Inspirational thought of the day by Hong - Kong Billionaire, Li Ka-Shing
Recently, I just read and article. This article is very interesting, it's about Inspirational thought of the day for your life plan from a famous Billionaire from Hong Kong, Mr Li Ka-Shing
Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing
shares some of his money wisdom, outlining an inspirational five-year
plan to improve one’s lot in life. This article is translate from the original Chinese by Edmund Ng from CeoConnetz
Li Ka-Shing
Suppose your monthly income is only
RMB 2,000, you can live well. I can help you put money into five sets of
funds. The first $600, second $400, third $300, fourth $200, fifth
$500.
The first set of funds is used for
living expenses. It’s a simple way of living and you can only be
assigned to less than twenty dollars a day. A daily breakfast of
vermicelli, an egg and a cup of milk. For lunch just have a simple set
lunch, a snack and a fruit. For dinner go to your kitchen and cook your
own meals that consist of two vegetables dishes and a glass of
milk before bedtime. For one month the food cost is probably $500-$600.
When you are young, the body will not have too many problems for a few
years with this way of living.
Second set of funds: To make friends,
expand your interpersonal circle. This will make you well off. Your
phone bills can be budgeted at RMB 100. You can buy your friends 2
lunches a month, each at $150. Who should you buy lunch for? Always
remember to buy lunch for people who are more knowledgeable than you,
richer than you or people who have helped you in your career. Make sure
you do that every month. After one year, your circle of friends should
have generated tremendous value for you. Your reputation, influence,
added value will be clearly recognized. You’ll also enhance your image
of being good and generous.
Third set of funds: To learn. Monthly
spend about RMB 50 to RMB 100 to buy books. Because you don’t have a lot
of money, you should pay attention to learning. When you buy the
books, read them carefully and learn the lessons and strategies that is
being taught in the book. Each book, after reading them, put them into
your own language to tell the stories. Sharing with others can improve
your credibility and enhance the affinity. Also save up $200 per month
to attend a training course. When you have higher income or additional
savings, try to participate in more advanced training. When you
participate in good training, not only do you learn good knowledge, you
also get to meet like-minded friends who are not easy to come by.
Fourth set of funds: Use it for holidays
overseas. Reward yourself by traveling at least once a year. Continue
to grow from the experience of life. Stay in youth hostels to save cost.
In a few years you would have travelled to many countries and have
different experiences. Use that experience to recharge yourself so that
you’ll continually have passion in your work.
Fifth set of funds: Invest. Save the
$500 in your bank and grow it as your initial startup capital. The
capital can then be used to do a small business. Small business is safe.
Go to wholesalers and look for products to sell. Even if you lose
money, you will not lose too much money. However, when you start earning
money, it will boost your confidence and courage and have a whole new
learning experience of running a small business. Earn more and you can
then begin to buy long-term investment plans and get long-term security
on your financial wealth being of yourself and your families. So that no
matter what happens, there will be adequate funds and the quality of
life will not decline.
Well, after struggling for a year and if
your second year salary is still RMB 2,000, then that means you have
not grown as a person. You should be really ashamed of yourself.
Do yourself a favour and go to the supermarket and buy the hardest tofu.
Take it and smash it on your head because you deserve that.
If your monthly income is at RMB 3,000,
you must still work very hard. You must try to find a part time job. It
will be great to find part time sales jobs. Doing sales is challenging,
but it is the fastest way for you to acquire the art of selling and this
is a very deep skill that you will be able to carry it for the rest of
your career. All successful entrepreneurs are good sales people. They
have the ability to sell their dream and visions. You’ll also meet many
people that will be of value to you in the later part of your career.
Once you’re in sales, you will also learn what sells and what not. Use
the sensitivity of detecting market sentiments as a platform for running
your business and in the identification of product winners in the
future.
Try to buy minimal clothes and shoes.
You can buy them all you want when you’re rich. Save your money and buy
some gift for your loved ones and tell them your plans and
your financial goals. Tell them why you are so thrifty. Tell them your
efforts, direction and your dreams.
Businessmen everywhere need help. Offer
yourself to do part time for any kind of opportunities. This will help
to hone your will and improve your skills. You will start to develop
eloquence and soon, you’ll be closer to your financial goals. By the
second year, your income should be increased to at least RMB 5,000.
Minimum it should be RMB 3,000, otherwise you would not be able to keep
up with inflation.
No matter how much you earn, always
remember to divide it into five parts proportionately. Always make
yourself useful. Increase your investment in networking. When you
increase your social investment, expand your network of contacts, your
income also grows proportionately. Increase your investment in learning,
strengthen your self confidence, increase investment in holidays,
expand your horizons and increase investment in the future, and that
will ultimately increase your income.
Maintain this balance and gradually you
will begin to have a lot of surplus. This is a virtuous circle of life
plans. Your body will start to get better and better as you get more
nutrition and care. Friends will be aplenty and you will start to make
more valuable connections at the same time. You will then have the
conditions to participate in very high-end training and eventually
you’ll be exposed to bigger projects, bigger opportunities. Soon, you
will be able to gradually realize your various dreams, the need to buy
your own house, car, and to prepare an adequate education fund for your
child’s future.
Life can be designed. Career can be
planned. Happiness can be prepared. You should start planning now. When
you are poor, spend less time at home and more time outside. When you
are rich, stay at home more and less outside. This is the art of living.
When you are poor, spend money on others. When you’re rich, spend money
on yourself. Many people are doing the opposite.
When you are poor, be good to others.
Don’t be calculative. When you are rich, you must learn to let others be
good to you. You have to learn to be good to yourself better. When
you are poor, you have to throw yourself out in the open and let people
make good use of you. When you are rich, you have to conserve yourself
well and don’t let people easily make use of you. These are the
intricate ways of life that many people don’t understand.
When you are poor, spend money so that
people can see it. When you are rich, do not show off. Just silently
spend the money on yourself. When you are poor, you must be
generous. When you are rich, you must not be seen as a spendthrift. Your
life would have come full circle and reach its basics. There will be
tranquility at this stage.
There is nothing wrong with being young.
You do not need to be afraid of being poor. You need to know how to
invest in yourself and increase your wisdom and stature. You need
to know what is important in life and what is worth investing in. You
also need to know what you should avoid and not spend your money on.
This is the essence of discipline. Try to avoid spending money on
clothing, but buy a selective number of items that have class. Try
to eat less outside. If you were to eat outside, do make sure you buy
lunches or dinners and foot the bill. When buying people dinner, make
sure you buy dinners for people who have bigger dreams than you, and
work harder than you.
Once your livelihood is no longer an
issue, use the remainder of your money to pursue your dreams. Spread
your wings and dare to dream! Make sure you live an extraordinary life!
Famous theory from Harvard: The
difference of a person’s fate is decided from what a person spends in
his free time between 20:00 to 22:00 . Use these two hours to learn,
think and participate in meaningful lectures or discussion. If you
persist for several years, success will come knocking on your doors.
No matter how much you earn, remember to
split your salary into five parts. Take care of your body so that it
will still be in good shape. Invest in your social circle so that you
will constantly meet new people where you can learn new knowledge from.
Expanding your network will also have an important impact in how much
you earn eventually. Travel every year and expand your horizons. Also
keep abreast with the latest developments in the industry. If you follow
this plan diligently, you will soon see big surplus in your funds.
Whatever happened in the past is over.
Do not dwell on past mistakes. There’s no point crying over spilt milk.
Everybody makes mistakes. It’s what you learn from the mistakes,
and promising yourself not to repeat those mistakes that matters. When
you miss opportunities, don’t dwell on it, as there are always new
opportunities on the horizon.
Being able to smile when being slightly
misunderstood is good upbringing. When you’re wronged and you smile with
calmness, it is generosity. When you’re being taken advantage of and
you can smile, you’re being open-minded. When you are helpless and you
can do a philosophical smile, you’re in a calm state. When you’re in
distress and you can laugh out loud, you’re being generous. When you’re
looked down and you can calmly smile, you’re being confident. When
you’re being jilted in relationships and you can smile it off, you’re
being suave.
There are many people who are struggling
to make ends meet. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor. There are
lessons for all to learn from Li Ka Shing.