TRANSCRIPT FOR EP6:
Welcome to SHE is Confident. Hi! This is Deon Teh and in this episode, I will be sharing with you about Money and I
When I was young, my concept of money would be that if you are rich, this means you are good/smart and, if you are poor means you are not.
Therefore, I always dont have a good feeling about money. However, even though my family is not rich but I do like money.
When I grow up, my money concept still did not change because Looking at how hard my parents worked, we were still not very rich.
It was not until I read Kim Kiyosaki’s Rising Times that changed my Mind-set on money.
In her book, she mentioned that The nature of money is to circulate, by doing so it will produce value.
Money is not evil, we should learn to love it and unify with it,
When we use it correctly, it can be a useful tool to help ourselves and others.
Back in 1995, when I started working, I had no career ambition or direction. I just felt that it was time for me to start earning money to support my family. I would give some money to my parents and happily spend the rest of my salary. I did not save up even though many people have advised me to do so.
I would go travelling with friends and spent all my money on clothing and having good meals.
Sometimes I will just spend as I wish and regardless of whether it is a need or a want.
It makes me happy to be able to spend and this helps me to destress and balance my unhappiness towards my life.
Due to my spendthrift habits, I was always looking out for opportunities to make more money.
And when there was an opportunity to so call earn extra money, I jumped right in without much thought.
It turned out to be a pyramid scam. I was introduced to this from a friend of a friend.
Due to a lack of awareness and knowledge, I lost some of my money at the end.
When my best friend advised me to upgrade my accounting knowledge and take up a professional accounting course, I was hesitant.
I had failed my accounting diploma that year and I did not want to experience another failure again.
After much encouragement from my best friend, I decided to sign up, partly also because my then career did not satisfy me as I can see my young colleagues handling those jobs easily.
Using the new accounting knowledge learned, I became aware of my unnecessary overspending.
From that time onwards, I made up my mind to start controlling my spending mainly because I had to pay back the professional accounting course fees as I had no much saving left.
Although I didn’t manage to complete it, I do not have any regret for this self-upgrading.
The money spent allowed me to understand deeper financial management skill and I was able to use the accounting knowledge that I learned from the class to build myself and use it in my work. I was able to do my work with better quality, I also have more opportunities opened up for me as I can now train the junior staff to take over my tasks while I move forward. I was able to take on a different role and learn how to manage my company, not only in accounting but also in operations management.
Key takeaways
It is never too late for anyone, young or old, to invest in yourself to gain knowledge, especially for your career. Just like how we would prepare an umbrella to bring out with us, as it can shelter us during rain or the hot sun.
We have to spend our money wisely as nobody is going to be responsible for our spending.
In the past, I always want to spend my money to buy something that actually is unnecessary
There are many things that I bought and leave them untouched for many years. Over the years, I realized that these buyings are actually for my insecurity and it will not satisfy me no matter how I spend my money.
If we were to use money as an avenue to relieve stress by buying material things, happiness will be short-lived and we will want to keep spending to be happy.
But if we were to use the money wisely to acquire knowledge and increase our own value, we will be in a better position to find out what we really want to achieve.
Besides Kim Kiyosaki’s Book, I also read about Robert Kiyosaki’s Why the Rich are getting Richer on his journey from being poor to rich and becoming richer. The most romantic thing that I read was Robert sending Kim to a Financial course to increase her awareness. Robert did not support Kim with money that he earned but instead guided her to have knowledge so that she can use it for herself.
Of course, I do believe that Kim is one that will actively search for answers and not one that will wait for answers. And now that she is financially independent, she is able to help other women.
Anyone can improve their situation even with little or no money. I believe that it is possible to use your limited resources to get help and be unstuck from your current situation.
With my money concept and positive attitude, I was able to turn around my career, from an accounting clerk to an assistant managing director and also be able to balance my life, work, and family.
If you want to talk about your relationship with money and have a great relationship with your child. Connect with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Linkedin.
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/leeyongteh
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/d_t_l_y/
Linkedin - https://www.linkedin.com/in/deon-teh-leeyong-573a0766/
I look forward to seeing you in my next episode where I will continue to share with you part 2 of Money as a Tool.
