link roundup
Link Roundup

Link Roundup #4: 10 Things to Know This Week

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link roundup

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

1. The-Fuck-Over-Ability Index – Millennial Revolution

This content is so good I’m breaking my personal ‘no f word in the blog’ rule. The Fuck-Over-Ability Index is an actual calculator they invented to measure how ‘fucked over’ you are in your life. Said situation is calculated based on how much you need your job because you need to pay your monthly commitments, like mortgages and car payments. The higher your score, the more likely you will put up with your crappiest bosses.

The author admitted they were drunk when they discussed and created this lovely thing. This article is definitely in the category of dark humour.

2. Price’s Law: Why only a few people generate half of the results – Darius Foroux

Turned out to be a motivational article for people who may feel discouraged because they are not among the top performers. Not the angle I expected, so I thought the writing was cool.

3. 9 Daily Extravagance Habits Frugal People Don’t Have – Wallet Hacks

I love it when good storytelling is weaved into personal finance articles, it makes them very enjoyable to read. Here are the points:

  1. Allowing Others to Dictate Your Spending
  2. Forgetting to Comparison Shop
  3. Overpaying for Convenience
  4. Ignoring Stock Up Opportunities
  5. Wasting Food
  6. Paying for Services You No Longer Use
  7. Buying Cheap All The Time
  8. Turning Special Treats into Common Events
  9. Preventing the Diderot Effect

Yeah, it was my first time finding out about Diderot Effect too. It’s ‘a social phenomenon where people buy things that are complementary and when they buy something that isn’t complementary, they feel a need to buy more things to make the whole universe of possessions complimentary’.

4. Meghan Markle Worked Side Hustles. Now She’s the First Gig Economy Royal – Inc

After reading this, my awe for this woman increased significantly. I didn’t know she was beyond ‘actress’, which is what the media use to describe her. Among the gigs she worked aside from acting:

  • Calligrapher
  • Restaurant hostess
  • TV show extra
  • Founder of a lifestyle website

Damn. Now I’m inspired to look for gigs outside what I already do (writing for businesses) so I can earn more.

5. 6 Ways to Learn How to Become a Scopist – World of Scopists

Apparently scopists make good money turning documents from court reporters into final transcripts. I was surprised to find it’s a location-independent-type job!

Tbh I have no idea if this job market exists in Malaysia but we do have courts, so chances are there are professional Malaysian scopists out there. Perhaps. If not, lovely. A nice gap in the market is good for the pocket.

To be a high-demand scopist, you need to be dependable and have good listening/transcribing/technical or legal knowledge. If that sounds like you, check out how to be one in the article.

6. The 4 Kinds of Side Businesses You Can Start – Justin Mare

Bloody good read for those of you wanting to start side businesses as a way to bring in extra income. According to Justin, the four kinds are:

  1. Buy an existing asset
  2. Launch a product on a marketplace with existing demand
  3. Launch a unique, one of a kind product in a new space where you can buy demand (adwords, facebook, etc.)
  4. Arbitrage (craigslist, airbnb, trading, uber)

So which ones are you doing? I’m leaning towards #1 and #3.

7. Why I Moved Closer To Work, And Why You Should Too – Elizabeth Tai

Malaysian blogger! Elizabeth shared her personal upsides after moving closer to her workplace. Those of you with long commutes, I imagine you’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to have short commutes instead. Don’t be too sad reading this okay? Everyone makes sacrifices towards financial freedom. Yours will be worth it someday!

8. New Malaysian Kitchen’s Budget Category 

Sara knows her food – she’s the cookbook author behind One Pot Wonders, Malaysian Meals in 30 Minutes and 3 Ingredient Recipes. I like how Sara makes cooking sound non-threatening to people like me, people who just want fast, easy and nutritional meals! Check out her website’s Budget Section for meal ideas. She has a free e-book on the website, too 🙂

9. Forget early retirement — people who saved enough money to travel for weeks or years say a ‘mini-retirement’ is just as rewarding – Business Insider

Who here is planning a mini-retirement? Who here didn’t know you wanted a mini-retirement until now? Lol.

10. Why Workplaces Need to be Fairer to Working Dads – Harvard Business Review

I’m a feminist, and that’s why I’m sharing this and advocating for fairer workplaces for working dads. In the US, almost 3 out of 4 dads say their workplaces are not supportive of their needs as a father. I’d imagine the same survey would get worse results here in Malaysia!

Paternity leaves will go a long way towards more balanced parental responsibilities. Happier employees = more productive employees. But it’s not about just offering them, it’s also about the culture of taking them. Does any of you work in an environment where they’re encouraged? Please comment if yes, would love to know (and support) those companies.


That’s it for this week, 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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