Dear Fellow Engineers & University Graduates, Learn How To Become A Multi Millionaire In 25 Years. Must Read! (Understanding The Power Of Compounding)

This post is dedicated to all working engineers and university graduates below 30. Aiya, so you are over 30? Nevermind lar, just pretend you are younger lor.

Most youngster think that MLM is the best opportunities to get rich. But when I look back at my friends who joined MLM for the pass few years, almost all of them quit and get back to their day job! When they try to recruit me in university time, they promised me a lot of get-rich-dreams and scold me stupid for not joining. Now they all quit. Imagine you have joined an MLM company because you believe in the sales pitch of your upline and later he quit! You are left alone! So think twice before you get into MLM.

I have 2 friends that are incredible Great Eastern insurance agent. One of them sold 97 covers last year. Another guy told me he can close 1 sale on every 5 meetings! Great! Unfortunately, I also have a lot of friends who can hardly sell 1 insurance policy in a month! Gave up, and got back to day job. Insurance is not for everyone.

How about trading? I have attended an Options Trading seminar 2 years ago. The speaker is the #1 options teacher in Asia based on the number of students he has. He is extremely high profile. I know he is very rich, but not all his students make it (including me).

You know what, when I talk to a few seminar participants in the graduates gathering few months later, most of them don’t even have a trading account yet! And the questions they ask me tell me that they simply learn nothing from the seminar. They are still not up to the kindergarden level!

Understanding the basic doesn’t guarantee you to make money, but NOT understanding the basic means you can’t even play the game! If I understand everything and actively trade for 2 years but still cannot make money, do you expect they can?

Again, it is not for everyone. You you haven’t heard me sing “My Money Live Over The Ocean“, you need to.

How about the current HOT make money online? Most people who teach you how to make money online make money by teaching you how to make money online. (sorry for this poor sentence structure.) They don’t know how to make money online. I have a long post on it.

How about starting your own business? Huh, if you can’t make money when somebody is helping you, i.e. MLM and Insurance, and you are having problem making money trading and internet marketing, then what is the success rate for you to start your very own business? Do you have the capital? Do you have the knowledge? Can you differentiate between a sole proprietorship and a Sdn Bhd?

MLM is out. Insurance is out. Trading is out. Internet marketing is out. Starting your own business is out. Then WHAT?

Just continue to work as an engineer! (or doctor or lawyer or anything that you study in University)

&@#^&$%^$#&%^&%^*$$%!

Ok ok, don’t get mad. Give me some time to explain. You just need to understand a simple concept. This concept is so SIMPLE that most engineers and university graduates CANNOT understand it because these professionals can only understand COMPLICATED things but not simple things. They know how to calculate e = mc² but tell you 1 + 1 = 3. They can measure the speed of light and the number of electrons in a piece of silicon plus the amount of laser required to cut your eye without blinding you but they cannot understand this simple concept-

The Power Of Compounding!

Albert Einstein has repeatedly telling people the power of compounding in a lot of occasions. And now AhYap is doing the same and this is not the first post I talk about it.

“Compounding,” Albert Einstein said, “is mankind’s greatest invention because it allows for the reliable, systematic accumulation of wealth.”

Einstein calls compounding the “8th wonder of the world.”

Einstein, “The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.”

Here is how compounding works. If you have $100,000 today and if you can grow it by 20% each year, here is what it will become in the 30 years period.

Begin _ $---100,000
Year 5_ $ _-248,832
Year 10 $ _-619,173
Year 15 $ 1,540,702
Year 20 $ 3,833,760
Year 25 $ 9,539,622
Year 30 $23,737,631

Did you notice that you just need 15 years to become a millionaire if you have $100,000 right now and you are able to compound it 20% per year?

Let’s don’t argue in this post whether 20% is achievable or reasonable, I will explain it in another post. At this time, you just need to know that Warren Buffett, the 2nd richest man in the world compound his money at 21% for over 40 years! In his first 10 years from 1957 to 1967, he actually compounded at 29%. Peter Lynch, the best mutual fund manager in the world compounded his fund at 29% for 19 years. He is retired now. Tan Teng Boo, the Malaysia #1 fund manager compounded at 24% for 10 years! And he is STILL ALIVE and NOT RETIRED YET!

20% is definitely achievable if you know where to put your money.

There are 3 factors that is very important to compounding:-

1. The compound return rate (the interest rate)
2. The initial capital/money
3. The compounding period (how long you compound it)

We have talked about the compound return rate just now. From today onwards, I want you to remember the number 6!

AhYap, “If you can compound your money at 20% per year, your money will grow 6 times every 10 years.”

Remember it!

20% is what we are aiming for. If we failed, and say we only manage to compound at 15% (some Public Mutual Funds are able to compound at 15%), what will we get? For 15%, our money will grow 4 times every 10 years.

Notice the big differences? 20% = 6 times, 15% = 4 times. Don’t feel upset, even at 15% (4 times every 10 years), $100,000 will become $400,000 in 10 years and then $1.6 million in 20 years. Happy now?

What if you are good enough to get 25%? Your money will grow 9 times! Wow! 25% is still reasonable as Peter Lynch did 29% for 19 years. But don’t dream too big, everything beyond 30% for the long term is unreasonable and hard to achieve.

If you are ignorant and you put your money in Amanah Saham 2020 which gives you averaged 8% return, how much will it grow? Your money will only grow 2 times (double) in 10 years. Now you know why I sold all my Amanah Saham 2020 to my parents after holding it for 10 years since 1997!

Now here is the most interesting thing. At 20%, your money grow 6 times every 10 years. If you eat enough ginseng and bird’s nest, you will probably have a lot of 10 years in your life! If you are 25 and you live until 75, you have five 10 years. Eat more ginseng and maybe you have six, seven or eight 10 years more.

Every 10 years, your money grow 6 times more!

$100,000 … (10 years later) … $600,000 … (10 years later) … $3,600,000 … (10 years later) … $21,600,000 … (10 years later) … $129,600,000 … (10 years later) … $777,600,000

If you have RM777,600,000 today, you will be ranked around the 20th richest men in Malaysia. But that’s too far fetched. 50 years is too long to imagine. Malaysia just celebrate his 50 year old birthday. So, we just target 20 years enough.

RM100,000 + 20 years + 20% compound = RM3.6 Million

Key understanding here is that the rewards from compounding come late in time. Early in time, the reward is not enough to feed chicken. Let me explain.

At the beginning, you will laugh at the return. On the first year, your money only increase RM20,000 from your RM$100,000. Most people make more than RM20,000 per year. So compare to their income, they can say, “So what?” It is not tasty at the beginning.

Even in the 2nd year, you only get RM24,000 from your nest eggs of RM120,000. Again “So what?”. Not tasty.

But when the snow ball grow bigger and bigger, your money actually increase to RM600,000 in 10 years. Your money will grow $120,000 on the 11th year! Well, there are still people who can make $120,000 per year. So nevermind, wait another 10 years until your snow ball grow to RM3.6 million. At the 21st year, your money will grow by $720,000! Now, tell me how many jobs can give you $720,000 per year? Even Hishammuddin doesn’t make it!

The power of compounding come late in time. It is like a exactly like a snow ball that roll bigger and bigger.

– NOW, THE PLAN –

1. Save RM100,000 in 5 years. You need to start as early as possible. If you start immediately after graduation, you should be able to save RM100,000 before 30.

Remember that the more money you are able to pump in at the beginning, the bigger rewards you are going to reap at the end. RM100,000 is the bare minimum. If you can, get more! RM100,000 gives you RM3.6 million in 20 years, RM200,000 will gives you RM7.2 million!

2. Aim for 20% compounded return. But you will still do fine with 15%. With initial capital of RM100,000, 15% will give you RM1.6 million in 20 years. 20% will give you RM3.6 million in 20 years.

At that time, petrol and toll fee at KL is dirt cheap for you and you will not be angry with Sammy Vellu.

Why The Early Stage Is The Most Critical!

A RM1,000 saved at 25 year old is worth a lot more than a RM1,000 saved at 35 year old. Because if you saved RM1,000 at 25, it will become RM6,000 when you are 35! (remember the magic number 6)

So it is the same for RM100,000! A RM100,000 saved at 30 year old is worth a lot more than RM100,000 saved at 40! Because the RM100,000 saved at 30 will grow 6 times to RM600,000 at 40!

This is why it is very important to start as early as possible and squeeze as much money as possible from your salary.

Here are my suggestions… these are not jokes!!!

1. Don’t buy a Toyota Vios or a Honda City yet! These are fresh graduates favorite cars. Don’t even buy a Proton Savvy or Proton Wira! Just buy a damn Proton Iswara (or Honda 70)! If you buy a Honda City, you probably will drive the Honda City for your whole life. But if you buy an Iswara and save the remaining for compounding, you can drive an S Class or BMW 7 series or even a Porsche 20 years later (buy 2nd hand one lar, cheaper). If you really want to buy a better car, buy it only after you have saved RM100,000.

[AhYap is still driving his damn Iswara]

I will not going to buy a new car in 5 years time. Dear, don't always tell me you want to own a Honda city because i don't want to drive Honda City for my whole life. I am aiming for S class or BMW!

2. Don’t buy a house yet! Rent a small cheap room for the first 5 years or stay with your mum! Buy a house only after you have saved your RM100,000 capital. If you get a housing loan too early, it is VERY hard for you to save the RM100,000 because of the heavy installments. A house is NOT an asset -> Read the book ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’. It will only make your poorer.

Well, i do think the same way! just wait and see after 5 years.

3. Don’t buy medical card and insurance yet! My insurance friends are going to kill me on this. But I still have to say it. Buy it only after you have saved your RM100,000! If you really want to buy, a better plan is to kill yourself after 2 years so your family will have the RM100,000 insurance claim to compound and let them get rich.

Why can’t you just take the risk of not having an insurance policy for another 5 years? Most probably you don’t have any insurance policy when you are studying in University and in secondary school. Most people spend 10 to 20% of their income in insurance. That’s a lot of money!

Shit! I just bought my medical card on last few months!

4. Don’t get married yet! Uhhhh. This is not an advice, this is just the truth. When you have a family (even just a girlfriend), you will tend to overspend. Luxurious dinners, gifts and entertainments…

It is true but 25-30 years old is the golden age for marriage?! contradictory...

Furthermore, females are weaker with money (a.k.a. NUMBERS). It is very hard for them to understand why you need to save so much and the concept of compounding. I am not discriminating female, I am just telling the truth. Female hates physics and maths in secondary school because their brains are not design to process numbers. For girls, it is always better to buy a new shoe and a new Sony Ericsson right now, than to see it grow 36 times in 20 years so she can buy many many LV bags and Coach bags.

Physics and Maths are my favorite subjects during school! I buy things whenever i need!

Girls are also brain washed by their parents since they are kids. If you want to marry her, you need to buy her a house and put her name on it. No house, no wife. You will also need to buy her an EXPENSIVE wedding ring. Because she says the SIZE of the ring represent how much you love her! Wedding dresses, wedding dinner, wedding album…. you have got to show that you love her, with MONEY.

Parents said so just because they are our parents and they wish we could have a better living in future. Men have the responsibility to make us feel secure. As for the wedding ring, it depends...

[Girls, if you have a RM5,000 budget to buy a diamond ring today and you spend all to buy it, your diamond ring will immediately worth 50% less because it is now 2nd hand. And you will never have the chance to sell it at RM5,000 again in your whole life. If you buy a RM1,000 ring and put the RM4,000 to compound, you can buy a RM96,000 diamond ring 20 years later]

Cibai… why my post is getting longer and longer…

There are thousands of ways to save more money from your salary. Don’t go to Mid Valley, One U and The Curve will guarantee to save you plenty of money. You all know Sunway Pyramid has just expanded with a new wing, but don’t go!

Can you

From ahyap.com (I do add some comments on it)