Interview : Alan Tan

Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance ?

I would say the my personal finance practice is mostly influence by after reading these 2 book i,e  Rich Dad Poor Dad  by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter and Millionaires are from a different Planet by Azizi Ali. It’s a must read book for those who want to take control of their financial life. Ever since, I continue my education via attend investment seminars

Answer this question without checking or asking for references : If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

Pisces & Ox

What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about ?

Reading & hiking

What is your favorite colors and numbers ? Any most dislikes ?

I don’t any much preference on this

What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

I do love Spicy foods 

If you can meet a person dead or alive, who would that be ? What would you ask him ?

Abraham Lincoln. What’s your secret of not giving up and to be a great person?

What is the best and worst feeling you have ever had ?

Best feeling-Seeing my CPA Book at MPH Book stores and library. All these while I’ve been buying so many books until have a mini library at home, now others can read and learn what I shared. 

What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

Nothing in specify

What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

Drink a glass of Apple cider juice

If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

First invest in yourself by reading books, attending seminar & networking. Seek out for a mentor or role model. Ask help if need to. Always remember that what works for others may not suit you. Even there’s a saying “One man's meat is another man's poison.”. Therefore  you must be able to adapt it in order to apply what you have learned. 

You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

I’m Helping business to close more deals

If you are not doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing ?

Working for others

How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

Average 6 hours a week

What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

I like to learn about Investing, Making money and personal finance. In another words it’s my passion as well. Every time when I visit a book stores, the first section to be visited is on Finance/Investment. 
The main objective of my blog is to share about what I have learned, share and educate other about importance of  personal finance. All this thing is sadly not taught at school even it’s very important in life. 
My targeted blog readers are those who share similar interest like me and who is new in personal finance

What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

I’m the first Malaysian best selling author that wrote a Wordpress blogging book that teaches people how to blog and make money online in Malaysia. This book expected to hit the bookstores early 2012 . 
Instead of just making friends on Facebook or watching videos on YouTube, wouldn't it be better to spend that  time generating online income for yourself, your love ones and your family?

Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

http://kclau.com/ It has a lot of useful information about  personal finance and investment. It also has an interest guest post

How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all ?

As long as my passion don’t die off. 
Even I don’t have to update my blog so often, it still get constant SEO traffic(from search engine esp Google) daily. Average about 1,000 unique blog visitors daily

The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ? 

We can’t control what other want to say. I don’t think can do much. 

What do you think about these interview questions and how this interview session can be improved ? 

fine

Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ? 

yes

If yes
Do you smoke ? - no
Do you drink liquor socially ? -yes
Are you a coffee lover ? - no
Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.)- Kuala Lumpur

Interview : Gabe maysfinancial.com

1. Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance?

My family wasn’t quite poor, but money was tight growing up.  Through those struggles I’ve learned to save and manage money well.  I’ve learned that while money may not necessarily bring happiness, it is important to be able to afford the basics and opportunities for children to help enrich their lives.

2. Answer this question without checking or asking for references : If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

I’m not really into that stuff, but I think I’m a Libra.

3. What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about?

I enjoy programming, writing, weight lifting, running and hanging out with my wife.

4. What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

My favorite food is pizza…definitely pizza.

5. What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

Kiss my wife.

6. What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

Brush my teeth.

7. If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

For a young guy I’d recommend index funds in a Roth IRA.  Easy to manage, but still has control over fund choice and allocation.

8. You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

I’d talk to them, ask them what they do, tell a few jokes…the usual.

9. If you are not doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing ?

I’m doing exactly what I want to do, I love my career.

10. How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

It really depends, anywhere from 5-30hrs per week depending on my schedule and what I’m working on for the site.

11. What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

It is not profit oriented, I have no ads on the site and I do not sell anything.  The purpose is to provide useful, unbiased information to readers and help them improve their financial decision making.  Eventually I’d like to at least offset the operational costs of running the site, but I haven’t looked into it much yet and would not want to compromise the value the site provides to readers.

12. What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

I think it’s well designed, intuitive and very easy to use.  Usability is huge.

13. Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

Ted.com is a great site.  It’s not personal finance related, but it’s about people doing big things to make our world a better place.

14. How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all?

I plan on keeping the site going indefinitely.  I currently fund the site myself since I do not sell anything or have any ads up.  I assume I’d keep doing that, though I wouldn’t mind turning it into a career after I retire from my current line of work.

15. The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ?

Things like that don’t bother me much, I’d keep doing whatever I was doing.  You can never make everyone happy.

16. Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ?

Possibly, it depends on my schedule, though I don’t consider my personal finance site much of a blog in the typical sense.

• Do you smoke ? I don’t smoke.
• Do you drink liquor socially ? I don’t drink alcohol..
• Are you a coffee lover ? I don’t drink coffee.
• Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.) United States, California, San Diego

Interview : Chong - askchong.com

1.  Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance ?

Nothing special and I don't remember most of my childhood time, like lost of memory.

1. Answer this question without checking or asking for references : If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

No need to check with anything or anyone. Born in year of Dragon and my star is Sagittarius.

1. What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about ?

Computer related, now extended to smart phones and iPad or surf the web for information regarding latest technology and investment in share.

I don't have anything specifically "dislike" but if any... would be "in a pub full of second hand smoke" and disturbing noise. I also don't like to waste money.

1. What is your favorite colors and numbers ? Any most dislikes ?

 Blue. I have no favorite "Numbers"... Emm... dislike? No.

1. What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

Nothing in particular. I can eat bread from morning to night. Nothing specifically favorite but if I don't know what to eat in a restaurant, perhaps I will just order "Nasi Lemak" if they do serve. As income improve over last few years, the quality matters instead of what type of food.

I hate nothing but I will say North India food is considered an acquired-taste.

1. If you can meet a person dead or alive, who would that be ? What would you ask him ?

Never come across my mind, yet.

1. What is the best and worst feeling you have ever had ?

 Best feeling is not about spending money but watching it grows. Beside money, best feeling is watching my children grow, enjoy their laugh and naughtiness.

Worst feeling... ha ha... quarrel with wife. On monetary side, losing money on share investment.

1. What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

Normally.... not watching movie, not music but work. I have few side income jobs so most of the time I will do my work. That is the good thing about freelance. I can work at home at the best time available for me, including before go to sleep.

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

 Now, probably read email and some news, not local news but business news.

1. If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

Building a portfolio means how to spend the money earned or acquired. First thing is to buy insurance and next is to invest and reinvest.

What to invest is entirely depends on the knowledge and risk appetite.

1. You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

The problem I am facing now is the multi-hats I am wearing now. For certain people, I will say "Hi, my name is Chong Kong Hui, I am Chartered Accountant by profession now working in a listed company".

For my own career, "Hi, my name is Chong Kong Hui, I am Accoutant by profession and now providing financial service and solution for individual and SME"

1. If you are not doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing ?

Wow, I just can't imagine that.

1. How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

Not much time. Probably few hours within a month only.

1. What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

Even I put in some advertisement but the initial purpose of this blog is to share the information and to support my own career in financial service as well as to improve my knowledge.

Nothing great about income from the blog and not worth to mention.

I don't have specific marketing or target group of readers but I believe anyone who have an interest in personal finance may "find" my blog from the search engine.

1. What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

Huh hah... i do not regard having any sort of achievement so far but gladful the monthly hit stay above 1,000 for past few months.

1. Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

There are more than one I would recommend but it depends on the reader's specific interest at that time of reading. The few I like already linked within my blog.

1. How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all ?

I noticed some blog almost ceased to be active after a while..... as my blog is intertwine with my career and my personal interest.... i believe it will exist for a long time and the best thing for me is if anyone would like to be the co-author or to do some guest-post.

My blog cost me almost nothing beside the USD10 for the domain name and my free time. Therefore, I do not foresee any requirement to get paid for dong it. Advertisement revenue, if anything better than RM10 a month will be a BIG BIG bonus.

1. The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ?

If it ever happens... things get changed along the time. I do believe it last year doesn't mean I will continue to believe it now. Life goes on....

1. What do you think about these interview questions and how this interview session can be improved ?

I am not an expert in designing questions other than those lead to a close (closing sale). Question is, what is your objective or data to be collected? May be the book "the Millionaire next door"  can give you hints.

1. Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ? If yes

• Do you smoke ? NO
• Do you drink liquor socially ? NO, beer is ok.
• Are you a coffee lover ? YES
• Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.) Sg Buloh... I am ok with KL/PJ 

Interview : KC Lau

1.  Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance ?

My parents are frugal. So I think I learnt a lot about saving money from them. Since money is scarce during that time, I learn to make money since primary school.

The first time I made money is through selling rubber tree seed to some seniors. That time, I was only standard 3 and some standard 4-5 seniors bought some special rubber tree seed that I found near my place.

The seed has really hard and solid shell which is advantageous at some games we used to play. The seeds cost them RM0.20 a piece. The smaller ones cost even more.

I also start teaching piano at the age of 16 and this part time job pays through my exam fees and also university degree program.   

 

1. Answer this question without checking or asking for references : If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

Don't know 

1. What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about ?

watching movie, making music, traveling and playing basketball and volleyball 

1. What is your favorite colors and numbers ? Any most dislikes ?

green and 9. Nothing to be hated. 

1. What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

Laksa. Hate nothing though. Insect maybe.

1. What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

Read 

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

Toilet.

1. If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

I would say to spend the money on getting education that will let him make money on his passion. 

1. You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

Smile. Introduce myself and ask what the person does. 

1. How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

One hour a week, maybe less. I used to work on it everyday. 

1. What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

It is for educational purpose at the beginning. But now it has become profitable that I have to strike a balance between the "gives" and "takes".  

1. What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

> 10,000 subsribers 

1. Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

www.google.com 

1. How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all ?

My blog will exist as long as I live because it is my name on it. I may draw up a plan for the continuation since you asked. You trigger my mind to think about this matter.

I need to set up a trust that is funded to pay the maintenance fee to keep the website online when I pass on in the future. That is not hard actually.  

1. The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ?

I just ignore them. I used to react but now I become smarter. Those people just doesn't worth a single minute to even bother about them. I realize that I can't please everybody. Those paying customers deserve more of my time. 

1. What do you think about these interview questions and how this interview session can be improved ?

You always do the unexpected things, which is kind of fun to be a part of. 

1. Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ? If yes

• Do you smoke ? No
• Do you drink liquor socially ? Social drinker
• Are you a coffee lover ? Love coffee in the morning
• Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.) Penang and now in the USA.

Interview : CP Teh - cpteh.blogspot.com

Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance ?

CP : Will write this in length in my blog next weekend and copy that to send it to you.

Answer this question without checking or asking for references: If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

CP : Gemini. Goat.

What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about ?

CP : Like : Listening to songs/music. Playing with my kids(I have 2). Dislike : Gossiping? Day-dreaming? Haha

What is your favorite colors and numbers ? Any most dislikes ?

CP : Like : Yellow and light blue. Dislike : None

What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

CP : Carrot cake(Chinese) Dislike : Anything related to vege.

If you can meet a person dead or alive, who would that be ? What would you ask him ?

CP : Gandhi. How confident he was using non-violence ways against oppression?

What is the best and worst feeling you have ever had ?

CP : Best feeling … hmm … seeing my kids coming out in hospital(birth). Worst feeling … my dad passed away this year. Anything relating to death such as 9-11 and such. I simply feel sad for those who will miss their loved ones.

What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

CP : Silent prayers.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

CP : Checking on market-news. Haha


If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

CP : To enlighten him about what it takes to be successful financially by actively motivate his financial-aspect of his brain. No one gave me the guidance when I was young or till 30+, so to make a person REALISE the importance of ‘personal financial control’ is very important.

You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

CP : I seldom to go to party in my whole life(I dislike crowds and many hypocrites there!!). I don’t attend wedding dinners and such except for my siblings. I think if I REALLY attend a party(birthday, house-warming …), I might introduce myself and strike a conversation about stock-market!! Haha

If you are not doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing ?

CP : Well, many of things I do plan … I planned to teach Math in colleges since I was form 4. I planned to teach trading(just started!!) way before I even know anything about trading. But, if I m not doing what I am doing now, I might go to AUZ to study marine-biology for interests!!

How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

CP : Averagely 1 to 2 hours per day. At times, more when I want to share something interesting I just read, for example : Is TA rubbish which I just read from your blog!!

What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

CP : To record my trades, initially. To get some readers with knowledge and kind enough to share a pointer or two so that I could learn from them. So, initially, the blog is my personal diary(as I was a blogger since 10 years ago, relating to my thoughts and personal opinions – I m only writing about stocks in DEC 2007) regarding my LEARNING progress. It still is. The initial target readers are only those few who want to help me. I could not help others back then. It was 2008-2009 and it was bearish!
Nope, my blog NEVER meant to be profit oriented. In fact, only recently … 2 months ago, I placed the advertisements(google, nuffnang) with a help of a blogger friend! Currently, my blog is more of leaning-teaching platform of trading ideas.

What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

CP : Huh? I m not sure if it is considered as achievement … but the satisfaction derived from teaching is great. I am in education line for 20+ years. Perhaps this interview is seen as a recognition of ME as a financial-klse-blogger. That could be an achievement for me after 3 years of consistent blogging? Hmm ..

Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

CP : A blog or a site? If it is a blog, then I have recommended a FEW … Dali’s, Alex Lu’s, Alpha Chart’s, CWYeoh’s, TGLee’s. These are much better than my blog. In fact, I have recommended 10 blogs ANYONE should read FIRST … and if they really have nothing to do, they can read my blah-blah stories for pleasure past time purposes!! Haha.

How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all ?

CP : As long as I still have the desire to share my opinions and learning-teaching, my blog should be there and it should be free. It is sharing of opinions only, anyway. Why should we be financing our blog? Unless blogspot starting to charge me, then I will take my blog private.

The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ?

CP : Yes, I do have such readers … I might get upset initially, but I will choose to ignore. Unless the statements used against me have some educational pointers to share with others, it is viewed as distractions and negative noises. Ignore.

What do you think about these interview questions and how this interview session can be improved ?

CP : Hmm … could nt think of any suggestions to improve now. It is also depending on your motives and such.

Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ?

CP : Yes … Dali, Alex, Remnant, CWYeoh, TGLee, Alpha, Stocktube ... Micheal Tsen? Haha

If yes
Do you smoke ? NO
Do you drink liquor socially ? NO, not even beer. No to alcohol OH.
Are you a coffee lover ? Yes.
Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.)
I am staying in USJ and working in Subang Jaya. Selangor.

Interview : Champdog - financialindependent.blogspot.com

1. Tell us a bit about your childhood and how it affects your today's practice on personal finance ?

[ChampDog]: I learned 2 things about money from my parents. The first is my dad rewarded me with RM2 every time I helped him to wash his car where else my mum didn’t give me a single cent when I helped her to wash plates. Thus, I was very motivated to help my dad instead of my mum. From there, I learned that money can motivate people.
Second thing is my mum created a log book for me and force me to track every single of my expenses. Unfortunately, I failed to track that that after 3 months. From there, I know micro-manage my expenses just doesn’t work for me.

1. Answer this question without checking or asking for references : If you can remember, what is your Zodiac and Astrology signs ?

[ChampDog]: Snake and Libra.

1. What are the things you like to do during your free time, ie. your hobbies ? And what do you most dislike about ?

[ChampDog]: Blogging and Travelling. I most dislike about is when I get sick.

1. What is your favorite colors and numbers ? Any most dislikes ?

[ChampDog]: Purple and 7. None, I like all numbers.

1. What is your favorite food ? What do you hate most ?

[ChampDog] Seafood. I hate most is seafood too because it gives me a lot of bad cholesterols.

1. If you can meet a person dead or alive, who would that be ? What would you ask him ?

[ChampDog] My past life of me if that exists. I will ask him, do you have anything to ask me?

1. What is the best and worst feeling you have ever had ?

[ChampDog] Best is when you’re having fun with your love one. Worst is when you’re not having fun with your love one.

1. What is the last thing you do before go to sleep ?

[ChampDog] I try to empty my mind and do not thing anything else.

1. What is the first thing you do when you wake up ?

[ChampDog] I turn off my clock alarm.

1. If you were to build a personal finance portfolio for a young man who has similar life path as yours, what will it be ?

[ChampDog] I will tell him to define his own personal finance portfolio and don’t just blindly follow what other people says including my words.

1. You met someone in a social party, describe what you do in 2 to 3 sentences.

[ChampDog] I will just say hi and smile to her/him. If the person is attractive I will try to find a common topic to chat on.

1. If you are not doing what you are doing now, what would you be doing ?

[ChampDog] I will be doing what I”m not doing now.

1. How much time do you spend on your personal finance blog ?

[ChampDog] 2 out of 7 days in a week.

1. What is the main objective of your blog, is it initially profit oriented and who are your targeted blog readers ?

[ChampDog] There are few objectives but the main objective is to learn personal finance by myself and share it to others. Making profit out of my blog is the second priority. Targeted blog readers could be anyone.

1. What is the biggest achievement your blog so far ?

[ChampDog]: Get an interview from you. :)

1. Tell us one URL other than your own that your readers should read about ?

[ChampDog]: http://malaysiapersonalfinance.blogspot.com/

1. How many more years do you think your blog will exist for and how do you plan to finance your blog forever if planned to at all ?

[ChampDog] Forever. I do not need to finance my blog because it is free hosting unless Google dies off one day or Google starts charging me.

1. The world is big, many people have different point of views and emotions. If you met someone who called you geek, liar, cheaters because you yourself didn't do what you preach, how would you handle them ?

[ChampDog]: I will say, "I”m sorry and you have a point too".

1. What do you think about these interview questions and how this interview session can be improved ?

[ChampDog]: That is pretty awesome. I can’t think of anything can be improved at this point.

1. Would you be interested to meet other finance bloggers in person ? If yes

[ChampDog]: Yes when I feel comfortable. :)

• Do you smoke ? [ChampDog] No.
• Do you drink liquor socially ? [ChampDog] Yes.
• Are you a coffee lover ? [ChampDog] Not really.
• Where do you stay and work ? ( Country, State, Region etc.) [ChampDog]: Penang, Malaysia.

What is Technical Analysis Really ?

Do you REALLY know what Technical Analysis is in an investment ?  It doesn't matter if you don't know a single thing about it or you have been using it to earn yourself into millionaires.  This is a simple game of 5 pictures to look at and then make your own decision what Technical Analysis is.  Are you ready ? 

Game of Rule : There is a RED line in each chart, its called Moving Average.  The GREEN bars are the prices of the investment vehicle.  Whenever green bars cross above red line, we BUY (long)  and whenever green bars cross below red line, we SELL (short).

Below 5 screens are showing EXACTLY the same investment vehicle, at exactly the same time and the lines mean exactly the same things.  The only difference is the X axis at the bottom.  They range from 1 minute to 1 day.  So in each of the chart below, one green bar of price would mean the price within that particular duration ie. 1 minute, 5 minutes etc.

If you follow up to here, now is the time to look at the graphs.  You should decide to buy or sell when you look into each graph.

1 bar = 1 minute

1 bar = 5 minutes

1 green bar = 1 hour

1 bar = 1 day

1 bar = 1 week

Did you get these ?

1 min : Sell Now

5 mins : Bought and Keep, Not Selling Yet

1 hour : Sold and Keep, Not Buy Back Yet

1 day : Sold, Not Buy Back Yet

1 week: Side Trend, Don't do anything.

( Sell = Short, Buy = Long for this game)

So, what should we do ?  Do we Buy or Sell at this particular instant ?