𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭: 𝗠𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱

TL:DR – As promised – please find the first chapter on “Why did a Mechanical Engineering graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) become a Licensed Financial Planner?” for your reading pleasure.

Any feedback is welcomed. Baru siapkan 3rd chapter – Building a Maggi Empire, lepas terus rasa nak makan Meggi.

𝗔 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱

I guess I was exposed to the value of money as a young boy at my mother’s knee, listening to stories from her life.

From the stories that my mother (Mak) told, the ones that stood out were those from when we were a family of four living off my father’s (Babah) scholarship money while living in DeKalb, Illinois. As you can imagine, it wasn’t enough to get by on. So precious was money that Mak had a jar of pennies she would count and count again before bringing the whole jar to the supermarket just so that she could buy powdered milk for me. Mak did everything she could to help out our family’s finances, from working illegally (without a visa) to selling Malaysian food to the other students.

After my parents completed their studies and qualified as teachers, things became much better. We were at least comfortable and living better off compared to others.

As I entered my schooling years, life was simple and happy for us kids. By then, we had grown into a family of six, lived in a bungalow, and had an old but sturdy Volvo Wagon that could carry all of us here and there around Malaysia during our vacations and visiting relatives. Babah and Mak made sure we had sufficient food on the table and even the occasional makan luar treats at nice restaurants. Once, we even had dinner at Continental Hotel Alor Setar – a really grand event for me.

Even so, I believe it wasn’t easy for my parents to maintain the lifestyle. Sometimes I wouldn’t see my parents on weekends because they were at work. Even when they weren’t going into their workplaces, they would bring work home.

Mak especially was a master at the side hustle, creating multiple income streams so that her children would be able to grow up comfortably without having to worry about whether we have enough money to get by. Babah on the other hand went the traditional route of finding part-time work to generate extra income.

𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀

Seeing how hard my parents worked to generate sufficient income for our family led me to an early realization that it wasn’t that easy to get money to get the things that you would like to have. Hence began my forays into money management – with some misadventure included.

First off, I had money goals, although I did not realize that’s what they were. I knew I wanted certain things that my family couldn’t afford to indulge me with. This was a big motivation for a young me to learn more about money.

With some hints and probably instructions from my parents, I learnt how to save the money I received. I learnt saving means to not spend all my daily school allowance (duit sekolah) and to put aside any windfalls I received such as the reward I received from my parents for being a brave boy when I got circumcised.

Aside from saving what I received, I took up a “part-time job” involving hunting for spare change around the house! The two best places to “earn” the most would be under the car seats in the Volvo or the sofa in the living room. All the money I found would be added to my savings of course.

At that time in my young life, one of my greatest pleasures was to gather all my various coin boxes to count my money. That sense of satisfaction knowing that my money pile was growing was something different from anything I felt before. I still remember my coin boxes were a Tabung Kancil (Ambank), Tabung Gajah (BSN), and a Tabung Haji replica. My parents didn’t mind if my sibling or myself purchased things using our savings. One glorious day, I became the proud owner of my first ever video game console, an Atari 7800, and the event was made sweeter knowing I paid for it all by myself.

The Not-Smooth Criminal

With all these good things happening, I’m not proud to admit it, but I soon let greed get the better. Spending money felt so good but saving money was taking forever from my perspective. Being an impatient and also not particularly stealthy child, I was caught stealing by Mak.

My extremely short career at being a petty thief came to an abrupt end. First came the horror of being caught. Then, receiving the punishments dealt out by Mak on the spot. My pride was sore, and I was truly remorseful, but Mak wanted to be sure the lesson was well learnt. My kind and loving mother next did something that shocked me to the core – she took me to the police station! I cried and cried, convinced I was going to be arrested and who knows what else that could happen to naughty boys. In my very sorry state in front of the probably amused policeman (or maybe it was a policewoman), I promised Mak I would never steal again and have stayed by this promise ever since.

Looking back at what happened, I can’t believe that I got ‘tricked’ by Mak as she actually brought me to the Ibu Pejabat Polis Trafik Alor Setar. I guess I was too young then to know the difference between various departments within the Royal Malaysian Police.

From that point on, I decided that I would only continue to look for different (legal) ways to earn money to help me buy the things that I would love to have without waiting for a long time.

<I will share more on these experiences in the next chapter. >