In Thomas Friedman's "The World is Flat" book, he talks about the untouchables, the creation or finding of the new middle class, whose jobs would not be taken away by the every hungry Chinese and Indians.
The author simply puts it as this:
Globalisation 1.0 : Countries had to think globally to thrive or at least survive.
Globalisation 2.0: Companies had to think globally to thrive or at least survive.
Globalisation 3.0: Individuals have to think globally to thrive or at least survive.
The old saying that our parents used to have was this:
" Boy, finish your dinner. People in China and India are starving."
In Globalisation 3.0, we as parents should be saying this to our children:
"Boys and girls, finish your homework. People in China and India are starving for your jobs."
The problem is that doing your homework alone is not going to help you thrive in the new flat world. One must be doing the right kind of homework. The key to figuring out how to thrive in this flat world would be for an individual to make themselves "untouchable". These are the people whose jobs cannot be OUTSOURCED, DIGITISED or AUTOMATED.
Welcome to the flat world!
Can you current job be outsourced, digitised or automated? Are you an untouchable?
Noisy Motorbikes Should be Banned in Singapore
It is 1230am in the morning. A noisy motorbike just drove by my place and woke my poor child up.
This is not the first time it has happened. It seems that the government or authorities are pretty lax nowadays when it comes to bikes and cars that are modified to have extraordinarily loud engine noises.
This people have totally no sense of consideration when they go racing down the roads at the wee hours in the morning, waking everyone in their path.
I simply do not understand why others should suffer from interrupted sleep because of these mindless fools.
I do hope that someone in LTA or the traffic police is reading this and take serious action against errant offenders.
This is not the first time it has happened. It seems that the government or authorities are pretty lax nowadays when it comes to bikes and cars that are modified to have extraordinarily loud engine noises.
This people have totally no sense of consideration when they go racing down the roads at the wee hours in the morning, waking everyone in their path.
I simply do not understand why others should suffer from interrupted sleep because of these mindless fools.
I do hope that someone in LTA or the traffic police is reading this and take serious action against errant offenders.
Jobless in March
Jobless jobless jobless....
These are the 3 words that haunt me day in and day out. Everyday, I open my eyes and find that I am still jobless in every single sense of the word.
I wake up and try to figure out what to do till evening time which is when all my tuition assignments kick in.
So I usually try to have an enjoyable breakfast by visiting a coffeeshop or hawker centre. Eat my favorite food and drink my usual cup of coffee.
Go back home and surf the net and figure out what to eat for lunch.
Eat lunch and then start preparing for tuition.
After tuition, I think about what went well during the tuition session and what did not go so well and how I can improve the next session.
When I reach back home, I am usually quite tired out (from doing nothing). Nights are usually spent reading, watching TV or just surfing the net.
Come on job interviews, where are you???
These are the 3 words that haunt me day in and day out. Everyday, I open my eyes and find that I am still jobless in every single sense of the word.
I wake up and try to figure out what to do till evening time which is when all my tuition assignments kick in.
So I usually try to have an enjoyable breakfast by visiting a coffeeshop or hawker centre. Eat my favorite food and drink my usual cup of coffee.
Go back home and surf the net and figure out what to eat for lunch.
Eat lunch and then start preparing for tuition.
After tuition, I think about what went well during the tuition session and what did not go so well and how I can improve the next session.
When I reach back home, I am usually quite tired out (from doing nothing). Nights are usually spent reading, watching TV or just surfing the net.
Come on job interviews, where are you???
What is Your Per Hour Rate?
I used to be obsessed in the past with calculating my per hour wages. This was simply calculated by taking one's gross salary divided by no. of hours worked in a month.
Per hour wage = Gross salary / No. of hours worked in a month.
Of course, the person who had the highest per hour wage had the biggest boasting rights. Afterall, he or she is "valued" more highly by society based on an hour's work compared to the normal worker.
In the past, I used to work close to 9 hours per day. That worked out to 45 hours per week and 180 hours per month. Based on my pay, that worked out to roughly $27 per hour. The only way to increase my hourly pay was to work less. That meant going to work later or leaving office earlier. Of course that did not go down well with my work ethics and I refused to do that. But when confronted with the cold hard facts, I realised that there was no other way to increase my pay per hour unless I got a pay raise or promotion. I was limited by the fixed pay concept.
Right now, I realised that one can actually earn a much higher hourly wage if you are doing your own business. Not all hours are created equal. Some people can earn an hourly wage of $50 to $80 dollars per hour. Others can even charge as high as $300 per hour!
I looked through the classifieds the other day and realised that some workmen or carpenters were charging easily $50 for changing faulty cabinets and stuff. That means that in one day, all they have to do is to fix 4 cabinets and they could easily earn $4000 per month! And if you have seen them change cabinet doors before, you know that it is a pretty simple task that could be completed in less than an hour.
What is your hourly wage? Are you limited by a fixed pay and thus unable to increase your pay?
Per hour wage = Gross salary / No. of hours worked in a month.
Of course, the person who had the highest per hour wage had the biggest boasting rights. Afterall, he or she is "valued" more highly by society based on an hour's work compared to the normal worker.
In the past, I used to work close to 9 hours per day. That worked out to 45 hours per week and 180 hours per month. Based on my pay, that worked out to roughly $27 per hour. The only way to increase my hourly pay was to work less. That meant going to work later or leaving office earlier. Of course that did not go down well with my work ethics and I refused to do that. But when confronted with the cold hard facts, I realised that there was no other way to increase my pay per hour unless I got a pay raise or promotion. I was limited by the fixed pay concept.
Right now, I realised that one can actually earn a much higher hourly wage if you are doing your own business. Not all hours are created equal. Some people can earn an hourly wage of $50 to $80 dollars per hour. Others can even charge as high as $300 per hour!
I looked through the classifieds the other day and realised that some workmen or carpenters were charging easily $50 for changing faulty cabinets and stuff. That means that in one day, all they have to do is to fix 4 cabinets and they could easily earn $4000 per month! And if you have seen them change cabinet doors before, you know that it is a pretty simple task that could be completed in less than an hour.
What is your hourly wage? Are you limited by a fixed pay and thus unable to increase your pay?
Aceing the Job Interview
If only job interviews were as easy as the cartoon that I have pasted below....
How does one ace a job interview? Are there any tricks or tips that are worth noting?
I noticed that favorite questions by interviewers are always this:
1. Why did you leave your last job or Why do you want to leave your current job?
2. Why do you want this job or this position in our company?
I really wonder what is the use of such questions. What kind of answers do they want to hear?
How does one ace a job interview? Are there any tricks or tips that are worth noting?
I noticed that favorite questions by interviewers are always this:
1. Why did you leave your last job or Why do you want to leave your current job?
2. Why do you want this job or this position in our company?
I really wonder what is the use of such questions. What kind of answers do they want to hear?
FAQ about SgFinancialFreedom
Here are some frequently asked questions about sgfinancialfreedom:
Q: How do you compute your networth?
A: I compute my networth by adding my family's assets subtracted by liabilities. Assets include items like house, car, bank deposits, stocks, insurance moneys while liabilities include things like housing loan, car loan and other outstanding debts.
Q: Are you financially free?
A: No.
Q: How old are you?
A: 28 years old
Q: Did you serve National Service in Singapore?
A: Yes, I did.
Q: How much do you earn from adsense/blogging?
A: I earn an average of $30 to $60 per month
Q: How do I contact you?
A: The best method to contact me is to leave a comment on my most recent posts. You can also email me at sgfinancialfreedom@gmail.com
Q: How much passive income do you earn per month?
A: Not enough....around $400 per month.
Q: What do you work as?
A: I don't know.
Q: What do you mean you don't know?
A: I am doing so many things now that I don't really know what I am working as. Many sources of income but each source of income is very small.
Q: Why do people read this blog?
A: Beats me... But 1,500 UNIQUE readers visit this site every month. I do not know what they find interesting about this site. I wish they would tell me at times.
Q: Why did you start blogging?
A: I started to blog so as to keep an online journal of my journey. It gives me an avenue to rant my feelings, thoughts and stuff. Besides, I earn a little pocket money from it too.
Q: I have a blog named XXXX too. Want to exchange links?
A: You can place a link to my blog. My link exchange policy is to link only to blogs that are 6 months and older. Too many new blogs have come to this site asking for a link exchange. It causes me a lot of maintenance problems to find out which sites are still being updated. 6 months is a good time frame for me to judge whether you are a serious blogger or website owner. Please don't get me wrong. I am very willing to exchange links. Just prove to me that you can keep a site updated for more than 6 months first then contact me again. If you have a blog that is less than 6 months but seriously wish to have a link to your site, you can do the following:
1. Offer to write a guest post on this site with a link to your site.
2. Write a really good post and let me know. If it is good, I might link to you in one of my postings.
Q: How do you compute your networth?
A: I compute my networth by adding my family's assets subtracted by liabilities. Assets include items like house, car, bank deposits, stocks, insurance moneys while liabilities include things like housing loan, car loan and other outstanding debts.
Q: Are you financially free?
A: No.
Q: How old are you?
A: 28 years old
Q: Did you serve National Service in Singapore?
A: Yes, I did.
Q: How much do you earn from adsense/blogging?
A: I earn an average of $30 to $60 per month
Q: How do I contact you?
A: The best method to contact me is to leave a comment on my most recent posts. You can also email me at sgfinancialfreedom@gmail.com
Q: How much passive income do you earn per month?
A: Not enough....around $400 per month.
Q: What do you work as?
A: I don't know.
Q: What do you mean you don't know?
A: I am doing so many things now that I don't really know what I am working as. Many sources of income but each source of income is very small.
Q: Why do people read this blog?
A: Beats me... But 1,500 UNIQUE readers visit this site every month. I do not know what they find interesting about this site. I wish they would tell me at times.
Q: Why did you start blogging?
A: I started to blog so as to keep an online journal of my journey. It gives me an avenue to rant my feelings, thoughts and stuff. Besides, I earn a little pocket money from it too.
Q: I have a blog named XXXX too. Want to exchange links?
A: You can place a link to my blog. My link exchange policy is to link only to blogs that are 6 months and older. Too many new blogs have come to this site asking for a link exchange. It causes me a lot of maintenance problems to find out which sites are still being updated. 6 months is a good time frame for me to judge whether you are a serious blogger or website owner. Please don't get me wrong. I am very willing to exchange links. Just prove to me that you can keep a site updated for more than 6 months first then contact me again. If you have a blog that is less than 6 months but seriously wish to have a link to your site, you can do the following:
1. Offer to write a guest post on this site with a link to your site.
2. Write a really good post and let me know. If it is good, I might link to you in one of my postings.
Monthly Expenditure and Cost of Living
As I was walking to the nearby coffeeshop to get my breakfast today, I could not help but wonder how much my expenditure has increased over the years.
As a primary school student, I was only given like $5 to $10 pocket money per week.
In secondary school, that was increased to $50 per week.
In junior college, the amount rocketed to around $80 per week.
I was so-called "financially independent" from my parents after JC and paid for my way through university. My expenditure per week then amounted to around $150 to $200 per week.
Today, without doing anything...my expenditure is easily $700-800 per week because of all my loans, bills and stuff.
So I was thinking to myself....AMAZING!! My expenditure has increased by so much over the years.
THEN I CAME TO THIS SUDDEN REALISATION....
Actually, my expenditure has not increased dramatically.
What happened was that my parents were footing the bills for me in primary school. The things that I used and enjoyed, like a roof over my head and food on the table were actually costs that were borne by my parents. I was only thinking of the money that I spent in terms of pocket money but failed to realise that my parents were actually paying a much higher cost for all my other miscellaneous expenses.
The only conclusion I have come to is this : The cost of living in Singapore is really high.
One generation pays for the next generation and the next generation pays the bills for the next-next generation. When it comes to the time for them to retire, parents who do not have enough retirement money (because they have spent it all on their children) will look to their children for support. By then, their children themselves will already have children of their own and will have no choice but to shoulder the burden of feeding three generations (their parents, themselves and their children).
How to retire in Singapore?
As a primary school student, I was only given like $5 to $10 pocket money per week.
In secondary school, that was increased to $50 per week.
In junior college, the amount rocketed to around $80 per week.
I was so-called "financially independent" from my parents after JC and paid for my way through university. My expenditure per week then amounted to around $150 to $200 per week.
Today, without doing anything...my expenditure is easily $700-800 per week because of all my loans, bills and stuff.
So I was thinking to myself....AMAZING!! My expenditure has increased by so much over the years.
THEN I CAME TO THIS SUDDEN REALISATION....
Actually, my expenditure has not increased dramatically.
What happened was that my parents were footing the bills for me in primary school. The things that I used and enjoyed, like a roof over my head and food on the table were actually costs that were borne by my parents. I was only thinking of the money that I spent in terms of pocket money but failed to realise that my parents were actually paying a much higher cost for all my other miscellaneous expenses.
The only conclusion I have come to is this : The cost of living in Singapore is really high.
One generation pays for the next generation and the next generation pays the bills for the next-next generation. When it comes to the time for them to retire, parents who do not have enough retirement money (because they have spent it all on their children) will look to their children for support. By then, their children themselves will already have children of their own and will have no choice but to shoulder the burden of feeding three generations (their parents, themselves and their children).
How to retire in Singapore?
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