Asian Tiger

I look around me and there are many eligible bachelors and bachelorettes who have passed their thirties and have yet to settled into a relationship, let alone marriage.  Many of these are my personal and childhood friends whom I have grown up with.  Somehow, they seem very happy and contented to remain status quo as far as their bachelorhood are concerned.

This trend of “enjoy first, marriage second” seems to be a national issue as well; not surprisingly, giving rise to matchmaking service businesses. Perhaps it is perceived that these group of individuals fail to get into a relationship because of of their inability to get dates but frankly, the friends that I have are all well to do, handsome, beautiful and professionals.

Assuming that this circle of friends that I have all have the attitude of “enjoy first, marriage/family later”, then please allow me to forewarn that the older we get, the longer we have to work to support our young children.  Let’s just take an example of say, John.  Let’s assume that John gets married when he is 35 and Mrs John conceives a child and the following series of events:

• John Jr is born - John is 36.
• John Jr goes to primary school at age 7 - John is 43
• John Jr goes to secondary school at age 13 - John is 49
• John Jr completes secondary school at age 17 - John is 53
• John Jr enters higher secondary school and completes at age 19 - John is 55 (retirement age in Malaysia)
• John Jr completed university at age 24 - John is 60

John will have to work beyond his retirement age just to support his child to complete the necessary education and by that time, John is already 60.  That is only the first child.  What if John has 3 children? How long does he have to work to support his kids?  Worrying, isn’t it?

Lesley came home from the United States for good. With her, she brought in a container load of furnitures, electronic goods and other belongings. I helped her unpack and for the first time, I saw what a dishwasher looks like. I’ve never seen one before nor do I know how to operate it. Lesley wanted to demonstrate how the Maytag dishwasher worked and plugged the power right in. She switched on and there was this whirling sound followed by smoke. Yeah, you guessed it right, the dishwasher operates on 110 volts while Malaysia’s juice runs at 240 volts.

Lesley shook her head and asked me where she could get some Maytag parts. I replied “Maytag what? Here where got sell Maytag brand?” The best bet was to search online but who would know which spare part to purchase. Importing involve not only the spare part cost but also the shipping, handling and insurance. On top of that, you probably need to clear customs.

Lesley discarded the dishwasher and have now resorted to good old fashion hand wash. So, if you are bringing home electrical goods, check the voltage before using it. It might save you from a little shock, literally.

America is sneezing and the rest of Asia catches a cold. We are now all aware of the subprime crisis hitting America, bringing the world’s top economy to a slowdown. This “recession” is going to affect the rest of the world and people are now starting to tighten their belts. The soaring prices of goods is unwelcomed as it is fueled by the meteoric rise of crude oil prices.

Malaysia could learn a thing or two from America about their coupons savings. Until today, coupons in Malaysia has not truly got on except in rare cases where the coupon is exchanged for free gifts or rather valuable free gifts. We simply rely on sales to do some bargain hunting. Just think about it, how many times does Jaya Jusco conduct sales in the past 12 months? Plenty, right? So, does many other merchants or shopping complexes.

What I dislike about sales is that I tend to spend more than what I originally intended. Coupons on the other hand, provide the necessary deals and promotions for specific items. So, if you are set out to say, purchase books or magazines, coupons from Best Deal Magazines gives you the discounts and deals. Likewise, if you are set to purchase some home items, HomeDepot coupons will come in handy.

In the coming gloomy days, we will need to be more prudent in our spendings and coupons are one way to help us curb unnecessary purchases.