My Own Story: Learn to Play The Game of Money

I believed it was during my SPM years that I kick start my journey towards learning the game of money. I had a hard time back then as I have little interest in studies as teachers did not really share how we could apply the knowledge in our everyday lives. It's more like just reading and memorizing the textbook for exam. And I know it could not really bring me anywhere towards financial freedom. But still, I need to make sure I do well to enroll to a university.  

There was a POPULAR bookstore beneath my tuition center 'Kasturi' and whenever there is free time, you would see me there searching for financial and motivational books. 

As back in 2005, there are hardly any books from local authors about investments in Malaysia. Somehow I managed to find some and felt glad about it.

I recalled reading Azizi Ali "Millionaires are from a Different Planet" & the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong "My Story". Both books literally blow me away as it's far more interesting and practical compared to the textbooks in school.

Since then, little George started to register for online newsletter from financial author Azizi Ali (one of the pioneer in Personal Finance in Malaysia) and would receive monthly updates. Besides, I would search for financial articles (The Star newspaper) and magazines (Malaysian Business & Personal Finance) to read.

The more I read, the more I learn that the world of finance is just fascinating, and how unfair it could be to people who chose to ignore knowledge regarding our world's financial system.

Read: 

During those years, attending a seminar or workshop remains a dream for me as I could not afford to pay for it (RM790-3,800/pax). However, saying "NO" is not an excuse hence relying on just books & free newsletter is the only way for me to gain knowledge.

What about learning from people? Well, when I observe the people around me, I discover that my family members, friends & teachers do not have a financial background, and they know very little about Personal Finance & Investments. Thus I have to rely on my own to make a difference.

Why others are rich? (Assuming they make money the ethical, honest & legal way)

What is the main difference that makes the difference? Why the disparity gap of the rich & poor is widening through the years? 

Well, it all comes down to making FINANCIAL CHOICES every single day, and that choice comes from FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE. 

Where does that come from? 

It comes from FINANCIAL EDUCATION^^





 

Learn To Play The GAME of MONEY

Question:  How to make MONEY?
                                                    
It is interesting to discover that almost everybody in this world would want to be rich to live their desired life, who doesn’t? The interesting discovery is how many would actually ask the question HOW and would TAKE ACTION to find the answer? 

Like students in class, whenever students could not figure out a question, they would raise their hand and ask the lecturer how. I think that is easy to understand. Surprisingly in reality, many would not ask the question 'how' when it comes to the subject of money. Indeed it is an interesting finding based on observation.

Therefore, we must take the initiative and do the best we can to learn from people who are financially successful. We have to learn how they made it, and what are the secret strategies involved. 

In short, we have to 'Learn To Play the Game of Money.'
  
"The more you learn, the more you earn" by Warren Buffett is very true.

Most people have not learnt how to play the GAME OF MONEY; they do not know the rules of this game and would therefore find themselves not being financially independent even though they worked very hard.   

It's like playing football without knowing the rules of the game, what would the possible outcome be?

Remember the monopoly game we played since we were little kids? Wonder why some would win while some often find themselves losing in the game? 

Well, you would notice that the winners often win due to their nature of being a risk taker that would made them own more properties and less money on hand (they think wealth = properties).  While on the other hand, the losers usually dislike owning more properties and would love to hold cash in their hands. Hence they usually shy away from making any huge investment in buying properties (they think wealth = money in their hands). Therefore, it is just a matter of time for the winners to win as the probability is high for the losers to enter a winner’s property.

That is my experience when I played monopoly during my childhood period. 

In reality, we need to learn how to play the GAME of MONEY! Once we know how to play it, making money is easy! It is all about applying the right strategies and we would be successful financially in life. 

The Greatest Money Making Asset

The Greatest Money Making Asset

That Will Generate You Massive Return

So, what is the greatest money making asset that Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Li Ka-Shing, Robert Kuok and you possess? No…it is not the MBA you are thinking of nor is it the inheritance that some rich kids are having from their parents. 

The asset I am talking about is what we had since birth, something GOD has blessed us all for.

Let me reveal to you that the greatest money making asset that you have is your MIND! It is the way you think that matters most. I still remember that from some books I read a few years ago, I could not believe it that the mind is so important and it could be so powerful. You would probably notice most motivational books convey the same message too. It took me some time to really experience and understands it. 

Yes, it is true… the MIND is the greatest asset of all. 

What & How You Think & Do That Matters

When you think about it, the super-rich have the same neurology and raw material like us. They have the same pair of eyes, ears, hands and legs like us, there are nothing different between them and us at all. The only difference is their mindset, it is what they think, how they think and what they do that matters and that makes the difference in life.   

Successful people often chose to view things positively, they do not believe in failure but treat it as a learning experience. They take actions till they succeed.                         

Remember Prof. Stephen Hawking from Cambridge?  He is an academic celebrity and is well known for his scientific findings. However he has motor neurone disease that is related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition left him almost completely paralyzed. Though he could not walk and could only talk with the help of a computer, this is what he said when interviewed in discovery channel. “Although I cannot walk and although I can only talk to you through the computer, but in my mind I am FREEEEEEE!”

So let’s view life positively and make the best out of it by taking action to invest in this asset of ours, the mind!

Mindset – a set of beliefs or a way of thinking that will determine one’s behavior, outlook and mental attitude

Grandpa - Our happy time together~^^

Fun Moment TOGETHER!!! :)~^^

This is my grandpa, very humble and grateful person. That's why he is always happy. Like other grandparents, he loves us (grandchildren) to be around. Although he may be quiet at times, but our presence is more than enough to make him happy. And I guess our presence is the only thing our grandparents want...guess it's very much achievable for us to do it right? 

By the way, below is a post I shared back then, hope you enjoy reading it~^^

Grandfather Birthday, 20 September 2008

Thinking of ways to make my grandfather 80th birthday on Sept 20 a meaningful celebration. Give me ideas if you have one, appreciate that. It's quite special this time because my parents and brother intended to TREAT my grandpa best friends and relatives for a dinner in a Chinese Restaurant.

Feel it meaningful because my grandpa and family have a wonderful opportunity to chat with relatives and friends who have not meet one another for a very long time. This birthday celebration creates a wonderful platform for them to interact. As I said, we need to make things happen, it's not easy to organise it with many 'problems' faced especially when you are in a Chinese family.

I will try my best to make it as meaningful as possible because this is my grandpa 80th birthday. My grandpa will only experience this big celebration (80th birthday) once in life, only once...I realize that my grandpa is really old now and I guess there is not much time left, may be another 10-20years with him...I dont know when he is going to leave me, only GOD knows about it...but I can tell you that the day will come as time passes and I will feel extremely sad then.

I am racing against time...I want my grandpa to be proud of me and I hope to bring glory to the family as a reward for their sacrifices. To me, that is what a good grandson should do. That's the basics. 

So yeah, many of us may be too busy  with work or socializing with our friends, let us take the opportunity to think about our role towards family members. 

Take action now, if not it's going to be too late and we may live with regrets in our lives. 

"The Truth is sometimes Ugly!"

The Truth is sometimes Ugly!(note the word 'sometimes' as the truth is not always ugly)

Sometimes things may turn very ugly, things we have been dreaming of, things we have been hoping for, things we always think that it's perfect... Well, that's the truth...the fact that we have to accept it. I guess everyone of us experience it. Sometimes when we are working hard towards something, we hope to get good results...we expect there is a change and would therefore inspire us to continue pursuing our goals and dreams.

Eventhough we know that it is good and meaningful, and we expect people to react and respond positively on the effort made, but somehow it doesn't happen that way. Sometimes we are very frustrated about it and may give up along the way in the things we are hoping for...it happens to everyone and therefore, we start to believe that the world is not perfect. 

Well my friends, I would like to say that if a person give up along the way... the dream one has been hoping for will never be a reality. Most importantly, we believe in the things we have been hoping/fighting for because we know it's right and that will certainly make us proud. So no excuse my friend, we should believe! believe! believe!  that we could make it a reality. At least we try our very best...no regrets in life! 

Always ask ourselves why are we willing to take it this far, there has to be a REASON, so why give up now?

YES! The TRUTH may SOMETIMES be UGLY but hey, who says life is perfect. It's the nature of it, one has to be able to overcome it in order to enjoy the sweet things that awaits later in life.

I am wiliing to believe that there is hope in life, and everything is possible... That hope keeps me moving forward in life to achieve more meaningful things. 

There's more to come...hehe!

"Sad to see…."

Sad to see….

Very often, I could see people working so hard but are paid too little. For example, those unfortunate ones like cleaners or car washers were paid only RM400-600 per month. They work for 6-9hours a day and their job is really not simple. They are not working like executives in office; they use physical strength to earn a living. Besides, I saw many kind ones are not treated in a polite manner by customers, fellow colleagues and employer. Not only they are paid badly, they are also the ones that the community sometimes look down upon badly too!

I feel most of the employers are taking advantage of them, just because they are not well educated and therefore they did not understand their rights as an employee. They follow what their employer gave them even though they themselves knew it’s unfair.
Well, all of us are humans. We are all equal and all of us deserve fair treatment. It’s really sad to see things like this happening around us. We must remember that those unfortunate ones have a heart and feeling too, just like many of us in this world. They too need CARE, ATTENTION & LOVE!

Guess the only way out of this is EDUCATION & a STRUCTURAL SHIFT in the ECONOMY...and some SOCIAL ASSISTANCE from the government. 

Assistance directly to help them, u know what I mean...^^

'Tou Fu Fa' Aunty I knew

This is a post I shared back then, find it meaningful, enjoy it!

October 17, 2009

"As I am going back home after visiting my friend place for Deepavali, I saw my favorite 'Tou Fu Fa' stall... I stopped by and make my order.

I chat a little with the AUnty I knew for 10years. Used to stop by always to enjoy my drink. I feel grateful that the aunty remember me well and that's something money cant buy.

She shares her problems with me saying that her children were not so hardworking and not being very obedient. By looking at her eyes, I knew she was quite disappointed and sad. All I could do then was to cheer her up and give her some positive comments. I hope that really help her!

She gave me a 10cents discount for being her loyal customer but I refuse to accept it. After much persuasion from me, she finally accepted my 10cents. She appreciates it very much and wave to me when I leave.

What I want to share here is the 10cents. It could be a very small amount and meaningless to many people... But to me, the 10cents is very meaningful. It's a sweet memory between the aunty & me. I just love that kind of feeling, and yeah even a little 10cents does counts.

Learn to appreciate things. Even a small gesture like this is meaningful. 

Shall pray for u Aunty, 

Pray that everything goes well for u!" 

CAPITALISM - THE RICH MAN GAME?

1. As the word 'CAPITALISM' suggest, CAPITAL rules... Hmm~ some would say not really...well think again!

2. What if you are being told that a recession is not caused by accident? but a plan knew by certain groups of the rich? 

3. Guess the poor or layman may not really know what causes a recession? or why are they currently in a recession? and not know why they lost their hard earned money in investment products.

4. Some may say is due to GREED that they lose their money, while others may say a LACK OF FINANCIAL EDUCATION is the main reason for this. I guess it's both and many are not aware of this!

5.Well, the rich will never want you to know about money... or rather the rules of the game. Because if you know it, they can't earn your money. 

6. May be that's the reason why schools never teach us about it... or banks not taking the time to explain it to you clearly about the property/personal/credit card/car loans you are taking. Ever feel that you are stupid when they explain to you about it? And feel that what they say is the truth and never bother to seek the truth? 

7. Many may not even be aware about it... and the banks love that, the rich loves that... they want your money and they do not want you to know the rules of the game.Worst of all, the rules itself is unfair, hence an unfair advantage to the rich. 

8. Read this: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2013/05/27/shift_the_pendulum_back.html

9. A massive transfer of wealth is taking place from the poor & middle class towards the rich. Hence the saying, the rich gets richer, while the poor gets poorer. 

10. Why is the rich getting richer while most of us are suffering in a recession?

11. Aha... this is a good link for you... http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2013/07/15/Is-it-true-that-the-rich-get-richer.aspx

12. Any country that embraces a capitalist economic structure will witness a huge disparity gap between the rich & the poor. It's the nature of it. Take a look at Hong Kong, China, Singapore, South Korea, US & Malaysia. Of course, there are also good points about capitalism but that would be a sharing for another day.  

13. So yeah baby!!! are we going to ignore the importance of educating ourselves about 'MONEY'? or we are willing to take 100% RESPONSIBILITY to make that change and start paying attention to FINANCIAL EDUCATION.

14. Perhaps reading my book 'Believe in Your Dreams & Grow Rich' might be a good start... It's available in MPH, The Times Bookstores etc...



http://www.bookplanet.com.my/index.php?target=products&product_id=227

The above is for educational purposes only! Readers should conduct their own research and make their own decisions.

You may contact me at writetogeorgeleong@hotmail.com or 017-6593817 for financial consultation :)

'Do you have RM200,000 CASH by 30?'

Why do you need RM200,000 in hand when you reached 30?

1. Well, as you refer to my previous post, you would know that RM100,000 downpayment for a RM500,000 house with a 30 years loan @ 5% interest rate would amount to a monthly installment of RM2,147.

2. Besides the down payment of RM100,000 that you have to pay when you buy the house, you need to reserve some money for house renovation and furniture expenditure. You may also need to pay for one or two car loans every month. What about a wedding expenditure for your sweetheart? Approximately, those expenditures (renovation + furniture + cars + wedding expenditure) would amount to RM100,000.

3. And that means you need a minimum cash of RM200,000 by age 30 if you plan to get married and have a family at that age (or at least have a house of your own). Basically, you and your family would just be able to enjoy a normal lifestyle in a double-storey house in Klang Valley with one or two cars and yet would still be heavily in debt over the years. (Note: Do take note that the housing price will increase over the years and in this calculation, I am assuming that the price of the house remains the same.)

4. That is the result of the high cost of living you are going to face in the future and you better be prepared for it if you want to provide a comfortable lifestyle for your family.  

5. Let us take action to provide the best for our family. Let us start by understanding our greatest money making asset that all of us have that would generate us millions of ringgit in the future. 

Stay tuned for the next post...

The above is for educational purposes only! Readers should conduct their own research and make their own decisions.

You may contact me at writetogeorgeleong@hotmail.com or 017-6593817 for financial consultation :)

Could You Afford To Buy A House?

The reason why I am so eager to share my knowledge with the youth and young adults is because generally most of them are not aware of the future they are heading to in this high cost of living environment. Let me present you a scenario so that you would have a better understanding of what I mean.

A general double-storey link house in Kota Kemuning in the Klang Valley would amount to approximately RM500,000. Imagine you make a down payment of RM100,000 and take a 30 years housing loan with a principal amount of RM400,000 with an interest rate of five percent, your monthly instalment would be around RM2,147. If you were to service this loan for 30 years with the stated monthly instalment amount, your total loan repayment would amount to a whopping RM772,920 (RM2,147 x 12 months x 30 years). In fact, you are paying a total interest amount of RM372,920 (RM772,920 minus RM400,000) and that is almost a 100 percent of your principal loan amount. 

Items:                                RM

House Value:                     500,000

Downpayment:                 100,000

30-Years Housing Loan: 400,000

Interest rate:                         5% 

Monthly Instalment:          2,147

Total Repayment:              772,920 (Principal + Interest)

Total Interest:                    372,920

It literally means all your salary increment and other bonuses you might get in future will be used to pay the interest amount of the home loan you make. That is why it is a rat race for many as they find themselves not having enough money despite their salary increment, extra income and bonuses.

The above calculation is based on CIMB normal housing loan package at BLR -1.6 percent on October 5, 2011. The BLR rate was 6.6 percent on that date which makes the interest loan to be five percent. You can change the figure to suit different scenarios (different principal amount, interest and number of years of repayment) by using the CIMB housing loan calculator available on CIMB website. Just google ‘Home Loan Affordability Calculator - CIMB Bank’ and you will be directed to the page.

The post: 'Do you have RM200,000 CASH by 30?' will be shared later this week. 

The above is for educational purposes only! Readers should conduct their own research and make their own decisions.

You may contact me at writetogeorgeleong@hotmail.com or 017-6593817 for financial consultation :)