JLPT2 Results

I opened the letterbox and there it was...

I ripped the damn thing open.

And I passed!

Kanji + Vocab 86/100 (hehe)
Listening 74/100
Grammar + Compre 158/200

Total 318/400

Results are nothing to shout about, but hey! there aren't many people who can pass JLPT2 after slightly more than 2 years of study.

Meanwhile, the usual gang will be aiming for JLPT1 this year since everyone passed JLPT2. I bet kailin and wenyan are really going to trash me this time round. I'll just concentrate on passing. The study group will tentatively be called " Cheeeeeong ahhh! ", and our slogan being " Jii o taosu! "

Oh did I mention only 299 candidates in Singapore passed JLPT2 ?

Top Reasons to Retire Early

1. To spend more time with family. and like-minded retired friends.

2. Every day will feel like a Saturday. Or even better, Friday night.

3. No more sucking up to superiors! and no more office politics!

4. No daily rush hour traffic to contend with. No more stupid squeezing in the holy-shit-packed-to-the-brim MRT trains.

5. Being able to spend the monsoon season in Florida and escape to Japan in a heatwave.

6. Go on vacation just cause one feels like it, not because your superior says you can. A vacation lasting from a few days to a few months - not a maximum of just one week because the company claims they cant do without you.

7. No more business trips! Misconstrued as a perk. Being made to travel to a country not of your choice and spending most of the trip on work and not play is not my idea of fun.

8. You can take a nap when the urge hits. ANYTIME OF THE DAY. Or wake up at 3pm and not having to worry about taking MCs.

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I could go on and on, but these are the most convincing reasons.

For some, early retirement refers to perhaps 40s.

Here's a nice website about a couple who retired when they were 38 after accumulating $500k less their 401k plans . http://www.retireearlylifestyle.com/

I intend to retire by the time I'm 35 though. *victory sign*

Exponential Money Growth

A nice thought-provoking post from one of professional traders (Imtiaz) from the Forex Forums I frequent.

Recently he posted something on the forums about how to manage money when a trader becomes consistent. Merlin's (another professional trader) reply was really cute.

"pretend that it pains me to spend the money, regardless of how insignificant i feel it is."

He followed up later with this post.

"i know exactly why you are posting this, its a very real issue. as you noticed, i deleted my last post in this thread. what i said was the truth, but i deleted it because i was worried my family or friends might see the post and be let in on my little secret. a working class mentality with high class pockets is something that can be very hard to deal with. thats difficult to understand for most people, they think once they are rich everything is down hill from there. i thought that at one point too."

*Excerpt from Imtiaz's Blog"

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Do you ever think why professional traders hardly talk about their trading outside their peers?

I’m reaching there slowly, to the answer. Its all about mental perception. When you will talk to a friend who is making substantial amount per year (lets say in six figures) and he knows you are a trader, he asked you how much you are making?

Or lets stay safe, he did not ask but as a trader you want to compare your own income with another successful peer.

You have a $50,000 US trading fund and making only 3% return per month. That’s only $600 per month and $18000 per year at 36% annual ROI. You must be thinking this is very bad! You are wasting your time and you need to get a “proper job” or you need to make 200% return per year to compete with your peer!

The problem is, you are thinking same way of a wage earner. A trader needs to think in the way an investor does.

Time for some math. Your peer will make $1 Million at the rate of a six figure annual income in next 10 years.

How much you will make as an investor in next 10 years with your 3% per month strategy and proper money management?

The minimum rational number for me at 3% per month is at least, $4.6 Million

So how much your peer is making per month? He is making $8333 per month for next 10 years. How much you are making? You are making $38,333 per month for next 10 years.

This is the reason professional traders don’t talk about their trading outside their peers. It is worthless to compare your monthly income to a guy who is making $8k per month. But his retainer/wage is a straight equity curve where as a trader your equity curve is bended.

If I started my trading with ONLY $350 and made $15 USD last week, I’d say for next two years I paid myself $4166 US per month (at least)

Thus, as an investor you have to stop thinking in straight line like white trash $30k per year annual budget people who would work 5 days a week to spend most of it drinking on Friday night due to burn outs and 2 vacations per 5 year if they can afford.

Think in percentile, think like rich. Your $60 per month has more value than a guy who made $2k this month today, because at this rate after 2 years your monthly income will be $4k (including current month,). and he will still be making that same amount as long as he is stuck there.

Did I tell you why do I love trading? Wink

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Damn! My exact thoughts. Only problem I'm not too sure whether my winning streak in January actaully means I was consistent. I'm seeing drawdowns in my account size this month.