Journey to the Midwest

Annually, an increasing proportion of Singaporeans decide to spend part of their lives overseas. Some decide to go overseas due to the better opportunities and salary available, others leave because they enjoy experiencing new cultures, yet others seek new horizons because they desire freedom from the heretic lifestyle of Singapore. Whenever I'm asked why I chose to pursue my studies overseas, the story 'Journey to the West' comes to mind. The story retells the experiences of the monk Xuanzang who undertook a perilous journey for the sake of obtaining new knowledge. Certainly, I believe that spending time overseas has taught me many useful lessons in life and has equipped me with valuable skills which I could not have obtained locally.

My first trip to the States was definitely both a great adventure and trial. Coming from a typical middle class family in Singapore, I never had the opportunity to vacation in the USA, and did not have the privilege of being accompanied by family in my first voyage into the unknown. I found that it was extremely helpful to have sought the advice of friends who had spent time overseas and learn more about their experiences, it was also very important to network and make new friends when I arrived in university.

I would like to share four things which I would/wouldn't have brought along with me in retrospect.

1. VISA debit/credit card with good international rates
   A VISA (or Mastercard) is often the best method to pay for items in USA; I use my VISA even if I'm just buying a cup of coffee. The primary advantage of using a VISA includes the fact that you can easily track your monthly expenditure through online banking and manage your budget more effectively.


2. More cash in the form of traveller’s cheque
   Bringing about 6-12 months of cash in the form of a traveller’s cheque is probably a good idea as you would want to set up a US bank account when you reach the States. Having a US bank account and credit history (social security number) will also enable you to take loans more easily when you purchase a car/apartment.
   
   
3. Singaporean Driver's License
   Obtaining a Singaporean driving license can also be helpful as it enables you to drive for a year in the States and prior driving experience also makes it very easy to pass the US driving test.
   
   
4. Less clothes and winter clothing/boots
   Finally, I wouldn't recommend purchasing excessive winter clothing before you arrive in the States (unless you plan to arrive in winter).  The plethora of outlet malls almost ensures that there will be a huge winter sale a couple of months after you arrive and you will be able to purchase winter clothing that is specifically tailored for the weather in the state you are in. ●

Joel Sng

** The Author is a graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile by Jim Rohn

I would like to share something which my mentor shared with me by Jim Rohn:

Over the years as I’ve sought out ideas, principles and strategies to life’s challenges, I’ve come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile.

First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you don't know WILL hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences—negative or positive. We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people's experiences, both positive and negative.


I've always said that it is too bad failures don't give seminars. Obviously, we don't want to pay them so they aren’t usually touring around giving seminars. But that information would be very valuable—we would learn how someone who had it all then messed it up. Learning from other people's experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves.


We learn by what we see, so pay attention. We learn by what we hear, so be a good listener. Now I do suggest that you should be a selective listener; don't just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read, so learn from every source; learn from lectures; learn from songs; learn from sermons; learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning.


Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY. You can't just learn; now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference, try to make some progress, try to learn a new skill, try to learn a new sport. It doesn't mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do, if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out?


Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY. You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project, see it through. Sometimes calamity comes and then it is worth wrapping it up. And that's the end, but just don't end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through.


And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE. If you care at all you will get some results, if you care enough you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer.
Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win.


Four powerful little words: learn, try, stay and care. What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work?
—Jim Rohn

"My mentor said, ‘Let’s go do it,’ not ‘You go do it.’ How powerful when someone says, ‘Let’s!’" —Jim Rohn

The balancing act - Work and studies

Chersiong is a 4th year Economics student at the Nanyang Technological University School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He is not your typical student as he started working part time two years ago. Find out about his experiences and how he juggles between work and school in the following interview.

Tony (T): Tell me who are you currently working for?

Chersiong (CS): I am doing free lance consulting services, providing technical and management advice to a property agent. We have been working together to share and experiment ideas on how to make use of the internet to open up new markets or to expand her customer base.

T: How long have you been working?

CS: For 2 years already.

T: How did it all start?

CS: It all started from a friend’s recommendation as a photoshop consultant. As I started working, the property agent requested me to do more things. As her ideas bloomed, we discussed about the ways to materialised and carry out these ideas. There were many learning opportunities and she gave me the free rein to experiment and learn about web design and email marketing in the process.

T: How much time is allocated on a per day basis for your work and on your studies?

CS: It really depends on the situation. If the work is urgent, I will dedicate time for the work first. However, I will try not to spend more than 2 hours per day on the work. The rest of the time will be for studies and other things.

T: Describe to me a typical week.

CS: During weekdays, I will work in the morning and meet my client before my lesson starts. At night, I will dedicate some time for work and for studies. Weekends will be reserved for revision as well. To keep in touch with my friends, I will study with a group of friends. I volunteer on Saturdays and have a weekly basketball session every Sunday with my secondary school friends.

T: Wow, that’s hectic. What is your most challenging assignment so far?

CS: It has to be image piercing. It took me three days to complete this assignment.

T: What is image piercing?

CS: Hmmm. Just take it as joining different images together to form a large collage. I cannot disclose the actual assignment. I will have to kill you if I do. :P

T: How do you feel this job? Does it value-add to you as a soon-to-be graduate?

CS: Personally, I have a deep interest in I.T. I have been exposed to these skills sets but kind of lost it along the way. Therefore this job helped me in revising my photoshop, webpage editing and video editing skills. Though it does not add value to my studies, but one must realise that in the future, there are bound to be instances where you will be forced to do things you are unfamiliar with. Therefore, one has to be prepared to pick up new skills from scratch and have the right attitude to approach things.

T: What are some tips or advice you would give to someone who wants to work adhoc assignment like yours? How should they go about looking for one?

CS: These jobs mainly come by word of mouth. So don’t hide your skills. If you have the skills, make use of opportunities to show them off. Through your CCAs or projects maybe? If you are good, you will get noticed and assignments like these will come. ●

Feel free to post questions/comments about Chersiong's work and how he juggles between work and studies!

Simple Meditation

Before you start thinking of how grim or sad your current life is, take some time to do a short pause. Close your eyes, sit in a comfy position, listen to your own breathing.

Let your thoughts run through your head, and appreciate the little aspects of life that make you what you are today. Keep tab of things that you could have done better, and things that you did well. Now open your eyes, and start off the day anew.

Remember, you can do this at the end of everyday, to keep your mind relaxed and focussed on things that matter. We all have a busy life, so take at least 5 - 10 minutes everyday before you sleep or when you return home, meditate in this way. It really helps to concentrate better at work or other tasks that you are assigned.

5 things I wish someone had told me before I started investing in stocks

Are you itching to start investing but you have no idea how to start? Here are 5 essential things you need to know before you start your own investment!

1. Know what you want to get out of investing in stocks. I know, I know. This seems to be a dumb question. Of course everyone wants to earn $$ in stocks. But before you move away from this page, please at least give me a chance to explain myself. In stock investing, you can earn money through capital gains or dividends. Capital gains are gains you earn when your stock increases in trading price, while dividends are regular payments (usually once or twice a year in the local context) given by the company to its shareholders. Depending on your preference or investment strategy, you can opt for stocks which have proven track records of recording capital gains, or companies which give out regular dividends.
2. Build up a portfolio! Yes. We have all watched movies in which the main character dumps ALL his money into one stock and before you know it. the price shoots up like crazy, doubling/tripling/quadrupling his cash. Not bad huh? Well, in reality, that’s next to impossible. Firstly, (seriously), what are the chances of you spotting a stock which is about to sky rocket? Secondly, assuming that you have managed to spot such a stock, and the stock indeed is going off the charts, the board-lister (SGX in our case) will probably call for a trading halt to investigate on this unusual increase in stock price, which will probably break its upwards momentum, inject uncertainty into investors etc etc, resulting in the stocks tumbling back down. The more practical way is to build up a portfolio of stocks. As the saying goes, never put all your eggs into one basket. A later post will be dedicated to show you mathematically why building up a portfolio is the right way to go.
3. Spend some time comparing the different brokerage firms on the way they charge the trades. There’s no free lunch in this world and so is the world of trading. You have to pay commission for every trade you make. However, different brokerage firms offer different “packages”. One firm may work on a high commission rate but with no minimum charge, while another may charge a lower commission but has a minimum charge.
   Following the table below, if you were to buy 1 lot (1,000 shares) of a stock worth $1, your commission rate under Firm A would be $25 (as 1,000 x 0.10% = $1 is lesser than $25, the minimum charge applies) and the commission rate under Firm B would be a mere $2 (1,000 x 0.20%=$2). However, if you were to buy 1,000 lots (1,000,000 shares) of a stock worth $1, the commission under Firm A will be $1,000 while the commission under Firm B will be $2,000. Think about it.

	Firm A	Firm B
Commission rate	0.10%	0.20%
Minimum charge	$25	-
Investment of $1,000	$25	$2
Investment of $1,000,000	$1,000	$2,000

4. Understanding the different types of orders. An order is an instruction you give to your

brokerage firm to buy or sell stocks. There are three common types of orders which I will share with you here.

a. Market order- This is an order which is executes your trade immediately at the current market prices. This is useful when you want to wants to buy or sell your shares quickly.

b. Limit order- The limit order is slightly more complicated. It is an order to buy a stock at not more, or sell at not less, than a specific price. For example, when a buy limit order is placed at $1 the stock will only be bought when the price of the stock goes below or equal to a dollar. Likewise, when a sell limit order is placed at the same price, the stock will only be sold when the stock is above this price or higher. This kind of order is useful when you want to control the price you buy or sell your stocks.

c. Sell Stop loss order- A sell stop loss order is an order to sell the stock once it has fallen to a specific price. For example, you own a stock which is currently at $1.The stock climbed up to $1.20. In order to “protect” your profits of 20 cents, you could place a stop loss order at $1.10. In the event the stock suddenly decides to go for a dive, the brokerage firm will sell your shares at $1.10, and in turn protecting your profits.

5. Budget your finances and maintain your liquidity. Although you could buy and sell your stocks in an instant, the actual transaction takes up to three working days. Once you buy a particular share, the brokerage firm chases you for your money only three working days later. Sounds like a good deal?


Oh well, it definitely is if it works only one way. When you sell your shares, the firm also takes three working days to give you the cheque. Therefore, investing in stocks is not as liquid as it seems. It is always good to have spare cash on your hands just in case of emergency.

Measuring What Makes Life Worthwhile

TED has always been one of my sources of inspirations. This is one of my favourites from these thought inspiring and reflection intense talks.

Many people have learnt what is Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Yet, we often overlook the intangibles and over-emphasize on tangibles that are at the lower levels of the hierarchy.



I will touch on the hierarchy of needs on a later post. Stay tuned!

Have a great week ahead!

What is Life without Making Mistakes?

What is life without making mistakes? But do you really have to make ALL the mistakes yourself?

We are here to make the mistakes for YOU!

We have been through some rough patches (who hasn’t?), our lives were littered with bad decisions, but every time that happens, we learn, we grow and we come back stronger than ever. I wish someone was there to tell me I am heading the wrong way, or to guide me down the right path, so I will not waste my youth bumping around corners and finding the right way.

And here we are, that “someone” who hope to make a difference to your lives. Our advice might be unconventional and unorthodox, but rest assured, they are genuine and sincere advice coming fresh out of the oven.

At the end of this introductory note, let me share with you an interesting trivia: A cup of chocolate milk tastes better with a pinch of salt (try it!). ;)