Getting Rich

`The poor and the middle class have a hard time getting rich because they try to use their own money to get rich.If u want to get rich,you need to know how to use other people`s money to get rich...not your own` RICH DAD

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What I do before 28 to make my first millions？

Sumber:http://investkk.com/make-first-million/
Live below my means

Life is fantastic when you received your first paid salary after so many years of parent support. A lot of youngster started their fancy life to convince themselves that they have the right to enjoy all of their salary because of the whole month of hard work and pressure. But this will hurt badly especially when they start to spend on the thing that they don’t “NEED” to impress other people. On average younger people is spending 90% of their income (or more) to maintain their life style. That is excluding economical support from their parent mainly free accommodation, free transport, and free of 2 meals per day.
Save money as much as possible to buy property

Earning money is tough but saving what you have earned is even tougher. But if you would like to have healthy financial life after you are 30, actually you mainly have no choice but to save any many as possible to start your property investment life. I started working at the age of 20 and only save enough to buy my first property at the age of 24!
Avoid luxury holiday

Few local airlines are giving fantastic deal to Malaysian to travel all over the world at very much cheap rate. But if you look at it from financial view, after saving from the travel fare, you still need to pay for the travel expenses like hotel, transport, food and shopping expenses. Just to share my personal “holiday life” with all of you. I started working in year 2000 and my first holiday is four years after that! Life is all talking about “delay gratification”.
Avoid over spend on credit card

Having credit cards is good. At least you don’t need to carry so many cash and its convenience and easy to use. But a lot of youngest using credit cards as their sources money to spend. And for your information, young adult is the easiest to be influence. Just to share with you all about my credit card usage;

1. Insurance payment
2. Petrol expenses
3. Occasional shopping expenses

On average my credit card expenses is below RM1,000 per month and I will make full payment before my due date. Are you practicing the same? I know some of you are not. Let me list out what is your credit card expenses listing;

1. Insurance
2. Petrol expenses
3. Shopping
4. Restaurant
5. Movie
….
20. Bank interest
21. Bank late payment

This can be avoid and it need to be avoid if you would like to have healthy financial life after 30.
Surrounded by good friends / partners

For me, all my surrounding friends are lawyer, valuers, real estate agent, bankers and property owners. You need to be surrounded by all the above people to have better deals on real estate.

Lawyer – give you advise on the deal and the most important discounted legal fees

Valuers – give you the information about the property, potential risk and return of the project.

Real Estate agent – Give you the “Good Deal”

Bankers – Give you the loan facility at the better rate, good margin, and fast approval

Property owner – Sharing of information and experience which can help you to save time & money
Read, gather and get more experience through sharing

My journey on investment started at year 2000 when I was reading “Robert Kiyosaki” books. The book really opens my eyes on how important we need to have financial literacy. From there onwards I keep updated myself by reading and sharing experience with all property owners and friends. From there my knowledge grows tremendously. It’s a fast track to financial freedom.

Above are all secret that I have to earn my first million before I’m 28. I’m gearing myself to achieve first five millions before I’m 33 as I’m confident on it! Furthermore millionaires nowadays can’t help much in giving me better life. I need to be multimillionaires.

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What is the Real Value of Gold?

Source : The Star
What is the real value of gold? Gold has industrial uses, especially in the electronics industry where it is used for electrical wiring due to its high conductivity. However, close to two-thirds of its demand is for jewellery, particularly in India and China.


Increasingly, it is being used again as a store of wealth as investors lose confidence in paper money, hedge against inflation or worry about economic and political turmoils. Other than buying physical gold, investors can invest in gold exchange traded funds (ETFs). SPDR Gold Trust, the largest gold ETF with a market capitalisation of over US$41bil, holds over 1,100 tonnes of gold.

Money could as well be in the form of sea shells and indeed Pacific islanders used sea shells as money. Before paper money, what constituted money came in many forms – sea shells, salt, leather, copper, silver and gold. Money was used as a store of wealth which could be used to purchase goods and services without resorting to barter trade. It was in the world’s oldest civilisation, Mesopotamia (in modern Iraq), where metal coins were introduced around 2500 BC. Gold is valuable only because it is perceived so in the collective psyche of the human race, hence its value is subjective and relative to other alternatives. To be valuable, something has to be rare and desired.

In all of history, only 161,000 tonnes of gold have been mined, barely enough to fill two Olympic-size swimming pools, according to a January 2009 National Geographic article. To be valuable and used as money, it has to be something durable. That would exclude fair maidens as their perceived value in the eyes of lustful men may diminish with age. Still, without the demand of gold from the fairer sex, its value would be much lower.

In Einstein’s theory of special relativity, time is relative to speed but if we apply the theory of relativity to the perception of value, the relative value of goods and services is determined by comparing the desirability of one versus another just as we compare the relative attractiveness of bonds, real estate, gold and stocks.

Even within the same asset class like stocks, we apply the relative yardstick – should we buy DiGi or Maxis? The relative attractiveness is determined by supply and demand, interest rates, growth and dividends for stocks, personal preferences and many other factors. The fact that the prices of stocks, bonds and commodities quoted on exchanges are so volatile is a reflection of not only genuine supply and demand but also human psychological factors which cause irrational exuberance or pessimism.

The Chinese introduced paper money during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and with that they also invented hyperinflation when a large amount of paper money was introduced.

How does printing money cause inflation? In a simple hypothetical world where US$100,000 of paper money can only buy you a bar of gold or a house, doubling the paper money to US$200,000 does not create new wealth but merely causes the value of the bar of gold and the house to rise from US$100,000 to US$200,000, an inflation of 100%.

Wealth transfer

Printing of money merely results in a wealth transfer from the saver (who can buy less with paper money) to the government (as it can use the freshly created money) and borrowers (decline in the real value pf debt). Gold is perceived as an inflation hedge and a store of value. (See chart) Its price spiked in the late 1970s when the US and world inflation surged. The price is surging again due to diminishing confidence in paper money.

World governments are all undertaking fiscal stimulus to counter the economic slowdown. These large budget deficits eventually have to be financed by higher taxes but with unemployment in the United States at over 10%, politicians with an eye on getting re-elected may be tempted to print money to finance the budget deficits and bailouts.

Hence it is not surprising that with the United States, British and Japanese governments printing money, investors are flocking to buy gold or commodities which are a better store of value as their supply does not grow as fast as printed paper money.

The printing of money by the US government also puts other currencies at risk as over 60% of foreign reserves are held in US dollars. As the gold standard has been abolished, paper money cannot be converted to gold. No wonder the Indian government has decided to sell some of their US dollar reserves for gold. Perhaps the currencies of larger countries like Australia are relatively safer as they are sitting on large yet-to-be-mined gold reserves even as their US dollar reserves lose value.

So, should the fair price of gold be relative to paper money? Though the value of gold may be subjective in the minds of investors, the reality is that the amount of gold in the world is finite, but there is no limit to the quantity of paper currency which can be issued.

Therefore it is not surprising that the value of gold is at a record high as more money is being printed. All this is premised on the assumption that we will continue to treasure gold, which is likely to be the case as we have done so for millennia.

Choong Khuat Hock is head of research at Kumpulan Sentiasa Cemerlang Sdn Bhd

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Do you have the assets to pay for your liabilities?

Sumber:http://kclau.com/wealth-management/asset-liability/
No. I am not talking about your home with mortgage.
No. I am not talking about your hire-purchase vehicle either.

As most people understand, the mortgage of their home is the liability. You owe the bank money. In return, you need to charge your house title to the bank as collateral. So you think you actually have an asset to pay for your liability. You think your actual home is the “asset”, that when you can’t afford the installment, it can pay off your mortgage by being auctioned to third parties. You are right, but it won’t get you rich.


For the rich people with higher financial IQ, they know that the house they are staying in is actually a liability. It is a luxury item. It takes money out of your pocket! In fact, it takes more money than you think. Beside the mortgage installment, you are paying for the renovation, electrical appliances, household bill etc.

Now, let’s come back to the golden question: DO YOU HAVE THE ASSETS TO PAY FOR YOUR LIABILITIES?
A local entrepreneur in pre-school education wants to have a new S-class Mercedes Benz. That’s a liability. He recruited a new talented business partner and opened up another kindergarten. In 3 months time, the child care and education centre is giving him RM5000 net profit every month. His partner is taking care of the centre, while he is shopping for his new luxury car. That’s an asset.

BRABUS S-B8
Creative Commons License photo credit: mujitra

I have some down line agents who are very independent and making sales week after week. I trained them in the first few months in business, and they can practically do business on their own after that. I got overriding commission from every sale they make. They are my assets. They help to pay for my car loan, myliability.

So, do you have the assets to pay for your liability?

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Term Loan vs Flexi Loan for Property Financing

Sumber:http://1-million-dollar.blogspot.com/2009/12/term-loan-vs-flexi-loan-for-property.html
Currently, in the market there are two most widely known Property Financing. There are Term Loan and Flexi Loan. But for many of people, they have no idea what are the different between them & which one to choose when buying a property. Actually, in addition to Term Loan and Flexi Loan, there is a hybrid product called Semi-flexi Term Loan. This will make the confusion even worse.

In terms of interest calculation between Term Loan, Flexi Loan or semi-flexi Term Loan, actually no different between them. All of them use the same principal where interest is calculated base on principal balance. Nowdays, most of the Property Financing or Mortgage loan are based on "daily rest" calculations. In simple word interest is calculated daily based on the outstanding balance.

Also, monthly installment for Term Loan, Flexi Loan and Semi-flexi Term Loan are fixed unless there is change in BLR or BFR.

The main different between Term Loan, Flexi Loan and Semi-flexi Term Loan are,

Term Loan

* Bank allow you to make extra payment to reduce principals but sometimes you have to inform them prior to that. Depending on the Letter Offer, sometimes Term Loan does not allow for extra payment.
* Bank doesn't allow you to withdraw the additional amount you paid earlier in case you need to use it in the future.


Flexi Loan

* Bank will provide you with additional Current Account that link with the Loan Account. Bank allow you to make extra payment to reduce principals by depositing either through Loan Account or Current Account. At the end of the day, both account will be synchronized. You do not need to inform the bank regrading extra payment.
* Bank allow you to withdraw the additional deposit at any time by withdrawing via ATM or writing a cheque. You do not need to inform the bank.
* Bank will impose monthly charge of around RM10 but some banks may give a waiver for this.


Semi-flexi Term Loan

* Bank allow you to make extra payment to reduce principals but sometimes you have to inform them prior to that.
* Bank allow you to withdraw the additional amount you paid earlier but bank will charge you processing fee for each withdrawal. The fee is between RM10 to RM50 depending on banks. Some banks also place a limit on the number of withdrawal per year.

In conclusion, I definitely prefer Flexi Loan. It gives me flexibility to manage my money. Imagine that, if you combine all of your saving, FD & even salary to your flexi account, immediately you will save on the daily interest. And, if you need to use that money, you can withdraw it anytime as you wish. No limit what so ever. At the end of the day, you will save the interest and reduce your principal at a faster pace and finally shorten the loan tenure.

I am currently having a Mortgage loan from CIMB. I choose Flexi Home Financing-i. It is much better than conventional Flexi Loan as there is no monthly charge of RM10.

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Investment Strategy for a Student

Sumber:http://kclau.com/investment/student-investments/

A student emailed me to ask for advice on investment. Without revealing his true identity, let’s call him Ahmad.

Mr KCLau,

I’m a student at a local university and I’ve been following your blog for a very long time.

I must say, due to your articles, I’ve changed from a spendthrift person to a more financially literate individual.

But now I stand at a junction by which need advice to go on.

I’m a 1st year student, doing medicine for 5 years.

My current assets are:
1) ASB savings: RM87 567.00
2) Gold (current market price): RM7268.00
3) Fixed deposit: RM11 258.00 (with rate of 2.5% p.a)

Each month, I will be able to allocate around RM 1200 for the next 5 years.

Based on the above info, what would be the wisest course of action which would generate the most income in a 5-year period?

The current course of action is I’m putting 60% of my income in ASB, 25% in gold and 15% in FD.

With the restrictions such as being a student, I lack the capability to invest in real property and stocks. Being a Muslim, I am not going to invest in non-Shariah compliant investment vehicle.

Your opinion is highly appreciated.

Thank you.

Current Situation

First of all, it is pretty impressive that a student has a total net worth of RM106,093 since most students are in debt with study loan such as PTPTN. Moreover, Ahmad still has a positive surplus of RM1200 to save and invest every month.

The current asset allocation provides some diversification. Gold is a hedge against inflation. ASB provides steady returns every year. Meanwhile Fixed Deposit gives him the liquidity and flexibility during emergency.
Challenge faced

When we see no trouble in his financial situation, Ahmad is asking for advice to maximize his return in 5-year period. This is a common question people would ask when they are investing their money. But I think the more useful question should be

”What should I do to improve my earnings?”

In fact, there is no sufficient information to give the proper investment plan. The first thing we need to know is the financial goals Ahmad wants to achieve. For example, are you going to use that money for a business start up? Are you going to save that money as your retirement fund?

However, I would assume that Ahmad wants to learn what he should be doing with the money within this five years in school to produce the best monetary outcome when he graduates in the future.
Suggestion to produce the best outcome

Ahmad is doing great with managing his money. I would say he is well ahead of most people around him, who are still studying. He doesn’t spend much. He can really save money.

My three suggestions are

1. Continue to accumulate and invest your money
Now, you can continue to accumulate your wealth using your proven strategies to save in ASB, Gold and FD. There are two other options you can consider – stock and unit trust. There are many Shariah compliant funds and also fundamentally strong companies to invest in. But before you make anyinvestment decision, learn about this equity-type investment and the cost involved.

2. Invest to gain knowledge
You can take up some investment courses in the area most interest you. Some courses are not cheap, but most of the time, it is worth the money to pay hundreds or even thousands to attend the courses. You will be able to learn the tricks and knowledge to earn even more money.

Some courses you can consider include real estate investment, stock investment, self-development, business development and leadership program.

3. Invest to broaden your network
As a student, we are expected to spend most of our time for academic result. But in the real world, excellent academic result doesn’t ensure financial success.

“What you know” is important. But “what you know” will only produce the most financial reward when you know the right person. So “who you know” have to be coupled with “what you know” to give you the success you are looking for.

By all means, join some social works, networking groups, relevant societies and become a committee member. Being actively involved, you will show to the people around you that you are capable to getting things done. The trust relationship will be built along the way. This will be very useful when you doing business in the future.
Conclusion

When I was still a student, I don’t have much money to invest. But I have a lot of time. So I invest the time to gain knowledge and broaden my network.

Ahmad, you are even better. Your future profession is a very profitable career. Now you have time and also money. You can invest both time and money on the right area. I am sure you will succeed in a very short time.

Wish you all the best!

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From Credit Card Debt to Owning Six Houses

Sumber:http://kclau.com/wealth-management/0-6-houses/
This is a guest post by Sayeed, a senior manager in one of the multi-national corporation in Penang. Sayeed is an experienced property investor. Here, he shares his financial journey with you, unselfishly.

The journey for my financial world have been a tough one, after graduating we (my wife and I) got into huge debts, simply because a few mistakes :

1. We got married a year after graduation, the wedding cost was much higher than we can afford, so loans and credit card debts started to pile.

2. Purchase a house (was not a mistake) but at a wrong place where the appreciation was not great and we went on to renovate for huge $$, again more personal loans +credit card debts.

3. We didn’t have a clue about income and expenses, as long as it was within our salary its okay.

4. We had our 1st baby girl, again we were clueless about the $$ we need to set aside for the expenses of a baby.

Looks very foolish and maybe some of you are thinking, which planet we came from. How can we be so stupid? Well, first, I wouldn’t put up excuses of why we were like that, or lack of financial knowledge. We had big dreams and were pushing hard to achieve them when we were not really ready yet. That’s not all, then we have had our 5th mistake - this is a classic.
Five major financial mistakes

In midst of all the financial woes, we were struggling badly. One of our office mates saw us and asked us if we would be interested to make some additional income while keeping our current job….OH YES…that’s what we wanted.

He came to our house and ask us this question “What would you like to achieve in the next 5 years?”, the rest is history, 6 years we spend slogging and working hard in network marketing, we spend more than we made, (not the network marketing’s mistake, but we weren’t selling products to make money). After 6 years, we were exactly where we started. ZERO base.
Strategies to turn the situation around

Nothing to cry about, we regroup ourselves, rethinks of strategies: (from our lessons learnt by putting our pride a side for a while)

1. Resolve our finance loans and stop all our credit cards transactions, buy everything cash.

2. Sell our property and make money, invest in cheaper units and stay there until we are back up (downsize ourselves)

3. Plan our bill before going out to purchase groceries.

4. Focus on career instead of MLM to grow higher in corporate, only to earn more so that can have more income.

5. Help out some part time work with translations, tuition etc to make additional income.

6. Stay at home - at in laws house during weekend and eat at home.

7. Start to pay ourselves (saving) every month from our monthly salary…start with minimum as we could move up to 10%.

All these ideas came out with few simple activities:

a) Keep our dream intact, but 1st keep a short term goal and a 5 year plan.

b) Read a lot of books (I mean a lot).- started with Robert Kiyosaki…Azizi Ali…Milan Doshi…Peter Yee…now, KCLau.

c) Strategize our short term goals and then put a time line to it.

d) Monitor our account statements, income and balance sheet.
Magnificent Results

The results: (what we achieve in the last 6 years of planning).

1. Promotions in career, I still work but in a higher management as a Senior Manager. My wife left her job as a manager and went into her passion business earning similar to her “job” income monthly.

2. We have 6 properties, 3 of those rented, 2 currently in construction (for appreciation) and 1 we stay in

3. Our savings have reached 6 digits past 1 year.

4. Total net worth is 890K as of Nov 2009. (asset : properties, mutual fund, savings ASBN & business investment)

5. Total net saving monthly (income - expenses) is 15% without taking into consideration my wife business income.

Now we are focusing on the next 5 year plan:

Net worth 2.5M with target of saving accounts alone $1M.

Of course it didn’t simply worked out for us, there were mini strategies that we worked on and move towards this direction, while keeping our jobs. Here I am writing to give hope to those who are in financial crisis today, that you too can succeed, with effective planning.

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The Important Lessons I Learned On Investment

Sumber:http://kclau.com/wealth-management/important-lessons-investment/
I learned about managing finances when I was a child from my parents especially from my dear mom who has given me life and also taught me how to be prudent with money. I modeled my mom in several ways. We were not rich then, my dad was in business debts and I have to give tuition at age 13 to pay for my school fees and other expenses. However I thank them for giving me a fantastic learning environment ,virtues and values which has helped me in my later years.

Although I do high risk investment at times, I believe I am conservative as I usually invest with what I have. My mom’s investment rule is never borrow to invest & she is successful in investment, owning houses & stocks without debt , getting good passive incomes for retirement. My opinion is that it is ok to borrow from the financial institutions, in fact most investors and businessmen leverage on the banks too; it depends on our risk appetite and how well we manage it.

For me, I tried to keep it low because of my mom’s teaching. Also, I believe that greed and fear are buddy, it comes in a package. When we make friend with greed, we accept fear too. As I find fear draining my energy, disturbing me and making me lose my focus for bigger things in life, I choose to stay away from greed as much as I can.

Whether my approach in investment suits you or not will depend on individual. It worked well for me and I hope my sharing will help you too .By the way, I am not trained ininvestment and I have no background on crunching financial data, I learned through the many mistakes I made and they are my best mentors. My passion is on leadership & personal development.

Although investment is a different subject altogether, I find what I have learned in self development helps in my investment’s strategies and also in other areas of my life. I believe it is the attitude, character, belief & value system that make or break us. Luckily, all of these can be changed if we have a willing heart…

Firstly, I learned from the books I read that my hard earned money need to be protected, further I also need to make it work harder for me rather than sitting in the bank.
Lesson 1: Never Believe in “lobangs”

The no 1 lesson I learned : “Never hear say some lobangs and jump into it”, only a fool does that. Always do homework, there is no free lunch and we have our part to play if we want to be an investor . I saw people attracted by the money in the stock market or property market and follow blindly. When the investment fall apart, they usually lay blames. When we justify our self, we learn nothing. Take charge of our own action and be responsible. Instead, review what are the lessons we gain. If we got the right answer, we will soon be on the road to winning and success in life. God gives us a great mind to think, do not store it in the store room or backyard….

Now assume we did the homework and understand the investment well, do not start yet unless we want to lose our money. Understanding the ups and downs, features and options of an investment is an external exercise; we also need to do the internal exercise which is our self. Most of the investment’s consultants talk about checking our capital, our risk level, to invest long or short term etc which I called technical stuffs, I find understanding our attitude, belief & behavior pattern in different situations and outcomes are equally important.

This is the psychological part of a human being and we react based on the experiences, expectations ,values & beliefs. This is important because when there is sudden change ininvestment ’s climate , or so called good lobangs etc, our emotion will decide how we play the game, our logical mind no longer take control under such situations.

For eg, we can be easily influenced; if most of our friends had did it and make money, I believe you will not want to be left behind. When so called “opportunity” strike, even low risk takers are convinced to park their money there and expect to flip it soon… Knowing our self well is like knowing our enemies in the battlefield as quoted in the Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Ininvestment, we are our biggest enemy,it is crucial to know our self well so that we can discipline our thoughts when necessary
Lesson 2: Never invest with the attitude of gaining big overnight

Lesson no 2: Never invest with the attitude of gaining big overnight. Big gain comes with big risk…and unless we are well prepared for that. Maybe we strike it right the 1st time but believe me money that comes easy, will go easy too. There are people who were destroyed by their previous success and ended up worst than before. And I can assure you, more people lose money ininvestment than winning from it. If investing is as easy as 123, there is no poor people around. If you win it big overnight, it is luck and I suggest you to keep the money properly and be really careful in futureinvestment
Lesson 3: Invest to Win

Lesson no 3: Invest to win. The confidence of winning must be 75% and above before we put the money in. Why do we want to play a game that has 50% or probably lower chance of winning? Isn’t this like gambling ? Yes, I agree ininvestment , there is risk and there is no sure win, but we do have our choice not to play the loser game ( 50% or lower is loser game for me) . I saw many doing this…when the market is hot, they rush in, worry they may miss it…When the market plunge, they panic and dump it. They have no idea where the market is heading… they react because of fear. Actually, fear can only attack us when we do not have confidence or we lose our confidence for the future. If we have confidence with the company, the industry and the economy outlook, what will we do instead? Robert Kiyosaki has recently said in an interview that such economy downturn has got little or no impact to professional investors; it only gives them more opportunities. The professional investors do value investing, and they don’t fizzle out when the investment’s climate change. They invest with confidence and there is only one reason for them to invest, that is to win.
Lesson 4: Perpare to make mistakes

Lesson no 4: Prepare to make mistakes .Even professional investors make mistakes, so do we. Accept it and see if there is anything for us to learn from the experience. Here, I like to share one of my past experiences of having an invitation in year 2000 to participate in a pre-IPO private placement by Robert Kiyosaki’sinvestment team as I get to know one of them while helping them facilitate the popular cash flow game. The company was in the mining industry preparing for listing. Will you jump onto the opportunity since they are gurus? IPO is a hot subject then… is it risky? Very! But want to take it? why not, is a rare chance to tag along professional investors.

I was ruled by greed, believing they can’t be wrong and I jumped in with little information on the industry plus never familiar with the listing criteria in the Canada Stock Exchange, all the information I had were hear say….The IPO never succeed (so guru make mistakes too) I held a paper loss and has written it off long ago. Is the experience painful? Well, actually I am glad I had a chance to learn my stupidity at my early age; otherwise the losses may be bigger now. There is no sure win, the question here is can we afford to lose when we make a mistake ? Do we move forward or dwell on it ?
Lesson 5: Action

And last but not least, lesson no 5: Action. I saw some friends who done every checks but still worry so much when fear start to take control. This is what I shared previously on taking actions. If we stay in our comfort zone, definitely it will not be the track to success; in fact it is a fast track to nowhere. Start small if we are fearful…, my opinion is that, it is good to be fearful so that we can be prudent with our money, however, do not let fear paralyze us. If we have done our best to check out what we don’t know, let’s have faith, step out with courage and confidence. If we want to change our current lifestyle, changing our self is inevitable; let’s embrace change with the right attitude and I assure you, the speed of your change in the right direction will determine the speed of your success in life.

I hope the above sharing helps, but if you are looking for professional tips on investment, I afraid I might have disappointed you. The above are valuable lessons that I have learned and it has helped me make wise decisions for my investments.

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Gold vs. Silver Now

Sumber:GoldSilver.com
WHAT'S THE CURRENT GOLD/SILVER RATIO?

Silver - With the gold: silver ratio at 65 ($1117/$17.10/oz), silver remains a compelling buy at these levels and will likely be the surprise outperformer in 2010 as it was in 2009 (up by more than 51% YTD as per table). Silver’s industrial uses should mean that the gold/silver ratio will likely gradually regress to the average in the last 100 hundred years which is close to 40:1.
If the tiny silver market was to see real funds enter it than the ration could return closer to the historical average of 15:1 as it did as recently as 1980. Silver remains less than half of its nominal record price in 1980 and very undervalued from a historical basis.

Seeking Alpha 12/15/2009

WHERE IS GOLD GOING?

Kevin Kerr, president of Kerr Trading International said the precious metal's (gold) "more likely to hit $3,000 than $800 in the next two years."

"I am bullish longer term on the U.S. and global economies, but ... I feel the die has been cast for lower fiat currency prices in years to come and a global shift out of the dollar and into commodities as the new reserve currency," he added.

Kerr listed hyperinflation, more job losses in the U.S., negative interest rates for an extended period of time, efforts to price crude oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar and attempts by China to move a larger part of its foreign currency holdings into gold as conditions that would support a further increase in the yellow metal's prices.

Amerifutures managing director Patrick Kerr lists gold purchases by central banks, "the deepest pockets of them all," as one of his 10 reasons why gold could shoot up to between $5,000 and $10,000 an ounce.

MarketWatch 12/18/2009

WHO IS NEXT TO GO GOLD?

Central banks and their "deep pockets" have been publicly buying gold reserves for six months now. India, China, Brazil, Russia, South Korea ---> they are all seeking more gold reserves.

We believe it's not a question of "if" these countries are going to increase their gold holdings, it is merely a question of "when" further purchases are announced.

2010 is right around the corner. Are you going to be on the winning side of next decades coming wealth transfer?

The economic fundamentals warrant immediate action. History shows that moving decisively into gold and silver cannot only help in securing your financial future but during the right part of the economic cycle (which we think is now) can lead to life changing wealth.

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I achieved financial freedom at 38-by WaiYin

Sumber:http://kclau.com/make-money-tips/financial-freedom/
I like to thank KCLau for the opportunity to write here so that I can share my experiences and journey to financial freedom at the age of 38. I find KC is a man that has his reader’s interest at heart wanting them to gain the knowledge and wisdom to financial independent. And to allow me do so, I am a person with no writing skill and neither do I know how to handle techno , KC has provided me guidance and support to get me started. I am thankful for this chance to allow me to share so that I can grow at the same time.

I thought over for the last 1 week or so for this first article that I am writing with regard to what I did to be where I am now and I felt my belief and attitude has helped and guided me most in my journey.
Dream

1) Dream: I have many dreams since I was little, dream to be my own boss, dream to have my property and finally dream to be able to retire with passive income in properties. I was running my own business at the age of 28, and retired 10 yrs later at age 38. I have my first property at the age of 24. Now at age 42, I have passive income from 3 properties. Man with no dreams shall perish, so start with today, think big and have a big dream being the first step tofinancial freedom. Those who think dreaming is a silly thing to do will miss out a lot . Dare to dream , dream big !
Learn

2)Learning : A mentor always said this to me ” When we stop our learning, we are die-ing”. There are so much for us to learn, financial literacy, EQ, etc etc. Make a a new learning day everyday, anytime, anywhere. If we are observant and rise our awareness, we can learn from anybody as long as we see strength in them. Look at their positive side of the person and we will be able to learn this strength from almost everyone and not just those who are smarter or have a better education than us. On top of that, I also read quite a fair bit, not on TV or fashion magazines but on self help materials . There are so much wisdom in there .
Value Time

3) Value Time : God is fair to give each and every one of us 24 hours a day, 168 hours per week, how to effectively use this time will determine how fast we can achieve in life. As we chose where to invest our money, we should even be careful where we invest our time. However this does not mean that we cannot watch TV and lay back and rest. Rest time is equally important too as we need to have a balanced well being so that we can achieve more in life
Integrity

4)Integrity : I once told a friend, my biggest asset is my integrity. Money when we lose it, we can make it back but once our integrity is lost, it takes many years and much effort to gain it back. Our integrity build the impression of others to us, when we lost it, we lost everything. A person with integrity attracts a lot opportunities. I am very thankful to all my friends that have trusted me and given me a chance to work along with them all these years
Embrace Change and Challenges

5) Embrace change and challenges : I believe ALL successful people went through some form of challenges and changes in their journey to success, we cannot avoid this just like when we learn to walk when we are still a baby, we will fall first before we master the art of walking gracefully. It is only through the challenges that we grow to become stronger and stronger each day, so instead of avoid it, love it and embrace it .
Blessing and Appreciating

6) Blessing and appreciation : Stop complaining and start to count our blessings. No one like to mix with negative people or complain king/queen. Being negative and keep complaining stop the flow of good energy
Develop passion

7) Develop passion : No matter what job or work we accepted, develop the passion in it. When I first started my business, I started a laundry shop. Before that, I was a marketing manger in a MNC. It is such a great contrast to the work I handled before and after. As a manger, I wore jacket suits to office, attend meetings in air-con rooms and etc. But when I run mylaundry shop , I am a general worker, rolled up my sleeves, wear t-shirts, shorts and do “dirty” work, sometimes it can be very hot too when I was at the factory sorting out clothes for ironing. But I am passionate with both my work and customers. I want to delivery my best to them and our customers can feel it too. One year later, I opened my 2nd outlet…

The above are some important attitudes and beliefs that helped me in my journey to achieve what I have today. I hope you will be able to benefit from my sharing.

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Inside the mind of Singapore's Youngest Millionaire - By Adam Khoo

Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Suzhou (China). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books.

Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, 'How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?' My reply was, 'That's why I am a millionaire. ‘He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book 'Secrets of Self Made Millionaires’). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit in first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one.

The truth is that most self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice.

When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneur’s Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business) I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net worth's well over $5m, traveled economy class and some even drove Toyotas and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs).

I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers' and tycoons' sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth
(no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business.

Then some people ask me, 'What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it?' The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewelry or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just gives you a quick fix. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life.

Instead, what makes ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see my companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired someone's life. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me.

I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a meaningless life.

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