Link Roundup #16: 10 Things to Know This Week

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 You Can Start a Side Business in 10 Minutes Per Day – Inc

I don’t agree that 10 minutes per day is enough to start and maintain a side business, but I like the idea behind the article – even if you’re swamped with work and chores, spend some time on your side business on a consistent basis because the effort adds up.

Some never get past Step #1 – decide what skills you have and what you can sell. Here are my 2 cents, for what it’s worth. Make your decision based on:

• Something you’re good at, according to friends and family (if they never mentioned it, ask them)
• Noticing problems that do not have solutions yet (protip: hang out with complainers for a bit and you’ll know)
• Something you’ve always wanted to learn (I wanted to know how to build websites; RoR was born this way)
• Skills that you learned from your job or hobby (easiest example: doctors who moonlight on the side)

2. How to overcome laziness and get motivated – Ladders

I’ve always felt guilty over the occasional lazy days, but this article puts it in perspective. It wasn’t laziness, per se. Instead, I was overwhelmed or feared to make the wrong decisions.

For example – starting a side business. If you haven’t, it’s not because you don’t want to or lazy to do it. You want to. You want extra income every month, and a sense of fulfilment and ownership on your own project. But it IS overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s the same with other big projects, like ‘make a website’, or ‘lose weight’.

Big shoutout to all the content creators out there who make ‘Step-by-Step’ and ‘How to’ guides. Isn’t it amazing that all we have to do is type ‘how to x’ in Google and we have all the resources at our disposal? Amazing time we live in.

3. We Went to a Steak Dinner Annuity Pitch. The Salesman Wasn’t Pleased. – The New York Times

Before you ask:

It’s not a common term in Malaysia, but some companies do offer it (Google ‘annuity Malaysia’).

Anyway, the article is about an investment annuity event – and a dodgy one at that – that was marketed specifically to the elderly.

Making a mental note to ask my parents if any of their contacts have approached them with a ‘business opportunity’ or ‘investment opportunity’. I also want to make more effort to remind them that they can discuss with me about any and all money matters.

Adult children of ageing parents, take care of them. It’s unfortunate but there are people out there who see them as easy prey.

4. 35 Mini-Missions To Improve Your Life and Money! – Budgets Are Sexy

What fun missions to play! Remember that thing about small steps adding up? Same thing here! Here’s how Days #1-5 look like:

• Day #1: Opt out of buying 1 thing (tweet)
• Day #2: Pay a bill you’ve been putting off forever (tweet)
• Day #3: Declutter one drawer (tweet)
• Day #4: Pay off $20 of debt (tweet)
• Day #5: Get rid of something you never wear! (tweet)

They’re mostly easy challenges, but as the days go on, you’ll see some not-so-easy challenges in the mix, like:

• Day #9: Buy one stock (tweet)

Woah there. Suddenly escalated.

5. Here Are 10 Ways To Make More Money As A Grab Driver! – RojakPot

Great information for Grab drivers and riders alike. For example, I didn’t know Grab will now change the fare structure to also take time spent on the road into account!

Will this increase fares? Probably :/

6. Payless Opened a Fake Luxury Store, ‘Palessi,’ to See How Much People Would Pay for $20 Shoes – AdWeek

‘The answer? A hell of a lot’

7. Client Didn’t Pay? Here’s What to Do to Get Your Freelance Payment! – LoanStreet

Excellent article for freelancers out there. The next time your client ghosts on you, go make a small claims procedure. All steps in the article.

8. Individual tax exemption for women who return to work from 2019 – News Straits Times

Great news for current stay-at-home career-minded women! If you decide to join the workforce, you’ll get ‘individual tax exemptions of up to 12 months’ – earning you anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand ringgit, depending on how much you earn.

Go make that money.

9. This New Reality TV Series Features Your Favourite Homegrown Brands Fighting For RM250,000 – Says.com

I watched the first episode. Except for the many, many, many shots of Alliance Bank, it’s a pretty decent show. Awesome finalists with good gender ratio (although only comprised of two races):

• Andrew Ngo, Founder of IDOTSHIRT
• Eugene Tan, Founder of Carput
• Karine Low, Founder of Offspring Natural
• Kelly Low, Founder of Breakout
• Keong Chun Chieh, Founder of IGL Coatings
• Dylan Lee Tek Loong, Founder of Salad Atelier
• Mandy Leong, Director of Chriszen
• Muhamad Shahril Bin Sidek, Founder of Klezcar
• Noor Diyana, Co-Founder of OhMostWanted Cosmeceuticals
• See Chaur Yih, Founder of Food Market Hub
• Stephen Lim, Co-Founder of JuiceLab
• Wirdalina Tauhed, Founder of Wirdora

You can watch the show for free here.

10. Are You Ready To Consider That Capitalism Is The Real Problem? – Fast Company

The article is great (seriously, read it), but I mostly want to point out the video that was embedded in the article. It’s only 2 minutes-plus. Watch it.

The video was created by an organisation called The Rules, ‘a global network of activists, organisers, designers, researchers, writers, coders and others dedicated to changing the rules that create inequality, poverty and climate change’.

The organisation’s aims and objectives speak to me. I’d like my money to be used for good. I’d like to see a post-capitalist world, where the value of life and natural resources are not secondary to the amount of profit a company makes.

Who’s with me?

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.