link roundup
Link Roundup

Link Roundup #11: 10 Things to Know This Week

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Accelerate your personal finance knowledge with this regular feature on Ringgit Oh Ringgit – the Link Roundup! I promise you’ll find these 10 links informational 🙂

1. Here’s how some of the wealthiest people are investing their cash – CNBC

This is interesting. Apparently, there is a high-net worth group called TIGER 21. They have about 630 members, and each of them has at least $10 million in investable assets.

Check out what they’re investing (and not investing) in, according to their Q2 2018 report. Interesting read.

That accompanying image in the article though. I feel like slapping all of them. Look so atas like that.

2. Chinese Entrepreneur Tries to Bring Shenzhen Miracle to Africa – Bloomberg

This is an article about economic development in Africa, but that’s not why I included it in this list.

Instead, I want you to know about Helen Hai, the ‘Chinese Entrepreneur’ in the title. I’ve noticed that fewer women are directly named in the business sections as opposed to men. This is my small part to give her more star power – I think she deserves it. In the future, I hope articles will refer her by name in the title.

According to the article, Helen Hai:

  • Was the youngest female partner at U.K. insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson. Later, she returned to China as chief actuary for Zurich Financial Services.
  • Left Zurich to set up a shoe factory in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Exported shoes to the US within three months, and has over 4000 employees within 2 years.
  • Impressed the former Ethiopia Prime Minister so much that she became the first Chinese adviser to the Ethiopian government. They want her help to set up more manufacturing factories in Africa.
  • Within months, she set up the Made in Africa initiative, which is backed by UNDP. It aims to help Africa create manufacturing hubs. When the going got tough and she couldn’t find foreign investors, she co-founded a factory in Rwanda with fellow Chinese investor Candy Ma (another woman!) as a demonstration model. The company now employs 2000 people. They also set up the factories in Senegal and Ethiopia which helped the manufacturing industry investments in Africa increase almost 9 percent in 2017, to $21 billion.
  • (There are more info in the article and I’m summarising the best bits)

Aside from that, Helen Hai:

  • Is the UN Industrial Development Organization’s goodwill ambassador in Africa
  • Heads the $100 million Binance Blockchain Charity Foundation

Isn’t she amazing? Role model material.

3. How to Stick to A Budget – While Still Being a Social Human Being – Refinery29

Recently, Aaron from Mr-Stingy.com and I delivered personal finance talks to the young lawyers crowd. We received a fair amount of ‘how do we budget with social commitments’-type questions. Many young people find it hard to save money when friends and family organise meetups, gatherings and parties. For example, one person shared how she’s expected to shell out some money to celebrate a friend’s bridal shower at a fancy restaurant. She thought the price tag was steep, but she couldn’t exactly suggest ‘let’s do it at a cheaper place’ either.

Aaron had his views – I’ll let him share those at his platform. And the link above has some great suggestions too. I particularly liked #1 – Create a ‘fun money’ account and #4 – Learn when to put yourself first.

If you find it hard to say no to social invitations, here’s MY tip: find work to do in your free time. Not only it gives a great socially-acceptable excuse (“thanks for inviting me, but I can’t, I have work”), you’ll also be able to earn money. Which you can then spend to meet people who ARE important to you, in your precious remaining free time.

Personally, I lost some friends during this whole adulting journey. Related: ‘Money affects my social interactions’ under [Personal] How it feels like to constantly obsess over money article

4. 44 Ways To Find Yourself In Your 20s, Without Quitting Your Job Or Buying A One-Way Ticket To India – The Financial Diet

Love this article.

Like many of you, I like to travel as a way to ‘find myself’ – what I like, what I don’t like, what are my limits, etc.

While I’ve never regretted any of my travels, I’ve also wondered if this habit has turned me into someone who is only able to ‘search’ while travelling, you know what I mean? Optimally, I want to be able to find meaning in everyday activities, not just when I’m in another country.

The article shared lots of free/cheap ways to make life more meaningful. Meditating, journaling and exercising are all great. But here’s some deeper questions I’m asking myself: Why do I place less importance on free/cheap activities, when they’re just as meaningful as travelling? Do I favour travelling more because it’s considered a status symbol among my generation?

5. Procedures and Guidelines for Assessment for Mutilated Notes and Defaced Notes – Bank Negara Malaysia

Did you see the viral pictures of RM50 notes eaten by termites? Ouch, right?


Apparently, yes you can return the money to BNM and get back some or all of the value. The document linked above and also shown below is the guideline and procedures. From the comments section, some people have done it successfully, so now you know what to do in case your money was accidentally (partially) destroyed!


6. A brilliant way to save money: Treat your favourite anime character like a stripper – SoraNews24

I’m just going to leave this here, lol. If it helps to motivate you to save more money, then my job is done.

Note: If you’re not into anime, substitute to whoever/whatever you like. Movie stars, singers, bands, they all will work.


7. A Silicon Valley engineer who moved to the US from India 7 years ago reveals the most surprising things about class in America – Business Insider

Love how fresh eyes dissect cultural differences. Love these money-related insights:

  • Anybody can buy anything, thanks to credit. Obtaining credit in this country is extremely easy. Anybody can buy anything, for the most part, except for something like a Maserati, obviously. As a result, most monetary possessions aren’t really status symbols. I believe that the only status symbol in America is your job, and possibly your educational qualifications.”
  • In America, ‘it’s very difficult to tell who’s wealthy and who’s not‘. The wealthy people usually don’t have many material possessions. Every millionaire I know drives old cars, wears Levi’s jeans, etc. They tend to spend more on experiences. A lot of people I know who have fancy stuff usually go into credit card debt in order to fund their lavish lifestyle. It’s strange! Perhaps expensive material possessions are simply a form of validation that rich people usually derive from their work, their family, friends, etc, which may not necessarily be the case for the average consumer. I’m almost certain that the 1% isn’t the main clientele for any luxury brand in the US.”

I’m very sure these observations apply here, too.

8. 9 mistakes you’re making on LinkedIn that are putting off recruiters and making it harder to find a job – Business Insider

I had the pleasure of having a long chat with a Grab driver who used to be in the headhunting business. He earned a living by finding compatible candidates for companies. His main tool to find those candidates? LinkedIn.

There might be companies looking for someone exactly like you and are prepared to offer a higher salary. Go and polish your LinkedIn profile now, so headhunters and recruiters can find you easier.

9. Deep Thought App – Keyword ‘Money’

Deep Thought App is a project by Malaysian Aizat Faiz, which compiles thought-provoking questions under many, many categories. You can ask yourself these questions (great for self-reflection) and also submit your answers.

Of course, I’m sharing the page with keyword ‘money’ for personal finance-related questions. Some popular questions include:

Go add your answers, then share your profile link here!

10. What you do is not why you do it – Finding your purpose at work – The Ladders

If you’re reading this, chances are you do some sort of work for a living. Can I ask what is your ‘why’? Your personal purpose?

That’s the topic of the article, or rather a transcription of a conversation between Simon Sinek (the bestselling author and leadership expert, famous TED Talk speaker) and Jordan Harbinger on The Jordan Harbinger Show.

It’s only fair if I share mine, I guess. I write for a living – that’s what I do. I guess my ‘why’ is the fulfilment that comes from helping people figure out this money thing? Demystifying finances, making it less scary, more approachable? I guess this is my fulfilment, my ‘why’ 🙂


That’s it for this round, catch you next time! Want to submit a link you thought was great? Reach out to me on FB or Twitter.

To read past link roundups, please click here.


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2 Comments

  1. damn… I need to come back here to your blog more often when I am looking for good articles, especially now that Medium has paywall and FB is just – not the place. Thanks for this!

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