I attended my colleague's wedding dinner last night and I was sitting with another colleague of mine, a young guy, who are very much financially-inclined(a finance lecturer-la). Yes, he is very young at age 23 to have such a 'good' financial-brain. Yes, I do admire those young-ones, just graduated and have started to THINK about how to be 'financially independent'. Anyway, the bride and also this young colleague of mine were my cohort-0, my turtles who attended my FA-talk and introduction to stock-market last year. Yes, I do have 7 of them following my very first stock-market and only 2 of them continue(PT and EK) with my current trading batch.

Anyway, I will like to zoom into our interesting conversation about how we could increase our financially sound mindset in order to be financially free, one day.

I have 10 years plan for that. From the point of getting my 'keropok' business, the moment I took the plunge into KLSE(in 2008) and get badly burnt ... to my current teaching of trading. Those who have been following my blog for past 3 years would have seen some leaps in my knowledge and financial knowledge I am acquiring. And more financially inclined people I am meeting ... it is like ... an honour. Yes, I have made myself 'available' for all the financial-gurus and those have made it to share with me their desires and successes. I do make a point to mix with those financially inclined persons.

To begin with, I have read Rich-Dad, Poor-Dad. I will like to encourage those young ones(I started late at the age of 38) to have a good read on these books. It is an eye-opener, especially those science-based persons. Moving ourselves out of the employee and self-employed quandrants ,, and moving into Investment and Business are the way to be in. That is what I have focused at initial stage. I am still struggling to make such a move ... but it is gradual. It is 10-years plan I have I set my mind on. Yes, I am a very determine, passionate and focus person in whatever I want to do well.

Financial independence

From Wikipedia

Financial independence is a term generally used to describe the state of having sufficient personal wealth to live indefinitely without having to work actively for basic necessities. In the case of many individuals whose financial circumstances fit this description, their assets generate income that is greater than their expenses. To illustrate, a person's quarterly expenses may total $4000. They receive dividends from stocks they've previously purchased totaling $5,000 quarterly, while also having an even more substantial amount of money in other assets. Under such circumstances, a person is financially independent.


A person's assets and liabilities are an important factor in determining if they have achieved financial independence. An asset is anything of value that can be liquidated if a person has debt, whereas a liability is related to debt, in that it is the responsibility of one possessing it to provide compensation. (Homes and automobiles with no liens or mortgages are common assets.)


The following are two approaches in achieving financial independence:


1) Gather revenue generating assets until the generated revenue surpasses living/liability expenses.

2) Gather enough liquid assets to then sustain all future living/liability expenses

It does not matter how old or young someone is or how much money they have or make. If they can generate enough money to meet their needs from sources other than their primary occupation, then they have achieved financial independence. Age is potentially irrelevant with respect to financial independence ' if they are 25 years old and their expenses are only $100 per month and they have assets that generate $101 or more per month they have achieved financial independence and they are now free to do things that they enjoy without having to worry about their next meal or a roof over their head. If, on the other hand, they are 50 years old and earn a million dollars a month but still have expenses above a million dollars a month, then they are not financially independent - they still have to generate the difference each month just to stay even.

The above is taken from Wiki, the definition of financial independence. I am still far from that ... with lots of debts/loans such as housing-loans, car-loan, credit-cards, personal-loans and such. Hutang keliling pinggang, they said.

The four quadrants

Employee : The E-quadrant is for the majority. Most of us are employees for a company or an organisation. Just make sure you are the top 20% highest wage-earner. Teaching is NOT int that category and earn you satisfaction without monetary gains. Haha.

Self-Employed : The S-quadrant is important to supplement our incomes, especially you are lower that the average wage-earners in Malaysia. Well, you are not alone ... most teachers and lecturers are in the lower salary category ... so , they have to give tuitions to survive. Work part-time and do work hard ...

Business : If those in business, they will understand the RISKs and EFFORTs needed. It is easier for many to say "I want to be my own boss". Yeah right ... wake-up, 80-90% of businesses could not survive the first 3 years, ok?

Investment : Well, if you are hoping that investing in stock markets could make your money works harder, you are half-right. The word is investing ... but is it that easy? Are you speculating rather than invest? Or are you trading? Do you have the tools, knowledge and such to do well ... in trading?

It is a dream of most of people around to be financially independent. I do not really like day-dreaming. If I want things to happen, I just need to be focused and take actions. I just need to continue to do what is needed, learning from mistakes and failures I am encountering as such ... it is a long journey. I do not believe in short-cuts or get-rich-quick ... and determined to take a step at a time, to place my feet firmly on the ground ... and continue to do what I think I need to do.

Stop dreaming ... new 2012 is here. Make a commitment. Make a promise to YOURSELF. You do not need to tell the whole world your dream as basically, they will splash cold water on you ... especially if they know that you are going to gamble in ... stock markets? You crazy ar ... want to die meh? Sure lose money in market -la ... blah blah ... from these people who have lost much in markets.

Yes, I faced such strong resistances from my family(they are concerned and cared about my beings, actually) ... from friends and colleagues who wont like what I have to share with them about investments(particularly stock-markets). I have always been 'alone' in my blog ... writing here my journey and adventure ... it is still a loooong adventure ... in my quest of financially indepedent, one day.

I will always be here ... I may be extremely busy in coming years, but once I 'resigned' from my full-time job in coming years, I will still write it here. It is my adventure .... where will these take me to? We shall watch ...

OK ... get motivated and continue to learn ... I will continue to share.

Thanks for listening all these while to my mumbling. I do know I have many 'followers' now. I do feel un-comfortable with the attention, actually. *blushed*
TEH