Develop Action Plan

“Develop a plan of action and act on your plan. Wishing is not a substitute for action … you must take daily action toward your goal. Remember, success is achieved only by those who try - and keep trying.”

- Napoleon Hill, author of Think And Grow Rich

I am consistently working towards realising my financial goals!

Online Trading

The amazing world of internet has brought about many changes in the way we conduct our lives and our personal business. We can pay our bills online, shop online, bank online and some would even date online!

Since the internet is available 24/7, we can buy and sell stocks online. The ability to look at your account whenever you want to is wonderful. Another advantage of trading online is that fees and commissions are often lower.

If you are new to investing, having the ability to actually speak with a broker or the live help is very beneficial. You must make sure that you learn as much as you can and do paper trade online before you start trading online with real money. This is exactly why I would encourage you to attend previews on investing seminars first to get some understanding. Of course, during the previews, the presenters usually present the seminars in such a way that making money is super easy. If only it is really this easy, why bother working, right!

One of the reasons that I had delayed opening an online trading account is I needed to feel comfortable with my broker. I've recently opened an online trading account a couple of months ago through a colleague's introduction to her broker. As I have never done any online trading before, I was fearful that if I hit the wrong button I might lose money, etc, etc. My broker seems quite helpful and he replies to my smses quite promptly too.

I met him to sign up for an account and also to have a better understanding of how the online system works. I would prefer to have a better understanding in order that I would feel comfortable to start trading online. After going through a brief hands-on, I feel that I am ready to give it a shot online.

Again, online trading is a beautiful thing – but it isn’t for everyone. Practice, practice and more practice using paper trading before you decide to trade online with real money and make sure that you really know what you are doing!

2010 Financial Planning

For 2010, I will be keeping track of my expenses especially the ones using the plastic money (aka credit cards)! Although at the seminars/previews most of the presenters tell you its best to use giro for your settlement of the regular bills and credit cards, I prefer not to as I tend to lose track of my bills once these go on giro. I dont even look at the statement.

Now, I only put those on giro only for those organisations that insist on giro such as CPF Board for the maid's levy.

I also subscribe to credit cards when there are benefits such as discounts or rebates each time you use your credit card. To get rebates from your utilities' bill, I charge this expense to my POSB Everyday card, for an extra 100 free sms from Starhub, I charge the expense to another of my credit cards so as to get both reward points from my credit card and the free sms.

Remember so long as you settle your credit card payment promptly, you can always ask for a waiver of the annual fees. Never ever pay the minimum amount or any amount other than the grand total for the month. It just take once to rollover and you will be facing a high interest from the banks.

Wealth Habits

After almost a year after attending the Wealth Academy workshop, I finally listened to the CDs which were handed to the participants of the Wealth Academy workshop. It's an eye opener for me as prior to attending this course, I would not have had the courage to do any investing at all. After this course, I now know that it is possible to have a passive income in various other forms such as investing, internet marketing, etc.

As in most activities in the real world, investing is risky only if you are not properly equipped with the right information. Similarly driving a car is dangerous if you are not trained as you can get into an accident and even die from it.

In one of the CDs, the top 10 wealth habits are:

1. Do a lot more than what you are expected to do to create value
2. Be proactive - no immediate opportunity, create your own
3. Delayed gratification. Be prepared to invest your time, patience and fund
4. Passion. To succeed, you need to do what you love
5. Continuous and never ending improvement. How can you be better today than yesterday?
6. Commitment - Willing to do whatever it takes by putting yourselves on the line.
7. Integrity - Be responsible and people can trust you and give you their business and partnership.
8. Discipline - have your own set of rules and never break your own rule
9. Play Win-Win - never think of how you can make more at the expense of others.
10. Ability to turn any kind of failure into feedback.