For my round up this week, I’ll just focus on the two Carnivals I participated in.  

First the Carnival of Family Life.

It was ably hosted by Karen at WritefromKaren, a technical writer and a mother of two teenage sons. More than 70 articles were presented at this Carnival.

I particularly enjoyed the following messages.  

Slow Down Fast’s “What can your kids teach you about technology?”  This appears to be the first time/generation in human history where parents have to learn from their kids. I know that my wife and I do.     

BeThisWay asks “Do I have to pay to appreciate them?” Referring to a problem faced by many parents with young school going children - notes from the school asking parents to pay for Teacher’s Appreciation Day or Week or whatever function the school comes up with. I also think this is being carried a little too far, placing subtle pressure on the kids to cajole their parents to contribute cash.  I think all of us parents should just put their foot down and go back to the days of a children prepared card or poem or something along these lines. This would reflect far better appreciation from the children.   

And this card should qualify for one of the best Mother’s Day gifts ever!  

We are reminded that what we, as parents, say to our kids are a very big influence into what our children will become later in life. During the formative years, children’s primary source of information, knowledge and everything that they can learn are their parents. Hence we should pick our words and phrases carefully. Seven common phrases that most parents use and their corresponding alternatives are presented. Check out the post yourself.  

Meanwhile the Carnival of Personal Finance was hosted by Money Under Thirty.   

As usual there were lots and lots of articles presented and MU30 must have had a hard time choosing his Editor Picks. I think he did a great job. 

Posts which I found interesting include:  

Paid Twice, the mom with a Ph.D and a black belt to boot tells us how to fight the bad habit of buying on impulse. By doing so, she has done all of us a great favour. (I suspect, the supermarket chains would probably want her locked away.)    

ShuChong talks about the financial lessons learnt from her mother. Though her mom never talked about money, her running of their household made for great lessons in financial management.  

Feminist Finance writes about her utter shock when she found out that the love of her life had debt levels that almost made her faint. And this was when they were planning to set dates for their marriage and as she says, grow old and doddering together. 

Well, she laid down the law and it worked out well for them.

I think she did the absolutely right thing. Her reaction and the plan of action she took should be mandatory for anyone of us who are in the same boat and contemplating even engagement.  

Pinyo gives an excellent overview of getting ourselves into better financial health. This roadmap will work only after recognizing and accepting that we need to better ourselves. As he says, self awareness is the first and most important first step.  

The Glbl guy offers his suggestions on how to survive a recession. I think this topic is one of the more popular google search phrases and for very good reason. Government statisticians are not rated No:1 in telling it as it is, and it may do all of us a lot of good to bone up and start putting into practice the steps as suggested in this informative post. 

Deepali says that wealth is a state of mind, a concept that I am beginning to understand and appreciate. I quote her here:

“Wealth is not just about my financial assets, but it’s also about my quality of life… and that of those in my global community. It’s also about my state of mind. A man with little means can be wealthy if he believes himself to be - if he’s happy with his lot in life instead of being resentful of those things he doesn’t have.

But wealth is also about opportunity. A man who has cut himself off from growth is not wealthy. But a man who can dream of other possibilities has infinite room to expand and explore. He can enrich his life and the lives of those around him. Wealth is not just in the current, it’s also in the potential.”

Well said, don’t you think!

This is it for the week, folks. Have a great, happy and productive weekend.

Whilst we pray that the birds will sing, the flowers bloom and the sun shine for all of us, let’s take a couple of minutes to reflect upon the suffering of the people of Myanmar and now China due to the devastating recent natural disasters. And where we can, let’s do our part to help! 

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Our first goat shed 

I have not updated all of you on the progress of our goat farm. 

Upon completion of the sheds and other ancillary buildings, we were scheduled to have our “kenduri” in early April. My mother’s untimely demise put paid to this plan and now a new date has been scheduled for the 22 June 08. 

Development Progress 

The first goat shed has been completed and is ready to receive the first goats. We have built a small open shed where the Napier grass would be shred before being fed to the goats.  

We are also growing other fodder trees, namely, Petai Belalang and Geti all around the farm. These trees have just been planted after being incubated in our house in poly bags for the last month. It’ll be about another 6 months or so before they’ll be reasonably well grown. 

The construction of the farm house to accommodate the workers is underway now. This house should be completed by the end of the next two weeks.  A chicken coop for about 100 free range hens is also under construction. This should also be completed at about the same time as the farm house. 

Electricity supply is in.  

Water supply will be from 2 wells. This week the water pump will be fitted and the water reticulation checked out for pressure and leakages. These two wells will be the source for the goats’ drinking water, cleaning of the sheds (another 3 sheds will be built over the next 6 months), watering the garden and for the workers sanitary needs.  

Identifying the Workers  

This has also been completed. The two young men are now back in their hometown in Indonesia and sorting out their travel papers. My wife is coordinating with the Malaysian Immigration Department for the necessary work permit papers. This may be a little convoluted process, but I think this should be sorted out before the end of this month.

Then there is the Indonesian side to sort out.  Hopefully the boys will be in by early July.  

Buying the first batch of goats 

The first batch will be 40 goats, 2 male and the rest female. These goats will be bought locally and only after the workers are in. In the meantime, Zai (my wife’s cousin and our partner in this project is identifying local sources. 

So far the plan seems to be on track. 

The critical path is the arrival of the workers at the farm. There are still a number of   things that have to be sorted out.  The biggest of which would be the waste disposal method. 250 goats can produce almost 10 tonnes of waste and we intend to dry the waste, powder them and then pack them for sale as organic fertiliser.  

I am going to enjoy this!    

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There are still lots of posts lying in my RSS reader. I don’t intend to use the “mark as read” button, and hope to clear them later this week. In the meantime, posts I found interesting include: 

Ben of Money Smart Life makes an emphasis on “time” being the secret of investing success. This has been said by so many people, start early, wait patiently etc.  Yet, I wonder, if there is some secret system that requires most people must make their mistakes and then shout out loud to all who listen that they should start early. 

At least that is what I am doing (shouting, I mean), and hope my children will listen.  

The Baglady has had 3 jobs in 3 years and declares she’s not afraid of being labeled as a job hopper. Recruiting new people is a burden and an expense for employers and they value stability in employee tenure. I know I would.  

Momma has finally spilled the beans on the project she has been keeping secret from all of us. She is launching herself into Household Finance Coaching, her passion. Her experience in raising a family with 6 children will sure come in handy, not forgetting the countless hours she’s spent in devouring almost every single article on finance she’s been able to get her hands on. 

I can feel her enthusiasm and commitment oozing from her post and I’ll join her family and friends and cheer her on!  

Darren has made me think deeply after I read his posting of a quote by a poet. “Do not follow where the path leads, rather go where there is no path, and leave a trail.” 

It’s so true that we usually end up following the paths of others. It’s less risky and the outcome can be better predicted. What if I set my own path, throw aside all the advice I have been reading, and just do what my heart says is right. The risk taken might be enormous, but then so may be the rewards.

Should I? Would you? Food for thought isn’t it.

I participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance which was hosted by Alpha Consumer and the Carnival of Family Life hosted by All Rileyed Up.                

This is it for the week, guys. Have a great, happy and productive weekend.

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But getting involved with this blog has however, opened my mind wide open, on online businesses in general.  

Now my wife and I have decided to set up an online shop. Selling a product that we think has a market. Some of the market research work is going on at the moment. But this is not the reason for this post. 

We want a web site done. We know how the end product should look like. We know what features we want on the site.  What we are not that sure about is whether this knowledge is sufficient to commission a web designer?   

To be able to commission a web designer, I have to be able to give clear and mutually agreeable specifications. How on earth do I do this, when I can’t recognize CSS even if it fell on my head? What if I miss a key requirement and realize only, say, 6 months later? And how do I test the web site to make sure it meets my requirements, when the content is going to be built up over time.  

What about modifications that may have to be made later? Do I have to go back to the same person or can I do it with someone closer to home. 

It may be a little easier when it comes to things that we can see, like say, a garden retaining wall. Even then, we are warned to define clearly what the contractor is expected to be doing for us, making sure it covers all the things we want completed. We should spell out any preparation work, protection of surrounding areas, clean up, etc.  

I have listed the requirements as I understand them on Elance, and so far some bids have come. I have time to “evaluate” them before I make a decision.  

Some great guidance has been obtained from the Web, here and here. 

I am thinking of just listing all my concerns, plus the suggestions that I got from the Web and asking the short listed bidders to address them. Then just go with my instinct.  

Is this how it is supposed to be? Is there a better way? I would appreciate some pointers.

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I never took part in school plays or concerts. And in University, I was in the Science stream, majoring in Physics. A major more associated with guys with thick spectacles carrying even thicker books and having their noses buried in these books all day and maybe even all night.  

Luckily for me, I had friends who, though were Science students, were also into drama. They allowed me to take a peek into this world. They participated in a couple of plays and I would attend their rehearsals quite frequently.

I got to meet their fellow drama artists and the others involved like lighting people, props people, costumes people etc. I enjoyed the easy and close camaraderie the group had and the seemingly intellectual discussions they had. 

I think the benefits of drama in shaping children have been well documented. It helps in improving vocabulary, reading comprehension, and other areas like building trust and self acceptance. 

What does drama have for those of us adults, perhaps just starting out in our working lives?  

My friends who were amateur actors were confident and articulate people. They had great people skills, mixed around easily and could always make interesting conversation. Though I did not know at that time, I now suspect much of this had a lot to do with their participation in theatre.  

They are using these skills to great use in their current carriers.  

One is a business journalist. His views are respected and he is often called upon to give talks to A-list foreign investment banks and fund managers on what his thoughts are on the future of our country. A task he does with such creativity and credibility that he has a waiting list.  

Another is holding a senior post in an ASEAN organization, where he meets with very senior Government leaders and talks about policy issues that should be implemented. 

Though I had the chance to audition for some roles, I flunked them. My two experiences with amateur theatre were being part of the lighting team for a play and being the stage manager for another.  

Is theatre impractical? Nay! says Gallaudet University.  

It lists the practical advantages of theatre.  

Better self-expression, creative problem solving, motivation and commitment, willingness to work cooperatively and ability to work independently, better time management, adaptability, flexibility and ability to focus under pressure, self discipline, self confidence and a healthy self image to boot. 

The Simple Dollar listed at the top of his 9 simple ways to stand out in our career, the act of “making presentations.” He implores us to volunteer each and every chance we get for an opportunity to make any presention. 

For those of us who fear public speaking, (and this article confirms that we are by far, the majority), SD’s advice seems like a death sentence. For theatre participants, it becomes more like a walk in the park. 

So if you have a chance, join a theatre group and become an amateur actor or actress.  Besides learning skills that will catapult you ahead in your career, you’ll get to meet new and interesting friends and have fun!

And be cool!

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Cameron wrote an excellent article on the American industrial system being “unfriendly” to continuous improvement and hence losing their leadership role. He mentioned Kaizen, the Japanese science of continuous improvement as one of the main keys that allowed the Japanese to take leadership.   

I am no expert at Kaizen, but I absolutely love the concept and the clear and simple process by which continuous improvement can and is being achieved. 

Kaizen is not a system where someone puts an idea in a suggestion in a box and the box is opened after 6 months. It’s more of a continuously ongoing carnival within the organisation. A massive living and breathing machine that comes out of ‘000’s of improvements every year, year in and year out. 

The book, Kaizen: The key to Japan’s Competitive Success gives some of the art and science of Kaizen as it is applied and practiced in the very biggest of Japanese firms.

You have to read the book to appreciate the number, type and quality of the suggestions thrown out by the system. We are talking in millions here! The prize money given is sufficient to help workers fully furnish their homes! It’s incremental improvement, little by little, step by step.

Kaizen is part of Total Quality Management (TQM), a concept, ironically, first mooted by an American, W. Edwards Deming who is also considered the father of modern quality management.  Reading Cameron’s article, something sparked in my mind.

Why can’t we apply the principles of TQM in our lives? And in our personal finances? Or are we already applying it sub consciously? 

The five pillars of TQM are:-

• Management Commitment

Yep, my wife and I are fully committed to improving our lives. For us, our children and our extended families.

• Employee Empowerment

If we take the family members, including all our children, as “employees of the family organisation”…..I have to say that we are empowered.

• Fact Based Decision Making

This can be simplified at the family level. We don’t need statistical stuff. But things like the Pareto Principle and Cause and Effect Diagrams have to understood by all the family members, aka employees.

• Continuous Improvement
• Customer Focus

Some of the issues to be improved upon may have to be an adult issue, though children sometimes can shock us with their insight.

 This page from Mind Tools shows how to use Pareto Analysis to select the biggest issue that we should try to solve or the biggest expense that we should try to reduce.

And this page shows how we can use Cause and Effect Diagrams to help us to think through causes of a problem thoroughly. The C & E diagrams guide us to consider all possible causes of the problem.

See how Pinyo demonstrates the use of the Pareto Principle to improve personal finance.

Can we use these methods to try to reduce our commute costs, our grocery costs, our mortgage bills, increase our online income……….….or whatever?

I have not applied these rules in a formal manner at home. I have just used my own analyses and ran them with my wife before implementing some of those “frugalizing” steps that we have taken.

Now with rising costs of food that affects every single family member, maybe TQM Family Style’s time has come.

I humbly thank Shaefer’s Blog for the inspiration for this post. 

Picture Credit: Google Images

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So far we have covered Parts 1 – 5.

My second daughter (the eldest is having her finals next week, so her journey will start a little later), has been sending out her resume to a number of firms, focusing on entry level accounting and audit jobs.

So far she has attended 2 interviews, and it seems that she has not been successful.She has taken these as learning opportunities and is using the experiences as resources for improving her “being interviewed” skills.

She did not start of on the interviewing trek without any preparation. One of her friends, a blistering straight A’s, college leader kind of girl was recruited by one of the Big 4 firms. She gave my daughter some pointers on the kind of questions you could expect.

Other very helpful suggestions came from people like Clever Dude who points out and details that we should be organized, have a plan and follow through when it comes to job searches.

Free Money Finance points out that an interview is a test you can study for. He explains  that the more work we put in by preparing and practicing, the better would our chances be. He points out that we should:     

a)      Research the Company and slip our knowledge into the interview.

b)     Dress appropriately.

c)      Prepare answers to expected key questions and practice them.                

         FMF has elaborated on this further in another post and has suggested:-

• Begin our answers by listing the top 3 – 5 requirements of the job as understood by us from our research and the interview,
• Summarize how our skills and experience will enable us to make a significant impact,
• And finish by stating our interest in the organization.

d)     Prepare to close the deal. Ask if they have any reservations about hiring you and address those.

e)      And the often overlooked, practice, practice and practice.

My daughter is seeking an entry level position, so we did not discuss things like personality tests and stuff like that.

In addition, my daughter and I have gone over some technical stuff that we both think would be useful for the positions she is aiming for. This was one of the off shoots from one of the interviews she had attended. 

Azah, our second girl, takes more after her mother than me. She, like her mother, is more of a people’s person, whilst I am more a shy introverted type. My daughter has also read Glbl guy’s suggestions on things not to say during an interview.  I am confident that she would not be making this kind of gaffes.

At one of the interviews, it seems that the interviewer was doing most of the talking. Though my girl had prepared some answers which she though would further her cause, the interviewer just cut in and continued talking.

My daughter just let him talk, quite the wise one, isn’t she.

Clever Dude also pointed out that he attended a number of interviews before he landed a job. I am telling my daughter to persevere. I am also telling her that based on my experience, I believe that she is already ahead of at least 70 – 80% of her peers out there and it’s just a matter of time.

Her next interview is on Tuesday, which also happens to be her mother’s birthday. Let’s see how this works out. 

 Google Images

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Last week I participated in my two favorite Carnivals. 

Jen who writes as the Diary of 1 hosted the Carnival of Family Life. This former educator now homeschools her children and writes about homeschooling, faith and family. She has done a really elegant and tasteful theme weaving interesting facts about tea into the Carnival proper.  

This Carnival, as always, has tons of interesting stuff about ….like it says, Family Life. Family life is important to me as, I am sure, to many others. Don’t forget to check out the Carnival. 

Meanwhile, it looks like Lazy Man of Lazyman and Money had to burn the midnight oil to get the picture perfect 150^th Carnival of Personal Finance up as scheduled.  

Having to go through the more than 100 posts, choose his Editor Picks (He has given 5 entries this coveted honour) and dealing with an outage from his ISP at the same time, seems to have blown his cover. I don’t think he is lazy at all; otherwise this Carnival would not have made it!  

I have always said that if people feel they have only time to read very few pf blogs, then this Carnival should be it. 

Other blog posts I found noteworthy are: 

American Small Business News talks about the importance of insurance for partners of small businesses. We are considering just this. We, the four shareholders of a small telecommunication contracting company, have requested for a proposal from an insurance consultant on this kind of insurance. Within the next month or so, we hope to apply this insurance to provide for protection for our families in any unfortunate event. 

The Digerati Life has some words of wisdom for those wanting to go on their own. I cannot truthfully say “check” to all the points made in the post. I still have a little ways to go before I can join Ms. SVB and all the others who have taken the leap. But make the leap, I am determined to do.  

Jonathan at MyMoneyBlog lists out his extensive research on how to get a mortgage in this 2 parter. Someone should have beaten me over the head with this before I ended up with the costly mortgage I am now in the process of unwinding. 

Ana gives some great pointers on how to pay for college. My wife and I have just finished paying for our eldest 2 girls’ college education. The younger 3 are still in school, and rest assured, we’ll put Ana’s and Madison’s advice to good use when the time comes.  

What’s happening? Another blogger has called it quits. The Iowahippiechick has announced that she would be focusing her energies in a different direction and has said her goodbyes. I, for one, shall certainly miss her.  

For all those outdoors people and latent Robinson Crusoe’s, the Art of Manliness has posted the perfect article detailing 9 ways to start a fire without matches. I did not even know there were so many ways! There is even a way to make fire from ice! Interesting. 

The lady, Squawkfox, writes about the 10 things you must carry in your purse. The list makes great sense. I must caution that in a number of cases, it looks like it is the dregs of society who are the first to turn up in the event of any accident. And the thing foremost in their minds is to steal whatever they can. 

My friend lost his laptop, and there have been many reported cases of necklaces, watches, wallets, hand phones et al being stolen. 

That’s all folks for this week. Have a great, happy and productive weekend. 

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Then, the logic sounded good. For this one time payment + another yearly payment, my family had a choice of 7 or 8 properties in Malaysia where we could go for family holidays. As a large family we usually had to take 3 or even 4 hotel rooms. The Timeshare offered facilities like kitchen, a hall and 2 – 3 rooms. Perfect…it seemed.  

Alas! That was then! 

Now I think about the opportunity cost of the capital invested. This plus the yearly maintenance fee could pay for much more than what I was getting. 

Now I think about the resorts being booked solid during the times when my family would want to use it the most, i.e. school holidays, festive seasons and during other National holiday seasons.  

Now I think about how silly I was to have bought the Timeshare in the first place. 

Now I think about it being no wonder why there are so many ads for selling Timeshares at discounted and often deeply discounted prices. 

My wife has started renting out the Timeshare to her friends and other family members who may want to use it. The money received is used to defray the yearly maintenance charges.  Though the whole process is also quite cumbersome, at least part of the yearly outflow is being taken care off. 

We have often thought of selling off the Timeshare. Our local classifieds often have advertisements of these for sale. There are also some international web sites that claim to sell or rent Timeshares.

This situation of having to pay the yearly outflow whether we use the facilities or not is clearly an unnecessary financial pain. Something that is not in line with my present thinking of eliminating outflows that do not add any value. Something that should be taken care off immediately. 

I am going to advertise our Timeshare for sale. After all my investment is already sunk, if I can stop the continual bleeding, it should be enough. 

I have no back up plan.  However there seems to be an option to be able to donate the Timeshare.

My wife and I may donate this and hope that the recipients make more productive use of this Timeshare. 

PS:  

If any of my readers out there have any interest in a discounted and deeply at that,   Timeshare, please get in touch with me.   

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We have five children, a boy and four girls. The boy, at number 3 is sandwiched between his two elder and two younger sisters. Since his birth, my wife has given him the title of Tuan Muda of our household, which in our language means Young Master.

He is now 14 years of age. Isn’t it time he started becoming a Gentleman? I read up and asked around for some advice on what I could do to help instill in him this very important skill.

I have read that boys imitate and emulate their fathers.

Boys want to grow up to be like their fathers. “The human brain is wired for imitation. Every boy loves his father and wants to be able to do what he does, both to honor him, to earn his praise, and to compete with him. . .

Men are extremely important in giving boys messages about being a man,” notes Geoffry Canada, President of the Harlem Children’s Zone. “Boys want to grow up to be like their male role models. And boys who grow up in homes with absent fathers search the hardest to figure out what it means to be male.”

It appears clear that I would be the first role model my son would be looking up to.

I searched within myself and did an inventory of whether I was being a good, or rather not bad, role model to my son. Though I am no Theodore Roosevelt, I do believe that I have not done any serious damage in this area.

Being a good role model is the foundation for preparing my son to be a man.

And here are five things that I can and want to do to be the role model my son needs as well as to bond better with him.  

1. I have to spend more time with my son.

I have to tweak my time management a bit. Though I take pride in being an organized guy, it is clear to me that I am not scheduling my priorities as well as I should. My weekly calendar has no specific provision for activities with my son. I’ll have to work on this.

It’s not going to be a case of finding or creating more time, rather I have to focus on how I can do some of my planned activities for the day together with my son.

For example, recently I took our son along when my wife and I went to the Land Office to collect a title deed for one of our properties. On the way back, we talked about title deeds (I was a little surprised, but it seemed that it was the first time he had seen a title deed) in general and I explained to him how our land title system worked. (This chore is something I would have done on my own. I am happy that my son agreed to join me.)

My son helped me draw a map showing the way to the farm we are setting up, a distance of about 90 kilometres. I drove, while he marked down the key landmarks and distances etc. This map has been distributed to the guests we are inviting for the opening of the farm.

2. I must take him out more often

By this I mean not only taking him out for outings like picnics or vacations. I also mean bringing my son along for my chores and duties as a husband, father, and friend in order to show him how a responsible and dependable man behaves.

Examples could be visiting a recently bereaved family friend or relative, going to the bank to sort out some issues etc.This approach is based on advice given by a friend. He remembers that his father took him out often and he learned a lot about manly duties and responsibilities watching his father during these times.

My son has often joined me when I visit the goat farm and the rubber smallholding. I hope that as the goat farm develops further he would agree to shoulder some of the small responsibilities.

3. Treat and respect him as an adult and reason with him rather than adopting the “I said so!” approach

I already do this and I believe that my son appreciates it. Having conversations with him at a reasonably adult level will help strengthen his confidence and make him more open with me.

4. Make him read motivational and inspirational books

Here my wife and I are lucky enough to have found a system. My sons (and his two younger sisters) have to write a couple of pages from a book on Saturday and Sunday. They then read out to me what they have written. Our intention is for the children to have a better grasp of English.

By making my son write and read pages from a motivational / inspirational book, like Anthony Robbins’ “Notes to my Son” and Sean Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens,” I am hoping some of the ideas and good advice will seep into him.

5. Learning some life skills jointly with him

This is an interesting thought that has just come to my mind. Maybe I should sit with him when he is in a talkative mood and try to find out if he is interested in picking up some skills. It is possible that he may say no. I just have to work on this.

This blog was started so that my kids could learn on managing their personal finance and some other aspects of life from the mistakes I have made. While he is not an active follower of my blog, I am sure he will read those articles written specifically with him in mind.

My son is now entering a stage in his life that can be classified as a little tricky for parents and young teens alike. This is the called the “My Mommy has no clue” stage. I did not do enough to strengthen my relationship with my son when he was at the much more malleable of “My Mommy knows everything” and “My Mommy knows most things” stage.

Nevertheless, I believe I still have a chance to make amends and make him a better man than I am. 

Photo Credit: Bendis

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