July

Havent had the time to update the blog about our trip yet. Been really busy with work since we got back from our break in Penang. This is my schedule for July:

Kch-Sibu-Kch-Miri-Labuan-KK-Kch-JB-Kch

Basically, I'll be in Kch for 2 weeks in July only. 3 days in Sibu for Fanny and Gabriel's wedding. About a week each in Labuan and JB for work!!

Debra Jill ... if u're reading this... start planning our dates!

Can't Believe It's April

The months are passing by so fast! Work has been more and more hectic, due to more and more responsibilities. Deadlines, Projects, Audits, and I'm not going to mention anymore. On a positive note, it'll soon be time for our break. Am so excited!!! We're heading up to Penang to visit Sue (and make use of her free accommodation before she graduates and return back to Kuching).

Anyway, the other day I had a short conversation with my GM while he was in another manager's office. I so happened to walk pass and he shouted from inside:

GM: Siaw jie, do you want to go to India with me?
Me: Are you kidding me?
GM: No for real
Me: For what?
GM: To check out the corn that they are loading into the vessel.
Me: For real?!?
GM: I've been trying not to go but the purchaser insist that we make at least 1 trip there.
Me: No problem for me. I've never been to India.
GM: No problem with your passport etc?
Me: Nope.
GM: Ok, I'll try to schedule a time for us to go! Sometime May/June. At least if we die, we'll die together.

Then again, I never thought I would have a chance to go to INDIA (of all places) that would be sponsored by the company. Not sure whether to get my hopes up or what. Am I suppose to look forward to going to India??? HAHAHA... let's see how it goes. Maybe boss will decide not to go again.

Oh btw, Sushi King's having their RM2 bonanza this month!!! (That's what it says on my sushi king table calender...hahaha). Yes totally random.

10 random things on my computer desk:
1. Sushi King table calender
2. Walkers cheese and onion (flown from UK by Malaysia Airlines)
3. An empty tin of Japanese Ichigo Milk Drop
4. Silky Brown colour nail polish
5. Alvin's G-shock watch
6. Nail buffer
7. Nail clipper
8. Air-con remote
9. A scrub shirt
10. Laptop cooler pad

Financial Planning Tip #1

Tip #1 - Did you PYF?

Have you ever thought of saving money, but when the end of the month comes, you are left with a single digit dollar amount in your account? Whether you are a salaried worker, commissioned worker or a businessman, the most and very basic foundation in personal financing is something so simple yet underestimated by many. Something that has to be habitual or else any other financial plans that you do, you can throw them out the window. Savings.

If I were to show you 2 formulas:-

• (1) INCOME - EXPENSES = SAVINGS
• (2) INCOME - SAVINGS = EXPENSES

Which formula do you fall into? (1) where you pay your telephone bills, gas, food, rent, entertainment etc, then whatever is left for the month you keep it as "savings". Or (2) where you leave aside some money first above anything else, then pay your bills?

PYF - Pay Yourself First (Inspired by Mr K.)

definition:- A way of saving by putting you, yourself as a priority to be paid first before paying anything else. Usually a % of your income salary.

You earned the money, you deserve to be paid first. Not your insurance company, not your phone service provider, not SESCO or LAKU, not Telekom. It's a way of discipline, a worthwhile and fulfilling one at that. It is what the title is. It is the ultimate way to SAVE MONEY. Every aspect of financial planning basics revolves around savings. Retirement, insurance, tax planning, investments or even estate planning. Pay yourself first above anything else, including debts (car, house, credit card loans), food, rent, entertainment, fuel, etc.

Whether it's putting 10%, 20% or 30% of your salary aside would depend much on your situation, debts, age, marital status, geographical area, spending pattern, living standards, and most importantly salary level You should put a percentage that is comfortable for you. At least by the end of the day, you saved something! Here are a couple of things that you can do to help:-

1. Use 2 separate bank accounts, where 1 of which is your money saving pool.
2. Once collected a decent amount, do something with it, either put them in an investment vehicle or at least locking it into a fixed D.
3. Not advisable to keep an ATM card for the bank account that holds your savings.
4. If by the end of the day, you find yourself not having enough money to spend, you know you've spent too much. Or revise the savings % ratio again for next month to a more comfortable level.
5. Set a "reward target" for yourself; eg. for every RM 4000 savings that you hit, you're going to treat yourself to a nice electronic gadget.

For working youths, saving more money is just as important as earning more of them. Avoid debts and monthly payment obligations as often as you can to gain financial freedom. If debts cover more than 50% of your net take home salary, you know you need some help in debt planning.

Frustrated and Confused

I always knew what I wanted,
Since the first day I stepped foot into GCS,
No, it was not about the money,
More of a good job,
And experience? Maybe.

But after eight months of highs and lows,
I felt so lost for the first time,
Questioning and doubting myself,
He also saw it in my eyes.

I felt so frustrated,
Confused.

I fought hard to get back on track,
I knew what I wanted,
I knew what I needed to do,
He was happy, but undeniably concerned.

He told me not to get too involved,
This was so unlike him,
Again, confused.
Does he really want me to progress?

And just yesterday,
He stepped down from his position,
My future just became blurrier,
The seas just got rougher.

The other told me to wait for February,
Be patient as the tough times will pass,
Everything will soon be sunny.

Just be patient.

Or.
Maybe the grass is greener somewhere else?

Happy New Year!

,It's finally the new year, and man it was such a great way to kick off the year (or not!). Looking back, 2009 was an exceptional year, starting my very first official job, Alvin moving to Kuching to work, and definitely, not forgetting to mention the main highlight, the 15m free fall jump I took in Sentosa.

I am not going to bore you with our event log for 2009, just on what we've been up to since Christmas.

Christmas: We attended Christmas midnight mass at Holy Trinity Church, Kenyalang. Mass starts at 11.15pm but we were there at 10pm and no we were not that kiasu just to go there early to get front row seats!! They were having caroling 1 hour before mass. We had a small simple family christmas dinner. I made mashed potatoes and salad. A lot of food for just 5 people!! My mum cooked fried rice, fried chicken and lamb chop. Alvin helped make the mushroom soup.
New Year's Eve: Went out with Brandon, Belle and Huilin for dinner at Sharing Planet. The cabonara that night was over salted, my 2nd time there. Later we decide to head down to travillion to watch the countdown. When we arrived our reaction was "OMG...this ppl aint our crowd at all. They are so YOUNG!!". Anyway, on the way there, we received a msg from Debra. Congratulations to her on her 2nd baby girl, Danielle!! We are so proud of you girl!!

New Year: After watching 4 countdowns at form different pubs/bars, we decide to go back to our favourite Jalan Song and drown ourselves with beer. It was awesome!! No side effects till...

2nd-6th January: until Saturday. We got sick..flu, cough and a bad case of diarrhea !!! And what's worst, I had my company annual dinner that night!!! Did not really enjoy myself but tried my best. Theme was Wild Wild West. The picture below is currently the only pic i have of that night...need to get the rest from my GCS Ah Kong. I look so drowsy. hahah..

Happy new year everyone! And hope it'll be a fruitful one =).

Introducing Kaypoh...

Since I only started working in March, I get 12 days of annual leave. I barely can finish them...and am using the rest of my 3.5days this month. Taking every Monday off..so I only need to work 3.5 days every week till the end of the year! yay! Did not even take any sick leave this year either.

So, now I'm sitting at home...waiting for lunch time. Will be going on a date with grandma and Alvin. In the meantime, I want to introduce our adorable and smexy cat, Kaypoh. She's been with us for the past 1 year. She's getting more and more mischievous day by day, catching rats, birds, bugs, lizards, climbing up and down.

The other day, Kaypoh ran away with her new found toy, a male cat. I was so sad, calling her name out every hour from my window, hoping that she was just lost and couldn't find her way home. Alvin even took the liberty to shake her food container outside the house (she knows its cat food in the container and she'll run towards the sound wherever she is).

Well, she came back the next day!! And when the male cat came near her she chased him away. You go girl!! Must have been a terrible date... We love you Kaypoh!!

November

How'd I wish it snowed . . .

But then it would be quite ma-fan to do anything. Would be dead-cold, wet and dark. So.. nah..

The month of November was a roller-coaster ride with so many things happening. No kidding. But the month ended nicely with a nice surprise planned by Jessica. Thanks baby =)

Here's a picture of me being stressed out in one of our gazzilion meetings. People play sports, go out, bang their heads when they're stressed out. Not me, I pick my nose when I'm feelings stressed. =_=". Nice face angle of me I guess.

Attended Dew's wedding, which was nice, although didn't really get to talk to her, but it was ok.

May Hui was there too. So it was the 3 of us.

Some people say I post too many words in my posts. =.=... So I'm keeping things simple. It's a 20 to 1 words to picture ratio. 20 words, 1 picture. o_o.....

We don't celebrate it. No one does... except for the Americans, and Canadians.. I think.. I'm not sure..don't care... Thanksgiving. I'm not an American, but I do like the idea of it. Haha

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ROSSIE SIS!

How nice to have a time and season to say thanks to things around you that you should be grateful for. Although critics said you should do that everyday. So... screw you if you say you only can take part in the celebration if you're American.

• I'm thankful for things that I don't have. If I have everything, I wouldn't be thankful for anything.
• I'm thankful for Jay-Jay and Ian Hitz Morning Crew for making my drive to office every morning less of a drag.
• I'm thankful for Airasia. For making flying cheap for everyone. o_o.....
• I'm thankful for the love of my life, Tania.... you have no idea how much I do love you.
• I'm thankful for my colleagues and ex-colleagues, for making work querky and not so boring.
• I'm thankful for all my friends and family FOR EVERYTHING.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU SAY I CANT CELEBRATE IT. BLUEK!

Cheers!

What I actually do

A familiar scenario de'javu-ed one too many times

Someone: So where are you working?

Me: In an investment bank.

Someone: Ohh . . . . where? Public Bank? HSBC?

Me: Investment bank . . . .

Someone: . . . . . . your bank's credit card facilities good ah? . . .

Me: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Someone: erm . . . loans?

Pieces fall where they may. Not everyone is lucky enough to work as what they envisioned work to be, as they step up the stage getting their certificate during their graduation. Some people may work in places they thought they'd never work in a million years and ended up liking it. I'm one of them...

When we were young, when our brains are still in a naive state, we began to set stereotypes for certain things and occupations, may it be because of the media, teachers, or our own parents. We see an image on how a job should be and never realize the complexity of it. For example, when I was a kid, in my head:-

• Accountants - Nerdy looking people working on a "calculator printer" on one hand, and a pencil on the other fixating on book ledgers.
• Bankers - People sitting in front of the counter counting money. o_o . . .
• Doctors - HORRIBLE PEOPLE TO VISIT
• Lawyers - Crazy people wearing white curly wigs shouting at each other
• Stock brokers - Lots of crazy people shouting at a few other people in a big big hall.

As we grew older, things wouldn't have changed that much on what we think jobs should be like. You would probably think banking and commerce is all about sales, banking products, sales, money, unit trusts, did I mention sales? If you think that way . . .

most probably you're right. HAHA. However, as you go deeper, good banking executives are more complexed that you might think. On top of knowing what the products are, they would always have to update themselves with information that is changing EVERYDAY and how is it affecting the products that they are selling, do their own book-keeping and records, read A LOT about all types of industries because people would expect them to be the jack of all trades when it comes to the economy.

I work in an investment bank, so I am not a commercial banker or a banking executive. The difference is really my company do not promote credit cards, housing or personal loans or current accounts/saving accounts like commercial banks do. Investment banks, they specialize in

• stocks & equities
• futures
• unit trusts
• bonds
• estate & will planning.

I am currently dealing in equities, meaning after getting licensed by Bursa and the Securities Commission, I act as an intermediary to people who trade shares and stocks. I'm in the process of getting my license however and it's taking a long time because of certain complications. With this, clients expect people like us to know everything about everything.

I am still a noob. But I am still trying my best to learn. Dealing in stocks may seem easy, but it's actually not. News Straits Times polls on the top stressful jobs in Malaysia: -

No.1 most stressful job:- Prime Minister of Malaysia

2nd. Doctors

3rd. The chief commissioner of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)

4th. Stockbrokers

5th. School teachers

6th. Attorney generals

7th. The inspector general of police.

Number 4... Along side the anti-corruption commissioner. That's pretty high if I say so myself. Before even entering the real job comes exams, licensing, networking, learning and reading. Then the stress on getting good clients in order for you to at least earn something if you are a remisier, or meet the expectations of your company if you are a paid dealer. Even after you get a hold of a few good clients, comes the part of servicing them. One wrong press of a button and you're in trouble. It brings the term "goods sold are not returnable" to a whole new different level.

• Bought/Sold off the wrong stock?
• Bought/Sold too much of the stock?
• Bought/Sold it to the wrong client ID?
• Misinterpreted what the client said?

THERE IS NO UNDO BUTTON. CTRL-Z?

Apart from being penalized by Bursa Malaysia, the Securities Commission, the company, the client, your boss, sometimes you have to fork out your own bread and butter to solve it. Apart from that, clients would expect you to have a certain level of knowledge on stock picks / economics data / efficiency / technical analysis support / fundamental analysis and whole loads of other things that a stock broker must know in order to make the right decision.

But all in all. I like parts of my job because it's exciting and interesting at times. Anyway, the conclusion to my elaborate statement of my job industry is that, people must not underestimate the value and complexity of certain jobs even though it may seem simple in the outside. I'm sure you readers would understand what I am talking about as well on how other people underestimate the jobs that you are doing. Do they?