Chronicles of an ex-unmatched overseas medical student – Part 2

Republished from here (3rd Sept 2013)

Here we go, let’s go for a flying start. Eagerly wait for it with perseverance, people, with hope despite not seeing it yet (Romans 8:25). Here comes the next 3 points continuing from where we left.

Fourth, quench the enemy’s fire arrows.

We all know those lies of the enemy (I’m not good enough, it’s hopeless, I should just give up). Sometimes we just don’t realise that we already know them. They may come like a barrage of arrows, or like a single sniper shot. In these times, faith really is your shield. And your shield really is faith. Because those arrows seek to out snuff your life. Remember what Bill Johnson says – I can’t afford to have a thought inside my head about me that God doesn’t have inside His head about me.

The faith declaration that I speak out each morning sounds like this:

“I speak to my mountain to be removed. To unemployment and being unmatched – Be gone! Get out of my life! Get out of my house!

I declare I’m employed, hired, matched! In Jesus’ name.”

And I target other similar mountains: Poverty, doubt and negative thinking, fear and unbelief. If you write it on your room door or wall, you’ll regularly declare it without missing a day. Your words have power, for life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21).

What did Jesus say in Mark 11:23? “Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be gone and jump into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” The word says appeared 3 times there – so what we say is probably more important than we initially thought.

Faith without works is dead, right? So here’s a simple way to work your faith – speak it out. Speak out what you believe. And quench those fiery arrows.

Fifth, worship with music every day.

I have a favourite playlist that includes Worship You Alone, You’re All I Need, and Freedom Reigns. You can’t overdose on worship music. It’s free to use and free from adverse side effects. And thank God for earphones, especially inner ear buds. If you hate them, that’s fine; I’ve learned to love them for the loud crowds during my 40-minute train rides. Neurosurgeon Allan J Hamilton advocates music via earphones during brain surgery for smoother recovery. If generic music is already that good, then imagine how much better worship music is! It’s a refreshing spring for the body, soul and spirit.

Tip: Use it together with a checklist of important things to do during the day so that you actually get things done on top of feeling happy doing it!

Sixth, keep moving.

It’s easy to stay stagnant, thanks to Newton’s first law of motion. But you can turn it around to keep you in motion too! Moving around gives many benefits to your physical earth-suit: cardiovascular fitness, clearer thinking, increased momentum and productivity, weight loss (+/-), and a fun feeling! Whether you’re jogging, cycling, weightlifting, swimming, sport-playing, golfing, Body-Attacking, etc – you’re investing your time and energy into fruitful long-term gains for your body. Which also happens to be the Holy Spirit’s temple. So just imagine you’re upgrading, renovating and adding-on to the temple when you’re sweating it out. Plan your work out days at the start of the week so when the time of day comes, you don’t have to reach that dilemmatic situation of, “Should I break a sweat today, or should I break my routine?” It’s easy to dwindle from mild mental depression to physical fatigue. So break that cycle and keep moving.

I’d like to think of myself as a scientist, with my own life being my constant experiment. All that I write here are things I personally do. I believe that as we get into the zone of making conscious things automatic, we eventually achieve unprecedented levels of success. I may be wrong in believing that the ideal is achievable, but so far my life hasn’t made a backward turn. If in doubt, then seek God. And hold on relentlessly to whatever He shows you. I may be wrong, but He never is.

God bless you.

You’re All I Need: www.youtube.com/watch?v=arC_oTj1gog

ASB Financing

This post is a summary of ASB loans and why I think it’s an awesome investment

I have been scouring far and wide for the secrets of ASB investing in written form, including more than 100 pages on Lowyat.net, so here is a distilled summary of what I’ve found.

ASB is Amanah Saham Bumiputera. Essentially it is a Malaysian Unit Trust Fund that is invested into blue chip shares, some of which are listed here. But investing directly in ASB and using ASB Financing (aka ASB loan) are two very different things.

ASB
Maximum investment = RM 200,000 per person
Yield = 7% p.a. (Historically up to 10.25% p.a.)
Unlimited fund size (currently RM 155 billion)
As liquid as cash
All the dividends* are reinvested annually by default

ASB2 is the new cousin of ASB, which is very similar except with a limited fund size of RM 10 billion

ASB Financing is an almost guaranteed get-rich-slow scheme, with emphasis being on the get rich part. Banks are permitted to lend up to RM 200,000 over 30 years per individual. The numbers?

  • Save RM 1,110 monthly (RM 13,320 annually)
  • Become an RM millionaire in 25 years
  • Condition: Get approved for a loan of RM 200,000

Dividends after 12 months:

  • Own saving = RM 505 (ie if you saved RM 1,100 monthly starting from zero)
  • ASB financing = RM 14,000 (27x higher)
    This comes in the first week of January every year
    If you saved by yourself and reinvested all your dividends, it would take you 10 years to reach annual dividends of RM 14,000

Some people advocate recycling (or rolling) the dividends to pay for the following year’s loan repayments. If you do this, then you end up with only RM 200,000 after 25 years, but the cashflow commitment is indeed lower. Think about it – leaving the dividends to compound nets you RM 1,000,000 instead – that is a fivefold difference in the total amount. That’s the miracle of compounding interest. If you can afford the monthly repayments, then by all means do that.

Prior to 2015, the leverage potential was even greater, as banks were allowed to give out loans up to RM 400,000, double their current limit. Given that the natural initial limit of an ASB account is RM 200,000, and the average annual growth is 7%, it would take 10 years for a filled-up account to have a limit of RM 400,000.

I have found that there is much confusion surrounding the ASB investment limit. This is what I now know:

  • Every account starts with a limit of RM 200,000.
  • The limit grows on 1st Jan yearly by the amount of dividends you get.
    • e.g. Investing RM 20,000 for the year increases the limit by RM 700 (to RM 200,700) once the dividends are distributed.
  • As the fund size is uncapped, there is no pre-defined limit to how big your account can grow to – it is limited only by the annual dividend rate and the total duration of your investment

Here is a success story by Buggie whose ASB account size has grown to RM 600,000 after 17 years.

An initial investment of RM 200,000 when the fund started 30 years ago, if never withdrawn, could now be worth up to RM 3,359,923** (2020). That’s an annual compound growth rate of 9.86% p.a.

As a side note, it may also be possible to fill up a larger-than-200k account using a loan compression tactic. This frees up your cash for other uses, eg other investment classes or personal use.

ASB2 Financing came into being in 2017, which increases the total maximum borrowing a person has to RM 400,000 for these 2 vehicles. Bankers have also been giving advice on utilising trusted proxies – e.g. a spouse or a sibling – to gain even greater leverage.

My personal goal is to achieve RM 1,000,000 worth of controlled assets (including RM 700,000 of Other People’s Money) by age 38.

The wait now is for ASB2 Financing to get through the narrow door as the total fund size is limited. Perhaps people would cash out their earnings after dividends are given on 1st April 2019, and that hopefully creates more room for my investment.

 

*Technically, the term is distributions. I have liberally used dividends to mean distributions in this post.
**Estimate only. Bonuses were calculated differently in the past, so this result may be inaccurate.

Searching for love

Image result for lovers spring flowers

It wasn’t like what I imagined!

Before I ever knew I got an overseas university scholarship, I had imagined a captivating love life overseas. Picture this: a sandstone university, books, the flowers of spring, and intellectually engaging young people. In the midst of it all are 2 young lovers living the romantic life of their dreams. Just like what they show on TV.

My first 12 months in Melbourne had all of that except for the last bit. Oh, I did have a crush here and there. And if you look at my old blog site, you’ll spot the occasional pieces on love and attraction. But the romantic dreams that I had visualised never really materialised.

Makes you wonder why. Perhaps it was my demanding course of study (and later, work). Perhaps it was God’s call for the season of my life. Perhaps the right girl for me was not ready anyway. Either way, my mother would not have approved of a serious relationship before I had firm footing on the ground (“Finish your study first, OK“). So it would not have worked anyway, because my mother’s approval is a powerful force to be reckoned with.

An alternate timeline that I imagined had my dream girl study in another country far away (inspired by a true life event). We would get committed together, nurture the long distance relationship for 7 years, and then, once we hit our magical age, finally get together for our wedding day! Well, having gone past that magical number, I conclude that this timeline belongs in fairy tales only.

But I’m still hopeful. Very hopeful, in fact. The conversations I’ve had especially in recent times have only enriched my perspective on human romantic relationships. And in my heart, I believe that God is leading me closer to the real girl of my dreams (or His dreams). I can sense where I am being led. This feels so easy, almost effortless. And my mother’s approval looms close – she’s eager to know about developments in my romantic life.

I would never have known that this would be how it unfolds.

To the girl of my dreams, if you are reading this, I hope you are enchanted in the same way that I am by the amazing work of the ultimate story teller of love – God Himself.

Photo credit: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-bride-groom-wedding-kiss-spring-walk-park-image83908155

Encouragement for the Job Seeker

Original title: Chronicles of an ex-unmatched overseas medical student (Pt 1) – 27/8/13

I wrote this piece on a Facebook note over 4 years ago to document the challenging times I faced as an international medical student without a secured intern post. I publish it here as a source of encouragement for anyone facing a similar situation regarding work.

I’m writing this to share bits of my job application journey in the past few months (especially the past 20 days) with my fellow unmatched friends who are still hanging onto hope against hope.

First, watch out for those attacks that periodically resurface.

Self-doubting. Wishing that some things were better. Wondering if only some things were said or done differently. Comparing self and others. Being insecure.

They’re not new, these lies of the enemy. Just shake them off and walk in your rightful position as a blessed child of God.

Second, start doing some things:

  • Write down testimonies and magical moments in a book.
  • Write down specific promises that God has given to you. Not ones He gave to me or your other friends; to you. These are the most powerful.
  • Google scripture references for those promises. Also read them in alternate versions – NLT, MSG, AMP, etc.
  • Claim these promises. Declare them daily. Your words have power.

One of my favourites is:

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8 NLT

I know God has sent me here. One evening whilst cycling back along the road in my suburb, God bluntly asked me, “Do you think it’s just random chance that you’re a sponsored scholar who got accepted in Melbourne into the last batch of MBBS, allocated to the New Clinical School, doing the things you’re doing?” I’ve had many forks in the road. The choice of 2 scholarships – I picked one without a bond. Choice of 4 countries – picked one closer to my home. Or perhaps my heart. Choice of 5 clinical schools. I didn’t get my top 3, but grew to love my place over the past 2 years. I had a strong sense to apply for internship here – for instance, I felt this voice saying, “Apply here” one day, as I was in the ward, writing patient notes. There are multiple other reasons – friendly senior medical staff, fertile educational culture, collegiality with junior students, great diversity of cases. My soul and my spirit wanted to be here. That evening, I came to realise that life isn’t as random as it seems.

I want you to know that your life isn’t random either. Once you’re given a promise, hold on to it. No-one can take it from you. Other than yourself.

I’ll add a third one: Have a guardian angel.

Maybe it’s someone senior who knows your situation well and can relate appropriately. Maybe it’s someone who’s personally been there. Maybe it’s someone who can advocate for you as you make those shameless phone calls.

I actually have a few guardian angels. Some are closer than others. But all of them are a source of encouragement in my dire period. I’m usually optimistic, but they propel my optimism to a new level. Also, you don’t need angels of death when your situation is already negative – so run away from them.

My best guardian angel has been with me from day 1 of my jobless situation. Her words were very encouraging, saying that if anyone was unmatched, she’d least expect it was me. She said to me, “You’re an excellent student.” She knows what the process involves – results, references, resume, and rendezvous (interview). And she was confident in my ability. So she helped me tremendously, even going the extra mile. That’s what you need in a guardian angel – a belief in yourself that is even greater than your belief in yourself. That would take you through any situation you face. If you’re my guardian angel and you’re reading this, I’m sure you know who you are. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for me! Oh, how I wish my other unmatched friends find a guardian angel just like I’ve found mine.

So hang in there. Nothing is impossible for those who believe (Matthew 17:20). I chose to believe, sometimes when there’s no reason to believe other than because a promise was made. And look, the impossible has happened! If it can happen to me, then surely it can happen to you.

God bless you.

How blessed I’ve been!

We usually aren’t thankful for the amazing things in life until they’re not there anymore.

One such thing for me is my current house, which I need to move out of before the end of the month.

I have been living here for the last 18 months, and prior to that I lived in the next door house for 5 years. The place is a very convenient 3 km away from the hospital where I work. The rent is under $700 a month for my share. There’s a spare bedroom for family members to bunk in on holidays. It may be far from the CBD, but since 80% of my week is spent away from the CBD anyway, it makes sense to be living in this area.

Before moving out, I was living in Carlton paying $600 a month in a shared bedroom. There were 5 of us living in the 3-bedroom townhouse. It was fun student living for the time, but I definitely missed out on privacy, space and a decent study desk. Plus, if I had stayed on there and travelled 50 minutes daily to the suburban hospital for placements, it would’ve consumed a lot of time and energy (and Myki fares). That was unnecessary.

When I started my full time job in 2014, I actually had the choice of living closer to the city with the newfound income. I just wonder why I did not think it as much. The long drive home from Urban Life, church and Melbourne Uni (about 20 km, 40 minutes at least) was sometimes taxing. I still remember power napping on St George’s Road (or Cheddar Road if I had more energy in the tank) on the way back home, especially after the Anatomy Diploma night classes in the first 6 months of 2015.

On reflection, this low rent over the last 6 years has definitely helped to build up my emergency fund and now my home deposit. What was once more than half my monthly income became more like my tithe (and even less). Not to mention the benefit of living so close to the hospital, especially whilst on-call for Urology. Many times I am tempted to see non-operative consults just to get the recall rate.

For the next 6 months, I plan to live closer to Another Hospital, perhaps 10 minutes away. The rent would unfortunately go up a bit as I won’t be sharing the house, but I’m still selecting cheaper options and not just throwing the cash around. Do I still really need to rent? The answer is no. But I believe that buying under time pressure is unwise. Don’t spend only 30 days deciding for payments that last 30 years. The extra time also allows my home deposit to grow further.

All these things lead me to think, how blessed I am! God has used this period to enable me to purchase a house!