The last Saturday of the year ... I have not been able to sit still ... for at least an hour, to reflect on the year 2012 ... many things happened ... many events ... memories ... pain and joy ... many new people I got to know ... and many more  I have been in-touch ... not being able to appreciate many more meaningful feelings I have gathered ... for one, I am too busy.

Busy is good ... we are getting ourselves occupied, with something that we want to do(at times, just do it ... tho we may not like it) ... inching towards our goals. We are in charge ... and making changes --- improvements in our lives, other peoples lives ... and making it a better world to live in.

It has been 5 years now ... I am into stock-markets. I will always remember how difficult it was when I started from ground-zero. It was very difficult --- lack of capitals ... without knowledge and experiences. Being alone ... trading becoming a great challenge. You lost your way many of times ... and each time you said you are going to 'start over again' ... you lost again. You are emotionally drained ... and the amount of readings could be could be so ... taxing to our limited abilities.

Today ... I should use 2 hours to reflect on my learning-curves. It was a grueling and long journey. My trading was really a looooong adventure. It is still an adventure to me, as I m improving further. Do hope my tratles-group will profit well from the current bull-running ... and I still prefer to move out of KLSE, pending election-fear.

Managing our own personal finances may not be everyone's liking ... but it is essentially important. We are talk about our very own financial situation. I have improved a lot ever since I 'forced' myself to change my mindset --- regarding my financial situation. I have written a post about my personal 'gear-up' in my finances ...


Snipping tool : I learnt how to snip-save-paste last night. Cool tools ... more to learn.

Income : This is one most important level ... entry level. We need to increase our income ... our monthly salary, some extra-incomes, passive incomes ... and our work should be towards our personal goals. If we do not have a financial goal ... start one NOW. Make it a new year resolution to educate ourselves, to be financial savvy ... learning the most important subject that schools/uni will not teach. Think of it ... how do we increase our current income level? How do we exchange our TIME into something valuable ... it is true to say, TIME = MONEY. It may sound money-minded, but ... it doesn't need to be. We just need to use our time properly, to generate values in ourselves. Any little bits that could move ourselves to our personal goals ... financially.

The decision to move back to KL 3 years ago paid off. 2 years ago, I started to have a small trading class for my colleagues ... and it paid off too. A year later, I have my first cohort(trading classes) ... and after a year ... I m having my cohort-8. My cohort-9 will only start end-Jan ... so, I will promote that when the dates confirmed and nearing ... tho I m charging cheaply, I m improving well in my contents, presentations and ... communications.

Expenses : Well ... while we like to increase our incomes, we should maintain or ... reduce our expenses. No doubt that my expenses has increaed, I need to make sure the rate of increase in my income is greater than the rate of increase in the expenses. So, I will have extras ... I will also write down all my expenses, cash out-flow ... to check on my expenses. Which area I could reduce further ... to maintain my frugal living.

Incomes - Expenses = Saving/Debts.

If the 'saving' is in negative, then we are actually have more expenses than our income ... and it is matter of time we will be in debts(credit cards is a common financial-freedom killer). Taking personal-loans for renovations or buying large items(extras) is another bad decision to do. We should not be using more than we could earn ... I have learnt that a painful way ... and was heavily in debts merely 3-4years ago.

What should we do?



Clear off the credit-cards and any personal loans as the interest charged is VERY high. Easier said than done ... right? I have done just that ... I make sure my income increases ... and maintain my 'frugal'(no longer frugal as I wish) living ... the extra money, clear off the credit cards. Clear off the personal-loans ... and I am in the level of clearing more loans in 3-5 years time. I do still have car and housing loans --- hope to clear them too in 3-5 years time. With increase income, reducing expenses ... we have positive cash-flow at the end of month. What should we do with it?

Invest ... grow the savings!!

Well, easier said than done again ... I have been consistently growing my 'trading' accounts. Any extras, I will pump it into my accounts .. growing the amount, and focus in my trades, make many good trading decisions(my stock-watch group who has been with me for a year could be my 'witness'). Next year will be a better year, I believe. With my knowledge and experiences increase as I am ever learning, I do believe I will do much better in years to come. TIME is valuable in investing and trading. We do not go for short punt into those speculative stocks. We aim to maintain consistency. To me, being consistent with a good trading system is the only logical way of trading ... consistently and profits will grow, over the time.



Learning is a process : Do it continuously

Now, another important quadrant I should not ignore is "biz" portion ... and I am moving into that direction too. I know I am not good in marketing, or promoting myself ... but I do believe in doing what I am good in ... teaching Maths ... and now, teaching basic trading. So, these are my two options moving into biz-quadrant. I need to learn many skills before I could venture into these ... human soft-skills which I never develop. I could not say ... I don't know how ... I should say, I will learn how to communicate, learn how to present myself, learn to deal with human ...

Hmm ... actually, when I write ... most of the time, I am writing for my own personal pleasure readings!! That is how I blog ... and it has been that for past 10yrs or so. I started to accept that I do have followers ... I may not be a 'public figure' as some put it ... I am quite sure I will still blog and write about my progress. Those who has been reading my 4-yrs old blog here will understand and see how I grow ... mistakes I have done along the way, challenges ... and changes in me. I have 'evolved' into someone I was not ... financial-mindset changed, yet core values in teaching in tact. I still enjoy blogging ... sharing and teaching some newbies, on how I start .. hoping to inspire some newbies ... and guide them. Yes, a teacher in heart ... and that will remain, I know.

Ok ... last blah-blah for 2012 year. haha.

Moving into www.tratles.net and that will be more 'professionally' written. I will still drop-by here to write whenever I have blah-blah stories to share. All chart-analysis will be in my new site. Visit me there.

Happy New Year ...

TEH