Basil Martin Institute Australia Pty Ltd

Hello everyone. I have decided to lock this FB page and focus on one, Tommy Entry Akoi. I may reopen it sometimes in the near future, though. Regards, Tommy

Who Cut Down My Money Tree?

CHAPTER 1: Power of Money as a “Legal Tender”

Make no mistake, the power of money as a “Legal Tender” divides all of us into different geographical financial zones.

These financial zones divide individuals, families, communities and nations. More discussion in Chapter 5.

Why is this so? What Is the key to financial wealth? Are these skills borne with us? If not, can these skills be acquired or learned in the “University of Life”?

These are the questions that pop us in my mind as I articulate the road map to understand what financial freedom means. Or what it takes to progressively reach own financial freedom.

The foundation is rooted firstly in our understanding of the three most important functions of Money mean as a “Legal Tender.” This is summarised:

1. Medium of Exchange
Money replaces barter trade as a medium of exchange both within the country and outside the country.

No money, no honey.

Sounds crude. But It is that plain and simple. Life can come to complete standstill if there is no money. In any town and city in the world, money is needed to find our way around. It is not everything, but it makes life a little easier.

This is the reality of a monetised world. We live and breath in a world economy controlled by money and political power. This is accentuated by a globalised world which is inter-connected through the money system. The power of internet to get connected makes it even more complicated. It has been said when “America sneezes Asia catches the flu.” Absolutely true. That chain reaction can come within minutes. It epitomises the relevance of money in deference to those who despise the word “Money.”

2. Measure of Value
Money is the ruler that measures what we have, both material possessions as well as our intellectual assets. Money value dictates the value of transactions, buying and selling in trade and commerce. Your pay slip measures your worth to the company your work for. The returns from your investment and profits measure your entrepreneurial skills and talents. The price you pay for your cars, watches and shirts indicate your classy taste. The list can go on and on.

Is there anything wrong? No, of course. Unless you live beyond your means. This is the root of the real problem which, if not corrected earlier, can lead to many untold bad consequences, heartaches and despair.
We live in the world of abundance that attracts and finally sucks our purse. We buy things we do not really need, resulting in gutting our houses and thinner purses. So, we work tirelessly until we die. The sad part, we become victims of our own uncontrolled, imported habits

Thinner pockets also mean we are least prepared when financial tsunami invade rudely without prior notice. Inflation is another in addition to a loss of employments, accidents, ill health and many more. Whose fault is it? Financial stress is very real, for I have been there countless of times too. Caveat empto.

3. Storage of Value
The most fundamental of this is that “Time” can be exchange for “Money.”

Benjamin Franklin puts it succinctly “Time is money.”

It confronts us with the hard reality of life, time is precious. Time wasted is money wasted. This is the greatest tragedy of living carelessly and wantonly and unadvisedly.

Spending time both qualitatively and quantitively on things of value like personal education to become relevant and current adds to earning power (Warren Buffett).

Successful people prioritising on four relationships with (i) a coach, (ii) a mentor, (iii) a cheerleader and (iv) a friend.

It is aptly summed up in this quote:

This is what it takes to earn a financial freedom, by making the best use of our time. The sooner we start the better.

May I add that “Time” and “Money” are distant opposing cousins. For time spent working is time and energy spent away from families. Between them is a revolving door. Time well spent on earning and building wealth is a better alternative to work for a secured retirement. By then, when you need time to enjoy, you can use your financial wealth to buy more time – using the wealth you have accumulated while you are young.

4. Powerful Seed Tool
Putting it plainly, you need money to create money. This is the concept of what I prefer to call the “MSI Money Trees.” The more money seeds you keep aside, the more money trees you can plant, and the more harvest, you can reap.

This is the ageless ancient sowing and the reaping principle as the Creator God has ordained into this world of humankind since creation.

The sowing and reaping principle, which wide opens a way to build a multi-sources of income wealth creation streams. A research shows most millionaires have 3 to 7 sources of passive income streams.

These are the foundation knowledge of money.
I agree with this quote below:
‘Financial independence is the natural and inescapable by-product of life.’ Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez.

I suggest , we should aim higher: aspiring for Financial Freedom as our imminent life goal by skillfully using the power of Money Seeds, Compound Interest and Investment wisdom.

I put down these little unique pictures together, to convey my thoughts.

Who Cut Down My Money Tree?
The introduction to this upcoming book in after June 2019.

Introduction

In 2007, I decided to become a "millionaire" before reaching my 65th birthday. I was 57 years old then and have I been working for 32 years on various salaried jobs. While my job positions have opened new frontiers to me, I realized that my salaried jobs have their restrictions – doing the jobs I am paid to do. Coming home exhausted – there was little energy left to think afar. Grateful that over the years, I have been living on "Financial Independence" but far from "Financial Freedom."

Let me put very simply. Financial freedom is where I have secured enough passive income to meet my family expenses, without working on a salaried job for a living. If I choose to work, it is not because I need to earn a living. Rather, I choose to work because I love what I am doing, continuing to be active and productive into my golden years. This what I really wanted, what I meant by wanting to become a “millionaire” then, since not a few millionaires become broke on retirements. It is the truest sense of financial freedom that I really yearning for -living a life on my own terms.Aspiring and achieving a financial freedom is a more polished was to stating my own life goal.

Looking back now at 68 years of age, sitting at my own home in Glebe, close to Sydney CBD and Sydney University and UTS for which I am an ExecutiveMBA Alumni member (EXMBA Cohort 2008-2012) Australia - I felf saddened that there was no book written in simple English, particulay in my own mother tongue, Iban Dialect, about financial literacy. In particular, the practical aspect of savings. The power of compound interest and various non-ruinable risks in investment and businesses. Neither were there practical hings taught in classrooms.

If I have known earlier, I could have avoided many costly mistakes, heartaches and pains. Or is it the necessary practical experiences we need to learn in the University of Life itself. No doubt. But I could be a little wiser to maneuver through many long and treacherously winding road, when my Dad died when I was just 15 years of age in 1965.
It is in filling this felt-need that I write. Sharing my own experiences, hopefully, to influence in some ways, our appreciation of our innate individual capacity because we are all human “created in the image of God.” There is no perquisite for a rocket science. But instead the practical wisdom, that have made possible many individuals with humble beginnings, to make themselves to financial freedom.

My illiterate farming Dad and My Mom would be very, very proud of this book, which I write in memory of them. My Dad saved $1,000 in the post office saving account, at the height of white pepper prices after the WWII. Dad took it all and spent some for my education and family heritage (marble table and steel frame bed for my eldest sister).. This is another story.

This book offers some insights:

Firstly, into the power of Money as a Legal Tender. The Money System in our world economy act as “mammon god” to prosper or as a “mammon devil” to impoverish.

Secondly, the power of compound interest combined with money is like a two-edged sword, to make your rich or poor.

Thirdly, the range of both non-ruinable risk investment and risky investment. This is an important step in wealth creation.

The ability to understand our relationship to money is not borne with many but these skills can be learned and acquired.

Based on this book, I have also developed into a short practical, non-accredited course as a foundation learning. A statement of Attainment will be given for those who are opted to complete the project paper and are assessed confident.

This book is NOT A QUICK GET RICH SCHEME. It provides a proven, well-trodden footprints for many who have achieved their financial freedom by creating a Multi-Source of Income Streams ( I Called MSI Money Trees). More than achieving financial freedom, to aspire to create a legacy and a charity.

Hopefully, this book will provide “a seedbed to dream dreams and a spring board for action, to achieve these dreams.”
This same message are the ones I share with my grown-up kids and are extended to you all who purchase and read this book.

3 John 2 King James Version (KJV)
"..I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth"(3 John2 kjv).

No word or statement in this book constitutes a formal advice. Any decision made is for own responsibility after receiving a written consultation with your Financial Advisor.

ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR JOURNEY TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM.

Tommy Entry Akoi
Autheor/Principal Executive Officer.

This book hope to be published after June 2019 (Iban and English)