Book Smart versus Street Smart - misconception in learning

     I was sad when I watch at #SayaZAHRA video. Her thinking process shows that there is something wrong in her generation thinking process. Worst, she is a degree holder! Her expectation shows there is a huge gap living in university than the real working world. Many people taught without education they cannot go farther in their life. While many people have misconception with higher qualification they are surely can live in luxury and enjoy their life. There are also a lot of misconception in property investment due to the same thinking process. Although I mentioned these in my previous articles, some people never learn. So, let me begin many misconception in our life by starting from life in education environment.

1. Misconception in learning
    a) Education is just a stepping stone.

• Many people thought higher qualification can guarantee prosperous life, high salary, easy life, live in luxury et etc.
• In vice versa, many people said without education (degree or above) one has no place to grow, difficult to become rich, face a hard life et etc.
• The truth is education is just a stepping stone for us to begin at a higher level, has better option where to start, what field to choose et. etc. But what is more important is what are we going to do once we work than where we begin. Many people don't realize that what they do as they begin their working life was actually being shaped while they were learning in universities...including the bad habits.
• There are many successful people who began their life without higher qualification.
• There are also many educated people (degree or above) who end up in their life with just mediocre achievement.
• You need to meet more people and read more to find out the reality.
• In some countries, there are entrepreneurship programs where people skip their degree and straight away concentrate on the business and technology which they can grow on their own.

     b) Wrong habits will re-enforce wrong philosophy

• Many students learn new knowledge and skills in university. But, they don't realize they also cultivate bad habits during their life in universities.
• These are some bad examples which lead to bad habits when they work:

          i. Many students simply copy other people works and claim they are theirs.
         ii. They don't really understand what they have copied or do.
        iii. Never bother what happen in campus, not involve in community activities in universities
         iv. Never bother to investigate their lecturers' advice especially job opportunities
          v.  Never bother to spend time to learn something outside the classroom or book 

• They actually seen these bad habits on their friends but they are successful in getting good grades. The common mantra: if I do like all other people done, I can also be successful like them. 
• No. Copycats are easily outdated. Why should your employers pay expensively for something out of touch!? Are you going to pay expensively for something you can easily get?
• I should learn the subjects because it is easy to understand and score good grades. 
• No. Easy subjects are for routine works with low pay. I must learn something difficult but widely in demand so that i will stay relevant to industry and get high pay. If your work in industry is easy and can be done by a lot of other people, then you are in trouble.
• The accumulation of wrong habits will shape wrong philosophy in your life, continuously create wrong habits in life, and solving wrong problems. So you don't gain much while the world is getting more complicated.

      c) Glamorous subject cannot provide security in future

• This is a very common thought in students when they choose elective subjects: easy to score, easy going lecturer, easy going content. You should read above why this is bad.
• When I studied in USA, I took two elective subjects that were never taken by Malaysian students before in my university. I end up using a lot of them in my work today.
• Some people prefer to take glamorous course. They like the attention they thought they will get. No.
• Glamour does not last long. It is easily being killed. You should learn practical course and high job demand in present and future.
• Many my former students ignore my advice to focus on electronic design work. Some of them work in production. Now even Intel can easily terminate people who work in the production.
• Students always afraid to take design courses. They are difficult, time consuming and difficult to get A grade. But these subjects can guarantee you to get good pay as a fresh worker.
• Most of my undergraduate students who work in semiconductor industry in Penang will get pay between RM3,000++ to RM3,500++. But, I have a few undergraduate students who got starting salary at RM4,000++ in Johor Bahru! And they are still looking for new recruits.

     d) I can spend time at the last minute to understanding all the learning material

• A street smart know that the moment they face is always the one and only time they have to understand the subject matter being discussed. They cannot wait to bring home the material, read later, and make decision at the last minute. If they don't understand, they will immediately ask. If there are too many related things they do not understand, they will discuss face to face with the speaker privately or read related books.
• Many people lost their money because of this.
• Quick Rich Scheme depends on your greediness and confusion to make money out of you.
• Swindler depends on your confusion to make money out of you.

      e) Learning from the lecture is not enough

• Many students never do extra work when they learn any subject. Some subjects are crucial to do more than what being told in class.
• Once you work, definitely you will have a hard life to identify relevant extra tasks to gain more knowledge, skills and income.
• The more you know the detail in the subject, the more skillful you will be and the more employers want to hire you or give you a lucrative raise.
• Without this skills, some degree holder will end up involve in direct selling. Why do you bother want to do what people without qualification can do? The rosy picture being told upon you by those people are not necessarily true or relevant to you. Many my former students were trapped in this life situation.

     f) Experience is the best teacher

• You can learn from successful people especially the one without higher qualification. Their struggle should be your inspiration.
• You can speed up your learning process by attending short courses. But, when you are young and energetic, you may also learn on your own or asking around.
• People get higher pay because they have more experience. Doing the same thing or the same technique in your learning years cannot help you to accumulate new experience.
• Getting involve in community work can give you the opportunity to see how and what you learn is being used in real life.

     g) Living in your real life is the best university

• Many thought all they need to know to be a successful worker can be learned in classes and provided in university. 
• No. University can only provide minimum knowledge to prepare you for various industry. University cannot focus only on one industry. It is up to you to be specialized in which industry and job functions. 
• Most of the time, it is the thinking process being taught. A correct thinking process can guarantee you future success. 
• Only 20% what you learn is immediately useful while the rest is up to you to explore your abilities.
• The first 5 years in your working life is more critical than 5 years in college. The faster you learn to adopt good philosophy and work ethics, the faster you can grow. Most of these can only be really understood and realize when you live in working world.
• Sometimes you don't immediately get monetary gain from what you learn, but if you focus on your work, the rewards will reach you when you have reach the minimum knowledge and skills threshold.
• Street smart guy are attending this university all their working life. They grow and get more income as fast as they can learn and improve themselves.

 Next I will talk about misconception in life and wealth accumulation.

Developed versus Under Development Property

     My first house was bought in May 1997 after it was launched. It is a medium low cost and 2 storey house. At that time, my salary was small as a fresh engineer. I just worked in the industry for almost two years when I seriously started looking for a house. I did not have much money allocated for the down payment. There was also supply shortage which drive the house prices up. The ratio between house price and salary was as bad as in 2013. To make the situation worst, the loan interest was very high. 9% loan was common. The only good news was job vacancies were abundant. You can demand higher salary if you were willing to do job hopping.  Since my salary was still below average, I had to choose among various medium low cost houses. It was a bad mistake.

Renovated last year with new poach, walls and gate

     By the time my loan was approved, the house was about to be completed. I had only to pay for 2 months interest under development. The house allocated to me was not a strategic one. It was located almost at the edge of the whole phases of development. The master plan of the whole development in the next 10 years looked attractive. But, I was not familiar with the concept of developer's track record and reputation. The worst mistake I  made was failure to anticipate national economy health. After struggling for 16 years, it was fully paid. Now the rent rate is very attractive and all the income is mine. :)

The poach can only fit a car

My second house was bought in July 2000 after the house was completed. It is a medium cost and 1 1/2 storey house. There were surplus of new houses in the market since the market still in the process to recover from 1998 crash. Many completed new houses were not sold. This is an advantage to me since this gave me the luxury to choose the right house for me. My main priority was the house for my living must be very close to my work location. It looked a bit expensive at the time. But my employer has a strong economy effect to surrounding area even for the next 30 years. This greatly justify my house selection. Buying a completed property has the advantages to look closely the quality of the house, checking the surrounding area, and gives better picture of the future situation.  By the time my loan was approved and the fund was paid to the developer, I had only have to pay for a month interest.

     My third house was purchased in February 2013 before the phase was launched. SPA was signed in October. My original plan was to buy a shop office at the area. While surveying the area with my wife, the salesgirl insists us to take a look at the pre-launch houses. It was the last phase of the entire development. It is a medium cost, cluster and 2 storey house. There was no exact show house for the phase. Thus, I have to rely on the show houses of previous phases. In addition, developer's reputation and track records were the benchmarks. Currently, the house is almost finished its development as shown in the pictures.

The architecture is the latest state of the art

At the center right is the traffic light of the main road to UTM (right) or Pekan Nenas (left)

     I choose the house because its close proximity to my work place, gated guarded and there is a swimming pool! My extra bonus was it is a corner house. So there are a lot of extra land. As you aging, land and security will become more important. The time taken to go to UTM is almost the same as from my current house. But the housing development area is only about half of my current house is located. This is fine for me because I don't like crowded area to live in. The monthly maintenance service is a lot cheaper than living in a service apartment.

 

 The club house with a swimming pool and gymnasium on the left door

 Children pool on the right

The pool size is sufficient for relaxation

     To my delight, early this year I learned an adjacent housing development has finally started the 2nd link highway exit construction. The rumors and promises were around for the past five years, but no one believed it anymore. Many buyers cancelled their purchased houses due to late development including my friends. The developer have to return the deposit to the buyer. So, my new house will only be two traffic lights away from the highway exit. It seems my estimation that my new house will worth more than a million upon completion is coming true!

The 2nd link highway exit close to my new house

     There are many differences this time. I have to pay monthly interest during the entire development period. The interest amount is increasing depending on how many development was done, and claim done to my bank loan. During 1st six months, the amount was below RM500. Then it increased to be less than RM1000. Now, it is below RM1,500. The amount should stay the same until the completion of the house in September this year. Normally, the interest amount is slightly greater than 50% of monthly loan payment.

     I hope my experience is useful for your future purchase plans.

HAPPY INVESTING!

Next Financial Crisis on the Wing

     Have you read any news about Greece lately? It was the repetition from the previous crisis started by Cyprus which infected Greece. However, this time the financial problem for Greece is worst than before. The EU want Greece people become absolute slaves. To make it worst, those in power in EU will make this as the reason why every country in EU must give absolute power to central government in EU to dictate their counties' budget. This also mean an absolute power to the central EU. You should guess who are controlling the central machinery in EU. After Greece, there will be another EU country to default in the financial loan obligation. In other words, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

     Anyway, you may say this is just EU problem. But, in my previous articles, I did mention any problem faced by a western country, Malaysia will feel the heat in the next 6 months. After Cyprus crisis, I bought a few properties to hedge against these kind of financial problem. So, this is just a repetition of the same problem. However, you should caution this time to hedge the economy problem by simply buying any property. This time around, the Malaysia's economy already loaded with many debts. You should ponder what type of property and where the property is that immune from the next financial crisis. You still have 5 months ++ to take any action.

     Beside investing in property, there are many other things you can do either increasing your income or reducing your expenses. Either way, it will reward you immediately. Once the storm subsides you can easily invest your excess income. In order words, savers today can easily grab opportunity in the future.

HAPPY PLANNING!