Inch by Inch, It's a Cinch!

Hi! I haven't posted to this blog in a long time. I trust you are well.

I recently wrote a new goal-setting article entitled Inch by Inch, It's a Cinch!

If you're interested in reading it, I'll tell you how to do so for free in a moment. But for now what I want to do is discuss some key lessons that I've found to be useful in accomplishing significant endeavours in both my personal and professional life. I hope you find this listing of those 7 lessons, and my brief elaborations, useful:

1. The first lesson is what I like to call The Principle of Small Steps. It is self-explanatory, so I won't waste your time by explaining it here. If you're interested, though, you may read more about it in Inch by Inch, It's a Cinch!

2. The second is the importance of NOT confusing a primary goal with an ancillary effect. Know for sure what it is that is truly important to you.

3. Third, track progress toward your important goal on a monthly basis. Doing so too often will prove frustrating, while doing so not often enough will cause you to miss out on the rich benefits of regular progress checks.

4. Fourth, when it comes to savings goals, don't lump all savings together. There are four different time horizons you should consider in this regard. You'll find more details here: Inch by Inch, It's a Cinch!

5. Fifth, don't chase after money for money's sake. The price you'll pay in terms of soul-destruction is too high.

6. Sixth, read voraciously and commit to lifelong learning.

7. Seventh, find your personal 'voice' and share that with the world with a view to making our tiny, interconnected planet a better place.

I hope you find those 7 brief ideas helpful to you in the week ahead. As always, thanks for dropping by. If you have any constructive thoughts on ways to achieve abiding, significant success, then please do leave a comment below.

You are always welcome to read some of my free articles on financial planning, goal-setting and time management at http://www.freecoolarticles.com/, or to help yourself to my free learning resources at my site's Gift Centre. Also, if you live in Malaysia, preferably in or close to Seremban and the Klang Valley, AND if you would like to consider using my services to attain long-term goals, you are welcome to learn about my financial planning, retirement planning or life planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you and take care.

Warmest regards,


Rajen


Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

Aim to Buy Low and Sell High!

Hi! How are you? Great, I hope.

We're getting very close to Christmas and the ensuing opportunity to start afresh with a brand New Year. It's likely you would like to use the remaining days of 2009 to lay the groundwork for greater long-term prosperity in the fast-approaching new decade - which technically should only start in 2011, but the transition from the two double-ohs to 2010 also seems like a great thing to latch on to as an excuse to celebrate and aim to continue to Get Better!

If you agree, then perhaps you might like to consider getting your finances in order so that you are able to put in place sound long-term strategies to take advantage of the one surefire principle of wealth building, buying low and selling high!

However, before any of us can do that, we need to courageously face whatever it is that keeps so many of us relatively poor during times of incredible opportunity. If this is something you're willing to do, then please read on...

Have you been on a roller coaster? I've been on terrifying ones in the US. After the screams – usually mine – have subsided, the sense of accomplishment is palpable. Well, investing intelligently in and through tough times is like successfully riding a wild roller coaster.

To benefit from the ups and downs of the market, we need to put in place intelligent saving and investing strategies that permit us to build long-term wealth using the one formula that's never changed, namely - as mentioned above - Buy Low and Sell High!

Unfortunately, our emotions often get the better of us! I ought to know; over the decades, I've lost money as markets crashed, and made money as those same markets recovered. Through all my travails, what I learnt was that when it came to riding the investing 'roller coaster', my emotions were not a reliable barometer. This was my problem:

When markets were high, I tended to get greedy and often felt the urge to jump in with even more money. When markets were low, I suffered pangs of fear and panic that caused me to want to bail out.

Over the years, though, I've ever so slowly learnt to re-engineer my thinking processes so that my emotional responses to market ups and downs are now often the exact opposite! That shift has vastly improved my investing batting average for myself and my financial planning clients.

What I've learnt is that the key to success in this arena is stripping away emotion from the process of wealth accumulation. I hope to write more on that subject soon, in this blog. In the meantime, though, if you have any thoughts of your own concerning 'buy low and sell high', please do leave a comment below.

You are always welcome to read some of my free articles on financial planning, goal-setting and time management at http://www.freecoolarticles.com/, or to help yourself to my free learning resources at my site's Gift Centre. Also, if you live in Malaysia, preferably in or close to Seremban and the Klang Valley, AND if you would like to consider using my services to attain long-term goals, you are welcome to learn about my financial planning, retirement planning or life planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you and take care.

Warmest regards,


Rajen


Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

My Father's Death and Legacy - Part 3 of 6

Hi. For new readers who may not know me, please note that my father, Daniel Alagaretnam Devadason, died at 1 am on Friday April 4th 2008. I've decided to celebrate his life by sharing six enrichment lessons I learnt from him.


The first was 'Pay for High Quality', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-1-of-6.html

The second lesson was 'Focus on Professionalism', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/04/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-2-of-6.html

I had originally planned to complete all 6 lessons within a very short time of my father's passing. But after posting the first 2 lessons, I found that I needed to keep myself very, very, very busy with other - less contemplative - work to deal with the pain of his loss. So, here I am a little after Christmas Day 2008, after celebrating the very first Christmas without my father being around, trying to pick up the threads of my thoughts...


Here's the third of six lessons I want to leave with you:

Respect Books.

I love books. It is one of my few major extravagances. I've got to the point now that both my libraries at home and in my office are overflowing, with newer book purchases and recently reread favourites forming mini-skyscrapers on cabinets, desks, chairs and even parts of the floor! It is easy for me to figure out where that passion for reading came from:

My father surrounded himself with books, as does my mother to this day.

In fact, I remember when I was very young he gave me a complete set of a children’s encyclopaedia. I avidly dipped into it throughout my primary education years. In school, first in Seremban and later in Malacca from Form 1, I discovered his generous gifts of books had permitted me to leapfrog most of my classmates in terms of linguistic development and general knowledge.

Today, I find the lifetime love affair with books has granted me an edge in each of the 3 key areas of professional endeavour I have chosen to pursue. For those of you who don't already know me well, those 3 areas are consulting, professional speaking and writing, mainly on financial planning and retirement planning funding.

As I write this, 2008 is down to its waning days. God alone knows just how bad, how deep and how long the global recession we find ourselves in now will be. But strangely enough I have this abiding sense of calm that I've been preparing half a lifetime for this very season of crisis. Some people say that in every crisis there is an element of danger and another of opportunity. The awful economic news emanating from every corner of the globe is an effective means of alerting everyone to the danger that lies ahead of us, specifically the danger of serious wealth destruction. But there is also a great opportunity in the weeks and months ahead; it is an opportunity to place yourself on the side of the winners who will grow wealthier in the vast transfer of global riches that will take place throughout 2009.

My own preparation has hinged upon my father's lesson to respect books. If you are already a reader, wonderful. If you aren't, I suggest you plant seeds today to turn your children into readers. It may be a cliche, but it is true that readers are, generally, leaders. That's because leaders require vision above all else, the ability to perceive in the mind's eye a better tomorrow, a preferred future! That vital ability is developed over a lifetime of intelligent reading that develops the imagination and informs the intellect.

We live in a Knowledge Economy. Dare you call yourself a true 'player' in this 21st century K-economy if you aren't reading about the world we live in and the world we might be inheriting?

I hope you will choose to follow D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 3: Respect Books, and gradually see that respect grow into love and eventually passion!

I hope to write on my father's fourth lesson soon, so if you wish to read about it, please do check back here at The Cool Time and Money Blog by making a note of this URL, http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/

Finally, for the sake of completeness because this blog is often read by individuals in my home country of Malaysia who might wish to solicit my help in reaching long-term goals, you may learn about my life planning, financial planning or retirement planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you for dropping by. It's been a pleasure writing for you.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

PS. I'm on extended year-end leave, so please use the comment facility, via the 'COMMENTS' link below, should you wish to leave a message for me or even a thought to share with others about what I've written today. Thank you, once again.

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

Coping With Credit Card Debt - New eCourse Under Development

Hi! So many people across the world are facing difficulties arising from excessive credit card debt.

The main reason is a lack of understanding concerning the mechanics of compounding and the basics of sound cash flow management. Therefore, right now I'm working on developing a new, FREE eCourse to help people gain a better handle on the pitfalls of escalating credit card debt.

If this is a subject that interests you, then you might like to read about, think about, and possibly even comment on the following subjects that will form part of this course, which I will keep working on for a while longer before rolling it out for my readers to learn from.

For now, here are 3 subjects for your immediate contemplation:

1. Do credit cards really help people with their finances?
2. Are there strategies to escape the clutches of the wrong types of debt?
3. What is the role of cash flow management in managing money well?

I'd like you to reread the descriptions of the 3 subjects. Select the ones that most interest you. Have you done so? Then, study these corresponding online articles:

1. Do credit cards really help people with their finances? Read, study and carry out research based on what you learn from Credit Cards - Friends or Foes?
2. Are there strategies to escape the clutches of the wrong types of debt? Think about that as you read Escaping Debt Slavery
3. What is the role of cash flow management in managing money well? Refine your thinking on this vital subject as you study What Is A Cash Flow Statement?

As you carry out all this reading and thinking, do feel free to return here to leave a comment on what you would find most useful in the upcoming eCourse.

Bye for now. Take care.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

PS. I urge you to read each of the 3 articles, or at least the ones that appeal to you. Then, use the information as launchpads for ideas and personal research topics that you can develop yourself and start to take action to inject better financial management into your life.

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

Simple Ways To Do Financial Planning - Reading, Thinking, Profiting!

Hi! The importance of personal finance is undeniable. But the true challenge most people face is identifying 'simple ways to do financial planning'.

There is no shortage of sources that put forward complicated systems of financial planning that may work well for a sophisticated subset of humanity but which is of little or no use to regular people who are busy with their own lives and merely want access to information - preferably FREE - that they can easily digest and quickly begin to put into practice.

That's why I have worked hard to gradually build content at my FreeCoolArticles site. You are welcome to visit it anytime, but right now I want to help you quickly gain access to four articles that may prove immediately useful to you.

How to Start Saving Money

What is Money?

Escaping Debt Slavery

How to Choose a Financial Planner

Happy reading, thinking and (eventually acting prudently to ensure long-term...) profiting! Ciao and bye for now.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

PS. I urge you to read each of the four articles, or at least the ones that have appealing titles, and use the information as launchpads for ideas and research topics that you can develop yourself and start to take action to bring greater economic success and clarity to your life. (If you have the time, please leave a comment on how the information has helped you help yourself.)

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

Financial Lessons - 21 Great Perspectives on Money

Hi! Those who know me very well know I'm a diehard Star Trek fan! When I was very little, my mother and I would watch the old 1960s original series with Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Mr Spock, Dr (Bones) McCoy and the rest of the intrepid crew of the coolest starship in this or any other galaxy - Enterprise! It didn't matter at all that we did so on a small black and white set or that by the time we got around to viewing that groundbreaking series, it had already been taken off the air by short-sighted studio suits who never cottoned on to the fact that Gene Roddenberry's creation was destined to be reborn through many spin-off series and - so far - 10 movies!

In addition to Star Trek, I also watched lots of other TV programmes. The names and faces of many of their stars have stayed with me over the decades. And that's why a new feature at the CNN website, which you can find right here, was something I found absolutely entertaining and illuminating.

I'd like you to spend a few minutes checking out the Pop Icon feature that presents brief financial advice and observations from 21 big names. As you do so, I'd like you to think seriously about the importance of trying your best to live on half the money you make and to save and invest the other half.

Please also leave a comment below on which of the 21 'lessons' you found most helpful and why.

Finally, if after that you truly want to learn more about sound financial planning, you're welcome to read any, some or all the free articles I've written and posted at my own site.

Take care and bye for now.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

I Think The Best Legacy Of All Is Education - Why?

Hi! In today's post, I'm giving you an opportunity to think about why the best possible legacy we can leave the next generation is a solid education.

If you feel the same way, then do leave a comment clearly explaining why. You may do so below. I will be using the very best of the material gathered here to augment the Special Report on this subject that I'm writing for readers of my free GET BETTER ezine and students of my various free eCourses. That report will be entitled:
How to Leave the Very Best Gift to Your Kids.

Bye for now.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.

4 New Special Reports for You in 2007 - By Rajen Devadason

Hi! As 2006 winds down, I've begun thinking how best I might help my readers in 2007.

Based on specific feedback from consulting and corporate writing clients, and readers of my free GET BETTER ezine and students of my various free eCourses, I'm toying with the idea of writing four new Special Reports on different facets of financial planning over the next few months.

They are:

1. How to Leave the Very Best Gift to Your Kids
2. How to Make Sure You Don't Starve Immediately If You Lose Your Job
3. How to Overcome the Impending Global Retirement Funding Nightmare
4. How to Reduce Your Dependency on Your Monthly Salary

Whether I finally do write them or not will depend entirely upon you - the reader of this particular Cool Time and Money Blog posting.

I'm busy, and getting busier each day. That's a good thing, particularly because I love my work.

But I love my family more! So, I will be increasingly selective about the new work I take on, including the researching, writing and crafting of those four Special Reports.

I will only do so IF there is sufficient interest in them. That's where you come in.

If you aren't interested in any of the four planned reports, please leave now. If you don't know where to go, here might be a good idea.

If you are interested in one, some or all of the Reports, please leave a comment after you finish reading this entire posting. Please clearly state which single report you are most interested in purchasing and reading. The value of each report - based on likely utilisation by proactive readers - will be US$57. Because online buyers of information products should really make sure they get value for their money, I will probably eventually set the standard purchase price of each report at US$27. However, those who take the time to tell me which Special Report they want to buy and read first, second, third and fourth, and why, will have the opportunity to purchase each report for US$7 (that is not a typo - I wrote seven dollars).

The ball is now in your court. Please leave your thoughts by clicking on the COMMENTS link below.

If you happen to read this early enough and if you truly celebrate December 25th, then I wish you a fabulous Christmas! May Jesus, the true Reason for this Season, be on your mind and in your heart as you enjoy the break and spend time with the people who matter the most in your life.

Bye for now.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

Rajen Devadason is CEO of RD Book Projects and its sister company RD WealthCreation Sdn Bhd. He lives in sunny, peaceful Malaysia with his gorgeous wife Rachel. He's a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner, a life planning consultant, a professional speaker and a serial author... which probably explains why he's so exhausted! Some of his books are available here, and, if you're interested, here are some quotations he reckons are accurate, bold or cool.