X6 dan Aku

Early last week, at 2.09am.

SMS from Kak Lin of Aziz CfP.

“Appointment CMS dgn En Aziz pada Jumaat 9 Oct 2009 7 pm di Putrajaya. Sila confirm. Jika cancel tiada date baru dapat dijanjikan”.

Dang, we’ve been waiting for the appointment since July. 3 months have lapsed, means no savings since Aziz specifically mentioned not to do any savings until the next appointment was to be secured. I was edgy. 3 months with no savings means opportunity lost for quite a sum. I need to grab this appointment, even though I only have 2.5 days left of annual leave, besides it’s only been October. I need to save my annual leave for the next 2 months, but Aziz’s appointment is like a much shinier golden chance. Well, need to sacrifice 0.5 days, means have to leave JB at half day noon Friday, nite time to come back since 10th Oct. is a second Saturday (working day). Entah bila lah company aku ni nak buat 5-day week….So, I replied the SMS – "OK, confirm Friday 7pm 9th October 2009".

1pm 9th Oct. 2009 – departed to Putrajaya.

We were thinking of what to tell Aziz and what not to tell Aziz. The last appointment we had with him was in April in JB, he screwed us like nobody’s business. All was because we did not follow his plan. I remember he said, “Kalau dah pandai sangat, buat sendirilah. Buat apa jumpa I”. Memang bisa yang amat. All the four letter words were uttered, until he had to go out from the room to cool himself. We were cool allright. We had come with good intention. From that moment on, we told ourselves, follow this plan if we want to succeed and make a change to our financial life.

Aziz’s consultation with the clients is by phases:
1. Pre-phase – attend his talk. The schedule and venue normally will be published in his website – ww.azizcfpx.com. Aziz used to have this talk all over Malaysia, but lately due to his health, he constricted it to Putrajaya and a few other major cities only.
2. Phase 1 – appointment no. 1 – Consultation.
This is when we explained to him all our assets, liabilities and aspirations. Tell him whether you’re on the CCRIS or CTOS list, insya Allah he will try to sort out the program for you. He would tell how much OD value to take and what credit card you need to supplement to ease the cash flow.
3. Phase 2 – appointment no. 2 – OD (Overdraft).
He would see whether you’ve done all the steps he’d asked you to do in appointment 1. In our case, he had asked us to re-finance the house, which I did not do due to stupid reason – I didn’t want to pay the penalty. And 1 major boohoo – we bought 2 cars. Tambah hutang. He was damned pissed. Memang patut kena screw kot. Here he will teach how the monthly cash flow will be like by using the OD as a platform and how to use the credit cards as supplements.
4. Phase 3 – appointment no. 3,4&5 – CMS (Cash Management System).
This is to see whether you have achieved the savings target, reduce debts and whatever plan that you may have.

5pm – arrived at Aziz’s Putrajaya office.

It was locked. Called and SMS Kak Lin, was told that they would come to the office around 7pm only. We decided to hang around that Presinct Diplomatic. Dropped by at the Putrajaya Visitor Center but the condition was so much to be desired. Imagine this:

Mr. X : Encik, tumpang Tanya, kat mana surau atau masjid terdekat kat area sini?
Security on Duty behind the counter (while packing up his bags) : Kat sini takdelah. Ada satu surau dalam café. Pegilah cari. Kami dah nak balik ni.

Apa punye servis daaaa….takut sangat aku nak tanya lelebih, nanti balik lewat bini marah kot….nama jer Visitor Center. Man, we are very far, maybe 20 years behind, to be a developed nation. Since the grand masjid of Putrajaya was very far from that precinct, we ended up fooling around at Alamanda.

6.30pm – waited for Aziz outside his office.

Suddenly around 7.10pm – this nice car passed by and was parked in front of us. Fuiyoooo… BMW X6 you….red color. See pix. Isn’t it nice?

The last time we saw him, he was driving a 5-series only. Man, this shows just how much he has made in such a short time (our later talk revealed that he had tripled his net worth in the last 3 years). Hmmm…

The Oct. 9th was our CMS session no. 1, means for appointment no.3. We were scared all right. First we need to assess how much we had done based on his checklist. OK, all were done. Then he asked about all the credit cards balance – to see whether we had used the cards as per the intended purpose or we had screwed up again by buying things not in his list. Nasib baik OK. Then he asked about savings, so this one was also fine. Phewww….bottom line – he was happy with our performance so far.

For next appointment, he wanted to see us to re-finance the houses. He told us nowadays there are many banks which can give better rates and thus, faster for us to settle all our housing loans debts. This will be our priority now.

8.30pm – left Putrajaya and headed back to JB.

Esok keje lah….tensen gua…actually aku ada jugak berangan kot2 nak tido kat Marriot Putrajaya ke, any other good hotels kat situ, but Mr.X was clever to navigate me back to where we belong - in the office tomorrow morning, dude.

Aziz shared some inspirational stories again. I don’t know about you, but any story about how to make money abundantly and spend it like nobody’s business is really inspirational to me. Among the most fascinating ones:

1. Aziz bought a RM1.5m bungalow in Presinct 10, Putrajaya, after Putrajaya Holdings couldn’t sell it for RM2m. Means he got RM0.5 mi discount for the house. He wanted us to follow the same concept. Find a house which is sold at below market value, buy it, stay there and then sell for much higher price. Now he owns 7 houses.

2. Aziz just bought 2 LV bags for his wife and daughter. Each costs RM9k. He even offered his daughter for the special edition LV for RM22k, but she refused. He said, “Imagine, pegi shopping without being worried of how much to spend? Sekali pegi shopping mesti habis RM20-30k”. Huhu…

3. Aziz asked Kak Lin to replace her Kembara driven to market everyday. He wanted to buy her a CRV, but she kept on declining. “Pegi pasar je lah”. But he kept on insisting. Until Kak Lin said, “OK, I want a CLK, 2 doors will be fine”. Then Aziz said OK.

4. He also shared why the rich are getting richer. Just like what Robert Kiyosaki wrote, there are just so many opportunities to get richer, but only opened to the rich. Unless you’re on that league, you can’t grab the opportunity. That’s why we must join the league.

5. Jangan lupa buat kebajikan, you’ll get it back in quadruple. Especially if you do good deeds to your family members. Aziz has some Standing Instruction done to help his nieces and nephews whose father had died. Noble action indeed.

Now I feel like I can’t wait to get on with the program, to see him for CMS 2,3,4,5 and so on. But bear with his time. Patience is the key.

Aziz likes to quote in his responses in forum – bukan senang nak senang. Remember that AJIT greatest challenge are – NAFSU, MASA DAN PERASAAN TAMAK. As long as you can control these 3 elements, insya Allah you’ll succeed.

Damn, the X6 was really an inspiration. I checked the tag - RM680,000.

Ikhlaskah itu?

Minggu lepas pelakon terkenal Umie Aida telah bertunang dengan lelaki pilihannya seorang Datuk. Dalam berita kata hadiah pernikahan dari pihak lelaki ialah apartment mewah di Mont Kiara bernilai RM3 juta. Rumah itulah yang dia buat majlis pertunangannya. Bila ditanya kenapa Umie memilih duda anak dua tersebut yang syarikatnya pernah menerbitkan buku 50 Dalil Kenapa Anwar Tak Boleh Jadi PM, Umie menjawab, “Kerana dia ikhlas dalam berkawan dengan saya”.

Ikhlaskah itu?

Kekadang bila gaduh dengan pasangan kita, ada jugak syaitan berbisik dan hati kita berkata, “Laki aku ni kalaulah lebih prihatin, penyayang, berkarisma, suka buat duit macam aku, kan ke best”..ada saja kekurangan pada suami yang kekadang buat kita wish - kalaulah….jadinya, cinta dan pengorbanan aku selama ni kiranya terhapus pahala kalau aku sebut mende mcm tu kan…

Ikhlaskah itu?

Bagaimana untuk kita ertikan perkataan ikhlas ni. Kalau kat surat, kita biasa tulis – Ikhlas Daripada, atau Yang Ikhlas, ini dalam kes surat cinta zaman dulu la kan…maknanya si penulis benar2 menulis dari hatinya yang tulus ikhlas. Ye ke?

Bila orang kata “Saya ikhlas berkawan dengan awak”, maknanya kalau aku ni masih bujang, boleh lah dia segera berjumpa orang tua aku dan masuk meminang. Boleh juga bermaksud, saya berkenan dekat awak kerana sifat mulia yang awak miliki, bukan kerana harta awak, atau condo awak, atau saham dan ladang2 yang awak ada. Saya akan terima awak seadanya. Maknanya saya akan fokus kepada kebaikan yang awak miliki, dan abaikan segala kekurangan, kerana saya faham saya juga ada kekurangan, dalam dunia ini tiada orang yang sempurna.

Tapi bila sudah hidup bersama, kekadang timbul juga persoalan. Kenapalah si dia ni tak berani buat keputusan macam ex aku dulu? Kalaulah dia ni ada sifat sekian-sekian, kan ke lagi best…this twist of feelings, if gone uncontrolled, can be detrimental to the relationship. Sebab aku sure si pasangan pun may have the same wish. Kalaulah bini aku jadik lebih relax, tak berapa serius, kalaulah bini aku ni pandai crack jokes macam orang tu, kalaulah bini aku ni pandai nyanyi suara sedap dan pandai main alat muzik, sure hidup aku lebih ceria, kalaulah….wah, giler banyak kekurangan sang bini ek. So, cinta si suami selama ini, ikhlas ke tak?

Sebab tu Dr. Fadzilah Kamsah pernah beri petua, kalau nak hidup bahagia dengan pasangan, sentiasa ingatkan segala kebaikan dan kelebihan yang ada pada dirinya. Jangan lah dok fikir and focus pada kekurangan yang dia ada. Syaitan pun mulalah masuk jarum bila kita terlalai seketika. Nampak macam kacang putih kan? But the battle can go unnoticed, as long as we can drive ourselves back to the right path, insya Allah everything will be fine. Semuanya akan dihitung di akhirat kelak.

Ini ada satu lagu yang pada zaman bebudak dulu, aku suka jugak dengar. Tapi aku rasa lirik dia lagik buat kita confuse. Apakah makna Ikhlas.:

Bila bila kiranya diriku perlu
Hari yang murung
Terdengar nada yang riang ria
Sekali suara meyakinkan jiwa
Kaku langkah mengaguminya
Kaku menerimanya
Selagi bahuku
Memikul bebannya
Selagi hayatku
Merasa siksa
Selama senyuman
Menjadi senyumku
Ku bawa wajahmu
Walau diriku jauh…

Langsung...kekadang rasa macam satu jihad juga, untuk mengikhlaskan hati untuk membuat kebaikan dengan orang, lebih2 lagi orang yang pernah menyakitkan hati kita, melukakan perasaan kita, mengutuk kita, mengumpat kita, etc. Satu jihad tu. Satu perjuangan.

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Di suatu malam bulan lepas, room mate lama aku di college telah menghantar SMS.



Zai's SMS : Let's take a walk down memory lane. Ko ingat tak dulu ko ada minat sorang budak tu, aku rasa nama dia keluar surat khabar.



Oleh kerana SMS tu aku baca dah lewat malam, esoknya aku terus call Zai.



Memang betul lah ini kisah a short walk down memory lane. Masa aku baru2 kat IU dulu, adalah dalam 40+ budak Melayu kat situ. Separuh budak PPP/ITM and separuh budak ATU (American Top University). Bebudak ATU ni belajar English kat u aku, supposedly for 1 year, before they were to be located to top schools in the US e.g. Yale, Harvard, MIT, Brown, etc. Mr. X ni pun a product of the ATU program, that's why he ended up at Minnesota Twin Cities, among the very good school for engineering la..anyways, bebudak ATU ni aku nampak enjoy semacam. Ialah kan, dapat sponsor from good companies such as Esso, Shell, Petronas and also JPA. Diorang ni pegi US direct after SPM. Bertuah badan.



Dalam reramai budak ATU kat u aku ni, aku dulu ada lah minat kat sorang mamat ni. He was tall, fair and ada iras2 Acis (Hasridz Mushridz Hashim) ok, now jadik Sheila Majid punye. Apa yg aku buat dulu, aku hantar email, dia balas, and aku ada gak amik gambar dgn dia masa gathering raya. Caling-calling kekadang ada jugaklah. Since dia pun orang JB, so kita rasa mcm senang nak get along. He was like 2 years younger ok, but heck with age, it's the compatibility that matters. Ayah dia keje government, pernah datang ke US for some work and singgah ke u aku ni nak ziarah anak dia. Masa tu lah mak aku amik kesempatan kirim baju kurung n food kat aku. Aku ingat lagi, masa ayah dia datang ke rumah masa hantar segala tok nenek yg mak aku kirim, aku masak nasi lemak you..huhu...suka betul ayah dia dapat makan nasi lemak tu...



But our frienship did not go far. One thing had happened which made me totally lost my respect to him, and he knew it. He was sorry and that was it. Aku pun belajar kalau nak minat orang, kena tengok perangai jugak. Biasalah, jiwa remaja kan..So, since the "minat" was off, kitaorg akan jumpa bila ada gathering, atau bila time raya, he and his friends would pay a visit to our apartment. Everyone of my room mate knows about this story. And they all semua tahu aku minat untuk saja suka2lah, nothing serious. That was it.



Then I got to know that he continued his study at Purdue. I never know what has happened to him since then, until I got Zai's SMS.



Owh, what had happened to you man? Did you finish your study and go airwol, or did you not finish your study and ashame to get home? Or did you finish your study and did not contact Petronas to register your study completion? Man, how I wish that you complete your study. Kesian dekat your parents. They had such high hopes on you man...



Bila nama dah keluar paper ni, maknanya orang dah tak dapat carilah kan. Where on earth can you be?



There goes another gem.

There goes all the taxpayer's money to sponsor you man (duit Petronas tu duit rakyat Malaysia jugak tu).



Pulanglah. Bayar lah balik duit Petronas tu beb...banyak tu, at least RM250,000.

One of A Kind

Trivia:
Pure Kedahan (even though slang has slowly gone after 10 years living in JB?).
Proud father of 2, intensively trying to add heirs.
Friendly, has big vision and LOVES TO MAKE LOTS OF MONEY.


I first met this gentleman when I had some business to do in Marine Repair division. He was bubbly when describing his job scope and always has ideas on how we can do it better. Because of this, I had proposed for him to apply for our special project (which was supposed to be "special") and he did just that. Luck was on his side when he was interviewed and accepted by our then boss.

Then begun his journey into a totally new world. The world was no longer loud, instead it was peaceful. He got to work with consultants who of course, would talk diplomatically instead of using fowl languages which was his “meal” when he was in Marine Repair. He got to meet scores of new friends whom I believe are still in contact with him until today. Even though he appears to be a man with fewer words in formal setting, he has always been cheerful with friends in casual settings.

I feel that I have to pay a tribute to this gentleman for several reasons:

He introduced me to the famous Malaysian CFP – Abdul Aziz Ibrahim. Thanks to him we are now practicing the AJIT module and have managed to reduce our debts and increase our savings.

He preached about passive income and introduced me to the wonderful world of business via Tupperware brand products. Well, actually I just signed up as member for the past 1 year under her wife’s line of business in Tupperware. Little did I expect that the upline is a very charismatic and go-getter woman named Jessica, who owns an outlet of Tupperware in Taman Molek. When I managed to get 2 members in, I realized that hey, this is a good business to do. Why not I try to do it and see how fast can it grow.

He is a consistent motivator on further study, for life.

He promotes richness via investment in numerous means – shares, real estates, gold, you name it. I think he has his hands and wealth in almost every avenue to get yourself richer.

He has almost always shared tips on the latest "lubang" to make more money.

Hey man, thanks a zillion. Hanya Jauhari yang mengenal Manikam.

The "Wayang" Experience and More

Many people have commented that my children are gaining weight like "superfast". This maybe due to my kind mother who always ensure that they are well fed. One very distinct trait about my mother is that she will always ensure that people in the house and guests for that matter, are well fed - breakfast, lunch, afternoon meal, and dinner. Maybe because of that, my children are accumulating body fats day by day. Since I can't stop them from eating, as an alternative, I have to make sure that they stay active to burn all those calories gained. Stay active they do!

Currently Husna is wearing clothes meant for girls aged 9-10 while Huda for girls aged 6-7. If it's 7-8 for Husna, the length maybe allright but the tummy diameter can't fit.  Same goes for Huda. Now the little brother is following suit. I have to get him clothes for boys aged 2-3 whereas he's only 1.5 years. I don't mind the height, but I'm damn worried about the body fat. 

Last 2 weeks, we managed to bring both girls to watch Ice Age 3 at Jusco Tebrau cinema. They were focused in the beginning and the middle part. Towards the end, Huda had lost her concentration and decided to doze off. Husna was very attentive. Ice Age 3 was a fun movie to watch. At first we did think about watching Harry Potter, but forget it. It maybe far too high level, beyond reach of the children.

Sometimes Husna pronounced some English words the Malaysian way. Since the teacher is an Indian lady, she pronounced the word "Van" as "Wan". I tried to correct Husna's pronunciation, but she said that's how the teacher said it, so it must be correct. There are other words as well, I can't remember them, but I really cannot tolerate when she started to say "Lah" or "ah" at the end of her sentence. Everytime she says it, I would say, please speak proper English. Tell your teacher that. The teachers are spoiling the childern!!! In a battle between mom and teachers, teachers always win. Hence, I have to go and tell the teacher to speak proper English. That won't be nice, isn't it? I've told them off once not to give candies as incentive when the students are well bahaved. After I called the school and stated my preference that my children are not taking sweet candies, then only they switched to giving stickers. Stickers are good. They don't harm the teeth. I'm sure the school teachers don't like me that much.

Talking about Nuri, parents have to fork out RM1400++ at the beginning of the year. Husna is going to be at J6 next year while Huda is going to enrol for J4. Huda has to go to school, if not she'll be conquering the tv watching Disney Playhouse or Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network all day long. We want her to develop her social skills as well. So that's 2 children - RM3000. Education is expensive.

Huda's major challenge right now is to pronounce the words containing the letter S. She would utter "Tesco" as "Tehco", "Smile" as "Mile", and "Jusco" as "Jahco". She has always  be the subject of fun when it comes to getting her to pronounce words with S in it. But that is not a big deal to me. But unfortunately, her teacher at Vital Years thought otherwise. The teacher called me up and said Huda couldn't move to the next level because she can't pronounce words with letter S in it very well. I said I am very well aware of the problem. But it's not such a big deal. I said you can't punish her for that. Nevertheless, we decided to stop sending Huda to Vital Years because we think she is more suited for centers which enhance the development of the left brain. Maybe e-nopi when she's a little bit bigger. E-nopi charges RM200++ also. Ouch! Can education come a little bit cheaper?

I am lucky that Mr.X supports the idea of getting early education in life. I was moved when I read a newspaper about a Chinese couple who managed to produce 13 doctors in the family sometime ago. They sold off their land and estate to give way for their children's education. I solute their principle in providing good education for their children. I dream that I can do the same. Only education can change one's life. Infact in Islam, we are purpoted to continuously learn. Hadith Nabi - "Belajarlah kamu walaupun sampai ke negeri China" and one more about "Belajarlah kamu dari buaian ke liang lahad" means that WAJIB for us to continuously learn and gain new knowledge persistently in life.

I hope and pray that all those education we provide and all those experience we give them, will make them better individuals to strengthen the ummah. AMIN.

Beginning of a New Episode

After numerous comments I've made, finally, here they are. Sweet isn't it? Finally we got to see how petite Shireen is, but the fact that she carries the title "Doctor" makes her presence to carry lots of load.

I got this picture from a friend, Nurihan. The funny thing was that she forwarded the email containing 5 pix of the wedding to several ladies who attended the same course with her last week. She tried to create some suspense when she purposely hinted that she had gone out with Norman before, saying how short Norman was. That was when we created strings of jokes about her going out with Norman. Did she really go out with him? Was she an artist before? From which company? Maestro Talent? Or did she just bump into him somewhere near Setiawangsa where Norman's office is? Or did Norman came to EON Bank to make some loans and met her (she used to work in that bank but in Tiram!). Those were among the jokes.

Finally she couldn't take it. She admitted that she met Norman doing shopping at Jakarta, as part of his preparation for the wedding. Ahhhh...finally, the cat is out of the bag. She did say though, Norman doesn't like "pompuan gedik", but rather prefers woman who are smart, matured and independent.

Well, the type of partner you wish to spend the rest of your life with, or rather termed as "lelaki impian" or "wanita pilihan", actually mirrors your character. Someone who is ambitious and cannot settle for less like Norman, prefers woman like the traits I mentioned. But I guess not many men are like this. Maybe less than 10%. Let's face the fact. Majority men would settle for less. Less brain, less clothes, less food, less children (if to marry a widow lah). This brings to a story.

I got to know a 29-year old childless female lawyer whom just been divorced and would like to re-marry. She has lots of men in queue, including the married ones. In choosing her new partner, she went for a married man who used to say this to her, "Saya nak menyelamatkan awak". Waaliauuuu...safe from what?? If the man has a pure intention to safe the ummah, he could always go to widows who have 2,3,4,5,6 or 7 children. That's when the word "selamat" is appropriately applicable. 29-year old female lass earning more than RM10k a month doesn't need to be saved! Are you rescuing her or rather rescue now, drown her later?

Alamak, today banyak mengomel la pulak...as you can see, I've not written for quite a while. Very long time. There are loads and loads of stories and grievances, but save some space and time for you to read huh?

Anyway, let's pray that Abang Norman's marriage be blessed by Allah, and let it endure the tribulations that they may face in future. AMIN.

Abang Norman - welcome to the wonderful world of marriage, where only the fittest can survive.

Memoirs of 12 Years

What - Today, 12 years ago, Mr. X had made a commitment. 

Where - We were sitting at the staircase, talking casually, at one of my friend's apartment, in Bloomington, Indiana.

How - maybe because he was tired of being lonely. Feeling lonely could be a killer, especially when family members were thousands of miles away and communication channels were not as sophisticated as what we have today. Best bud would be the answer. Someone to share your ups and downs. Someone to talk to when you feel like talking without any specific subject matter. Someone to laugh together and cry together.

Outcome - I have become Mr. X's best bud since 27th July 1997. How time really flies.