Living in a material world

*Warning: This is an emo-blog entry. Read it at your own risk of being bored*

No matter how you look at it, money's a huge part of our lives. Yes, spirituality is essential, and yes, having boat loads of money doesn't guarantee happiness.Let's not forget bout health and love and friends. Where would we be without the support from your inner-self, friends and parents?

Having said that, it sure helps if you have the means to be financially free or even better, financialy wealthy**. It's already so tough to reach financial freedom, let alone to be wealthy. Sometimes you just have to make sacrifices in the short term with an eye on long term goals. Be smart about what you need or want. Plan out your finances; invest wisely. Achieve a balance.

Forgive the monologue, guess I'm in a reflective mood. Been thinking and spending a lot of my time reading up on investments and personal financial management. One thing about the line of work I'm in, there's not much personal time left after a 10-12 hour work day. By the time you're reached home, your brain's drained from all the mental aerobics or you just wanna chill with friends or just plant yourself in front of the idiot box and not think. Guess you just have to be disciplined and spend some time to read the books you need to instead of Dilbert Comics. Grin.





** p.s: By financially free, I'm a follower of Robert Kiyosaki's definition whereby the interest from your passive income (investments, etc) is sufficient to cover your annual living costs. By financially wealthy, I'll go with with Stanley & Danko's definition in "Millionaire Next Door" for a lack of a better standard; find your level of wealth by multiplying your age with one-tenth your annual active income (annual income X age /10). You're considered wealthy if your net worth is greater than twice your level of wealth.

-On the spin-table: "Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy. Forget the lyrics, the melody is just so infectous. Simply a fun song to listen to.

-Silverworm corner:
1) Half way thru Janet Lowe's "Benjamin Graham on Value Investing". Finally, his investment principle's summarised and there's more techical meat to the book.
2) Dilbert comics :) Fun stuff