Recently while I am tasked in my work to come out with some leadership ideas, I was inspired to have this leadership rating. I called it the 5-star Leadership Rating. Do feel free to use this model for your workshop needs but please link back to my blog.
Feel free to give your feedback on this rating or you have questions about this rating.
Without God, we have
1. The propensity to prove one self
2. The propensity to get rich and famous
3. The propensity to achieve
4. The propensity to fear (the unknown or future)
5. The propensity to hide your weaknesses and mistakes
6. The propensity to grumble and hate
7. The propensity to worry
But God has created us to have
1. The faith to trust Him
2. The faith to depend on Him
3. The faith to confess and repent our sins (because He see it all)
4. The faith to be vulnerable
5. The faith to give it all up
6. The faith to be still in times of troubles and great needs
7. The faith to love selflessly
In a cosmopolitan society where I come from, many people would agree with me that everyone need to strive to get what they want or sometimes more striving just to get ahead of others. If you are like me tired of fighting to strive, then strive for these things. There is a saying, “If you can’t fight them, join them!” I choose to join in different ways.
#1 Strive to be nobody
#2 Strive to serve others
#3 Strive to consult God
#4 Strive to pray
#5 Strive to love people
#6 Strive to rest
#7 Strive to love yourself
#8 Strive not to regret about the past
A short personal reflection
Taken from : 15 things you should give up being happy
2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu
I agree about giving up the control as quoted but I wish to add on to Lao Tzu’s statement. It is because God is in control, therefore we can let go and trust God to do His work.
In the history of humanity, we experience thousands years of different phases of revolution. Decided to summarize a brief history of humanity to celebrate the wave of Social Media (which give me the opportunity to blog for self pleasure).
– Creation to 8000 BC: The period of Ice Age, Early/Middle Stone Age/Paleolithic and New Stone Age/Neolithic.
– 8000 BC to 5000 BC: The Wave of Agriculture/Neolithic revolution
– 1300s to 1600s: The Wave of Cultural/Renaissance revolution
-1500s to 1700s: The Wave of Commercial and Scientific revolution
– 1750 to 1850: The Wave of Industrial revolution
– 1850s to 1940s: The Wave of Second Industrial revolution
– 1940s to current: The Wave of Digital and Information revolution
And behold, in the 21st century, part of the wave of Digital and Information revolution, the wave of Social Media which we all know dominated by Facebook, Google and mobile apps, a legacy made popular by late Steve Jobs through iPhone and iPad in Apple, afterward by Android powered mobiles and tablets mainly used by Samsung and lately we see Microsoft powered mobiles in Nokia phones.
An article <a href="http://Read here.”>Asiaone Business which reported on how some big and young earners in Singapore are the big spenders and trapped borrowers.
Many people sometimes may need to borrow cash for personal reasons they have for example parents fell ill and requires some money to pay hospitalization bills (this could easily be taken care if earlier planning is taken care, read my other entry on managing your risk here), children education, and other possible reasons. Whatever reasons you may have, these are the things you should look for before taking up the personal loan:
TEN THINGS TO LOOK FOR BEFORE TAKING UP A PERSONAL LOAN
1. Is there really a need to borrow? Many times we do not really need to borrow. The worse type of loan is to support your lifestyle like car, expensive spa treatment, traveling, expensive hobbies, shopping etc. The only loan you should consider is when you want to use it to grow your business or urgent personal needs. (Read here about managing your cashflow)
2. Is there any other alternative beside taking the loan, for example if you can save up and delay the need, you could borrow from your family members and repay them over the period or use interest free installment scheme.
3. Are you always in debt? If the answer to this question is yes, try to use re-financing to clear the highest interest debt as soon as possible. You should possibly watch your expenses and eliminate all the credit cards that you are holding and only spend from what you have each month.
4. If this is the first time you are taking loan, remind yourself not to incur another loan during the repayment period. The habits always build up easily when you let your guard down.
5. Ask yourself how much can you pay per month and how much do you need to borrow? This will determine the duration of your loan. Factor this loan into your monthly expenses and aim to finish it as soon as possible if you are taking a variable payment or if not, check what is the early payment charge for fixed payment.
6. Always look for Effective Interest Rate (EIR) instead of Annual Interest Rate (AIR). EIR as the name imply will factor in any processing fee, insurance fee or sometimes discount on interest given by the institutions. This info is useful when you need to compare across different loan schemes.
7. For personal loan, it doesn’t mean that the longer the duration the higher the interest, or the bigger the amount the lower the interest, I have placed a chart here for your benefits of comparison so you get what I mean.
8. It is surprising to see that our largest local bank loan interest rate is the highest compare to the other local banks and if you can see it is the foreign banks that are offering cheaper rate. I believe that because of the accessibility of the bank in your neighbourhood and also most likely you have an existing account with them, the bank can afford to charge higher. The foreign bank may need you to open an account with them or you may need to go to their branch to pay which could be inconvenient at time. Therefore beside the EIR, do check the ease of repayment.
9. Do find out what is the late payment fee. Some may offer lower interest rate but may charge you very high late payment fee. Ensure you do not miss your payment if you taking this type of loan.
10. Lastly, for those loan with overhead costs i.e. insurance fee or processing fee, you may need to borrow higher than your original amount. For e.g. If we use the $30k loan, the POSB has a total overhead fee of 4%, in order to get $30k, I need to borrow $31,250($31250*0.96 = $30k) which will result in higher EIR.
Hope this is useful for those of you who are considering taking up loan. Feel free to ask me any questions or share your experience on personal loans with the banks or any money lender institutions.
To read my other entries on personal finances, click here.
Since 2007, Michael Sim helps people to understand and better manage their finances. He holds the ChFC certification and currently works as freelance trainer and consultant. He also helps his client to understand and manage their finances using MSYF(Make Simple Your Finances). For consultation and business opportunities, please Email Michael.
TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR WEALTH
1. Saving is a thing in the past. You save what you need for rainy days and short term needs like house downpayment, wedding expenses or short term unemployment.
2. Set up a systematic, boring yet discipline ways of investment in a good mix of portfolio of value equities.
3. Keep your investment objectives simple: To beat inflation, to meet medium period needs(e.g. children education, house upgrading, opportunities to set up business) and lastly for your retirement.
4. Remember unless the rubber meets the road, your savings in bank will stay at the same value and never grow to its real potential.
5. There are three phases of retirement planning: Accumulation, Balancing and Preservation. During Accumulation phase, you should allocate more on equities as they generate higher returns over time and you are at the furthest from your retirement.
6. During the Balancing phase (5-10 yrs before your retirement), you should start allocate more into bonds to lock in the profits accumulated over the years of Accumulation phase.
7. During the Preservation phase (during your retirement) , you just withdraw what you need for your monthly or annual expenses leaving the rest still stay invested in bonds for growth.
8. Stay invested in the market especially during the market crisis.
9. Keep up with your plan to invest more in the market especially during the market crisis. You get the most value during the downturn market period.
10. If you are keen to explore more than the usual systematic investment, get your hands dirty. Study what is necessary to explore new ways to invest in the market as investing is never emotional or luck but is about having the right knowledge, experience and wits to understand the market sentiment. If you think you have the time or means to do so, get a trusted investment expert to help you.
TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR RISK
1. You should make your life insurance your first financial plan for yourself when you start work as there is no other plan could give you the cash you need when unexpected things happen.
2. As a rule of thumb, you should insure yourself about 10x of your annual income.
3. If you are in your early 20-30s, just graduated to work, you should insure against your loss of income on the comprehensive needs e.g. additional vs accelerated. This need would decreases towards your retirement age.
4. If you are in your 40s-50s, you should insure yourself against long term care or disability payout needs. This need would increases towards your retirement age.
5. At all time, you need to have the most comprehensive hospital and surgical plan/health plan. This plan reimburses your in-patient hospital and surgical treatments and some for out-patient treatments. You should never save any penny on this type of plan.
6. Remember a whole life is a plan that you own and term is a plan that you rent, therefore have a good mixed of these planning. Whole life stays with you till you die and term boost up your coverage for a period of time. You should give yourself some buffer and flexibility to deals with uncertainties of your financial situation.
7. Remember any endowment or saving plan with insurance coverage will mature in time. They serve to accumulated to reach a certain goal you need in the future and not to insure against loss of income. Be as clear as much as you can in your planning.
8. Review your risk periodically to ensure you have the most updated coverage based on the recommended affordability to safeguard your interest and do have a summary of what you have.
9. Make a nomination on your life insurance plans. Living proceed will still go to you directly and death proceed will bypass the need of probate or administrative process straight to your beneficiaries.
10. Prepare some trusted friends or relatives to help you make claims. This would be useful because during the unexpected events happen to you, most probably you or your family members are too emotional to make claims. Ask your advisor whether he provide such service.
TEN THINGS ABOUT YOUR CASHFLOW
1. Pay yourself first before you pay others.
2. Spend less than you earn.
3. Divide your income into 4 pots of money – Expenses, Risk, Wealth and Savings.
4. Pay not more than 50%-60% of your income for the pot called Expenses.
5. Pay not more than 10% of your income for the pot called Risk.
6. Pay not more than 20% of your income for the pot called Wealth.
7. Pay the remainder of your income approximately about 20% (depending how much you pay into the pot called Expenses) for the pot called Savings.
8. Pay off high interest debts (>10%) as soon as possible.
9. By implementing these steps, you may face difficulties at first and need some sacrifices of your present lifestyle but it would be more balanced, sustainable, enjoyable lifestyle and would help you to achieve your financial freedom earlier.
10. Review steps above constantly when your financial situation changes such as pay increment or extra bonus.
Remember this is your finances, take charge of it because if you do not, nobody else will.
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