LONG, long time time ago, there was a mountain, not as tall as the Everest but definitely beats Bukit Timah. On top of the mountain, there was a village. And in the village, there were 2 strong young men. One named Clever and the other named Smart.
The mountain has everything the villagers need to survive, but its water supply is scarce. Rain only falls every Saturday and Sunday. Fortunately, at the bottom of the mountain, there lies a spring of Thousand Wonders. The water is so refreshing and tasty that the villagers would not mind traveling far to carry the water up the mountain. It is said to have many wondrous medicinal values.
So Clever and Smart came up with a business idea together. They told the villagers that they'll help the village to transport water from the spring all the way up to the mountain and only for a minimal fee of 5 silver coin per bucket.
The villagers welcomed this idea. This mean they can carry out their daily chores without worrying about carrying water.
So, Clever and Smart each invested 10 silver coins to get a wooden bucket from the provision stall and started their business.
The journey up and down the mountain is rough. Though a man-made path was created through frequent usage by the villagers, the road is still rocky and at times steep.
However, being strong and young, Clever and Smart both find the task of carrying water fairly easy and manageable. On the first day of their business, they managed to carry 10 buckets of water, earning 50 silver coins.
To celebrate their success, Clever and Smart went to the pub and treated everyone there to free flow of beer. Everybody was happy.
On the second day, both of the strong, young men bought another bucket and a wooden pole. They can now carry more water per trip.
So, they slogged through the day and sold 18 buckets of water each. Clever wanted to go to the pub and treat everybody beer again, but Smart rejected it. He said he wants to rest well for the next day.
This went on for 1 year. With Clever and Smart resting on Saturdays and Sundays, they both earn an average of 1800 silver coins a month.
After carrying water for 1 year, Smart started to ask himself a question. Is he really going to carry water until he can no longer carry any more water and live the rest of his life on his savings?
Even though he has a considerable amount of savings considering that he is very thrifty and spends his money wisely, the cost of having a family and support a family of 3 would deplete his savings and reduces the amount he can save in future. He wants his children to have a good education in a town nearby, but the cost of sending his children to study outside the village is very high. All these worries about money started to make him think about the future.
Clever on the other hand, has already asked his girlfriend to marry him and is already planning to build his house on a piece of land he bought on borrowed money. He is very assured that his income will be able to pay for his expenses, support his wife and return the borrowed money.
One fine day, Smart decided to take a break and travel to the nearby town. The journey takes half a day and by the time he reached the town, it was night fall. He decided to lodge in an inn.
Although this town is small, it is surprisingly modern. That night when Smart decides to take a bathe, he realise that he did not need to carry buckets of water out from a well at all, instead, water is flowing out from a pipe.
Amazed and intrigued, Smart spent the rest of the night studying the contraption.
The next day, Smart went to look for the mayor. After proposing his brilliant idea to the mayor, the mayor invited Smart to join him for lunch. He has agreed to Smart's request.
From that day onwards, Smart is no longer the water boy. He is now an entrepreneur. What he proposed to the mayor was that he requested to borrow a small sum of money to hire the town's engineer and some pipes and a pumping system. In return, he'll use the money to build a pipe system that connects the spring back to the village where there is already a demand for the water. After recouping the cost, he will return the borrowed money with interest, on top of that, he will bear the cost of constructing a pipe connecting the spring to the town where more people can enjoy the Thousand Wonder water.
Living on his savings alone, Smart spent 1 year to build his pipe, as he wants to cut cost, he only hired immigrants who seeks a better life but demands only food and lodging and a small sum of silver for compensation.
Soon, Smart's pipe was operational. He announced to the village that the water from his pipe only cost 3 silver coins per bucket. This immediately destroyed Clever's business. Clever's water needed a waiting time before it is delivered but Smart's water was instant and cheap.
With his business destroyed, Clever immigrated to the town where he continued his water carrying business, but this time, its is to the town's people.
In the beginning, people were sceptical about paying such a high price for the water, their water source is a nearby river and it served them well. But after much advertising campaign and testimonies that displayed the wonders of thousand wonder water, people started to buy Clever's water. Seeing the increasing response of the people, Clever decided to up the price of the water since the town's people were more wealthy.
Smart's pipe can now fill 40 buckets of water everyday. Earning him an income of 120 silver coins a day. After taking a break and finish repaying his loan to the mayor, he is now ready for the next phase of his project. He waited 1 year to save up a considerable sum of money. Now that he does not need to physically carry the water, Smart have more time to find his true love and search for good land to buy. Within 6 months, Smart upgraded the pumping system at the spring. The new pump can now fill 60 buckets a day. Smart bought a piece of fertile red soil land at the bottom of the mountain and started planting Thousand Wonder trees from a far away land.
As the tree is hard to grow, not many people are growing it, but the value of the tree under good hands can generate immense wealth.
After 5 years since he borrowed money from the mayor, Smart is ready to build the pipe to the town as he promised the mayor.
Hiring 10 workers and the best engineering team he gathered over the years, he managed to complete the pipe in less than a month.
As usual, Clever is forced to move his business. He resents Smart for once and again forcing him to relocate. He have yet to finish returning the borrowed money for his land and his 1 year old son needs to be fed. His world is falling apart as the only thing he is good at is carry water.
Getting older did not help Clever at all. His joints are sore and his health deteriorating. "Friends" started to leave him as he has ceased to become their free source of beer.
Both young men started out strong and young, both are intelligent in their own right, both are hard working and both strives for very good ideals. But yet, the 2 young men ended up at 2 ends of a crossroad. One can only look back and yearn for his lost glory, while the other can look ahead and plan for the future generation.
Everyone can appreciate the convenience pipes and tap water bring, but not every one is willing to bear the burden of building their own pipes.
It does not take much brain power to build pipes, just strong mental will to create a better future that no one but you yourself can see.
The World Is Flat
EARTH is round, but the world is flat.
You can virtually see one end from the other end. You can get from north to south, east to west in a day. You know what's happening miles away without moving from where you are with a click of a button. You can say something that can be heard by millions around the world. You can hear the voices of billions around the world.
This may sound cliche but truth is, the world is shrinking. Not in terms of traveling time, not in terms of communication speed. But something else that is closer to home. Your job prospects.
China has a population of 1.3 billion people.
India has 1.1 billion people.
How many universities does China has?
More than 2000!
http://colleges.indiaedu.com/asia/china/colleges-universities/index.html
How many graduates do you think the universities in these countries churn out each year?
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=7122_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
http://www.chinatoday.com/edu/a.htm
17 million people graduate from university in China every year.
How about India?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/dec/19guest1.htm
A whooping 48.7million.
Now, how many people do you think Singapore has as her citizens?
4.8million?
Let's not forget the other Asian countries which are populous.
Do the math.
Singapore Graduates VS Foreign Graduates
University graduates in a prestigious foreign university has: the same level of skill; equal or higher level of intelligence; much much much much much much higher drive to improve their lifestyle; less less less less less less less expectations for reward. Grabbing at anything thrown at them and a determination to strive to excellence.
University graduates in Singapore University has: complacency; super duper high expectations in terms of pay, welfare, leave, benefits; lazy or lack of drive to improve lifestyle (comfortable existing lifestyle); broken language (rojak:eng-chi-kien).
The Ugly Truth
It is common sense to know what determines a thriving business. To every company in the world, getting the best talents who are also hard working at the lowest cost possible is what they all want.
Even diploma holders who proves themselves more capable than degree holders are highly preferred due partly to the lower pay expectations. Education qualification no longer play a major role in securing job.
While it is comforting to indulge in the fantasy that as long as you keep getting higher qualifications, you will have a better chance to get a better job and a better life, reality is cruel.
Cruel in the sense that it smacks you in the face only when it is too late.
Life
You are only born once, you only have 1 twenty-first birthday, you only become 40 years old once, and death is a once in a life time opportunity, you won't miss it. It is in one direction and so far, no one has defied that pattern.
Getting a job and maintain your lifestyle is important. At least it keeps you alive. But staying alive is not enough. You need a life.
Getting a life is not only about going party and drinking beer, it is not only about watching soccer with a group of friends and have a great deal of fun.
It is not about tolerating having to wake up at a fixed time early in the morning everyday, squeezing the public transport or the road with tonnes of people like you, getting to work and get told when to have lunch, when to do what to do and when to go home.
It is not about getting a measly sum of money at the end of every month and sighing to yourself thinking: how is this going to be enough?
Don't just live; have a life.
Life is about fulfilling dreams and helping others, life is about leaving behind a legacy, something people of the future will remember you for.
Life is about doing whatever you want whenever you want.
It is about not having to worry about your loans and bills, not having to worry about the money needed to buy your house and having a family, having the best wedding, having the best honeymoon, having the best bedroom for your children, having the best birthday party every year for your children.
It is about having the chance to eat breakfast with your children, be with them when they need you most, guide them along the path in life, play along with them, read them bed time stories and watch your children go to sleep.
It is about accomplishments you can feel proud of at the end of the day when death calls and you have to go.
It is the confidence to say: My life is so wonderful, I have no regrets even if I die tomorrow.
Now What?
It is always repeated again and again, plan for your future. Don't blindly follow what works. What is working for others may never work out for you. You need to be the one to decide if it works for you. Facts are meaningless words until you decided to give meaning to it, to utilize it to shape your decisions.
A golden rule I learnt was that: You can never change a person, only that person can change himself.
The final question I post to you is: Is what you choose to do really going to get you what you really want in life?
You can virtually see one end from the other end. You can get from north to south, east to west in a day. You know what's happening miles away without moving from where you are with a click of a button. You can say something that can be heard by millions around the world. You can hear the voices of billions around the world.
This may sound cliche but truth is, the world is shrinking. Not in terms of traveling time, not in terms of communication speed. But something else that is closer to home. Your job prospects.
China has a population of 1.3 billion people.
India has 1.1 billion people.
How many universities does China has?
More than 2000!
http://colleges.indiaedu.com/asia/china/colleges-universities/index.html
How many graduates do you think the universities in these countries churn out each year?
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=7122_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
http://www.chinatoday.com/edu/a.htm
17 million people graduate from university in China every year.
How about India?
http://www.rediff.com/money/2005/dec/19guest1.htm
A whooping 48.7million.
Now, how many people do you think Singapore has as her citizens?
4.8million?
Let's not forget the other Asian countries which are populous.
Do the math.
Singapore Graduates VS Foreign Graduates
University graduates in a prestigious foreign university has: the same level of skill; equal or higher level of intelligence; much much much much much much higher drive to improve their lifestyle; less less less less less less less expectations for reward. Grabbing at anything thrown at them and a determination to strive to excellence.
University graduates in Singapore University has: complacency; super duper high expectations in terms of pay, welfare, leave, benefits; lazy or lack of drive to improve lifestyle (comfortable existing lifestyle); broken language (rojak:eng-chi-kien).
The Ugly Truth
It is common sense to know what determines a thriving business. To every company in the world, getting the best talents who are also hard working at the lowest cost possible is what they all want.
Even diploma holders who proves themselves more capable than degree holders are highly preferred due partly to the lower pay expectations. Education qualification no longer play a major role in securing job.
While it is comforting to indulge in the fantasy that as long as you keep getting higher qualifications, you will have a better chance to get a better job and a better life, reality is cruel.
Cruel in the sense that it smacks you in the face only when it is too late.
Life
You are only born once, you only have 1 twenty-first birthday, you only become 40 years old once, and death is a once in a life time opportunity, you won't miss it. It is in one direction and so far, no one has defied that pattern.
Getting a job and maintain your lifestyle is important. At least it keeps you alive. But staying alive is not enough. You need a life.
Getting a life is not only about going party and drinking beer, it is not only about watching soccer with a group of friends and have a great deal of fun.
It is not about tolerating having to wake up at a fixed time early in the morning everyday, squeezing the public transport or the road with tonnes of people like you, getting to work and get told when to have lunch, when to do what to do and when to go home.
It is not about getting a measly sum of money at the end of every month and sighing to yourself thinking: how is this going to be enough?
Don't just live; have a life.
Life is about fulfilling dreams and helping others, life is about leaving behind a legacy, something people of the future will remember you for.
Life is about doing whatever you want whenever you want.
It is about not having to worry about your loans and bills, not having to worry about the money needed to buy your house and having a family, having the best wedding, having the best honeymoon, having the best bedroom for your children, having the best birthday party every year for your children.
It is about having the chance to eat breakfast with your children, be with them when they need you most, guide them along the path in life, play along with them, read them bed time stories and watch your children go to sleep.
It is about accomplishments you can feel proud of at the end of the day when death calls and you have to go.
It is the confidence to say: My life is so wonderful, I have no regrets even if I die tomorrow.
Now What?
It is always repeated again and again, plan for your future. Don't blindly follow what works. What is working for others may never work out for you. You need to be the one to decide if it works for you. Facts are meaningless words until you decided to give meaning to it, to utilize it to shape your decisions.
A golden rule I learnt was that: You can never change a person, only that person can change himself.
The final question I post to you is: Is what you choose to do really going to get you what you really want in life?
MLM undercover
Insurance companies are one of the largest undercover MLM company that has existed in the history of the financial world.
"Give me $100 every month and I'll make sure you have a happy retirement"
Structure of a typical MLM company:
1.A company that provides the product and back-end support for its promoters
2.Promoters who promotes the company's products and are rewarded through commission
3.Customers who are encouraged to constantly input money into the company in exchange for the benefits that the products purchased promised
4.Generates significant amount of income for its active promoters and rewards leaders who "groomed" successful new comers
5.Hierarchical in nature
_____________________________________________________________
Now look at insurance companies.
AIG, AIA, MANULIFE, PRUDENTIAL, GREAT EASTERN are names of insurance companies that we often hear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_insurance_companies_in_Singapore
Go to the link to see more insurance companies.
So like the multitudinous MLM companies around the world, we have our first similarity.
Insurance companies provide insurance agents the different policies or products for clients to choose from.
Next is the insurance agent.
From what I understand, to become an insurance agent, you need a certification. Which means you need to sit for exams. And unless the company you work for sponsors your fees, you'll have to pay.
Disclaimers: I am not an insurance agent and I have not worked as an insurance agent before in my entire life.
Insurance agents in MLM context are people who independently represent the company. They are allowed to promote the company's insurance policy to earn a commission.
~Insurance agents recently changed their title to financial planner. Reason being, people started to evacuate a room faster when they realise you are an insurance agent compared to a real fire emergency.
Most financial planners are poor. This is the 80/20 principle. They are enticed into the insurance industry. By what?
The commissions and passive income. Does it sound like MLM?
Most of them have no clue what to do their own money. All they are trained to do: sell as many insurance policies as possible to as many people as possible so that a passive income could be earned to secure their own retirement.
Do they know where the money in the insurance go or come from? Mostly into their pockets and from future buyers of insurance. Check out the link below to see how much your agent earns from you.
http://personalinsure.about.com/od/life/f/lifefaq3.htm
So insurance agents do earn a chunk of their client's money.
Next is what MLM would call "repeated sales".
Insurance companies does it in a much subtle and much more efficient way.
Customers have to pay a fixed sum every month. In exchange for?
A piece of paper.
Or maybe a few page of documentation.
Depending on the type of insurance, customers may or may not get back their premium.
And for those that does, it is usually after 5 or 10 to 20 years later.
Even when customers got back their premium after the insurance matured, most customers would not know what to do with the large sum of money they suddenly received.
So what would the kind-hearted and caring agent do?
Introduce another insurance policy.
The money is reinvested and most of in goes into the agent's pockets.
Next is the training of new people so that what they earn is what you earn.
Common sense tells you that there are different positions one can aim for in an insurance company.
To attain the positions, one has to perform to meet the criteria.
To become manager, does it make sense to say that you need to have the people to manage?
So what is in it for you to manage them?
A part of what your people earn, goes to you. In return, you provide those people with training and advice.
Very identical to MLM. Gold direct, diamond ambassador... BLAHHH Blahhh blah...
Very clearly, insurance companie are multi-leveled marketing companies in nature.
But what's the conclusion? Read on to find out.
__________________________________________________________
Some behind the scene ugly truth about the insurance industry. Don't ask me how I got them, read them and see if they make sense.
Insurance is a very very big money game.
What is a money game?
A money game is when a group of people input money into a pool and gets a larger sum out of it after a certain period of time.
Some call it investment, but it is not an investment when the money comes from those who input money later.
Meaning, the money that the first batch of people are collecting comes from the second batch of people who will get their money from the third and fourth batch.
Incidentally, there would be disputes to the above claim.
Claims like: the money is from investment returns in government bonds or low risk share investments and so forth.
But logically speaking, if there are really such safe and low risk investments that can generate that kind of money consistently for your money every single year for over 20 years, the words poverty and crisis would be non-existent.
Then, the dissident voices would say: that's why the returns fluctuate.
But mistake not my point, I'm not referring to inconsistent low returns, I'm referring to the unforeseen Negative returns.
An insurance company cannot do what mutual funds and unit trust managers do. When insurance company make a lose in the investment, they cannot call their clients and say that they made a lost, sorry, but this is what's left.
Investment companies have to return at least the entire input-ed premium. If not, its reputation is ruined and its money game collapse.
Let's not forget the high amount of commission our dear agents receive from each policy. Check it out if you didn't.
So can the insurance company really afford to make low return investments?
And if the company ran out of luck and lost a portion of the investment?
What's the easiest solution?
I'm sure a 5th grader can tell you.
Most of the first generation insurance buyers had not seen their investment returns. They rolled(reinvested) it because they are still alive and kicking.
So the question asked here is this, when nobody ever takes out the money until they really need it, does it mean that the insurance company will be able to afford paying each and every customer when they all decided to withdraw their money?
No.
And when the company is not able to return every customer their matured premium, is it a money game where there really is a pool of congregated sum of money with overlapping ownership?
Let's just say that the circumstance of all insured customer withdrawing their premium will never happen.
But at one point or another, these people will still take out their money.
The number of first batch of customer is a smaller group compared to today's batch of customer.
When the numbers withdrawn are supported by a larger pool of customers waiting for their premiums to mature, there would not be any sign of rupture.
But imagine 20 years down the road when today's batch of customers started to take out their premium.
With shrinking population and ever increasing number of new insurance companies, will there be enough money to support the withdrawal?
Relate this to the collapse of AIG.
__________________________________________________________
What is being shared here is not only the similarities between insurance companies and MLM companies.
What is being shared here is the message that everything in the finance world works almost identically.
Look at banks. Replace insurance agents with bankers.
Look at collapse of Lehman Brothers.
What is safe?
MLM is a money game. Bank is a money game. Insurance is a money game. The currency IS a money game.
Under your mattress on a tree top house in the middle of Amazon forest is the safest.
The ugly truth is this, you are already a victim to the money game.
At least MLM is honest enough to tell you.
"Give me $100 every month and I'll make sure you have a happy retirement"
Structure of a typical MLM company:
1.A company that provides the product and back-end support for its promoters
2.Promoters who promotes the company's products and are rewarded through commission
3.Customers who are encouraged to constantly input money into the company in exchange for the benefits that the products purchased promised
4.Generates significant amount of income for its active promoters and rewards leaders who "groomed" successful new comers
5.Hierarchical in nature
_____________________________________________________________
Now look at insurance companies.
AIG, AIA, MANULIFE, PRUDENTIAL, GREAT EASTERN are names of insurance companies that we often hear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_insurance_companies_in_Singapore
Go to the link to see more insurance companies.
So like the multitudinous MLM companies around the world, we have our first similarity.
Insurance companies provide insurance agents the different policies or products for clients to choose from.
Next is the insurance agent.
From what I understand, to become an insurance agent, you need a certification. Which means you need to sit for exams. And unless the company you work for sponsors your fees, you'll have to pay.
Disclaimers: I am not an insurance agent and I have not worked as an insurance agent before in my entire life.
Insurance agents in MLM context are people who independently represent the company. They are allowed to promote the company's insurance policy to earn a commission.
~Insurance agents recently changed their title to financial planner. Reason being, people started to evacuate a room faster when they realise you are an insurance agent compared to a real fire emergency.
Most financial planners are poor. This is the 80/20 principle. They are enticed into the insurance industry. By what?
The commissions and passive income. Does it sound like MLM?
Most of them have no clue what to do their own money. All they are trained to do: sell as many insurance policies as possible to as many people as possible so that a passive income could be earned to secure their own retirement.
Do they know where the money in the insurance go or come from? Mostly into their pockets and from future buyers of insurance. Check out the link below to see how much your agent earns from you.
http://personalinsure.about.com/od/life/f/lifefaq3.htm
So insurance agents do earn a chunk of their client's money.
Next is what MLM would call "repeated sales".
Insurance companies does it in a much subtle and much more efficient way.
Customers have to pay a fixed sum every month. In exchange for?
A piece of paper.
Or maybe a few page of documentation.
Depending on the type of insurance, customers may or may not get back their premium.
And for those that does, it is usually after 5 or 10 to 20 years later.
Even when customers got back their premium after the insurance matured, most customers would not know what to do with the large sum of money they suddenly received.
So what would the kind-hearted and caring agent do?
Introduce another insurance policy.
The money is reinvested and most of in goes into the agent's pockets.
Next is the training of new people so that what they earn is what you earn.
Common sense tells you that there are different positions one can aim for in an insurance company.
To attain the positions, one has to perform to meet the criteria.
To become manager, does it make sense to say that you need to have the people to manage?
So what is in it for you to manage them?
A part of what your people earn, goes to you. In return, you provide those people with training and advice.
Very identical to MLM. Gold direct, diamond ambassador... BLAHHH Blahhh blah...
Very clearly, insurance companie are multi-leveled marketing companies in nature.
But what's the conclusion? Read on to find out.
__________________________________________________________
Some behind the scene ugly truth about the insurance industry. Don't ask me how I got them, read them and see if they make sense.
Insurance is a very very big money game.
What is a money game?
A money game is when a group of people input money into a pool and gets a larger sum out of it after a certain period of time.
Some call it investment, but it is not an investment when the money comes from those who input money later.
Meaning, the money that the first batch of people are collecting comes from the second batch of people who will get their money from the third and fourth batch.
Incidentally, there would be disputes to the above claim.
Claims like: the money is from investment returns in government bonds or low risk share investments and so forth.
But logically speaking, if there are really such safe and low risk investments that can generate that kind of money consistently for your money every single year for over 20 years, the words poverty and crisis would be non-existent.
Then, the dissident voices would say: that's why the returns fluctuate.
But mistake not my point, I'm not referring to inconsistent low returns, I'm referring to the unforeseen Negative returns.
An insurance company cannot do what mutual funds and unit trust managers do. When insurance company make a lose in the investment, they cannot call their clients and say that they made a lost, sorry, but this is what's left.
Investment companies have to return at least the entire input-ed premium. If not, its reputation is ruined and its money game collapse.
Let's not forget the high amount of commission our dear agents receive from each policy. Check it out if you didn't.
So can the insurance company really afford to make low return investments?
And if the company ran out of luck and lost a portion of the investment?
What's the easiest solution?
I'm sure a 5th grader can tell you.
Most of the first generation insurance buyers had not seen their investment returns. They rolled(reinvested) it because they are still alive and kicking.
So the question asked here is this, when nobody ever takes out the money until they really need it, does it mean that the insurance company will be able to afford paying each and every customer when they all decided to withdraw their money?
No.
And when the company is not able to return every customer their matured premium, is it a money game where there really is a pool of congregated sum of money with overlapping ownership?
Let's just say that the circumstance of all insured customer withdrawing their premium will never happen.
But at one point or another, these people will still take out their money.
The number of first batch of customer is a smaller group compared to today's batch of customer.
When the numbers withdrawn are supported by a larger pool of customers waiting for their premiums to mature, there would not be any sign of rupture.
But imagine 20 years down the road when today's batch of customers started to take out their premium.
With shrinking population and ever increasing number of new insurance companies, will there be enough money to support the withdrawal?
Relate this to the collapse of AIG.
__________________________________________________________
What is being shared here is not only the similarities between insurance companies and MLM companies.
What is being shared here is the message that everything in the finance world works almost identically.
Look at banks. Replace insurance agents with bankers.
Look at collapse of Lehman Brothers.
What is safe?
MLM is a money game. Bank is a money game. Insurance is a money game. The currency IS a money game.
Under your mattress on a tree top house in the middle of Amazon forest is the safest.
The ugly truth is this, you are already a victim to the money game.
At least MLM is honest enough to tell you.
Age Is Not A Factor, Do Not Let Them Tell You Otherwise
THERE was this interesting experiment conducted to test animal behaviors.
In a big fish tank filled with water, a large sized piranha was put into it.
A piece of glass was inserted to separate the tank into two equal halves.
The piranha was in the left half of the tank and a beautiful goldfish was put into the right side.
Common sense tells us that the piranha, upon seeing the goldfish, will attempt to eat it.
So it did a swirl and rammed into the piece of glass.
After it hit the glass, it swam in a circle and tried to go towards the goldfish.
This continued for half an hour.
After one hour, the piranha was seen still swimming towards the goldfish but it pulled back just before hitting the glass.
The piece of glass was removed.
The result was that the piranha was observed to pull back even though there was no glass.
The goldfish swam openly and freely in the presences of the carnivore.
The piranha did not attempt to go close to it.
Then, a smaller sized piranha was dropped into the tank.
In seconds, the goldfish was no more.
This experiment provided 2 learning points.
1.Age and experience does not necessarily mean you will get a good meal.
2.If we stop trying just because we failed several times, we will never get a good meal.
A Simple Solution For A Complex Problem
WITH references to the wisdom in the book The Richest Man in Babylon
, I ponder upon the solutions to the current economical crisis.
As the world can see, America is heavily in debt. The reason it is still standing as a nation is because of the faith countries all over the world are putting into it.
The US currency is no longer worth anything, it is merely a promise to worth that amount.
If we simplify the problem for illustration purpose, we can see America as a heavy debtor who has unlimited access to borrow as much money as he wants.
Who is lending America money?
The world.
Where did the money came from?
The faith the world has for US dollar.
America is printing money. A system that allows the government to print money at will is called fiat money system.
A money system that is sound is one that ensures true value of the currency. Each dollar should worth something tangible of that value.
However, the US dollar's value is the world's faith that it is worth that amount. There is no real value or insufficient value behind that promise.
US in the past was truly a wealthy nation.
Industrialization coupled with the start of world war II propelled US to become the strongest nation in the world.
Industrialization gave American goods the edge over traditionally produced products all over the world.
The invention of steam engine allowed faster trading world wide. The rising US suppressed the potential of other countries which was in constant chaos.
Using the chaos in Europe and Asia, America positioned itself as the savior of the world. A world power that can end the chaos. It provided loans to fund the war.
After the war, it provided more loans to help nations rebuild.
These loans are good debt that nations will repay in due time.
For a time, America received good return on their money from nations all over the world.
As the world stabilizes, peace promoted growth.
Japan started to overtake America in terms of technology and innovation.
China started to abandon communism and embrace free trade.
The world is starting to stand up on its feet.
They recognized a need for a standard currency to facilitate international trading. Thus, US currency was chosen.
The problem with fiat money system is this, when someone has the power to print money indefinitely, he often will.
Printing more money becomes the easiest solution to get out of deep shit.
But getting out of deep shit is only on the surface.
Its like the heavy debtor borrowing from someone to repay somebody else.
The debtor's income is insufficient to cover the debts he owe.
By constantly increasing the amount of money he has by printing money on faith, it is getting deeper into shit rather than getting out.
Instead of increasing its efficiency to earn, the US focuses on borrowing more to delay the inevitable fall of the faith in its nation.
The bankruptcy of General Motors and the wobbling banks in America showed the world crack signs in the once almighty nation they put so much faith into.
A change in leader is only a temporary hope that things will change for the better.
But actions taken by the new leader amplified the impractical solution past leaders has been trying to implement.
In desperation to maintain the faith, the US have to strengthen its ties with nations all over the world, even enemies that it once had.
A new leader provided the hope for reconciliation with old foes.
However, will it be sufficient? Or did its enemies pretend to extend the hands of friendship to position itself for the right time to strike hard?
Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant. The tides of change will erode those too stubborn to recognize it.
At this juncture, I believe there are 2 outcomes.
Either, the world will once again be thrown into turmoil, and another strong nation will rise up to replace the ailing US as the next world power, leading the world into the next era.
Or, US applies the wisdom of old to save itself from destruction.
Stop printing(borrowing) more money. Increase its earning capacities. Repay its debt slowly while putting a portion of all its earnings into investments that generates honest income.
To all of us that is not in the position of the US government, we have a choice.
We have the choice to choose where we will be when either of the outcome will occur.
This is the greatest tidal wave that this generation of savvy is waiting for.
It is the tides of real change.
Will you continue to put blind faith in the obviously ailing nation and ignore what is happening?
Or will you take actions to position yourself when the greatest transfer of wealth occurs?
, I ponder upon the solutions to the current economical crisis.As the world can see, America is heavily in debt. The reason it is still standing as a nation is because of the faith countries all over the world are putting into it.
The US currency is no longer worth anything, it is merely a promise to worth that amount.
If we simplify the problem for illustration purpose, we can see America as a heavy debtor who has unlimited access to borrow as much money as he wants.
Who is lending America money?
The world.
Where did the money came from?
The faith the world has for US dollar.
America is printing money. A system that allows the government to print money at will is called fiat money system.
A money system that is sound is one that ensures true value of the currency. Each dollar should worth something tangible of that value.
However, the US dollar's value is the world's faith that it is worth that amount. There is no real value or insufficient value behind that promise.
US in the past was truly a wealthy nation.
Industrialization coupled with the start of world war II propelled US to become the strongest nation in the world.
Industrialization gave American goods the edge over traditionally produced products all over the world.
The invention of steam engine allowed faster trading world wide. The rising US suppressed the potential of other countries which was in constant chaos.
Using the chaos in Europe and Asia, America positioned itself as the savior of the world. A world power that can end the chaos. It provided loans to fund the war.
After the war, it provided more loans to help nations rebuild.
These loans are good debt that nations will repay in due time.
For a time, America received good return on their money from nations all over the world.
As the world stabilizes, peace promoted growth.
Japan started to overtake America in terms of technology and innovation.
China started to abandon communism and embrace free trade.
The world is starting to stand up on its feet.
They recognized a need for a standard currency to facilitate international trading. Thus, US currency was chosen.
The problem with fiat money system is this, when someone has the power to print money indefinitely, he often will.
Printing more money becomes the easiest solution to get out of deep shit.
But getting out of deep shit is only on the surface.
Its like the heavy debtor borrowing from someone to repay somebody else.
The debtor's income is insufficient to cover the debts he owe.
By constantly increasing the amount of money he has by printing money on faith, it is getting deeper into shit rather than getting out.
Instead of increasing its efficiency to earn, the US focuses on borrowing more to delay the inevitable fall of the faith in its nation.
The bankruptcy of General Motors and the wobbling banks in America showed the world crack signs in the once almighty nation they put so much faith into.
A change in leader is only a temporary hope that things will change for the better.
But actions taken by the new leader amplified the impractical solution past leaders has been trying to implement.
In desperation to maintain the faith, the US have to strengthen its ties with nations all over the world, even enemies that it once had.
A new leader provided the hope for reconciliation with old foes.
However, will it be sufficient? Or did its enemies pretend to extend the hands of friendship to position itself for the right time to strike hard?
Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant. The tides of change will erode those too stubborn to recognize it.
At this juncture, I believe there are 2 outcomes.
Either, the world will once again be thrown into turmoil, and another strong nation will rise up to replace the ailing US as the next world power, leading the world into the next era.
Or, US applies the wisdom of old to save itself from destruction.
Stop printing(borrowing) more money. Increase its earning capacities. Repay its debt slowly while putting a portion of all its earnings into investments that generates honest income.
To all of us that is not in the position of the US government, we have a choice.
We have the choice to choose where we will be when either of the outcome will occur.
This is the greatest tidal wave that this generation of savvy is waiting for.
It is the tides of real change.
Will you continue to put blind faith in the obviously ailing nation and ignore what is happening?
Or will you take actions to position yourself when the greatest transfer of wealth occurs?
Becoming Rich Is Not About The How
ALL rich people will agree that there are a million ways to earn a million dollars.
The word is duplication.
This is what everybody do best. How to go about it? Here's how it works.
It puts bread onto the table.
It makes sure that we can get an income every month.
Not a bad system right?
Let me ask you some questions.
Do you think that you are paid what you deserve? If you are, you are a happy man and I congratulate you.
Is the value of your work equivalent to the amount of money you receive?
Who determines the amount of money you are paid?
Now, think about these 2 questions deeply.
If the pay you received from your job can make you financially free, do you think that you will still continue working?
If the pay you received is miserably just enough for you to get by, do you think you will continue working hard so that you can get money next month?
Notice the difference?
You are paid what you are worth and you stop working, who suffers? The boss.
You are paid just enough so that you will continue working, who wins? The boss.
There is a reason why your pay is never enough.
It is to keep you working!
The boss makes money because you are working.
Get the idea?
Who wants to be the boss?
That is why, if you want to get rich, stop working for paychecks and start giving paychecks.
Keep doing what makes you money without your continuous effort earns you passive income
The keyword to getting rich is passive income.
It is money coming in without you working.
Leaving the "How" aside, imagine a simple scenario.
If you can create a steady flow of passive income by following a step-by-step instruction. All you need to do is to follow exactly what it says.
Maybe you failed the first time.
Maybe you failed the second time.
But you keep trying.
You keep following the instructions and on the fourth time, you successfully created a passive income stream.
What is the beauty of passive income?
You are free to do whatever you want and the money still comes in.
What is left out of the equation?
What was the old equation?
You + Time + Effort = $
And the new equation?
You = $
What happens when you have time and the energy to do anything you want and not have to worry about money?
YOU BUILD MORE PASSIVE INCOME STREAMS!!!
Good or Good??!
The word is duplication.
- Keep doing what makes you money earns you an active income.
- Keep doing what makes you money without your continuous effort earns you passive income.
- Keep doing what makes you passive earns you riches.
This is what everybody do best. How to go about it? Here's how it works.
- Wake up everyday at a preset timing.
- Get ready to go for work.
- Get through the traffic.
- Reach your work place .
- Do what you are hired to do.
- Go for lunch break
- Get back to work.
- Wait for time to go home.
- Get through the traffic again.
- Reach home and get ready for next day.
It puts bread onto the table.
It makes sure that we can get an income every month.
Not a bad system right?
Let me ask you some questions.
Do you think that you are paid what you deserve? If you are, you are a happy man and I congratulate you.
Is the value of your work equivalent to the amount of money you receive?
Who determines the amount of money you are paid?
Now, think about these 2 questions deeply.
If the pay you received from your job can make you financially free, do you think that you will still continue working?
If the pay you received is miserably just enough for you to get by, do you think you will continue working hard so that you can get money next month?
Notice the difference?
You are paid what you are worth and you stop working, who suffers? The boss.
You are paid just enough so that you will continue working, who wins? The boss.
There is a reason why your pay is never enough.
It is to keep you working!
The boss makes money because you are working.
Get the idea?
Who wants to be the boss?
That is why, if you want to get rich, stop working for paychecks and start giving paychecks.
Keep doing what makes you money without your continuous effort earns you passive income
The keyword to getting rich is passive income.
It is money coming in without you working.
Leaving the "How" aside, imagine a simple scenario.
If you can create a steady flow of passive income by following a step-by-step instruction. All you need to do is to follow exactly what it says.
Maybe you failed the first time.
Maybe you failed the second time.
But you keep trying.
You keep following the instructions and on the fourth time, you successfully created a passive income stream.
What is the beauty of passive income?
You are free to do whatever you want and the money still comes in.
What is left out of the equation?
What was the old equation?
You + Time + Effort = $
And the new equation?
You = $
What happens when you have time and the energy to do anything you want and not have to worry about money?
YOU BUILD MORE PASSIVE INCOME STREAMS!!!
Good or Good??!
How The Rich Make Money In The Stock Market
HOW many of you have heard of the stock market?
You must be living in a cave if you haven't heard of it.
How many of you actually traded stocks in the market?
Did you made or lost money?
How many of you would like to find out how the rich makes money in the stock market?
Before I begin, let me briefly educate the cavemen.
The stock market is a place where you trade shares.
What are shares?
They are parts of a company that people can buy and own.
Where do they come from?
They come from companies that are listed in the stock exchange. Meaning, companies that can be publicly traded. Usually these companies bear the entity of a Corporation.
Why do companies have stocks?
There are various reasons, the most common one is so that they can raise the capital they need to expand.
Still confused?
Go and google the word shares and read more.
For those non-cavemen, sorry for the wait.
Let's simplify things for the sake of understanding.
Remember our friend Blue from this story?
Today, he is a multi-multi-millionaire.
Let's say he has $10 million cash and has no where to spend it.
These are the few things he can choose to do.
Now, before I reveal how he is going to grow his money, what do you think is the strategy he will use?
Or rather, if it was you who had $10million cash, how would you invest in the stock market?
Give this some thought. Some of us may have strategies as to how to make money in the stock market, but for those who do not, take this moment and imagine how would you have done it.
How sure are you that your strategy will make money? Is there a guarantee on your money? Or are you actually gambling?
Now, you may or may not know this method. But let me give you a warning, this method is truly mind blowing.
Let me introduce 2 more characters into the story. They are Maroon and Green.
Maroon is a stock broker. His job is to trade stocks in the stock market. He works for clients who wants and buy and sell shares through him. He is fast, tenacious and cunning. Best in his field.
Green is Blue's secretary. She is meticulous and follows orders very well. Her job is to carry out Blue's bidding and to ensure that Blue's needs are taken care of.
So one day, Blue told Green to come into his office.
"Find me a company that fulfills the criteria on this list over here" said Blue
This company's name is called TradeMe. It is a small and medium sized company manufacturing cards. It has 50 million shares that are publicly traded. Price of stock had been stagnant at 10 cent a share due to dull management and low dividend payout. Management is a group of conservatives who had been with the company since the beginning.
So basically, this company is a steady company that is not very promising and not likely to collapse either.
Blue is very satisfied with Green's finding. He gave her the next instruction.
"Take $10000 to buy the shares of this company at 10 cents to 20 cents everyday. If prices spike, wait for the price to fall back before making purchase again. Do not buy the share at more than 50 cents a share. Take as long as you need to accumulated 5million shares of TradeMe."
So Green called up Maroon and relayed Blue's instruction. Maroon was puzzled at first but he trusted that Blue knows what he is doing. And Blue pays well. So he carried out the instruction faithfully.
After 365 trading days, Maroon managed to accumulate 5million shares of TradeMe. Current pricing of the stock is 40 cents. Total investment was $1.5million excluding the fee Maroon charged which amounted to $50,000.
That done, Green reported to Blue. Blue was very happy so he gave Green a bonus of $50,000 for that year.
Now comes the next phase of Blue's strategy.
As the company remains dormant, the price of the stock remained stagnant. If Blue left his money in the stocks, he will make a lost as the price will fall back to 10 cents in no time
So his strategy was definitely not Buy, Hold and Pray it will go up.
At this point, can anyone guessed already what Blue's next move will be?
Think about your own strategy. Would you have bought TradeMe shares in the first place? Did you imagine yourself pouring over all the top earning company's profile? Did you see yourself glued to a computer monitor comparing P/E ratios?
No matter what your strategy is, I'm sure you strongly believed that it will make you money. If not, why would you have done it?
Compare what Blue is doing and what you will do. Try and see the difference in terms of time, effort, risk and returns.
This is Blue's next set of instructions.
"Put 2 million each in four different company entities that I own and buy the shares of TradeMe aggressively from the market at 100 lots a day irregardless of price" (1 lot is 1000 shares)
The orders were carried out.
In 1 month's time, price of TradeMe stocks shot up to $1 a share.
At this point in time, each of Blue's company entity holds about 5million to 10 million share of TradeMe. In total, Blue now has 25million shares of TradeMe
Almost all of the $10million are in the shares of TradeMe.
Let's do a simple calculation here.
If let's say Blue decided to sell all the shares simultaneously at the price of $1 a share.
For 25million shares, he would get back $25million. With initial investment of $10million, his return on investment would be 150% in 2 years. Not too bad.
BUT
That return is still considered little for the amount of time needed to prepare.
In case you didn't get the picture, let me paint it for you.
How many of you didn't quite get why the price shot from 40 cents to $1 a share?
The way the price of a share works is like this. Part of the what determines a share price is the supply and demand theory. If there are more buyers than sellers, prices will go up. Vice versa.
Get the theory?
There are 50million shares of TradeMe trading in the market. The supply has always been 50million shares at 10 cents a share.
Blue choked up 5million shares in the first year, cutting supply to 45million shares at 10 cents each.
Next, he drove the demand of the shares by aggressively buying the stocks from other owners.
The owners of the 10 cent stocks sensed that there is demand for their stocks, started to sell at a higher price. At the same time, Blue is drying up the supply pool.
After choking up 50% of the total supply pool, Blue has already driven the market into a buying frenzy.
Imaging seeing the price of TradeMe in a chart. The line moves diagonally upwards.
Most people, cavemen included, would experience a syndrome called greed.
"The stock price is going up, this stock must be good. I must buy fast to make alot of money."
The public starts to buy shares of TradeMe. This act, when being carried out by large number of investors will rocket the share price.
Those who already possess the stocks will hold on to them as they think the price will rise even higher. Thus, shrinking the supply pool.
Now, the key to making the full profit from this feeding frenzy for Blue to be patient.
As long as the demand exceeds supply, the price will keep climbing.
Because it was Blue who instigated the rise, the true value of the stock which is determined by the company's way of being run and market perception of it will always be 10 cents a share.
So the price of the share will keep rising until it reaches a point where people perceive it to be overpriced. Once that point is reach, the market will correct itself and the price of the share will drop.
To prevent his efforts from going to waste, Blue has the power to determine the maximum price of the stock and get out of the market when that maximum price is reached.
If Blue says that the maximum price of the stock is $5 a share. What it means is that once the price of the stock rises to $5, Blue will order all his shares to be sold. What ever happens to the share price next is none of his concerns.
If he entered at 10 cents to 50 cents and exited at $5 a share. 25million shares at $5 each is $125million total. 1150% return in probably 3 years?
Who here would like to have that kind of return?
Who here still did not quite get the picture?
Simply speaking, what Blue has done is to create a pseudo demand for the stock of TradeMe. What most investors and traders see is that the price is rising and most of them will start entering the market hoping to catch the ride.
Even when the price has reached ridiculous heights, these people will still pay the amount for the price because they think that they can still make a profit when they sell.
These phenomenon is happening all the time all over the world.
Investors got their fingers burnt because of this. They play into the game of the rich and became a money making tool for them.
The rich got out of the game richer and seldom will anyone know what really happened behind the scene.
Did anyone just received a revelation?
Holy Shit? Oh My God? What The F***?
If we are to analyze Blue's method of making money. We can pick out several distinct difference between Blue's method and what common folks will do.
If you think it is because Blue has that $10 million and you do not, think again.
Is it really the $10 million that made Blue the $125million in the end?
What if Blue took the $10 million and played the stock market like common folks played?
Do you think he can get $125million in 3 years guaranteed?
It is not the amount of money you have; it is what you do with whatever little you got.
Here's a little story to enforce the statement.
Orange is a good friend of Blue, he is 10 years younger and just started out on his career. He met Blue on one of the money making workshops he attended. Blue happens to be the speaker.
Seeing Blue so successful, Orange decided to make Blue his mentor.
Blue gave Orange the advice a very rich man gave to him before he succeed many years ago.
"The simplest way to become rich, is to mix with rich people"
Mixing with rich people doesn't mean to be acquaintances. Mixing means you only go out with rich people, stay around rich, talk rich people's language.
Do a simple reality check.
List down 5 people who are the closest to you. People whom you will share your joy and woes with.
This exercise is fun. Give it a try.
Don't just read it and not do anything.
I can assure you that you will see what I mean after the exercise is completed.
It's not really difficult.
Besides, it gives you an opportunity to see yourself clearly.
After you have written down the names, write down their monthly income. If you are not sure, estimate the amount base on their profession.
Done?
I implore you to do this exercise. I can't stress its enlightening power enough.
Now, add up the 5 numbers and divide it by 5.
The figure you get is roughly the amount of money you are currently earning.
There's a saying: Birds of a feather flock together
So, Orange decided to follow Blue's advice and reduced the amount of time spent with his low income friends and start to mingle with the successful folks.
The one change Orange saw in himself was this, he became more motivated to make lots of money. Not because so that he can keep up with his rich friend's spending. In fact, mixing with rich people gave Orange the energy to perform to his best potential.
Nobody told him he couldn't do it. Whenever he feels unworthy, all he needs to do is to listen to 1 or 2 success stories from his new friends and he is back on his feet.
Nobody laughed when he discussed about his money making ideas. No skepticism. No wet blankets.
Because of the support these new group of friends has given Orange, he became more receptive to money making ideas he normally would not dare to attempt.
He saw opportunities in every crisis. Turn lemons into lemonade.
He now has the ability to see "grapes" as "wine".
One day when he came to look for Blue, he overheard Blue giving instructions to Green about how he wants to acquire the shares of TradeMe.
He went home and did a little research on the company background. He saw what everybody will see. A dull company that is stagnant.
But he also saw something else. He saw why Blue is interested in this company.
So the next day, he went to look for Blue again to confirm what he thinks.
Blue was very proud of Orange's deductions and agreed to let Orange join him in this venture.
As Orange is still young, his savings did not amount to much.
But because he is hard working and did not have a lavish lifestyle, his savings over the past 5 years amounted to $10000.
How many of you thinks that $10000 is a lot of money?
How many of you have $10000?
How would you have used your $10000?
Orange wanted to put in the whole of his $10000 savings into TradeMe stocks.
But Blue stopped him.
"Never risk your necessities money no matter how low risk an investment is."
"If you put all your money and leave nothing for emergencies, you are no different from common folks. You will be living a hand to mouth life.
Common folks earn and spend whatever they have and sometimes more. They live a day by day existence. And that is something you should not subject yourself to in no matter what circumstances you face."
So, Orange used $6000 to buy TradeMe shares. $4000 is his projected expense for 6 months. He is living with his parents and thus, his living expenses are low.
When Blue sold his shares, Orange decided to take a risk. He sold 25% of his stocks at $5 each. Which is 15000 shares at $75000.
He held the rest of the shares and sold them at 5000 shares every time prices increase by a dollar.
When the price reached $10 3 months after Blue pulled out of the market, Orange sold the remainder of his 25000 shares and pocketed $250,000.
2 weeks after the price reached $12.30, there was a selling frenzy. People start to perceive the stock as overprice and started to sell. Nobody was buying. Everybody wanted to get back their money.
Now, there are more selling than buying. This caused the price to plunge.
In 1 day, TradeMe stocks saw a drop from $12.30 to $2. Thousands of investors were wiped out. Most of them got in when the price was at $5.
In less than 2 weeks, TradeMe stocks went back to its original value of $0.10.
Let's not worry about the losers. They should use this to learn a lesson.
Look at the winners instead. With $6000 initial investment, Orange's return is as followed.
Entry ==> 60 lots at $0.10/share
15,000 share @ $5/share ==> $75,000
5,000 share @ $6/share ==>$30,000
5,000 share @ $7/share ==>$35,000
5,000 share @ $8/share ==>$40,000
5,000 share @ $9/share ==>$45,000
25,000 share @ $10/share ==> $250,000
Total gain ==> $475,000
ROI = 7800% in 3 years
Some of you might think, what if after Blue pulled out and the price starts dropping?
Think again. Would Orange make a lost?
Let's say Orange already pocketed $75,000 and he still has 45 lots.
The next day the price plunged to $2 or lower, would Orange make any lost?
Now, let me reiterate. It is not about how much the returns.
It is not about what you do to make that returns.
It is not whether you are lucky to have bought TradeMe.
It is not how much money you have.
What is it about?
What is the f***ing ingredient that makes the money?
It is you.
If you are Orange, you do not want to be rich, will you attend money making workshops and met Blue?
If you did not meet Blue and decided that you want to learn from him, would you have heard of the golden advice?
If you did not really want to be rich, would you really follow the golden advice and spend less time with your current friends?
If you did not change the group of people you mix with, would you have changed your mindset about investing?
If you did not have the mindset to accept investing, would you have taken pride in the ability to see potential in any investment?
If you did not have the ability to see potential in any investment, would you even became interested in TradeMe stocks when you overheard Blue talk about it.
If you did not even have any interest in TradeMe stocks, would you have done the research and made the deductions of what Blue is going to do?
All in all, do you think that you would even took out your hard earn money and buy the shares of TradeMe.
Seeing Blue investing in TradeMe stocks is one thing, taking your money out and putting it into a stock without any understanding is another thing.
If you did not discover Blue's strategy, would you even have the balls to buy TradeMe stocks?
Who decides what to do with your money?
You.
Who decides how much money you deserve?
Your boss.
But who decides the boss to work for?
You.
Who decides how hard to work to earn money?
You.
Who decides the lifestyle you are living?
You.
Who decides the people you mix with?
You.
Who is the biggest loser?
I don't know?
Everything happens for a reason. And each reason has its root to you.
What you think will manifest itself into your actions.
Thoughts become emotions. Emotions become action. Actions become results.
What you reap is what you sow.
This is not about what you do. This is about who you are and why you will do it.
Opportunities are everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Ask and you will get one.
Question is, will you see the opportunity spinning infront of you?
You must be living in a cave if you haven't heard of it.
How many of you actually traded stocks in the market?
Did you made or lost money?
How many of you would like to find out how the rich makes money in the stock market?
Before I begin, let me briefly educate the cavemen.
The stock market is a place where you trade shares.
What are shares?
They are parts of a company that people can buy and own.
Where do they come from?
They come from companies that are listed in the stock exchange. Meaning, companies that can be publicly traded. Usually these companies bear the entity of a Corporation.
Why do companies have stocks?
There are various reasons, the most common one is so that they can raise the capital they need to expand.
Still confused?
Go and google the word shares and read more.
For those non-cavemen, sorry for the wait.
Let's simplify things for the sake of understanding.
Remember our friend Blue from this story?
Today, he is a multi-multi-millionaire.
Let's say he has $10 million cash and has no where to spend it.
These are the few things he can choose to do.
- He can splurge in on luxury items like buying lots of clothing and expensive accessories and give himself a treat at the finest dinning restaurant.
- He can donate all of it to all the orphanages he sponsors. But he has already set aside a fund to donate automatically every quarter.
- He can put in a bank and let it grow at 3% a year.
- He can play the stock market.
Now, before I reveal how he is going to grow his money, what do you think is the strategy he will use?
Or rather, if it was you who had $10million cash, how would you invest in the stock market?
Give this some thought. Some of us may have strategies as to how to make money in the stock market, but for those who do not, take this moment and imagine how would you have done it.
How sure are you that your strategy will make money? Is there a guarantee on your money? Or are you actually gambling?
Now, you may or may not know this method. But let me give you a warning, this method is truly mind blowing.
Let me introduce 2 more characters into the story. They are Maroon and Green.
Maroon is a stock broker. His job is to trade stocks in the stock market. He works for clients who wants and buy and sell shares through him. He is fast, tenacious and cunning. Best in his field.
Green is Blue's secretary. She is meticulous and follows orders very well. Her job is to carry out Blue's bidding and to ensure that Blue's needs are taken care of.
So one day, Blue told Green to come into his office.
"Find me a company that fulfills the criteria on this list over here" said Blue
- has sound business fundamentals
- has been around for at least 10 years
- share priced at between 10 cents to 50 cents a share
- conservative and traditional company that does not have any major upcoming plans
- steady management
This company's name is called TradeMe. It is a small and medium sized company manufacturing cards. It has 50 million shares that are publicly traded. Price of stock had been stagnant at 10 cent a share due to dull management and low dividend payout. Management is a group of conservatives who had been with the company since the beginning.
So basically, this company is a steady company that is not very promising and not likely to collapse either.
Blue is very satisfied with Green's finding. He gave her the next instruction.
"Take $10000 to buy the shares of this company at 10 cents to 20 cents everyday. If prices spike, wait for the price to fall back before making purchase again. Do not buy the share at more than 50 cents a share. Take as long as you need to accumulated 5million shares of TradeMe."
So Green called up Maroon and relayed Blue's instruction. Maroon was puzzled at first but he trusted that Blue knows what he is doing. And Blue pays well. So he carried out the instruction faithfully.
After 365 trading days, Maroon managed to accumulate 5million shares of TradeMe. Current pricing of the stock is 40 cents. Total investment was $1.5million excluding the fee Maroon charged which amounted to $50,000.
That done, Green reported to Blue. Blue was very happy so he gave Green a bonus of $50,000 for that year.
Now comes the next phase of Blue's strategy.
As the company remains dormant, the price of the stock remained stagnant. If Blue left his money in the stocks, he will make a lost as the price will fall back to 10 cents in no time
So his strategy was definitely not Buy, Hold and Pray it will go up.
At this point, can anyone guessed already what Blue's next move will be?
Think about your own strategy. Would you have bought TradeMe shares in the first place? Did you imagine yourself pouring over all the top earning company's profile? Did you see yourself glued to a computer monitor comparing P/E ratios?
No matter what your strategy is, I'm sure you strongly believed that it will make you money. If not, why would you have done it?
Compare what Blue is doing and what you will do. Try and see the difference in terms of time, effort, risk and returns.
This is Blue's next set of instructions.
"Put 2 million each in four different company entities that I own and buy the shares of TradeMe aggressively from the market at 100 lots a day irregardless of price" (1 lot is 1000 shares)
The orders were carried out.
In 1 month's time, price of TradeMe stocks shot up to $1 a share.
At this point in time, each of Blue's company entity holds about 5million to 10 million share of TradeMe. In total, Blue now has 25million shares of TradeMe
Almost all of the $10million are in the shares of TradeMe.
Let's do a simple calculation here.
If let's say Blue decided to sell all the shares simultaneously at the price of $1 a share.
For 25million shares, he would get back $25million. With initial investment of $10million, his return on investment would be 150% in 2 years. Not too bad.
BUT
That return is still considered little for the amount of time needed to prepare.
In case you didn't get the picture, let me paint it for you.
How many of you didn't quite get why the price shot from 40 cents to $1 a share?
The way the price of a share works is like this. Part of the what determines a share price is the supply and demand theory. If there are more buyers than sellers, prices will go up. Vice versa.
Get the theory?
There are 50million shares of TradeMe trading in the market. The supply has always been 50million shares at 10 cents a share.
Blue choked up 5million shares in the first year, cutting supply to 45million shares at 10 cents each.
Next, he drove the demand of the shares by aggressively buying the stocks from other owners.
The owners of the 10 cent stocks sensed that there is demand for their stocks, started to sell at a higher price. At the same time, Blue is drying up the supply pool.
After choking up 50% of the total supply pool, Blue has already driven the market into a buying frenzy.
Imaging seeing the price of TradeMe in a chart. The line moves diagonally upwards.
Most people, cavemen included, would experience a syndrome called greed.
"The stock price is going up, this stock must be good. I must buy fast to make alot of money."
The public starts to buy shares of TradeMe. This act, when being carried out by large number of investors will rocket the share price.
Those who already possess the stocks will hold on to them as they think the price will rise even higher. Thus, shrinking the supply pool.
Now, the key to making the full profit from this feeding frenzy for Blue to be patient.
As long as the demand exceeds supply, the price will keep climbing.
Because it was Blue who instigated the rise, the true value of the stock which is determined by the company's way of being run and market perception of it will always be 10 cents a share.
So the price of the share will keep rising until it reaches a point where people perceive it to be overpriced. Once that point is reach, the market will correct itself and the price of the share will drop.
To prevent his efforts from going to waste, Blue has the power to determine the maximum price of the stock and get out of the market when that maximum price is reached.
If Blue says that the maximum price of the stock is $5 a share. What it means is that once the price of the stock rises to $5, Blue will order all his shares to be sold. What ever happens to the share price next is none of his concerns.
If he entered at 10 cents to 50 cents and exited at $5 a share. 25million shares at $5 each is $125million total. 1150% return in probably 3 years?
Who here would like to have that kind of return?
Who here still did not quite get the picture?
Simply speaking, what Blue has done is to create a pseudo demand for the stock of TradeMe. What most investors and traders see is that the price is rising and most of them will start entering the market hoping to catch the ride.
Even when the price has reached ridiculous heights, these people will still pay the amount for the price because they think that they can still make a profit when they sell.
These phenomenon is happening all the time all over the world.
Investors got their fingers burnt because of this. They play into the game of the rich and became a money making tool for them.
The rich got out of the game richer and seldom will anyone know what really happened behind the scene.
Did anyone just received a revelation?
Holy Shit? Oh My God? What The F***?
If we are to analyze Blue's method of making money. We can pick out several distinct difference between Blue's method and what common folks will do.
- Risk is relatively small. Blue chose a company that is stable and non-explosive. For this factor served 2 purposes. It ensures that the price of this company will not rise on its own due to the company's performance. It is out of sight of common folks, nobody will be interested in a stock tat is stagnant. Because the company is conservative, risk of it folding is low. For common folks, most of their strategy is buy, hold and pray stocks that are dancing around.
- Participation ratio. What common folks will do when they buy shares is this, they will buy alot of books and start reading on how the gurus buy shares. Sometimes, the books will tell its readers to look out for certain traits of the company and price movements. Common folk's buying decision is based on what can be seen by all. And when they buy a company share, either they bought it because they received a "hot tip" or they become the guru and get their friends to buy.
The significant difference between Blue and common folks is this, Blue uses what is invisible to others and common folk uses what is visible to everybody. You see I see, everybody see; you go I go, everybody go. - Time frame is short. Blue's strategy has a predictable time frame. His strategy has predictable stages that can be timed. Acquisition, price play, exit.
For common folks, they buy shares and glue themselves to the monitor screen. If the price go up, they celebrate and keep watching it rise. Until the price starts to drop a little, they sell. This is for those lucky cases. If the price did not go north, they'll hold on to the stock until it hits the bottom. These people do not have a strategy. All they do is pray. And because of this, their time frame is unpredictable. They are not in control. - Return on investment is high and guaranteed. Entry level is determined by Blue, he acquires the shares at a low price and stops buying when the price is too high. When the ball starts rolling, he sells his stocks at a price he determined. $5 is the price he wanted. Nobody else knows the actual value of the stock price except him. He knows the share value is 10 cents a share. But common folks do not know about the price. All they see is price constantly rising. Common folk do not keep track of their earning margin because they are not in control of the share price.
If you think it is because Blue has that $10 million and you do not, think again.
Is it really the $10 million that made Blue the $125million in the end?
What if Blue took the $10 million and played the stock market like common folks played?
Do you think he can get $125million in 3 years guaranteed?
It is not the amount of money you have; it is what you do with whatever little you got.
Here's a little story to enforce the statement.
Orange is a good friend of Blue, he is 10 years younger and just started out on his career. He met Blue on one of the money making workshops he attended. Blue happens to be the speaker.
Seeing Blue so successful, Orange decided to make Blue his mentor.
Blue gave Orange the advice a very rich man gave to him before he succeed many years ago.
"The simplest way to become rich, is to mix with rich people"
Mixing with rich people doesn't mean to be acquaintances. Mixing means you only go out with rich people, stay around rich, talk rich people's language.
Do a simple reality check.
List down 5 people who are the closest to you. People whom you will share your joy and woes with.
This exercise is fun. Give it a try.
Don't just read it and not do anything.
I can assure you that you will see what I mean after the exercise is completed.
It's not really difficult.
Besides, it gives you an opportunity to see yourself clearly.
After you have written down the names, write down their monthly income. If you are not sure, estimate the amount base on their profession.
Done?
I implore you to do this exercise. I can't stress its enlightening power enough.
Now, add up the 5 numbers and divide it by 5.
The figure you get is roughly the amount of money you are currently earning.
There's a saying: Birds of a feather flock together
So, Orange decided to follow Blue's advice and reduced the amount of time spent with his low income friends and start to mingle with the successful folks.
The one change Orange saw in himself was this, he became more motivated to make lots of money. Not because so that he can keep up with his rich friend's spending. In fact, mixing with rich people gave Orange the energy to perform to his best potential.
Nobody told him he couldn't do it. Whenever he feels unworthy, all he needs to do is to listen to 1 or 2 success stories from his new friends and he is back on his feet.
Nobody laughed when he discussed about his money making ideas. No skepticism. No wet blankets.
Because of the support these new group of friends has given Orange, he became more receptive to money making ideas he normally would not dare to attempt.
He saw opportunities in every crisis. Turn lemons into lemonade.
He now has the ability to see "grapes" as "wine".
One day when he came to look for Blue, he overheard Blue giving instructions to Green about how he wants to acquire the shares of TradeMe.
He went home and did a little research on the company background. He saw what everybody will see. A dull company that is stagnant.
But he also saw something else. He saw why Blue is interested in this company.
So the next day, he went to look for Blue again to confirm what he thinks.
Blue was very proud of Orange's deductions and agreed to let Orange join him in this venture.
As Orange is still young, his savings did not amount to much.
But because he is hard working and did not have a lavish lifestyle, his savings over the past 5 years amounted to $10000.
How many of you thinks that $10000 is a lot of money?
How many of you have $10000?
How would you have used your $10000?
Orange wanted to put in the whole of his $10000 savings into TradeMe stocks.
But Blue stopped him.
"Never risk your necessities money no matter how low risk an investment is."
"If you put all your money and leave nothing for emergencies, you are no different from common folks. You will be living a hand to mouth life.
Common folks earn and spend whatever they have and sometimes more. They live a day by day existence. And that is something you should not subject yourself to in no matter what circumstances you face."
So, Orange used $6000 to buy TradeMe shares. $4000 is his projected expense for 6 months. He is living with his parents and thus, his living expenses are low.
When Blue sold his shares, Orange decided to take a risk. He sold 25% of his stocks at $5 each. Which is 15000 shares at $75000.
He held the rest of the shares and sold them at 5000 shares every time prices increase by a dollar.
When the price reached $10 3 months after Blue pulled out of the market, Orange sold the remainder of his 25000 shares and pocketed $250,000.
2 weeks after the price reached $12.30, there was a selling frenzy. People start to perceive the stock as overprice and started to sell. Nobody was buying. Everybody wanted to get back their money.
Now, there are more selling than buying. This caused the price to plunge.
In 1 day, TradeMe stocks saw a drop from $12.30 to $2. Thousands of investors were wiped out. Most of them got in when the price was at $5.
In less than 2 weeks, TradeMe stocks went back to its original value of $0.10.
Let's not worry about the losers. They should use this to learn a lesson.
Look at the winners instead. With $6000 initial investment, Orange's return is as followed.
Entry ==> 60 lots at $0.10/share
15,000 share @ $5/share ==> $75,000
5,000 share @ $6/share ==>$30,000
5,000 share @ $7/share ==>$35,000
5,000 share @ $8/share ==>$40,000
5,000 share @ $9/share ==>$45,000
25,000 share @ $10/share ==> $250,000
Total gain ==> $475,000
ROI = 7800% in 3 years
Some of you might think, what if after Blue pulled out and the price starts dropping?
Think again. Would Orange make a lost?
Let's say Orange already pocketed $75,000 and he still has 45 lots.
The next day the price plunged to $2 or lower, would Orange make any lost?
Now, let me reiterate. It is not about how much the returns.
It is not about what you do to make that returns.
It is not whether you are lucky to have bought TradeMe.
It is not how much money you have.
What is it about?
What is the f***ing ingredient that makes the money?
It is you.
If you are Orange, you do not want to be rich, will you attend money making workshops and met Blue?
If you did not meet Blue and decided that you want to learn from him, would you have heard of the golden advice?
If you did not really want to be rich, would you really follow the golden advice and spend less time with your current friends?
If you did not change the group of people you mix with, would you have changed your mindset about investing?
If you did not have the mindset to accept investing, would you have taken pride in the ability to see potential in any investment?
If you did not have the ability to see potential in any investment, would you even became interested in TradeMe stocks when you overheard Blue talk about it.
If you did not even have any interest in TradeMe stocks, would you have done the research and made the deductions of what Blue is going to do?
All in all, do you think that you would even took out your hard earn money and buy the shares of TradeMe.
Seeing Blue investing in TradeMe stocks is one thing, taking your money out and putting it into a stock without any understanding is another thing.
If you did not discover Blue's strategy, would you even have the balls to buy TradeMe stocks?
Who decides what to do with your money?
You.
Who decides how much money you deserve?
Your boss.
But who decides the boss to work for?
You.
Who decides how hard to work to earn money?
You.
Who decides the lifestyle you are living?
You.
Who decides the people you mix with?
You.
Who is the biggest loser?
I don't know?
Everything happens for a reason. And each reason has its root to you.
What you think will manifest itself into your actions.
Thoughts become emotions. Emotions become action. Actions become results.
What you reap is what you sow.
This is not about what you do. This is about who you are and why you will do it.
Opportunities are everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
Ask and you will get one.
Question is, will you see the opportunity spinning infront of you?
Why Are We Unhappy Even When We Have Everything?
HOW many of you think that you don't have a clue of your passion in life?
How many decided to choose life science as a degree because you were good in chemistry in secondary school?
How many took up engineering because you heard that it is a safe and secure job?
How many became a teacher because you couldn't find a job?
How many of you have no idea where your interest lies?
Who here believes that it is the environment that created who we are?
Who believes that we are born to be good at something?
How many of you think that everyone is cut out to be doctor or lawyer?
Who determines that career that you want?
How is it determined?
Are you in a career because your relatives thinks that it is a good profession?
Did you enjoy the things that you have to do in your career everyday?
How many times do you have to lie to yourself that you are in the right job just because you don't want to admit you are wrong?
How often have you asked yourself this question: What have I been doing for the past few decades of my life?
Who here agrees that academic excellence will not determine your success in life?
Who here believes that people who pursue their passion will live a much more fulfilling life than those who took on jobs that is good in people's opinion?
How many of you think that you do certain things because of what you think others might think of you?
How many of you went through the education system, got your degree, and still not sure what you are doing?
Who here thinks that you've just wasted 24 years of your life studying and discovered that you are nowhere in society?
Who here believe that getting a degree is more important that pursuing what you really want to do?
Who here thinks that pursuing a degree is what you really want to do?
Who here just wants to get a degree because of the implications without?
What do you think a degree represent in today's society?
Is the degree you have really the ticket to a better life?
How many degree holders do you think are having that better life?
What is the reason for you to get that degree again?
Did you get it just for "must have because everyone has it" sake?
How different do you think you are compared to a sheep in a flock?
What if the reason you want to get a degree is because you have no other option?
What is the meaning of option to you?
Did you have an option in the first place?
A level cert is worth?
O level cert is worth?
PSLE cert is worth?
Do you think they are worthless unless you get a degree?
Did you get those cert because you want to get a degree?
Or did you get those cert because you didn't have any other options?
Did you find your passion while you slogged for those cert?
Do you feel that you have wasted 12 years of your life to discover the thing you were led to obtain is worthless?
Are you happy with your accomplishments today?
What is your purpose in life?
What have you done to achieve that purpose?
Are you satisfied with that purpose?
Are you lying to yourself now that it doesn't matter?
Are you living to your potential?
Do you know your potential?
If not, are you ready to find out?
Why have you not found your potential?
Is it the environment?
Do you think that the education system is not for everyone?
Do you think that there are people who are meant to excel in the system and there are people who are destined for other paths?
Do you think your path lies elsewhere?
Do you want to find the path?
If you had the chance to live your life again from 0, would you pursue that path?
Do you think that you will end up walking the same path and having the same regrets again?
Why do you think that will happen?
How many will say it is because of the environment? The government? Parents? Relatives? The system?
How many would like to have the power to break free?
How many would like to save the next generation from suffering your misery?
How many thinks that you have no power to do anything?
How many sees no point in making it happen?
How many would rather this cycle continue forever and only the selected few will be enlightened enough to choose their own path?
How many wished that they were the enlightened few?
How many wants to become the enlightened few?
How many thinks that the enlightened few were lucky?
How many thinks that the enlightened few are lucky but know that they worked hard for it?
How many would jump at the chance to be the enlightened few?
How many still don't know what is the enlightened few?
How many thinks that they are the enlightened few?
How many can't make any sense of these questions?
Our society evolved.
It is where it is today for a reason.
People who built the society today had a past.
They had a lack that they want the next generation to not experience.
They provided everything that they had wanted when they didn't have.
These people are the nation builders, they are but one category of society.
With that hindsight, they overlooked the very factors that made them who they are today.
Nation builders builds a nation to nurture nation builders.
People are born with different niche. Not everyone is cut out to be a nation builder.
No matter how many oranges you squeeze, you can never get apple juice.
These people built a nation they wanted to grow up in.
A nation of abundance so that the next generation will not experience their lack.
But they forget...
It is the lack, the emptiness that drove them towards achieving what it takes to fill that vacuum.
They wanted it so bad that they will do anything to get it.
It is their thirst for it that made them who they are.
Once, there was a caterpillar, it was time for it to become a cocoon.
It wove itself up and started to grow.
When it was time for the caterpillar to emerge as a butterfly, a little boy saw it struggling and helped cut open its cocoon.
The butterfly died a few days later.
A butterfly dies if it did not break out of the cocoon itself, because breaking out of the cocoon is nature's way of strengthening the butterfly's wings.
The nation builder builders built the society to be filled with the little boy.
Kind-hearted dream killers.
Everything that the nation builders did not have before, they provide it to the next generation.
The next generation did not have to go through the struggle.
What do you think the consequence will be?
We are the butterfly waiting to die.
The enlightened ones are the "underprivileged" caterpillar which did not have the "luck" of meeting the little boy.
They broke out of their own cocoon and soar to the sky as a beautiful and free creature.
You can make a difference, start by saying your opinion. Help me complete this survey
Law Of Attraction
AFTER crewing for the Rich Heart Sale's(RHS) 2nd intake, I got intrigued by the law of attraction.
I was introduced The Secret
by Ella. The DVD is about 1 and a half hour. I just re-watched it yesterday. Since then, I've been pondering about its effects and the magic of it.
As I was thinking about the Law of attraction, I started to look at certain things that happened to me.
For those who don't know about the laws of attraction, let me briefly explain. It simply means, what you think, you will attract.
A few examples, if you have failed at something, and each time you fail, you kept thinking of how badly you fail, how lousy you are, that failure will expand.
The next time you attempt the same thing, you will fail, this time it will be worse than before.
If you think that you will get scolded for not doing a good job, chances are, you will get scolded.
If you think that you don't deserve to have a lot of money, 100% chance is that you won't have much.
Now, how many times do we ever think back and wonder why something happened to us over and over again?
Did everything that happened, happen because of fate? Or did it happen because you made it happen?
In the first example, when we fail at something, what is the natural emotion we will feel? Sadness? Depression? Insecurity? Unworthiness?
Notice that all these emotions are negative. When we feel negative emotions, do we feel good about ourselves?
So subconsciously, we associated the thing that we do to the emotions that we felt when we did it for the first time.
If we focused on the bad feelings, and kept on replaying the scene of how embarrassing it was when we couldn't do it right, how badly we felt when we just couldn't get it, do you think that we will ever find the courage to give it another try it without inhibitions?
Naturally, we will want to protect ourselves from pain. To do that, we will stop ourselves to try hard enough to learn the thing right. Because if we don't do something, we won't fail right?
So how did people manage to learn things?
Mentors, teacher, guru, predecessors, seniors, leaders, idols. These are the people we look up to. They are at where we want to be. They have been there, done that. We know they can do it, so can we.
Each time we fail, instead of focusing on the bad emotions, if we keep in our mind how good it will feel when we can do something as good as our mentor, how impressive it will be, how worthy we will feel. How happy we will become. Do you think you will learn something better?
Notice that the emotions associated to succeeding are all positive emotions? They empower us, they give us the strength to press on even when we fail. It is the cheese at the end of the station that kept us moving.
Isn't it true that what you focus on expands? You focus on your failures, you will fail. You focus on your future success, you will succeed.
This applies for the other 2 examples or even anything you can think of.
If you think that you don't deserve a lot of money, what happens if alot of money comes to you out of nowhere?
You'll feel fear right? You'll think of all the negative things that can happen to you when you keep the money. You'll imagine yourself being robbed, imagine how everyone will want to have a share of it. The money will be gone before you realise what has happened to it because you keep rejecting the ownership of it.
The laws of attraction is just so wonderful.
I began to ponder about the obscure art of fortune telling.
What are the cliche phrases that we hear fortune tellers in TV or movies will say?
You will encounter a disaster. You will get married by 40. You will meet a saviour. You will have a good life.
All these statements. Realise that they are not very specific?
They are statements of the future. The future does not exist. If I tell you to stand up tomorrow, you can't. Because we are forever living in today.
But what makes fortune telling so amazing is that it only comes true if you believe.
Notice how it works?
It only comes true if you believe.
Meaning, you will not have any disaster if you think that the fortune teller is bullshitting. Or you will advert the disaster by paying $5k for a pebble inscribed with a scratch. Your mind will think that now that you have bought a lucky charm, disaster will avoid you, and it will. Because why? Disaster will never happen until you start to believe it will.
Say if you consciously think that the fortune teller is a hoax. But you keep looking out for disaster. Guess what you will find?
Every single thing that happen to you will appear to be disastrous. Because it is a chain effect. Once something that's insignificant becomes recognized as a disaster, you will start to believe that disaster is really happening to you, and you will take measures to avoid it which will lead you into something worse.
What you focus on expands.
On the other hand, if the fortune teller says that you will find your soulmate and get married by 40 years old. What will happen if you believed her?
You will start to be more open to relationships and appreciates traits of your partner you would never have admired before. You become more receptive to meeting that someone special. If you are young, this will become a hinder, as you will think that you're unworthy to marry at a young age. But if you are in your 30s, this belief will help you see pass imperfection of others because you believe that you will get married.
It balls down to the word belief.
If you believe something will happen to you and keeps on focusing on it.
The thing will happen.
Things happen to us all the time.
The only difference it makes to focus your thinking is to accept the normal things that happen as miracles.
It feels so empowering just by trying to explain the power of this law of attraction.
Perhaps you would like to share your own experience of the law of attraction?
The act of sharing will empower you. You will feel really good after sharing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
So, if the law of attraction exists. How can we use it to work for us?
One method is visualisation.
It is the process where you imagine yourself already having the things that you want.
When we are in the state of having, we create positive energy. We attract things that we want when we tell our mind that we already have it.
My interpretation of this is, opportunities are ever present. The only thing that is not always there is our readiness to receive it.
Probably like the old astronomical thinking that the Sun revolves around the Earth.
The Sun is the opportunity that is so bright and warm and Earth is the place close to us and comfortable, our comfort zone.
What we currently think is that Opportunity is revolving around everyone and only those lucky people can get it.
When we have the thinking that Opportunity is revolving around us, we become self centered. We began to think that we are in the middle of everything and opportunities should come to us.
And when we think that we are in the center, we believe that things will happen naturally without us having to move.
But the fact it, it is completely the other way round.
Opportunity, the Sun, is forever there. It is not moving, it is ever present.
We on the other hand, are the little planets that orbit around the Sun. To get closer to Opportunity, we have to alter our course. The only time when we can touch Opportunity is the time when our orbit intersects it.
We move to get to opportunity. Opportunity does not come to us.
When you go in a state of have. Your orbit will touch the Opportunity. It does not mean that you are touching it. It just mean that if you keep on moving, you will get to Opportunity sooner or later.
The moment you start thinking that you have and are grateful that you have, your orbit automatically shifts to intersect Opportunity.
Get the picture?
Well, one point you can take is to stop thinking that you are the most important thing in the universe and everything has to come to you. Stop thinking that each time you do not get what you want, you are not treated fairly. There is no such thing as fair.
This is a universe of causality. Cause and effect. You don't get what you want because you are not tuned to receive it. Change yourself.
It is interesting to note that even though this is common sense, we can often miss it.
We all like to justify. Like to believe that things did not happen because we weren't lucky enough or it was something else fault.
Think whatever you like, there's no rules to it. Only what's proven to work and not work.
I think this applies to everything. Including relationship.
The time when I finally understand how to apply this law into my relationship is the time I will find my soul mate. For the time being, I thank everyone who showed me their concerns. I love you all. =D
For those who like to get a copy of The Secret, you can get it at Amazon.com
I was introduced The Secret
by Ella. The DVD is about 1 and a half hour. I just re-watched it yesterday. Since then, I've been pondering about its effects and the magic of it.
As I was thinking about the Law of attraction, I started to look at certain things that happened to me.
For those who don't know about the laws of attraction, let me briefly explain. It simply means, what you think, you will attract.
A few examples, if you have failed at something, and each time you fail, you kept thinking of how badly you fail, how lousy you are, that failure will expand.
The next time you attempt the same thing, you will fail, this time it will be worse than before.
If you think that you will get scolded for not doing a good job, chances are, you will get scolded.
If you think that you don't deserve to have a lot of money, 100% chance is that you won't have much.
Now, how many times do we ever think back and wonder why something happened to us over and over again?
Did everything that happened, happen because of fate? Or did it happen because you made it happen?
In the first example, when we fail at something, what is the natural emotion we will feel? Sadness? Depression? Insecurity? Unworthiness?
Notice that all these emotions are negative. When we feel negative emotions, do we feel good about ourselves?
So subconsciously, we associated the thing that we do to the emotions that we felt when we did it for the first time.
If we focused on the bad feelings, and kept on replaying the scene of how embarrassing it was when we couldn't do it right, how badly we felt when we just couldn't get it, do you think that we will ever find the courage to give it another try it without inhibitions?
Naturally, we will want to protect ourselves from pain. To do that, we will stop ourselves to try hard enough to learn the thing right. Because if we don't do something, we won't fail right?
So how did people manage to learn things?
Mentors, teacher, guru, predecessors, seniors, leaders, idols. These are the people we look up to. They are at where we want to be. They have been there, done that. We know they can do it, so can we.
Each time we fail, instead of focusing on the bad emotions, if we keep in our mind how good it will feel when we can do something as good as our mentor, how impressive it will be, how worthy we will feel. How happy we will become. Do you think you will learn something better?
Notice that the emotions associated to succeeding are all positive emotions? They empower us, they give us the strength to press on even when we fail. It is the cheese at the end of the station that kept us moving.
Isn't it true that what you focus on expands? You focus on your failures, you will fail. You focus on your future success, you will succeed.
This applies for the other 2 examples or even anything you can think of.
If you think that you don't deserve a lot of money, what happens if alot of money comes to you out of nowhere?
You'll feel fear right? You'll think of all the negative things that can happen to you when you keep the money. You'll imagine yourself being robbed, imagine how everyone will want to have a share of it. The money will be gone before you realise what has happened to it because you keep rejecting the ownership of it.
The laws of attraction is just so wonderful.
I began to ponder about the obscure art of fortune telling.
What are the cliche phrases that we hear fortune tellers in TV or movies will say?
You will encounter a disaster. You will get married by 40. You will meet a saviour. You will have a good life.
All these statements. Realise that they are not very specific?
They are statements of the future. The future does not exist. If I tell you to stand up tomorrow, you can't. Because we are forever living in today.
But what makes fortune telling so amazing is that it only comes true if you believe.
Notice how it works?
It only comes true if you believe.
Meaning, you will not have any disaster if you think that the fortune teller is bullshitting. Or you will advert the disaster by paying $5k for a pebble inscribed with a scratch. Your mind will think that now that you have bought a lucky charm, disaster will avoid you, and it will. Because why? Disaster will never happen until you start to believe it will.
Say if you consciously think that the fortune teller is a hoax. But you keep looking out for disaster. Guess what you will find?
Every single thing that happen to you will appear to be disastrous. Because it is a chain effect. Once something that's insignificant becomes recognized as a disaster, you will start to believe that disaster is really happening to you, and you will take measures to avoid it which will lead you into something worse.
What you focus on expands.
On the other hand, if the fortune teller says that you will find your soulmate and get married by 40 years old. What will happen if you believed her?
You will start to be more open to relationships and appreciates traits of your partner you would never have admired before. You become more receptive to meeting that someone special. If you are young, this will become a hinder, as you will think that you're unworthy to marry at a young age. But if you are in your 30s, this belief will help you see pass imperfection of others because you believe that you will get married.
It balls down to the word belief.
If you believe something will happen to you and keeps on focusing on it.
The thing will happen.
Things happen to us all the time.
The only difference it makes to focus your thinking is to accept the normal things that happen as miracles.
It feels so empowering just by trying to explain the power of this law of attraction.
Perhaps you would like to share your own experience of the law of attraction?
The act of sharing will empower you. You will feel really good after sharing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
So, if the law of attraction exists. How can we use it to work for us?
One method is visualisation.
It is the process where you imagine yourself already having the things that you want.
When we are in the state of having, we create positive energy. We attract things that we want when we tell our mind that we already have it.
My interpretation of this is, opportunities are ever present. The only thing that is not always there is our readiness to receive it.
Probably like the old astronomical thinking that the Sun revolves around the Earth.
The Sun is the opportunity that is so bright and warm and Earth is the place close to us and comfortable, our comfort zone.
What we currently think is that Opportunity is revolving around everyone and only those lucky people can get it.
When we have the thinking that Opportunity is revolving around us, we become self centered. We began to think that we are in the middle of everything and opportunities should come to us.
And when we think that we are in the center, we believe that things will happen naturally without us having to move.
But the fact it, it is completely the other way round.
Opportunity, the Sun, is forever there. It is not moving, it is ever present.
We on the other hand, are the little planets that orbit around the Sun. To get closer to Opportunity, we have to alter our course. The only time when we can touch Opportunity is the time when our orbit intersects it.
We move to get to opportunity. Opportunity does not come to us.
When you go in a state of have. Your orbit will touch the Opportunity. It does not mean that you are touching it. It just mean that if you keep on moving, you will get to Opportunity sooner or later.
The moment you start thinking that you have and are grateful that you have, your orbit automatically shifts to intersect Opportunity.
Get the picture?
Well, one point you can take is to stop thinking that you are the most important thing in the universe and everything has to come to you. Stop thinking that each time you do not get what you want, you are not treated fairly. There is no such thing as fair.
This is a universe of causality. Cause and effect. You don't get what you want because you are not tuned to receive it. Change yourself.
It is interesting to note that even though this is common sense, we can often miss it.
We all like to justify. Like to believe that things did not happen because we weren't lucky enough or it was something else fault.
Think whatever you like, there's no rules to it. Only what's proven to work and not work.
I think this applies to everything. Including relationship.
The time when I finally understand how to apply this law into my relationship is the time I will find my soul mate. For the time being, I thank everyone who showed me their concerns. I love you all. =D
For those who like to get a copy of The Secret
, you can get it at Amazon.comProgress Check
RECOUNTING what took place throughout the past 2 month ever since my graduation show on 7th March 09.
Attended a workshop teaching me how to sell from the heart. I feel an urge to add this to spite those who thinks that workshops are pointless. YOU'RE BROKE!
The workshop taught me how to sell from my heart instead of hard selling. Hard selling is the primary cause of hatred for salesmen. The key lesson I took away from the workshop was: you sell because you want to help people, not because you want their money. Anyway, the mindset one salesperson has will make a lot of difference in his performance. If you come from a stand point of really serving a need people have, people will be more willing to accept your offers.
Another thing I took away from that workshop was: MOVE!
In physics, if object is not moving, no work is done. Meaning, if I don't do anything to make something move, I'm not doing any work. I can think and think and think and still no work is done. So... 3 days later, which is a Monday, MONEYTHOLOGY LLP is born.
I'm the manager/partner and Leroy is my partner.
On Thursday or Friday, I can't really remember, one guy from OCBC called. That guy mentioned something about coming to my office to open a bank account. I realised that I immediately turned into defensive mode.
Woah woah woah, you call me straight away ask me if you can come my office open bank account. You didn't even inquire what business I do and whether I need a bank account. Or even better, you didn't even let me see how this bank account will benefit me. All I hear from this guy was: Hey, you sucker, you just started a business right, so you should open a bank account with me. I want to earn that commission so don't wait already. I go your place open your account for you and I can earn my commission liao...
F*** you man... This is what I would classify as hard sell. So my natural response is to throw up my rejections. I pretended to inquire for more information before finally saying that I do not intend to open a bank account yet.
That guy probably sensed something is not right, he said that he would send some information and get back to me a few days later.
I didn't pay attention to that matter for some time. The letter containing the information of opening a business account was sent to my place. I looked at it and gave some thought about it. There would be benefits. It would make the transactions much cleaner. And cheques are wonderful, I'll feel wonderful if I can sign cheques.
So I arranged with Leroy to go down to AMK Hub's OCBC branch and asked to speak with somebody who can give us more information. After waiting for some time, the manager in-charged of opening business accounts came and met with us. We posed our questions and he answered them appropriately. He didn't not press on making us open the account as soon as possible. Talking to that manager felt better than that guy on the phone.
Funny enough, 10 mins after we walked out of the branch, that same guy who called me last time called back to ask me if I want to open the bank account with him. I told him that I just went down to the branch and spoke with the manager. He panicked and asked me who I spoke to. Then, he told me the bull crap of him being the one in-charged of my business profile and if anything, I should look for him. Then, he continued to press on the benefits of opening the bank account. I was totally pissed. After the call, I told Leroy that I would rather travel all the way down to the branch than to ask that guy come to my office to open the bank account.
This is my personal experience of being hard-sell(ed).
After I registered my company, I spent 3 to 4 days blanking out. I was totally at the mode of "NOW WHAT?".
Until suddenly I realised. I should get some cash.
Before I registered my company, I arranged for some of my friends to sell me their talents. We arranged to talk more about it after I have registered my company name. Buying their talents need $$$. So, I need cash.
I signed up for 2 online job searching engines. I put my job scope interest as sales. Soon enough, I found a job of selling.
I'm now working as a salesmen, selling from my heart, serving customers and helping them lead a better life.
Ya right! How I wish that was the case.
It is only about 25% true. My job involves going door to door promoting services that customers might want to take up. The deal was good. I believed in the deal. But somehow, as I opened my heart to hear customer's needs, conflicts arise within me.
Though not all customers had issue with the product and the company, it doesn't mean there are none. Some customers poured their complaints to me and all I can say is: "I'll do what I can."
Which is nothing. I'm only a salesmen. Your complaints reach me and vapourise. Yes, I want to help you. But I'm only a salesmen. I can only offer you information I have and service I provide. That's all. Suggestions as to how to make the services better reach me and disappear.
It is not that I'm complaining about customers telling us all those things. I'm really glad I can hear feedback from customers about how to make the service better. What I feel bad about is that I'm powerless in making the change. It puts me in a dilemma. If I want to sell from the heart and help the customer as much as I can, I have to limit myself to the amount of things I can offer, which will make me conscientious about helping at all.
Well, I'm getting used to the pangs of guilt every time customer relayed their hopes of change to us. But it will serve as a burning coal under my butt to tell me that I have to start my own business and sell my own things. I want to be the boss and bring the change customers desire. My own product and my own service that I can be proud of.
OK, source of income secured. So, I slogged. But something behind keeps prodding me to do more. It keeps screaming: IT'S NOT ENOUGH!! YOU NEED TO MOVE MORE!!
This is ultimately still active income.
I was reading Warren Buffett's new biography: The Snowball. The book was inspiring, it made me realise that I have some things in common with the world's richest man. But he is many times more brilliant than I am. Reading his books gave me two inspirations: I need to find a girlfriend so that I have someone to work hard for; I need to find more sources of passive income.
April 3rd is my ex's birthday. On that midnight, I wished her happy birthday. For the first time in eons, she replied me a thank you. Even though it was a generic thanks, I felt really good. It showed that there is a possibility she might want to talk to me again.
So, I asked her out for dinner at a restaurant near her place. She didn't say whether she will go. We didn't have any arrangements agreed upon. But I turned up at that restaurant any way to have my dinner. Miraculously, I saw her there having a meal with her mom. The sight of her ignited a volcanic eruption never seen in 4 years. I was so happy that I didn't know what to do. So I sat at a table far away but near enough to peek at her. She didn't change much. Still beautiful and maintaining her figure. She still have long straight hair, though I remember that she mentioned she might perm her hair. The best thing about her is the glasses she wear. It gave her the mysterious look. She's feels so special to me.
So naturally, the heart that never really died starting pumping harder. For the next 5 days, I tried to get her to reply to messages. Eventually, I borrowed a book called Mars and Venus On a Date.
Reading the book gave me a lot of insights into her world. She is avoiding me because thinking about me hurts her. But the book also mention that if a relationship ended in hurt and guilt, the next one will not be happy. I felt guilty and she felt hurt.
I don't know what to make of this emotion.
I can't let go. Something is telling me not to let go. But I no longer know what to do about it. If by any chance you are friends of my ex, can you help me tell her how much I want to be part of her life again?
To drown the chaotic feelings about BGR, I devoted myself into making money. I'm now working on starting a manga drawing class. I'm not the one teaching it, but some of my very legendary classmates I met in NYP. They can earn more money, I can start my business, more people can learn how to draw, everybody wins. This is the best thing about doing business. Win-win situation.
Attended a workshop teaching me how to sell from the heart. I feel an urge to add this to spite those who thinks that workshops are pointless. YOU'RE BROKE!
The workshop taught me how to sell from my heart instead of hard selling. Hard selling is the primary cause of hatred for salesmen. The key lesson I took away from the workshop was: you sell because you want to help people, not because you want their money. Anyway, the mindset one salesperson has will make a lot of difference in his performance. If you come from a stand point of really serving a need people have, people will be more willing to accept your offers.
Another thing I took away from that workshop was: MOVE!
In physics, if object is not moving, no work is done. Meaning, if I don't do anything to make something move, I'm not doing any work. I can think and think and think and still no work is done. So... 3 days later, which is a Monday, MONEYTHOLOGY LLP is born.
I'm the manager/partner and Leroy is my partner.
On Thursday or Friday, I can't really remember, one guy from OCBC called. That guy mentioned something about coming to my office to open a bank account. I realised that I immediately turned into defensive mode.
Woah woah woah, you call me straight away ask me if you can come my office open bank account. You didn't even inquire what business I do and whether I need a bank account. Or even better, you didn't even let me see how this bank account will benefit me. All I hear from this guy was: Hey, you sucker, you just started a business right, so you should open a bank account with me. I want to earn that commission so don't wait already. I go your place open your account for you and I can earn my commission liao...
F*** you man... This is what I would classify as hard sell. So my natural response is to throw up my rejections. I pretended to inquire for more information before finally saying that I do not intend to open a bank account yet.
That guy probably sensed something is not right, he said that he would send some information and get back to me a few days later.
I didn't pay attention to that matter for some time. The letter containing the information of opening a business account was sent to my place. I looked at it and gave some thought about it. There would be benefits. It would make the transactions much cleaner. And cheques are wonderful, I'll feel wonderful if I can sign cheques.
So I arranged with Leroy to go down to AMK Hub's OCBC branch and asked to speak with somebody who can give us more information. After waiting for some time, the manager in-charged of opening business accounts came and met with us. We posed our questions and he answered them appropriately. He didn't not press on making us open the account as soon as possible. Talking to that manager felt better than that guy on the phone.
Funny enough, 10 mins after we walked out of the branch, that same guy who called me last time called back to ask me if I want to open the bank account with him. I told him that I just went down to the branch and spoke with the manager. He panicked and asked me who I spoke to. Then, he told me the bull crap of him being the one in-charged of my business profile and if anything, I should look for him. Then, he continued to press on the benefits of opening the bank account. I was totally pissed. After the call, I told Leroy that I would rather travel all the way down to the branch than to ask that guy come to my office to open the bank account.
This is my personal experience of being hard-sell(ed).
After I registered my company, I spent 3 to 4 days blanking out. I was totally at the mode of "NOW WHAT?".
Until suddenly I realised. I should get some cash.
Before I registered my company, I arranged for some of my friends to sell me their talents. We arranged to talk more about it after I have registered my company name. Buying their talents need $$$. So, I need cash.
I signed up for 2 online job searching engines. I put my job scope interest as sales. Soon enough, I found a job of selling.
I'm now working as a salesmen, selling from my heart, serving customers and helping them lead a better life.
Ya right! How I wish that was the case.
It is only about 25% true. My job involves going door to door promoting services that customers might want to take up. The deal was good. I believed in the deal. But somehow, as I opened my heart to hear customer's needs, conflicts arise within me.
Though not all customers had issue with the product and the company, it doesn't mean there are none. Some customers poured their complaints to me and all I can say is: "I'll do what I can."
Which is nothing. I'm only a salesmen. Your complaints reach me and vapourise. Yes, I want to help you. But I'm only a salesmen. I can only offer you information I have and service I provide. That's all. Suggestions as to how to make the services better reach me and disappear.
It is not that I'm complaining about customers telling us all those things. I'm really glad I can hear feedback from customers about how to make the service better. What I feel bad about is that I'm powerless in making the change. It puts me in a dilemma. If I want to sell from the heart and help the customer as much as I can, I have to limit myself to the amount of things I can offer, which will make me conscientious about helping at all.
Well, I'm getting used to the pangs of guilt every time customer relayed their hopes of change to us. But it will serve as a burning coal under my butt to tell me that I have to start my own business and sell my own things. I want to be the boss and bring the change customers desire. My own product and my own service that I can be proud of.
OK, source of income secured. So, I slogged. But something behind keeps prodding me to do more. It keeps screaming: IT'S NOT ENOUGH!! YOU NEED TO MOVE MORE!!
This is ultimately still active income.
I was reading Warren Buffett's new biography: The Snowball. The book was inspiring, it made me realise that I have some things in common with the world's richest man. But he is many times more brilliant than I am. Reading his books gave me two inspirations: I need to find a girlfriend so that I have someone to work hard for; I need to find more sources of passive income.
April 3rd is my ex's birthday. On that midnight, I wished her happy birthday. For the first time in eons, she replied me a thank you. Even though it was a generic thanks, I felt really good. It showed that there is a possibility she might want to talk to me again.
So, I asked her out for dinner at a restaurant near her place. She didn't say whether she will go. We didn't have any arrangements agreed upon. But I turned up at that restaurant any way to have my dinner. Miraculously, I saw her there having a meal with her mom. The sight of her ignited a volcanic eruption never seen in 4 years. I was so happy that I didn't know what to do. So I sat at a table far away but near enough to peek at her. She didn't change much. Still beautiful and maintaining her figure. She still have long straight hair, though I remember that she mentioned she might perm her hair. The best thing about her is the glasses she wear. It gave her the mysterious look. She's feels so special to me.
So naturally, the heart that never really died starting pumping harder. For the next 5 days, I tried to get her to reply to messages. Eventually, I borrowed a book called Mars and Venus On a Date.
Reading the book gave me a lot of insights into her world. She is avoiding me because thinking about me hurts her. But the book also mention that if a relationship ended in hurt and guilt, the next one will not be happy. I felt guilty and she felt hurt.
I don't know what to make of this emotion.
I can't let go. Something is telling me not to let go. But I no longer know what to do about it. If by any chance you are friends of my ex, can you help me tell her how much I want to be part of her life again?
To drown the chaotic feelings about BGR, I devoted myself into making money. I'm now working on starting a manga drawing class. I'm not the one teaching it, but some of my very legendary classmates I met in NYP. They can earn more money, I can start my business, more people can learn how to draw, everybody wins. This is the best thing about doing business. Win-win situation.
What's Right? What's Wrong?
BEFORE I go into relieving myself of all the thoughts that are welling up in my head, there's a free book that I want you to read. It is a new book that Robert Kiyosaki is currently working on and he wants feedback from readers. http://www.conspiracyoftherich.com/chapter
____________________________________________________________________
I recall my first encounter with Communism.
How I abhor the idea that everyone shares the same amount of wealth no matter how hard you work.
I recall being exhilarated when I read about Adam Smith's invisible hand.
How free market will thrive without having any form of governing.
One is absolute control; the other is freedom in risk of chaos.
It led me to think, who is to say what is right and what is wrong?
As history proved, it is just the matter of which one being more widely accepted and outlasting the other.
Could it be that the subject of money has no right or wrong?
Unlike physics, chemistry, mathematics or even literature, there is no absolution as to how one should view money.
Money is a man-made tool unlike gravity, it creates its own rules.
It does not extinguish with a "pop" like a glowing splint in hydrogen.
Its behavior can only be perceived and proven by time alone. Constant variables produces variable results.
Though mathematics is closest to the subject of money, money sometimes defies 1+1=2.
Input does not necessarily equals to output.
$100,000 X 10 years in a real estate does not equals to $100,000 X 10 years in another real estate.
There is no universal rule with regards to money. Everybody plays by the rule they are comfortable with.
The winners are those with everything thing they want in life.
The losers are whiners who complaint that they don't have enough.
If that is the rule of money, then, the objective of playing the money game is to have as much money as possible without sacrificing pleasure.
With this objective, one can devise the strategy to play the game.
Laws are man-made tools written to govern other man-made tools.
It can be bent, and sometimes broken. It can also be re-written to benefit those who wrote it.
Laws undergo revolution just like dynasties. Revolution do come, but it takes time. Why? Because the rule of money need time to be verified for its effectiveness.
To quote that book, we started off as "cave men" in the Hunter-Gatherer Age, to the Agrarian Age, to Industrial Age and to today's Information Age.
I observe that the time lapse between each revolution gets shorter and shorter.
The theoretical explanation could be, more people are educated, more brains to spot the errors in the rules.
Then it dawned on me that the next revolution could be coming up soon, and my generation could be the ones leading it.
The pattern observed in the revolutions was that, with each age, more and more percentile of the population are getting richer.
The number of rich people multiplied like rabbits over the past centuries.
So the bottom line?
Could it be that there's a way to get rich that still eluded those who aren't rich yet?
If getting rich becomes less and less of a privilege and more and more of a Right, what then?
Would it cause a disaster that is unforeseen?
Or would it finally create an Utopia that was so sorely sought after ever since the dawn of civilization?
What if the new rule now is that everyone can get rich?
What would you do if there is such a rule?
Would you find out more the game?
Or would you resist the change so much until you are eradicated by time?
If so many people are becoming rich, does it necessarily mean that the rules they play by are the blue prints of the next revolution?
It comes back to the question, what is right and what is wrong?
If there is no right and there is no wrong, only the best way to survive. What would you do?
Survival instincts are hardwired? Or is it nurtured by our own experiences?
If the ultimate objective in the game of life is to live the dreams, does your strategy of winning involve becoming rich?
If the ultimate goal is to live the dreams, does what you do to get there matter so much even as it conflicts your right and wrong instincts?
If your right and wrong instincts are nurtured by your experiences, who is there to tell you when you are wrong about your experiences?
What if those who tell you that you are wrong, are wrong themselves?
Who is there to tell them they are wrong?
What determines the right to judge?
Is it safe to say: if you want to get to somewhere, ask direction from those who had been there?
If you want to be rich, ask a rich man how.
Would it come down to a point where there is no longer a need for a right or wrong?
It is just what needs to be done to get you where you want to go.
We play the game of life.
We win when we win.
We lose when we die.
If we don't die, we haven't lose.
If we don't win, we will eventually die and lose.
To win is to live the dreams.
No dream comes free. If its free, its not worthwhile.
Rules are written by someone to win his own game.
Choose to play by his rules or write your own rules.
You only get to play the game of life once.
____________________________________________________________________
I recall my first encounter with Communism.
How I abhor the idea that everyone shares the same amount of wealth no matter how hard you work.
I recall being exhilarated when I read about Adam Smith's invisible hand.
How free market will thrive without having any form of governing.
One is absolute control; the other is freedom in risk of chaos.
It led me to think, who is to say what is right and what is wrong?
As history proved, it is just the matter of which one being more widely accepted and outlasting the other.
Could it be that the subject of money has no right or wrong?
Unlike physics, chemistry, mathematics or even literature, there is no absolution as to how one should view money.
Money is a man-made tool unlike gravity, it creates its own rules.
It does not extinguish with a "pop" like a glowing splint in hydrogen.
Its behavior can only be perceived and proven by time alone. Constant variables produces variable results.
Though mathematics is closest to the subject of money, money sometimes defies 1+1=2.
Input does not necessarily equals to output.
$100,000 X 10 years in a real estate does not equals to $100,000 X 10 years in another real estate.
There is no universal rule with regards to money. Everybody plays by the rule they are comfortable with.
The winners are those with everything thing they want in life.
The losers are whiners who complaint that they don't have enough.
If that is the rule of money, then, the objective of playing the money game is to have as much money as possible without sacrificing pleasure.
With this objective, one can devise the strategy to play the game.
Laws are man-made tools written to govern other man-made tools.
It can be bent, and sometimes broken. It can also be re-written to benefit those who wrote it.
Laws undergo revolution just like dynasties. Revolution do come, but it takes time. Why? Because the rule of money need time to be verified for its effectiveness.
To quote that book, we started off as "cave men" in the Hunter-Gatherer Age, to the Agrarian Age, to Industrial Age and to today's Information Age.
I observe that the time lapse between each revolution gets shorter and shorter.
The theoretical explanation could be, more people are educated, more brains to spot the errors in the rules.
Then it dawned on me that the next revolution could be coming up soon, and my generation could be the ones leading it.
The pattern observed in the revolutions was that, with each age, more and more percentile of the population are getting richer.
The number of rich people multiplied like rabbits over the past centuries.
So the bottom line?
Could it be that there's a way to get rich that still eluded those who aren't rich yet?
If getting rich becomes less and less of a privilege and more and more of a Right, what then?
Would it cause a disaster that is unforeseen?
Or would it finally create an Utopia that was so sorely sought after ever since the dawn of civilization?
What if the new rule now is that everyone can get rich?
What would you do if there is such a rule?
Would you find out more the game?
Or would you resist the change so much until you are eradicated by time?
If so many people are becoming rich, does it necessarily mean that the rules they play by are the blue prints of the next revolution?
It comes back to the question, what is right and what is wrong?
If there is no right and there is no wrong, only the best way to survive. What would you do?
Survival instincts are hardwired? Or is it nurtured by our own experiences?
If the ultimate objective in the game of life is to live the dreams, does your strategy of winning involve becoming rich?
If the ultimate goal is to live the dreams, does what you do to get there matter so much even as it conflicts your right and wrong instincts?
If your right and wrong instincts are nurtured by your experiences, who is there to tell you when you are wrong about your experiences?
What if those who tell you that you are wrong, are wrong themselves?
Who is there to tell them they are wrong?
What determines the right to judge?
Is it safe to say: if you want to get to somewhere, ask direction from those who had been there?
If you want to be rich, ask a rich man how.
Would it come down to a point where there is no longer a need for a right or wrong?
It is just what needs to be done to get you where you want to go.
We play the game of life.
We win when we win.
We lose when we die.
If we don't die, we haven't lose.
If we don't win, we will eventually die and lose.
To win is to live the dreams.
No dream comes free. If its free, its not worthwhile.
Rules are written by someone to win his own game.
Choose to play by his rules or write your own rules.
You only get to play the game of life once.
Wealth Tip #2 Faith
This information is taken from Think And Grow Rich written by Napoleon Hill
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FAITH
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FAITH
Visualization Of And Belief In Attainment Of Desire
The emotions of faith, love, and sex are the most powerful of all the major positive emotions.
When the three are blended, they have the effect of "coloring" the vibration of thought in such a way that it instantly reaches the subconscious mind, where it is changed into its spiritual equivalent, the only form that induces a response from Infinite Intelligence.
The method by which one develops faith, where it does not already exist, is extremely difficult to describe, almost as difficult as it would be to describe the color of red to a blind man who has never seen color, and has nothing with which to compare what you describe to him.
Faith is a state of mind which you may develop at will... because it is a state of mind which develops voluntarily, through application and use...
Perhaps the meaning may be made clearer through the following explanation as to the way men sometimes become criminals. Stated in the words of a famous criminologist,
This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally, accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most practical procedure available.
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Millions of people live in poverty not because of some strange force that they have no control over is wrecking them.
They are the creators of their own "misfortunes".
I'm sure many of you would have heard this story before:
You may have grown strong enough to break the ropes before you know it.
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Discussion Pointers
Faith is the head chemist of the mind.
The emotions of faith, love, and sex are the most powerful of all the major positive emotions.
When the three are blended, they have the effect of "coloring" the vibration of thought in such a way that it instantly reaches the subconscious mind, where it is changed into its spiritual equivalent, the only form that induces a response from Infinite Intelligence.
The method by which one develops faith, where it does not already exist, is extremely difficult to describe, almost as difficult as it would be to describe the color of red to a blind man who has never seen color, and has nothing with which to compare what you describe to him.
Faith is a state of mind which you may develop at will... because it is a state of mind which develops voluntarily, through application and use...
Repetition of affirmation of orders to your subconscious mind is the only known method of voluntary development of the emotion of faith.
Perhaps the meaning may be made clearer through the following explanation as to the way men sometimes become criminals. Stated in the words of a famous criminologist,
"When men first came into contact with crime, they abhor it.
If they remain in contact with crime for a time, they become accustomed to it, and endure it.
If they remain in contact with it long enough, they finally embrace it, and become influenced by it."
If they remain in contact with crime for a time, they become accustomed to it, and endure it.
If they remain in contact with it long enough, they finally embrace it, and become influenced by it."
This is the equivalent of saying that any impulse of thought which is repeatedly passed on to the subconscious mind is, finally, accepted and acted upon by the subconscious mind, which proceeds to translate that impulse into its physical equivalent, by the most practical procedure available.
____________________________________________________________________
Millions of people live in poverty not because of some strange force that they have no control over is wrecking them.
They are the creators of their own "misfortunes".
I'm sure many of you would have heard this story before:
When an elephant is still a baby, it is tethered by a very thick rope to a stake firmly hammered into the ground.
It tries several times to get free, but lacks the strength to do so.
After a year, the stake and the rope are still strong enough to keep the small elephant tethered, although it continues to try, unsuccessfully, to get free.
After some time, the animal realizes that the rope is too strong and so it gives up.
When it reaches adulthood, the elephant can still remember how, for a long time, it had failed at trying to escape captivity.
At this stage, the elephant can be tethered with a slender thread tied to a broom handle, and it will not attempt to escape to freedom.
Our mind is the only thing that stands between us and success. It can either aid you or stop you. Have faith in your own abilities.You may have grown strong enough to break the ropes before you know it.
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Discussion Pointers
- Believing that you can do something is all you need to get started.
- Do you believe in the laws of attraction which states that if you keep thinking about something, it will come to you?
- Does having strong thoughts about becoming rich clash with any of your believes? If so, would you mind sharing your believes?
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