Managing Money

As you may well be aware of we are currently nearing the end of the month of November. And next come the month of December and end of 2009. Some of you may get a year end bonus or maybe some of you has already gotten their bonus in the previous month or there are some cases where we may not even get a bonus from our company. Anyway don't feel down because there is one thing that all of us eagerly awaits for at the end of each month and it always comes without fail. You guess it right. Its our paycheck!

But have you experience the feelling that before the end of the month, you don't seem to have enough money?Some of you might come to the conclusion that the salary that you earned is not enough but I have friends who is earning much less that what I am earning but still able to live with enough money. How is that possible? I have read a book by T. Harv Eker entitled 'Secrets Of The Milionaire Mind'.

This book is very good. It teaches you how to set your mind to be like a millionaire's mind. Anyway, there is an information in this book that guides you on how to manage you money. Its quite easy actually. Let me share it with you.

Basically, you need to divide the salary that you received(after deducting the EPF,SOCSO and tax deduction) into 6.

1st:50%-55% of your salary is for paying your necessities. Paying the bills, buying groceries, food and etc.

2nd:10% of your salary is used for investment to be financially free. Insurance investment, stock market, unit trust and business investment.

3rd:10% of your salary is used for you to buy any things that you really want. It is sort of like rewarding your self for all the hard work you have done in the past month. You can buy that new hand bag you wanted or that new shoes.

4th:10% of your salary is saved for education purpose.For example, buying books or enrolling in certain seminars that will help you gain new knowledge to improve yourself.

5th:10% of your salary is saved for future spending on things that you really wanted but you have to save money to buy it or for emergency purposes. Example is going on that vacation to Australia, buying that PS3 that you always wanted and paying for that road tax and car insurance.

6th:10%-5% of your salary should be allocated for charity or to give to the needy. If you have your parents and its your responsible to give them money then this also fall in this category. There is a saying that what you give is what you get back in return. The more you give the more you get back. So have a good heart and you will soon have more than enough money.

Based on this tips you can actually gauge whether your current income in a month is actually sufficient or not. If you can divide your salary like this and not having any financial problem, then that means that your salary is enough or more than enough. But if you divide your salary like this and you still experiencing financial problem such as insufficient money and so on then that means the salary you earned in each month is actully is not enough. Then you have to find new ways on how to increase your mothly income.

So that is some tips that you can use to manage you monthly income. Based on my experince it is a very good way for you to segregate your money wisely so that you actually know where your money actually goes to. What I do learn from my experience is that to follow this method it takes alot of discipline. So if you discipline yourself to follow this method to manage your money, trust me you won't have that money problem you keep complaining about. Try it. You wont' regret it.

A trip to FINANCIAL FREEDOM!!!

Get on Solid Financial ground and stay there with these easy tips:

1)BE SPECIFIC WITH YOUR GOALS - Make it as clear as possible. Having goals when dealing with money is essential especially if they're yours! It doesn't have to be complicated, you can start with something like "Put aside RM400 a month for downpayment on a new home until you have RM20,000", or "Pay back credit card debt in one with RM200 a month minimum".

2)FOCUS ON NEEDS, NOT WANTS - Keeping a list of what you want if fine but don't always use your credit card to get it. Understand the difference between needs and wants, and be prepared to forego what you don't really need to stay on course to financial freedom.

3) SIMPLE IS THE WAY TO GO - In our excitement in planning for the future, we can complicate things by doing too much at one go. Just focus on what's most important to you. Is it having enough money for retirement or financial security for loved ones, or education savings for your kids? You decide and then take a simple, starightforward action.

4) KNOW YOUR WEAK POINTS - No one knows your strengths and weaknesses better than yourself. So avoid setting off on a spending spree or anything that will stop you from saving more.

5) KEEP IT REAL - Start small, as it's all about consistency. It's better to build up, than give up.

6) BUILD A FORT - Life is about change. The best way to protect yourself is to have adequate insurance. If you suffer any kind of setback, illness,or disability and do not have enough protection to coverthat, you will thrown into a financial crisis.

7) GET PEACE OF MIND - Having a will is important yet many have big misconceptions that it's only for people with big estates, the elderly, married couples or those with kids. Once you start building a portfolio and acquiring assests, it's high time for you to draw up a will.

8) SEEK PROFESSIONAL FINANCIAL ADVICE - If you're in need of financial help all you have to do is ask - it can be bankerfor a mortgage, a lawyer for your will, or a professional financial planner for more complex financial planning needs.

Tips to manage personal investment

Hi all...

Here i got some easy tips how to manage your personal investment :)

1) Never put all your eggs into one basket. It is always risky investing all the money into one single stock, one bank deposit, one corporate bond or even one capital protected fund.

2) Review your investment performance at least on a monthly basis especially with the current financial market condition.

3) Don't invest in more than five stocks. If you do, you will need to consider having a professional fund manager to monitor the stocks for you.

4) Keep records of all personal investments on a regular basic.

Rich $$$

Rich...When I hear those word there are a few images that will come across my mind. One of it is the face of Bill Gates,the richest man in the world. Second is an image of myself in a big house with the expensive sports car on the front porch and third is the image of me not going to work anymore. I guess you also share the same image right?Don't we all.

So what does rich means? Well in laymen's term rich means having a lot of money. A lot of money to spend to buy this and that. But that is a very general definition of rich. There is detail definition of it and that is what I intend to share with you.

Basically rich means having more assets than liabilities. For some of you who may hear of this word for the first time, based on dictionary.com, asset means a single item of ownership having exchange value while liability means moneys owed;debts or pecuniary obligations(opposed to assets). Well actually that doesn't really help in understanding the real meaning to those words. I have a more understandable definiton of assets and liabilities.

Asset means an item that you have that is able to generate a source of income to you. Providing a cashflow to you even without you working. While liability is an item that you have that does not generate a source of income to you. Instead it takes money out of you. People usually gets confuse whether the items that is in their possession is an asset or a liability.To better illustrate this let me provide you with a few examples.

An investment is a simple example of asset because an investment will make the money that you have invest grow within a certain period of time without you having to work to make it grow. Even while you are at the office from morning to evening or just sitting and doing nothing at home. You'd wouldn't be aware that the money you invested has grown. In the end, that money will be much more that the initial investment.

A simple example of liability is the very item that is sitting quietly outside your home....Your own private vehicle. Your car. A car is the most common liability that everyone owns. Right after you start driving your car from the show room, your money has already started going out of your pocket in the form of liquid. In this case it is called petrol fuel. Followed by the periodic service. Not to mention the problems or hiccups that it will experience once in awhile.

The first step for you be rich is to fully understand the concept of asset and liability. When you know how to categorise an item into an asset or liability than you won't have the problem of managing your money. The problem that you will have is how to spend all those money.

So if you you are interested to start saving your money to start investing, I have a few tips on how the manage your monthly income wisely so that you will be able to save money and also spend your money. But that is in the next post.

Rich Dad Poor Dad Part 2

Where were we?....Oh yes...I was about to tell you where exactly we are right now.And the answer to that is that we are actually in a race...not an ordinary race but a Rat Race.This race usually starts by the time we wake up everyday of each week to go to work. We take a shower.We dress up in our working attire and we rush off(if we were late)to go to work.Everyday we can see average human being are rushing off to the working place. The transportation that we use in this race can be either our own car,public transportation or even car pooling.Whatever our mode of transportation may be nonetheless we are all in race.

Do you realize that this way of living is actually like living in a prison but with no walls?We stayed in the office from 8/9 till 5/6 with the attention of getting a pay check at the end of the month.This goes on and on day by day,week and week,month by month and year by year.Is this a lifestyle that we want the rest of our lives?

Well if you're the kind of person who likes his/her jobs well you can ignore this post.I admire you for having that kind of feeling but not everyone is as fortunate as you to be loving in what you do. But if you intend to get out of the rat race continue reading.We share a mutual feeling.

Honestly speaking, I don't intend to have a 9-6 job for the rest of my life.I feel that it is a boring lifestyle and something I can't imagine myself doing in the coming years.Why you say?The answer to that is that life around you has much much more to offer.There are alot of things you can do.Like I for example want to travel around the world.Want to see those place in the Travel and Living channel.I want to learn new things.Sewing,cooking,languages....the list can go on and on.Having the money to give to charity.Basically I want to live this life so that life will be much more meaningful."Life without living is a life not worth living".

And to achieve that we must have a plan.A plan to break free from the race.To make up your own race track.To own your own race track.Where you will always be a winner.This blog will be the testament and witness in my progress to break free.In this blog I will share with you my plan and its progress and provide you with the opportunity for you to also break free from the race.You can also share you opportunity or give your advice on how we can achieve this.I may fail,I may succeed.Who knows?But we must try sometimes if we want to be financially free because if we scared of trying, basically we are scared of winning.I live you with this quote for now as something to think about "Loser are not those who try and fail but Loser are those who dare not try to fail".

Facts To Know (Not relate to Financial but relate to health)

- Life expentancy for women has increased from 75.1 years in 2000 compared to 76.5 years today. But there are challenges, some of which arise from lifestyle changes.

- New studies have shown that women are equally at risk from heart disease. Heart attacks and strokes are now one of the main causes of death in Malaysian women resulting in about 1 in 4 deaths.

- Women tend to suffer from heart disease in their 50s - about 10 years later than men. They are twice as likely to die of a heart attack and 31% more likely than men to die within a year of a heart attack.

- Following a stroke, women are twice as likely to die than men (16% vs 8%). As strokes are the second most important cause of death in women and the most important cause of disability, early detection and good medical care are essential.

- Cancer rates among women are rising too.A study between 1993 to 2003 showed that cancer rates are increasing five-fold. New studies show the rate continues to rise. Today cancer causes 1 in 8 deaths among Malaysian women.

- Breast cancer is responsible for abput 33% of all cancers. According to statistics, about 1 in 20 women will get breast cancer. At age 25 the risk is 1 in 19,608. At age 50 the risk is 1 in 50.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

Here is a book which I have recently bought and have the pleasure of reading. Rich Dad Poor Dad.I think most of you have read this book or have known about the existence of this book.I've actually have known about this book quite some time ago. During high school I have actually heard alot of people mentioning about this book but at that time my interest in the book or any other book for the matter was not very high. During highschool we dont read other books besides our text book right?:D.

Anyway I bought this book in Penang in a place called Chow Rasta.It has no relation with Rasta Taman Tun only that it shares the same name. There is a second hand book shop on the first floor that sells almost all of the book that you have seen in most of the popular book stores. From the book for dummies series up untill the text book you use in your school, every kind of book can be obtained here.

Actually I drew an interest towards this book a few months ago and I didn't know what drew me to it. Eventhough the books is available in the popular bookstore near my house, I always procastenate on buying it. The reason is that for RM30+ to buy a book well I would rather buy something else. So I told myself to wait until I am in Penang and buy that book in the second hand book store with the hope that the book will be sold for say around RM15. That would be a much better price for the book.

So once I was at the book store my hopes of buying the book at RM15 was not met. The book actually was sold at RM25. About RM10 less than the actual in the bookstore. I hesitate for a moment. Kept thinking about to buy or not until finally I decided to buy the book(with a little persuasion from my little baby) and what a wonderful choice I made.

From the first page of the book up until the last page, I was really focus and absorbing all of the information in the book. It had actually open my minds to fully realize and understand where are we really are rigth now. And do you want to know where we really are right now? Well then you have to wait for the continuation of this story in the next post...:D