Talking about passion makes me quite excited and i guess it’s because i am a more passionate person in nature so i tend to get quite hyped up upon hearing it =) But to many people out there, what is really passion to them? In fact, what is considered a passion to one person may not means the other person is the same.

Being passionate in general is good as it gives the person extra energy in doing the work. Have you met someone who keeps telling you how boring is the job or keep thinking how exciting and challenging their job can be on a daily basis? What is the difference between these two person? The answer is ‘ Passion’

Right now i have this sudden inspiration to share with you how to be passionate about saving money! This is very important and interesting because there are many people out there that i have met are not at ALL keen in saving money. They believe that money is made to spend and not save. I almost fainted each time i heard such statement. Hence i think these tips will be useful to motivate us to save money.

Tip 1: Think of what you can do with the extra money saved.  Imagine being able to buy whatever your parents want or what you want in life. I am talking big purchases in general. With the extra money saved, you can have the opportunity to travel further rather than always being limited to nearby countries. With more money saved, you can also afford to do more charity work to contribute back to society. Otherwise, you will be too busy earning money and not able to give back society.

Tip 2: Think of the many business opportunities that are possible due to the build-up captial. Do you think you are able to execute your business ideas when you know you have $10k or $100k or $500k as start-up capital? If today there is this person that comes to you with a very good feasible business proposal but it requires you to have $10k so do you think you can take up the business offer or you have to deny it due to no funds. However often we heard of people saying ‘ Well the business requires too much capital that we does not have enough to go into’ So do you see my point? =)

Tip 3: Think about the investment opportunities that you can take advantage when time is right. Do you know that for those who have invested in early this year when all people are avoiding the market due to lack of funds and fears, they have already easily made more than 50% returns! A lot of people don’t like to save so even when they are presented with the right opportunity, they can’t take charge of it. This is really a great opportunity loss for them.

Tip 4: Think of the long term lifestyle that you desired. Do you prefer to have somthing that is temporary or permanent? Do you prefer to  be eating and enjoying life now but in future will have to keep struggling to meet end needs or having simple lifestyle now but in future can have the luxury to relax to do own things in own pace?

Tip5: Visualise the moment where you can go for a long holiday break and be able to spend freely without guilt. Have you ever tell yourselves that you got no money after each holiday you go? Is that common to you? If yes, i think you should start to make sure that such guilt disappear forever. You can always do so when you have set aside money for it and know that even when you spend everything, you will still have one sum of emergency fund for you to use. It’s only possible if you save alot!

Tip 6: Look at all the uncles/aunties that are still working at the age of 65 and those who are enjoying their fruit of labour by saving. Ever wonder how does these people spend their money during their younger times? Of course there are people who work at age 65 because they chose to work to past time but for most of them, it’s no choice. They have to survive. 

Tip 7: Adopt the ‘with money comes more opportunity’ attitude. I can guranteed you that with such an attitude, you will be successful one day because every single minute you will be thinking of how to earn more money and creating business opportunity for yourself. It simply gets you excited every day!

Tip 8: Have a rich people mindset. According to Napolean Hill, think and grow rich! This is very true! If you take a look around your friends, how many of them have the rich people’s mindset and are they rich? If mostly is yes then i’m correct. If no, these people could be on their way to success. Not forgeting that by thinking, actions have to be taken =)

Last tip: Throw away poor people’s thinking. If you are someone that always want to be super thrifty and like to save here and there and not even willing to invest for the future, the chances of you getting rich is close to zero! If you think that you born in poor family and will never have a chance to be rich, again the chances of you getting rich is zero! Law of attraction works in this way. You will attract whatever you think and it will come true! Poor people always believe by working hard and not spending on anything will be rich but the fact is that there are just something that have to be spent first before wealth will come to you.

Well i hope that the above 9 tips will be an extra motivational reasons for you to stir up the passion in you to save money! Cheers!

When we were young, we are able to save money most of the time because of no commitment. As we get our pocket money from our parents, they will encourage us to save 10-30% into our piggy bank. Such practice it’s very good because it instills the idea of saving up for long term. As we grow up and start our working career, many times we will be having problem saving up despite the fact that we are earning few hundred times more than what we are getting for pocket money. Why is that so?

The reason is simple: we lose the habit of saving because we have other wants and lose focus of saving for long term. As we grow up, our commitmentsget more and more. Resulting the fact that we are left with little money to save each month. Actually to curb this problem is quite simple. HAVE A SIMPLE LIFESTYLE! We can save a lot when young because we are simple. We buy sweets and our price of food is cheap. Therefore when you grow up, so long you don’t indulge in luxurious lifestyle i believe it is not difficult to save.

Another thing other than a simple lifestyle is to have the habit to save FIRST spend LATER! Many working adult forget this super simple formula and as a result there are always the one that find themselves having problem at month end. Actually saving 10% of your income is just like running 3km every week. Once you cultivated this habit, you can start to save more next time because you are motivated by the fact that the amount inside your bank account is increasing month by month. Same thing is like if you find yourself not feeling tired after 3km run, you will naturally want to run more to push yourself to a higher limit!

If you feel good being fit, then i am very sure you will feel even better when you see 5 digit worth of saving in your bank account! Am i right? =) Therefore i have decided to hit the gym every Sat morning for at least 1 hr to get the habit of working out and training for my marathon! Let’s work hard together to get ourselves and our financial muscles to pump up again!

You can live decently in Singapore if you learn how to spend wisely. Before venturing on ways to save money over the course of the next 30 days, identify what the goal is for the month. Is it to save $50? $100? $250? Once you have this established, the work you do each day will have more meaning. The only thing you truly have complete control over is how you spend your money. The choices are yours to make.

Here you go:

1. Go to the wet market instead of supermarket
Do not shun away from wet market. You can get good deals there. If your house is nowhere near a wet market, you can then opt to go to supermarkets. Take the time to write up a grocery list. Take your time to walk through the supermarkets to compare brands and prices. You can easily save $20 or more each week by shopping the sales at the stores.

2. Shop at Warehouse Sale
Watch out for warehouse sales. Just look for advertisements in the newspapers to find out where and when the next warehouse sale will be. You can expect prices with more than 50% discount.

3. Do not order drinks in restaurant or hawker centers
This habit is costlier than you think. You can get drinks later at the supermarket or convenient stores at a fraction of the price.

4. Pay bills on time
Give yourself a weekly allowance in cash to pay for incidentals and stick to it. When the money is gone – it’s gone.

5. Stretch out the time between haircuts
If you normally get your haircut once a month, try stretching it to once every 8 weeks or 2 months. You can save yourself the cost of at least two haircuts a year.

6. Use 1/4 less of dishwashing soap and laundry detergent
The portion size of the scoops in laundry detergents is simply too big. You will be amazed just how far 3/4 of the suggested amount will go.

7. Meet a friend for breakfast or lunch instead of dinner
Dinner is always the most expensive meal if you’re eating out. Thus, it is better to catch up with your friends over lunch on weekends or even weekdays if you work near each others.

8. Have a garage sale or join a bazaar
Kill 2 birds with one stone. You can get your house clean and pocket some cash from your efforts as well.

9. Use shampoo and soap sparingly
If you are using a pump bottle, one pump of shampoo per use will do just as good a scalp cleaning as two pumps. Three pumps of soap will take care of the rest of your body.

10. Always ask for discounts
Make use of your credit cards. Usually, some restaurants and shops have special discounts for certain card holders. If you are a regular customer, ask “is this the best price you can give me?” The first time a shop keeper gives you a 10% discount just because you asked, you won’t be shy anymore.

11. Have more potluck sessions.
Plan a potluck with your friends instead of going out to eat. Have each person bring something and your dinner is done!

12. Cancel unnecessary cable plans
With all the new cable plan offers from Singtel, etc, its so hard to determine which one you really need. When the bill arrives this month, determine whether you really use all of the channels that your plan offers. You can add channels back in later if you are feeling deprived.

13. Stop drinking soda or sweet beverages. Better yet, bring a bottle of water everywhere you go.

14. Quit smoking
This $1500 annual habit is expensive. You have to stop for your pocket’s sake if not for your health reason. If you’re still smoking, even if you’re a die-hard 20+ year smoker two packs a day smoker, you can do it. So start today!

15. Stay at home this weekend
You can have a relaxing and reflective day at home, alone or with your family. Pull out a puzzle, a board game, or a DVD for some family bonding fun. If you want a quiet time, curl up on the sofa with a good book and you are set.

16. Spend less than you earn – Earn more than you spend.
It’s a relatively simple rule but hard to keep. To help you keep to the rule, make it a habit to save a portion of your pay first and spend the remaining with guilt-free feeling.

17. Buy House Brands
With more and more house brand products to choose from, you can save quite a lot by buying them instead of your usual brands. This can be applied to toiletries and food products.

18. Budget your money
Write down everything you spend or budget your money online with One Paycheck at Time eTools, www.OnePaycheckataTime.com. By tracking what you spend you will easily save 10% or more per month because you are aware of the money that is going out and coming in.

19. Refinance your auto payment.
If a year or more has passed since financing a vehicle, researching refinancing the loan. You may find that you can get a loan for at least .5% less than what you have now.

20. Take public transport if possible
At least once a week, try taking a bus or MRT to work or to meet your friends. It’s just one day a week – it won’t cramp your lifestyle the other 6 days in the week. It is better to save on cab fares and eat better food later than travel in style but eat bread for the rest of the week.

Recently during one of my trainings, i have learnt something very important that i personally would like to share with everyone. This is especially useful for people who are interested in doing sales but having problems closing their deals despite lots of hardwork are put in. Have a checklist with yourself and you see if you have been doing the right things.

K – Knowledge: Basically in doing any sales job, knowledge about the products are very important. In fact if you don’t have basic ideas of how the product works then i believe you can’t close any deal. Certain profession requires specialised knowledge and that is when you really got to know your stuff inside out. Such jobs are ususally quite highly paid because not many people can acquire such expertise and the people are not so-easily replaceable. One good example is doctor or lawyer. However if you are in any sales job, you don’t have to be highly educated to be good in closing but at least you must know all your products in order to provide unbiased services.

A – Attitude: Having the right attitude is important in the sales process. The reason is simple: As sales person, we face alot of challenging situations every single day and if you are having attitude problem, how do you expect to conquer every single one peacefully? With the correct attitude, you are more willing to be open to new ideas and adapt to changes. Some people that i know always think that they are correct and there is no need to change. There is a whole lot of attittude people out there with similar thinking. Hence mix with the positive people to have positive attitude! As the old saying goes: Attitude determines your altitude!

S – Skills: What i am refering to here is the soft skills. Soft skills are something that can’t be taught and are never taught in schoo! A person have to put in effort and time to learn from others to acquire it. In fact, soft skills is more important in closing a deal because most of the time a sales is made because of personal relationship. This skill is also useful when it comes to deal with relationship with your loved ones hence find someone you know that have excellent soft skills to get him to teach you the way to have it.

H – Habits: Some habits are good and bad. So what is really a good habit because what maybe good to one person may differs from the others. In my opinion, as long as the habit can help you to become more focus and discipline in closing your deals then it is good. One good example of such habit is the habit of being punctual. Can you imagine you are late for every single meeting with your clients? What kind of impression is formed when he sees that? I don’t think he is willing to trust you with his money for investment. Another good habit in sales is to make a point to meet at least 10 new people per week (5 days). It’s because with that, the chances of closing cases can be high since more people are met. Habits are formed by repeating it over and over again for 21 days! Studies have shown that all habits are formed if a person will to repeat the actions for 3 weeks. Hence start forming a new habit now!

The rating among these four things are as follow: Attitude being the top follows by Habit, Skills and Knowledge. Therefore the good news is that you don’t have to be a degree holder in order to sell, you just need to change you mindset and you be a successful sales person!

Have you ever experienced setting resolutions that you never achieved? Are you already getting sick of having resolutions because it never come true? Are you already feeling lazy when trying to set resolution? If you have answered ‘yes’ to all the questions above, then keep reading to see how i share with you the secret to a whole new revolution!

First of all, let us understand the meaning of resolution and goals? According to wikipedia,  new year resolution is a committment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous while a goal or objective consists of a projected state of affairs which a person plans or intends to achieve or bring about — a personal or organizational desired end-point in some sort of assumed development. Many people endeavor to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.

Therefore if you have been failing to achieve your resolutions then the good news is that you are not lousy. You just need to set goals instead of resolutions! If you can see the difference, you will realise that the main issue is that a goal focus on timelines and desired end point whereas resolutions makes people focus on changing a habit or lifestyle.

So the question is how to set goals that can excite us every day and keep us motivated to achieve it? If i can share, the formula is very simple: Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Time-targeted objectives (SMART) From there, make it as a habit by writing it down in a book for 21 days. Most important, this goal MUST EXCITED you! This goal must be able to stirr the emotions in your mind and the goal got to be a MUST and not just a WANT. After that, i’m very sure that the goals that you set will be drill deeply in your mind and sub consciously, you will direct all your actions towards achieving it.

One example of me setting a goal was the first year when i started out this career. During that time, i told myself that i want to be a rookie consultant in my agency. So i sat down with my boss, Merry Riana, to find out more about my target and how i can achieve it(Realistic-checking). After that session, i am determined to make it happen. I set my target to be a top rookie consultant(Specific) in one years time (Time) with a minimium standard of production(Measurable). I even set out what are the activities(Action-Oriented) that im going to do if i’m serious to clear my goal.

With everything on hand, the next things that i do was to write down the reasons for my goal every morning the moment i woke up and night time just before i sleep. i wrote down every single reasons on world that i can think of and continued this routine for 21 days (no more no less). Basically i sleep and breath my goals and each morning i was always feeling excited to work towards it no matter how tired i am. After 3 weeks of writing, everything that i do simply just geared towards my top rookie goals.

Guess what happened in the end? DId i managed to clear my goal in the end? Was there alot of problems to deter me from my goals? Of course there were alot of challenges and obstacles along the way but thank God for his blessing, i managed to clear my goal with every single things that i had set for myself! It was through this experience that i have shared with many people and some have benefited from it. Even till today when i set my goals, i do exactly the same things if i am really serious about my goals.

Therefore if there is one thing for you to take back, please remember that a goal is nothing unless it means something to you so attach VALUE to it!