Financial Freedom?

It's been more than a year break from last posting. Obviously things happened during this period of time.

Overcoming personal disappointment incident (something which i had chose not to elaborate and perhaps one of the reasons why i stopped so long) and getting busy with work. There was another life-changing experience which i went through during this period. During May 2012, I went to a seminar which Robert Kiyosaki was the key speaker.

Yes, Robert Kiyosaki, the author of "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". Prior to this, I have heard roughly about this guys and his book. And all along I have some idea of what is financial freedom and passive income. But it was only till I attended his 30min of speech that I felt I finally know what is financial freedom and passive income! And realized that I have been slogging like a middle-class cow for the past 1 decade! I always thought after getting a degree, life is much better compared to the lower income people. But I did not realized that we are still trapped in this rat race as what Robert defined.

I used to say "Working as employee is not the way to go" but I never have a good idea of how to go about. Always felt that doing own business is likely the "correct" way. But how? And never get started.
Obviously, copying exact everything from Robert may not work. However the main concept and idea is there. And property is applicable to Singapore.

I was glad that I pulled my wife along for the seminar. She got "enlightenment" as well during the talk. Now both of us are excited about our new financial freedom journey. I never manage to finish a book in my life, but I was so motivated that I finished the "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" 200+ pages book in 2 weeks.

We got our 1st investment property about 3 months after the talk, and we are in the mid of getting our 2nd investment property. Ironically, we had been looking for a property to stay for past 1+ year without any success.

Attaining financial freedom will still be a challenge. But at least nowadays, I'm less bother about my hectic work. I used to be proud working late nights, last to leave office or get company awards... Not anymore... No more "Best Cow Award" like what my wife like to tease me.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 ahead!

In the last 4~5 months, this is only my 2nd post.
Getting lazier to write something or simplify too busy with my new role?

It has already been 9 months from March since I started on my new Sales role. Occasion travelling to Penang, KL and Bangkok.

My wife had some incident in Nov too which kept me a bit busy.

Nevertheless, hope 2012 will be a good year for me and my family.
Merry Christmas and a Happy 2012 ahead!

Cheers

US Trip (8 - 14Oct 2011)

It's been few months since I last dropped a post.
Not sure if I'm that busy (with new job role) or simply too lazy to write something.

Well... maybe I'm just trying to relax and staying away from my laptop whenever I got free time.
I do have stories to tell. ;)

I just came back from a US business trip. Some internal conference. Looks like work but sometime feels like holidays. :p
There were watching airshow on the cruise in Bay area, iFly, dinners... etc.
Basically team-building and celebration of successes from last year I guess. And alignment for coming year objective.

I realized that nowadays I'm lazy to bring my camera as well... :p

Lastly, I finally got my Krisflyer Gold status for the first time after all these travelling (2x US and 1x Beligium past 12months).

Gearing up...

Been going golf lessons for a while. Just completed my 6th lesson out of the 1o. Well... can now hit a ball with Iron7 with some decent posture (I hope... :p). Just need to be more consistent. Think next few lesson will be taught how to use a driver.

I have also just returned my friend's golf set. Time to get my own ones! haha...
Well, my instructor had "highly recommended" an Iron7 club to me during the 5th lesson. Want to earn my money...? -_-'''
End of the day, I bought the club from him. $125... Never hear about brand too. Kana katoh...?? Anyway... :(

Then I also bought an Iron6 club at a shop at sales price. $10 only! Haha... Callaway some more! Best deal!? haha...
The last few time when I went to driving range, I just brought a few clubs on hand. Looks unprofessional, and I wanted to get a Sunday Bag. So finally got one today! Red TaylorMade Sunday Bag! ;)My wife like the red one... Not cheap though at $77 for a simple bag (Made in China). Now seem to be slightly better equipped... Hmmm... when will I get my own full golf set? ;)

US Trip (30May - 4June 2011)

I was in US for meeting around a month back. The land of potatoes...
Hmmm... meeting...? 50% was team building though... ;p

Go Kart team buildingCycling... Nice scenery...

Also went to Bangkok for a short business trip on 23-24June.

US, Belgium, Malaysia, Thailand... more countries to come...? -_-'''

Bowling - Dying Sport?

Been busy for the last 2-3 months coping with new job role... It's like reliving my earlier time on my previous job role. Long working hours, stress level increase, late nights... plus now more beers and travelling... ha.
Not much time to practice my golf...

Today I found some time to play golf at driving range. After an hour plus of sweating, I went to the nearby bowling alley. Currently still here while I'm writing this... there are a total of 35 lanes, but only 2 lanes are occupied when I reached. I was thinking "nowadays who still play bowling...? People will be playing LAN games, shopping, golfing...etc". Feeling bad for the sport. "It's a dying sport..."

Hmmm... as I sit there for a rest, more and more people actually started to show up... with personal bowling shoes and balls. I might just be really wrong on my shallow judgements. The lanes are about 90% full now... wow.

There is a mixture of youngsters, adults and senior citizens. Those older seem to the ones having the personal equipment. I guess bowling was at the peak during that era...

Belgium Trip (30April - 11May 2011)

I was on business trip to Belgium while my wife joined me for holidays.
Good deal for her... While I worked, she enjoyed...
I extended a few days for leave though.

Places we visited... Brussels, Brugge and Amsterdam...

Brugge, Belgium

Nice tourist spot at Brugge. Scenic with the old buildings...

We had river cruise! Nice!

Night Scene at Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium

Various type of beers

Red Light District, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Live porno show?!? :)~~~

Never catch it though... ear pulled by wife... haha...

Windmill, Zaandam, Netherlands

If we did not went to see the windmills in Netherlands, it's like going gold mine and never pick up the golds... :p

It was a fun trip! My wife enjoyed it most... obviously...

Singapore General Election 2011

Singapore General Election is coming!
Nomination Day will be on 27April 2011 and Polling Day on 7May 2011.
The last GE was in 2006.


This would be my 3rd timing voting if my area is being contested by opposition; which I think likely so.
But unfortunately my wife and I will still be on my Belgium business trip... so will miss it... :(
My wife who has never got the chance to vote before will miss her first opportunity as well... haha. She is disappointed to miss out casting her vital vote. :p

Eventful Weeks (Travel, Dental, Golf)

It has been very eventful in the past few weeks for me... (Well... not the Japan earthquake, tsunami, nuclear issue... but my heart goes to the people suffering)

• Signed up golf lesson for S$600 (10 sessions)


• Had sever toothaches for 3 consecutive nights (cannot sleep!!)


• Visit NDC for few times, one time to remove my dead roots


• Business travel to Shanghai (17-22March; a week after Japan earthquake)


• Business travel to Bangkok (6-8April)

And I'm travelling to Malaysia later for a week! More business travelling in my new job role. I have yet to hand over my existing work though. Later this month, I will be travelling to Belgium too! Bringing my wife along so that she will be happy; she has already been complaining about my recent travelling... So in coming weeks... more travel, dental appointment, golf session...

Crown Lengthening

Crown lengthening... sounds like some royal stuffs?

It's thinning part of your jawbone!! *fainting*

I did not realised it had been 3 years (Jan2008) since I took out my wisdom tooth. The tooth in front of that had been affected before I extracted the wisdom tooth. Probably delayed too long last time; too scared or dun care.

After having pain from the existing tooth (see my earlier Feb post), yesterday I finally went for the surgery... This crown lengthening surgery was suggested so that the gum and bone can get out of the way for tooth filling. This proceeding required removal of part of my jawbone... *fainting again*

I was at the National Dental Centre. The whole surgery took around 1hr20min. I could clearly hear what's going on despite not feeling too much. Cutting... Grinding... Filing!! You would thought it was a technical lesson on wood carving during secondary school!! Damn!!!

So much effort and $$$ to save a tooth huh...
$700+ on the proceeding alone yesterday. Has schedules to go back at least 2 more time.
My wife took half day leave to take care of me; just like last time during wisdom tooth extraction.

I was given 4 day MC... but I will be flying off to Shanghai tomorrow for a few day summit.

Golf

Mentioned in my previous post, I just got a new internal posting/job within my existing company. So I will be dealing with more Sales stuffs in the future.

I was wondering if I will need to play golf with clients and bosses in the future.
Probably it's time to pick up this sport "again"...

Well, the reason why I said "again" is because I tried golf 3~4 years back! Played a couple of times in the driving range... but did not really take off (both interest and the balls! haha)...

Now there seem to be more purposes... for work? And to pick up another sport since getting older?
This time I seem more determined... haha... still too early to judge...
Well, I got myself a glove so that I'm more prepared and motivated... :p
Got my wife a pair as well! Trying to get her to play with me, so that I will not be alone and get motivated when learning it together with more people. Also jio my colleagues...

I was also thinking if I should pay for a course to learn it formally. When you pay, you will learn. Hahaha... Borrowing a golf set from a friend! Act pro... haha...

See how my golf journey goes... Update in few months' time... ;p

New Job Role!

I managed to attain the first change of the year...

New job role within the company! A Sales job which required some travelling around the region.

I have been looking for a new job or changes. Looking forward to the new challenges...
Good or bad... for this case...?

Only time will tell...

Tooth Pain...

During the past few weeks, one of my teeth started to feel a bit of pain...
This is the tooth in front of the wisdom tooth which I took out some time back.

This tooth was previously affected by the wisdom tooth and had decay slightly.
During Nov last year, part of this tooth actually chipped off (cracked). Somehow I lived with it after I went for a temporary fill.

Eventually it caught up with me. The pain was unbearable at times and I had to see a dentist directly after CNY. I was referred to a specialist for detailed examine.

So I saw the specialist at National Dental Centre (NDC) last week. After the checkup, I was scheduled to come back again for extended crowning (surgery... fainting...) and another 3rd session...

Picture tells a thousand words... fainting... :(

Year of Change?

Will this year be a Year of Change for me?

Well... last year I hoped to change a job, be a father and get a condo... nothing was realised.
Will I have better luck this year?

Recently my company had an internal job opening for Sales, I tried but did not get the job.
This probably prompted me again to look for opportunity elsewhere. Seem like I have been on the hunt for nearly 2 years...

The government had also introduced the 4th property cooling measures in 2 years on 14thJan 2011. The previous measures were just implemented on 30Aug 2010. These new rules are to further curb speculations on the property. In a way the new measures may help me a bit since I am not very affected by them. So... does that mean I can get my targeted condo at lesser price?! We shall see...

New property measures...
- Seller Stamp Duty (SSD)
- Year 1 : Changed from 3% of purchase price --> 16%
- Year 2 : Changed from 2% of purchase price --> 12%
- Year 3 : Changed from 1% of purchase price --> 8%
- Year 4 : Changed from 0% of purchase price --> 4%

- Loan-to-Valuation(LTV) for >2nd house with outstanding loans
- At least 30% upfront and 70% loan --> 40% upfront and 60% loan

New job, new home, new dad??!? Hmmm... Hopefully...

KL Trip (28Dec - 1Jan'11)

Happy 2o11!

Last month my wife and I went to KL for a 5-days trip as she needed to clear some annual leaves. We initially planned to go to Bali but the hotels we wanted were not available; ended up going KL.

When my wife first suggested KL (through her ex-colleague recommendation), we realised that we did not go there before despite travelling to other countries previously. Kind of funny. :p
We went by coach.
KL here we come... Staying at Berjaya Times Square. Not every good actually... :(

Krispy Kreme! Something Singapore don't have! I had this at US last time. My wife was demanding to eat it every breakfast during the trip. But unfortunately the shop was closed for some days due to some fire. We ate 3 out of 5 days though. :)

Bukit Bintang... Orchard Road??

Petronas Twin Towers

Ready for countdown...

First ever time count down oversea! In our neighbouring Malaysia! 10...9...8...7...

It's a cheaper tour compared to the other places but my wife did fair bit of shopping, pedicures, manicures, massages...etc.
Where next...? -_-'''

SCM 2010

Few weeks back... SCM2010...

It's the 3rd year I joined the run...? I think so...
This year I "ran" 10km again...
Well... I walked half of the journey. :(
It seem like it got worse everytime I joined. During the 1st time, I trained with my colleague few months before the run. Did not stopped or walked at all (1hr10min?), which I'm pretty proud of. 2nd time, lesser training. Timing worse a bit. This time round... worst... (>1hr30min)

This was my preparation...
- Train for the 1st time 1 week before actual run
- 2 days before have curry fish head and curry mutton for dinner + few glasses of red wine
- Resulted in diarrhea the next day
- The night before run, went to wife's D&D
- After D&D, went home watched soccer on TV till 2am
- Wake up at 630am for the 10km run!

Perfect... -_-'''

Christmas Time at Orchard Road

2 weeks back my wife and I were at Orchard Road to get some Christmas presents for our friends' kids as we going some Christmas party during the festive season.

We were shopping at the "Central".

A different angle (from 6th floor)... Didn't realise that Orchard Road is actually covered by trees.

Night view at ground

We found a new hangout... Heaven's Loft at Central. Not bad... "rooftop" pub overlooking the busy Orchard road... However the live band is only performing on Saturday... and the champagne did not taste that good... :p

We had ice-cream there too!

Btw, all these pictures were taken with my HTC phone. Those dark ones are taken without flash. Overall, the camera on the phone is not that good as compared to iPhone... But I'm not very very disappointed since it's not my number one application.

Merry Christmas! (It's late I know... :p but it's still Sunday)

My new HTC phone... Quietly Brilliant

My old Nokia E71 seem to have some problem with the microphone ... and I have been using this phone for about 2 years I think. Mine is one of the oldest phone in the company as everyone seem to have switched to iPhone...

Every time my colleagues use their iPhone for Internet tethering, I will surely kana suan. :(
"Your old phone can't do this"

So... it's about time to change a new phone! I used my wife's line to renew the contract since mine was renewed about 8~9 months ago for her iPhone3. See... not that I have not exposure to "new" iPhone technology...

Presenting my new phone!
HTC Desire!

Haha... surprise? Not iPhone...

I think I'm the only one in the office to use HTC! Everyone is asking why this phone.

Well... couple of reasons...

- It had the function I wanted... Internet tethering

- HTC sense features seem cool

- Got some feedback on Internet and friends that it's not bad

- Some friends actually owned one (not as many as iPhone of course)

- It's non-iPhone!

Haha... probably the last factor is a major one.

Too many iPhones around. Trying to be special, u might say? Haha... maybe.

So far I like the sms feature, pretty intelligent and cool. Still exploring other stuffs though.

One thing I dun like so far is the battery life; very short. Cannot last a day. Maybe I'm playing too much during this exploration period. See how it goes...

HTC... quietly brilliant... hmmm... interesting. hahaha...

Life... Spice, Sweetness or...?

Feeling a bit down this few days...
Depress over work... or life?
感性?

5.15 odds for Spurs to Beat Arsenal

It's been 17 years since Spurs last beat Arsenal in an away fixture.
This year the bookmakers were sticking with their belief that this record would continue.
Odd was around 1:1+ (fav) for Arsenal to win at home, while 1:5.15 for Spurs to record a win away from White Hart Lane against bitter arch rival.

But at least one person think otherwise! Who? Me!! :)

Spurs eventually beat Arsenal 3-2 at Emirates! It tastes even better especially when we were 0-2 down at half-time! Goals from Bale, Van Der Vaart(pen) and Kaboul in the 2nd half secured a famous comeback!

Now look who's putting $$$ in his mouth!

Come on you Spurs!