link roundup
Link Roundup

Link Roundup #84: 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. Why Buying the Dip is a Terrible Investment Strategy – Of Dollars and Data

‘BUY THE DIP!!1!’

No. That’s a horrible strategy. The maths prove it: invest every month > invest only during market dips.

(Even better is invest every month AND buy the dip)

2. The 9 skills that will help you ‘get promoted faster and receive top performance reviews,’ according to a career expert – CNBC Make It

Rather than expanding on the 9 skills, this article expands on the traits of an energizer. They tend to do these nine things more systematically than others:

  1. I strike an effective balance between tapping people in my network to get work done and connecting with them on a personal level, unrelated to our work.
  2. I maintain a balance between what I ask for and what I contribute to the people I work with.
  3. I consistently do what I say I’m going to do and follow through on commitments I make.
  4. I am committed (and show this commitment) to principles and goals that are larger than my own self-interest.
  5. In meetings and conversations, I engage others in realistic possibilities that capture their imaginations and hearts. 
  6. I’m fully attentive in my interactions, and show interest in others and their ideas.
  7. I create room for others to be a meaningful part of conversations and make sure they see how their efforts will contribute to a plan. 
  8. When I disagree with someone’s plan or a course of action, I do so in a way that focuses attention on the issue at hand, and not the individual.  
  9. I maintain a balance between pushing towards a goal and welcoming new ideas that improve the process for reaching a goal. 

The opposite of an energizer is a ‘de-energizer’, and they’re not fun to work with.

3. Societies that treat women badly are poorer and less stable – The Economist

High numbers of domestic abuse cases. Sexual Harassment Bill objected by the Malaysian Employer’s Federation. Malaysian mothers blocked from passing on their citizenship to their children.

It sucks that we have to use the ‘don’t treat us badly because you’ll suffer too’ argument. It sucks that some of my sisters live with fear of being abused and killed, even by their own family members and romantic partners. It sucks to beg and fight for it but I’ll do it again and again just so we will eventually live in an equal society.

4. 6 Things to Know about Dividend Reinvestment Plan in Malaysia – Marcus Keong

If you’re into stocks, find out about the Dividend Reinvestment Plan. Apparently you can open an account online now!

5. Too much free time may be almost as bad as too little – American Psychological Association

Researchers analyzed the data from 21,736 Americans who participated in the American Time Use Survey between 2012 and 2013. Participants provided a detailed account of what they did during the prior 24 hours—indicating the time of day and duration of each activity—and reported their sense of well-being.

The researchers found that as free time increased, so did well-being, but it leveled off at about two hours and began to decline after five. Correlations in both directions were statistically significant.

This is excellent information. Having time is good, but TOO much isn’t. The sweet spot is actually around 2 hours of free time a day.

The conclusion:

“Our findings suggest that ending up with entire days free to fill at one’s discretion may leave one similarly unhappy. People should instead strive for having a moderate amount of free time to spend how they want. In cases when people do find themselves with excessive amounts of discretionary time, such as retirement or having left a job, our results suggest these individuals would benefit from spending their newfound time with purpose.” 

6. How digital-currency investors differ from the general population – The Economist

The study is US-specific, but WOAH. Given how crypto investors are given this bad stereotype of being rash and having ‘gambling’ mindset. The outcome of the study disproves that. Crypto investors (in the US at least) are richer and better educated than the rest of the adult population.

I wonder how’s the case in Malaysia.

7. Meet Five Women Who Founded Their Own Businesses After They Turned 50 – Martha Stewart

Here are some successful old women to serve as your business inspiration. (Old is just a descriptor and not a bad word).

8. 6 Weird To-Do Tips to Improve Your Mood and Productivity – Make Use Of

I’m adding this here because I personally use tip #6 – Keep a victories list. I *LOVE* striking off a task off my list, it feels so good!

Sometimes, I even add unplanned and completed things to my to-do list just so I can strike it off lol. I mean why not who’s gonna stop me!

9. I am worried about Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) – Between the Money

Excellent article by Between the Money on BNPL (buy now, pay later services). You already know it is bad for impulsive shoppers. However even the ‘disciplined’ ones too may end up choosing the higher priced products and/or add more products where BNPL is offered.

For example, instead of buying the RM200 pair of shoes, you may get the RM600 one, split into 3 x RM200 payments, AND/OR buy the shoes PLUS some other accessories.

So, if you’re tempted to use BNPL, make sure NOT to upgrade okie.

10. Personal Finance Malaysia Creators that I follow and recommend! – The Personal Finance Challenge

Happy belated Malaysia Day! So thankful to the Malaysian personal finance community – in this space, everyone from different backgrounds shares helpful money tips with each other

We have grown so much in the last 10 years – when I first started, most of the content was from US and not applicable here! Now there are so many amazing personal finance content creators. I am very thankful and very much look forward to continuing learning from everyone 🙂

Special thanks to Personal Finance Challenge channel for including me in this particular list of PF content creators 🙂

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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