Peter The Planner

Taking the first step to make the choice to save is important. But it is only the stepping stone of many other crucial decisions that you have to make in order to accumulate more wealth.

Last year, a Citibank survey showed that Singaporeans were equally likely to park their extra cash in conservative products as in riskier ones. This came to show that people are stating to make conscious decision on the use of their money. However the answer to your investment depends on your investment disposition, for which one has to assess risk appetite, risk capacity and time horizon.

In recent Straits Times, newspaper reported that most Singaporeans are not ready to retire and there are ways that they are teaching the elderly on how to live longer comfortably. Well after reading these articles, it brought to my attention on the importance of parking your money in the right channel and how to grow your money in the right way.

[Read the rest of this entry...]

Today is my convocation day and it finally marks the end of my journey in SIM. Although i will upgrade myself in future but i doubt i will be going for my Masters but who knows right? Never say never =)

Anyway I would like to congrat to my other fellow friends who graduated same time as me and to those that helped me alot during my last 3 years esp during exam period! Really treasured the friendship over there and the help given. Without you guys, i guess my life would not be so wonderful. Being in the part time program, it had taught me the skill to juggle well between work and studies committment.

It’s all about adjusting your priorities in life. Do what is more important and also what yields you the most result are the key to do well. It’s really hard to have the best of both world. Not that it cannot be done but it’s hard =) In fact, there are only 1 first class honours student in my banking and finance couse for part time! So you can imagine the difficulities faced by most working adults.

Nevertheless, all the studies are over for me and now i am going to another stage of my life where i need to stablise my career and set up my future family. Not going to be easy also but i believed that if you really want something badly in life, you will make it!

Remember: It’s all about your choice!  Good luck!

Hi folks, I’m finally back to blog! It’s been so long since I’ve taken the time to reflect. The past one whole month has been insane for me due to reservist, work and being overseas. Basically I don’t really have the luxury to have quiet time to myself and blog about my thoughts.

That’s why today I decided to come to airport to chill =) Having a cup of latte whilst doing strategic thinking. I love such moments as I can slow down my pace and reflect on all the things that has happened in my life and learn from the experiences that I’ve had.

Let me do a recap of the experiences that I have gained in the past two months:

1)      During conversations with guys younger than me, I realized that the decisions made during the younger years have the ability to completely alter one’s fate. I made the decision to join the financial industry despite many objections while doing my part time degree and after 4 years, I have never looked back. If I had not made this move, I wouldn’t be where I am now and this website wouldn’t be in existence. I also wouldn’t have learnt so many valuable life lessons in life and met amazing people.

2)      After one of the major exercise that I had during my course, I was reminded that one’s attitude in life decides whether or not you’re poised for success. Eg: If you are always positive about things, you tend to make the best out of it and try to learn new experiences from it. Successful people that I know, especially my boss Merry Riana, has an excellent attitude towards life. She has been going around sharing with many others that the most important things in life can be achieved by having the right attitude. Losers, on the other hand, focus a lot on what they can’t achieve and blame anything and everything except themselves.

3)      We can plan but if the plan that you have is not what God has intended for you, it will not materialize. As a result, you need to see from this point of view and tell yourself that God breaks your plan so that HE can allow the bigger plan to materialize. Every failure in our life serves a purpose. It doesn’t happen without a reason. So seize the chance to learn from the mistakes and grow!

4)      Saving is a virtue! Being able to save and possessing the willingness to save isn’t easy. This is especially so in Singapore where things are so expensive coupled with low wages, it can be quite taxing on normal folks. It takes great determination to weather out temptation and remain as normal =) Although it may seem very extreme but that was what I learnt. We can save money if we really take a step back to reflect on our wants and needs. You have to ask yourselves whether you deserve to buy these items and whether the purchase value adds to your life.

5)      What kind of lifestyle do you desire? Have you asked yourselves why you are  working so hard? Do you desire a relaxed lifestyle when you retire? If the answer is yes, then I suggest that you should migrate overseas =) After I came back from Australia, I learnt that it doesn’t take much effort to lead a relaxed lifestyle there. The culture is such that anyone can lead such a lifestyle. The per hour wage is about A$15-20 and working hours are from 9-6pm. After work time is meant for family bonding whereas weekends are meant for gathering with friends or colleagues. Even if you are unemployed, the government will also provide you with social benefits. So basically it is a choice of abandoning everything in our home country or to migrate to another place to start all over again. We need to find a purpose for working hard. We can’t just work without a reason because one of these days, you will just wear out and find life meaningless.

Well that’s all for my two cents worth of sharing. Hope you can gain some insight through my experience. It’s always good to leverage on others than to go through itself.

“Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.”
Lou Holtz

I’ts not what happens to you that determines how far you will go in life ;it is how you handle what happens to you.
Zig Ziglar

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.”
––Muhammad Ali

Hello guys! I’m finally been able to blog after being inside camp for the past 1 week. In case some of you don’t know, i have to go for my reservist for 1 whole month to attend CSM course. This course is meant to equip me with sufficient knowledge to know what to do during operational time/peace time as the company sgt major.

Anyway what i have really learnt in the past one week and together with my past 4 years of working experience was that all of us will need a system to keep us moving and have the chance to be successful in things we do.  Take for example of having a system of saving money. Do you only have one bank account to save money? Do you know how much exactly you should be saving every month? What are the ways that you plan for your future? Imagine right now there are a few standard templates to various lifestyle and once you choose it, your future will be guaranteed to be the desire one. Do you think you will want to choose it? I’m very sure that most of us would love to see if such system exist =)

A very good example of systematic workflow is how army is being operated. There are so many standard operational procedures to follow and it is so systematic. Imagine your life is programed in such a manner, i am quite sure it be quite interesting.

Some systems are good and some are bad. Human being develops their own system and what may works for you may not work for the others. Hence even when i’m doing planning for my client, i also customised the system to their own situation. So my point that i hope to drive home is that please develop your own system of protecting your income and saving up for retirement. These are two critical things that you need to take note and beware. Should you failed in either case, it be too late to regret.

 Right now, spend some time to think of a system that you want for yourself and if it works for you, please pass it forward by sharing with your loved ones!

Actually although there are no such thing exist but we can always customise our own system to suit our needs and to make sure we follow through it well.

As i watched the people having fun partying at Clarke Quay area and the people whom i know are working hard and saving up for their future, i can’t help but to wonder the type of choices these people made every day.

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.

Another area to take note is Financial: Have you set up your own emergency fund? Are you able to carry on your life as per normal without working for 3 months? How many bank accounts do you have? How much coverage have you prepared for your loved ones? I couldn’t emphasize enough on the importance of financial planning. Being a consultant myself, I have helped many of my clients to kick start a proper planning for their family and themselves. Many of them are not really comfortable with the idea of buying insurance initially but after they heard stories of people dying of major illness or they experience some accidents themselves, they are grateful that I sold them what they needed. Insurance is always something important and please do not disregard it. Remember that it is never too late to plan something, it will only be too late if you discover you never plan anything!

Last aspect of planning would be marriage: Are you planning to save up first before deciding marriage or you do the other way around? [Read the rest of this entry...]

Happy New Year to all my readers! Wish every one of you have a prosperous Tiger year and good health in the coming New Year!

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!