Happy new year 2011, wishes for new fortunes ahead!

Now I wanna wish everyone happy new year 2011! Gone with the past and here comes another round of a year...~
We'll expect to achieve something in the year to come, so its time to save money up till today, and start preparing to find alternatives to earn more next year.

Whether you're to invest or setting up a good business idea, its good to still have an objective set for a new year to come. I have compiled some short objectives to achieve next year, which bullish investments will I move into and so on...~ Good luck and happy new year!!

My 10 ways to save money by shopping

How to save on shopping?
If you really enjoy shopping by spending then don't even bother to read, because this post seems to be a complete opposite.

When we talk about saving money, we are referring to our own habit and discipline to control spending.

Christmas is around the corner, we need to shop for presents, so how do we save on shopping?
My tips here are not trying to make you look fussy or stingy, but if you want to save money, here's how you do it:

1. Collect coupons or vouchers. No harm keeping all these, you may not know when you need it. Try utilizing these vouchers to buy your necessity and xmas presents at cheaper price.
2.  Write down your shopping list. Make this a habit, I am serious. If you don't want to get over-budget on your shopping expenses, make sure you know what you want to buy. And only buy what you want to buy, that's it!
3. Shop around different stores. Yes, this is what ladies love to do, shop around different stores and look for a best buy. This is a great idea, you shop around to survey for a shop that offers a better price. You have to be hardworking nonetheless, especially when you want to get the best deal.
4.  Buy in bulk. You will notice that some stores offer a 'Buy 2 at a 50% discount'. Try utilize this at your advantage, not necessary to buy 2 for yourself. Instead, you share your purchases with a friend or family member from there you two save together.
5. Shop at Discount Stores. If you realized that a stand-alone shop that sells something that were marked up higher than the normal price, then don't step in. Only buy at discount stores like Wal-Mart, or hypermarket like Carrefour,etc. These giant hypermarkets have large economies of scale, therefore charging lesser in price.
6. Get a rebate card/credit card. If you are shopping for grocery or presents, you may want to take advantage of loyalty card that can offer rebates. Here you can save yourself a lot of money
• I've mentioned some examples of credit card that might be useful here:- http://wealthstreetjournal.blogspot.com/2010/12/how-to-use-your-credit-card.html
7. Learn how to bargain. If you happen to shop at a bargain store. Make sure you have your negotiation skills on hand. Desperately negotiating price with shopkeeper may sound embarrassing, but who knows how much you can save from it. 
8. Buy it last minute. Who says you need to plan ahead? Have you ever notice that some stores offer last minute sales to clear their stock right at the last day? That's where you rush in and shop for the items you longed to purchase. They will offer 50% or 70% discount off the price.
9. Online auction. Shopping is not necessarily tangible, look for online auction to shop for Xmas present at cheaper price. Best option I can suggest, go to http://www.ebay.com/ or http://www.Amazon.com and hunt for items that are offered during auction. You may get it lower than its normal price.
10. Save even more through online. Last but not least, learn your way through sites that can offer benefits to help you save money. Below are two of the sites that you can refer to:-
1. http://www.retailmenot.com/
•  You can search any items or sites that you want to buy in the search box. The site will show you ALL the list of coupons available for the proposed items. So here's where you can find coupons that provide desired promo or rebates.
2. http://www.ebates.com/ 
•  It works the same way like above-mentioned site. However, instead of having to fill in your rebate form every time you get the coupon. This site will store the info in their database, save your hassle. Another bonus is that they offer referral program by tipping you with $5 when you refer a friend to join. 

  
So there you go, 10 possible ways to help you with your finances during shopping period. It makes you happier to be able to save a few bucks, don't always assume that shopping can only be fun if you spend more. Enjoy your xmas shopping ahead =)

Who Moved My Cheese? Escape the rat race!

Sometimes to be rich, you have to be different...~
Here is how I put it, I've read this simple book by Spencer Johnson, Who Moved My Cheese?. International bestseller with over 24 million copies sold worldwide.

In short, the story talks about a group of mice (Sniff and Scurry) and a group miniature human (Hem and Haw). Both groups lived in a maze to look for cheese, which represents happiness and success.

Apparently after some time they ran out of cheese, Sniff and Scurry were prepared to look for new cheese in different stations (areas). However Hem and Haw were too afraid to go out and explore new stations in search for new cheese.
Throughout such desperation, Haw proposed to look for new cheese but Hem rejected. Hem feared of the unknown and danger outside of the comfort zone. Therefore Hem decided to go out and explore new stations for cheese alone. And so, Haw left without Hem to look for new cheese. 

After some time Haw realized that he has found new happiness and understand that cheese is always out there, but needs to be explored and discovered. 

********************

You have to read it on your own, I can't write the whole book in~ its way too long.
But the main lesson here is that, if we reserve our mind to stick to the same thing, it may cause danger if something goes wrong. We should not be afraid of changes.

I've actually seen a lot of people suffered, working too many years. Too reserved and they dare not change their full time job because they fear that they can't earn enough to support their life. Therefore they are caught in the rat race again and again!

If you want to be rich, you have to be different. If working for company makes you richer and happier...stick to that until you prosper.

If you hate your job but you dare not quit in fear of not earning enough, then do something.
Start planning financially, keep yourself aware of how to make money work for you. Invest!

Next post, I wanted to share some view of picking a right stock of value investing. For beginner may get to learn how to slowly pick a stock for long term. As the company grow, our money grow together with them.


Other books by Spencer Johnson that may be useful:-

• The Present: The Gift for Changing Times
• The One Minute Manager

How to use your credit card?

"You went for a date with your partner in a posh dining restaurant. Right after you finished your meal, you asked for the bill. The French waiter came with the bill on a silver platter, and you tossed your plastic gold on the plate. The waiter swiped it, and you signed your receipt and off you go~"

That's how easy credit card can be! Swipe and go, no need to pay by cash. But if you pay after due date, bank will charge you interest of average 15% of your amount. If you owed $5000 outstanding, you will be charged $750....Just because you did not pay on time you will be charged $750 for nothing!

So what am I saying here? Don't use credit card? No such thing!
You still use credit card~ well, use it wisely. If you know which credit card to use, you can in fact save your money!

There are a few criteria to review before you consider using credit card (Note: The banks mentioned below may only be applicable in Malaysia only):-

• Pay your credits on time. Very obvious that you should pay on time to avoid creating debts and got charged on interest for nothing. This requires a good habit/discipline, for sure its a hassle to always pay the bill every month, however do you want to waste your money for the bank interest??

• Look for card that offer cash-back or rebates. As you swipe your card you will receive a certain percentage of money to be returned back to you, this means you saved more money by using credit card. Eg. Alliance Bank Classic card offers rebates from 0.5% to 1.2% for monthly spending of RM1 to RM1,000. UOB ONE classic card offers 2% cash rebate on grocery shopping in Tesco, Giant and Carrefour AND 2% rebate on petrol purchases at any BHP stations.

• Card that offers 0% instalment plans. Sometimes you may buy stuff that's expensive. Don't worry just swipe your card, as long as it offers 0% instalment rate. Just make sure you pay your monthly credit before due date!  Eg. Citibank credit card offers 0% instalment on a selected list of merchants; and instalment tenure can be 6,9 or even 12 months.

• Look for reward points on issuer's card. Most people are attracted by this, the more you swipe the more points you will get. And you can redeem rewards from the points you have accumulated. But my suggestion, don't swipe for the sake of the points. Swipe for things that you REALLY need, if you don't need it don't bother to swipe. Because this is a strategy from the bank to make you spend more! Eg. Issuers like HSBC, Citibank and EON bank credit cards offer variety of items to be redeemed from the points accumulated.

• Waive annual fee. Some credit card issuers charged annual fee for the credit card you own. Look for banks that are able to waive your fee, so that you will not be charged at all for the card you use. Eg. CIMB MasterCard and Ambank's platinum & gold cards offer free for life waiver.

• Discounts and privileges for card owners. This part is where you save money. Issuers offer discounts on dining restaurants, hotels, travels or even shopping. So here's where you have to target on which card to help you save more often. Eg. HSBC SmartPrivileges offer 70% discount off normal-priced product of 138 selected merchants and CIMB Bank Smart Rewards gives 30% discounts on 120 merchants chosen. 

• Some cards offer free flight benefits. If you travel often, look for cards that offer benefits for traveling. The concept is that for every flight you took, you will be awarded with mileage points. After you accumulated enough points, you may be entitled to redeem a flight ticket for free! Eg. KrisFlyer American Express Gold Credit Card offers such service for flight originating from Malaysia, each RM2 you spent you will earn 2 KrisFlyer miles. Collect enough you get free flight reward!

Therefore, are you able to find some benefits that your card can serve you? Utilize it, because banks are offering it generously. And remember, never ever get caught on interest rates, happy swiping! =)

Anybody can make MONEY, everyone is equal

Simple sentence and easy to understand. Everyone is equal here no matter how rich or how poor you are, I don't care about racism or life status.

As long as we are born in this world, we all have equal chance of being rich or earn more money.

My blog objective today is to wake you up, if you tell me that you belong to the following statements:

#1. I don't think I can earn extra money, because I don't have enough to spend already!
#2. Whenever I think of fast/big money is either a scam or very risky.
#3. Only salespeople can earn money if I don't do sales I don't earn money.
#4. Money is the root of evil (define evil to me, i have my post mentioning this sentence:

http://wealthstreetjournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/money-is-root-of-evil-really.html)

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Whether you are rich or poor, young or old, high class or low class status. IT DOESN'T MATTER

People who come out with the 4 statements above is either unable to find better alternatives to get rich comfortably or find excuses to be lazy.

To make money its simple, as a starting ground, I have suggested some steps below:

1. Set your objective - Its the fundamental and its a must. As we plan to earn money, we need to know how much do we want to earn in 5 years time or 10 years time? Why do we need money for? For house? Travel? Financial independence?
2. Find your way to achieve your objective. Of course there has to be a way to earn that money, but it doesn't come easy. 
• My way of earning more money is through investing (compounding factor, use money to work for me and build even greater value). You can think of your way to earn that money if you already have the idea. 
• I have suggested a few alternatives of investment that might help, http://wealthstreetjournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/work-for-money-or-let-it-work-for-you.html
3.  Do your homework. How to earn your money? Start an online business? Sales? Investments? All these need essential amount of homework. Find more info, get to know the relevant materials to boost your skills. You expect salespeople to earn big sales just by talking? No way, they learn from experience and homework to practice their selling skills.
4. Move your butt and start doing something! As you are reading this, it makes you feel excited, wanted to earn more. Or have you been thinking of earning money BUT waiting for a correct timing. When is the correct time other than NOW?

" I learnt something from a friend of mine.

Carlos Slim Helu (world's richest man) and me have a lot of big difference, but we both have something in common. TIME. 

Everyone has 24 hours a day to spend, depending on how we utilize it. And so, if we wait for another day to plan, we wasted 24 hours, then another week we wasted 168 hours. So how long do we still need to wait??"

 So the saying goes again, move your butt and start doing something. Its all about action that proves everything. If we don't do it, we will never see the difference. Good luck! =))

Work for money OR let it work for you!

In my previous post, I've mentioned about the time of retirement. Of course we all wish to retire early.
Yet, most people work for money. They travel to office, work from 9 to 5 and get the paycheck every month.

But have you ever wonder how it will be like if you use the money to work for you instead? How can you do that?

I've collected many ideas from different books and experiences of great mentors. So here's to share some of the knowledge I've learned.
One of the many ways to let money work for you is through...investment!

You can simply dump your money into some investments, leave it for few years or more, and let the money grow. After some time, take it out and voila! you earn more than the money you invested! Sounds easy? Well, it seems, but you need to do your homework before you invest, that's for sure!

Mutual Fund/ Unit Trust

This is one of the easiest way to invest, requires less monitoring compared to other investments.
How mutual fund work is that, the fund manager will allocate your money to invest into different companies or industries (depending on which sector the fund is in).

Invest it in the long run, for example within 5 to 10 years time, the earnings percentage will be around 7-15%. The chances of having to see a growth in your investment is very likely (unless you choose a wrong fund at the wrong time, then you lose money!)

Stock investment/trading

Here you will become a part of a public listed company's shareholder. You buy a company's share, you own a part of the company. As their share price increase after you bought it, you will earn money.
You may want to invest for long-term or short ones, it requires plenty of understanding of stock investments.

But as you invested your money in, it will start to work for you. You will start to sit down in front of the tv or computer monitoring the share price, hoping it to go up.
I wouldn't want to explain in detail on this, it will make this post look like a novel. On my next post perhaps. =))




Property investment


This is one interesting. It always reminded me of big players like Donald Trump or best-selling author Robert Kiyosaki. Both emphasize on property investment.
Many ways to invest in property. One way is to buy a property that has really great value. Good property's price will grow overtime, when it reaches a perfect time, sell it and earn a great percentage of returns.


If its a shop lot or a house, rent it out, get the monthly rental income to pump into your mortgage. Through this you can reduce some mortgage expenses at the same time finish the loan until the tenure ends. This requires huge capital, of course young people without much money don't even have to think about it.


Another way of investing is to start renting the whole house. And rent it to other tenants at a higher price, you will earn small returns from there as well.
This is best practice if you are able to rent it around college/uni locations.


Many other ways of having the money to work for you. Its whether we can practice it real life or not.

Bear in mind, these are only some of the suggestions I've derived from mentors, books and also myself. You may have different ideas of investments from mine.

Happy investing, remember, let money work for you is the best way to earn extra!

When should I retire?

When should you retire? Ask yourself. By the age of 50 or early 40? After you secure your savings and earn high salary…?

Get good grades in college/uni, develop an outstanding resume and hope to enter an MNC company with good prospect.
Climb your ladder up the top, become a manager by mid 30s, and get a secured top management position as you grow older. Earn a 5-figure salary and save enough money. Try not to spend so much, so that you can retire safely.

Try to picture my sentence above, is that almost similar to what you plan to do?
If not, good, hope your plan works out well in future.

If yes, then I must say this is such a dangerous plan.
These people are always stuck in the rat race until they get old. Because they are always in the corporate circle, work for company..sometimes till late night if job is not done. Wake up every morning 9-5. At the end of the month earn their paycheck.

These people work for money, if one day they fell ill, or not able to work, they don't get paid. So they work even harder in order to earn more money before they grow old, and retire early.

Health deteriorates, stress piling up, emotional breakdown….

All because they choose to earn more, and work harder to earn the kind of money.
Its not wrong to have a commitment like this, in fact I respect their persistence, they are very hardworking. I am less than half of what they can do.

Its just sad they suffered because of choosing a dangerous plan. A plan that majority chooses, very common to everyone, and even some parents teach their kid to do so!

I've seen many of them faced depression due to such plan, but doesn’t mean these people CANNOT change it.
They just need to improvise their plan, setting a better financial plan and future plan that save them from depression~
Instead of working for money, let money work for you

I've mentioned earlier in my previous posts, some ways to help build your wealth base:

http://wealthstreetjournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/pay-yourself-first.html

http://wealthstreetjournal.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-title-is-simple-pay-yourself-first.html

These are some small steps to begin with, at least you wont stuck in the rat race until old age. At least there are still money coming in even when you are not working.
More suggestions to come in future…once I've listed out some other opportunities to get out of rat race =)

Imagine the power of compounding

Yesterday I attended a basic fundamental workshop on stocks investing. And amusingly, some of the audience experienced investors and traders. I supposed they wanted to feel humble to attend an event for beginners lol!

The speaker, Pauline Yong is the author of this book, I Love Stock. A simple lady around her 30s yet, packed with knowledge and experiences on stock investing. Dun be surprised if you cannot  find this book too far away from Malaysia or Singapore. Its just a simple local book.

The book provides the very basic and fundamental aspects on how to invest in stocks. This is very much linked to a beginner, so if you wanted to invest in stocks but you're still new, I guess it match your criteria?

During the workshop, I wasn't surprise to realize that I am the youngest of all. I could see from their faces, either they are married couples, retirees or family man. None of them looked as if they're in their 20s.


And that's why people say, start young is always better.
Warren Buffett (3rd richest man in the world as of 2010) started investing at the age of 11.


I decided to design my own FAQ....

Statement #1: Why start young? I can always start when I have sufficient/more money, or when I am ready.

Because, money will never be enough and you will never be ready, if you don't act! Learn how to start investing and equipped with the tools needed, you can start.  But never start investing blindly, that's stupid!
Age is not a matter, there is no problem to start with small amount if  you don't have a lot of money.

Statement #2: Why can't  I start later? When I grow older its wiser to start as I'll be more experienced.

Power of compounding. The younger you start the earlier you can become rich.

Source: http://www.commbank.com.au

Based on the chart, Flo saved $2000 per year from 21-40, at the age of 65 he earned $200,000++
And Joe saved $2000 per year from 31-65, at the age of 65, he earned only $150,000++

See the difference? Start young makes a different!

Pay yourself first

 The blog title is simple, pay yourself first...

The reason I said that is because, we've encountered many people who don't pay themselves first after they receive their paycheck/salary.
They pay their money to other people FIRST....Put it simple as soon as they get their paycheck, they pay house mortgage, pay their mobile bills, pay for groceries, shop for new shirt or shoes, traveling and so on~

After that, people will complain that they don't have enough money after the end of the month.
So they wait for the next month's paycheck and there we go again, spend, spend, spend!!

This sounds familiar??


Are you complaining that you don't have enough money every month?
No matter how you save or spend lesser, it just doesn't make a difference??

If you are, I hope this can help you, I've summed up some way to pay yourself. This is very similar to the suggestions from  financial advisers or book authors, I'm just following their suggestions as a guide.
To get started, you should first create different individual accounts for yourself.

Bank A for the money you used for your monthly expenses (expenses can be your mortgage, car loan, bills, shopping, food, groceries, fees etc).
Bank B for your savings.
Bank C for your investment purposes (even if you don't have any investment planning, save it first! You might find some alternatives for these portion in future).

So here's the percentage allocation you can distribute for 3 banks. Assuming $1000 you received, allocate $650 for your expenses, $100 for savings and $250 for investments.

Why savings lesser than investments?? Simple, how much interest does the bank pay for your bank deposits? 0.3% normal and 3% fixed deposit? Save $1000 and you get only $3, it sucks doesnt it?
You can't even buy a nice cup of ice cream!

Allocate your money to very low risk investment like Mutual Fund/Unit Trust, you can gain returns higher than 3-5% easily. Provided that you get some professional to manage your money if you're not sure how to fully manage it. (Mutual fund/ unit trust consultant can help to manage and advise).


There you go, some simple money allocation. Start practicing for 1 month or two, you will be happy to see some savings you can get from this. =))

*For professionals or prominent investors, they don't have to know this already. Well, they may have their own equation to divide their money properly.*

Money is the root of evil? Really??

You should be familiar with this statement:

'Money is the root of evil' 

Its a common statement people have heard before, and some actually agreed!

So I wanted to know, how evil can money be? What have money done to have caused unwanted events to occur?
There are some people who become desperate and greedy because of the need for money. Eventually try to rob, steal and cheat for the sake of money.

At this point, I keep asking myself, how many among us use evil to gain money? Not everyone, not even majority.
Without money, we cannot imagine what will ever happen to us.

Let me share this scenario of my friend:

The friend of mine, right now has a happy family, loving dad and mom. But 10 years ago, her dad suffered a heart attack, and seriously need a heart bypass. And her dad had to go through intensive care for one month.

And such treatment don't come cheap, all the sudden they need to fork out almost USD25k for the treatment. At that point of time, he was saved, because money was paid for it.

So tell me, if we don't have insurance and such money? How do we survive?

In my own terms, money can give happiness, better health, and love. No money we don’t get any of those.
Is money the root of evil? I say, no money is the root of evil in modern age.
Note this, even if one has insurance and got warded in a hospital , he/she needs to pay money out of their pocket first before they can get treatment! Hospital needs to have a 'down payment' before they proceed with their service. That's life...

And dun give me that crap of saying, I have no money and I live happily ever after, because there is no happily ever after when you are poor. At least not now, not at our time.

Today while I'm writing this down, we should have a positive mindset about money and understand how it can help us live a better life. With the need for money, we strive to improve ourselves, whether it is career or personal development. I keep a good mindset towards this.

Do you have fat wallet or thin ones??

Few days ago I've encountered someone who asked me this, "How did u go to work normally?"
And I responded, "I commute by train and bus everyday".  
The next statement responded like this, "Whoa, u dun drive to work? U are crazy!"

************

And what do you think? Maybe some do think that I am crazy, maybe some do not. But I sure can afford a car, I'm working and I can afford an average car to drive to work. Save my trouble to wait for bus, save my energy to walk everyday for 20mins.
Still in my opinion, IF i really get a car right now? I really am crazy!
First and foremost, why do we need a car when we have an option to still commute to work? Why do we need it when we don't need it to generate money?
I'm on sales line, yes i am suppose to need one, but it doesn't stop me from getting sales even if i dun drive~
So if I have a car, I have to ensure that every month I can earn much more to cover the loan for hire purchase. But for what reason when I still can earn the same without a car. So am I crazy now? I dun think so.

 *Doesn't mean that I dun wan to drive or have a car. I still wish for a day to have my dream car, but its not my time yet =))

I want Aston Martin DBS!*

The thought that has been running through my mind is the level of commitment we should hold on to.
If we can reduce the level of commitment, we can save few more bucks in our wallet every month. So instead of paying a car loan, its better to pay for a bigger wallet to put more money in.

I've sum up some part of my commitment which I currently possess, and some that i dun~

Hire purchase (car) - None

Credit card - None

Study loan - Partially paid out (so that I won't get blacklisted); remaining to dump into stocks, lolx (leveraging??)

Phone bill - I'm still on prepaid; I can use office phone to call out

Insurance - Yes

Therefore my commitment right now is pretty simple to sum up, there's a lot of unnecessary commitment I can avoid through this. And where did the rest of my money go? I've dumped portions of it to investment to make money work for me.
I do not like big commitments, that is a lot of work to calculate my monthly expenses, shucks!

After all these years, i realize im in love with it

I've decided to make a turn around in my blog. I've made new changes on my blog appearance, and new profile.

Made a turnaround on my topics as well....since now that I've gained a rather...'remarkable' number of pounds on weight, i decided I dun wanna post too much on food.

However, I want to make this blog sound even more BORING to some frequent food bloggers and entertainment hunter. I talk money, im in real hyper and motivated spirit to earn money all the time. And now that its nearing the end of the year, we should achieve something to make up for 2010!

I find it interesting to learn various ways to boost up my personal income, anyway  it wasnt rocket science for real. Yet, I have to say that my family doesn't teach me how to earn my money, my lecturer doesn't care if i earn money, my company doesn't give me extra money for working hard. So nobody gives a damn to help you with your money but yourself.

So what did I do to help myself??
Thanks to some contributions of these books I've read.
It changed my mindset and made my day to do something more meaningful in my life:


Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki


Now I wanna to put it this way, who the heck doesn't know about Rich Dad, Poor Dad?!! If you think this is some family-loving novel about a dad and son, then I suggest you really need some serious exposure on financial books.

And yes, some people say this book is overrated, doesnt really explain the real facts, author's background is vague (Robert Kiyosaki). BUT this is still the first book that change my concept towards money and investment. The way he describe the fact of life and money is very convincing. I will need to thank Robert for this!

Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires - Adam Khoo

This book has brought wonders to a lot of people i must say. Book title mentioned 'Secrets of Self-Made Millionaire' but it isn't secret at all. Adam Khoo the author, tells u almost everything on how to earn money HIS WAY, even providing websites to where you can access info. Positively opened up my mind on many routes to increase my income consequently. I have noted some cons.....honestly, I have some serious cover page issue on this book, it looks like a typical college textbook. Some creativity has to be enhanced to whoever the cover page designer is!

Many other things to be shared some other time, here's about it for now! =))

If you find it boring, perhaps you can skip my blog, because the topic will still goes the same way next time. Cheers