Showing posts with label Financial Freedom Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Financial Freedom Thoughts. Show all posts

Investment Ideas for Financial Freedom

A lot of ideas have been developed and contributed to the world of finance over the years. These include scholarly articles and books about money, investment and wealth.

It is one of my goals to compile all these ideas into this site so as to further develop and integrate these ideas into my own investment strategy and journey.

The list of famous people that I would like to learn from include the following:

Scholars and Their Ideas
1. Charles Dow
2. Louis Bachelier
3. Harry Markowitz
4. William Sharpe
5. Eugene Fama
6. James Tobin
7. Alfred Cowles
8. Franco Modiliani
9. Merton Miller
10. Burton Malkiel
11. Nicholas Nassim Taleb
12. Barr Rosenberg
13. John Lintner
14. Jack Treynor
15. Fisher Black
16. Paul Samuelson
17. Robert Merton
18. John McQuown
19. James Vertin
20. Hayne Leland
21. Mark Rubinstein

Investors/Traders and Their Ideas
1. Warren Buffet
2. Jim Rogers
3. Philip Fisher
4. Alexander Elder
5. Jesse Livermore
6. Peter Lim

Businessmen and Their Ideas
1. Donald Trump
2. Richard Branson
3. Bill Gates
4. Robert Kiyosaki (Rich Dad, Poor Dad)


Help me expand this list! Any suggestions would be welcomed.

Financial Freedom is a Taboo Topic

Is Financial Freedom a taboo topic (especially amongst the Chinese)?

Many Chinese prefer to keep their finances a secret. They do not wish to reveal how much they earn, how much they save and how much they have in debt. It is sort of a taboo topic that is not spoken of.

So even in families, parents do not teach their children about how to manage their finances. Even if they do, it is just simple concepts like : SAVE MONEY, EARN MORE, etc ,etc. Very seldom will a parent give a child a case study of how much the family is actually earning, how much they are spending, their strategies to accumulate wealth and much more.

This could be the death of wealth accumulation and preservation in Chinese families if this continues.

Even amongst friends, we seldom discuss about financial planning. We are only interested in talking about how to make money and WHO and WHO made how much in the stock market.

There is no true interest in how one can move towards financial freedom and the simple strategies involved.

Interestingly, it is only on the internet that you see such openess. But this openess is limited in the sense that most bloggers also do not share very intimate details about their finances.

This is what my blog was created for. I share my finances with all to see, for all to comment and for all to learn.

If you are willing to serve as a case study for all to learn from, do let me know. I can keep your name confidential if you will like. All I need is just your monthly income, monthly expenditure and current networth breakdown.

Do drop a message in the chatbox or comment here if you are interested in sharing.

Financial Freedom and Your Subconscious Mind

In this article which I found on the internet, it reaffirms the point that I was trying to make in my ten part mini-series about how important it was to have the correct mindset when determining your financial goals. The power of the sub-conscious mind is indeed very powerful and should not be underestimated. Do read the article below to find out more:

You might also like to read these other articles once you are done:
3 Key Lessons From Rich Dad Poor Dad
David Bach Automatic Millionaire
Income Investing - Rental Property

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The Medium for Influencing the Subconscious Mind

Until I started reading, actually absorbing Napoleon Hills book, Think and Grow Rich, I had forgotten that this is a skill my mother taught me for years, without me actually realising it was 'auto-suggestion', as described in Napoleon's book.

Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich, Chapter Two, he insists that you write down your Desire's, I believe the beginning of 'one's personal freedom' is the process of writing it all down, it actually anchors your thoughts, it makes them a physical 'being' because these, your thoughts, are now 'written'.

Where does the auto-suggestion come from then?

Napoleon's steps in Chapter Two, Desire, are concise;

1. Decide what the exact amount of money you want!

2. What are you going to give in return for this desired amount of money?

3. Decide a definite date by which this amount of money you desire will be acquired!

4. Create your plan - whether you are ready not, put this plan of desire into action now!

5. Write down a clear and concise statement of the amount of money you desire, how you plan to achieve this and by when and what you plan to give in exchange for this (remember give and thine shall receive or give nothing receive nothing!)

6. Read this statement to yourself morning and night out loud not in your head.

To show you how easy this can be, a plan could look something like this;
"In my first year of business I desire to earn $100,000. To achieve this desired sum, I will coach, mentor, and teach frustrated network marketers to become successful leaders: regardless of their company affiliation and I will do it for free. I intend to reach my desired goal by 31 March 2010 by working daily in my business, helping people to the best of my ability and working through the processes I have set in place to achieve this desire."

All Napoleon Hills requirements are covered in the above, but acquiring this thought process, auto-suggestion, is not easy; it takes repetition, belief in you, commitment and hard work.

Napoleon Hill also recommends belonging to a group that 'Masterminds' his chapters weekly, this can assist learning from others, helps yourself and other 'materminders' to achieve and work through the same process, it can help the belief in yourself and can help them to believe in themselves.

As Napoleon says "thoughts are things, powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a BURNING DESIRE for their translation into riches or other material objects" this can come about.

I'm not here to sell a company or product. I coach, mentor, and teach frustrated network marketers to become successful leaders and I do it for free: Regardless of MLM company affiliation

You can join me, would love to have you come on board


I Appreciate You
Julie McClelland
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Thoughts at StarBucks

So I am sitting here at Starbucks at 3pm in the afternoon. Just got some work done and was wondering what a funny life I actually have.

3pm and people are most probably working in the office. And here I am sipping my Starbucks Cafe Latte and blogging. I never expected that I would actually be living such a life!

After so many years of schooling, I would never have expected it if someone told me that I will be living the life I am living now.

Going to be 28 years old soon and it seems that I don't really have any career ambitions. It certainly does not seem that I will be someone important or famous. Afterall, all those people are perhaps being "groomed" right now in the MNC boardrooms and government agencies. They are probably rubbing off with the "who's who" in Singapore at a golf course or something. And here I am, sitting at starbucks blogging about my life. What a funny irony =)

But I guess it is a good break from the rat race and stuff. I am taking things a bit slower right now. The rat race has done me no good. I have probably not grown or matured as much as I wish I should. I now just try my best to live up to God's standards and not man's standards. I try to read more, think more, love more and give more. I have decided that the corporate ladder is not really something that I would like to climb.

So I sit here near the counter and realised what a great deal of students are actually able to afford Starbucks! My goodness..kids nowadays really have lots of spending power. I certainly do not remember drinking Starbucks during my schooling days! The irony of it all.. People who are working are not enjoying life while those who are not working per se are learning how to enjoy life.

I am not saying that these school children are not working. They do have their school work and stuff. The reason why they are able to enjoy life so much better is perhaps because they still have dreams and hopes of what the future might be. For someone my age, I think I have grown a bit disillusioned about what I was told to pursue in terms of my job and career.

I really need to sit down and ponder more about the kind of life that I would like to live and be remembered for.

Don't Run the Rat Race

Since young, I have always heard this phrase : " Don't run the rat race."

It is only now, 27 years of age, that I finally think I understand what this phrase means.

After working for a number of years, I suddenly realised that I was actually running the rat race! I was working hard at my job, looking for my next promotion, next pay raise. I was also constantly comparing myself with others and checking out what cars they were driving, where they were living, what sort of restaurants they go to, etc , etc.

All these resulted in me neglecting other aspects of my life - spiritual, social, emotional.

Getting Out of the Rat Race

At the turn of 2008, while I was doing my own personal reflection, I realised that I had hardly grown as a person be it in terms of character, knowledge, etc. Yes I did grow but I would not say that the growth was great. Again I compared myself to my peers and saw how some have actually leap frogged past me in terms of qualifications, knowledge in specialised fields, promotions, pay, etc.

I also noticed one thing. I looked at my bosses' lives and did not admire what they were going through. Little family time, weekends spent doing work and going through reports, lots of pressure from the bigger bosses above... I asked myself: " Do I really want to be like them?" The answer was a simple "NO."

It was then that I decided that I needed to get out of this rat race - badly. This rat race was consuming my life. As Lily Tomlin puts it: "The trouble with the rat race is even if you win it, you're still a rat."

I stopped listening to my bosses' "encouragement" to take on more responsibilities so that I could get my next promotion, pay raise, bonus, etc, etc. I told myself that I would no longer run a race that was so meaningless. I would instead run a race that I set out for myself. A race that at my dying bed, I would know was worthwhile for my family, friends, loved ones and myself. Simply, a live that was well-lived and worth living. All things I placed in the context of that final day when I lie at my death bed and ask myself: "Was it worth it?".

A lot of things are simply not worth it. Working long hours and missing dinner with loved ones. Working over the weekends. Getting so tired that I had no time to spend with friends.

For those of you who know, one of the race that I have set for myself is to achieve financial freedom (i.e. earning more in passive income than my expenditures). My spendings and investments have also taken a turn as I now see everything in terms of what will increase my passive income and what I can do to decrease my monthly expenditure.

This blog chronicles my journey. I have journeyed for 1 long year already. Everyday, I am getting closer to my goal. I have also learnt tremendously from fellow forummers and bloggers.

Thank you for accompanying me on this journey. The race is still on and I challenge you to take part in this race too.. the financial freedom race.

Thoughts on Financial Freedom, Success and Happiness

Of Financial Freedom

I started this blog in August 2008. The main purpose of this blog then was to chronicle my journey towards financial freedom. After much thought on deciding what financial freedom meant to different people, I decided that financial freedom for me would be simply to allow my monthly passive income to exceed my monthly expenditures.

However, I have come to realise that while this might mean financial freedom in the pure income and expenditure department, it does not necessarily mean that I will become financially "free".

What do I mean?

It means that I could actually have passive income that is greater than my monthly expenditure but still not be contented with what I have. Thus in that sense, financial freedom will become an endless pursuit, a chasing after the wind, where I will just crave for more and more money.

Financial freedom is thus also about the state of my mind. Am I contented with what I have today? Will i be contented when my monthly passive income exceeds my monthly expenditure?

Only when one is contented can one then achieve financial freedom in the true sense of the word.

Of Success

What is success to me? Is it driving a nice big car? Living in a bungalow?

I have decided that true success is being able to contribute back to society - to be able to use one's labour for the benefit of others.

True success is also about not being bothered by how others view you. Why try so hard to impress people you don't like?

Of Happiness

One can be rich and still be not happy. Thus, riches is not the path to happiness.

Instead, happiness is found in having the basic necessities, having close friends and family, and having the freedom to do what you want when you want and not be bogged down by deadlines/meetings/last minute work assignments.

Conclusion

March 2009 marks a turning point in my life as I have become much clearer about what it means to be financially free; and also what success and happiness is all about. Previously I had a vague idea in my head what all these was about but I guess that the more I conversed with people, the clearer my thoughts on this matters became.

This breakthrough in my thinking was only made possible by deep reflection, talking to close friends and also preparing to switch my job.

Consolidating My Thought on Financial Freedom

It has been a few months since I started this blog to write on my journey to financial freedom.
Since then, things have changed quite a bit.

Firstly, the global financial crisis has hit, shaking my confidence in the Singapore stock market. Shares that I am holding have dropped to record low prices. While I am investing mainly for passive income, looking at the prices of REITs and hearing all the news about the credit crisis really makes me worried whether my passive income strategy is the correct method to financial freedom.

Secondly, books that I have been reading lately have altered my belief in a stable and predictable business cycle of ups and downs. What we don't know and don't plan for can destroy our journey to financial freedom. Some of the worst case scenarios I can think of are:

a. The Greatest Depression in Human History.
b. Hyperinflation
c. Severe Oil Crisis that disrupts everything
d. War
e. Death

All these have changed my perception about investment and financial freedom. I remember reading the book about the Richest Man in Babylon. In it, we are advised to use 10% of our money to work hard for us. The richest man in Babylon saves up 1 gold coin out of 10 gold coins he gets and uses that 1 gold coin to work hard for him.

The problem with this simple rule of investing is that it does not take into account the unpredictable events that I mentioned above. So what if I invest in the Singapore Stock Market and have a $1 million stock portfolio only for severe hyperinflation to hit reducing my portfolio to peanuts?

What I hope to achieve is financial freedom. The ability to choose whether I want to work or not, and not working because I need the money to support my family.

A quick analysis of my current financial situation:

Debts:
1. Housing Mortgage ($253,000)
2. Car loan (estimate $30,000)

That is a lot of debt! If I do not spend a single cent, it would take me a good 5 or 6 years of my current annual income to totally pay off this debt. How did I ever get into this situation? 10 years back, I had $0 dollars in debt. After starting a family, I have a 6 figure debt in just a blink of an eye.

4 years back, I could choose whether I want to work or just rot at home. Now, I simply have to work because not working is NOT an option. I would simply not be able to finance my debts..

So here I am, stuck in a pile of debt. With a 5k per month salary but only managing to save an approximate $1k a month.

My Financial Freedom Journey seems fraught with difficulties, uncertainties, psychological barrier and the like. It seems that I am all alone in this journey...

My passive income stands at $3000 a year. That simply won't do. I need to find ways to increase my passive income..

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