Heh, not a Big Mac, but the all important vitamin M – $ Money $.

The last few days I’ve spent doing job applications, and I’ve sort of revisited the things I’ve learnt during the time I spent doing commerce stuff. I have a rough idea on how finances and taxes work, and know enough to say that if you don’t learn up on these things, you can rob yourself of a lot of money or forgo opportunities to making your money grow.

Was reading the Australian Financial Review on what you need to help your money grow. Heh, it shows you compound interest and big digit numbers, making it seem possible that you will be rich in the future. If you start saving now, by the time you retire, you could be a millionaire! The sum looks outrageous to begin with, but factor in inflation, and the 30 or so of hard saving, it’s quite a feat for most people to perform, that is not spending whatever money they have available to them on lavish lifestyles etc.

Here’s a list of items I think should be on everyone’s agenda when saving for a rainy day.

1. Assess your current budget. Do you have a surplus or deficit. If it’s a surplus, save. If it’s a deficit, adjust your lifestyle and forgo those impulse expenditures for something more worthwhile. Heh, I’ve already decided to cut back on my gadget spending.
2. Save income. They’d say roughly 15-20%, and this includes whatever goes into your superannuation fund.
3. Don’t live off credit cards and debt like personal loans. Well, this points back to the first point. Remember the story about some new graduate who got his dream job and splashed on a new BMW. Yeah, you enjoy the car, but you’d end up as a slave to it, paying off the expensive bank loan (the interest kills) that bought your car in the first place. In simple words, don’t spend what you don’t have.
4. Understand how tax works. That one Taxation Law subject gave me an inkling on the possibilities of reducing taxation on your income. Heh, putting the funds in different places on different people and also deducting it from certain expenses is likely to save you quite a bit of money.
5. Invest in something that accrues interest. Don’t know much about what’s good at the moment, but will figure these things out in time. Stock markets aren’t exactly bad for your money, and they’re good for long term investment, not speculation which leads to price bubbles and then the dreaded crash.

Heh, never really bothered about cashflow before, but these days I’d prefer to be more frugal with my money. I’m no longer a Uni student and have the means to earn a living, so at least I should be responsible for my future self.

Just realised what a morning person I am.

I have no qualms about getting up early, unlike most of my friends. You’d think that having woken up before dawn for a decade in your life to go to school, that you’d have the notion of getting up early drilled into you. Heh, I guess this is not the case. Most people prefer their beauty sleep and waking up this early seems like a chore, unless of course, it’s absolutely necessary. Then again, golfers have no problems waking up at 530am to go golfing but can’t do so for any other reason. Heh…

The past few days have been like clockwork. I wind myself up everyday and slowly unwind until all the kinetic energy in the spring is lost. That’s how I’ve been feeling anyway, it’s just work and tasks all day long and by the end of the day, I don’t feel like doing much anymore. Need a little spice in life, and I’ve only been truly engrossed whenever I get to catch an episode or two of Andromeda. It’s a funky sci fi series, about a crew in space that battles to restore the glory days of the Commonwealth, when civilisation was at its peak and all was well. Then it fell apart and chaos ensued for 300 years. The cast is quite stellar, as everyone portrays their roles pretty well. The chemistry works between the characters, with everyone having their own agenda but overall, self preservation prevails, which means everyone stands by each other.

In reality, the real pull of the show is the hot babe that is the Andromeda Ascendant’s (the name of the ship these sparing faring dudes live on) computer. Her pouty lips are so sexy. Hehe, okie, form with no substance won’t captivate me for long. Truthfully, the show dares to tell a story. Episodes are interconnected, where events and people have long lasting effects on the overall show. I’ve sort of contrasted this series with Star Trek: Voyager (being the last sci fi series I watched), which was disappointing. It’s because no matter how crippled the ship ends up, there’s always some convenient way for them to fix it up, which takes away the believability of it. Let’s just say that some episodes start off promisingly enough, but end up being pointless when something happens and they end up right where they started.

Heh, the only other highlight in my life has been food. It’s either I end up with my egg, tuna and baked beans combo or I get something sumptuous like the picture below (heh, ever notice that the only pics that grace my front page are those of food?).

Prawns, chicken, abalone etc. Mmmm… life’s good.

Hmmm…

Egg + Baked Beans + Canned Tuna = Lunch (it tastes pretty good though)

Really need to go buy some groceries. I doubt Tim Tams and cookies will last satiating the hunger of my ever empty stomach.

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The days are getting colder. Heh, can’t really attribute that to my grumpiness, just brain deadness. Haven’t picked up my camera for a while now, and I know I should, there are still so many pictures to be taken. Things have been pretty out of focus lately, just need to concentrate harder and perhaps things will move along.