YOUTH MONEY MANAGEMENT DILEMMA

Youth in the current era is certainly facing a money management dilemma, to save or to spend! Let us take a look at the past.

BEFORE
Youth of 30-40years ago think very differently. When they graduate with a degree and enter the job market, SAVINGS is their priority. They would take a walk or a bus to work. Owning a car is out of the question. It's not to say it is convenient back then, but it is all about the endurance they are willing to have for a better life. For those who can afford a car after 1-2 years working, buying a second hand car was their choice.

NOW
Youth these days love the word 'comfort'. They love to enjoy, life is short, so why not enjoy right?
When they graduate with a degree and enter the job market, SPENDING is their priority. They would quickly buy a FIRST-HAND CAR to work in the name of convenience. If there is no car, how am I supposed to work? HALLO~ To take a 20 minutes walk is out of the question... That is the difference! Youth these days would love to take a 'free loan' from the parents to pay for their car downpayment and instalment and not willing to sacrifice and save hard to give their parents monthly allowance. Yet alone their grandparents and relatives. To them, their personal well being COMES FIRST, others comes SECOND! Guess that tells of a person character isn't it?

CURRENT GENERATION HUGELY IN DEBT!
If you really think about it, most of the youth or rather working adult are hugely in debt. With tuition fees being so expensive, most of us take a loan whether its a loan from retail banks or PTPTN loan. Most of us will have a negative net worth (All personal assets minus All personal liabilities). Example: - RM48,000...

Yet, many youth opt for a first hand car when they enter the job market. The level of debt will just increase, never really putting a thought that 'YOU HAVE TO PAY BACK THE DEBT ONE FINE DAY.' They prefer comfort, convenience and lifestyle.

MATERIALISM
Happiness is based on the number of material possessions you had... this is what some youth thinks about. They go for branded stuff, thinking people will give them a good impression. There is nothing wrong to go for branded goods as long they could REALLY afford it. Lets be more personal... Imagine if you are heavily in debt, it literally means you still OWED people money. Yet, having a i-Pad 3 or i-Phone 4S is a must for you. In fact, you do not really qualify for these kind of gaggets isn't it? If these gaggets help you to make more money, then it is a good investment but if it is not, you are not making a wise decision.

SOLUTION
Having a different mindset. Always apply the strategy of DELAYED GRATIFICATION. It means you choose to sacrifice now (save and invest) to enjoy the benefits (large saving and investment return) later on. Be responsible in leading your life. Choose to donate and benefit one's life. Choose to travel the journey less travelled, and it will be a journey of a life time. A journey that is so meaningful and fruitful, that you will feel so proud of yourself every single day. That makes your loved ones feel proud.

Isn't that what you want at the end of the day?

Meaningful Thoughts

It was a great concert at Stadium Merdeka Kuala Lunpur, the fans were crazy about him... A wonderful experience for me as this is the 1st time I go for a concert. I wasnt really shouting or cheering in the concert to save my voice for the week (sore throat), and hmm~ felt uncomfortable cheering for a guy. I may cheer and shout for SNSD LOL... It was raining a little, a cool experience~^^

When everyone is cheering and enjoying the concert, I actually sat back and have some deep thoughts about something. Guess what it is?

I was thinking about INDEPENDENCE DAY! As we are at the center of the Stadium (RM388 ticket), I realise that was where our 1st Prime Minister stood, shouting MERDEKA, MERDEKA, MERDEKA! Anybody actually knew what was I thinking? Hmm~ I guess I am the only one, and if I am lucky, may be my future dear wife would understand me totally.

Because of the effort and sacrifices by our ancestors of the past for independence, we get to enjoy the fruits of it...and yes, Lee Hom's concert. It is because of their sacrifices, we are here to enjoy.

One question: Are we appreciating it? or even had a thought of it? Hmm~ again, I guess actions speak louder than words. I always believe in actions and not merely words. We can celebrate Independence Day on 31st Auguest, claiming that we understood the meaning of it. But~ there is a but... are we really appreciating it throughout our lives, or it's just 31st August.

Food for thought everyone!

And yea, its always good to be at this historic place enjoying Lee Hom's concert with your dear ones, I had it. LUCKY ME~^^

Winning the Race of Life Series - 'Time is the fairest gift of all'

TIME... the most important and fairest thing of all. No matter how poor or how rich you are, everybody has 24 hours every single day.

Different people utilize their time differently. During spare hours, some would prefer to sleep; some prefer to read while some prefer to faceboook. Different usage of time would therefore yield different results.

If a person wants to create wealth, it is obvious to spend time learning how to create wealth. If a person wants to have a healthy body, it is obvious that a person spend some time to exercise in the gym or in the park.

For most people, taking a 8 hours sleep is usual. If I were to calculate the total number of years of a person who sleeps 8 hours a day using a calculator (from age 0 - 80), to my surprise it amounts to a staggering 26.67 years of our lives. If you sleep 10 hours every single day, you figure it out how many years you spend sleeping.

If a person spends 2 hours facebooking every single day, guess how many years you are sitting in front of your laptop gossiping or be a busybody (from age 15-70)? The answer is 4.58years of your precious life. However, if you spend time facebooking to gain or discuss knowledge of creating wealth with your buddies, you are investing 4.58years of your precious life in gaining knowledge about wealth.

Well, I am not writing here to tell you not to sleep or not to facebook at all, I am just trying to show you how precious time is, and how we should utilize it properly. The time is ticking every single second, seconds gone will not be coming back forever.

Solution: You may apply this time management exercise. Have a timetable for yourself (the moment you wake up from bed till the moment you sleep) and plan how you should utilize your time effectively.

Example:
1.Time 2.Activity 3.Closer to my goal?
8-9am
9-10am
10-11am
---------
---------
---------
10-11pm

Ask yourself questions like:
(a) Is this activity drawing me closer to my goals? If it doesnt, SCRAP IT!
(b) What are the activities that draw me closer to my goals?
(c) How could I maximise my time in these activities that bring me closer to my goals?

In short: Only FOCUS on activities that move you CLOSER TO YOUR GOALS!

I guess you would have an idea how precious time is to you right now... For those who are poor and in the lower middle-income group, don't you think you should work harder and create wealth for your family, or bring your family out of the low-income group. The rich is getting richer, are you getting poorer and poorer and not doing anything about it?

Let me give you a real-life example:

I met my hometown friend during Chinese New Year. We had a wonderful drink together and he shared about his plans to bring joy and wealth to his family. He is an accountant and works in Singapore. He saves like crazy, RM4,500 every month, that would amount to a total of RM54,000 every year. By the way, he is only 26 years old.

He and his elder brother recently bought a double-storey house for their parents for a better living as the single-storey house they are staying right now is too small. In addition, he plans to buy a RM150,000 car for his daddy who has worked so hard over the years to raise him and fund his education. He wants his dad to enjoy the comfort while traveling.

What I am emphasing here is he takes action to plan, to save and to invest and finally get to enjoy a better standard of living with his family right now.

THis is a classic example of what people should focus on these days. If you are from a poor family, shouldnt you be working even harder to create and bring wealth to the family? If you are from a rich family, shouldnt you be taking 100% responsibility of your life and build your own income and pay your own bills? Shouldnt you be independent? If you are already rich, shouldnt you be focusing your time to educate the rest about your secrets to success and contribute towards the community?

That would be the greatest gift of all to the community...

Food for thought ladies and gentlemen.

Winning the Race of Life Series - 'Learn to Give to be Happy'

Picture with my grandmother!!!



Question: Is happiness important in life?

Answer: YES, it is... Why wanna be sad when you can choose to be HAPPY!

Question: THings happen to make me feel sad, how to be happy then?

Answer: It is a matter of CHOICE, you can choose to be happy in any situations if you look at it in a positive manner. First learn to give and you be happy.

Is happiness important in life? Well, that depends how you define happiness... A person who always smile may not be happy deep inside his or her heart. A very good example is before you sleep, how do you feel about yourself and life? You may seem to be happy during the day with your friends but you may not be TRULY HAPPY deep inside your little heart.

I AM VERY HAPPY WITH MY LIFE! Thank GOD for the BLESSINGS!! Yes, I may be sad at times, I may be disappointed about myself sometimes but thats usual for me as I do made mistakes in the quest for greater success. Personally, I want to thank those who support me whenever I am unhappy, remember once that someone was actually forced to listen to me for 3 straight hours, LOL!

LEARN TO GIVE and you will realize true happiness. People should learn to give especially to their loved ones who had taken good care of them for all the years. The tears, the sacrifices, the sincerity of loved ones are what money can't buy. They did it because they love you very much, hence you should not disappoint them but to cherish them with love and care. Many said they love their family very much but when it comes to enjoyment, they only think of themselves without having a single thought about their family. They would rather spent on buying clothes, electronic gadgets, car, concerts, vacation etc. Their priority is actually themselves, and not their loved ones. This is a very selfish act. This is sad, what a pity!

Well, I have something to share here. I am happy to contribute RM11,500 to my family and community at age 23. Sponsor my grandmother and mother RM5,000 each for a vacation overseas. Treated my brother, cousins and good friends a sumptuous meal plus christmas presents. Make a small donation in church to fund several christianity community service projects.

It is actually a dream come true as I always wanted to contribute to my family, friends and community happiness. Furthermore, I am the eldest in the LEONG FAMILY, thus the responsibility to take good care of the younger ones. One dream of mine fulfilled, who says dreams do not come true.

I am not writing to brag about how great I am, what I am sharing here is just to share with you about the importance of giving to your loved ones to realize true happiness. When you learn to give, you actually develop a habit of benefiting the people around you. You develop a habit to serve the people. The greatest joy you could ever have is to serve the people. When people are happy, I am happy hehe! THe bonus would be when someone actually appreciates your service, this is truly meaningful and that is what money cant buy. (I still keep some of the sms sent by students when I am serving them as a student representatitive back then in UTAR)

Learn to give before receiving...

Share with you this wonderful song that I enjoyed singing while making my donation in church.

O HAPPY DAY!!!

Winning the Race of Life Series - 'Choices to make in life'

In life, there are choices to make. Especially in this modern era where most countries have achieved independence - meaning more freedom to make choices in their lives.

Freedom means people can choose to live the life they want to live. Sad to learn that many people choose to live their lives below their means. They get a job, living paycheck to paycheck and struggle to make ends meet without having any thought of being ambitious or increasing their financial education to provide a better life to their family and the community.

As for me, I love freedom and freedom to me is being able to do what I want to enjoy life to the fullest. Of course, it has to be meaningful with good moral values. I want to travel the world whenever I want to and do business + invest in that nation. For example, there are so many good companies around the world which I want to have an interest/piece of the business. Preferably to own some businesses as well.

As mentioned in my earlier post, I would hope to spend time with my kids at home and witness their growing stage in life because my parents does that when I am a little baby/kid. I am very blessed and lucky in a way which I hope to continue the good culture in my family. LOVE YOU PARENTS! I wish to take cute pictures with my kids too...LOL! I could not see myself joining other employees for a 9am-5pm job. I could not see myself doing something I am not truly passionate about.

A person can choose to be poor, a person can choose to be in the middle-class, a person can choose to be rich. Of course being rich takes a lot of commitment and hardwork especially in increasing one's financial education. A person may be a taxi driver by profession but he does not have to be a poor taxi driver. A person may be a teacher by profession but he or she does not have to be a poor teacher.

I am not asking you to choose to be rich nor am I asking you to increase your assets and income. If you are happy where you are now, please remain where you are because happiness is important in life. If you are unhappy on your current position and believe you are capable to be better for the sake of your family and the community, then I welcome you to make a commitment and take massive action to increase your financial education. Very soon, you will see an increase in your assets, your income and your personal NET WORTH!

One of life's greatest joys is to be happy about yourself... You have a choice to make, you are the creator of your very own destiny.

To your success my friends!

May call me or leave me a message if you are interested to invest in financial knowledge to increase your wealth!

George Leong

017-6593817

Winning the Race of Life Series - 'A Simple Life'

A simple life: Well, how simple is simple my friends? To win in a race, one must keep things simple and not make it complicated. Very often, I would say that things always go back to basics. For example, to grow your wealth, you need to first learn how to save. To have a healthy body, you need to exercise. To gain knowledge, you need to read more books and attend more classes. As simple as it sounds right? But I could tell you many people often complicate things and make life difficult.

Warren Buffett, although the 2nd richest man in United States still drive to work with his 2nd-hand vehicle. He has no driver. He has no entourage. He still lives in his Bungalow in a middle-class neighbourhood he bought 60years ago at USD 31,500. Buffett always keeps his meal simple and hardly ate in an expensive restaurant. Mostly fast food for Coke for his drink.

One thing I discover about people is they love making things complicated. For example, a student life is very simple. Just making sure he or she attends classes on time, do assignments and presentations, do some revision etc. If he or she could cope well with studies, then move on to other activities. All a student needs to do is to make sure things are organised and balance his or her life with family, friends, health, studies and probably other activities. It is just that simple! If a student finds it difficult to cope with studies, then spend more time with friends studying or seek guidance from lecturers on tips to study effectively. And not spending time going for mamak, or hanging out in shopping malls which is a waste of precious time. Remember, the clock is ticking and time flies.

By the way, they are many books in the bookstore that teaches you how to study effectively. A good read will be Adam Khoo "I Am Gifted, So Are You!"
As for working adults, it is more challenging as there are more and more commitments to cope with but it could be simple if a person leads a simple life.

Let me share with you how simple a guy I really am:

Family: Family is very important to me. They take good care of me and I love them very much. Besides, its always good to love your family.

Action: To make sure proper advices are given to them to lead a meaningful life, and to make sure I spend time with them no matter how busy I am. Example: I spend quality time (3-4days) with my cousins every end of the year.

Friends: I only make good friends...friends that are sincere and good to me. When I said good means they help me and treat me well without any hidden agenda behind. If not, why waste time on people who are bad and would destroy or complicate your life? Get away!

Action: Always calling them to keep in touch. Always looking for them at least once a month although they are a distance away. And yea, we always go countdown to usher the new year and have fun together.

Health: It is important to be healthy. What is the point of having all the money in the world but not being healthy to enjoy life right? So yea, remain physically healthy and lead a healthy life.

Action: Hit the gym 2-3 times a week... work out and do some jogging.

Girlfriend/Wife: Very simple, she is there for me and I am there for her be great. When we are not together, she will always think about me and I be thinking about her. Both hearts are deeply connected no matter where we are and what happens. Both will remain faithful and loyal to each other.

Action: Just do my part will do, and provide the best for her.

Financial: It is important to achieve financial freedom because that is what real freedom really is. To do what u love to do. To be rich, one has to learn how to be rich and that takes a tremendous amount of dedication to increase your financial education. I wanna be financially free because I hope to spend quality time with my family in the future. Example: I would love to spend more time at home to take good care of my babies/kids. Bring them to school and see them coming back and call me: "Daddy, we are back home... wanna show you what we did at school today! "Dad, your food is delicious...thank you for taking good care of us, love you dad"

I know its a bit too early now...but guess what, one has to work towards it. If a person wants that kind of life, its better to get started now and be prepared for the future. Don't you agree?

Action: Read many financial books and attend seminars and courses. Take massive action to achieve the financial goal although its so difficult and requires some sacrifice. It is definitely worth it in the future though.

These are the simple examples of how I lead a simple life.

Winning the Race of Life Series – ‘Setting Priorities’

Definition of Cambridge:

Priority means something that is very important and must be dealt with before other things.

It is important to understand the word ‘priority’ as it determines the way you lead your life. It determines what you will do in your life.

Issue: People have a difficulty understanding priority in their lives. They get their lives mess up and often fail to win the race of life.

Example 1: A student not leading a student’s life as many often hang out with friends in shopping malls, having long-hour meals, coming home late at night etc.

Transformation: If you are a student, studies come first. In fact, that is your main responsibility. No other things should come first before studies. If your friends ask you out, you may excuse yourself and only hang out in the weekends.It is just that simple. Furthermore, you have paid for your tuition fees and you should make good use of it. If you could manage your studies well, you could then proceed to focus on curricular activities or other business ventures.

Example 2: People often place personal pleasure above family well-being. For example, people often spend much in having nice meals and go vacation with friends and not having a thought of contributing more towards the well-being of family members. They always said I love my family members but never demonstrate that in their actions. What a pity!

Transformation: It is always better to give than to receive. Contribute towards your loved ones and make them happy. These are things money can’t buy… I agree that money plays a part, but your family members are not happy because of your money. They are happy because you have the kind thought of contributing your hard-earned money towards their well-being. For example, the intention of buying them a nice TV, buying them a nice fridge, treat them a sumptuous meal and not merely using your money for personal pleasure like buying personal stuff and go for a massage. It is your intention they are happy about and this is what money can’t buy.

Isn’t that meaningful in life? Something you are proud to share with your kids in the future. You may start by saying: “Do you know that PAPA did this in the past? Are you happy and feel proud to have DADDY doing this? Do you want to follow PAPA footsteps in doing meaningful things?”

To me, that is living life to the fullest. ENJOY!