The M Society

I am not here to boost how holy-ultimate the credit card. But more on practical uses of maximizing your financial position.

Uses of Credit Card

• Smoothen out your cash flow

I am not asking you to cash out using the credit card. It is the most stupid move of all unless in a serious situation. Cashing out using your credit card will impose an immediate interest card on the amount you cash out. With interest compounded daily. So DON’T CASH OUT.

Using credit card on groceries shopping or any purchase, you can smoothen your cash flow. It is all because the ability to delay your payment. At the same time, you will be able to keep track of what you have purchased, when is it purchased. All in the statements. If it is cash, no way will you want to keep all the receipts around.

• Ability to earn extra one month of interest

This can only be shown in the long term or any large purchases you make. Let’s say you purchase something pretty expensive, around $1000. If you were to use cash to purchase it, you are forgone the interest gain on the $1000 immediately. However, if credit card were used you are able to delay your payment up to a maximum of a month or longer depends when you make your purchases. You get your purchase, and keeping $1000 in the bank longer for interest. So in real terms, the purchase is actually less than $1000. The bank is happy, you are happy, everyone is happy.

more on uses on credit card. wait for next post!

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Most financially literate people loves the wonders of credit card they can bring but some people do not. They hate credit cards because they hear lot of bad news about people falling into the debt hole. It is an undeniable truth that a lot of young people had declared bankrupt because of credit card. But have you ever sit down and think about the wonders credit card can gave you if you are able to control it?

Of course, if you can’t manage your funds wisely. It is better off not having it, it is like giving a gun to a 13 years old child compared to giving a gun to a highly trained military personnel. It will produce an entirely different outcome.

So think about it!

I will explain more on the next post. So wait up!

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Live Your Life As Simple As You Are.

Live your life as simple as you are. Warren Buffet tells it and he does it. He is a very simple man and also one of the most complicated man on earth. He’s the second richest man on earth after Bill Gates, and complicated makes him just that. He’s good in stock market; not only good, but the best among the best. When I first get to read a book about him and his life I was shocked, totally shocked. He’s a simple man who still drives the same old blue car that he bought many decades ago and still lives in the same 3-bedroom house in mid-town Ohama that he bought 50 years ago. Wow, if I’m the second richest man on earth, I will build a big villa and maybe a few sport cars, and most people would just be the same as me only plus and minus a few things. That’s the difference between him and the world. He is simple. I’m not saying if you are wealthy you cannot live your life large. You are who you are, if you are simple, be yourself and live simple. If you are not, try to live simple, because many things in life are not necessary needed in our life. Although Donald Trump lives his life large in various ways (owning exquisite Mar-A-Largo Club, owning a private jet and helicopter, having his Prime TV reality show “The Apprentice”, several items under his Trump brand, several Trump towers and golf courses), but he is also a simple man who buy a DT burger after work and went home to watch his TV. Now that is what I call simple.

Humans are born simple; it is the materials in our life that makes us complicated. My dad is a simple man. When I was small, I wanted to buy a pair of Adidas basketball shoes. The reason I wanted to buy that shoe is because it is yellow (which will attract attention of the girls sitting on the bench), and the main reason is to show off. I request it from my dad, but he refuse to buy. He says be simple and buy a cheaper shoe. That time I could not understand what he’s trying to say, I always thought he is a stingy man. It gets me a few years to understand why he refuses to buy me that pair of shoes. If you are buying the things to show people who you are, how wealthy you are, how accomplished you are in society, it’s unnecessary to do so. You are who you are; you don’t need to live your life large to let people know you. That’s what my dad always tells me, even until today. My dad leads a simple life. He’s capable to buy branded shirts, trousers, shoes, watches and other stuffs, but he refuse to do so because he’s a simple man. He tells that he is who he is, he don’t need to buy those things to show who he is, he shows people who he is by doing business with them. And definitely he shows people how smart he is in doing business. For young people like me and you (if you are fresh graduate and below 30), live your life as simple as you are. One reason is to save your income from flowing out too much on unnecessary things, and another one is to prevent you from becoming a big spender. Branded stuff quality is guaranteed, by all means do buy some branded stuff, but buy only what you need. I only have 2 polo Ts’ with me and of course my golf set, other things than that, I don’t look on the brands. These two things is not unnecessary stuff for me; these things will help me in my future planning. If I ever go out with CEOs’ or wealthy people for golfing and talk about business, it’s time to wear that polo Ts’ and bring that golf set of mine, which will at least giving them a good impression during the first meeting.

In conclusion, live your life as simple as you are and be in it. We don’t need to live large for people to know us; we live a simple life and show people who we are by actions.

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Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

If you are able to afford of what you spend without owing debt, then this topic is not for you, otherwise it’s important.
Today’s most young people are damned by debt, YES, debt. These phenomenon debts were mostly caused by the use of credit card. It is not surprising that most young people have credit card(s) because some merchants and credit cards issuers will go in order to entice people to spend beyond their incomes with various “interesting” packages such as no fee and low fee cards, instant approvals, contest and much more.
Practically everyone loves to spend money because it’s fun and exciting. Advertising messages are irresistible, that young people routinely take credit card debt and spend 20-30% of their money or with all their might. It’s the poor spending habit and practices that makes them fall into the debt hole.
For the past decades this phenomenon only appears in America alone, but now it’s a global issue. Young people must learn how to manage their financial in order to stay away from poverty or heavily loaded with debt.

I, myself do not have credit card(s). I use cash (most of the time). If I’m out of cash, I will not buy to overspend of what I earned; therefore I’m free from debt. It is better to be debt free than having those unnecessary materials which keeps you look good or other factors. In the future of course, I might register one card for the sake of emergency, and I say “ITS FOR EMERGENCY USE! NO SHOPPING OR WHAT SO EVER STUFF”.
It’s more realistic to spend your money and invest in yourself. For an example, I just bought a set of golf set to learn golfing, rather than buying laptop which I don’t need. Golfing is a good sport, whereby I get to know and socialize with more people, and I can exercise my health to a tip-top condition. This is what I call investing in myself. For my dad, he invests in his knowledge. He buys a lot of books to improve or update his knowledge. His home office is piled with books (and I call it a home library).
As Warren Buffets and my dad days it, invest in yourself to improve and update to keep up with modern information and technology, rather than buying things which you don’t need and worst of all after buying all the things using credit cards, you can’t afford to pay and in seriously DAMNed DEBT.

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People want to be rich. They like to be rich. Why? Part of the reason is that being a richie, they can use their fortune to get what they want.

Rich people can have lots of things, including those really expensive one. This is the impression people have on rich people. Poorer people who want to be rich imitate the rich ones. They buy things rich people own. They use things rich people use. They talk like rich people. They try to act like rich people.

Don’t Act Like A Richie, Be A Richie

The difference between wealthy people and poor people is not because of the things they use, eat or wear. It is their behavior that makes them either rich or poor. You imitate wealthy people doesn’t mean you are doing what they are doing. Remember this, wealthy people buy things they can afford. If you buy luxury things you can’t afford, and thinks that wearing a fine suite makes you a rich person, you are totally wrong. This proves that you act like a poor.

Prepare For The Future

Savings is essential path to become rich. As previously said, don’t spend what you can’t afford. That only brings you in debt, and you might be haunted by debts in a really long time. Invest in your future. Education is a really important thing. Always prepare to accept new things, and learn new stuffs. Don’t keep what you learn in your head only. Apply them! Use what you learnt.

Being rich is really easy.

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I changed my lifestyle recently.  I reduced my expenses to minimize my expense.  I worked on many things to archive that.  There were two major things I worked on to minimize my expenses, which were transport and food.

Transport

I stopped driving.  Heck, this saved me tonnes of money.  In stead of taking public transport or biking, I walked.  Walking is free.  After walking for couple of weeks, I feel healthier.  My blood pressure decreased.  I woke up earlier so that I can reach the destination in time.  I had better sleep quality compared to before as I was really exhausted.  Is it the reason people always say that poorer people are healthier?  I also enjoy what I saw during the walk, the people, the scene and the accidents.

Walking also brought risks to me.  Not everywhere had a sidewalk for pedestrian, which meant that I had to walk on the street.  I also had to cross the road to get to other side of the road, and there were many reckless drivers.  Sometimes when I was in rush, I tend to break the rules by not waiting for the traffic light.

However I discovered something.  As walking takes more time than biking, taking public transport, and definitely driving is much more way faster than walking.  My daily production reduced as I have less time.  I spent more time on walking.  This proved that “Time is Money”.

Food

I love dining out.  I love to try different restaurant, different dishes, and enjoying the culture differences.  Money is the ticket for all the nice food.  When I looked at my past expenses, the contribution to food was more than 70%.  I came to realize that I was very willing to spend on good food (not junk food).  Then I worked out a plan to overcome this problem.  I cooked myself.  I learnt a lot by buying my own food from the market.  I compare prices, quality and quantity.  I came to realize that cheaper things can be better things too.

I don’t like to cook complicated food.  Simple is nice.  Cooking soup was my favourite as it required not much ingredients, skills, nor time.  All I needed was a tastebud to ensure the taste of the soup was okie.  Another benefit of cooking soup was that I could cooked a large pot, and just left it there to eat for the next couple days.  My soup was definitely healthy, as I had both meat and veges in it, and less salts.

I also fried vegetables to eat, with olive oil.  Olive oil is really expensive compared to other oil.  I realized that there were many different types of olive oils.  For example, extra-virgin, virgin, and pure olive oil.  I’m not sure what is the difference between them, but I was told not to use the extra-virgin oil for frying purposes.

Sports

I used to go gym and swimming.  I paid for both of them.  Then I quited the membership and I didn’t have to pay for them.  In stead of going gym or swimming, I go jogging.  I jog around my neighbourhood, looking like an idiot.  I met a lot of people in my neighbourhood.  I breathed in fresh air, and it’s way better than what you smelled in the gym.  But deep inside me I still prefer swimming.

There were also many other things I did to minimize my expenses, such as switching off all the lights in the house at night, dry clothes without using dryer but under the sun, etc.

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I just saw an interesting question asked in Yahoo! Answers.

now i am a poor boy and i just want to get more money, that’s not joke i’m serious with that so please inform me something best for me

What is rich?  I define the term “rich” as have a quality of life which is better than others.

From his question, I guess what he wants is just earning more money than people in his neighbourhood.  I had been asked an interesting question.

World A, you earn $100,000 and richer people earn $200,000.

World B, you earn $90,000 and poorer people earn $50,000.

World A is a developed world, and you are considered as poor in that society.  World B is not so developed, but you are in the top class of that society, but then you earn less than when you are in World A.  Which would you choose?  Most people will choose to stay in World B.

There are several answers given in Yahoo! Answers, and this are some of the quotes from them.

mister ed, “in your basic question i think you wanted to use “in a” instread of “at” == there is a saying in the land of the blind a one eye man is king — which means look around and learn from the ones who have made it — example if you are a helper on a dump truck — what does it take to be the driver — if you are the driver what does it take to be the owner!!!!”

pablo M, “you can either work hard or do what rich people do…take advantage of the poor people”

Laura, “Don’t fall for society’s trap of the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer” by wasting money & going into debt trying to prove yourself with the latest cellphone, car, sneakers, whatever. The truly rich have NOTHING to prove and the millionaires I’ve met…well, I couldn’t tell they were millionaires until on down the road ( I worked for a bank). They have nice clothes, houses and cars, but nothing too flashy. The people trying to prove they had money and didn’t…those were the ones with the newest and best.”

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Get Rich Quick or Lose Money Quick?

Recently I got one of those invitations to attend a get-rich-quick seminar. Included were two free tickets valued at over $100 each. The seminar promised to provide life-altering financial strategies. It had been a while since I attended one of these seminars, so I decided to go.

The meeting was held in a lavish setting: an expensive hotel ballroom lit with fancy chandeliers. The room was equipped with a PowerPoint display on a huge screen. Attendees began to fill the room, directed by lots of assistants who gave out colorful brochures. Precisely on time, the speaker walked up to the podium and took command. I’ll call him Slick (not his real name, of course, but it fits).

Slick described himself as a self-made, very wealthy man who made a lot of money in a company buyout, real estate and then the stock market. He had retired very young, got tired of living the easy life and then decided to help others learn how to be successful investors. He was an excellent pitch man who sought audience participation, some of which I suspect came straight from shills planted in the audience.Get rich now

The prospect of getting rich effortlessly has great allure, but the promoters are the ones making the easy money.

Resist the temptation to be a sucker

1. Make a killing in real estate
2. Make a mint in the stock market
3. Make for the exit — fast

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Running with Scissors

1. He works for more than minimum wage. He builds web pages for big bucks (he communicates only by email with his clients so they can’t hear how young he is, and he’s been doing it successfully for at least two years). He has a day job now that pays a lot more than my hostess job at Coco’s when I was 16 paid.

2. He doesn’t waste money consuming. I spent all my money on CDs and clothes when I was in high school, none of which I still have. He spends more now that he has a girlfriend, but he’s still got a $10,000 head start on me!

3. He asked my parents for money. I don’t know why I never felt comfortable doing this growing up; my brothers were both far more successful than I was at this one.

Girlfriend is a luxury thing.

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