I caught up with an old friend today. We talked about alot of things but since this is a personal finance blog, I’ll just highlight the financial issues of interest.

My friend, she works part-time giving tuition. She earns about RM8,000 during normal season, and easily double this amount during peak season. She does not declare her income, hence her income is tax free. Simple calculation will show that her annual take-home-pay easily exceeds RM100,000. Bear in mind that she earns this on a part-time basis.

This got me into thinking, maybe I should have gone the academic route instead of going the corporate route. When I first graduated, I got a telephone call from college inquiring if I have an interest in becoming a tutor. I guess they made that call because I scored the highest in one of the subjects. At that time I didn’t know that private college tutors could earn so much money by giving private tuition.

So, people will pay good money to acquire knowledge and tuition. What skills do I have that I can teach others? I need to really give a thought to this issue because this is a good money making opportunity.

And for all others out there reading, it might not be a bad idea to think about giving tuition to earn some supplemental income.

In Jan 2009, I loan some money to a stranger to help her repay her debt with the loan sharks. In the interim, she has asked for more loan. All in total, I’ve loaned more than RM5,000 to her. And yesterday, she has started to repay me…. after many calls to her.

At the rate I’m being paid back, it’ll take about 4 years to collect all my money. It’s good that I am finally getting paid back but I need to press her harder for more money. I’ll keep chasing. I have a goal to reach my next hundred thousand before the end of 2010.

The lesson I’ve learned from this episode is, think thrice before loaning money to anybody.

It’s the time of the year again where I ask my colleagues around the office if they have any desktop calendars to spare. Yes, it’s been 2 years in a row that I haven’t received a calendar without me having to ask for it.

I still remember those years when businesses and companies would print calendars and diaries and give them away to their customers and business associates. It was a form of advertising for them. However, since the economy slowdown which began last year, businesses have cut down on spending. The first item on the budget that gets cut is always the advertising budget.

Maybe tomorrow I should give my banker a call and ask about a calendar.

After 4 years, I am in the market again looking for a new job. I went to a couple of job interviews yesterday. Felt a little rusty engaging with the interviewers.

There are a few reasons why I’m looking for a new job. The main reason being I’m looking for a pay increment. My current employer is not known for giving huge salary raise. I know a raise is better than no raise at all, and getting even a small raise in this economic downturn is lucky.

However, I do have my long term plans to work towards to. I need to accumulate enough investments to produce enough passive income for me to retire. And the growth of my salary is one of the drivers of how fast I can achieve my goal.

The W-shape recovery is gaining traction. By early next year, many unemployed Americans will run out of unemployment benefits. With domestic consumption declining, another round of fresh layoffs is not impossible.

Countries relying on exports to the US market could face demand cuts. The domino effect could be far reaching.

So, the million dollar question is “When’s the stock market going to dip?” If the stock market is 6 months forward looking, then the market should have dipped a couple of months back. But this hasn’t happened. Then,.. is it dipping now?