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 Late Father's Birthday and a Lesson He Taught Me

Hi! How are you? Today, November 20th, 2009, is my late father's birthday. He would have been 87 today, but sadly he passed away in the Malacca General Hospital last year - on April 4th, 2008.

Throughout his life on Earth, all 85 1/2 years of it, D.A. Devadason - widely known in Malacca as 'lawyer Devadason' - left his mark and his legacy. Last year, after he shed the shackles of this physical world, I wrote six blog postings here on specific lessons that I received from him. Today, on his birthday, I want to share something a little bit different.

My father had 10 children. In order of birth, we are: Rabin, Eva, Viji, Rajen, Jaya, Rani, Sarah, Pushpa, Parames and Niza. It's remarkable, but as I think of each of my nine siblings and of myself, I realise that we are all different. Of course, different individuals will always be 'different', but I mean we are each very, very different from each other. And yet our father loved us all deeply.

Countless times when I spoke to him, either in person when I would visit our family home in Bukit Baru, Malacca, or over the phone, he would firmly reassure me that he prayed for each of us, his children, every single day. And he really did!

I also remember when I was very small, he made sure I fully memorised the Shepherd's Psalm by David, Psalm 23. Its famous opening words are: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads beside still waters, He restoreth my soul..."

None of us is perfect, and we all make mistakes in life. But the lesson of learning to 'rest' in God in the midst of all the trials, troubles, travails and turbulence that mark our earthly life is one that I will always be thankful to my beloved father for.

So, as you read this - especially if you do so on November 20th - I hope you will do something special for those you love, while you are still able to. Specifically, I would suggest you think deeply about a wonderful lesson your own parents have taught you; then proactively choose to share that nugget of wisdom, whatever it may be, with someone younger than you. Never forget that genuine, abiding legacies are built one small act of kindness at a time.

Thank you for joining me here. In closing, I'm going to trust my Heavenly Father to relay a message to my natural father as I say, "Happy 87th birthday, Papa!"


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.

Overcoming Tough Times

Hi! Thanks for dropping by. I haven't written in this blog since the end of last year, when I completed a 6-part series on the legacy left by my late father, Mr D. A. Devadason. He died more than a year and a half ago, and I still miss him. This coming Friday, November 20th, would have been his 87th birthday...

In case you don't know who I am, please allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Rajen Devadason. I'm a Malaysian Securities Commission-licensed financial planner. Today, I'd like to briefly talk about how each of us might get through tough economic times.

As I write this, in the middle of November 2009, there are strong signs of economic recovery from the Great Recession. Only time will tell if the recovery sticks or if the world sinks back into the economic doldrums. For now, however, I am feeling more optimistic than pessimistic. What about you?

Regardless of your answer, I believe the best way for each of us to increase our odds of not merely surviving but thriving in the months ahead is to remember that 'cash is king'. So, even if your job or business is running very well today, do take the time to figure out how best to optimise your cash flow pattern.

That is done by figuring out legal and ethical ways to increase the flow of cash gushing INTO your life and smart ways to decrease the cash flowing OUT of your life. Financial planners use a tool called a cash flow statement to first monitor your cash flow pattern and then to help you make carefully calibrated changes.

Your goal should be to increase your cash flow surplus each month and then to channel that surplus toward funding, first, an emergency buffer fund, and then building up a sound portfolio of investments that generates a flood of passive income into your life!

I suggest you begin tracking your cash outflows by buying yourself a handy little notebook and jotting down every single expense you have over the next two months.

I wish you all the very best!

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 or retirement 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 6 of 6

Hi. If you're a first time visitor to my blog, welcome! My father, Daniel Alagaretnam Devadason, died at 1 am on Friday April 4th 2008. To celebrate his life, I've decided to share six enrichment lessons I learnt from him. So, on this last day of 2008, which has been an especially tough year for many of us, for various reasons, it gives me great pleasure to write for you the sixth and final lesson of this series honouring my father's memory.

The first lesson 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 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

The third was 'Respect Books', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-3-of-6.html

The fourth was 'Record Expenses', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-4-of-6.html

The fifth was 'Give Generously', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-5-of-6.html

From my perspective, my father was a balanced workaholic. The very fabric of his being was tied up in his identity as a lawyer. When he died, he was the most senior lawyer in Malacca and by some accounts the most senior throughout Malaysia. He appeared in court well into his 80s, and loved the law, with its nuances and scope for intellectual application. He was professionally successful and believed in hard work, yet he also realised that lifelong abiding success required another element - trust in God.

Therefore, the sixth and last lesson of this series is:

Work hard and then leave the rest to God

Even though we aren't Catholics, my father used to stop at the beautiful St. Peter’s church each Monday morning, on his way to the office from our family home in Bukit Baru, Malacca – it is the house I was born in 44 years ago.

Alighting from his car, my father would then walk toward the church and light a candle. It was his way of attempting to connect with God and to seek the Almighty's blessings upon his children, life and work.

While my own work nowadays involves helping individuals and groups manage money better, my heritage from my father has taught me that money is only a tool; it should never be an end in itself!

So, I hope you will follow my father's example by heeding D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 6: Work Hard and Then Leave the Rest to God.

Also, I do hope you will make the time to read all the lessons in this series and, if appropriate, point your friends to those that are the most use to you.

Even though this posting marks the last of this series, I hope you will stay in touch. You may do so by revisiting this blog from time to time to see what else I've written here. You may also sign up for my free ezine Get Better, or read some of my free articles on financial planning, goal-setting and time management at http://www.freecoolarticles.com/

Take care and don't be a stranger to the those who cross your path. Do take - or, better yet, make - time for the people around you.

In closing, if you live in Malaysia, preferably in or close to Seremban and the Klang Valley, AND if you would like to use my services to attain long-term goals, you are especially welcome to learn about my financial planning or retirement planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you and take care.

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.

My Father's Death and Legacy - Part 5 of 6

Hi. In case you're a first time visitor to my blog, welcome! My father, Daniel Alagaretnam Devadason, died at 1 am on Friday April 4th 2008; so, to celebrate his life, I've decided to share 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

The third lesson was 'Respect Books', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-3-of-6.html

The fourth lesson was 'Give Generously', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-4-of-6.html


My father was often incredibly generous. I learnt from him the importance of being willing to share with others some of the bounty God has blessed me with...


In that vein, here's the fifth of six lessons derived from my observations of his life:

Give Generously.

As I write this, at the tail-end of 2008, it is a foregone conclusion that 2009 is going to be a year fraught with economic challenges. There is a great need to conserve cash and to work harder to try to bring in more money, if possible.

However, I have observed that those who are the wealthiest, in every sense of the word, aren't always those who have the largest bank account balance. There are many forms of wealth: financial, physical, social, spiritual and emotional.

Arguably the best way to live a life that's marked by gratitude, abundance and holistic wealth is to be generous. Some people find it easy to be magnanimous and others not so...

Regardless of which group you fall into, I urge you to heed the example of my late father. You see, he gave to charities without discrimination throughout his long life.

He showered gifts of money and even of useful appliances, like portable fans, to worthy causes. Even in death, one of the key clauses of his will was to give a monetary gift to a church.

Although my father did not die financially wealthy, he left a legacy marked by generosity. Many people will remember him to their own graves for the way he extended himself on their behalf. And that's why, in my own consulting practice, I often teach clients the importance of generosity for its own sake and also as a conduit for opening channels of blessing into their lives.

And as I mentioned just now, some find charitable giving easy, others don’t.

I do, largely because of my father’s compelling lifelong example. Because of that trait, I often have the joy of knowing that an act of exuberant generosity can make someone's day and simultaneously allow me to feel like a million dollars!

You should try it. In doing so, you would be heeding D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 5: Give Generously.

I hope to write on my father's sixth lesson soon, so please return here to The Cool Time and Money Blog ; you might also care to bookmark its URL, http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/

Finally, if you live in Malaysia, preferably in or close to Seremban and the Klang Valley, and if you would like to use my services to attain long-term goals, you are warmly welcome to learn about my life planning, financial planning or retirement planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you and take care.

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.

My Father's Death and Legacy - Part 4 of 6

Hi. For those who may not know, 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

The third lesson was 'Respect Books', which you can read more about at:
http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-fathers-death-and-legacy-part-3-of-6.html


My father lived a long, full life. One marked by joy, wartime travails, success, controversy, disappointment, fresh starts, and great love for all of his 10 children. I hope you enjoy reading this...


Here's the fourth of six lessons derived from my observations of his life:

Record Expenses.

In my home country of Malaysia, my work - as a financial planner, with a major eccentricity! - has brought me some level of notoriety. You see, one of the foundational principles of my practice is Delayed Gratification. In a recent series of radio interviews on BFM 89.9 (in the Klang Valley, Negeri Sembilan and some parts of Malacca), a station that may also be listened to online at http://www.bfm.my/, more specifically at http://www.bfm.my/assets/media/bfmfeed.html, the excellent presenter Norina Yahya often made reference to that phrase, saying it was what I was 'famous for'. The context of Norina's assertion is my high personal savings and investment rate of 50%; my ongoing work with financial planning clients to help them gradually ratchet up to a 40% to 50% net savings rate, if that's what they want; and my reputation as a cheapskate who drives an old car.

Although my father did not plan for me to turn out like this, the formative lesson was his admonition for me to Record Expenses.

Note: My father did not die financially wealthy. In fact, I remember during my secondary school years, he would often talk to me, as we drove back from my extracurricular school activities at Malacca High School (MHS), about how he was admittedly a good lawyer but a bad businessman. He was also an unapologetic Anglophile.

So, when I won a scholarship from a London-based A-Level college, I remember my father sending his driver to MHS to find me and bring me back to his law office, behind Christ Church in the heart of historic Malacca, to read the letter awarding me that life-changing scholarship!

Before I left Malaysia for the UK in 1982, he took me aside to show me several of his ‘555’ notebooks in which he’d recorded his daily expenses while studying in London in the late 1950s. It was his way of tracking the utilisation of limited resources.

I followed his advice during my initial months in the UK, but soon tired of the exercise. That lapse contributed to my making a shambles of my finances during my eventual 7-year stint of living, studying and later working in England.

It took me several years after returning to Malaysia to repay every one of my UK credit card bills, but clear each one I did! I also repaid every single friend I borrowed money from back then to tide me over when I came up short of cash - which was often! (Every friend that is except my excellent housemate Vivek Mahendru who lent me 50 pounds before he returned to India. I've been trying to contact him for years, thus far unsuccessfully. Sigh!)

Both my parents made it clear that obligations must be met and all debts repaid.

In the ensuing years, one of the books I've written is on debt eradication. It's entitled Liberty! From Debt-Slave to Money Master, which you may learn more about here.

Ironically, given my troublesome history with debt, I have in recent years been hired by the Malaysian Central Bank, Bank Negara Malaysia, to train its debt counsellors!

Furthermore, today one of the hallmarks of my initial meeting with new fee-paying life planning, financial planning or retirement planning clients is my giving a little notebook to each one with instructions to record all expenses for at least one month. Some clients have found it a powerful pattern-breaking exercise that begins the process of turning their financial lives around. They have my father to thank for that idea.

You might want to try the idea out for yourself by heeding D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 4: Record Expenses.

I hope to write on my father's fifth lesson soon, so return here to The Cool Time and Money Blog ; you might also want to bookmark its URL, http://the-cool-time-and-money-blog.blogspot.com/

Also, if you live in Malaysia, preferably in or close to Seremban and the Klang Valley, and if you would like to use my services in helping clients attain long-term goals, you may learn about my life planning, financial planning or retirement planning consulting services by reading my bio. Thank you for reading. Take care.

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.

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.

My Father's Death and Legacy - Part 2 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 is what I want to share with you today...

As I write this, it has been 20 days since my father died. I still wake up each morning with a sense of loss. I find it hard to believe that I now live in a world that no longer contains him. While I derive great comfort in knowing that I will meet him again, on the 'other side of the veil', as it were, the grief is still palpable.

I find writing about him, though, helpful in focusing my thoughts on the legacy he left. And so the second of six lessons I want to leave with you is:

Focus on Professionalism.

My father believed in the importance of professionalism. There are many ways to define what it is to be a true professional. In my mind a true professional is marked by two key characteristics:

1. Adherence to a strong code of ethics; and
2. The ability to make money from activities associated with the profession.

My father met both criteria, in spades! He was born on November 20th 1922. He was a teenager when the Japanese invaded Malaya in December 1941. He survived that horrific time and became a teacher. He later embarked upon the then iconoclastic journey to the UK to study law. He worked hard and studied even harder. His time in Lincoln's Inn was especially cherished. His firstborn, my older brother Rabin Devadason, later followed in our father's footsteps and also entered Lincoln's Inn.

I really have lost count of the number of times my father recounted his experiences in the UK. He returned to Malaya and began his law career in 1960.

I was born in 1964, and all my life it has been crystal clear that my father's identity and sense of self was inextricably linked to his chosen profession. He was a lawyer, through and through. His respect for the life of a professional was extreme. For instance, we used to argue, with startling regularity, because he wanted me to become a doctor and I categorically refused to even contemplate such a career - feeling absolutely no calling for this admittedly important profession!

At this juncture of my life, as I look forward to turning 44 years of age next month, I realise that despite the disagreements my father and I had concerning the choice of specific profession, I too have gone down the path of forging a strong allegiance to a specific profession. In my case, it is financial planning.

The role of financial plannner was never one that my father fully understood. But I would like to believe that from his vantage point now, in the hereafter, he will have reason to be proud of me in the way I carry out the duties associated with my chosen profession, in the decades to come.

My financial planning and investment principal company, MAAKL MUTUAL, holds to 7 principles of ethics that encapsulate our perspective on the issue. They are Competence, Fairness, Confidentiality, Integrity, Professionalism, Objectivity and Diligence. My father would have approved of each of those principles.

Regardless of your chosen field of endeavour, be it brain surgery or plumbing, architecture or cooking, I hope that you will choose to follow D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 2: Focus on Professionalism, and thus grow into the very best professional you can be.

I'll write on the third 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/every few days.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, should you wish to learn more about my life planning, financial planning or retirement planning consulting services, here's my bio. Thank you and all the best.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

PS. I am keeping myself even busier than usual, as it is the most effective way I know to deal with my current grief. 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 again for dropping by.

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 1 of 6

Thank you for dropping by. My father died at 1 am on Friday April 4th 2008. For the first couple of days, I was numb from shock and running on adrenalin. After that, intense grief set in. I'm still very sad, but I draw comfort from knowing that I will see my father again... on the 'other' side, when it comes my turn to utilise the Cross of Jesus Christ - as my father did - to safely step through the doorway of death into eternity.

In the interim, I've realised the best thing I can do is to continue to focus on helping the living, to the best of my professional ability. Toward that end, I've thought long and hard about the lessons I learnt from my father, Daniel Alagaretnam Devadason, who right up to last year, 2007, was probably Malaysia's most senior practising lawyer.

I can't even begin to count all the awesome lessons I derived from my father, who was commonly referred to in our hometown of Malacca as 'lawyer Devadason'. Because the primary focus of this blog is personal development, particularly in the realm of financial planning, I'm going to focus this posting and five more that I plan to write for you in the near future on six specific enrichment lessons I learnt from my father. (For those of you who are in Malaysia and eager to read about all six lessons in one place, I wrote about them in my regular financial planning column for Malaysian Business magazine. I believe that particular column will come out in the April 16th 2008 issue of the magazine, so do check out your local newsstand for it. If you have trouble finding it, drop its editor, my friend Charles Raj, a line at mbeditor@beritapub.com.my for information on where you might be able to buy a copy of that issue.)

The first of those six lessons, the one we'll consider today, is:

Pay for high quality.

Even though I have worked long and hard over the years to provide my readers, audience members and clients a rich selection of free resources that will help them with their life planning endeavours, especially in the spheres of financial planning, time management and goal-setting, I know that the wisest people also understand the importance and often the necessity of paying top dollar for high quality goods and services.

I began to learn that particular lesson when I was very young. You see, my father always made it a point to buy brand new cars. I think he did so because he believed in owning usable assets in tiptop condition. And my father never did anything in half measures!

My older brother Rabin Devadason, himself a well-known lawyer in Kuala Lumpur, tells me that our father owned more than 70 brand new cars throughout his earthly lifespan of 85 years and 4 1/2 months.

I am not a clone of my father. None of his 10 children - Rabin, Eva, Viji, me, Jaya, Rani, Sarah, Pushpa, Parames and Niza - is! We're all vastly different individuals... different from each other and different from our father. But the underpinning principles beneath the intent of our father's words and actions have served all of us well.

In my opinion, that is the greatest possible legacy our father could have ever hoped to leave us. I believe he knows that now, from his vastly changed and improved vantage point in the hereafter!

A classic example of how I extracted the core principle behind my father's lesson about being willing, often eager, to pay for high quality, while not necessarily adopting the same form of expression, is in our car-buying philosophies.

As I mentioned, my father bought more than 70 brand new cars throughout his life. Yet, I still drive the very first one I ever bought myself! It is now 16 years old, with more than 538,000 km on the odometer.

Also, I didn't buy it new. I bought it third-hand, when it was just 2 1/2 years old with 53,199 km on the 'clock'. But back then, that purchase was the absolute best I could afford at the time. In the intervening time, I've worked hard to maintain it in 'tiptop condition'! My adherence to my father's teaching on paying for quality has found expression in very different ways.

Are you also willing to adhere to D.A. Devadason's Principle Number 1: Pay for high quality?

If so, great. If not, I suggest you at least begin considering the wisdom of doing so.

Life is short. The Bible says we each have just one life to live here on earth. It seems to me, therefore, that we owe it to ourselves to ensure we don't shortchange ourselves during this all-too-brief sojourn on Earth.

I'll write on the second lesson soon, so if you want 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/every few days.

Finally, for the sake of completeness, should you wish to learn more about my life planning, financial planning or retirement planning consulting services, here's my bio. Thank you. Stay well.

Warmest regards,


Rajen

PS. I am keeping myself even busier than usual, as it is the most effective way I know to deal with my current grief. 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 again for dropping by.

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.