A Case of Luck

I recently had the opportunity to participate in a seminar on investing and financial planning. In the seminar, we played a game quite similar to the cashflow game of the Rich Dad, Poor Dad fame.

Although it was just a game, it provided an insight of how one would manage one's money in real life. However, I must comment that some rules of the game makes it quite unrealistic. For example, the winner is the one who is the most cash-rich, not the one with the highest net worth.

I observed at my table at how other participants played the game. Initially, everyone was quite cautious. They were some chances to make big money, but we tend to ignore them, until someone else makes the money. Soon, all of us were taking those chances. See how great the lure of money (whether real or imaginary) is?

As the game proceeded, we were becoming reckless in a sort of a way. There were some chances where the returns weren't that good. Worse, they actually had a greater downside risk then upside potential. But participants chose to take it anyway.

In addition, people tend to forget the prices at which they made the purchase. I became a middleman at some point and made some commission off other participants. These participants then sold off the houses/ stocks later when they thought they had made a profit. They would have, if not for the cut I took from them.

And so it goes. The winners from each table were asked to share how they win the game. Since the game involves dices, luck was one of the component which some winners believed were essential to their positive outcome. While I believe many people had fun with the game, they might have taken home the wrong message, especially when the trainer implied that luck was important as well.

If I were to assume that the observation at my table applies to other tables as well, that is hardly the case. We might be unable to control the externalities (eg. the dice rolls), but we are able to control ourselves (the decision we make or don't). We might not be able to win the game because we happen not to land on those big chances (lack of opportunity as some say), but it not should be used as an excuse for some lousy decision made (your bad...admit it).

Bringing these learning points back to real life, here's how we could apply them.

1. Be clear on your financial objectives.
2. Monitor your finances carefully.
3. Determine your potential gains to losses when making any financial decisions.
4. After the middlemen take a cut of your profits, you're on your own.
5. Life could be cruel and deal you a bad hand, but you must learn to play the game good.
6. If opportunity doesn't knock on your door, it's probably because you haven't built one yet.

Free Money

Haven't you people heard about it? Banks are giving money away!

Just look at the queue forming at a favourite local bank:


Ok. That's not true. This bank happens to have a major market share and too few ATMs in towns.

But before you go, let me get back to my point. I'm sure you have seen advertisements for the Citibank Step-Up Account which offers a competitive interest rate of 0.6875% to as high as 2% compared to a measly 0.125 - 0.3% of local players. No minimum balance required, but you'll need to credit your salary into this particular account.

What's more, I signed up during the window period where they were offering $20 for brave souls willing to make the switch. The last time I heard, they are still offering this cash incentive. Just that it'll be in the form of SMRT voucher - perfect for the daily train commuter who has to wait for trains that almost never come during peak hours.

Sure, $20 is nothing for some of you. What about an additional $30? A separate $30 will be yours if you apply for any platinum card from Maybank. You'll need to charge something to the card first before they hand you the money. But such thoughtful gesture is surely worth reciprocating, especially if they beef up your wallet.

I was told that a few months back, OCBC had a similar promotion to Citibank's Step Up Account. Apparently, they were giving $50 for people crediting their salary to their OCBC account. Too bad I missed the offer.

So, keep a look out for such offer. It's free money for only 5-10 mins of your time.
Of course, don't go out of the way to do that.

A long time has since passed

Finally, there's some update on this blog! I've been neglecting it partly because I'm learning about new things at work. Without me realising, I going into the 7th week.

Most of my classmates are back from their graduaton trip and will be starting in their new jobs soon. I wish everyone of you the best of what's to come. There is no doubt that all of you will adapt fast enough to the environment. I am really happy for all who have found jobs in the area/ industry they want.

I'm getting into the flow of things at work. I still wake up feeling excited about going to work. It's quite a nice environment. My colleagues are easy going and interesting people. I just need to ask if I do not understand anything. By the way, my results for the last semester is out. My best semester ever, probably because there was only 1 Chemical Engineering related module.

Money-wise, I have recieved my first pay. I am trying to keep to my previous allocation of the salary religiously. But I do realise that I spend a bit more on food these days. Will try to keep my (huge) appetite in check. Been eating a lot of food which I wouldn't be able to afford comfortably as a student.

Which also means that I have to keep my waistline in control too. Thanks to the compulsory fitness test I have to take every year, I am considered "fit" for at least once a year! By the way, I just passed it on Saturday. Until the next window opens on my 25th birthday (very soon). It's a good way to earn some petty cash. Gets you fitter at the same time too!

Will this be like EmailCashPro?

I'm not sure whether you guys have heard about the Email Cash Pro program. Apparently, it was reported in Sunday Times that an Engineer earned over $200 in the period of 1 year since he signed up with the program.

Of course we can contend that the newspaper article might be incorrect. But being ranked the 146th (in terms of Press Freedom) in the World, some credit must be given to the reliability of the news. Unlike the newspaper agencies in Taiwan where even the citizens don't believe what is reported.

As with many referral programs, it pays to get in early and get more members in your network. However, I feel that Email Cash Pro has already been around for some time (at least since April 2006), thereby reducing the number of interested people who want to sign up. Those who wanted to sign up has done so already. It might be difficult to get new members in.

I was surfing the internet the other day when I came across this pay-as-you-surf program. It involves the downloading of a certain unreleased viewbar which will track your which pages you have been to. In the process, you could get credited for the websites you visit or things you search on the internet.

Of course, many skeptics will probably dimiss it as one of those internet scams. Guess what? I'm a skeptic too. But I reasoned that the potential upside (if the program actually pays out) could outweigh the possible downside (if the program is indeed a scam).

When I went for my student exchange in Germany, I came across several other HYIP programs which are quite similar to this. However, the difference is that most of these programs asked the user to pay a certain sum of money so that their view-per-page can make more money. Up to now, there isn't any claim on the program I'm going through. If it does ask for payment before I see the money, rest assured that I'll jump ship immediately.

In addition, I am encouraged that the people behind this program are responsible for a another program which paid out 120 million to subscribers in 2000. The program eventually flopped because of the dot com bubble.

Well, if it is indeed a scam, all I lost were a few minutes trying to understand the concept behind the program and for signing up. Nothing very serious actually. Hence, I think the risk is worth it in exchange for some experience (or maybe even cash).

No doubt many people have already got in the program. But I think it's still early enough to sign up and be one of the earlier adopters. Why don't you read through the website and see whether the model is feasible or not before signing up?

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