savings

[streetsmart73]

I still think the best returns come from identifying a niche which suits ones own talents and then working very hard in order to monetarise the venture.

If you look at the world's wealthiest men, very few are "investors". Most of them started companies from scratch and worked passionately to make them successful.

The founders of facebook, youtube, paypal, google, yahoo etc all became billionaires in a very short period of time.

These individuals are exceptionally talented. Most of us only have a fraction of the skills that they possess so we have to be content with only a fraction of the success. My net worth is only about 0.015% of what Bill Gates is worth but that still puts me in the "comfortably content" bracket. :p

hi there


1. sammy, at the rate sbf grows.
2. there shall be some "investors" interested in sbf.
3. you can name the price too.
4. hahaha!
5. money easy come & easy go too!

 

[po2wq]

It isn't really bragging because I'm not revealing my real identity.

u shud not juz kip boasting about ur li'l bit of success ... otherwise, ppl tink success cums e-z ...

u shud tel mor about all ur failures ... so dat ppl can c n learn n benefit from all ur stoopig mistakes ...

 

[Leongsam]

u shud not juz kip boasting about ur li'l bit of success ... otherwise, ppl tink success cums e-z ...

u shud tel mor about all ur failures ... so dat ppl can c n learn n benefit from all ur stoopig mistakes ...

I never said it came easily. It required 18 hours a day, 7 days a week with lots of frustration along the way. However, because I was really interested in what I was involved in, it was still a very enjoyable period of my life.

My failures all come from my initial mistakes in thinking that making money was easy. These include :

1. Investing in a Pte Ltd company on the advice of a friend in an area which I knew absolutely nothing about. (lost $5000)
2. Margin trading in gold thinking that I could "read the market" based on Reuters news feed. (lost $30,000)
3. Property investment. (broke even after 4 years and called it quits - tied up a huge chunk of my funds for nothing)
4. Buying "hot" shares guaranteed to make money. (lost tens of thousands... never bothered to add them up)

I realised after a while that the reason why I was failing was because I had no control whatsoever over the outcomes of these sorts of investments. I was at the mercy of international market forces or the decisions of some other party or Singapore govt regulations. That's why I decided to start my own enterprise where I had far more control over outcomes.

 

[erection2015]

he is already gaining some recognition. I heard some middle eat arabs want to buy sammyboy....and buy BosSam too.

hi there


1. sammy, at the rate sbf grows.
2. there shall be some "investors" interested in sbf.
3. you can name the price too.
4. hahaha!
5. money easy come & easy go too!

 

[SirRichard]

In my early 30s, I had zero savings and negative equity even though I was drawing a good salary. I was spending it all trying to give the impression to my peers that I was rich. My pride and joy was my BMW and my Amex gold card. These status symbols broadcast to the world that I had made it in life.

I then decided to change my mindset. I realised that it wasn't important what others thought of me. What was more important was the opinion I had of myself.

I sold my fancy car and bought myself a cheap Toyota and used the money I saved to start a business printing instant name cards. I saw this niche when I found that many overseas business travelers ran out of name cards while doing Far East visits because of the large number of business cards they had to exchange in countries like Japan, Taiwan and Korea. By the time they got to Singapore, they had run out.

With this little enterprise, I managed to turn $5000 into $50,000 in less than a year and half. I then quit my day job and decided that it was time to work 100% for myself as it was a lot more lucrative.

My next goal was to master photoshop so that I could start a business restoring old photos that had deteriorated. This doubled the annual turnover of my business.

The internet then exploded onto the scene so I decided to learn HTML coding. HTML was all that was required in those days. No fancy flash, ajax, javascript, java, cold fusion etc was required in those days. It was a fantastic cash cow. I could charge $5000 for a simple website that took less than a week to construct.

I sold the whole business as a going concern for a 7 figure sum in the mid 90s, emigrated, and have not done a stroke of proper work since.

Had I carried on working in Singapore as a salary earner, I'd be driving a taxi to earn a living today.

Bro Sam, thanks for sharing your story. I was the same like you in the sense of splurging to feel good. Alarm bell rang in my mid 30s and started to save harder and giving up the materialistic mindset.

Next goal is to build side biz before crossing over full time.

 

[SirRichard]

In my early 30s, I had zero savings and negative equity even though I was drawing a good salary. I was spending it all trying to give the impression to my peers that I was rich. My pride and joy was my BMW and my Amex gold card. These status symbols broadcast to the world that I had made it in life.

.

I'm sure many people are still living such lifestyle of trying to impress others. Recent reports mentioned car loan getting larger nowadays .I'm glad I'm freed of such mindset. It's nice to own luxury car but in sg it's too expensive, unless you are really super rich otherwise not worth it.

 

[johnny333]

Not entirely true. Liabilities and loans are good if you know how to manage them. For example, I can borrow money from the banks in Singapore using short term loan rates and invest in US treasury bonds or US dividends stock that pays higher interests.

The TS needs to elaborate more on his investments. Is he earning rental on his properties? How does his rental rates compare to his loan rates? What is the net value of his properties etc.

While overseas properties are priced lower, they have a higher loan rate and typically slower growth. There are better ways to make money unless you are confidential of asset appreciation.

Properties in Singapore are priced higher but offer great rental and relatively low rates. There are good bargains if you are patient. Just remember to stay away from property launches.

The simplest way of using money to make money is to buy dividends stock or T-bills. Leaving money in the bank is the stupidest thing to do... 95% of my net worth is in liquid-able assets and only 5% in cash in the bank.

I'm sure you could do all that but it sounds like alot of work I've tried doing that to some extent with my home mortgage & using the $ to invest in shares, but I decided to just pay off my loan instead of juggling too many things. I've seen too many people get burned when the rental market slumps.

I guess it all depends on how ambitious one is & their targets. I'm staying away from properties because I prefer the freedom of equities. Can look after all my investments using the internet & my online brokerage accounts. Like you I have very little in the bank & I expect to need even less once I spend more time outside of Spore.
I've made enough $ & just depend on dividens

 

[kopiuncle]

That was my constructive suggestion. :p

By telling my story, I am illustrating what "investing in yourself" means.

Anyone can do the same. You decide what you're good at and passionate about and you take steps to turn it into an enterprise which you can throw your heart and soul into.

When turnover is healthy, you take steps to increase it further.

When the price is right, you sell and retire.

If that isn't constructive advice I don't know what is.

wow bosss, you very good. i like the way you move on with changing times. my friends and i invested in some kodak printing photos .there was a boom time. but it went suddenly downhill with digital photos. loss! now all the machines wasted. did not think fast enough or quick enough.

now no savings.no investments.no nothing. just do odd jobs here and there.but luckily no debts..life goes on...drinking kopi and talkingcoke everyday at kopitiam with uncles and aunties. you very lucky man.well done!

 

[chootchiew]

Not entirely true. Liabilities and loans are good if you know how to manage them. For example, I can borrow money from the banks in Singapore using short term loan rates and invest in US treasury bonds or US dividends stock that pays higher interests.

The TS needs to elaborate more on his investments. Is he earning rental on his properties? How does his rental rates compare to his loan rates? What is the net value of his properties etc.

While overseas properties are priced lower, they have a higher loan rate and typically slower growth. There are better ways to make money unless you are confidential of asset appreciation.

Properties in Singapore are priced higher but offer great rental and relatively low rates. There are good bargains if you are patient. Just remember to stay away from property launches.

The simplest way of using money to make money is to buy dividends stock or T-bills. Leaving money in the bank is the stupidest thing to do... 95% of my net worth is in liquid-able assets and only 5% in cash in the bank.

Buying T-bills you need to $ get locked for donkey years, for short yrs the return is not much also.

 

[StinkiePeasants]

bros and sis,

Two questions,

1) how much do you guys save each month?
2) What do you think should a person at 43 years old have in cash savings.

i'm don't drive,don't splure and living a simple life.. saving around 6k + each month..
At 43, besides having properties, ( still servicing) savings only around 50k.. Too low right??? What much should a 43years have? Any 40s years old here to share?

Knn.. i'm living simple life now coz i'm scared that retirement liao no money...sianz... so many people living high live while i super frugal

According to Robert Kiyosaki when I attended his seminar, a person should be able to write a check for US$ 1 million (without bouncing) by the time he is 45. That's half way to retirement at 65 assuming that he starts making serious money at 25.

Having US$ 1 million by 45 years of age doesn't necessarily mean that the entire amount is in cash in a bank. It means liquid assets like stocks, bonds, commodities, fixed deposits, and any other assets that can easily be liquidated at any moment. Real estate investments and the property you reside in don't count because they are illiquid.

If a person can't write a check for US$ 1 million by the time he is 45, "there's something wrong" with the way he is handling his finances according to Robert Kiyosaki.

 

[StinkiePeasants]

In my early 30s, I had zero savings and negative equity even though I was drawing a good salary. I was spending it all trying to give the impression to my peers that I was rich. My pride and joy was my BMW and my Amex gold card. These status symbols broadcast to the world that I had made it in life.

I then decided to change my mindset. I realised that it wasn't important what others thought of me. What was more important was the opinion I had of myself.

I sold my fancy car and bought myself a cheap Toyota and used the money I saved to start a business printing instant name cards. I saw this niche when I found that many overseas business travelers ran out of name cards while doing Far East visits because of the large number of business cards they had to exchange in countries like Japan, Taiwan and Korea. By the time they got to Singapore, they had run out.

With this little enterprise, I managed to turn $5000 into $50,000 in less than a year and half. I then quit my day job and decided that it was time to work 100% for myself as it was a lot more lucrative.

My next goal was to master photoshop so that I could start a business restoring old photos that had deteriorated. This doubled the annual turnover of my business.

The internet then exploded onto the scene so I decided to learn HTML coding. HTML was all that was required in those days. No fancy flash, ajax, javascript, java, cold fusion etc was required in those days. It was a fantastic cash cow. I could charge $5000 for a simple website that took less than a week to construct.

I sold the whole business as a going concern for a 7 figure sum in the mid 90s, emigrated, and have not done a stroke of proper work since.

Had I carried on working in Singapore as a salary earner, I'd be driving a taxi to earn a living today.

Congratulations!

This proves that a person's financial success all boils down to his own mindset.

The government is not to blame when he fails.

 

[chootchiew]

According to Robert Kiyosaki when I attended his seminar, a person should be able to write a check for US$ 1 million (without bouncing) by the time he is 45. That's half way to retirement at 65 assuming that he starts making serious money at 25.

Having US$ 1 million by 45 years of age doesn't necessarily mean that the entire amount is in cash in a bank. It means liquid assets like stocks, bonds, commodities, fixed deposits, and any other assets that can easily be liquidated at any moment. Real estate investments and the property you reside in don't count because they are illiquid.

If a person can't write a check for US$ 1 million by the time he is 45, "there's something wrong" with the way he is handling his finances according to Robert Kiyosaki.

Robert is talking cock...when a person writes a cheque of US $1 mil, he needs to have 1mil cash ready in his bank account to be deducted. If the 1mil is other asstes, how is the cheque not to be bounced.
SinkiePeasant just wondering did you pay any semiars fees when you attended his cock talk, if yes then his 1 million is from your pocket LOL

 

[StinkiePeasants]

Robert is talking cock...when a person writes a cheque of US $1 mil, he needs to have 1mil cash ready in his bank account to be deducted. If the 1mil is other asstes, how is the cheque not to be bounced.

You obviously don't know that banks/brokerage houses are willing to extend margin loans to high net worth individuals who has substantial liquid assets with the same bank/firm to cover his US$ 1 million check immediately. The amount he can immediately withdraw is a ratio depending on the type of liquid asset(s) being held.

 

[eatshitndie]

.

I'm sure many people are still living such lifestyle of trying to impress others. Recent reports mentioned car loan getting larger nowadays .I'm glad I'm freed of such mindset. It's nice to own luxury car but in sg it's too expensive, unless you are really super rich otherwise not worth it.

sinkies are living beyond their means and still trying to keep up with the bengs in showing off their cluttery glitter. just observe the watch, pen, clothing and car threads on sinkie dominated forums. first thing first for sinkies is to let the maid go since they're so busy accumulating expensive junk. that will be a test of their intestinal fortitude. by supporting and demanding the proliferation of cheap labor, they're giving the nod for importation of cheap labor. they need to look themselves in the mirror and point the finger in that direction. get very wealthy first, then have all the maids you want.

 

[eatshitndie]

You obviously don't know that banks/brokerage houses are willing to extend margin loans to high net worth individuals who has substantial liquid assets with the same bank/firm to cover his US$ 1 million check immediately. The amount he can immediately withdraw is a ratio depending on the type of liquid asset(s) being held.

there's also credit worthiness of an individual or enterprise that a loaning institution will consider before granting the loan.

 

[StinkiePeasants]

get very wealthy first, then have all the maids you want.

Get very wealthy first, then splurge with limits. It doesn't make financial sense to buy a luxury car in Singapore which won't be worth much money 10 years down the road unless they are doing it for face or to impress others.

What I've been doing is travel SIA Suite Class to Germany and rent a Ferrari or a Lambo and drive it at the AutoBahn with no speed limit. In this case, I'm enjoying and splurging on exotic cars at the same time touring Europe but don't get hit by the massive depreciation. Splurging doesn't mean that you have to spend millions. The millions is much better invested and use the ROI to pay for my splurging with limits.

 

[StinkiePeasants]

there's also credit worthiness of an individual or enterprise that a loaning institution will consider before granting the loan.

For liquid assets in the millions being held in a bank/brokerage firm, credit worthiness no longer apply because the assets already act as a collateral. The financial institutions would even beg their wealthy clients to borrow.

The wealthy operates on an entirely different ballgame that the peasants don't have access to.

 

[eatshitndie]

What I've been doing is travel SIA Suite Class to Germany and rent a Ferrari or a Lambo and drive it at the AutoBahn with no speed limit. In this case, I'm enjoying and splurging on exotic cars at the same time touring Europe but don't get hit by the massive depreciation. Splurging doesn't mean that you have to spend millions. The millions is much better invested and use the ROI to pay for my splurging with limits.

that's a good way of maximizing value. it's a totally outside the box mindset. the typical sinkie within the box mindset is to out-class you, out-talk you, out-spend you, out-drive or out-car you, out-sex you, out-wear you, and sometimes out-pen you. if you have a rolex, they will claim they have a priceless one that even arab sheiks can't buy. the moment the houlianness of sinkies go away, financial independence will return to many on the island.

 

[johnny333]

According to Robert Kiyosaki when I attended his seminar, a person should be able to write a check for US$ 1 million (without bouncing) by the time he is 45. That's half way to retirement at 65 assuming that he starts making serious money at 25. ......

Kiyosaki is an american & is not hampered by things like NS, the CPF scam, the PAP parasites,....

It's also difficult to do a bizness in Spore if the competition is one of the GLCs or PAP cronies.

 

[Leongsam]

It's also difficult to do a bizness in Spore if the competition is one of the GLCs or PAP cronies.

That's not true. When I first started doing web design, many of the projects I went after were also being courted by Pacific Internet and Singnet who were eager to get into web design + hosting + ISP as a package.

I got most of the jobs simply by telling the potential client that :

1) I would do it within a week.
2) No deposit required.
3) If he wasn't happy, there would be no charge.

The GLCs moved like snails. It would take them a week just to get a sample site up and running after a 5 page contract had been signed.

Many Singaporeans like yourself have this defeatist mindset that they're going to lose so what's the point of trying. It's killing the whole country.

I credit NS for the contacts gained and bonds cemented with a wide cross section of Singapore society for many of my successes. There's nothing like suffering together when it comes to building long lasting friendships. NS has many positives. It's up to each individual to grasp them and move forward.