JonesLiew.com

Oh YES! YES! YES!YES!, it is finally over!!!! And YES! YES! YES!! I”m back in action too!!! Ha oH boy, my last post was dated 3 rd June, that’s easily 3 months and 18 days ago!!!  Ha come to think of it, it does seems a long time since the last post. Well, regardless of the length of the “invisible act”, rest assured I didn’t go into hidding or got lazy to contribute to my blog.  

The past 3 months had been great time in terms for work and financial status-wise!!! Was pretty busy and time to past by really fast.

And nope, I didn’t get super rich over the past 3 months just that, as my title suggested, I CLEARED ALL MY DEBT!!!!!

YA HOo!!! Yes, every single cents of the $10,000 odd plus plus had been cleared!!  And I cleared it before my declared deadline!!! Yeah! Yeah!! That’s right, well if anyone could remember, almost a year ago, I had made a commitment to start repaying my debt every single month and the goal was to clear it by 1st october 2009 on Children’s Day (Read  http://www.jonesliew.com/2008/10/06/its-time-to-repay-my-debt/).

And I did it before the deadline!!! Cool Stuff!!

With the debt gone, I am truly feeling really happy right now as it seems that I had just removed a heavy rock off my shoulder.

Well, I have to say that 2009 so far, have been great for me , as my past post suggested there were many “First-time” for me this year, from the family photoshoot, holiday trip, work trip to now the clearing of my debt.

Now, looking back, it was quite a shock to think about the amount of effort, discipline and commitment that I put in had to achieve some of the “WHAT I WANT” really surprised myself.

And I just can’t help but to think what will happen for the remaining 3 months of 2009. A few goals or targets had been met in the past 9 months, and really i just can’t help but to think what is next for me….ha ha…

So my friends, How’s your 2009 so far?  I hope it was also quite happening and I do sincerely hope and wish that for the remaining 3 months, everyone will have a great great last stretch/sprint towards the end and thus making 2009 the best year in your life!!!

Cheers, Jones.

(Total Amount left to clear: ZERO!!!)

OH MY GOD!!!! IS BEEN MORE THAN 1 MONTH SINCE I ENTERED MY LAST POST…..

Gesh…..for the past month(May), I’m not really sure where had I been busy with. Ha!! guess mostly is related to work.

It had been really busy for the past few weeks and most of the time, I had been busy with work. Hence there’s really nothing interesting that is going on or exciting enough for me to post in my blog.

Well, then again, the month of May is not just about work, I did have a few gatherings and outings with my friends and family, however, is not really worth mentioning. Nevertheless, it had been a fruitful month for me, at least I still get managed to continue to clear my debt.

Ha, once again, it was a happy event when I was keying the amount to be transfer to my lender’s account. The feeling of able to return the money on a consistent and discipline just make my day.

With my goal of clearing my 1o over thousands dollars by 1st Oct is just 4 months away. It’s really starting to be a stretch for me. However at the same time, I also understand that the day where I’m debt free is also just 4 months away!! Ha, as long as I keep doing what I doing for the past 8 months, I’m sure that I can achieve my goal on children’s day.

With the latest fund transfer my debt is down to just under $4k, which means for the next 4 months, by hook or by crook, I will need to repay at least $1000 per month. Phew!! To be honest, if my current income, it is really a stretch but at the same time, I’m also excited and eager to know how I can manage to achieve this feed.

So people (if there is still someone reading my blog) ,do wish me all the best man!!! 

 (Total Amount Left to Clear: S$3900)

FIERCE!!!!!!! This month is the month that I used the most CASH since a long time, the last time I had such a big money output was in 2006 when I decided to pursue my degree at SIM. At that instance, I paid S$10K straight for my 1st year tuition fee. It was pure hard cold cash…. man.

For this month,it was pure hard cold cash again, however, it is slightly different as the money output were for varies purposes and reasons rather, and that includes, my holiday expenses for my FIRST-EVER trip to TAIWAN,  and before that, I had spent abit for my FIRST-EVER trip to HONGKONG & MACAU as well. Up next, I had also made a payment for my family FIRST-EVER FAMILY PROTRAIT, and I also started a monthly (S$2oo per month) investment account recently and of course the most important, today, I continue to repay my debt.

It was really amazing for me at least, that with a single source of limited income, I had managed to do so many things in this brand new year. To be honest, I’m really happy and surprised at how a simple income distribution formula and what commitment and discipline can to do me. Without the above mentioned, I really don’t think I will be able to have so many “FIRST” for me in this first quarter of the year.

Yes and of course, with all the cash output recently, my bank account is once again not in a healthy line but at the same time, it is at a ”OK” line that can allow me to survive, to pay my bills and of course to repay my debt, at least t can last till my next payday.  

Right now at this moment, despite the low numbers on my bank statement, I’m still a very happy man, and that’s because, by looking back for the past 3 months, I had created, gained and experience quite a lot of new things from the stuffs that I put money in. The value of what I had gained was definitely worth more than the cash I put in. Whats the point of keeping alot of money and not spending it? I will rather spend it and enjoy my life or even spend it to create special memories with the people I cared about.

However, before we can do that, we must also ensure that we must follow what almost all the financial advisor will always tell us to do, and that is to save a sum of money for the raining day, and to start saving money for future uses.

And of course, rest assured, I had did the above mentioned, and because of that, I’m able to enjoy my life, and started to be a happy man and it had also made me a man that’s is always looking forward to create more ”FIRST” with his future pure, hard, cold cash.

(Total Amount Left to Clear: S$5900)

Alright baby!! another S$500 down, S$6900 more to go. Yes, once again is time for me to repay my debt and yet again is a happy time to “spend” money, and in fact this 2 months of 2009, I had  been really spending and I’m totally happy with it. Ha ha ha!

For those who didn’t know, I had just came back from holiday!! For the past 6 days, I was with my parents and my eldest sis, the 4 of us took time off to visit Hong Kong and Macau. It was a great family bonding trip, although the family is not in full force, but still it was a trip well-spent. Hopefully, I can find time in the next few days to share my trip in this website.

Anyway back to the main topic, Yes, despite the Chinese  new year period and the Hong Kong and Macau holiday, I was still able to find the money to repay my debt. To make things even more interesting, My family went for a family photo shoot that cost me a bomb during the period and yet I still able to find the money to repay my debt. (P.S. I’m not a rich guy and remember the title of my post, I’m still in debts hahaha )

A lot of people are wondering how I did it, given my limited income, and some people are also questioning about my recently expenditure as they are well aware of my financial situation and my answer to them are three words, and they are PLANNING, TRUSTING and DISCIPLINE.  So just allow me to share with you why this 3 words had given me the money to pay for new year clothes, new year gathering, a family photo shoot and a holiday and yet still able to clear my debt. (p.s is just a sharing, all i know that the stuff i going to share had been working for me, ha) 

Firstly of course, I need a source of income, in my case, it comes from my full-time job. so with the salary coming every month, you first need to plan how to use it.

PLANNING->You need to plan what you need to do with the money, how much goes to saving, how much goes to returning of debt, how much goes to your daily/monthly expenses etc. You just got to know, no need to go down to the last single cents, all you need first an estimated figure so that you know where your money is going.

Secondly, TRUSTING-> for my case, is the trust that you can give others and gaining for yourself, I’m luckily enough to have friends to trust me that I will return the money to them, even when they know I have the spare cash to return them. Trusting myself, trusting my own plan and goals that my plan will work out. Allowing people around me and myself to trust that I will stick to my plan and my plan will lead me to a better situation than now. YOU just need to trust.

Lastly, DISCIPLINE, have the discipline to stick to my plans, have the discipline to say “YES” and “NO”, have the discipline to ensure that I will create actions that bring me nearer to my goal. YOU Just got to be Discipline.

Yup, that’s all and of course there are others value and factor that contribute to my life in the past few months, but having the above 3 in place, I’m sure it will aid me in one way or another.

So, even you don’t understand what am i writing about or you disagree with what I had mentioned, it really doesn’t affect me. and that because,  all I know the 3 words will yet again bring me to another holiday which will be TAIWAN in a week time and yet at the same time, I can still repay my debt.

(Total Amount Left to Clear: S$6900)

Oh yeah! Is the time of the month again, where I need to “bleed” again…(Gosh!! that’s sound way wrong man!!) Hahaha!! The bleeding is from my wallet I meant. hahaha, ok not funny….

Anyway, yup, the month now is DECEMBER!! ha is the festive season month…. well, is Christmas time soon and after that is the New Year!! You bet that in this month there will be plenty of gathering, outing and even party when is comes to the last few weeks of December.

For me, in fact the first week of December I have been going out to meet friends and have spent quite a bit on entertainment and food!! yikes!! and now it is only 8th of Dec. So before, I spent any more money, I had once again, took out some money to repay my debt. This time is not much, just returning 500 back first, as I had decided to keep some money first, the reason?? He He, is of course to reward myself for the hardwork I had put in for the year!!!

HA ha, it does sound horrible isn’t it, especially if your are my creditor. Well just before you get angry, I just want to say that,please forgive me!!! it is really the festive season man!!! I just want to prevent myself to be too stress up with money for this two months.. I just want to make sure I have some spare cash for Christmas and the new year and of course the CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! is just a month plus away…Is time to buy some new clothes and even underwear to symbolise a new start!!! So please let me pamper myself just for this month,ok please, please please??

(Total amount left to clear:$7950)

Yeah!!, Finally!! ha I have started to repay the money that I owed…. ha.. It a moment worth celebrating.

My Journey of studying and running my own biz, in the last few years had left with a loan debt of approx. 10 Grands and left me quite penniless for some time.

Well, Maybe to somebody, 10,000 dollars is not a lot but it is not a small sum either. Given my current income, It might take a while to clear it totally, but I glad I have started clearing it in this month.

Like I had mentioned in my previous post, the topic for the is month about Commitment and Discipline. Beside committing to write on this blog. There are many tiny things that I’m committed to get it done..

Clearing my loan debt is definetly one of the bigger commitment i gave myself. A minimum of $500 dollars from my monthly income must be used to clear the loan debt. and thats the commitment I have made.

And to help me to keep track of the balance. I have also done up a spread sheet. Ha, I know It might not sound like a big deal, but for a man like me who is not that organise and discipline, it is already a big step for me.

So, yup a minimum of $500 a month is put to clear the loan debt, starting from this month. and I have also set a time frame that I will clear it in 12 months time and by 1st October 2009, I will be celebrating together with all the children in Singapore, as they will be celebrating Childrens Day, while I will be celebrating my debt-free day!!!! Anyone care to celebrate the day with me??

(Total Amount left to clear: S$9114)