MoneyTree AsiaPac

In last month’s issue, we looked at how your Belief Systems Will Determine Whether You Become Rich or Remain Poor. This month, we will be looking at the different types of Money Personalities and help you identify which Money Personality you belong to, so that you would know what your strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to dealing with money.

The first Money Personality I would like to introduce to all of you is “Philly the Peacock”.

Philly the Peacock is also known as the “Show-Off” personality. People with this type of Money Personality like letting others know just how “Rich” they are by buying lots of stuff.

Most of the time, they buy stuff not because they NEED it. They buy stuff just because other people HAVE it. They spend recklessly because, like Philly the peacock, people with the “Show-Off” personality have pride issues and are always out to prove that they can afford anything and everything their friends, family, neighbours, colleagues or people around them have.

If you belong to the “Philly the Peacock” Money Personality type, then chances are, you would most probably be broke as you would have spent most of your money buying stuff you don’t NEED just so that you can show off in front of other people.

To prevent yourself from buying things that you don’t need, use the 48 hour rule; No matter how badly you THINK you NEED to buy something, DON’T Buy it! Instead, wait for 48 hours to pass by. This is to prevent impulsive buying. If after 48 hours has lapsed and you STILL want to buy it, then chances are, you’re not buying on impulse, and it’s something that you probably REALLY need.

Next month, we’ll be looking at the 2nd Money Personality, “Orrie the Ostrich”. Till then, stay tuned!

In last month’s issue, we discussed how the Rich work at building wealth, whereas the Poor merely try to survive. This month, we will be looking at Rich Money Habit #9: If You Want Different Results, You Would Have To Do Things Differently.

It is a well known fact that the 5 people you embrace as your closest friends in your life are going to be the ones who would have the greatest influence over the results you get, whether it be School exam results, or Financial results in life (whether you become RICH or remain POOR in the future).

I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “Birds of a Feather Flock Together”? The reason why they flock together is because these birds are alike. And this happens to us humans too. The reason why you mix around with your particular group of friends is because you have a lot of similarities, and you do things almost the same way. Hence, you get almost the same results.

But the question you would want to ask yourself is, are these 5 friends of yours helping you become MORE than you can be? Are they helping you get GOOD results in school? Are they helping you develop Good Money Habits which would in turn make you RICH in the future?

I hope you don’t get me wrong. I’m not asking you to desert your friends. All I’m saying is, if these 5 friends whom you spend most of your time with aren’t helping you get the results you want, shouldn’t you start mixing around with different people who do things differently, and ultimately help you achieve different results?

The RICH understand this, and that is why they mix around with people who help them GROW, and become BETTER all the time! They learn and do what the other RICH people are doing, and hence, they achieve almost the same results as those RICH people.

Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again, and expecting a different set of results”. So, kids, if you want different results, you have to do things differently!

In next month’s issue, Rich Money Habit #10: Your Belief Systems Will Determine Whether You Become Rich, or Remain Poor.

In last month’s issue, we discussed how the Rich Plan their Retirement while the Poor merely HOPE they can Retire. This month, we will be looking at Rich Money Habit #7: The Rich Spend Less than they Make, the Poor Spend MORE than they Make.

There is a reason why the Rich become richer, and the Poor become poorer and get trapped in debt. The Rich become richer because they always spend less than they make. With the surplus they have, the Rich buy Assets. Assets, as you know, are things that put money into your pocket, hence making you richer. The assets the rich buy will generate dividends / interest / profits for them. The dividends / interest / profits generated will be used to buy even more assets, which in turn, would generate EVEN MORE dividends / interest / profits. So, by spending less than they make, the rich would be able to put their money to work hard for them, hence making them even richer!

The Poor on the other hand, become poorer and get trapped in debt because they spend MORE than they make. Most of the money they earned is spent buying liabilities that decrease in value. The more liabilities they buy, the deeper in debt they are. And very soon, they find themselves earning JUST ENOUGH to pay off all the debts they have accumulated. By now, all the hard work will be focused on how to get themselves out of debt. And that’s why the poor become poorer.

If you noticed, from the start, there is only a small difference in the way the rich and the poor treat their money. One spends less than they make, and the other spends more than they make. But the end results are vastly different!

So, kids, if you want to be rich, you need to learn how to Spend less than you make and invest your surplus in assets to enable your money to work hard for you!

In next month’s issue, Rich Money Habit #8: The Rich work at building Wealth, the Poor merely try to survive.

In last month’s issue, we discussed how the Rich choose their friends wisely. This month, we will be looking at Rich Money Habit #5: The Rich use Credit Cards wisely, the Poor abuse Credit Cards.

There is a misconception among kids today that Credit cards are “MAGIC” cards. They grow up believing that if they had this “Magic” card, they would be able to buy anything they like even if they do not have the money to pay for it.

Kids, make no mistake. Your parents ARE paying for it with their hard earned cash. You may not know it, but they are CERTAINLY paying for it.

Some people say Credit Cards are very dangerous things to have while there are others who say it’s a very powerful tool to leverage on. In my personal opinion, like Money, Credit cards are termed dangerous or powerful, depending on HOW the person uses it. If you use it wisely, credit cards can be the most powerful financial tool you could ever have. If you abuse it, it may destroy your financial life.

The Rich understand this very simple philosophy. That is why they use their credit cards wisely. The Rich will ALWAYS pay off all their Credit card bills in FULL when their Credit card bill arrives. In other words, the RICH only use their credit cards when they know they have the money to pay for it when the bills arrive. That is why they are very rarely in debt.

The Poor on the other hand, abuse their credit cards by spending lavishly and because they do not have enough money to pay their credit card bills at the end of the month, they only pay the minimum amount to prevent the banks from taking away their credit cards. The remaining amount that they still owe will be charged interest and as long as they do not settle their credit card bills in full, they will continue to pay interest to the bank. That is how the Poor get themselves in serious debt. They do not realize that they are spending Future money (money they do not yet have).

So kids, if you want to become Rich, learn good credit card habits NOW, even when you do not have a credit card yet… so that when you do get your own Credit cards, you’d know how use it wisely.

In next month’s issue, Rich Money Habit #5: The Rich Plan their Retirement, The Poor merely HOPE they can Retire.