Monday, August 27, 2007

Interesting aspects of Warren Buffet

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the secondrichest man who has donated $31 billion to charity.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings fromdelivering newspapers.

3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house inmid-town Omaha, which he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does nothave a wall or a fence.

4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driveror security people around him.

5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns theworld's largest private jet company.

6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. Hewrites only one letter each year
to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls themon a regular basis.

7) He has given his CEO's only two rules.Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His pasttime after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watchtelevision.

9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything incommon with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only forhalf hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hoursand Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has acomputer on his desk.11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards andinvest in yourself.

Amazing individual indeed.

Monday, August 13, 2007

7 Biblical Principles for Managing Your Money

#1 – Acknowledge God’s Ownership (I Chronicles 29:11-12)
#2 – Establish a Budget (Proverbs 16:3)
#3 – Keep Giving & Saving at the Top (Proverbs 3:9, I Timothy 6:18)
#4 – Get Out of Debt ASAP! (Proverbs 22:7, I Cor. 7:2)
#5 – Avoid Indulgence and Hasty Decisions (Luke 12:15, Proverbs 21:5)
#6 – Establish Goals (Habakkuk 2:2)
#7 – Learn Contentment (Philippians 4:11, Colossians 3:15)

Friday, August 10, 2007

7 ways to be richer than now

1. Transportation.
Yes we need transportation to get about, but a car might not be the best way to do it. Cars cost a lot to buy and to maintain. They also depreciate like there is no tomorrow.
To check if your cars are costing you too much hard earned cash, total up your car expenses in a month and compared to other expenses. Find out the percentage of car expenses versus other expenses. If it is way to high, then it is time to cut back.

2. Buy a used car.

If you really need a car consider a used car. A 1 or 2 year old model would have depreciated some 30% or more off the new car prices. Down payment, installment payment, and insurance premiums will also be much lower. Choose wisely for model that is cheap to run.

3. Think Before You Subscribe.

Nowadays, there are many promotions for various memberships and services. They tempt people to join with zero or low entry cost to join. For example gym or health club memberships. Many sign up for yearly subscription and don’t bother to use the membership after several months. Instead, sign up for a short a period to try and see if you would really use the facilities before signing up for a longer period.

4. Reduce mobile phone charges.

Unless your company pays for the bills, mobile phone expenses can quickly escalate. I’ve seen office based people who do not do any sales or marketing, that requires them to call using their handphones, have mobile phone bills higher than my friends who are in sales!! If you cannot control your phone calls, try a prepaid service rather than a post-paid service because everytime you take out money to reload, you’ll feel the pinch.
Today, mobile phone companies come up with various ways to get you to spend more with musical ring tones, news downloads and sports update. These fancy services increases your mobile phone bills too.

5. Shop online.

You can get most things from online and get a good bargain. Many online shops keep cost low by having low rental and advertising cost, but check the mailing charges.

6. Do your shopping off season.

In many instances, when you are buying things at the end of season or clearance sale, you can get very good discounts.

7. Turn your hobby into a business.

Almost everyone have a hobby or specialized knowledge of a topic. Be creative and turn it into an income source. If you are good with a computer or software, start a related part time business. You can help to repair, trouble shoot and maintain computers.