On a smaller scale (but not less important), Ninja challenged us yesterday to write a letter to our future self in 10 years. To be honest, I don’t even know what I’m going to have for dinner, let alone what I’ll be in 10 years. But let’s not poop the party. One can dream, one can hope, one can prepare a path. So, without further adieu, here’s mine:

Photo Courtesy of Wilson

Dear Sexy,

Remember 10 years ago, at 27, you thought being a woman after 35 is super sexy and hot. Well, look at yourself now. You were right, as usual .

Now, where are you?

Somewhere obscure on earth? Or are you back in Australia to recharge your finance and energy before going back on the road? Or are you (helped by beloved husband) writing your autobiography after winning that Nobel prize? (LOL, you were such a dreamer then, are you still one?)

I hope you and beloved husband still love and respect each other. Despite several “quirks” over the years, you two still believe that you’ll end up being two old skeletons holding each other (that’s me being romantic). Does he still pull the May the 4^th joke? Unbelievable!

Remember how you always scoffed at the idea of climbing the corporate ladder but secretly wanted to be the next Gail Kelly? How about that now? Have you tried both? Which one do you like better? Does it matter? I hope not.

Because at this stage, you have passed the millionaire status.

You don’t need a lot of money to live on because the mortgage has been paid off years ago; you have no debt except for the investment–related loan which provides you nice cash flow.

Kids? 10 years ago you were at the “browsing but not buying” period. I think you probably have a toddler by now. God, I hope she/he is feisty and bouncy. Not to mention the brilliant mind she/he inherits from her/his mum (Cheers, baby ).

I hope you don’t live up the suburban dream.

I hope you never quench your thirst and curiosity about the world.

I hope you don’t send people to sleep when you talk about your life journey.

I hope people widen their eyes and ask “What? Really? How? Tell me more!!” when they find out about what you do… in a good and wonderful context, of course.

You’re still cautious but not afraid to enter the battle. Sometimes you win, the other times you learn. You’ve made mistakes, but guess what, things that don’t make you stronger will kill you (yeah, yeah, I know the original quote, it’s boring).

Look at the scars from your past battles. Be proud of them. You give all of yourself. You live!

Love,

From Your Younger and More Naïve Version

24^th of March 2010

The Yakezie group has been making tremendous progress. In the beginning, there was only a few Yakezie members listed on the first page of Wisebread blog.

As of today, we have 16 active members present on the Wisebread’s top 100 financial blogs. They are:

1.   Financial Samurai (21)

2.   Eliminate the Muda (39)

3.   Free From Broke (42)

4.   Planting Dollars (37)

5.   Sweating The Big Stuff (45)

6.   Canadian Finance Blog (58)

7.   Darwin’s Finance (63)

8.   20′s Money (67)

9.   Credit Card Chaser (70)

10. Monevator (78)

11. Early Retirement Extreme (75)

12. My Jouney to Millions (74)

13. Fiscal Fizzle (80)

14. Ultimate Money Blog (88)

15. Money Funk (95)

16. Punch Debt In The Face (98)

An honourable mention for MBA Briefs who, despite the temporary shut down on his website, manages to snag the 92^nd spot on Wisebread’s ranking. Well done, David! We’re looking forward to your comeback!

I asked a couple of first-timers about the difference it makes. Coach from Eliminate the Muda says that he receives offers for guest post, advertising inquiries and extra traffic from Wisebread. Daniel (Sweating The Big Stuff) agrees on the traffic increase and adds that he has some offers on book review. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to say no to free books.

Monevator experiences similar pattern, although he points out that the increased visibility has given him more of psychological boost and focus than anything else. Being a non-US/Canadian blogger has its own challenge due to local relevance (and some quirky colloquial such as “I’ve been bollocked by my neighbours for dobbing him in.” I don’t think I’m Aussie enough to blurt that out ) but he overcomes it by linking his blog to various international bloggers and writing articles that speak universally.

New Business in Town

Christine at Money Funk is hot on the heels with her raw vegan business idea. You can check out her brilliant ideas on the blog. I’m amazed by her passion and energy to pursue this idea in the midst of her already busy life.

Another person who has relentless energy and passion is Coach from Eliminate the Muda who is taking over Save Every Way, a daily savings tips and reminder website. If you haven’t joined the site and text reminder, I encourage you to do so. Unfortunately for me, the SMS/text subscription is limited to US, Canada and UK.

If you missed this out, check out Elle’s (from Couple Money) article on Problogger about building a better blog in 31 days. She has great advice for blog improvement; being in a niche blog network such as Yakezie has definitely helped.

Finally, for all my competitive fellows out there, check out the Yakezie rank movement and new blog posts on Credit Card Chaser and My Journey to Millions.

Have a great week, everyone!

Fortunately, the time of uptight dress code has passed. I was obviously the worst female dresser there, but to my delight, I saw another man in a similar ensemble, only worse. So, I wasn’t at the bottom of the fashion barrel that time.

After finding our seats, I scanned the room casually and noticed sea of grey-haired heads sitting in the dress circle area. No surprise there. Opera is not known as the coolest thing amongst my generation.

As I flipped through the program, my eyes were locked on a profile report on opera attendees in 2009 conducted by Roy Morgan. Compared to the average Australians, they are:

• 89% more likely to have holiday overseas in the last 12 months
• 85% more likely to have shopped in the department stores in the last 4 months
• More likely to be environmentalists, vegetarians and organic food consumers
• More likely to practice yoga, dancing and winter sports
• More likely to view non-commercial TV and attend cinema regularly
• Far less likely to eat frozen meal, eat fast food, play video games at home, watch motor sports and pay TV.

I was amused because this profile reminded me of my husband’s grandmother. Again, no surprise there. The Metropolitan Opera reported that the average age of opera patrons in early 2000s was 60.

Obviously Roy Morgan, being one of the supporters of Melbourne Opera Company, attempts to sell the $950 full report by only giving out the positive snippets. If you look at the list above, wouldn’t you conclude that the opera patrons are more “enlightened” than the rest of us?

Intrigued by this report, I went home looking up their website hoping to discover the rest of the story without shelling out the $950. No success there. However, I unearthed a couple of older reports on how one’s weight and political preference affect their viewing habit.

In 2006, they found that obese people were more likely to watch daytime television, particularly soap operas. While Futurama was the favourite of the underweight and acceptable weight groups.

If you were a Liberal Party (which is ironically the conservative party) supporter, it’s more likely that you referred to commercial television for your news intake, garden and travel shows. On the other political spectrum, the Labor Party supporters turned to ABC for news when they’re not savouring the soap operas. This report was released in 2005.

So if you like daytime soap opera, you’re more likely to overweight, support the Labor Party, and less likely to fancy opera or go skiing??

The report is clearly intended for business entities profiling their target market.  I, on the other hand, am entertained with the idea of calling it the “commercial zodiac”. There are some people who go to an opera to be seen as if they belonged to the “enlightened” group, hence their views toward yoga, charity and motor sports are skewed to fit the group consensus. It sounds pathetic, but I believe most of us have compromised our individuality to some point in order to belong in a particular clique.

For example, I would rather scratch my eyeball than revealing my secret fondness of Australian Idol on the next Mensa poker night. The idea of watching commercial TV, … no, wait… watching TV at all seems like a heinous crime. On the other hand, citing ancient English philosophy literature would catapult my rank.

So, I’m curious. Have you faked a preference to be accepted in a group you wish to belong? Do you have a secret penchant that violates the group decree you wish no one knows?

Like the last wave of feel-good-new-age-movement (Hello, The Secret), this idea is immediately embraced by most of us because it appeals to our idea of happiness and good life. Who doesn’t like holidays? It’s as if this movement had given us the license to spend money on one of life’s greatest pleasures.

Photo Courtesy of Wilson.

Monevator wrote a thought-provoking article on this subject outlining the difference between experience and memory backed by a lecture from Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel laureate for economics. Are we spending money on memory or experience?

At the moment, the common belief suggests that spending money on “experience”, regardless of the outcome, is better than spending money on “stuff”. I don’t understand the logic (or lack thereof) behind it. Is a disastrous holiday worth more than a plasma TV? At least you can sell the plasma TV, albeit with lower price, if you change your mind; but you can’t claim back your plane ticket just because you have a so-so time in Uluru.

Another aspect I don’t fully buy is the broadness and vagueness of the term “experience”. Isn’t the life you live right now an “experience”? Spending $3000 on an overseas holiday simply to “experience” is not good enough.

Holiday is also subject to status symbol trapping, just like its cousin, material stuff. Who would tell their friends about a holiday to Wagga Wagga (an obscure Aussie little town “so good”, it’s named twice)? Wouldn’t you feel better bragging about your latest adventure to Paris, or better yet, a remote island so private, only 10 people are aware of its existence?

When we purchase an item, the process is simple. We think about a need or want, we research the item’s price, function and specification, compare sellers and finally make a purchasing decision.

We apply the same method and thinking when we purchase “experience”. Unfortunately, methodology that works on getting the best material item on the best price may not work as well when the result we’re after is immaterial. Should we add another parameter to it?

Going deeper into the heart of “experience” shopping is not intended to deter you from going on your next holiday plan. On the contrary, considering the mental aspect of travelling will enhance your holiday experience.  Being specific to what we wish to experience on our travel is as important as preparing physical resources such as money, hotel, transportation, etc.

Would you travel halfway around the world to see this? Photo Courtesy of Wilson.

To that end, I create checklist of “experience” I wish to have on my travel. The list is independent of location and budget. That means, if Wagga Wagga satisfies my “experience“ checklist, I would pack my bag and drive there next weekend. Sadly it doesn’t. Here’s my list:

1. Randomness

Tango on the street, conversation with a stranger who happens to be your friend’s ex-boyfriends’ cousin twice removed, impromptu participation in the world’s biggest Zorbas.

2. Connection to the new world

On top of money and passport, bring your open mind too. When you try to impose your way of life to the new place, you’ll end up complaining and criticizing every little thing. Not only that, you’ll win the ugliest tourist award.

3. Disconnection from our daily life

On my past holiday trips, I carried some workload with me so I could still earn money while enjoying the new scene. Sounds like a neat idea… NOT. Most of the days, I was concerned whether someone complained about XYZ and ended up spending hours in the hotel room taking care of other people’s shit. Frak that! Never again!

4. Culture shock, not just “culture”

Almost every shopping centre in Melbourne now carries the word “culture” in their marketing slogan when what they indicate is “lifestyle”.  It undermines the notion of culture. I want to see a place disconnected from the mainstream western culture. Up to a point of course; anything related to crime, genital mutilation or corruption is not something I wish to experience.

5. Physical adventure unique to the local

I can do skydiving here in Victoria, so why go all the way to New Zealand or US for it? I regret not taking the glowworm cave black water rafting on the last trip to New Zealand. Where else can you have it? Well, lesson learnt.

If a travel plan ticks all the above, then it’s worth doing. Sightseeing gets pretty old after 10 minutes.

The beauty of having an “experience” checklist to filter your travel destination is that you are liberated from the hype of popular destinations, such as tourist-heavy European cities, and more prone to embrace lesser known locations.

Why spend thousands of dollars on a cheap and plain overseas holiday package if what you want to do is to laze away on the beach with your Blackberry and books? Can’t you do it locally? Isn’t it similar to buying an item we think we need just because it’s on sale?

Don’t buy into the holiday marketing hype. Practice thoughtfulness with your travel plan.

Anyway, what’s your thought on travelling? Do you have an “experience” checklist? How do you make your travel holiday worthwhile?

Somewhere in Thailand. Photo Courtesy of Wilson.

A boy and a girl cheekily posed next to a red Ferrari while their mother took a picture. They were so enthralled by the first take, both insisted to have a couple more. The other adults, who were part of the group, stood a cautious distance from the excitement, probably slightly embarrassed. It was an adorable moment, mostly because they’re only 4-foot tall. No self-respecting adult would submit themselves to such vulnerable situation… especially when the owner was closely watching his prized possession two shops away. I wonder what the kids told their mum when they caught a glimpse of the shiny red sports car, “I want it when I’m big”. Oh, the innocent optimism.

A man and his wife sat next to our table in the Auckland airport business lounge. As a birthday gift (from me to me), I managed to snag a couple of business class tickets on our way back to Melbourne three weeks ago. Unlike most of the patrons there, we were neither rich, holding important job titles or over 30. Through the virtue of anal-retentiveness, I collected enough frequent flyer points to upgrade our cheap internet economy tickets to business class by adding another couple of hundred bucks. Not a bad investment considering the comfort (sleeper seat with massager), free-flowing premium brand alcohol, five-star gourmet food and free chauffeur-driven ride home. But wait, that’s not the most memorable part of the trip.

Back to this man.

Eavesdropping is a skill I’ve developed ever since my classmate whispered the exam answers on my first grade. He mentioned about his business venture in Dubai (we flew with Emirates, my favourite airlines) and his motor-cross hobby. “I want to create my own destiny”, he said to the retired couple with whom he shared the table. “One time I was invited for a motor-cross event and I had to sit in the economy class because that’s what the organizer gave me while my wife sat in the business class.” Well, that’s not the kind of conversation you would overhear in the cattle class.

Despite the snobbish latter comment, I found his first comment compelling, even inspirational. It’s much more compelling than the preach blurted by many rich self-help gurus out there because he didn’t say it to sell any products and I know how expensive international long-haul business class tickets from Emirates are.

In my early 20s, I was an addict to self-help get-rich seminars and programs. I spent thousands of dollars buying their products (while getting into debt as well… how ironic) which helped me to reach a certain point, but not to the point they sell. You know the hype; Ferraris, house on the beach, yacht, super gorgeous yet faithful and supportive partner (ha! Cognitive dissonance, anyone?), etc, etc.  It’s amazing how much money these people can make by selling out dreams and inspiration.

Thankfully, I no longer draw inspiration from material riches. Like productivity, it’s a never-ending uphill battle. After you get a BMW, you’ll want Porsche; and then Ferrari, then Bentley, then Maserati (please excuse my lack of knowledge in exclusive cars hierarchy). Where do you stop? Don’t get me wrong, I won’t snub the opportunity to create more wealth, but if the end result is to simply be rich, I would give up easily.

I find passionate people working for meaningful cause to be inspirational. I find cutting-edge artworks by random high school students inspirational. I find the innocent joy of those two kids inspirational (when was the last time you had that?).

Writing a blog has similar condition too. Some people have the talent and skills to write so eloquently every time. My husband is one of them. The rest (myself included) need boost of inspiration, time to develop skills and plenty of courage to keep going. Luckily, I discovered a couple of blogs that would do any writers a great service:

• Theboxcarkids’s Blog: A journey of a single mother living in an RV with her four children. Don’t let that fool you. Her writing is wise and intelligent. I savour each and every sentence.
• Misha Adair on Books: A fellow Melbournian, an avid book reader and a beard-keeping enthusiast. Check out his 10 “rules” for writing a blog. My favourite line is about the type of music you should listen to while writing, “Bach is good, but he’s so good that he makes you lose confidence even in breathing, let alone writing.”

So, now it’s your turn. Where do you draw inspiration?

When you mix a group of skilled and experienced bloggers with the rest (I belong in the latter group), the result would be “colourful”. The disparity in experience, time and skills could create misunderstanding and confusion for the newbies; while for the experienced fellows, having to slow down could become a frustrating experience.

In a way, I may have gotten lost in the sea of ideas, tools and competition. For someone who still has little idea of what she actually wants, this can be off-putting. But then I just have keep reminding myself why I do this; to write, get my ideas out and to connect with other people. The rest is optional.

Is it just me or is there anyone out there feeling the same way? Please do chime in.

The most important thing is all of us have learned a lot from each other (heck, I just opened my first twitter account two days ago, let alone using other tools).  Let’s just hope that this project will bring positive experience for everyone in it.

Thriftygal at Chasing Prosperity wrote that the best way to ruin your child is to encourage them run a children lingerie business  at 9. Enough said! Even if it’s not true,  her fashion sense really creeps me out.

Rainy-Day Saver has a new clean and crisp layout that I really like. One post that caught me sums up my situation current situation as well. I’m happy that she’s getting ahead with a whole new look.

Jason’s (MyMoneyMinute) paradigm shift in materialism gets him all pumped up when he entered the 200k mile club recently. I suppose congratulation is in order?

Young and Thrifty invites us to dream about what to do with a million bucks. I never get tired of it.

Austin from Foreigner’s Finances shares the five books that change his financial life. I share the first one. But is there really a lack of libraries in Japan? Or is it just the English library?

Stay at Home Mom CFO discusses about maternity coverage and health insurance choices. It seems pretty hectic from the get-go (having a child, that is). Hence, four thumbs up for SAHMCFO who juggles between taking care of three kids, being the family CFO and writing a blog. I’m already tired just by thinking about it .

Good luck for Elle from Couple Money who’s organising timeshare for a car this week. I’m going to sell mine so we’re going down that road too.

The Amateur Financier presents a case study of unemployment benefit.

Little House in the Valley concerns about homelessness amongst young people. This issue is widening in this part of the world too.

What does engineering teach about finance? Find out here at Engineer Your Finance.

Tracy at Downturn Living talks about how to make one of my favourite activities … green.

CJ Bowker ponders the second most asked questions when meeting new people. I can’t wait for the day when my answer will be  “vagabonding”.

Aaron from Clarifinancial helps with getting the best life insurance.

Don from Money Reasons discusses the best time to have children. My take right now is  “delay as long as you can”.

Well-Heeled Blog review Elizabeth Gilbert’s take on couple money. I like the way Ms. Gilbert uses a pseudonym for her husband “Felipe”, a mysterious Brazilian gem-dealer… gets my imagination going wild.

Neal from Wealth Pilgrim, in a true sense of Yoda-ism, explains the virtue of what most PF bloggers go against: not making extra money.

Evolution of Wealth defines financial planning. It’s more than just spending less than you earn.

Punch Debt In The Face is on scheduled maintenance when I check in

Money Funk has started a 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. All of them sound delicious… only, why vegan?

Deliver Away Debt has made serious dent on his debt in February. Congratulations! I admire your discipline and commitment. Plus, I can’t believe you can make so much money doing pizza delivery (folks here don’t tip).

The Ultimate Money Blog’s writer Mrs. Money ditched the credit card debt. Congratulations!

Wow! Quite a list there. I have even more appreciation for anyone doing the link roundup now

Have a great weekend, everyone!

For those of you curious how we start the week here in Australia, you’re in luck!

This is how we do it!

Spencer Tunick visits Australia for the 2010 Mardi Gras and took photos of 5200 naked people in front of the iconic Opera House. Check out the photos here*.

No, you’re not gonna find me there.

I just feel sorry that it was unusually cold this morning.

*Warning: some readers might find it offensive, so brace yourself.

We're all born alone.

If you're lucky, you find someone to love, be loved and with whom annoy people with PDA.

Some people call it "miracle"... or is it a little alien growing inside?

Growing up being the chubby, awkward and weird one amongst the cool kids. And the cycle continues...

Special thanks to public members of City of Darebin for the inspiring “art installation”.

Seriously folks, return the bloody trolleys already!!

I’m not going to preach another ‘spend less than you earn’ sermon (I know that you know) but here’s a few of “mind hacks” that are working for us:

1. Don’t listen to real estate agents or mortgage brokers about how much you can afford.

When we bought out house, the market was booming and most auctions we attended would end up 35% (or more) higher than the reserved price. It was ridiculous and borderline misleading.

One mortgage broker told me that if I found a house I like, it pays to bid more since $10,000 extra only translates to $15/week extra payment . I found the advice reckless. First of all, it’s not his money, so he didn’t care. Second, $15/week will add up to $19,500 after 25 years. Imagine if you get emotional during the bid war and end up paying $50,000 more than your budgeted price. Trouble?

2. Never use the maximum borrowing amount allowed by the bank.

A good rule of thumb is to never borrow more than twice your gross annual income (or combined income if married or de facto). This is a conservative formula and is probably hard to apply in some areas. In that case, you can either:

a. Save more money for the deposit

b. Rent in the area you wish to live and buy an investment property in the area you can afford.

c. Move to a cheaper area altogether.

You can still borrow slightly higher than twice your annual income and live comfortably, but you won’t be able to anticipate too many interest rate rises or emergency expenses.  Mortgage stress kicks in when your repayment is more than 30% of your net income. If the interest rate is 7.5%, that means you will be in trouble if you borrow four times your net income (30%/7.5% = 4).

We borrowed only less than half of the maximum borrowing amount or about twice our combined gross annual income at that time. Since then, we’ve had pay rises and scaled back our expenses significantly which results in exponential growth of savings channeled to our mortgage account.

3. Putting money in mortgage account vs. online high interest account.

We choose the first one. Why? First, mortgage rate is always higher than the interest rate in online savings account. Second, the interest saved in mortgage account, while invisible, will not be taxed. Your savings account interest will be.

Before you move your money around, be warned! You should only do this if you have a flexible mortgage account which allows you to withdraw any excess payment any time free of charge. You definitely don’t want to lock your money away or be penalised when you make a withdrawal.

4. Find out your “mortgage payoff factor”.

Okay, that’s a term I invented after reading a great mind hack idea in a savings forum. To find out your mortgage payoff factor, go to lump sum repayment calculator here and enter your numbers. Divide the interest saved amount by the lump sum amount then you find your mortgage factor.

For example in our case:

Loan amount: $240,000

Interest rate: 7%

Loan term: 25 years

Lump sum amount: $1000

Lump sum payment made after: 2 years

Time saved: 3 months

Interest saved: $3,951.70

Mortgage payoff factor: 3.95 ($3,951.70/$1,000)

So, what to do with that number then? Well, here’s the fun part.

Weld that number into your brain.

Every time you go out and think about buying an item, multiply the item price to that number. If you are tempted to buy a $100 dress, think that you can either waste $100 or put that money into your mortgage and save $395 in interest! If this doesn’t put you off from spending, I don’t know what else could.

Feel free to apply that to all non-essential purchases… or any purchase, really.

Please note that this practice only works 100% in Australia, disregarding property tax, tax rebate and any policy surrounding mortgage in your home country.

However, math principle works the same everywhere. So, give it a go.

I’m not going to talk much about its culture, people, lifestyle because I find them quite similar to what we have in Australia (or any Western country really); except with the Maori culture of course.

The most amazing thing about New Zealand is its diverse landscapes and topography on both islands. Glaciers, volcanic plateau, geysers, thermal areas, beaches, fiords, all of them packed into this land smaller than Italy. Oh yes, and more than 40 million sheep!

Straddled over the Pacific and Indo-Australia tectonic plates and sitting on the Pacific ring of fire, New Zealand has its fair share of volcanoes, earthquakes and other natural hazards. But don’t be discouraged, most of the earthquakes are hardly felt. In fact, the last big earthquake with human casualty happened in 1968.

So, here is the New Zealand natural hit list that I visited and hope to visit in the future:

1. Glowworm Caves – Waitomo

It is located on the North Island, only 2-hour drive from Auckland. There are around 300 limestone cave systems in the area but only a few that can be accessed and operated for tourism. We visited Glowworm Cave and Ruakuri Cave which took around 3 – 4 hours. The glowworms live on the cave’s ceiling with 20-30 sticky follicles function to trap the insects flying towards their light. Inside the main cave, hundreds of glowworms attached to the cathedral-like ceiling. It’s so gorgeous that they have famous singers performing the Christmas carols underneath the glow.

Ruakuri Cave has a spiral entrance that reminds me of an old nuclear bunker from the Cold War era. Apart from the beautiful yet fragile stalactites and stalagmites (we’re not allowed to touch them at all or you’ll get NZ$10k fine), the highlight of this journey is the opportunity to touch a 28 million year old fossil of a bird. Normally something this rare and precious would be guarded in a museum, but there it sits on an altar-like rock formation. And yes, it’s hard.

2. Rotorua

Champagne Pool

The small town is famous for its thermal spring, volcanoes and … its sulphur smell. After a two-hour drive from Waitomo, the first thing I said to my beloved was “Is it you?”. Some people say it will only last an hour and then your nose will get used to it. Guess what, I couldn’t get over the lingering smell until we left the town.

Still, if you could visit the beautiful Champagne Pool, geyser and mud pool (which is sold for hundreds of dollars in boutique spas), you will bear it for a day or two.

3. Fiordland – Milford Sound

Located in the South Island is this spectacular sunken mountains or fiords (or fjords as they call it in Norway… where the trolls hide). Unfortunately, our trip didn’t go this far but we’ll sure do it in the future.

Check out their photos here.

4. Glaciers

Fox and Franz Josef glaciers are also located on the South Island. They are one of the few glaciers left on earth above the sea level making them precious relics of the last Ice Age. Winter or summer, you can have your guided walk across the glacier.

Check out their photos here. You’ll be crazy not wanting to go there.

If you know other natural wonder in New Zealand worth visiting, please let me know, cos I’m going back there for sure.