Life is about choices

It’s been several years since I neither met nor spoke with my AIA insurance agent Josephine. I signed my first AIA insurance policy with her when I was working in Micropolis Limited Singapore. That was about 12 years ago. It was thus a surprise when she rang me up last week. We met up last Friday evening and chatted for hours till 10.30pm in the evening. She told me she left her AIA insurance agent job to start up her own consultancy and training business firm about 10 years ago. Nevertheless she continues to maintain her AIA insurance agent portfolio, a very smart and wise move on her part.

According to her it’s been really tough to start up and manage her own business firm. She has to work on most of the weekends to keep the business moving. Office politics were rampant and she has to deal with unreasonable and nasty relatives who were unfortunately also her business partners. Finally she had enough of it after struggling for over nine years and therefore decided to call it quit. She is still in the process of winding up her business and is now back to doing insurance agent job again. She told me she loss quite a lot of money when she winds up her consultancy and training business firm. She did not tell me how much she loss; I could sense from her expression the loss has been quite significant and considerable enough to perplex and impact her health. She suffered from high blood pressure for several months and her doctor has advised her to take things in stride. Don’t get me wrong though. Apart high blood pressure she seems to be in excellent health for a woman of her age. She has neither gain nor loses weight tremendously and I must compliment her for that despite her busy schedule.


Apart from the headache of having to face office politics, she also reckon that it is time for her to spend more time with her son whom she feels she has kind of neglected the pass 10 years due to her commitment to her business firm. Her son is now 14 years old and according to her a bit out of control. I told her she need not be too alarm since most kids of growing age tend to be more rebellious. Most kids in Singapore grow up after they complete their national service.

Josephine is an amazing woman to begin with. She possessed the kind of fighting spirit that most of us lack. Life is all about choices. Sometimes we make right choices and at times wrong choices in life. No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. All of us have our ups and downs in life. We all learn from mistakes. What matter most is that we should persevere in times of difficulties in life. We ought to be willing to accept and acknowledge that some choices we make aren’t the best one in life and therefore we should quickly move on with life instead of clinging to some of the bad choices we made and regretting it but not doing anything about it.
Josephine demonstrated her ability and willingness to take up her old job, that of selling insurance policy. Apart from insurance policies, she also provides financial planning services. I could sense that she is not the kind of person that is into the get rich quick scheme type. She is willing to trade her time and efforts for long-term benefits in particular of that pertaining to customer loyalty.

We only live this once; surely any mistakes we made in life should not deter us from pursuing our goals and dreams. Do not let mistakes that we made to discourage us in life.
Pickup the broken the pieces and move on with life. After all, like I said, life is all about choices.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.

Cheers
Richard

Hair care

Hair loss prevention and treatment is a multi billion dollar industry.
Majority of the people in particular those below the age of 35 who suffer from hair loss symptoms in one way or another are generally willing to pay thousands of dollars to seek cure for their hair loss problems. There is no universal cure for hair loss. Described below are some basic hair care practices that are important to help reduce early hair loss problems.


General
A healthy lifestyle will mean healthier hair for you. Excessive stress, smoking, not exercising and not eating nutritiously are not healthy for your hair.

Hair Products (Gel, mouse, hair spray...)
Avoid and if not possible try to reduce the frequency of using hair styling products with alcohol that dries out hair. Do take note that most hair tonic contains small amount of alcohol.
Avoid putting hair styling products directly on your scalp; if you put it on your scalp you'll clog the pores on your head. The same goes for hair conditioner that is supposedly to be applied to the end tips of the hair. Do not apply hair conditioner directly on your scalp. Do not use hair conditioner if you have oily scalp.

Swimming
Before entering a pool, wet your hair so your hair will soak up the initial water instead of the chlorinated water.
When swimming wear a cap to protect your hair from chlorinated water, if you choose not to wear a cap make sure you shampoo and condition your hair right after you are done swimming.

Drying
Hot air can be damaging to your hair so when using a hair dryer use the cool setting.
Don't leave the blow dryer in one spot for more than a few seconds, keep it moving and at a good distance away from your hair.
To speed up the drying process, pat your hair dry with a towel and let the remaining moisture in your hair dry naturally. Block dries your hair with a towel gently, do not rub your hair against the towel while it is wet cause wet hair is brittle and can break easily when rub against the towel.
Gently use your fingers or a pick to untangle any knots while your hair is drying.

Shampooing and Conditioning
Buy shampoos & conditioners that match your hair type, trial and error is the best way to find out what specific hair product is best for your hair.

Combing/Brushing
Use a brush whose bristles are made from natural animal hairs, it is softer and more flexible that means less damage will be done to your hair.
Hair is most fragile when it is wet so avoid brushing or combing when it's wet, or else it will cause breakage, wait until your hair is almost completely dry before brushing it.
Use brushes/combs with widely spaced bristles/teeth and smooth tips. Sharp toothcombs can damage your hair, cause split ends, and scratch your scalp.

Shampooing
It is important to wash your hair, shampooing removes dirt, dead skin cells, hair oils, any hair products you may put into your hair.
When shampooing, rinse your hair out with mild warm water first before applying any shampoo to remove any dust, dirt, and any other foreign items, then apply the shampoo onto your scalp and massage it gently with your fingertips and work your way outwards. After you are done make sure that you thoroughly rinse out your hair to remove any shampoo residue that may be left.
Shampoo residue may dry your scalp/hair and or attract dirt. It is recommended that you only lather once to avoid drying your hair out, if you have oily hair, lathering again may stimulate your oil glands to create even more oil than normal.
You should wash your hair as often as you feel necessary to keep it clean, but a general rule is for oily hair you should wash it every day or every other day and for dry hair only wash it 2-3 times a week.
Try rotating the shampoo and conditioner periodically, your hair responds differently to different products.
Use a conditioner after shampooing if you have dry scalp, it'll moisturize your hair, give it extra protection, add shine, reduce static, and makes it easier to untangle.
Use a leave in conditioner, it'll hydrate and protect your hair. A leave in conditioner on your hair is the equivalent of moisturizer on your face.
When conditioning your hair, try to spread conditioner evenly through out your hair and leave it in for a couple of minutes before rinsing out your hair.
Put the conditioner in at about an inch away from the scalp, the roots of your hair contain the most oils and usually don't need the extra conditioning.
Be gentle when shampooing and conditioning, don't use excessive force rubbing your hair, remember hair is most vulnerable when wet.

Diet & food intake
Add iron and minerals in the natural form in your diet.
If your hair is oily, cut down on fried food and fat. Drink plenty of water.
Cut down on carbonated cold drinks and drink plenty of water instead. Most drink and food contains preservative and coloring that are not only not good for our hair but also bad for our health in general.

Hair bends
Never use a rubber band on your hair as it can pull and damage hair considerably.
Add iron and minerals in the natural form in your diet.
If you color your hair, limit coloring it to once ever 2 months. Hair coloring damages your hair and the less frequently you color it the better.

Christmas dinner

Time sure pass quickly. It’s again Christmas. I had a wonderful Christmas dinner with my elder brother and his wife & her mum and younger sister at the Dragon Gate restaurant located at Harbor Front. The dinner was well worth the money; the prawns and crabs were very fresh and so were the fish and the chicken dishes. The dinner lasted over 3 hours and we enjoy the great fellowship while savoring the delicious food.

Wish for downpour and there comes the flood.

Just a few months ago most of the population in South East Asia in particular Malaysia and Singapore wish there were more frequent heavy downpour so as to expedite the dozing of the hot spots and jungle fire in Indonesia which were then causing serious haze and air pollution problem.
Malay witch doctors better known as ‘bomoh’ were even called by the government of Malaysia to help pray for heavy rain. Due to the sporadic nature of the hot spots and the scale of the wide spread of jungle fires which occurs randomly, most expert agree that only mother nature in the form of heavy storm and downpour could help to stop the haze.
There was no heavy downpour as everyone hopes for and the haze continues unabated for weeks causing widespread respiratory health issue and economic impact to the surrounding regions. Air flights were delayed due to poor visibility and in some cases school lessons were called off indefinitely.
Well, the haze problem is over; in place of the haze we now have the flood instead caused by heavy downpour, something we wish for during the peak of the haze. The monsoon flood has left thousands homeless and scores of victims swept away by strong over river currents.
Have it ever occur to you that what we wish for may just come too soon or too late resulting in new problems? The heavy downpour we desperately hope and wish for to overcome the haze came a little too late I suppose.

New Year Resolution (2007)

The New Year is just around the corner. What is your New Year resolution? Do you dream of becoming more successful in your career, to be wealthier, healthier, to achieve your goals be it from those you made in the past year or the new coming year or etc?
I guess all said and done our New Year resolution should lead us to ask ourselves as to what we would like our life to stand for and what we would like to accomplish in that which are truly meaningful and important to us. It is important for us to ensure that the goals we set comes genuinely from our heart and not from others and that the goals are attainable no matter how far fetch it may be from a glance.

Others may inspire us, help to point us to the right way and offer help in different ways. However it is important to remember that to be successful and achieve our goals and dreams, all those resolutions, goals and decisions worth pursuing have to have root in our heart.

Winds of change

Experience golf player knows that the direction and the velocity of the wind could affect the outcome of any golf game. The effect of the wind depends on the ball trajectory. Hitting the ball against and into the wind has greater impact than hitting the ball along the same direction of the wind. The experience golf player knows when the wind is an ally and when the wind quickly becomes the foe. The wind direction is unpredictable at times and could easily change. A good golf player does not waste time unnecessary and leave it to chances when the wind is to his or her advantage. The smart player seizes every opportunity and gives his or her best shots when the wind is on their side.

The same goes for our daily life isn’t it? Opportunity does not always knock twice.
So next time if you happen to come across any opportunity don’t just sit on it and do nothing, don’t procrastinate, act on it while you can for timing is critical in ensuring the success in some of the things that we do.

Why not write a book?

Do you know that you can make money by writing and publishing books?
Consider JK Rowling the author of Harry Porter series, a homemaker turn multi millionaire. Then there’s the 16-year-old boy by the name Christopher Paolini who wrote the kiddy story ‘Eragon’; ‘Eragon’ caught the attention of moviemakers and was turn into a movie this year. I have not read the ‘Eragon’ storybook yet; I have to admit though that I find the movie ‘Eragon’ extremely disappointing the least to say. The story is a far fetch from LOTR (Lord Of the Rings).

Carly Fiorina is no stranger to the corporate world. The former CEO of HP was ousted yet able to earn money through the book that she wrote and publish recently entitled ‘Tough Choices’. During the five and half years that Carly ran HP, the stock declined 50 percent. It was estimated that 35 thousands people lost their job during Carly tenor as CEO of HP. Despite her unpopularity, her book ‘Tough Choices’ are selling like hot cakes worldwide. If a JK Rowling, Christopher Paolini or Carly can write books, I am sure so can we. You don’t need to be gifted to be able to write and publish your thoughts and ideas. Pick up skills and techniques with regards to screen and story writing and be on your way to write books of your topics of choice.

Mr. Yes Man

Have you ever experience working for a boss who seems only know how to say ‘Yes’ to every single request put forward by other departments or cross functional groups?
I certainly do with some of the previous bosses I work for in my previous companies.
At times I wonder what these bosses are there for since all they do is to agree and to accede to all incoming requests? Some people are just simply by nature too nice and could not bring themselves to say no to others. Some people are afraid to offend others because they feel it is better to be in everyone good books for you never know when perhaps you might just being unlucky enough to end up reporting to one of those people who don’t like you because you do not entertain their request so to speak.
If you find yourself working for such a boss then I suggest it is time for you look around to start making plans to move on. There is no point working for someone who would rather compromise theirs and your dignity by saying yes to everything even if it means at your expense.
On second thought why not consider becoming your own boss instead of having to take orders from others? No Mr. Yes boss to worry about and having the opportunity to pursue your own dreams. I am sure everyone yearns to have wealth, health and freedom. What better way to achieve it through network marketing? Do give a thought about this.

Cheers

Penny-wise pound-foolish.

I know of this guy who just recently bought a new car that cost over seventy thousand dollars, bought a classy condominium priced at over 3000 dollars per square feet, invested thousands of dollars into high risk trading stocks, well you know, the sort of guy that loves all the finer things in life. Therefore it surprises me that this guy despite his splurging on properties and cars would become extremely concern and nervous when dealing with small money issues. Time is precious to most of us yet this guy has no qualms of wasting time to try to strike a bargain with shops, all for the sake of saving perhaps ten dollars or less over small items.

Just a couple of days ago we had dinner together, I took the opportunity to introduce him to the home ultrasonic bubble wave spa. He ask me how much it cost and I told him that it cost less than 10 cents investment a day given the reliability of the product. I told him that the amazing product cost just slightly over two thousand dollars with lifetime service warranty and that he could settle the bill by credit interest free installment plan over a period of one year. That works out to be about just two hundred dollars per month. He told me it is too expensive and he could not afford it. He said he need to consider it for couple of days before getting back to me. I was sure that he understood, aware and was indeed convinced of the benefits that come along with hydrotherapy treatment, however it is just his nature that he could not bring himself to spend money on small items. Did he finally buy it? Nope, he didn’t. What a pity isn’t it for such people, penny-wise pound-foolish.

Being first is all that matters.

We all have heard of the saying ‘Slow and steady win the race’. The story about the tortoise and the hare teach us the importance of perseverance and of bidding our time with regards to achieving our goals amidst life challenges.
No doubt patience is a virtue however we need to be mindful that in today’s fast paced environment, speed and timing is equally important.
Most of us remember that Neil Armstrong was the first man to land on the moon. How many of us though ever heard or remember who the second man was that landed on the moon? Likewise it is not surprising that some athletes won the gold medal by a mere fraction of seconds apart from the closest rival, the silver medalist; A fraction of seconds is all that determines the triumph victor from the dejected looser so to speak.
Thus the lesson learned today is that speed and timing is crucial to achieving our goals. It is not enough to head towards the right direction leading to our ultimate goal, it is also equally important for us to achieve our goals be whatever they are in the shortest possible time so as to reap the maximum benefit.

The SG-2000 home ultrasonic bubble wave spa is one of the very few spa apparatus in the market to firstly support the 3-In-1 features such as ultrasonic wave, ozone and far infrared. Likewise it is also one of the few spa apparatus that firstly meets the stringent European standard requirement, namely the CSA certification.

Come, be part of a dynamic and aspiring team in promoting and marketing the SG-2000.
http://youthfountain.150m.com

Too good to learn from others?

The younger generations, in particular students spends more time criticizing, arguing and debating rather than learning. There is a new school of thoughts that encourages children and adults alike to ask questions and to challenge answers so as to stimulate thinking and to improve their mental reasoning and logic thinking power.

No doubt sometimes it is important for us not to take answers at face value or to take answers for granted, nevertheless we have to be mindful that sometimes we waste time unnecessary when we cast doubts on answer and advice given to us. We need to exercise respect, humility, humbleness and a genuine willingness to learn and to accept advice and answers from others if necessary. We have one mouth and two ears thus the more we should learn to listen and do less talking Unless you're confused about something, of course then you should ask questions.

There is no point in trying to go out on a quest to seek for answers and solutions to our problems by our own self where others has experienced similar situations and live through it successfully. Learn from those who have gone before us to solve similar problems in their daily life.
For instance, why take the unnecessary risks and trouble to learn how to invest on your own instead of learning and getting sound advice from investor and financial experts?
Don’t try to waste time argue, get the basics right first and learn from others.

It is relatively easy to pick up any subject. Find a good mentor or a book and just shut up and learn! Find the appropriate GOOD source of information and follow it passionately.
Once you've finished learning everything you can learn from that one source, review your progress. See how much improvement you have made and consider if the information you have gathered to date is sufficient to address your needs. If not find another source and learn from it. It doesn't matter if the new information is different than what you've been learning. You just absorb new information and keep it at the back of your mind. Digest the information and do so till it integrates into your own system and you are convinced it address your needs.

Always find out what’s best for you, what has worked consistently for other successful people, and then duplicate the effort because duplicating an effort leads to duplicating the result. Having said that it is also important to remember that the best teachers are NOT those who know better; it is those who know and DO better. Any advice or suggestion can only be useful in helping you to help yourself. So take action to realize your dreams whatever they are.

Lesson of the day: Be humble and learn from others and duplicate their effort likewise, don’t reinvent the wheel. You will see better and faster results!

If you are serious about maintaining good health and earning residue income, then you should check out the SG2000 at http://www.youthfountain.150m.com

Cheers

Keeping a pet may help to improve your overall wellbeing.

Did you know that keeping pets at home could help to reduce stress, improve our quality life and thus reduce the aging process? Sounds unbelievable? Oh yes, there may be some truth in it according to surveys and research done by medical and health experts.
Some experts believe the benefit of keeping a pet is more than of emotional rather than physical aspects. Regardless, our emotional wellbeing is important and has direct impact upon our health.
It was reported that singles tend to live a happier and enriching life if they keep pets at home. Some pets make good companionship in life. Unlike your spouse, pets don’t shout or rattle at you. Pets are good listener but unable to advice unfortunately, not a big shortcoming though since most of us prefers a sympathetic ear rather than advice when we are in bad mood. Couples are also known to have lower heart rate and blood pressure if they keep pets at home.
Owning a pet reduces the number of visits to the doctor, prolongs survival after a heart attack, and wards off depression, says James Serpell, PhD, director of the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania. (His family has a cat, a dog, a large green iguana, a bearded dragon, and a dozen fish.)

Would like to know more about the benefit of getting a pet?
Check it out at http://preventdisease.com/home/tips41.shtml

Cheers!

Slimming

Body slimming is a multibillion-dollar business. Why is that so?
A major problem today is that over 60% of adults in first-world countries are overweight.
Commercial body slimming treatment programme does not come cheap. It could cost as much as tens of thousand of dollars to sign up for slimming course.
It is such a lucrative business so much so that even certified medical professionals such as doctors are partnering with cosmetic firms to develop unique slimming programs tailor to individual needs. Slimming and diet products ranging from drinks to pills are easily and widely available, quite often being sold off the shelf counters.
The related health problems will cripple our medical systems in decades to come. These people need to know the truth about why diets & diet pills don't work long-term & about how they CAN shed excess fat and keep it off effectively & safely.

Here’s an interesting audio by Dr Strand regarding fat and obesity.
Check it out at http://www.getresponse.com/t/6971972/

He reveals:
~ Why diets and diet pills don't work long-term.
~ The facts on how certain foods make you feel hungrier and
cause you to eat more and stack on the weight.
~ How other foods help you to feel full and enable your body
to "release fat" and shed weight: naturally, safely, effectively.
~ How to greatly lower your risk of diabetes & heart disease.

Keen to hear your feedback on the audio.

Apart from this audio, here's another link to the SG-2000, the ultrasonic bubble wave that could help in weigth loss.

Check it out at http://www.youthfountain.150m.com

Linear versus residue income

Linear income is income where you exchange or trade the number of hours you work for payment in the form of a fee, wage, commission or salary. With the economic crunch and with more and more companies downsizing, linear income is becoming more and more difficult to maintain and sustain. Even communist run countries such as China and Vietnam are opening up or privatizing many of their government own industry sectors. The so-called iron rice bowl associated with government-funded industries is a thing of the past.

Many people suddenly found themselves out of job as company restructured or relocated to other countries so as to reduce operating cost so as to maintain competitiveness.
Despite the uncertainties associated with linear income, the majority of the Singapore population preferred to earn their living via linear income. The wonderful promises of residue income associated with network marketing and other investment schemes does not seems to bother or create any upbeat excitement at all. Why is that so?

Firstly, most of us would prefer to stay within our own comfort zone. The thought of having to do something different in particular with regards to actively seeking new prospects and clients is enough to put us off. Furthermore, many of us are so get used with the routine life of working for others, not having to worry if the company we work for or the department we are attach to is doing well or not so long as we get to keep our job and receive our monthly paycheck on time. Indeed there are many successful people who have gain financial freedom through linear income earnings and retire comfortably when they reach the early 50s. The retirement age in Singapore is 65 years old though. At times I wonder if this is what we call quality way of life, to work till we reach 65 years old and after that to retire in the old folks home perhaps cause even though we may have the necessary savings till to keep us moving, we may not have the health to enjoy it by then. Unless you are the top ten percent high-income earners, most people would not even dare consider nor think about early retirement.

On the other hand, it is equally alarming to know that many people, not just in Singapore but equally true in America where people retired broke without adequate savings.

It was said that it is normal for a person to be affected by retrenchment at least once in his lifetime working career. For some people, retrenchment benefits could be a welcoming reward indeed, especially for those who have work for decades with the company. Most companies in Singapore still adopt the 1-year to1 month compensation benefit policy even though the Government is not endorsing nor favor it. There are also those who are not as lucky and do not qualify for attractive compensation package either because of the lack of years of service. (Some companies set minimum years of service in order to qualify for the1 year 1-month compensation benefit while most companies in America do not have such scheme at all.)


There are also those who are really lucky enough to quickly get a new job in matter of days or so after collecting the big pay severance package. Luck is not always on our side though. Such lucky situation is more the exception rather than the norm.

My personal thoughts are that linear income wage earners has nothing much to worry about so long as they live within their own means, keep regular savings and maintain good health. For others who wish to retire early in life and looking forward to achieve financial independence in life linear income is definitely not the best option to consider unless you happen to be the chief executive officer or holding a top management position of a company.

Don’t wait till you are old to want to pursue your dreams whatever they are. Life is unpredictable. Hope for the best but be prepare for the worst. Work to live and not live to work. Dare to dream and set your goals high enough to attain for without any aspirations and goals we will tend to procrastinate. Procrastination is the biggest

Here’s an interesting article regarding linear versus residue income. Enjoy reading!
http://www.article-voip.com/Article/Linear-Income-vs--Residual-Income--Knowing-the-Difference-Will-Change-Your-Life-/47

Getting the retrenchment benefit

If your boss likes you, chances are that he will try his best to retain you by minimizing your chances of being short listed for retrenchment when times are bad and the company needs to downsize by laying off workers.

If your boss really hates you, again chances are that he might try his best to retain you so as to prevent you from being able to qualify for retrenchment benefits. This is more so if you are long service employee. Instead your boss may become nasty by redeploying you elsewhere till you give up.

Looking at the bigger picture

Have it ever occur to you that it could be very tiring to squat down to clear weeds from your backyard garden? Well unless you are using the lawn mover to speed up the trimming and clearing of weeds, you may find it to be a backbreaking and unwelcoming task indeed. Quite often I miss out those long obvious weeds sticking out from the soil directly underneath where I was squatting. Our peripheral view seems to be that much narrow, obscure and confined as we squat down to hunt for weeds. We tend to miss out those patches of weeds that are located close by and instead go for those weeds that are within our arm length, so long as it is comfortable and within our easy reach and visible comfortable view. I find that I could do a cleaner and more systematic job of clearing the weeds if I would just take a break in between weed clearing session, stood up for a minute so to have a better view of what’s left to be clear within the vicinity of where I squat. This is what I term getting to look at the bigger picture so to speak.

I suppose it is the same with our life isn’t it? Take time to ponder our goals and actions in life periodically. Unexpected events may strike anytime and post challenges to our life. Never give up nor make hasty decisions. In all things, take time to relax in between our hard work, look at the bigger picture and then consider our plans and actions appropriately.

Lessons to be learnt from weed clearing.

I have been clearing weeds from my brother’s large garden for the past few weeks. Clearing weeds and wild grasses may not seem to be such a big deal after all, neither is it a difficult nor interesting job however I soon realize that there are many lessons we could learn from such activities. For a start, the earlier we start to go about our business in clearing the weeds before daybreak while the environment is still cooling the more focus and more efficient are we in clearing the weeds. As the temperature starts to rise after daybreak, and when the sun sets in, the heat and the humidity could easily make us feel extremely uncomfortable and cause us to loose our focus and concentration. As a result, our efficiency and productivity drops drastically, our energy gets quickly zap out and we perspire more than the weeds that we rid out. Pretty soon we will have to call it off a day.

Secondly, always be reminded to put on protection gloves to protect our hands from insect bites, thorns and other sharp objects while we clear the weeds.

Thirdly, we should clear the weeds by uprooting it from the soil. Most weeds have deep roots entrench in the soil and quickly re-grown if we leave the roots intact. Use the appropriate gardening tools to aid the uprooting of weeds. Some people prefer to use of herbicide to quickly rid the garden off weeds. I would prefer the formal method though.


Lesson#1
Act upon the earliest opportunity date when the situation is in our favor. Don’t wait nor procrastinate till the tide turns against us. This time tested advice is applicable to any situation and circumstances. It is the same as the old saying ‘ Strike while is iron rod is hot’. Time and tide waits for no man, thus don’t wait nor assume that the same opportunity will knock twice.

Lesson#2
Always consider risk factors with regards to any issues that we might face and develop the necessary contingency plans accordingly. Never assume that everything will go well. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. It does not make sense for us of having to dip our hands into hot boiling water so as to confirm if it is hot or not. Use common sense in all that we do to minimize harm and risk to ourselves.


Lesson#3
Treat or address the cause rather than the symptoms so to speak. All too often we are so busy trying to make things right rather than doing the right thing. Pick up and apply the relevant skills to solve problems down to its root cause quickly and effectively.


Attach is a photo-shot of me clearing the weeds from my mum’s grave on 20th November 2006. Time sure pass quickly, it’s been 30 years since she left this world for a better place.

Health and Wealth

Healthier people are generally more productive and clock more total hours working in the weekdays because they don’t normally need to take as much sick leave. Furthermore the impact to the organization could be quite significant if there is no one else competent nor proficient enough to address urgent issues that arises in the company while the person is on medical leave. Critical project timeline may be affected as a result of this and this may cost the company loss of revenue or worst still the lost of important business deals altogether.

Apart of possible impact to the company, poor health also has direct impact on ourselves whereby if we belong to the category of those who earn linear income no work means no pay and no money. Our resources such as energy, time and money may be exhausted due to high cost of the medical treatment and the matter is further aggravated if we do not protect ourselves financially adequately with medical insurance coverage.

I am reminded of a fellow colleague who died of lung cancer about 15 years ago. He was a successful man in his early 30s and has everything going well for him, having being promoted to director of the mechanical engineering department. He has a wonderful family, a beautiful wife and a one-year adorable old baby. I guess no one would have expect a fine young man with such a promising career to be down with third stage lung cancer when everything was going so smooth sailing for him. As far as I could remember he neither smoke nor drink. He was approach by an insurance planner a few months before he found out he had contracted lung cancer. He believed that the company medical insurance coverage was adequate for him thus he was not convince he needed extra personal medical insurance coverage. He was hospitalized and on medical leave for over 6 months and when his expensive medical bill treatment exceeds the company medical insurance coverage, the department pulls together with donations (not much though) to ease his family financial burden. We were told that he went to as far as to San Diego for exploratory and experimental lung cancer treatment in one of the well-known cancer research hospital. His family were left financially burden with the heavy medical treatment. Eventually he lost the fight against the terminal disease and left his family burden with heavy medical bill debts.

So the next time do remember that as much as our eyes are fixed on wealth creation, we should always be mindful of our health for without health what is wealth if we can’t live to enjoy it? Do invest in your financial health as much as your financial wealth.
For a start do check out the following medical and health promoting equipment at
http://www.youthfountain.150m.com

Trust me, you will not regret owning on of these equipments. You have got nothing to loose.

Success & Failure

Every healthy baby stumbles and falls numerous times during the walking learning phase. A baby never consider each unsuccessful attempt to walk as a failure, rather each unsuccessful attempt further strengthen the baby’s desire to be even more determine to get on his or her feet. Consider the butterfly emerging from its cocoon. It takes the butterfly great efforts to free itself from the cocoon.

Alas as we grow older we began to become more conscious about failure in whatever things that we do. We are afraid, embarrass or discouraged easily and quickly when people brand or called us failures. Sometimes we even condemn ourselves, directly or indirectly as failures when we fail to achieve our goals and dreams, be whatever they are.
There is nothing to be afraid of about failure. Let us be bold and confront failure head on. After all, failure is but just a temporary stumbling block within our path to success eventually. We should not give up nor quit when we failed. We truly failed when we quit or give up on our self. Furthermore, we began our walk towards failure the moment we stop learning. Thus always remember to make learning a life long process. Spend 15 minutes or so in a day everyday to read on topics of our interest. You will be amazed how the knowledge that you gathered from reading 15 minutes or so a day would quickly add up to equivalent of years of experience.

Life is full of challenges. Learn to overcome difficulties and hardships in life through patience, determination and hope. We are not born to be a failure neither is anyone a born looser. We fail only because we let failure to get a hold on us. If someone is able to achieve success in life so can we.

How do we measure success? Different people have different opinion about success. Some equate success with big cars, high career jobs, nice houses, expensive and luxury lifestyle while some equates success to the peace and tranquility of the state of the human mind. No doubt it feels good to have lots of money, the gratification and the feeling of being able to do the things that we hardly or never even dare thought or dream off is simply just wonderful.
Hard to agree though, success should not be measure in terms dollars and cents rather in terms of the quality of our life.

Checkout the following link: http://www.forbes.com/work/2004/09/21/cx_mh_0921happiness.html


Brutality of the police force
How brutal would some black sheep in the police force be? The barbaric and senseless murder of a 28-year-old Mongolian woman by the police officers in KL, Malaysia is all that stands between sanity and complete madness. Shot execution style twice in the head and body blown up to pieces with 4 C-4 plastic hand grenades so as to erase all evidence.
Prior to this incident, the Malaysian police force is already under heavy fire and criticism for corruption and prison violence. The Malaysian police force now has a lot to answer and it would take more than mere words and apology to win the heart and confidence of the people.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/241663/1/.html

Actions do not make things happen?

We were often taught from young to take actions and work hard to attain wealth, success and happiness in life. Anthony Robbins, the well known motivation speaker mentioned in his book ‘Awaken The Giant Within’ pointed out that we must not procrastinate but to quickly take actions to improve our quality life for without actions, dreams will always remains dreams period. It was thus interesting to know that there are successful people who do not share the same sentiments and thoughts as Anthony Robbins. Incidentally, a man by the name Dr Robert Anthony believes that the actions we took would in fact hinder us from reaching our goals and objective.
How is that so? Well, why not check it out at

http://www.scienceofgettingrich.net/action.pdf.

Do you agree with Dr Robert Anthony research findings? I believe the majority would take sides and agree with Anthony Robbins thoughts instead. I too personally feel that dreams without immediate actions would result in procrastination and this in term hinder us from reaching our goals. No action no positive outcome so to speak.

Cheers!

Indispensable leads to no promotion?

It is not surprising for some people to want to keep vital knowledge and expertise they possess with regards to their profession and responsibilities to themselves. Some people are just plain simply worry or afraid that their job may be threatened if someone else in the company is equally capable of undertaking and performing their roles and responsibilities. No doubt the more proficient, knowledgeable and skillful we are with our job and the less people knows about our area of work or understanding our work, the least likely it will be for us to be axed or retrench during company down turn. However we should also take note that the more indispensable we become with regards to our job responsibilities and roles or if we become too good technically within our area of work, the less likely it would be for us to get promoted to the management level simply for the fact that there is no one to fill up and undertake our responsibilities. Have you heard of the joke whereby usually it's only the less technical people who gets to be promoted to the management position? We could learn something from this joke isnt it?

In summary do share your knowledge and expertise with others in the team. You got nothing to loose and everything to gain by doing so.

Cheers!

Job description (24/7 availability)

A positive, “can do” attitude; 24/7 availability; extremely high energy level and resourcefulness; ability to thrive in the face of demanding schedules and ambitious timelines; ability to lead and motivate are crucial to the success of this role.

The above are actual excerpts from a job advertisement that was posted in the Internet one day prior to the date of this blog posting. It is not a very high profile job so to speak; it caught my attention simply due to the 24/7 availability requirement and high expectation out from the this job.

It reminds me of a job interview that I had for the position of an engineering technical support assistant manager at a MNC Company in Singapore a few years ago. The guy who does the interview was a Chinese real stuck up and arrogant chap. I believed he was in his midst 40s, so that means most probably he is no older than me by 3 years at most. The pay was somewhat meager compare to the high expectation of the job requirement. I have neither problem nor concern with putting long hours into work to complete and meet critical timeline projects if necessary. After all I would consider myself a workaholic and have very demanding and expectation on the quality of my deliverables.
At the end of the interview I told the interviewer that the job does not suit me and that we should learn to work smarter and not harder. Computer systems can automate most of the day-to-day tasks and other complex operations if the systems are design carefully.
Putting the extra hours to complete a project is different from having a clause in your job description that stipulates round the clock twenty-four hours availability. Of course I do understand that some jobs requires personal sacrifice such as those related to services for instance medical workers, in particular medical doctors, church leaders such as pastors and many more. It is also common for entrepreneurs and business start-up owners to commit extra long hours to build their own businesses.

The round the clock service availability is usually self implied but not appropriate to be imprint in black and white for any job descriptions.

Having a clause in the JD of a secular job that stipulates a 24-hour availability is ridiculous in my opinion and those who sign up for a job with such nature has either never given a deep thought to the implication of it, no personal social life, desperately in need of money or perhaps enjoy being treated like a slave. It is simply not worthwhile to put all your time working for a company that you do not own; to be on stand-by round the clock so to speak;

Given a choice, wouldn’t it be better for you to commit if you have to; round the clock service and efforts to your own business startup rather than for another company? After all, if you succeed with your own business, you reap the maximum benefits and rewards. You may get rewarded with pay increase and bonus if the company you work for do well, you may get the sack or layoff if the company does not do well, regardless of how many hours you have invested and put into your work.

The choice is yours; the battle is yours.

Last but not least, attached is a snapshot of the newly renovated continental style kitchen of my co-own nice and cosy 3 storey house in JB, Malaysia.


Have a nice day.

All it takes is one bad action

Have you ever experience the sense of utter frustration, disappointment and guilty when you lose a game tournament. Try to visualize the fact that you were doing well in the 1st and 2nd set of an important game but completely fumble and lose your touch in the final game set thus blowing your chances of winning the trophy or the medal. Lack of focus, concentration, patience, stamina and an increase of tiredness and lethargic conditions may one way or another contributes to loosing a match.

Seagate Product Quality and Design Reliability department organized a team building-bowling tournament on the 10th of November. I am not new to bowling, neither am I a good player so to speak. On the average I go bowling once every 4 years or more. There were 3 game set in this bowling tournament. Each team comprises four people. Surprisingly I was the best player during the 1st game achieving a high score of 140 points! I came in second during the 2nd game set with 105 score point. I completely fumble and loose my touch during the final game set. At once occasion, I hit only one pin during one of the final game set match. There were all together 8 or 10 (cant remember though) throws for each game set. I never recover my composure and peak form of the1st and 2nd match and slip into complete immobility during the final game set. I ponder upon the situation after match and figure out that there are some important lessons to be learnt from this game

Firstly it does not really matter how a story begin so to speak, it is the ending that counts.
Consider the situation in Iraq and I suppose you know what I meant.

I was doing well in the 1st and 2nd game set but I fare poorly during the final game set and that cost me the best individual performer medal. A single bad game set outcome could drastically alter the final result of the game match.
It is the ultimate overall best player that counts, not the best player in the 1st or 2nd match but the best overall player in terms of overall average score that matter most.
We need to hold on to our patience, be focus, attentive and determination to push through the last round of the game match. I took the final game set for granted and thought that I could pull through with the same hat trick that I did on the 1st and 2nd match. I was very impatient and loose my focus completely. I kept telling myself that there were10 throws in the final game set match and that all I needed was three strikes to hit the turkey bonus rewards of 60 points. I should have concentrate on giving my best for each throw rather than hoping to achieve 3 strikes only for the entire final game match. Thus I should have managed each throw carefully and not banging on 3 strikes out of the 10 throws to recover or rather cure my poor 3 games set performance.
People who lost in gambling bets always tend to place more bets on the next game hoping to recover all their losses, a recipe for ultimate disaster so to speak.

In summary, life is best managed and not cured. After all prevention is better than cure.One single bad investment or bad action on our part could easily wipe out all years of hard work and good returns. So the next time, do take note at times there are mistakes that we could afford to make and learn from, there are some mistakes that we simply cannot afford to make at all.

You can do well on nine occasions and one mistake on the 10th occasion; people will remember you for that one particular mistake that you make on the 10th occasion and not the rest of the occasion where you did well.

So till then have a nice day and cheers!

Younger boss

Most of us would consider it normal for younger workers report to older bosses.
Of late there seems to be an increasing trend that indicates the reverse whereby older workers take orders from people their children’s age. Conflict may arise as a result of it whereby younger generations oversee older workers. Even though age is just a number, tension may arise if either party is not sensitive to the other’s needs or both sides do not listen to each other perspective nor respect each other. Many of the older workers has lots of management and industry knowledge hence it is important for younger workers to view those who are older as mentors. Conversely older workers should be mindful and remember that regardless of age differences, the relationship is always of boss to subordinate and not parent to children thus they should always respect their younger boss. The technology and knowledge that we acquire through the years would becomes obsolete or outdated quickly thus it is important for the older workers to realize that the younger generation may have the advantage of being equipped with new knowledge and skills that are more relevant to the present times. Furthermore, some older workers may work harder than younger workers thus it is important for the younger superiors or managers to appreciate their time and efforts.

As with usual situation there are bound to have black sheep among the younger as well as among the older workers. There are some bad young managers who are poor listeners and wouldn’t give a second thought to hurling insult remarks and bruising the egos of the older workers. Similarly there are some older workers who are completely plain bias against the younger workers and would not give a thought to any suggestions or inputs of their younger superior.

What about you my dear reader? Do you report to a younger boss or an older boss? Do you resent being told off by younger boss for a job that he or she is not satisfied with?
Whatever the situation, let’s do your job to the best of your ability regardless of your superior’s age. Take your boss criticism with open mind and correct any mistakes that you may have made. If your boss happens to be one of the younger black sheep, make plans to move to elsewhere, bid your time and do so when the time is appropriate.

Set your own goals to regards to what you want to be or achieve in the future. Aspire to be your own boss and aim to get others to work for you. Why work for others if you could get others to work for you? The future is yours, the choice is yours; the battle is yours. Good luck!

No sugar added

Beware of food with label ‘No sugar added’. The ‘No sugar added’ label is fast becoming advertising gimmick more than anything else to attract consumer. Next time if you happen to see any foodstuff with the label ‘No sugar added’, take a look at the ingredients and you will know what I mean. For instance, the ‘Nescafe 2 in 1 ‘ package mix has the big label ‘No sugar added’ displayed prominently. Guess what’s in the ingredient?
Glucose syrup, isn’t that as close to sugar as we can get?

In between, attached is a photograph of my little Pomeranian ‘Muffin’.
I bought if from the pet shop when he was 2 months old. He is now 13 years old, still pretty active and naughty at times. Time sure pass quickly isn’t it?
Space we can recover, time never…

The fear of prospecting

The fear of prospecting

One of the biggest fears within each one of us, regardless of our nationalities, race, and gender is the fear of rejection. Every one of us has at one point in one way or another experience fear of rejection. Fear of rejection cause us not to speak up, lack of assertiveness, confused, lack of courage, lack of self confidence and lack of self esteem to name a few. In extreme cases, fear of rejection is destructive in nature and would require psychological help from therapist and counselors.

Fear of rejection is self-defeating in nature. A person who is afraid of rejection tends to behave irrationally and worry unnecessary. The ‘what if scenario’ hanging at the back of our mind cause us to react negatively to circumstances which are in fact actually favorable to us. The fear of rejection paralyzes and hinders us from doing the things we really want to.

Men are afraid to ask women out for dates due to fear of rejection. The thought of being rejected by a woman over a date or proposal gets the better of us so much so that we would rather not make the first move so as to avoid potential rejection and embarrassment. We feel burden and hesitate to approach customer for sales for fear of rejection. When the sales that we so desperately wish to get end up with someone else we further deny ourselves the ability to cling further deals.

We experience cold feet at the thought of calling prospects in particular those related MLM business. We procrastinate making calls to prospect; when our MLM business suffers we bury ourselves in a guilt-ridden corner and mentally beat ourselves up.

There is nothing to be ashamed of when someone disagree or outright turn us down on whatever that we are trying to promote something. The same goes for dating. There is nothing to be ashamed of or there is no reason for us to feel bad if someone turn down a date. After all we should always remember that everyone is entitle to his or her opinion preference and belief.

Sometimes we can learn a thing or two from children. Have it ever occur to you that children are sometimes very persistent and not afraid to ask for things that they want, be it toys or tidbits? Children will ask their parents persistently, if not today then tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and so forth till they get what they want. Surely we can be bolder than the children could we? What is stopping us from picking up the phone and making that call to potential prospects? What is stopping us from making the call to a person for the 1st or subsequent dates?

The worst that we could expect is a ‘no’ answer and we just have to move on with the next prospect. Zig Ziglar, a well-known motivation speaker and a very successful salesman in his career once said that it is normal to make at least 6 calls to reach out a prospect. Each time you make a call to potential prospect, do remember that you are offering a valuable service by providing information that can improve your prospect’s business and quality life.
In all prospecting activities you do via cold calling and any other methods, you are not into selling, rather you are into telling and providing information that can help your prospect. So the next time the customer or prospect says ‘no’ or reject your offer of services, always remember that they are not rejecting you personally, but rather the product or the services that you are offering. Quite often the reason for saying no is because the customer or prospect do have see the immediate needs for the service or product recommended. Of course there will be some rude or nasty customers that would slam down the phone or into yelling to ask you to get lost.
Whatever the situation, take things in stride; so long as you truly believe in the product or service that you are promoting and the value it brings to the prospect, rejection is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. Welcome rejection head-on and deal with it confidently!

Interested to explore MLM business? Do take a look at the following:
http://www.youthfountain.150m.com


Cheers!

Email (The double edge sword communication tool)

The Email (Electronic Mail) is a network communication technology that develops along with the evolution of the Internet. It is hard to imagine how we could cope in today’s business without any form of network communication tools, in particular the email.
It was rumored that over half the working population, in particular those dealing with computer and technology related businesses would switch on the PC to access email first thing when they reach the office or work place, with coffee or the tea coming second.
We communicate and correspond with our friends, love ones, business associates, customers and even strangers through email.

Many people tend to take the email for granted; we use it to communicate our thoughts freely quite often without realizing the implications or the impact of the email that we send out. Unlike unrecorded verbal communication, email can archived, forwarded, appended, attached as part of another email content or practically in ways that digitally possible. Email can be used as evidence or even misinterpreted both intentionally as well as unintentionally. Even though there are options in today’s email tools to recall send messages, it is however restricted to mails that are not read by the recipients yet.

Thus it pays for us to be careful with our choice of words that we used in emails. Take time to write or respond to emails. If possible, do not try to hastily reply emails or messages that irritate us for we may live to regret the email we send out. Ensure the words or sentences in the email are not ambiguous and subjected to misinterpretation or to be quoted out of context. Highlight sentences only when it is necessary to emphasize important points. Avoid using apostrophe or any characters that denotes anger or displeasure unless really necessary. Proof read or double read your email and corrects any spelling syntax. Try to visualize yourself as the recipient of the email and ponder over your thoughts to the email message from the recipient perspectives. This will help you to ensure to that your message is clear recipient.

So next time when you write email, be mindful and remember that email is a double edge sword. If we are careful with our choice of words, email becomes our powerful ally, if we are not cautious, it could destroy us.

Last but not least, here's another link to stock investment for the newbies.
Enjoy reading!
http://stocks.about.com/od/evaluatingstocks/a/Fundanatools1.htm

Dog culling

A sad event in the city of Baoding, Hebei.

It is a sad day for all dog owners. Apparently the local municipal has approved the plan to go ahead with culling of dogs as of today. All dogs without registered licensed are to be put down with bullets. This extends to all unlicensed dogs that are confined in-house. Meanwhile dog lovers are rushing to apply dog licenses for their pets. It may probably be too late since the culling starts today.
Why am I so concern about dog culling that is happening so far away from Singapore?
Well, my girlfriend who is a resident of Baoding has a pet dog named Dudu. She is trying to find ways to save the dog from the bullet. It may be a tough call, not knowing who and where to approach with regards to dog license registration.
For once I thought the Chinese loves dog meat and this might be a good time for the locals over there to have sumptuous dog meat delicacies at very cheap price!
Why get rid of the dogs if there is no dog flu outbreak?

No BUT!!

The ‘BUT’ taboo.

If there is any one particular English word that I find may irritate some people easily or even perhaps get you into trouble unnecessary, it is the word ‘but’. Well, you see the word ‘but’ denote disagreement, element of negative feelings or opposing views. Some people may even misconstrue the ‘but’ as a sign of disrespect or discrediting so to speak, in particular when used to communicate with some people your senior in particular your boss, customer or senior peers who may feel that they are more experience, capable and deserve every inch of respect from you. People tend to want to listen to what they like to hear and in that aspect to agree with their opinions. Birds of the same feather flock together so to speak. Thus instead of ‘but’ may I suggest we use another method to convey our disagreement, alternative consideration or options. So instead of using the ‘but’ do consider the following:

1) I do not agree with you on this matter. (This is a simple direct no answer.)
2) Okay I see where you are coming from BUT.. (Never say but as outline earlier)
3) That’s a great suggestion; may I suggest we explore alternative solutions as well?

Statement (1) is straightforward direct no answer. Sometimes we have not much choice but to clearly state our stand and this is a no BS nor beat around the bush answer. Use a directly ‘no’ answer discretely and only when really necessary to do so. Be your own judge as to when to apply this statement.

Statement (2) is what I think the most often used statement and is to my personal opinion the worst statement. You can agree with someone on 99% of the time and the one ‘but’ could potentially throw you back into the dark ages so to speak. Avoid using this statement at all course if possible. Erase the ‘but’ from your vocabulary.

Statement (3) is what this article is all about. No ‘but’; in place we rephrase it in such a way as to indicate that we respect the other party’s opinion, we would like to consider other options though. Do take note that this by no means indicates that we are weak or implies that we are afraid to say ‘no’ or we beg to differ in terms of opinions.

In conclusion, you will find that the above suggestion is very effective if use prudently and would give you an edge over negotiations and other discussion, without having to confront and provoke the opposite party with regards to your differing opinions.

Last but not least here's a link to successful long term investment.
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/00/082100.asp
Enjoy reading!!.

Cheers

Why MLM?

MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) or Network Marketing is worth considering for the following reasons
1) Low start up business cost. (Begin as a home based business)
MLM allows people who don't have the capabilities to found a corporation, to have a business of their own, with no appreciable investment, part time or fulltime.
2) Part time business (compliment your full time job)
3) Residue income from building an effective down-line network stream whereby you will be able to gain a certain percentage of commission from the sales of your down-line streams. Residue income is one of the paths towards financial freedom.
4) You don’t need any specific qualification such as diploma or degree. Neither do you need any particular experience. Usually your up-line stream would provide the necessary training to enable you to grow your business. Remember that your up-line stream would stand to gain if you do well in your MLM business.


MLM Success Strategy

Firstly you must set goals with regards to your MLM business, for instance the timeline whereby you wish to attain financial freedom through the residue income derived from establishing the necessary down line stream network. Learn from your up line network with regards to duplicating the successful process for your down line network.
You must personally use the product and convince of its benefits before you join MLM to promote it.

Like many other types of businesses, MLM is not a get rich quick scheme. There is no substitution for dedication, passion and commitment to make your MLM business successful. Like any other businesses, in general 4 out of 5 MLM business start up will fail eventually. There are several reasons for failing in MLM business. Lack of interest, lack of focus and failing to treat the MLM as a serious business that warrants dedication and efforts are some of the some of the reasons why people drop off from MLM.

Even though many MLM businesses are run on part time basis, it is important to dedicate reasonable number of hours to it. In general, you will most probably need to dedicate 2 to 3 hours per day or at least 12 hours per week to make your MLM business successful.
It usually takes 3 years or more for a MLM business to take off and even then it is important to continuously grow, nurture and touch base with your down line streams.

Why I consider part time MLM business?
I am no millionaire, certainly not consider rich at all by Singapore standard; I aspire and hope to achieve financial freedom when I retired from work 10 years from. I hope to retire and live comfortably within my own means when I reach the age of 55 without having to worry about money. I am 42 years old this year, single, in good health and having a full time job as software developer in a multinational technology firm in Singapore. As we grow older, it becomes more difficult for us, the older generations to compete for jobs with the younger generations. It is true that we may have advantage if terms of the necessary experience and the expertise to compete with the younger generations, we need to be mindful though that technology evolves so quickly, so much so that what we have learnt and gain from past experiences and the knowledge that we have gather could be easily becomes obsolete and outdated.
The Singapore government has been reminding and encouraging older Singaporeans to continue to upgrade themselves in terms of knowledge and skills so as to be employable in today’s fast pace and ever changing environment. We may have to lower our salary expectations, probably be prepared to take a deep cut in our paycheck so as to compete for jobs with the younger generations.
Companies, local and foreign alike are trying to cut down on the increasing operating cost and expenditures by moving to other countries such as China, India; countries with lower labor and other operating cost.
In the meantime there are hundreds of diploma and graduate degree holders entering the job market each year. No doubt it is a matter of time the older generations will feel the pinch more and more. Things are getting more expensive by the years, it is almost impossible to even think that crude oil price is ever going to fall back to the post US$40/- per barrel. MRT and cab transportation cost are rising but the older generations are in danger of loosing their jobs.
Rising medical cost is another major cost of concern. It is a fact that as we age, our health would deteriorate progressively. Never mind what the health expert says, we cannot fight against Mother Nature, we can slow down the ageing process by improving our lifestyle, how many of us would ever have the time and ever thought about that?
Credit card firms and banks are clouding our minds with advance loans and credit card billing facilities. These financial institutions are no different from loan sharks. They charge high interest for loans under the pretext to improve our quality way of life.

It was once reported that 95% of the American population would retire broke. We should plan retirement long way before we are told our services are no longer needed due to our age and operating expenditures. Many older Singaporeans get around the financial crunch when they reach the retirement age by downgrading and moving to smaller flats.
No every aging Singaporeans has the opportunity to do so though.

The key to financial freedom is to get paid rewardingly even though we no longer work. Apart from prudent and sound investments that increase our money multiple folds due to the benefit of the compound interest, MLM is a business structure worth considering given the fact that it leads to financial freedom due to opportunity of the residue income generated.

Financial freedom (Part II)

There are many ways to attain financial freedom. There are many options for creating wealth. Prudent investment and regular saving are one of the best ways, the earlier we start to invest wisely and or save prudently, the sooner we can achieve financial independence and financial freedom. We need money to cover our daily expenses, feed the family if we are married and have children, or for other reasons one way or another. Not withstanding though, not everyone would have the necessary means such as cash available to invest comfortably, many people struggle day by day to get over ends meet. The more we save and the more we cut down on unnecessary expenditures, the closer we are one step ahead towards achieving financial freedom, a minute step but a giant leap forward though moving towards our goal, financial freedom when we retire.
Most people who has achieved financial freedom would agree that it is not how much money you make this month, next month or the next few years, rather how much you save and how prudent you are with regards to investing your money for the future which will guarantee your financial freedom.


If you are not born with silver spoon in your mouth then one of the major key to financial freedom is to build a passive residue income.

MLM (Multi-level Marketing) can lead us to the path of financial freedom.
MLM offers those of us who were not lucky enough to be born with a silver spoon in
our mouths, the opportunity to start our own business from scratch with no money,
no previous experience nor previous training. You learn on-the-job as you earn!

The real beauty of MLM is that ordinary people like you and I can create a full-time
income from a part-time effort in our homes.

What is MLM?
MLM is the process organizations use to get their product into the marketplace.
Rather than hiring a sales force and all the “stuff” that goes along with corporate
America, MLM companies have independent contractors market their products directly.
These organizations choose to give the reps the money it saves by not incurring the
costs that go along with all that “stuff.”

Below are some interesting links to MLM business. Enjoy reading!.
http://www.redsofts.com/articles/read/91/47938/Keys_to_MLM_Success.html

Many people consider all MLMs to be "pyramids" - but they fail to make the distinction between "illegal" and "legal" pryamids, considering anything that is based upon a pyramid shape to be illegal - forgetting that their own job, the government, their church, and virtually every organization that they belong to or know of is top-down oriented and shaped as a pyramid.
http://wahmscam.blogspot.com/2006/03/what-are-mlm-companies.html

If you are seeking MLM business opportunity, why not consider YouthFountain( http://www.youthfountain.150m.com)
YouthFountain has a great MLM compensation plan, and a great flagship product (SG-2000 bubble wave spa). Be a part of a dynamic team that provides you a rewarding business opportunity that leads to financial freedom!.

Path to financial freedom and financial independence

23rd and 24th October are declared public holidays for Singapore.
One interesting fact about living in a multi racial society is that you can experience and celebrate the various multicultural festive moods. It is also a great time for many to escape from the busy bustling life of the city to somewhere more quite, serene and cool to experience the late autumn or rather the early winter vacation of other parts of the world.

I loved to hang around bookstores, pickup and browse through articles of interests.
Seems that the personal improvement and business sections of most bookstores are fill with many books touching on specific topics such business strategies and financial freedom tips. I am a nerd and newbie when it comes to topics such as achieving financial freedom and independence through investments, starting homebusiness, network marketing, multilevel networking marketing and etcetra.

Even though I hardly know much about investment and finance, one thing I do know for sure is that keeping your money in the bank with bank interest around 2 to 4 percent would be the least attractive way to increase your wealth.
The best way to get rich quickly is well perhaps to strike the jackpot or the lottery but the odds are againts us though.
Someone once said that it takes money to make more money and this could not be further from the truth. My personal take is that sound and prudent investment is the best way to achieve financial freedom, the earlier you start off with saving money for investment the better. The compounding interest rate gain from mid to long term buy and hold investment strategy is just too good to be true..oh yes it is true..Warrent Buffet is the living proof of how sound investment could bring you wealth; lots of it to last a few generations:):) However you have to be cautious about the compound interest. There is both side to the same coin, remember that.
Take a look at the following:http://investorial.com/personal-finance/einstein-on-compound-interest-rule-of-72/

Homebusiness dealing with direct marketing is another promising way to gain financial freedom and financial independent. Just check out this link.

If you are not into investment then do it is worthwhile to consider direct marketing or better still why not invest and do direct marketing at the same time?


Anyway,here's my take regarding investment portfolio and some other tips that I pick along the way from friends and from the internet and through articles that I read along the way. I stand to be corrected though and would welcome feedback,corrections and advice from the reader.

Considered Warren Buffet's famous advice, Rule #1 : Never loose your money in any investment and Rule #2: Always remember Rule #1.
Sounds easy to grasp but alas how difficult it is to apply the concept successfully.
Said is much easier than done I suppose:)

Many are advocating on long term invesment goals; targeted investment timeline from 5 to 20 years or so. How many of us truly believe or feel confident enough to hold on to the view that a long term investment would benefit investors; many people got their pocket burnt because of the short term investment strategy which they used, namely buy low and sell high within quick turn around time only to realize all not going as expected and thereafter being compel to quickly sell to limit their losses. What about Warren Buffet investment strategy, to buy and hold for indefinite period of time? I could imagine those who invest in Emron, hoping to retire comfortably and what a terrible mistake it was to be. There is no golden rule as far as investment strategy, it depends on individual and personal appetite and ability to take financial investment risks. As a matter of fact stock investment is very much an art rather than science.

Many financial institutions and financial planners are advocating diversify trust fund investment strategy to minimize investment risks. Never mind and do not worry if you knows nothing about stock trading, financial investment and the likes.
Warren Buffet once mentioned that there are 2 choices with regads to investment, 1)Understand and knows what you are investing in or 2)Have the experts to manage your investment portfolio, not the recommended way I guess but better than burning a hole through your pocket due to bad investments on your own.

Here's my own rule of thoughts:

1) Take total control of your investment portfolio. Do not rely on fund managers to manage your money. Remember that the fund manager highest priority is to ensure that the fund company he or she works for makes money no matter what the situation is, even if that means loosing the investors hard earn money. Furthermore, there are the charges that fund managers will collect from the investors.
You need not be a financial investment guru to manage your own investment. There are plenty of tips and information you can get from the internet and books.
http://finance.yahoo.com/ and http://moneycentral.msn.com/home.asp are good sites to pickup some investment tips. Read as much as you can regarding investment strategy and focus on those that fit your investment appetite and risks.
Be an intelligent investor. Be a value investor by taking a long term view.
Ensure you buy stocks at bargain prices, stocks that are already priced below
their value.

However be mentally prepare to spend time to monitor your investments (be it stocks or whatever that you are dealing with.) Smart investors need not monitor their stocks all the time. There are many good software investment tools around which could be use to help automate some of these monitoring, tracking and aiding decision such as selling, holding or buying activities.
Financial management software can automatically track many key performance indicators of a company thus allowing you, the user to monitor how well business is doing.

For newbies, always start with small investment amount to gain practical hands on experience and thereafter to gradually increase your investment amount as you become more familiar and confidence with it.
What kind of business segment or industry should we place our bets on with regards to investment? Technology such as IT where we are reminded of the IT Bubble Burst? Textile, Energy, Health......
I truly believe that the long-term winner will be an investment in oil-field technology. Why do I recommend oild field related technology? Simple, just consider the price of crude oil today.


2)For those who do not wish to spend too much time on investment matters there are other options such as signing up with the fund managers to manage your funds. Good idea? You be the judge though.:) The standard advice from most financial planners and fund managers: Dont put all eggs in one basket. Diversity your portfolio so as to minimize your investment risk. There are various portfolios offer by fund management companies, generally the higher the risks the higher the gains.
So should you invest in mutual funds, index funds or etcetera? I guess it is all up to you. Always remember to avoid overreact to a few choice circumstances. Most of us are by nature short term focused and this is bad, always think about long term investment.

If you are financially risk averse,invest in bonds or mutual funds that are diversify with regards to the various equities. Index funds are worth considering since generally on the whole, index funds are known to outperform the mutul funds.
Still not sure what to invest in? Do your research diligently since it is your money that you are going to meddle with or subscribe to some investment expert services such as the motley fool (www.fool.com) or if you have more money how about considering Steve SJuggerud 'DailyWealth'?

Most of us are by nature short term focused.

As for me I believe that apart from stock investment, direct marketing (network marketing) can indeed lead to financial freedom thus enable us to retire early to enjoy the finer things in life. I am a strong advocator investment for the future as well as doing direct marketing to compliment our monthly or daily income.
Which is more promising? Stock investment or direct marketing? I suppose it is up to individual preferences.


On the lighter side, to all those who are seeking dating advice, here's a great link to a good site which I hope would answer some of your questions and doubts.
You can get it from here: http://www.kissmegoodnight.com/dating-advice-and-tips/index.shtml. Enjoy reading dear friends!:):)

Cheers
Richard

About me and my homespa business (YouthFountain)

Hi everyone,

This is 1st time I signed up and participate in blogs actively.
My name is Richard GohYK. I am a software manager by profession. I work in a multinational company and lead a team of software engineers in the area of the product quality and design realibility. Apart from the full time job I also own and run a home business dealing with health appliances.

My hobbies are diverse, ranging from reading self improvement, financial, management, business and health to watching sci-fic movies. I must admit I am extremely poor when it comes to putting my thoughts in writing.


So many people suffer needlessly from the trauma of ailments - be they from age, occupation or simply the strain of day to day living.

I discovered a great health and relaxation product about a year ago. Basically it is a portable home spa equipment. The product name is called SG-2000.

Some of the benefits of this spa are:
1)Restore skin smoothnes, elasticity and muscle tone. The process of ageing is slowed.
2)Reduced cholesterol levels, maintain health of blood vessels.
3)Reduce fatigue, revitalize the whole body.
4)Restore energy, improve sexual performance.
5)Prevent cancer and its recurrence.
6)Increase oxygen uptake by red blood cells, speeding recovery from illnesses.
7) Warm cold extremities and related illnesses from prolong stay in air-con environment.
8)Slimming effect on overweight individuals and weight increase for underweight individuals.
9)Promote better sleep.
10)Improve gut movement, nutrient absorption, benefiting people with anemia.
11) Alleviate symptoms constipation.
12) Highly beneficial for patients with heart disease, high blood pressure and low blood pressure.
13)Able to treat hardening and narrowing of blood vessels in stroke patients.
14)Improve gastric problems and diabetes.
15)Reduce muscle wasting in paralyzed and polio patients.
16)Relieve arthritis, neuralgia, backache.
17)Soothe aching muscles, shoulder pain and injuries.
18)Aid restoration of joint dislocations and heal bruises.
19)Prevent attacks in asthma patients.
20) Alleviate symptoms of persistent pain and numbness after accident, 40 sessions yield visible results.
21)Improvement in patients with piles.
22)Reduce body adour.
23)Treat skin disease, fungal infections, athlete’s foot.


Now please don't get me wrong as though the list of benefits listed above are nothing but pure advertising gimmicks. It is important to note that the benefits of using this home spa varies for individuals, the frequency of usage, the type of essential oil used, the water temperature and last but not least our desire, will and actually practising sound and practical health management such none smoking and not taking any drugs apart from those as perscribed by the doctors.

I used to have poor health before I started to use this spa on a regular basis.
My health has since improve tremendously since I use it. If it works for me, a 42 year old man, I believe it will and benefit you, certainly in one way or another.


The SG-2000 home spa is ess than 9 kg in weight and could be easily install in small bathroom. For further information please go to my business website at http://www.youthfountain.150m.com