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Complex Tasks, Simple Instructions

Ah Yen — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 04:33:31 +0000

Picture this.

You have a HUGE project to deliver on a short lead time but you only have limited amount of resources. How will you meet your deadline when ALL the odds are against you?

A while back, I was thrust in this exact situation. I had only 3 resources including myself to work on a sizable chunk of data. We had to complete this project within the year. Most of the resources were not full time, so we had to ensure productivity was high every time they were available.

So how did we do it?

#1. Gather all necessary information. When you have all required data needed to perform the job, your resources will find less need to clarify things with you. As the one giving out the job, you need to have all information laid out so that your resources will have uninterrupted time working on the task given. This way, you too can focus your energy laying out the next task.

#2. Batch your tasks by similarities. It helps when your resources need to focus on doing only one thing at a time. Yes, it might be boring but things get done faster. Separate your workflow so that similar tasks can be done together.

#3. Take out the unnecessary details. Sometimes we tend to include too much information in our presentation slides or have all our information in one single tracking lists. Passing assignments to others should be the direct opposite. Only include information that is necessary for the completion of the tasks.

#4. Lay out manageable workloads. Allocating manageable workload to your resources will help them achieve more. Trying to get too much done when you only have one resource will actually be counter-productive. Let your people finish what they have first. They will be thankful for that and they might even volunteer to finish the remaining tasks if they have extra time!

#5. Be systematic. Having a thousand and one to-do items at the back of your head will send most people into panic mode but that doesn’t help anything. Keep a cool head and your books tight. Do one thing at a time so that you do not lose track of the others. A tracking list will tell you what is done and what is not. Seeing those completed items will also give a sense of accomplishment to that gargantuan task.

No job is too big to handle and as the saying goes “Rome was not built in a day”.

Take some time to plan,organize and simplify things before you jump into the frenzy of executing a project.

You’ll be surprised at how much it helps.

Why You Should Clear Off Your PTPTN Study Loan As Soon As Possible And How To Save RM20k Doing It

Ah Yen — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:30:14 +0000

What most graduates do is service their PTPTN loan diligently, paying off the minimum amount every month either from a deduction off their paycheck or by banking in the instalments directly to PTPTN. What they don’t know is that a portion of the payment goes to servicing the interest and the remaining goes towards reducing the principal.

For example, a monthly payment of RM500 would only reduce the principal amount by RM300 with RM200 used to pay off the monthly interest. A whole year’s payment, RM6,000 will only reduce the principal amount by RM3,600 with RM2,400 gone towards servicing the interest. This of course is just an example but let us just use this for now. The actual amount would of course be determined by how much you borrowed from PTPTN in the first place.

Those with cash to spare would consider settling the whole amount upfront and reap a rebate from PTPTN itself but for those who cannot do so, what CAN you do?

Study Loans: An Asset Or Liability?

Now in order for us to determine if you should clear off your PTPTN loan ASAP, we must first check if your loan is an asset or a liability. A loan by itself is a liability. A loan which facilitates positive cash flow however, is an asset.

Case #1: Tom graduated from Engineering school and managed to secure a job as an engineer with the monthly pay of RM3000. After his commitments and expenses, he still has RM1000 extra every month. Tom services his study loan instalment of RM500 and still has RM500 at the end of each month. Tom’s study loan is an asset because he still has positive cash flow at the end of every month.

Case #2: Dick graduated from Business school but makes a living as an IT support technician. Dick’s take-home-pay is RM2000 every month and services his study loan for RM500 a month. Dick has RM1500 at the end of each month. Dick’s study loan is a liability because his study loan paid for a business degree which does not contribute to his job as an IT support technician.

Case #3: Harry graduated from IT and lives off his pay as a network specialist. His nett pay after deducting commitments and expenses is only RM200 but his study loan instalment is RM500. He does not have sufficient funds to pay for his study loan each month. Harry’s study loan is a liability because it is not helping him generate a positive cash-flow every month.

Which case study most accurately describes you?

It should be quite clear that Dick in Case #2 should pay off the loan ASAP because the study loan itself is just another added liability to Dick’s account.

Harry in Case #3 is in a more challenging situation. In reality, Harry should find ways to pay off the study loan sooner or convert it into an asset by finding a job which pays him more.

Tom is in a very comfortable situation but if he wanted to, he too can choose to pay off his study loan earlier. But what are the advantages for him to do so?

So What’s In It For Me?

There is only one major benefit from paying off any type of loan earlier which is reducing the amount of interest incurred. In the case of PTPTN, this can be achieved via two methods.

The first is of course paying up the total sum of the loan and getting a rebate off the interest. Many who do not have this option available would have to do it the other way which is putting in a larger payment each month. This serves to offset the principal loan amount quicker thereby reducing the time taken to payback the loan. When the payback period is shortened, naturally the total interest borne would have been reduced as well.

Here’s a simple calculation.

A loan amount of RM100,000 with an interest of 3% per annum reducing sum for the period of 20 years will have a monthly payment of RM554. Total cash paid at the end of 20 years will be RM132,960. Total interest paid would be RM33,103.

If you paid RM1,000 monthly instead of RM554, the total cash paid would be RM115,216 with the interest paid at only RM15,216, saving you a neat sum of Rm17,887!

If you paid RM2,000 monthly, the total cash paid would be RM106,959 with the interest paid only at RM6,959 with savings up to a whopping Rm26,144!!

Unbelievable? Go ahead and make you own calculations here!

Other Considerations

It would be great if everyone could pay more than the monthly repayment but in reality many of us do not have the extra cash to do so. There are many other factors one must consider before dumping a whole lot of cash to clear off your study loan.

How much cash are you willing to part with each month without affecting your current lifestyle and commitments? Will that amount have a significant savings on the interest incurred? What would be the opportunity cost by putting all your cash into repaying your study loan? Will there be an investment that can give you a return good enough to offset the interest incurred? These are questions that you will have to ask yourself.

Conclusion

Clearing off your study loan as soon as possible will always be beneficial regardless if you are holding a liability-class or an asset-class study loan. The question is are you able to suffer a reduction in your monthly cash-flow?

If you are holding a study loan which classifies as a liability, clearing it off as soon as possible should be your main priority. There is no point paying for it slowly since it does not contribute to your earning power.

As for those holding an asset-class study loan, you still have the luxury to perform minimum payment but do keep in mind that a big chunk of your payments go towards servicing the interest!

Bersih 3.0 Resistance is Futile

Ah Yen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 05:15:56 +0000

Denial is the beginning of acceptance of the hard truth, especially when you have spent so much time convincing yourself of the status quo that you eat, live and breathe. It shows a sign of faith, faith that you have in the existing system, no matter how broken, of something that you hold close to your heart and soul.

You start to vent your anger as you discover the current system is collapsing and all that you have worked for will be in vain. All those years of building and constructing sums to zero as the walls begin to crumble under the very foundation you sold your soul to.

Looking for alternatives, you begin to check for any possible opportunities in the new future.You start to look for ways to preserve your status, your value in the current system but yet you cannot find any.

All hope is lost, you tell yourself. Everyone around you has started to embrace the truth. You begin to lose hope but yet you cannot bring yourself to follow your heart. You start to not care about what happens, falling into a state of depression.

The tides turn and you know you have lost. The walls have come down and all that remains are reminisce of a twisted future. The corrupt system you defended so boldly is no longer there. You curse yourself for not being an early adopter and now you don’t have a choice but to be a laggard.

Examining the pieces of your shattered resolve, you find that deep down inside, the very reason you fought so hard in the first place was for the exact same reason the new adopters are fighting for now.

You remember now that somewhere along the journey you have lost your way, misguided by the very trolls of greed and corruption. All the complications of the system has made you someone you never wanted to be.

Your vision now is clear. You know what you are fighting for.

You always have.