Systematic File Management

Every month we will receive utility
bills, bank statements, credit card
statements. Plus the insurance, road tax
receipt, there are too many bills and
statement to be kept for record and
future reference. Sometimes we might even
need to keep the sales receipt for
warranty purposes.

There are different ways to keep those
papers, but the point is how easy to
retrieve them when require? There is no
fix rule on this, it depend very much on
individuals liking. Basically it can be
categorized under Debit & Credit.
Anything that contribute to your net worth
can be filed under the Debit folder.
Monthly expenditure and other expenses
can be filed in Credit Folder.

Debit Folder - Salary & Wages,
Life/Medical Insurance statement,
Investment/Mutual Fund statement

Credit Folder - Credit Card Statement,
Utility Bills

Dedicated folder(s) can be created for
the document related to hire purchase,
fire insurance, home loan, receipt for
warranty.

Don't forget to have a folder to keep all
the documents and receipts that entitle
for tax reliefs such as medical bills,
PC/notebook purchase, books/magazines
receipt. It will ease our life when it
comes to go about filing our personal
income tax returns.

In conclusion, a systematic file management
with the proper filing system, it will not
only give a good image of oneself but it
reduce the time taken to search for a
particular document when it is needed.

Monthly Payment Checklist

I have been using the payment checklist
for more than a year. Initially I thought
of having a list to record all my monthly
expenses, it serves as a reminder to make
sure I always clear off the bills within the
grace period. Usually credit card company
gives 20 days grace period before any
interest incurred.

In fact, with the record,it enable me to
have a better understanding on my monthly
expenses. If we do a little bit analysis on the
data, we are able to see our expenditure
pattern. Example, I can pin point the month
which I need most cash due to car insurance,
house owner insurance, medical insurance,
road tax etc. I always aware about the utility
usage trend, try not to switch on the air-con,
light unnecessary.

Also, through this kind of habit, we are able
to tell where our money spend each month,
when to reduce and how to improve?

How to create a montly payment checklist?

Well it is very simple, get a piece of blank paper
1. Divide into 2 columns
-Column on the left mark with "Payee",
-Sub-divide the column on the right into 12 smaller
column for January to December
-Add a column with "Amount" in between
"Payee" and "January" column

2. List down all the monthly expenses
3. Estimate & write down the maximum
expenses under "Amount"

Your checklist is ready. Start to fill in the blank
every month to see your expenditure pattern.
Indeed, I planned my yearly cash flow based
on the monthly payment checklist. Now, I am
more confident about my cash flow because I can
foresee the expenses for the next few month.
Allocate the money accordingly to
avoid any complication at last minute.

Understand Credit Statement

Have you ever receive your credit card
bill with additional charges? These
charges are not from your previous
month's purchase or usage. Yes, we did.
Sometimes we forget to pay the credit
card bill because too busy, too many things
happen or simply we overlook on the
payment due date.

Recently I renewed my subscription to
Reader Digest using credit card. The
amount is RM143.06. I used to pay in time
but I totally overlook onthis matter
because I went for vacation in February.
A month later, I received the bill with
RM150.17 in total where RM5 for LATE
PAYMENT CHARGES and RM2.11 for
FINANCE CHARGE.

According to PUBLIC BANK, there are
two types of charges basically, LATE
PAYMENT CHARGES and FINANCE
CHARGE. if the minimum payment
amount is not made by the payment
due date as indicated in the statement,
a LATE PAYMENT CHARGE will be
assessed at the rate of 1% of the minimum
payment amount subject to a minimum
of RM5 (riggit Malaysia)

FINANCE CHARGE is imposed on the
outstanding cash advance transaction
balance from the transaction date until
full repayment. The charges is 18% per
annum.

The Minimum Payment Amount due
from you in respect of theCurrent Balance
(being 5% of the Current Balance or RM50
whichever is higher or if the Current Balance
exceeds the credit line, 5% of the credit line
plus overlimit amount).

By doing some calculation, we should be
able to figure out the interest we have to
pay due to the unintentional mistake we
make. By understanding the charges and
fees imposed by the credit card company,
we ought to be more alert in making
FULL repayment IN TIME under
normal situation.

Calculating Your Net Worth

What is net worth?
How often shall we calculate our
net worth?

In personal finance, net worth is
used to refer to an individual's
net financial position; similarly, it
also uses the value of all assets
minus the value of all liabilities (debt).

The formula is simple:
Net worth = the value of your assets minus
your liabilities

How often if will depends on the
individual needs, but I think we
should do it at least once a year.
Once you have all the facts in hand,
it's useful for you to plan and create
your budget in the coming years.

How to calculate? Where to start?
It's very simple, use the Internet ,
open the Google search engine, and
type in "net worth calculator", there
are plenty of online tools available
for you. You can add in the keywords
such as "Free" "Online" in addition of
net worth calculator to refine your
search or click here for the free tools.

Periodically calculating your
net worth is the best way to
measure and track your financial
well-being. If you have not calculate
your net worth before, do it now.

Cash Flow Doest Matter?

Where is my money?

I don't spend on the expensive
gadget but I still poor...

How I hope I can have $100 for
saving every month.

If you have the same experience
as mentioned above, don't worry.
Cash flow might be able to help you.
Cash flow is an accounting term that
refers to the amounts of cash being
received and spent during a defined
period of time.

By using the cash flow, one should
be able to tell where are the large
portion of her money goes to?
Don't be surprise to see your are
spending too much in buying
unnecessary things every month.

Once you have a clearer picture
on your money flow, you can have
a better planning and control to
achieve your financial goal this year.
All you need is to itemize and gather
all the monthly expenses.

The formula for cash flow is

Cash Flow = Income - Expenses

Get to know your cash flow by
using this simple tool to help you
create a budget outline. Click here .

Another free online tool for
Household Cash Flow Statement.
Click the link.

Once you have the facts, you
can experiment with changes.

Prepared For Performance Appraisal

Recently I am quite busy having
performance review with my team
members and subordinates. Thus
having less time for blogging.
Performance review is important
for both the superior and
subordinate, I realized some of
them don't have much idea about
performance appraisal.


What is performance appraisal?

According to Wikipedia,
performance appraisal is a
regular review of employee
performance within
organizations. Click here for
more information.

Why performance appraisal?

A successful performance review
will remove success barrier and
improve performance radically.

The main objectives are
1. Give feedback to employees
to improve subsequent
performance. Identify employee training
needs.
2. Document criteria used to
allocate organizational
rewards.
3. Form a basis for personnel
decisions-salary (merit)
increases, disciplinary
actions, etc.
4. Provide the opportunity for
organizational diagnosis and
development.
5. Facilitate communication
between employee and
administrator.
6. Validate selection
techniques and human resource
policies to meet federal Equal
Employment Opportunity
requirements.


How to conduct performance
appraisal?

A common approach to assessing
performance is to use a
numerical or scalar rating
system whereby managers are
asked to score an individual
against a number of
objectives/attributes

What to expect during the
performance appraisal?

In general, the discussion
topic will starts with the
current progress, the
achievement review specifically
on the task and assignment
given. Benchmark the current
results or progress with the
target or goal set. The results
will be either delay, in time
or ahead of schedule. It
depends on the situation,
justification might be needed
if the task is delayed. What to
request during the performance
appraisal?

To know whether you are on
track, request the superior to
give some comments based on the
observation and specific
examples. Listen carefully even
the comment might not be what
you like to hear. Try to focus
on the individual strength and
development areas in the coming
months.

Identify the next target and
the date for next review if
possible. Make sure the Superior's
expectation and your understanding
is in line. Do get more information on the
resources and support available.

Be well prepare for your next
performance appraisal!

Before You Leap As Guarantor

I received a call from my dad this morning
saying that finally he decided to get the
ISUZU DMAX. He is self-employed and
consider his age nearly 55, the bank
required him to get a guarantor for the
hire-purchase contract.

I used to have a wrong definition regarding
guarantor until I read an article recently.
Guarantor is more than just a prove of
good character to someone. We ought to
know the obligation and rights for a
guarantor before we agree and sign on
the agreement.

WHO CAN BE A GUARANTOR?

Anyone can be a guarantor as long as
the person can meet the legal requirements
to be a guarantor. However, since a guarantor
would be liable to pay the debts of the borrower
in the event the borrower defaults, you
should consider becoming a guarantor only
if you are sure that you can pay the debts of
the borrower in the unfortunate event that
he/she fails to do so.

The legal requirements of a guarantor include
the following:
• Must be 18 years old or above
• Must not be a bankrupt
• Must be of sound mind and have the mental
capacity to understand the guarantee document
and the responsibilities and obligations of a guarantor
• Must have freely consented to being a guarantor
(i.e. should not have been forced or must not have
entered into the contract under undue influence,
fraud, misrepresentation or by mistake)

To apply as a guarantor, he/she needs to provide
the finance institution with the following
documents:
1. Copy of I.C and driving license
2. Latest three months' salary slip
3. Latest three years' Form J and EA Form
4. Copy of bank statement or savings passbook

Nevertheless, the final decision whether or not
to accept you as a guarantor lies with the
financial institution. Click here for more
information on hire-purchase and here on guarantor.

Health & Fitness Goal

Recently,the topic of fast
foods has been highlighted in
news report and other local
press this past week. The fast
-food industry has been blamed
for many lifestyle-related
diseases.

In fact, more and more people
having the awareness being
healthy. There are plenty of
seminars, workshops available
to educate and improve our health.
There are MLM companies making
a lot of money in selling health products.

The way I define health is the ability to
balance between body-mind-spritually.
It is always my intention to achieve a
balance between these areas. Based on
the above, I have created a to-do-list
for myself.

1. Sleep early and wake up ealier
2. Eat more produce, less product
3. Reduce the intake of fast food,
take more organic food
4. Continue to educate myself on health
living, figure out the improvement areas,
create the awareness among the people
living together.
5. Exercise regularly - jogging twice a week.
6. Don't worry, be happy.
7. Get rid of bad habit - biting fingernails.

Inline with the Government’s efforts to
promote a balanced diet as part of
healthy living, do have a review on
our health. Let's move forward with
a goal and create a to-do-list so that
we can be more healthy, more vitality
and more energetic this year.

Be On Your Own

This morning when I flipped
through the notes taken
during one of the training
session I attended last year,
I was caught by these words
again.

Be on your own!

I think most of us familiar
with the phrase. We need to
move forward in life, we need
personal development. Be on
your own - is one of the key
principles for effective
personal development.

There are plenty of books,
training sessions out there
that provide you with useful
ideas or skills but you decide
what you learn, use or reject.

Mentor is another important
resources in providing unbias
opinion and valuable advise.
But at the end of the day, the
main influence is you. You
are your own trainer and
motivator.

Run the race of your life on
your own. It is you choice,
it is your victory, and yours
alone. When you cross the
finishing line because you
choose to win on your own.
Life is truly a do-it-yourself
experience.

Better Way To Use Cellphone

An article was sent to me by a
friend of mine that concern about
my complaint on the cellphone
recently. It is about a more
convenient, healthier and better
way to use cellphone.

Cellphone is so common nowadays.
Cellphone makers come out with
more and more sophisticated phone
every few month. Most youngsters
having cellphone, even some of the
primary school children carrying a
phone to school.

We cannot deny the benefit and
convenience that cellphone bring to
our daily life. However, there are
some concern on the effects of
cellphone radiation on human health.
At this moment, there are few
conclusive studies to prove or
disprove on the theory.

In my personal experience, I did
feel the cellphone is emitting heat.
It causes muscle pain when I place
the cellphone in my pocket. Imaging
when we use the radiation emitting
device to our head for hours per week
could have health consequences.

Therefore, it is recommend to use a
hands-free headset. I think it is a lot
more convenient to have our hands
free while taking especially during
driving. More safer and definitely
will reduce the potential health risks.

Goal Setting "Ready-Fire-Aim"

Today is the 3rd of February 2007.
Have you set your goal for 2007?
Or you still wondering what goal to be set?

Goal setting is not an easy task, sometimes
it gives a lot of headache to set a reachable
goal. I faced the same problem while I was
in my early twenties, I am not sure whether
I should think big or I should start from small.
I started to search around for more information.

In general, goal can be categorized under:
1. Health & fitness goal
2. Family & relationship goal
3. Time management & organizaion goal
4. Personal finance goal
5. Career goal
6. Education & training goal
7. Personal growth & interest goal
8. Recreation & leisure goal
9 Home improvement & real estate goal

It's important for us to have a goal. It
will serves as the guide where we are
heading to? It will help us to achieve our
dream step by step. Therefore, I would
start with reachable goal, rather than a
sky high goal. The reason is very simple,
I need to build the confident level so that
I can move forward faster.

Momentum is important!

In one of the article I read some time ago,
most people can understand the following
process of shooting - that is "ready, aim, fire".
This is one of the problem solving method
under project management. In fact, this method
has been closely guarded by the professional
engineers and project management specialists
as their personal domain and source of power.
However, there is another theory on
"ready-fire-aim". Rather than spend too
much time for preparation and aiming the
target, one should go ahead to fulfill the
burning desire before the momentum die
off.

If you have some target want to achieve,
put it into action today, now. You can
always come back and review for a more
precise target. Clearly, the later theory
will give better speed and excellence. If
you feel you want to do something for
yourself in 2007.

Now is the best timing!
Just do it, do it now.

More Time, More Money

Not able to complete the task?
Not able to meet the target ?
Not having enough time?

There are many reasons for
not having enough time.
Procrastination is one of the
culprit that cause delay in
accomplishing a task. On the
other hand, too many tasks
to be taken care of and if a
person doesn't know how
to set priority accordingly will
eventually get stuck trying to
complete few tasks at the same
time.

There is a simple method how
to overcome this by using
to-do-list. All you need to do
is to write down all the tasks
in a piece of paper. Then
categorize each of the items by
asking yourself whether the
item belongs to
MUST DO (higher priority),
SHOULD DO and COULD DO.

Work according to the priority
set and the scale of the task.
Bear in mind not to have too
many big scale task on the same
time over the day. Mix with
those small scale tasks. Delegate
the tasks to share the
responsibility among members.

This list will enable you to make
proper planning the task versus
the time by attending to the most
important, most urgent task first.
It will ensure you to complete all
the tasks in a more efficient way.
As the efficiency improve, there
will be more time to explore for new
opportunity.

Value For Money

In my previous article, I did
mention about delegating
job to members, we can have
more time for other task.
From another aspect, we are
cultivate the ability to make
sound decision and judgement
on the needs for involvement
at the personal level.

It's important for an
individual to set a value for
their time. I am referring to
giving a price to yourself
(in terms of hour, day), benchmark
the task that you are going to
involve in with the value set. This
will help you to make decision
whether to leave it or to
involve in a task.

Besides salary, one should
consider their skills in certain
area. Let me explain by using
an example, say JC having a
problem with the water tank.
The tank is rusted and leaked.
He asked a plumber and the
plumber quoted him for 200
for a bypass and remove the
water tank in a day.

JC thought that it's not difficult
at all, he can do that. Although
JC is just an armature, JC might
not be able to finish the job in one day
but the most 2 days. Let's
assume JC is earning at
3200/month for his engineer job.
He is working for 8 hours/day
for 20 days/month.

By calculation, JC's charge is
20/hour or 160/day. Looking
at the charge rate , it is cheaper
for JC to do by himself.

What do you think?

Should JC leave it to the
plumber rather than taking his
own time dealing with the
problem? The plumber's charge
rate is 20% higher, but JC
might take even more time to
complete the task which
eventually bring the repair
cost higher.

In fact, JC should concentrate
on how to increase his value
based on the expertise and
skills rather than putting effort
to save small money. I learnt this
lesson from my father-in-law.
Focus on the activities that will
radically increase our salary by
making our self radically more
valuable at work.

Work Life Balance

It's going to be Monday again!
How good if I can have another
off day. I have this strong feeling
towards Monday especially on
Sunday night.

My current job is on 5:2 meaning
work for 5 days and off for 2 days.
I am targeting at 4:3 because I
wish to have more time for myself.
The fact is, there are only 24 hours
a day. Therefore we need a tool to
guide us how to utilize the the 24
hours a day.

To achieve this, I wrote down all
the activities and tasks for the
past one month. Categorized the
items in the list under work, social
life, exercise and personal time.
I tried to estimate time taken for
each activities weekly.

By having this information in hand,
I will have a rough idea on the time
taken for each activities, the activities
that consume most of my time (56 hours
sleep and 50 hours work), how to
achieve more time and what activities
need to be reduced?

Sometimes, we might overlook at the
time we spend in doing household
work, window shopping, watching
television etc. To have more time,
delegate the work to our family
member to share the load. For
example, wash the toilet, clean the
house, clean the ceramic filter etc.

Reduce the frequency and time taken
for shopping by accumulate things to
be purchased in a list.

Reduce the visit to bank by gathering
all the utility bills and pay online in
one shot.

By tracking the daily routine, I
managed to pin point to the activities
that take up most of my time, those
activities that can be further reduced.
Thus having more time for hobby,
self improvement and the most
important is work life balance

Manage Credit & Spend Wisely

This morning, I just received my latest
credit card statement from Citibank. To
my surprise, I don't have to pay a single
cent because I have zero expense last
month. This is a good news to me as I have
been paying debts for the pass one year.

I used to have more than 10 credit cards
two years ago. As a results, I overspent
and got stuck financially. I realized this
is a serious matter because my expenses is
much more higher than my net income.
Even additional income I earned through
working extra hours cannot help me to
solve the problem, not to mention about
savings.

The first thing I did is to cut down the
number of credit cards that I owned.

My considerations to keep the cards are:
1. No annual fees
2. great rewards system

I can have a better control on my credit
card expenses by owning 2~3 cards. On
top of that, by consolidating my spending
power, I am able to achieve my gift target
much more faster.

But then, we should factor in your personal
life style and hobbies in determining which
cards you want to keep. You will have more
options in certain situation. My observation
shows that most of the credit card company
focus in giving special discount for dinning.
But I like to travel and I used to travel back
to my home town Miri, Sarawak few times a
year. Therefore, I appreciate a card that can
give me the opportunity to win free flight or
discount on the air ticket.

As a cardmember, we should educate
ourselves how to use the credit wisely. If you
are interested for some financial literacy tips,
you can get more information from here.

Manage your credit and spend wisely.

Reading Habit For Improvement

Nowadays, with the facility of Internet,
people no longer rely on magazine and
newspaper. E-news, e-zines, ebooks are
easily obtain from the internet for free.
I subscribed to plenty of e-zines to upgrade
myself especially those related to my job.
Besides, I also pay attention to
self-improvement related sites such as
Early to rise (ETR).

It provides some tips in earning more
money, Internet business opportunity,
and personal message from
Michael Masterson. He has developed a
loyal following through his writings in ETR,
he has owned and run multi-million dollar
companies that were public/private,
onshore/overseas, local/international,
service/product.

If you like to improve yourself, do consider
Early-to-Rise. It focuses in giving advise on
health ,wealth and wise. Get free report on
how to build wealth and save money so you
can get rich here.

Personally, this e-zines has been beneficial to
me, I learn a lot and still learning for it.

Continue to read books to improve our self.

Improvement Start From Today

I read Personal Money (PM) every month.
I have to admit that not all the articles
are relevant to my needs. But some of
them are remarkably good.

This magazine has given me more
insides and ideas how to utilise my
money. The last issue of 2006, PM
talked about taxes and summarized
all the items eligible for tax deduction.
This is the good timing for us to renew
the magazine subscription, or getting
some books for self improvement at
the same time can claim for tax relief.
The most important thing is to do a
self assessment and review.

In their latest issue (January 2007),
PM focused on the investment topic.
This is the time where most of us
receive our bonus. It's the best timing
for us to allocate certain amount of
money for investment. Either invest in
mutual fund, shares or buying properties.
Start from somewhere.

New year, new resolution. Do some
planning, identify what do you want to
achieve this year. Find some reasons (why)
for you to pursue. By when you
should achieve the target? Finally, how
to achieve them by breaking down
the target into smaller items to be
carried daily. Do a periodical review
against the target. Always stay focus &
improve consistently.

Today is never too late.

Stay Focus And Improve

I have been working in a MNC company
for 6 years. However after so many years
of working, the same question always pop
out from my mind: what do you want to
achieve in your life? Have you achieve it?

Well, it's always my priority to seek for
improvement in various aspect of my life.
While i was still a design engineer, I
worked additional 2 hours to get more
money. Most of the times, I went back
to work on Saturday and Sunday to earn
more and to learn more. I managed to
earn additional 30% of my salary and
eventually my boss promoted me to
senior engineer earlier compare to my
other peers.

Soon I figure out that I need to find
ways to get the job done in a shorter
time. I tried to improve on the efficiency.
At the same time, I doubled my effort
in the development of LCD project.
Started off with the basic electronics,
company products, market survey
to product design. The project was a
success that finally brought me to
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan for
promotion and demo to customer.

I have been practising this method
all this while. Each day I will look
into my work and find ways to reduce
the time taken. Once I reached that, I
will be able to move on. I discover this
method has enable me to stay focus
and keep moving forward.

This might not be applicable exactly
to you, but as long as you stay focus
on what you are doing, always try to
improve the existing job, then you
should be able to achieve your target
on time if not sooner.