Author: akosiallan

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Money Mindset Personal Finance Truly Rich Club

Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Financial Seminar (Part 1 – Money and Religion)

Last weekend, my wife and I went to attend Bo Sanchez’s Truly Rich Seminar.  It was an amazing experience meeting Bo face to face.  Bo Sanchez is a preacher who talks about money.  You can learn more about his Truly Rich Seminar here.

Looking at Bo’s eyes, It seemed like he was tired the night before.  But what amazed me was how he still managed to give himself, share stories, make people laugh and more importantly, reconcile faith in God and money.  I learned a lot during the seminar and I wanted to share some of those things to you.  This is part 1 (Money and Religion) of the series of posts in the coming weeks.

Money and Religion

One thing that amazed me was how Bo reconciled the mindset of religion and the seemingly evil world of money.  As the famous verse (Mark 10:25) in the bible says,

“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”

Watching a camel go through the hole of a needle is literally impossible.  And if this is easier than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God, then there is really NO WAY for a rich man to be holy and go to heaven!  That would be like asking what’s more impossible than impossible?  Who then would want to be rich?! 🙂

Looking at the same verse on its true context, according to Bo, the same expression “the eye of a needle” was actually an idiomatic expression by the Jews during the time of Jesus.  When the words “the eye of a needle” was spoken some 2000++ years ago, every one KNEW what it meant.  It meant only one thing — “the door to the house of the camel”, which was both very low, and very tiny.  For a rich man’s camel to enter the door, the rich man and his camel have to do two things: 1) the merchant must bring down all baggage that the camel is carrying, then 2) the camel has to stoop down to enter through the tiny door.  This symbolizes the act of surrendering everything to God, recognizing that everything comes from him, and most importantly, to stoop down, being humble to recognize that there is a more powerful force in this world, that is God.

If that’s the case, then I still have a fighting chance to go to heaven! I can be at peace being rich and holy at the same time.  Now that’s something! 🙂

If you’re based outside the Philippines and unable to attend the Truly Rich seminar, you can Join the Truly Rich Club!

Join the Truly Rich Club

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Credit Card Personal Finance

Why is finance charge so confusing?

Last week, I read a story from a personal finance blog, about a first hand experience of credit card’s two-cycle billing. This was followed by an update on the post a few days later to clarify what really happened after he got a call and explanation from the credit card company. He was informed that the reason for the finance charges was actually NOT because of two-cycle billing.  Instead, the finance charges on the next month’s bill was due to “grace” period no longer applicable because of NOT paying the full outstanding balance from the previous month. In contrast, here’s an excerpt from the blog on what two-cycle billing means.

“Two cycle billing is when a company computes finance charges on the average daily balance of the last 60 days rather than just the last 30 days. What that means is that they will go back two billing periods before the cardholder sent in their payment, and average the daily balance of all 60 days.”

Reading through the blog post, I wondered how come financial terms are very confusing.  I definitely agree that the best way to not experience the “two-cycle” billing or “grace” period headaches is to pay the full amount every month.  It makes better financial sense.  If you can’t do that, perhaps, it’s a good idea to learn how to protect yourself from credit card debt by some other means.

Why can’t financial terms be simple, the way red, green and yellow means stop, go and go slow on a traffic light?  Ever since my credit card debt, I’ve tried to read books on financial literacy to help me get familiar with financial terms.  Reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad book helped me realize that money is actually flowing, hence the term “cash flow”.  I learned that money is never lost, it is just transferred from one person to another.  The only question is, is money flowing to you? or is money flowing out of you? As for finance charges, it is money flowing from your wallet to the credit card company. 🙂

I’d really love to learn more about finances and minimize my confusion.  It is my hope that sharing my own experiences with money will also help clear the confusion among others.

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Life Lessons Money Mindset

Fighting the heavy rain

Yesterday night, there was a heavy rain.  Being in the middle of Mandaluyong City, this meant only one thing – flood.  When I woke up at 5 in the morning, the rain was still pouring.  Since I had to be at the office by 6:30 am, I hurriedly took a bath with my eyes still wanting to go to sleep.

I had to wear boots just so I can walk through the flood.  I was very fortunate, because the water was only about knee-deep.  I reached the gate and prepared myself for a long wait for a jeepney.  After minutes of waiting, a jeep finally appeared.  It was moving very slowly mainly due to the heavy flood.

For some of us, this is just an ordinary day.  For some, it is a day for fighting.  Fighting the forces of nature.  Fighting for survival.

I wonder whether we’ve grown so accustomed to floods that we practically never thought there might be other places where flood is unheard of.  Where rain is a sign for celebration.  Where life grows by the drop.

Rain on a very hot summer day.  That would be nice.

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Life Updates Money Mindset

I am back home – Philippines

It’s been quite a while.  So many things have happened in the past couple of months.  The biggest of them is – I’m back home.  For good.  After a 2 and a half year stint in Malaysia, I am back in my home  country – the very beautiful 7,107 islands of the Philippines! 

It’s a mixed feeling being back.  The past 2 months was like a whirlwind.  So many things had to be done.  I had to wrap everything up in a hurry.  So many things to pack.   In my count, we actually shipped 5 balikbayan boxes just for that.  I’ haven’t actually settled in yet.  Hopefully I’ll be able to share more about my experience of settling back in the coming weeks.  Stay tuned.

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Credit Card How To Tutorials Money Mindset Personal Finance

5 tips on how to protect yourself from credit card debt

A few years ago, I got into credit card debt.  I can still remember the frustration I went through, barely being able to pay the minimum amount due for my credit card.  Giving away a chunk of my paycheck every month to pay my credit card debt but could not seem to make a dent into the very huge balance.  I was foolish then.  I got my first job.  I also got my first credit card.  As they say, the fool and his money are soon parted.

1) If you realized you’ve dug yourself a hole, stop digging.

Stop using your credit card.   Leave it at home.   When I realized I was heavily in debt with my credit card.  I no longer wanted to use it.  Unfortunately, I had no choice but to use it in case of emergency.  Unfortunately for me, every month seemed like an emergency.  For a few times, I even had to use my credit card for cash advance from an ATM to pay for my house rent.  It was depressing just going to the bank to do a cash advance.   When I glanced at the hefty cash advance fee, I could only swallow my pride and promised myself never to let this happen again.

That experience left a bitter memory to me even up to this day.  Today, I don’t use a credit card.   I could easily apply for one if I want to, but I don’t want to ever experience that painful feeling of being a slave of the bank again.

2) Use a debit card instead

If you cannot use your credit card, how should you pay then?  The simple answer is, debit card.  The next best thing to use for paying your grocery, or gas, or even shopping to the mall is a debit card.   Using a debit card is like carrying a huge amount of cash (or at least enough to pay for what you are buying) WITHOUT the extra weight.   Debit card is as good as cash.  No cold hard cash to carry around. It is safe.  It is convenient.

The good thing about debit cards is that you don’t have to worry about not paying your balance each month.  You won’t be charged any interest like credit cards.  But watch out!  When you go over your checking account’s minimum balance, you can be charged a fee.

Another drawback of using your debit card is that it is very hard to dispute a transaction you made.   The bank assumes that since you manually entered your PIN (Personal Identification Number) when using your debit card, it is really YOU who is doing the transaction. In which case, you have to take responsibility for any purchase on your debit card.  So be careful.  Better keep your receipts and counter check it against the transactions on yout debit card statement.  And NEVER tell your PIN to anyone.

3) Use cash

In some parts of Asia, most people are still using cash.   You can go out with nothing but cash on hand, no credit card, no debit card.  In fact, in some cases, it might be the ONLY choice you have.

Sometimes even if you can use your credit card to make a purchase,  it could still be an inconvenience compared to cash.  Some merchants charge an additional 1 to 2% fee or require a minimum purchase amount in order to use the credit card.  It’s ironic, isn’t it?  Shouldn’t it be more convenient and cheaper to use credit card instead of cash?  Since you’re basically paying with electronic money (which is just an idea) and not a physical money like bills or coins, the cost should be considerably less.  I guess the only convenience you can get for using the credit card is not having to worry about being robbed with a gun.

4) Setup an auto-payment scheme for your credit card

Ok. So you’ve stopped using your credit card and most of the time, you’re trouble free.  But sometimes, you REALLY, REALLY need to use it.  Hence, you have a balance at the end of the month.  What if you forget to pay the balance?  Then your balance would accrue interest.  What if you did not use your credit card for a few months and didn’t know you had a balance before?  Then you’re in bigger trouble as the balance is being compounded and your credit rating may also be hit very badly.

So, a wise thing to setup is a credit card auto-payment feature.   You can call up your local bank and ask to have your credit card auto-paid using your current/checking/savings account.  Of course, you still need to make sure that your account has sufficient balance to pay-off the credit card.  Otherwise, you might run into more problems.

Using your credit card, is OK, as long as you are able to pay the whole balance at the end of the month.  This way, you only pay for money you actually used, with NO interest.  That’s what I call INTEREST FREE. 🙂

5) Cut up your unused credit cards – More is NOT necessarily better.

Once you’ve paid up you credit card balance and setup the auto-payment facility with your current account so that you always pay the balance every month, you need to ask yourself whether you really need ALL the credit cards you have.  Do you really need that 8th credit card you just received in the mail?  Note that MORE may not necessarily be better.  Even if you rarely use the cards and may not even have any balance at all on those cards, it could still be hurting your credit rating as the extra credit is under utilized.

Or perhaps you only have 1 or 2 credit cards with you but another credit card is more suitable to your needs.   For example, you travel a lot, so it makes sense to get a card that offers cash back rewards for every purchase you made on petrol.

A credit card is a double-edged sword.  As with anything in life, you need to understand what you are getting and what you have to pay for.  For a credit card, this means, you GET an extra money or credit to buy what you want.  But in the end, it is still borrowed money, and you have to PAY for it one way or another.

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Business Money Mindset

What's so great with Nintendo Wii?

Last week, me and my teammates played Nintendo Wii at one of my tea mate’s house. It was my first time to play the game. And I was hooked!

It’s been quite a while since I touched anything related to computer games. I still remember when I was still a kid. I would hang out at my friends house a lot, playing games on Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly known as family computer.   I loved playing super mario, spartan x, 1942, and more!  At that time, it was the coolest thing on earth!  Even though I did not own one, I was addicted to family computer games.  I was almost always at my friend’s house.

When I went to College and got my own personal computer, I got hooked playing StarCraft, a PC game of aliens, humans and funny looking planktons called zoids (was that the term, I can’t remember)?  Anyway, I would play the game the whole night until the sunshine comes out. Then I’d sleep the whole day.  Don’t tell my parents but I actually missed my class a few times because I was busy sleeping. 🙂

Now, let’s go back to Wii.

The Game for Everyone

The Wii is a game meant to be enjoyed by everyone: kids, teens, adults, grannies, etc.  It doesn’t take long to learn how to play the game.  The first game I played was tennis.  I already saw the game while watching an episode of One Tree Hill, where the little kid was playing with his uncle Skiles (not sure if I spelled that out correctly).  They were obviously having fun.

Now, it’s my turn to play Wii tennis!  I grabbed the controller, which looked more like a pair of dumbles than a gamepad, then swung my way to the tennis ball.   I felt a vibration in the controller which seemed like a ball hitting a tennis racket.  The ball came back.  I swung a again…but it was too late.  The ball went off the sidelines.  I couldn’t believe it.  This is so cool!

Don’t Play the Game Alone

The greatest thing about this game is that it is meant to be enjoyed with other people.  I certainly had fun, laughing at myself when I tried to roll the bowling ball but released it too early, hence, went to my back instead.  So all those watching from behind, had to jump their feet off to avoid the bowling ball from hitting them.  Good thing it’s only a computer game.  Otherwise, no one would play with me anymore.  I don’t recommend doing the same thing with a “real” bowling ball.  You might hit someone in real life. 🙂

My wife and I was enjoying ourselves with our friends.  I could not imagine having to play this game alone.  It would be too depressing.  Who would laugh?  Only me?

Easy to Learn

The next thing we played was boxing.  At first, I really didn’t know how to play it.   But I tried it on anyway.  I was suprised to know that it was very easy to learn.  I only needed to hold the two controllers with both of my hands and throw a punch as if I am a boxer.  I didn’t need to learn any game mechanics like when you do puzzles.  I threw punches to my hearts desire and I scored a knockout.  I enjoyed it so much I was so thirsty after our game.

We also played a racing game.  But this time, we rode cattles.  It was amazing just flipping the controller and the cow would  jump so high it looked like it could touch the sky.  When I turned the controller downwards, the cow went into turbo mode and ran like hell it could easily be running against an F1 car.  The great thing about this is that I didn’t need to learn a thing to start enjoying the game.  I learned everything along the way.  Isn’t that the way we humans learn?

It’s fun

At the end of the day, I really had lots of fun playing Wii.  I was laughing my hearts out.  I was jumping, throwing my hands all over the place.  It was fantastic!  I thought of buying one for myself. However, I realized that it would not be fun if I play the game alone.  I’d rather have fun losing with other people, making all sorts of mistakes than winning by myself.  The fun is meant to be shared.

Now it’s your turn!  Go have fun playing Wii with your family and friends!

Categories
Life Updates Money Mindset

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers!

Here’s a great video created by my wife for mother’s day!  I’m so proud of my wife.  By the way, that’s me singing the background song “You Raised Me Up” by Josh Groban with my own acoustic guitar.   Enjoy viewing!

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Business Life Lessons Money Mindset Personal Finance

5 tips on how to fish effectively – things I learned while fishing at Taman Jaya Park

Recently, my wife and I went fishing with our friends at a nearby park walking distance from Taman Jaya LRT station.   It was  Saturday morning and the sun has just risen.   When we got there, there were already many people jogging around the area.   We hurriedly went to look for a place to put the food our friends prepared and start eating.  Didn’t I say we love to eat?  We had lots of fun eating, laughing and enjoying the experience.

Our friends brought along some fishing equipments they bought from Pudu.    So after we finished eating, we went to look for a place to cast out the nets and start fishing.

tamanjayapark

Use a bait the fish loves to eat

While we were preparing, I was surprised to know that the fishing rod we were using only has a net.  It did not have any hook or anything similar to that.  At first I had some doubts whether it could really catch some fish.  But I was soon proved otherwise.  My friend just catched a big fish with that same net without any bait!  I guess the fish was that hungry.

But that was the only fish we catched that day.  In comparison, the other guy beside us had a bountiful catch.  Every other minute or so, his fishing rod would go up and another fish would jump out of the water.   When we saw the basket he had, we were amazed to see it overflowing with maybe more than a dozen fish.  It made me think, what was he doing that we were not?  Then I noticed, he was putting something which looked like a bait on his fishing equipment’s hook.   I could not exactly tell what it was at the time what but when I saw him scraping something green at a nearby stream, I realized it’s moss.  Aha!  Maybe that is the secret!

Use a bait the fish loves to eat.  It seems obvious now just talking about it.

When I was a a child.  I had a fond memory with my Dad as we went fishing at a nearby fish pond in our school.  At the time, we used earthworms as bait in a hook to catch some fish.  In no time at all, the fish were devouring the bait we put into our fishing equipments.   Starting then, I knew fish loves earthworms.

At another time, me and my college friends went fishing at one of my friend’s fish pond.  As I was looking for an earthworm to use as bait, I came to realize that we were suppose to use leftover bread instead.  Initially, I didn’t think fish would like to eat the bread.  I thought they liked only earthworms.  I was pleasantly surprised to see the fish were as eager to eat the bread as if it were an earthworm.  They were attacking the bread ferociously and in no time at all we’ve managed to catch a lot of fish for a sumptuous lunch.  I guess in that part of the world, fish loves to eat bread!

Go where the hungry fish are

At one point, we cast the fishing nets near where we were having a picnic even though it didn’t look like any fish was nearby.  We waited for quite some time while were were busy eating hoping that maybe some fish might accidentally bump into one of the nets.   We had finished eating but the nets were as empty as before.   There were no fish in the area.  And there was no catch.

So after we finished eating, we went beside one of the fisherman, near a stream of water.  It didn’t take long for us to see that in that part of the pond, there were a lot of fish.   There was a school of fish swimming, catching some breathe on the surface every now and then.  More importantly, we saw the other fisherman was catching a lot of them.  We wanted a piece of the action too!

After a settling down and casting our nets, we were rewarded with our first and only catch for the day.  It really pays to be where the hungry fish are!

Learn from someone successful at what you intend to do

I guess we wouldn’t have caught that fish if we didn’t see the other guy was catching a lot.  In this respect, he was the successful fisherman.  My wife even thought he was a “professional” fisherman.  It seemed to me, here was a guy who knew what he was doing and he is pretty good at it.  Maybe someday, I too will.

Be Patient

It was a bit frustrating seeing the other guy next to us catching a lot of fish, while our net seemed to be lost in oblivion, never making any movement at all.  We went to the left of the guy who was catching fish.  No luck.  We went to his left.  No luck.  Then we went further left.  As we were joking around laughing, suddenly my friend noticed the movement in his fishing net.  He pulled it up and there it was!  The biggest (and the only) fish we had that day!

tamanjayaparkcatchoftheday

Have fun

It is no fun fishing alone.   It is exciting to enjoy fishing with friends and loved ones.  It’s a nice experience to just talk about things while waiting for the net to catch some fish.  I had a lot fun that Saturday morning.  It was a nice experience learning a thing or two about fishing and life itself.

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Business Life Updates Money Mindset

Escapade to Malaysia's Pangkor Island Beach Resort

To celebrate my wife’s birthday, my wife and I wanted to go out of town.  Take some time off.  Relax. We’ve both been very busy at work the past month and thought we both needed a break – a perfect getaway.

There were a couple of things we had in mind.  First, it had to be near.  We don’t want to take another 8-hour bus ride to a very far island, only to go back again the day after.  That’s what we did last year.  After that experience, I don’t want to have to sit inside a bus again.

One option we thought of was to go to Port Dickson, a short 2-hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur.  Port Dickson, or P.D. as commonly referred by locals, is a very nice place, with a few beach fronts.   I only knew “The Legends Water Chalet”, a hotel in PD as my team mates and I had a team building there last year.   The hotel is very nice but it’s a bit pricey.  Besides, my wife and I already went to PD a couple of months back.  We spent the night at another place, a western cowboy style resort they call “Eagle Ranch”.  We had lots of fun there.

For this year, we both wanted to try something new.

Then we heard about Pangkor Island.  The island is a 4-hour bus ride from KL.  It’s not as near as PD but it certainly better than an 8-hour bus ride to east coast Malaysia.  The bus ticket is about 25 ringgit one way.

Early Friday morning, we boarded the Plusliner bus going to Lumut.   Since it was a weekday, there were only a few of us in the bus.  The bus left on time.  Soon enough, we were already coasting along the highway going to Lumut.  My wife was busy listening to her  i-pod while I tried to catch some sleep.  As we came near the Lumut town, my wife and I noticed that there were only 3 of us in the bus.  Me, my wife, and the driver.  We were the only passengers left.

It was around 1pm when we reached Lumut town.  My wife and I were both hungry, and excited at the same time.  The bus terminal is walking distance to the ferry station.  We hurriedly went to look for the ferry going to Pangkor Island Beach Resort.  We were lucky to find very friendly locals who pointed us to the right direction.  The next ferry is 1:45pm, so my wife and I had an extra time to spare and have lunch.

We went back to the plaza to look for a place to eat.  There were a lot of stores offering local delicacies, but we wanted to have something else.  We looked around and found the only familiar fast food chain in the area, a local KFC store.  We wasted no time and went immediately to have lunch. It’s nice to finally eat something after hours of travel.

After lunch, we went back to the ferry station.  When we got there, there were already other tourists waiting for the ferry to arrive.  From what I heard, it is a half-hour ferry ride to the Island.  We were both excited as we boarded the ferry.  We took some pictures left and right.  Smiling. Laughing.
pangkorjettystation
It was only 30 minutes but it seemed like an eternity.  I was glancing at my watch every minute or so.  When I finally saw the shores, it took my breath away.  The fine white sand is inviting and looks very good to walk on.  The sound of the waves are calming.  It’s a paradise.

The hotel staffs were very courteous.  Within a few minutes, we were on our room.  The room is very spacious, adorned in the middle by a lovely king-size bed.  The bathroom is very clean and I couldn’t wait to soak myself in the tub.  From our room, we could see the infinity pool,  overlooking the beach front and the enchanting sea. It’s a very nice place.

The resort is very secluded. It’s the only resort covering the whole beach front. The resort is enclosed like a cove, making it a very very peaceful, with only the sound of the small waves singing like a lullaby.

My wife and I enjoyed the walk on the beach early morning the next day.  We even took a picture of the dazzling moonlight on the beach.

pangkorbeachmorning

In the afternoon, we rented a bike and went around the resort.  There were a lot of trees along side the beach.   There was also a swing hanging on an umbrella tree.  We went over, had fun sitting on the swing, taking some pictures, just having lots of fun watching the sea and time go by.   This place is nice.

I really enjoyed my stay in the resort.  I’m specially fond of these 3 things.

  1. The place is secluded, peaceful and relaxing.
  2. The staffs are very courteous
  3. The resort facilities are very nice and clean

On the other end, I also had some reservations to recommend the place as it might not be for everyone.

  1. It’s a bit pricey
  2. There were not much choice for food
  3. The beach is not very clear like those in East Coast Malaysia

If you’re looking for a place to relax with family and friends, and you have the money to spare, you will like it here.  But if you’re on a budget and would like to do a lot of things, you might get a better deal somewhere else.

In the end, what matters is you enjoy it with someone you love.  Have fun at Pangkor Island!

Categories
Life Lessons Money Mindset

The Reluctant Dreamer

As I examine my life, I always seem to find some reluctance to the things I dream.  Either it is just an excuse for me to not do it, or a mental block that is hindering me from achieving my goals.

I am reluctant.  I am afraid of what people may say.  I’m not very comfortable with success.  Ironic to say, but sometimes, I feel more comfortable with silence, with soulful thinking, than on extreme emotions like an exhilirating surge of  adrenaline rush.  I have never been fond of roller coasters.  Perhaps I just want to slow down.  Take my time.  Have a nice cup of coffee.  And enjoy the day.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately on what to do with this blog.  It’s been a year since I registered akosiallan.com.   A few weeks ago, I had to renew the domain.  To be honest, I thought I might not want to renew it anymore.  Maybe I’ll just do something else.  Something more worthwhile.  Something I am fond of doing.

But maybe, I already am.  I just need to channel that energy.  Find an inspiration.  Start.

In all honesty, I really don’t know what to do with this site.  I began writing sports stories but found it very time consuming.  I have to watch the sporting event itself which can take around 2 or 3 hours of my time.  Although I did want to watch anyway.  But I wanted something more.  Then, I tried to post something related to music like American Idol because I thought I liked music.  And I do.  I even sang a couple or two and posted it.  Maybe I just want some part of me be heard and tell the world I exist.

But another part of me still long to be unknown, to be an observer, to be invisible.

Maybe that’s why I am reluctant to be successful.  Because then I’d have to give up my private life.  Maybe I don’t want that.  Maybe there’s something else in life more important than being popular.  Like doing the things I love.  But how do I know I love it?

I’ve been coasting along for a while, never really figuring out what I want to do with my life.  Yes, I want to build a business. Maybe something I can do that will express my gifts and talents…and perhaps contribute to the world. To make it a better place.

Maybe I’m just bored.  I don’t know. There are many things in this world I’d like to do.  But it’s easier to just let things be and not disturb the status quo.  Pretend everything is ok,  when it’s not.  Life is screaming for something more, a life filled with passion, a life full of purpose.  The more I reflect on things I don’t have, the more I feel depressed, the more I think that I want to quit, the more life feels like a burden.  It’s scary.  It’s challenging.  I’m craving for an exciting new adventure.

What’s next?  What can I offer?  What can I do to make life fulfilling for me and other people?