INVESTMENT MADE PERSONAL
Nowadays, with the advent of new superb ICT gadgets and new discoveries in science, the present principle of knowledge and way of thinking need to be dynamic. Personally, I believe there are pro and con to this new development. The good part of new technology is that it helps to resolve certain technical problems and save a lot of time in doing things. But the bad part of technology is that it inflicts a hidden cost and unforeseen implications to the society and nature, whenever it is misused.
Development in ICT industries are now going rapidly. Moreover, we lived in a materialistic world, plus full of gratification and it is continuously fueled by a monetary system of man-made design. Now and then, we see so many advertisements all around us. Some are sending by text messages through hand phones, commercial broadcast or channel in television, pop up screen on computer or laptop and so on, tempting us to spend more money. The youngsters are the easiest victim to be lured by these advertisements. And all such spending comes at the expense of their parent’s money. Perhaps, we as parent should teach our children to save and invest their money and spend wisely, as early as possible. If we didn’t manage it during our young days, we shouldn’t repeat the same mistake with our children.
The idea of “Save & Invest” is not something new. The practice actually has been made known even before our great grandparent’s time, but in a simply way. It goes even before the early banking institution were first established, far back in time when coinage was first used as a medium of exchange in Greek civilization between the 5th and 6th century BC.
Back to this modern era of the 21st century, where everything and anything could be globalized, where we have superb financial and technical analysis system, and yet we still see and hear news of bankrupt millionaires and fallen corporations such as LeeMan Brothers. All of such failures were due to one thing – lack of inner discipline and greed.
Many of us lack the discipline to save our monthly income and invest it into a financial portfolio that gives profitable returns. Saving money in a bank account alone doesn’t help much in generating sufficient returns due to its low interest rate and eventually diminish by inflation. Doing saving itself is only 10% of the effort in our journey to financial freedom. The other 90% of our effort lies within our choices of investment and expenditure (spending). If we fail the first effort of 10%, would you think we can manage the next 90%? The only one person who can answer that is yourself. Because of that, I would say, “The best advisor on wealth management is YOURSELF...!” There is no other person who knows in its entirety about one’s financial commitment apart from yourself and your spouse.
I’m not an economist, either an expert in financial investment. So, I would put this idea of “Save & Invest” in a simple term. The idea is not just about building wealth, it is about our life and being a better person as a whole.
“Save & Invest”
Let’s assume that your children could save about RM600/- every year or RM50/- every month. The interest rate is estimated at 8% per annum. If you start for your children’s saving early at age zero, then after 21 years your children’s saving would have accumulated to RM32,674.05 With that amount of money today, your children would have no problem to settle their study’s fee in college or university. Thus, they have no need to apply for any education loans or even to worry later about repayment of the loan. But if you start at a much later stage, then you may need to put up extra effort on saving, to catch up for the lost of time.
“True wealth, lies within us all...!”
