Chapter 3 The Money G.A.M.E.R 's Game P.L.A.N. 34. Chapter 4 P – Purpose of
the Money Game: What is the objective of the Game? 38. Chapter 5 L – Law of ...
The Money G.A.M.E.R
Money G.A.M.E.R Win the Money Game, Achieve Financial Freedom
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The Money G.A.M.E.R
TABLE OF CONTENTS Praises for Money G.A.M.E.R
Section 1 Becoming A Money G.A.M.E.R
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Chapter 1 Get Rich Quick! … Read this Fast!
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Chapter 2 Money is a Game
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Section 2 G – Game P.L.A.N
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Chapter 3 The Money G.A.M.E.R ‘s Game P.L.A.N
34
Chapter 4 P – Purpose of the Money Game: What is the objective of the Game?
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Chapter 5 L – Law of Money: You Can’t Play without knowing the rules!
48
Chapter 6 A – Aspiration: Where do you want to be?
59
Chapter 7 N – Now: Where are you currently?
74
Section 3 A – Administration, Asset Allocation, Assurance
86
Chapter 8 Administration: Setting Up Your Money Custom
87
Chapter 9 Asset Allocation: How to Allocate Your Money Jar?
93
Chapter 10 Assurance: When you need it, it is too late!
97
Section 4 M – Make Money
100
Chapter 11 Make Money Via S.L.E.E.P.Y Businesses
101
Chapter 12 SLEEPY BIZ #1: Information Business
117
Chapter 13 SLEEPY BIZ #2: Internet Business, Real Money from The Virtual World
139
Chapter 14 SLEEPY BIZ #3: Wave Three Network Marketing, a Goldmine in Disguise
159
Section 5 E – Employ Money
183
Chapter 15 Employ Your Money to Work For You!
184
Chapter 16 Employment #1: Who Let the Bulls Out? Be an Intelligent Investor!
192
Chapter 17 Employment #2: Milking the Stock Market
212
Chapter 18 Employment #∞: Alternative Investments
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Section 6 R – Release Your Money
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Chapter 19 Release Your Money: Who is working for who?
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Section 7 Game Time!
233
Chapter 20 Parting Words
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Praises for Money G.A.M.E.R "I couldn't put down the book once I start reading. YOU would as well." Daniel Tang, Financial Analyst, Private Trader
“Sean has come up with a way to help you achieve financial success, gain financial freedom and jump-start your life. It is a business, financial and selfdevelopment book all rolled into one. Set in a local context and interspersed with lively ancedotes and fables, it is an engaging read from start to finish!” Pearlin Siow, author and internet marketer, http://www.pearlinsiow.com (Author of Boss Of Me! / Sleep & Get Rich! / Secrets Of Asia's Most Successful Internet Gurus)
"If you're interested in growing your wealth and having a better life, this is the book for you! Sean has methodically broken down the process and made it into a game, the Money Game. With his enlightening insights and advice, this is a book that you definitely want to read and re-read!" Teo Aik Cher, Best-selling author and illustrator of "Why Procrastinate?", "Why Take Action?", 'Why Simplify?" and "Why be a Champion?"
"As a full time home-based business owner myself, I find Sean's S.L.E.E.P.Y Businesses to be very insightful and real. Anyone who wants to build a business from home should read what he has to say." Quek Kai Hock, Business Owner
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The Money G.A.M.E.R
S E C T I O N 1
The Money G.A.M.E.R
BECOMING
A
MONEY G.A.M.E.R
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Get Rich Quick! … Read this Fast!
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Get Rich Quick Schemes. Yes, there are no mistakes. This chapter is meant to be BLANK.
Now, I want to be very careful with what I am about to say… From MY personal experience in search for wealth and financial success, I have yet to find a method that makes money without EFFORT. Perhaps I am a really slow learner, or perhaps I just have not found the “Make $10,000 next month” method that actually works…
I began my search for wealth by jumping into many “Hyped-Up” programs that promised me huge amount of money, in an extremely short amount of time with little or no effort – these I term, “Get Rich Quick Schemes”.
To me, these schemes are traps. And I have fallen, not once, but many times into many of these traps. I have lost huge amount of money, buying into empty
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The Money G.A.M.E.R promises. I still remember lying in bed beside my wife who was asleep, and silently wept after I realised I just lost a “5-figure” sum in one of these traps.
Thinking back, I find it amazing and wondered what took me so long to learn my lesson? The answer is impatience and greed. I wanted to get rich quick and I was not willing to put in effort or invest my time into anything that will not get me rich in less than a month. Are you like me in this aspect?
So, if you are still look for a way to make huge amount of money in a short time without needing any effort, this chapter is especially dedicated for you. Please send me a postcard when you find the proven get rich quick method and I can co-author the next book with you…
Quick Cash For Real! That being said, I am not saying that you cannot become rich in an extremely short time. My business partner, Robert G Allen had recently co-author a book with Mark Victor Hansen, “Cash in a Flash” which teaches readers how to make fast money in slow times.
In order to do that, you need to build on what you already have, and monetize these assets. The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R
I will advise you to re-read my previous sentence because it contains the 2 major ingredients to get rich quick for real.
1st, you need to identify what you already have. In one of the Chapters, using what I call the K.E.Y.S Framework, we are going to find out what you already have that will make you rich.
2nd, you need to know how to monetize your asset. I have dedicated one Section of this book, to share proven systems on how I monetize my assets.
So please be clear that I am not limiting your ability to become rich just because I took a time longer than what I had wanted. In fact, it is my wish that you can create financial success as soon as possible. The sad thing I see over and over again is that so many people give up once they meet into setback and failure such as getting involved in a Get Rich Quick Scheme. If I had given up hopes on become financially free when I had made mistakes, I will not be able to write this book. Are you ready to be a winner in this Money Game?
I am Your Money G.A.M.E.R Coach In this book, I am not going to teach you wealth concepts. I am not going to go in broad concepts or even share the whole range of knowledge about investing, trading or building home-based business. There is wealth of knowledge out there which we can learn these from. What I am going to show you is my personally strategies and systems on “how to” build these streams of income. I am going to show you exactly what I do and I am going to give you practical steps at the end of each chapter. So that by the end of this book, you would have already have a Game P.L.A.N for your financial freedom. The relationship I will build with you
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The Money G.A.M.E.R through this book, is as if we are sitting at a café and I am sharing with you all my secrets, just like how I would share with my personal friend.
My Rags Rats to Riches Story… Whenever I share my story, I had often wished that it was more exciting. It is always inspiring to hear how a bankrupt turn into a millionaire or a poor widow’s son becomes a success. In fact, one of my limiting beliefs in the past is that in order for a person to be rich, he or she must start out either very rich or extremely poor.
I once had this strong belief that in order to become rich, we need to take huge risk. For the rich, well… they have got a lot to risk and don’t feel the pinch anyway. They can take out 1 million dollars from their pocket to do business and if it fails, no big deals for them… And for the poor, they have got nothing to lose, so they can go ahead and risk.
But “mediocre me” has too much to lose! I have a First Class Honours degree in business and a Secure High Paying Job. I will have a nice comfortable life, but I can never be rich. No, I am not willing to put my family to any risk of that sort.
It is not as if I have not read books that teaches Financial Success like “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “Think and Grow Rich”, “The New Buffetology” etc. Well, it is always inspiring to read about how a young man, with nothing to start with, began to learn investing and become one of the richest man in the world. It inspired me for about an hour or two but when lunch time is over and work started pouring in, it is always back to “reality”.
But one day, when a personal friend of mine showed me his monthly profits from his business, and without needing a calculator, I can obviously see that it is 4 times more than my monthly pay… now, that really rocked my boat! The Money G.A.M.E.R
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“How on earth did you do that?” I was totally blown away! Ever since, I got my First Class Honours in University, I was convinced that if I put my mind to something, I can make it happen. And since I am crowned the top of my cohort, I was certain that my theories and philosophy about life, especially money is correct.
After a half an hour session of talking to my friend, he had convinced me that all along, the books that had taught financial success are more than merely interesting concepts and stories, but are teachings, that when put into action, can produce amazing results. Although nothing seemed to changed after the talk, but that day, he planted a seed of desire in me that would soon grow into a huge giant tree of hunger.
No Time Freedom After the encounter with my friend, I was still very much stuck in my comfort zone. I continued to work hard at my work and earn a big fat monthly pay check. In fact, due to my passion in my work and my good academic results, my pay check grew fast. And as expected, “With Huge Pay Checks, Comes Huge Responsibilities”… My workload began to grow exponentially as well. But quite honestly, I was quite happy to receive all these work as it meant more opportunity for me to perform in my work. I was on a roll!
About the same time in my life, God gave me my first son. It was a joyous time and I felt on top of the world. With a great career, a beautiful wife and a healthy son, I was a happy man. But things began to change… My work required me to be away from home very often. Sometimes, it is a week, sometimes it is a month. Previously, these weeks and months do not matter to me, but with the birth of my child, I began to feel really homesick. I vividly remembered the 1 month overseas trip when my son was just about 9 months old. That was the The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R time he starting growing really fast. My lovely wife would video him and post the videos on Youtube and I really enjoyed watching him learn how to stand and mumble words. During that period, my son felt ill due to viral infection and I was more than a thousand miles away from home, the feeling was terrible. I want to be with my wife and my son, to love and care for them, but I do not have a CHOICE. I had sold my time for money. And the price to pay is missing out important times with my loved ones. I know for sure that remaining stagnant and not doing anything will guarantee me more of these heartaches and I am not willing to settle for a life like this. That triggered my journey in search for some answers; I decided to become financially free!
An Open But, Untrained Mind After deciding to search for financial freedom, I began to open my mind. I began to see many opportunities that never seemed to exist. Well… of course they were there all along, but I never noticed them until I was willing to even consider the fact that these opportunities are real.
The unfortunate thing is that, even though I was able to see plenty of opportunities, I couldn’t differentiate real business opportunities from scams! I jumped at the ones which promised huge amount of wealth in short amount of time. And as I mentioned, I just kept getting disappointed each time. I even tried starting my own business with 2 of my good friends, but things just didn’t work out the way we planned.
After facing so much failures, I had plenty of reasons to say, “I have been there, done that, and I am not going to take any more failures!” I had many reasons to give up, but all I needed was one powerful one to keep me going, and that was time with my family. More importantly, I wanted to trail-blaze a path for my children
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The Money G.A.M.E.R to see the possibilities out there. With that tenacity, I held on to my belief that if I kept searching, I will find the answers I need.
The Start of My Financial Education! The best initial investment I had made so far was in a Program by Adam Khoo, “Secrets of Self Made Millionaire”. I am not sure what really happened, perhaps it was that my mind was so willing to learn or it could be the fact that Adam Khoo had really master Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). During the program, a switch in my mind seemed to flip! I began to realise the importance of training my mindset and more importantly, the importance of taking action. From then on, my entire life seemed to be turned around. Not only did my finances improved, other aspects of my life became more “spectacular” as I began to have more focus and learnt how to model after successful people.
The Start of Your Financial EduACTION! It is my wish for you that this book can help you achieve what you want in life. I believe that I have achieved the many successes and achieve financial freedom because of the correct mindset and massive action. I wrote this book for it to be an EduAction book. I challenge you to take what you are going to read to and put them into action! In some segments, I will also discuss why you may be more suitable to achieve financial success in a way that is different from me. Of course, God made us differently and we are designed to excel in different things. So, while some of these actions seem natural to me, it may be uncomfortable for you. I will help you find out what is the direction you should head towards to achieve financial freedom in the shortest time. All I ask from you is to participate fully and drop me an email to tell me about your success!
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Money is a Game!
Chapter
2
A Twit in Angle, a Change in Destiny When I was a trainee in Officer Cadet School while serving my national service, we were put through a “Compass Course”. Each of us was given a compass and a list of checkpoints. We were then led to a specific start point and were given 2 sets of information to help us reach our target, the distance (how many metres) and the direction (how much mils). Both were crucial information, especially the direction! We soon found out that even with this 2 information to guide us, many of us ended up at the wrong destination, and one of the main reasons is that we deviated just slightly from the angle we were told to keep to.
And over a longer distance, a slight twit in the angle will lead us to a totally different destination.
I remember Cayden Chang, my NLP Trainer explained this concept in our NLP Practitioner class as well. He did this graphically.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R From the graph, we can see that starting from point zero, the way we set the angle may not make a whole lot of difference initially, but when we compare notes 10 years down the road, the difference is tremendous.
In our financial life, things are very much the same. The angle at which we look at money will lead us to a certain destination. A slight change in angle will also lead us to a totally whole new financial destination. The difference may not be obvious in the very near future, but given time, the difference is definitely going to be huge.
This is the very reason why 2 people starting out in very similar situation in life can end up very different within 5 years or 10 years. This is the very reason, why some people become rich and financially abundant, while others continue to struggle for money the rest of their lives.
In this book, I would like to suggest a different way to look at money which will likely propel to you a totally different financial future, should you choose to adopt it. Before I explain how I look at Money now, I would just like to bring you back to where I was before and see if you are able to relate.
Study Hard or Become a Rubbish Collector... “Look at the bank manager…” my mum pointed to a man who was sitting behind a desk in bank’s office. “He is earning a lot of money and is having a good life. You must study hard so that you can be like him. If you don’t study hard, you will become a Rubbish Collector and have to work hard and struggle for the rest of your life!”
Even though I will not describe myself as an extremely obedient boy, but when my mum, a woman of authority in the family, repeat this message over and over for
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The Money G.A.M.E.R many years, it somehow seem to sink into my head. It subsequently became part of my belief, that in order to become successful, I had to do well academically.
Well… that being said, it doesn’t mean that just because I believe I needed to do well in school, I will study hard. (Just like most smokers believe they shouldn’t smoke but they do it anyway). Honestly, I was not a good student in Secondary School and Junior college and usually only study 2 weeks before exams. This often result me barely scraping through to the next level.
Studying is a GAME - First Class Honors! Things began to change after I entered NS (National Service). After serving 2 years in the army, I became more matured and wanted to do well in my University. I had a goal in mind and that was to get a Good Honours Degree (2 nd Upper and above). With that goal in mind, I began learning accelerated learning techniques and applied them consistently. Things started to get fun as I realised that studying can be easy and in many aspect, it can be like a game. With hard work and passion, I exceeded my expectation and secured a First Class Honours in Business Studies after 3 years! First Class Honours, the top 5% in the cohort! Yes! My future is secured! I have won in the Game of Life and I am going to be happy and rich!
The Corporate World… A Pawn in the Game. True enough, my academic qualification became my best weapon in my corporate world! I was given a high starting pay and a fat increment every year. My mum was right!
But as I mentioned earlier in the book, I realised that wanting to play the corporate game means having little time freedom. I had do not have control over my time. I
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The Money G.A.M.E.R was merely a pawn control by my boss, who in fact was another pawn control by his boss…Trying to win the corporate game doesn’t seem to make sense!
My NLP Trainer Cayden, as well as Multi Millionaire, Tim Sales, used an illustration to describe the life of most people.
Imagine your life to be a blank piece of paper. We divide this paper into 3 columns, with each column representing 8 hours of our lives.
Now, generally speaking, we can spend these 3 columns in anyways we want. But most of us spend of the columns resting and sleeping. This will be a column we do not want to mess around with.
Looking at the 2nd column, we spend this time, working when we are an adult or studying when we are a student. So, what we have left is the last 8 hours of our life to do what we truly want. But is it true? Do we really have a full 8 hours to do what we really want? The answer for most people is NO. We spend this last column, usually working because we can never really finish our job in time. And there is the travelling time, eating time and we have to settle other administrative part of our lives!
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So what do we have left? We spent all our God given time and energy doing a job do so that we can MAKE A LIVING, but in the process, most of us LOSE OUR LIVES.
Most people thought that working hard will allow them to climb to the top, and when they are here, they can start to have more free time and enjoy their lives. So they climb vigorously up the ladder, burning late nights and probably weekends as well. Whenever they are required to choose between work and spending time with loved ones, going back to the office is always the choice.
But what they don’t realise is that the corporate ladder in ultimately a self imposed trap. The higher you climb the more work you get. True enough, you are getting more pay, but what do people do with the increased pay? Do they wisely put it aside so that this portion of their money can start working and growing, aiding them to reach financial freedom? Unlikely! What most people do is to “upgrade” their lifestyle. Or miraculously, spending just seems to increase within weeks and
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The Money G.A.M.E.R months after there is a pay increase… And weirdly… this forces them to work even harder so that they can get the next pay raise…
Some people, after a while, decide to change their job and find one that does not take up so much time. In the process, they lower their standards of living and simplify their life. This is not a bad suggestion really, if that is what they want. But oh no… they began to feel resentful when they see some other “lucky people” have both the time and money. They would just sigh and say that it is just not their luck to have such a life.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R What If… Now, I do not want to get you all hyped up and excited. But what if your life can be like this instead?
What if you can spend the bulk of your time doing things you truly love to do, being with people you truly love to be with? Before I move on, I would like to qualify that I have nothing against hard work. Even after I reach financial freedom, I continue to work. The only difference is that I work because I want to, not because I need to. Would you like that for yourself as well? If you are ready, be open minded and accept the fact that you have not been getting what you want because there are either some things you still don’t know, or there are things you have yet to put to action. In this book, I am going to offer both the knowledge and the action steps that will potential help you solve these issues.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Money is a Game “Money is a Game, you got to know the rules to win!” This concept has been used by many other of my mentors, friends and partners. Some of the more famous ones would be Adam Khoo, Robert Kiyosaki, T Harv Eker, Robert G Allen and many more. In their seminars, books and programs, they term money as a game. Somehow, this concept really goes well with me because I love games, don’t you? And as I mentioned earlier, the way you see things can literally affect the results.
When I was in University, I saw studying as a game and the ultimate goal is to get a good honours degree. I began to find out the rules and research on how to increase my chances of winning. For example, I soon realised that the lecturer was the one who set the exam papers. So even though I do not really like attending lectures, I took the effort to sit in just to understand the lecturer better. I began to find trends in lecturers. There are always certain topics the lecturers taught with more enthusiasm and emphasized more. These topics have a very high probability of being asked in the exams. There are also certain answers which would warrant a higher score than merely the text book answers. And these are things I can only get by listening closely to the lecturer.
I also began to see things from the examiners’ point of view. One thing I learnt is that it is not easy marking hundreds of paper. So after a while, I think it is only natural for examiners to scan for correct key words and phrases. I decided to help them by underlying and highlighting important words and phrases. As I grew, I found out more tips which seemed to help me in my results and that got me really interested to want to study more just to see if my hypothesis is correct. I began to be more and more certain that doing well in academics is merely a game. But do not mistake my way of looking at it as a form of disrespect. I love studying and learning, but on top of that, I love to know that I can do well academically relative
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The Money G.A.M.E.R to the rest of my cohort just because I have some advantage by seeing studying as a game.
The same thing happened when I realise that Money is a Game. Along with this thinking, I am glad to share with you MY formula for winning the Money Game. There are certain rules you must know, certain knowledge you must acquire and most importantly, massive actions to take. And this is not a Money Encyclopaedia, but rather, my PERSONAL Game P.L.A.N for money. And with it, comes my personal formula, the Money G.A.M.E.R formula.
Preparing Yourself for the Money Game Before going into the Money G.A.M.E.R formula, I want to prepare you for it. Here are some things I need you to do:
#1 Empty Your Cup! In ancient times, there was once a young man who was extremely intelligent. He travelled the world to seek for a master to teach him more. And wherever he went, he would impress the people around. And everywhere he went, he left disappointed that there was a master worthy learning from. As he travelled, he was told that somewhere in the west, there was a wise old man whose wisdom far surpasses any human being. The young man was excited and travelled to meet the wise old man. When he finally reached the residence of the wise old man, he requested to meet the wise man. He was brought before the wise man who invited him for tea. The wise man asked the young man where he came from and what brought him here. The young man began to tell of the adventures he had been through and the amount of things he had seen. The wise man kept smiling and nodding in The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R acknowledgement while continuing to ask more questions. The young man spoke continuously of his life adventure. Before long, a young servant brought into the room a tea set and lay it onto the table. The wise old man began pouring tea into the cup as the young man continued, “I would like to stay and study under you as I can see that unlike the rest of the places I have been to, this place has much more to offer.” As he finished this sentence, he gave out a loud screamed and started dancing frantically around the room. The hot tea had spilled from the tea cup as the old man continued to pour into the overflowing cup of hot tea and the tea is all over the table and the floor. It had scalded the young man and he was furious, “What are you doing old man? The cup is already full! Stop pouring at once!” With that, the old man spoke up, “Get away from me young man. I have nothing to offer you. Your cup is already filled, I cannot fill it anymore.”
There was once I thought I already knew everything there is to know. But still, I was not getting the results I wanted. I felt that the time is not yet right and that some things are just not fair. There were tons of excuses I can find to justify why I am not financially successful yet. It was only when I decided to humble myself and begin to learn more from successful people, did I realised that they interpret a same piece of information differently from me. There are still many things that I don’t even know I
need to know.
For example, when I tell people that I can make returns of more than 30% per year with little risk and can start business that generate passive income with very little capital, they just smile sceptically and say that , “That is too good to be true…”
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The Money G.A.M.E.R “That may be too good to be true” – but is that a good enough reason to stop looking? Let me take you on the journey I went through and share with you the doubts I had too. I also want to share with you the joy I received when I achieve success from each of my ventures.
#2 Screw It, Just Do It – Take ACTION! I remember I was at East Coast Mac Donald my friend, Fred. He asked me how to invest. I became excited and started my lecture. Throughout the session he kept saying things like, “I know that already”. Even to the books I recommended, he replied, “I read that already… teach me something new.” Finally, I stopped, look at him and said, “Fred, screw it, just do it!” “What do you mean?” “Fred, you know everything that I know. For example, you read the book already didn’t you?” “Yes… but that is just a book…” “Fred, screw it! The difference between you and me is not knowledge, it is action. I started my investing proper by following what I read in that book… That is why I have $100,000 in my brokerage account… and you have $0” “But if that author is so successful, why does he bother to write the book?” “Fred, I do not know. But screw it! Just do it!”
Today… Fred is still waiting for the perfect time and waiting to become a total expert before he is actually willing to risk a single dollar…
I am not sure if Fred will ever invest, he is comfortable acquiring knowledge and is not comfortable to take any action… Are you a “Fred” too?
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Another “Screw It” Experience After my friend, Daniel, attended Ewen Chia’s Internet Marketing boot camp, we were so excited and created our first website.
We did not launch our website for a long time because we were not satisfied… The colour looked wrong and the pictures looked out of place. And the content could be improved. So we kept improving it for a few months.
It was one day, I heard a speaker mentioned, “There is no perfect time, no perfect product… The time is NOW!” That is when I adopted the “Screw it just do it” mentality for our website. And guess what happened once I launched the website… The answer is Nothing. But after we launch it, we got feedback and realised that traffic was an issue (i.e. Nobody visited our website). So with some creativity, we wrote a sales page which triggered off a few hundred readers a day and made our first thousand with 2 weeks.
I was attending a Internet Marketing Networking Night and again I met many “Freds”.. They had attended great course but found out that it is too difficult to even set up a webpage. Well… I have made my thousands and I am moving on to my millions…
So, Fred, if you are reading…
You can continue reading or you can just put the book down and complain that you never had the opportunity, the knowledge, the time, the money, the support from your family… Keep complaining and keep regretting, and then go to bed Fred, you won’t take any action anyway…
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Are you ready to take action? If you are, I want you to prove it. I want you to do something that is totally unconventional. I want you to tear the next page off and paste if somewhere you can see it every day. What happen to most books is that they are not even read. And for those that are read, the knowledge is not applied. This book is not meant to be another decorative item on your shelf! Tear off the page just to go out of your comfort zone!
“Can’t bear to tear this page off?... feeling uncomfortable about it?… Let me guess, you are an Fred aren’t you?”
(Note: Do not do this if it is a library book!)
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The Money G.A.M.E.R RIP THIS PAGE OFF THE BOOK – NOW!
I am an ACTION TAKER! The Money G.A.M.E.R
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I am an ACTION TAKER!
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The Money G.A.M.E.R #3 Hold Your Horses – Take Intelligent Actions! In the subsequent chapters, I will share with you my story of how I rushed into my first business venture with virtually zero knowledge and research. I wish I can tell you that I was an overnight success but I cannot. The fact is that I lost money and gain some expensive lessons from mistakes which could have been avoided had I been intelligent enough to seek “wise counsel”.
As much as I want you to take action and do something about your dreams, I want you to make informed decision and take intelligent actions. So, hang in there and I will shed you some light on the Money Game.
The Money G.A.M.E.R Essentially, we need a Game P.L.A.N to play and win the money game. Let me now share with you my Game P.L.A.N. When I was in University, I studied people who are successful in their academics. So in the Money Game, I studied people who are financially successful. I have gathered my studies and crafted plans. I then tested them out myself, forming my personal 5 steps Game P.L.AN. These are the 5 steps in my formula which made me win the Money Game and move towards becoming financially free. The 5 steps form the word “G.A.M.E.R.”
G - Game P.L.A.N It all starts with a P.L.A.N. Without having a plan, the chances of winning is virtually zero! In this segment, we will be crafting out the P.L.A.N and it will form the basis for the subsequent segments.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R A – Administration, Allocation, Assurance The 3 As! The next step is to sort out our money matters currently. With proper administration we can speed up the time we need to achieve financial freedom. This allow leads us to learning how to allocate our assets to maximise the returns and ensuring we are able to enjoy ourselves in this journey. In this segment, I also want to touch on the topic of assurance. Without assurance, all the wealth we have and about to build together can be wiped out over night.
M – Make Money Since young, most of us have been programmed to make money by working for others. But since the raise of popular wealth teachers like Robert Kiyosaki, who shared his concept of the cashflow quadrant, there is an increased awareness that we must have our own business in order to achieve financial freedom fast. In this segment, I will share with you the homebased businesses I started and provide you with the action steps where you can own your own homebased business.
E – Employ Your Money to Work For You! Most people create income for themselves by getting themselves employed. For some, it is self-employment. Imagine having an army of servants at your disposal and you can get them employed at various jobs. At the end of the day, they will bring money back to you. Well, this is not a fantasy! The money you have been foolishly wasting can be saved and become an army of servants who will work for you, if only you know how to Employ them into the right jobs. Yes, investing is a MUST for the Money Gamer. I will tell you where I invest my money and more important, how I choose these investment vehicles.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R R –Release Money Release Money?! I got a feeling that many people who reach this section will choose to give it a miss. But if you are going be a professional Money Gamer and if you want to achieve financial freedom really fast, this chapter is essential. Didn’t you promise to Empty Your Cup? I challenge you to take the chapter seriously and it is for certain you will find the discussion a fruitful one.
So there you have my Money G.A.M.E.R formula. Let’s start our journey together right now!
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The Money G.A.M.E.R’s Game P.L.A.N
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Plans Never Work! When I became a commander in the Military, one thing I initially dreaded was the planning process. It took hours just to study the map. I also always noticed that no matter how much we planned, it was seldom followed when it came to ground execution.
I was surprised when I found out that this is pretty much the same in the business environment! Most of the businesses are not able to follow their business plan that was initially crafted. But what can we expect when the world is so dynamic. So while we can plan based on the knowledge we have about the situation, the situation is not obliged to stick to our plan. And by the time we execute the plan, things would changed and so must our plan. Then why PLAN when plans never really work?
Why Do We Plan Then? Ah ha! Here comes the answer to why we need to plan! The PROCESS of planning increases the chance of success by more than 1000%. 1000%? Yes, 1000%.
Having a plan that doesn’t work will give you 10 times the chance of success as compared to not even having a plan. The reason is simple. The Process of planning allows us to study the options and the situation. So while we are not able to factor in all the possible changes, we can respond to changes effectively based on our initially plan. The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Flight Plan One commonly used example is a Flight-Plan. While the pilot and the crew have a Flight Plan to fly from one place to another, the plane deviates from the course 99% of the time! This is due to the environment which can never really be predicted. But do you think the pilot and crew will actually not plan just because the plan can never be followed fully? That would be ridiculous! They need a plan and they can respond to the environmental changes. And as they fly, they will adjust their plan to make sure they reach their destination!
Our Money Game P.L.A.N! This chapter is going to give you an overview of the Game P.L.A.N and we will go into details in the next 4 chapters. I have identified the 4 keys needed in the Game P.L.A.N and each of these keys fall in nicely to form the word P.L.A.N. Let’s go through each of them briefly and we will go into the details of each in the chapters that follow.
P: Purpose of The Money Game Why are we playing the Money Game anyway? The obvious answer is that we do not have a choice. And since we are in the game, we must play to win, otherwise we are destined to lose. But can you win a game if you do not know the Purpose and Objective of the Game? What is the Purpose of the Money Game? What is Financial Freedom and what does it looks like? Imagine you are made to run around the country and you do not know why and where the end point is. You are just running and hoping that one day the race will end and you are crowned a winner. Most people in the money game just keep running without having a clear idea of where they are heading towards. In the next chapter, I am going to suggest what the Purpose of Money is and I am sure it will inspire you to set you own financial destination.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R L: Laws of The Game Do you know that there are Laws governing money and wealth? Most people in the money game, are unaware of these Laws. I use the word Law and this can be interchangeable with the word Rules. Do you know the Rules of the Money Game? Do you know that some people with only half your talents and spend only half the amount of time at work can earn two times, three times or even ten times the amount you earn? This is because they understand the Laws of Money and apply it while most people don’t. You got to know the Laws of Money or you will never be able to win. Most people only know a small segment of the rules and that is why they struggle for a very long time. Most people never find out the remaining rules. Once you understand the rules, you will find that money is in fact a game that you can have fun in, especially when you know that you are going to win.
A: Aspiration The next part of the Game P.L.A.N is your Aspiration and your dreams. In other words, it is your own definition of success. While the society has their definition and mental model of what a Money Winner looks like, it is more important for you to define your own. Just like when I took part and completed the marathon, I am obviously not the winner of the race, but I am a winner of my race. That is because I have set my aspiration and goals for the race and I have met it.
If you can define it clearly and purposefully, working it with reference to the Purpose and Laws of money, you can become a Winner in a very short time.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R N: Now Aspiration defines where you want to go. But you will never get to where you want if you do not know where you are. Only when we identify both the current and desired destination, then can we fill in the gap and move towards the goal. If I were to ask you your exact Money “location” or situation, will you be able to tell me? Most people will not be able to do so. And that is one of the reasons why most people do not know that they are like frog slowly being boiled.
Do you know that if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will quickly jump right out? Yes, it may suffer some injuries, but it will survive. Now, the interesting part is this… If we put the frog into the same pot with room temperature water, it will remain in the pot. Then what we do is to turn on the fire and slowly boil this frog. This unsuspecting dude will feel nice and warm while it slowly adjusts to the temperature and before it realises, it is boiled to death!
This is how most people are in the Money Game. When faced with financial crisis, they react, struggle and usually survive. But in the normal daily moves of the money game, they do things which get themselves into trouble slowly… and before they know it, they are boiled to death. And the worst thing is they do not even know why. They thought that they are ok since the other frogs are also lying there in the pot. It is only those who are aware of the situation NOW that will start to take action and get out of the pot before it is too late.
Are you ready to jump out of the pot into your dream destiny? If you are. Let’s move on! The Money G.A.M.E.R
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Money G.A.M.E.R Game: P – Purpose ofThethe Money What is the objective of the P - Purpose of the Money Game Game?
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Why we need a “Why” I remember my father once telling me this story:
There was a successful businessman, Jonny who brought his family on a holiday trip to this beautiful island. They stayed at a humble beach house owned by a fisherman and his family. For an entire week, they joined the fisherman in his daily fishing routine and enjoyed the company of their friendly and cheerful host. At the end of the week when Jonny was about leave the place, he approached the fisherman, Tom for a chat. “Hi Tom, I want to really thank you so much. My family and I enjoyed ourselves.” Jonny shook his hand. “That is good! Do come back to visit us again.” Tom smiled “Well, actually there is some advice I would like to give you.” Jonny spoke in a serious manner. “Oh, what is it?” Tom was curious. “I have studied your daily routine and I think you can do better…” Jonny started. “You are not really efficient with your time and business. You only spend the morning fishing and you use a fishing rod instead of a net. If you use a net instead and spend the afternoon and evenings fishing, you can catch more fish. With the excess fish, you can sell it for a profit. With the profit, you can invest into bigger boats and bigger nets and make bigger profits. At the same time start up a fishing school to teach others how to fish. I am truly amazed at your fishing skills and thanks to your advices; my fishing has improved as well. I believe that there are The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R many people out there who would like to be taught by you. You can subsequently franchise your own fishing method and school… Imagine the amount of profits you can get. It will be much better that your current situation where you only fish enough to eat…” “Wow! That is great advice. I never really thought of that. But after having all the profits, what do I do?” Tom asked. “Well… you can do anything you want! What would you like to do if money and time is not an issue?” Jonny asked excitedly. “Hmm… let me see… I know! I will want to stay in a house beside a beach with my family and …fish!” Many people would not have asked the all important question that Tom asked, “But
after having all the profits, what do I do?”
Many people would have jumped into the wonderful business idea and spend an entire like chasing the dreams set by others, without knowing what will they get at the end of the day.
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? When I first started out in search for wealth… I was inspired by Wealth Gurus and I wanted to be a millionaire. I thought that being a millionaire will solve all my problems and worries. At the same time, it sounds really cool to be termed as a Millionaire doesn’t it? I thought that once I am a millionaire, I have won the money game!
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Becoming a millionaire may solve some people’s Money problems while for many, the millionaire may mean nothing or may just whiter away quickly. Just imagine someone like Bill Gates or Donald Trump becoming a millionaire. How does that sound to you? I am not sure if they will feel happy. More likely, these 2 billionaires may feel like a failure in the Money Game. So, to me, there isn’t really a standardized fixed number to aim for. Some people need a million, some need billions, and some just need a fishing rod to win the money game.
By the way, there was an interesting research done on people who win the lottery. They become instant Millionaires. Have they won the Money Game with this lucky break? Wouldn’t you like to be like one of these lottery Millionaires? I sure do even though I do not buy the lottery, I certainly wouldn’t mind having a extra million or two falling into my lap without much effort. But let me first tell you what they found out in the research. It was found out that a huge percentage of the lottery winners will lose all their money and become broke within 5 years.
What happened? Why would such a thing happen? Is it the “Curse of the Lottery Winners”? The main reason is that these lottery winners do not know how to play the money game and they never understand how to Employ their winnings into work that will make them more money. That is why when money flowed into their lives by chance, they will not have the ability to use and jeep it. Instead, they “upgrade” their lifestyles based on the assumption that the “million” will last the forever. But unfortunately, the money is quickly squandered away, leaving them with piles of debts and humility.
The Money G.A.M.E.R’s Purpose of Money The purpose for money may differ for everyone, but it is important to be very clear. For my 2 year old son, the purpose of money is very clear to him. He wants the
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The Money G.A.M.E.R money to buy his toy car. He is after the toy car, not the money. And in the book by Richard Branson, Screw it, Lets do it, he said it well –
Money is for making things happen. In essence, we do not want money for money. Money is merely a piece of paper with pictures of deceased on it. What we really want is what we think money can get us. Would you want money if it has no value? Of course not. We want the purchasing power of money! And becoming clear on what is it we want to purchase, will make this game much simpler.
Money G.A.M.E.R’s Objective of Money Game One of my wealth mentor, Kai Hock, gave me very clear and specific goals: “First be free, then be rich”
Be Free! FINANCIAL FREEDOM! This term sounds extremely good, doesn’t it? But to many, this term also sound extremely distant and far from reality.
I remember having lunch with my friend, Quek and the subject of money was discussed. I asked him what he thought financial freedom was and his reply was “To be debt free. After I pay off all my debts, I will be free from debt and thus, I am financially free.”
“When will that happen?” I asked casually.
“Honestly, I am not sure. Maybe 30 years since I have to pay for my house. But by then, I will probably have other debts. Financial freedom is just a dream…”
Financial Freedom is very Possible!
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Most people think of financial freedom in a manner that made it almost impossible to achieve. I am going give you the good news- You can be financially free, once you know how and put the knowledge to action. In the first few sessions of our weekly mentoring session, Kai Hock made me calculate how much I would need to survive on a monthly basis. That is, if I lose my job right now, how much money do I need to just survive?
This would exclude expenses like my car, my weekly movie night out etc. Because these are things I can do without. But this would include my home payment, food, and children’s basic expenses.
For many of us, this figure may be much lesser than expected. And this figure is the first aim in the money game.
Once we can create monthly Residual Passive Income that would match this figure, guess what? We are financially free!
Financial Freedom = Monthly Residual Passive Income > Monthly Basic Expenses
So, once we are financially free, it means that we can quit our job and continue to survive without financial worries for the rest of our lives. This is of course assuming the basic expenses remain unchanged which is unlikely due to inflation and other factors. But for now, we will just play based on this simple formula.
Do note that the Monthly Basic Expenses still include the house loan payments. This means that I can still be in debt, but I can be financially free. This is as long as I have Residual Passive Income that cover this expense. Thus, we do not need to be debt free to be financially free.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Residual, Passive, Income? Before we move on, let’s stop and discuss this for a while - what does Residual Passive Income mean?
Residual, Passive, Income are 3 separate words with 3 different meanings put together. Lets look into each of them.
Income, is basically, the amount of money you receive in a given period. So when we use the term, Monthly Income, it is the amount of money you receive within a month.
Passive means little or no action. Passive is opposite from active. In simple terms, when we talk about active income, it means income we have to work and exchange our time for. But when we use the term Passive Income, it means money we receive without having to do any work. An example would be the amount of interest we receive when we put money in the bank. If we put $1,000 in the bank and we get 0.2% which is $2, we earn an annual passive income of $2! (Sounds miserable doesn’t it… I am going to teach you how to increase this figure by about 100 times in subsequent segments)
Residual in our context means ongoing. You see, passive income can be nonresidual. For example, if I lend $1000 to my friend for a year and he pays me $1,100 one year later, I earn $100 of passive income. But this income is not residual (ongoing), if my friend is not interested to borrow the money from me again. In order to achieve financial freedom, we need “Residual + Passive” Income!
So let’s review the Financial Freedom formula once more.
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Financial Freedom = Monthly Residual Passive Income > Monthly Basic Expenses
I hope it makes more sense to you now that we have a clear understanding of what Monthly Residual Passive Income means.
Be Rich! Once we are free, the next aim of the game is to become rich. Put it simply, all of us have a dream lifestyle and very likely, this lifestyle is going to cost us some money. So on a monthly basis, how much do we need to achieve this lifestyle? We are going to work out this lifestyle and calculate this amount needed to make this lifestyle a reality in the next chapter, “Aspiration”. And once we have this figure, we can then upgrade the Financial Freedom formula to Financial Abundant Formula,
Financial Abundance = Monthly Residual Passive Income > Monthly Desired Lifestyle Expenses
Once we reach Financial Abundance, we have won the Money Game! Imagine that, being able to enjoy the lifestyle you want without needing to worry about money. This too, can be a reality if you have the right Game P.L.A.N. But that is not all, you got to be, as T Harv Eker say, “The Right Person”. He says that it is not enough to be at the right place at the right time, but you got to be the right person at the right place at the right time. Every now and then, the right opportunity will knock on our doors and only those who are trained and able to identify this opportunity will grab hold of it tightly with their hands, while many just let it slip by thinking that it is too good to be true. Our Money destiny is something we can control if we condition ourselves to be a Professional Money G.A.M.E.R. And what does a Pro looks like compared to the rest? The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R The Conventional Game P.L.A.N Most people do not have any Gameplan. If they do, this is what the plan will look like typically.
GamePlan #1 Currently, John has a monthly income of $3000. He plans to retire at 65years old and when he does that, he will reduce his monthly expenses to $2000 a month. That will be his realistic goal. Based on research, the life expectancy is about 80years old. So after his retirement, he needs to have savings that can last him 15 years. So John has to have $2000 x 12 x 15 = $360,000.
Since he is only starting out and is 25 this year, he has another 40 years to save.
The amount he needs to save per month is 360000 / (40 x 12) = $750 per month.
Wow, $750 a month is a lot… So what can he do about it? The answer is to invest in Unit Trust. With a well selected fund and with CPF, John should be able to pull it off and accumulate the sum of $360,00. He can then retire comfortably when he reach the age of 65years old!
GamePlan #2 But what if John lives beyond 80? Wouldn’t that be a problem?
A safer way is to ensure John has Residual Passive Income after he retires. So, working backwards, we know that the bank offers an interest rate of less than 1% right now. But let’s just be optimistic for a moment and say we can get a constant 2% interest rate in a fixed deposit when John is at the age of 65. The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Since John is planning to retire and survive with $2,000 every month, he needs $2,000 x 12months = $24,000 per year.
In order to get $24,000 per year based on a 2% interest, John needs $1.2million. How this works is that if John put $1.2million in the bank at a 2% interest, the bank will pay him $1,200,000 x 2% = $24,000.
Looks like John has got to work really hard, save and invest more. Whenever he receives a pay raise, he should invest. And he should not retire totally, it is not healthy anyway. So he will be a part time driver or park warden, something relax, to supplement his retirement income. In this way, he can afford a short tour once in a while.
Game Commentary… I have no intention of being rude or disrespectful in anyway, but is that really how you want to live your life? Isn’t there more to life than this? Money may not be able to buy happiness or a fulfilling life, but it can certainly create constrains on how we want to live our lives.
Most people adopt the conventional Game P.L.A.N because of 2 reasons:
1) They do not know of any other ways. They have no other options but to accept a typical plan. These people are known as the Financial Illiterates.
2) The second group of people are worse off. They know what to do but are sceptical! They see the whole world as a dangerous place and that all people out there are out to cheat them or make use of them. They probably had been a victim once or merely just heard of someone trying to get rich but fail or was cheated and they decided to close their minds forever. The Money G.A.M.E.R
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The Money G.A.M.E.R Interestingly, they still continue to read books and learn about financial success but only take very little action.
Now, we know that the Money G.A.M.E.R. way is very much different. Our Game P.L.A.N is to find out what lifestyle we want in life and then we create Residual Passive Income to finance it. Isn’t that a much better plan? I believe I see you agreeing.
So stay with me and we will go find out the Laws of The Game in the next chapter.
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