30hb , suami dapat gaji RM3,000.00 terus buat internet banking bayar bill air Rm30.00, bayar duit rumah Rm700.00 bayar duit kereta Rm700.00 , bil telephone suami dan isteri Rm200.00 , bill elektrik Rm170.00 , ansuran motor Rm150.00 dan yuran tuisyen anak Rm150.00 ..serta menukarkan Rm150.00 duit pecah seringgit-seringgit untuk belanja sekolah anak anak untuk sebulan...lalu berbekalkan duit baki Rm750.00 balik kerumah jemput isteri dari tempat kerja..terus di sambut ngan isteri satu soalan " ari ni hari gaji abang kan??..jom pergi beli barang dapur byk dah habis sambil bawak bebudak makan luarlah mlm ni sebab I tak laratlah nak masak ari ni... bebudak pun esok hari sabtu cutikan?" Suami mengangguk lemah terpaksa setuju demi anak dan isteri.

Sampai di rumah disambut pulak dengan anak yang bongsu " Ayah cikgu adik cakap hari isnin cikgu nak RM20.00 untuk beli baju sukan yg baru." Isteri spontan menyampuk " mintak kat ayah..ayah baru dapat gaji..sambil anak yg sulung pula mencelah .." ayah kakak pun nak duit Rm 30.00 hari Isnin untuk beli buku rujukan dah dekat nak peperiksaan ni"..Si suami terus mengeluarkan Rm50.00 untuk anak bongsu dan anak sulong ..

Kemudian bila selepas magrib berangkatlah anak beranak ke kedai untuk makan dan berbelanja barang dapur dan sebelum itu suami singgah isi minyak kereta Rm50.00 langsung ke kedai makan dan makanlah anak beranak tersebut dgn bil makan berjumlah Rm50.00..Setelah itu langsung pergi berbelanja barang dapur dgn jumlah Rm 250.00 untuk barang kering dan Rm 50.00 untuk barang basah..

setelah semuanya selesai pulanglah keluarga tersebut kerumah dengan suami hanya tinggal gaji yang baru dpat pagi tadi sebanyak Rm300.00 sahaja.Maka tidurlah si suami dengan mata yang terkebil kebil mengenangkan baki duit yg tinggal hanya dalam beberapa jam sahaja dapat gaji tadi..

Keesokannya, pagi Sabtu isteri suruh si suami belikan roti canai untuk sarapan pagi...suami pun pergilah beli dengan modal Rm5.00 dan surat khabar Rm1.50.. manakala menjelang petang si isteri dan anak anak ajak suami jalan jalan di pasar malam Jalan TAR sempena malam minggu...si suami ikutkan jugak dlm keadaan dilema bagi menjaga hati isteri dan anak anak. Terpaksa tambahkan lagi minyak kereta sebanyak Rm30.00 ..

Sesampai di jalan TAR si isteri berkenan dengan tudung bawal berharga Rm15.00 mintak dibelikan..suami pun keluarkan duit bayar..kemudian bila ke depan sedikit bahagian pakaian kanak kanak pula nampak baju tidur anak anak yg berharga Rm15.00 sehelai..isteri pun selamba kata, "bang baju tidur bebudak ni pun dah lusuh..belikan diorg yg baru ni.murah jer Rm15.00 hingget"...Suami keluarkan lagi Rm30.00 untuk baju tidur anak anak.

Lalu terus pulang ke kereta untuk balik ke rumah bersama sama..tetapi dalan perjalanan nak pulang anak anak merengek dahaga dan lapar lalu minta singgah di kedai makan untuk makan malam...Sang ayah kesiankan dengan rengekan anak, singgahlah di kedai makan tomyam dan makan dengan membayar Rm30.00 lagi..Jumlah keseluruhan baki yg tinggal selepas 48jam dapat gaji ialah Rm188.50.

Keesokannya hari Ahad...isteri suruh pergi kedai pagi pagi untuk belikan santan dan sedikit ikan bilis untuk masak nasi lemak sebagai sarapan pagi...suami modalkan lagi Rm7.00 dan Rm1.50 untuk suratkhabar...tinggallah duit gaji genap Rm180.00..Malamnya pula beri pada isteri Rm150.00 untuk belanja makan dia di pejabat atas dasar nafkah kepada isteri tercinta...

Maka bermulalah pagi hari isnin si suami dgn berbekalkan modal baki gaji hari jumaat kelmarin sebanyak Rm30.00 untuk isi minyak motor dan makan di pejabat..serta menghitung hari lagi untuk ke 30hb yg akan datang samada sampai atau tidak??....selang seminggu selepas itu pada hujung minggu isteri ajak balik kampung melawat ibu ayah di kampung..suami katakan tidak.ada modal...lalu isteri menjawab dengan sinis "kalau ajak balik.kampung saya jer takder duit...kalau ajak balik kampung saya jer abang kata takde duit...mana pergi duit gaji abang selama ni....takkanlah seminggu gaji dah tak berduit...abang ada pompuan lain ke??" Terpinga pinga suami. Nak di jawab jadi perang...nak di ceritakan yang sebenar nanti disalahkan balik.

diperolehi dari FB Usamah Hishamuddin

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good morning ... I was checking my FB status while doing my morning-biz. It is interestingly written, so I shared with my wife when we were having breakfast at home. Usual bread ... peanut-butter, while kids still zzzz ... I was a little rushing for my 8am Saturday morning tuition class. I am teaching them Vector Spaces this morning.

I reminded my wife how we have struggled financially ... and went thru hell of days ... weeks ... months ... years ... bringing up our two young babies in such tight situation. MONEY was never enough ... certainly I have to swallow my pride when being looked down, and 'avoid' functions ... meeting people. It is kinda difficult situation to tell others that I am a lecturer but ... I am lowly paid(my net-income in Sabah was RM3200 after minus-ing the EPF etc).

So, have you read the nice sharing of a typical wage earner's dairy?

I was in his shoe ... and worst off merely 5 years ago. Unbelievable ... how should I start?

"30hb , suami dapat gaji RM3,000.00 terus buat internet banking bayar bill air Rm30.00, bayar duit rumah Rm700.00 bayar duit kereta Rm700.00 , bil telephone suami dan isteri Rm200.00 , bill elektrik Rm170.00 , ansuran motor Rm150.00 dan yuran tuisyen anak Rm150.00 ..serta menukarkan Rm150.00 duit pecah seringgit-seringgit untuk belanja sekolah anak anak untuk sebulan...lalu berbekalkan duit baki Rm750.00 balik kerumah jemput isteri dari tempat kerja..terus di sambut ngan isteri satu soalan " ari ni hari gaji abang kan??..jom pergi beli barang dapur byk dah habis sambil bawak bebudak makan luarlah mlm ni sebab I tak laratlah nak masak ari ni... bebudak pun esok hari sabtu cutikan?" Suami mengangguk lemah terpaksa setuju demi anak dan isteri."

As I mentioned, my salary teaching full-time in Sabah was only RM3200 net. Kancil was RM550 per month, rented a house RM650, water + electricity was RM150 per month ... kids was still baby (3 yrs old boy and 1 yrs girl) but they needs Sustagen, lampin ... food? That should be around RM150 too. With credit-cards fully utilised and paying the 'minumum' required ... I am certainly in tight situation. Waiting for end-month, I will bring my wife n babies to have a nice Sunday lunch at a Taiwan-restaurant near Melinsung Beach. That was about RM50 per month. (a big ouch then). Yes, only once a month 'feast' ... but I do still feel the pinch.

"Kemudian bila selepas magrib berangkatlah anak beranak ke kedai untuk makan dan berbelanja barang dapur dan sebelum itu suami singgah isi minyak kereta Rm50.00 langsung ke kedai makan dan makanlah anak beranak tersebut dgn bil makan berjumlah Rm50.00..Setelah itu langsung pergi berbelanja barang dapur dgn jumlah Rm 250.00 untuk barang kering dan Rm 50.00 untuk barang basah.."

Petrol ... for my bike + Kancil comes to about RM150 per month. We do not travel much ... and I shifted nearby school so that I could sell off my bike and walked to school. It was a wise choice ... and I could slowly see how I am becoming more financially wise/mature. I have dropped all those un-wise way of using money ... and learnt more and more about MONEY ... finances, in general. I remembered I placed a budget of RM50 per month for buying books ---  anything related to investment, trading, money-idea, wealth creation, motivational, goal setting and such ... seriously, I hv such a huge good collection after 8 years. These days I will just grab whatever books I like(still relating to finances) and keep as collection(some still un-wrap).

Household ... we will go to "Survey" to buy monthly household items ... it is cheaper there comparing to many. So, we will always buy during sales ... and plan the budgets. Kering or Basah ... it comes up to about RM300 per month(or more, I think). Onions, Maggi mee, cili-sauce, butter ... u know those items. It is small amount ... adding up, it is huge for a RM3k wage-earner. RM300 is 10% of my salary.

"setelah semuanya selesai pulanglah keluarga tersebut kerumah dengan suami hanya tinggal gaji yang baru dpat pagi tadi sebanyak Rm300.00 sahaja.Maka tidurlah si suami dengan mata yang terkebil kebil mengenangkan baki duit yg tinggal hanya dalam beberapa jam sahaja dapat gaji tadi".

I could not sleep .. I do not sleep much. I will be busy LEARNING about stock-markets, very diligently reading about terms/definitions that I could not understand. I will read many broker reports which I could not comprehend. I seen NTA, CAGR ... err ... MACD? I will be blurred ... forwarded PER of 13x, target prices vs fair value ... gosh ... by the time we listen CNBC or Bloomberg, we wonder why are they talking non-stop about the FED ... QE ... and how it affects the LionInd stock you have just bought? The stocks moving lower ... it is 2008 ... 6 years ago, stock is tanking ... sub-prime crisis which I could not even know how it is going to hit me. And it hit me real hard ... ouch. I borrowed the money to start ... and lost.

With no balance in pockets after the first week of 'salary is out', I know I have to stand for another 3 weeks ... I do not even dare to tell anyone. Sigh ... but, I never give up in learning ... and I started to give tuition, day and night ... weekends.

Seriously ... I really don't know how strong I could be ... till I was put in such a situation. No money in bank(huge debts, in fact) ... with two young babies to feed ... and failed in my 'keropok biz' ... lost some friends along the way, as I struggled to find some footing in what I want to be ... financially good.

Things reached to a point ... where I was so down and stressed. I will never want my wife and kids to 'suffer' simply because of my low salary ... couldn't keep up with the cost-of-living. Tuition classes increased then ... and time for me to go to next level ... BACK TO KL.

"Keesokannya, pagi Sabtu isteri suruh si suami belikan roti canai untuk sarapan pagi...suami pun pergilah beli dengan modal Rm5.00 dan surat khabar Rm1.50.. manakala menjelang petang si isteri dan anak anak ajak suami jalan jalan di pasar malam Jalan TAR sempena malam minggu...si suami ikutkan jugak dlm keadaan dilema bagi menjaga hati isteri dan anak anak. Terpaksa tambahkan lagi minyak kereta sebanyak Rm30.00 .. Sesampai di jalan TAR si isteri berkenan dengan tudung bawal berharga Rm15.00 mintak dibelikan..suami pun keluarkan duit bayar..kemudian bila ke depan sedikit bahagian pakaian kanak kanak pula nampak baju tidur anak anak yg berharga Rm15.00 sehelai..isteri pun selamba kata, "bang baju tidur bebudak ni pun dah lusuh..belikan diorg yg baru ni.murah jer Rm15.00 hingget"...Suami keluarkan lagi Rm30.00 untuk baju tidur anak anak".

I do not buy newspaper ... but in weekly basis, without miss ... I will buy The Edge(it is RM6 in KK). As the paper costing me RM6 ... it is a pinch for me, more reasons for me to read ALL the pages, getting my money worth? I read and read ... tho I could not understand most of the things I read about. How the piece of news affecting the stocks? Yeah ... my wife does not get to buy any new clothes ... and my kids do not get toys much.


Er's first expensive toy

Recently, while clearing my kids' toys to be donated to the toy-bank, I found this obougtne ... a simple RM30 toy which I bought for Er when he was 2(6 yrs ago ... RM30 is the most expensive toy I bought him). I decided to keep this toy ... and will display it on my working desk, to remind me ... how touching was it that I rushed back to City-Mall to buy this toy as he was 'crying', wish for the toy. He is not a spoilt brat, he never cry wanting toys ... that was his first time, yearning to have the toy, but daddy does not have RM30 in pocket, ok?

"Keesokannya hari Ahad...isteri suruh pergi kedai pagi pagi untuk belikan santan dan sedikit ikan bilis untuk masak nasi lemak sebagai sarapan pagi...suami modalkan lagi Rm7.00 dan Rm1.50 untuk suratkhabar...tinggallah duit gaji genap Rm180.00..Malamnya pula beri pada isteri Rm150.00 untuk belanja makan dia di pejabat atas dasar nafkah kepada isteri tercinta..."



Home-made bread by wife

Breakfast has been bread + butter and milo back then ... and now, we do still have bread(but my wife will home-make it ... bought a bread-maker ... so, she will add raisins etc etc), I do still hv usual peanut-butter, kids like strawberry jam(wife will make sure it is not China-made ... prefer from Europe) ... and we have 'better' breakfast now ... I do not have any $$ to give my wife any ... but when my tuition classes increased, I gave her RM200 per month for her daily uses back then. She is not working .. and use the money to buy for kids(mom's love) items such as books, clothes ... food. Now, she no longer feel stress on money ... and Lazada, Mydeal .. Groupon etc etc becoming her weekly shopping place. Ouch.



The lessons I am sharing here was my own situation. Not only I was lowly paid, I was LAZY ... I was IGNORANT ... I was EGOISTIC ... I was IDIOTIC(money sense) ... and I have ZERO knowledge about money!! I was NAIVE ... financially IMMATURED ...

With RM3k salary, I knew I could not survive ... tuition classes in KK giving me extra RM2k plus. I was surviving ... but I will still not able to clear my debt? Never will unless I do something about it ... and took the pledge : Go back to KL ... learn skills in trading/investing ... give tuitions ... clear debt ... and save save save.

It will be lengthy if I want to write in details of my struggles ... and how I used it to propel myself to do better. If I am to be 'interviewed' one day ... HOW do you make such a change in your financial? I will answer ...



MINDSET.

Without the right MINDSET ... the right ATTITUDE ... hard-work and perseverance ... nothing good could be achieved. And without PASSION ... everything will be a drag. Without a GOAL, we do not have directions. Without KNOWLEDGE, we will be lost and talking non-sense.



If I could start at age of 40(married at 38 without a dollar but debt all over) ... anyone that start at age 35 will be doing much better than me. If you are at age of 30 but wise/mature financially ... you will be well-off financially by age 45. It takes time ...

I hope I could motivate or inspire anyone who is following or reading my stories. Even only a single individual ... imparted some drive inside you, I will be glad to share more.

I will be sharing more stories ... example : how I was wearing RM20 shoe to college when I was with Inti Sabah and wore it for 1-2 years ... then, upgraded to RM70 shoes merely 3-years ago. Today, I m ok with wearing a "Camel" as it could protect my feet and giving me the comfort. I will maintain frugal ... and humble.

That is me  ... a teacher in me!!



Happy Teacher's day to myself.

p/s : Thanks to so many people who wishes me thru e-mail, sms, FB and in person ... I am leaving full-time teaching, but I am still very much a teacher-in-heart. I will continue to give Math tuition and teach trading.

TEH