Received 6th Cheque from Nuffnang

Above is my 6th cheque from Nuffnang which I received today in my letter box. Thanks Nuffnang! More moolah for some Christmas shopping this month. I don't intend to accumulate too much and will cash out each time I hit the minimum payment threshold. Though it is nothing to shout about and not in the range of thousands unlike a few bloggers with high traffic, nevertheless it is better than nothing. And I consider this passive income doing nothing other than my hobby which is blogging. Hope to maintain my Glitterati status so as to continue to promote my blog posts on a regular basis.

Going to Kedah in a Short While

I will be going to Kedah in a short while to collect a cheque for the sports courts that my company has installed. This is part of the progressive payment. We will also bring some balls to the owner as free gifts which is part of the agreement. Tomorrow I might go to KL again and I have been contacted for virtual assistance yesterday plus another contact for advertisement on one of my blogs that has a page ranking of 2. I certainly love to work from my home office and getting offers here and there. 2 days ago was pay day and I plan to invest in a gold savings passbook account with Public Bank soon. The price of gold has increased from $123 last year to $170 this year. It will continue to rise which has been the trend for the last 10 years!

Gold represents the ultimate payment worldwide

Gold is accepted worldwide and represents the ultimate payment system anywhere in the world. It is a much sought after precious metal that is used for jewellery, space technology and as numismatist gold bullion coins. Banks prefer to deal with gold than paper money of which the value can be eroded due to rising future inflation. So, if you have extra cash to invest, it is better to buy gold coins and keep them in a safe place. In times of war, paper money can become useless overnight just like the Japanese banana money that was printed in abundance during the Japanese occupation in Malaya. However, when the British return, the banana paper money became worthless overnight. It is named so because of the picture of the banana tree on the paper notes.

Withdraw All Savings from EPF at age 75

When you reach age 75, you need to withdraw all your EPF savings and not park in EPF because you will not get any more dividends. By age 80, if the savings are not withdrawn, it will be transferred to the bank. The rule has recently been implemented and published in the press for the public to know. So, here is a reminder for those who missed out reading on it in the newspapers.

Last year 2009, we got about 5.45% interests rates for the dividend from EPF, which is higher than the current Fixed Deposit rate at around 2.75% which is low and will not beat inflation at around 4%. Some sources even put the inflation rate at 6% but personally, I think that is too high.

For inflation rate of 4%, it takes about 18 years for your money to become half its value. While for inflation rate of 6%, the your money becomes half of its value in 12 years! This is scary and that is why we need to save as much as we can while we are still working and gainfully employed. Otherwise, your retirement years will be woeful and not golden years.

Money Talks : Transforming and restructuring healthcare to save cost – does it work?

The often given reason to transform and re-structure is money. It is often said that we are spending too much on health (3.6% of GDP in 2007 and 7% of total country expenditure). So we must cut down. For some reason, the rationale for this escapes me. We are hoping to spend even less and hoping to get better or equivalent healthcare. In others words, we wish to live longer and better while cutting down expenditure. I suppose the only way is to cut down the “leakages” in the system.

Anyway, the Government is looking at cutting down healthcare expenditure, saying that it can no longer afford to spend so much on healthcare. It is almost universal that when governments look to save healthcare cost, they turn to organisations to manage medical care for an agreed sum of money. So the government will set aside a certain amount of money (let’s say RM30bil), and ask the business managers to control healthcare spending.



What is the worldwide experience with SHIO?

In one simple word, BAD. In the US, some MCOs have, after collecting the money, defaulted and declared bankruptcy. MCOs have not done much good in the US. They are about to reform to come nearer to our system, if politics allow, with a public option. The UK-NHS system is full of shortcomings. There is still a waiting-list. Ask Singapore’s Minister Mentor about his experience when his wife fell ill in UK. That is why many from the UK and US come over to Thailand, India, South Africa, Singapore, and some to Malaysia, to get healthcare (medical tourism).

A Brilliant Company

I have been reading books on the stocks and to learn how to interpret financial reports in the newspapers. Also, I have recently open an online share trading account with Public Bank but am not in a hurry to trade yet until I know all the facts and figures and how to make money from the stock market. It is important to know how to read the charts and predict bull runs to make a gain. I plan to be a fundamental analysis investor or long term investor and not short term investor or also known as technical analysis investor.

There are ways to create alternative energy from waste. This is a brilliant idea that not many people are aware of. You might like to know that a company by the name of N-Viro International Corporation develops and licenses its technology to municipalities and private companies. Their patented processes use lime and/or mineral-rich, combustion byproducts to treat, pasteurize, immobilize and convert wastewater sludge and other bio-organic wastes into biomineral agricultural and soil-enrichment products with real market value. The company has generated sales in excess of $40 million dollars, since its initial public offering in October of 1993. With this huge share market capitalization, no wonder investors are ever ready to put in their money and faith in this brilliant idea and trust this company to deliver more profits. Their web site is at http://www.nviro.com where you can browse for more details.

Most youth yearn to be millionaires before they are 35

An online survey has revealed that 96% of today’s youth aspire to become millionaires and three-quarters of them believe that they can by age 35. They also indicated that this was the most important goal in their lives.

The Sunday Star survey “So you want to be a millionaire?” with YouthSays and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman polled 1,678 people below the age of 30 thoughout the country. The 96% figure is significantly higher than that expected by some financial planners.

Securities Commission-licensed financial planner Rajen Devadason said: “I’m surprised such a high proportion of respondents want to be millionaires. In my own experience, it is usually in the 60% to 70% range.”He pointed out that most of the respondents were between 18 and 27 years and at that age, most people usually did not think too much about their future.

“They are busy living for the exciting present,” he said. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s children and youth psychology specialist Dr Khaidzir Ismail, however, said the findings showed that those surveyed had high self-esteem.

“At least they have the motivation even if the goal is not easy to achieve,” he said. “I believe that if they are given the opportunity and shown the way, they will achieve it.” Rajen, however, found it disturbing that 75% of the respondents said to become a millionaire was the single most important thing in their lives. “It is soul-damaging,” he added.

Help University College vice-president and psychologist Dr Goh Chee Leong said that while a big number aspired to be millionaires, only about half agreed that it would make them happier. Dr Goh said he was pleased that only a minority (25%) would be willing to give up ethics to be become a millionaire.

He also pointed out some conflicts within the respondents. “On one hand, they say it is the most important thing in their life, but at the same time, they are not willing to sacrifice family time or social life.”

Dr Khaidzir said this might be due to idealism on the part of the respondents. “Usually millionaires will have no time for family or social life,” he said. “The respondents are still young and may have a different perception of how things should work.”

As for the most important factor to becoming a millionaire, 47% believed that it all boiled down to chance and opportunities – being at the right place at the right time. Only 34% believed it was due to hard work and determination.

“They might have a fatalistic view of wealth acquisition. It’s a case of whatever will be will be,” said Dr Goh. “It almost sounds as if they are not in control of whatever they can achieve or not.” To another question, only 25% of the respondents said they would marry someone just to become a millionaire.

“This shows the majority of respondents believe in true love,” said Dr Goh. As for the respondents’ idols, among the common names listed were Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Tan Sri Anandha Krishnan, Tan Sri Robert Kuok and Datuk Seri Tony Fernandes.