Degree, not worth it if you use your own money.

I was having a friendly chat with my friends after a game of basketball when one of them was thinking about further study to get a degree, which was what I had in mind all along. Only that he can’t really afford the payment and he got a son to take care of. Sometimes its ironic, some people have the financial means to further study yet they dun appreciate it, yet some people badly wanted to get a education but they have to slog day in day slog and save whatever they have for the course fees or textbooks.

Since my application for uniSim will probably not be accepted, I’ve searched for other course which suit my interest and sad to say, they are so expensive that I’ll have to work at least 6 years to recover my course fee without saving any money. Which left me with 2 choice, Either get my next company to subsides my school fees or keep waiting for my uniSim application for next year July.

Chances for the Jan intake looks slim…

Called up uniSim today to find out my chances for the Jan 2009 intake as I have not been called up for an interview yet. From the way she sounds, seems like my chances are slim. Then I have this image of a wall standing in front of my path. It happens everytime when Im trying to get to a point like closing a deal, learning a new skill or even chasing after a girl.

However I know that I may not have the power to change the events that happens onto me but I definitely have the resources of how to react to it. Those events are nothing except feed backs  for me to change my strategy accordingly to get what I want. If I can’t get into the Jan intake, I’ll just wait for the July intake and apply with other universities at the same time. Meantime I’ll just work and earn enough school fees so that I wun burden myself with the study loan.

Her Dream is to watch her kids grow up…

Was watching channel 8 just now when I came across this documentary of a breast cancer patient whose dream was to watch her daughter and son grow up. This seems impossible as her cancer cells has spread to her liver, brain, bones etc. Yet she faced up to reality with courage and hope, appreciate every seconds that she spent with her family and friends. To know more about her, please go to http://shinscancerblog.blogspot.com

I’ve lost my mother to Leukaemia 15 years ago and I remembered her telling me in tears that she can’t bear to leave my sister and I. I believe its the love that kept her going for 2 more years before it took her away from me. Now my granny is my acting mum, loving me and taking care of me like her own child. And its my granny’s love that kept me away from bad company and striving to be a better person every single day.

So here is my message. Love your family, your friends and all those around you who care for you. Don’t ever regret it if one day they are gone.

Confusion Mode

Spent the last couple of days researching into options and learning whatever it is to learn from. Blogs, Books, Courses etc. Found out actually the current market is not really suitable for options trading as the implied volitatily is so high that its eating your profits (if you have any) faster than anything. In my humble opinion, time is the most important aspect in times like this because it takes time for the market to realise the value of some good companies that produce good earnings, strong sales and less debt.

Of course. this opinion comes from someone who have not actual trading experience nor strong background in options and definitely, there is someone who is out there making tons of money trading options and being a newbie in trading. I will take more time to find out more. Just that without the right guidance and trying to learn to trial and error makes you confused.

Are you in credit debt? You are not alone…

Here is a post of how much debt Singaporeans are in according to MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore)

SINGAPORE : As economic growth heads south, debts are going up.

And the combination “will push many individuals into financial difficulties as jobs and income become affected”, Credit Counselling Singapore (CCS) said on Thursday.

Preliminary statistics in August from the Monetary Authority of Singapore show that total debt to individuals stand at S$112 billion – almost 10 per cent up over a period of 12 months.

In particular, credit card rollover debt has ballooned to S$3.3 billion, an increase of S$296 million over the 12 months against a S$94-million increase for the previous 12 months. Housing loans are also up S$6.6 billion.

“Singaporeans have been piling on debt at a fast rate,” said CCS president Kuo How Nam, who cited the statistics in a letter to the media.

There was also a S$2.5-billion (18.4-percent) jump under “other loans” (facilities given for unspecified purposes) to individuals, taking the total amount to almost S$16 billion. The previous year’s increase was only S$584 million for this category.

I believe that there some credit cards out there which will really help you save money with their reward programs but if you find that your credit bill are suffocating you, try to plan out your daily and monthly budget and spend only on the basic needs, leaving the rest to pay for your bills.

Continue to spend your “future money” and there maybe no future left for you to enjoy, only paying your bills.

Your Actions Must be Congruent with your Goals.

1st of all. I would like to thanks those who have left some precious comments on some of my posts and I appreciate your map of thoughts. There is a quote saying:” The Map is not the territory” and how true it is. Through your comments I get to appreciate your maps and boarden mine at the same time.

So my view is that in order to achieve what you want. Your strategy and action must related or congruent to your Goals. You can’t be planning to travel to the East and yet you are driving to the West. Yet majority if the ppl out there neglected this simple logic and even I, sometimes falls into a victim of it.

So one way to solve this problem, is to spent 1 hour every week standing in front of your goals (which you have put it onto a piece of paper and paste it on the wall) and do some self reflecting like:

• What have I done for the past week that is related to my goals and how can I improve further?
• What other activities that I can do to reach my goals faster?

So by investing in 1 hour per week to self reflect on your goals helps you to stay in focus and prevents you from straying off your course.

Education = Scam?

On one of the recent comments left by my friend who thinks that education doesn’t guarantee you job security and education itself is a legalised scam. I respect his views and however, isn’t your diploma of degree that gives you that office 9 to 5 job? Isn’t your Master’s degree or Phd that gives you that high salary? Do you know that some of the employees in Google were already millionaires and do you think that they are not educated?

All I can say is that it all depends on what do you want to become 5 or 10 years down the road and what it takes to become one. Becoming a millionaire does not necessary need to have a degree or Phd but becoming a lawyer or doctor needs to spend years in schools to get their degree and more years of education to get their license in order to fight your court case or perform surgery on someone else.

So lets face it. Singapore is a society based on qualifications and paper and unless you wanted to be your own boss (which is not what I want). You gotta have the necessary experience, skill-sets and qualifications in order to land onto that job which you always wanted. So even if some of you thinks that education is a legalised scam, you still need to depend on that piece of paper to get your paycheck every end of the month. Period…

Should guys date older women?

My Sister is getting married this late Nov and her fiance is 2 years younger than her. I have chased after girls who were older than me but I’ve never actually dated them, but I believe that there are pros and cons in dating older women.

Pros

• They have been working in the society longer than you are thus generally, they should be more understanding of your pressure in work compared to girls who just wanna have fun.
• They probably dated enough man to know what they want in a relationship so you should not have problem in terms of communication of each others needs and wants
• They will sometimes pay for your meals and movie tickets thus saving you some money
• They are more experienced in bed which saves you the trouble of teaching them the ” Standard Procedure”

Cons

• They maybe the last person you wanna be with on earth if your not thinking about marriage
• They can make you felt inferior because of the success of their career or their higher education
• They have dated enough men to know how to make your life like a living hell should you ever offended them
• Women forgive but never forgets, especially older women. So be careful of what you said if you quarrel with her.

So the conclusion that I have is to date both women who are older and younger than you so you will know which mentality is more suitable for you. =)

Why you should have 2 jobs?

I strongly believe that everyone should holding 2 jobs, one for you and the other for your money. Why put your money into ordinary savings account where the interest rates is only about 1% – 1.5% when the inflation of Singapore is currently at around 6% (meaning that you are losing money at 4.5% to 5% right now!)

So why not invest your spare time and cash to create another stream of income like Internet marketing, online trading, eBay selling or other areas whereby you can leverage on your savings more effectively. We are now in the era whereby our main job is no longer stable and safe, neither can we depend solely on our government to spoonfeedus. We need to be more proactive in creating value for ourselves in order to survive in today’s society, where competition from foreign talents is stifling and slowing economy.

So even if we got retrenched from our main job. We still will be able to sustain for the time being because of our other streams of income which is more “stable & safe”. The trick here is to invest time and effort into finding the other “Job” is suitable for you and can keep you moving forward.

Passed the 2nd test, awaits the finale

Sorry for those who had been reading up my blog regularly. I’ve been busy preparing for my Final Theory (Driving) and once again successfully passed it. But then again, I’ve done thousand over questions just to pass those 45 during the test but it was worth it. Now I’m applying for my PDL and also my Traffic Police Test which hopefully, I’m able to get test date by January.