HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010 !!!

Dear All

 

Wishing you a wonderful new month and a happy new year in advance.    

Don't  too hard but work smart.  May your boss appreciate you and say  .  

Take care of yourself.    Pamper yourself and buy some beautiful .  

Don't worry coz      will come from above.   May you also purchase  or change a   and a .      

May the days ahead be busy but easy ,       and  go around the world.   It's important to have good health,  therefore, eat more   and , but not too much  .
Do remember to  at least once a week.    Don't  with your sweetheart, and be generous to say .    

Here's wishing you and all  your   a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010 and may you all be well and happy ALWAYS!

From : James Oh

SOME USEFUL TIPS TO LOWER YOUR PHONE BILL

Happy day to everyone,

I hope you are in high spirits as you read this article and hope it fulfill your needs.

Hand phone is widely regard as a convenient communication tool for most of us, if not all of us. It is easily subject to misuse especially when calling someone you like to chat for long hours. As such, its bill may drive some of us crazy, if left unchecked. I hope this article will help shed some light on how to lower your phone bill. At the same time,  you will be made aware of other cheaper means of communication options that are available.

1. One of the encouraging ways  to lower your phone bill is  to use the internet to communicate instead of using phone. If both caller and receiver have access to the internet, then use the internet to communicate. You may make use of Skype, Msn messenger and Yahoo messenger. Using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) options to make online calls will  save your money.

2. Nowadays, most offices and services providers have toll-free numbers. Using toll-free numbers is another good tip to lower your phone bills. Make it a habit to call toll-free numbers.

3. Prepaid plans are  good alternatives as you have full control on your phone usage especially for those who have a tendency to overuse phone services. Once your minutes are up, you need to wait till the end of the month to top-up. By doing so, you have a fixed limit of monthly phone bill.

4. Another way is not only to set a maximum number of phone calls per day for yourself, but also the maximum duration of each call. List down what you want to say in advance and speak straight to the point. Make it a habit so as to be more effective and efficient. To lower your bill further, make use of non peak hours such as late evening to make such calls if possible.

5. Do the same for short message sending (sms). Alternatively,use email if you do not have to respond to a call or text message immediately. By doing so, you are rest assured to lower your phone bills.

6. Do not subscribe to unnecessary entertainment packages which you can transfer to your own MP3 and video files from internet. Hence you can save for not using the phone’s entertainment package.

7. Scrutinise your monthly bill and phone the customer service if you think there is a discrepancy in your phone bill. There have been numerous occasions where phone companies made mistakes in their bills. Take this extra effort to check your phone bills carefully.

8. Sign up for auto-payment of your post-paid phone bills so as to avoid unnecessary charges.

9. You may use fixed line to make free local calls, if available, especially those who are internet subscribers instead of using hand phone. This not only helps you to lower your phone bill, but also reduce your exposure to the radioactive effect of hand phones.

10. Subscribe to service provider packages such as family pack with free calls amongst family members. Check with service providers before you sign up for the most suitable pack for your loved ones.

Now, I want to throw the ball to your court because I believe you may know other cheaper means, which I am not aware of.  Appreciate if you could put forward via comments for the benefits of all the readers. Thank you for your kind participation.

I am look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

DEBT MANAGEMENT IN TIME OF CRISIS

Hi ! everyone,

Time is getting tough and the tough gets going. With the economic crunch taking its toll everywhere and in every industry, masses are facing lots of pressure to stay financially afloat. For those who have outstanding debts and have not paid for the last two years, one way that can help you is debt management.

Debt management in plain words is a tool designed to assist borrowers to manage their debts.  It helps to contain debt so that it does not blow out of proportion. You may engage the professionals to do it for you or alternatively do it yourself. The former will cost you, but not the latter.

Some tips listed below may help you do debt management on your own. So, review your situation and employ one or all techniques that you feel you can do.


1. Set aside a certain percentage of your income
The borrowers will often set aside a portion of their single or combined income for debts payments. It is actually a good idea to prioritise payment of debts and set  aside  a certain portion  of your monthly income for debts. This will help you bring down your expenses. You will then have to pay for the debt once you get your salary. In this manner, you will not be tempted to spend this money away.

2. Settle debts that bears higher interest

By doing so, you will help reduce the interest. Debts that have higher interest rates will mean that you will be paying a higher monthly interest for them compared to the lower interest ones. This way you will settle your debt much faster as a result of lower interest payment.

3. Reschedule your debts

Talk to your lenders to reschedule your payment to match with your income. This will prevent you from incurring the overdue interest or penalty interests or both if applicable.


4. Get rid of the Credit card
It is convenient and able to save lives in emergencies. But it can be evil if it is in the hands of people who do not know how to handle their money well.
Leave it at home or cancel it before you incur more debts than you can ever pay for.

5. Pay more and often if there is an opportunity
If you have excess money, pay more and often. That way, you will incur less interest charges. As a result you will be able to fully settle your debts faster.


I hope the above quick fix solution is useful to you.

Wish you success in your debt management.

James Oh

CHINESE PROVERB ABOUT MONEY

Hi! everyone,

I am so glad to seeing you all again and I believe that you not only enjoy reading the articles, but are also receiving its values and benefits.

WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY A HOUSE, BUT NOT A HOME.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY A CLOCK, BUT NOT TIME.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY A BED, BUT NOT SLEEP.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY A BOOK, BUT NOT KNOWLEDGE.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN SEE A DOCTOR, BUT NOT GOOD HEALTH.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY A POSITION, BUT NOT RESPECT.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY BLOOD, BUT NOT LIFE.
WITH MONEY  YOU CAN BUY SEX, BUT NOT LOVE.

Give them a serious thought and share with us your view.

Thanks for your time and look forward to hearing from you,

James Oh

REAL CASE OF TURNING THE LOSS INTO WEALTH

Hi! everyone,

Some of you may know or heard of the great author, Ms Lilou Mace, of the above book. I find it very inspiring and am very excited to share it with you. This book is good for light reading;  very lively, inspiring and you don't want to put it down until you finish it. It tells you how the author turn a deeply sad event, most people will not be able to take it, into a blessing for her. She discovered this is not an end, but it is just a turn. I write a brief summary for you to have a foretaste of the book.



I LOST MY JOB AND I LIKED IT

30-Day Law-of-Attraction Diary of a Dream Job Seeker. Oprah-inspired 1.9-million-viewers to view  YouTube phenomenon.  Lilou Mace uses Law of Attraction to write and publish book on finding a dream job within weeks of being sacked, launching a dream career in the process.  French-American Londoner Lilou Mace has made the recession work for her, turning the loss of her job into a promising career as a writer-publisher in under two months. Started on 16 February 2009, the day she lost her job as an Internet Marketing Director, I LOST MY JOB AND I LIKED IT, 30-Day Law-of-Attraction Diary of a Dream Job Seeker tracks her every thought and action as she uses all her skills and knowledge to establish her dream career.

Job loss an opportunity

Lilou comments: “When I was fired from the job that I had left Chicago for, I realised that the moment had come to put everything I had learnt to the test. I had used the Law of Attraction to meet Oprah Winfrey, and she had inspired me to launch a TV show in Chicago. I had co-founded the international ‘Co-Creating
Our Reality’ Internet community. I had built a following of thousands on You Tube. Until I was fired, however, I had not had the courage to risk everything and put my belief in the Law of Attraction and all my skills and knowledge (visualisation, meditation, reiki, healthy eating…) to the test. It was time to prove that
these things work!

“I was guided to self-publish in order to help those suffering in this economic crisis as soon as possible, and the contacts and technology to enable me to do this appeared as if by magic. The publicity will work that way too, because that is the Law of Attraction. London Mayor Boris Johnson has already been caught
on video making off with a copy of my book!”

To the best of Lilou’s knowledge this is the first time anyone has illustrated the workings of the Law of Attraction by publishing such a day-by-day, step-by-step journal. Lilou has started work on another book and is confident that her career/mission to empower millions is well underway.

For further information or arrange interviews:

Call Lilou Mace on 0759 551 4545 or email lilou.mace@gmail.com
Full book information and author photographs: www.IlostMyJob-book.com,
www.LilouMace.com and www.Youtube.com/liloumace

Lilou Mace Biography
31-year-old, born in 1977 in Santa Barbara, California, of French parents (restaurateurs). Largely grew up in Nantes, France, although lived in Scottsdale, Arizona, from the age of six to eight. Her habit of keeping
a diary helped her cope with the trauma of leaving her childhood friends when she moved back to France, and with the divorce of her parents when she was 12. This journaling habit ultimately led to her YouTube blogging and to I LOST MY JOB AND I LIKED IT.

In the late 1990s Lilou did a degree in European Business Studies, studying both in France and at Oxford Brookes University, England.

She moved to the USA in 2000. Living in Florida, she founded “Co-Creating Our Reality” with Sandy Grason and Laura Duksta, an Internet-based community designed to help people support each other as they implement the Law of Attraction in “100-Day Reality Challenge” periods. The community has thousands of members in 125 countries.

Moving to Chicago, Lilou used the Law of Attraction to meet Oprah Winfrey. Inspired by her she started her own TV show, originally called My Juicy Life and then Live a Juicy Life, on which she interviewed the authors of motivational and self-help books, a practice she continued on YouTube.

Lilou’s video interviews and blogs, charting her progress as she lives according to the Law of Attraction, have acquired a massive YouTube following, with nearly two million views to date.

All the above activities were done in parallel with a career as a self-employed Internet marketer. In mid- 2008 Lilou decided to move back to Europe and acquired a job in London as an Internet Marketing Director for a global hospitality company. Being made redundant, on 16 February 2009, was possibly the best thing that ever happened to her!

Websites:
http://www.LilouMace.com
http://www.youtube.com/liloumace (>4,000 subscribers, 1.9 million views)
http://www.IlostMyJob-book.com
http://www.cocreatingourreality.com/
http://www.twitter.com/liloumace
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lilou-Mace/43261433223

Supportive quotes
“Lilou is a true pioneer. Her passionate diary is an authentic testimony to the extraordinary power that we have to go beyond our limiting beliefs.” Lewis Gordon Pugh, Environmental Campaigner and Swimmer

“Lilou gives new meaning to the word ‘vibrant’. Here she demonstrates the power of our minds in a magnificent 30-day blast of fresh air.” Jerome Touze, Co-CEO WAYN

So , please get a copy and you will be assured of enjoy reading it.


Thanks for your time and have a fruitful day,


James Oh

SIX KEY WAYS TO BUILD WEALTH

Hi ! Everyone,

To build wealth, you need to know where to begin  and how to work towards your ultimate goals. As inflationary pressure increases  yearly, you need constant and lasting efforts to review your strategies to sustain it. However, if you opt to grow your wealth speedily, you have to take pro-active strategic plans to explore all possibilities to obtain the highest yields from your investments. You also need to make use of all your resources to generate highest wealth possible. In reality, you not only need to think fast, but also to act fast, to reap the highest returns as the market is getting more and more transparent.

In this article, I have laid down some of the tips which you may find useful as a guide in creating your wealth. 

1 Constantly review and evaluate your resources

To build wealth, you must constantly review and evaluate all resources you already have. Make full use of existing resources to enhance your wealth, but at the same time,  enlarge your resources  to create new wealth and expand existing wealth. The double effect growth will accelerate growth much faster than the inflation rate and it will enhance your real wealth. If the rate you generated is equal to the rate of inflation, then, the absolute increase in your wealth is not a true increase in wealth. It is just a trade off against  losses due to increase of inflation rate. 

Resources here does not necessarily represent just financial means, but may refer to your talents, skills, experiences, ideas, and network. You may turn all these non financial means into monetary terms. You can not afford to underestimate all these non financial resources especially in today's Information and knowledge world. For you to reap maximum return, you need to constantly explore all  possibilities to ensure that all these resources give you the highest yields possible. You must also be aware that the higher the yield, the higher the risk.

2 Strategic Plan

After you have an indepth knowledge of your position, you have to work out your best strategies that suit the current market conditions in order to move to the next higher wealth level. You need this plan to navigate yourself towards your ultimate objectives. Without such a plan, you will navigate a ship without direction. However, no matter how good the plan is, it will not guarantee  success. To achieve  success, you need to constantly monitor performance of each resource and make  necessary adjustments due to changes in external factors.  To be effective, such adjustments or alternations need to be taken as soon as possible.

3. Priority lead to Prosperity

You must set creating wealth your priority.  You need to presevere and be persistent in working towards the ultimate objective, no matter what happened to you. For example,  if you need to have  fixed monthly savings, then you must issue your first cheque towards that fund no matter what happened to you. You have to try all possible means to obtain such fixed amount. If not, you have to recoup double the amount the following month and you have to increase the duration  of time to be on track with your original plan.

4.  Persistence and consistence

To ensure its sustainability, you need to work towards your ultimate goals persistently and consistently. As such, you need to stay focus on your goal at all times so that you are not side track by other matters that may cause you stumble. To do so, you need a convinced and convicted heart to carry out your commitment persistently and consistently in accordance to your belief.

5. Have faith in it

Building wealth is just like the ordinary and prudent builder. To have a strong and unshakeable house, you need to build it on strong foundation. Similarly, for wealth builder you need to have a strong faith which will serve as the foundation for you to build your wealth on it. Once you have faith in it, you will stay focus on your goals and concentrate all your energies and efforts in building it. Of course, you may face some barriers, but these barriers are placed to strengthen your faith. Through all the trials and adversities, you will sharpen your skills and use this adversity to lead you to the way of success. It is operating exactly like the ship captain, who need to confront the waves and storms to become skillful. You must be able to see clearly how faith works and directs you to look at thing from the right perspective at all times. In reality, it is always much easier said than done.

6. Stay in control

To build wealth steadily, you must be able to stay in control of yourself. Otherwise, you will be easily tempted by greed or be entrapped by your rivals. Stay in control here mean you must not let your emotions  control you directly or indirectly. You need to know precisely what action to take and its implication to your ultimate objectives. In other words, you need to know what risks you are taking and how much you can afford to lose and how you can cover such losses so that it will not seriously affect your ultimate goal. If not, do not be surprised that you may  follow the foot steps of those billionaires who have committed suicide in the recent global financial crisis. Always bear in mind the wealthier you are, more people will prey on you.

Thanks for your precious time and hope that the above tips are useful to you. Wish you a success,


James Oh

PRIORITY LEAD TO PROSPERITY

Hi! everyone,

One of the keys to success is being meticulous. You need to pay close attention to  details so as to master a particular trade. This profound principle also applies to wealth creation process.

Saving is the main core step in wealth creation. It was highlighted well by Ben Franklin "Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship." We can't deny that it forms the fundamental pillar in sustaining wealth. As such, no matter how small you begin, it will eventually turn into your financial reserve, which will then be used as a bridge to the next higher level of wealth. This reserve is required to cushion you throughout the waiting period for your harvest. Here, I am not disputing that you may get instant windfall on your investment venture, but the probability is remote.

At the same time, it is not wise for you to live in another extreme scenario whereby you keep on cutting expenses until you do not live life at all. Therefore, you need draw a line where to put a stop.

Alternatively, you may make some alteration to your spending pattern in a such way that can bring more benefits for the extra you spent. For instance, you may reward yourself with a gift/ have a celebration for your new achievement. This is important because it will drive you further to achieve a next higher target in the long run. By doing so, you will also have a more meaningful life. In reality, this sort of benefits may be difficult to quantify with accuracy especially if you want to take into account those intangible benefits that associate with the extra you have spent.  Here, you have to use your gut feeling or experience to gauge this value. No doubts, it is very subjective and arbitrary. But, we have to take it into consideration so as to give us a fair value of it.

However, it may be even more complicated especially if we wanted to book in the value of its indirect benefits such as good feeling which may indirectly enhance your productivity due to the good effect derived from the extra money that you have spent.

Your judgment will only improve through trials and testings. Individual's wealth management skills are also not exempted from this process. Similarly, saving is a skill where you have to practise until it become part of you, i.e. ingrained as a habit. You will then be able to be in control of yourself and not spend lavishly, without affecting your main financial goals. Despite the fact that you allow some deviation against saving, you are in overall control of keeping  your financial goals intact. This is because  you have  mastered the skill that allows you to control your spending pattern so as not to affect your overall financial structure. No one can challenge you in this aspect because you are the only one who knows your financial destination. This operate exactly like the ship captain who maneuvers his ship when he faces with unexpected storms or other challenges that come along his voyage.

Some use budgeting tools to navigate their spending pattern to keep their finance on track towards their financial destination. I am not against this idea. However, I want to warn you that more than often we will not achieve our  budget no matter how well you prepared it. In reality, there are so many unknown factors which are not possible to predict with accuracy. A good examples is the fluctuation of the foreign exchange rate. Therefore, your experience and skill will come into play in these areas to assist you to make those necessarily adjustment that will not have any adverse impact on your financial destination.

It is clear by now that priorities lead to prosperity. Your financial prosperity will be your most highest priority and you will prepare to do anything to ensure that this priority will stay intact no matter what happens to you.  By focusing on that particular financial prosperity, coupled with other values such as persistence and power of concentration, I  see no reason why you cannot achieve it.

Once you have achieved your financial destination, the more challenging issue is how to sustain it. You must be aware that it is much more easier to achieve your financial destination than sustaining it. To sustain it, you need to stay in control at all times. Bear in mind that the more wealthier you are, the higher risks you are exposed because more swindlers will prey on you than others. You also need to be guarded against your own temptations which more than often make you stumble. What bring you up may bring you down as well. That is the law of nature that has been operating throughout the human history.

James Oh

VERY SMART (FINANCIAL PLANNING )

My dear valued visitors and readers,


This is a story of a very smart financial planner. Hope you are entertained.


Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business.

When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed to find a wife with whom to share his fortune.

One evening, at an investment meeting, he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

"I may look like just an ordinary guy," he said to her, "but in just a few years, my father will die and I will inherit $200 million."

Impressed, the woman asked for his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.

Women are so much better at financial planning than men.

Oh yup. Become rich through marriage is another avenue if you are not born rich. What are means you can think of? Please share out through comments. Thank you in advance for your kind participation.


James Oh

HOW TO LIVE WELL

Very happy day to my dearest friends,

In my previous article, I have given you the true meaning and the methods of creating wealth.

In this article, I am going to lay down some of the useful steps you can adopt  to create your wealth so that you can live well. 

1. SPEND LESS THAN YOU EARN.

This is the most crucial step to take so as to create wealth. However, this is more often than not being overlooked. People tend to have a misconception of saving and tend to believe that it is a matter of reducing their standard of living. The truth is that it can make a huge difference in their wealth creation. Just imagine every dollar you saved will be invested so as to create more wealth. If you choose to spend the money, both the money and its future benefits will be wasted.

2.  QUIT BUYING CRAP

To avoid buying craps, you should always make sure that the items you buy are necessities and not luxuries. You should do away those want lists that are not essential. They are not only to give you a better feeling, but worse still may be short live in nature. Later on, you may need to find a place to store them. Worse, you may have to waste your precious time to tidy up your stores, thus leaving you little or no time to create your wealth. Do not forget that time is money. Here, you must be well aware that most of the purchases are made based on emotion rather rationale.

3. FORGET ABOUT TRYING TO IMPRESS PEOPLE

You should not be bothered how other people view the way you spent your money. In reality, most of us buy things just to impress our peers or egos. Do not get me wrong, you may spend on those luxury items that can generate more residual income than the depreciated value of your assets.

4. MAKE SAVING A TOP PRIORITY
Life is the sum of choices. Therefore, it is crucial for you to set the priority right in accordance to your objectives. As such, to create wealth, you must set saving as your top priority. It should not be construed as cutting back. It is wise for you to spend more on higher quality products, which will cost less in the long run.

Alternatively, you may use it for creating a long term wealth.

5. WEALTH BUILDING ASSETS

To hedge your wealth against inflation, you need to invest the excess of your saving money in wealth-building assets that give you a return higher than the inflation rate. No doubts, the economy today is more inclined to the investors or entrepreneurs than savers. So, to take these advantages to its fullest, you need to align your strategies toward this inclination.

However, you need to aware of its risks as well. As such, you need to equip yourself appropriately and adequately with skills and know-how so as to ensure that you create the highest possible yields for your wealth-building assets.

6. KEEP IT SIMPLE

Never under estimate the power of simplicity. This can be the most sophisticated thing we do with our money. This is because we need to aware that complication is the friend of con artists/ crooks.  You should not let your greed and desire for high returns make you confuse and blur. Be aware and do not get involve in those complicated loans or investment deals that could rob you blindly. You need to take precautions to safeguard this measure.

Be careful that you are not enticed by those who claim that your investments are fully guaranteed or they are secured collateral or insurance? They make everything sound sophisticated, so as to fool otherwise reasonable people. Be cautious not to be trapped by these scams. Be wary of your greed.

7. SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF

As warned by Ben Franklin "Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship."

To hasten your dream of creating more wealth, you have to sweat the small stuff. For those of you who are familiar with the compound interest calculation, you will know what I am talking about. Just check the annuity table and you be amazed how fast you can become a millionaire when you save a dollar daily at a fixed interest rate.

I hope both of the articles will not only give you a clear framework but also practical tips to create your wealth.

Wishing you every success. Stay tuned and look forward to seeing you again.

James Oh

THREE BASIC PROCESS OF WEALTH CREATION

To all of my dearest readers and visitors,

After hearing lots of misconception of wealth creation, I see there is an urgent need for me to put it right according to its true meaning and to disclose the methods of creating wealth.

It is also my intention to coach and assist people to build their wealth so as enable them to be financial independent so that they can take control of their lives. However, each person must be clear that he has to be accountable to himself and have to take appropriate steps to work towards that end. No one can help himself to achieve that end if he does not desire to do so.

All of us have to be mindful that we need to know how to fish, which is the only way, we can assure ourselves of having fishes for the rest of our life. No offence is intended to anyone and please read this article with an open mind.

WEALTH DEFINITION

To create wealth, it is vitally important to get its’ definition right. It is not equal to richness. Richness is a relative and subjective term which has no definite meaning. Wealth is also not equal to income. A huge income does not guarantee that it will generate wealth. It is very much dependent on the person consumption habits. Wealth is the residual income after deducting all the expenses. As such, wealth is defined as the Net Worth that is the accumulation of your residual income over time. Therefore, to create constant and lasting wealth, you need to add value to all your financial resources. These financial resources are simply utilised to create added residual value over time.

Wealth Creation usually involves three simple processes, which are listed below for your reference and understanding.

1. CREATE WEALTH

Once you fully understand its’ true meaning, you are able to work toward creating wealth precisely and confidently. The key here is to create as much residual income as possible. Residual income is total income minus all expenses wholly incurred to generate that income. Here, you can see that it is not the quantum of the income, but what remains after expenses deduction that is important.

To create wealth, you have to control your consumption, at the same time increase your residual income. In reality, you always have a choice either to spend the residual income away to acquire a higher lifestyle; or be frugal and save more. Egos and financial peer pressure dictate how you spend or to use it to create more wealth to you. Many of us have wealth creation fantasies but few of us will see our fantasies materialise in our lives.

2. ACCUMULATE WEALTH

It is always important to note that not all assets are of equal value in promoting long-term wealth. The real key to creating wealth is very much dependent on how much is spent on acquisition of assets that really appreciate in value.

A person, who spends on things that depreciate in value, will decrease his wealth.  We must invest in assets that will actually increase in value, and thereby increase our personal net worth over time. Therefore, when more money is spent on Wealth-building Assets, the faster you will achieve a higher net-worth.

Here, perhaps you may be able to relate it with the implication of compound interests over time. Just imagine that you save a dollar every day with a fixed rate of interest, the annuity table will tell you how many years you will become a Millionaire. It is amazing, right.

3.  MONITOR AND GROW THE WEALTH

Once you have accumulated several wealth building assets, you need to comprehend its nature of trade and its risks profile so as to take full advantage of its potential.

Here, you need to monitor and review each type of wealth-building assets in term of its return, growth in value and potential value. You will note that some assets give you a much higher return as compared to the others. Higher return assets may however carry higher risk exposure.

To ensure that the wealth buildings assets give you the highest possible yields, you need the expertise of that trade so as to grasp the highest yield for your wealth-building assets at any time. Needless to say that you need the skills and know- how for you to create the highest possible wealth for yourself.

However, you must also realise that you need to purchase other type of assets out of necessity, for entertainment or other reasons.

Some examples of non-wealth building assets are:
-- TVs
- Furniture, unless those appreciate over time.
- iPods

However some of these assets may add value to you indirectly such as when it facilitates your work and generates more value than the amount you spend on them.

No doubts debts can kill. However, if you can use debts to generate income which exceeds the cost of borrowing and also generates cash inflow that is more than sufficient to settle its due installment, then, it makes sense for you to leverage on debts to generate more residual value for you.

I trust this article gives you an insight and understanding of the true meaning of wealth and the simple three process of creating, accumulating and managing its growth. With this clearly in your mind, you will be able to take  appropriate steps to build your wealth. This is a very basic and fundamental framework for everyone who intends to build wealth and it is vitally important to get this right in the first place.

Wishing you every success. Stay tuned and look forward to seeing you again.

James Oh

HOW TO RETIRE GRACEFULLY

Happy day to all my readers and visitors,

Trust you find this article well and beneficial to you.

It is everyone's dream to retire gracefully. The question is should we do so as to achieve it. Why so many people fail to achieve it? Is it very difficult to achieve it?

In this article, I am going to give you some insight as how to work towards it. Which are the core areas you should address before you decide to retire. Here, I am going to discuss these issues in detail so as you can begin to prepare them in advance before your golden age.

1. Your children must be financially independent.

Unless you are financially sound, you can not retire gracefully should your children be still dependent on you. Alternatively, you must be able to generate sufficient and adequate passive income to be able to support your lifestyle and your dependents.

2. You have zero debts

Debts can kill unless you can manage them well. If you are a financial wizard and are able to use the debts to generate income which exceeds the cost of borrowing and at the same time be able to generate cash inflow more than sufficient to settle its due installment. Otherwise, the penalty and the late interest payment will add to your outstanding debts. Should you be unable to pay the installment and interest, the loan may be recalled. Thus, you have to settle the whole sum. To avoid putting yourself in this predicament, be sure to settle all your debts before you retire.

3. You have enough savings to support your lifestyle for the rest of your life

In most cases, you may not have much income after you retire, unless you have passive income. As such, you must have adequate amount of savings that can support your lifestyle for the rest of your life. Here, you must also ensure that your savings take into account of rate of inflation. You are encouraged to have a few safety plans to cater for other contingencies.

4.  Know exactly what you can do during your retirement.

Some people are not able to cope well with the sudden change in their life patterns.  Retirement is not as simple as you think. Some may think that they will have the time to travel and see the world. However, most of them can do it initially, but later they may run out of ideas.

For those who enjoy sport, they might think that it is a golden opportunity for them to play their favorite game. However, most of them may no longer be fit enough or they may have difficulty to find their buddies to play with.

Buddies are also needed for other games such as mahjong, badminton, trekking and karaoke.Most of them have difficulty finding those they can click to and share their favorite games. Playing/singing alone is not fun. Thus you must form your own sports/games groups BEFORE you retire. You need to identify your buddies, play with them and discover whether they can click with you.

For the less sporty, reading may sound like a great idea, but you must truly enjoy it.. Otherwise, you may find it boring after a few pages and end up napping most of the time! Even if you have the hobby right now, you may not find it enjoyable later on.

You still need to stay active during your retirement period. Bear in mind the fact that most of our routine work activities are either planned or dictated by others. It will be entirely a different ball game. When you retire, you need to establish your own routine activities.

A good routine that can keep your body, mind and spirit sharpen are as follows:

a) Physical sport - you need to stay healthy to enjoy your retirement. If you are the non-sporty type, you should at least try to clean your home yourself without mechanical aids. Dancing and baby sitting are other good alternatives.

b) Mind stimulating activity - you need to stimulate your mind to stay active. However, mind stimulating activities are hard to identify. To acquire them successfully, you will not only need the will of doing something useful with the rest of your life, but also a mindset change and the discipline to carry it through.

c) Social activity - try you best to choose activities involving lots of friends/neighbours. Unless you prefer to be alone, you need friends more than ever as you get older. They may give you moral and spiritual support, if you are in need.

d) Community services activities - it is noble for you to give back to the society to show your appreciation of  what you have been benefiting from throughout your life, so as to leave some kind of legacy.

After retiring, you still need to maintain a balance between amusing yourself and your family members. Do capitalize your spare time with opportunities that will come your way like responding to an unexpected request to do a job or to take advantage of cheap fares to visit an exhibitions/places..

You may turn to your one-off activities list when you are bored at times, despite having a busy routine.  These include anniversaries, trips, visits friends and relatives abroad, re-doing your home, attending conferences (related to your hobbies), acquiring a new set of expertise.

Retirement is a serious business. Never take it lightly. If you can afford to retire and want to, prepare to live life to the fullest. You need to be fit to enjoy it - therefore get into shape now. You do not want to get up daily and wonder what to do, therefore identify your set of routine activities now and try them out to confirm that they are the activities that you will be looking forward to doing. Your one-off activities list of "rewards" or "projects" or "challenges" is needed to help you break away from the routine, thereby make life worth living.

Start listing what you fancy and refine it as you chug along in your retirement. You will have so much fun; that you wish you have retired since you turned 21!

Wishing you health and happiness,

James Oh

STEPS TO DEVELOP SOUND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS

To all my dearest visitors and readers,

Hope you find this article well and useful.

It is a popular belief that you need to stress your dollars only when the economy is in a crisis. However, the truth is that we need to embed financial management skills in our personal lives irregardless of the state of the economic affairs. There is no way that you can avoid from dealing with money in life. As such, we need to realize and acknowledge the importance of this matter in our lives.

IN this article, I have listed some of the steps to develop sound financial management skills:-

1. ENSURE FINANCE IS AT THE HEART OF DEVELOPING YOUR VISION AND STRATEGY

Without such commitment, you will not only run the risk of flawed planning and poor decision making, but also fail to embed sound financial principles into the management of your daily life as a whole. Do not worry about making mistake as long as you learn from it. Always learn from the master who have a proven track record. Keep on trying out until you truly apprehend its implications in each different scenarios. Here, repetition is the key of mastery.

2. START NOW!

It is never too late to begin. Act now to kick-start good financial management in your life. No matter what the current level of your financial management skills, there tend to be potential - almost certainly huge potential - to improve.  You must want good financial management to be at your heart, be committed to it and be consistent in promoting and supporting its application. It takes time to build an empire, so do financial management skills. If you understand the compound interest implication, then you will know the snowball effect on money. Life passes quickly and you might need extra money for the unexpected and the long term. In light of today’s global financial crisis with its high rate of inflation, managing your money effectively has become exceptionally important than before.

3. REINFORCE THE BEHAVIOR THAT YOU WANT REPEATED

We must acknowledge and realize the fact that most of stuff we bought is based on emotion rather than rationale. As such, you must not be trapped into it so frequently that it becomes part of our habits. In order to overcome it, you must ask yourself seriously whether you really need it before buying. You must consistently put it into practice and through such repeated positive reinforcement, you will be amazed at its spectacular result.


4. DO NOT CONSTRUE IT WITH CUTTING BACK

Learning to acquire sound financial management skills also includes learning when you can make cutbacks. Before that, you need to scrutinize your list of monthly expenses and cut back those expenses which you do not need. Thus, that unspent sum of money may either go to your saving accounts or to reduce your loan. As a result, you will have more money to spend in the long term. Alternatively, you may use that saved amount of money to spend on higher quality product, which in term cost you less in the long run.

5. CONSOLIDATE YOUR LOANS

Debts can kill unless you can manage them well. If you are overwhelmed by debt, then consolidation of your loans is most likely to be a feasible solution to you. If you have a good credit rating and negotiation power, you will most likely be able to obtain a more attractive and reasonable interest rate from lenders. In this case, you must make sure that the loan with the lowest rate of interest be utilized first. To reap its fullest benefit, you must also match your payment schedule with your cash inflow. Ultimately, it will leave you with more money at the end of the month to either enjoy a good lifestyle or reduce your other debts.

6. TAXES : KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Pay attention to new tax laws. They are like a moving target - changing annually.  Make full use of the knowledge to your maximum advantage for instance you make sure that you claim all deductions that you are entitled. Proper tax planning also will help you to reduce your tax liability.

7.   SAVING - THE BEST INTENTION

It is always the best practice that we set a certain amount to our saving accounts. In this case, you are more likely to live within your budget while ensuring that a portion of your income is safely held in savings. You never know when some extra cash will come in handy.


8. KEEP IT FRESH AND CURRENT

This means regularly reviewing the skills to keep abreast so as fulfill tomorrow's needs. It means acquiring new ideas to use the present resources to improve your wealth.

9. KEEP IT SIMPLE

The key to success is being able to get things done. Its role and principles must be easily understood and the benefits clearly defined. Finance needs to be seen as part of your daily solution and not part of your problem.

So, practice the steps that I have given you and, not only will you gradually make progress. Ultimately you will be able to face the economic crisis with an increasing confidence. 

Please feel free to pass this blog to your friends who intend to pursuing sound financial management skills.


Wishing you success,

James Oh