Good morning to a new year ... a new chapter.

A fresh new start ... sold most of my counters including my blue-chips (GenM, CIMB, Tenaga, Maybank, PChem ... ). Sold so so many as I bought them some time ago. What a start for 2015 ...


10 things rich people know that you don't by Jocelyn Black Hodes

"People don't become wealthy by accident, here's how they do it"

As a financial adviser, I have occasionally found myself feeling envious of certain clients. Not because of their wealth - but because they were disciplined and determined enough to do all the right things that enabled them to accumulate their wealth and, in many cases, retire early. Despite my expertise, I, like a lot of people, sometimes struggle not to do the wrong things that make being rich, let alone retiring at all, a pipe dream.

TEH : I was very determined to get out of debt ... getting out of the E-quadrant and I started late ... when I was 40. Today ... I am 48. I have got out of debt. I have left the E-quadrant. But ... I think it is not the age, it is never too late to start. Just be disciplined and determined.

Financially responsible and successful people don't build their wealth by accident - or overnight. Becoming rich takes serious willpower and long-term vision. You have to be able to keep your eye on the prize of financial freedom, be willing to sacrifice your present wants for the sake of your future and develop good habits to win.

TEH : Willpower must come from passion ... and commitment. When I started trading KLSE exactly 6 years ago, I told myself I must learn and learn ... and to find the time, I have to sacrifice my present. I dropped all TV/movies ... I quit bowling and games ... I read more and more about good-financial habits ... and more self-help motivational clips/books/articles.

Here are 10 habits you can start putting into practice now.

1. Start Early

2. Automate

3. Maximise contribution

4. Never carry credit cards balances

5. Live like you are poor

6. Avoid temptation

7. Be goal-oriented

8. Get educated

9. Diversify your portfolio

10. Spend money to make money

Well ... going through the list, I have a few but lacking in a few.

1. I did not start early ... I started rather late at age 40. So, if you are below 30 ... do start to learn about personal-finances. Start early!

2. Yes ... after a while, after doing many times and repeated them in daily basis, many things becoming automated. In my case, teaching Math ... I do not use brain much for it. And trading ... it is becoming a nature now but I still learning to control the machine-in-me.

3. Maximising our contribution to our financial-goal ... earn more, spend less ... save and save ... to invest. Maximising contribution could means ... our energy too. So, in my case ... I believe in the environment factor.

4. I do clear them all by end of month. If one has credit-card debt, stop using them. Ok ... it is easier said than done. I have 3 credit-cards ... all in huge-debt merely 4 years ago. So ... I tried to pay maximum the amount to clear the debt(think of the 15%-18% interest!) ... so, I m very frugal ... I monitor my spending and getting very discipline to clear my credit-card debt ... I managed to clear all of them 2-3 year ago. Live within our means.

5. I am not rich(yet) ... I am no longer in debt, I m doing better now. Still I do want to maintain my frugal living. I noticed that I have been spending on food(dining too) ... so, I will want to reduce it by 30% this year, 2015.

6. Arrghh ... perhaps my temptation are on food, books and AV items. So, I will try to avoid that? Ok, I will put a budget RM200 for books/magz for a month, not more than that. As mentioned above, I will reduce the spending on food ... and only allow myself to buy a Klipsch's headphone this year for my b-day gift.

7. Yes ... setting goals are important. My goal for this year ... write it down and work on that direction.

8. Being educated doesn't mean our Masters or PhD. It simply means ... learning new skills and increase our knowledge. In my doings, to learn to trade better ... manage the funds better and such. Well, I could certainly improve ... and I m educating myself more. If we want to trade or invest, we need to get ourselves educated. Nothing comes easy.

9. Over-diversify has been my main issue in trading stocks. So, for 2015 ... I will be focused, not diversifying. What it meant here is actually to have our funds in different assets forms ... property, stocks, REITS ... I am a non-believer in unit-trust or mutual funds.

10. Yes ... I do spend money .. to learn how to make more money. Learning to trade, for example. Buying books ... attending courses, subscribe to some financial portals(icapital, shareinvestor) ... and recently I subscribed to a trading-tool. I have even subscribed to Robin Sharma's e-learning(about motivational). So ... I am spending few hundreds per month, just to learn to earn more money? This is something average and normal people do not understand.

This is my first article I read for a new 2015.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-habits-of-high-net-worth-women-2014-07-02

Do read these type of articles ... listen to these type of clips and spend time to read some books. That is how I changed my mindset ... from financially totally broke(merely 4 years ago) to positive average category. In coming 3-5 years, I will move a notch higher ... those very old readers(3-5 years here) will know how I m still moving ...

Happy New Year ... :)

TEH