books Archives - Ringgit Oh Ringgit

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books

09 ^th
March

What’s On My Bookshelf: What I Read and HIGHLY RECOMMEND

Posted by Suraya - 4 Comments

Let’s just skip the whole ‘why reading is important’ part because you already know that and I don’t want to insult your intelligence.

After showing you the contents of my bag, today I want to show you another aspect of my personal life: the books I read. These are the worldviews and ideologies that shape me: I am who I am because of these materials. Everything I write is directly or indirectly influenced by these authors.

My bookcase contains more than personal finance books. I read a wide variety of topics, mostly non-fiction. If you want personal finance-specific book recommendations, do check out these articles instead:

Without further ado, let’s start. I’m not going to list ALL of my books, just the ones that truly made me think and self-reflect, even years after I read them. Some of them also inspired RoR articles (I’ll link them too).

Have fun checking out what’s on my bookshelf. As if you need a reason to buy more books, lol.

20 ^th
May

Link Roundup #27: 10 Things to Know This Week

Posted by Suraya - 1 Comment

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. 9 things no one tells you when you’re starting a business – The Ladders

It’s a bit oversimplified, but serves as a nice checklist of things you probably don’t know when you’re starting a business, especially if you’re jumping from salaried life to self-employment life.

The 9 things are:

Begin with revenue. Your ideas are great, but how will it bring in the money?
Protect your IP. Things get stolen all the time.
Market yourself. Not just your products and services.
Know your ‘why’. The reason for it all.
Understand yourself so you can make great hires. Hire people who are good at what you’re not good at. Take the DISC personality test.
You are NOT the boss. The customers are the boss (but that doesn’t mean you can’t fire them.)
Build a structure and find balance. Find a routine that works and won’t burn you out.
Build a tax savings account and emergency savings. Practical
Embrace change and challenges. You’ll be putting your problem-solving skills to the test.

Any of you want to add on to this list? Add them in the comments section.

24 ^th
April

10 Best Books to Learn About Investing, According to Malaysians (With Video Summaries)

Posted by Suraya - 5 Comments

Spoiler alert: the best books to learn about investing will never teach you about getting rich fast and making quick money.

Instead, they almost always focus on playing the long game, discussing the right mindset and building a strong foundation in understanding fundamentals, like how the economy works.

At least, that’s what I learned when I asked for best book recommendations specific to investing in a personal finance group. It was kind of a humble pie moment – I thought I read a lot, but I’ve only read one out of the 10 books on this list!

For your (and my) benefit, I’ve compiled the recommendations here, along with their video summaries. Here are some best books to learn about investing, suitable for beginners as a starting point all the way to experts to use as refresher material.

#1 – Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

16 ^th
July

Link Roundup #6: 10 Things to Know This Week

Posted by Suraya - 2 Comments

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 Much Money You Save by Cooking at Home – Forbes

The data is from US, but it’s still a fascinating read. They compared between restaurant, meal kit delivery (not common in Malaysia I think) and cost of ingredients and found that you can save up to five times more by cooking all your meals at home! Another point of interest: ordering protein-based meals from restaurants are more worth it if compared to carb-based meals.

Granted, the US does not have our mamak slash cheap food culture. You can get food relatively cheap here. Personally I’m a big fan of rice + dhal, and that’s fairly nutritious and maybe cost a few ringgits at the most.

Whether we’re willing to give up our food obsession is another story, though. Trying out different cuisines is practically a national hobby.