Merry Christmas to All

These few days, I have some sponsored posts to take up but the income is not much unlike the good old days in 2007. Nevertheless, I also take them up as some cash is better than no cash at all as I have an option to accept or to reject the offer. Gone are the days where I could make a lot per day or sometimes even more. But the jolly season is here and I shall not spoil my day by lamenting. I have had my share of blessings - both in health and in finances. In health because I can still earn an income and blog here without any hindrances from my back pain which is now gone. My voice has come back slowly and I can think on the spot to write articles. In finance because I have more than I need and am currently saving up for my retirement.

More Virtual Assistance Work

I was emailing back and forth with my client in USA for more virtual assistance work to post her business on the internet for a certain amount of money. She will prepay for 50 links initially and the payment will by via Western Union. It feels so good to feel needed for my internet venture to earn online. And I found her from the internet - that's the wonder of using the computer with internet connectivity. It is possible to earn money from the internet which I have been doing this part time while holding a full time job in my home office. And I have been blessed with the capability to complete the work on time - all in the comforts of home.

Got some Paid Posts Today

Today, as I check my emails, there were 2 paid posts to take up offered by sponsors. I promptly wrote about them in my blogs and submitted the url for review. With the oasis drying up some time back, it is not often that I get to write paid posts anymore. Hence, I have to keep trying to earn some money online using my typing and thinking skills to moonlight part time. My blogs are here for a reason - to milk from the internet and to earn some allowance in my free time. I hope to take up more jobs online so that I can save enough money for my retirement in future. And today is pay day. Yay! I get paid twice a month - on the first and the 15th of each month.

Milking the Internet from Home

It is possible to make money from the internet. All you need is a computer, and an internet connection and you are ready to earn some cash online - provided you know how. Working from home is not for everyone as you need to have good discipline. Most people I know will use the time to chat with online friends or surf web sites instead of working away. Worse still, they may surf pornography sites and paying a lot to be a member. I was also guilty of those in the past, but not anymore. Now I rather use the opportunity to earn and save up for rainy days than to splurge unnecessarily on entertainment. You could say that I am a workaholic and choose my jobs carefully. With the recession recently, and millions of people out of jobs, I cannot take my blessings for granted.

Even as I work now, I need to wear my titanium spectacles which was bought last year. The vision House is the place to go if you are looking to replace your glasses before Christmas. What's more? They have self printed $100 discount coupon that you can get when you visit the link above. And I am a sucker for sales and discounts. I only buy when there is a sale going on or when there are huge discounts at the shops. I hardly buy on impulse now unlike when I was in my twenties and staying alone in Singapore from 1988 to 2000.

Gold Prices have been Increasing Steadily

For the last 10 years, gold prices have been increasing steadily. And if you have invested in gold 10 years ago, you would have made a handsome profit today. In the 1970s, a gram of gold only cost $20, but today it is a whopping $134 per gram. Just last month, I bought myself a gold bangle, gold necklace and a gold designer ring from Tomei Jewellers. Since I have been working hard for the last 6 years, I decided to pamper myself a bit this coming Christmas from my hard earned savings. Who knows, if I have excess cash in future, I might just consider buying gold online using my credit card.

Gold is a safe hedge against inflation and it will never depreciate unlike dollar notes and commodities. The demand for gold has always been good and people are known to buy gold to keep as investment. Just the other day, I was considering to sell gold coin given by my uncle during Chinese New Year in Singapore. The gold coin should be rare now since I have kept it for over 10 years. And , I stayed in Singapore from 1988 to 2000, a total of twelve long years since my junior college days right up to working life.

I am now settled down in Penang, Malaysia since coming back from Singapore. I have a job working at home and contributing to the family household expenses every month. Now back to gold - since I have discovered Augustus, I might just browse around for more information with the links above. And you might like to know that Augustus pays you cash for gold and coins including silver! You can sell gold coin, silver coin and all types of sterling silver items. They also buy scrap jewelry including white gold necklaces, bracelets, rings and more.

In a Semi Retirement Mood

Suddenly making money is not so important after all. What is more important now is my health and to make sure that my blood glucose level is within normal range. I had blood test done some time back and it was above the normal range and yesterday was World Diabetes Day with todays news talking about diabetes affecting Malaysians. And I love teh tarik, but according to the news, it has 6 teaspoonfuls of sugar which is a lot. And Malaysia is one of the highest consumer of sugar in the world - the eighth highest if I am not wrong. So I hope when I really retire by 50 years of age or beyond hopefully, I am still healthy to enjoy the fruits of my labour. I could still take more work writing articles for US dollars, but I rather take a break from sitting too long by the computer as I am having a backache right now. I refuse to take medication or see the doctor and hope that this is only temporary.

Tags : make money online, semi retirement, write articles, backache, article writing, milking the internet

It is possible to make money online

I have a few sources of online income - taking paid posts, writing articles, Google Adsense and drop shipping for Herbalife. All these are done online via the internet connection. Though they are not much per se, but they bring in some income now and then and are paid by Western Union or to my Paypal account. They are additional income on top of my present job as an IT executive working in a home office. So far I am happy with my Streamyx broadband internet connection which is very stable compared to the freaky connectivity of Celcom for wireless broadband. I am thinking of stopping this Celcom subscription and change to P1 wimax broadband on-the-go. Right now I have to check the prices and if they are reasonable, may recommend my colleague to change it for business purposes.

My Several Hobbies

As an adult now, my hobbies are blogging, reading, watching movies and fine dining. In my childhood days, my hobbies were collecting used seashells, colored feathers, stamps and silver coins. While not working at home, I will blog on making money, upload food photos and update my blogs while checking for Google Adsense earnings. I also love watching Disney's 3D movies, movies by Pixar and any heart warming ones or even comedies. And I don't watch any thriller or horror ones as I will be too scared to sleep at night. You may wonder why I watch a lot of movies these days; it is because my parents watch Astro the whole day and night hogging the telly that I better go out with my date for a good enjoyable movie in the cinemas. And the screen is much bigger with surround sound for better effect. And my hobbies have kept me happily occupied and kept me sane from the stress at home.

Who Says Making Money Online is Easy?

There are many copycat bloggers out there who think that other bloggers are making tons of cash and therefore they learn everything from scratch to catch up with the probloggers by setting up their own blogs with personal domains. I know of one very irritating ex-supervisor who is struggling to make money online and nobody visits her blogs. She is too egoistic and label her readers as dummies. Serves her right she has no traffic and her posts are sarcastic. I think, this specimen is better off working for others, nevermind if she has to job hop around, at least income is there no matter how difficult it is. And there is no more dummy for you to take credit for the work done by others!

Are you making money from the Internet?

Are you making enough money from the internet? Do your blogs generate enough income to withdraw from Adsense every month? If not, it is better to cut your loses and close down all your blogs - simply because nobody reads them and you are just wasting your money. It might be better to work for other people instead of sitting at home doing nothing and surfing the web to while away time. Some people try to emulate others thinking that they know better and can make an income from the web. But what they don't know is that 95% of people fail while only 5% succeed to really earn from the internet.

Life is not about Making Money All the Time

Life is not about making money all the time and working non-stop by the computer. Though I have several sources of income, I stil need a break like riviera maya all inclusive vacations. It would be very boring to just work the whole day, go back to eat and sleep and then work again the next day. One must learn how to enjoy the fruits of one's labor and it gives you more motivation to work knowing that at the end of the term, you can go for a well deserved holidays overseas with your loved ones. As you earn money, you must also know how to spend it wisely - such as unwinding during a vacation and to recharge your soul. My dream is to visit Europe one of these days before it is too late. And the funny thing is that all my family members including my younger sisters have been to Europe except me.

Warren Buffett - The World’s Greatest Investor

We all know that now Warren Buffett is the richest man in the world overtaking Bill Gates. As a teenager, Buffett was reading company reports while his classmates were collecting comics. He started business early in life and went to study finance in college. Armed with accounting business knowledge, he invested USD100,000 fifty years ago which compounded to billions today. Warren Buffett made all his fortune from the stock market. He never earned from selling products or offer services. And his company Berkshire Hathaway is the most expensive one is the world with USD100,000 per share. His motto is to buy low, sell high in the stock market.

That was why in March this year, Buffett invested USD8 billion of his money in the stocks when everyone else was selling due to fear, recession and panic. By now I guess Buffett would have made a handsome profit from that investment.

Despite his massive wealth, Buffett is a simple man - he lives in a three bedroom house, drives a second hand old car and flies economy. He never flaunted his wealth - instead he gave millions away to charity and to Bill Gate’s Foundation. Such an unassuming man. I guess it pays to read more about this great investor and his methods of investing to make money from the stocks.

Selamat Berpuasa to my Muslim Readers

I would like to take this month of Ramadhan to wish all my muslim friends Selamat Berpuasa. Last year, my church sold boxes of dates for us to buy and give them as gifts to our muslim friends but it is rather quiet this year. Last year we have bought 5 boxes of dates or kurma to give them to our Malay workers but they have all left the company since February 2009. It was a blessing in disguise that all of them left when we later found out that they have done their own things outside during working hours. Anyway, that aside, my second sister will go to the airport this evening for a flight back to Suchou. She has 8 weeks of holidays in a year as a lecturer in China but she really works hard as the assistant head of the English department.

Going to KL tomorrow

My colleague will come to fetch me and we will travel down by car to KL for business tomorrow. Most likely we will stay in the rented condo in Subang Jaya for a couple of days before coming back to Penang. I am not a liberty to reveal what we will do for our business as this is company policy. This is not the first time I am going to KL and have travelled frequently in the past couple of years back and forth. As I am not married, and don't have family commitments, it is easier for me to travel at last minute's notice. My parents are quite liberal that they allow me to travel all over Malaysia with my colleague for business. I know that some parents prefer their kids to stay put in one place than to go all over Malaysia for work purposes.

Saving up for Golden Years

As I am not married and already in my late thirties, the only way is to save up much money for my golden years since I don't have children who can help support me later on. Right now I am contributing RM600 to the household expenses for my parents and they are lucky that the 3 daughters are working and paying monthly for the expenses. Hence I have to save up every penny now and not squander them unnecessarily for my old age retirement plans. By then, my boss may be too old to drive around any more and the workers are getting older by the years. I sincerely hope that there will be a business model to take in new blood who can continue the prosperous business of building sports surfaces for a very long time.

What the Heck! No one picks up telephone at Penang SOCSO

I have paid the worker’s SOCSO company contribution for April 2009 and until today, 12th of May, I have yet to receive a receipt and form for May payment from them. SOCSO stands for Social Security Organisation that was established in Malaysia to make monthly payments to workers becoming disabled in the course of their employment. It is like a form of insurance. Today, I tried to contact the numbers that I have in the SOCSO letterhead and they have changed to a new number that is non-contactable at all and simply send a thank you message and hang up when you select all the options! Even the operator number leads to automatic message with no one to pick up the phone! I don’t know who is the director or head of department for SOCSO but they sure try to find ways to automate their telephone calls with no single person to pick up calls and attend to enquiries. This is surely the ‘makan ular’ (lackadaisical) attitude of the staff who is missing in action! Typical of the Malays who are so lazy, and depend on the UMNO government to take care of their needs to the exclusion of other races. I am still wondering how sincere is the government in advocating 1Malaysia concept.

Happy Easter Sunday

Yesterday was Easter Sunday and my church in Georgetown Baptist Church put up a wonderplay play with a short movie of the Passion of Christ showing Jesus before his crucifixion. It is also a time to forgive previous grievances and hurts done by others. Easter is to celebrate the resurrection power of Jesus when he died at the cross and he is now alive in Heaven. One day, when all Christians die, they will reunite in heaven and stay there for eternity - which is a very very long time. While it is better to stay in heaven where there is no sorrow, pain or death, it is good to make ourselves useful here on here promoting the Kingdom of God by preaching to our loved ones so that they can be saved from eternal damnation in hell and by tithing.

Recent Order

I just got a recent order for writing 4 articles from a client in United Kingdom. And his payment is very prompt because the moment I emailed him the articles, he will immediately send me payment via my Paypal account. I have written many articles for him and he is my repeat client. Just 2 days ago, I got a new order from him, but had to postpone writing the articles as today I had to travel down to KL for an interview tomorrow about some issues. And he kindly allowed me to hand in the articles next week when I return. Writing articles keep me usefully occupied while earning some pocket money. And the requirements are not stringent at all.

Oasis Dried Up but other Opportunities are Open

Gone are the days when I was making a substantial amount of money each day from doing paid blogging and writing articles. My online work has becomes scarce like an oasis being dried up. With the global recession and economic upheaval, it would become worse and I can only depend on Google Adsense to make online income which took months to hit USD100, the minimum for payout. But thank goodness, I am also selling Herbalife, a slimming product plus cosmetics through my blog and this has make more than RM1,000 for me since last year. All my contacts are from emails sent to me to request for orders, money paid online to cash bank into ATM and then the order is also done online through my supplier in KL. All Herbalife delivery are through courier service when clients have to pay additional RM20 for the products to be delivered right to their door steps.

Going to Langkawi in a Short While

I am going to Langkawi by Firefly which was booked and confirmed last night. It takes about 30 minutes to arrive from Penang Airport to Langkawi's Airport. We need to take measurement for a sports court for a customer before flying back the next day on Sunday. Most likely, we will stay overnight in Langkawi after doing the necessary. This is a short business trip. And I just found out from my sister that a return trip by boat is about RM100 plus. Had I known that earlier, we would have taken the boat and save us about RM620 for 2 persons return by flight plus airport tax.

Financial Meltdown

Since late last year, we have been bombarded with a slew of news of job cuts, credit crunch, lay-offs and financial meltdown of big institutions like banks that have been around for more than 100 years. Millions will be jobless this year as more and more companies retrench their staffs especially in USA, Europe, China, Singapore, etc. Malaysia is not spared from this punishing economic woes though the government refuse to admit that recession has come to our shores. Every day, as I read the newspapers in business section, I see more job cuts everywhere and people are getting desperate. Families with young children to feed are turning to the parish priest of our local cathedral of the Holy Spirit to share their stories in the hope of securing new employment. According to Pastor Joseph Prince, prosperous economies previously will be awakened while developing nations will rise up.

Happy Chinese New Year 2009!

This Chinese New Year, I will be in Haadyai with my family for 4 days 3 nights. My second sister came out from Suchou in China to be with us this CNY and to celebrate as a family doing things together. We plan to do some shopping for clothes and go for massages which are so affordable. The three of us will treat our parents sumptuous dinner, one for each night during this occasion. A chartered van will come pick us up from our home in Penang and drive up north to the same hotel that we have stayed last year, also for CNY. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my Chinese readers, "A Happy Chinese New Year 2009"!

Health is more Important than Making Money

When you are over the age of 50, go for blood pressure check up to see the systolic and diastolic figures. It should be 120/80 which is normal. Anything above and much higher than this figures spells CVA (cardiovascular accident) which may lead to stroke or heart attack. Life is too precious to take chances and the risks are increased if you are a smoker, above 50 years of age, drink alcohol or have high cholesterol levels. You should also go for complete blood test to check for cancer, blood glucose, liver function, etc. As we age, we need daily medication to keep us going and to keep the engine in good condition.