learn to count your blessing folks.. you may be earning a wee bit lesser than you wish it would.. at times, when the durian do falls.. it can be a loud thud.

to some.. that journey is long.. to others, it's brief..

i'm pondering about this.. earning rm 5k... but how long can you keep such earnings.. how many years?

i'm referring to sustainable earnings.. would you prefer to earn rm 15k/mth but burned out on the 3rd year?

small is ok.. but there're always pockets of niches in the i.t industry..
taking the sap path for example.. is one way to climb the salary ladder.

for those who're not financially able.. there're means to get scholarships at foreign universities..

i have had a few malaysian friends who got some scholarship assistance while studying abroad. it's limited and competitive.. but nonetheless, it's possible. thus you can use this avenue to study harder/smarter..

for those of you who expect to earn a pretty sum of money when they hit 25 years without much justification and understanding how profit, performance and compensation are interlink within a given organization can sometimes become disillusioned..

expectation is ok.. just know where to set it.

studying medicine can be very expensive.. especially if you do it abroad and it's on self-funding.. pre-med, med and post-med schools in columbia univ or nyu.. can readily reach that rm1 million mark!

* note - both of these quoted univ is in new york, usa.

bear in mind folks.. chasing the salary trail is nice until you realized that how much taxation "potong steam" from it.
if you study the BE manual from income tax.. once you get close to RM10K/mth.. your tax bracket moves up lightning speed and you'll hit the max bracket of 27% so soon before you even know it.

that's a lot of money the govt will take from you.. imagine if you're earning RM15K/mth.. your tax would spell out to something like RM4K++/mth.. it's like, you're sponsoring another worker!

the keyword here is.. find a way to "keep what you earn"

loyalty is dead.. it's an old economy and the paradigm has shifted..
it's foolish if you focus too much on this element.. ample examples is worldwide (if you read wide and deep enough, you'll find it)

it can be a very mercernary way to earn your keep today..

you barked up the wrong tree..
i'm not pointing a gun to your face..
if you want example.. learn from the so-called "corporate leaders".. aka ceo, coo, cfo, or the vp(s)..

their tenure in any given company is getting shorter and shorter.. i'm sure if i get to ask them this question about loyalty.. i'm pretty sure i'll get an interesting answer..

they leave with a golden handshake.. and you shall leave your company.. bitter?

i've altered my paradigm on this issue about 5 years ago.. i read/listen/witness/ponder about it..

but i do agree with you on one thing.. which is "there's a time and place for everything"... it calls for wisdom.

listen here..

every move in consideration shall creates both risk and opportunities.. there're lots of cost, price and to some extend, sacrifices..

even if you're not tortured or abused within your own company.. or put in a different light, even if you're treated absolutely well.. consideration to move can spell an unexplored opportunity..

the higher you go.. 5K, 10K, 15K, 20K... the more sacrifices/risk will be stacked against you.. not many people stay long in high positions (internal politics can take you out, for example.. or you may practically get burned out)

i can align to what vey99 have said.. some move can be deliberate.. e.g you can learn about an industry(vertical rather than horizontally).. or you can gain more pieces of the jigsaw puzzles of an industry to form a better insight on the bigger picture by moving to a different function all together..

i said this from experience..

that's a very arrogant statement.. unless you live in a fantasized turtle shell.. go talk to the growing horde of unemployed graduates..
or if you want a better and more objective statistics.. go check out jobstreet on their payscale-industry-time survey..

although it's not to be construed as 100% accurate.. but it'll ought to give you a rethorical idea..

or another point for you to ponder.. if the majority of the rakyat in malaysia are earning more than 5K... why would petrol prices, chicken, cement, toll upward movement by a few cents bothers them?!?

so, don't make a punkass out of yourself with such a claim.. it's loud

it's also called "comfort-zone"... a few stories were written/told from it, e.g "freddy the frog"..

but i find it hard to agree on sticking with a company and ride through the bad times.. the caveat here is.. don't do it blindly.. evaluate and think carefully.

there were many loyal, honest & hardworking employees in ENRON..
there were also many comparable good employees of COUNTRYWIDE..

loyalty has a PRICE.. (for those uninitiated.. many of ENRON / COUNTRYWIDE not only lost their jobs.. but also their lifetime EPF.. think about that)

please understand that i'm not here to pour acid on you folks.. i do find that there's an element to substantiate in inconclusive conclusion that you guys may have overlooked..

you see.. for example, MLM loves to hog only on the element of income.. in fact, boombastic income, right? great lifestyle, etc..

but the missing element is however, is very elusive.. which is called TIME.

you may earn 5k, 10k, etc. today.. but for how long can you keep 'em up steady? 10, 20 or perhaps 30 consecutive years?! some can't even see beyond 2 years..

i'm a pragmatic.. i'm a high-income earner.. but i'm also constantly aware that such "beautiful life" will not linger forever..

stay alert and convert as much of those salary to a perpetual income..

you guys gave good sharing, i appreciate that..

if what i shared make sense to you.. just thank my beloved late mom.
on the other hand, if what i share sounded like white-noise to you.. then i'm just a good crap talker..

if you can read though my "smoke-screen".. you can probably figure out an answer to your question

psst.. tell that to my ex-ex-partner at public mutual.. he'll probably give you a black eye..
we started around the same payscale.. i left and that was almost 5 years ago.. my income is now multifold(overclocked) of his.
our age arent far apart.. his pay is less than 4k

actually, 4K is quite a highly optimistic figure already..
when i had a one-to-one talk with my boss back then.. she revealed it to me. we both reports to her..

we're both a hybrid-worker.. referring to our education background and what we do at PM at that time..

hence the elements of "fighting"... "one's worth"... "courage"... "short-changed"... may not complete the entire picture, right?
that's the beauty of life.. there's a cantonese saying that goes something like "yan pei yan, hei sei yan" ("a compelling comparison amongst ourselves, will only lead to ruin and vanity" - my translation)

my dad told me this when i was a very young child.. thus, it's worth pondering on this..

earn 5k and be 500k in debt..
earn 5k and have 0 in asset(savings)..

earn 2k and genuinely happy.. and financially free.. (yes, it's not a typo.. 2k)

among which would you choose?

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Added on September 13, 2007, 5:02 pmi know.. i was being rethorical myself..
my goal is however, is to earn as much to buy my freedom..

for example, i need to raise about 400k capital to do 3 things..
with a good income, it helps alot.. otherwise, it will take 10 years to reach it.

then i'll stop focusing on high income.. maybe i'll like to be the malaysian guy working in china.. happy and at ease

This post has been edited by lwb: Sep 13 2007, 05:02 PM

there's another moniker for such profession.. they're called a 'bean counter'

there's another perspective to look at it.. by looking it through the element of "time"..
that's where gratification comes in.. most people want to have it NOW.. but NOW is a problem to affortability.

hence, you can eventually afford it.. but it's not now.. and there's an option to satisfied the NOW requirement.. which is to "borrow" (and that's the easier option).. and thus, like how you put it nicely, minimum borrowing which is ideal, requires time..

do you ever ponder why some earn good money at a young age?
apart from the norm that defines it.. there's also another point of view.

which is.. think of how you can sell a RM40 screwdriver set by charging it up to RM233?

such practices do make easy money flowing recklessly.. don't you think? (as we all eventually know, it's not sustainable)

i hope it has nothing to do with genting highlands... croupier(?) don't earn that sort of sum, do they? do enlighten me, please..