Yeah, chef can earns a lot but Im not suitable to be a chef. The working hours is terrible for chef from what others told me.

First class degree graduated at 24 years old so late? Earning 5k at 30 years old so late? Can get la but too late that by the time you are 30, you will realize that 5k is not enough to spend for house installment, car payment, petrol, toll and makan-makan. Dont even dream about car servicing, vacation and marriage with your own money.

To be honest with you, I'm a third class degree honours (nothing to be proud off but I was already working and studying at young age) and I made 5k when I was 24. Today, I make more than that but my expenditure also increase. I drive an Altis and if without any investment, I can honestly tell you I cannot afford servicing the car at Toyota Service Centre because for my past 11 services, non of them was below RM600. Without my investment, I cannot dine at Osaka 3 times a week and still go to Italiannies every weekend. I just want to remind you 5k is not alot, especially 6 years from now and your first class degree isnt going to help you.

Come back to me at 6 years and tell me if I'm right.

This post has been edited by Pennywise: Dec 5 2007, 08:11 AM

no need 6 years time la Penny, even now also i can tell 5k will not be enough. a lot of bills need to pay

I'm mentoring a guy, he's 25, very good and already making 6500-7000 gross monthly salary. The problem is, it's getting to be a bit hard for him to break into a typical MNC due to their rather rigid HR and a bit of age discrimination. He's already talked to Shell, HP etc. and they're not exactly willing to offer him much more than he's making now, most of all due to his age.

Anyone who's already making lots of money faced this challenge before?

maybe you guys should learn from alkaline_addict, by using NEP policy to earn damn a lot money. Side effect is like selling your own nation and race lar, but that doesn't matter as long as the money come. Principle is worthless, when it comes to money, you ask a muslim eat pork also no problem.

Indeed true that 5k is not enough...but heck, when is money ever enough?
You have to understand not many ppl had the "luck" like yours, thus the the wealth disparity. But obviously, everyone can be like you too but facts had shown that not many that can become successful.

Those that earn less can have their way to gain wealth. They do not really need to own an Altis to feel pourd or dine in expensive restaurant. You can see a lot that got successful in years to come doesn't actually follow your lifestyle. When one earn less, they do not need to resort to this lifestyle you're having.

It's all about financial management.

Another thing to add, in M'sia, to complete higher educations varies from the poor and rich. For the rich, after SPM they basically flashes the money and can complete their degree by going straight out country or enrolled on so called twinning program which warrants a degree in 3 years time after SPM if they passes.
For those less unfortunate, they either need to complete another 2 years of STPM before enrolling in public university and another 4 years to complete their degree. So why the remark on "graduated at 24 years old so late"?....thus my comment on not everyone is fortunate like you.

Work and earn is not enough. Yes, like you mentioned; investment is also the must do. Another must do is like what I mentioned above, one type of wealth management....i.e. do not spend more than one can afford. Heck, I saw ppl earning RM2-3k still living better than me minus off the lavish lifestyles. I fell into the trap once and now vow never to indulge in it anymore after seeing the fact and effect.

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Added on December 5, 2007, 9:34 amCare to elaborate on the age discrimination....don't really understand that.
The only fact I knew about is when one's salary got higher and higher, eventually it gets harder to jump to another company as the other company partly could not sustain giving out the expected salary afraid of messing up their salary structured (especially when one is at a young age).
But do not really know about O&G industry.


This post has been edited by b00n: Dec 5 2007, 09:34 AM

Mind sharing with me what type of investment that you invested? I need a lot to learn.

Yea la... Astro, handphone, water, electric, broadband there also dont know korek how much already.

I'd like to correct something here. I'm nowhere near fortunate, I am not from a rich family, however, I didnt go through STPM either. I went through 'WORK'. Then I went back to study with the money I made. 24 years IS too late, even if you go through STPM.
17 - SPM
18 and 19 - STPM
22 - Completion of a 3 years Degree (I'm assuming he's in IT, unless he's in Engineering / Medicine).

I feel proud with the things I gained on my own and the lifestyle I chose to live, who wouldnt be? I doubt there's anything wrong with that. Dont feel offended, I'm not here to argue but I did went through my own hard times and this is the perception I have from my experience.

Sure I also live a simple life sometimes, eating at stalls and all but everyone would want to live to the fullest there is. Materialistic example would be good food, comfy home, faster car, more money, etc. I was just showing the guy I quoted his post, that living the fullest isnt anywhere close to 5k. And of course, Toyota isnt the best car out there yet unless it's something like a Ferrari or sorts but it's still a proud thing as an individual achievement, get what I mean?

If we attain the car from family wealth, then different story la. Then THAT is luck, to be born with a silverspoon which not everyone has. I'm sorry to hear that you fell into a trap. Mind sharing the story so everyone can learn from your lesson?

Your life and mine are different, that's for sure but try not to assume everyone got it easy.

Stock investment. I have a lady who runs these things for me. She's my best friend's mom and a very active investor in the stock exchange. Like b00n wrote, it's about luck that she happens to be my best friend's mom.

This post has been edited by Pennywise: Dec 5 2007, 10:33 AM

can u mentor me as well ?

i m not earning alot but the company which is wiiling to take me in just can't offer me higher than my future coleagues , i was asking myself, what's the point of asking my previous performance if u can't offer me something better than others.....ya, HR rules n hiraerki.

It's good to hear that you made it even though the hard lifestyle you went through.
Btw, I'm a big spender during my younger days. My philosophy is money is to be earned to spend. What's the use of money when one is dead, thus living quite a lavish lifestyle.
Went drinking 2-3 times a week.
Mods on cars...
2 ppl can order 4 ppl's portion for food.
Buy this and that even though have no use for it.
etc...
I confessed that though I don't earn as much as some here, but I don't earn any lesser than most here.
Comparing EA forms at the end of the year against savings is always a pain because that's the time when you realise that you actually earn that much and still got nothing as savings.
It only really hit me in the face when I was about to settle down with more commitment that I realise my stupid mistake.
Thus I want to urge everyone to spend wisely and have proper financial management and not to fell under the illusion that one had a lot of money, especially credit card management.

Come to think of it, last time when I used to have RM1k i still can survive. Than gradually got RM2k still surviving without savings, than RM3k, RM4k, RM5k, RM6k, etc... and you'll see that expenses increases with your increase in salary if one never do proper planning. The point is, why can one survive when he got RM2k but still complain when he can't manage his life with RM5k. That can be seen in a lot of ppl's mentality these days. Thus there's this It's difficult to survive in malaysia !, Standard living high!! (Social Issues) topic in RWI.

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Added on December 5, 2007, 10:51 ambtw, in life; I believe in time and place, also luck.
When one is in the right place and the right time, they might meet the right person who would give him/her the opportunity to succeed.
I've seen many which work as hard and has knowledge as plentiful but they can't seem to climb the corporate ladder.
I do believe in luck being an important factor but I do not expect luck to come to me, I still work my @$$ off as hard as everyone in the believe that my time for luck would come some point in time.

This post has been edited by b00n: Dec 5 2007, 10:51 AM

I was looking forward to your reply. I understand what you mean. During my college days, I survived with RM500 but now, every month, I spend bout 3 - 4 times more than that.

Right now, I'm possibly at your time when you were in your younger days. I realized the same thing you wrote above. It's true. Also, my commitment times are coming, like yours did and I also see it like you do but luckily I have some savings as I dont drink / smoke / club / mod-cars. Possibly that's where I saved.

Some people can start a family with 2k, I feel I cannot even commit with 5k. I know what you mean exactly but we (my gf and I) are both trying to make ends meet.

Lastly, I agree luck does have a role in lives and not everyone knows how to grab the chance when its here and many miss it. Therefore, there's more poor than the riches. I could be stucked here with this pay all my life but I also can be better. My luck is my best friend's mom who manages my investment portfolio for me.

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Added on December 5, 2007, 11:15 amWhat I really like to add is making 5k for living is really not enough depending much on your demands and quality of life. If you intend to drive a Proton and live in a double-storey with a not-demanding gf and in law, sure why not? Especially better if you have supportive relative / parents that can sponsor you a bit here and there. Then 5k should be sufficient for you with yearly increment.

What if you have a kind gf from a rich background with demanding in-law? Also take into calculations that you lived a poor life and you want more and more and more, better and better and better. Your dreams would be a bigger car and home. 5k wont bring you anywhere near here.

This post has been edited by Pennywise: Dec 5 2007, 11:15 AM

Age 27. 4.8k inclusive of basic + fixed allowance. Excluding commision which can range from 1k - 3k.

I'm in the sales line. IT Sales, to be specific.

Technically, if compare basic salary, still cannot join the club yet. Gimme one more year.

Tell you guys one thing la, during the time when I was a just a fresh programmer pulling in 1.6k per month, I felt that I have more money and spending power than I do now.

It's all about managing your finances! Which I didn't do of course

Speaking from experience, basically when one earns lower pay, they tend to manage their finance better because there's constraint to the money one had. But when one starts to earn more and more, sometimes expenditure tends to go overboard and we start to complain on anything and everything but not ourself to be faulted.

It really doesn't matter how much money one earns, but how well one manages what he earns.

It's very similar to what you just mentioned. He talked to Shell HR for example who wasn't willing to pay more than RM6500 gross per month even though he's already earning a similar amount. Their excuse was age and a rigid salary structure.

Work with the kerajaan! Haha! Joking, anyway, the truth is u have to hardworking. Thats all!

This is not age discrimination (yah, excuse, the HR should not even mention it! ). Shell is very very careful about any kind of discrimination.

Your colleague probably applied for a job that is in the Job Group 7 payband (engineer position?). That payband has a maximum ~6.3k. Anything higher is not justifiable.

If he goes for a technical lead (JG6 ~ 7k) or Manager position (JG5 and above - 10K to unlimited cash ) he'll find the payband is very much higher.

Which brings me to another point here - to illustrate an example: no matter how good your Windows technical skills are (i.e. troubleshooting, solving issues, implementation) you'll find it very hard to go above 6k unless you improve yourself with managerial skills. From a company's point of view, it's not how good your skillset is, it's how rare your skillset is.

Why do you think Unix/Oracle consistently earn more than Windows/SQL people? Or why SAP has so high pay, or Project Mgmt? But people in helpdesk, one-leg-kick troubleshoot in small companies don't earn that much? It's because more people can do some jobs than others.
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One more thing I forgot, your colleague will likely not be happy with Shell, because due to their increment structure, since he hit the maximum payband his yearly increment will likely be 1%, no matter how well he performs

This post has been edited by cwtien: Dec 6 2007, 11:00 AM

Transportation company

avarage pay - RM 10k+

Transportation planning/marketing/cuci toilet and 1 leg kicking hero.

age: 26

Qualification: never shown my cert also

Exprience : can blow water can liao

May i know what age you start to invest in the stock market? How much do u invest on it? Hope you can share it..

cwtien thanks for the info, but the position is JG6 and is related to Unix/Linux/SAP so know the ceiling and am very unhappy with the results, especially because I probably won't be getting my ERP. This is not the first time I've had people reject offers recently. I just don't think that Shell HR is particularly flexible or competitive nowadays for Unix or SAP.

@tishaban,
I can sure understand your friend's frustrations! And if you're frustrated, can you imagine how much more frustrations he has? *grins*