Friday, December 31, 2021

There is a kind of happiness, that is to go home and eat

It is the first day of the year. I will take this time to talk about the importance of family warmth.

There is this female colleague in my company; she will go home for dinner most of the time. When we order takeaways or settle our meals in the company, she will ride her beloved motorbike and goes home for dinner happily.

At first, we thought she disliked takeaway or company food. Later, I learned from her that she is the only daughter brought up by her mother painstakingly. Now her mother is retired at home. If she doesn't go home to eat, her mother will eat casually. Only when she comes home, her mother will bother to cook more proper and nutritious food.

Her home is not far from the company, and it takes about 20 minutes to her house. Whenever, she goes home for her dinner, colleagues in our department will watch her go home with envy.

In fact, what we envy is, not only the happiness of her being able to go home and eating delicious meals, but also the little fortune of her being with her family every day.

If one can accompany their parents to a meal everyday, I think they are very fortunate. I remembered playing  till wee hours with my friends when I was young, and when it was too late, my mother would call me home for dinner.

"Mom calls you to go home for dinner." Then I will reluctantly bid farewell to my friends.

When I first started working, I turned into a complete workaholic. If there is nothing important, I will never go home easily. I will not let go of work just because of the "trivial thing" of going home for dinner.

As long as I go home to eat, my parents will be happier than anyone else.

They went to the market early to prepare the ingredients, solemnly prepared a table of dishes, and then waited for me to go home. When I get to the door of my house, I will feel safe and secure when I smell the fragrance of familiar food.

The dishes prepared by my parents are not delicacies, but they are delicious, sweet and sour pork tenderloin, tomato scrambled eggs, fish-flavored pork, braised prawns, spicy lotus root slices...Infused with love, these dishes have become works of art that I need to appreciate in my whole life.

My parents taught me a lot of things. But what they often say is this sentence:

Where can I eat the best food? Of course at home!

After I grew up, I realized that being able to go home for dinner is a kind of happiness. This kind of happiness can support you through countless difficult times.

If you have time, please go home more for dinner. Just a simple, plain meal can calm you down and gain joy and happiness. A gluttonous feast is no better than home-cooked dishes. Live your life well, no matter how far you go, no matter how high you fly, please remember to go home for dinner.

Home is always the best harbour for a person. The delicious food at home is a cure for everything. The family sits around the dinner table, sharing food while chatting, enjoying themselves, what is there to be unsatisfied in life?


Cheers Everyone and have a great year ahead.=)

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Thursday, December 30, 2021

A letter to the 2021 Self


2021 is coming to an end soon. Looking back on this year, you may have experienced success and failure, as well as loneliness and longing. It is a good time to conclude and write a letter to yourself at the end of the year.

 

01      To the Struggling You

 

For you who struggled:

 

After going through 2021, you know that being strong means having the courage to try and persevere no matter if you win or lose.

You are very fortunate that this year that you did not waste too much time on indecisiveness, did not neglect your life, and did not disappoint yourself. No one can predict whether life will be what we think in the end. But what is certain is that the harder you work, the luckier you will be.

Do not choose to slack because you are afraid of hard work. Instead of being dragged forward by life, it is better to challenge it, conquer it, and strive to live life as you expect. Stand firm to your goals without hesitating, face your own shortcomings and work hard to make up for them; you will eventually meet a better version of yourself.

In the days to come, I hope you will survive in the adverse situations and still come out fresh; I hope you have experienced hardships and still love life. The rest of your life is still long; I hope you can continue to be strong and shine like a gem!

 

02     To the Homesick You

 

To you who are homesick:

 

During this year, you have experienced many things and visited many places most probably locally. When you look back, you will find that home is the only place where you can cry and laugh happily. There are parents who love and worry about you at home, there are loved ones who accompany you, and there are brothers and sisters who will reach out to help you in the times of difficulties.

When we were young, we always felt that the outside world was more exciting. After growing up and leaving home, we always want to go home. If you regard life as the four seasons, then home is the clothes that you wear on your body in the four seasons. If you regard life as a journey, then home is a cozy pit stop for you to rest during the journey. As long as you get home, be it just a cup of hot tea, and a light meal, you are able to carry on fighting, no matter how much grievances you have experienced outside.

Maybe you have not been home this year, but don’t forget to call home no matter how busy you are.

 

03     To the Undiscouraged You

 

To you who are not discouraged:

 

You have suffered some setbacks, but don’t be discouraged. Life is long. Nothing can be seen at a glance, no one know whether it’s full of spring breeze or dust. You can only find out yourself. The suffering, the loss you have suffered, and the pain you have endured will eventually become the light, illuminating your way.

I’ve heard this sentence: “You won’t remember how you survived after the storm is over. You are not even sure that the storm is over. But one thing is certain: when you passed through the storm, you are no longer the same person." Adversity tests a person's attitude toward troughs and that can often determine the height of his life. The beginning of a period of ascent is often extended from a low point and in many cases there is no way to retreat, forcing us to find a way out.

Life is not a smooth road. Facing the crit of life, you must learn to adjust your emotions, have hope, and live hard. Because if you are at the bottom of life, as long as you work hard, no matter which direction you are in, it can only go upwards. When you are down, you don't blame yourself, and you don't give up when you are frustrated. As long as you can keep moving on, passed this bitter cold, there will always clear sky.

 

04     To the Lonely You

 

To the lonely you:

 

You may have been through many solitary times that you haven't mentioned to others in 2021. But when you look back at that period of time, you will find that what you see along the way is not bitterness, but strength. It is those tears and sweat that have paved the way you have to walk in your life.

Some people say that the more you are alone, the better for self-improvement. Some people complain due to loneliness; some people struggle in loneliness. Those who struggled and overcame loneliness will become tougher. So, don't be afraid of being alone. Those days when we walked silently, the little things we struggled for will eventually become our bonus points in our future life. Although this road is not well lit, it is bright enough.

 

The 2021 train is about to reach the end

We are going to say goodbye to the 2021 selves

Please believe

The 2022 You

You will definitely meet a better self!

 

See you in 2022.


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Friday, December 24, 2021

Learning the psychology in financial management

Investment and financial management are actually a kind of psychology game. No matter what investment you make, you should understand the psychology in financial management. These psychological effects will have a great impact on our investment behavior.

#The Butterfly Effect

The butterfly effect in economics refers to the compounding impact of small changes. This effect shows that the development of everything is fixed and variable, and a small change can affect the overall situation.

Do not ignore any small aspect of the investment policy, it is likely to have a great correlation with your investment, it may also affect your economic trend, and even affect your investment income.

#Crocodile rule

Suppose a crocodile bites your foot. If you try to break free from your foot with your hand, the crocodile will bite your foot and hand at the same time. The more you struggle, the more you get bitten. Your only way to escape is to sacrifice that foot.

When you find that your investment has deviated from the direction of the market, you must stop the loss immediately, without any delay. If you decide to take a gamble, it is very likely that you will lose everything.

#Sheep effect

The phenomenon of the herd effect is that where the leader goes, the others follow.

In the investment field, this effect refers to the phenomenon of investors learning and imitating in the trading process. When everyone says that a certain stock will rise sharply, everyone will blindly buy a large amount of this stock that follows the trend. Similarly, in financial investment, we must also remember not to blindly follow the trend.

#Boiling Frog Syndrome

Put a frog in the boiling hot water, it will quickly jump out of the pot. If you put a frog in a pot of cold water and heat it slowly, the frog will adapt to the heat gradually.

When the water temperature reached the frog's limit, it was too late to jump out of the pot. We tend to ignore the slow and small dangers in investment and financial management.

This small danger that we ignore is the most terrifying.

If this happens in investment, we always pay attention to the direction of investment. If we can't see the future with it, we must be decisive when we cut the meat and stop the loss.

#Catfish effect

In the past, the survival rate of sardines during transportation was very low. Someone then discovered that if a catfish is placed together with the sardines, the survival rates will improved. What is the reason?

Because the catfish destroys the living environment of the sardines, the survival ability of the creatures themselves will be stimulated to the greatest extent, so the survival rate of the sardines will increase accordingly.

In fact, any investment is risky. We must not only learn financial management knowledge, but also exercise risk control, and be vigilant at all times!

#80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule also known as the Pareto Principle states that for most of the outcomes, 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes.

There is also the 80/20 rule in society. Wealth is concentrated in the hands of 20% of people, while 80% of people have a very small proportion of wealth. This is the 80/20 rule.

The same is true in the financial management market. Investment and financial management are not just about making a profit. In the financial management market, there is also the 80/20 rule. Wealth is basically in the hands of 20% of people who manage financial affairs wisely.

Don't analyze, deal with, and look at problems equally, but focus and prioritize on solving the main problems.

#Segal’s Law

The Segal’s Law means that when a person has a watch, he can know what time it is, but when he has two at the same time, he cannot be sure.

Two watches can't tell a person a more accurate time, but will make the person who reads the watch lose confidence in the accurate time.

The Segal’s Law gives us a very intuitive inspiration in terms of investment. Take stocks as an example: there are too many opinions from experts, and there are both ups and downs. If you listen to the opinions of experts, you will be at a loss.

Make a reasonable analysis according to your own wishes.

#Broken Window Theory

If the window of a house is broken and no one will repair it, other windows will be broken inexplicably after a short while as it promotes more crime and disorder;

Similarly, people are embarrassed to throw rubbish In a very clean place, but once there is rubbish on the ground, people will throw it away without hesitation, without feeling ashamed.

The same is true for investment; don't always think about making money from penny stocks, this is often not making money!


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Friday, December 17, 2021

Just work hard, time can tell

01

Many people may have had this question before. Two people started at the same time and as time went by, the result was very different. Why does this happen? Some people say that it is because people use time differently. Some people are willing to spend time dwelling in a certain field, while others are wasting their time. The result that time gives us is the most accurate.

The kind of life you live depends on how you spend your time.

I once met a young mother. After years of study, she got a bachelor degree and obtained several vocational qualification certificates. She joined a MNC later. The other mothers in the community were both envious and puzzled, "Where did she have so much time to study?" She was racing against time to read, working hard while bringing the baby up.

So you see, time never favors anyone. Everyone has 24 hours a day. But what widens the gap between people is the attitude towards time.

If you waste time, time will ignore you; if you value time, time will treat you well. You treasure time and became a better version of yourself. This is the best result that time can give you.

02

In fact, no matter which industry you are in, attitude and ability are very important. There are no shortcuts behind "excellent". Only through time can we obtain glorious results.

Time is fair. When you consume time, time silently abandons you. Every step you take and every second you waste will be very obvious.

03

Time is the fairest thing in the world, and it is also something that can't be returned. Time is also a kind of power. How you spend time, you will get what you get.

For example, if you want to learn a new language, you will spend time practicing it frequently. The more you practice, the better you will be. When you can talk to others in a foreign language, you will have a strong sense of accomplishment. This kind of positive feedback will increase your self-confidence. People will become more confident and will be more active in doing other things. This is a chain reaction.

Time has such a magical power.

So, just work hard, time can tell.


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Friday, December 10, 2021

Ten years later, will you thank yourself today?

 

01

Ten years ago, my colleague Alice was preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination. At that time, she was financially tight and did not dare to resign, so she could only prepare for exams while working.

Everyone who has experienced it knows that this is a VERY tiring thing. I vaguely remember her schedule at the time: wake up at five and read until seven; go to work; read from seven to ten in the evening at the nearby library.

In my impression, she is thin and small, always carrying a big bag that is disproportionate to her body. She walks like a wind and eats very fast. It is often when we just start to eat, she has already finished eating.

Eventually, she was accepted by the university, opening a new chapter of her life.

I met up with her a few days ago. We were reminiscing our past as we had not been meeting up for the past few years. Alice said that the exam preparation year was the hardest time in her life. She didn't go shopping or put on makeup. Social and entertainment activities were basically eliminated. Breakfast was bread and lunch was in the canteen. Even going out for a dinner was a luxury. She was very uncertain about her future, she won’t know what she will do if she failed the exam. Fortunately, her wish was fulfilled. Now that she think about it, she is very lucky. If she can go back to the past, she will really want to hug the "poor" girl ten years ago, thank her for her persistence in her efforts and not giving up.

02

Perhaps many people have had such tough period in their lives. They are extremely tired, confused, and almost want to give up, but if they manage to hold on, success may come.

I went to an office building yesterday. While I was waiting for the elevator, a girl hurried over, devouring a hamburger and at the same time, holding a large stack of documents in her hand.

When she entered the lift, the documents in her hand were scattered all over the place because of her urgency. I helped her pick it up and saw that there was also a workbook related to the judicial examination in a pile of materials. She looks like Alice from ten years ago.

"It's hard work, right?" I said. She gave a wry smile.

I watched her walk out of the lift, and deep in my heart I think, it's worth it. Ten years later, you will definitely be grateful to who you are today.

03

Everyone may have this or that plan in their minds, what kind of life they want to live, and what kind of person they want to be. However, the process of realizing a dream is never easy. You have to defeat confusion, grievance, laziness, and weakness.

And if you can hold on a little longer when you want to give up, and hold on for a little longer when you want to escape, tomorrow you will have another reason to thank yourself today.

When you weigh yourself every morning, you will thank yourself for resisting the temptation of ice cream yesterday and insisting on exercising for a while; when you win the recognition of colleagues and customers, you will thank yourself for uninstalling the game software yesterday and making the planning seamless. When discussing cooperation with foreign customers, you will thank yourself who wakes up early to learn new languages; when you get promoted and get a pay raise, you will thank yourself who are self-disciplined, hardworking and not lazy...


Thank you for not admitting defeat, thank you for not giving up, and thank you for working so hard to attain a better version of yourself.

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Friday, December 3, 2021

Can you stop working now?

 

Even if you have a golden mountain or silver mountain, and there is no new source of wealth, wealth will be expended one fine day. As the saying goes: It is better to teach people how to fish than to give people fishes.  Most people work hard for financial independence, but in the end they find that they have been slogging for most of their lives but they are still running in cycles. To achieve financial independence, we must remember a few principles:

Income structure determines rich or poor

Most people earn income through 8 hours of work, so the essence of earning income is selling time.

Most people are thinking about how to increase the duration of paid work or increase the per hour rate. Most of their income comes from the salary they get from work every day.

No matter how much time a person can work in a day, it is also limited. Therefore, the way to increase income mainly depends on the per hour rate and whether it can be sold repeatedly. Most people will strive to become managers. This is because managers have greater responsibility and the greater the responsibility, the higher the return. So you can improve your leadership ability and make yourself a manager, so that the per hour rate will increase.

So, how can time be sold multiple times? For example, a well-known company gave a live broadcast class on career planning. The preliminary preparations plus the live broadcast time are about 40 hours, but there are more than 300 people watching the same live broadcast concurrently.

If a person wants to sell his share of time many times, he must have the ability to build products. You must be able to convert your knowledge, skills, and experience into products, and sell products to more people, so that you can sell them many times at once.

The importance of continuous income

Now there is an option of 10 million dollars and an option that can generate 10,000 dollars every day, which one would you choose? This is the same reason that teaching people to fish is better than giving people fishes. Suddenly owning a huge amount of wealth does give people a sense of satisfaction for a while, but no matter how much money you have and you don’t know how to use money to generate more money, it will be depleted eventually.

The definition of being rich is: when you do not go to work, or lose the job at hand, you can still live a life without worry for yourself and your family. This is because when the rich are not working, they will rely on stocks, funds, bonds, and even rents to provide them with income. This is continuous income.

During good times, people must think about how sustained income can be created.  For example, investment income, copyright incomes are all types of continuous income. However, we know that any unsustainable income is not worthy of envy, and it is even less worthwhile to work overtime and pursue it at the cost of health. In addition, the interest on savings alone is not enough to support your retirement.

Here is a small story for everyone. There used to be two mountains. One mountain lived Alan, and the other mountain lived Ben. There is no water on the mountain. Every day Alan and Ben have to go down to the mountain to fetch water, and the two quickly became good friends. One day, when Ben went to pick up water, he found that Alan didn't show up. He thought, maybe Alan was sick. The next day, Ben went to fetch water again, but Alan still didn't show up, Ben became worried and decided to visit Alan. After going up the mountain, he found that Alan was doing Tai Chi under the big tree. Ben was surprised and asked: "Alan, why didn't you pick water and still have water to drink?" Alan replied: "For the past 3 years, I have used my free time to dig well after picking water every day. Now I have dug a well and the water from the well is pouring continuously. From now on, I don’t have to go down the mountain to carry water anymore! I can also save a lot of time and do what I like.” Therefore, Alan no longer has to carry water. Ben still can't rest.

Choice is more important than effort.

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Can you stop working now?

Saturday, November 27, 2021

Money management is only for the rich? 6 points of financial management knowledge that ordinary people should know to realize your financial dreams

Financial management is not exclusive to the rich, and ordinary people should also understand financial management. Is financial management really hard to learn? The answer is no, so here are some financial knowledge that ordinary people like you and me can understand.

Everyone desires to have more wealth. Wealth is very important. Everyone knows that, but when it comes to financial management, many people start to feel confused. Because many people think that financial management is complicated. There are many wealth management products, including stocks and bonds, funds, wealth management products, paper gold, foreign exchange, P2P...etc. These investment types seem complicated. Therefore, many people prefer to store their money in the bank because they think financial management is too complex.

But in fact financial management is neither difficult nor complicated, and ordinary people can understand it. For financial management, ordinary people only need to understand from two aspects, one is how to make a financial plan, and the other is how to invest.

In real life, many people misunderstand the concept of financial management. They think that financial management is investment. In fact, the starting point of financial management is not to invest, but to recognize what you are pursuing. You can understand from the following three aspects: First, why is money important? Second, what is your wealth goal? Third, what is your current debt?

01 Why is money important?

Money is needed everywhere in life, so money is very important. If you have enough wealth, you will become more free. Think about it now. If your wealth is enough for you to live freely, you don't have to work hard every day, what do you want to do most? travel? read? fitness? Take a blank sheet of paper and write down why you think money is important. You will find the most important things in your mind so that you will not be disturbed by other trivial matters. After you realize why money is important, you will move on to the second stage to set your financial goals. The future is always full of variables, so you only need to set a general goal.

02 Your wealth goal

Every country has a five-year plan and a ten-year plan, and each individuals should have too. They should have their own short-term, medium-term, and long-term plans. Just like when you plan a trip, you must know which attraction you want to go to. How long do you plan to spend on buying your favorite car, or changing to a new house, and how long will it take you to achieve financial freedom? Then calculate how much wealth you need to achieve these goals, how much money you need to become rich and free in your city, and write them on a piece of paper.

03 How much debt do you have?

Next is the third step: write down how much debt you have. Many people don't want to list their debts, because they feel embarrassed, and don't want to think about the mobile phones they bought in installments, the credit cards they owed, and the 30-year mortgage they took on. Learn to face it from now on, because only when you have a clear understanding of your financial situation can you better achieve your financial goals.

Here is a simple method. You take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line in the middle of the paper. List your assets on the left, such as deposits, investments, etc. List your debts, credit card debts, mortgages, car loans, etc on the right. The total assets on the left minus the total liabilities on the right is your total. Isn't it simple? Okay, after finishing the above content, let's take one more step and look at savings and spending..

04 Where does the money come from?

When you don't have additional income, saving money is the best way. If you want to save money, you must learn how to save money. There are always many places in your life where you can spend money. For example, you must pay your mortgage on time, change your phone frequently, and eat out at a nearby gourmet restaurant. So how can we save money in this area? The answer is simple, that is, continue to write a list of expenditures. After writing the list for a while, you will find that there are some things you don't need to buy. This will help you develop the habit of spending money on important things, while reducing your spending on unnecessary things. The amount of savings will increase, and deposits will naturally increase.

Save money early, no matter if you are in your twenties or thirties, and no matter what spending habits you have in the past, now you try to act immediately and start your savings plan. Don't wait until you had entered society for many years without any savings. Not to mention that you will need money during an emergency.

05 How to invest

The next step is to know how to invest. The entire investment activity probably contains three items. The first is to figure out whether you want to buy life insurance; second, you have to give priority to debt repayment; third, to understand the difference between investment and speculation.

When it comes to insurance, many people find it hard to face it, but as a rational investor, they must face problems. If your family depends on you financially, then you should have insurance.

Then, priority is given to paying off debts owed. Why did I say that? Because repayment of debt is also an investment, your debt requires interest. If your investment income is not as high as the interest on your debt, it is wise to repay the debt rationally. In addition, there are uncertainties in investment, so the best investment is to give priority to debt repayment.

06 A clear distinction between investment and speculation

There are millions of investors, and I don’t know how many have made money. But when it comes to financial management, many people still consider which stocks to recommend. Which industry is better these days? Many investors will hear some gossip from relatives, friends, colleagues, relatives of colleagues, etc. , Saying that a stock will go up several times, so they put all their money, even money borrowed from friends, into that stock. What happened in the end? I have not heard of how many people actually make a lot of money.

Why are many investors still unable to make money in a bull market? What is the problem? Why do investors still lose money when the market rises? The reason is that they confuse investment with speculation, and a little personal understanding of individual stocks is far from providing income protection.

We still need to know how to diversify investment risks. The classic philosophy of financial management is not to put all the eggs in one basket, in case there is a hole in the basket, all the eggs are gone.


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