How much should I save each month?

One of the most important parts of your budget is saving for your future. It doesn't matter how much. The important thing is to get started. Even a few dollars saved each month can add up over time.
How do I set a savings goal?

• A standard guideline is to save at least 10% of your pay. Example: If you make $2,000 a month, try to save $200 from your pay.
• If your income changes each month, adjust your savings up or down.
• Build savings into your monthly budget. It can help you stick to your plan.
• Each year, challenge yourself to reach a higher savings goal.
• Save more if your pay goes up or you get a bonus at work.
• If you have a lot of debt, try saving a smaller amount until you?re debt-free.

Pay increment vs inflation

This is a simple post to explain the effect on how inflation affects pay increment. I will first start with a scenario. There was a new company which had four workers. The boss of the company paid each employee $100 per month as salary.



After working for a year, four workers requested a pay raise for their hard work. The boss agreed to the request and decided to give a raise based on the performance of each employee as shown in the below table.


The question now is should all the employees be happy with their pay raise assume that the inflation rate is 5%? We can easily found out the answer by using the simple formula as shown below.

Real % change in salary due to increment and inflation =

% change in salary - inflation rate =

[(New Salary - Old Salary) X 100 / Old Salary] - inflation rate

After using the formula, the result is tabulated as shown in the table below.



For the table, well as long as % increase in salary is less than inflation rate, there will be a pay reduction in real value. Hence worker A and B in fact had their pay reduced in real value.

It is never the responsibility of our employers to pay us enough increment to offset inflation.
It is solely our own responsibility to offset the effect of inflation through successful investing. 

A Zen Story for those who want to achieve financial freedom

Once upon a time, there was a wise Zen master. Many people would come and ask him for enlightenment in the ways of Zen. One day, a general came to visit this Zen master. He said arrogantly and proudly to the master, “After fighting so many battles successfully, I really tired of it. So how can you enlighten my mind?” He began to laugh loudly while waiting for the master to reply.

The master slowly raised the teapot and began pouring tea into a cup. It was slowly filled up and the tea started to overflow onto the table. The general stopped his laugher as the tea began to drip onto his clothing. The general shouted, “Stop that, can’t you see it is full?”

The master stopped the pouring and smiled at the general, “You are like this cup of tea. It is full and cannot be filled up anymore. Come back to me when it is empty.”

The morale of this story is one must clear his or her opinions before learning new thing.

For those who want to achieve financial freedom, please remember to keep your mind open for any opportunities. Search for opportunities rather than waiting for the opportunities to come to you. And one more thing, "Less educated" sometime can be a good thing too.

Lancer Lim - UTC

Dear Friends,


I'm Public Mutual Unit Trust consultant.
My main Target is to help you achieve your financial goal.
Once everyone have better life, society will be better.
When society better, country will be prosperous!
We get the benefit for this!!

Please do not hesitate to contact me or leave your contact details to me in order for me to help you!

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你被解雇了- 小故事大道理

这一天，49 岁的伯尼·马库斯像往常一样，拎着心爱的公文包去公司上班。在二十多年的职业生涯中，他勤勤恳恳，兢兢业业，才坐到今天职业经理人的位置上，其中充满了艰 辛困苦。他只要再这样工作11 年，就可以安安稳稳的拿到退休金了。可是，他万万没有想到，这—天将是他在公司工作的最后一天。

“你被解雇了。”

       “为什么？我犯了什么错？”他凉讶、疑惑地问。

       “不，你没有过错，公司发展不景气，董事会决定裁员，仅此而已。”

       是的，仅此而已。他在一夜之间，从一名受人尊敬的公司经理成了—名在街头流浪的失业者。

       和所有的失业者一样，繁重的家庭开支迫使伯尼·马库斯必须找到生活来源。那段日子，他常常去洛杉矶—家街头咖啡店，一坐就是几小时，化解内心的痛苦、迷茫和巨大的精神压力。

       有一天，他遇到了自己的老朋友——和他一样、同是经理人现在也同样遭到解雇的亚瑟·布兰克。两个人互相安慰，一起寻求解决的办法。

       “为什么我们不自己创办一家公司呢?”

       这个念头像火苗一样，在伯尼·马库斯心中一闪，点燃了压抑在心中的激情和梦想。于是，两个人就在这间咖啡店里，策划建立新的家居仓储公司。两位失业的经 理人为企业制定了一份发展规划和—个“拥有最低价格、最优选择、最好服务”的制胜理念，并制定出使这一优秀理念在企业发展中得以成功实践的—套管理制度， 然后就开始着手创办企业。时值公元1978 年春天。这——就是后来闻名全球的美国家居仓储公司。他们用了20 年的时间，把一家名不见经传的小公司发展成为拥有775 家店、1 5 万名员工、年销售额300 亿美元的世界500 强企业。成为全球零售业发展史中上的一个奇迹。

       奇迹始于 20 年前的一句话：你被解雇了!

       是的，“你被解雇了”——是我们每个人在人生旅途中最不愿听到的—句话，但正是这句话，改变了伯尼·马库斯和亚瑟·布兰克两个人的一生的命运。如果不是被解雇，他们无论如何也不会想到要创办美国家居仓储公司；如果不是被解雇，他们无论如何也不会跻身世界500强；如果不是被解雇，他们俩个现在只是靠每月领退休金度日的垂暮老人。

       小故事大道理：人生是一次长途旅行，它的美妙之处就是“未知”，你不知道未来会发生什么。所以，当—扇门对你关上，你千万不要把自己也关在里面。因为世界上不止一扇门。—定还有另一扇门，你要做的就是去寻找并打开这扇门！

迈出开始理财这一步

 

理财最困难的事，就是作出理财这个决定，即迈出开始理财这一步。如果下定决心，其余的相对来说就都是小事。
　　树立投资理财的意识和学习投资理财的知识，是开始理财的第一步。而实际上，开始投资理财的时期，应是越早越好！在对此加以说明前，我们需要了解一个财务管理中非常重要的原理，即货币时间价值原理。
　　所谓货币时间价值，是指货币（资金）经历一定时间的投资和再投资所增加的价值。简单来说，同样的货币在不同时间的价值是不一样的。现在的1元钱和一年后的1元钱其经济价值是不相等，或者说其经济效用不同。现在的1元钱，比1年后的1元钱经济价值要大，就是说更值钱。
　　为什么会这样?举一个简单的例子。如果将现在的1元钱存入银行，存款利率假设为10%，一年后将得到1.1元。这0.1元就是货币的时间价值，或者说前面的货币（1元1年）的时间价值是10%。根据投资项目不同，时间价值也会不同，如5%、20%、30%等。
　　假设一年后，继续把所得的1.1元按同样利率存入银行，又过一年后将获得1.21元。以此方式年复一年的存款，当初的1元钱会不断增加，若年限够长，到时可能是当初的几倍。这就是复利的神奇。
　　时间就是金钱！知道了时间的神奇，也就明白了同样的资金在5年前和5年后的投资的回报会不同。所以早一天投资，比晚一天要好！由时间来创造财富！

 

How Overspending Can Be Tamed

 

Saving money is not an easy task, but if you realize that it is the easiest and safest way to prepare money for future use, you begin to consider saving as an essential part of your daily budgeting.

The ultimate goal of effective saving is to spend less than you earn. If you tend to spend above your means, it is the start of you falling into debts. Thus, the secret to saving effectively is to spend wisely and therefore, the best way to save money is to stop overspending.

To do this, you need to examine the roots of overspending. A great percentage of people are victimized by credit cards. You may not be an exception. Take a quick look in your mailbox and you’ll quickly realize why your money seems to fly so fast.

You are flooded with credit card bills, auto loans, mortgages and other bills on a daily basis. Credit companies may promise you easy money, but the problem starts when you begin to accumulate credits you can’t pay for.

If you make a purchase and realize at the end of the month that you can’t repay in full, you are now trapped on the slippery slope of debt. You may promise yourself that you’ll have enough the next month but this promise is rarely kept.

At this point, high interest rates of credit cards can really hurt you and you may end up paying for more than your original purchase. Credits are truly monsters to your saving dream, so start using cash.

This way, you can feel that you are really spending your money. Credit and debit cards are easily swiped and funds are automatically whisked from your accounts. Without the physical act of handing down money to another person’s hand, you may feel you aren’t spending money at all.

This is the main reason why most people seem to overspend on their credit cards. Use cash whenever possible so you can more easily tell when you are going overboard. Aside from credits, your comfort zones may also be snatching your money.

Everyone sure loves having a good time with friends and family, but ensure that these parties are within your financial limits. From time to time, everyone needs to unwind. As they say, we must enjoy life. However, it is also necessary that we know when to decline.

Don’t squander your money today for guilty pleasures if it is not within your budget. Think of cheaper alternatives, or have the party some other time. Shoes, dresses, video games, and even books are also comfort zones that eat up your savings.

Actually, there’s really nothing wrong with these things as long as you don’t go overboard. This is the time when you can keep some amount from your budget and use it for these. You’ll enjoy your purchase and enjoy it even more when you know you won’t spend the next years paying it off at 15% interest.

Saving may be requiring you to sacrifice a lot of your comforts. But in this world where economies are going down, it is no longer an option but a must for every person to save money.