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How to make money on tiktok?

If you are wondering what is going with tiktok? You may be surprised to know many american businesses have thrived as a result of an app called “TikTok”.

Nevermind the politics behind this fun app. Business struggling to gain an audience is finding tiktok to be very user friendly and really help them gain a foothold in publicizing their business.

33% of Americans are reportedly using tiktok for news. You might ask why?

Tiktok really fits into our recently bored pandemic life and also shorter and shorter attention span. Tiktok can be as short as 10 seconds and captures all the information you need, such as news, gardening. This is because the app allows users to simply dance or fit in information in very friendly and fun manner, in under 10-30 seconds. This makes it very easy to consume for all busy americans out here. Moreover, tiktok allow music to be used, making it very fun to watch.

In United States alone, Tiktok has about 80 million monthly active users and growly at a rapid rate.

60% are female, 40% are male. 60% are between the ages of 16-24. 26% are between the ages 25-44. 80% are between the ages 16-34. This data comes straight from TikTok.

Gen Z – 60% of TikTok users are Gen Zers. Gen Zers are trendsetters. Next year, 74 million people in the U.S. will be part of “Gen Z”, which will make it the largest generation of all.

Revenue – TikTok is estimated to pull in $500 Million in revenue from the U.S. alone in 2020 (source).

Tiktok is now available in 154 countries.

How do they grow so fast?

Tiktok has an amazing algorithm that learns what you like.

Plus the app has a pool of money and a market place call “The TikTok Creator Marketplace“. This is a platform run by TikTok that houses thousands of profiles of TikTok creators. Brands can search the marketplace for creators whose audiences best fit the target market of their campaign (Do you need help with tiktok? We have it!).

As of 2021, the monthly Active Users of Tiktok is a staggering over 1 billion monthly active users. For reference – active users of other social platforms: Facebook – 2.9B, YouTube – 2.2B, Instagram – 1.4B, TikTok – 1.0B, Snapchat – 500M, Pinterest – 480M, Twitter – 397M.

For example, one of the top influencer is Charli, an 18 year old from connecticut who has worked very hard on tiktok. She has about 109 million followers and makes money by putting sponsored post out. CHARLI D’ AMELIO @CHARLIDAMELIO (109.1 M) makes $105,000 a post. This is paid out from a TikTok Creator Fund.

How to start making money online 2022

Let me share with you a story. My story specifically. I took six years just to get started. Why? Because I had so many “what ifs”, and “if only I …”

If only I have gone out there to get the best microphone. Trust me, after buying tons of equipment, I still have ways and means to tell myself why I cannot start. One last thing that stopped me was the reflections my glasses gave when being on camera. I am truly impressed with how my brain simply avoids working towards execution. So don’t be me, don’t let little things stop you from execution.

If only I have quit my full time office job. I had gotten into one of the hardest to get into top firm for my profession, and literally everything we studied, scored, was to get to this place – a job at the top firm. I know from outside everyone wants to get in and from inside, everyone is looking for a way to get out. Because the identity of being part of this firm, a pinnacle of success, is so wrapped up with our self identity, so many of my colleagues couldn’t walk out, we just couldn’t quit. I did one day. Everything comes to an end when it gets way too much. I am telling you now that you can too, change if you want to. Your identity is not the 9-5 job you are hanging on. You can slowly build up a side income that can turn into a meaningful career. I will show you how because I want you to be rich. Rich not just because you make money, enough money but also you get time with the people you love to spend time with, or just do walks with your pet, instead of burning the weekends in the office, paying off student loans followed by a mortgage.

How?

Here’s how and I will paint a harsh reality for you so you don’t make the mistake I made.

I waited six years, excuses after excuses. Start today, even if you hate your own voice, or work. You think your make up isn’t good enough, your hair is bad? Don’t worry, put yourself out there.

Don’t worry about the cameras. Use your phone. Start doing a lot.

If you find videos intimidating, here’s a easier solution, Start by Writing.

Write even if you cannot write well. People who laughed at you are doing nothing. Yes, your haters. People who are chasing their dreams really have little time to jeer. Most of the time, we see someone struggling, we admire them because we have been there and done that.

Why start now? Because you can become the better parent you want to be – spend more time with your family. You can travel the world more than you are doing right now. You can spend your time with your religious organisation, do charity work, write books, spend your life in a very meaningful and intentional way than to be in locked in the office. And look, the pandemic has taught us one thing – life is fragile, go now and work on your side hustle and live a meaningful life. If that’s in the office for you, then chase the corporate ladder. If not, then chase your dream but here’s where I come in and teach you how you can work online and also pay your bills. Let’s be real here. Who doesn’t want to live the dream of being with our love ones more, but we all know we have bills to pay don’t we? So how to make this work, how to make money online?

Here’s the short answer:

You add value to the people who follows you. They can pay for your value through many platforms, behind the scene interactions, or simply by watching your youtubes, reading your blog.

I hear you say “but there’s already this person doing this, or so many people doing that”. Remember you are you, nobody can be you, your personality, appeals to someone out there, that another content creator cannot replicate.

I hear you say “but I have no experience”, that’s what is appealing about you. People are tired of just watching million dollars making youtubers tell them what to do, they are unbelievable and out of reach. You are the example they see themselves in and can relate to. Because you have less followers, you can give more attention to each of your followers and that’s something bigger youtubers cannot compete with and they don’t want to. Fortunately most of us out here, have already worked in an industry for many years and we have something we are passionate about.

So the secret is to get started. Get Started. Start an account with wordpress online and start writing.

Start by writing a blog. Even if you think you are babbling, write something. Give your thoughts clarity by putting them together in words.

Writing allows you to attract like minded people, give you visibility and also better understand yourself. As you write, you untangle your unprocessed thoughts and feelings. As writing your thoughts out, give clarity to your thoughts and that reduce anxiety. Writing also helps you or forces you to research on your topic and overtime you become really good at a certain topic. Document your life, write it out. As you write, you become more observant. Publishing work, will attract opportunities. The more you write you have more ideas, and think better.

The most difficult part to making money online is consistency. Consistency is the greatest enemy of online content creator.

Start by just making videos or writing. Don’t focus on quality in the beginning, be shameless. Yes, thick shinned. the shy are never winners.

Don’t be a perfectionist. Don’t or never say “this video is not good, i am not going to publish it”. Think of this – your video now is going be a talking point when you hit your first million dollars.

Other skill sets you will pick up after you make your first 50 videos, will come later – Public speaking, how to edit your video, how to be engaging, how to adjust your lights, how to choose your topics and be with your algorithms.

When you are writing, you will have your own style. Pay attention the comments and compliments you are receiving. ” This is very helpful, i like to see more this.” Ask “Can you tell me 5 things about my work”.

Writing is easier than videos for some because it cost less. You only need a notepad. However, there are people like me, who finds just talking to a camera, easier than writing. Whichever it is, start.

Don’t forget your journey should be fun. Laugh at yourself. Your journey will be long and often after hours of your already busy life, therefore if you have fun, you will find yourself a sustainable formula.

if you have already hit 50 videos or essays. Now think of your own style, what is it?

Improve your video, by just getting a good mic. Grow your audience, by asking them what value they like see? Cultivate inspiration, by being in groups, reading books in your area of concern.

Gary V says “document, don’t create new content”

talk about for example how you start your day. make your video or writing personal. reveal something about yourself.

Improve your work, by following people similar at your level. If you have 50 subscribers, follow someone who is just about to grow.

As you provide value, through a solution, you can gather emails from your audience, and also behind the scene patreon. Patreon is the best place for creators to build memberships by providing exclusive access to their work and a deeper connection with their communities.

Grow your audience. Forget about the money for a while. Provide overwhelming amount of value until you are confident the audience find it useful.

Find the middle ground of what you are passionate about, and what the audience is happy to pay for.

Oprah Winfrey once said “What is that you will do even if you are not paid for, because you enjoy it?”

That’s your edge. For example, you are engineer, you are really good at mathematics or designs. What comes naturally to you? Or what are you struggling with, and want to open about?

Sit down – What feels like play for you? What excites you?

How to grow your audience and make money?

Here’s the summary

Connect with influential people who would use your work.

Who are some of the big names in your area of work? Start following them on social media and collect a list of their contacts. Twitter is a good place to connect.

Develop a press kit –

who are you?

what do you do?

What’s your edge?

Are you a doctor, do you think you can document your life and work? Or are you a bus driver? How do you start your day?

how do you want to be contacted?

Focus on what are the trends?

Use FIVERR

Whatever you find it hard to do, outsource it. Don’t let it stop you. FIVERR is platform that you can get something done for as little as $5.

Youtube Grow your Audience

Chase trends, find out what are the current trends.

Your audience who enjoy and follows you, is digital asset. You can add more value to them, by giving them access to your ideas and work. Share with them your secrets to your work. It can be for pleasure, such as gardening, or for serious stuff like passing an interview, or for entertainment, gossip on a celebrity. there are also people who grow an audience and help their communities by sharing openly with what they are struggling with – drugs, domestic violence, abuse, surgery, health.

People are consuming more content nowadays on the internet.

Here’s some platforms that traditionally grow audience into monetization

1000 subscribers or more on youtube

Monthly subscription to (Insert your value)

Patreon.com where membership gain access to behind the scene access

Affiliate Marketing via Amazon

Tiktok Creator Fund

Writing to News Media

Sponsorship with brands

You are original. Your work is itself original. By executing the same article or video by you, is unique. Don’t worry too much about “not being original”.

get into execution mode. do something that step by step takes you to a better place than where you are right now.

Steve Jobs once said, if you are not having fun doing something, you likely not be successful because the path is just tough along way.

Be consistent, commit to writing once a week, or doing a video once a month. Try, be courageous.

Real Life Advice

Sometimes you really don’t have the time to spend 5 minutes reading mantra of how to live a debt free life, or how to start, so let’s keep it really short here.

Pay off your credit card debt. Nothing you invest you will consistently give you more than 10-20% returns, not even Warren Buffett, the investment guru.

So if your credit card debt is hurting you at 25% interest rate on your spend, pay it off. Feel good about it.

If you lack discipline, like me, schedule a payment that is automatic from your paycheck to your credit card and use a debit card.

Stay with your parents or Share a room

Yes I said it. the unthinkable. Stay with your parents. You will have so many benefits and it gives you plenty of time to save up for a startup business, or invest your money before renting. If you have to rent, think about room sharing.

Buy Used Cars and learn to maintain it.

Learning how to spot and maintain a car has been the best investment I ever made for myself. It has time and time again saved me money from buying lemons, and also helped me maintain my old car, keep it running and prevented me from changing cars. Most Millionaires are driving cars that are 5 years or older.

Change your friends

If your friends love to spend money and hanging out with them caused you to overspend, change your friends. Join an investment club or one of those FIRE Club (Retire Early Financial independence club). There should be no shame in wanting to save extreme amount of money. You will be surprised how many successful people are successful because they ditched their friends. Your peers are your averages, you become what they make you to be.

Get a Scholarship or Go to a Cheap Community or Online college.

You can learn almost everything you want online nowadays. Even medical school, you can pre-learn online (so you have better chances of passing).

Learn your skills online, instead of paying for expensive college.

College degree is not worth the $300,000 student debt loan you are going to take on.

Start Working before going to college

Work experience trumps college. Don’t be the millions who graduated with a degree and no work.

That’s it. You got it all.

How do I spend my money? The 6 types of spending habits I fall into…

I noticed I have 6 Types of spending habits and here’s a breakdown of how I spent my money before I come to realize the power of habits.

Type 1 Promotions and Sales (the Value Queen)

Tell me there is a SALE, and I will jump at it. Who can resist a SALE? 40% off?

I am someone who finds a promotion like Amazon Prime Day hard to let go. I buy something just because it is on promotion. Sometimes it is a really good choice, but often I find myself spending more than I should on something.

Have you ever bought something when you realized you already have a similar item at home?

When there is a special, or value deals, I can’t seem to resist when perhaps I don’t really need to spend that money. An extra microphone, a notebook, a bag that will match my new outfit, the list goes on.

Because something is on SALE, it does not mean I need it.

Remember to tell myself this – even if something is on sale, it doesn’t mean I need to spend money on it. Every dollar spent is an opportunity cost, perhaps money I could have saved to invest.

TYPE 2 – Covid Pandemic type of Revenge Spend

Have you thought to yourself that working from home, not having that restaurant dinner or activity made you extra bored and want to just go online and do “window” shopping to kill your boredom?

Being Bored is no good to good financial health. This is made worse when Amazon and so many other apps try to suggest to us items to buy.

Try to fill your time with meaningful dopamine generating activity than to shop online when you are bored.

Stop your brain from being rewarded by spending money.

TYPE 3 EMOTIONAL SHOPPING – “Addicted to Retail”

I get this, because I was once addicted to retail. I live in a city filled with malls, retailing all kinds of fun gadgets. Buying something makes me feel good, it is soothing, like an achievement. Emotions override logic in our brain and if we let our emotions dictates how we eat, how we spend our money, time, sometimes it just goes overboard.

How did I discover my emotional spending habits? I noticed whenever I was down, I would go for a little shopping, just buying anything and I immediately feel better. That soon became a loop. So next time if you notice you feel down, think of what you can do to overcome that feeling, process it instead of suppressing it with retail therapy?

TYPE 4 “I work hard, I deserve to be nice to myself” type of spending

I admit, I am a workaholic. When I work, it is intense and I go above and beyond. That was before “quiet quitting” became a trend.

So what happens after work? It is soulless, empty and I suddenly felt I lost a sense of identity. This happens when I attached so much of my identity to the company I worked for. The company and my career literally defined every bit of me. I spend hours in office. I pride myself as X employee. Seriously, what was I thinking?

If you fall into this trap, you will often find yourself, like me previously, lost after work. Overworked, and purposeless, I would spend money on myself because “I worked hard, and I deserved it”

Nothing wrong with rewarding yourself, but often this can run overboard so easily. Before you know it, credit card bills creep up and you are piled up with bills you can’t afford to pay. Today this is made worse with the AFTER PAY type of retail, that encourages buy now and pay later behavior.

Remember if you are buying something now, you should only buy with money now.

And yes, you deserve it, but it is a trap. You spend more, you work more to keep up with the new car, new bags and credit card bills and as you work more, you need to spend more to get any kind of “relief” or “destress”. Don’t fall into this trap!

TYPE 5 Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)

The fear of missing out has been around since the dawn of time. Ever since our ancestors were cave men and women, as human beings, we have always like to compare what others have or have not. Our fear of missing out, stems from our need to blend in, to fit in and be part of a tribe. This need however can be insatiable and hurt our financial goals. Instead of having enough to buy a new upgraded laptop for work, we spend it on restaurants or a new bag.

Just because your friend bought a new bag or shoes, does not mean you have to immediately run out to buy a new pair of shoes to match up.

I remembered how my friends used to laugh at me for wanting to have coffee in cheap non-air conditioned local coffee places instead of starbucks. At that point, I was still doing my startup. I moved back to my parent’s place and was saving every penny I could to plough it back to my business. I couldn’t really afford or want to spend $6 on a cup of coffee when I could have just snag one for a $1. However, my friends, quite a few wouldn’t go have coffee with me, because $1 coffee was just not nice. I admit, it didn’t taste as nice, it didn’t feel great but I valued the company of my friends, and just wanted a cheap get together. So did I choose my friends over a $6? Make a guess?

Change your friends, change your life. You can’t have your friends and your money all at once. Sometimes, you have to keep your priorities, draw boundaries and let everyone know you are saving money. A few of us find this socially embarrassing. So be it. Better be socially embarrassing than to be broke and pretending to be okay.

The last type of spending habit I noticed I have exhibited from time to time is

TYPE 6 “I am Santa Claus, people pleasing” type of spending

This kind of spending stems from possibly a low self esteem, or a deep seeded need to want to be wanted.

Buying your mother something you cannot afford, gifting your sister a nice dinner when you are already on your last dollars. Or buying something for your child, because you want to be a “good mother”.

Remember you cannot be a good mother to your child, if you do not discuss your financial reality with your child and just pretend everything is okay. That kind of pretending will lead to your child having bad financial habits as well. Discuss reality of finances with your child. Love is not about buying things or having experiences you cannot afford. Try to incorporate a healthy discussion that life is not always about keeping up with your peers, early in their lives. Trust me, it will save them a lot of trouble and do them a lot of good. The earlier we understand we do not have to fit in and spend money we don’t have to impress people who don’t care about us, the better.

Talk about spending money on family? I am guilty. I used to spend money I don’t have just because it is someone’s birthday and the only way I show “love” is an expensive gift or dinner.

Have you tried writing a letter with just pen and paper to someone you love, instead of spending money?

How about this as an exercise? Showing how much you love someone but Not spending money?

Walk in the park together? A chat together?

Playing board games? Sending an email?

Drawing a funny picture?

Remember if you start showing your kids, that showing love and care is all about buying something, that’s a really bad start to financial health.

Unfortunately today’s capitalist society, we have so much advertisements going at us, that tells us – “Spend money on this to show how much you care?”

Valentine Day, Father’s day, Mother’s day, Christmas, everything is designed to hurt your financial health if you are not careful with what you can or cannot afford.

Do not equate love and care with spending money. DO something today that excites you and show how much you care by not spending money.

Call someone you love today, have a chat instead. It takes more emotional work to do a call, than simply click and send a gift. But it is worth it.

Lastly, reaffirm yourself with these questions:

What are your financial priorities?

Are you saving so you can go on a holiday with your mother or a college fund? Every dollar you spend on something other thing is a dollar forgo on your priority.

Do you want to be at peace with yourself, knowing your credit card bills are really essentials, and not over spents?

Financial tightening, and money talk is not easy. You may find yourself in embarrassing situations when you have to stand up and say

“Sorry, I cannot join you for after drinks” or

“I am sorry, I am taking the bus home, I am not taking an uber” or

“I am sorry, I can only meet you for dinner if it is at my place and I cook”

Learn to say no to friends who are spending more than you can afford to have. It’s hard but it is liberating.

They will be your friends again when you have money again, just not the right time now.

Find out what are your needs, versus your wants.

Don’t spend just because it is a SALE, it does not mean you need to part with your money.

Rich Life with less? the movement started by the minimalist Joshua Fields Millburns

Have you heard of Joshua Fields Millburns? Me neither. That was before I started becoming unhappy with more and more stuff.

Many years ago, I was like everyone else. I was the perfect citizen. i have done the perfect thing, I studied hard, obtained my master degree, got a great job and job title. I was climbing the corporate ladder. I bought two properties before thirty years old. And with that I bought a lot of “stuff”. I have plans to be promoted, salary increment, buy the house and be set in life.

Health, relationships, values and satisfaction in life were not on my list. I was still buying a lot of things, to fill up my life. Because I was surrounded by malls and advertisements. I never thought of anything wrong with it.

I worked hard, and making good money. I thought $100,000 would make me happy. I was spending more every time I get more money. I felt overwhelmed.

And finally came the time for me to move apartment. I was so paralyzed by the things I owned, I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t pack, I couldn’t discard any of my stuff. I realized my stuff have controlled me. I have strong attachment to my things, more than the people, my values, my health and it is almost an addiction I don’t know.

Then one day, I stumbled upon The Minimalist. I was so shocked they got rid of their stuff. I started following Joshua Field Millburns and his netflix show. I also read the book Marie Kondo. It helped me detox my life, my intention to consume.

In his interview, Joshua Field Millburns said that – Like many Americans, he too climbed the corporate ladder. He had a larger and larger salary. He had many credit cards, he was consuming more, to acquire more material trophies. He tried to pacify the void in his life, and buy more stuff. Everytime he buys something, it gives him a burst of pleasure. He said his health is important to him, but he was not spending time on his health. He wasn’t working out. He said his relationship was important to him, but he was not spending time with his wife. He was in his office or out with his tertiary relationships, co-workers, colleague most of the time. He was not allocating time to spend it with the closest people in his life. He continued to climb the corporate ladder. He has a whole plan laid out for himself, to be “set in life”. He thought more money, he would be happy. It was never enough. By the time he had 6 figure salary, he was more in debt.

He felt overwhelmed. He did what every American did, he accumulated more stuff hoping to fill the void. Unfortunately, it didn’t fill the void. In fact the stuff widen the void. He was overwhelmed.

He saw his colleague has his first heart attack at age 30. He told himself, he wouldn’t be the same. But if you follow the recipe you are going get the same pie they baked. He said to himself, he need to make some changes to his life, but he didn’t know how.

Until his mother died, and his wife left him all in the same one. He realized he was focused on the trophies of life. “Look at me, I have two Lexus, a house…I am successful” The problem is I am not broadly successful.

“There is nothing wrong with consumption. The problem is that we are sold this thing on compulsory consumption. For example when you meet someone, you get asked “What do you do”. It is a question about how much you make, what’s your social status, and what’s that compare to me. “

Instead of that, you can say “What are you passionate about?” It makes the conversation richer. Sometimes this can also be your vocation.

“We all have to earn a living. I was so focused on accumulating stuff, my whole life was focused on that identity.”

“I was spending more and more. I was full on consumer debt. Soon, credit card purchases, mortgages were adding up. Average American has 4 credit cards. 1 in 10 Americans has 10 credit cards that are active.”

What actually adds value to your life? What material possession augment your life, and make it better. By watering it down, to the less, it gave him perspective. His book “Everything that remains”.

Joshua Fields Millburns found that holding on to less stuff, gave him more clarity, more space. And that space was able to allow him more focus.

Over the course of 30 days, he let go of one item a day.

Even though he was a well organized hoarder, he manage this experiment of getting rid of 30 items. over 30 days, and it gain momentum.

Read about Joshua Field Millburns, he did an experiment where he switched off his internet, where he is writing. He is writing. He was forced to be with your thoughts and be with people. He said the whole experiment was like “removing your pacifiers”

He also spoke of this book ” Deep Work”. How have internet changed your level of concentration?

Investing for Beginners

Investing for beginners, a guide I wished I had when I started investing. How to get started in 5 minutes and what to look out for. All the basics of investing distilled into one article you can digest. Written from an honest point of view.

Investing for Beginners

So you have been hearing about the term “investing”. You may be clueless or have some idea. You may have some money saved or expecting some money or no money at all and want to get started. 


This quick 5 minute read will help you get all the basics you need. This is the article I wished someone have written for me when I got started. You see years ago, I saw my friend lost their hard earned money to the Lehrman brother crisis. My uncle was the hardworking type who saved every penny, never eat out and kept all his money in fixed deposit or mutual fund. And he invested in an index fund that went down. 

I understand how anxiety inducing the talk about money and investment can be for some of you. You might be thinking I might lose my money. The truth is not doing anything, you are definitely losing  money. Here’s why

Let’s say if your mother had $10, in 1960s. She kept it. If she kept the $10 under his pillow or he could have walked out and bought something to eat for her family of 5?

In 1960, you can buy 47 burgers. With just $10, you can fit your whole family of 5, for several days. In fact, 8 dinners. Because in 1960, an average burger cost only 21 cents.

In 2022, you can barely buy 5 burgers, at $2.29 each. 

With the same $10

1960 – you can have 8 dinners of a hamburger each for family of 5

2022 – you can have 1 dinner for the same family 

IF you kept the $10 for retirement in a bank, you will need to have grown and invested your $10, to an amount of $91.60 to afford the same lifestyle or goods you have in 1960, that is to have 8 dinners for your family of five.  Else you only get 1 dinner for your family with the same $10 in 2022. So  you lose buying power, but you still hold on to the same $10 note.

Therefore if you kept $10 under your pillow, and did nothing with it, you will still have the same $10 note, but it will be worth a lot less, 7 times less. That’s in very simple terms, inflation and how inflation is invisible and how it robs you of your money without you knowing. 

So you are going to lose money, you lose buying power even if you did nothing with it. 

You want to learn about investing because you are worried about inflation, or you have heard of Amazon or Tesla. 

In 2018

2018 – Tesla $67

2022 – Tesla $1100

So that means if you put in $67,000 in 2018, you will have $1,100,000 – 1.1 million, making you a millionnaire. 

2018 – Amazon $1305

2022 – Amazon $ 2799

If you left $13,050 in Amazon in 2018, you will have $27,990 today

There are many many other examples of Netflix, Google etc.

So you decided you want to learn about investing but like me many years ago, you are afraid of losing your money. 

If you are new to investing or is not from a finance background, investing can really make you turn back and just do nothing about it. I get it. When I first started, I asked myself 

“How do I buy a stock?”

“Do I just go to Amazon.com and click buy?”

“Do I need to buy a minimum of 1000 shares?”

“How much is one share?”

“Do they require a minimum amount?”

“How much money do i need to get started?”

“What if I lose all my money?”

“Isn’t investing only for finance people and I should leave it to them?”

“Isn’t investing risky and I can lose all my money?”

“Can I just leave it in a bank and earn interest?”

“How do I get started?”
“When is the right age?”

If you started working, you will know your employer has asked you about 401K, or hear friends talk about ROTH IRA. Is it too young for you to think about this when you haven’t even have the money to pay rent or save up for a house? When is it a good time? Or if you are already indebted with a mortgage, you have a family to feed, and you have little savings, you wondered if you can even think about investing?

The answer is simple, start small but start. Learn early, but take action now.

Even if you don’t have any money to spare, you can start learning.

The earlier you start, the less likely you will become a victim of what i called the “evil system” set up to rob all of us, or the people who worked hard and know nothing about finance.

Because we are in 2022, the unfortunate time when banks no longer pay interest of 17% and we can sit on bank deposits to beat inflation and earn a handsome return. 

“Can I just leave it in a bank and earn interest?”

Today, banks are only paying about 0.02% to 3%. Real inflation, is between 6% – 10%. This means your money worth is losing value faster than what you are earning. No banks will pay you more than the inflation. If they do, they are probably another Lehrman Brother, selling you junk bonds. There is no free lunch, there is no sit back and do nothing type of investment that gives you good return. You have to learn and read. It’s painful I know. But I have seen friends and family lost all their savings during the Lehrman brother crisis and now in their 70s are still struggling and working to pay back their mortgage. You don’t have to be that person who loses money the “system”, even though the “system” is designed to rob you, the hardworking person. 

What is an investment?

In very simple terms, it is something that put money in my pocket.

My mother always have urged me to invest in property and not stocks. I did and I learnt investing in property, you can make a lot of money and you can lose a lot of money too. Not everyone makes money. 

For example, my friend bought a house in Chicago for $200,000. He paid 10% down, $20,000 before subprime. The bank lent him $190,000 which he paid $1000 monthly over time. 

Unfortunately the value of the house went down, in 2008 and the house was worth just $150,000. The bank now wants him to top up $50,000, the difference in the value he borrowed against versus the actual value. He couldn’t get anyone to rent the house, and pays $1000 for mortgage plus property tax and have to fork out money to repair the house for leaks. So it is not always that you win in property. In the end, he couldn’t afford the $1000 monthly payment and the bank foreclose his house. They fire sell it (meaning to sell it quickly), and it was sold for just $80,000. Now without a house, he still owes the bank $110,000 ($190,000 he borrowed less the sale price $80,000) and all the legal fees.

So what if you have a great house that you rented out and receive more money than you pay the bank? That’s what I have. But I have to say, I wasn’t ready to be bombarded with maintenance calls, property tax, lock change, tenant viewing, liaising with agent for rental. It’s a lot of work. 

Therefore, I favor share investing. 

What is share investing and why would companies or the market give you money for it? 

Basically imagine, Steven Jobs, he has apple inc. He needs money to hire engineer, marketing, pay for ads and rent. He runs a great company, in 1980 called Apple. You invested in his company by buying shares. He has 10 shares. He offered you 1 share at just $2 a share. You paid him $2, and now you are a 1 share holder. At the end of year, he sold many MacBook and made $1000. You have 1/10 shares of profit, so you get $100 of dividend. Because many people believe Apple will continue to grow, they want to buy that 1 share from you for $20. You sold your share at $20. You paid $2. You made $18. That’s why people want to invest in companies. For dividend (profits distribution), and capital gain (when price of the share go up and you sell).

So why are people so afraid of shares investing? Well, at some point, Apple was doing very badly. They couldn’t sell any computers and Microsoft and Dell computers beat them. They nearly bankrupt. And their shares that was $2 each, could be worth only 1 cent. So you lose all your money if they go bankrupt. 

And we have all heard of that one Uncle who invested in shares and lost all his money. I should say, gambled or traded instead of investing. Investors normally put their money in for 5-10 years and gamblers or traders, buy high and panic sell when there is a crisis. 


What I wish someone had told me before i started investing?

Size matters. 

You don’t want to invest in tiny companies with little capital, that can easily be manipulated. The companies I invest in, are big Standard and Poor 500 companies.

Why size matters? Bigger is like a bigger ship, can withstand larger storms. It doesn’t mean they wouldn’t collapse, but they have that much more of capacity to take on big storms. 

Bigger means it is harder for one or two players in wall street to buy up everything and dump shares, driving prices down using derivatives.

And of course, bigger means, they may most likely (not always the case), have institutional investors. These are investors who are not your mum and dad investors. Why is this important?

In time of a crisis, big ships with big institutional investors, don’t get their shares dumped. Mum and dad investors tend to panic and dump their shares, resulting in the shares of the company plummeting out of purely retail investors sentiment. However if you have Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffet company as your investor, they hold on to their investment even during bad times. This makes the ship more stable.

US only shares 

Investing only in high quality stock with a good management culture and governance, and not getting distracted. That means US companies running in New York Stock exchange or NASDAQ.

Although no one can predict which company will not have fraud, chances of that in a good quality US company is lowered by a set of high quality regulation (say the SEC as a regulator). High quality stocks have real profits, they are audited and they are so big, they have controls and systems in place so fraud is much less likely. You don’t want a company that is from China, or anything China. Yes you see they make big profits but will the profit ever surface to a little investor like you or get siphoned away? I choose an American company, run by americans that has real products and services in US, than any other companies because historically, a lot of bad stuff has been cleaned up and transparency of profits is there. So remember, just because a company is profitable, doesn’t mean you will end up with the profit through dividend or increase in share price. The culture of the management and system of policing these companies matters. Do not invest in companies you have never bought from, or never heard of. 

Think Long Term

This one is very simple. Do not become a trader or gambler of the markets, think long term. Hold your investments for a good five to ten years, do not panic sell. Recessions come and go. If you hold on to good quality stocks, it will bound back. 

Here’s a quote from Warren Buffett

​​You’ve got to be prepared when you buy a stock to have it go down 50% or more and be comfortable with it, as long as you’re comfortable with the holding.

Warren Buffett

BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY CEO

Invest only in things you bought or know. 

I invest in the things I use everyday. 

Let’s make it simple – 

I wake up with an alarm on my iphone (apple). I turn on my Gmail, (google) to check my emails as I have my coffee. 

I open my macbook (apple), check the markets and type some thoughts out. 

I walk to a nearby cafe, swiped my Visa card (VISA) to buy a bagel for breakfast. 

I remembered I have a friend whose birthday is coming, I ordered something on amazon prime (AMAZON) for my friend as a gift over my phone. 

I pass by an electric car, parked along the road Tesla, (TESLA) and stared at it. 

I bought an accessory for my work online using paypal (Paypal). 

I ordered shampoo from P&G (Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio The Procter and Gamble company), some Kraft Cheese (also Berkshire Hathaway).

Walked to my bank and withdraw some cash (Bank of America held by Berkshire Hathaway).

Back to my place, watched the news on my FIRE amazon tablet as I finished my bagel.

Before you invest consider the following

Debt

Pay off your credit card debt that is 20% – 30% interest. No matter how you invest, you cannot get a return of 30%. Even Warren Buffett consistently is only getting 10-20% per year. 

So if you let your credit card run on interest, it will balloon out of control.

Emergency Fund

Save up 8 months emergency fund, so in case you lose your job, you don’t have to liquidate your shares at sometimes the worse market conditions. Yes, when it starts to rain, it pours. When the stock market sinks, it is normally the time you lose your work and insurance, and can’t pay rent and have to go to hospital with out of pocket. Things can happened fast.

Risk

Don’t risk money you cannot lose. For example, if you borrowed from relatives to gamble on the stock market. Or if you have to access the funds within the next five years. The way to make money on the stock market is not to time it. Timing market is bad. Buy and hold for a good five to ten years, and your chances improve significantly. 

Investment rules 

Do not time the market. Yes there are dips but even the most prolific investor, cannot predict the trough. But as common knowledge, when everyone is in euphoria, market is going up, it’s not a good time. 

Do not invest for short term and panic sell.

Invest only things you actually use and is a good quality blue chip stock.

Hold your shares directly if you can, instead of going through a fund.

The Problem with Investing with S&P Index Fund

I have a personal philosophy of not handing money to a fund, as far as you can.

If you buy into VISA, you own a share in that company. You can attend the Annual General Meeting of that company. You can vote. But when you invest through a fund, even if it is an index fund, you own that fund.

Fund managers managed your money. They invest and assign the percentage of shares in shares you cannot really see even if you read the financial statements. 

Can the index fund go bankrupt? 

Yes. the fund can go bankrupt, and you can lose all your money. Of course if you hold individual shares, you can also lose all your money if say VISA go down, or if Coca Cola go down. 

But I am not for fund holding fund, investing your money.

Who is investing my money in the index fund?

You wouldn’t know. You handed your money over to a fund. The fund hires an investing manager, that will invest in the S&P 500 (major 500 companies) and allocate the percentage of investments. Of course you will get a report. 

You lose 1-2% in fees, considered low fees in performance fees, management fees, administrative fees. 

How do I get started?


To get started, you need simply a phone, ID, and a brokerage.

Fill in your address, your ID, upload a photo and identify yourself. 

How much do I need to start investing?

$50. You can start with as little as $50. It’s important to start early to get to try the entire platform and understand the process yourself.

You need an app on your phone or a computer to get started.

Top Brokerage firms in US

Vanguard

Charles Schwab

Fidelity Investment 

Etrade

TMAMERITRADE

Etoro 

Interactive Brokers

  • Charles Schwab is a leading U.S. stock brokerage firm with $4.04 trillion in client assets and 12.3 million active brokerage accounts.
  • Fidelity Investments has $11.1 trillion in total customer assets, 38 million active brokerage accounts, and is a good choice for customers who want to invest in Fidelity ETFs and mutual funds.
  • E*TRADE is an online brokerage pioneer, well-known for its full-featured mobile apps, top-notch options trading tools, and customizable user experience.
  • TD Ameritrade is our best overall choice for beginners, strength in providing investor education, and ease of use. 
  • Etoro is an online platform, that allows you to copy trades and operate it over an app.

3 ways to Earn Extra Income (Part 1)

3 Ways to Earn Extra Income

There are many ways to earn to money and each of them requires effort. There is no such thing as “passive income”. Even Passive Income requires initial work and some running around to maintain the “passive income”. 

Here’s 3 ways I have seen millionaires do it. 

Number 1 – Warren Buffet Investment Style – Pick Quality Stock

Like many investor, I am a follower of Warren Buffett. And I read profusely the Benjamin Graham investment strategies. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of any of them, that’s why you are here. Or if you have, here’s a summary to remind you how money is made. Benjamin Graham was an American Professor, who was a wall street investor first with his own firm, ​​Graham-Newman, before he became a professor at Columbia. 

Benjamin Graham’s book on Intelligent investor is the bible of many value investors. Of course there are day traders, and a lot of other type of investing. But can we focus on Value investing today, because that’s easiest to follow in my opinion.

“Bible of Investment Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham”

Well I must admit, Benjamin Graham wrote a book that is not so easy to read. I wouldn’t expect you to digest it without a tummy ache at the end of it. So here’s basically what it says:

Imagine you are investing but like a business owner. You own the company, you own the business. It doesn’t matter what the share price is today or tomorrow because that’s market sentiment. What you care about is the value of your company the true value of your business. What value your business occupies in the market place, and what are the assets really worth? How much money the business owes? 

Graham singled out the  passive investor who doesn’t do a lot of day trading, or exceptional analysis, should focus on the business. Is this business generate cashflow, is this business giving customer satisfaction? More likely nowadays, is this business managing tax?

This is in contrast with the active investor who deep dive into insights and analyse the financial state of companies. Value investor invest buy and hold of good value business. Graham profess that the true value of a company will be reflected by the stock price in the long run. 

So that said, what are good business that really have a good a business system going?

Decide if you are a trader, that gambles in the stock market or an investor, who buys and hold a good investment over a period of time?

VISA – remember every day when you tap or swipe your card, it is a VISA card. And no VISA technology is not a bank. Some may worry that VISA will lose out to rivals like paypal, or bitcoin, but what makes VISA a S&P 500, is its ability to absorb competition and collaborate with the latest technology. VISA has also collaborated with bitcoin. Basically this shows this giant of a company is not a dinosaur but one that can adapt. What a lot of people like about VISA is capitalisation. At about 400 billions dollars, it has a large capitalisation that makes manipulation of this stock by single party unlikely. There are also a good mix of many institutional investors. 

S&P 500 Index fund

The S&P is Standard and Poor, features 500 leading US companies that are public traded companies. 

The important point about the S&P 500 is capitalisation. Basically S&P is a floated weighted index. 

The S&P is considered by many the best gauge of the large US stock and entire market sentiment, because it has wide enough depth and industries covered.

The way to invest in the S&P is through a fund that is tagged to the S&P as a benchmark. 

Because of this indirect ownership of a business, this is not a preferred method but one recommended by many.

I am always for ownership of the shares in a a real business, if you can.

Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares

Good news for those of us who don’t understand everything about Value investing, Warren Buffet got it for you. He has this company that he frequently attends the annual general meeting, in person. The company is named “Berkshire Hathaway”. Berkshire’s secret is really cashflow, from say Geico, an insurance company and other business that everyday americans buy and consume. For example,  they own a substantial percentage of Kraft Heinz. That means every time you buy Kraft Cheese or some products owned by Heinz, you are giving a couple of cents of profit to Berkshire. 

Berkshire also has ownership in both Visa and mastercards. So everytime you swipe, think of Berkshire, they probably made some pennies off that commission merchants paid. 

Every time an American or even someone in Australia using Visa card, drink coca cola or buy Kraft cheese, they are giving money to Berkshire. And who doesn’t love Warren Buffet who play games and address his shareholders?

Here’s a portfolio by CNBC https://www.cnbc.com/berkshire-hathaway-portfolio/

Warren also has the habit of keeping the management that runs the business well, intact after buying the company. Google finance will show you how well the company has performed.

Having said all the good about Warren. He is known to miss out on hot stock like amazon and apple. 

He buys grocery items and telecommunication, stock he is familiar with as you would expect with his age, and he does not gamble with his shareholder’s money. If you are looking to take risk and make or lose big, then maybe you need to look at technology stock that he is not. Warren is about stability.

Warren admitted that he missed out on google because he does not have the business insights to certain business. True hero to admit he has flaws and he is not everything. Still Berkshire Hathaway performed well above the market over long run and that’s the branding for Warren Buffett.

Another thing about Berkshire is that, it is all about Warren Buffet and his friend Charlie. They have not been able to or did not want to find a successor. They are well in their late 80s or 90s, so successful succession is a question for me.

Verisign Inc

Verisign Inc. is an American company that operates a diverse array of network infrastructure, including root nameserves, for “.com”, “.net” and backend systems for “.jobs” and “.gov” and “.edu”

Warren Buffet company has investment in Versign Inc.

And like properties, a domain needs to be renewed yearly and usually at or above inflation prices. So this company generates cashflow tagged to inflation.

When a company is available on the market at a price which is at a discount to its intrinsic value, a “margin of safety” exists, which makes it suitable for investment.

Watch out for Part II on 3 Ways to Earn Extra Income, or follow me on Tiktok @iwantyoutoberich

Why money?

Why talking about money and understanding money is important? “If someone you talk to about money does not like to talk about it, this means they have a problem with money” Bob Proctor.
Money is neither bad or good. It is a form of energy, it can break you or make you, depending on what your relationship with money is. Start today, understand money a little at a time.

Why is talking about money or understanding money so important? And why is it not taught in school?

I have seen people with finance degree and go broke. And I have seen friends with little formal education who went on to become rich. By rich, I meant they achieve happiness and peace. they spent time with the people they love, they work because they want to, they have a purpose.

If someone you talk to about money does not like to talk about it, this means that they have a problem with money – said Bob Proctor. This can usually mean they have a bad relationship with money.

Whether you are reading this because you are about to get into college and your first credit card or you are a new parent looking to reset your financial life or you are in your thirties with some assets, and want to do a financial audit on yourself, this blog is the place you can get ideas and start off on good grounds.