link roundup
Link Roundup

Link Roundup #41: 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. 13 Things Rich People Never Waste Their Money On – Family Handyman

The 13 things are (prepare to feel defensive):

  • Impulse buys
  • Extreme inheritances
  • TV channels and video games (do NOT take my Netflix and Steam away from me!!!)
  • Luxury brands
  • An over-priced home
  • Buying instead of renting
  • Pricey grooming
  • Multiple credit cards
  • Late fees
  • Things that don’t last
  • Stuff over experiences
  • Retirement (basically, the rich don’t plan on quit working, so you better like what you do)
  • Gambling

Click on the article link to read the justification for each.


2. We Can Help Poor People by Treating Them With Respect – Time

Once, I sat on a panel to give feedback on startup ideas designed by youths.

One of them came up all confidently, presenting their idea – a sleeping bag for the homeless. The padding makes it comfortable and will give them a good night sleep right there on the sidewalks of KL, they said.

Don’t get me wrong. The intention is good.

It’s so condescending though. 

Sometimes – and here I’m speaking of myself, too – our privilege makes us blind to challenges that other people face. The poor want and need help, yes, but with their consultation and feedback. What we might *think* is useful is often… not.

It’s also like how some people argue against giving children of well-to-do parents free food in schools. They say that only poor kids deserve that kind of help.

Again, I get their intention. Maximising the use of the money to those who need them the most.

But did you know in some countries where they earmark the food for poor kids, the kids themselves chose to starve themselves because they didn’t want the humiliation of being identified as poor among their peers?

Think of this when you do charity work. Your version of good may not be your recipient’s version of good.

3. 4 Ways To Earn Passive Income By Working Smarter – Forbes

I usually balk at all of these ‘passive income’ tips – mostly because they’re never really passive, so it’s incredibly misleading – but these tips by Nicole Walters are really good. She’s the person behind the $1K1Day Academy, the course designed for entrepreneurs.

I also like that Nicole is a woman and a POC, so her experiences and tips have better nuance than the ones usually given by white men (who typically face much less challenges).

4. Entrepreneurs Use Vision Boards. The Results Are Backed by Neuroscience – Inc

!!! A fun yet practical project – creating a vision board!

This is actually very challenging for me because I’m not a particularly visual person – I like words (this explains why I make my living as a writer). Forcing myself to do the vision board with just images and without text will be a new experience 🙂

5. How the German concept of ‘Sitzfleisch’ can help you achieve greater efficiency The Ladders

Sitzfleisch translates literally as “sit-flesh,” but the German word has a strong connotation to productivity.

In German, if someone ‘has a lot of Sitzfleisch’, it figuratively means they can endure lengthy or boring tasks until they’re done.

Sitzfleisch is the antidote to procrastination — getting through hard periods of uninterrupted work.

Sometimes, that’s all there is to it, eh? There’s really no way to make it more ‘fun’.  You just have to soldier on regardless how lengthy or boring it is.

6. Story archetypes and their use in digital marketing strategies The Drum

Want to know why you like the branding of one particular brand over another? It’s not coincidental, you know. Companies carefully craft their messaging in order to attract you (or rather, your money).

You fit into one (or a few) of the archetypes.

For example, if you identify within the archetype The Lover, you are: ‘Appreciative, passionate and committed, the lover’s purpose in life is to make people feel special. Brands tap into this feel-good attitude by creating compelling digital marketing strategies that pleasure the senses. A great fit for aesthetically beautiful brands, especially very exclusive ones, such as Hermes.’

Recommendation: take the ‘which is your archetype’ quiz, then click on the article to read how messages are crafted to be appealing to yours archetypes. Note: It’s possible to get a combination of archetypes.

7. When You Should Quit Your Job Without Having Another One Lined Up – Harvard Business Review

Because some things are not worth the money. Quit your job:

  • When you believe something illegal or unethical is going on at work and you are concerned it will reflect badly on you
  • When your current job is negatively affecting your health and your life outside of work

Make sure to plan it to the best of your ability though. Do what you need to do to have enough emergency savings. Let your contacts know you’re looking for other opportunities. Minimise your expenses and commitments. All that.

8. List of Fintech Startups and Fintech Companies in Malaysia (2019) FintechNews Malaysia

I *know* this image took a lot of effort to compile and create, so kudos to the FintechNews MY team! Nice snapshot of the Malaysian fintech space.

9. How To Respond When Asked: What Salary Were You Expecting? – Inc

Somewhat related – apparently its fairly common practice in Malaysia that companies interviewing you for a role would ask you to list down salaries you made in your previous employment. It’s happened to me too.

I just want to say… You can treat those as optional. I’ve left those sections blank before AND gotten job offers.

If they insist, say the role offered is unique and you are open for negotiation after the interview. If they insist again, walk away.

Don’t worry about it too much. It’s not a lost opportunity – you just skipped out a bad employer. (Good) employers know that if they base it solely on price, they will lose the best talents.

10. Why Anti-Aging Products Are So Expensive – Business Insider

I. Hate. Products. That. Capitalise. On. Women’s. Insecurities.

Especially if they can cost this freaking much, due to just freaking marketing and branding.

So it is my great pleasure to share with you, dear friends, that ‘according to skin experts, the lavish ingredients inside aren’t guaranteed or necessarily proven to be more effective than standard moisturizing ingredients.’

So if you need skincare products, just buy the drugstore ones, and save your money for what you’re meant to do – world domination.

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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