret of having made a bad investment decision.  This is one big obstacles that I fear that I too, am vulnerable because I took the answers (A) and (C) in the test.  In reality, I could have taken (A) and (D).

Does that rings a bell?

This coming week will be the final week for the Citibank Stock Challenge and I guess this is a perfect chance for me to give option (B) a go, betting on the fact that the US $700b bailout bill will be passed and the stock market madness will push stock prices up by a bit.

Of course, I do not suggest that you plunge down your real money!  I’m stating the fact that since the Citibank Stock Challenge is betting virtual money for real money, there is no harm to give it a show hand! 

—

Finally, will the US Government bailout works?

I don’t know and I suggest that you do not speculate too.

The market is really chaotic right now and there is now way to know how many shocks will come after Washington Mutual last Friday.  One thing I’m quite sure is, as long as naked short selling is not lifted off the markets, hedge funds and many small banks will be wiped out, thereafter causing many small businesses to go belly up.

As for me, I believe in sticking on to value investing and having a longer time horizon for the market to realize and correct from all these madness.  For now, I am well positioned to sniping and scooping up outstanding businesses that have taken a substantial beatings from the market madness.

Since I can’t time the market anyway, I will be really mad if I don’t take advantage of the situations right now. 

Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

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©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Without revealing too much, I can say that I’ve learn one of the most important secrets to building massive wealth over a long period of time… and it is very possible for just about any average person on the street, with IQ no more than 125.

If you have been following my articles recently, then you may have understood some very important principles that I’ve already covered.  Perhaps, the most important of them all is buying anything in your life based on value.

It’s a very simple concept, but most people just simply ignore it, or pretend that it does not exist.

If you’re in a hurry to make plenty of bucks, then this article may protect your future wealth, or yourself from getting yourself burned in the next ponzi scheme or scam.  If you’re not in a hurry to make plenty of bucks, then this article is useful as you may begin building your wealth – the slow way!

—

It’s All About Value, then Price

When was the last time you evaluate the value that you are going to get out from that purchase?

Chances are that you won’t.

Most of your so call necessity is essentially emotionally driven.  How many things do you really need everyday in your life without getting yourself killed or deprived?

Before you purchase anything, do you ever consider alternatives of the same product, or the various choices you have on your plate?  Chances are you will, but what about its value?

Now, don’t confused value over the price you pay.

Value is what you get out of the perpetual (and useful) lifetime of a product.  Price is what you pay or perceived as, and that is what you are enticed to pay.

Price of a product or service, is ideally determined by free market.  In the real world, value can be easily distorted and presented as, or perceived as high value, depending largely on the skill of the marketers behind a sales campaign.  For example, a low value product can be packaged or repackaged, promoted or even lure you with endless freebies.

Many times, the price of a product or service has already been offset.  Think hard again on anything that you are buying infrequently.  Chances are that you can find cheaper, or equivalent alternatives, or if you insist on the original brand, then pick them up only on a fire sales or auctions.

With the powers of general search engine and specialize search engine, it is relatively easy for you to achieve substantial savings on your next big ticket purchase!

Let me use a real life example as an illustration.

Everyone should know what an iPhone 3G is by now.  If you haven’t, then you must have living under the rock for the past 2 months.  The question is, does the iPhone 3G really worth as much as it is priced in the open market, or even that from your favorite retailer?

The average full retail price of its 16GB version is currently priced at about S$1,600 (Singapore dollars).

If you check out what the iPhone 3G really offers, it’s an advanced smart phone that you can touch and interact with.  It has built in WiFi and fast 3G data connectivity.  Fast data connectivity… it’s something most of us shun isn’t it for the price one pays for 3G connectivity?  WiFi is mostly free here in Singapore, unless Wireless@SG is terminated abruptly by Singtel and its partners.

What about GPS and maps?  Do you often need to navigate around in remote locations or some weird retreats in rocky mountains or desert?  If not, then chances that Google Maps and a good WiFi connection on a cheap smart phone is sufficient.

Do you want the iPhone because it can play full length movies and MP3s on the move?  Honestly, most standard 2.5G phone can play music decently.  Otherwise, you can get yourself a real cheap iPod Nano or 2nd hand PSP.  Surely it is not worth $1,000++ for this pocket sized convenience?

Believe me – most of what you think you want is a natural fuel that feeds your unlimited desires.  Unlimited desires can cost you a bomb if you don’t work out your maths to justify that luxury which can often be substituted for cheaper equivalents.

Think about that for a moment!

If you still cannot figure the maths, let me shed you some light.  If you put aside that same $1,600 in a low load value index fund that returns 15% pa compounded for just 10 years, that same iPhone 3G alone would have cost you $6,472!

Mind you, that is not very smart doodad isn’t it?!

Even if you’re convinced on its value and you absolutely must own one, then I recommend that you pick one up on auction sites like eBay.  A good working 8GB model is selling at about SGD$400.  Not bad for a little time taken to do some investigation, provided that you don’t mind having less memory in it!  Still, it should function as well as since it’s original.

Still not convinced about my philosophy of value?

That’s OK with me… you can go ahead and pay full retail price.  it’s YOUR money anyway. 

—

The Principle of Delayed Gratifications

This is perhaps the hardest to understand and even harder to apply in real life.  If you can master this art, you would have done very well financially in life 20-30 years down the road; while you sit around idly watching all your peers who have not yet figure it out, and still having stuck in a low paid job in their late 50s or early 60s.

If you think of paying that extra airline fuel charges of $400 (conservatively) for that annual holiday trip you plan each year (assuming flat rate $400 for the next 10 years), you are actually paying $15,480 on a 15%pa compounded rate!

To add to the cost, you may be spending on average $3,000 on each trip (air ticket + accomodation + shopping spree).  That works out to be $116,106 at 15% pa compounded!  If you redo the maths for $5,000 as a couple (both of you share the room, but not the flight seating isn’t it?), that comes to around $193,510!

Wow!  I cannot imagine anyone not knowing that they are spending nearly $200k on holidays over 10 years!  If you would have delayed that urge or excuse to release stress overseas (if it ever does!), you would have enjoyed a king and queen holiday treatment for the rest of your life as your money compounds.

Will you be getting more value out from a short term craving/get away, or will you hold off your urge to only enjoy greater and finer things in life 10 years later?

—

Perhaps, the real killer for most Singaporeans are their car liabilities.

I can’t imagine paying a brand new Toyota car for $45,000 and its value dropping to less than 60% value the moment you drive off from your car dealer.  Again, if you use the simple maths again at 15% pa compounded returns, that same $45,000 would have been worth $182k!

And that does not include paying for maintenance, insurance, road taxes, parking, ERPs and of course the all indespensible petrol cost.

I don’t know about you… I love taking Taxi (Cabs) and MRT, less the inconveniences. 

—

Value Investing and the 8th Wonder of the World

As I’ve already shown you through many examples, not knowing your maths and spending habits is your single and most powerful financial enemy.  It is also an enemy to your way of living.

I’m not suggesting in any way that you should sacrifice your lifestyle for a better time many years down the road.  What I’m trying to point out is that there are many substitutes in life that you can use to carry out your normal activities and still enjoy life as your wealth grows.

As you’ve already realize by now, I have not mention much about wealth growing techniques.

Indeed, not know where your money leaks off and proceed on to learn the techniques of investment is a pretty dangerous attempt.  I am constantly perplexed by seminars conducted here locally that does not even talk much about the topic of value living, as much as I’ve covered here so far.

Once you’ve fixed that expense problem, you will need to find yourself an adviser on how you can maximize your money on protection.  I can’t possibly cover that here because that is not my main intention here.  But you get the point – it’s as important as managing your expenses!

Ok, the last component in get rich slow formula is compounding.

In fact, Albert Einstein once said that compounding is the 8th wonder of the world!

It’s the single factor that makes your bank account looks nice or not.

All that I’ve shown you are just simple compounding figures at 15% pa.  But if you invest in your own financial education, your long term returns can easily exceed 20% pa.  In fact, the average man and womam like you and I who can understand and apply the art of value living and investing, can do so much more better than many of our higher IQ peers.  Wealth building is not about IQ.  Rather, it is one’s EQ that matters.

In ending, I’d like to quote Warren Buffett, one of the world’s greatest genius in value investing:

Success in investing doesn’t correlate with IQ once you’re above the level of 125. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing.
- Warren Edward Buffett, American investor & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway

I’m already sold on to the sound principles of value.

What about you?

Thanks for reading!  If there’s anything I can contribute or have not make my point clear, do feel free to drop me a comment.

Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

—

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Two weeks ago, I had a really rewarding weekend (16-17th August 2008) by merely attending the InvestFair 2008 at Suntec Singapore International Convention & Exhibition Center (Level 4, Exhibition Hall 402-403).

If you’re not familiar with investing in general, then this article may not be for you.  If you’re a short-term trader, this article may not be for you too.  I’m talking about long term value investment ideas and opportunities that some people may be shunning or fearful about especially with the recession in US that has already created a rippling economy impact here in Singapore.

The seminar, like some others that I’ve attended recently, showcased a broad range of vendors trying to sell you their products, services and education packages.

Instead of boring you to death with their sales pitch, I am going to do a small review on some of my own learning from some outstanding speakers.  I shall also include a mini review on a particularly battered beaten sector in Singapore.

Finally, I have a very small writeup on a currently hot foreign investment opportunity in Canada for Singapore and regional development banking investors.

The Landscape of CapitaLand REITs (Day 1):
CapitaCommercial Trust (CCT):
CapitaMall Trust (CMT):
CapitaRetail China Trust (CRCT):

Personally, I’m not familiar with Singapore REITs.  Even then, I had to struggle to get up on a fine Saturday morning and made it in time for the first seminar of the day.  It turned out that CapitaLand had sponsored the first session for the 3 speakers so there might be a tendency for them to sell themselves to retail investors.

Therefore, it will be wise to take their presentations with a pinch of salt while mostly relying on one’s ability to do independant thinking and valuation.

As most REITs market watchers already know, there has been a recent panic selling due to uncertainties in the Singapore property markets.  According to a representative from CapitaLand Trust, there are currently no major fundamental problem ahead on the horizon.  Savy investors may be likely to take this opportunity to load up.

Each presentor subsequently took turns to present their business outlook, current updates on financial performances on 2Q and projections in the years ahead.

This trust focuses on quality income producing commercial properties like Bugis Village, Raffles City Building, HSBC Building, Robinson Point, Market Street Car Park and many more.  Earnings are derived from rental, asset enhancement upgrading and asset acqusitions/development in Singapore based and overseas projects.  A near projection of renewed tenents and reveals a substaintial increase in rental income.

Since distribution is 100% tax free and payout is 100% of distribution income, it is likely to attract long term investors who enjoy REITs stable income and capital appreciation.

Similar sentimental were made on CapitaMall and CapitaRetail China Trust, both sister entities that focus on retail properties in Singapore and within large population catchment in many provinces of China.

In summary, the group’s performance may suffer a temporary loss in earnings due to expansions, acqusitions and asset enhancements.  It was projected to change once earnings return when projects are completed and demand in retail and commercial recovers as and when value will be realized on the market.

—

Lessons From Warren Buffett Expert: Value Investing (Day 1):

I simply loved this track.  It was delivered by Robert P. Miles, a world reowned author and follower of the world’s greatest investor (and wealthest man currently standing on earth) – Warren Buffett.

Robert Miles currently the author of the following books:

• “101 Reasons to own the world’s greatest investment”
• “Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers”
• “Warren Buffett Wealth – Principles and Practical Methods Used By the World’s Greatest Investor”

To be honest, I have already been studying a few arenas of the financial markets for over a year now and I have to agree that the concept of value investment by Warren Buffett and his teacher, Benjamin Graham, is by far, is the most practical and rational people I’ve ever come across in the world of wealth creation.  The good news is, those same principles are applicable even here in Singapore!

I haven’t got a chance to read Robert’s books so far, but judging from the crowd, I suspect it is a phenomenal publication, a must-read book already on my list of to-dos.  Another thing I’ve noted too, is a hungry crowd of Singaporeans who surprised me by filling the seminar room even to the floor!

I suspect a few reasons may explain this phenomenal…

• People want to learn what Warren did to stand as the world’s richest man in the world right now.
• Battered speculators who lost money in the market, wanting to know what else they don’t know.
• Heard about Robert or read his books and wants to meet him personally.
• Join the crowd
• Want to know what value investing is all about…
• etc

As most audience may realize then, it was probably the best wealth lessons ever delivered in InvestFair 2008…

Robert is a humorous and humble speaker.  Unlike most speakers whom I have encountered (and most of them are traders by the way), he sound genuine.

According to Robert, most folks have totally confuse the concepts of value investment and trading.  By trading, the focus is on price.  On the contrary, value investing focus on evaluating the value of what you’re getting out from the useful and remaining life of a business.

Here’s the essence of Warren Buffett’s teaching:
Price is what you pay
Value is what you get

Instead of focusing on price, investors are significantly better off in the long run by focusing on the value; it’s about the value a stake holder gets from a well managed, long term, sustainable and profitable businesses.

Robert emphasized that Warren Buffett’s geniuses is best summarized in Albert Einstein’s famous equation E = m*c*c.

E can be best referred as Earnings, M referring to management, and C the character of the CEO.

Noticed the emphasis on management and character?  Warren Buffett does not do businesses with people that has the slightest problem with integrity.  By merely reading an annual report of a company, he can almost immediately if he will investigate further about the company, or take a pass on it.  As a business owner himself, he stresses the importance of being honest and that all shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway are long term partners, as would anyone expect in a marriage.  Therefore, he is entirely accountable to them, even to the extend of admiting his mistakes – while he joked about them, he made his promise never to repeat them again.

Practical and useful even here in Singapore?  You bet!

In closing his presentation, Robert left us all a humorous but profound joke, “The Genius and The Moron”.

The genius and the moron comes into an agreement to bet such that the moron will have to pay $5 for any questions that the genius ask that he cannot answer.  On the other hand, the genius will have to pay $50 for any questions that the moron ask that he cannot answer.

Genius (Full of confidence), asked a very complicated problem related to space navigation.  Obviously, the moron did not know the answer.  He reached into his pockets and handed over a $5 note.  Then the moron asked, “What goes up the hill on four legs and come down on three?”.

The genius scratched his head and think really hard.  After half an hour, he gave up and handed over a $50 bill and asked, “I don’t know.  So what’s the answer?”.  The moron handed him a $5 note and replied, “I don’t know either.”

Lessons From Warren Buffett Expert: Value Investing (Day 2):

Day 2 was just as phenomenal!

I got there an hour early just to have a good seating in room 3.

As you probably may know if you were in that room an hour before Robert showed up, it was a presentation by Ron Ianieri from Options University.  Surprisingly, there were so much fewer audiences who are interested in options trading than value investing.

As I took some useful points off the presentation, I noticed that the room was beginning to fill up… and I suspect it was not because of the Options speaker, but for the fans of Robert who came slightly earlier to grab a good seat.

And when the presentation was finally over, the room was already jam packed with people!  They have come for Robert!  You will be simply impressed by the mere crowd even sitting on the floor right under the incoming speaker’s feet!

—

According to Robert’s analysis, Warren Buffett generated some of his best record returns in the past bear markets and most likely to continue doing so.  Warren Buffett has what we call core competencies that he has been ranked as genius (top 1% of 1% of 1%) in 4 areas of intelligences (out of a total of 8!).  Read that again:  the are 8 forms of intelligence, and Buffett’s genius-level mastery is 4 out of 8 of them!  I trust I will not offend Robert by merely quoting this from his site:

Genius of any kind is a gift bestowed on a rare few; individuals endowed with multiple areas of genius are even rarer. Throughout history, both scientists and artists have advanced human achievement; but there are few, if any, advancements made by someone who was both a scientific and an artistic genius. Warren Buffett is one of the few exceptions. Gifted with a phenomenal memory, astonishing mathematical abilities, and highly developed interpersonal skills, he has accomplished what few others have done.

Robert P. Miles
The Genius of Warren Buffett

Image by TEDizen via Flickr

We were shown pictures of Warren Buffett’s little house showing the car that he drives and Berkshire Hathaway’s HQ.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, but we’re lucky enough to find creative common licensed photo of Buffett’s house and linked them in here.

Buffett attributed most of what he accomplished so far to his university teacher, Benjamin Graham.  In fact, when people ask if he will write the best value investing book in history, Buffett dismiss them by stating that the best book in stock investment has already been written: “The Intelligence Investor” by Benjamin Graham.

In case you’re wondering if Buffett will ever write a book, the first of his writing will be coming up soon, and it’s entitled “The Snowball” to be published by John Wiley & Sons.

There were a few gems about value investing that can be applied to everyone’s life.  For instance, Robert did a calculation on whether college education was a smart investment for his daughter.

An average American pays $30,000 per year in a good 4-year college education.  If you work out the maths, that will be $120,000 in total.  You’ll probably want to know what value the education has by figuring when a college graduate breaks even in an average job.  According to payscale.com, an average college graduate is paid $50,000 pa.   Assuming one saves 20% of all that money, it will take at least 12 years to pay off just the principles, excluding interest!

Of course, we are assuming no salary review which is not realistic.  Factoring an annual upward salary adjustments of 10% and an average 3% inflation (ie. 7% growth), it will still take at least 12 years to pay up all college debts and bank interests.  Beyond breakeven and assuming another 30 years of useful working lifespan, you can work out your maths to figure out if the college education is worth it.

On the other hand, if you skip college education and save on $120,000, would it be worth it?  Bear in mind that college education will rise to match inflation to no less than $300,000 in the next 10 years.

Assuming you invest the same $120,000 in a low cost index fund and allow it compound at 15%pa (let say we have dividend reinvested) for 15 years, you will have $642,0000 from that investment!  Not bad for doing nothing and it definitely beats a college education!  Let’s assuming that the same $120k compounds realistically at 10%pa over 40 years (a graduate’s useful working lifespan), it turns out that the same investment will yield $5,431,110!  Not bad for doing nothing and allow you to retire at 60 years old!

No wonder Einstein said that compunding is the 8th wonder of the world!  And that according to Warren Buffett is the single key reason why he love stocks.  No other investments he know of can allow him to build wealth better than investing in the stock markets over long term.

—

In closing his presentation, Robert had the permission of the time keeper to leave us all, yet another humorous, but profound joke:

Once, there was this very successful investor who toured the country and giving speeches and was highly regarded as an intellectually and inspirational man.  He had a driver who drove him around as he traveled.  Over the years, the driver became so familiar with his speeches that he had them memorized inside out and he could even deliver them all by himself.

One day, the investor wanted to take a break and got his driver to swap their roles.  The driver took on his position on the stage and went on to deliver the most spectacular speech ever.  No one suspected anything until a smart audience on the floor asked fire a really technical question.  There was complete silence in the hall as everyone awaits the reply anxiously.  The driver was obviously stunned and sweat started to trickled down his brow.  At that critical moment, he replied “That was the most stupid question I’ve ever heard.  I’ll let my driver answer that one”.

—

Development Banking with Edgeworth Properties

Recently, Alberta Calgary land has been booming because of the fast pace in tourism expansions, oil sands and natural gas mining opportunities.

If you’ve been living under the rocks, it’s hard not to miss Edgeworth Properties on your investment radar dish.

A lot of people have recently ask if this investment is sound.

Frankly speaking, I have no idea.

As I’ve recently turned myself to looking things at value, I have to pump a lot of healthy skepticism into investments like development and land banking.  As I’ve been briefed, development banking is quite different from land banking.  As for the details, I’ll leave it to the experts. 

What I do know is Edgeworth Properties is just slightly 3 years old and need cash to expand rapidly.  It was during the InvestFair seminars that I got to personally met the founder of this organization.  Since they are extremely young (a company in the Canadian property industry is considered young even having a solid track record of 20 years).  They are now aggressively marketing a plot of development land what they call it
Jasper Ridge in an area just outskirt of a very popular tourist attraction around  the rocky mountains of Alberta.  This project had been selling like hot cakes and it’s likely to be sold out by now, if not by next month.

Fundamentally, Alberta is a great place to invest at this point of time.  Alberta has the richest natural resources in Canada.  Furthermore, its tourism industry is booming and immigrants from both within and outside the country is increasing to support the oil and gas industry there.

Even Warren Buffett and Bill Gates were caught just last week around the state – or so I’ve read, and they were probably checking out some potential energy trusts.

As for Edgeworth Properties, I had some reservations.  There are a few potential reasons which I
believe I should avoid this investment, but please do not let that become your basic investment decision.  Always exercise your own independent judgements.  I am merely sharing my own personal opinions; and by the way, opinions are the cheapest things on planet earth. 

1. Jasper Ridge is a development land and has not officially declared as a zoned land from the Canandian government.  The worse thing that can happen is that you’re stuck with a title deed proving you as a proud owner of a fraction of an acre of a plot of land.
2. I don’t like their marketing.  They are now on many ordinary investor’s radar and that to me is a red flag.  Furthermore, I had collected no less than 10 namecards on which they call themselves as “consultants”.  When I start drilling one representative for more information into the company, he couldn’t answer some of them on the spot.  They appear more like salesmen rather than consultants, whom you entrust your money to; in other words, they may or may not be in a best position for your interests.
3. There is a hidden sales charge of about 15% on the valuation of the land if you decide to liquidate and sell it back to Edgeworth.  That to me is a big discount (Remember Buffett’s rule #1?  Never loose money).  Alternatively, you can always sell your stake to another person yourself and save yourself from the commissions.  This means you either have to pay for all the charges of the transfer of the title, or you can convince your buyer to pay them.
4. Remember the saying “Cash Is King?”  I prefer to keep more cash on hand right now as I’m about to identify some businesses that may be selling at a big discount – soon!

Of course, I may be wrong, but that’s alright… I’m much more comfortable now that I’ve sold myself to the sound principles of value investing.

—

In Summary:

Financial seminars like InvestFair 2008 are quickly flooding Singapore as financially smart citizens now come to realize the importance of education and savy actions.  Personally, I prefer investments that are stress free, that allow me to sleep well at night, and most importantly, earn reasonably returns over the long term.

Do yourself a favor by attending some of these exhibitions or seminars and learn as much as you can.  Only then can you discover what you may be have completely missed out from your formal education like I experienced (what your school does not teach you about money).

If all else here does not seem to make sense to you, just simply consider the following profound yet enlightening statement from a famous financial crusader:

“If you think education is expensive, you should try ignorance”
- Robert T. Kiyosaki, author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and “Cashflow Quadrant”

Good Investing!
Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Pardon my crude language… indeed, this was a heated discussion on radio quite recently.  According to an expert in socialogy, there are primary several reasons why married couples delayed their big plans…

Reasons why women defer giving birth:

1. Immediate opportunities to advance their career.
There are countless cases where women who found themselves pragnent, only to discover a once-in-a-life opportunity in their job to go for advanced training and thereafter greater advances in their career.

2. Mentality of abundant birth opportunities in the future.
Did you know that most women here in Singapore do not feel in a hurry to bear their first children?  This surprised me initially, but all is now clear.  For women in the age group 22-30, they want to have fun, travel all over the world and do not like to get tied down with screaming at their kids.  For many women between age 31 to 35, they are too deep in crafting their careers.  The truth is, many women in this age group are making more money than their husbands.  Some men are particularly concerned about this.  This may cause some men to feel inferior and financially incapable.

Reasons why men defer having their first child:

1. Actually there is only one primary reason.
And that is money.
Men are more rational creatures.  They look at what they have, and what they have not, and make straight and simple major decisions in their lives.  Some men are more easy going and decisions are usually determined by the wife.  Does this sound familiar if you’re one of them?

The problem don’t just end where the above problems are overcome.  The next phase, perhaps the longest time frame of a couple’s 20 years journey, is the mental stress of society’s pressure.

Fact: Making babies is easy.  Sustaining one or more child, and maintaining a reasonable comfortable lifestyle however, is challenging.

How many couples can afford a full time career as homemakers?  With the raising pace of urban life, it’s challenging enough to keep one’s job.  As I’ve learned many years ago, no school ever teaches us how to manage our finances and craft our dream careers.  Along the way, men and women have lost their dreams.  It’s now about survival rather than a fulfilled destiny.  Arghh… you get the point!

Back to the topic of babies: A quick survey shows that milk powder and diapers are the top expense of today’s parents.  Just look at the content of these powder… DHA/EPA.  No wonder little children these days are so smart!  Imagine if these so called “essential” food are sponsored?

I’m sure you can still remember your childhood.  I didn’t have these luxury stuffs back then.  Neither have my parents heard of DHA.  Both my brother and I were indeed stupid child.  Sure, I wasn’t topping the classes, but I didn’t do too badly though, counting from the bottom.

Fast forward 20 years…

Singapore children are learning almost every conceivable stuffs on the planet – even before attending primary one.  So if your child is not feeding on DHA/EPA enhanced food, you’d better watch out!  Your neighbor’s children will surely humiliate yours (intangibly).   Oh, and did I mention you should too?  It’s good for both your brain and heart.

If you haven’t, don’t get too depressed though…  I haven’t found a reason yet to get started myself.  Stupid child!  Did I ever tell you that Albert Einstein is my idol?  Not being disrespectful, I felt that he could have missed out on these essential food too.

Education in Singapore is getting so competitive that parents must plan strategically.  Not only do you as parents have to buy a home near a neighborhood school and hence qualified for a chance in the long queue of many other parents, you have to clock significant community work as extra qualifications.

Even legendary investor, Jim Roger, who is looking for a decent school for his daughter (Hilton Augusta Parker Rogers, born May 30 2003), is not spared from school’s community work.  Well… maybe he might be discounted and do less.  It buffers me how Singapore’s education system have changed so drastically.

The single most important piece of advice for you: Teach them Chinese. My baby girl is perfectly fluent in Chinese. I got a nany who only speaks Chinese to her. People think she is native, until they see her.
- Billionaire Investor, Jim Roger

Reflecting on Jim’s words, children these days speak far worse English and Chinese than my time.  We cannot ignore the powers of social pressure.  If you’re teaching your child, do you speak proper English or Chinese, or mixed languages (aka Singlish = broken English+Chinese+Malay+Chinese Dialects combo).

If you’re with your colleagues or business associates, do you speak perfect English or Chinese?  Not only will you find it awkward to speak fluently without breaking into Singlish again, peer pressure will force most of us to look completely like an idiot, if you ever attempt!

If you’ve understood what I mean, it’s best sumarrized by the principle of the pelicans.  It takes tremendrous effort to go against the norm.  It’s something not many people have understood well, let alone to act against the norm.

Inflation For All

A general survey shows an increasing pressure for grown up children to battle with the cost of inflation.  In the cooperate world, what do companies do when the economy turns down and reduced earnings?  The first thing companies do is to axe their staffs.  As a parent, you can’t axe your child.  Neither can you cut your child’s living allowances.

Now, before this becomes a heated debate, let me put things in some important perspectives.  If you’re currently a student, do consider how hard your parents are breaking even at work and at home.  Few parents come to the conclusion to become full time homemakers to keep you in check (which you may disagree).  No parents would like to shortchange their children in their education.  However, every expenses you incur must be well considered.

For parents out there, do consider a reasonable budget for both your child’s expenses and education plan without risking out on your own retirement.  Cut down drastically on all your unnecessary expenses.

For exampe, begin a savings plan for your child and encourage them to learn the importance of savings.  This way, your child can learn the virtue of frugality and help cushion your financial load.  Children brought up this way will be more responsible adults and take better care of their own finances.  Surely you don’t want your children to dip into your retirement savings because of your unintentional foresight to miss out teaching them about their relationships with money; something that is still missing out in today’s education system?

If you’re an adult, it’s about time to get started to relinquish your relationship with money.  Learn as much as possible about your own finances.  Brush up your financial quotion (FQ) if you haven’t by now.  The best sources are found in books written between the first world war and until 1990s.  Find a trusted mentor, whenever possible.  Have your long term plans crafted out carefully and center them around the support of your wife/husband and children.

Stay hungry, stay foolish, and live a life with passion!

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©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

Sure, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize what this means.  With a sales record of over 6 million units sold to date, Apple Computer now extends its projection to 10 millions units of iPhone devices sold worldwide by the end of this year.

So what is this opportunity I’m taking about?

I’m not suggesting that you go around scooping shares of Apple Computer.  It’s way overvalued anyway, unless you’re betting your money on the short term momentum growth of its international iPod/iPhone/iTouch sales.

I’m coming up some ideas that you may be profiting from if you pay attention to the unstoppable world demand to mobile computing.

To understand its explosive growth, let’s take a look at some features that Appel has been quitely building so far.

iPhone 2.0 OS:

The new OS has plenty of firepower.  One of the smartest move Apple ever made is to release the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) and the support for enterprise network connectivity.  If you’re a seasoned software programmer, it is very hard not to imagine the possibilities you can do.

The iPhone SDK comes with a iPhone simulator – an emulated environment where software developers can run, test and debug their applications without actually owning the gadget.  The SDK empowers developers to create killer applications that leverage on the iPhone’s groundbreaking technologies, such as the Multi-Touch™ user interface and animation technology.  With large memory for storage and built-in three-axis accelerometer and geographical location technology (GPS), the iPhone may be destined to set a new standard on how mobile devices gets tightly integrated into our everyday life.

From a user perspective, you can connect your iPhone to your cooperate network via Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, running secure-over-the-air push mails, contacts and calendars – all pushed to your iPhone device!  IT administrators can easily set up multiple iPhones, password policies, VPN setting, installing certificates, email server settings, all to be easily managed and securely through private cooperate networks running Cisco’s IPsec VPNs.

As you can see, as the user base increase over time, hundreds and thousands of developers may be in a mad rush to create the next killer iPhone application.

Users of iPhones will have to be wary though.  Malicious iPhone application developers may seek to exploit unannouced software valuabilities.

—

The Network Effect:

Although the size and scope of Apple’s developer program remains a mystery at this point of time, it is not hard to realize the potential of software sales demonstrated from online auctioneer eBay and various social networking sites.

If you haven’t realize by now, the best way to promote any product is by word-of-mouth – and social networking tools are all set empower software developers to extend their reach to a hungry pool of iPhone users.

As partners of the new Apple Store, it is likely that Apple will take a profit cut from the sales of 3rd party downloaded through iTunes.  iPhone developers though, may be allowed to sell their software at any price they see fit.

—

Get Funding Through iFund?

I’m not kidding!

Even if you’re not keen to develop iPhone or iTouch software, you can always setup an outsourcing team and manage the projects and do your own marketing, or even outsource them out!  So you may be asking, where do I draw the capital from?

Answer:

The KPCB’s iFund™.

Essentiall, iFund™ is a $100M investment initiative that will fund market-changing ideas and products that extend the revolutionary new iPhone and iPod touch platform. The iFund™ is agnostic to size and stage of investment and will invest in companies building applications, services and components. Focus areas include location based services, social networking, mCommerce (including advertising and payments), communication, and entertainment. The iFund™ will back innovators pursuing transformative, high-impact ideas with an eye towards building independent durable companies atop the iPhone / iPod touch platform.

- iFund™ FAQ

If you can see what I envision, location based services + social networking + mobile commerce is likely to be the next big bang of the mobile/wireless lifestyle.  Not to mention the lucrative revenues from advertising and a massive bazaar and marketplace for real-time auctions, the world may get a little smaller with the power promise of wireless connectivity.  It is hard to imagine why Google and Microsoft hard biting hard on the next biggest onslought of paying consumers in the face of recession and slowing economic growth.

On a personal note from the standpoint of a private investor, it is sad to uncover that the venture capitalists firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers are only interested to work with investment opportunities, rather than seeking investors.

Nevertheless, the future of iPhone/iTouch is bright; and as aspiring entrepreneurs who dream to earn their first million bucks may be brave enough to venture right into this new venture.

Will you be the garage born multi-millionaire?  Or will it be your neighbour next door?

Stay hungry, stay foolish and live a life with passion!

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©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

It’s really a simple formula, yet to the undisciplined and untrained mind, the journey is to be fill will bobby traps!

The recent rise in both both crude oil and food prices has already been taking a toll on everyone’s budget.  As the global consumption for energy continue to stay strong and the uncertain fate of the weakening dollar, things will most likely get worse.

Higher prices are now forcing many people to look for ways to save money (defensive), or to make more money (offensive), or both (you have a winner here!).  Saving money looks pretty easy to most folks.

Unfortunately, tons of people are making certain fundamental mistakes when they try to save money, mistakes that actually hurt their finances rather than helping them.

Here, I’ll attempt to list the most common money saving mistakes:

—

Top Mistake #1: Quit Expenditure

While this looks to be the obvious way to save money, action without foresight can mean additional expenditure down the road!

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand the basics of cutting down on luxury items.  What I’m mean is you may be starting to to cut down on their “you-will-not-die-but-painfully-limp-on” essential expenses.

Confused?  Let me draw a few examples for illustrations.

For example, you may be thinking into cutting down on your health insurance premiums, your timely dental/body checkups, your health supplements, your Qi Gong/Yoga exercises – whatever maintains your physical health.

Listen, cutting down expenses to any one of those systems that are already in place is a surefire recipe for your financial disaster!  Trying to squeeze out that extra dollar thinking you are a smart piggy bank saver will cost you a bomb when your favorite hospital send you your bill.  Medical related cost is a silent expense time-bomb you will be paying for in the years to come without you knowing.

In fact, I have actually stepped up on expenditure in high quality health supplements, knowing outright that money can be made back in time.  No amount of money can buy back a deteriorated body… and only if you’re lucky having survive over a hefty medical bill.

—

Mistake #2: Go For Cheaps, Not Value

Lowest price doesn’t necessary means value.

This may work sometimes but If you’re thinking to save money on the long haul, buying what you want have to follow the principle of “best value for money”.

Products selling cheaply on retail shelves may not necessary yield the quality you want – hence saving money.  Replacing quality products with inferior ones may save you a buck or more, but will cost you more having to replace them often.

For example, buying gardening or home fixing tools that can last you a lifetime rather than a year or two.

This is especially true for electronics gadgets!  Recognizing that technology improvement often outpaced the life of the device itself, it makes no sense at all to buy the latest gadgets to showoff.  Money is still money, irregardless of those you earn or that you save (or have not spend).  It may be a lot wiser to purchase second-hand gadgets on auctions like eBay.

If you insist on brand new ones, do keep yourself peeled for bargains offered by sellers who are getting rid of old stocks to make way for new ones.  These sellers are usually willing forgo the lucrative markups for older models from their whole sellers – with full warranty of course whenever possible!

The key to saving money on a consistent basis is to learn how to buy for value at discounts.  Price is just one factor that you will have to consider before making a purchase.  Just mastering this tactic alone will save you a ton of money in the long run!

—
Mistake #3: Assuming Saving Some Money Is a Quick Fix For a Hefty Expense

Trying to cut down expenses after having regretted on spending a bomb on any luxury item is a common self deluding problem.

Cutting down on normal life supporting expenditure does not solve your problem!

In fact, it’s human nature why you may desire a luxury product, is because you’re trying to fuel your own ego.  You want recognition and respect from your peers, your friends or even your family member!

Trying to save a bit here and there on basic expenditures like meals or drinks will not patch the big hole in your pocket until you curb your urge to spend on big ticket items.

It’s not going to be easy, but here’s a little tip; question yourself every time when you see an item on display, if it’s really a necessity to own it.  Most of the time, you probably don’t need it to keep yourself alive. 

Ability to distinguish between need and want is the basic ingredient to your better financial future.

Repeat that every time for at least 10 times until you’ve exhausted every excuses.  Until then, you’ve probably find the obvious answer to justify your purchase!

—

Mistake #4: Associating Savings As A Means To Deny Yourself

You may feel that saving money means denying yourself the things that you really enjoyed, which makes the entire process painful and intolerable.  To avoid this pain, you may endure and wait as long as possible to take the steps you will need to lower your expenses and save money.  The longer you wait, the worse your problem may get, meaning it will be harder to improve your finances.

Truly, saving money don’t have to be painful.  With a little change in your lifestyle, a little change on how you purchase goods and services, you will probably find a lot of reasons why you may be paying more than you need to for a lot of the services and items you currently expense.

For example, you may consider buying second hand items, or hunt for affordable and value for money deals on auction sites like eBay.  Personally, I’ve found a lot of good deals on eBay that easily strike me dumb why anyone, with a little patience and practice, can save a ton of money off retail prices!

Learn how to reduce the costs associated with each product and service you consume without giving them up is the best way to start saving money from your current budget!

—

Mistake #5: Believing There Is No Need to Make Fundamental Changes

Savings is very much akin to dieting.  It’s a lot more than knowing what you need to do.

If you think that you can learn to how to save money without making a fundamental switch in the way you currently do, you are really approaching the concept of savings as a short-term problem.  With a set-mind like this, reducing costs and saving money will never become your long-term priority.  As such your results will be mediocre.

You’ll need, not just wishful thinking, to make fundamental changes by incorporating the money saving methods that you learn into your lifestyle.

Understanding that the changes are a necessity part of how you will deal with money from now on, rather than a stop-gap for a current problem, will make the likelihood of success with much greater confidence. These changes usually includes changes on how you spend your money and changes to reduce your current ongoing expenses.

—

Are you making some, or all of the above mistakes?  Let me hear your comments!

Stay hungry, stay foolish and live a life with passion!

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

This year, this event was held in Suntec City Singapore on 29th and 30th March 2008, shocasing overseas properties and many other investment products. Visitors are most welcomed to patron the exhibits and live seminars from 10am to 7pm on both days.

If you’re not interested about your financial future, then I’m sorry because this article will be filled with information that is of no interest to you. Even so, I highly encourage you to check out the information below because this exposition are not 100% catered for local property investments. There are a great deal of lower priced assets like properties that are based overseas which can be readily affordable by small retail investors like you and me.

Allow me quickly summarize my personal findings on the exposition…

I arrived at Suntec City, approximately 3pm, and found out that there were already a number of exhibitions running concurrently. I was quite surprised to find a very long queue at the level 3 halls, but I’ve no idea why.

The investment exhibition is based on level 4, occupying the whole of Hall 402 so there was no mistake that those people I saw weren’t queuing to discover a great investment hit.

I found my way to level 4 and was quite surprised at the quietness! I think for a second and decided to take my first shot of what happened as you’ll see what I mean.

Here is a snapshot of the traffic as I move up the escalator and approaching the registration counters.

As you can see, and unlike the IT Show 2008 held earlier in Suntec City this month, there were hardly any people rushing in to check out the latest/alternate investment vehicles around. I conclude that the majority of folks out there are more interested to spend money and enjoy luxury items, than to take efforts to discover ways to make their money work harder for them.

Anyway, I took a number of interesting pictures of the happenings around the Hall. Below are some samples and descriptions.

Personally, I really enjoy gazing over miniaturized models of private houses and condominiums. Though I can’t afford them now, it pays to check them out and put them on my visualization listings.

My perspective of Malaysia properties are a lot vague and personally, I don’t like the idea of investing in properties in Johor Bahru (JB) or Kuala Lumpur (KL). As you can see, the government of Malaysia has just been formed and I’m not quite sure if it’s a go for expensive investment like property. Imagine that you’ll depend very much on the stability of the economy and the law enforcement agencies to protect your invested assets. I could be wrong about this though.

As I’ve heard too, Thailand is another attractive location for property investment. Much of such investments in Thailand has a lot to do with tourism. You guess it already – it’s resorts and residential real estates.

Unfortunately, I do not have the information to assess such deals, and often too, such investments are worth millions of dollars, putting retail investors like you and me out of reach. It is possible in the future that ownership of such assets, may be made readily available to small investors.

The exposition is not all about exhibits of real estate developers and retailers. There are a number of exciting seminars too!

Seminars are conducted concurrently in two separate locations across the hall. I’ve already missed quite a fair bit of the keynote speeches by the time I arrive so I try to squeeze in to listen and take some occasional pictures of the interactions between the guest speakers and the public audiences.

From what I understand from the points presented, there is no better time to buy properties here in Singapore. No comments on that one because I don’t have a few millions dollars to take their advice anyway. Do consult your trusted property/real estate agent before committing huge bucks on any long-term high ticket investments, even if you can afford to.

I’ve found an interesting booth at D05 from UM Land Berhad showcasing some projects with Capitalland. I like their miniaturized model of a condominium with all the cool lightings coming from within the little windows!

Are you already tempted?

How about these ones from Sunway City Berhad?

I’m sure they’ll blow you off your socks!

As I wonder back and froth the exhibits, looking out for any familiar faces, I caught sight of Vittorio (one of the most prominent guys in my coaching class back in year 2005) standing next to Seminar Area 2! Not really sure if it was him and if he could even remember me, I went up to him to say hi anyway!

Boy was I glad that he can still remember me!

He is still with Walton International Group even after 3 years since we’ve last met, and have thus progress to the position of Assistant Vice President for Walton’s land banking sales force.

What surprised me more was his close contact with coach Manoj and that he is now receiving coaching that he missed in the final phases of the coaching course. I took the opportunity to learn much more from him about his approaches to solid ground investment and options trading using methods taught by Dr. Clement Chiang of Freely Options Trading School.

Vittorio also taught me some important lessons on wealth building, such as by attending and learning as much from seminars like this one. According to him (and taken from somewhere which he had forgotten), it has been statistically measured that as much as 50% of people who ever take action to learn, improve and enhance their investing strategies, 90% of these people shall eventually succeed to attain what they want financially in life.

I had the fortune also to pass this photograph to him the next time when I get back to him and his coaching progress with Manoj!

I picked up more information about the truth of CPF ordinary returns of 2.5% and how the lock-in and minimum sum schemes will affect all of us in the long term.

Imagine if you do contribute CPF from age 25 to 65 (40 years) at 2.5% compounded annually, here is what it is if the same initial $20,000 OA and SA account would grow to at 3.5%, 5%, 7% and 8% compounded annually.

And that most investors with CPFIS on average, does not even beat 2.5% offered by the government…

Even government investment agencies like GIC and Temasek Holdings are making returns at higher rates (8.25% over 25 years and 18% for Temasek over 32 years).

In short, if you can wisely invest your CPF in various investment vehicles to yield higher returns year-on-year, do not allow it to get eroded by high inflation and low rates promised by the CPF board.

Use free, unlimited fund switching and portfolio re-balancing techniques to your advantage to average out loosing investments while keeping focus on wining ones.

It took me a long time before I’ve found AAG’s booth for REDEV Properties. For your information, I am already invested with REDEV on some solid commercial real estate properties, just earlier this month.

Coincidentally, I was invited to a much privileged buffet dinner at Royal Plaza Hotel the night before, with many of AAG’s private investors. The evening was casual and was graced by the presence of REDEV’s president, Richard Crenian and his young partner, Darwin Forer, VP Sales for Asia Pacific.

Real estate income and gain (REIG) programs in my understanding, is an attractive investment vehicle not commonly known to the public. Such investment offers unique rental income returns, and at the same time, very attractive capital appreciation of anywhere from 25% to 40% when buyout takes place, and upon 60% votes by stakeholders.

Each project is 100% own by REDEV, the residents of Canada (similar to CPF), and the remaining ownership is open to all global investors worldwide. Liquidation is easy as potential buyers and sellers are within the same pool of investors who are already making comfortable returns from existing ownership and want more equity of its kind hoping for larger capital appreciation share on buyouts.

To take advantage of such unique opportunities, one will have to establish the relevant connections and timing of entry for new project offers, such as vacancy of offer from REDEV and floating foreign exchange rates which you must be comfortable with (since it’s a mid to long term investment vehicle).

Investment Type: Cash Flow + Capital Gain (Tax already factored)
Investment Size Per Lot:

• CAD$10,000 minimum (Arrangement By AAG)
• Multiples of CAD$25,000 to CAD$100,000 (REDEV)

Income ROI: 8-10%pa (passive income paid in CAD)
Capital ROI: 25-40% of initial valuation
Breakeven: Approximately 5 years
Income Life: Until estate buyout upon voted by > 60% investors
Payment: Check of once or twice per year

That’s it… for now!

I’ll be heading off again now (in the morning on day 2 of this exposition) and I’ll be right back to keep the rest of this article updated as soon as I possibly can!

Latest Updates (30th March 2008, 1600hrs):

I’m back again!

I caught up with my friend, Edmund Lee who is particularly interested in investment vehicles and he’s eager to check out what this exposition has to offer.

I showed him around to some other cashflow producing asset such as oil and gas field.

OilPods is a marketing company was established here in Singapore since 2005 and works with their partner at Powder River Petroleum International Inc (OTC:BB Symbol PWDR). Powder River Petroleum International is the business of active production, acquisition, and marketing of crude oil and natural gas properties.

Cashflow as opposed to capital appreciation, is vital if you happen to have a lot of spare cash and you are looking out for stable source of passive income for your retirement. Other strategies involve yearly investments to build multiple streams of passive income to your bank account through Giro.

The interesting fact about cashflow driving assets is that you can stagger them up in the order you want each year as you re-invest those monthly generated income into more and more cashflow.

In theory, if you have USD$100,000 of spare cash right now, you can potentially generate USD$1,500 (possibly 12% to 15%) or more passive income into your bank account month after month! If you re-invest all that income year-on-year for straight 5 years, you can retire on USD$3,000 or more worth of residual income (and keep rolling) for the rest of your life!

Investment Type: Cash Flow (Tax already factored)
Investment Size Per Lot: Multiples of USD$10,000
ROI: 12-15%pa (paid in USD)
Breakeven: Approximately 5 years
Income Life: Until the oil/gas well runs dry in 12-20 years (and possibly 30 years for gas well).
Payment: Monthly GIRO
Not bad at all for small retail investors!

Before you get over excited, let me identify investment risks associated with this asset class:

1. Monthly deposits of income generated from foreign is subjected to foreign exchange rate. One may argue that the dollar is weakening against Singapore dollar and it may be a good time to buy US assets. Unfortunately, your income is converted to SGD which means your income is very much affected the strength of the dollar.
2. Hurricanes or other natural disasters may hit your oil or gas fields (as much as twice a year?). As such, mineral minings may be disrupted for months until repair work is completed. Fortunately, these assets are insured against such disasters so that may not sound too bad after all!
3. Risk of liquidation of Powder River Petroleum Inc. Fortunately, mineral title deeds are issued to private investors like you and I. If so unfortunately, that the company is filed for bankruptcy or other legal lawsuits, you still own the asset titles. Your title may be auctioned and sold at market value, depending on the amount of reserves under the fields that you own. Generally, your investment principle is recovered (breakeven) when you received your 36th checks (3 years) or 60th checks (5 years).

Interesting?

Wait till I check out another deal which is a competitor of OilPod. It’s always good practice to find out differentiated investment products before committing cash for long term.

I haven’t got a chance until next week to find out more from their presentation. Once I’ve got the details, I’ll keep you posted on my findings here!

Updated On 6th April 2008!

I attended the open presentation from Oil Estates on Thursday and found out a lot more about investing in Oil & Gas.

It turned out that Oil Estates is a newly established competitor to Oilpods (about 1 month old now) and it looks like it’s the only competitor you can find in Singapore. Important discovery I made was, Oil Estates IS a Lead Investor in minerals, unlike Oilpod, which the latter is solely a marketing company.

What does that mean to investors?

Simply put, if a company exist purely to provide an investment service to real estates or oil/gas fields, investors themselves have to engage their own attorneys should disputes occur. The service agency have in no way liable for the losses of their clients.

Oil Estates in this context, is a lead investor. This means that they have a vested interest in the projects they work on and they are unlikely to default unless the company liquidates. In this case, the speaker claimed that the company has a paid up capital of more than SGD$500,000 and has been around to the past years serving clients in acquiring UK assets (land).

Oil Estates works as follows:
They take investor’s money and buy existing oil wells from their 2 operators in US Texas. These two operators are GM SOUTHEAST ENERGY VENTURES, LLC and DAYSTAR OIL & GAS CORP. DAYSTAR is a private equity-funded company established in 1996, while GM is a public-listed company on NASDAQ OTCBB USA, and being the 39th largest producer in the State of Texas. These 2 experienced operators together, manages Oil Estate projects to help spread risks for investors.

With the money raised from 8 different countries where they operate, Oil Estates pay a premium for existing oil/gas wells from one or more of the above operators and start paying investors 3 month after they receive their Mineral Title (also known in USA as Working Interest).

Other portions of the money raised goes to pay for lease secured by the operators. With secured lease, the operators can start exploration and drilling in preparation for production.

Important thing to note, is that the working interest is filed and safekeep in the County of Orange (Texas) where operators are obliged by law to pay all parties in the working interest from the profits made in mining from their fields.

Subsequent money raised from investors are used to run other projects, include redevelopment and exploration programmes.

Unlike Oilpods, Oil Estate seeks to minimize risks by spreading investor’s money on a whole programme, rather than per project as marketed by Oilpods. This means that in the case of dry, uneconomical and low production wells, this can vastly reduce investors’ returns.

Unfortunately, such investments have their risk, the biggest being natural disasters such as hurricanes (Texas), and the weakening of the US dollar.

Investment Type: Cash Flow (Tax already factored)
Investment Size Per Lot: Multiples of USD$12,000, unlimited
ROI: 8%pa plus variable bonus (passive income paid in USD),
thereafter 5 years breakeven, no less than 10%pa.
Breakeven: Approximately 3.5 to 5 years
Income Life: Until the oil/gas well runs dry in 12-20 years (and possibly 30 years for gas well).
Payment: Monthly check or GIRO

—

I turned around finally to Walton International and caught a quick chat with their sales team manager. Interestingly, he and Edmund share the same name and to commemorate this special occasion, I offered to take a photograph of them.

Finally, I introduced REDEV and Managing Partner of AAG, Lawrence Wong to Edmund. We learned a lot more about REIGs, the potential of passive incomes and capital appreciations by investing in commercial real estates.

Lawrence was very patient and kind to explain further on some of our other queries, for example, the types of other investments that AAG recommends to clients and what are the pitfalls of similar products that salesman do not tell you about.

—

That’s it and thanks a lot for reading this far!

I trust that you may have benefited somehow from some of my own findings.

If you have anything interesting to share, or want to know more about a particular investment class, do feel free to drop me your comments below!

Good investing and live a life with passion!

Resources:

1. The Official SMART Investment Property Website
2. The Official SMART Investment Property Website

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.

I seriously doubt so.

The good news is, you can slowly make your way there – at least once in your lifetime!

Wait a minute… did I say anyone can become a millionaire?

That’s right! And I mean it. But there are some conditions and sadly most people do not realize.

The first question to ask yourself is:

“Where did all your money go to?”

Stupid question? I doubt so. Don’t believe me? Try to recall all the expenses you incurred over the last 7 days. That’s right, pull out a sheet of paper now and draw out 7 rows and start putting down items like:

• Travel (Bus, Cab/taxi, MRT/train)
• Breakfast
• Lunch
• Dinner
• Mobile phone bills
• Groceries
• Utilities bills
• House loans
• School loans
• Consumer loans
• Personal income tax
• Movies/entertainments
• etc (keep adding them as you recall!)

Done that? Now, next to each item, fill out the amount for the item. Continue doing this and make sure you leave nothing out of your calculation – it’s vital!

Calculate the sum of all 7 days. This is likely to be the amount you spend to support your so-call lifestyle in a week. Multiple that by 4 to determine an average expense for a month.

Of course, that’s not a very accurate estimate if you incurred some expensive one-time expenses like buying a plasma TV or LCD TV during the last 7 days. But you get the idea.

The point of this exercise is to wake you up to the idea of cashflow. If you haven’t heard of this term and you skipped the exercise, then retrace and do it now for the sake of your financial future! And I mean it!

You see, most folks are big spender (and that’s you!). And the truth is, the more you earn, the more you’ll spend. The truth I’ve shown you is a concept call cashflow. If you’ve read Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad“, you’ll understand immediately.

It’s not about how much you earn.

It’s about how much you save and ____.

I’ll get to the ____ later. But answer this: “When is the last time you made an expenditure list like the one I describe above?”

1. Identify and Reduce Your Expenditures!

Personally, I keep track of all my expenditures daily in an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, recording every single spending at the end of the day. Some people prefer to use a PDA. That’s fine too but only if you’re already carrying one and not run out to buy one for this purpose!

Diligently keeping track of expenses leads you to discover where all your money has flown out. This information is vital because you now have the knowledge to cut down on spending or find alternatives to trim down your living expenditure. I don’t mean you come out stingy on necessities.

Keeping up with basic health and living is okay, as long as you do not exceed your prescribed amount you feel comfortable. Gradually find alternatives to products and services that can serve the same purpose and save them for good reasons.

2. Save and Invest!

What’s the purpose of reducing your expenditure?

To increase your personal savings of course!

Even the legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett said this in an interview when he surpassed Bill Gates as the wealthiest man in 2008:

“If you want to know why I passed Bill Gates, it’s because I spend less. It’s a tribute to thriftiness.”
- Warren Buffett

One of the problem that’s facing youth these days is the disrespect for an age old wisdom and virtue – saving.

Now, I don’t mean putting all your money and hide it in your bank account. Your money you save are like slaves for you. Put them to good investment and make them work hard and smarter for you.

That sounds easy isn’t it?!

Before you jump off your seat doodling over that $1 million dollars from your investments, I’ve got bad news for you…

Investment requires you to get fairly financially educated and also to put trust in honest and capable people to manage for you. I’ve hit many scams in the past and got burnt so watch carefully where you’re investing. Anything that promise you abnormally high return such as 100/200/400++% per annum is probably a scam and you should run fast!

If you’re looking ways to put your money to good use, always make sure that it’s a small fraction off your own savings. Ensure that you have enough savings to sustain your family and lifestyle for the next 6 months without any full time income. If you’re not certain, consult a financial professional/adviser.

Here are a few asset classes that I’ve recently identified and are looking to get started (some of these assets I’m already holding and reaping returns) :

1. Mutual Funds (also known as units outside US and UK)
2. Stocks
3. Property/Real Estates
4. Fine Wines
5. Oil/Energy
6. Precious Metals

If you’ve been to the recent ATIC: Asia Trader and Investor Convention 2008 at Suntec Singapore Hall 401 (1-2 March 2008), you’ve probably identified a few of these asset classes.

I noted a particular fine wine investment to crates of Australian wine that matures in about 3 years. Initial investment is SGD$10k and return is about 10-12%pa. There are no upfront sales charges and the only catch is a 5% charge upon selling value. Judging from this information, one is not advised to sell the purchase anytime within a year.

The purpose of this type of investment is capital gain and not that of income.

If you’re in a hurry to make big bucks, watch your back! I’ve carefully taken down these wise points from someone who taught me a lesson on making your own judgments in any form of investment:

1. Returns (ROI)
2. Risks
3. Liquidity
4. Affordability
5. Proof of Security/Ownership
6. Timeframe/Tenure of investment

If you cannot convince yourself or produce proof on any of the above, then stay away from the investment. It’s better to preserve your capital for better deals or opportunities in the future.

Still, I somewhat feel like a sucker whenever I put down money on my investments these days. This probably comes from a single bad experience in the past where I was being cheated by one unit fund investment from a local bank back in 2003. That “investment” claimed 100% principle guarantee, but the fees and charges eroded a few hundred bucks.

So watch out too if you’re paying too much for sales charges, administration fees. Professional managed portfolio does not comes free.

3. Protect You Most Valuable Asset – You Inc!

Many people are aware of the investment (offensive) part.

What about the protection (defensive) part of wealth management?

Interestingly, folks are rarely concerned about this until something major or catastrophic happens to them.

As Adam Khoo pointed out in his books and courses, any serious wealth builder pays attention to protecting themselves and assets should something happen to them.

You should at least get start yourself with health insurance. One accident with operation and hospitalization is destined to wipe out all your savings, no matter how much you save. Leave that payment to your insurance institute! Why put your financial future at risk? Rich people are known to insure themselves heavily to a point where they are prevented to be over-insured by insurance companies.

I’m not trying to promote insurance here but you get the concept of protection and how important it is for your financial being. The people who need insurance protection most are the same group of people who completely misunderstand and disregard it.

You can’t save them though.

Hopefully education can enlighten!

4. Build Your Own Businesses and Asset Profiles!

Perhaps, building your own business is the fastest way to accumulate capital for strategic investments other than digging into your own savings.

You may think that it’s hard, but rest assure that many people have succeeded. The good news is, a trend of younger and successful group is fast catching up on forbes youngest billionaires list. I’m not suggesting that you go out and build a multi-million or billion dollars business from scratch, here and now. What I mean is, the accessibility of better business environment and market demands have propelled more and more folks to create businesses and thereby creating millionaires at a faster rate than ever before.

Don’t believe me? Then hurry and check out this recent article on PC World, “Meet the Whiz Kids: 10 Overachievers Under 21“.

Most of these billionaire kids are either self-made or inherited. In fact, these kids put many of us adults to shame, and especially to highly educated folks like you and me. What did we not know that they knew which propel them to insane wealth?

Indeed, I discovered clues about wealth creation recently while reading a book, “The Kama Sutra of Business: Management Principles from Indian Classics” by Nury Vittachi.

“At the dawn of civilization, a group of people discover that concentrated economic activity generates riches.”
- The Source of Wealth, Nury Vittachi

Self-made wealth are usually built from seizing opportunities from demands, by creating unique solutions or delivering unique services to massive groups of people. Through the exchange of services and money by concentrated groups of people (offline/online), massive wealth is created.

Okay, all these sound very nice, but what has that got to do with you?

Good question! I don’t try to claim I’m an expert, but I can point you to ideas that you can further research to see if you are hooked. But first, you’ve got to learn to accept and internalize the concept of:

“Who are you working for?”

This is one of the first questions thrown at me when I was doing my coaching exercise about 2.5 years ago. Honestly, I got it all wrong when I answered this one.

Go on! DO NOT read further, but try answering this yourself without trying to peep below.

ZZZ

zzz

Ready with your answer?

Good!

If you cheat, it’s your choice anyway. I can’t stop you.

Drums in and roaring…

And the answer is…

“You are working for YOURSELF!”

Congratulations! Did you get that correct?

Don’t worry if you’ve got it wrong.

My original answer was: “I work for XYZ company”.

So what’s wrong with that answer?

Basically, folks have been conditioned to think of studying hard and get a job. Work hard, get a pay check and don’t get into trouble. If you’re ambitious, try climbing the cooperate ladder. Probably your parents have advise you that too? No? That’s exactly how rich and powerful people want you to stay locked in that frame of thinking and continue to keep this best kept secret from you. The longer the better.

If that doesn’t make sense, try reading this eye opening article, “10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job” by Steve Pavlina. Steve himself pointed out critical ideas why a job is a jail, a rat race that limits your capacity to pursue the things you are so passionate about and living much room for remorse when you reach your ripe old age. Should you be doing what you really enjoy doing, and getting paid whether you decide to work or not? Work is supposed to be value creation/addition/perception for others, so it’s not just limited to be there only when you’re present. You should be paid based on the value you created for others, and not by your physical presence. Does that make sense?

I must say this is a paradigm shift. People are getting smarter each generation (not necessary wiser), where education improved significantly, and information are more accessible. Accessibility of information comes to a point where what was only known to highly intelligent and powerful people like kings 4 or 5 centuries ago, are now accessible to common folks like you and me.

“So what has information got to do with me?”

In case you do not realize it, intellectual property is now fast becoming an asset that most people do not even consider them as valuable until shown to be true. You now have the tools and information to convert any information and knowledge that is freely available, into where demands and markets are.

It’s really simple. For example, you can create a product and teach people how to win in video games. That’s cool isn’t it? Imagine enjoying doing what you enjoy doing (playing video games) and still making royalty from the sales of your books/ebooks/videos/courses. You should be paid over and over again for that one single creation.

Even as I write on this blog, I’m building up valuable assets for myself. The key is to think of everything that you do as business, always figuring out new ways to extend the value you’ve created, and then turn them into income generating assets.

Seriously, you don’t really care if I make any money writing this article for you, do you?

Nor do you really care if you decide to steal my writings and paste them all onto your own blogs, or circulate them to all your friends and relatives? But do watch your back if you decide to do that. I may not mind that much, but unethical rip offs from the work of others will sooner get you into a lot of serious troubles. So learn to respect the values created by others as you build your businesses and give credits to rightful owners when it’s due.

I’ve keep this article decently short enough to open yours eyes to the wonderful world of wealth creation. Hopefully you did not find me bored and doze off to sleep!

Until then… good investing with your time and money!

Keep your comments rolling in and live a life with passion!

©2012 Insights, Inspirations, Tranquility, Peace and Harmony. All Rights Reserved.