It's All Part of the Plan

Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with vision is making a positive difference. ~ Joel Barker

Yes I'm a Joker fan if you recognized the title as a quote from the latest Batman film, the Dark Knight. And which emotion did the Joker incite most? Yep, that's right (or at least I hope you said). Fear.

Fear is a very powerful emotional tool that prevents a lot of people from achieving their dreams. It's so powerful that it's been one of the main obstacles in hindering people from reaching their first million dollars. Why is that? Well for starters, some of us have strong doubts of our ability. Or, we fear the amount of work we'll have to put in, the sacrifices we'll have to make, the relationships we'll have to sacrifice, the cost of failure, the fear of embarrassment, the lost of respect, the troubles we'll cause, the label of "bankrupt" stapled to us wherever we go, the loss of our homes, our jobs, our families, all because of a desire to live life to its fullness. And so what do we do? We make excuses, we procrastinate, we delude ourselves into thinking we're ok just scrapping by, we think life will change when we're lucky enough to strike TOTO or 4-D or whatever lottery we take part in, we look at the guy driving the Ferrari and think "Lucky devil." and just continue looking, we blame the world for our circumstance, our parents, our teachers, our damn luck. Yes, we just wait. I waited too, for such a long time, without realizing I was missing out on opportunities everywhere. So I know exactly what waiting does to oneself. It does absolutely nothing.

If you want to see money coming into your pockets, wanting it is simply not enough. Yes, the first step is to desire it but then, you have to vision it, see it, feel it, believe that you can obtain it and then most important of all, act on it. The Mindset is crucial and that gets you acting. So what do you do now?

Now you start to aim, plan and do. Aim how much you want to retire on, or how much you want to earn each month, or how much you want to be able to spend each month, etc. Figure out what your objectives are. Is it to grow your money? Protect your capital? Save for an education fund for your kids? Are you saving for future medical costs? And then prioritize. Make this aim clear with real figures with real dates to achieve this by. Divide this into long-term goals (>5yrs), mid-term goals (2-5yrs) and short-term goals (<2yrs).>

Whew, sounds complicated isn't it? Well if it is, the first person you'd like to speak to is a financial planner. Wherever you are, you should consult a certified financial planner who is well-versed in the various investments and who is able to tailor your plan to your objectives. But believe me, it really isn't that hard to start.

You might want to educate yourself first. Here are some suggestions:

1. Personal Finance for Dummies

2. Mastering Your Personal Finance - Dennis Ng

3. The Automatic Millionaire - David Bach

4. Start Late Finish Rich - David Bach

5. Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires - Adam Khoo

6. Rich Dad Poor Dad - Robert Kiyosaki

Well, the weekend is here again. So take care and enjoy!

Cheers,

~K

Believe Your Path to Wealth

Believing a solution paves the way to solution ~ Dr. David Joseph Schwartz

Dr. Schwartz certainly knew what he was talking about. A leading authority on motivation in America, he authored his first bestseller - The Magic of Thinking Big about 30 years ago which became a bestseller. A trainer, consultant, lecturer and expert on motivation, Dr. Schwartz studied the subject for years and found that the key factor to personal success was the desire for it. That's the secret. Success, is not simply luck or circumstance but it's a choice.

Similarly, if you want to be financially free or even rich, you have to make a decision and hold strongly to that choice, desiring to see it through despite adversity, fear, worry or any obstacles come what may. In Napoleon Hill's historic book, Think and Grow Rich, the idea of belief and persistence are constantly emphasized. This is one book that most rich people have read before they became rich. I strongly recommend reading it as well to set it as a stepping stone to your success and financial independence.

But till that day comes, Believe.

Till next post,

~K

Want it? Believe in Yourself & Go for it

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. ~ Anatole France

You are destined to be a millionaire.

What was your reaction to that? Was it disbelief? Were you cynical? Did you go "Yeah right. Sure I will..." and then roll your eyes?

Yes, I totally understand why you'll think it impossible. Firstly, how many of us "normal" people have ever seen a $1,000,000 before? Yes, I can relate to that. Couple of years ago, I barely saw $5,000 in my account at any point of time. And when I did see it, mostly thanks to the December bonus, it was gone really quickly too. So lets not even think of a million dollars right? Don't answer that. Secondly, you'll probably say you aren't earning enough or aren't earning period, especially if you're a student, to even begin to amass such an amount. Lastly, you'd probably have truckloads of bills to pay & things you'd want to get. So that'd mean you'll be paying for all those goodies and not have much left to save.

Truth to tell, if you're gonna think like that, you aren't gonna be able to. If you want to be financially free, you got to think financially free. BUT most important of all, you have to believe that you can become financially free. Remember that it all starts from your mind. And there are many aspects of the mind that hinders the path to wealth and financial freedom such as fear, disbelief, no confidence in one's ability, laziness, procrastination, unwillingness to learn, false perception, inertia and many others. Only you can set right these sabotaging thoughts and prevent them from being an obstacle to your goal of being financially free.

I recommend reading these books in helping you change your way of thinking.

1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill

2. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind - T. Harv Eker

3. The Rules of Wealth - Richard Templar

These books are packed with valuable content and is too much to lay them out here in this blog. Nonetheless, I'll touch briefly on those that I feel are especially noteworthy in future posts.

Till then, think rich, think free.

You are destined to be a millionaire. Believe it.

Cheers,

~K

Mindset to Financial Freedom

My greatest challenge has been to change the mindset of people. Mindsets play strange tricks on us. We see things the way our minds have instructed our eyes to see. ~ Muhammad Yunus

While you're saving your hard-earned cash & building up your reserves, perhaps also clearing your debts too, lets turn our attention to something we can work on together while waiting for your savings to grow substantially.

As Muhammad Yunus realized, mindset is extremely important in how we perceive things to be. For example, if you grew up not liking the colour green, chances are you'd be fussy with your vegetables. Or, if you had a bad fright in a plane due to the horrible turbulence you experienced when you were a child, chances are you'd still feel this unreasonable aversion to flying every time you go for a trip. As you can see, the mind has a tendency to develop biasness due to the experiences we gather during our childhood development. Fear of insects, snakes, cats and/or dogs or distrust of foreigners, people of authority, etc. can mostly be traced back to bad childhood experiences.

My mother, for one, used to be terrified of swimming because she nearly drowned as a child in the sea. So for the great portion of her years she used to cling to the edge of the swimming pool or to my dad (who used to grumble or tease her about it heh). However, one day she decided to overcome her fear. She first started forcing herself to be comfortable in the water without holding onto the edge. Later she ventured into wading around and in a couple of months was swimming the breath of the pool. She never let her head go underwater though but the distance she's come & the achievement she's gained, is impressive. How did she achieve this feat? Simply put, she had a change of mindset.

Similarly, if you want to become financially free and/or rich, your mindset needs tweaking. A lot of times people say they want to get rich, even attempt to get rich, but their mind is not ready to get rich and so these people fall by the roadside frustrated & stop trying eventually. Therefore before the person can become rich, the mind has to become rich & think rich first. Only then can you change your attitude and attain the level of richness you sought.

Simply put:

Mindset leads to Thoughts which leads to Feelings which leads to Attitude which leads to Actions which leads to Results/Outcome

In the next couple of posts, I will expound on how to prepare your mind in order for you to attain that financial freedom you deserve.

Till then, keep saving!

Cheers,

~K

Aim to be Debt Free

Debt is the slavery of the free ~ Publilius Syrus

Hooray! It's the weekend again. So I won't bore you with long-winded posts (I'll save that for another time heh). I'll just make this quick.

In a previous post, I mentioned reducing your expense as a means to increase your savings. However, if you have an outstanding debt to pay, please try your best to clear that off as soon as possible. Now I don't mean housing debts that take eons to pay off. What I'm referring to are debts arising from things like credit cards & installment plans for luxury items, like a new iPhone for example, that you bought from furniture and/or gadget shops like Courts or Harvey Norman. The simple reason for this recommendation is that the interest kills! Instead of saving up precious cash to earn your financial freedom, you'd be wasting potential savings putting the money into someone else's pocket. So be smart. Pay it off as fast as possible.

Another alternative strategy is to portion out a sum to save while using the remainder to pay for your debt. To reiterate, I did say that paying yourself 20% of your gross income per month is a good way to earn your financial freedom. But if you've debts to be paid off, perhaps keeping 10% in your savings while using the other 10% as debt payments would be ideal if you'd like some emergency cash in hand. Or you could portion out 5% savings & 15% debt repayments if you're more comfortable or have a larger payment to clear. Either way, discipline is key and with time, your debts will be cleared and you'll be another step closer to financial freedom.

K, have a good weekend & a great Hari Raya Puasa!

Cheers,

~K

The Saving Attitude

"Planting rice is never fun. Bend from morning till set of sun. Cannot stand and cannot sit. Cannot rest for a little bit."

How many of you have heard that nursery jingle before? Well, my parents taught this catchy rhyme to me when I was just a child. And what did I learn from it? That it must be a heck of a lot of work & dreadful business planting rice, that's what! During mealtimes, every mouthful was a reminder by my mother of the hard work put in by farmers to give me this plate of rice. Did I grow up wanting to be a padi farmer? Definitely not! I just wanted to enjoy the fruits of their labour. =)

So, although seemingly out of topic, the point is this. Attitude matters.

You'll notice that when you're having fun, time seems to fly by without any realization but when you're dreading something, work for example, time somehow slows to a crawl. Similarly, when engrossed in a hobby, you'll find that nothing seems like work to you. Heck, you'll even complete more than necessary. But when compared to actual office work for example, how many times have you heard/seen/been in the situation where the bare minimum is all that gets done? Rhetorical question.

Therefore the question of the day is, what is your attitude towards saving money?

If you want to save and hold onto your savings, I'd recommend you start enjoying that you have money in the bank. Not only that. Every time you see this amount increase, even if it's by a couple of cents from the bank interest rates, you should congratulate yourself and look forward to the next increase. Clap your hands, pat your bank, shout out your joy if you feel like it. Such an attitude, though seemingly loony & obsessive at first, will help you grow your savings faster. By reprogramming your mind to enjoy having saved cash, this will lower your impulse to spend by making you think twice as you'll start feeling "heartache" when you do have to spend, thereby ensuring that you only spend on the necessary and not on the luxurious.

Personally, I use a tip I picked up from Blair Singer's Sales Dog Training program to help reinforce my want to save. Every time I reach my goal of an intended saved amount in the bank, I clench my hand into a fist, curl my elbow to 90 degrees, tuck it into my body rather quickly and go "Yes!". I find that helps as my positive reinforcement. On a flipside, don't complain about saving your cash. Don't bitch that you aren't able to buy such & such. That's a surefire way of spending everything you accomplished. Negative reinforcement you see. So think about it, and do whatever works for you too.

Yes!
~K

Save for a Reason

Big goals get big results. No goals gets no results or somebody else's results. ~ Mark Victor Hansen

I can't help but find the above quote extremely true. How many times have I started saving my hard-earned money in the bank only to have it "disappear" due to some "fantastic buy". Other times, they vanish because of a sales pitch that seemed like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That said, after the many years of working and trying to save, the realization that wanting to save is not as important as having a reason to save.

In fact, I had never ever accumulated anything more than $5,000 in my bank ever since I started working. Truth to tell, my savings constantly dwindled to a couple of hundreds and at times, I even had barely enough to get through the month, hoping for my next paycheck so I could pay off my outstanding debts.

Fortunately, as I have a contracted job, I am assured of a paycheck every single month. Many of you however, don't. I, myself, will lose this security in a couple of months when my contract expires. When I realized the impact of this, having an aim in mind truly changed my saving attitude & my attitude towards money. I began planning for my long-term portfolio first as these need much longer time to grow & mature. With this aim, wonders started happening. Only in the last couple of months did I see my bank account grow to more than double that amount. The accumulated amount was recently invested and from what I was told from my consultant, has begun to show slight profits. I am already aiming for my next investment in Jan '10.

So the experience & knowledge that I hope to pass on to you is simply to have an aim if you're intending to save. In every case of saving up some cash, it doesn't matter if the reason is financial freedom (which I hope it is), a new car, your children's education or your anniversary. You have to have a reason so as not to get distracted and to find your way back to the path when you get sidetracked. In our context of achieving financial freedom, setting your aim of perhaps accumulating $10,000, will provide the motivation for you to reduce expenditure & increase your income, two vital components in helping you accumulate your big sum of money faster.

In summary, if you want to save, aim to save and save with an aim.

Cheers,

~K

Increase Your Savings - Pay Yourself First

If you would be wealthy, think of saving as well as getting ~ Benjamin Franklin

On a final note on increasing your savings, the single most important tip would be to pay yourself first. Although this was mentioned previously. I can't stress this enough. Many people usually pay everyone else first (like what was shown in the Profit & Loss statement post) and then save the balance.

What would be smarter to achieve your goals faster & more efficiently is to pay yourself first. Whenever you get your pay or total income, just immediately set aside 10 - 20%, or more if you can afford it, into your savings account. Then pay everyone else with the balance you have left. If you find that you're left with insufficient funds to pay them, then instead of touching your savings account, cut your expenses or increase your income as I explained previously. Do not touch your savings unless it really is an emergency case. Be discipline. Do not be discouraged or impatient at the speed of growth of your savings. This is only setting the foundations in place for more opportunities to emerge. The turtle eventually won the race compared to the hare, remember?

However at the end of the day, it comes down to what you really want. If you wish to be finally financially free or at least have more than pennies in your savings account then please start saving. If you want immediate gratification and have a need to spend lavishly then just know that you risk having pennies in your savings account at the end of the day and after years of working. It's your choice in the end. This is only a blog to share about what I've learnt from the various authors, searches & talks that I attended.

Happy saving and good journeying in your path towards financial freedom.

Till next time,

~K

Increase your Savings - Increase Your Income

A penny saved, is a dollar earned ~ Benjamin Franklin

The US Open Men's Semifinals is starting so I thought I'd blog a bit before the action starts. =)

So now that you've got an idea of sorting your expenses out and how you might be able to reduce them, the second way of increasing your savings, is to increase your income. Obvious isn't it? However, while it may seem the obvious thing to do, you'd be surprise to learn how many people don't seem to have enough no matter how much money comes into their pocket. Instead of more savings as a result of more income, what occurs is an increase in expenditure! This is because with an increased income, the person normally feels that now he/she can afford that much coveted item to satisfy his or her desire. From eons of studies & examples, human nature is such that there's no such thing as satisfying a desire. As soon as one desire is satisfied, human nature finds another desire to be satisfied. As such, disciplining yourself into parking your extra income may be a challenging thing to do.

What then would be a good approach? Well, I think that if you're earning extra income, be it from your year-end bonus or an extra job, that you should reward yourself. Since you are working harder for that money it would seem criminal not to feel good about yourself for receiving some much deserved extras. So go out, enjoy yourself, pamper yourself a bit, have a beer or buy that bag you much longed for or what else you want...BUT all in total of a certain percentage of the extra income. What do I mean by this? Means if you earn an extra of $1000 for the month, that you should portion out about 20% to be spend on leisure items & activities while saving the balance 80%. This way, you get to feel that satisfaction and still not resent saving.

These are some ideas to increase your income:

1. Get a second job - dog walking, babysitting, tuition, etc.

2. Start an internet business

3. Do paid online surveys - CashCrate.com, OnlinePaidSurveys.net etc.

4. Join affiliate programs & market their products. - Amazon.com, ClickBank.com etc.

5. Go into consultation with regards to your expertise

6. Publish and sell your ebook or if you're driven enough, aim to publish a book proper

7. Do freelance work.

8. Provide financial planning services part-time - Prudential, IPP etc.

9. Sell yours or other peoples old unwanted stuff - Ebay.com, garage sales, push carts

10. Provide a service - offer to clean your mum's or neighbour's house for a fee

11. Rent out a room

12. Rent out a service - web designing, computer fixing/servicing, paint a friend's house, help someone to move, etc.

Well, personally I know how tedious these tasks can be. Myself, I have only just begun in my search increasing my income. I was previously concentrating a lot on investment vehicles which I will share in future posts. Currently, am looking into starting an internet business but have not decided my niche as yet. Things like this will take time, be it starting an internet business, writing an ebook & getting it sold, renting out a room etc. All this takes time to build. The important thing is to get yourself started. With persistence, once you start moving, the momentum you gain will propel you on to bigger things.

Hope this helps.

Till next time,

~K

Increasing your Savings - Reduce your expense

It is not how much you earn that is important, it is how much you keep that matters.

Well to link back to my previous post, I mentioned that you could increase your savings by putting your money with high-yield banks like ING Direct. Another bank which also gives pretty good interest rates, as I've found in the last couple of weeks is Emigrant Direct. Both banks offer 1.3% interest which you have to admit, sure beats the usual 0.25% here in Singapore, doesn't it? I wonder if Singapore have any high-yield banks. Anyway, as I caution again about the risk of currency fluctuation I also think that if you wanna diversify the portfolio (in your cash portion) with some foreign currency then perhaps this would be a good time. Currency conversion rates are after all at a all-time low. I will be blogging about portfolio construction in future posts for your understanding so please bear with me. Right now, it's just the basics that I hope to put in place for you so you can have a good start.

Anyway, moving on. The next way to increase your savings is simply to reduce your expenses. Now this may seem common sense, and it really is. However, you'd be surprise how many people spend without any knowledge of where their money goes on. I've been in that situation myself so I can perfectly relate and understand this phenomenon. One way to track your expenditure is to put all your incomes & expenses into a personal profit and loss (P&L) statement. No! It's not difficult at all. Rest assured that you'll find it extremely easy to prepare.

Steps:

1. Divide your page into two.

2. The left of the page, is your Income entries.

3. Enter all monthly income - net pay, dividends, interest, rental paid by your tenant, etc.

4. The left of the page is your Expense entries.

5. Enter all monthly expense - shopping, food, entertainment, necessities, facial products, car expenses etc.

6. Add the entries up per column.

7. See which column is more, the Income column or the Expense column

Here's an example. Pls pardon the format. I've been trying to arrange the format for the last 20 mins with no success.

Personal Income Statement

Income $

Net Pay 2,400

Dividends 50

------------

$2,450

Expense $

Credit Card 100

Clothes 56

Movies 100

Food 450

Insurance 80

Car Fuel 500

Car Maintenance 200

Parking Coupons 100

Wife 400

Mum 250

Handphone 100

Internet 80

Balance 34

------------

$2,450

So $34 would be what's left to save. Easy isn't it?

By doing this you can see exactly how much you can put aside in your savings account. Also, if you do this, you can see all the unnecessary expenses and thereby cut down on them. You'd be surprise how much you're spending in total when you put it into a P&L statement. A friend of mine who's a financial planner told me today that she attended to a client who didn't realize he spent $150 a month on Famous Amos & Subway cookies! That said, if you have problems balancing your finances, engaging a financial planner is a really good way to start maximizing your savings. And the best part? It's FREE service! That's right. You don't pay unless you buy a product that they recommend. Now before you misinterpret my intentions, I'm not recommending that you cheat a financial planner of his/her worth. Truth be told, the financial planners I know are worth their weight in gold. They allow excellent idea bouncing and I am extremely grateful for their help & assistance in planning mine & my loved ones future. So my advice is, find a financial advisor to start a saving plan tailored to meet your desired goal(s). In Singapore, I like IPP Financial Advisors as they are not linked to any Insurance company and can do a fair comparison to ensure that you have the best deals. If you live outside Singapore, I'm pretty certain that there are independent financial advisors as well. Worldwide Financial Planning, for example, is an independent financial advisor group based in UK. You can also approach banks and insurance companies like Prudential to assign you a financial planner to help you meet your objectives. We'll talk more about insurance & finding a good financial planner in future posts. Right now, it's good to broaden your knowledge about what's available.

In summary, by reducing your expenses, you allow more to be put into your savings which will enable you to start investing it earlier for faster growth & higher returns which if you recall, is the aim of saving up. With the help of a financial advisor, you'll be certain to achieve this much faster.

Good luck!

~K

Rule 1: Start Saving

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

I'm sure that since you're reading this blog, that you must be in some way searching for ways, ideas and answers to attaining your financial freedom. Believe me when I say I can relate to what you're going through.

So how should you begin in achieving you financial freedom?

The number one rule is to save. In Robert Kiyosaki's book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Robert advocates the wisdom of paying yourself first. This is imperative if you ever want to become financially free! As a famous line goes, "If you want to get through your days, save 10% of your pay every month. If you want to be rich, save 20%."

Few things to note:
1) The 10% or 20% that you save is of your total gross income. Not net.
2) Saving 20% and leaving it in the bank will not make you rich unless you're earning a 5 or more figure sum a month.

So why save 20% a month if this won't make you rich?
The answer: The money saved will reach a prominent sum, which will enable you to invest to generate higher returns,

Aside from those rich people who either inherited or earned their wealth by their entertainment talents, most rich people started by being great savers. The most famous example is Mr. Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world.

To use a rather conservative example of how savings could increase your wealth, imagine if you were earning a gross income of $1,800 and set aside 20% ($360) every month into your savings account, that'd be $4,320 a year excluding any bonuses or interest gained from the bank rates. If you factor in these extras, chances're this would total to about $5,000 a year.

While this figure sure seems little, it sure beats having $0 in the bank, doesn't it?

Now if you were to invest this $5,000 into an investment vehicle that yields a pretty conservative compound interest rate of 10% p.a. for 10 years, you'd be having a total of $12,968.71. Isn't that amazing? For one year's worth of saving, you could turn $5,000 into $12,968.71 simply by choosing the right investment vehicle and waiting. And think about this. What if you saved $5,000 every year and invested it at the same compound interest rate of 10%? Can you imagine getting back $12,968.71 every single year from the 10th year onwards? That's an extra $1,080 for your monthly expenses! Fantastic!

Here's another tip in increasing your savings faster. Put your money into high-yield banks. These are banks in your country with high interest rates for example ING Direct. Take note however that while it is possible to put your money into a foreign high yield bank, you also run the risk of currency fluctuations. That said, these banks will help your savings grow faster and enable you to invest earlier when opportunity knocks.

So don't delay. Start saving today!

Cheers,
~K

Getting Started - Finding Your Guide

"If a man does not know to what port he is steering, no wind is favorable to him." ~ Seneca

Now, in order to start on the road to financial success, one has to have a guide. Without a guide, the sheer amount of investments vehicles, ideas, "hot" tips and what not can very easily confuse the beginner investor and cause much frustration and discouragement. This is where mentors play an important role.

A point to note. Mentors need not be people. Books, websites, newsletters, these all are packed with info on how to start. Again, the amount of info you'll be facing may be tremendous but the more you understand and learn, the more invaluable this knowledge gained becomes in making a decision and coming up with a "plan of action". The idea here is just to get yourself familiar with the investment types, the jargon, the pros and cons, the risks. This becomes important once you do decide to seek help from experts. Knowing the jargon & technical terms can help you communicate better with advisers and can help you understand and focus your aim. At the end of this post, I'll leave a couple of recommendations as a starting point for those searching for your own financial independence.

In mid last year began my first glimpse into learning the importance of financial security. The welfare department at my workplace organized a full day seminar entitled How to Plan Wisely to Reach Financial Freedom held by Mr. Dennis Ng, who runs a training company, Master Your Finance.com. Unfortunately, as my eyes weren't opened then, I had not been able to take full advantage of the information given on investing. However, that one talk made me realize the importance of saving for my future and aiming to be financially free. Life changed from that day onwards.

That said, I would advise you to attend a talk on financial independence, investment and/or savings. If it's free, so much the better. But if it's not, the amount you put down could very well be the best investment you would ever make if it helps set you straight and plunks your feet onto your path towards financial freedom. No matter where you are, there should be companies which hold free talks ever so often. One such place to check would be your country's department in charge of the retirement account, 401K (in US), CPF (in Singapore), etc. Some brokerages too like POEMS hold talks but these tend to be more towards stocks, options, forex and other investment vehicles that might be too risky for the beginner investor. Nonetheless, these provide good exposure and knowledge for future use.

So lastly, the recommendations.

Books:

1. Napolean Hill - Think & Grow Rich

2. Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad, Poor Dad

3. Adam Khoo - Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires

Wesbites:

1. Investopedia.com

2. Investorwords.com

3. Also, sign up at 21st century investing for free videos for beginner investors.

4. You Tube is a treasure trove of free information. Don't let it go to waste.

So best of luck and good journeying. I'll see you all soon.

Cheers,

~K

The Journey to Freedom Begins With a Single Step

My pay gets in this week. Sounds like a celebration waiting to happen doesn't it? Long awaited wants can finally be enjoyed. Dinners. Movies. Clothes. Shoes. The list goes on. I'm sure many of you can relate to this. Some of you may in fact be living this way still. And truthfully, I used to indulge in this for 9 years of my working life. That is until I woke up one day, realized that I only had 19mths to go before my work contract expired and then I'll be jobless. Yup, that's it. No more "Dinners. Movies. Clothes. Shoes." Zilch! Unless I get a job that'll pay well enough to maintain my current lifestyle. And you know what's scary about this? The fact that I was dead broke. And life for me was about to be rebooted at the age of 30. The age where people were already in the prime of their career, settling down, having families, getting a house. But not me. Nope. I, on the other hand, would be just starting my career proper. A scary thought indeed.

Well, time has passed since my shockingly epiphanic moment and I've another 14 mths to go before I leave. Lots have changed. The biggest being how my finances are managed now. And how I've put together a portfolio that has not made me my first million regrettably but has allowed me to feel much better about myself when I finally leave in October next year to face the unknown world. And that is what I will be blogging about. Hoping that my experiences will help you especially those of you who are in or in future will be in the same situation as myself. Now I can't promise that I'll show you the road to being rich. But I do believe, that with discipline and time, what I'm doing will bring me more stability and allow me to retire old and happy to spend time with my loved ones without worry of tomorrow.

A famous quote goes like this, "A wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from the mistakes of others."

I hope you'll find your happiness, your freedom. And if anything, I hope you take away something of value to you from my sharing. Good luck in your future and God bless.

Sincerely,

~K