Some Warren Buffet Responds...

What does it take to become a successful investor? Brilliance or Smartness?

Neither, Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that gets other people into trouble in investing.

When do you decide to invest in a firm?

The best thing that happens to us is when a great company gets into temporary trouble. We want to buy them when they're on the operating table. (Mr. Buffett bought Coke when it had its biggest fiasco after
launching New Coke; he bought American Express when it went through a loss making phase in the early 60's.

Why do stock market crashes happen?

Because of human nature for greed and insecurity. The 1970s were unbelievable. The world wasn't going to end, but businesses were being given away. Human nature has not changed. People will always behave in a manic-depressive way over time. They will offer great values to you."

I think it is marvelous that you have had a golden run with investing, how did you do that?

My rule is to be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.
Besides, I call investing the greatest job in the world because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate; the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! And nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it. Stay dispassionate and be patient. You're dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it's like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with drinking Coke, you should be OK. First the crowd is boozy on optimism and buying every new issue in sight. The next moment it is boozy on pessimism, buying gold bars and predicting another Great Depression, most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can't buy what is popular and do well.

Your EPF Accounts

The EPF is a good source of savings and investment fund. The current EPF account #1 amount is 70% of the contribution. This account is for 2 purposes, namely investment and withdrawal at age 55. You can either use it to invest in approved Unit Trusts or approved Shares in Malaysia. You can start to invest as early as at the age of 18 years old, if you have sufficient funds in your account #1 (min. RM 6,000 for age 18).

The EPF account #2 amount is 30% of your contribution and is for the other purposes like education, housing, and medical, and full withdrawal at age 50.

Portfolio Combinations

This is an example of investment portfolio combinations. It shows the relationships between level of risks and expected returns that an investor is willing to take.

When Time Is On Your Side????? - Final

Your Investments After Death
It's hard to think of investments as such after you pass away. However, several investment vehicles don't really begin to pay off until after you're gone. For example, insurance, will and trusts are three investments that are often set up not for your lifetime, but for your heirs.

So, Is time really on your side? What are going to do about it?

When Time Is On Your Side??? - Part 4

Are you ready for this? Well, you can ignore this but it doesn't go away. Face it and prepare for it NOW.

Retiring in Comfort
The time you've waited for is finally here--retirement! You're at the age where you should be enjoying more leisure time than stress time. This is when you may sell your home and downsize or move to a different locale altogether. Maybe your vacation getaway home will now become your year-round place. You may choose to continue working in some capacity if you have your own business or, if you can, do part-time consulting work. Perhaps you'll set your sights on a new line of work you always wanted to get into or volunteer your time for a cause you find especially meaningful. Whatever it is you do, the main point of investing for your retirement is that you have a choice. The worse-case scenario is to be forced to continue working during your retirement years simply to make ends meet and hating every minute of it.

When Time Is On Your Side?? - Part 3

Almost Ready to Retire


There may come a point in your life when the only goal you're investing for is your retirement. Your kids and maybe grandkids have gotten through college, your home is paid off and you have made preparations to pass along your wealth to your heirs when you're gone. You're starting to think about days spent playing golf or tennis, traveling, volunteering, or maybe writing that bestseller you know you have in you. You feel your working days, as you know them, are coming to a close.

Of course, hopefully, you followed our advice and haven't neglected investing for your retirement. While we understand that it may not have always been your only investment focus or even your most immediate one at times, how well you did with your retirement investing will determine whether you can afford to take any investment risks at all at this point. At this point, time is most definitely not on your side in terms of investing. As a matter of fact, if you've been really negligent about saving for your retirement, no amount of investing, safe or risky, will make up for the years lost. Unless you win the lottery, if you find yourself in this position, you may have to adjust your retirement goals accordingly, including postponing your retirement.

That being said, whatever your situation, at this stage of the game you should put as much as possible away toward your retirement. Your investments will necessarily be of the less risky variety since you don't have the time to make up for losses and the ups and downs of certain investment markets.

When Time Is On Your Side - Part 2

This is the part 2 sharing of the second stage of life. It is to tickle your mind, emotions and urgency in your life and finanacial planning.

Midlife Age or Stage
Your midlife years--just where this time period is in your life is based on more than age alone. It differs based on the stage of your life as well. Usually though, the middle years are after you've been out of college for a few years, maybe you're married and maybe you have a family too. You may have already bought at least one home or you're at least thinking about it. If you want to look at your midlife years from a strictly numerical point of view, you're generally looking at anywhere from your late thirties through your fifties.

Of course, you may technically be in your midlife years age-wise, but not stage-wise. It is not uncommon for many people to be starting families when they're over forty or at the opposite end of the spectrum, trying to retire when they're fifty. Based on where you are in middle years, you'll need to tailor your investments to fit your needs. If you're investing strictly for retirement or for your heirs, you're still at the point where you can take some risks to get a higher return on your investment. However, since you no longer have the luxury of youth on your side, the time lost means you must challenge your saving mindset, tempering some of your risk to make up for the loss of both the compounded interest and the time needed to ride the ups and downs inherent in any investment.

This time of life also brings other more immediate concerns into play for most people. Purchasing a home and paying for college are the two investment biggies for most people in the middle stage of their life. In addition, marriage, children, divorce, remarriage and changing a career are events that influence your investment ability. Ironically, these are years where your financial responsibilities are most likely to be at their highest level, leaving you with little to spare for investment purposes, while these are the most critical years for making the investments that will shape both your and your family's lives in the future.

The final stage will be discussed soon.

Quote of the Day

The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own. -- Benjamin Disraeli

When Time Is On Your Side - Part 1

Investing when time is on your side is the absolutely best time to achieve your life's dreams and goals. It can mean the difference between an easy or difficult path your life will take. And while it may be the time in your life when you have the least amount of money, the time factor more than makes up for that. The miracle of compounding interest--a fundamental theme that runs through financial planning--can take a seemingly inconsequential investment and turn it into a major nest egg.

Another factor in your favor during the younger part of your life is that you can afford to take more risks--you can invest in riskier, and therefore higher yielding, investments, simply because you have the time to recoup your losses elsewhere if your investment goes bust. Again, this potentially greater return makes the most out of investing even small sums.

Sounds great, doesn't it? There's only one problem--the large majority of people at this point in their lives don't bother investing at all! They're too busy spending everything they make because they're "too young" to worry about investing. After all they're just starting to live--making and spending their own money--and they can barely make ends meet whether they're earning RM20,000 or over RM100,000 annually.

Remember, try your hardest to invest something, no matter how small it may seem, into the vehicle of your choice when time is on your side. The one thing we can promise you is that before you know it, you'll find yourself in the middle stage of your life.

Presence in Time

Presence is the moment of time that one give 100% attention to someone one is with. This means that one mind does not wander into the future nor dwell into something happened in the past. At such, the quality of one life, relationship, work, and business can be affected if one is lack of being present when one participate in these events. One must be mindful, pay attention to it and practice it to have an enjoyable and wonderful life.

CHANGING THE WORLD

CHANGING THE WORLD

When I was a young man, I want to change the world.
I found it difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn’t change the nation. I began to focus on my own town I couldn’t change the town and as an old man, I tried to change the family.

Now as an old man, I realized the only thing that I can change is myself. And suddenly I realized that, if long ago had I changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
My family and I could have made an impact on our own town.
Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

Life Time Wealth

Life=Time=Wealth

Life, time, and wealth are interlinked sequentially. Wealth is the result of the time one used to exchange for; and time is one has at the very moment one is born and started to live on the earth. At such, the amount of wealth is very much depends on how wisely one spend or exchange time for.