I read a book today that put forward an interesting theory. Dr Edward Banfield of Harvard University carried out a study on the reasons for upward socioeconomic mobility. He concluded that the most influential factor is the “time perspective”. Time perspective means how far you see ahead into the future when deciding to do or not do something now.

For example, people who plan to achieve financial independence within 10 years will choose to delay their gratification. They save and invest the money wisely instead of spending the money. Contrast this with drug addicts or alcoholics who are only thinking of the next shot or drink.

I find this very true. When I was addicted to gambling, I only thought about my next bet. While waiting for my paycheck, I’d often fantasize about gambling and winning big money. Now when I have made short and long term goals for myself, I find that I am much better off financially. Hence, I tend to agree that the amount of time we spend planning and how far ahead into the future we plan is a very strong influential factor for upward financial mobility.

This is a good book for people looking to create different streams of income, especially passive income. Multiple Streams of Income: How to Generate a Lifetime of Unlimited Wealth! Second Edition by Robert G. Allen successfully hammered into my head the importance of saving every penny we can save. Every penny is a seed to many more pennies.

Robert has outlined guides we could all follow in creating the different types of passive income. He discussed about investing in stocks and real estate. He also touched on tax liens as a high return investment. He explained about network marketing and why we should get involved and not left behind. He also explained how we could earn income from licensing our intellectual properties. He convinced me as to why we should tap on the strength of the internet to build a fortune for ourselves, and how we could do it.

In summary, this is a good book. If you are already earning multiple streams of income but find that you have no time for yourself, then you definitely have to read this book. Perhaps you have created the wrong types of income streams. Read this book and you will learn how to improve the quality of your life.

My computer crashed 3 days ago. This computer has served me well for almost 6 years now. This was the first computer I bought with my own money. Feels a little sad to have to let go of this PC. Fortunately, I have been expecting to buy a new PC since last year, so I have set aside some money for this day.

I bought a new computer yesterday. It cost me less than RM1,900. The day before, I went around several shops collecting their price lists. I even went online to download their price lists to compare. In the end, I decided to buy from this shop because the items are cheaper compared to other shops. I reckon I save about RM80.

It is a norm for PC retailers to add a charge of around 2% if paying by credit card. So I paid cash. See how handy it is to have cash ready for emergency purchases? I would have been charged this 2% if I had to put this on my credit card.

My previous PC cost almost double this amount. This prompted me to think that advances in technology improve features of consumer electronics while at the same time bringing prices down. Isn’t this wonderful?

Firstly, women are paid less than their male counterparts. Employers reasoned that women are given paid maternity leave and they tend to focus more on their families. This sometimes interrupt their work.

Now, when it comes to retrenchment, it seems that women are the first to be retrenched. Though women makes up only 35% of the country’s workforce, however women make up half of the workers retrenched during this economic crisis.

Malaysia is still a long way from being an “equal opportunity employer”.

The latest victim of the financial crisis is Trump. No, not Donald Trump. It’s the Trump casinos filing for bankruptcy.

The Trump casinos filed for bankruptcy after Donald Trump resigned as Chairman of the board. He was reported as being frustrated that bond holders and their allies on the board rebuffed his effort to buy the company private. Why didn’t he tell the board “You’re fired!”

All these while I thought the gambling business is a sure win business. The gambling odds favor the house. It beats me as to why the Trump casinos had to file bankruptcy.