Choices that people make on a day to day basis affects the outcome in our life and it can be good or bad. However how many of us actually decide to make a good choice to have good outcome? I supposed this question is hard to answer because sometime we are logical enough to make good choices and sometime we can’t do so and that is when we actually allow our emotions to take control of us. One very good example is like clubbing. The music and the crowd at the place make it seem so happening and fun to be seen there. But if you are there, most probably you be spending a good $100+ to have one night of fun and this is the choice you made out of emotion as you know that drinking is bad for health but you feel that by being in the club, you are seen more happening. Comparatively, you can choose to spend the night at home watching dvd and eating chips etc. The whole night of such entertainment would cost you just $10. Same time spent but different fun being experienced though.

IF only people makes choices rationality every day, i belived this world would be a better world and more people will be happier! Do you think it helps if Singapore government comes out a project called ‘Choice Day’ where all people around Singapore are to make one choice that will make them or their love one happy? =) Personally if such thing will to happen, i guess it will cultivate more people to make the right choice.

Right now, i would like to urge my readers to start making the right choice from today onwards. Be it in your work, love life, family or even friendship, make a commitment to make the right choice that will affect the outcome in a postive manner! Once you done that, i like to hear from you.

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Last aspect of planning would be marriage: Are you planning to save up first before deciding marriage or you do the other way around? Do you even have any family fund set aside first? Are you planning to borrow from parents or even relative to get the wedding going? Again if the answer is Yes, you are not too late! You can be saved! All you need to do is to sit down and talk with your spouse and have open communication. Allow each other to know the financial situation and plan the best out of it. Take things slowly. Fundamental has to be strong both in relationship and financially. Both parties got to have same financial vision and their values are to be similar. Or else things are going to be abit challenging in future.

And if I am allowed to touch on one last area that recently I discovered the importance, which will be Spiritual: One has to find a purpose in life and the meaning behind everything we do. We can always go on the life as per normal but at one point of our life, we WILL SURELY ponder why are we working so hard and for what purpose? Each of us has different answers and at the end of it, we may realize we have all been chasing towards something that is empty. We thought we be happy after achieving all the money in the world, have all the attention we want, have all the recognition being given but once we have it, we find out what makes us happy is actually being SIMPLE! We need to realize everything happens for a reason and we must feel very blessed to appreciate all the things in life. It’s all by God’s grace and we need to honor HIM. I am not asking people to convert to Christianity but the point that I am driving at is that I want people to have faith in their religion and to follow what is being taught to them. Because one who doesn’t have any faith will feel empty or a sense of loneliness even when they achieve all the things they want in life. I’m sure each of us would have felt similar way at some point of our life and if you do, please start to do something about it. It’s never too late to start planning for yourself.

I hope that through this article I can bring more sense to people who feel that planning is useless or who don’t know how to plan. Life and war is similar. To win a war we need a strategy plan. To succeed well in life, we also need a strategy plan. No point to live a life aimlessly and hoping that best things are to happen. There is no way for it to happen.

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Lately I have encountered a few people who shared with me about what happened to them because they never plan their things properly during these festive seasons. It really makes me ponder a lot with regards on area of proper planning. When I mean planning, it means literally all aspect of your life.

Allow me to start off on Health: Have we ever thought of how healthy you want to be? Ever considered how the type of food that you consumed can be harmful to your body? Do you always want to start exercising but end up giving yourself all the excuses in the universal? Basically a person’s wealth does not necessary depends on how much a person possesses but rather how healthy a person is. What’s the point of having one million and to realize you are going to die within one year? So if you do value your health, please start some exercise regime and be serious about it! Plan your schedule week by week. Start with something easy and increase the training bit by bit. Watch out on your food intake too. It plays a crucial part.

Next aspect would be on Career: Are you happy in your present job? Do you see any personal growth in yourself while working here? Do you have a supporting boss? Where do you see yourself in coming 3 or 5 years? Let say the answer above are all negative, I would suggest that it may be time for you to explore new areas of work. Some friends of mine do not like to switch job because they are worried about being jobless or they will get lower pay. But the matter of fact is that it’s not hard to land a job in Spore! For the lower pay issue, it’s all about how capable and value added you can be to a company in order to get pay raise. If all the while, you are the type that avoids responsibility and lazy at work then it really doesn’t matter where you go as the pay will always be the same. Getting out of comfort zone is something that one has to do at certain point of their life in order to have a breakthrough. If you look around, successful people are those that are willing to do what is most uncomfortable to them. It’s only by doing so, it yields them the most satisfaction and rewards. Ideal planning would be to have a business proposal for you to see. Visualize where you will be in the next 3, 5 and 10 years! If you can prepare a proposal for your boss, why not consider for your own. I’m sure you deserve more!

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But then again if we really sit down and think, is buying insurance that simple?

In my personal opinion, getting an life insurance is a simple task but not easy. Other than there are many things that you must understand before you make a decision. Eg: what’s the term and conditions, any exclusion, pros & cons, interest rate and guarantee or non guarantee portion.  I have to say that maintaining the  budget to keep the policy in force is also another factor to consider. Hence i need to say that it is not easy simple because for generally, most people doesn’t view insurance as their most important expenses. To them, buying insurance is good to have when you have spare cash and when they got retrenched or pay cut, the first thing to cut is insurance!

The same theory goes for driving a car. It is simple to drive on the road since you only need to step the accelerater and it will drive automatically however you need to master all the road signs and understand all types of road condtions to be able to drive safely. It is not easy though. Buying a car is simple. Just go to showroom and select a car that you fancy and pay the deposit to drive off.  However is it easy to maintain the car? No! Many people i know are struggling to keep up with the expenses. They have became a ‘car slave’

In driving, we hire a private or school instructor to teach us how to drive and in the insurance context, we engage a financial consultant to share with us all his knowledge and understanding of the products so that we can make the whole process a breeze. Therefore i must emphasize that the financial consultant that you are seeing (bank, tied agent or IFA) must make sure that he does a fact find with you first and follow by introducing and explaining all types of suitable products for you before you sign anything with him. Another important aspect that you need to take note is whether did he disclose how much commission is he getting from the plan he is recommending you? However if you notice that this person only has one plan for you and never tell you anything about his reason for recommendation then you should know what to do with him(dump him!) Sometime if the agent doesn’t bother to even ask you about your spending habits and are only concerned about how much you can save, you know that this person is just another salesperson out there.

A good financial consultant in my personl opinion is someone who bothers to upgrade himself constantly in this industry. Be it taking CHFC or general insurance, it will definitely value add the client in one way or another. Sometime by attending outside course where it increases general knowledge, it is also benefical to the clients. He/She must also be willing to be open with his own financial habits because at least you know that this person practises what he preachs. He must also possess a spirit of listening and understanding your whole financial situation and constantly follow up with you. If the person after one appointment never bother to follow up then again you can move on looking for other sincere consultants. Most importantly the consultant itself must believe in its own products. Ask for his own policies and see how much he/she is covered. If he can’t show you then i believe he himself also doesn’t believe much in insurance planning.

So after looking from the other point of view, do you still think buying insurance is a difficult task? It is a difficult task if there is no proper consultant advising you on all aspects (logic & emotional) when choosing a plan. The million dollar question right now is whether have you been able to find ‘the one’ to help you to make the process more simpler =)

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Just for laugh! No Offence to anyone!

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Just spoken to a friend of mine and she asked me this particular question which i thought that it was quite easy to answer but after hearing her version of answer, i was impressed. I told her that each of us will need to find a partner because we need someone to love and to share the joys and downs in life. and to start a family of our own. Then she told me her answer from her point of view.

She said that both should only get together when you realised that he/she can help you to grow and develop into a better person spiritually and how much both of you can serve God in a better manner. I was really surprised to hear this kind of answer because it really makes alot of sense to me. She makes me realised a couple of things about myself. It was one of those quality conversation that i had so far and i will always remember.

It got me thinking that alot of people these days did not really plan for their future in term of relationship. Many at times got married because of the wrong reasons such as buying a house, being together for very long, peer pressure or age issues etc. Personally i have also seen many failed marriages or relationships and most of them was for the same reasons such as character faults or money. So it makes me wonder how come they still want to get married in the first place?

Anyway this friend of mine is very logical at her first stage with the guy that is wooing her. She knew that nothing will come out between them hence she did not give herself any chance to be emotionally attached to him. She still treats the guy as normal friend but just rejected those romantic dates. This way, she is able to be emotionally detached from any feeling in the future because she is worried that if she lets herself continue with the guy, she may fall deeply and by the time she wants to get out, it will be quite painful. Such actions is what i called planning. Putting serious thought in every relationship with the person you want and wanting the best out of it.

If all of us are able to do so, i believe that the divorce rate in singapore will reduce by quite alot. Not forgetting that if both party shared the same religion or belief, it will surely helps alot. Because of the fact that both parties have God in mind, they will rely on this relationship with God to nurture the relationship.

I’m really glad that i have always been surrounded by nice people that have guided me the right way of life and through their sharing, i really benefited and grew as a person. Previously i have always looked for a relationship where i hope i can meet someone that is able to meet my expectations and normally when that doesn’t happen, my world seem to be crashing down. My friend made me realised that i am also looking for someone to give me credit for my own self-worth. Meaning if i failed in a relationship, i be blaming myself for what had happened and become unhappy. The correct way should not be this way because there is no person in this world that is able to give you credit for self worth especial God and yourself. We should be proud of who we are and be glad that our presence here will bring some happiness to people around us. We must never allow other people to determine our self worth because the moment you do that, your worth suddenly becomes worthless.

With this new belief in my life, i am going to live my life differently! I’m going to do some planning on my future relationship. I’m also going to share what i have learned with all my clients and friends that i’m meeting. Hope that i can be one adviser that not only versatile in financial matters but also in handling their relationship matters

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Before you get the wrong idea, i am not getting married by any means but it is just that i will be taking over the ownership of my current house due to some reasons. This is actually quite a good news for me because it will mean that i will finally own an asset which will be providing me passive income and an opportunity to make capital gains when times is good. I felt that it comes at the right time because currently i am single and not having much commitments therefore by putting my money inside the house will be considered as a good investment.

My plan is to do a small renovation and after that will rent out the whole unit to let me earn some passive income and i will move out to rent a small place to stay. This way, i will not have to worry about the loan repayments since it will be covered by the rental and i also don’t have to fork out extra money to pay for my room rental too. Tho it’s going to be quite different staying alone but for the sake of future investments, i think it is a small price to pay =) Hopefully by 3 years, i will be able to save up to buy my first condo. And if i do so, i will be renting it out and i will stay in HDB together with my wife (if im married). The thought of dreaming about having my own condo excites me so much!

Another thing that i wanted to do this year as i mentioned earlier is to save up to 40% of my earning per month. To do so, i have listed down what are the neccessary adjustments that was needed in my current lifestyle:

1) Cut down on restaurants with my date to once/twice a month
2) Get busy so that i have no time to spend money!
3) No more expensive things for myself for at least next 6 months
4) Cutting down on entertainment activities to once a month
5) Less cabs taking

Well i believed that by strictly following these five things, i will be able to save up quite abit of my earnings and do regular investments. I’m also going to be more active in investing in unit trust to build up for my future. 2010 seems to be a good year to do regular investment since there are prominent signs of recovery. I believed that as a financial planner, we have to abide by the rules of saving and investing before we can preach what we believed strongly in. At least that is my motto when i’m handling business with my clients.

I often shared with my clients that it is not really how much you earn but how much you save! With that in mind, i am going to drill it deeply in me at least for one year and i will see how much can i really save. Good luck to me in saving! =)

The above two are part of my 2010 resolutions! I still have others that i will share soon!

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All of us are supposed to share each of our own strengths and everyone of us are to comment whether he/she approves or to have anything to add on. It was quite an insightful sharing as each of us really gives our honest opinion of one another and we indeed get to know each other better. Most importantly, i believe such positive sharing is good because it is able to build up the positive spirit in you and allows you to be more motivated.

My boss, Alva, taught us something on how to develop yourselves in a more smarter way. He shared that in order to be an more successful person, one should not always work on improving their weaknesses but rather they should be looking at how to make use of their strength to their advantage and find people to complement what they are lacking at. This way, you are able to capitalise more and to achieve more. Personally i felt it was very true because most of us are always saying that they should improve on their weakness to be a better person or to be more successful. However at the end of the day, did they really become a more efficient or effective person? Not really i guess.

In my line before you come into this industry, you are supposed to take a personality test whereby it will be able to identify what is your bird type. The purpose of this test is so that we can have a better understanding of you and to also determine whether are you suitable for this job and what kind of methods of training works well for you. There are basically 4 types of birds namely: Peacock, Eagle, Dove & Owl. Well i shall not go into details on the personality of each bird but from the name of it, i hope you guys can roughly figure out the traits in them.

Another thing that i learnt from Alva was that to build up yourself in a more effective way, one should always find a BIGGER bird to learn and a OPPOSITE bird to work together. Eg: If you are someone who likes to lead, you should be finding someone similar to you but are more successful than you to learn from this person. In other words, MODEL HIM/HER. So how can an opposite bird works with you? In fact, they are the best person to work with because they are different from you! Another example: If you are a doer and seldom think of the details aspect of a project, you will need someone who thinks alot and analyse the whole project in a systematic way so that when you take actions, all things can go smoothly.

Having learnt these two things today, i hope to share with all my readers about this issue of understanding yourself. Spend some time to do some reflections and ask your good friends on what do they think of you? Thought sometimes the truth may hurts for some but i can assure you that it is good for you in the long run. Or if you like to do the bird personality test, do drop me an email and i will tell you how you can go about taking it =)

Have fun discovering about yourselves! Cheers!

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Its been 13 days since we entered into the new year and I just came back from my incentive trip in Korea. I really had a great time over there especially when it snows because it was my first experience in snow country. As mentioned earlier, i will do a short write up on my trip and here is it:
During our first day, we actually experienced the worse snowing in korea for the past 40 years! The total height of the snow was more than 30cm and it caused huge traffic jam! As a result, we took about 5 hours from the airport to the Coex Hotel where we were staying. It was totally freezing but it felt awesome with the kind of weather. Something that I never get to experience in my whole life.

Well after the 3 days 2 night with my company, I continued with my post trip tour to Jeju Island and Seoul where I get to try skiing! Again it was an amazing experience skiing together with the whole bunch wonderful people from my company. Everyone was so sporty and all of us had real fun time. Jeju island is really a beautiful place for honeymood couple to go due to its scenery. Even went to one place where the owner grows a tangerine garden! So beautiful!

Before the ski, I was fully geared up and thought it was going to be real cold since the weather has been about -15 degree. But God knows that after 2 hour of skiing, I was literally sweating inside my body! It was damn hot and first time that I sweated in korea especially out in the cold. I did also tried out hourse riding in Seoul! Riding in snow weather and it was so cool =)

The last day was really crazy for most of us because we all spent ALL our money in 3 shops and some of them went on to swap their credit card to purchase more! We were really out there to stimulate Korea economy! Many spent S$1000-3000 on famous Korean Gin Seng and I can tell you that the people were all into impulse buying because of the lack of time and peer perssure. But it was fun seeing people carrying big bags out of the shop with the smile on their face.
Next shop was Faceshop where it was even more fun because it was where the products are cheap and affordable to everyone! It’s where you can see men and women went illogical when it comes to cheap cosmetic. Most of us were amazed by the demonstration done by the sales-girl on their Korean brand ‘OBDO’ Even I also can’t resist the temptation to buy many products for myself! Haha…
Well last stop before we headed to airport was at the Supermart where they sells kimchi, seaweed and local manufactured products. Things were not that cheap but again because we were in Korea for the last hour, people went on to their final crazy shopping spree! Boxes and boxes of the seaweeds and chocolates crunch were being carried on to the bus. I can only say that our people are all quite rich!
When it comes to the food, I had only one comment and that was an Excellent choice to go with the tour because they chose all the nice different type of korean food for us to try. Every meal was good and everyone of us just keep asking the people to add rice, kimchi, meat etc. We ate till we were so full to be able to keep our body warm for the next 6 hours Basically I tried the BBQ, steamboat, gin seng chicken soup, and many others local food. Thumbs up for the food experience! 

Some pictures to prove =)

Alright that should be all for my korea trip. =) Will be looking forward to my next trip which is Perth! Meanwhile i will have to work hard for my Barcelona and Yokohama!

Jia you!

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I am back =) Had been away for one week to Korea hence i did not really have the time to blog last week and when i came back, i have so many things for me to follow up till i am quite stressed up!

Nevertheless i tell myself that i need to start to blog regularly or at least once a week so that i can share all my point of view with my clients and friends. Usually i will have lots of reflections on things and i will do my best to write it down inside my blackberry and will transfer into the blog when i get home. Anyway i just like to share with you guys the things that i will need to do in the next couple of months:

1) Pass my driving licence

2) Go through my IPPT remediate training

3) Apply GI licence with 3 GI firms

4) Set up a systematic way of meeting up with clients

5) Set the right directions for the events business

6) Run 21km for Addias Sundown since 42km has already been taken up

7) Write regular articles for CPF board to contribute more to them

Distribute my booklet throughout the island =)

Well that is a short summary of what i be expecting to do for the next 3-6months and i promised to come back with more updates especially on my unique korea trip experiences =) Do keep me in check if you happen to see i never do anything of the above.

Cheers!!!

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