Grow Rich Along with Me !

Tired

2009-02-12T22:38:00.001-08:00

Am really really tired. This is hardly an inspired sort of blog entry. Have managed to complete renovations and moved house. One day. Mad rush but we got everything over and out of the boxes. Have managed to find places to stash most things and boys are thrilled with the cardboard boxes. They want to keep them to make their own life-size Wall-E.

We even managed to get a tenant ! All on the same day ! Admittedly it is somewhat lower than what we were hoping to get. But the offer did come in very fast. Wroks out to 2.6 % instead of the roughly slightly over 3% returns we were aimming for. It's a balance I suppose because if we say no, and hold out for a higher rent, we really can't be sure how long it will take to get that better offer. There are all these permutations and combinations to consider. Lower rent, we don't give any furniture. Higher rent, we give some. Even higher, we give all. Depends on length of tenancy they want etc. Shorter tenancies seem to be more popular. Then we have to deal with soft stuff like the various agents and their advice ( often conflicting, if I may add - some say market is dismal, others point out property should be worth more because of its location - but as Rich Dad used to say, these are all merely opinions. The final fact is what you get. ), the different personalities of the tenants that come, and of course, us, the potential landlords.

Makes me miss my safe steady dividend stocks. Went nibbling last week for a few stocks. And gold has shot up suddenly ! Will hold for a while more. May rise further now that the promises of a new president have lost a bit of their initial shine.

Now have to go sort out some minor annoyances. My washing machine has gone on strike after the move. My phone line isn't working. and I have no gas to cook with. Last night, we couldn't find Baby's diapers. She's not happy with the move. Poor little thing has hit her terrible twos slightly early. Not happy with everything. Has 4 teeth coming out at once and can't get enough words to express exactly what she thinks of the world around her.

Ah well.

Hello Again

2009-01-31T07:11:00.000-08:00

Ah well. I guess there's always a little bit in all of us that feels we have to blab something of bits if our lives to the world, hoping someone will notice out there. So here I am again. Why else would things like Facebook and MySpace be so popular. Admittedly, I haven't gone there yet. I've been told by some of my friends that other friends are on and waiting for me to go on. But I'm still just a bit worried about putting all my particulars out where everyone can see. I guess those who do matter to me , I already keep regular contact with, either by emails or in person.

Have had a very quiet 3 weeks from the rental front. We've had ZERO viewings. I mean, last round, nobody wanted the flat, or wasn't willing to pay what we asked for, or asked for many things to be done, but at least they came to look. Now, nothing. nobody. Zilch. Not even a phone call. I guess things must really be bad. Job-wise, I've been lucky, and we're relatively shielded from all this. I mean, people still get sick. Maybe they postpone the tummy tucks and botox, but by and large, the real illnesses are still out there.

I've finally got round to ibanking. I was getting tired of suddenly missing money and not knowing why and what had been deducted. It's fanstatic !! I should have done it years ago. Would have saved me tonnes of time queueing up at the ATM to check my account. I can now see where my money is going immediately with just a few clicks.

We've just had Chinese New Year. The Ox came earlier this year, which is just as well, cos the Rat wasn't a great year at all. Maybe the Ox will be a better year for everyone. We lost $20 rather unfortunately . I was wondering why some of the notes looked a bit snipped at the edges. Got my answer today. Number Two has been cutting open his red packets instead of just peeling the sticky envelopes open, and in the process, snipped off bits of his money as well. Poor kid looked quite sad when he got scolded by his father. I mean, it wasn't really his fault. He cuts open his packets of potato chips. Anyway, he would have preferred a packet of chips instead of money. He hasn't figured out what those little bits of paper mean. Guess I'll have to go down to the bank and see if maybe they will be sympathetic and replace the notes. Sigh.

Just bought 2 new beds for the boys and spent a small fortune on Transformer bedsheets and a set of Winnie The Pooh ones for their sister. What a rip-off !

Long Break

2009-01-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

Oh dear. It has been a rather long time since I last wrote. Thank you, the nice people that have popped by and even added links. I'm touched. Truth is, I've been really rather busy in real life.

First kid has started official school and is now part of the education ratrace. Not that it's bothering him and he's thoroughly enjoying himself. He now gets pocket money to spend and so far, has bought himself something to keep his wallet clipped to his shorts, fish and chips and a notebook. Has also been taught that more coins doesn't mean more money so he stops spending just to exchange those paper dollars we're giving him to get coins !

Second kid now not pleased cos he has to go to kindergarten by himself cos his brother isn't around anymore. Not seeing it each other so much hasn't stopped them from fighting though. Also been labelled illiterate at age 5, so have to start spending time reading with him.

Baby is still constipated !!

Have been overseeing new home renovations, and hopefully will be able to move soon.

Oh, and then will start the whole process of trying to get current home rented out ! Again. In a horrible-r market. Oh well. At least my other passive rental income is finally coming in passively !!

I'm afraid I wouldn't be around very often. I will still be able to see comments that pop up. And I'm still on email. I've decided not to kill the blog cos there are still some posts I thought would be nice to keep.

Anyway, After a while, one realises there isn't that much to know to get on the path of being rich. Basically, have a plan. Get started. Review if things don't look so great. Repeat what's working. And keep repeating till you get there !

Good luck !

sense and sensibilty

2008-12-09T17:39:00.000-08:00

Things are back to normal. Kids all back at school, Baby back with mother-in-law and I'm back at work. We've also just collected the keys to our new flat. There isn't any electricity yet though so the boys had fun going round with torchlights. Now we have to decide how much we want to spend on renovating, and what we want to do.

I was watching a show on money advice recently. ( Was waiting for Desperate Housewives to start). Cute title - called Sense and Sensibility. They were featuring people who had recently lost money in the stock amrket. Normal people who didn't mean to take any risks, and weren't trying to be greedy. One was very worried and wondering what to do next. She was advised to invest in safer bonds for now. Others were advised to move cautiously into the market. Some experts said now is a good time to buy since stocks are selling at near their net asset values. Others said that there's more downside to come.
Not particularly useful advice, I thought.

There as one young mother who was retrenched, but fortunately had started a small side business as a hobby selling facial products. She said though her income had dropped by half, she was glad that she still had a back-up to fall back on, and is now spending her time building that up. Another talked about how her last retrenchment during the precious downturn turned out to be a blessing in disguise. She went back to her first love - baking - and made cakes and biscuits to sell. Slowly, that built up into a small business, and today, she teaches other woman to bake, so that they have a source of income. I thought that was so much more positive and inspiring.

I've been trying to read Rich dad's Retire Young , Retire Rich. Admittedly some of the stuff he talks about is still kind of over my head. But I thought I'd share two things I've picked up so far.

(1) Invest for Cashflow, not capital gains. If you can get immediate positive cashflow from an investment that puts money into your pocket, it doesn't matter whether there is capital appreciation or not. Capital appreciation is a bonus. And a potential hope tomorrow. Cashflow is real, and today. I can see some truth in that. I've got a mixture of stuff in my portfolio, as a result of reading too many different books with too many different opinions. But I have found that those I bought for growth have obviously crashed rather miserably. Those I bought for dividends have crashed too, but not as badly. And they are still paying decent dividends, so my income from that section is still coming in. He buys properties though.

(2) The leverage of generosity. He says if you want money, you first have to give money. Rich Dad taught him that if you want to make money, you must first find a business that can help as many people as posible in the cheapest most efficient way. Only then will your business grow. He pointed out that Ford found a way to may cheaper cars to help more people travel faster. The ultra-rich target companies soon died. And handphones and computers became more and more accessible to people, and so the companies grew. ( A side point, I recently read that big American car companies are doing very badly because they have forgotten this concept and are making expensive inefficient cars).

I also interpreted it differently. I remember an analogy once when someone said that in order to receive, I must first open my hand and let go of what I'm clinging tightly to. I believe that if we are prepared to let go of the power money has over us and use it for the greater good of others, God will allow us to channels of money, and He would be prepared to bless us along the way as well, whether monetary or otherwise. Richard Foster, in his book Money, Sex and Power, talks about how ultimately, people are the most important to God. We can't take our money with us when we eventually leave . So what we need to do today, is to use the useless money to build up treasure in heaven - ie use our money to help others.

My two-cents for this week.

School Concert

2008-11-26T22:46:00.000-08:00

Oh, I just realised I forgot to talk about the school concert ! Nowadays, even 6-year-olds have graduation ceremonies. In big auditoriums, no less. With the hats and scrolls and everything.

But that's where the similarity ends. The little ones just don't seem to appreciate the seriousness of the event. One kid twacked another over the head with his scroll and made her cry. Another one was left out when the curtain closed cos he was standing too far forward and almost fell off the stage. Several were concentrating on just waving at their parents.

All in all, I thought the event went rather well. I was a bit suspicious when I heard my son and a few of his friends had been selected to do a special dance that had been added in at the last minute. After I saw the dance, I understood. While the other kids were doing dances to Grease, and fancy Chinese and Indian dances, my son and friends were doing something that vaguely looked like they were running around and fighting. The teacher had to sheepishly admit that they wanted everyone to have a chance to take part, but this particular group of boys just couldn't dance, no matter how hard they tried. So they had to come up with something at the last minute just for them.

Not that my son and his friends were grateful. They just insisted on taking off their costumes the minute the dance was over. But it was so nice of the teachers anyway !

Of Chicken-Pox again

2008-11-26T22:29:00.000-08:00

It has happened. I've been waiting for it for 2 weeks and just like the text-books say, it took exactly two weeks. I had sent Number Two back to school for one day with his brother cos he was climbing the walls from boredom, and the next day, he had a spot. Well, to be precise, he showed me his leg and said " Look Mummy, this mosquito bite has a bubble."

Then the next day, his whole face and body were spotty. I felt so bad when I watched him trying very hard not to scratch. Poor baby.

And then the next day, Baby had a small spot on her nose. It's so cute. She's a smaller size, at age almost 2, and her spots are all smaller ! By the following day, she had a whole lot of spots too. Not that it's bothering her cos she can't see them. She can only see the 2 on her arm and she's been pointing those out to anyone who would listen and insisting they kiss them.

I've actually been busy at work for a change, so husband decided to claim his child sick leave. Number Two wasn't so thrilled cos daddy made him do writing for most of the mornings. He's been begging to go back to school, where they leave him to run around and do his own thing.

so I've been a bit busy... And everyone's avoiding me like I've got the plague or something. My nice neighbour baked me cookies. Said I was in a worse state than her. And she's in the middle of chemotherapy !!

I've been doing boring stuff like transfering funds into tax shelters. Figured at least that gain was guaranteed, and if that money went, the government and my whole country will go with it. I mean, we may be a small country, but I think we're bigger than Citigroup. I hope.

Oh, and thank you for all those nice comments. I didn't realise there were silent readers out there.

This week, I've abandoned the get rich books. Have dug out Yes, Prime Minister. Anyone read that ? Really funny. Helps me to understand the workings of the powers that be, and to remember not to take things so seriously. Sometimes I think we take ourselves too seriously. But our higher powers have reminded us that if we didn't take ourselves seriously, we'd cease to exist as a country. Oh well.

of chicken-pox, the financial crisis and other things

2008-11-19T17:33:00.000-08:00

Oh thank you ! It's so nice to get comments !! Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a wall ...

Number One is officially free of chicken-pox. His siblings don't appear to have caught it so life is sort of back to normal. Baby still constipated !

I've been trying very hard to read some of my stashed away Get Rich books again. Now I know what they were talking about when they said you have to keep motivating yourself , if not you will let negative thoughts and feelings take over. I know that the world hasn't ended , and that this is probably a good time to be going in and building my asset column but with the waves of bad news coming everyday, I have to admit it takes a lot of talking to myself just to pop in and even look at the prices. I mean, when I first bought Citibank shares, they were $46 !! Went in at $18. And last check, they are trading at $8 !! And I'm not savvy enough to know whether the recent announcement to axe 52,000 people, and whatever else they are doing, will be enough to save them , blah blah .

And recently, some high risk "structured deposits" linked to Lehman Brothers and other things that have gone to their graves have caused a lot of misery , with people lining up outside banks and demanding compensation for the loss of their money. Yesterday, regular low-risk folk were even more upset to find out some of our "safe" govenment funds, meant for boring things like repairing lights and walkways, were also invested in such funds and now lost. For a country who's not used to any sniff of corruption, losing money through faulty investments , no matter how well-intentioned, any such news hits the front pages and Ministers now how to rush out to explain things.

My friend with cancer has just started her chemotherapy. She's been putting up a brave front so far, even joking about the awful wigs she's seen so far. Fantastic woman.

And my new keys come in about 3 weeks !!

Lost Wallet

2008-11-13T16:31:00.001-08:00

My husband misplaced his wallet yesterday.

I solemnly announced it to the boys when I got home, in order to mobilise a junior search party. 3 pairs of eyes looked worriedly at me as 2 pairs digested the information.

" You mean we have no more money to buy toys ?" they asked.

That started a scurry of activity with 2 boys checking under chairs and tables and one baby rushing around in excitement. That's my daughter for you. If you ever need an example of what lots of activity and no real achievement looks like, she's it.

Anyway, the wallet was found, and now I owe them a set of Ben Ten stickers.

Chicken-Pox

2008-11-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

I've been a little occupied. There's all this little stuff one has to do in order to keep "passive"income going. I had to settle the last bits of stuff for my new tenant. Then I had to peer at the stock market, though I've been out for a while since the happy rise post the new US president, only to watch it slide down again. Then I've been trying to get minor repairs done in my current home.

Oh, and I've been in Mummy-mode full-time the past few days. My 6-year-old has chicken-pox. He made the diagnosis himself actually. On Friday night, he cheefully pointed out that he had 2 red dots on his front that were itchy, and announced he had chicken-pox. He was dismissed by his doctor parents and sent off to bed.

The next morning, he was covered in little red dots and we had to sheepishly bring him to see another doctor, so we could have him certified as officially having chicken-pox, so that we could take turns to claim child sick leave.

His brother, the 5-year-old, was really jealous. He kept asking his brother to give him one "pox" since he had so many. But when Monday came by and he discovered he got the side benefits of being banned from childcare as well, he stopped asking.

Baby made her oldest brother cry when she poked at his little vesicles.

Now I'm hoping the other 2 get it as well. Then at least I'll be done with that round.

At least Number One will recover in time for his school graduation concert. I've just read the emails. Another kid has been found to have chicken-pox too ! Was announced in the middle of an email trying to explain why the school concert practice had been cancelled.

Laughter , the best medicine ?

2008-10-30T17:43:00.000-07:00

It hasn't been a good week. And I'm not talking about the stock market.

I spent some time with my friend. We did the usual mother stuff like going to the supermarket to get food. I wondered aloud if it would be worth getting the newspapers to see if there was any good news. She just gave a sad little smile and pointed out she was already depressed enough, thank you.

Then I bumped into an old friend I haven't seen in years. He was back because his father-in-law was hospitalised for advanced stomach cancer. What made things worse, he said, was that the poor old man was about to have his home of 40 years re-possessed by the bank because he stood guarantor for his brother, who's business failed. He'd already suffered a mild stroke when he heard the news, and now this. I was most sympathetic. Oh it gets worse, he laughed. His 2 year old daughter had been having a fever for the past 3 weeks and they still couldn't find the diagnosis. I pointed out to him that he seemed to be coping rather well, with all this laughing going on. You'd think we were discussing a comedy.

What can I do ? He said. If I don't laugh, I'll go mad. And so I laughed with him.

And then on the way to fetch the boys from school, I bumped into a collegue I hadn't seen for a couple of months. I noticed she'd lost a lot of weight. The last time I met her, her marriage was breaking up. You've lost weight, I told her. Usually women regard this as a good thing. Her eyes actually reddened a bit, and then she just shrugged her shoulders and said she'd been through a bit recently. And then she brightened up and asked how Baby was. What could I say ? I picked the safest topic I could think of and informed her Baby was still constipated and getting used to having suppositories stuffed up her little rear end. We then spent a happy few minutes discussing the various types of laxatives available on the market, and then we parted. Me to get my boys, and she back to whatever she's facing at home.

I don't know. I guess what struck me was how everyone was just trying so hard to be cheerful in the face of difficult personal times. Maybe humour does help. I do know now more than ever though why I want to be financially free. I want to be able to buy time so that I can sit down, and just be there when those around me need a few minutes.

Back to examine the stock market ... I don't get my new keys till December, so I can't agonise over renovations. Did I mention I'd bought a new flat ? Then I get to try to rent out my current place, and if all goes well, I should be able to replace my salary in the next 3-5 years.

sigh

2008-10-21T20:47:00.001-07:00

Am depressed. Have just heard that a close friend has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She's about my age, and has 3 kids too. All 6 and under. And the worst bit is, she's so down herself I really cannot be down as well cos I can't possibly be asking her to comfort me when she's the one with the illness.

And there's still the chemo to come. She says her worry is losing her hair, which I suppose is the main tangible reminder of her illness.

Oh sigh. The worst bit is, I have no idea how to comfort, and don't want to upset her further by saying the wrong thing.

Oh, and on a minor note. Baby is still constipated !! Have tried everything. Her brother found the prunes and ate up half a packet before I found him. Got a baby fleet enema from a friend and that works really well but have just been told they've discontinued it !! Bah !!!

Post holidays

2008-10-15T00:29:00.000-07:00

I've just got back from my holiday to our friendly neighbours in Malaysia, and I'm exhausted. The kids had a great time, except for poor baby, who's sleep patterns were all disrupted from the excitement, not to mention her bowel movements.

We stayed in a really nice service apartment. I think service apartments are definitely the way to go when travelling with young families. You get 2 rooms with plenty of space for the price of one hotel room. There are facilities like swimming pool, children's playroom ( supervised too, if I may add), and they do daily cleaning and have laundry services and even buffet breakfast, just like at hotels.

The only thing we couldn't quite get used to was the traffic and the taxi service. It looks like a permanent jam, except maybe on Sunday morning. The taxi drivers are a cheerful friendly lot. But they don't seem to follow any laws. There was a huge sign outside KLCC proclaiming " Say No to Touts!", and the guards directed us straight into a queue of taxis, all without meters, and quoting various rates, definitely above the amount we paid to get there. One tried to get RM $100 from us for a RM $7 trip ( which I'm told usually costs $3.50 ) !! I mean, we're Singaporeans, but we're not that dumb. We also carried all 3 car seats along, only to find that the taxis either didn't have seat belts at all, or had the strap part, but not the buckle part ! We finally found one with the full complement of seat belts, and dutifully buckled up, only to notice the driver himself was unbuckled. Ha !

Anyway, we did have a really nice time. The boys got imitation Ben 10s and Transformers for a fraction of the cost of Toys R Us. They claim they were too tired to go to school today. Mummy decided I was too tired to stay at home with them, and happily went to work.

Have been hopefully trying to buy back the Aussie dollar I sold way back when it was a loftier 30% higher, in order to pay for renovations. Wonderful, this whole rise and fall thingy. The difference would have paid for quite a bit of the renovations ! Apparently so many people have been buying it, trading has been suspended !

will peer at the stock market again when my courage picks up.

Of rental properties, shopping and etc

2008-10-07T20:24:00.000-07:00

Yay !! Finally found a nice tenant ! I hope. Anyway, they liked the place and didn't ask for much and seemed grateful that I was "willing" to accept them. Now I just have to deal with a leak ... This whole passive income thing is definitely a misnomer. I'm exhausted. But I have learnt that having a property doesn't guarantee you an immediate and sustained income. You've got to be liquid enough to do the touch-ups and hold out for a couple of months before the money starts coming in.

Have also bought myself a new home. Got stuck in a whole lot of legal doo-dahs ( I swear the lawyers do this on purpose so we have to pay them to read what they wrote). Number 2 wants to paint his new room green and orange. Number One doesn't want to move so thinks maybe he'll stay at our current home with Daddy while I move over with his siblings.

Baby is constipated and giving us a lot of grief.

And there are so many things to buy now that everything has crashed. Heaps of stocks all below value, and still doing well. So many things to buy. So little free cash ... We've decided to go against our usual personalities of being very careful and holding no loans, and taking a larger loan to finance our new home, in order to have spare cash to toss into the stock market. Not great for my stomach, admittedly, but we've looked at the numbers. Interest rates for loans are still really low ( under 2% for the first year), we're unlikely to lose our jobs, even with the economy slowing down, and there are stocks that are so low their steady dividends are easily 5-6%. And the potential for capital gains when everyone has calmed down are really good ( recall the last crash was in 2002 here, and by 2007, had at least tripled in value).

Oh, and I've caught a cold and am feeling rather sorry for myself. Nose blocked, coughing my lungs out. Even Baby has learnt to grab a tissue and do a fake cough into it. I wish she'll just eat her fruits.

But I'm sooooo relieved that I've found a tenant !!! Yay again !!

Bird Park

2008-09-29T23:16:00.000-07:00

Just a brief one. We took the kids to the Bird Park on Saturday. Had a visitor from Japan ( Formula One Fan) and decided we should show her some tourist attractions. Afterall, the whole purpose of hosting F1 in practical Singapore was to attract the tourist dollar, wasn't it ?

The boys loved it. Baby slept through it. They loved the bird show and the talking macaws and everything. I am a little worried though about this whole being exposed to machines and modern technology thing. My almost 5 year old wanted to know if the talking birds were puppets with batteries. Didn't believe they were real birds that had been taught to talk. Wasn't impressed at all. Oh well.

Party Packs

2008-09-29T22:48:00.000-07:00

You know what ? I've decided I will focus on the rather inane topic of what to get for my kid's classmates when he turns five in less than a month. It's a usual practice here for parents to buy cheap useless stuff in bulk to give out to kids to celebrate their birthdays. The toys themselves are usually little plastic things that don't last very long. But the kids like getting them anyway. The goodie bag usually has a variety of sweets and stuff that isn't good for the children either, but they love them.

Now I have several problems to deal with.

I don't dare buy any food. After the scare from the tainted milk powder from China, we've had all kinds of food taken off the shelves as a precautionary measure, including "normal" stuff like Snicker bars and Oreo biscuits. I'm not sure how other parents will react if I buy the usual biscuits and sweets that is usually given out.
I want something reasonably cheap so it doesn't blow my budget.
But it shouldn't look too cheap.
It should be cheap but not look cheap.
But it can't look too expensive either, or be too expensive for the average household budget of the other parents in case I get accused to showing off, spoiling the market ( see my Furby story ) , or forcing other parents to match my budget.

My nice sensible neighbour who's now stuck at home cos her kid still has his leg in a cast ( but has learnt to move around very well on his little bottom) says I shouldn't be spending my time worrying about such mundane things. I pointed out to her that really, I'm killing myself with distress over the horrible financial markets ( I haven't even dared check the stock prices), not sure what to do now, still can't find a tenant despite my best efforts, and am trying very hard to buy myself a bigger home and running into trouble there, considering it's a buyer's market, or so they say. And would she rather I talk about those topics instead ?

She was most sympathetic and brought out a nice variety of toys as examples of gifts, which matched my budget and have educational value as well. I'm thinking maybe I'll either give the balloon helicoptor ( lesson on power of air) or the magnetic cars ( lesson on, well, magnets).

Bears out the window

2008-09-18T07:52:00.000-07:00

This is so incredibly depressing. The time has come for me to go shopping I know, but watching everything crashing down hardly inspires me to be skipping around gleefully. Not that I'm among the hundreds queuing outside the AIG office trying to cash out on their policies. But still. Anyway, there was a clever chap who bought $1M worth of AIG shares as they crashed and sold out the next day when the Fed announced they would save it. And has doubled it in 2 days, and donated everything to the Lee Kuan Yew Foundation. You've got to admit that Robert Kiyosaki's words about having a little financial intelligence makes all the difference between the ones who lose money, and those who make a lot during these unstable times.

As they say, money doesn't just disappear. It changes hands.

I've been fretting over the lack of tenants so missed the whole thing till I saw it on the front page news too late. Not that I would have had the guts to go in when the knife was falling, truth be told.

Oh, and the enbloc I was talking about way back when Toddler was just Baby is officially pretty much dead. So much for that. Knew it was coming, but still kind of depressing when the death is confirmed officially.

In the meantime, my poor neighbour that I talked about in the previous post ( the one with the MBA) had a very exciting day. Her 2 year old fell off their rather low sofa and managed to fracture his tibia ( leg bone). I did a friendly housecall and found him laughing at Hi-5 , but got worried when he refused to weight-bear. His poor mother had to rush him to A&E, where she confirmed her fears about the frature . He's quite cheerful. Had tipped over the doctor's magazine rack while waiting for his results. But he's got to be in a cast and his mother's worried cos she's wondering how his older siblings are going to have swimming lessons when he's not allowed into the pool !

Am going to read a book. Nothing that's going to change my future. In fact, the story's not even great. But at least it would cheer me up for a while.

Of Baby Bonus and other things

2008-09-10T17:59:00.001-07:00

Hello again ! Thank you, Max ! Maybe I wouldn't leave afterall. I was thinking perhaps a change in background, keep the title, but change my topics, instead of forcing myself to try to write educational academic stuff, I can just switch to irreverent comments instead.

I've been reading a blog by a chap who calls himself Mr Brown. If you want a little insight into our little country people call The Red Dot - cos we're a small little place that has managed to upset bigger countries - this blog has a nice funny way about looking at things.

I'm currently debating the advantages of putting Baby into childcare. In a bid to increase our miserable birth rate, our government has offered a whole lot of stuff as incentives. Babies who arrive from now will get to have Mommy home for 4 whole months, fully paid for by the employers and the government. Actually, WHO thinks babies should get 6 months of breast milk, but the employers don't agree. Huge fuss there about losing female workers for 4 months, difficulty in finding coverage. And the mommies-to-be aren't exactly leaping about joyfully either. They are afraid of losing their jobs , of not getting hired if they are married and in the reproductive age group , and so on.

Me ? The 4 months of paid leave isn't going to help persuade me to have another one. 3 kids are keeping me rather busy at the moment. But in addition to all that, the government is also giving out $300 a month in childcare subsidies for working mothers. That's $300 a month, over 4 years, which is 300 x 12 x 4 = $14,400 !! Free !! Plus I can work during the time I stuff my poor baby into childcare, so there's that money, plus my salary, which I gave up last year ( breast milk is not free, for those who mistakenly think otherwise, in fact, for me, it costs a whole lot more in $$ terms than powdered milk !) . It adds up to quite a bit. And I actually like my job.

That's why the government is having trouble getting working mothers with decent salaries to give up work and have babies. Plus, they've gone and forgotten about my nice neighbours who have sacrificed their careers for their kids. I have an MBA holder who spends her days cleaning, and cooking and yelling at her 3 kids, who pretty much spend their time ignoring her ...

But then her kids are cute. And good friends with mine. Though I wish her youngest son, who's double my daughter's weight ( though the same age) would stop trying to either hit her or kiss her. Both actions send her running to me yelling "cared" ( scared). And my kids are cute. And they say they like me. And they mix up Transformers with Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice ( I heard them using Optimus Prime to bash Rachet demanding a pound of flesh). And that same neighbour, while screaming at her kids to get out of her fridge and trying to speak to her harried husband on the phone, says nothing beats the care of a loving mother watching her children ...

And Daddy thinks she's too small to be put through childcare like her brothers were. Brothers, for the record, thoroughly enjoy themselves at school cos they are in different classes and get to fight with other kids.

Oh stuff the money. She's my last baby. Guess I've got an excuse not to work for a while longer. .

Goodbye and thank you

2008-09-09T23:07:00.000-07:00

Oh well. You know a blog is near death's door when the author gets bored of reading it herself !
I've killed 3 blogs in the past one and a half years. I had 4 blogs, but one got killed by wordpress ...

I've learnt a lot during this time. I've tried my hand at internet-marketing, I've learnt to set up my own website, learnt about the costs of starting and running, and failing a business, met all kinds of interesting people online ...

I've even come to accept the original comment when I first started my blog about how money blogs are boring !

Mostly, it's no fun writing when nobody responds back. I get inspiration to write when I can respond to someone. The internet is still about communicating, even though some people accuse people who are stuck on the internet all the time as not being able to communicate effectively. Or maybe its because I'm a people-person in real life and I usually get some kind of response when I talk to someone !

I still like starting up blogs and writing stuff though. Maybe I'll start another one one day. In the meantime, I'll continue on my quest to be financially free. That hasn't changed. Nothing's changed.

I'm still around. I can be contacted at my email address. My only real regret is that I kind of like my blog's title and feel sorry to give it up. Oh, and that I've still got $80 hanging around in google adsense that I'll never get paid cos google only pays out at $100 !!

To all the nice people who have come through and read and commented,

Thank you ! And Goodbye ... till my next blog !

Of rental properties and etc Part 2

2008-08-27T18:16:00.000-07:00

Well, the next round of renovations are done. Sort of. There are bits I'm not entirely thrilled with and have been making myself upset trying to convince the contractor that I don't like them, and he's been trying to convince me that it looks wonderful and my way will look terrible. I'm torn between trying to be my usual non-confrontational self and getting annoyed everytime I look at the floor and the odd bit of skirting they've put there.

It doesn't help that a neighbour with rather strong opinions has been running that bit down as well. Not that she has to live in it or look at it. In fact, well-meaning though her comments are, I'm wondering if I should just have been stronger earlier and not listened to so many people's opinions. Half of these opinions have come from those who have never even rented out properties themselves and are just giving opinions based on what they would like their home to look like. And some agents have just wanted to bring down my expectations to make their job of securing a tenant easier. And of course, prospective tenants have either run the place down cos they don't like it anyway, or have wanted to try to lower the rental to suit their budget.

So I've learnt to be more selective about who I listen to, and have complained to the contractor's wife. Let her go nag at him !!

Keeping fingers crossed ... Have dug out my Trump University Real Estate Managment 101 book to try to get new ideas again. Of course, it doesn't help that Donald Trump buys entire estates so he can do whatever he wants, including fire the managing agent if they aren't up to scratch and he doesn't have to deal with neighbours.

I need another holiday.

Of rental properties and other things

2008-08-12T15:56:00.001-07:00

Sigh. I'm tired. Not only is Baby now one and a half and hardly a baby ( she's a walking talking opinionated little thing) , I've been trying really hard to get a place rented out.

I've had to work really hard. I guess the learning curve is rather steep. I did a few touch-ups and launched it, only to get a flurry of criticisms about bathrooms, decor etc. Tried lowering the price, and got such a low offer, I've been forced back to the drawing board again. Now I have to re-look at my budget ( and bank account) and decide how much more work I need to put in, and what sort of returns I can hopefully get in our slightly less exuberant market.

I've had to work with contractors, various agents, my co-financer ( brother), figure out where my target market is etc etc. But if I get this done right, I'll be able to achive my target "passive" ( a misnomer, as far as I'm concerned since I'm working harder than it than at my job!) that I set at the beginning of last year !

Bother , bother, bother. No wonder people stick with shares and mutual funds.

Nice Girls Don't Get Rich

2008-08-05T00:02:00.000-07:00

Amazing ! I'm still getting little bits of money coming into my google adsense account !! This is despite my barely doing anything to maintain this blog.

It's not that I've lost interest in finance stuff. It's just that I've come to realise there are so many books written on the topic, one more blog isn't going to change anyone's life.

I'm currently reading a book called Nice Girls Don't Get Rich - 75 mistakes women make. It covers the psychology of women's attitudes towards money, and why even though they know what they have to do, they just can't seem to get started or become rich.

Some bits I have seen in others but don't understand - like shopping compulsively, not wanting to learn about finances, depending on others totally till the point of ignorance. That's just not me.

Some bits are true for me though. It's true I prefer to value relationships above all else, even if I have to lose some money to keep a relationship happy . Apparently men don't have that problem. Business is business, friendship is friendship.

There's also a bit on being able to overcome fear and just take that jump, to be willing to break free from the bonds of perceived security and embrace freedom.

Of course, that only seems to apply to people who hate their jobs, or are stuck in situations in life they don't like and dream of something better. I actually like my job. And don't mind my small home, cos I'm not sure I would really like a big home with a few maids around anyway, having seen some of the trouble my friends with maids have. And my kids make me do most of the work. But I'm not sure if I really want them all grown up and independent, or not have them at all, or have someone else take over the child-rearing. so even though I'm really fed up sometimes ( like last night when everyone took turns to wake me up) , I don't know if money will be able to change things for me, or if I'm even unhappy cos most of the time, I think I'm actually quite happy !

Re-examining my spiritual life

2008-07-25T01:38:00.000-07:00

I've been managing to squeeze in some time to read the book by Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump about how they got rich and their advice to the lesser mortals around them. I was actually feeling slightly down by the time I went to bed and fell asleep after I'd read the bit about how he built Trump Tower, which I've never seen, but am pretty sure is not small.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether I was dreaming, since I spent half my night in a state of half awakeness with baby anyway, but I distinctly remember the words (sort of) " You fool ! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared ?". As I said, not exactly in those exact words, but I knew the context from which they were taken, and went to look it up, so I could type it down ( not having read it for a very long time) .

They were taken from Luke 12: 13-34. It comes from the bit of a parable Jesus told about a rich man who owned a lot of land, which was very productive. That man started thinking that he should pull down his barns and build bigger ones. Then he could tell himself he was safe and secure for many years, and he should eat, drink and be merry. And as you know from my quote, God decided this was not to be so.

My immediate reaction was that Trump Tower or its equivalent was not to be mine. But after a few days of chewing on and off, I've been trying to figure out my whole life in this context.

Where does my heart lie ?
What will I be doing if Christ comes suddenly ? Checking stock prices ? Waiting for just one more bull run ?

Bother. Baby up.

Salary

2008-07-10T01:33:00.000-07:00

Can you beat that ? I've been so busy grumbling about having no money to invest and trying to buy what little I can, I didn't monitor my bank account properly and have just been told half my salary wasn't paid !! ( My collegue pointed out that she hadn't been paid and asked me to check).

And I thought it was because I'd bought too many shares.

Humph.

Kids choose to work

2008-07-10T01:27:00.000-07:00

Got this in the email in response to some post or other that I did on this blog. The problem with putting comments on auto is that now I have no idea where to find the comments again !

Anyway, have cut and pasted it here cos the info looked interesting.

KIDS CHOOSE SUMMER PAY DAYS OVER PLAY DAYS

Summertime encourages fiscal responsibility among young Americans

MILWAUKEE, WI, JULY 9, 2008 -- According to a new poll conducted by themint.org, nine out of ten young Americans would prefer big summer pay days than fun summer play days, a finding that challenges the common perception that summer is the time when kids leave their homework and cares behind in pursuit of fun or just some lazy days.

Poll results indicate that given the option, most respondents 17 years or younger (91 percent) would like to spend their summer earning paychecks, whether employed in service-oriented or recreational fields or through self-employment, with only nine percent saying they would prefer not to work.

The good news is that 88 percent of all survey participants said that they or their children plan to save at least a portion of their summer earnings, and nearly a quarter will save 50 percent or more. These results are encouraging at a time when many people spend more than they earn -- the personal savings rate, which frequently climbed above 10 percent in the 1970s, now hovers around zero.

“The summer months provide a unique opportunity to build up a savings account and set the foundation for a healthy financial future,” said Meridee Maynard, senior vice president, Northwestern Mutual. “Young people in particular are showing a willingness to work and a diligence in saving that is encouraging, particularly amidst all the current turmoil in the U.S. economy.”

From April through June 2008, visitors to the financial literacy Web site www.themint.org were invited to answer two questions related to summer employment. Over 1,500 people from across the country weighed in about what type of employment they or their children were most likely to engage in and the percentage of their earnings likely to be saved. The results were then analyzed based on several demographic factors, including the age, gender and location of respondents.

Entrepreneurial Spirit Fades with Age

Poll results suggest that the work ethic of children and young adults is matched by a strong desire to be their own boss, particularly for those aged 17 or younger (32 percent). However, the number of aspiring entrepreneurs falls significantly in the 18-29 demographic to 20 percent, reflecting decreasing interest in self-employment at the conclusion of high school education.

Midwesterners Seek to Save; More Southerners Seek to Spend

According to the survey, Midwesterners are the biggest savers. A super majority of Midwesterners (91 percent) said that they would save at least a portion of their savings, followed closely by respondents from the West (90 percent).

People living in the South are more interested in spending their hard-earned cash compared to others across the country, with over 20 percent of Southerners indicating that they do not plan on saving any of the money earned over the summer. Those in the Northeast (16 percent) are not far behind.

This study is part of an ongoing series conducted on financial literacy Web site www.themint.org, the first of which focused on allowances and was released in April 2008.

About Themint.org

Launched in 1997, themint.org is a collaboration between the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, the charitable arm of Northwestern Mutual, and the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE). The site provides tools to help parents as well as educators teach children to manage money wisely and develop good financial habits: the building blocks for a secure future.
This poll marks the second of a series of polls by themint.org, with the aim of bringing continued awareness to financial literacy issues. Poll results are archived on the site and can be viewed at www.themint.org/polls/

About Northwestern Mutual

The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, Milwaukee, WI (Northwestern Mutual) has been helping policyowners and clients achieve financial security for more than 150 years. The company is an industry leader, with over $1 trillion of life insurance protection in force, and maintains the highest available ratings for insurance financial strength from all four major rating agencies: Standard & Poor's, Fitch Ratings, A. M. Best and Moody’s.
For 25 years, a FORTUNE magazine survey has named Northwestern Mutual “America’s Most Admired” company in the life/health insurance industry. Further information on Northwestern Mutual, its subsidiaries and affiliates can be found at: www.nmfn.com.
###

Shawn Rolland

fully invested

2008-07-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I guess saying that I'm fully invested sounds better than admitting I've got no more money to invest with. I was so pleased with the stock market dives these past few weeks and have been busy shopping. And now with the latest dive, with my beloved Berkshire practically being given away, I now realise I don't have any money left to buy it. That or maybe I can forego installing new airconditioners for a while till my next paycheck comes in.

But our weather is so hot. And we've only got one air conditioner in the whole house working, which means on hot nights, everyone's squashed in the same room. and Baby loves having her brothers around. She spends her time imitating me trying to get them to keep quiet and takes great pleaseure in crawling to the end of the bed and going "sssh!" ( or close to that when one's only got 2 front teeth) .

Gold's gone back up again and I'm tempted to sell out and put the money in Berkshire B shares instead. But then the old fear of them falling even further creeps back. And I meant to keep the little gold I have left just as an emergency something to sell if everything else crashes.

Decisions. decisions.

Have also been kept happily busy trying to get a place rented out. Have got in contractors to do up the place, decided on paint colours, furniture etc. Fun. Kind of like playing with a really big doll's house. Except that it costs a whole lot more, and I have to consider when I will recoup the money spent, consider the rental climate, dealing with tenants etc.

Back to agonising. Think maybe I will sit out a few days and see what's happening. Unlikely the market will rebound hugely suddenly , I guess. Seems more likely to slip further.

For those who are bored, here's Warren Buffett's latest letter to his shareholders. It's actually quite funny !