Travel Safety Tips

12th November 2008
To those who travels a lot, safety besides having fun is an utmost aspect that need to be taken care of. We don't want to come back without wallet or perhaps few thousand lesser in our banks right? Thieves tend to be opportunistic, so it is in your interest not to make it easy fo them to rip you off.
The rule of thumb: Always be alert. You don't want to be paranoid. You want to be prepared. Here are Top 10 Security tips for travellers:

#1: Arrangement Before Setting Off For Vacation
Make sure all your windows and doors are locked properly. Suspend newspaper subscription and don't let it slip to the dry-cleaner, the cable guy and anyone else who delivers products or services to your home that you'll be away for a week or so. Sometimes people who have access to your home may sell that information or in other meaning, betray you.

#2: Put a unique identifying tag on your luggage
Ever go to the airport and see a bag with a sweatsock tied around the handle? There's method to the madness. Most baggage today is black. Sometime people will pick up your luggage by accident or perhaps even intend to steal it. A coloured or patterned bag, or one with a highly visible identifying tag will help you quickly pick you luggage out from the bags surrounding it.

Tips For Longer Lasting Shoes

11th November 2008
Buying new shoes can put a strain on yor wallet especially if you have a large family. There are, however, several things you can do to make your shoes last longer and get better value for your hard earned money.

One of the most overlooked ways of saving money is to purchase well-made, high quality shoes. You may be able to find shoes at lower prices at discount stores and bargain department stores but they are likely to be made cheaply out of man made materials that disintegrate with daily use. The money you save by buying cheap shoes will be lost when you need to replace them often. Purchasing shoes that are well made out of durable materials may cost more but the shoes will last much longer.

One of the first areas to wear out is the sole. Shoes soles can be protected from wear in advance by gluing a layer of rubber on the bottom of the shoe. This can be done at a shoe repair shop or on your own if you can obtain the rubber.

Gluing rubber onto the sole of the shoe is an inexpensive preventive care method that can be repeated as the rubber wears down. Rubber also will give extra traction to your leather sole shoes.

Saving Electricity - Easy Way

26th July 2008
Besides petrol price being effected by global market, we have been burden with the increase of electricity hike as well. Although its not as much as the petrol hike but, if we are able to save it as much as possible, why not right? So, below are few tips that i was able to dig out:

#1: Switching off electric appliances that are not in use
Switching off any lights or electric appliances which are not useable at that point of time no matter how short the duration. This goes for regular lights or fluorescent lights and removing the plug from the socket is also advisable for this same reason. For little used area like laundry room or even entertainment room, installing timers that automatically turn off the lights after a while would sometime prove useful as well.

#2: Use stairs instead of lift
For office usage, employee can chip in as well by using the stairs to move from one floor to another instead of lifts. Well, i would suggest that its a compulsary to use stairs if you are going up or down 1 floor but if you still have some energy left and want to keep fit, moving 2 or 3 floors up or down more would be a nice exercise as well. For those who can't then using lifts would still be alright for the latter point.

#3: Wash clothes is full load
Make sure you washing machine is running under full load instead of half load as this will taken up more electricity for more then one spin with fewer outputs.

#4: Hot shower in shorter period
Have a short period of hot shower instead a long one. Although it enjoyable but the electricity that is pumping 'blood' into the equipment to make the water hot as you wanted is a lot. Go solar if possible.
#5: Use strategically located lights
Illuminate a room with fewer lights. Put lamps in corners of the room where they can be reflected from two wall surfaces instead of one.

#6: Never overload the fridge
Stock the fridge appropriately and open it only when necessary to reduce wastage of electricity.Make sure the door close thightly. Don't put hot food inside the fidge and also make sure the fridge is away from oven, cookers or direct sunlight and at least 4 inches away from the wall to avoid overloading the motor. If your fridge was bought before 2001, then better buy a new one now since the latest model all are more energy efficient.

#7: Plant trees
Plant tree at the right position as positioning big trees and right position will reduce cooling cost by 25%

#8: Iron more loads at one go
Ironing few clothing in one go can save a lot of energy. Heating up the iron each time on just one laundry is a waste of energy. So, after the iron has been switched off, use the stored heat to iron light materials like handkerchiefs or something like similar. Switch it off if you need to step away for a while.

#9: Use broom instead of vacuum
Broom does not use electricity. The only energy it uses is yours. Vaccum on the other hand uses both. So think about it. Keep yourself fit more.

Common Money Mistakes To Avoid

23rd July 2008
"I have been working for so long and yet i have very little cash in my savings. I wonder where all of my money have gone to".
Does the statement ring any bells? If you ask around, you are sure to find at least one person you know who share the same thought as the above statement.
If you are thinking of improving your financial health, then you need to be able to recognise your financial mistakes so that you can learn not to repeat them.

Here are some commonly made money mistakes that everyone should avoid:

Mistake #1: Failing to Plan

If i would say that many of you still haven't plan your finances path, would you agree with me? The most common response that we can expect would be the classic excuse " We are just to busy with work and family that we hardly have any time left to do the planning.". As a result, most of us end up paying higher taxes, leaving our saving sitting silently in lousy investments for years or overpaying for financial products. Since there are always deadlines to be met at work, we tend to leave our finances run its own course, thinking that it is of lower priority as there are no deadlines to meet nor is there anyone to force us to look into our financial plans, unless of course we run into serious money problem.
However the important point to note here is that planning is typically found to be a strong habit among people who have successfully accumulated wealth, even with just a modest income.

Mistake #2: Spending Beyond Our Means

Nowdays, we constantly overspend due to peer pressure and consumer temptation that surround us on the daily basis. We are, to a certain extent, expose to mild brainwashing with the TV commercials, newspaper ads, sale circular, and flashy shopping malls promoting the lifestyles adopted by the rich and famous, which of course involves having the latest mobile phones, the latest luxurious cars and latest fashion trend. All these temp us into spending exorbitantly and unnecessarily .
The signals that we get from not jumping onto the bandwagon is that we will be considered left out of today's scene. However, in order to do so, far too often then not, we end up spending way beyond our means. We will find that at the end of each month, the net salaries that go into our bank account are usually meagre, after servicing our car loans, housing loans, credit card bills and other utility bills not to mention parent allowances.

Mistake #3: Spending Future Money

Buy now and pay later! This has become a norm nowadays and the credit card has become a must-have item in our wallet. In fact, a lot of us carry more then one in our wallet. No doubt it is a convenient item to have around, but, to some of us, misusing it is like a play game to us all. It has become a common phenomenon where, just by settling the minimum payment at the end of the month, you would be happy that you have paid the bill already. As a result, the credit card bad debt snow balls to an extent beyond our control. According to the bankruptcy report, the precentage of people declared bankrupt has increase in the last few years especially among the younger age group. Be wise when using credit card. Track each and every items bought using that card and from there you would know how much you have used instead of spending blindly and regreted it at the end of the month. Making minimum monthly payment on the credit card debt allows you to buy more now, but will cost you dearly in the future.

Mistake #4: Delaying Saving for Retirement

Most of us aim to take up early retirement. In order to achieve this, we need to plan our finances to make sure that we have enough savings to sustain the lifestyle that we desire even after retirement. However, many of us find that even when we approached retirement age, we still struggle to meet the savings target that we have set earlier. As our income grows, our saving are suppose to increase as wel. Instead, we spend more on other stuffs like housing upgrade, new car purchases and club membership to keep up with our peers that prevent us from depositing more into our savings.

Mistake #5: Investing in the Wrong Products

There are various kind of financial products in the market. In order for us to find out the right product suits our risk and return profile, we need to equip ourselves with some basic investment knowledge and do the homework ourselves. Instead, most of us end up investing in some products, simply because we rely too much on financial advisors, who might have the agenda of pushing higher sales for their products and therefore provide misleading information to us. It is always important to study the product characteristics or the management team track record before investing. Remember that financial advisors is just another advisor who gives advice but you are the one who is going to make the last decision. So, make it wisely.

Mistake #6: Not Saving for Rainy Day

Some of us think that purchasing insurance is a waste of money. However, we are vulnarable if we and our family do not have insurance to cater for any loss of income. In the event of some unfortunate incident, especially those affecting the family's bread winner, without any cash reserve or insurances, it will be devastating to the whole family. By then, it would be too late to start thinking of income replacement.

Mistake #7: Focusing Too Much on Money Matters

All the above tell us to focus on our finances but at the other extreme, we must also not be too engrossed in accumulating out wealth to the extent that we lose sight of other priorities in our lives. While we plan our financial health, we must not neglect our own health, family and friends,career satisfaction and fulfilling our interest. Without these, even with tons of money, we will not be happy.

Lastly, we need to remind ourselves of the importance of planning our finances. If we are not fully, totally and truly committed to creating wealth, chances are wealth will remain estranged to us. Pls take note on this.

Source: StraitsTime

Interest Rate (BLR) Going Up

12th July 2008
Hey guys, this time around, i would like to comment on the speculation on the rising of the interest rate when Bank Negara meets. The day to look forward to is July 25, 2008. This is the date where everyone will be keenly watched. This is the day that your heart should stop for a mere 5 second before it starts to pump blood again. This is the day you need to stop everything and think about the things you own especially your House(s) which was bought using lended money from bank(s) or perhaps ah long.

Speculator actually expect the interest rate (BLR - Base Lending Rate) to go up as early as July 25 and they expected a 50 basis points increase or 0.5% to be done in 2 installments between then and end of this year. For your information, current BLR stands at 6.75% but imagine, it was once stood at more the 12% about 10 years back. It has gone down after the ASIAN crisis but now, we are at its door step again and this time, it does not look good.

This can be seen by the country's inflation that hits more the 5% since last month and will continue to go up and should be hitting 7% by end of this month. You guys have to know that before this economic down turn, the inflation touches only around 3% and this seems as not a good time to do anything at all especially something involving money but then again, what does not involve money nowadays....rite. Base on bankers and developers prediction, this second half of the year would be a difficult one if not stresfull but it seems that all these difficulties will be pass towards consumers, ......well......we seldom hear bank loses money rite in term of consumers services.
Anyway, you should be feeling all these till up to a year but looking at a positive site, we hope that it will only last for this coming 6 months as 1 year is one long year to bear all this.

So, what to expect for house owner or potential house buyers during this time of hardship, well, you would definately need to rethink whatever you are doing now, you would need to think every aspect of your financial commitments as well as your daily responsibilities. This is very critital for those who are considering whether to buy house or not, make sure the house that you are considering located at the prime area, in the middle or long term, it could protect your capital, preserves and grows your wealth, that is able to increase faster then the inflation rates. While that maybe true, there are some issues that need to consider in the light of the current economy situation also.

If you are thinking about property investment, reculculate your financial situation. There have been drastic changes in the market place and the situation, at this point, is still opaque but high prices are here to stay. Make sure you are stressing on affordability instead of good looking house that cost as much as it looks. If you were to ask me, i would basically want to buy any house that seems nice and cosy as well as located in a place that is near to everything and who doesn't rite.... if i were a millionaire, this is all 'sap-sap-water la' but ,unfortunately, i only have million-hair......so crab..... down in the drain goes my dream.

As you guys may know, a few weeks back, the increase of raw materials has spark and outbreak in increasing of prices in many sectors mainly to the construction field as well as the designer's field. Actually the truth is, all this can be felt way before that, as early as end of last year but only now the heat can be felt tremendously but then again, it was predicted.
So, for those who want to buy a place to call your own, do consider this, before comitting to bank loans and all, pls do your research, like asking your bank loan officers, relatives and also bankers who might have experience in buying property. The need for single and a married couple are different. Those with children must consider school factors, so on and so forth. Remember, property is a long term investment and therefore, you must be choosy enough before buying....coz its your right to do so.

Anything that us able to hold its value is considered a hedge. To understand what this means, you need to understand how it works. Property is some what a good example that can be considered a good hedge against inflation. Properties in good location will stand the test of time and in the hovoc time like this, the price do not go down drastically if these properties are well located. When a property is built, it tends to cost more then the previous one. So, basically the prices of old property will be tagged along as well. But there are factors like location, supply and demand that need to be think of. Therefore, keeping your money in the bank will erode the value and why not invest in something that surely go up?....... but then again, do consider all those factors before putting your hard-earn money in property that you do not have a clue about. As for the type of properties, for those who can afford, the hight-ends one in a good location are always a better hedge. The risk factor is much lower as high-ends property do not fluctuate much. Secondly, the hight-ends always moves first.
For this, make sure you know the reason of you buying a property as buying one to call a home and buying one for investment has different factors to think about.

Bottom line is, before buying a house or perhaps you might be already owning one, you must always put your financial situation as first priority and with the economy uncertainty, plus the increasing of BLRs, managing our money will be hard. If you could not afford a property, then save in the bank for now. Don't push it, and if wrongly plan, all your money will be in my pockets to share......kekekeke.

PS: Source: Bizweek, Land and Property

Successful Interview (Part 2)

6th July 2008

Having read Part 1: Way Before an Interview, you would notice that even before getting an interview, there is some hard work that u need to put in bcoz no company will come and knock on your door and say "Hey, I have a vacancy, are you interested?". You would need to do something and that something is the one i mentioned in that previous section.

Part 2: Before Interview

So, let say ...... you manage to land yourself an interview...........an interview ok... not the job yet, what do you do then? Well, i guess you need to prepare yourself for it rite? So, as you read on, you will know a thing or two on how you can get yourself prepared for something that it worse then facing your own mother-in-law (if you are married that is).

1. Know the company

Basically you would need to know the company that has called you in for an interview. Try to search the background of the company by going through the net or perhaps through friends, but the latter kinda risky as we might not know whether he/she is giving the correct information about the company. Anyhow, from my experience, the question pertaining to the background of the company has rarely make its way to the list of questions to be asked during an interview but imagine if that this kind of question being ask and you do not how to answer it, then i would think that ur 50% chance of landing the job has gone down the drain. They would think that you do not aware of your own responsibility to get yourself to know about your future company and thus, a bad impression to the interviewer. Its like asking why you see through your eyes and not through your nose and you even can't answer it.

2. Understand the job that you have applied.

Basically when you applied for that position, you would read throught the requirement for that job right and since you already manage to get the interview you wanted, now make sure you really read it through again and this time, make sure you try to link every points to your experience or ability and if possible, your achievements.

3.Know your job history or University projects

For those with job experience, get ready to have all those experiences in your mind like what you have done or achievements/accomplished or perhaps what you have learned over the years in your past/current company. For fresh grad people, well, think about your projects in Uni that you have done. The reason for this is simple, they most probably will ask something about your previous project on how it was done so that they will be able to know your personality or ability in handling certain things. So, pls take note on this and from my experience, 90% of them asked me these related questions.

4. Know your questions

This segment is quite tricky but yet interesting. People normally advice you guys to know what expected questions that the interviewer will ask, some sort like 'leaked questions' and although its not easy to do so but we call always try because we have nothing to lose.
The following are some leaked questions or instructions which i believe is kinda important to take note:
a. Would you mind introducing yourself.
This one you better train hard as from my experience, it come out everytime and if this one you fail to answer nicely then you are in deep sh*t. The easiest question in the book and yet, it explain a lot about you. Confidence, communication skills and many more will be the main target for interviewer to evaluate you.

b. What is your strengths and weakneses?
These questions came out only 40% from my overall interview but nonetheless,you still need to be ready on this one. Well, my way of solving this is to try to make the solution to your weakness to become your strength and in that way, you could 'kill 2 birds with one stone'(although i'm against this phrase, killing animal is not my thing). Example: Weakness - I tend to overlooked small detail of something. Strength: I'm keeping tabs on every discussion by writing down every details so that i can review it later. Something like that. :P

c. Do you have any question to ask? (near the end of the interview)
This one you can set a few questions ready in your mind which is kinda general but do make sure you ask the interviewer, else they would think that your mind is not processing at all during the interview. Just prepare a simple and yet basic question like "Are you available?" (crap.......you ask this question then there is no different between you and a suicide bomber), actually i wanted to say "Would this job require travelling?" or "How many people are there in your team?". Just ask something that won't expose more on your weakness and make sure you don't go ask 10 questions else, you are sitting duck.
Well, i'm not listing a lot of sample questions here because there there are so many out there and i don't want to list down all coz i want you to prepare what's coming rather then to have you memorize all these questions.
And point to note, pls answer all those interveiwer questions carefully coz every answer you gave out might be the bullets for them to shoot you back in their next question.

5. Appearance.

Before going for an interview, pls cut your long hair and buy new formal attire (if you don't have one that is) so that when people look at you, they will think here come the new employee instead of here come that monkey......then you are a goner already. First impression is the most important and remember to ready a pen in your pocket coz we don't want to go looking around for one when they ask us to fill up something. Damn embarrassing man. I know coz i faced it once.

6. Soul searching on the net

Lastly, my way of preparing myself, i would go online and i'll search for anything concerning that particular company, and also do some searches on how to prepare for an interview or what to expect during an interview article as it would help you in gaining your confidence(besides reading my blog that is). You can find lots of sample questions and you got nothing to lose by doing so as you can learn more things in the process. You can try few sites listed below:
a. Interview Q & A
b. Typical Interview Questions
c. Sample Interview Questions
d. Prepare for an Interview

Simple and yet general term was used in my explaination above as i'm trying to generate an open minded thinking in you as focusing on something like answering this particular question well, would basically created more stress in yourself and thus, not making this interview tips a succesfull one. You should think that you are able to get through this interview well and focus on that as you would be the one to see that result and only you alone. I will accept emails/comments to further questions my term in my tips as i believe, different people might have different perception and for this, i'm prepare to answer and learn.

Well, i guess that's all for Part 2: Before Intervew and i do hope you manage one or two understanding from my experience. I guess i will update this segment again when there is anything pops up in my mind for tips Before Interview. Anyway, do stay tune for my Part 3: During Interview which should be out in the next 2 weeks and till then, good luck.

Successful Interview (Part 1)

29th June 2008
How to have a succesful interview?
How do you define a successful interview?
Well, for this time around, i would like to share my experience on how to get the job that you wanted and reaching the goal that you might have set. For someone who has experienced countless job interviews, i would say i know a bit or two on how to get yourself through an interview succesfully........
For this, i have come out with 4 Parts of getting yourself fit and ready ........ my style.

Part 1: Way Before an Interview

1. If you really are looking for job, then the 1st thing u need to do is to prepare your RESUME and make it as compact and as informative as possible (You can copy any format available to your through the internet but make sure its nicely presentable).

2. Then you would need to apply for job, else, how to get an interview......duh!

Below are the sites which you can go to ....
a. Jobstreet
b. JenJobs
c. JobsDB
d. Best Jobs
e. Star Jobs
f. JobIsland
e. Individual Company site who has its own job search. Eg. Agilent, Intel n etc.

3. Besides getting ur 'bets' online, we have other methods as well and one of them is applying work through recruitment agency and please don't think about travel agency ok......Some people might have the idea that applying through them would land u in a contract basis job which you might not be the permanent staff at that customer site but don't be misled, although i can't say its totally untrue, but they do offer permanent job as well at certain company which forgo their service. So, you can try ask their help on this matter but make sure u state that you would not accept any contractual basis work and only permanent basis job. Below are some Recruitment Agency for your reference:
a. AllStaff
b. Adecco
c. And many more......

4. Another way to look for a job is through friends, through words and mouths among frens and if we are lucky enough then this might be able to land u a job. In certain circumstances, getting your friends to recommand you a job in his/her company may increase your chance in landing that ONE as most company prefer a colleague of theirs to rope in their friends instead of them landing a person out in the blue. This is because the staff would know this new person better rather then getting through the process of interviewing a stranger which would not always publish the correct personality to the interviewer. So, you better take note on this.

5. The last method is by sending in your resume as well as cover letter to the company using the old fashion way......mail......not email.....but posted mail.
You would be thinking, "what the heck is this guy talking about? We don't use this method already as we are in a technology era"..... well, you are rite in one sense and what i can say is that you can oways stop at step 4 but i would say, if you are desparate enough then this method still is a feasible way to move forward. Anyway, you got nothing to lose even this is your 5th method in getting the job you wanted.

Well, these methods listed down are all the mothods i used in the past and believe me.....it works and i hope you can consider it as well although its totally up to you on which method u want to use.
Bear in mind that all these are a continuous process until you manage to land yourself a job interview.

Points To Ponder

1. Sometime you would see that the requirement which was given out by the company requires you to have at least 2 years or 3 years of experience in the related field and you might not have that but don't fret or give up bcoz you can always try it out even you don't have that minimum requirement (but make sure its not an obvious case of difference like require 10 years but have only 1 year) set as we won't know whether there is any other so called hidden position that might suites us but not published out.

2. If u are a fresh graduate or someone who is desparate to look for a job, then my advice is don't be too choosy as this will only shrink your job scope. Only set ur mind on getting something that suites your career path or something which related to your experience instead looking for benefits and high salary. Remember, you are in no position to bargain on this. Just forgo the wealth for now as it will come later in future. What goes around, comes around.

I will continue with Part 2: Before Interview for this segment next week and hopefully it will be done by Sunday. Do stay tune till then.

Please leave comments if you think there might be other way besides the one listed above as i would be learning from it as well.

Thanx