Ala Carte menu to get out of poverty

This content isn’t 100% original, I read it somewhere or watched it somewhere, I can’t remember. But I would like to share this with my readers even though it’s not original, why not, the concepts are pretty good.

I have included my own interpretation.

You don’t need all 6 but you will need a combination. But will you become a millionaire by doing all these? No guarantee, but these will definitely send you out of poverty.

Pioneering

Among all 6 routes, this is the most difficult and this journey is filled with hard knocks. Everything in life shares a common trait; it involves a pattern of movement. Until such time, such event unfold to change the pattern, it will continue to move in that certain pattern. Like the stock market, whether it’s a bull or bear market for the big trend, unless a correction occurs, the stock will continue to move accordingly to its trend. The change as defined in Elliott Wave theory is known as the corrective wave which will change its preceding pattern. 

Example: You are in the third generation of the family, and none in that line of family is wealthy or everyone in that lineage is poor. You are in queue No.3 in this line; you are here because no one in this line has done anything different to change the fortune of the family.

There must be a pioneer in this lineage to create wealth and break off this dreadful sequence. To create something out of nothing is the most difficult. As mentioned many times, in my previous posts, I have mentioned: they are the rags to riches you know. The few fortunate ones. To break off is not easy and most don’t.

You need ideas, business acumen, network and a huge risk appetite

If you can’t do that, you can only hope that your offspring will do that someday. But fret not, this is not the only way out, though the ideal way, there 5 more routes below for you. You will need a combination of a few and not dependant on just one way.

Helper

Someone who will lend you a hand when you fell. Do you know anyone who will do that for you? I guarantee no 100% of the people you know will do that for you. Do you have 10 names you can rely on?  The ideal scenario is when you have some really influential friends around. A lot of things in life require money including getting out of a bad situation. Things will be different if you know 10 poor men; they can’t help much only to give you moral support. And don’t get me wrong, you are not going to make friends because they are rich, but what I mean is that it will good if you have a few of such friends.

The ideal helper is not necessary a friend, he can be anyone like an associate or former colleague and former boss.

Here’s a list of ideal helpers for your reference:

1. Bosses/Ex-bosses
2. Colleagues/Ex-colleagues
3. Ex-girlfriends/boyfriends
4. Government officials
5. Good friends (preferably more well off than you are, you are penniless, you get it?)
6. HR manager/personnel
7. Middle management
8. Top management
9. Centre of influence (someone with a big network of associates)
10. Professionals

You are bound to know some of these people, be sincere and make friends with them. You need knowledgeable, influential, street-wise, positive, hardworking and ambitious people around you. You will be motivated to do better for yourself and most importantly they are more likely to have the means to lend you a hand when you need it. You are not insincere because you choose your friends this way; put yourself in the wrong company or environment and your life will be wasted.

Wisdom

Priceless and often neglected, intelligence seems more desirable over wisdom. It’s a misconception that intelligence is essential for making money while wisdom isn’t. When Buffett says “Be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy”, it is not intelligence but wisdom.

And you don’t need to grow old to attain wisdom. Here’s a shortcut:

Write down your goals and what you want to do in the future. And for a moment, imagine you are a 70 year old man, forget who you are now. “Look back” at what you have written, will this 70 year old man do the same thing over again if you were given the chance to redo everything.

Wisdom amongst these 6 routes is vague compared to the other options, it is not easy to picture what wisdom can do to get out of poverty. Another way is to seek advice from the seniors, mentors or those have done it. Benefit from their experiences and add those to your list of options.

Don’t aim for the sky, be realistic and take a step-by-step approach. Everything happens in sequence, you can’t skip and cut corners.

Short cut is usually the longest journey.

Do not:

1. Do something out of your competence.
2. Believe in short cuts to make money.
3. Believe in fast money schemes.
4. Believe in free lunch.
5. Think that you have to be unscrupulous to make money.

Wisdom is bliss and not everyone has it; if this is out of your reach, use other combinations.

Ambition 

Don’t let adversities control your destiny. No matter how unfavourable your environment is, ambition will gets you out of it. Set a goal or a mission, pen your mission statement, your ambition will be the driving force behind you, one day you will be out of poverty. The stronger your desire the faster you get moving.

You must be believe that you are better than others and being in your current situation is only temporary, you didn’t ask to be here and you are definitely not here because of your incapability. 

I believe that this is unlike the rags to riches I have mentioned only a few lucky ones make it but ambition will definitely turn your life around and it’s not about luck. Even if you can’t achieve 100% of what you want you may end up with only 80% which is still better than where you were. That 80% may provide for your life with what you have never dreamt of.

Spend most of your time developing your competitiveness.

Decide early what you want, how much you want to earn per month and which skills you will need to achieve it. Aim to be a professional and nothing else.

Mentality

This in my opinion is the most important. A positive attitude to everything. Positive about your own capabilities. If you think you can’t find a way out of poverty, be positive.  There will always be a way out but if you are not positive enough you wouldn’t notice its existence.

You have to believe that you deserve more and you can have more.

And during the way out of poverty, difficulties and obstructions are inevitable, without a positive attitude there’s no way you can cope with them.

The positive attitude thing has been written by umpteen times by many authors, I don’t want to repeat the same thing again so I shall stop here.

Righteousness 

The worst thing that could happen to a poor man is the lack of righteousness. I am not suggesting that you should become someone’s hero. Does that make you rich? No. That will not help you make a penny more. But, crime arises because of poverty – the lack of money.  What’s worrying is that poverty may force a poor man into desperation and commit crimes to make his livelihood. This will throw him into a bottomless pit and most of the time he will not get out of it.

Stay righteous and keep your integrity, keep yourself safe from the long arms of law. This will determine whether the above 5 routes will fall in place or out of reach. I must conclude that this is the basis.

Deep pocket – Singapore Budget 2009

22 January 2009, Obama’s inauguration, big day for the Americans, big day for the world. Watched the ceremony via CNBC.

All eyes on the new President and his policies to change America.

Another big event for Singaporeans. Our Budget 2009 is out today – 22 January 2009.

Summary:  http://sg.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20090122/tap-singapore-budget-c3bb44c.html

Full news http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/My%2BMoney/Story/A1Story20090122-116472.html

My thoughts on Budget 2009

I have some mixed feelings about the Budget, Singapore is not likely to manage the free falling economy.

Spending more money is also not going to help us either (the same old thing-spend more when economy is down) , Singapore, a small country (population is barely 4 million)with very little resources, our consumer goods are mostly imported, by spending more, we are going to stimulate import while export is down. Until our major trading partners – USA and China recovers, we are not going to make a comeback.

Back to the topic….

Government is going to double *GST credits for Singaporeans.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) – Similar to VAT. In case you do not know why GST credits, here’s a short explanation:

1 July 2007, Government increased GST from 5% to 7%, a 2% increase. To help households cope with the increment, the Government gives rebates in cash to Singaporeans. Around $300 per individual, a rough figure (amount depends on household income etc..), it’s hardly of any help since the increment is permanent while the offset will only last for a couple of years.

Back to the topic….

This year the Government will double the payout. The impact will be minimal for Singaporeans, I just hope that there will be no other increment in the cost of living until we recover.

*CPF housing grant will be increased to help new home owners.

CPF – Similar to 40I(K)

Also a tiny amount, but according to the Government’s policy – every Singaporean gets to own a house, so I guess they want it the same way even in a bad time like this. I am not going to comment further, read the full news if you are interested.

Lastly I really hope that we do not need to dig into our reserves but unfortunately we were given no choice. $20.5 billion package is a small amount compared to what other Governments are giving in their respective countries but I guess this is the deepest we have gone.

Fortunately, our Government manages money well thus now we have the resources to tide over the bad situation. I am glad that we have a good Government that response efficiently to crisis.

In the last financial crisis, the Government did not dig into the reserves and got criticised for not doing so but they were proven right, it’s time for rainy day.

We recovered very well from the last crisis.

I am contemplating the idea of a career switch recently, good luck to me, and hopefully the worst will be over very soon.

It’s tough at the top – The last of the tycoons

Img source: Problogger

You may have already read the news about the suicides of several tycoons. The saying goes “The bigger you are, the harder you fall”.  Or the other saying “Birds will die for food and men will die for money”.

It’s pretty unfortunate for these men and their families: Steven Good, Adolf Merckle, Thierry Magon and Karthik Rajaram (at least a millionaire).

They have the wealth that everyone thirsts for, if not for the unprecedented financial crisis, most people will still envy what these men have achieved. The envy ends when these tycoons ended their lives. They have the wealth but lost it when the stock market stumbled.

Being at the top has a huge price to paid for, not only the price of getting there but also the price of falling from the top. It can be tough at the top.

The face of failure is too big for them to handle. I supposed in these cases the main culprits are the egos, face values and primarily the mental states. It requires a tough mind to accept failures and apparently the stress took over.

I have always thought that tycoons, businessmen, CEO, CFO etc…the top people have the ultimate brain prowess to handle humongous stress and criticisms. But the news has just proven me wrong. Mental toughness is not a privilege.

What happens if at that juncture of suicide, the mental states of these tycoons are positive? Instead of “losing fortune means losing everything” to “losing fortune is not a total loss”. I mean family is priceless, life is priceless and the will to withstand the setbacks is priceless.

I am not them so I don’t know what it really means when a billionaire loses his fortune. I may not be able to take it should that happened to me and it’s easier to comment on what have happened than to go through the same crisis.

I cannot point my finger and say they are foolish. When money is larger than life, mishaps always happened. 

The market is where fortunes are made and lost, it’s part of the game and game is part and parcel of life. You buy big when you can afford it, your stakes are high and you will fall harder than anyone else. To look at the positives when you are down is not easy.

I will stand by what I have said “Mental toughness is not a privilege”. Anyone who thinks, including myself, it’s tough getting to the top, think again, it’s even tougher to stay at the top and not come down. 

Do you actually make money from blogging?

It’s an ageless question. I have read this everywhere…..from Yahoo Answers to Blogcatalog and forums.

It makes me wonder if those so-call experts are really making what they have claimed. Most bloggers don’t make money I believed. It’s not a matter of wrong strategies deployed but rather most of us started blogging without the thought of making money from blogging.

I have read many articles on Make Money Online but they all said the same thing. I would like to have my blog monetize but then to do it just for the money is not motivating enough. I failed at marketing.

SEO is like the doctrine for any aspiring Make Money bloggers but then despite the boast that SEO is the key to traffic, I remain skeptic about how a blogger could make money from Adsense or other blog marketing tools just by driving traffics to their blogs without interesting topics to convert them into regular readers. Most of the posts I have read are not original, simply put, the authors somehow copied from each other to churn enough posts to attract traffic or at least to make their blogs look content rich. You will find repetitive contents which discourage you to read another post of the same thing.

Nevertheless, I would like to have a profitable blog in the near future but it will not be possible if I have nothing to sell. Affiliate programs are not really appealing to me since they are as good as spams.

And I will most probably stand a better chance if I am using my blog to showcase my CV or I have a brick and mortar business and the blog serves as an advertising platform.

Since blogs have less credibility than “traditional” websites, it’s going to be very difficult to sell anything through this platform.

Forget about the big figures you saw, creating income via blogs is not going to work for everyone. I guess like any industries or sectors only a small percentage of the bloggers actually make it. It’s like trying to become a rich man it takes more than just hardwork, what we have seen are the minority who have make it and most of them failed.

I have not gone into into MMO blogs so I am not sure how much money a blogger  spend per month to keep the blog profitable. There must be hidden costs involved which are not presented to fellow bloggers.

Don’t assume it costs nothing, there’s no free lunch because the economic system doesn’t allow that to happen. Everything comes with a price so does MMO blogging.

The superstitious market

Img source: Corbis

Dear readers,

I have been plagued by the flu bug for days and I could hardly open my eyes while writing my previous post due to the flu medicine I took which is not very effective. I am still sick.

Pardon me if this post is badly written.

Here we go again. The sentiment on the worst is over 2009 will better just made it to the surface. Like what I have mentioned in my previous post “I just recalled the Capricorn effect“, as usual, people are expecting 2009 to be a fresh start.

The market is always superstitious.

Just recently, global markets took a rally on hopes the US economy will rebound from its diminishing state. There’s no rational reason behind this. It seems like the markets are betting on a sharp recovery in the US economy. I have never seen the market reacts in a logical way before.

The speculators created a very superstitious market which attracts the like-minded to further create a butterfly effect. You can Google for the butterfly effect, I will skip the explanation part.

The major economies are still suffering from the burnout in 2008 and it’s almost impossible for any economy to recover this early in 2009.

Nothing is concrete yet, it’s like hoping for rain when the clouds turned dark, it happens most of the time but looking at the damages done in 2008, the norm is unlikely to happen anytime.

I can’t blame the speculators to react dramatically to trivial news or news that have not been confirmed, or I should say rumors. Without the speculators, trading is almost unprofitable. But it seems like nobody is questioning if he is overreacting to a piece of news.

I too, trade when time is permissible but I am careful not to be dragged into the herd mindset.

Follow the crowd with your eyes open.

What I have just written may not be the best representation of my topic but hope you enjoy it. 

First millionaire is hard, second millionaire is easier

 

 

Source: Galerea

We have read umpteen times the rags to riches stories, though inspiring but ironically, those are the few who moves to the top of the pyramid. Most don’t. 

The gap between the rich and poor is not going and will never narrow. So the cliché: The rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

The first millionaire is always the most difficult, and if your definition of rich is at least a multi-millionaire then it’s as good as climbing Mt Everest on a wheelchair.

I will stick to a million.

For an average person who has $10,000 of surplus, should he invest intelligently, and receives conservatively a return of 10% p.a, he will need to compound that earning 48.3 times before he reaches his first million.

A millionaire with a million to invest, should he invest un-intelligently and receives a petty return of 10% p.a, he will need to compound that earning 7.2 times before he gets his next million.

This may be an overly simplistic view but consider the options between the two and the years required to make a million. Should the average person invests at the age of 30, he will become a millionaire when he reaches 78 years old.

The same goes to the rich man, he will be 37 when he gets his next million.

Notice I mentioned above – invest intelligently and invest un-intelligently. It’s easy for a person with a million dollar to be offered investment opportunities that yield him more than 10% a year. Consider the private financial products that are only available to the high net worth. This person isn’t too investment savvy if he manages to net only 10% p.a.

The average person who invested very intelligently is still running an unfair race with the rich. No private banking products for him. Limited capital means limited opportunities. 10% p.a could be a good year or normal profits, to make mega profits he will need to have superb foresight. That’s most probably the rags to riches stories we know. The rare accumulator of wealth. Most don’t.

This scenario is even more distinct in a capitalist economy.

So it’s better to be an un-intelligent man born with a silver spoon than an intelligent man born with little resources. MBAs and PHDs don’t count, a silver spoon is worth a lot more than paper qualifications with greater intrinsic value.

Who will be offered better opportunities? The one who mingles in a circle of rich men or the one who mingles in a circle of ordinary men, each with $10,000 in surplus?

Opportunities are not equal though every government would like you to believe otherwise. The rich and poor don’t start the race at the same level. Any changes in prices, most commonly petro, housing and commodities put the burden on poor while the autonomous increment hardly bothers the rich.

Look at the growth of wealth between the two classes and their autonomous spending, it’s a no brainer who’s getting all the knock-outs.

So…

Good fortune to you if you are rich and good luck to you if you aren’t.