by Helmi Hakim | Jun 14, 2009 | Investment, Miscellaneous, Motivation
There is a Malay proverb that says, “Melentur buloh, biarlah dari rebungnya”…
Translation: “If you want to carve bamboo, carve it from its base”
I firmly believe that, if you want to teach your child something GOOD… you better teach them when they are still YOUNG….this is BECAUSE, when you teach them when they are still young, they will LIVE TO REMEMBER!!! 🙂
One of the things, that, parents NEED to share with your child is, the HABIT OF SAVINGS…
I remember, when I was in primary school, I have this big, big transparent savings tin in my room. My mother gave me $0.50 of pocket money each day, and I will diligently put in $0.10 every day. (that’s 20% savings)
I continue, to do so until it become a habit. A habit which I continue to practice till today…. 🙂
Another habit, which parents need to preach to their child (notice, I use the word preach) is BUY only when you can AFFORD. I realised, while doing fact finding with clients in roadshows, that many youngsters today having credit card debts.
That is not healthy and never it will be healthy….@ 2% interest per month, 24% interest per year…The interest is simply too much… 🙁
Inculcating that habit of “BUY only when you can AFFORD” is extremely crucial…
Okay…Now, you may be telling me….”Helmi, we already know the importance of savings blablabla…….So, what is the best methodology to teach OUR children these good MONEY values….???”
Simple…..Its by preaching….You do it, and they follow.
If you want your child to love reading, you too need to love reading books. You need to show them, prove to them with your actions that you LOVE reading books.
If you want your child to love to eat vegetable, you too need to show your child that you LOVE to eat vegetables. You need to show them, prove to them with your actions that you LOVE eating vegetables.
If you want your child to love to SAVE money and not spend lavishly, you too need to show your child that you LOVE to SAVE money and not spend lavishly. You need to show them, prove to them with your actions that you LOVE to save money and not spend lavishly.
So remember…The way to share with your children GOOD money values is by “preaching” and not by “teaching”….
Show them, lead them as an exemplary model. When you teach, you may be doing the exact opposite. (Example, you watch TV while your child is busy studying)
BUT when you preach, you walk your talk and substantiate your beliefs with actions. Actions speak louder than words.
All the great successful people on earth are great “preachers” and not “teachers”..
Example, Prophet Muhammad SAW, Mahatma Gandhi, Barack Obama…..
So remember….Preach your child of good money values, and they will heed your advice!!! 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Jun 11, 2009 | Insurance, Investment, Miscellaneous
In life, you must always have a plan.
There’s a saying that if you FAIL to PLAN, then you PLAN to FAIL.
If you do not even care to plan, you will then be automatically be part of other people’s plan.
In todays’ context, I will be touching on creating your own financial plan. There are 6 Steps altogether, to build your personal financial plan. 🙂
Step 1- Set Goals and Objectives
What exactly do you want? You want to accumulate money for retirement? You want to accumulate money for your child’s education?
…or simply you want to leave some money for your beloved spouse and children, in case you go to heaven the next day?
Identify and segregate your goals, into SHORT TERM goals, MEDIUM TERM goals and LONG TERM goals! 🙂
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Step 2- Gather Data
Before you go to war, you need to know what weapons, do you have… the number of soldiers available and more relevant information.
Similarly,when you want to devise your own personal financial plan, you need to take stock of yourself financially. Where are you now?
Create your own net worth statement and cashflow statement.
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Step 3- Analyse and find solutions
So…you have consolidate your financial data into relevant structures like networth statement and cashflow statement? It is time for you to interpret them.
Benchmark it to your goals. How far off you are from your goals? What are the solutions and alternatives involved? 🙂
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Step 4- Recommendations
Out of the solutions and alternatives, CHOOSE the best one, most suitable for you. If you are super risk averse, investing in funds, will not be an option for you. You will love super safe, guaranteed endowment plans.
Relatively, if you are the gung ho and dare to take calculated risks, investing in funds will APPEAL to you. You may view, the returns from endowment plans as too little.
CHOOSE the best options for yourself.
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Step 5- Implementing Strategies
After deciding, which strategies suit you most, it is time to IMPLEMENT them.
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Step 6- Follow Up and Annual Reviews.
Every year, there will be changes in your family. Perhaps, if you are single, you may be getting married. If you are married, you may now have a newborn child. If you are working, you may now be enjoying a pay raise.
So, it is therefore, crucial for you to do an annualized review on your financial plan. What needs to be changed? What needs to be removed or add on?
Btw, if you need any help in the construction of your financial plan, you can always call me, Helmi Hakim at 96520134, for me to assist you in the creation and development of your financial plan. See ya! 🙂 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Jun 8, 2009 | Miscellaneous, Motivation
Last month, I went for Accelerated NLP Practitioner Certification Course, feeling so refreshed and FULFILLED as ever.
NLP also known as Neuro Linguistic Programming is a science to model the patterns of excellence of others.
I will be using it, to model the TOP 50 CLEO bachelors in Singapore (jokin) 🙂, to model TOP financial consultants in Singapore, and also subsequently to model TOP investors in the whole world.
I will not explain in detail, the holistic context of NLP here. You can google it, to find out more.
In every seminar, you will learn a lot of NEW things. Sometimes, you get OVERWHELMED.
I am, the type who try to take just one POWERFUL idea and APPLY it immediately! Yes, things CHANGED for the better when you APPLY, not just when you learn.
You know, for these few months, I have been grappling with the idea on leading a successful life.
…Leading a successful life…..and leading a balanced life.
Balanced life…………Successful life…..
Can we have both? I get lost along the way…:(
A powerful lesson, I learn from the course is that YOU WILL NEVER ACHIEVE ANYTHING GREAT IN LIFE,IF YOU ARE BALANCED.
There is no balance in life.
Its integration, INTEGRATION in life that we must have.
Everybody needs, NEEDS to support you!!!
Take a look, at Barack Obama. His wife, Michelle Obama, is always by his side, in his ups and downs.
Take a look, at Dr Mahathir Mohamed, former prime minister of Malaysia. His wife,Siti Hasmah, stands thick and thin, travelling all over the world, in support for her husband. Her husband spent countless hours at night, reading to save his country.
Take a look, at even our very own Prime Minister, Mr Lee Hsing Loong. His wife, Ho Chin,step down from Temasek Holdings, so that she can provide that additional support that her husband needs.
All these icons, are extremely successful people.
Like what is best said, behind a successful man, lies an intelligent woman. (Notice that I bold the word intelligent, because some naive women do screw their man…lolz) 🙂
If you are a husband to your wife, a boyfriend to your girlfriend, take out a piece of paper and draft out your life plan. I realized, for a relationship to work out well, what is really needed is SHARED VISION.
SHARED VISION….That’s the keyword.
Your wife, your girlfriend, should support you working 14, 15 hours a day, in your pursuit to achieve that success you desire. You “sacrifice” in a happy manner, because the “rewards” to be shared is very, very sweet. Your rewards taste sweet and the “sacrifice” tastes BETTER!
I have a lot to share, yet in this article, I will just like to clear that notion of a balance life….If you act like everybody, you will become like everybody.
If you act like somebody, you will become like somebody. Be different. Dont follow the crowd. Lead an INTEGRATED LIFESTYLE!!! 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Jun 8, 2009 | Insurance, Investment, Miscellaneous
A recent survey by OCBC bank found that 6 out of 10 parents save only up to $40,000, when planning for their child’s tertiary education.
This statistic is NOT SURPRISING.
During the fact finding process I’ve done for my clients, I analyzed that many have a number of endowments or investment linked plans and they feel contented….. with what they have….without realizing their shortfall.
If you have a 10 year old child, who intends to go to a local university like NUS,SMU or NTU in the future, he will need at least $84,000. If he CHOOSES to study abroad, the amount will snowballed.
I will not indulge in an open discussion on best methdologies one should adopt to accumulate their child’s education funds’, because every individual has their own risk profile. You can contact me personally, for a non obligatory discussion in my office.
What I am trying to bring about here, is the awareness of knowing what plans you have and how it will impact you. Hiding behind that contentment, “I already have savings for my child’s education” wont help, if really, the projected amount for that upcoming years is relatively inadequate.
Start planning now! Your child’s future is in your hand! 🙂
by Helmi Hakim | Jun 7, 2009 | Miscellaneous, Motivation
I can be a poet at times. 🙂
If you are my clients, you may realised that my presentation can be quite melodic at times….because most of the stuffs, I have rattled out for thousands and thousands of times….
As I scurry back the notes, that I have done thus far, I chanced upon, a poem that I created last year, and used to recite it when, I am feeling down….Presenting….
………………………………………………………………………………….
As the cloud of uncertainty crept through your heart
that symbolic tint of doubt moisten in your soul
tell yourself, my friend
that… the fight has just begun
As others criticize you, when you clamber the ladder of success
question you, as if every single step you take is wrong
tell yourself, my friend
that… the fight has just begun
The fight to be the best
The fight to be No.1
The fight for every dominant soul to give the best to the society
…must continue
Every fall is another step forward
Every sprint is another leapt onwards
Every barrier is meant to be a breakthrough
Every endeavor will lead to your success
Every sales will be a close
Oh yes…my friend…
The fight has just begun….
You will climb mountains
You will trudge hills
You will swim oceans, dive seas
if that is needed, to pull it through.
No one… no one can EVER deny you of
the opportunity to be courageous
to be focus
to be decisive
in your valiant attempt to be the number 1 in the industry..
The fight, indeed has just begun…
by Helmi Hakim | Jun 7, 2009 | Miscellaneous, Motivation
I felt strange yet happy that, these days, people have been recommending me, a lot of GOOD stuffs.
One of it, are reading materials….and out of the many reading materials recommended, one that is prominent, one that stood out, titled, “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari”. 🙂
In any book, you read, there are plenty of gems, READY to be picked up. I am going to offer you one of the gems in this book which literally reinforce, what I already believed, in a form of analogies.
Analogies sparks that creative side of people and propelled the presume impossibility to be made POSSIBLE!
One of the best analogy in the book is a comparison of a beautiful garden that you owned, with your mind…
If you owned a beautiful garden, what will you do to it?
Of course, you will take care of the garden. 🙂
You will look after the garden….and definitely, you will never, ever let, people to THROW TOXIC WASTE IN YOUR GARDEN!
Good gardeners will guard that garden with their life and make certain that no contamination enters.
Yet, in our daily life, count in how many times, WE ALLOWED NEGATIVE THOUGHTS TO DISEMPOWER US TO THE MIGHTY POSSIBLE?
How many times, we allowed that CYNICAL LAUGH, dominate our thoughts,when one suggests to us of SOMETHING GREAT IS ABOUT TO BE ACCOMPLISHED?
To some, it is “normal” to indulge in an act of impoverished thinking. To me, that is simplistically PATHETIC.
In this book, I learnt that to live life to the fullest, you must stand guard at the gate of your garden and let only the very best information enter.
You truly cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought-not even one. Choose your friends properly, and create that environment that stays positive with you.
So guys….stay positive, think positive and act positive!!! 🙂
