Cancel your credit card before you die.......... (Hilarious!)

Just received this joke via email. Hope you people out there enjoy this too... the lighter side of finance!

Now some people are really stupid!!!! Be sure and cancel your credit cards before you die. This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see happening, customer service being what it is today.

A lady died this past January, and Citibank billed her for February and March for their annual service charges on her credit card, and added late fees and interest on the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 when she died, but now somewhere around $60.00.

A family member placed a call to Citibank. Here is the exchange:

Family Member: 'I am calling to tell you she died back in January.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'Maybe, you should turn it over to collections.'
Citibank: 'Since it is two months past due, it already has been.'
Family Member: So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?'
Citibank: 'Either report her account to frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both!'

Family Member: 'Do you think God will be mad at her?'
Citibank: 'Excuse me?'
Family Member: 'Did you just get what I was telling you - the part about her being dead?'
Citibank: 'Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor.'

Supervisor gets on the phone:

Family Member: 'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in January with a $0 balance.'
Citibank: 'The account was never closed and late fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member: 'You mean you want to collect from her estate?'
Citibank: (Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'
Family Member: 'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was given)
Citibank: 'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'
Family Member: 'Sure.' (Fax number was given)

After they get the fax:

Citibank: 'Our system just isn't setup for death. I don't know what more I can do to help.'
Family Member: 'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. She won't care.'
Citibank: 'Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.' (What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member: 'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank: 'That might help...'
Family Member: ' Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129, Plot Number 69.'
Citibank: 'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member: 'And what do you do with dead people on your planet???

(Priceless!!)

10 Top Things To Check For When Buying An Apartment/Condominium

As I just moved into my own apartment, I'd like to share some of my experience as well as the mistakes I made when I bought it. Hope it would be beneficial to others.

Security
One of the main reason people move in to apartments these days is security. So make sure that sufficient security officers are at duty. You can even try to enter the apartment and see how difficult/easy it is to gain access. From there, you can judge on your own the efficiency of the security in that apartment before you decide to purchase your unit.

Piping system
Living in an apartment is a lot more different from living in a house. In a house all repairs have to be taken care by the house owners themselves. However, in an apartment you are responsible for your neighbours too. For example, if your neighbour right below your apartment unit complains of leakage from his ceiling, you have to take action to rectify this problem. If not, he can even sue you! But be careful, as you won't be able to detect leakage in your own walls if the property is painted with a new coat of paint.(as I am facing now!)

Distance
Ensure that the property is close to whatever facilities you require such as shops, school, workplace, mother-in-law's house, etc. mmm...maybe you want it to be really far for this last point..:)

Parking
If you own a car, make sure you get an allocated parking space. If you need additional parking space,(maybe your spouse owns a car too) check for the charges and whether they are covered or not.If you expect frequent visitors, then you have to consider visitor's parking as well. Some apartments are really facing problems in this area and resort to double parking (as I've faced before especially in the heart of the city) and this makes the area really congested and not an ideal place to live in.

Public transport
Some people depend on public transport very much. For those in that category, make sure you can get your preferred transport easily. And if you have to travel a bit to the nearest train station, consider the amount you have to fork out for that near distance as well as time taken to get there. However, expect lots of noise and pollution in a place where there is good public transport system.

Occupancy rate
Please check with the management office about the occupancy rate. An ideal situation would be occupancy rate of between 80%-90%. Higher occupancy rate means that the value of the property has a fair chance of appreciating in the future. You will also find it easy to rent out your unit in case you decide to do so in the future. (I made a mistake here too.)

Neighbours
Know your neighbours and love them! Make sure your neighbours are the exact kinds that you would enjoy or comfortable living with.If you are in a multi-racial society, ensure it has a well accepted ratio of people from all communities. If you have kids, ensure that it will be a healthy environment for them to grow up.

Position
It is very important to consider the position of the apartment (whether it faces north, south, east, west) as well as the arrangement of the living room, toilet, kitchen and hall in it. As more have started believing and practicing the ancient geomantic sciences such as Feng Shui and Vaastu Shastra, you will find it easier to sell later on if you have adhered to these principals as well.

Lift/Escalator services
Ensure that there are sufficient number of lifts and they are serviced periodically.In case you are looking at an apartment without these services, try to get a unit on a 1st or 2nd floor. Ground floor would be too noisy and climbing up 5 floors daily wouldn't be a comfortable experience!

Age of building
By knowing the age of the property you are going to invest in, you can roughly estimate the repairs that you have to do such as wiring, plumbing, etc. Apart from that, if the property is a lease-hold, you know how long you can continue living in the same place and after some time, if you plan to mortgage the house to take loans, you have a rough idea from now itself the ease/difficulty that you will face.

If you have any experiences you would like to share, I would love to hear from you.

Fast money anyone?

Almost everyone that I know of wants to be rich fast. No patience in waiting to grow their wealth. Well, probably that includes me too, when I was much younger.However, after dabbling with various websites,blogs, magazines, books,classes and seminars, I've managed to slowly crawl out of my shell.

The group that falls mostly in this category are the ones aged between 20-35. At least that's what I find when I talk to my friends of that age group. I figured that while less than 20 would not have worries or plans about their financial future (because most probably they are still depending on their parents for survival), those above 35 must have had their share of life's experiences for them to have a different opinion.

During that age(20-35), as I recall clearly, me and my friends used to sneak into casinos and illegal gambling spots that kept mushrooming in the city to fulfill the needs of high adrenaline rush in youngsters like us. And make money we did!

My personal favourite was the Russian Roulette and Horse Racing (computer animated). We used to do all crazy stuffs, especially when it was pertaining to bring us luck. After a while lady luck seemed to get bored and decided to leave us.

Then, slowly we began to 'graduate' and move on to more serious ventures known to many as 'Get-Rich-Quick-Schemes' or 'High-Yield-Investment-Products'. Those agents/con-men that we met were really convincing enough for us to part with our money. The main reason people are still throwing in their money in these kind of schemes despite reminders and warnings from the authorities is plain greed. People just can't let go of the idea of being rich overnight and are willing to take BIG risk for that.

There are plenty of those schemes out there, both local and foreign ones, but I'm not going to list them here. Some deals are done face-to-face while others make use of the technology where they come up with really professional looking websites and systems to attract their potential 'victims'.

Then as I grew more matured (or so I thought),I started going into the stock market, without the slightest knowledge about the vast financial world out there. The result? Burnt my fingers of course! But it was a worthy experience, since I learnt it at quite a young age, now I can restrain myself from going into the stock market just by relying on 'tips' from friends.

So, now whenever I advise people to invest in a more reliable and trusted source (such as mutual funds,etc.) and they don't seem to agree or understand, I just remain silent. After all, I've been in their shoes before!

How Much is Enough?

When I was just working as a part-time clerk in the bank, my basic salary plus allowance and overtime roughly brought in RM1500. I did not know the value of it then, but figured that it must have been quite low since it was only a clerk's salary.

All the money earned was either spent (not all of it) or saved in a normal savings account. It actually brought a smile on my face each time I checked the balance because it kept growing from month to month. In short, I had more than enough.

My expenses were kept to a bare minimum because I still lived with my parents, commuted using public transport and meals were at the local stalls that served reasonably good food at a low price. Oh, and before I forget, I was still not married then!

Now, after almost a decade later, earning more than double the 1st salary, I'm still trying to figure out where my money goes at the end of every month. Currently married (dear wifey is also working), living in my own house, own 2 cars and have applied my knowledge of diversification to some extent in my investments. A big portion of the salary is used to pay off our fixed overhead expenses.

However, our day-to-day living is a real example of frugal living. Definitely no extras to spend like those days! At such, can you say that earning more would be enough? What is your take on this matter?

I’m tagging the Digerati Life, and thetaoofmakingmoney. If I didn’t tag you and you want to answer, tell me in the comments or post it on your own blog and post the link in the comments.

Clocking in the extra hours in your current job or putting in the hours separately to build an alternative income stream?

Lazy Man's article prompted me to write this article.

We all want to have a comfortable life, provide good things for the family, etc. To achieve this, we see people spending more than half of their lifetime at work. They clock-in more hours as to accompish more task set by their bosses and impress them. Their full concentration and
undivided attention is given to their bosses (and job).Is this a smart move?

On the other side of the coin, we also get to hear people working more than 1 job at a time. Yes, multi-tasking is not limited to computers only. Beware computers, human beings are catching up! This is not something that was probably heard at all during our grandparents' time.
Some people prefer to have an alternative source of income with a 2nd or 3rd job.

What do you stand to gain by the first method - working longer & harder in your current job?

• potential for promotion and enjoy the perks and benefits that comes with it
• strong excuse when demanding for a pay rise
• more responsibility
• more security as some people see it

Advantages of the 2nd method - alternative source of income:

• you set the targets of how much you want to make
• work is based on your own flexibility
• no one is blowing down your neck
• you decide what you want to do to bring in the income (can also be a hobby that started to pay off)
• if you are persistent enough, your alternative source of income can balloon into a main source and become your new career or business
  

Personally, I would choose the 2nd method (this blog is a proof of that! ha.. ha.. ha. :) ). Anyone has anything to share or have other opinions, please do.