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Changing of Mindset

Chapter 1

CHANGING OF
MINDSET
GET RICH OR DIE TRYING
Get Rich or Die Trying – I first heard this phrase when I stumbled upon the cover
of a CD of a famous US rapper who called himself “50 Cent”. Most of us wake up
the in the morning, prepare ourselves to head out to the office, and hope that
we get back in time for our routine dinner with our family. We know we have
to work at least 20-22 days per month so that we can get our paycheck by the
month’s end. None of us will complain much except that at the end of the month,
that’s when all the “love” letters will be mounting in our letterbox: from letters
reminding you about mortgage repayments to electricity bills due for payment
to credit card statements. It never ends. No wonder everyone complains about
not having enough money to survive the escalating cost of living in the city. Yet,
many of us don’t do anything about it except complain.

I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine who was excited about
attending a Millionaire Mindset programme in Singapore. He was all set to go and
even invited me to come along. He shared with me at great length about how
having a millionaire mindset is important towards achieving financial freedom.
Two weeks before the actual event in Singapore, he attended the preview and
was all charged up. He said he was halfway to becoming a millionaire with a
changed mindset after attending the preview earlier in Kuala Lumpur. Two days
prior to the event, he updated his Facebook page asking around if anyone was
willing to share the transportation cost to Singapore as he was going to drive!

That was not a millionaire mindset to begin with, I figured. Three months later, I
met him at a café and he was rushing to his office saying that he was busy with
work. What happened to your PLAN to be a millionaire, I asked. He just brushed
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off my question saying that he still had no time to think about it. He had too
many assignments and too many deadlines. Two years later, I bumped into him
again. He looked worn out and haggard; he had lost weight and didn’t look the
same as before. We sat down for coffee, and the next one hour, I lent my ears
listening to his grievances and complaints about the high cost of living, his heavy
workload at the office and a measly salary that was hardly enough to make ends
meet.

Having a millionaire mindset is a good start, but planning and executing all your
plans is a great journey towards financial freedom. The burning desire to succeed
with a plan is the recipe for attaining financial freedom. You must make sure that
being financially free is your ultimate goal in life, and with proper planning, you
need to take all the necessary steps and calculated risks along the way.

ARE YOU READY TO BE RICH?


I often ask this question to many of my friends, i.e. whether they are ready to be
rich. Surprisingly, most of them answered that so long as they are able to meet
all the monthly loan repayment obligations, settle all the bills and have some
money left to take care of family expenses and maybe, just maybe a holiday or
two in a year with loved ones, they are contented. It never crossed their minds
to be rich at all! I am not saying that it is wrong to have this mentality, but most
of you would agree that everyone wants to be rich.

Well, I am not sure if I’ll retire rich. Frankly, I don’t think I will retire but I want the
option to do so. Instead of me having to go to work every day, I want to “choose”
to work. Not having to worry about finances and being able to spend more time
with family; now that’s rich!

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.” ~ Lao Zi

There are traits that I think one should have to start one’s journey to being rich.

• Vision
Becoming financially well-off requires you to see beyond the immediate time
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horizon. The ability to set short-term and long-term goals is essential. I remember
that when I was young, living in Pekeliling, I already had a vision: a vision to get
out of poverty. I imagined myself owning my own car before I reached the age
of 21. That was my initial target. I supposed when you are cramped in a small
space, you start imagining things. Materialistic as it might sound, it gave me
hope. When I got my first car at age 22 – a year late though – I was ecstatic! It
was a Nissan Sunny 120Y. I began to set a bigger target, a 1.5cc car, by age 25.

My long-term vision was to own a sports car, a car that would make heads turn.
Needless to say, I am now the proud owner of one. Next, I had my sights on a
property, a place to call my own, a home for my family. I wanted to be able to
buy my own property by age 23. As you know, I never really bought a place to
stay but I did make money by flipping properties between the ages of 20 and 25.

• Discipline
If you want to make it big in property investment, you must first have discipline.
Investing in property without discipline is like taking chances that may end up
either way – very rich or very broke. Just like in the army, soldiers are taught the
meaning of discipline, never to question their leader’s instruction. Leaders with
an army of disciplined soldiers would normally win the war. Imagine a battalion
of soldiers who refuse to heed the instructions during a war; not only would it
lead to mutiny, but winning the war is also out of the question. Imagine a person
convicted of murder and being sent to prison. More often than not, this person
could be set for early parole or have his sentence halved after spending years
behind bars all in the name of good behaviour.

Likewise in property investment, paying promptly for monthly mortgage


repayments is crucial in maintaining a good credit scoring, which may lead to
many happy purchases because banks love to extend credit facilities to good
customers. That’s discipline. Finding out more information about a developer’s
strength is crucial every time before you make that purchase, so that you won’t
end up with an abandoned project. That’s discipline. Not over-gearing yourself
with too many mortgage repayments and having contingency savings for rainy
days, that’s discipline.

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• Passion for Knowledge and Networking


One can never have too much information. Some of my seminar participants
once asked me whether it was worth to spend thousands of dollars to attend
these “property investment seminars”. Of course, I replied. Always treat these
seminars as a learning curve, an investment in knowledge to avoid bigger
potential losses which you might incur if you hadn’t attended any. Most of us
have invested hundreds of thousands to get a basic degree to give ourselves a
head start in our careers. But a degree doesn’t really teach you to make more
money, does it?

Spending a few thousand dollars will not only teach and update you on the
strategies in property investment, and help you to avoid common pitfalls, but will
also give you the opportunity to network with a group of property enthusiasts.
Look for a successful mentor, someone who has the experience to give you
valuable tips because the mentor who is worthy of his or her name knows how
to do so. You can accelerate your learning process in an extraordinary manner
when the mentor shares the fruits of his or her experience. Trust me; it’ll save
you from a lot of costly mistakes. I relish my past experiences in listening to
experienced property investors and senior managers of property developers as
they always share the latest updates and keep us informed about which property
developers are financially distressed.

“Success is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is the result of experience.
Experience is the result of bad judgment.” ~ Anthony Robbins

FINANCIAL EDUCATION
Much has been said about getting yourself a good financial education, but what
is financial education? When I was a kid, my dad often said to me, “Go to school
and study hard, so that when you grow up you’ll be able to get a good job. My
mum always hinted to me that a good job meant becoming a doctor, an engineer
or a lawyer. The truth is, no one will ever know if you’d end up with such a
luxurious career.

At school, we are always being programmed to do well academically but there


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is no emphasis in learning about ways to make money. Do you remember those


early days at school when you will often be asked what your ambition is? The
usual responses are never far from being a doctor to a lawyer. That’s right;
schools don’t ever teach you how to manage your money but instead teach you
how to manage other people’s money.

I have been teaching my kids to think big all this while. One day, I asked my eldest
son about his ambition. His response was “to become a boss”. Now, I didn’t
teach him that but I am not surprised by his response at all because my wife
and I are running our own respective business. He must be impressed by our
achievements so far. This leads me to a real story that I want to share with you
readers out there, pertaining to our education system. My son has been getting
exceptionally good marks for his Bahasa Malaysia. One day, he came back from
school and looked grumpy. I asked him about how his day had gone. He said
he only obtained 90% for his Bahasa Malaysia assignment because he got one
answer wrong for the question. I went to check his assignment and was shocked
to learn about the following statement:

Sila sambungkan perkataaan selepas ayat.


No. 10: Cita-cita saya adalah menjadi seorang ……………..

My kid wrote, “bos” and guess what? The teacher marked the answer as wrong
and replaced it with “pemandu bas”. From my kid’s handwriting, the teacher
must have deduced that my son wanted to become a “bus driver”. A bus driver!
I was furious. What’s wrong with the ambition to become a boss? So, what is
going on with our education system? I will leave it to you to ponder.

Figure 1.1
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I often get asked whether all my property investments generate hefty profits.
Have I ever made any losses? Was it purely down to luck that I made all these
capital gains? My answer to them is a big NO. I must admit that so far all my
property investments have yielded positive results, but it was never down to
luck. I did extensive research before I put my money down on any property.
Never would I treat property investment as a game of chance even though I
must admit being a habitual property speculator.

If you invest blindly without sufficient information and knowledge, chances are
that you would end up a bankrupt. There’s a saying by a popular person,

“Chance favours the prepared mind.” ~ Louis Pasteur.

If you have done your due diligence well, your chances of profiting from your
investment will be high. People often ask me whether my success was a “one
shot deal” or whether it has continued. Let me put it this way: By researching the
background of developers, their past experience, net gearing, financial standing,
and any adverse remark about them, I have now earned millions of ringgit.
Virtually all my investments seem to skyrocket.

Some people tell me that I have the “Midas touch”, as every property I purchase
has appreciated in value. They’re right, but what they may not realize is that
having a Midas touch is simply another way of saying that you have a financial
blueprint for success, which is exactly what you will have once you learn to do
your due diligence by acquiring the right knowledge and information. There are
many sources of information one can depend on.

• Attending property investment seminars conducted


by experienced investors
Attend as many seminars as you can to enrich your learning curve. Every
property speaker comes with a wealth of experience. Some will teach you to
speculate on properties, some will teach you how to turn your properties into
cash flow generators, some will educate you on how to avoid common pitfalls,
and some will enlighten you with creative financing strategies. Trust me; this will
all accelerate your learning process at a small price. Armed with a trick or two,
you are on your way to creating a big property portfolio.

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• Read property-related books


Investing in good property-related books is a sure way of giving you a head start.
Be it a foreign or domestic author, each of these authors will have stories to tell
and that you can relate to.

• Read newspapers/magazines/newsletters
For the latest updates, do read The Star newspaper where there is a dedicated
page on properties. Another newspaper worthy of your investment is The Edge.
Under the pullout section, City & Country, you will find endless information and
updates, not to mention the latest statistics and data that will overload you with
information.

• Google the Web


If you want to know the latest developers’ launches and properties for sale,
search for property-related portals like propertyguru.com.my, iproperty.com.my,
thinkproperty.com and starproperty.com.my. Not only will you find the latest
projects on sale at your fingertips, you will also be able to compare their prices
with the prices of completed units in the surrounding areas.

• Read comments in property-related forums


To know a developer’s background and credibility, there are many forums in the
web where you can search for information. Sometimes, the comments in the
forums can give you many surprises, especially if the developer has had a poor
track record of property development in the past. Some of the recommended
forums include lowyat.com and myrealestate.com.my, to name a few.

• Network with like-minded investors


Property investment seminars sometimes come with an invitation to join a
membership. These memberships are to be part of an investors club, as some
would call it. Normally members will receive unwarranted emails and calls from
the management to invite you to buy some of the so-called “hidden gems” offered

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to you before opening those properties to the public. They call it “early bird”
purchase. I am not saying that some of these proposals are bad investments, but
do your due diligence. Don’t rush into buying just because it is being offered at
“members only” price. Nevertheless, attend these property previews as part of
your learning curve. You can have an opportunity to network with like-minded
investors who are more than willing to share with you their experience.

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