The keys to success have finally been revealed by just one experiment done by psychologist Walter Mischel in the late 1960s to early 1970s. Walter Mischel was a professor at Stanford University. In the experiment, a child was offered a choice between one small reward provided immediately or two small rewards if they waited for a short period, approximately 15 minutes, during which the tester left the room and then returned. (The reward was sometimes a marshmallow, but often a cookie or a pretzel)
If you're still confused on how the experiment was done, watch this video and notice the reactions of the kids in the experiment:
See how the kids really struggle very hard to resist the temptation of eating that one marshmallow just to get another one if they wait patiently.
Some parts of the video were really funny looking at the kids faces of how they wait patiently.
The Results of the Experiment
In follow-up studies, the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by SAT scores, educational attainment, body mass index (BMI) and other life measures. Those kids who were able to wait patiently were more likely to succeed in life. There is certainly a positive correlation between delayed gratification and success.
Delayed Gratification for Financial Success? Now comes the point which I want to bring across. Having delayed gratification will result in financial success as well. Think about it, if we really can delay gratification and resist the temptation to spend money, we would have more savings. We would not unnecessary get into debt problems as well.
Also, having delayed gratification may mean we have the patience for investing and not the greed of wanting to get rich quick. We're less likely to burn our fingers in the stock market and less likely to fall into investment scams. It seems like there are so many benefits of delayed gratification.
Does it mean that people who are not able to delay gratification are set for failure?
Looking at all the benefits of delayed gratification, we may wonder what if we are not able to delay it? Are we set for failure? While there are positive correlations between better life outcomes and delayed gratification, this does not mean those who cannot wait will be forever labelled as a failure. Delayed gratification can be taught and the process can be changed completely. How do we do it?
In a further experiment, the kids who were not able to wait for the second marshmallow were told to imagine that the marshmallow on the plate has a frame surrounding it. They were told that this is just a picture frame and it is not real. After this imagination process, researchers found that those kids were then able to wait patiently for the second marshmallow which they were not able to do so at first.
But you may ask, how do we apply it into our financial life? From the above example of imagining that the marshmallow is fake, we could similarly imagine that our money is fake or is not there. We must also remember that if we do not spend our money now, we will get more money later when we invest. One practical way I can think of is to transfer our money to a separate bank account and invest it prudently. We are doing a real life marshmallow test for ourselves now.
Try the real life marshmallow test on yourself and see what happens.
This whole week, Singapore seem to come to a stand still as the nation mourns on the passing of our first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The scenes were touching, the support unwavering and the unity is strong. Everyone came or is still coming to express their gratitude in one way or another.
How could one man's death have such a huge impact on a country and even impacted the international realm as well. Former U.S president, Bill Clinton, will be coming with a few other US officials to attend Mr Lee Kuan Yew's funeral service on Sunday. Why did so many people respect him so much?
Photo Credit: Remembering Lee Kuan Yew Facebook Page
This whole week, most of the usual TV programs on all Singapore's media channels were cancelled. Instead, they broadcast documentaries of Singapore's history and how Mr Lee Kuan Yew brought Singapore to this current stage. I've been watching some of these programmes and just a few hours ago, there were a broadcast on Mr Lee Kuan Yew's various speeches from the 1950s all the way to the 1980s. From those speeches, I could really sense his heart for Singapore and his concern for the people of Singapore.
So many people have came to queue up just to pay their last respects to him. People are queuing up for up to 10 hours just to personally pay their respects to him. This is really amazing.
Photo Credit: The Straits times
His Worry For Singapore and it's People
A few issues were brought up in his speeches. Low birth rates and low marriage rates were among the problems that had to be resolved. In 1975, 10 years after independence, there was also complacency seen in the people of Singapore. Life was better, spending habits have changed where people are spending more money. He was worried that parents would pamper their kids too much and spoil them in the process. In 1975, he urged the people not to be complacent and not pamper their kids too much just because they could afford it.
Every year from 1975 onwards, he keep rallying the people of Singapore together and reminded them how far they had come. He keep asking the people of Singapore not to take things for granted as they could lose all these in a very short time. In the late 1970s, he said the current generation have not experienced an economic crisis before but they will experience it soon in the 1980s. He warned and prepared the people for it. I guessed such reminders were taken to heart by Singaporeans back then as Singapore grew even stronger after the crisis.
The Most Touching Speech in 1980
The most touching speech I saw was a PAP rally in 1980. This was the scene which most of us would be familiar with where Mr Lee Kuan Yew said
"This is not a game of cards, this is your life and mine. I've spent a whole life building this and as long as I'm in charged, nobody's going to knock it down".
What I did not know was what he spoke before this familiar scene. I was watching the whole 20 mins rally and realised he was speaking in the rain.
The rain got heavier and heavier and he was wiping the rain water off his face with his hands as he was speaking. His shirt was all wet. The people who were listening to him speaking still stayed on listening to him in the rain. The other PAP members sitting behind him were in the rain too without umbrellas. Their shirts were also wet and throughout the whole speech, I could see those PAP people behind him also wiping the rain water off their face and some took off their glasses to get rid of the rain water. This was the kind of government which Lee Kuan Yew led and the kind of people we had who could endure and stay united together.
Below is the video of the whole speech. The particular scene is towards the end of the video:
A Frugal Man with a Simple Life
Apart from the firmness and ruling with a iron fist which we know, Mr Lee Kuan Yew was actually just another simple man with a simple life.
I read on the New Paper yesterday that his frugality was well known in Tanjong Pagar where he served the residents for the last few decades.
I quote: "He maximised all resources available and there was never any wastage. Where there was no need for resources, he would never put any there."
Mr Lee also lived in a modest home. His house is still filled with olden days items dated back to the 1970s and the house remains largely unchanged as compared to the multi-million dollar, multi-storey bungalows that sprang up around it.
You see, a man with great stature and still lives humbly shows that he doesn't need to prove anything. He has got no need or desire to show off what he has achieved. Yet, he has gained the respect of many by staying humble and passionate for a good cause.
The Love Of His Life
As we all know by now, Mr Lee Kuan Yew loved his wife a lot. The death of his wife a few years ago was devastating for him. When his wife was bed ridden but still conscious, he would read to the love of his life every single day. Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said when he was travelling overseas with Mr Lee Kuan Yew for official duties, he still never fail to call back to his home and read to his wife everyday.
Below shows a very touching video of the soft truth of Mr Lee Kuan Yew:
What Can We Learn?
It is heartening to see so many people showing their gratitude to a man whom they may have never even met before. The once often negative landscape of the social media has transformed into a place where people show support and gratitude. I'm sure we are much happier when we think about how fortunate we are to live in a country of peace and prosperity instead of complaining and sinking down into negativity.
After studying economics in university, I know a country's success or failure does not come by chance. It is the deliberate planning and policy implementations which made Singapore to where it is today. We should never be complacent and take all these for granted. The future of Singapore will depend on all Singaporeans, whether we are still united and stand together as one people and one nation. A divided nation can never survive long.
The reason why we can live in harmony with each other is because an identity has been built painstakingly by our founding father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. We should never lose this Singapore identity and I'm glad that we are showing the whole world the strength of our unity at this current moment. May Singapore be an ever greater nation for many generations to come.
For the past few weeks, Singaporeans have been coming together to show support for our first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew who is still warded in the intensive care unit of Singapore General Hospital. As a Singaporean myself who was born and raised up in Singapore, I do respect him as a founding father who brought Singapore to where it is today.
As a student growing up in Singapore, I heard of this great man who fought for the independence of Singapore. Despite all obstacles, he still believed that Singapore will survive even after the separation from Malaysia in 1965. That was the familiar scene where we see Lee Kuan Yew shedding tears on TV.
He was the person who transformed Singapore. During the youth Olympic games in Singapore a few years ago, there were many foreign visitors who came to Singapore for the first time and they were greatly impressed by the peace and prosperity here. I remembered a guy from Europe approached me on the MRT and told me how impressed he was with Singapore. There was a young school girl probably at the age of 13 or 14 travelling alone on the MRT and he was very surprised that kids are safe to do that here. He said in his country, it is too dangerous for children to travel alone.
Singapore is a multi racial country. Throughout the past weeks, I've seen people of all races come together to show support for him. There is a sense of unity that we as Singaporeans want to express our gratitude to this founding father. We want to wish him well. Somehow, we know that Singapore would not be where it is today without him. People of different religions also came together to pray for him. It is a scene which our pledge recites:
"We the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people. Regardless of Race, language or religion...."
A Facebook page called Thank you Mr Lee Kuan Yew has been set up and currently has more than 74k likes. These were the images which were shown on the page
"Overflowing with well-wishes from Singaporeans, young and old. A truly heart-warming scene at the steps of the Quad, outside Kopitiam"
As a blog based in Singapore, I want to show my support for Mr Lee Kuan Yew too. I've complied a video which shows how Singapore survived from independence to today. It is the brave words that said "Singapore will survive" and the vision of Mr Lee Kuan Yew to see it as a metropolis which made it into a reality.
Singapore will always be my home. Let's all stand united to give Mr Lee Kuan Yew our well wishes. #ThankyouLKY
*Mr Lee Kuan Yew has passed away peacefully early morning on Monday (23 March).
Does having more material possessions make us happier and richer in life?
In today's world, we have so many things to choose from and it feels awesome. But, sometimes we just give up choosing and use the same few stuffs. In recent years, the number of fast food chains have increased 2-3 times and the number of clothing stores have increased by many times too. We even have hundreds of TV programmes to choose from and hundreds of food items at the supermarket.
We buy things and fill our ever growing smaller homes day by day and year by year. Most of these stuffs end up abandoned somewhere in the corner such as electronic items, clothing, accessories etc. It clutters up our life and in the end we still use the same few items that we like. A few days ago, I chanced upon this interesting TED talk on how to have a Rich Life with Less Stuff. The speakers are known as the Minimalists and this concept has been adopted by people all around the world where they experienced happier lives. Watch the video below to know how you can have a rich life with less stuff:
Recently I wrote an article on self discovery vs spoon feeding: The Secret to Success: Self Discovery vs Spoon Feeding. Coincidentally, today I came across a video which shows exactly what self discovery is all about.
Here's the short video:
If you have kids, guide them on the path of self discovery. Let them learn by doing and not teaching. Have a great weekend.
It's the weekend again. I'm here to share with you a series of episodes which I've been watching the past few weeks. It's called shark tank. I know the name sounds funny and why am i recommending some sharks video to you? However, the video has nothing to do with real sharks. The series is actually all about 5 investors who're looking for opportunities to invest in some companies. These companies will come one by one and pitch their business to the investors. The investors will then evaluate the business, value it to see whether its worth the risk and see whether there's any potential in the business. Its interesting to see how these rich investors, who already own successful businesses themselves, evaluate their investment decisions.
There are quite a lot of things we can learn from the videos as small investors ourselves. It was quite addictive that I finished watching the whole of season 1.
I saw this video which I thought would be good to share as its really touching. More often than not, we always take things for granted which makes us unhappy individuals on Earth. On the other side of life, there are people who live in harsh environments but they still learn to adapt and survive.
Think your life is tough, think again. Watch the video below: (Sorry there are no English subtitles. The video audio is in Chinese with Malay subtitles)
Saw an interesting video by MoneySense which encourages people to take charge of their finances. Not only should we plan for ourselves but plan for our families and love ones as well. It's only a 2 minutes plus video but does bring forth its message clearly. Enjoy the video!
Sometimes, we're too engrossed with our lives and forget about the people around us. Plan and save for the future you want today!
Saw this really interesting video titled "The high price of materialism". It shows why people become materialistic and how it affects our society. Many young people these days want to earn more money or become rich so that they can buy the things they want and live the life that they want. Many will choose high paying jobs which they are not even interested in. They think that with more money, they can become happier in life. However, at the end of the day when they become successful and can afford to buy the things that they want, they realise that they are still not happy. Materialism does not make a person happy.
The way forward is to promote intrinsic value. By this, we mean promoting better relationship values of being closer with family and friends, growing as a person and having a sense of greater cause to help improve the society. Success is not just about money. Financial independence is not about making a lot of money. Yes we need money for our basic needs and for survival. This is where financial independence comes in to allow us to have money for our everyday lives and not worry about having not enough money. If we choose to walk away from materialism, we can achieve financial independence faster and have the choice to do what we have passion for rather than having a life of just working and making money. Enjoy the video!
Recently, i've seen increased efforts by the Singapore government to reach out to the public with regards to CPF, Medishield life and even the pioneer generation package. The last video is the most surprising.
Firstly, there were various infographics done up by the Ministry of Manpower to let people understand more on the CPF system. One example seen below:
Secondly, there're advertisements by Ministry of Health on the new Medishield life:
The last one is a song on the pioneer generation package. This is what i just saw on TV awhile ago. Quite interesting i must say. It's in mandarin:
There's also a malay version to share on the Pioneer generation package:
I was feeling nostalgic listening to some old national day songs late into the night. This brings back memories of when i was still in school. Good old simple days in the 90s. Then i remembered its going to be Singapore's 49th birthday in about a month's time. As a Singapore based blog, i shall do my part in promoting the Singapore spirit. Haha
Here's the national day theme song in 1999:
Now 1999 where was I? Oh i remembered, i was in primary 5. Those days in school we had to sing along the national day songs on every national day celebration. There's also this thing called the Sing Singapore. I believe they still do that in school now. It has been 15 years since that time and the songs still bring back memories of times in school. There is also a strong national identity.
These days, I've been seeing a lot of unhappiness with the government and more and more protest at Hong Lim park. Maybe all these were there all along but just that i didn't notice until i grow up now? Or did it just happen recently? Have the Singapore spirit dwindled down over the years because we have developed so much?
To me, no matter what, Singapore is still a home where my family and friends are. It is a place i'm born and grew up in. It is a place of good memories. Singapore has developed over the years and has changed a lot. It was not easy for us to be where we are and we should always remember how tough life was back then. Of course i didn't went through the tough period but at least heard from my parents and grandparents.
The popular national day song: Home
A country is built on its people. It's all about relationships. I hope Singaporeans can stay as united as ever and this is our home. When we travel overseas, we will always have a sense of belonging to our home country and feel good when we come back.
Remember the song Count on me Singapore? The lyrics are meaningful until now.
"We have a vision for tomorrow, just believe, just believe
We have a goal for Singapore, we can achieve, we can achieve
You and me, we'll do our part, stand together, heart to heart
We're going to show the world what Singapore can be
We can achieve, we can achieve"
"There is something down the road that we can strive for
We are told no dream's too bold that we can't try for
There's a spirit in the air, it's a feeling we all share
We're going to build a better life, for you and me
We can achieve, we can achieve"
I was helping out at the Singapore youth Olympics games a few years ago while i was serving national service(NS). The Olympics games was a proud moment for Singapore to showcase itself to the world. I could feel the dedication of the organisers and the performers for the opening and closing ceremonies. It was a once in a lifetime experience. A lot of effort was put into the games itself. Let's be proud of our country and there will certainly be greater things ahead. We can all make a difference together.
Do you think that humans only like to buy things when its cheap? We know everyone likes discounts and many people rush to buy stuff when there's a sale. But did you know that humans like to buy things when its expensive also?
Look at the housing prices now. Many people say its so expensive but people are still buying. In fact, its when housing prices are most expensive that everyone rushes to buy. It's the same with the stock market. Only after stock prices have risen by a lot then many people rush in to buy.
Most people follow the crowd when buying. It is this conformity which results in us always buying stocks at a high and buying properties at a high. If you want to be successful in investing, then you have to buy at the low or at least a lower price than others. If you buy at the high, you are never going to do well in any investments.
I saw this funny video which shows how easily humans conform to their surrounding. This may well be the main reason why we follow the crowd and buy at the high. Watch it and have a good laugh. Just don't let it happen to you!
Saw this short interview with Jeremy Yong, co-founder of Croesus retail trust. As i've blogged before, Croesus retail trust is a business trust which owns shopping malls in Japan. They currently have 6 properties under its management with 2 of them in Tokyo.
I'm vested in this trust since November last year. You can read more on my previous posts on Croesus in the related posts below. In the meantime, here is the video of the short interview with it's co-founder, Jeremy Yong.
This was a movie introduced by one of my friends. It talks about the law of attraction. Somehow the main concept is what you conceive in your mind, you will receive it. It's quite a powerful movie and the concepts are so real in our lives.
When I looked back at my life, I realised indeed that a lot of the goals I set in the past became a reality. When I was 16 years old in secondary 4, there was a motivation camp organised by my school. The instructor asked us what we want to become in the future. I said I wanted to become an engineer. Well, I didn't know why I said that during that time. However, it became a reality after 6 years and I've been working as an engineer for the past 3 years.
There are other examples too. 3-4 years ago I became to conceive the idea of having passive income. Around the same time, I was looking at ways to make extra money from the internet after seeing some people doing it and thought it may be possible. I tried a lot of ways but it didn't worked out. I actually gave up and didn't even think about it for quite some time. Then now it actually became a reality. I'm receiving passive income from stocks and earning money through blogging from affiliates and advertisers. The start of this blog was a complete coincidence. I have never thought that one day I would become a blogger. It was the same idea conceived 4 years ago which lead to what happened 4 years later. This is the power of our thoughts which the movie talks about. Same thing if you have negative thoughts, most likely you will end up worse off years later. It really happens.
If you have time to spare during the weekends to learn something that will change your life, watch the movie below:
During secondary school days, I always remember we have to do maths question on simple interest and compound interest. As my maths was not very good during my younger days(often failing my exams), i only understood simple interest but cannot seem to understand the concept of compound interest. I remembered I spent a lot of time looking at the question, putting the numbers in my calculator just to find out how compound interest works. Through the patience of a good maths teacher in secondary school, i manage to get quite a reasonable grade during my O levels and it grew my love for numbers.
Fast forward to today, compound interest is still a concept which is important in our lives. Understanding how compound interest works may probably change your life once and for all. Compound interest works through time. The longer the time period, the faster the compounding effect.
Let's illustrate with examples of 2 scenarios:
1) Suppose you have zero savings now and you want to achieve 1 Million dollars in 20 years, how much do you need to save per month? The answer is 4166.66 per month. Saving this amount is quite hard for most people unless you have very high pay.
2) However, if similarly you have zero savings now and also want to achieve 1 Million dollars in 20 years, you can actually just save $2000 per month. If you invest $24000/year($2000x12) and let the money compound at 8% per year(with interest reinvested), you would have achieve 1.19 Million by the end of 20 years. Now saving $2000 per month may be more achievable. The key is you must invest your money and let it compound. In fact, if you think 8% return is too high, even at 7%, you would similarly have achieved 1 Million dollars(1.05 Million to be exact) in 20 years. The 8% interest can come in the form of dividends from stocks. Reinvest the dividends to let it compound.
Some people may say 20 years is too long. Yes it is if you start investing late. If you start investing at the age of 25, 20 years later you are just 45 which is still not too old for many. Achieving 1 Million dollars is possible for most average income earners.
Start investing when you are young to experience the benefits!
Watch the following video to understand how investing can compound your money in an unimaginable rate:
This series was shown on Channel 5 where many successful individuals go undercover for 2 days to experience the life of an underprivileged family in Singapore.
In this particular episode, CEO of Propnex, Mohamed Ismail, goes undercover to know more about the life of an underprivileged family. The family is poor but the children are still sensible to be contented that they have food on the table even though its only 1 dish for 2 meals a day. They don't have extra money to have better food. This family does not have the chance to travel abroad and the shocking thing is they don't even have money to make a passport.
After the undercover mission, Mohamed Ismail reveals his true identity and finds ways to help this family in his own capacity. There are a few other episodes also which shows other successful individuals helping other underprivileged families. Check them out on Xin.msn.com
I stumbled upon a site where the author wrote on her journey towards creating her dream job in less than a year. This blogger blogs about her travel experiences and is now ranked one of the top 50 travel blogs in the world. She quitted her job 5 years ago to pursue her passion in travelling. She has travelled extensively to many countries and then subsequently created her site www.justonewayticket.com.
5 years ago, she didn't know if she would have enough money or if her passion in travelling can become her career. Now, she has successfully become a travel blogger with tourism agencies inviting her to explore their countries, hotels offering her free rooms in exchange for reviews and even airline companies offering her sponsored tickets to fly. The truth is, she's earning much lesser than what she is earning last time but it's enough to pay for her accommodation and food. To be exact, she was earning 10 times more previously and had a nice apartment, a car and many other things. But she wasn't happy going to work everyday and counting the hours until it was time to go home. You can read her blog post here. There was a video being shared on her blog which i found it really meaningful. Many people chase after money and material possessions but end up being unhappy. This video is titled "What if money was no object". It talks about living out your passion and turning it into your life. Many local financial bloggers talk about achieving financial freedom early so they can pursue their passion and work lesser hours per week. In fact, successful people also talk about pursuing their passion and you can actually turn your passion into your career. When they pursue their passion first, they end up being successful and money comes after that. Watch the short video below:
"If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You'll be doing things you don't like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don't like doing - which is stupid. Better to have a short life, that is full of what you like doing, than a long life spending a miserable way..." (Alan Watts)
The 2008 global financial crisis was one of the worst crisis after the great depression. Singapore's economy was also hit with a contraction of -6% to -9% in 2009. Resident unemployment rate was at 4.3% in 2009.
Economic policies have changed over the years from the pre great depression era to the post 2008 global financial crisis era. In my current year 3 economics module in university, I'll be learning all the different economics school of thoughts from pre 1900s to post 2008. This is rather interesting to me as I can learn what caused the various crisis some to be more severe than the others and what was done to bring the economy out of the recession.
The great depression was so great that it was said to be one of the causes of world war 1 and 2. It was debated that had the governments back then implemented the right policies to bring the economy out of depression, the two world wars would not have happened. After the two world wars, we experienced one of the greatest economic booms in history. The new economic school of thought, which was known as the Keynesian economics, brought the world out of crisis and into economic prosperity.
It was until in 1979 where the oil crisis took place that brought the economy down again. This crisis was caused by shocks to the supply of oil and was different from all the past crisis. Governments used the old economic policies to try and bring the economy back to recovery again but this time it caused other problems. Inflation was born out of the oil crisis causing prices worldwide to accelerate. Hyperinflation was seen in some countries This was partly caused by the wrong policies that was implemented after the 1979 oil crisis.
The 2008 global financial crisis is something new again. This time it is global and the crisis is seen in almost every part of the world. There is already new research on going currently, which is known as the post Keynesian economic school of thought. This is still rather new and it'll be interesting to watch the developments of that theory. Having said all these, one have to realise that economic policies are one of the most important factors to a country. Without stable policies, the country will always be in trouble with high inflation and also high unemployment.
There's this video which was broadcast shortly after the 2008 financial crisis. The video consist of interviews with people who were affected by the crisis and also an interview with Singapore's finance minister. The interview talks about the various policies the government will embark on and how to bring Singapore out of the crisis itself. It is definitely not by chance that we could still be here today after the crisis.
This post is titled the world's richest city. The city is actually Singapore. In the following video, you will see how the rich have benefited from the prosperous economy of Singapore and in contrast, how the poor are struggling in life.
A yacht that cost $5.2 million dollars? A prime property called the sail in the heart of CBD? A middle income worker have to pay housing loans monthly up to the age of 60 plus? A housing estate where 6 in 10 people are unemployed? A poor family surviving on $600 a month?
This is the reality of life in Singapore. Watch the video to find out more:
