Time Value of Money or Money Value of Time?

by: Stephen Hanjaya


The term 'Time Value of Money' is a famous term in the financial world.¹ Time Value of Money (TVM) is an important and fundamental concept in financial management,² especially budgeting and investing.³ There are also term 'Money Value of Time' acknowledged by some people, but its famosity is way behind the "Time Value of Money."⁴


Time Value of Money contains the idea that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future, due to its potential earning capacity.⁵ This core principle of finance holds that, provided money can earn interest, any amount of money is worth more the sooner it is received. Also referred to as 'present discounted value.'⁶


While there are unanimous consent on the definition of the Time Value of Money,⁷ there are different acknowledgement on the term Money Value of Time. What is Money Value of Time? Is it really different from Time Value of Money?


Some said that the concept beneath Money Value of Time is simply, as an old saying goes, 'Time is Money.'⁸ Others said that money value of a time price equals the amount of money a person can sacrifice to "buy" that time, and for example, a person whose wage rate equals $20 per hour would value of 30 minutes of time at $10 (and would value 2 hours of time at $40).⁹ As a conclusion, it is not wrong to say that Money Value of Time is really the formula of Time is Money.


Most people take the 'Time Value of Money' concept for granted, accept it as it is, and introducing 'money value of time' concept as something different than 'time value of money' concept.¹⁰ I cannot agree to, or accept it.


Back to the definition and explanation of 'Time Value of Money.' If we are borrowing US$ 100, and we should pay the simple interest of 1% per month, after 10 month, we should return:

US$ 100 + {10 month x (1% x US$ 100)} = US$ 110.

Let's look at the real fact. Why would a Bank loan us US$ 100 for I% monthly interest? Why wouldn't a Bank loan us US$ 100 without interest? The most, why we would rather borrow now from the Bank, US$ 100 with I% monthly interest, instead of not borrowing from the Bank, and waiting until we have our own money US$ 100 to setup a business? Yes, because we do not have time to lose!!


Assume that, we want to setup a US$ 100 business with a 2% monthly net profit. Let's say we do not have US$ 100 in our pocket now, and if we save enough, we have to wait for 10 months to have our own US$ 100. After we have that money, then we setup the business and start to earn net profit of 2% monthly.


Now, how about if we borrow US$ 100 from the Bank with 1% monthly simple interest. By borrowing from the Bank now, now we already have in our hands the US$ 100 and could start our business now, instead of starting it in the next 10 month.


Because we started the business now, we start to gain the business' 2% net profit monthly. After 10 months, what we got in our hands is business capital and accumulated profits minus loan and accumulated interest. That is:

{$100 + {10months x (2% x $100)} - {$100 +{10months x (1% x $100)}= $10

We gained US$ 10 more than if we started the business 10 months later.


By borrowing, we could start the business as if we have the money now. It is like fast forwarding our business. In this example, we fast forward our business 10 month. To gain the US$ 10, we have to start and run a business for 10 months. To start the business 10 months earlier, we have to pay US$ 10 to the Bank. For me, it is very clear, that the interest is used to pay the time that the business supposed not to have.


The interest is the price to buy time. Time bought by money, not money bought by time. So, it is clear that 'Time is really Money,' and that is the 'Money Value of Time.' As a final conclusion, the term 'Time Value of Money' is a twisted term, and people must use the term 'Money Value of Time' as the proper term.


Additional Note

To define: "a person whose wage rate equals $20 per hour would value of 30 minutes of time at $10 (and would value 2 hours of time at $40)," as an example of 'The Money Value of Time' is not accurate. Wages cannot be used as an example of 'Money Value of Time.' Wages is not the pure price of time.


Wages is not the pure price of time because to gain salary, an employee must give:

1. Performance, that is the work of the employee itself, and
2. The employee's time in order to perform her work.

Those 2 elements of a work is unseparatable. Moreover, time is a very personal thing. It attaches to the person only. The value of time is relative and subjective. It depends on how the person perceives its value.


So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.
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¹Just search it via the search engine like Yahoo! or Google, and you will know how famous it is. Just type (without quotation marks): time value of money.

²"time value of money." Get Objects. Cedar Spring Software, 1998-2002. getobjects.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.getobjects.com/Components/Finance/TVM/concepts.html
"time value of money." Money Terms. Money Terms. moneyterms.co.uk 31 Jan. 2007. http://moneyterms.co.uk/time-value-of-money/

³"personal budgeting: time value of money." AOL Money & Finance, 30 Mar. 2005. money.aol.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://money.aol.com/budgeting/fct1/_a/personal-budgeting-time-value-of-money/20050325140809990001

⁴Again, to proof it, just search it via the search engine. Just type (without quotation marks): money value of time. You could see that some or even more of the results are referring to the term "time value of money."

⁵'time value of money." Investopedia, 2007. Investopedia.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/timevalueofmoney.asp
"time value of money." Dictionary of Real Estate Terms. Barron's Educational Series, Inc, 2004. Answers.com 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/time-value-of-money

⁶'time value of money." Investopedia, 2007.

⁷See other definitions on Time Value of Money:
- "time value of money." Encyclopedia of Business and Finance. The Gale Group, Inc, 2001. Answers.com 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/time-value-of-money
- McCracken, Mark. The time value of money. Teach Me Finance, 2005. teachmefinance.com 16 July 2005. http://www.teachmefinance.com/timevalueofmoney.html.
- "time value of money." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2007. Answers.com 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/time-value-of-money
- "time value of money." investorwords. WebFinance, Inc., 2007. investorwords.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.investorwords.com/4988/time_value_of_money.html

⁸"Time is money," is an old saying. See: Ramachander, S. "The Money Value of Time." The Hindu Business Line, 21 Aug. 2006. thehindubusinessline.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/manager/2006/08/21/stories/2006082100761100.htm)

⁹econ.rochester.edu 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.econ.rochester.edu/eco108/ch6/supp6.htm#money%20value%20of%20time%20price

¹⁰See:
- Fawkner, Elena. The Money Value of Time. Better Budgeting, 2002. BetterBudgeting.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.betterbudgeting.com/articles/homebusiness/moneytime.htm
- Sakazaki, Lloyd. Picking the Internet Leader Using Money Value of Time. Lloyd's Investment Blog, 18 Apr. 2005. lloydsinvestment.blogspot.com 01 Feb 2007. http://lloydsinvestment.blogspot.com/2005/04/picking-internet-leader-using-money.html
- Imperato, Gina. The Money Value of Time. Fast Company, issue 31, December 1999. FastCompany.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.fastcompany.com/online/31/rftf.html: "We all understand, instinctively, the timeless logic behind the 'time value of money' -- that a dollar received today is worth more than a dollar received a year from now. But the new world of business requires an instinctive appreciation of a different logic as well. Think of it as the 'money value of time.' Cutting-edge people and companies are rethinking the nature of their relationship with time. To them, time is every bit as tangible, every bit as measurable, and every bit as valuable as money. ... The way to assess your ability to compete in Internet time is to ask yourself how creatively you use time. ... Your excess time -- your unused capacity -- is perishable. You're converting time into a new form of money! ... Time is precious. You can't get back the time you wasted yesterday. Those who can extract value from their excess time will make a huge impact on their business."

Make Money Be Happy: Maximizing Time Value

Change oil? tuning up car? Plumbing problem? Home remodelling? Do It Yourself?¹ No!! Do not act like a poor person!² Go to autorepair shop! Call professional home remodeller. Call professional plumber. No more Do It Ourselves. No more Do It Yourself books!! Let the professional handle and solve our problems.


The major reason to do anything ourselves, instead of paying a paid professional to do it, is: cheaper costs, but that reason is not universal. It cannot be applied to all people.


Sometimes a paid professional is expensive, but most of the time, it is just an impression that the paid professional's fee is expensive. We have to look and calculate from a different perspective.


In order to:

1. know that the professional's fee is expensive or not, and
   
2. decide whether is it worth it to do something ourselves or just pay a professional to do it,

we have to know the value of our personal time. Set the value of our billable hour rate first.³ Set our hourly rate.


While it is pretty easy for the hourly employee to know her hourly rate, it took a bit work for non-hourly paid employee, or a business person to know that. We could calculate by dividing the amount of money we could make in a certain period of time with how much time we used to get such amount of money.


For example, if we made US$ 400 in a week, and in that week, we worked 40 hours, then our hourly rate is:

US$ 400 : 40 hours = US$ 10 (per hour)

Now, let's say that our refrigerator is broken, and it took US$ 100 to get a professional to fix it. The professional could fix it within an hour (it means that her hourly rate is US$ 100/hour). It is expensive right? Think again.

Let's say that we could fix it too by ourselves, but since we have to see the manuals, books, and call our mechanic friends, it took us 11 hours to fix it. If our hourly rate is US$ 10, that means, to fix the refrigerator ourselves, we spent:

11 hours x US$ 10 = US$ 110

Now, is the professional's fee expensive?


How about if we ourselves could fix it fast in 9 hours. That means that to fix the refrigerator ourselves, we spent only US$ 90. Yes, we could save US$ 10, but is it worth it? Is it worth the stress and fatigue compared to if we spent our time do our routine activities with lots of fun with other colleagues?


Some will say: "The time used is just a pastime, not billable, because I did it after I went home from my work." Remember: our time is just 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Usage of sometime for some activities will affect to how much time used for other activities.


If we used our time for the Do It Yourself thing, it will certainly decrease the amount of time we used to rest, to sleep, to recreate, or to spent for interaction with other member of our family, or friends.


Time is the most valuable asset we have. It is a bless from the God. If it's wasted, it cannot be regained. So, why sweat the small stuff? As our asset, maximize our time's performance to its limit.⁴ Make Money, Maximize Our Time Valuet, and Be Happy.


So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.
____________

References:

¹Do It Yourself, often referred to by the acronym "DIY," is a term used by various communities that focus on people creating things for themselves without the aid of paid professionals. See: "Do It Yourself." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikipedia.org. Wikimedia, 24 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_it_yourself

²Free translation from famous sentence among Indonesian youngsters. The original sentence is: "Jangan kayak orang suseh (susah)."

³Billable Hours is a very common phrase used in the consulting business, especially in the legal field, such as Lawyers, Law Firm. It means that the Lawyer charge the client, a sum amount of money, for every moment used by the Lawyer to do any activities for the client's need. See: "billable hour." Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed. 2004: "a unit of time used by an attorney, law clerk, or paralegal to account for work performed and chargeable to a client. Billable hours are usually divided into quarters or tenths of an hour. "

⁴Known as velocity principle. Velocity means maximizing performance. By means of velocity, DELL efficiently could manage to have inventory for just 5 days. That means, DELL inventory will be finished if after 5 days new stock has not arrived. See: Michael Dell, DIRECT FROM DELL: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry (USA: HarperCollins Publisher, 1999. Reprint: 2000)

The Best Investment: Knowledge and Skills

To WIN, The SMARTEST and BEST INVESTMENT IS to OURSELVES.

One of the core principle in investment is: Low Risk, Low Return, High Risk, High Return, Lower Risk, Lower Return, Higher Risk, Higher Return. So, according to that principle, then, the Best Investment of all is the investment exposed to the Lowest Risk with Highest rate of Return. Is it real? In my opinion, while it is possible, it is not highly probable, especially during this era.

Because of its low probability, then, to fit the reality, we must rephrase the principle. The Best Investment of all is the investment exposed to the Lower Risk with Higher rate of Return. The greater the margin between the risk and the rate of return, the better.

Although the core principle is very clear, in reality, it is not. Why? Because risk and rate of return are a subjective issue. Every people has different perception about what risk is low risk, and what risk is high risk. There is no single standard.

Same thing happen to rate of return. Every people has different perception about what is low rate, and what is high rate. Although rate of return can be measured in percentage, it is difficult to measure it when we have to add rate of risk as a consideration to gain such return.

To deal with that reality, of course, the single solution is to determine, WHO will determine the rate of risk and the rate of return? Who will manage the investment?

The answer to such question is very simple, that is our MOST TRUSTED person. Who is that? In my opinion, the single best and universally accepted answer is: OURSELVES. Certainly, there are lucky peoples who found and have trust-able persons to manage their investment. It is very good to be in such situation. (Please note, that judging any people's merit and character also require a set of knowledge, at least in the psychological field)

Because the most trusted person is ourselves, then WE MUST MANAGE our investment ourselves. Of course, in reality, this is not the only single factor affecting the investment.

Uneducated person managing an investment is like a 3 year old toddler (baby) driving an F1 racing car. She will lose the investment as the toddler certainly will not won the race. Therefore, before managing our investment in something, WE MUST INVEST in OURSELVES. EDUCATION is the only thing we could do to invest in ourselves.

By Education, we will learn something. We will have a knowledge about something. We will have some skill. Go to community college, or anything similar as that to learn some skill. We could also buy and read many quality books, especially about KNOW HOW books. Even better than buying quality books, we could borrow from the library. It means, to invest in ourselves, we need almost nothing at all (except our time of course).

Although what we learn in education may not be a knowledge of managing investment and financial matters, at least we will have a (some) skill(s). Our skill increase our value in the eye of any employer. We could use such skill to have any kind of career. To have a job means money will flow into our pocket.

Does that sounds like an investment? You put some money in advance for something, to get more money in the future? Of course, (and I believe) the answer is YES!

What is more? Our skills and knowledge are ours forever. We will not lose them. It stays forever (unless we are growing old and becoming a forgetful senior, or we got stroke acute). The result of that is, money flows and will always flows to our pocket forever (by working of course, please, do not be a lazy person).

After we invested in ourselves, then we could continue to the next phase. The next phase investment categorized as:

• Active Investment
• Passive Investment

Active Investment means that the investment is used by ourselves to finance some kind of profitable business. We are actively involved in a business that used the investment.

Again, to be able to have Active Investment, we must have the knowledge and skill to run the business. We must invest in ourselves first.

The beauty of Active Investment is, that we know that our investment is safe. It is in our hand. Although the risk of losing the investment is still exist (may be because of some technical mistake, or wrong judgment), we are very sure that the loss is not because of some foolish cause (like losing money to SCAMS or Fraudulent practice).

Passive Investment means that the fund is invested in other people's business. The Passive Investment could be:

1. Direct Investment like buying some business' stocks or bonds. It is called Direct Investment because the investment directly go into the business pocket, and the Business use it for its business activities.

2. The Passive Investment could also be an Indirect Investment, like Savings Account, Time Deposit, Mutual Fund, any Derivative of stocks and bonds, etc. It is called Indirect Investment because the investment goes through Intermediary Agent, like Bank (who will loan it to the Borrower or Business), or Mutual Fund Manager (who will distribute the fund to any kind of investment she considered as a good investment), etc.

Again, to be able to have Passive Investment, we must know who could be trusted, and which investment is profitable. That require knowledge.

How to require knowledge? Again, INVEST IN OURSELVES. LEARN something. Go to School, buy or borrow and read many quality books, work, and invest our money in the Active Investment, and the money will follow.

As a conclusion, the Best Investment with Low Capital, Low Risk, High Return, is to invest in:
- Ourselves, and
- Active Investment.

It is because it requires almost no money to invest in ourselves, and the assets (that is our knowledge and skills) remain our own forever, with the money flow to our pocket until we retire.

Now, tell me if it is not a winning investment, then what it is?

So, what do you think?

PS:
Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.

The Most Stupid Question

The most stupid (people) never ask a question. Because of that, there are, and there will never be exist, a stupid question.

Question asked is an indication that a brain is working. Beside of that, the original purpose of a question is to have an answer. If any question viewed and treated as its original purpose, as a stimulation to think of the answer, then how come a stupid question exist?

Smart is to have a knowledge about some thing. The more, the smarter. The most, the smartest. The smart will never be wise, unless she realized that the greatest wisdom of all is to know, that there are a lot of things that she doesn't know, and there are a lot of things to be learned yet.

Success achieved from an idea. Idea comes to answer a question. Idea refurnished to perfect by questions. The most success people is not the one who knows everything. The most success people is the one who ask everything, including the most silly like question, to her people/team mate.

Our glass will always have to be empty. If it is empty, we could fill it more and more and more...If we think that we know nothing, then we will always and strive to learn about something. If a glass is full, how can we fill it more? If we think that we are smart, we will not continue to learn anything in the future.

So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.
____________

Further Readings:

Robert Kiyosaki's Books.

"Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it" (Albert Einstein). Thinkexist.com. 25 Jan. 2007. http://thinkexist.com/quotation/wisdom_is_not_a_prod uct_of_schooling_but_of_the/171910.ht

Failure of Socialism

Socialism Failed Because It Stands Against the Law of Nature. In other side, Capitalism survive because it reflects the law of nature, and therefore, goes along the way with it.

The core principle held up in Socialism is: the Collectivity, that is all means of productions are owned collectively. The result is that all kind of products comes out from the collective means of productions are distributed EQUALLY to all people.¹

The core principle in the Law of Nature is: Survival of the Fittest. The strongest will win and maintain its existence.²

The core principle held up in Capitalism is: Free Market and Competition. ³ The means of production are mostly privately owned and operated for profit and in which distribution, production and pricing of goods and services are determined in a largely free market. ⁴

Before we go further, PLEASE NOTE:

1. Socialism and Capitalism are categorized as Political and Economical Ideology! Both can be found in Political Field and Economical Field.
2. Only Communism can be equally categorized with Socialism and Capitalism as Ideology!⁵⁶ All three of them are the polars of Ideologies. Yes, there are other ideologies, but the major ideologies in this world are only those three.
3. Marxism, Stalinism, and Leninism are only theories in relation to the Ideologies, but cannot be considered as a Major Ideologies themselves.⁷ Due to the definition of ideology, for the very most, they can only be viewed as the variations of Socialism. ⁸ Liberalism is more like a branch of Capitalism, or at least has the same characters with Capitalism as a political ideology.⁹
4. There are no way that Republic and Democrat can be put equally with Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Marxism, Stalinism, Leninism, and Liberalism! Republic and Democrat are NOT IDEOLOGY nor THEORIES! Republic and Democracy are forms of Government!¹⁰ Republican and Democrat are the supporters of the related form of Government.¹¹
5. The United States of America is built on Capitalism Ideology! Not Republic and Democrat Ideology! They are Political Parties, but again, NOT Ideology!
6. There can never be more than 1 ideology combined and applied in a field, either in Politic Field, or Economic Field.
7. Although after Deng Xiao Ping (known for his speech: "It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice." Catching mice meant putting food on the table - meeting the material needs of the people. The color of the cat meant the degree to which the economy relies on private incentive and market forces rather than subsidies and quotas -) era, the People Republic of China seems like it has 2 ideology (Socialism and Capitalism), actually its political ideology is Communism, and its economical ideology is Socialism. They called it "Socialism with Chinese Characteristic."¹²

The inevitable and unavoidable result of applying the Socialism in Economic Field is, that every and each person is not judged by their own merit, but by their own need. No matter how hard or smart a person work, and no matter how much a person contribute to the society, if her need is only 1, then she only deserve to have one. No matter how lazy a person is, and no matter how least a person contribute to the society, if her need is 1, then she deserve to have it. Of course, in the end, such practice discourage the hard working person, and encourage laziness, bringing the society to fall to the destruction of the society.

Differ from the Socialism, in Capitalism every and each person is judged by their own merit. If a person work hard, then she deserve to have the fruits of her hard labor. If a person is lazy, then she deserve nothing. Moreover, after years, the Capitalism has evolved. The present Capitalism beautify herself. Now, almost all Capitalist Country have kind like:

1. Social Security Program and Subsidy programs for the poor (and Lazy of course);
2. Progressive Taxation (People with more income pay more percentage of Tax. The percentage of Tax for low income is lower than the percentage of Tax for higher income). This is the inevitable result of Government subsidizing the Poor (and the Lazy for sure). The money came from rich people.

Because Capitalism evolve this way, it is now supported by the Poor (and the Lazy).

So, for the Final Conclusion, Socialism Failed simply because it stands against the Law of Nature, while Capitalism succeed and survive because it goes along the way with the Law of Nature, and it also evolving to beautify itself.

So, what do you think?

PS:
Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.

Please note that the writer does not in anyway guarantee that everything explained in this article are true. Further research need to be done to confirm anything explained in this article. The writer does not in anyway responsible nor liable to any loss or damages suffered by third parties, in relation to the usage of this article as a reference.

____________

References:

¹"socialism." The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism.
"socialism." Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms. Barron's Educational Series, Inc, 2006. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism.
"socialism." Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 2006. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism.
"socialism." The Reader's Companion to American History, Eric Foner and John A. Garraty, Editors, published by. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1991. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism.
"socialism." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism.
"socialism." Encyclopedia of Russian History. The Gale Group, Inc, 2004. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism. "socialism." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc, 1998. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/socialism

²"survival of the fittest." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 29 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_fittest

³"capitalism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 30 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism#Proponents_o f_capitalism

⁴"capitalism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 30 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism#Proponents_o f_capitalism

⁵"communism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 29 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism

⁶"ideology." The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/ideology
"ideology." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2007. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/ideology

⁷"marxism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 28 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism.
"leninism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 14 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leninism

⁸"ideology." The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/ideology.
"ideology." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2007. Answers.com 30 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/ideology.

⁹"liberalism." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 25 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberalism.

¹⁰"republic." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 27 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic.
"democracy." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 29 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy.

¹¹"democrat." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 26 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat.

¹²Talbot, Strobe. "Cover Stories Fighting The Founders." Time, Inc, 2007. Time.com 05 Jun.1989. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,957 870-2,00.html.
"History of the People's Republic of China (19761989)." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, 2007. Wikipedia.org 24 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_People's _Republic_of_China_(1976%E2%80%931989)#The_rise_of_D eng_Xiaoping

Wedding Souvenirs and Wedding Cake.

I don't know since when this practice started and became a culture. One thing I know, the result is devastating.

Yes, I know, and I believe the purpose of giving a wedding souvenirs (at the very first time such practice started) is to show gratitude to the guests for participating in the wedding ceremony.

The purpose is noble, but look now... There are many financially unlucky couples felt obliged to have souvenirs to give to the guests. The result? They pressed down the budget for souvenirs, and buy the cheap souvenirs. Yes, the purpose is still noble, and I really appreciate it, but as we know, quality frequently comes with price.

Although not all cheap things have a low quality, most of the time, cheap things are low in quality. Most of the time, the cheap souvenirs have no useful function. Yes, as a guest, I keep it, but frequently, after a certain period of time, they are trashed away, because they have no useful function.

Now, we see the fact that the Bride and Groom spend money just for trash. So, why continue such practice? As a guest, I satisfied enough, and happy enough to join my friends joy. Happy enough to be part of their Big Day.

It is better for the Bride and Groom to use the money to buy other more important things for themselves, as they start a new life. I don't need the souvenirs. I will be more happy if I could eat just a small piece of the wedding cake. Why the practice of giving wedding souvenirs started and continued while the practice of sharing the wedding cake to the guests starting to stop?

So, I am telling you all, if you cannot afford a useful wedding souvenirs, then don't even consider about it. Just give us the Wedding Cake!

So, what do you think?

Tsunami: Act of God?

Tsunami is an Act of God? Yes.

Look into the publicly accepted definition about "Act of God" (as mentioned and quoted below) and compare with the characteristic of Tsunami.

It is animously consented that, tsunami:

1. is the result of earthquake in some place in the ocean; and
2. it cannot be avoided nor prevented by human.

The premise that everything bad is not the Act of God is FALSE. Sometimes God gives people hard times. Yes, at that very moment, it looks bad, but, the impact of it in the future will always be good.

Remember: After experiencing bitterness, the sweet things will always taste very sweet.

God gives us bitterness, so that we know how much His blessings have we enjoyed, and be thankful of it.

The term "Act of God" is a very familiar term in the legal field. Its definition is:

"Act of God or act of nature is a legal term[1] for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible. This does not protect those who put others in danger of acts of God through negligence, such as a camp counselor who instructs a group of children on a hike to stand under a tree to escape a lightning storm." ¹

or

"An unpreventable destructive occurrence of the natural world.
Example: A Contract has a provision that allows the buyer to Default if the property is damaged by an act of God. Examples of an act of God are: earthquake, flood, hurricane, lightning, tornado." ²

or

"An event that directly and exclusively results from the occurrence of natural causes that could not have been prevented by the exercise of foresight or caution; an inevitable accident. Courts have recognized various events as acts of Godtornadoes, earthquakes, death, extraordinarily high tides, violent winds, and floods. ..." ³

or

"act of God, in law, an accident caused by the operation of extraordinary natural force. The effect of ordinary natural causes (e.g., that rain will leak through a defective roof) may be foreseen and avoided by the exercise of human care; failure to take the necessary precautions constitutes negligence, and the party injured in the accident may be entitled to damages. An act of God, however, is so extraordinary and devoid of human agency that reasonable care would not avoid the consequences; hence, the injured party has no right to damages. Accidents caused by tornadoes, perils of the sea, extraordinary floods, and severe ice storms are usually considered acts of God, but fires are not so considered unless they are caused by lightning." ⁴

or

"An extraordinary and unexpected natural event, such as a hurricane, tornado, earthquake or even the sudden death of a person. An act of God may be a defense against liability for injuries or damages. Under the law of contracts, an act of God often serves as a valid excuse if one of the parties to the contract is unable to fulfill his or her duties - for instance, completing a construction project on time." ⁵

____________

References:

¹"act of God." Wikipedia. Wikipedia, 2005. Answers.com 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/act-of-god

²"act of God." Dictionary of Real Estate Terms. Barron's Educational Series, Inc, 2004. Answers.com 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/act-of-god

³"act of God." West's Encyclopedia of American Law. The Gale Group, Inc, 1998. Answers.com 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/act-of-god

⁴"act of God." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Columbia University Press., 2003. Answers.com 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/act-of-god

⁵"act of God." Nolo Dictionary. Nolo.com. 24 Jan. 2007. http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/299C2A94-5B9 C-4B8D-994398CA7983881E/alpha/

Reflection of Culture: Language

Language is a part of a culture. More than that, we could tell certain ethnics/race/nation culture, way of thinking, and way of living from language.

We could see it very clearly and obviously, in the vocabulary,

For the first instance: to refer to certain object, many Indonesian language vocabulary consist of more syllable than the English. We see:

• ma-kan (2 syllables) = eat (1 syllable)
• ke-mu-di-an (4 syllables) = then (1 syllable)
• sang-ga-ma (3 syllables) = sex (1 syllable)
• ma-ta-ha-ri (4 syllables) = sun (1 syllable)

and so on, and so on. Yes, some words in Indonesian consist of less syllable than the English, but it is only a small percentage.

Conclusion (or at least assumption):
The westerner is more efficient and effective on doing everything in their life. Indonesians tend to be more bureaucratic, less (not to say the very least) efficient and effective in having their life activities.

For the second instance: Chinese and Japanese (as the most extreme example) language has their own kind of vocabulary. They don't use the latin style. An object is described in a certain style and sum of strokes.

To read the word is very easy (assuming that the reader is fluent in the language), but, to write a word, certain procedures must be followed (as to which stroke comes first, and which one is the later, also the direction of each stroke). It also take a bit longer to write a word in chinese than to write a word in latin style.

Conclusion (or assumption):
Chinese and Japanese are very bureaucratic. They are very careful (and it took a long time) in evaluating the situation, condition, and making a decision. When the decision has been made, the execution is very..very..fast..

In my opinion, the conclusion is resolute, you could find it clearly, and obviously in the business world. Particularly in the event of negotiation.

Chinese and Japanese are pretty bureaucratic. If we negotiate with Japanese or Chinese corporation, we negotiate with the lower officer first. After we made deals with the lower officer, we have to renegotiate with higher rank officer, and so on, and so on.

It is very possible that we have to renegotiate, with the higher rank officer, about something that has already been consented when we negotiate with the lower rank officer.

So, what do you think?

Atheism, Buddhism, Satanism, and Religion

Is Atheism a Religion? NO. Atheism is not a religion. The notion of Atheism as a Religion is nonsense.

Using the definition of Religion as an argument to justify the premise that Atheism is a Religion shows a lack of accuracy resulting from undiligent observance (Sorry, please take this note as a constructive opinion).

Why? Let's look at the definitions and the facts.

Religion is the adherence to codified beliefs and rituals that generally involve a faith in a spiritual nature and a study of inherited ancestral traditions, knowledge and wisdom related to understanding human life. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to faith as well as to the larger shared systems of belief. In the larger sense, religion is a communal system for the coherence of belieftypically focused on a system of thought, unseen being, person, or object, that is considered to be supernatural, sacred, divine, or of the highest truth. Moral codes, practices, values, institutions, traditions, and rituals are often traditionally associated with the core belief, and these may have some overlap with concepts in secular philosophy. Religion can also be described as a way of life. ¹

Religion also defined as: ²

• the service and worship of God or the supernatural, or
• commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance, or
• a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices, or
• CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, or
• a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith.

As a summary, to be called RELIGION, something MUST HAVE, but not limited to only have:

1. the Object: God(s) / ultimate supernatural beings,
2. faith, commitment, devotion,
3. rituals,
4. codes to live the life,

Now, what is Atheism? It is simply disbelief in the existence of any deities. ³

(as far as I know) Atheism does not have any characteristic of Religion as mentioned above. Moreover, it is definitely and absolutely true, that Atheism does not have any Object. Atheism does not have any God(s).

So, How can Atheism be categorized as a Religion?

Entering the Buddhism. Yes, Buddhism is a religion.

Why? It is because Buddhism have all the Religion characteristics. Buddhism acknowledges Gods and Goddesses. Buddhism requires faith, commitment, and devotion Buddhism has rituals. Buddhism has codes as their own way of life. For significant instance: the Karma principles, that discourage bad deeds and encourage good deeds.

Entering the Satanism. Is it a religion? It is not recognized by people as religion.

Why? It is because of its antagonistic characteristic, not because it lacks of the Religion characteristics.

Objectively, yes, it has all the Religion characteristics. That is why, Atheism cannot be taken equally as Satanism, in regarding it as a Religion.

So what do you think?

____________

References:

¹"Religion." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

²"Religion." Merriam Webster Online Dictionary. 25 Jan. 2007. http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/netdict?Religion

³"Atheism." Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 25 Jan. 2007.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheism#_note-0

Stupid Question, Wisdom and Success

There are, and there will never be exist, a stupid question.

Why? Because the most stupid (people) never question. Asked question is an indication that a brain is working.

Smart is to have a knowledge about some thing. The more, the smarter. The most, the smartest. The smart will never be wise, unless she realized that the greatest wisdom of all is to know, that there are a lot of things that she doesn't know, and there are a lot of things to be learned yet.

Success achieved from an idea. Idea comes to answer a question. Idea refurnished to perfect by questions. The most success people is not the one who knows everything. The most success people is the one who ask everything, including the most silly like question, to her people/team mate.

Our glass will always have to be empty. If it is empty, we could fill it more and more and more...If we think that we know nothing, then we will always and strive to learn about something.

If a glass is full, how can we fill it more? If we think that we are smart, we will not continue to learn anything in the future.

So, what do you think?

____________

Further Readings:

• Robert Kiyosaki's Books.
• "Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it" (Albert Einstein). Thinkexist.com. 25 Jan. 2007. http://thinkexist.com/quotation/wisdom_is_not_a_prod uct_of_schooling_but_of_the/171910.html

Credit Card: How Many is Too Many?

How many credit card is too many? Then I have to ask you:

1. What is your purpose in owning the credit card?
2. How do you live your life?
3. Is there any obligation in owning the credit cards?

Every people have different purposes, and lifestyle. Every Bank and Credit Card has their own policy.

As the basic principle:

• 1 is GOOD,
  
• 2 or 3 would be IDEAL,
  
• 4 and more is a WASTE.

Remember, the most basic principle is, no matter how many credit cards you have, you must able to pay out all the credit card bill of your PERSONAL EXPENSES at the very first end of the month.

What really matter is not the quantity of the cards, but it is the sum of money you spent on the card, and you could pay out at the very first end of the month.

The reasons why we should have certain quantity of credit cards are:

1. If you are a WORKER that living by payroll, then 1 is enough to cover your PERSONAL EXPENSES. If the maximum balance of the credit card is not enough, then you could have an additional card.

2. The situation is different if you are an ENTREPRENEUR, BUSINESS PERSON, or SELF EMPLOYED. It will be very ideal to have at least 2 separate credit card. 1 credit card (or 2) for PERSONAL EXPENSES, and the other credit card (or more) for BUSINESS EXPENSES.
   Having separate credit card for business purposes and for personal expenses will make it easier to separate personal financial report from the business financial report. It will help the business.

3. If to have each credit card, you have to pay annual premium, then the less credit cards you have, the better. The logic is, why we have to pay something (annual premium) if we do not use the card?
   Of course the situation is different if you use the card for business purposes.
   You have to pay annual premium of the credit card. Your purpose to have the card is only to back up the business in case of emergency. The business profit margin could cover such annual premium expenses, then GO AHEAD, HAVE AS MANY AS YOU WANT and CAN AFFORD.

So, What do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.

____________

Further Readings:

• Robert Kiyosaki's Books, especially Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• Various References.

Credit Card: Do We Need It?

Do we need credit cards? No, we do not need credit cards. We could still have our belly full, dresses to wear, and home for shelter, without any credit card. Why? Because all of our need could only be buy by MONEY.

Now, is there any advantages in having a credit card? Very sure YES.

1. FIRST Advantage, it could serve as a SECURITY, a back up to cover some expenses in case of emergency, and we don't have any fund to cover such expenses.
   For instance, if we (or somebody we love) are sick, and there are no insurance to cover the doctor's bill. At that moment, there are no sufficient fund that we got. We could use the credit card. Think of some other emergency cases that we could find the credit card as help.

2. SECOND Advantage, it could help you in tracking our financial plan, and evaluating our financial report against our financial plan. At the end of each month, we will get a credit card bill, that contains details of all our daily expenses in that month. No need to record our daily expenses manually.

3. THIRD Advantage, we could make 'Free Money'. We get the money for nothing. How to get Free Money?
   SAVE in the Savings Account, the sum of MONEY we will use TO PAY OUT the credit card bill at the end of the month. At the end of the month, we take the money to pay out the credit card bill, and there are some money left. It is the interest gained from the money (to pay the credit card bill) you save.
   Beside that, we also earn a small amount of 'money' from the Bank's point reward or cash-back program (yes it is not a real money, but at least you could use it to buy some stuff at the future).

Remember, pay all the credit card bill at the end of the month. If you don't, then you will end up pay the credit card bill interest, since the credit card interest rate is a lot higher than your savings interest. When it happens, certainly you end up with less money.

If we pay out all the credit card's bill at the end of the month, we could enjoy the benefits of the credit card to the maximum, leaving its bad characteristics behind.

So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.

____________

Further Readings:

• Robert Kiyosaki's Books, especially Rich Dad Poor Dad.
• Various References, and Personal Contemplation.

The Real Free Money: Compounding Interest as Time Value

As discussed in The Real Free Money, free money is the money you get from nothing. It doesn't need any work or capital in advance to get it, but you have to work smart to get it.


The magic word is... the power of COMPOUNDING interest. This is one of the great principles of money management.¹ Compound interest, is defined as:

...interest which is added to the original principal. New interest is then calculated in subsequent periods, not only on the original principal, but also on the interest that has been added. The more frequently interest is compounded, the faster the principal grows.²

In simple words, Compounding earns us interest on the money we have invested and on any interest we have already earned on this investment.³⁴


Interest paid on interest.Well, it is not really pure Free Money, because the value of time element, but, the result of using this tips will have a great impact to our personal finance.⁵⁶


The risk is very low, but we have to work smart to gain it.We could see it works wonderfully in the savings with compounding interest. Even Einstein calls it the "8th wonder of the world."⁷ You see:

• After the first month you have your money in the savings, you gained interest on such savings, the calculation is: savings + (% interest x savings) = end of first month savings balance.

• After the second month of saving, the calculation is: (end of first month savings balance) + (% interest x end of first month savings balance) = end of second month savings balance.
  
• After the third month of saving, the calculation is: (end of second month savings balance) + (% interest x end of second month savings balance) = end of third month savings balance.
• And so on, and so on...

It took a bit longer of time to enjoy the significant impact of the compounding principle in our financial life. The earlier you act, the better.


The name of the game is to invest early and to invest often. To further gain an understanding of this concept, try doing your own experiments with this simple compounding calculator.⁸


Please note, that if we want to have the Compounding Interest magic works, we must make sure, and bear in mind:⁹

1. Start Early!The earlier we start investing, the more time we leave for the miracle of compound interest to take effect. Someone who invests £100 a month from age 20 to 29 and then lets their investments grow is likely to have more money at 60 than someone who invests £100 a month from age 30 to 59.
2. Do not take the interest! It needs to stay with and accumulated to the initial investment to make the compounding interest works.¹⁰
3. Small differences in return matter. A lot! Over long periods of time, the difference between investing at, say, 7% and 8% is enormous.
4. Never squander our inheritance on sex, drugs & rock'n'roll. (Unless we want to).Investing isn't everything. It is best to strike a balance. With investing it is the balance between enjoying ourself now and providing for our future.
5. Over time, regular saving of quite small amounts can build up an astonishing sum of money.If we save £100 a month for 40 years and your investments compound at 12% a year how much will we have? The answer is an astonishing £980,000!
6. Time and patience are the friends of compounding and, therefore, of investing.Time is the most powerful weapon in an investor's arsenal. Nothing comes close to it.¹¹ Saving for 40 years is obviously something we ca not do overnight. We have to exercise patience to feel the full benefit of compounding in the future.

The Rule of 72

The Rule 72 is the simple way to find out how many years it will take for our investment to double by dividing 72 by the percentage rate of growth.¹² So it will take 9 years for our investments to double if they grow at 8% a year (72/8=9).

It will only take 6 years if our investments grow at 12% and so on. The Rule of 72 only provides an approximate answer but it is sufficiently accurate for many calculations.

So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.
____________

References

¹Free Money Finance. How to Retire Rich: Use the Power of Compounding. Free Money Finance, 10 Oct. 2005. FreeMoneyFinance.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2005/10/how_to_retire_r.html

²"compound interest." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia, 2007. Wikipedia.org 29 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_interest

³"compounding calculator." The Mint, it makes cents. Northwestern Mutual, 2002. TheMint.org 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.themint.org/tryit/compoundingcalculator.php. See also: "compound interest." investorwords.com. WebFinance, Inc., 1997-2007. investorwords.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.investorwords.com/1013/compound_interest.html: "Interest which is calculated not only on the initial principal but also the accumulated interest of prior periods. Compound interest differs from simple interest in that simple interest is calculated solely as a percentage of the principal sum."

⁴"compound interest." The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002. Answers.com 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/compound-interest: "Interest that is added not only to the principal of a loan or savings account but also to the interest already added to the loan or account; interest paid on interest."

⁵It is frequently mixed up with the term 'time value of money,' when it should be called the "money value of time," since what being valued here is not the money, but the time.

⁶It is because interest we must paid for a loan, or interest we gain for a savings is no more than a value of time in the amount of money, for the Borrower to use the money the Borrower actually don't have. See: "interest." Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia, 2007. Wikipedia.org 29 Jan. 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interest: "Interest is the 'rent' paid to borrow money. The lender receives a compensation for foregoing other uses of their funds, including (for example) deferring their own consumption. The original amount lent is called the 'principal,' and the percentage of the principal which is paid/payable over a period of time is the 'interest rate.'"

⁷Woodard, Dustin. The Power of Compounding Interest. About, Inc., 2007. About.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://mutualfunds.about.com/cs/mutualfunds101/a/compounding.htm. See also:
Kirk Lindstrom. Compounding and Compound Interest Explained. Suite 101. Suite101.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/investing/25397: "Some believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said, 'Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world,' while attributing 'Compound interest is the world's greatest discovery,' to Albert Einstein. Still others attribute the whole thing to John Maynard Keynes. Whoever said it first, all three of these great minds recognized the power of compounding. It doesn't take a 'genius' to see why."

⁸Woodard, Dustin. The Power of Compounding Interest.

⁹The Fool's School. The Miracle of Compound Returns. Fool, 1998-2007. Fool.co.uk 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.fool.co.uk/school/compound.htm

¹⁰See the definition of 'compounding interest' again. Compared to definitions in:
"compound interest." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. Answers.com 01 Feb. 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/compound-interest

¹¹Glassman, James K. From Piggy Bank to Pension. Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, February 2006. Kiplinger.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.kiplinger.com/magazine/archives/2006/02/glassman2.html

¹²"What is the 'rule of 72'?." Invertopedia, Inc., 2007. Investopedia.com 31 Jan. 2007. http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/04/040104.asp: "The 'rule of 72' is a simplified way to determine how long an investment will take to double, given a fixed annual rate of interest. By dividing 72 by the annual rate of return, investors can get a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate itself."
There are also numerous articles about the 'rule of 72'. Just search it on Google.

The Real Free Money

What is 'Free Money'? Bluntly said, free money is the money you get from nothing. It doesn't need any work or capital in advance to get it.


Sounds too good to be true? No. How? Work smart.


If you have a credit card, always use it whenever and wherever you can. But you have to remember, you must be able to pay all the bills at the end of the month.


While the Bank has not send you the credit card bill, save in your savings, the money that you will use to pay all the credit card bill.


At the end of the month, when you have to pay the credit card bill, your money in the savings has already gain interest. After you pay the credit card bill:

1. you have a small amount of money (the interest from saving the money you use to pay the credit card bill) left in the your savings.

2. you earn a small amount of 'money' from the Bank's point reward or cash-back program (yes it is not a real money, but at least you could use it to buy some stuff at the future)
   

That is Free Money.


Remember, pay all the credit card bill at the end of the month. If you don't, then you will end up pay the credit card bill interest, since the credit card interest rate is a lot higher than your savings interest. When it happens, certainly you end up with less money.


So, what do you think?

PS: Comments and corrections are very welcomely invited.

to Give by Receive

Do you know that you could do a good deed to someone by receiving his gift?

My uncle passed away recently. Will he goes to heaven? A blast of the past came into my mind.

He said that his death is near, so he wants to give me most (if not all) of his antique stamps, coins, bills, and antique phone cards. He treasured it so much since it took a tremendous patience, labors, time, and money to collect, and arrange them into a collections that could tell stories behind all of them.

I rejected his offer since I have no interest in such a hobby, and on keeping them. Moreover, it certainly will took at the very least, a bit effort to keep them properly. As he insist, I accept a few of them.

Do you know that the greatest gift is when someone give all of his own. If I receive all his gift, that means he made a tremendous good deed. Perhaps that deed will affect to where he will go, the heaven, or the hell.
It takes two hands to clap your hands
I am not encouraging you to always put your self in the receiving end. I am truly advocate of giving, especially to give the gift that giving and pay forward, but sometimes we should be satisfied just to receive.

A Good Website/Blog

So many people have, or at least want to create websites today,¹ either:

• to blog,
• to do business, or
• creating a self representation in the cyberspace.

Some are making a simple website display, while others are making a sophisticated one.² Some got criticized, other praised.

What make a website good? Certainly, the ultimate principle is, it has to be user-friendly. How? In my opinion;

• Bigger font-size is better than smaller font-size, even tiny.!!³ You will never know who your web visitors are. They come from a broad range of ethnics, nations, and age. The broader the range, the better.⁴ Remember, most old people cannot read small font clearly!!

• Contrast font color is better than fade font color!! Again, older people cannot read it, and most people cannot read it comfortably!!
  

• Sophisticated/flashy website tend to have bigger file, and bigger website file took more time to download than small website file!! Please remember, you are one of a few lucky person that have a high speed internet access, while many people in this world are still using the dial up technology.⁵ If it took a long time to open a page, I simply closed that page, and move on browsing other websites.⁶

• I hate to scroll down!! It hurts my index finger, and certainly, it bring a bit more hassle to internet users who don't have a mouse with a scroll button.⁷
  

• Keep your webpages simple!!⁸ I hate browsing webpages looking for some menu to click like trying to find a needle in haystack, or looking for Waldo in the Wacky World.

• Remember, function makes fashion, not fashion makes function!!

Additional advise for blogger:
Please post your ideas!! not your typical daily experiences. I don't care whether:

• you woke up late today, or
• a mentally retarded person slapped you on wednesday, or
• you slept with a sexy hot lad on saturday night.

It has nothing to do with me and every other internet users who don't know a thing about you.

Maybe your fiancee, or close friends, or family care, (and I believe, the interest level will remain for just a short period of time) but the rest of the internet users will not care!! If from such your experience, we -- the internet users -- could extract useful practical ideas to implement or contemplate, then go ahead post it on your blog.⁹
____________

*Do you have any more ideas or advise regarding this topic? Please post your comments.
¹See: BlueVoda Website Builder, Why use the BlueVoda website builder to create a website?; Internet; Accessed on 21 January 2007 at http://www.bluevoda.com/.

²See: Peter Twist and Stephan Ducharme, Interview of Stephan Ducharme, The "FreeAdGuru" (Virtual Contact inc. , 2004), p. 15; Ebook in Internet; Accessed on 21 January 2007 through http://www.freeadguru.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi : "Many people are obsessed with flashy looking websites with Flash and Shockwave. .... I often come across a web site that has Flash, ..."
³Of course not too big, but clear enough for older people to read it, just use your common sense. See also: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "You don’t want to get distracted by sites with blinking text and text that is so big and bold."

⁴Certainly, there are some barriers that we simply could not break, like the cultural (specifically, the language) barrier, but there are some barriers that we could simply avoid.
⁵See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 15: "I often come across a web site that has Flash, but I am still on a low speed internet connection because I’m not in the city and therefore don’t have a high-speed connection."

⁶See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 15: "It takes so long to wait for the display and a lot of people are not patient, so they’re just going to close the window, just close the page. So if you do have Flash, at least have an html version so people don’t have to wait for a Flash intro to load."
⁷Although this assumption is inconclusive, I believe that there are still many people in this world use the mouse with no scroll button.I admit that my own blog cannot fulfill this requirement, but I try hardly to make my blog fulfill this requirement.

⁸See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "No, just keep it simple... you don’t have to be a designer, you don’t even need any design on your website."
⁹See: Twist and Ducharme, Ibid., p. 16: "You say that when people come to a website they are either looking for information or solutions?... Yes, it’s the only thing they want, and they want it free."

____________

Further Readings:

• Twist, Peter, and Stephan Ducharme. Interview of Stephan Ducharme, The "FreeAdGuru" (Virtual Contact inc. , 2004). Ebook in Internet. Accessed on 21 January 2007 through http://www.freeadguru.com/cgi-bin/index.cgi