Unless your wealthy parents have died and have left you with enough money to last you the rest of your life, the only way to get money is to work. So, yes, people work and get paid for their labor. Money earned enables them to be self-sufficient. Worry about getting rich later.
The problem is many people not only want money, they want to be rich, very fucking rich and to be very fucking rich very fucking fast.
They don’t want to live in a HDB, they want to be in a condo; they are not happy flying on budget airlines, they want to fly Singapore Airlines and when they get to taste business class, they dream of owning a private jet.
In the meantime, these retards sit on their fat asses drinking coffee at Starbucks – sometimes at their parents’ expense – and surfing the web.
If you have friends who are like that, forward them this article. Tell them that castles in the air are fine, just don’t try to move into them. This article was written in September last year by Tan Ooi Boon, Invest Editor of Sunday Times:
Can someone teach you to become rich instantly?
Say “no” to people who claim they can help you make money easily
Although I am the Sunday Times Invest editor, I do not possess any secrets, skills or advice that I can impart to help you make money easily and quickly.
But what I do have is a very particular set of skills, to use that famous quote from actor Liam Neeson in the movie Taken.
Skills that I have picked up over three decades of learning and writing news reports on numerous people who have squandered their lives, either by committing crimes or by losing their fortunes through acts of foolishness.
Skills that I can impart to you so you can start planning to avoid being short of money in your retirement. More importantly, I hope you can learn to say “no” to people who use all kinds of creative tactics to make you part with your money so they can enrich themselves.
Indeed, you would do well if you start to follow the most important rule of all – be very wary when people tell you they can help you to become rich or make money quickly without the need for hard work.
Ask yourself this question – if such people know the secrets of becoming rich, shouldn’t they just retire and enjoy their wealth in some paradise-like resort?
So why are they spending good money advertising in various social media channels to help you make money too? These folks certainly do not do so out of the goodness of their hearts.
The answer must be that they need you to give them your money by either investing with them or paying thousands of dollars to attend courses so that they can become rich, at your expense.
There has been a proliferation of online ads preying on fear and insecurity amid a downturn that has caused tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs and affected the income of many others.
Yes, it is getting harder to make a living, but you should resist the temptation of easy-money methods that can land you in a bigger mess. Here are some of the ruses tricksters use to separate you from your hard-earned cash.
BECOME A LANDLORD WHO ALWAYS MAKES MONEY
Ask yourself this question – if such people know the secrets of becoming rich, shouldn’t they just retire and enjoy their wealth in some paradise-like resort? So why are they spending good money advertising in various social media channels to help you make money too?
Knowing that Singaporeans are drawn to real estate, it seems like sound advice to tell people to buy property and collect rent that can help meet their expenses.
This is a solution offered in online ads asking people to sign up for classes to learn how to do this.
While property has always been a good investment for those who can afford it in good times, we are now going through the worst global recession in recent times.
A few months ago, the Government even enacted laws to grant business tenants rental waivers of up to four months to help save them from financial ruin.
So if you are buying a property with the sole intention of leasing it to make money, you face a big risk of getting a lot less rent or even none at all in this market.
What about the profit from the property if the value goes up? In good times, maybe.
But never assume there will always be ready buyers, especially in a recession. As property is a big investment, you can end up seriously in debt if you cannot keep up with the mortgage payments.
Bear in mind that more than 34,000 property owners have already asked their banks for mortgage payment deferments as they have problems with cash flow.
What about putting your money in a general pool of similar investors so that the risk is lessened? Before you think of hitting the jackpot, ask how you will get your investment back if things go wrong.
Don’t end up being one of those victims whose only recourse is to call The Sunday Times when your investment disappears, along with the people who were supposedly helping you get rich.
INVESTMENTS THAT CAN’T GO WRONG DUE TO GOOD TRACK RECORDS
Be wary of over-zealous folks when they show you statistics to “prove” that their investment funds are doing well even in this recession.
This is usually done by looking at all the returns over the past 10 years. The numbers in the earlier part of the decade were good given the buoyant economy, so the fund still shows a decent yield even when the poor returns amid the recession are factored in.
But what you need to know is that the good returns apply only to those who invested in the early years; the Johnny-come-latelies will be out of pocket.
If you put in the money now, 2020 becomes your Year One and the profitability of your investment will depend on its performance in subsequent years.
If this recession runs deeper and longer, you will certainly not see your investment flourishing.
Think twice and do more checks before you invest in businesses that are premised on the hope of making it big – for instance, there are a huge number of investors in overseas stock markets punting on companies that are working on coronavirus vaccines. As it is, no one knows which firm will deliver an antidote for the disease, so the risk of stock prices plummeting for those that fail is very real.
E-COMMERCE IS THE NEW WIN FOR THOSE WORKING AT HOME
There are many online ads touting courses that will turn you into a master in making lots of money without even leaving your home.
The idea sounds simple enough – source a product being sold online and you make it as if it is yours by creating your own e-store on popular websites such as Amazon. For instance, you can find a cheap and good product that costs $2 from online stores in China, but put that same product on Amazon for $20.
The trainers claim that despite the huge mark-up, they are making thousands of sales – and tens of thousand dollars in the process.
If it is so easy to make money this way, there wouldn’t be so many jobless people here – they would have become rich e-commerce traders.
Ask yourself this: Would you buy something online without first checking the prices of similar items elsewhere? If you do this, what makes you think your intended customers won’t find out that your price has been hugely inflated?
Finally, even if you think this is worth a try, you should check for free videos or tips on how you can set up an e-store yourself. Turn the tables on these so-called trainers – why pay for their exorbitant course fees when you can learn for free?
BE THE “AUTHOR” OF THE NEXT BEST-SELLING E-BOOK
Of all the schemes to help people make money, this is the most deplorable. Such courses claim that they can turn you into “authors” of best-selling e-books on Amazon Kindle even if you can’t write.
This is what they teach – first identify some of the best-selling self-help or health-related books on Kindle, then copy the ideas and content and create your own book by changing the way it is written.
As one trainer claims, the author owns only the copyright of how the book is written but he has no monopoly on the ideas in it, which can be copied.
While such trainers may be expert in pirating works of others, they are certainly no lawyers – those who do this can still be sued if the genuine authors can show similarities in the copied versions.
More importantly, would you buy books from unknown writers who can’t write?
Yes, there are probably people who end up making money even if they dabble in all these dubious practices. But always remember this wise saying – you may be able to fool some people some of the time, but you won’t be able to fool all the people all the time.
Wait till I get hold of that charlatan who told me to invest in Ethereum.