24) Be happy on your tasks and dreams

24) Be happy on your tasks and dreams. 

When you are happy, you have nice dreams coming.
When you are sad, you have nightmares coming.

When you are happy, your work will be of a better quality and higher performance. You will also produce better and more in whatever you do.

When you are sad, your performance will be affected. Your work quality is lower and will not be acceptable. You don't care what is the result as you are too engrossed in your sad feelings.
More mistakes are done and costs more to rectify.

If you cook, the food will taste nicer. If you paint, the pictures you draw will be happier mood too. If you drive, you will be more careful and considerate of other drivers and road users. Less honking and smoother rides.

Be happy on whatever you do. It will also affect others in a small and big way.

#highlevelrules

#highlevelmotivation

23) Money Market Fund vs Fixed Deposit

23) Money Market Fund vs Fixed Deposit.

You may be wondering what is the difference to keep money in a Fixed Deposit compared to a Money Market Fund.

Assume both gave a similar return of 3% and with saving period of 12 months. Well, both will give you the full 3% after 12 months.

However, what happens if you need to withdraw the money halfway. Let's say you saved $10,000 in a Fixed Deposit for 12 months starting from 1 Jan 2017. Something happened on 30 Jun 2017 and you need $3000 to pay a bill.


Fixed Deposit Saving.

You had to withdraw the Fixed Deposit halfway the period.

The bank will not pay you half of the 3%. Instead, you will only get the $10,000 and little or no interest earned at all. You took out the $3000 and restart the Fixed Deposit with $7000 for the balance 6 months.

For 6 months period, the Interest rate will be lower than 3% per year.. Let's say only 2% per year.
So the $7000 will earn only 6/12 x 2% x $7000 = $70.

Total interest earned is only $70.


Money Market Investment.

Let's look at what happens if you had invested the $10,000 into a Money Market Fund. The Money Market fund increased its Net Asset Value all along the time. Different Money Market instruments returned the capital and interest as it matures over the period.

So, if you had withdrawn the required $3000, only the $3000 is affected. The balance $7000 still remained in the Money Market fund till the full 12 months period.

Also for the $3000 withdrawn early, you still earned the interest for the 6 months (1 Jan to 30 Jun). You still get 6/12 x 3% x $3000 = $45 as interest.

The balance $7000 will continue the full 12 months and earned 3% x $7000 = $210.

Total interest earned is $45 + $210 = $255.

So, you can now see the benefits of putting your money into a Money Market or Cash Deposit Fund, as compared to Fixed Deposit.

Main Benefits

Money Market or Cash Deposit funds give you the flexibility to withdraw the money anytime and no penalty will be imposed.

Corporate and companies also put their excess money into a Fixed Deposit account. The interest earned will be taxed. Returns from Money Market funds are non taxable.

More details at this link:
https://highlevelrules.blogspot.my/2017/07/benefits-to-corporate-investing-in-unit.html

Depending on the Management Company and fund, you may also get free Personal Accident Insurance for your investment into a Cash Deposit fund.

22) Bond Price Moves Opposite to Bank Interest Rate And Bond Yields

22) Bond Price Moves Opposite to Bank Interest Rate and Bond Yields

This post is to show a simplified explanation on the effect of Interest Rate change on Bond price.
The bond price changes as the bond yield changes the opposite way.

Bank Interest Rate changes affect the Bond Yield the same way. 
Bank Interest Rate changes affect the Bond Price the opposite way. 

As a fund manager, the main task is to find a higher return with lower risk.
Let's say you have money and you have 2 choices, either Bond or Fixed Deposit. Where will you put your money?

If the current Fixed Deposit interest rate is 3%, then you would rather put in a bond that has a coupon rate of 5%. The 5% coupon rate will provide you with $50 per year as compared to earning $30 from the Fixed Deposit.

Bond Yield is defined as the Bond Income divided by Bond Price. 
Since the bond is giving $50 and the bond price is at $1000, the bond yield is 50/1000 = 5.00%.

Now, when fund managers know that the bond is giving $50, more fund managers will try to buy the bond. As the demand increase, the bond price will also increase.

From the table, the fund manager is willing to pay up to $1600 to get an income of $50 with the bond yield of 3.13%. It is higher than the Fixed Deposit rate of 3.00%.

However, if the Bank increased the interest rate to 4%, then it will be more attractive to put the money in the bank. So, to remain competitive, the bond price will drop to $1200 to get a bond yield of 4.17%. Bond yield has to be higher than Fixed Deposit return as bond has higher risk than Fixed Deposit.

If the Bank increased the interest rate to 6%, then it will be more attractive to put the money in the bank. So, to remain competitive the bond price will drop to $800 to get a bond yield of 6.25%.

In conclusion, when the bank Fixed Deposit interest rate increased, the bond yield will also increased. When the Bond Yield increased, the Bond Price will decrease.

The opposite occurs too. When the bank Fixed Deposit interest rate decreased, the bond yield will also decreased. When the Bond Yield decreased, the Bond Price will increase.

Bond yield will move same direction as interest rate. Bond price move opposite to Bond Yield. Therefore, Bond Price will move opposite to Interest Rate.


Other Related Articles

239) Bond Specification & Calculation

https://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2020/03/239-bond-specification-calculation.html

230) Differences between investing into Bond Market vs Bond Fundhttp://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2019/07/330-bond-market-vs-bond-fund.html

222) Does Bond Fund Move Opposite to Equity Fund?
http://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2019/03/222-does-bond-fund-move-opposite-to.html

22) Bond Price Moves Opposite to Bond Yields
https://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2017/06/bond-price-moves-opposite-to-bond-yields.html

48) Money Market Fund vs Bond Fund
http://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2017/07/money-market-fund-vs-bond-fund.html

61) Unit Trust Bond Fund Vs Fixed Deposit
http://highlevelrules.blogspot.com/2017/07/unit-trust-bond-fund-vs-fixed-deposit.html

21) 3 Rules for Financial Consultant and Fund Manager.

21) 3 Rules for Financial Consultant and Fund Manager.

Remember the rules well and which rule is more important. Based from the expanded version of one of Warren Buffet's great advise.

Remember to always protect the clients' hard earned money. They had put their trust on you to manage their money well. Always put the clients' interest first and the Financial Consultant's interest second.

20) Dream When You Are Awake

20) Dream When You Are Awake

It is more important to
DREAM when you are AWAKE than to
DREAM when you are ASLEEP.

You can control & decide the dreams you want when you are awake.

When you sleep, the dreams are beyond your control. The dreams are mostly unconnected and random. Most of the time, you can't really remember what you dreamed about.

Sometimes the night dreams became a nightmare.
Not a good thing, right?

So dream when you are awake. You are able to think logically on what you want to achieve and wants. You can plan on what actions to take to achieve them.

 
 
When you keep dreaming on your goals when you are awake, it will also influence your night dreams.

So, spend some time to dream when you are awake.
Your dream will give you the motivation and strength
to keep pursuing your goals.

Dream BIG and 
Take Appropriate Planned Actions.

19) Better or Bitter Life

19) Better or Bitter Life

When you only think of "I",
Life becomes BITTER.
When you think of Everybody,
Life becomes BETTER.

When you only think of yourself, you are limiting the benefit to only yourself. That also means only 1 person will benefit from your hard effort and time put in.

When you think of Everybody, more people will benefit. The good things that you produce with your time and effort are multiplied.

When everyone of us have the Everybody thinking, we all benefit together.
Your life and everyone else life will be better when you think of others. 

Internal vs External
Implosion vs Explosion
Immediate vs Eternal
Implode vs Explode
Instant vs Extended

18) Be a Financial Doctor

18) Be a Financial Doctor.

This post is dedicated to the Financial Consultants. If you are a Financial Consultant, do go out and meet people. Do help them to check their financial health status. Most people never did their financial check up and did not discover the common sickness infecting them.

Please help to check if they have the "Money Not Enough" sickness. If they do, let them know. Let them know early so that it can be treated early and easier to cure.

The sickness will still be with them even if they refuse to acknowledge and face it.

Do your follow up calls because the sickness will not go away even after you go away. As a financial consultant, your main task is to help your friends, colleagues, neighbours, relatives and even strangers.

As a financial doctor, you had been honored to do your duty to help them.

17) Say Nice Things to others

17) Say Nice Things to others

Say nice things to others & say nice things about others.
If you ran out of nice things to say, just show your nice smile.

Everybody wants to hear nice things, especially if it is related to them. We have tendency to complain, blame and gossip about others. It had been our learned way to release our anger and frustrations.

When you realize this beginning to happen, remind yourself on the effects of saying bad things. Nobody likes it and it will make the situation worse.

16) Gift of Time to You

16) Gift of Time to You

When you post something in the Blog, Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS and talking with someone, add value into the contents. The TIME they had spent with you or reading your content is a GIFT to you. The time is already passed and can never be returned.

It is a GIFT of their TIME to you.

If you are a trainer or speaker and presenting your message in a large crowd, do remember that you are multiplying the time effect. If you have 100 person attending your seminar, means that you are given 100 times more time. Any minute wasted means 100 minutes are wasted.

Thanks for reading this and hope it had added some value to your life.

#highlevelrules

15) Investment Growth Target

15) Investment Growth Target vs Actual

Here's an Excel template to estimate how much your investment amount will grow to, after a few years of investment. You can use the target amount and do a yearly review on the actual investment. Fill up the actual amount over the years to compare.

.

You have the flexibility to change the variables to suit your plans:
a) Yearly investment amount
b) Investment Rate of Return
c) Decide which years to invest
d) Continue or stop additional investment after certain years

I have added the Working Money calculator. It is the actual amount used for investment after minus the initial charges. The amount paid is what the investor put in. It is the amount written on the payment cheque.

In investment like Unit Trust, there are charges imposed, such as the Initial Service Charge and the GST on the Service Charge. These charges will reduce the actual invested amount.

An investor should be aware that the "Working Money" is the actual money working in the investment. The difference between amount paid and invested amount are the investment charges.

The Actual Amount column is what you should enter the amount over the years.
It is to compare your target vs actual amount saved. The Target amount is like the benchmark.

If the Actual Amount graph (in blue colour) is higher than the Target Amount (in red colour), then it is a better story. Congratulations as you over achieved the benchmark This means your actual money are above the Target and you are having more.

If your Actual Amount graph is lower, it means that your actual is lower than your target amount. You under achieved your benchmark. You may not achieve your target when you reached your target date.

Do something to increase the actual amount. Do make regular reviews to ensure that your actual results are on track as per the target.

It is very important to do regular review. You will be able detect early any major changes to your plans and enable you to take corrective actions as soon as possible.

All the best in your planning for yourself and your clients.

The Excel file can be downloaded from this link below. Download and Save As a new file.


https://drive.google.com/open?id=1y7ktTNL14hCJ_Z4G3dm5N8TxIDc6X3bL


There are also few other Excel file templates for your use. Do explore around in the other articles.

14) Look for the Good

14) Look for the Good

When you start looking for the Good, that's what you will Find.
When you stop looking for the Good, that's what you will Lose.

Learn to look for the good in everything.

You will always find something good or valuable. If the person is good, then there are many good things you will find in that person. If you start looking for the bad, you will start finding not so good things about that person. The flaws will start to appear out of nowhere. You will wonder why you did not find or see it before.

It is the same with any situation or experience. You will find the situation is good or bad depending on what you were looking for. You can even find something useful in the worst case situation.

If you are in a bad situation, learn to find something you can learn from it. Take opportunity to learn something so that you will not encounter the bad situation again.

13) Actual vs Planned Financial Goals Target

13) Actual vs Planned Financial Goals Target.

The Excel file is useful for your financial planning.
There are 2 plans to use. One for Retirement and another for Education.

The purpose is to enable you to compare your planning numbers with the actual performance. If the actual is higher than the planning, then it is good. It means that your actual result is better than planned target. You can fill up the blue colored cells/boxes with your own numbers and it will be calculated automatically.

Do change the numbers to suit different clients and time horizon.

The numbers were simplified calculations with many assumptions made. It is used as a guide to achieve the planned financial goal targets. More complicated and advance calculations are required for more accurate results.

Do remember that different asset classes and different investments provide different returns, even during the same period. Do diversify your investments to reduce the overall risks.

Do make regular reviews to ensure that your actual results are on track as per the target.

It is very important to do regular review. You will be able detect early any major changes to your plans and enable you to take corrective actions as soon as possible.

All the best in your planning for yourself and your clients.

The Excel file can be downloaded from this link below.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=12sGD5F9OFp1IY0QuwTU5P6Ft1J6bTTRD

12) Monthy & Yearly Expenses Excel Template

12) Monthly & Yearly Expenses in Excel Template.

 


Have you planned for your monthly and yearly expenses. Do you know how much is your expenses?
You need to be aware on your expenses and prepare a budget for it. Else, you will end up wondering where had all your salary and income had gone to.

 I had to put the file in another blog as this blogspot does not allow me to attach a file. There is also a graph showing comparison between the monthly income and expenses. During certain months of the year, your income will be higher. For example, during the Bonus time you get more salary. If the bonus is paid in January, then the January income is higher.

There are also certain months where the expenses are higher. For example during your major festival months. The Chinese usually have more expenses during the Chinese New Year. That happens in January or February. For the Christians, the December month will have more expenses for the Christmas celebrations.

You will also notice that your expenses are higher for the yearly insurance payments. For example the car and house insurance. Car insurance and road tax renewal usually happen at the same time.

Click the link below to download the Excel Template and Save As a new file..

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1H6TKruRi1FpZnuTyUdIjkJJ3AS9Z6mTm


 

11) Fear And I

11) Fear And I

It's interesting to see what the letters in "Fear And I" became...

10) Asset Allocation Excel Template

10) Asset Allocation Excel Template

Investment Asset Allocation in Excel Template

 

This template is catered for the Unit Trust portfolio. It is divided into 2 major asset classes, Equity and Bond.

There are many other Excel templates for Financial calculators.
Please view the many templates there for your use.

Download the Excel file from the link below:

Asset Allocation Excel template

9) 3 Rules for High Level Performance

9) 3 Rules for High Level Performance:

1) Get Involved
2) Have Fun
3) Don't Believe

I first introduced these 3 rules during my classes. How to get the participants learn better and improve themselves.When you are in any activity, always remember to apply the 3 High Level Rules.

1) Get Involved
Do get involved in the activity. Do not just look around and see what's going on. You will learn much more when you are involved with the mind and body. You will learn to think of what had happened, how it could have helped you in the past and how it can be used for the future activities.

2) Have Fun
You will always learn better when you are having fun. The lessons learnt will be remembered longer and more memorable. There is no point to force someone to learn something they don't like and not happy with being there. It will be a waste of time and affect the rest of the people there.

3) Don't Believe
Perhaps this is the most controversial message you, as the participant had ever heard. How is it logical that you were told not to believe what was being taught. You came to learn from a more experienced and knowledgeable person. The real message is that you must not believe blindly what was said and done. The speaker may also be wrong without he realizing it.

Analyze what was taught and see how it can be applied to your situation. Many times, the situation is different and it does not apply. Do accept if it applies to you and don't accept if it does not apply to you.

#highlevelrules

8) Ask Not What Others

8) Ask Not What Others

Ask NOT what you can do for others, ask what you can do for others.

Copying and adapting the famous Quotation by the late US President John F. Kennedy,

 "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." 

It is common and natural that we want things for our self. We want this and that.

We keep asking,
"What is provided?" 
"What is available?"
"Why not Free?" 
"Why so lousy?"
"Why late in delivery?"
"Why so slow one ah?"

I am very sure you can think of more examples on similar questions.

We expect things and services to be given to us first. We want to get first before we start giving.
We usually ask what others can do for us.

The happy people are the ones who always give first. 

When you give first, you already have more than you need. You are happy that you already have and give others so that they can also be happy.
You will always be happier when you give happiness to others.
Ask yourself what you do or give to others.

When you do something and give solutions to other people's problems, you will be rewarded.
So, keep asking yourself what solutions you can give to solve others problems.

In business sense, a business/shop/factory/company have to give out their products and services first, before being paid.

Even those who collect money then only deliver had given others a trust in their business first. No one will give money when the trust was not given. No business will survive without giving first.

So start asking yourself what you can do for others instead of asking what others can do for you.
Give and add more values to others.

#highlevelrules
#highlevelmotivation

7) A Problem is An Opportunity

 7) A Problem is An Opportunity

Every problem is an opportunity for you to provide solutions.

How do we find ways to help others?
Find out their problems and help them to solve it.
By providing the solutions, you will be rewarded for helping others.

Different people have different problems. This is where you will find a lot of opportunities.
If you have a solution for one person, the solution will definitely can be used for others.



For example, Adam has migraine sickness. So Adam goes to a doctor. The doctor has a medicine to cure that sickness. Adam pays for the doctor's consultation services and the medicine. So, the doctor had the opportunity to provide a solution to Adam's problem.

Another person has similar migraine sickness and goes to the doctor. The doctor is providing solutions to another person's problem. The doctor's services is needed and he will be well rewarded for his expertise to solve the migraine problem.

So, do find out other people's problem and provide solutions for the problem.




 

Ask the right Questions using the IDEAL steps.
 




Another advise, please do not take advantage of people's problem to enrich yourself. 

Do have a good heart to help others with the solutions you have.

6) Get Sales and Give Sales To Others

6) Get Sales and Give Sales To Others.

A salesperson is someone who engages in selling. Basically, a salesperson sales things or services to you.

Successful salesperson have different thinking. Not only do they take sales orders, but also gives sales orders to their clients.

Everyone needs something and has something to give.

If you own a fruit stall, you sell fruits to your clients. You take in the sales orders and deliver the fruits. To be more successful, you should ask your client what he is doing, what business is he in, what is his profession, etc. Find out what he has to sell to others.

Let's say the client is a lawyer. You now know him better and try to sell his legal services to other clients who came to buy fruits from your stall. You not only get sales, you also give sales to your clients. Everyone will definitely remember those who helped them before.

Basically, you have turned your fruit stall into a Business Exchange Centre. A place where others can get recommended for their products and services.

So, whenever somebody wants to buy fruits, would he go to any fruit stall or are motivated to come to your stall  or a "business exchange centre"? You and your clients have informally created a business partnership. Everyone becomes a team member to improve lives of other team members.

This becomes a "Win-Win" environment for all to prosper.

Have this mindset in whatever business or sales your are doing.
This idea applies to any physical products, services and even financial services.

What if you do not have any sales to give to your clients? 

One idea is you let your clients meet and network among themselves. Organize a gathering and invite them to attend. Tell them that you are helping them to network with your other clients. You sincerely hope the gathering will benefit one another.

You can have a birthday party, festival open house or just simply a get-t- know-you-better function. It can be but need not be a big gathering. Even a simple lunch gathering will be good enough. The main objective is to get your clients to meet one another.

This "Get Sales and Give Sales to Others" mindset will definitely increase your business.

5) What Investors Want in their Investments?

 

5) What Investors Want in their Investments?

People invest their money and hope for gains.

Ask yourself what do you want from your investments?

These are the 4 things investor wants:
1) High Returns (Super)
2) No Risk (Safety)
3) Fast Results (Speed)
4) Simple Process (Simple)

All investments have different levels for each of the 4S characteristics above.
Let's take a few examples and see each of the 4S levels.

A) 4D lottery tickets

1) High Returns (Super)
With $1 bet ('investment') the returns can be very high. For example, a first prize of 4D ticket, you will get $2,000. That is a whooping 200,000% return of investment.

2) No Risk (Safety) 
However, the safety is very low. The changes of you winning the 1st prize is at 1 number out of 10,000 numbers. That is 0.000001%. Most of the time, people will lose the $1 bet. But, many do not mind losing small amount for the potentially very high returns.

3) Fast Results (Speed)
Buying a 4D ticket is attractive because of the speed. When you buy on the race day, the results are known in the same night. That is less than 12 hours. People do not like to wait for a long time to get their returns.

4) Simple Process (Simple)
It is also very simple to buy/bet of a 4D ticket. You can get a number anywhere. Be it on a car that just met with an accident, in a dream, your phone number,your car, house, bill, queue number, receipt number etc. People also will buy the number on the speeding summon. If you do not have any number, you can also buy 'lucky pick'. The 4D computer will randomly choose a number for you. Everything is so easy.

B) Property Investment
Property investment characteristics are very different.

1) Super
The property you bought can be get a high return rate provided you get in the right location. More so if you can get a good property and a cheap price.

2) Safety
In terms of risk, property has low, moderate or high risk.It depends a lot on location.
Property has a market value to it. It can be mortgaged and a bank will loan you the money if they find the property has good value. Property prices had been increasing all the years, although it did drop during the market property bubble bust.

3) Speed
Speed is reasonably slow. Property prices need time to grow. It depends on the location and the demand for the property. If there are special development around the property, then the property price will go up faster. For example, if there is a MRT or LRT station nearby, then the property price goes up faster.

4) Simple
The process is never simple.You must be able to spot a good potential before others. If you are slow, others had already bought earlier and sell to you. The price had already gone high. You need to read and do lots of research to get a good property.

C) Investing in the Stock Market for the short term

1) Super
The returns can be very high. Prices changes can be so fast that you can get a very high returns.

2) Safety
The risk of buying a stock market can be high if you do not have the expertise and skill. Many people got 'burned' during the economic crises and stock market crashed. As the price can change so fast, you may lose a lot during a short time.

3) Speed
The speed is very high. Some people make lots of money doing contra trading. They speculate on the prices and buy before everybody else. If they manage to buy early, the price is still low. They then sell before everyone else, before the price crash.
 
4) Simple
The stocks are quite easy to buy. With the online trading, you can do it anywhere as long as you have an internet connection. You can also call your remisier to do the trading for you.


D) Investing in the Stock Market for the long term

It is different characteristics if you buy stocks and keep for a long term.

1) Super
The returns can be very high. Prices of stock increases steadily over the long term as company profits increases over the years.

2) Safety
The risk of buying a stock market can be high if you do not have the expertise and skill. Many people got 'burned' during the economic crises and stock market crashed. Safety is increased if you invest 
 for long term in a good company with proven track records.

3) Speed
The speed is very high. Some people make lots of money doing contra trading. They speculate on the prices and buy before everybody else. If they manage to buy early, the price is still low. They then sell before everyone else, before the price crash.

4) Simple
To pick a good stock, you have to do a lot of reading and research. You also need to understand the company's business and potential earnings. You need to be able to read the company annual reports to calculate the value in the company.

E) Unit Trust Investment

1) Super
In the long term, unit trust can give a moderate returns. If the funds are buying good stocks in an upmarket, the returns can be better..

2) Safety
The safety aspect is moderate. The unit trust returns can go up as well as down. As unit trust diversify their investments into many asset classes (stocks, bonds, money market) that the returns are low correlation to one another. The risk are further reduced if the fund buys into many other countries market.

3) Speed
The unit trust investment are for the medium to long term. You need some time to for the funds to gain some returns and pay for the initial service charge. If the market crashed, you may need to wait longer to gain back your capital.

4) Simple
It is quite simple to buy unit trust. You can contact any of the thousands of Unit Trust Consultants near you. The Unit Trust Consultant can explain to you on the risk and returns of your investments. It can be more complicated if you want to do Dollar Cost Averaging, Asset Allocation, Portfolio Review and Portfolio Rebalancing. To optimize your returns, you may want to switch into a different fund, depending on the market conditions. Basically, you need to do some work to monitor your investments and optimize your investment returns. Most Unit Trust Consultants will monitor and manage your funds for you. So, there is nothing complicated for you to do.


In Conclusion
So, do study and compare the different 4S levels for the different investments. Find one that is suitable for your budget, speed, expected return rate, simple enough to understand and within your available time frame.