My Passive Income (Month of Apr 10)

Here is the summary for month of Apr 10:
CPF(OA): $184 (from interest and dividends)
Cash: $1711 (from dividends and other passive incomes)
Total: $1895
Target: $3000
Achievement: 63%

There are no changes in my passive income 1 and 2.

For passive income 3, there is an increase as I have bought the following dividend shares: Cambridge

For passive income 4, there is decrease of $24. However since it is still in the building stage, I will be expecting it to go up and down. In my post "Forget about achieving Financial Freedom if you do not have perseverance or refuse to learn.", I have mentioned that it will take time and effort to build up passive income.

I am in the midst of building my passive income 5, currently there is no income from it yet.

Retirement Planning: Learn to be healthy and stay physically active

It will be too late if you wait till your retirement age to learn to be healthy. The reason is very simple; you can never be much healthier in your retirement age than at your current age. Hence improving and maintaining your current health status should be set inside your retirement planning. Failure to do so may result in poor health in the later part of your life. Even if you retire rich, without a good health you wouldn’t be any much happier as compare to someone who retire poor but with a good health. You are not able to do much thing and can be a burden to your family if you don’t have good health.

You do not need to be a health guru to learn about how to be healthy. You should already know some basic health tips by now. For example, have a balanced diet for every meal and do exercise regularly are some key ways to improve your health. If you can do things that keep you healthy from now onwards, you are less likely to result in poor health when you reach your retirement age.

Retirement planning is not just about gathering enough money for the rest of your life

If you think that a retirement plan is just making sure that you have gathered enough money for the rest of the life, then you may be very wrong. Just imagine that you have enough money for retirement now, what you will do next? You may want to go for a trip, playing a sport or doing something that you will never think of doing before. But what if you have done everything you wanted? More likely you will get bored and will not know what to do next. This is the common problem with many retirees who are clueless on how to spend their time. Many of them may just end up in front of the television or sitting at crowd places to watch people walking around. Some fortunate one will be able to find a part time job in order to pass some time.

In order to have a fulfilling life when you retire, you must start to do other thing other than just gathering money. The following are the things that you must also include in your retirement plan:
1)Learn to be healthy and stay physically active.
2)Find and develop your interest.
3)Build up family relationships and bonding.
4)Increase your social circle.

Failures are just Learning Experiences

I always ask myself whether I will fail to achieve financial freedom. Well, after going through the journey towards financial freedom since Sep 09, I realised that failures are actually learning experiences. Giving up is never an option for me because it will just label me as total failure.

In my post on "Forget about achieving Financial Freedom if you do not have perseverance or refuse to learn", I mentioned that we must keep trying until we succeed. For example, one of my passive incomes only gives me $4 in the first month. However instead of giving up, I did a lot of research and trying out different strategies. And as for now I have managed to increase it to more than $100 per month. The process of "Trial and error" by using different strategies is inevitable if I want to be successful.

In my New Year resolution, I have set two milestones for my journey towards financial freedom. The first one is to achieve a total passive income of $2000 by end of June 10 and the second one is to achieve a total passive income of $2400 by end of Dec 10. I am not worried or feel despaired if I did not manage to reach any of the two milestones. Instead I will just keep trying until I have reached these milestones.

The Mexican Fisherman Story

I have found an interesting story in the internet. The story goes like this:

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, "only a little while."

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish?

The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs.

The American then asked, "but what do you do with the rest of your time?"

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat with the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run your expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But, how long will this all take?"

To which the American replied, "15-20 years."

"But what then?"

The American laughed and said that's the best part. "When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions."

"Millions.. Then what?"

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos."

The moral of the story… Know where you’re going in life — you may already be there.

My happiness List

In my previous post titled "Money, Values and Happiness", I mentioned that only people who work for their goals that are consistent with their values and focus their money on the things that are most meaningful to them will find true happiness. Hence I have come out with my own initial “Happiness List” to focus on the things that I would like to do for my family and myself in the next two years.

My happiness List for My Family:
1) Go to Universal Studio Singapore (Done)
2) Go to Hong Kong Disney Land
3) Go to Australia

My Happiness List for Myself:
1) Go for Epi-Lasik Treatment.
2) Learn to play piano.
3) Buy a Full HD 50 inch plasma TV for less than $800
4) Buy a Netbook which supports full HD for less than $400.

Family Outing at Universal Studio Singapore (6 Apr 10)

I am so happy to bring my family to Universal Studio Singapore for family outing. Being a bit kiasu, we reached the place at 8.30am and rushed to the ticket booth to purchase the tickets. As my toddler is only 3 year old, there is no admission charge for her. The ticket for adult is $66. So in total I paid $264 for four adult tickets. For each ticket bought today, a $10 food voucher and a $5 gift voucher were given.

Here are the places that we had went and some photos that are taken today. You may want to use it as a guide to plan your route if you are going to Universal Studio Singapore.
Time - Place
0830 - Ticket Booth

0900 - Entry to Universal Studio Singapore

0910 - King Julien's Beach Party-Go-Round

0930 - Enchanted Airways
1000 - Donkey LIVE

1030 - Shrek 4-D Adventure
1100 - Taking Lunch at Friar's
1200 - Water World

1230 - Dino-Soarin’

1300 - Revenge of the Mummy

1330 - Accelerator
1400 - Lights! Camera! Action!
1430 - Rest at Discovery Food court

1500 - Pantages Hollywood Theater - Monster Rock

1530 - Shopping
1600 - Central Park Zooapalooza Tour - Madagascar

1620 – Kowabunga Kove – Holly wood
1700 - Exit from Universal Studio Singapore

Overall, it is quite a fulfilling day for my family and me. And it is definitely worth the money!!!

Money, Values and Happiness

Do you wonder why some people are not happy with their life even though they are rich and wealthy? The simple reason is they do not know what their values are.

Money itself does not bring you any happiness. If you are only focusing only on making money, there is no real happiness at all. It makes no difference whether you have $1 million or $1 now if you do not know your values. Only people who work for their goals that are consistent with their values and focus their money on the things that are most meaningful to them will find true happiness.

For example, people who value their family life will likely to spend more money on their family in term of expenses for regular gathering or holiday. By doing so, it will enhance the family relationship. People who value knowledge will spend more money on books or taking courses. By doing so, one can learn and understand more things.

Your values are integral to your character, to your life’s purpose, to the way you create your future. It is only when you know what your values are then you are able to make money decisions that are value-driven which will bring happiness to you.