I came across this book titled “Decision Making by the Book” when it was offered to members of the Daily Bread. Our Daily Bread is a daily devotional for Christians available online as well as in the form of a quarterly booklet.

I subscribe to received the quarterly booklet and like it when they offer CD’s, booklets on special topics although I don’t use the suggested daily devotions all that much.

For Christians, I think the book covers the important topic of God’s sovereign will as well as moral will. Many Christians including me, has often swayed from trying to make decisions based on what we know from the bible and what we know based on the circumstances around us at the time.

The problem with that is many a times, our knowledge of what the bible says is not deep enough and we failed to look at things at a holistic manner. I’m happy to say, this book, short at it is, has managed to clear up some of the ambiguity.

Even though a large section of the initial part of the book is spent explaining God’s sovereign and moral will, I found the latter part is just as useful, even if you are not a Christian.

The reason as the author Haddon Robinson puts it, is that most of us are “self taught” when it comes to making decisions. In chapter 12, he wrote

we have been making decisions since we decided to spit out our spinach

So, very few has been coached on how to make good decisions. You make think that this is silly, since we have made decisions all our lives. True, yet studies have shown that a person that has been coached or taught will progress much faster and peak much higher than anyone that’s is self taught.

Some may argue against this point especially in the face of self learning that’s available online today. I do believe that for certain skills, training and more importantly coaching, will make a significant difference.

For example, from my own experience, many years back, I took up public speaking by joining the Toastmasters Club. While I was with the club, I found myself better as speaking with less filler words. All the common “ah’” and “uhms” were reduced. Also I noticed that many speakers or leaders don’t have an objective when they stand in front to address an audience.

Even at the basic level, Toastmasters have taught me to consider things like the difference between speaking to inform, and speaking to inspire the audience. I learned the importance of paying attention to body language, eye contact as well as the use of supporting props in speaking.

I noticed that many people, preachers included, will actually do well to join the Toastmaster for a season or two, where you spend time to prepare a speech, give it and then receive valuable critique how to make it better.

Back to the book and subject at hand. Most people just jump into decision making mode. I know I do. What I found especially useful is asking myself some of the following question as suggested in the book. It is not an all exhaustive list but I’m sure you get the idea.

1. What exactly is the decision I have to make?
2. How should a decision like this one be made?
3. Should I involved other people?
4. How important is this decision anyhow?
5. Do I have to make this decision now?
6. Do I have to make this decision at all?
7. Do I need other perspectives to balance my biases or limitations?

I think the questions here gives you a different view point when you make decisions. For instance, when making investments at this time of market volatility? What would be your normal way to decide whether to invest or not?

Most likely the question you may ask yourself is one of these. It is a good time to invest? What is the best investment at a time like this? Should I invest or should I just keep cash?

On the other hand, if you used the 7 questions, you may find that the exact decision you need to make is “how do I grow my money?” And the answer maybe to consider a business, who knows.

Or instead of trying to think about all by yourself, you’ve decided to get others who are more experienced in making this decision. Like maybe get a financial planner or someone whom have a better investment track record than you.

Or you may decide that the decision is not all that crucial and you can always reverse it. For instance, you have been thinking of investing only 10% of your $100,000. And if it does not work out, you can take a hit of 50% on $10,000, which is only $5,000 and cut loss.

Seen in this light, making that decision need not be something that paralyses you into endless analysis. Just make the decision and adjust along the way.

The book is available on Amazon if you are interested

Original article from Personal Money Tips

The economic roller coaster is not going to get stable anytime soon. Get used to that. I just read in Yahoo Finance an article entitled what to do when different markets move in tandem, how do you invest in such an environment.

Well that answer is, I don’t know! I’m stumped myself. When it came on investment, I thought I wanted to write something that made me look smart. I thought I had an unique angle to write (and look good) but that’s not to be.

And then there is the Occupy Wall Street movement going along. So what are you going to do about it?

Me for one will keep an eye for the market but not hawk over it. The Europe contagion, if is happens, who knows what will happen. Some stocks will surely be dragged down. Some will not be dragged down as such. Heck, some might even do better after all things is considered. Gold or precious metal? It is anyone’s guess at this time.

The important thing I’ve decided to really focus on is my business. I see there’s not point worrying about what that market will do. If you are concerned, keep more cash. If you can tolerate a bit of risk, stay invested but keep some cash as well to take advantage of any sudden dip.

I would invest in good companies. Apple is still doing well with 4 million new iPhones sold! And I thought the job markets etc is bad.

Third thing I will do. Stay abreast with changes in the market place. Go read some books. Stay ahead of the curve. Don’t read what everyone else is reading. Read interesting stuff from thought leaders.

I went to a book sale and books like Kiyosaki’s available by the pallet full. I saw some people buying several of the same title. Possibly for their friends. Possibly they want to get rich. Don’t they realized dear Mr. K got rich selling books and seminars?

I was once like those people too. Lapping up everything he has to offer. Now, I’m a bit wiser.

The other book, Wikinomics on the same pallet, will sell a lot less, I’m sure. In my opinion, that would be a better book  compared to the other crappy book in the pile. Crowd sourcing works. I’ve seen it in action with a bunch of photographers came together and created the ideal inexpensive manual flash that suit their needs. Not fancy expensive flash or strobes that major camera makers push.

Oh, be careful of scammers at this time. When money is tight, scammer sprout out like mushrooms. Playing on the fears and motivation, they will bilk you of everything you have. The cops over here recently caught one so called property expert who conned several million ringgit from another business he did. And this guy even had write ups of his success in newspapers and an investment magazine. Don’t the reporters do a proper check anymore?

Many people are making money by telling people how they make money. For example a property guru. He might have made a few good investments. Let’s say he bought a property low at $200,000 and managed to sell at 100% capital gain. Very possible with the market run up. And let’s say he manage to buy and sold 5 property. So now, he is a millionaire (200,000 x 5).

But it is much harder to find property like that anymore. And the market is in the verge of a softening if not a collapse soon.

Now he thinks what better way to make a lot of money than to teach. Fill a room with 30 people and charge them $5,000. A cool $150,000 by telling what he did. Less of cost, he could have made $130,000 in 1 weekend.

Do that 3 times a year. You can do the math.

That is why, the old joke I heard many years, may not be a joke at all. Those who can do, do. Those who cannot do, teach. Those who cannot do, cannot teach, write a book.

So, now if you want to be rich, you know what to do. All you have to do is to figure the individual parts and execute it.

Oh, don’t forget a small detail of providing value so that people will hand over their money.

If you need help to run a business, ask your audience to help .

Original article from Personal Money Tips

I’m at the brink of starting something new and different. It is something that would be business and income related. While I was looking through some old files aka junk in my computer, I came across some old goals (no longer junk but gems) I’ve written down way back in 1998. Yes, some of my files go back that long. I’ve switched computers several times and I do wonder how some stuff survive through all that.

Anyhow, I have little text files from 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005 and 2008. The most recent one is a mindmap. Not sure what happen to those in years in between. I might have them written down on some of my notes in my old journal.

Seeing my old goals was interesting. It gives you insights to who you are back then. What you thought was important. It is also interesting to see how your goals evolve over time. Some of the goals which I held on to for many years, now is no longer important. For me, I noticed that as I grow and change, priorities change. Some of the goals I accomplished much later than the date I set and I even had a goal to have a girlfriend. Yeah, right! What a lousy goal since I have no control over that and my social skills are … let’s not go there. Enough to say that the goal did not happen at the appointed time. I did find my better half over 6 years back and it been great.

Back to the point I want to make with this article. I’m at the point to putting down some short term goals and it feel a bit scary initially. Looking back, while there was a time I felt down & disappointed when I did not achieve the goal then, and somewhat kicked myself, at this point, not achieving the goals is okay with me. And I’m  beginning to see that while goals give direction, it is not the be all and end all.

I looked through some of the goals and wonder what it would be like if I got them. Perhaps it would give some new experience e.g. having a sports car and show off a lot (okay gotta keep pride in check) but other than that, I don’t see much benefit it would bring to me. Some might say, I’m trying to comfort myself. Well, maybe but I don’t think so.

Like I mentioned, goals gives direction only. That too direction can change. Looking back, while I think that goals are important, they are much overrated. They cause you to grow, to learn, to change. While the less important goals 10 years down are left on the wayside, I realized, some more important ones came true albeit later.

What about you? Do is to keep your goals list of yesteryears? How do you relate to goals after a decade of setting them?

Original article from Personal Money Tips

  pic credit

I read this verse in the bible

Ecc 11:4  If you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything (Good New Bible)

which says that you cannot wait for perfect conditions to start something. This applies to everything be it to invest, to start something that’s on your heart for some time. While I always pray and kind off wait to get more information before embarking on major decisions, there comes a time to just do it. No matter how much research or information is gathered, it will never be enough. The world is changing too fast for that.

Having said that, your personality makes a difference in starting. People with a choleric temperament will tend to jump into things while a melancholic will tend to take much longer to decide.

Anyway, whatever it is, you still have to start or you will never harvest anything!

Original article from Personal Money Tips

If you are in an industry that is affected by the downturn, you’ll probably find yourself in 1 of 3 possibilities. You are either:-
1. Retrenched, now unemployed and looking for a job,
2. One of the luckier ones and still have a job but working harder since there is less manpower, or
3. You don’t know how bad things are and might end up in position 1 or 2 above.

Whatever position you are currently at, there are some things you can do now, rather than waste time doing nothing. Skills wise, you may be into 2 possible groups. Either you are skilled at something and your expertise is worth something, (just not at the moment) or you don’t have really expertise in any field.

If you are in the latter group, then I suggest that you go learn some new things. There are many things are available online or books you can borrow from the library to learn something. Why not learn a new language or learn public speaking? Or web design? Or how to organize events. These skills will become valuable down the road! There are plenty of things you can try. But this comes with a caveat. You have to do it well enough that you rise above the norm. Don’t stay at beginner level but learn with the aim to become an expert. If you can, be great. There is where value lies.

On the other hand, if you already have some skills, the perhaps starting a blog would be something to consider. Learn to market yourself. Think out of the box. For example I have a friend who really like marketing in the retail world but could not get a job in that specific sector. He had to settle for a job (still in marketing) in an different industry that is more regulated and his creativity is some what stifiled. I suggested he start a blog to review existing marketing design especially towards the layout, design and colors. What works, what doesn’t and why etc. While at the moment, he needs to stay on the job to pay his bills, in the months ahead, assuming he is good at what he does and builds a following, instead of getting a job, many more options will open up. Possibilities down the road would include maybe a book, freelance consultant work, or perhaps paid speaking engagements all come to mind. Who knows. What you build online is like an online resume!

But best of all, you are doing something to increase your value.

Original article from Personal Money Tips

Yesterday a friend decided to take a job offer with a new company. He tried out a small business for over a year but that didn’t work out. He went for some interviews and in fact he had 6 job offers! Yes 6 offers at such job markets. I didn’t have the opportunity to ask where those offers came from and I think that is not the point.

You might think that my friend here (let’s call him Bob) is a top of his field or someone brilliant that he received 6 offers. Nothing like that sort. Not to put Bob down but he is an average guy, late 20s not much specialization to speak off.  The fact was that there are jobs available if you are willing to do it.

On a side note, I spoke to another business owner in an engineering related field. The problem he says, "People are asking too much pay!" While you can and should ask for as much as possible and don’t sell yourself short, depending on the industry you are in and how long you’ve been jobless, I reckon this calls for wisdom.

Being prepared for the interviews and find out about the companies you intend to work for. That’ll give you some hints which company to choose if you are fortunate enough to have several job offers. So ask yourself to see if you are asking too much.

Original article from Personal Money Tips

I visited a customer yesterday and saw this 3 questions he had on his wall. I think the questions are fabulous to improve your life, your business, your relationship and practically any area of your life.

What are the things you are doing, that you should NOT be doing?

What are the things you are NOT doing, that you should be doing?

What are the things you are doing well, that you need to do more?

Simple, profound and at the end of the year, I believe these questions can help you move your life to the next level.

Original article from Personal Money Tips

At the beginning of this year, I sat down and looked at all the projects I had going. It was quite a lot on my plate to say the least, stretching over several mind maps. Because I found difficulty in concentrating on one project at a time and with some of the projects, the results required the element of time before I’d know if it is feasible or not. I found myself moving from one project to another. Added to the fact that I didn’t have much project management experience, I have nothing much to show for all my efforts.

After much thinking and soul searching, I reckon I needed a team to help me flesh out some of the projects. At this stage, I didn’t want to reveal too much information as to what I was up to, to my potential team members, but I did mention my ideas generally to them. I knew I needed people to reflect back ideas both positive and negative. After all a few more brains are better than one.

What I discovered was interesting. Immediately, I found myself in 3 major groups. Some were keen to know more, asking good questions along the way. Some shot down my ideas, while others listened but did not ask any significant questions.

Some of my friends, the entrepreneur type immediately were very eager to know more as well as share ideas what they were doing. Where as, I found a few people were not too positive about what I shared. Based on the feedback I’ve gotten, I generally know who are the people I wanted to work with. The reason being not so much about them being negative about my ideas (anyway, for them it is doing more of the same old thing, with a bit of variation), but the way they didn’t listen more. Or even to ask questions to find out more.

Contrast the time I spent with an younger entrepreneur friend. Well, for one, in spite of the still high property prices over here, he managed to purchase several at way below market. Something many people say can’t be done!

Which leads me to making more money through team working. I think, if you have been trying to generate either side income or develop a business, but find yourself still not getting the results you want, I suggest that you look for people around you who can give you good feedback. Hear them out. Sometimes, it is not because your idea don’t work. It just need some fine tuning.

You might not learn anything from them, but just by having someone as a sounding board, can keep you going and verbalize what you’ve been unable to put down. You may even surprise yourself at what you blurt out of your mouth. There lies the gems hidden at the back of your head.

Being in such relationship can give you a tremendous boost like what I did for me. In my case, I’m sharing with my friend what I’ve learned the last two years one the internet and he in turn will show me the ropes how to get investment property on the cheap. This also save a tremendous amount of time, which by now, you’d know is worth heaps.

In summary, here’s all the points again.

• teams allow you to save time and make more money
• you must find people who are like minded but different enough to contribute
• don’t include negative people on your team, but
• listen to negative people. They can give you good feedback on an weakness in your business plan you might have overlooked
• teams make working more fun

Original article from Personal Money Tips

If you have read my post in the past about the true cost of ownership, you’ll know that I’m a firm believer of making my stuff last as long as possible. However, with one caveat. For as long as you can still get the job done on them. If it take forever to make your PC boot, then, the time cost for you is much more than saving a few bucks for it.

But, what happened in the last 2 weeks was, I got wind of a sub notebook for under $400. Being curious, I went for a look. If you don’t know it yet, it is the Asus Eee PC which is a popular gadget today. Basically, it is a relatively cheap laptop that runs all your basic applications and it is based on a Linux OS. Small and cheap enough to do typing, emailing and cheaper than some PDA’s. Well, I did not buy this gadget, (I would have if I did not buy my PDA last year) but it led me to Linux OS, specifically Puppylinux.

What is so special about Puppylinux? It is a very small operating system and will run on an old Pentium with just 128MB of RAM. I’m not sure if you can still find a running PC that old. But I’m pretty sure you have some old PII or PIII around. Now, with computer prices dropping all the time, where is this post heading?

Well, most of us would have parents or kids at home who “also” wants a computer, right. It can be for surfing the net, for parents and older kid, or playing games for younger children. Instead of junking you PC, or donating it, and spend a few hundred buck to get a new PC, you can give it a new lease of life by installing a different OS on it.

I’ve tried Ubuntu in the past it is still a bit big. For very basic needs, PuppyLinux can do the job. It even runs without a hard drive. Boot it into memory from a LiveCD that you can download and you are off. I’m typing this post using PuppyLinux, since I managed to dual boot my Vista laptop. It took me sometime since I did not want to kill my one and only work machine, but if you have an old PC, I’m pretty sure setting it up will be faster.

Back to the Eee PC. I took a look at this laptop companion at the nearby computer retail shop. Apparently, these little fella are flying of the shelf. Asus have a hit on their hands and other computer makers are jumping onto the bandwagon. It just made me think. A lot of the stuff on our computer that we have, we don’t really need. Sure, when I bought my laptop last year, I wanted something to last me a few years. So, I have my dual core machine etc.

I also remembered several years ago when we went shopping for a new microwave oven, (we already have a full size oven) I thought of getting just the one with microwave functions rather than a full fledge microwave will bells and whistles. I have to say, most of the time, we use it to reheat food. The normal heating is into semi retirement! Perhaps, going back to basics is all we need.

By the way, PuppyLinux is free. You don’t have think about getting a licensed copy etc. So if you can get your hands on an old computer, go grab it. It’ll save you more than a few bucks I think.

Oh, if you like a small “disposable” laptop, consider the Eee PC

Original article from Personal Money Tips

Hello dear friends, I’m back. Sort of. Truth is, I was tired in December. We, Mrs Ed and I got involved in evangelistic event in December so we opened our home to friends to share the true meaning of Christmas. Not the commercialized, feel good, retailers feel better, Christmas. Then, we had our family get togather for Christmas. It was all the wrapping presents, cooking, cleaning, running our day business plus planning for 2008 that took a toll on me.

I wanted to do a review of 2007 in December, which is my normal practice. Perhaps by next week I can get something up. I found that it is good to look back before looking forward. Stuff that I’ve done in 2007, places where I’ve grown and most important lessons that I’ve learned. Mistakes that I should not repeat. I suggest that you do something like that too.

In order to review 2007, I looked back at my diary and also my journal (that I jot in from time to time). One big thing was I wasn’t consistent in keeping journal. That’ll probably be on my list of things to improve on in 2008.

For those who come by to this site, you’ll probably notice that the theme is designed by Chris Pearson of Personified. I was looking for another theme from Chris when I saw this old post he wrote about kissing the corporate life goodbye. Chris writes

Does the idea of a corporate gig give you that warm, fuzzy feeling? Is a raise of 6% per year until you retire to a $20 storebought cake and a Rolex your idea of financial well-being? Did you know that health insurance really isn’t all that expensive?

And nine months later

I have what is essentially a new outlook on life. I’m free; I’m happy; and I feel like I can do anything I want to do.

I’d like you to read his article there to get some inspiration. Although your journey to financial freedom might take longer than 9 months, it starts with a goal. That’s important. After many years of going after goals and seeking things “outside” on myself, I realize it is just as important to look “inside” yourself. Who do you need to be to get where you want to go. Knowing who you are will tell you where you should go. Otherwise you might be copying a lifestyle of others but it is not what you really want. Climbing a ladder leaning on the wrong wall.

Ask yourself what brings you joy? That sense of flow. And instead of wanting success, strive for excellance to be you. To an Excellant you in 2008.

How do you do your review?

Original article from Personal Money Tips