Elizabeth Tai's Blog, page 2

The power of unnecessary creating

I recently listened to one of my favourite authors, Toddy Henry of Accidental Creative, talk about the importance of “Unnecessary Creating” in a podcast.

He describes it as an act of creating something for the sake of creating. That what you produce doesn’t have to meet a deadline or expectation...

My rocky adventures in investing

I wrote about my great fear of investing before, and how it has paralysed me for many, many years. For the longest time, the fear of making the wrong decision prevented me from making any decision. But in late 2021, I got off my butt to finally, seriously dip my feet into investing waters. In 2...

Lessons from Come Alive: Live a life with more meaning and joy

Come Alive: Live a life with more meaning and joy

By Yu Dan Shi

Yu Dan Shi had the perfect life. She was a successful high-powered corporate climber, a Chinese migrant who made it in Australia. Yet, one day it came crashing down when she...

Guide to robo advisors

Robo advisors have risen in popularity lately, especially during 2020 when the pandemic hit and Malaysians were forced indoors. According to Investopedia, they provide “automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services with minimal human supervision”.

Basically, instead of a human advisor...

List of Personal Finance Youtubers in Malaysia

On Youtube, there’s a growing list of personal finance content creators that are really making awesome content to keep Malaysians informed about how to manage their finances. Although they are small in number compared to their counterparts in the United States and Britain, it is so very important to have personal finance content from a Malaysian perspective, so I’m glad that these guys are stepping in to fill in the gap.

This is not a definitive list — if you know of any Malaysian personal financ...

Lessons from Die with Zero: Getting all you can from your money

“Net fulfillment over net worth” — this is the thesis by author Bill Perkins. But is it realistic goal or meant for just the privelleged or those living in First World countries?

Quotes

Staying the course instead of making bold moves fee...

The second life of stuff: An interview with journalist Adam Minter

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Not really, says Adam Minter in his book, Secondhand: Travels in the new global garage sale.

Minter traveled to Cotonou, Benin, where imported secondhand clothes are sorted into custom grades that ...

My biggest financial mistake

When I was 23, I made the biggest financial mistake of my life.

This mistake would affect me financially, mentally, and emotionally for decades. Relationships were broken, my retirement funds were affected and I still suffer from financial PTSD that has made me terrified of making financial decisions.

My mistake?

I bought a property with another person. Yes, I co-owned a property.

A proposal

In many Chinese families, we are taught the value of saving and investing early. My parents, being government ...

25 things I no longer buy as an environmentally-conscious minimalist

Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash

I always have fun reading “X things I no longer buy” posts because they often give me a lot of ideas on how to save money or manage my money better. So I thought it’d be fun to share my list.

Now, my reason f...

I'm moving away from roboadvisors. Here's why.

This is the last essay in my Robo Advisors series. Here’s the rest if you’ve not read it yet:

Kenanga Digital Invest review

Stashaway review

Wahed Invest review

Should you use robo advisors?

When I discovered robo advisors in 2019, I was curious enough to put in some money just to test it out. But I...