Tuesday, April 19

5 Myths About Money And Personal Finance



Like it or not, many of us probably grow up dealing with the fears we have about money. We hear a lot of negative stuffs about money, about how 'money is the root of all evil', 'money can't buy
you happiness' or 'money is a good servant but bad master'. How many of such quotes have you heard before?

Here are some weird and some not so weird stuffs about money i came across in my life:

1) I will save when I have the money. 

This is one of the worst assumption about saving, and definitely someone from the poor man club (which i am still a member of) would say. People often say that they will save the money they have left at the end of the month and the reason being that they need to pay off the huge chunk of expenses during the month. The problem is, at the of every month, there is nothing left!

That was me during my younger days. But i have since learnt to pay myself first every month and to prevent myself from being eaten up by my lazy bug, i have set up many money saving challenges to follow. Some are automated, some motivated and if all else fails.....i look at this picture...










The truth is, being rich or poor has no impact on saving money. If you are rich, you save more, if you are poor, then save lesser but most importantly is to just save.


2) Walk with your feet pointing straight












This a classic one from my point of view and what my mum always tell us. If we wish to have more money, we should walk with our feet pointing straight. To walk with feet pointing inwards would be even better. 

Well, i have never actually verified the truth in this or if it's just a way my mum uses to ensure that we walk with better posture. However, even to this day when i have my own kids, she is still telling me the same logic. What can i say except that - mum knows best ya. haha. :)

3) Your palm line determines if you are rich or poor

Another one of my mum's theory... very interesting...this one! Are you looking at your palm right now? Ok here's how - my mum says.....if the heart line on your palm leads to your middle finger, your will have a lot of money and if the heart line leads to the path in between your index finger and middle finger, you are poor! 

Why? You ask. That is because, the money you have will flow out in between the gap of your finger! So better start saving money and one day the heart line will slowly adjust towards your middle finger and you will be rich! Wow! 

I do actually believe in this one though, and yes! my heart line is closer to my middle finger already!  

4) Only the rich can do investment

People who live in bungalows, drives a sports car or 2, yup those are the people who are rich and only they can do investment. Really? No! That's totally untrue! 

With the simplification of many online investment tools from various banks, there are know investment plans of $100 a month or $10 a day. I myself took up a regular savings plan with DBS for $100 per month investment in the Nikko AM STI ETF. 

This article which i particularly liked explains in detail what this investment is about. 

5) Buying items that are on SALE

The number of times i have fallen for this trick is so embarrassing i have lost count of it. The word 'Sale' has such a magnetic effect on so many of us that we are just sucked into it without knowing it. In fact it's not just items on sale, i encounter situations at the counter like, "Sir, would your like to top up your mean for an extra 50 cents?" or "Sir, would you like to spend an extra $5 to get another piece of this which the usual price is $8?" Awww most of the time, my answer to those questions are 'yes' and i hate myself for that. 

The reality is, i don't need those extra upgrades or extra piece of 'whatever'. I paid the extra because i thought i got it for a bargain and at the end of the day, unless i make it a point to put the amount that was thought to have been saved in my savings, i am not saving anything. More likely spending even more for things i do not need. 

~~~~
I guess what i can do next time is try my very best not go for sale items and buying stuffs only when i need them. 





4 comments:

  1. Great Article! How I wish more people will read this article and be educated on money! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great article. With the recent change in the PSLE examination, I wonder if financial literacy would become a mainstream subject in the near future. Many of my peers, me included have not been taught or exposed to simple concepts of saving for raining days and like you say, allow the heart to rule us when the word , SALE shout at us to come to them, haha.

    It is no wonder weekend seminars touted by "gurus" promising extraordinary returns within short timeframe are always packed with people (never mind if past cases of scams, runaways CEOs or not licensed by MAS matters).

    The thought of reaching "there" faster , be it retirement, the amount of money we want in our hearts, etc is a powerful motivator and so is keeping up with the Jones. How come he has no education but drives a nice car? Argh.....i must work hard to play catch up then........And the cycle repeats across luxury goods, clubs, fashion wears, looks, etc

    The need to compare with others to make us feel good, feel accepted is a disease more scary than poverty itself. It's like living with a monster that feeds on false ego and clamour for attention all the time until you feed it what it wants............

    CHOICE - the one great thing that liberates us from the animals and make us known as human beings. Animals have to hunt or be hunted down each day when they wake up. They have no choice. We on the other hand are blessed with many choices in life and all we need to do is make a decision. Yet, making decision has become an obstacle to some in their pursuit of being rich........

    How ironical this world has become, isn't it? We are bombarded with overflowing information each second that sometimes I think if the online world would go on vacation for a month, many of us would have withdrawal symptoms while other may passed out..............

    All the best to you !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. wow that's a long one. yes indeed. It's always our choice to be either asset rich but cash poor or to be asset poor and cash rich.

      Delete