Money Management Habits 2

So now you know how to put your money in 6 different jars. You can recap the 6 Jars System here again. :D

Next up! How should you do it? When should you start putting in your money into these 6 jars?

The answer is...

Divide all your money up into these jars once you get them!

In other words...

PAY YOURSELF FIRST!

Once you get your pay/allowance, divide them into the 6 jars accordingly. 6 jars, and just divide them up.

Nothing is more important than yourself. Not your phone bills, not your latest gadget, not your monthly car loans/rentals... You are most Important!!

Why I say this.

I had a friend while I'm still serving national service in APD. He's a regular. And his monthly salary is about 2000+. He has to minus CPF contributions, so that left with around 1700+.

Whenever he got his money, he use it to pay his monthly bike installments, his bills, then upgrade his bike also. In the end, he is just left with around $500 for the entire month. He have not add in his daily expenses, petrol for his bike, his indulgences.

And so, he always complained that he has no money. Not enough money to use, no money to buy his stuffs, no money to save.

When I pop him this statement, "Pay Yourself First". He said he can't, 'cause he has too much loans/bills to clear, and he always left with $500 plus after the 2nd day, to spend for rest of the month.

And I told him what he can do. Set aside a sum of money for himself first when he get the money. And use the remainder to pay for his bills. However, he told me he don't have enough money in the end to pay his loans/installments.

Then, I told him, this is the time to force you to look into opportunities outside the world, to improve your income. If this income stream is not enough to supply water for your BIG POOL, you should create another stream so that more water can flow into your BIG POOL yea?

And it should not be the case where you lower down your means of living to pay off your bills/installments. Instead, look to increase your income bracket!! And that is the way to get more money, become Richer!!

So guys, Pay Yourself First. If your planned expenses is not enough to cover for your desired/actual expenses, Look to create another income stream, increase your income bracket, get more money IN!

And not lower down your living standards to pay for installments/loans/bills. You are more important than these banks/companies who are after your money.

:D

What do you think? Feel free to share with me!

Millionaire Money Management Tip 1

OK!. Let's start with tip 1 on how you can become a millionaire by managing your money well.

Eh? You may ask, why this tip is not really about making more money, or methods on multiplying your money fast?

Alright, maybe this can come at later blogposts. But why most people are richer than the others, is not that they know how to make a lot more money, but they know HOW to manage their money better than others!

You can have a lot of money flowing in, from your job, from your business, from investments, from lucky draw, or whatever. But if it is not managed well, it will still flow out of your hands in no time :D.

First things First, let me tell you the 6 places you should place your money in. We call them your Money Jars. And how much money you should put inside these jars.


1. "Financial Freedom Account" Jar. (FFA) - 10%

Place 10% of your income, monthly salary, profits into this Jar. And money in this Jar must not be spent. It should be used for you to acquire passive income streams. Think of these as the golden goose that keep laying golden eggs. If you spend the money inside, it is like killing the mother goose that gives you golden eggs (your wealth). Start putting it, month by month, and you will see your goose become fatter (more money), and you can acquire more passive income streams to lay more eggs for you (money!).

Strictly speaking, the money in this jar MUST not be spent! In the future when you stop working, you can spend the eggs, but not the goose!

2. Long Term Saving/Spending Jar. (LTSS) - 10%

This jar is used for your long term expenditure, such as your end of year holiday, wedding dinner, house mortgages... etc. As it is 10%, you can also divide this 10% into small percentages, like 5% for holidays, 5% for my car... etc, if you have more expenditures.

3. Education. (EDU) - 10%

Save 10% of your money to learn. Equip yourself with latest knowledge, latest skills. Everybody needs to learn, and the world is changing really too fast. If we aren't learning new things, we are already behind others. And I mean NEW.

Take this money to buy books, audios/videos, attend courses, seminars, go for big events etc. Real education begins after academic education ends.
"Poor people stop learning once they graduate from school. Rich people start learning after they graduate."

4. Necessities (NEC) Jar - 55%

Let 55% of the money cover your necessary daily expenses. Food, transport, phone bills, house rents (if you have any). Many people tend to spend too much on this section, hence, they usually don't have any savings in the end. It's 55%. It may be lower than what you are currently spending.

If it's difficult to maintain at 55%, simplify your life. You don't have to eat at restaurants everyday yea? you don't have to spend so much on branded, or new stuffs so often too yea?

5. Play Jar - 10%

OK!! This is the Jar everybody is happy about. Erm, but it's not everybody also. Why you need the play jar?

There are people who spend too much time at their jobs, that they hardly have the time to play. They save up a lot , a lot, a lot of money, but they never get the chance to use it. Workaholics. This make their life severely unbalanced. This is not life!

On the other hand, this is the Jar that many people broke it on their first day they get their pay. They get their pay, and just spend it! but they still have another 30 days to go before their money come in again. Often or not, they spend more than their income.

So to keep everything in balance, keep 10% of ur income for play, and BLOW (spend) it every month. Spend it at a good restaurant, a short trip, have fun with it, to keep your life in balance. And only use the money in this Jar for your fun. Don't tap into other Jars for money .

6. Giving - 5%

Giving is you have to do, everybody have to do. Giving is a spiritual need for someone to grow.
Save at least 5% to give, give it to charities, give it to help others who are in need. If 5% is not enough, you can tap into your Necessity account for another 5%. So giving account-10%, Nec account- 50%. This is alright.

So this are the 6 Jars.

I've started putting the money I got in Nov into these 6 jars. Yup. So let's start doing it together yea! It's the simplest system to manage your money. Any queries, call me up, leave a message here, or email me.

Next! - The Secret Habits of Millionaire :D

Now is the time! It's Now!

Now is the time! Why?

My Exams are over! And yes! It's time to do everything I want this season!!

Next up, I'm gonna to write posts on...

1) The Money Management lessons I learned from T.Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Seminar.


2) Marketing Tips on Life - Based on Marketing Modules Learned School.

Then, I'm gonna write books too! I have written one on violin playing. Completed!
I'm gonna write 1 more! That's 2 books!

I'm gonna grow, and contribute more!

This is going to be the most productive time for me!!

End 2009 with a BANG!!

Next post, Millionaire Money Management Tip No. 1.

A Small Tip in Midst of my Exams

Last Friday, I shared a short message about consistency and faith with my good buddies. It's my first time doing it, and I think I wanna do it again! and again! and again! And I wanna get better at doing it, improving each time I did it :D

And on Saturday Expo Svc, Rev Casey Treat shared the same thing! Consistency and Faith! Wow! Is it such coincidental? Haha. It may appear coincidental at first, but after few thoughts, it's not really that coincidental I think.

Just to recapitulate, I talked about doing things consistently, continuously, and not once and for all. For all the things in life we have achieved till now, we did it again and again and again, and then we finally achieved it. Don't you think so?

Students who get A in their subjects, don't study one whole chunk in a day before exam, but little bit by bit, everyday. People who got their slim body exercise everyday, and not exhaust the body in a day. Sounds like our National Service? Wake up so early in morning everyday? Why some people can live so healthily till such ripe age? They consume healthy foods and supplementation everyday, or start eating just before they are falling sick?

Ya. So basically, the answer is every(whatever). In fact, everyday is enough for most of us. For me too. For every action to become a habit, it takes 21 days (some say 28) of consistent actions. This goes the same for good habits, and bad habits. Bad habits are easier to form anyway :D
Ok! that's basically what I mentioned that day, and simplified of what Rev Casey said.

Why I wouldn't say it's coincidental for me to share the same message as him.

Because this is the truth! :D It is one of the factors for success! Hence, anyone who is sharing tips for success, to get what you want etc, will mention this. Doing simple things everyday. It is always these simple things that we neglected that will actually give us what we want. We always think that we need to do BIG, Difficult things in order to be successful. E.g. We need to run marathons to get fit. But simple runs of 30 mins everyday is enough. (everyday appears again -.-)

I get this tip of 'doing simple things everyday' not from a book, but from a successful person I know. We often complicate things, and often forget the simple stuffs to do. As things get complicated, we get confused, and in the end we won't get started.

Alright, so here's the little tips to kick start a great weekend to you guys :D. Do simple things everyday. Don't complicate matters.

I just completed my 3 papers in 1 day. Last being Marketing. It's open-book test. I brought in a handout, and a textbook, which I never opened before, but I brought it in, since it's allowed.

Even though I didn't read the Marketing textbook, I read many other books on marketing, ways to increase sales for companies, marketing ideas for free, and some super salesman books. In the end, I referred to the textbook once, to look for definition of 'Integrated Marketing Program', and that's all. For the rest of the paper, it asks you to give ideas on how to market this, market that. They want ideas and more ideas and suggestions from you!

Thank God I'm being exposed to these marketing books, if not I wouldn't have written down those suggestions. It's always good to read books other than textbooks. Especially for Marketing. Marketing is Living, and not Dead. In other words, knowing all marketing definitions and terms got no use. It is only useful when we know how to use it! And these marketing ideas are found in these marketing books! :D

*If your company needs you to market something, surely you are not going to define what is advertising/public relations/marketing mix/4Ps.. yea? Your boss only want creative ideas from you!

I had fun answering those questions like "discuss how can you market...", "if you are the manager, how would you...". I wished there are more just now. But it's okay, I'm tired of writing already :D. Marketing is in my blood, and I do it everyday, so I smile at every question just now :))

I love myself more everyday and night! :D

Pst Joel Osteen. Author of "Become a Better You"

This Gentleman is interesting. Hope to hear him 'live' one day. He is Joel Osteen. I got to know him after I read his book, "Become a Better You". And then, I decided to look up online to know more about him.

He formed the biggest church in America, Lakewood Church, with a hall which can fill 18,000+ people. Wow. I looked up Youtube for more of him, and I found this interesting video! Enjoy it guys! You will sure enjoy his jokes :D

A brief Update from 29th Oct- 12th Oct

A few Updates from Me :D

From 30th-1st Nov, I spend my 3 days in Taipei, Taiwan. Wow. It was really a wonderful 3 days in Taiwan. Our Taiwan friends were really friendly, heart-warming, fun, lovely... everything la. There are photos uploaded to my Facebook already. You can view it here: Taiwan 09 .

Of cos, other than just enjoying tasty food in Taiwan, my main objective to Taiwan this time is to attend DASH 2009, 成就未来. It's held in Taiwan World Trade Center, just beside Taiwan's Tallest Tower, Taipei 101.

I just got to know the best 臭豆腐，best 卤肉饭, best 卤味，best 花生冰, best 爱玉(a famous drink in Taiwan), best 蛇肉／蛇酒, from my fellow Taiwanese friends. They are just great people. People out there! If you're going Taiwan tell me, I give you all the places for good food, shopping, low room rentals, best attractions :D

Alright, coming back to school life, it's gonna end soon. :D yippee! Of cos, as usual, it gonna ends with the Examination! I'll end all the papers on 30th Nov. Still 10 days left for me :D. Studying is part of my time table since Sch starts, and I have to add in a bit more time for revision. However, no matter how much time I put in studies, I always use time for personal education a.k.a Self Improvement.

After cramming so much notes, which I can say only 60% of what I read is remembered, I took a rest. And, I picked up a book to read. And recently, I read the book, "Become a Better You" by Joel Osteen. Awesome book. Just when my energy has been used up in revising those 'dead' notes, reading just a page of two of Joel Osteen's book got my mind thinking, with thousands of thoughts & ideas flowing through, and I'm refreshed!

I feel that everybody Must invest time educating themselves to become a better person. This can be done through reading books, attending training seminars, listening to mentors, or at least, get tips from people who have skills you want to learn from (e.g. time management?)

I have some friends who told me they got a lot to study, so they study day and night, sacrificing sleeping time for study, but struggle in exams. I also have friends who told me that there are not much to study, and they continue their normal lifestyle, sleeping 8 hours/ day, and score well in exams. By the way, both groups are taking the same exams, but what's the difference?

Some says, they are born smart, thats why they don't have to study so much.
Some says, they have good A level results. So coming to uni, they don't have to study much.
Some says, they are lucky.
Some says, they come from TOP JCs. So its easy for them to do well w/o studying.

Oh really? When my friends gave me these answers, I don't believe any, and I squash them up. All these answers are Bullshit! By saying all these, we are pushing away our own responsibilities! We are not taking responsibility for our results. But instead, we are giving negative/jealous comments for those who do well.

In my opinion, it boils down to 1 word discipline. Talk is Cheap. Everybody, Anybody out there can say they have discipline. "I brush my teeth everyday, I bathe everyday..." Yup. These shows that you have discipline! :D However, do you know what's the most scariest thing to do that have frightened most people about Discipline?

The most scariest thing is to do it EVERYDAY. Doing the action is not a problem. But doing it EVERYDAY is a problem. Reading a book is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Stop smoking for 1 day is possible. But stop it every single day? Running 2.4km is not a problem, but doing it EVERYDAY may be a problem. Standing in front for public speaking is not a problem, but dare to do it everyday? Haha.

When I learned it, it makes a lot of sense! Doesn't it? The reason why sometimes we stop doing something, is because we lack the discipline. And I'm guilty of that too. Haha. Hence, if you got a chance to know some successful people, ask them, talk to them. They will tell you that, they are successful, because they are doing things that bring them success, every single day, and it's been part of their lives!

Yup. So my friends here, hope that you have learn a little bit more about discipline :D. I'll elaborate more next time :D Still have some more tips to share here. Next time maybe? See yea!

T Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive Ticket Giveaway.

T. Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive 3 day event will be held in Singapore Expo from 13th-15th November 2009. You can get a free ticket to attend this seminar , "A Weekend that will change your Financial Life Forever!". Just message me, email me, comment at this post, at the chatbox, whatever, to know how to get your free ticket :D

i

"I Need You" by Leann Rimes. Video is Up!

Yes. As promised, the video of the recording is up! Enjoy it guys, and share with me your comments, like how I can improve, or any song you would like to hear in the future! Thank you guys, and I will put it up at the sidebar of my blog too :D

Wonderful Performance again!

YES! Another wonderful performance on stage. But this time, there are 3 times more audience than the last time when I perform 'Viva La Vida'. Yesterday, I played in 2 songs this time round, in 'Kiss Goodbye', song by Wang LiHom, and 'I Need You', song by Leann Rimes. Andrew sang in 'Kiss Goodbye', and Maria in 'I Need You'.

It's Touch of Heaven 3, and probably the last episode of the year. And all performances did extremely well, till everyone don't want to leave in the end. Haha. It's a series of impressive performances, with singing, dancing by the 'Lady GaGas', Beat-boXing, etc.

Maybe the pictures can say more :D

Beat BoXing by Reynaldo



安静 by Royston

I'm Yours by Sean and Jag


The GaGas on stage!



The V-Girls! Val and Vanessa with their self-composed song :D

"Kiss Goodbye" Andrew singing, I'm on the violin, and Jeff on the Guitar.



Waiting to play.


"I Need You", sung by Maria.

John and Ryan with Bon Jovi's "I'll be there for You!"


Last but not least, the Fantastic Audience!!


There are a lot more pictures on my Facebook albums, and many other uploaded by others. I heard there are recordings of the performances too!! Haha. I'm gonna get it and uploaded it to YouTube so you guys can see. :D

For this mini-concert, I was only notified to be involved in it 7 days before it. Then, the song I was playing was only decided last Tuesday, 4 days before the concert. We had only 1 combined performance on Wed night, 3 days before concert. I transpose my piece 3 times into different keys, and was settled on Thursday, 2 days before concert. And we had a final run through 3 hours before concert. Despite all these last minutes, we did it with a BANG!! ( or Boomz if you want :P )

All these last minutes would not have been possible, without the help of guitar pros like John & Jeff & Jag, singing pro like Valerie, Vanessa, Royston, Maria, Andrew, Sean... :D

Lastly, no matter it is last minute or not,

If there's a will, there's a way :D

Yup.

Before I end, thanks Kenneth for his camera skills.


This picture is nice, and I love it! :D

A Meetup with Mr Tony.

After 1 month, I met up with my mentor, Mr Tony again. He reached Sg from KL. Yes. It's always great to meet up with him, when my life will just be recharged again! :D Superb life-changing tips from him.


,
I met him in office around 5pm on Wednesday, and me and Bingyang talked with him till 2am the next day. Yea. But we are not talking only. We are exchanging ideas, and he shared a lot of tips with us, on time management, influence, world issues, relationships, peak performances, leaderships, communication and thinking skills, and persuasion skills. That's all i remembered now. I can say he's a supreme being, and he's the Chinese version of Anthony Robbins. Seriously.

He told us his life story, when he was in university like us. He was a Top student from TungHai University, one of the top universities in Taiwan. There, he studied computing or (computer engineering), which is one of the hottest topic for the future. It was 20 years then. 20 years ago, 1988-1989.. what are the computer we have? haha.

He was studying the designing of programs for computer, connecting network connections...etc, all those computer stuffs... he's in Taiwan Navy while serving their NS, and he's responsible for connecting the computers and networks in the Navy department. Then, 20 yrs ago, he told us, anyone who studies computer stuffs are considered geniuses...

He was approached by US university MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, top 10 university in the world now) to further his studies in computing, and sponsored by US Navy. He did not proceed then, and he told us why.

His senior, also a lieutenant in his Navy, graduated as a Top student from NTU(National Taiwan University). He then continued his study at MIT. He sent back letters to Mr Tony and his friends in the Navy, to tell them about the school life in MIT. However, after a few years, he stopped sending letters. They wondered if anything had happened to him. And they knew that he has become mentally unsound.

He suffered tremendous stress at MIT, and even though he was a Top Student from the Top University of Taiwan, he was just a nobody in MIT, where all the world computer geniuses gather. The point he was trying to make is...

"The best is yet to be, and there will always somebody who is better than you, when you think you are the best".

This is the quote by him:
"世界上没有 “最好”，只有 “更好”，没有 '最烂'，只有 '更烂' ”

And looking at the world now, computers are everywhere, even 2-3 year old kids know how to blog! Things are changing too fast, and he don't know what is he studying all those computer stuffs for...

I watched this video before, and since it has been recently brought up by many people on FB, let's watch it together yea...






If you have watched it, you would have think that the world is changing Super Fast, not just 'fast'. Everything we used 5 years ago have changed.(where is Facebook 5 years ago)? This is a reminder to us that everything is going to change, and if we are Unable to change, we will not be able to survive.

Another quote for you guys...

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change."
~Charles Darwin

Undoubtedly true.

Let's look at the whole wide world, and compare yourself to the world if you want, and not think that you're the best in Singapore( you're just 1 in 4 million people). Because in China, there are 325 people just like you. (1.3 billion / 4 million). Then, you are just the top 325 people...

There's no point comparing and fighting with these people. And if you're studying in NUS/NTU, you guys know better. And a lot more better!!, because you and me have first hand experience with them -.-

People who are smart, tap into areas where these Chinese geniuses have not excelled, and WE excelled in them, and NOT competing directly in areas where they have dominated, e.g. Engineering, (esp. EEE. Of the 10 Chinese student I know in NTU, 5 of them are PhD in EEE students -.-)

Discover new areas, tap into uncovered niches, before the Chinese and Indians came and dominate it.

So, this is just a very very short story of Mr Tony in his school life. I haven't even shared what he told us on how he excelled as No.1 for 4 years in his Uni, and his success in life.

Stay tuned guys!