How? If you really want to know, you have to do this one thing well. It is a four-letter word. If you don't know how to do it now or not skilled at it now, you have to learn how to do it well. This is the fastest way to get rich.

You wanna know what the thing is? Yes, it is "sell".

Cheers.
KC

P.S. Now that you know what to do, if you really want to be rich, you must do it. Many people NATO: no action, talk only.

Darun,

There are multiple questions in your post. Let me answer in a multiple dimension.

1) Is being frugal enough??

It may not be enough but the alternative of not being frugal gives you even less options. You may not even survive financially. Much less talking financing education.

2) My approach to my children's education

In order for the new generation to survive, they need to learn how to earn, save, invest. My son is 10 years old and my daughter is 9 years old.

A) My son and daughter play monopoly. My son knows how to play "Cashflow 101" and win. So, he know quite a bit about accounting.

B) My children has a budget for their Xmas present and they get more money if they achieve certain improvement for their academic year. Please noted that word: "improvement". We are happy as long as they improve. We are NOT looking for them to score 100 in every subject. As long as they do their homework and prepare for exam and pass, that is what we are looking for.

They know how to shop for their present. They know that they get more for their money when they buy it on sale or buy older product. They pool their money and bought a old PS2 from their uncle.

They have fixed time for PS2 and TV as long as they finished their homework and pass their exam. It is merit based. They earn their PS2 time and TV time.

C) Due to advanced planning, both of my children have US green cards.

D) I spent half of my life living in USA. So, I am fairly Americanized. I do not believe in fully 100% financing my children's college education. They should work their way through college if they want to get a degree. This is how I did it. They learn a lot more if they do it that way.

E) For American system, the cheap way to go through college is to spend first 2 years in a community/junior college. Then, spend the last 2 years in a normal university.

This is a complicated/complex subject. The bottom line is you are trying to prepare your children for life. It is not just academic. They need to learn how to take care of themselves financially too. But, first, they need to have a habit / work ethic to earn for what they want. There is time for play and time for work.

Dreamer

robbed da bank then can fastest get rich...LOL

You are assuming that bank has money.

Dreamer

lol...bank of coz got money wat....

Nowaday, bank do not keep that much CASH around for you to rob.

Dreamer

Ahh so you did go the migration route. I dont believe in 100% financing either, but without a green card in the country of education, it is very very difficult to work yourself through college, if the country is anything like the states, without a PR, a foreign student cannot work outside campus (and not more than 20 hours a week) and most campus jobs pay minimum rates (when I was working, it was around 5.50/hour) which is scarcely enough for room and board, let alone tuition. I've been there done that and I was lucky cause at that time the exchange rate was only slighly above 2.0 and my parents was able to cover my tuition. The exchange is currently 3.7 and as far as I know the tuition in the states have increased steadily over the years since I was there.

So looking back at just the financial point of view, assuming a person does not have very high pay, does not have a big high risk investment going on, the only source of financial stability is a mediocre pay job with good sense in frugality, the only option so far I see to provide a good tertiery education option for a person's offspring in a foreign country would be to secure at least a residentship in the country of interest. Another option would be to secure a scholarship, but that is abit risky as a lot of them depends on your child's secondary performance, but not everyone has a child prodigy.

Darun,

1) I did not have a green card. I worked two part-time jobs while going through college in USA. I paid in-state tuition because I worked at the campus.

2) IMHO, you are asking a wrong question. You are trying to prepare your children to survive in the new world. So, depending the capability of your children, a college degree may or may not be the answer. If your children is NOT college material, saving the money from college as down payment for their first house might be a better option.

3) I have seen too many NEW generation waste their parent money on college and learnt nothing.

4) If your children's secondary result is no good even though our standards in Malaysia is so low, is it a good idea for him/her to study oversea?? Is it a waste of money??

Dreamer

As far as I know, paying in-state tuition is up to the university and not an immigration law. Not all unis provide that. At my uni, they only normally provide that for master's students and not bachelor's. Also, as far as I know, back then, I'm not sure about now, immigration clearly states you cannot work more than 20 hours a week for foreign students. Sure some of my friends work over the quote and some even work outside campus, but just because they never got caught doesnt mean it wont happen. In fact after 9/11 our uni did a crackdown on students working in campus exceeding the immigration quota and refused to sign their i20s for reentry and asked those students to quickly finish their course and head home. Of course those that worked illegaly outside campus was not caught since the uni's only focused on in campus employees.

So for 20 hours a week, at minimum wage (5.*/hour) is NOT enough to cover out of state tuition. Yes you did it, but you are not an average case as far as I know. Btw does your uni guarantee in-state tuition for ALL campus employees? Which uni is this?

I did not claim you have a green card, I merely state you went the migration path since you claimed your children has residence status in the states.

You are approaching this wrong. How do you determine if your children is college material? When he/she is born? When he/she is in primary school? When he/she is in secondary school? Do you only plan for his/her tertiery education then? Personally I believe it is prudent to plan it now. Even if he/she is not interested in tertiery education or is not cut out, then no point forcing him/her. I never said about forcing tertiery education upon them. You assume too much. But if he/she is made out and wills to extend their education, by then it may already be too late to plan.

Not only does our education standard bad in educating children, it is also bad in evaluating smart children. As an example, someone who scores 15As does not necessarily mean they are smart and capable of critical thinking. It could just mean he/she is good in memorizing materials and spitting them back out. Sure they have some level of intelligence, but 15As hardly provide undeniable proof that they are a genius. Look at our SPM for instance, at one point you can excel in all subjects but considered to fail or at least get the lowest grade if you fail B.M. How is that even an accurate determinant of whether someone is cut out for tertiery education? In fact my own brother was in this situation, he failed his B.M. but got decent grades in all other subjects. He went on to do his A-levels and got a degree in the states easily.

As for focing tertiery education upon our children, I've never said anything about doing that. But I do believe in planning ahead in case they do need it. Even if they dont, the already laid out plan can be used for something else, as you said the money can be used for them, even their residence status/green card can be used for them to secure a job.

1) You did not study in state of Texas. And, you did not study in a state university of Texas. The in-state tuition thing is based Texas state law (aka it applies to all state universities in Texas) but not many people know this. Of course, the school is not interested in telling you too.

2) You are planning ahead for their tertiary education but what you are planning for their future beyond tertiary education??

3) In USA, even people with college degree are struggling to make a living.

4) I really do not know what future held for my children but I am trying to give them
A) A good work ethic

B) Willingness to learn

C) Financial education -> How to shop, budget, save money??

D) Multi-lingual

E) Multi-cultural

F) Ability to think critically

Dreamer

This post has been edited by dreamer101: Nov 14 2006, 10:52 AM

this piece i find is a very informative post. this i think should be the way we start teaching our kids how to take care of themselves financially.

btw where did you get the CashFlow 101? i havent seen it here locally.

Hmm this is good information. Thanks. I never knew about Texas law since I've never met or known anyone studying there.

Havent gotten to the point yet, one step at a time. Havent even have a child yet, will soon though.

Thats probably true anywhere. I dont equate college degree with guarantee of making a living. But it does give the person with a degree a chance of being short listed for interviews. Whether the person can make a living or not is another question. Personally I think if the person has genuine interest in the work, then even with average intelligence, he/she should be able to make a living.

Thats some good suggestion, I have some of those in mind but not all, will keep that list in mind. Thanks.

Darun,

1) That is a BIG problem in Malaysia. The new generation has no genuine interest in anything. They thought that as long as they pass the exam, they will be fine.

2) We, the uncles and aunties, had sponsored many of our nephews and nieces for studies in USA. So, we have experiences with many children across the last 10 years. The problem with the newer batch is that we had done too much for them and they had taken things for granted. Parents had done too much for them and they only have to study and they are not independent. They incapable of taking care of themselves and taking responsibilities.

Dreamer

I bought it in USA and taught my son how to play it.

Dreamer

cashflow here got... but its..... u noe ler....

That is so true. Parents here nowadays dont focus enough on ethics and morals as well.

.

This post has been edited by 9876789: Aug 31 2021, 06:54 PM

Mind to share with us any good way of teaching people to think critically?

It's a very-very important skill. Much more important than 15A1.

Treat your children like adult. Allow them to question you. Give rational answer to them. Let them think out some of the answers instead spoon feeding them.

Make mistake and admit your own mistake. Admit that you are not infallible.

I doubt it is possible in Asian culture.

Dreamer

Another thing I'd like to add, teach them to question what they read/hear/told.