I'm Alive!

Been pretty busy this month because of Chinese New Year and also my house is under renovation. I hope that the renovation can be done by end of March and me and my fiance can slowly move our things into the house in April.

I am intending to pursue CISA certification and have 'invested' in their study manual and 12-months database subscription. I plan to take the June'16 examination if time permits. Otherwise I will enroll the exam later half of this year.

It is almost the end of Feb'16 and I have come to a realization that I have not been meditating diligently.

Things I have fare well in:

• Exercising and making trips to gym diligently.
• Not having supper. I will change this to 'Not indulging or consuming any food 4 hours before I bed'.
• Saving regularly and keeping track of my expenses. Make sure I do not exceed my budgets.

Things that I need to improve on:

• Waking up at 5am. I have started to hit the snooze buttons recently.
• Not allocating time for meditation

Chinese New Year

I have been busy because it is Chinese New Year. It is a tradition to visit my grandfather and then my eldest uncle every Chinese New Year. We hardly see them and thus this is a time for catching up and bonding with the cousins and relatives.

There is nothing much for me to blog but shall wish everyone a happy and prosperous chines new year. Stay healthy, happy and rich! Huat Ah!

JARS System of Money Management

Today I will write about JARS System of Money Management. I first knew about this concept from my friend about a year ago. He attended an event which was T. Harv Eker's "Millionaire Mind Intensive" course. Initially I applied what he said exactly but I feel it is not suitable for me and so I tweaked the percentage allocated to suit my personal lifestyle and goals. In Singapore, we have to contribute to our CPF account and thus the percentage of income I use will be based on Net Income or the money I take-home.

Necessity Account (65%)
This account is for everyday expenses and bills. For me, it also includes parents' support. Hence, I am allocating 65% to it. This is a huge chunck of my income but I will aim to keep this constant even when my income increases in future.

Play (Shopping) Account (2%)
This money is spent every month on purchases you wouldn't normally make. To me, this is a 'shopping' account because most items that I have purchases are usually wants and not needs. I am also using this account to make sure I do not overspend.

Financial Freedom Account (10%)
This is my golden goose. I am using this money for investment and building my passive income steams. For now, I am spending them on Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF.

Long-term saving (Contingency) Account (10%)
The money I put into this account is actually for contingency use. In case I am out of job or require money urgently, I will tap into the money in this account. Otherwise, it will just be sitting in my bank account and earning the low interest rate from banks. After I have accumulated a larger sum, I will place them into fixed deposit for a slightly higher interest rate.

Spouse's Joint Account (13%)
This account is used to pay off everything for the house such as utilities, household items and also travelling. My fiance and I will contribute an amount we are comfortable with into this account. 

Education Account (0%)
Money in this jar is meant to further my education and personal growth. I have completed my studies and so this money would be spent mainly on books and attending courses or seminars. I love to read and in Singapore, we are lucky to have libraries where we can borrow books for free. As such, there is actually no need for me to spend money on books. I do buy books when I am unable to find them in the libraries or online. When there is a need for me to buy books, I will use the money allocated in my Play (Shopping) Account.

The above are my 6 jars and the percentage I am allocating to them. I hope you find this useful.

Self-Reflections - Jan 2016

It's almost the end of January 2016, time flies. This year, I really want my 2016 to be spent meaningfully and achieve big things. I am re-thinking my resolutions to focus on what I want to be and achieve. Below are the many areas which I am currently unsatisfied.

Fitness Goal
Issue: I have gained weight and I am eating unhealthily. I still eat supper and I have not been exercising enough. I do not take my meals regularly and sometimes indulge in junk food instead of a proper meal, leading to me getting hungry late at night as I tend to sleep very late. I plan to exercise at least 3 times a week but sometimes, I have dinner appointments with friends, which make me skipped exercising. The only way I am certain I can exercise is waking up early and doing it before heading to work. This means I need to wake up earlier than I currently am.

Solution: To change my exercise routine to morning, before I heading out to work. If it happens to rain in the morning, then I will either do some stretching exercises or head to gym after work if I do not have any appointment. I will also not eat at least 3 hours before sleep and no food after 9pm.

Self-Improvement Goal
Issue: I have been reading a lot lesser than I used to. I have stop visiting libraries for months. I think I have read less than 10 books in 2015.

Solution: No matter how busy I am, I will make time to read. I aim to complete at least 1 book a month.

Financial Goal
Issue: I used to spend most of my income and do not keep track on what I spent on. Since late 2015, I have started to keep track of my expenses and increased my savings. I have installed application in my phone and diligently keyed in my expenses. I set my monthly budget for food and shopping etc and ensure I do not exceed them. I have up my savings and realised I can actually save more if I cut down on unnecessary expenses. There is still one thing I am unsatisfied with and that is the amount of take-home income. My goal for 2016 is to have multiple sources of income.

Solution: Keep my day job to ensure a stable monthly income while I increase income from other sources. Save a portion of it and invest the rest. I will write a detailed post on investment and what I do with my money when I am satisfied with my returns and achievements.

Lifestyle / Productivity Goal
I am a reader of Charles Ngo's blog and really like his articles in productivity. I want to make the best out of my 24hours because time IS money. I am still in the process of structuring how I can make the best out of my time. Weekdays will definitely look different from weekends since most of the time during weekdays will be spent on travelling to and fro work and working in office.

With the above in mind, I will have a new sets of resolutions for 2016.

Tomorrow is Monday. Hope everyone had a fantastic week. I shall spend some time reading before going to bed. Good night everyone!
   

Multiple Sources of Income #1 Paid Surveys

This is the 11th day of 2016. I intend to re-think and re-schedule of how my day starts in order to maximize productivity. If you recall, my 2 resolutions for 2016 is to blog at least once a week and also to find ways of making money besides from employment and forex. After doing some research, I discover one of the easier ways of making money and that is from doing paid surveys.

For this post, I will start of with 1 of the paid survey site that I am currently enrolled in. Don't worry, this is not a scam.

Cashcrate
This was the first paid survey that I signed up with. You can sign up via this link. I remembered I earned a few dollars shortly after signing up and doing a quick survey. Yes, I know, a few dollars is not a lot of money but imagine just forking out a few minutes of your time and getting paid, it's not a bad thing after all.

This is not a get rich fast scheme but this is a good stepping stone if you are wondering how to make money besides via employment or your full-time salaried job.

Give it a shot and I will tell you about other paid survey websites in my next post.

2016's New Year Resolutions

Time flies and today is already the third day of 2016. I am going to make my 2016 new year's resolutions and hopefully, all will be fulfilled.

• Blog at least once a week
• Discover new ways to make money besides making money from forex and employment income

Do not undermine these 2 resolutions, although I just have 2 resolutions, it still takes effort to accomplish them. Lastly, I hope 2015 had been great to everyone out there and let's have another fantastic year in 2016! Happy new year to all!

30-Day Challenge #2 - Meditate Everyday

It has been a while since my last 30-Day Challenge and here I am, ready to take on another challenge. This time, I intend to meditate everyday. There are many benefits of meditation and since I am already waking up at 6AM everyday, why not start to meditate as soon as I wake up, to make my morning even more meaningful and start the day right.

I intend to meditate 5 minutes a day for a start. My ideal time would be 15 minutes a day.

Here are my steps:

1. I installed an app known as Insight Timer and set the duration to 5 minutes
2. I will sit cross-legged on the ground and overlap my hands. Keep my back and head up and then close my eyes.
3. When the timer goes off, I open my eyes slowly.  

I will write about the effect on me after 30 days. Meanwhile, you may read up on this link for more information too.

Find Three Hobbies You Love

I chanced upon this while browsing Facebook and it stuck with me. I decided to identify/find the 3 hobbies that fulfill the above.

1) One To Make You Money
This will be trading!! Trading forex will fall into this because it is a hobby that makes me money!

2) One To Keep You In Shape
I think I will need to make this running. I have yet to enjoy running but I believe I will find passion in this again since I used to really enjoy it.

3) One To Be Creative
This is tricky. Should I learn freehand sketching? Painting? Piano? Ok, I shall learn how to play the keyboard. I don't have a keyboard at home but I guess it isn't expensive. Well, for now, let me think about this third hobby and I shall update it again in future.

RD Admires #1 Jiro Ono

I believe each one of us will have somebody who inspires or motivates us or whom we look up to. That person can be anyone. You may have always admired your father's hardworking attitude or sense of responsibility or your mother's unconditional love for you and family etc. It may not be a person or human being, sometimes it can be just some motivational phrases or quotes that make an impact in your life.

I have decided to write about people/inspirational/motivational quotes or movies that resonated to me or made an impact in my life. I shall start with Jiro Ono as I have recently just watched 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi'. 

In the documentary/movie 'Jiro Dreams of Sushi', I learnt some wonderful pointers from him. He wasn't successful by chance but he was committed to be successful.

#1 Once you decide on your occupation...You must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That's the secret of success...and is the key to being regarded honorably.

This relates deeply to me. I was enlightened by what he said and I find that it is true. I often find that after I am in a job for a while, I get bored with it and start to complain. I need to immerse myself in my work and fall in love with my work. This not only makes me look forward to work, but I also realized I am performing better at work than before because each day, I know there will be something I can learn and be better at.

#2 I do the same thing over and over, improving bit by bit

Don't be afraid of having the same routine every day. Even while we are doing the same thing every single day, we must strive to be better than our 'yesterday's self'. Never be complacent. The minute details and small incremental improvement will mold our self into a better self eventually. We may not see it not, but we will see it one day.

There are a few other wonderful pointers which you can read here. Personally, i resonated with the above 2 pointers more than others. 

So how about you yourself? Who do you look up to and why? Or do you also have a particular quote to keep yourself motivated?

RD Goes to Korea

This is going to be a lengthy post about my trip to Korea  with fiance in May this year. I have finally found time to blog and upload videos of the trip. 

Brief Summary of the Trip
Singapore - South Korea - Jeju - South Korea - Singapore

I flew to South Korea via Singapore Airlines and landed safely at Seoul-Incheon International Airport. The flight time was about 6 hours. Upon arriving at the Airport, I bought a KAL Limousine bus ticket to travel to Novotel in Gangnam area to meet the fiance there. He was there earlier for business trip.

Gangnam, South Korea
Dinner was Heamultang Live Seafood in Gangnam, which was an eye-opener for me as I have never experienced watching live seafood cooked and served right before my eyes. The soup was delicious and seafood tasted very fresh. You can watch the video here.

I also had Korean BBQ while in Gangnam. Although we also have Korean BBQ in Singapore, but it just tasted different when you have it in Korea. The first picture was BBQ pork and the yellow liquid surrounding the hot plate was egg. The second picture was an eel in the midst of being cooked. The meat was quite rubbery and hard. 

 

I wouldn't want to bore you with too much words and a picture speaks a thousand words, I shall just post the photos of this trip, accompanied by some short descriptions where applicable.

We were lucky to arrive and witness the marching performance outside Gyeongbokgung. You can watch the video here. Below are some more pictures taken inside Gyeongbokgung.

We also went to other temple and then to N Seoul Tower.

We also made time to head to National Palace Museum of Korea.

We went to LOTTE Mart but didn't take much pictures as we were busy stocking up snacks to bring to Singapore. I very much would like to bring the beetle home as pet but couldn't. Fiance bought the raw crab back for our parents to taste. I didn't like the taste of it, tried once would be enough.

One of the highlight of our Korea trip was the Panmunjom DMZ tour. I encourage all to give it a try once. We weren't able to take much picture and was told to behave and not point fingers at the North Korean soldiers too.

Myeong-dong

We shopped for masks and other cosmetic products at this shopping districts in Seoul. Fiance loves cats a lot and so we made a trip to the cat cafe for a short rest and patting the cats. 

Jeju - Manjanngul Cave

Another highlight is this cave in Jeju City. I love it!

Jeju - Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak)
It was very tiring to trek up to the top. The top is remarkably beautiful. I had captured some videos which you can view it here, here and here.

Cheonjiyeon Falls

Didn't snap much picture but took a few nice videos. You can view it here and here. The sound from the waterfall makes one feel relaxed and close to nature.

Cheonjiyeon, meaning "God's pond", derives its name from the legend that the seven fairies serving the King of Heaven came down to the pond on stairs of cloud and bathed in its clean waters.

Random Photos in Jeju

And finally, all the food we had!