2014 - The Great Divide

Well, I must admit that it is both expected and unexpected.

I expected that the government will push for some unpopular / tough decisions after the election as it would no longer have any effect on its position in power. No matter how unpopular the decision, how much the noises made ; the government will still be in power.

But i certainly did not expect the extent of the damage and how unthoughtful the decisions were. And when I say unthoughtful, I was not merely referring to the lack of empathy or sympathy, I was also referring to the lack of thought process as well (ok ok..I meant "dumb") decisions and explanations.

In my opinion, next year will be a year of great divide. It will be a year where the poor will be poorer and the rich will get richer. The middle class will fall into either one of the categories.

Subsidies are being taken away at rate unseen before and the inflation is going to hit us like a ton of brick. Worse still the inflation are cost push inflation caused by the additional taxes and higher cost of materials- lack of subsidies. With income not rising much, in reality, the poor and lower middle income earner will have to fork out a lot more money.

The reduced subsidies and higher prices (including tolls) mean that the government would have more money to spend next year and the corporations that could increase prices would also record more revenue (not necessarily profit though coz reporting higher profit will attract taxes). The indirect beneficiaries would be the shareholders of these corporations and its senior management - the rich ones.

The toll hike is coming whether we like it or not. The GST is coming whether we like it or not. New project is going to come out whether we like it or not. More toll income is going to push the shares of toll companies higher whether we like it or not. More capital gain is going to benefit Khazanah, ASB, EPF and Tabung Haji (also all the other shareholders) whether they agree or not.

The real question that concerns me is not what the government should do (becasue they don't seem to give a flying f#@! at the moment), but rather what should I do. Making noises and shouting my grouses, while it may appease my heart will not do much to improve my situation.  Buang masa.

What would I do after I pray for a better life?
1. Work harder
2. Work smarter
3. Work harder
4. Try to get into the group that will benefit from all this: ASB, EPF and the stock market (selected counters). I am going to try to get on the side that is winning (or seem to be winning) whenever an ethical opportunity arises.
5. Look at where I can get additional income: teaching, doing business from home; online stuff.
6. Invest first/more and spend even less. It might seem impossible, but I will give it a try before pre-admiting defeat.
7. Pay more attention to my expenditure, not necessarily cut it down, just be smarter with it.
8. Plan my time better so that I can do more things including to pray more :-)
9. Learn to be happy with less but aim to get more.

These are  what I am going to do.

What would you do?