Was discussing with fren about marriage. More and more of his frens are getting married and he is getting the pressure. Is he trying to get attached just becos of peer pressure? For me, my stand is that I must be ready before I get married. Ready for everything. That is to say I have have some money set aside for my parents in case anything happen AND must have the money for the wedding. I see a lot of pple bankrupting themselves for just a wedding. And in case something happen to their parents at that point in time, they're as well as dead... Most people are myopic and only see what is directly in front of them.
I know I think too much. But I rather build a strong house before the big bad wolf comes. It gets really scary when people just live day to day. A lot of people does that. People say money can't buy happiness. But without money, u have to even stress over a bowl of rice or to quarrel over who should pay for the medical bills. Money can't buy happiness, but it gives u more time to go out with ur love ones, and to build a stronger relationship.
Fren was saying the other half should understand and wait til we build a career, but we should oso consider the other half. No girls wan to marry late. For example if the girl is in the late 20s or early 30s and u still want them to wait?? We want them to be fair to us, but dun u feel that we must be fair to them too?
Myths about money1) Go to schoolGoing to school is important. It let us understand what we read. It enables us to read newspaper, read books to enrich ourselves. However, school only give us academic qualification. It increases the chance to become a better and highly paid employee. End of the day, still an employee.
2) Get a jobGetting a job gives us a sense of security. The kind of security that is dependent on ur bosses. If ur boss is incapable, u'll get out of job in no time. Or if there's economic crises, the so called stability becomes shaky.
3) Work HardWorking hard is a virtue, but working smart is a better thing. Who do we work hard for? For ourselves, or for the company?
4) Save moneyThe current bank interest rate is less than 1%. POSB gives 0.1% at this time of writing. Standard chartered bank gives 0.25%. Inflation itself already kills off the interest that u earn from ur bank many many times. Save money is important, but invest ur money is more important.
5) House/car is an assetThis is the most ridiculous nonsense. A house is only an asset if it generate income for u. If u r staying in the house, it's never an asset. How much of our paycheck is thrown to the bank to repay the loan? A car is worst. It's a liability.
6) Live below ur meansA fren once told me:"If u wan something, make sure that there is something else that pays for it. The money should never come from ur own bank". Expand ur horizon. Instead of living below ur means, u should think what u should do to afford that.
7) Get out of debtThere are good debt and bad debt. A house loan can be a good debt if properly used. A car loan is definitely a bad debt. Debts that take money out of ur pocket is bad debt. Debt that puts money into ur pocket is good debt.
8) Put ur money in ur CPF account and it will get u thru retirementCPF OA account gives 2.5% interest. SA account gives 4%.
Our current inflation rate: Nov 2007- 4.2%; Jan 2008 - 6.6%; March 2008- 6.7%; April 2008- 7.5%; May 2008- 7.5%; March 09- 2.9%; Sep 09- -0.4%.
Seems like as days pass, I have fewer and fewer things to write about. Perhaps I'm beginning to shift into another phrase of life... More into the financial market.
The year has just started. And my goal still remains mostly the same. I shall not repeat again here. Right now I'm trying to get tuition kids... I need more tuition kids!!
I went into healthy lifestyle. Bringing cereal to school as my lunch. Cos one of the stall gives very small portion and therefore most of the students crowd the remaining stalls during recess. On top of that, the break of the teacher that I'm relieving happens to coincide with the students recess. Therefore I've decided to bring my own "lunch".
I am officially carless!! Felt so free that I've one debt less. However the car selling experience is very dramatic.
Advertised my car in sgcarmart for about 2 months and a buyer called me up to view the car. And he show interest and we negotiated the price. After that, he said he wanted to ask his fren to do the paperwork for the transfer and the bank loan. And when his bank loan is approved, he called me saying that I can hand over the keys. First time selling the car to direct buyer, I hand over the keys to him while his fren will settle the paperwork after that. And on the very evening, the buyer and the fren got into a fight and the buyer smash his fren with a beer bottle and send him to hospital. On top of that, buyer took his fren's wallet, which amounts to about $4k. And therefore the fren dun wan to do the paperwork. After the event, the buyer disappear. Got panic as the car is still under my name. Luckily the buyer's wife called me and assure me that the car is with her and she will take care of it.
The next day, I called the wife and told her that I wanted to take my car back. And I went down to drive the car back. On the way to collect my car, the buyer appear again and say he'll get another person to do the paperwork. After he put down the phone, his wife called and ask me not to sell the car to her husband as he may have a police case coming up due to the fight and taking his fren's wallet and it's unfair for me to drag the whole thing. Therefore, I got back my car and drove it to automart immediately and sell it off to 2nd hand car dealers, even at a price lower than what tat buyer gave. Really can't take such nonsense anymore.
Maybe I'm just not a people's people. Getting sick of being in property. Sometimes meet disgusting people, which will spoil the day. And sometimes it's the system that sux. Ya, this is our society.
I think i prefer to deal with stocks and shares. At least they wun try to be difficult. They wun sms u and give u ridiculous request. Just need to know that the mkt is always right and dun argue with the mkt. Of cos, in this line no need to deal with other people, but need to deal with my own psychology.
Just hope I'll be able to master everything about trading as fast as possible and then i'll drop all other things and concentrate full time in trading.
Random Thots1)The world is full of possibilities. The more we know, the more we dunno. The more we pretend to know, the more ignorant we appear to be.
2)Nothing is forever, nothing is absolute. Change is the only constant. The more we resist it, the more we abhor it, the more it comes.
3)Like in my previous blog, an electron can be seen as a particle or packs of energy. We see colours becoz the electrons move from one quantum level to the next and release energy in the form of frequency that correspond to the wavelength of the colour.
4)One electron, when approaching 2 slits, pass thru both of them at the same time. So if electrons are particles, how is it possible?
5)We attract what we think. Be careful of what u think. I've experience this thing many times. And this mind of mind, I'm actually a bit afraid, cos it has push me beyond my physical limit.
6)Maybe I should start sponsoring those kids in the 3rd world country again. Already stopped for a few mths..
I'm very interested in the stock market. It is a great teacher, teaching us about life, of cos, in a very harsh way. Always treat it with respect and it is not a place where one can get rich very fast without putting in any effort.
The stock market is a reflection of life. The characters of people are all reflected in the stock market. The procrastinator, greedy person, fearful person, careful person etc are reflected by the way they buy, the way they sell, they way they hold, the way they handle the stocks.
I learnt a lot from the market. The most important thing is to cut loss. How many times have we procrastinate and the longer we procrastinate, the more we lose? We always hold on to a "HOPE". Hope that things will turn out the way we wanted it to be. Cos in our mind, we're afraid to lose. We want to win. So everytime we hold on to something, we're telling ourselves it had not ended. Things will go my way. But sometimes, just like in life, the "shares" may never go up again.
