Please leave me comments

Just realised when my friend said she couldn't leave comments that i didn't enable it. So i have enable comments now.

Please leave me comments, share your learning, tell me what's useful and what not so that I know whether I'm helping you or not?

Help me to help you..

Bank job loss

Read in the newspaper and there are many jobs being axed by banks.

HSBC slashed 1700 jobs in Britain over the next year. Which bring the total this year to 4600. Also Royal Bank of Scotland said few days ago to cut 3700 jobs. More about HSBC link here.

So isn't this an indication that many many more people will become job less. And if they have no other source of income. They will become financially troubled. That's why it is so important to look for other source of income via business and investments.

So family and friends, please for yourself or for your family. Look and take action into creating part time businesses and/or investments that will create extra income for your security.

Google docs

Haven't posted for awhile. Been really busy working, planning what i need to do and getting more organise and to have a more systemise approach to create my financial freedom.

So I've started looking at ways to centralise my documents so that it is easier to manage and share with other people. I decided to look into using google docs, this seems to be a good tool to use.

I can do the following (from what i learnt):

• Upload documents
• Upload excel spreadsheet
• Upload pdf file
• Upload other documents
• Invite other people (send email) to view or have ability to edit the docs
• Create folders to organise files
• Hold a revision of changes to document changed

Still learning at the moment, so once i found out how to use it better will post and teach you. Or if you know how to use it let me know.

Bank base rate stays at 0.5%

The bank of England has kept the base rate at 0.5%, this is good for many property owners with a tracker or variable rate mortgage. But not so good for people with savings in banks, which is next to nothing.

Read more about the Bank of England base rate, follow the link here.

Millionaire Mind Intensive 29th-31st August

I went to this seminar several months ago and it has really help me identify myself, by understanding myself better. The seminar goes into understanding what your upbringing, experiences and emotions attached to money, which leads to you success or failure. It also goes into how to manage your money, financial blueprint and beliefs.

For me it is learning about myself, why i behave in certain ways, do the things i do and the learning/teachings that made it worth while. This seminar is not about a particular skills or investment, it is learning and understanding your mind. And once your mind is aware/changes that's when actions begin to occur. Truely a well recommended seminar to go to.

A few T. Harv Eker quotes:

"You can have all the knowledge and skills in the world, but if your "blueprint" isn't set for success, you're financially doomed."

"How you do anything, is how you do everything"

Click here to listen to T. Harv Eker's eSeminar

Event: Millionaire Mind Intensive London
Date: This weekend 29th – 31st August 2009 (Sat – Bank Holiday Monday)
New Venue: Hilton London Metropole, 225 Edgeware Road, London. W2 1JU

http://www.millionaireminduk.com/

Book: Rich Dad Poor Dad

Book review:
A must read book talking about people in the 4 quadrants:

• E - Employee
• S - Self employed
• B - Business
• I - Investment

The book is about moving towards the right side of the quadrant toward by building Businesses and investments. It aslo tell you how people are in a rat race, going round in circle by explaining income and expense, assets and liabilities. Assets is where you get money into your pocket and liabilities is where it takes money out of your pocket.

For example

A typical person say Joe in the E or S quadrant might have a good job and several liabilities like a small house, and a normal car. Therefore he earns a income, but has to pays back out for expenses from the house & car (mortgage, loans, bills, tax, etc). We works harder and final get a promotion so he now earns more, he then buy a bigger liabilities like moving to a bigger house and nicer car. Therefore he now earns more but also pays out more. He is working for money.

Where as another person say Sally building B or I. She creates businesses and investments that someone else can run (with or without her) that will keep on going, bring her money and grow. Therefore the money is working for you.

Do read this book, it's like a wake up call to understand why people are stuck in the rat race!

Book information:
Rich Dad Poor Dad By Robert Kiyosaki

Find UK properties using RightMove

There are many different ways to find property, you can visit local estate agent, look in your local newspapers, walk or drive around the area you like and look at "For Sale" signs or you could look using the internet.

With the internet it is easy to Find and search for properties online, there are a numbereous websites that you can you use to do this, like:

• RightMove
• Find a property
• Nestoria
  
• Vebra
• MousePrice
  

Here I will give you an example of using www.RightMove.co.uk website.

At the homepage (shown below), in the Find property input box enter the area name or postcode (can be part of the postcode) you wanted to search. For example type in LS6 (Leeds area 6) and click on For Sale.


Which will display a more specific search criteria screen like below.


You can then specify the following criteria:

• Search Radius - usually select Within 1/4 or 1/2 mile
• Property type - usally house or any
  
• Number of bedrooms - usually select the minimum number of bedroom
  
• Price range - usually specify the maximum price
  
• Also useful to click on the "Include Under Offer, Sold STC (Subject To Contract) and Reserved properties" check box, so that what types of properties are being sold
  

Other criteria normally leave the default search value. Once you have clicked on "Find properties", it will display the list of found property.



Once you have the list go and click onto the property you like for more info. You will be able to find:

• More detail description
• More photos
• Estate agent details
• Map
• Area info
• etc
  

Have a go and find a property in the area you are interested in!

Book: Who Moved My Cheese?

Book review:

This is an old classic book, which I have recently reread because I know I was facing a lot of changes and sometimes it feels overwhelming and stressful when dealing with a number of changes. This book is an enjoyable, easy to read and a recommended book, which helps you understand how to anticipate, adapt and enjoy changes.

This book is great story about a four characters in a maze looking for cheese and how they reacted when changes occurred. The cheese represents something we are looking for or in pursue of. The maze represent where we spend time looking for what we want. Eg the organisation you work in, or family or community you live in.

A few quotes i have taken from the book:
"we keep doing the same things over and over again and wonder why things don't get better"

"when you change what you believe, you change what you do"

"in a world that is constantly changing, it is to our advantage to learn how to adapt and enjoy something better"

Book information:
Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
by Dr Spencer Johnson
ISBN: 0-0918-1697-1
Less than 100 pages, easy to read, big writing

Why Property investments?

With property investments, which I believe it is one of the most interesting and profitable investments available. Also it is a great way to make money work for you.

The reasons why i'm so passionate about property investments are that it is fun, exciting and profitable. Here are some of my reasons why i love properties :

• Buying a property cheap - buying anything cheaper than it should it's always exciting and fun and gets the frills and satisfaction of potential profits
  
• Ability to add value, renovate, redecorate or furnish a property. Eg you can repaint the whole house, add a additional room or extension, change the fixtures, fit a new kitchen or bathroom, new furniture, etc
  
• Flexibility and control by using different strategy you can determine you financial gains
  
• and finally, it's exciting to see money coming in
  

There are usually several finance gain from property investment

• Cash flow - Cash is king, this is so important in any business, but it is also essential in property investments. This is where the expenses (mortgage, maintenance, service charges and letting fees, etc) are less than your rental income. Eg if you get £600 rent and your expenses are only £500, you have a cash flow of £100.

• Capital growth - potential capital growth, on average property prices in the UK doubles every 7-10 years, therefore if you bought a house in say year 1990, in year 2000 it is likely it would be more than double in price. Those of you have bought your own home for sometime, the house price would have gone up significantly. But in this current credit crunching recession times, don't think about capital growth as it is unlikely to see major growth for some time.

• Tax advantages - Having a BTL property is a business, you will need to file a tax return. But it does mean that while you spend time building up/running your property business, a number of expenses can be claimed (eg food, travel, furniture, etc) therefore minimising your tax expenses. But seek an accountant with property investment knowledge for advice.

So think about investing in properties in the future!

Wise wisdom

Have you heard Keith Cunningham? Well have you heard of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. For Keith, some people will know him as the Rich Dad. Because he mentors and teaches many people with his wisdom and knowledge including Robert.

Having heard Keith Cunningham speak a few times, each time it is really amazing, enjoyable and practical. Because he has huge amount of wisdom and experiences to teach and share with others in different ways. One thing he had mentioned really stuck into my mind, his rule to success.

Do you want to know?

. . .

Do you really want to know?

. . .

Do you really really want to know?

Ok, Ok, I've got it out of my mind so i can share with you, so here it is:

• 1. Find Out What They Want (FOWTW)
• 2. Go And Get It (GAGI)
• 3. Give It To Them (GITT)

It's actually that simple. You probably say i know that, that's too easy.

But basically all products and services are what people wants and someone provides and sell it to them. No matter if they want to buy a car, house, dog, jewelry, massage service, weight loss program, book, information on the Internet, or what your job provides it is because someone wants it.

Have these 3 steps in mind and you can create success. From my own understanding Step 1 FOWTW is extremely important. Sometimes quite often people, including my own experience tries to create success by doing step 2 going and get something, but if no one wants it, it will leads to failure/mistakes. So first find out the demand and then you supply it. It's the economic model of supply and demand.

So remember FOWTW, GAGI, and GITT.

Investment opportunities

Recently been to several seminars and come to realise and opened my eyes to how many different types of investment opportunities out that are available. Traditional thoughts of investments are mainly stocks and shares, government bonds and funds, and property, but there are so much more.

Instead of putting your money in bank, other investments can make you more money, especially with the low bank interest rate, consider some of the following:

• Properties - Buy To Let, Buy to Sell, Buy refurb and sell, Buy refurb and rent, Rent to own (tenant buyer), options agreement, sourcing property, etc
  
• Trading - Stocks and shares, commodities, Foreign exchange, Buying and selling the different types, options, puts and calls, long and short, etc
• ATM - Buying and owning a ATM machine and getting a percentage through each transaction used and other opportunities like advertisement, and Pay As You Go phone topup
  
• Financial companies - that lends short term moneys to people with cashflow problems
  
• Internet - all sort of ways of making money from websites, ebay, online shop, affiliate marketing, google adsense, blog, ebook, etc
  
• Tax Lien Certificate - Buying unpaid property tax via US county and getting a set interests/penalty and having possibility of foreclosing if owner still don't pay the the tax back and becoming the deed/property owner
• Gold and Diamonds - Buying valuable metals and precious stones to resell later
  
• Write and publish a book - harder to get into this, but once you do, you can earn money for each sale of your book and can be translated to many different languages

These are just sample of the investments opportunities.. Find something you will enjoy learning and research more into it, weight up the risks and capital required, then make some investment.

Make money work for you and grow, rather than you working for money.

Property purchase legal costs

Different solicitor/conveyancer will charge differently sometimes in their fees, sometimes in their other costs, so have a look at several quotes when you are thinking of purchasing a property.

For property purchase, the solicitor/conveyancer fees and charges include the following:

• Legal service fees
• Mortgage costs
  
• Leasehold administration
  
• Stamp duty land tax return
• Telegraphic Transfer fee
• Land Registration fee
• Stamp duty land tax
• Possible other miscellaneous fees

Also there will be searches costs, but depending on the Seller's HIP (Home Information Pack), which should have done most of the searches for you therefore if they are still indate and valid you won't have to pay to redo them.

• Local search £90.00
• Bankruptcy search £2.00
• Land registry search £4.00
• Coal minining search £39.00
• Drainage search £42.50
• Home environment search £41.95

Usually the solicitor fees is about £350 to £450 (includes VAT) up north, more expensive if you are in London where once i got charged around £700. The searches should be around or under £200. And the overall cost should be between £500 to £800 for a normal house purchase, plus the stamp duty tax.

As well as costs, you should also look at the quality of their service, because some will make the whole purchasing process a lot easier for you. They can update you regularly, be very active to highlight and chasing items of concern, send you all the documents you should have and reply very quickly to your enquiry. Best to get recommendation from people you know who have used a good solicitor or conveyencer.

Have fun Juggling

Last week, was eating diner with friends, and we somehow talked about the subject of juggling. Which i have briefly learnt from someone before. I'm no expert at juggling, but i can juggle 3 items several times. Here's the 5 steps and exercises i have learnt before, doesn't take long to do and try out the excercises.

STEP 1 - 1 ball excercise throw
Have one ball (will call A) in one of your hand (will call hand 1 and hand 2)

1. Throw the ball A up in an arc projection (eye or head level) from hand 1 towards hand 2
2. Catch ball A with hand 2
   
3. Now practice from the hand 2, back up in an arc projection to hand 1

Repeat until you are comfortable throwing 1 ball between both hands to similar height level

STEP 2 - 2 balls excercise throw and drop
Have 2 balls (called A and B), one ball in each hand

1. Hand 1 throws ball A up in an arc projection like before towards hand 2
2. While the ball A is up in the air, hand 2 drop ball B to the floor
3. Catch ball A with hand 2
   

Practice the same with hand 2 throws towards hand 1

STEP 3 - 2 balls exercise throw and throw
Have 2 balls, one in each hand again

1. Hand 1 throws ball A up in an arc projection like before towards hand 2
2. While ball A is up in the air, hand 2 throws ball B towards hand 1
3. Catch ball A with hand 2 and ball B with hand 1
   

Repeat until you are comfortable throwing 2 ball between both hands to similar height level

STEP 4 - 3 balls exercise throw, throw and drop
Have 3 balls (called A, B and C), two balls in hand 1 and one ball in hand 2

1. Hand 1 throws ball A up in an arc projection like before towards hand 2
2. While ball A is up in the air, hand 2 throws ball B towards hand 1
   
3. Catch ball A with hand 2 and hand 1 drops ball C, then catch ball B
   

Repeat until you are comfortable throwing 2 balls and dropping up, and able to catch both thrown balls

STEP 5 - 3 balls exercise throw, throw, throw
Now pratice juggling for real, have 3 balls (called A, B and C), two balls in hand 1 and one ball in hand 2

1. Hand 1 throws ball A up in an arc projection like before towards hand 2
2. While ball A is up in the air, hand 2 throws ball B towards hand 1
   
3. Catch ball A with hand 2 and hand 1 throws ball C, then catch ball B

Keep repeating this and you are juggling 3 balls or items. Will probably add some pictures later.

Congratulations!! Have fun!! You are now juggling!!

Journey to freedom

LEARN FROM OTHERS
I have often looked at new investments and opportunities. But one of the thing I love to do is investing in myself by learning from others. I have spend a lot of time and money going to seminars, getting home study courses and books because by learning from others you can minimise your mistakes and risks to make a better investment.

Here’s the formula regarding investments, as I can see:

Investment + knowledge + experience => minimises risks and increase potential gains.

Whereas:
Investment (without knowledge) => basically gambling

ABOUT MONEY
I have often seen people having misconception of money. They would say making lots of money is not good, money makes your bad and money is evil. You probably would have heard the love of money is root of all evil. I have also heard from someone else said the lack of money is root of all evil. Imagine when people don’t have money and struggling to survive what happens? They either have to work harder to find more money, borrow money or sometimes people commits crime.

Having or making more money doesn’t make you bad. If you were bad to start with, having more money can make you worst. But if you are generous and giving before, when you have more money it can make you more generous and more giving.

There are lots of wealthy people out there that give away huge amount of their wealth to charity. Having more money just gives you more options to do what you want.

FREEDOM
Freedom or financial freedom are words I have often say. This is because I truely believe the value of spending more time with family and friends, being free from worries about money and what you can do to help others. Imagine when you don’t have to worry about money, what would you do with your time? Relax, and have a think for a moment! It could be that you buy all the things you ever wanted, or you spend time with people you wanted to, or having time and money to help others. What ever you think about, by having freedom it gives you options to reach your dreams and goals.

So have an open mind about learning from others, do all the necessary research and take some action to try some part time investments and businesses. Learn and improve from mistakes, carry on and don't give up.

Understanding your credit history

In today's current UK financial situation, it is essential to understand what's in your credit files. There are 3 credit reference agencies, which are Equifax, Experian and Call credit. These agencies keep lots of linked addresses and financial information about you.

CREDIT REPORT
From each of the credit reference agency mentioned, you can order your credit report. You could usually subscribe to free trial (which then lead to a continue subscription, unless you cancel). Or you can order a statutory report for £2 where your credit report will be send to you by post within 7 days.

Each of these reference agency store different level of information about you, these information consists of some of the following:

• Electoral Roll
  
• Linked Addresses
• Bankruptcy/Insolvency/Court Judgment
  
• Searches and Enquires to your Credit ile
  
• Details of Lender & Credit Accounts (Up to 6 years Account Status)
• Monthly Balance & Limit History
• Mortgage Repossessions
  
• Notices of Dispute/Correction

To put it simply, what's in your credit files are information about the voting register, people performing a search on your credit file and credit/lending companies. Each month your credit /lending companies who you pay bills to like mortgages, loans, credit cards, communication (mobile) and banks will provide a status update stating your payment history. So say if you have made 1 late payment on one of your credit card, it will show up in your credit report stating how many month(s) being late.

CREDIT SCORE
The banks and credit card lenders uses information found from your credit file, which generate a credit score. Lenders uses these credit scores to determine who qualifies for a loan, the interest rate, and what credit limits.

For getting a credit card or mortgage or loans, having a bad credit score from your credit history means you either won't be able to get it or the lender will give you limited products and/or higher interest rate. Therefore it is essential to check you credit history every so often (say at least once a year), especially before you getting a credit or loan facility. Also sometimes different people which may have financial links with you like family or people you live with or co-name of sharing a bill; also circumstance changes like getting married/divorced and change of address can have an effect on your credit score.

IMPROVING YOUR CREDIT FILES
From what i know there are several things which helps to improve your credit file.

• Electoral roll register - if you are eligable to vote, make sure your name (correct first and surname) is on the register to vote from your current address
• Credit companies - pay your credit companies mentioned (bills) on time by seting up direct debits. Also for credit cards setup to pay at least the minimum payment, even paying the minimum will satify the credit companies and them giving you a good monthly status.
  
• Build up your credit history - it is better to have credit cards/loans and paying them back than not have one at all, otherwise if lenders sees that you have no credit history it is more risky for them. You can simply get a credit card (i think you can also get credit building credit cards or even prepaid ones) and basically each month spend a little using them and pay it off. This way it will help you build your credit say after 6 months.

Be sure to have a good look through your credit file. If anything looks wrong in your credit file, then you will need to write to the credit reference agency and credit/loan companies to make corrections.

New home considerations

People I know and friends, mostly enjoys looking and wanting to buy a brand new home. I think this is because we like the looks modern homes, enjoy being the 1st one to be living there and design it to what ever they like. From what i've mentioned in "Buying a house consideration", they are some other things you will need to consider when buying a new home. There are 2 types of brand new homes, which are:

• OFF PLAN - this is where you will look at the design and layout from a plan, select a plot and will be built in the near future (often you will have to wait months to complete). For off plan houses you will be able to choose certain fittings and designs like the tiles in the bathroom and kitchen, the worktop/doors of the kitchen unit, hob/oven, taps in kitchen and bathroom, handles on doors, etc. But bear in mind the deleveloper will give you a number of options which you can upgrade which will cost extra. Eg Carpets, kitchen upgrade, bathroom upgrade, garden turf, alarm system, lightings and other fittings. The earlier you get a plot off plan the more things you can choose to your taste. Otherwise during the building phases, as they are building they would have chosen the fitting options therefore the less you can choose.

• NEWLY BUILT - this is where the house/flat is already built; you won't have much options to choose like off plan, because they have already chosen and fitted them. But the house is ready to move into straight away. Often there will be several newly built property on the development site and when you go into them to view, they will have different fittings to attract different buyer's taste.

Advantages of new homes

• Everything brand new
• Modern look and fittings internally and externally
• Neutral colours paint (usually magnolia walls and white ceiling)
• Choose you own fittings and can easily design how you want your home to look and feel, as you buy furniture and fittings

Disadvantages of new homes

• Premium prices, usually for similar type of older houses, it would be much cheaper
• You need to put everything into the house, or upgrade the options provided by the developer. You will need to decorate/furnish the whole house (unless you buy the show house), as with new built homes there will be no curtain rails, no curtains and any furnishing. Sometimes people don't realise that, when you go into the show room the house/flat will be furnished extremely nicely and have top spec fittings. That's not what you going to get, unless you pay for it.
• Snagging, often in my experiences you will need to sort out a number of problems after you have moved in. Eg plumbing problems where something is leaking, little cracks is showing up (due to shrinkage), and sometimes certain doors/window don't seem to open or close nicely. But normally the developer will come to fix them quite quickly if they provide good service.

Buying cheaper new homes

With new homes you can still negotiate and generally there are different times where it is cheaper, these are:

• Off plan - as they want to sell early knowing that they will have buyers
• Properties that are built, but not selling for a while
• The developer's financial year end
• Towards end of developing the whole site, where there's only a few properties left and the developer wants to move to another development

Hope these information will help others when considering buying a new home. Please leave me some comments if you found it helpful.

Buying a house considerations

Recently, been asked by several friends about tips and costs about buying a house in Leeds. Maybe buying a house for themselves or as part of an investment to live in and rent out a room so that someone helps pay part of the mortgage.

To share my own experiences, here are some considerations you should ask yourself.

MONEY: How much you can borrow from banks? How much do i have as deposit? You need to speak to a mortgage broker to find out what you can borrow, so that you know what's the maximum price range you can go upto. What you need to get from the mortgage broker is a Decision In Principle (DIP), this basically says that the mortgage lender is willing to lend to you based on the basic search and information you have provided to them. What mortgage products is available? You need to understand the mortgage product is 95%, 90%, 85%, 80%? Is it fixed or variable rate and the terms 2years, 3years, etc. Redemption charges if you wanted to switch mortgage.

PROPERTY:Which area do i like? What sort of house/flat would i like? How many bedrooms? What type of decorations/layout? Research the area, go and view lots of houses and compare. Have a look at shops nearby, transport link (train station, bus stops, etc). Go and have a look at the area during the day time and night time. Have a feel/imagine what it would be like living there.

COSTS: Cost of buying a house and the running cost? Make sure you have calculated these costs, and you can afford it and don't overstretch yourself,

Costs to think about buying your home:

• Deposit
• Surveyor's fees
• Stamp duty (Currently upto £175,000 @ 0%, £175,001 - £250,000 @ 1%, etc)
• Mortgage application fees (depends on the lender and the mortgage you choose)
• Solicitor fees (legal cost, searches, land registry,etc)
• Furnitures and fittings (Sofa, TV, fridge freezer, bed, washing machine, carpets, curtains/blinds, etc)
• Moving in cost, maybe you will need to hire a van or get removal company to help move your existing furntures

Cost of owning your home:

• Building and contents insurance
• Mortgage payments
• Service charge (mainly in flats, but some houses in a residential area can have a charge)
• Council tax
• Water
• Gas
• Electricity
• TV Licence
• Possible insurance for breakdown (or when something breakdown you get some tradesman in to fix it)