My faithful friends - April and Sha

April and Sha, both came into our life on a brilliant October about 7 years ago. April and Sha are Jack Russels, the cutest puppies on the planet. They belong to my brother in law. He told my wife that he temporary needed a place to house April and Sha while he went for a vacation. He never took them back. It was ok for me as April and Sha soon became good companions for my children and the whole family.

Both are very playful and cheeky. April is much more playful. I throw her a ball and she brings it back. April will chase lizards too. Both bark when strangers pass by the house, yet they are friendly with children and friends. April likes me to rub her belly and scratch her back. She is a furry little angel and a monster guard dog all in one.

Grace and Aaron were fond of them. They kept the children company and busy while I worked. When my children went to school, April and Sha kept my aged mother occupied. Otherwise many aged become lonely when their children and grandchildren are not home. In fact my mother treated April and Sha like her 'kids' too. She talked to them. They seemed to talk back to her by barking.

I usually go home very late in the night. Everyone is asleep. No matter how late, April and Sha never fail to welcome me at the gate, wagging their tails cheerfully. April and Sha are my friends.

They are always faithful.

I am going to have a meeting with Johnson tomorrow to update on the listing of the company. I will share with you about it on another day.

Enjoy Nature

Today is Easter Sunday, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified and now risen from the grave. For Christians, it is a victorious day as Jesus has conquered death and those that believe in Him and accept Jesus as Savior will have eternal life.

At 8.45 am, I picked up Stephen, Alicia and John to go to church. They are staying at the Sanctuary service apartment. It costs almost S$500 per day. They will be staying for 10 days and then head off to Jakarta for the Global Internet Summit. My church is only 10 min from where they are staying.

I am glad that they enjoyed their time in Singapore. It could be the food. More so, I think it is the friends they have around here. One time, someone asked me which is my favorite country since I travel so frequently. It really caused me to think. My favorite country need not be the most beautiful or the most dynamic place. It is the place where I have the most friends.

A few days ago, I brought Stephen and John to walk up the Bukit Timah Hill. Bukit Timah Hill at 164 meters is the highest land point in Singapore. The shortest trekking route to the summit follows the forest reserve which is just over 2 km and follows a paved road. We had a great time and it was fun.

The best part of this walk is that we are able to talk and share and get to know each other better.

We spend so much time working and making money that many of us don’t know how to appreciate nature and have fun.

Take time to get away and enjoy nature.

What is your net worth ?

I am at the airport now waiting for my flight to Singapore.

Last night, I did a presentation in Malaysia to 150 people on acquiring businesses and property with no money down. It is an interesting topic that attracted a wide audience. There are those that come and learn and also skeptics who think it is a myth. I shared with them my experiences on how I have acquired businesses and properties with no money or little money. Most of the ideas that I shared are not what ordinary people do. Successful people don't do ordinary things too.

At the end of the talk, I also encouraged them to attend the Financial Mastery seminar on this coming 12-13 May. This seminar is based on the teachings of Robert Kiyosaki.

At the end of the presentation, 25 people rushed to sign up for the seminar. During the question and answer time, one participant asked me what my net worth is. This is the first time someone has asked me this question. It is a very interesting question. Most people do not know how much they are worth. They do not take time to do an audit of themselves. There is also another group of people who are too afraid to know their net worth because they do not want to know the truth. The truth will hurt. They are the escapists. These two groups normally do not plan their finances and their lives. If you do not plan, you will very likely not go anywhere.

Your worth is not necessarily measured in the area of money. To the people who love you, you are priceless. To God, your parents, your children, your friends, you are priceless.
You are not necessarily measured by how much money you have made but how you have contributed to people’s lives. For example, if you provide financial help to a child from a poor family to help him finish his education, he will never forget your kindness.

No one really cares if you have millions for just yourself. If you give to the world your time and money, your net worth will be measured by your legacy.

For the next few months, I will be working on listing one of my businesses. I will be sharing with you the progress. It is hard work but very interesting.

You are invited to comment on my blogs.

Thank you, Richard

powerpoint for "no Money Down"

Hello everyone, here is the powerpoint for my "buying properties and business with no money down" go to www.srpl.net and click on the Financial Mastery picture as shown on the next space.

All the best.

Richard

Don’t get fooled today

Do you realize that today is April fool’s Day? So be on guard, lest you be taken in by an April Fools’ joke. Haha, it would be wise to remember that not everyone has a sense of humor. I must confess that I have played harmless jokes on my friends, college and family on this day. After being serious for more than 300 plus days a year, it is nice to have a day off for jokes. You should be prepared to be fooled on April 1 and not take it to heart.

This morning, I played one joke on Veronica. She was taken in for a few minutes before she realized that it might be an April Fools’ joke. Others were not so fortunate.

The big one was played in front of 200 participants in the seminar we held at the Crown Plaza Riverside Hotel today. I went up to the stage and spoke with a serious tone. “Today is a very unfortunate day. One of you here thinks that you are a smart Alec. During the break, you went to the staff room and tried to be fresh with one of our female staff. You tried to get onto her and tried to kiss her... Even though she told you that she has absolutely no interest, you still persisted on. During the struggle, she took a sharp pencil and struck you and injured your palm. We know who you are. We have informed the police. After this announcement. I'd like to see you behind.” The whole room was in dead silence. Then I took out my hand from my pocket and it was bandaged in red ink. They all started to laugh.

We played a joke on Phoebe. First, I asked Shirlynn to text her and pretend to be Ben, a good looking Chinese guy from Australia whom Phoebe just met. We tricked her to believe that Ben was trying to date her. From the way she responsed, we could feel her heart pounding. She almost freaked out. Kekeke, she will be more careful next year.

We played a joke on Yang Po too. As she is still recovering from her illness, we only planned a mild joke. Hope she laughed at the joke and recovers sooner.

We played a joke on June Yuen. Shirlynn texted June and told her that the seminar was badly organized and that Jessie has broke down, cried and now cannot be found. We were all worried for her. We just managed to stop June as she was booking her air ticket to fly to Kuching to help.

The seminar ended at about 7 pm and we went for dinner behind the hotel. Along the way, we bumped into Kelvin and Michael from Hong Kong. We went back to the same place that Simon took us last night. The seafood is very good there. The only thing lacking is a good dessert. After the dinner, Fabian suggested we go to the Starbuck's nearby.

As we were waiting for the coffee, Douglas whispered in my ear that one of the speakers, Sam has requested that he does not want another speaker, Francis to be in the room when he speaks tomorrow. The reason is that, he does not want Francis to copy his speech. It is a serious matter and can be a potential time bomb if we do not address the issue immediately. I suggested to Douglas that we should call both Sam and Francis to sit together and iron out the differences. Douglas said he will meet them and handle it. We went back to our room. I was worried.

It was 11.50 pm when my phone rang. Alice, Sam’s lovely wife called. “Richard, Douglas and Sam met and Sam was very upset. He has gone to Francis’s room. I am afraid. He might punch him”. My heart dropped to my toe. Sam is a big rough American. Francis will be no match for him. “Where is Douglas?” I asked. The last thing I wanted is to have 2 professional men pounding on one another. “He is going after Sam” Alice replied. “What do you think is the best thing to do?” I asked, at a loss for words. “I don’t know. I thought I'd just let you know”, Alice replied. “Is there anything that Francis did today that upset Sam?” I asked, trying to think hard about my next move. I wanted to go stop the fight but I don’t know in which room Francis is staying. He is on the 17 floor. I am sure there will be a commotion and it will be easy to spot.

“What is the day today?” Alice added. “1 April?, ahhhhhhhhhhhhh .. Alice you fooled me”. I could hear roaring laugher in the background. Only then, I realized that the last joke of the day was played on me.

It is now 11.58pm. 2 minutes to midnite. I don’t have time to get back at them. Alice/Sam/Douglas, I will remember you next year.

PS: I am trying to upload photos of Phoebe, YangPo, Veronica, Ben, Douglas, Jessie and Shirlynn but for some reason I encountered an error. Maybe I will upload later.