Painless Way to Clear Your Debts

Just a few days back a friend of mine was complaining that his economic situation was bad and that he was under huge amounts of debt. He had his credit card debt and his car loan that he has not paid for a few months now, not forgetting his wife's car that has expired road tax and insurance.

While we were chatting on further, he revealed to me that just last month, both, he and his wife got a pay rise. Well, it is a very good thing to happen, since most other people are either retrenched or afraid of that happening to them soon with the economy showing no sign of major improvement. And yet they still find that they are almost penniless by the end of the month.

How can this happen, I wonder. You are used to live by almost 20% lesser income. Now that you have more, definitely you should be able to save more or pay off your debts.The answer lies in our own attitude. How much self control do we have? Are we disciplined enough to control our finances? Do we make a budget every month? Purchasing expensive items and gifts just to impress others or to show-off shouldn't be in our priority list at all.

If you are serious in clearing off your debts, I would suggest that you continue to live with the salary amount that you have been getting before this. The increment amount that you have now (the balance) should be used to pay your debts. You would not feel the pinch much when you apply this technique because you are not used (yet) to live with more money. So the additional money is channelled straight to whatever financial purpose you may have - clear debts, make investments, have savings, etc.

I am practising this method, and I can say that its really worth it!

Economic crunch hits docs and patients

As I was just discussing with my dad about one other effect that the economic crunch would likely have, this article published in the Star came in a timely manner for me to post it here. All this while I had thought that the medical profession was a 'retrenchment-proof' job and you were considered safe if you had the word 'Dr' in front of your name. The article below tells us otherwise.

Tuesday March 31, 2009

By FOONG PEK YEE

pekyee@thestar.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR: The economic slowdown is biting hard even in the medical profession, causing keen competition in government clinics, with private practitioners also scrambling to get a share of overtime payments.

Several government clinics are now operating much longer, up to 9.30pm daily, with doctors manning them paid RM80 an hour in overtime payments.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who acknowledged the keen competition going on between government and private doctors for overtime payments, said:

“Many doctors, irrespective of whether they are in the government or private sector, are very keen to earn extra income these days.”

Liow said that to cater to the increasing number of patients seeking treatment at government clinics, the number of clinics providing outpatient treatment would be increased from 16 to 31 soon.

Besides these clinics, he said 59 hospitals were also providing similar treatment after office hours.

Patients pay RM1 each for outpatient treatment at government clinics, which record more than 50 million such visits annually.

With private practitioners charging at least RM15 per visit and with the economic slowdown causing people to tighten their belts, more and more patients are heading to government clinics.

“With more people seeking treatment at government clinics, opening up more such clinics between 5pm and 9.30pm will make it more accessible, especially for those who are working,’’ Liow said in an interview.

The minister said he had received feedback from private doctors on poor business in their clinics due to the economic slowdown.

On allegations that government doctors were being favoured over private practitioners to work overtime in the government clinics, he said:

“The faster approval for government doctors could be due to the fact that their credentials are readily available for checking.”

“As for the private doctors, it may take longer to verify them,’’ he said, adding that all doctors applied for the overtime online.

Severe Infections Lands Me in the Hospital

Not enough with year 2008's lousy closing, 2009's opening was even more devastating for me. For those who may have been wondering of my absence of more than a month, this is the reason: I was admitted in the hospital for severe infections. To complicate things even further, blood samples sent to the lab were returned with mismatched results!

Getting admitted into the hospital is not a good idea at all, if you ask me. Prolonged stay there can cause you to get sicklier as well. Not forgetting the boredom that comes with staring at the four walls when you are awake and the pain that comes when doctors and nurses come to prick you for setting an IV drip and collecting blood samples from you.Ouch!!!

Friends who visited me joked that my name would definitely be the top on the list for retrenchment, looking at the serious economic situation we are in right now. This was also the time it made us realise the importance of having a proper/sufficiently covered medical card (insurance). At least you won't have an additional stress worrying about huge medical bills that will be handed to you on discharge from the hospital.

I'm just glad I'm back home. Home sweet home.

Boycotting American Products

In almost all Muslim countries, the collective cry to stop the war against the innocents in Palestine is heard. Some countries, if not all of them, even went to the extent of boycotting Israeli/Jewish/ American products. Yes, products like McDonald's, Nokia, Coca Cola and Starbucks Coffee!

Don't get me wrong. I'm all against war and especially if it is affecting innocent women and children. But this? Leaders of countries calling for a boycott of products from those countries? I don't think so.. In fact, I feel that those 'leaders' are on their way to successfully create a worse situation of an economic downturn.

Stopping me from going to Starbucks or McDonald's would not redirect me to any other local stalls. Instead, I'm going to tighten my wallet. And if this actually happens, won't there be lesser money being circulated in the market? And therefore forcing the economic situation to take for the worse? Wrong timing/situation for personal finance education???

If things are headed the way it is, 2009 isn't going to be any better and if those leaders out there are not thinking about having a solution to this financial turmoil we are facing and instead taking actions based on their emotions. Leaders should not try to make use of this situation to gain cheap publicity and for their own political gains. I'm sure all of us want peace and there are other ways to end this problem. Don't you all agree?

Happy New Year 2009!

The year 2008 was definitely a year of ups and downs. It started off with a good dose of ups but decided to close the curtains with an equally matching and challenging collection of downs. Many are still stuck with the downs of 2008. Don't let your hopes down. Don't forget that the 2009 is here now. Believe that it will lift you out of your troubles brought by 2008.

May God continuously bless us all with long life, good health and great provisions!