First Week without Work!

Last week was the first week that I didn't need to physically go to work. It was amazing on how quick time flies. I started to spend time organising various bits regarding property investment and Forex trading, as well as some personal stuff. I must say it didn't happen as efficient as I originally thought but it was my first week, so I just gave myself sometime to relax too (which I think I deserve after working such a long time at one work place!)!

My friend from HK also came to visit us end of the week and therefore, I spent time on Fri to take them to Manchester and on Sat, to take them to try English pub food and show them round the beautiful Yorkshire Lavender farm, as well as York. Thanks God the weather was so nice on Sat, so we enjoyed the day so much! After all the activities on Sat, we eventually took them to Howden to stay at their relatives for the rest of the stay. 

Today is the beginning of my second week and I started to learn Forex trading by reading all materials that I printed out. Hopefully I can get to analyse the charts tomorrow. 

Also, pray that the weather would be nice tomorrow so that we can help church to distribute leaflets to new students or Chinese residents in Leeds. May his Kingdom be expanded and HIS blessing be upon us! 

Leeds Property Network Meeting

Due to the fact that I'm quite free now without everyday work commitment, I went to the Leeds Property Network meeting with my husband to social and get to know other investors. It was a bit wierd at the beginning as I didn't know much people there, but once I got to talk to them, I did enjoy this evening a lot. 

Tonight, I met someone who I talked to few months ago in PIN meeting where he just started to learn property investment. And only few months later, he's already started his Property Letting business. Congrads to his success and determination to move things forward! It just shows how one person can achieve when you have the right mindset and keep focus!

Topic wise, there was a speaker tonight talking about how to maximise traffic to property website. It was interesting and I believe this is something my husband and his business partners would need to put more time and effort in. Good luck to them and hopefully will achieve success in terms of Internet marketing!

After the talk, I spoke to another investor who is now also doing personal coaching section apart from property investment. It's amazing to see how he can analyse someone so quickly and how his advice can make us think differently. He's now starting to coach couple to improve relationship as investors always spend most of their time on business, and forget the other half or even son/ daughter waiting for them at home. You'll be amazed to know how many property investors achieved success but end up divorcing and losing custody of son/ daughter. I really think what he's doing is meaningful and could help so many family!

Last Day at Work!

Last Friday was my last day at Tribal after nearly 7 years of working there. I joined the company as a junior financial consultant being trained to carry out Local authorities' housing finance and options appraisal, and studied CIPFA accountancy qualification at the same time. After I qualified in CIPFA, I moved to the RSL sector to learn their finance regulation and business planning tool.

I learned huge amount of skills in these seven years working in Tribal, from being a graduate who had no experience in housing finance, no experience in handling clients and scared of taking phonecalls, to what I was a consultant being able to talk to client confidently via email, phonecalls, client meetings and client trainings. They are something I never thought I would be able to do. Thanks for all my previous colleagues who had patience in giving me training, and also trusting me to carry out the work.

At the leaving do last Friday, 12 of us went to a local pub for lunch. It was a surprise that so many of my colleagues turned up (because consultant work from home and they don't live in Leeds). After the meal, my line manager gave a leaving speech and thanks for all my hard work during the past years. They also bought me a very nice leaving present and brunch of flowers. Then, it was my turn to give a speech but for some reason, I was so emotional and tears just came out which I couldn't stop. As a result, I didn't manage to make the speech but of course, I did give them a big hug at the end and thanks them individually.

Don't know what it will be like when I start working from home tomorrow instead of physically going to work in office? It will be interesting to find out.

Great Film ~ Karate Kid!

We didn't go to cinema for a while so me and Andy decided to watch Karate Kid last night (acted by Jaden Smith & Jackie Chan) with Orange Wed. We both think it's a great film and it's amazing to see how Jaden (Will's Smith son) learn Kung Fu in such a short timescale and acted well in the film!

In my opinion, the film is worth watching but it is quite violent in some aspect as you see kids fighting and hurting each other. I wonder if it is true that in reality, some kids in China are being taught Kung Fu with purpose of a fight or to bully others, instead of using it for defence!

After watching the film, it may

"Make you feel like a kung fu master when you put your jacket on to leave the cinema. And when you take it off when you get home. And when you put it on again the next day…" (you will understand what I mean after watching the film, Have fun!)

1st Forex Trading

As I opened a trading account with IG Index which allows me to buy/ sell currency pairs as low as 10p per pip, I placed my 1st Forex trading last Friday. And of course I did place a stop loss to minimise risk involved.

Before I placed the trading, I analysed the various currency pairs' chart in the past 1 hour, past 30 mins, past 5 mins and past 1 min. Then I placed my 1st trading. The heartbeat for my 1st trading increased significantly as the currency can go up/ down so quickly every second, and the amount that you put in can be in gain/ lost so quickly too!

As I saw the amount of money I put in the account goes up by 50p, I closed the trading quickly and took the gain. I was only using pennies to gain experience and I can really feel the emotion involved in trading, even my colleague next to me was saying 'Close the trading and took the profit'. We were so excited with the first 50p we gained, it was fun but scary! Therefore, if you can't afford the excitement and don't know how to manage risk, it would be better to stay out of trading.

After the 1st trading, I placed the 2nd trading but this time it was a lost because I forgot to look at some of the analysis that I should have looked at. Also, I closed the account too quickly and didn't wait, I didn't trust myself neither. This was a lesson learnt and so, on my 3rd trading, I did all the necessary analysis and wait, there was a time that I saw the capital I put in went down quite a lot, but I still trusted the analysis and waited, then it did go up again as predicted and I gained in 3rd trading.

The trainer who taught the Forex seminar did advice us to use small amount of capital to experience real trading instead of using fake money and practice account. I can now understand why he said that because only using real money you can feel the emotion involved. Of course I only used pennies to gain this kind of experience until I understand more about what it is.

1st Property Investment ~ Let

Thanks God that the first property investment is being let out last Friday and the tenant signed the contract yesterday. Also thanks for the efficient work of ADS who assists us to put advert up to find tenants, to take them viewings and arrange all documentation.

Now, we just need to wait for the gas and electric safety to be checked tomorrow, and the roof to be repaired on Fri. Hopefully, the tenant can move in asap and the Council would pay us direct.

I'm so glad to have a great husband who encourages me to take this big step and invest in my 1st property. He gave me lots of good advice and even though I told him off sometimes, he still takes care of me and my future. I've already got friend lined up for joint venture in my second property, I'm hoping that I can save enough to do my 2nd JV asap.

Great Outing Weekend!

My friend from London just came for a weekend and therefore we organised a trip to enjoy the beautiful area in Yorkshire.

On Sat, we went to Aysgarth Falls and Forbidden Corner. Aysgarth Falls is beautiful and you don't need to pay for the entry (although you pay £3 for car park). You can walk on the falls too, but if you do plan to do that, better bring some towel with you. Shame we didn't prepare that, so only 2 of our friends did walk on the falls. 

Then, we head to Forbidden Corner. The entry fee is £10. If you book in advance online, it's £9.5. To limit the number of cars going to Forbidden Corner, ticket has to be purchased in advance either online or by phone. Or you can go to tourist information in Leyburn to purchase tickets on the day (but tickets are limited).

Also, they allocate timeslot for visit. On Sat, you can visit at 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm and 4pm. It took us 3 hours to look round the place and it's really fun once you get inside. There are a lot to do and see, so it definitely worths a visit. Children would love it so much in there. 

Links shown below would give you more info if you're interested:

Aysgarth Falls - http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK314&q=Aysgarth+Falls&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=SsFSTK3sOYn54ga7j6DJAw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CCQQsAQwBA&safe=active&biw=1276&bih=819

Forbidden Corner - http://www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk/

On Sun, we went to Yorkshire Lavender and had lunch there. The entry is free. We had Lavender slice cake, Lavender Cheesecake, Lavender scones and Lavender tea. So when we finished the lunch, my stomach was full of Lavender taste, ha ha ha.. I think I would recommend cup of English tea with Lavender cheesecake if you go next time. The scones are good too but not the slice of cake.

The Lavender farm is very beautiful but it's quite small. Luckily we still manage to take lots of photos which are great! I would still recommend to go to the Lavender farm in Barnstead near Croydon though! For those of you who would like to go to the Lavender farm, here is the link http://www.yorkshirelavender.com/