Five Cents Ten Cents

Posted: 30 Dec 2008 11:41 PM CST

The more I travel along this journey towards financial freedom, the more I realise that we can learn from martial arts/kung-fu/wushu world towards financial freedom. Kung-fu movies feature a lone hero or heroine who journeys towards a quest to avenge his family or to seek to overthrow a dictator or tyrant.

Whilst our own journey will not require us to off somebody using our nei-gong or internal qi, it will require us to fend against the global financial crisis, weak economic and job market as well as the poor management of money and investments.

Let Panzer share with you those kung-fu elements he picked up over the years that has helped him move significantly further along his journey towards financial freedom.

These qualities are not difficult to pick up but require time and effort to master. If you are serious about your own journey towards financial freedom, you may want to spend some time away from chasing the 9pm show 小娘惹 The Little Nyonya, or hammering creeps in World of Warcraft or even sleeping to learn these skills.

1. Slow Palm of Spreadsheet Synchronicity

Whether your favourite tool is Microsoft Office’s Excel or the Open Office version of Calc, spreadsheets are a critical component of being able to compute quickly your net-worth, to track your living expenses, to compute future value, present value of annuities or do cash flow analysis. The powerful thing about understanding spreadsheets is that you can built up templates and formulas that will help compile totals for month to month. Analyse trends of your investment returns.

My own Excel worksheet does the following for me:

• Tracks daily expenses for daily, monthly and yearly tracking
• Tracks returns on investments from capital gains/(losses), dividends, interest, treasury bills yields and blogging income
• Calculates my net-worth at any point in time taking into consideration lower of cost for equity, cash and cash equivalents, cash value of insurance policies and CPF monies less outstanding liabilities
• Computes purchase cost, sales proceeds for any share purchase inclusive of commissions, clearing fees etc. net gains/(losses) and annualised returns based on purchase/sales prices and dates of purchases/sales
• Simple interest future value, compound interest future value, future value of annuity, present value of annuity, compounded annual growth rates

What I’m using Excel for is probably only 10% or less of its functions but it already does quite a lot for me.

2. Calculator Crane Position

You may not always have you computer handy or you may need to do some quick calculations before making a decision. Having a calculator on your mobile phone or a physical one to do some old-school number crunching involving adding, subtracting, dividing or multiplying works wonders to obtain percentages. Is a $4.85 bottle of 400 ML shampoo X cheaper than a $5.90 bottle of 750 ML shampoo Y? (Answer: No, shampoo X costs $0.12/ML compared to shampoo Y at $0.008/ML.)

The ability to compute offline using a calculator saves you cents and in some cases even dollars when shopping for stuff on a per unit basis. It also allows you to check on the spot receipts and tabulations where-ever you are.

3. Mind Over Matter – Internal Tranquility of Needs vs Wants

The journey towards financial freedom is built on the small steps of spending within your means. This requires you to master your mind over matter — the matter of telling the difference between what you need and what you want. Living within your means requires you to be at inner peace. Knowing that you are happy even as most of your spending is on needs and on the occasional want.

4. Iron Will Against Fear & Greed

Emotional control over our twin terrors of fear and greed in investing is the pillar that will anchor us against falling for Ponzi schemes such as Maddoff scandal or allowing ourselves to be conned by attractive relationship managers selling us toxic products without full disclosure of the potential risks involved.

5. Yin-Yang Balance Between Finances, People and Things

Ultimately, we can be financially free but lose our health in the process. We can be financially free and lose our perspective. We can be financially free and lose the love of our family and loved ones.

I’ve learnt to balance more between people, finances and things. I am seeing more of my want/need decisions in terms of balancing between these elements in my life. And I think this flow between the three areas need to be readjusted from time to time for that equilibrium that each of you have to strive for within yourself.

Kung Fu Elements for 2009?

What are some of the elements that you think are the most important for your success in financial freedom for 2009?

Share with Panzer in the comments section.