Warren Buffet's Investment Advice

When it comes to the world of investments - especially in the stock market - Warren Buffet, the Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway, is an enigma.

Celebrated as the "Oracle of Omaha" because of his unparalleled success in the stock market, Warren Buffet lives the life of your regular next-door neighbour, hardly eats in classy restaurants and drives a regular, used 4-wheel drive.

How is he able to maintain success for so many years? Here are some of his best advice. Hear him:

Stay liquid
"We will never become dependent on the kindness of strangers. We will always arrange our affairs so that any requirements for cash we may conceivably have will be dwarfed by our own liquidity. Moreover, that liquidity will be constantly refreshed by a gusher of earnings from our many and diverse businesses." 

Buy when everyone else is selling
"We've put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years. It's been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend.... Big opportunities come infrequently. When it's raining gold, reach for a bucket, not a thimble." 

Don't buy when everyone else is buying
"Those who invest only when commentators are upbeat end up paying a heavy price for meaningless reassurance. The obvious corollary is to be patient. You can only buy when everyone else is selling if you have held your fire when everyone was buying." 

Value, value, value
"In the end, what counts in investing is what you pay for a business -- through the purchase of a small piece of it in the stock market -- and what that business earns in the succeeding decade or two." 

Don't get suckered by big growth stories
Buffett further reminded investors that he and Berkshire's Vice Chairman, Charlie Munger, "avoid businesses whose futures we can't evaluate, no matter how exciting their products may be." 

Most investors who bet on the auto industry in 1910, planes in 1930 or TV makers in 1950 ended up losing their shirts, even though the products really did change the world. "Dramatic growth" doesn't always lead to high profit margins and returns on capital. 

Understand what you own
"Investors, who buy and sell based upon media or analyst commentary are not for us. 

"We want partners, who join us at Berkshire because they wish to make a long-term investment in a business they themselves understand and because it's one that follows policies with which they concur." 

Defense beats offense
"Though we have lagged the S&P in some years that were positive for the market, we have consistently done better than the S&P in the 11 years during which it delivered negative results. In other words, our defense has been better than our offense, and that's likely to continue." 

Hard work
All hard work bring a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. 

Laziness
A sleeping lobster is carried away by the water current. 

Earnings
Never depend on a single source of income. (At least make your Investments get you second earning) 

Spending
If you buy things you don't need, you'll soon sell things you need. 

Savings 
Don't save what is left after spending; Spend what is left after saving. 

Borrowings
The borrower becomes the lender's slave. 

Accounting
It's no use carrying an umbrella, if your shoes are leaking. 

Auditing
Beware of little expenses; A small leak can sink a large ship. 

Risk-taking
Never test the depth of the river with both feet.(Have an alternate plan ready) 

Investment
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. 

General Investment Rules

1. Rule Number 1 - Never lose money


2. Rule Number 2 - Don't forget rule number 1


3. You're neither right nor wrong because other people agree with you. You're right because your facts are right and your reasoning is right - and that's the only thing that makes you right.


4. Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing. If you don't know jewelry, know the jeweler.


5. If you don't feel comfortable owning something for 10 years, then don't own it for 10 minutes.


6. There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult (Remember his advice to Bill Gates - keep it simple).


7. One's objective should be to get it right, get it quick, get it out, and get it over... your problem won't improve with age.


8. A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.


9. It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.


10. "I never buy anything unless I can fill out on a piece of paper my reasons. I may be wrong, but I would know the answer to that. "I'm paying $32 billion today for the Coca Cola Company because..." If you can't answer that question, you shouldn't buy it. If you can answer that question, and you do it a few times, you'll make a lot of money.


11. You ought to be able to explain why you're taking the job you're taking, why you're making the investment you're making, or whatever it may be. And if it can't stand applying pencil to paper, you'd better think it through some more. And if you can't write an intelligent answer to those questions, don't do it.


12. Be fearful when others are greedy, be greedy when others are fearful.

Day Trading Strategies For Beginners

When people use the term "day trading", they mean the act of buying and selling a stock within the same day. Day traders seek to make profits by leveraging large amounts of capital to take advantage of small price movements in highly liquid stocks or indexes. Here we look at some common day trading strategies that can be used by retail traders.


Entry StrategiesCertain stocks are ideal candidates for day trading. A typical day trader looks for two things in a stock: liquidity and volatility. Liquidity allows you to enter and exit a stock at a good price (i.e. tight spreads and low slippage). Volatility is simply a measure of the expected daily price range - the range in which a day trader operates. More volatility means greater profit or loss. (To learn more, see Day Trading: An Introduction.)

One day trader favorite is Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW). The stock is cheap ($4.38 at the time of writing), liquid (almost 50 million shares traded daily) and very volatile (as can be seen by looking at its chart). This type of stock is ideal for the retail day trader.

Once you know what kind of stocks you are looking for, you need to learn how to identify possible entry points. There are three tools you can use to do this: 

• Intraday Candlestick Charts - Candles provide a raw analysis of price action. 
• Level II Quotes/ECN - Level II and ECN provide a look at orders as they happen. 
• Real-Time News Service - News moves stocks. This tells you when news comes out.

We will look at the intraday candlestick charts and focus on the following three factors:

• Candlestick Patterns - Engulfings and dojis 
• Technical Analysis - Trendlines and triangles 
• Volume - Increasing or decreasing volume

There are many candlestick setups that we can look for to find an entry point. If properly used, the doji reversal pattern (highlighted in yellow in Figure 1) is one of the most reliable ones.

Figure 1 - Looking at candlesticks - the highlighted doji signals a reversal.

Typically, we will look for a pattern like this with several confirmations: 

1. First, we look for a volume spike, which will show us whether traders are supporting the price at this level.Note that this can be either on the doji candle, or on the candles immediately following it. 
2. First, we look for a volume , which will show us whether traders are supporting the price at this level. Second, we look for prior supportat this price level. For example, the prior low of day (LOD) or high of day (HOD). 
3. We look at the Level II situation, which will show us all the open orders and order sizes. 

If we follow these three steps, we can determine whether the doji is likely to produce an actual turnaround, and we can take a position if the conditions are favorable. Typically, entry points are found using a combination of these three tools.

Finding a TargetIdentifying a price target will depend largely on your trading style. Here is a brief overview of some common day trading strategies:

Strategy	Description
Scalping	Scalping is one of the most popular strategies, and it involves selling almost immediately after a trade becomes profitable. Here the price target is obviously just after profitability is attained.
Fading	Fading involves shorting stocks after rapid moves upwards. This is based on the assumption that (1) they are overbought, (2) early buyers are ready to begin taking profits and (3) existing buyers may be scared out. Although risky, this strategy can be extremely rewarding. Here the price target is when buyers begin stepping in again.
Daily Pivots	This strategy involves profiting from a stock's daily volatility. This is done by attempting to buy at the low of the day (LOD) and sell at the high of the day (HOD). Here the price target is simply at the next sign of a reversal, using the same patterns as above.
Momentum	This strategy usually involves trading on news releases or finding strong trending moves supported by high volume. One type of momentum trader will buy on news releases and ride a trend until it exhibits signs of reversal. The other type will fade the price surge.Here the price target is when volume begins to decrease and bearish candles start appearing.

Why Men Like Boobs

An interesting article I found online for sharing :D

In-conjunction with October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, kenwooi.com is taking part in promoting the awareness of loving boobies. This entry has good intentions.

Warning: This entry is boobilicious. May not be suitable to be viewed at workplace or when your girlfriend is around. Be warned.

So… if a straight man tells you that he’s not attracted to boobs, he’s a damn liar!

Guys, please enlighten me – how could you resist from adoring such natural wonder? It’s the 8th Natural Wonder of the World, you know?

And ladies, you may or may not know about this – whenever a guy walks pass a well-endowed lady, it’s very likely for him to take at least a short glance. And if it’s an attractive cleavage, the short glance will be a split second longer – or into multiple glances.

True story.

Some are big, some just perfect and some are small – the thing is, they come in different sizes. No matter what, men still like ‘em.

Now, it makes me think – why do men like boobs so much? What is the mechanism behind this attraction? There must be scientific reasons.

An explanation is clearly required for this unique phenomenon because after all, boobs are just normal fats!

But wait, it’s not just men! Ladies are actually attracted to boobs as well, and it’s perfectly normal. Now some of you ladies might say, “Ken, I have boobs and I don’t go crazy over every pair of boobs I see.”

Well duh… that’s because you already have a pair! You can have “hands on” experience every time you shower, while you sleep and while you get dressed, or anywhere anytime. It’s already there!

For the men, looking at boobs is like looking at the sun, they don’t stare – it’s too risky. Men get a sense of it and then look away. In fact, men don’t harm the sun by looking at it, it’s the sun that harm men instead!

So ladies, you must be also wondering why right? Hence, without further ado, let the pro tell you 4 reasons why men are so fascinated by your lovely natural cushions…

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1) Men like soft comfy stuff. Give them a soft cozy sofa, pillow or bed, they’ll love it totits bits – especially when it comes in a pair.

They are soft, smooth and fun to play with – they make great cushions, and they feel real nice when you get to squeeze ‘em, and… uhm… yeah…

2) Men like things that are round, for example – men likes football, basketball, golf – mainly sports that use a round object to play with.

Or semi-sphere, to be exact.

3) Men love to fiddle with buttons. Give them any game controller, they will play non-stop with their fingers pushing, poking, pressing and flicking the buttons.

Oh yeah, baby, game on! We just love the games!

4) Boobs are there, and guys don’t have them.

Obviously I don’t have them.

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Well, it’s not to say that guys want boobs on themselves, but weirdly, they have this uncontrollable urge to fondle it.

However, for most scenarios, it’s not morally permitted to grab to total stranger’s boobs. You’ll get bitch-slapped.

Now ladies, you might think that men are damn perverts. But wait a minute, aren’t you ladies the ones who are showing off first?

It’s known as the freedom of cleavage expression. If you didn’t realize, some ladies just love flaunting their booby cleavage, or simply wear tight fitting cloths to reveal their curves.

Generally there’s always an explanation for such exposure. It’s either the ladies are being confident, flirty or just to capture the attention of innocent dudes – for example, yours truly.

Anyway, I feel that I’m so much healthier just by writing this entry. Did you know thatboobs are good for men? Ogling at boobs gives men a longer weenie longevity!

So gentlemen, let kenwooi.com do you a favour this time. Let’s take your time off from being gentle (and also your busy schedule) to appreciate the beauty of boobs…

So sensual.

So adorable.

So sexy.

So Japanese.

So seductive.

Do you feel healthier now? I’m sure you do. ;)

Oh hey, I know you wish you could just lift your arms, reach out your hands and tenderly fondle those masterpieces on the screen. But no, don’t do that on kenwooi.com okay? My blog isn’t in 3D, yet.

But you know what, if there were a National Boobs Day, I would proudly march along to the Mountains of Happy Valley! It’d definitely be a wonderful view there!

So guys, you shouldn’t be afraid of expressing your feeling towards boobs. They are amazing, lovely and simply beautiful.

And as much as we try, boobs are hard to resist.

They send men spinning, pulling us in close and throwing us away. But we keep coming back for more.

To be honest, there’s just no way to stop men from liking boobs. It’s just against the law of nature to forbid men from adoring those beauties.

I admit guilt to over-expressing my admiration for boobs. By all means, arrest me! But I won’t deny that all men love teteks!

All hail boobies!

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On a side note: All proceeds from this entry will go to the Kenwooi Boobies Foundation for further research of an antidote to cure men from the B02B5 disease, which is an illness of attraction to boobs.

Our current test subject is this cat…

Tabby is diagnosed with B02B5 and he’s our guinea cat. No animal is harmed during the process of experiments. If you know anyone with B02B5 disease, please report them to Kenwooi Boobies Foundation.

Once again – All hail boobies!

The best investment one could make

I had a friend who recently got married, and I had a chance to catch up with him and his wife not long ago. Somehow during the conversation, we ended up talking about investments and what is the best investment one could make. Most people would think property, share market, land or even gold or commodities, but what my friend said definitely surprised me. His answer was: financial literacy. 

Most people probably aren't so familiar with this term, but to put it simply, you'd find it very hard to function normally if you were illiterate. You wouldn't be able to read street signs, fill in forms, pay bills or read instructions. Financial literacy is a similar concept, where if one does not have a full grasp of how money works and how wealth is created, we fall into a trap that most people fall into - a less than desirable financial situation. 

A simple example is this. Most people, myself included, were educated to find a stable job (which implies stable income). We therefore invest 16 years of studies if you include tertiary studies to receive a qualified certification, which will hopefully get you this stable job. It costs an average student $216,000 AUD to go through Primary and Secondary education, and a further average of $98,000 for a Bachelors degree over 4 years. (Figures taken from http://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/) This becomes more than $300,000 AUD of investment into a qualification. Out of all university graduates in 2009, around 75% found full time jobs, with certain degrees as low as 50% (Source: Graduate Careers Australia, Graduate Destinations 2011). Certain studies include students looking for work, or students continuing further studies within the same category of those who are "employed", further skewing the data to falsely favor potential benefits of a university degree. 

Having said all that, the above is just a simple example, and I respect that many people study for more than just monetary reasons. However for myself, I discovered these things while I was in University. I realized that it was no longer viable for me to continue down the career path of my university degree, but to rather venture into the world of business and entrepreneurship. I have been blessed until now to see success that I would have never seen in my uni degree. Financial literacy has and I believe always will be integral in the life of someone who wants to be successful or impact the world, because everything that needs to be done requires financial backing. Therefore I challenge you today, invest some money into financial literacy, read some books by the gurus and start to understand how money works. This renewed perspective will give you a head start over most of the world. 

Sixth Sense in Stock Investing?

Do sixth sense exist in investing? What do I mean sixth sense?Without checking the technical analysis and fundamental analysis, using our own feeling to buy XYZ stocks.

I am sure everyone does it before, without looking the TA and Fa in detailed, just take take 5 year graph and check some latest new...then bang! :D

To be honest I did it long times ago. The last Global financial crisis hit almost every country to some degree of extend.I picked one hypermarket business, simply shoot it. :D. The FA was terrible,the price keep dropping everyday. I check some news regarding the company, knowing that the major shareholder do M&A at the unreasonable price, causing the existing shareholder burn their wealth at least 40%.

The main confidence I got to blindly buy this stock because myself are a frequent shopper there.I know their restructure of business will improving for the next three years.It turns out a profit for me. What a good sixth sense.

How about my bad sixth sense?The insurance company that I used to hardly understand its financial statement. The blue chips drops 50% from its peak. This time I thought I was lucky enough, believe my sixth sense again, I decide to buy then do research before too late too anticipate this bargain. How does it turn out? The stock still stuck in the same price it used to be the time I bought it!After I investigate the reason behind, it is almost hopeless to hope for rebound in the short period of time.What a bad guess..

So Sixth sense reliable?No...but it was fun :D

Money management investing in stock market

Money management sometimes play much more important roles when comes to investing.

What do I mean by good money management? Many expert especially professional trader, focusing on how to manage their money to achieve "win more,loss less". Sound really simple and common sense,but people sometimes blindly risking their money too much expose to unnecessary risk just by catching the trend.

Some really common sense method to me like "pyramid" method, Dollar cost averaging and Lower average cost.

(1) Pyramid method according to some expert, the higher the share price, the lower amount you would've to invest in the stock.However, when the share price become lower than you initial entry price, you don't catch the falling dagger, instead focusing on stop losses.By this you should achieve gain more, loss less.

(2)Dollar cost averaging states that you place some amount of money for regular period regardless where the share price going.

(3)Lower cost averaging, same as pyramid method but the lower the share price compared to your initial entry price, the more you buy.

Common sense tell us every method has its own way to apply and when to apply.

Pyramid method (1) is the best way for trading method.Most trader cares about major trend,focusing on the volume of trading and momentum, ignore the value of the shares. For this reason alone, you don't know the value of share and might be easily catch a falling knife.This is the method I usually apply on short term investment (usually few months to 1 year type). I like occasionally trade sometimes, pick something that I am really confident to feel where the major trend going. Unfortunately, usually only made very little money from this type of investment purpose( Not for trading purpose). Sometimes your effort doesn't feel worth it. Honestly, this type of investment I usually treat it as hobby, trading when I feel it is the right time.

(2) Dollar cost averaging, usually from my observation it is preferred by dividend hunting investor. Personally think, this method is only good enough for a stock that can compound adequately and pay good dividend.Most people apply this method to a wrong stocks from beginning. Some stocks that lack of growth, while paying good dividend, in other way defined by me as riskier bond ( capital gain is limited but dividend is given constantly like bond). For example, REITs which is very popular class of investment now.Other blue chips stocks that are obviously matured do behave in this way too. For entertainment purpose, I will share the stories from what I heard.:) There is one uncle that I heard, he constantly using this method to buy HSBC  (HKSE:0005) stocks in HKSE. What happen when HSBC do involve in sub prime crisis and the last money laundering scandal in US and mexico done by HSBC? The share price drops like no tomorrow.This method obviously only apply to high income individual, you can afford to put regular amount of $$ at the sametimes when bargain comes, you can buy a lot. This is very good for someone who really rich in cash and high income.

3) Value investor favourite for Lower cost averaging. But value investor should be careful of value trap.Besides this is a really good method to buy during stock market in recession. Once again, provided you choose the correct stock!

The line between frugal and crazy

You don't have to go very far down the path of being frugal to reach the point where people start questioning your sanity. (You bicycle to work? Even though you have a perfectly good car?) On the other hand, there's no idea so crazy that there aren't some frugal folks out there who swear by it. (I hesitate to suggest an example, for fear of offending some of our committed readers.) Still, there is a line where frugality becomes pathology. In fact, there are two lines. We have names for them.  We call them stingy and miserly.

The English language is rich with words to describe personal economic behavior. There are words people use when they're happy that you're not spending too much: thrifty, frugal, provident. There are words people use when they're not so sure: sparing, parsimonious. These are the words people use when they're unhappy that you're not spending more: stingy and miserly.

The fact is, though, that these words work pretty well for marking the dividing line between normal behavior and crazy behavior.

Does it make you happy?

Miserly is the easy one. The word miser shares a common root with miserable, and the classic misers in literature (Charles Dickens' Ebenezer Scrooge, Robert Louis Stevenson's Ebenezer Balfour) are wretched, miserable creatures--desperately unhappy despite their wealth. Misers aren't just normal people who choose to hoard money. Being miserly is a pathology akin to anorexia nervosa--a miser refuses to spend money because he feels his life is out of control; refusing to spend money is a futile effort to take control.

The nature of the pathology, though, is that this behavior doesn't produce happiness. You sometimes find parodies of happy miserly people (Scrooge McDuck, for example, takes great delight in his swimming pool full of money), but real misers are just sad and lonely.

So, that's the first "frugal or crazy" check: Does it make you happy? If you do the frugal things you do because you like living that way, then they're normal-frugal, not crazy-frugal, no matter what other people think of them.

Riding my bicycle for transportation gives me great joy (as does walking for transportation). I really like going to the library. (There are some things I like better, but it's a short list.) My wife spins and weaves and knits because she likes it--the beautiful, warm hats, sweaters, mittens, and scarves are something of a bonus. Either one of us can make a better lunch than any fast-food joint. Neither one of us lets the other hog all the fun of baking sourdough bread.

Most of these things are frugal, but that's not why we do them.

On the other hand, you may be doing things because you think they're frugal, but that you hate. Maybe you buy cheap shoes that hurt your feet because they're so much cheaper than good shoes. Maybe you keep on using a bar of soap until it's just a tiny sliver, because your mom always did. Maybe you reuse tea bags. Any of these are fine frugal ideas if you like the results. But if they make you unhappy, and yet you do them anyway--that's when you start getting into the area of crazy-frugal.

Other people may think your frugal choices are crazy. But the test of crazy is not whether "normal" people do stuff like that. The test of crazy is whether your choices support the sort of life you want to have. Be especially wary when your friends and relations start saying things like, "Why are you still doing X? You make good money--you can afford to do Y!" If doing X makes you happy, stick with it.

Are you deciding for yourself?

Stingy is tougher. The word stingy turns up when people talk the effect on them of spending decisions made by someone else. A boss can be stingy with raises. A husband can be stingy with money for groceries. A father can be stingy with an allowance. A cook can be stingy with meat in the stew.

I read an article once about a family where the father was a scary, controlling, frugal monster. He micromanaged every detail of the family's budget, with his wife acquiescing to all sorts of bizarre rules about where money could and couldn't be spent. Reading the article, though, I was disturbed to find that, although the guy was clearly a crazy person, about half of his supposedly crack-pot frugal notions seemed perfectly normal to me.

Once I gave it some thought, though, I realized that what made this guy a crazy person was not the extreme frugality, it was the scary, controlling monster part. Reasonable people can differ on whether washing and reusing plastic bags is out on the lunatic fringe. But yelling and screaming at your spouse because you found a used plastic bag thrown away in the trash--that's scary crazy. Buying the cheapest brand of toilet paper is fine (as is buying a more expensive brand, if you like it better and can afford it). Monitoring how many sheets of toilet paper your kids use and punishing profligate use--crazy.

If you're choosing for yourself, you can be just as frugal as you want without crossing the line into being stingy. But when you're making decisions for other people, their opinion counts too.

Of course, just disagreeing with your spouse, children, employees, neighbors, or friends about how much money is the right amount to spend on any particular category of purchase doesn't make you crazy.

What is crazy is trying to resolve these sorts of disagreements through means other than communication, negotiation, and compromise. Even with children, where the parent has to make the decision (even if it's just the decision to let the child have its own way), communication and negotiation is the way to go. Insisting on always having your own way, even if you're right, is crazy.

But you can afford it!

People who want you to spend more money will often point out that you can afford whatever expenditure they want you to make this time. But the fact is, the question of "crazy or just frugal" never comes down to whether you can afford something or not.

This is asymmetrical, because the opposite question does come down to what you can afford: it's almost always crazy to spend more than you can afford. (I say "almost" because there are exceptions: necessary medical care, food when your family is hungry, shelter when they're homeless--it's not crazy to provide the necessities.)

Just like English has plenty of words for thrifty behavior, it also has plenty for the opposite: squander, prodigal, spendthrift. Those words, though, seem to have fallen into disuse.

We live in a time and place where the concept of "necessities" has been redefined up to the point that people consider you as abnormal--as a crazy freak--if you don't spend money on things that all humans got along without for a hundred thousand years of human history, and that most people in poor countries still get along without.

What you can afford is not what makes your choices frugal or crazy. The right question to ask is: What makes you happy? If you want to stay happy, you'll want to follow up by asking your spouse and children what makes them happy. And you'll need to give at least a moment's thought to what your friends, neighbors, colleagues, and even passing strangers think. But don't do it because you think their opinion of your lifestyle has much to say about whether your choice is crazy; do it because people's opinions can influence their actions, and their actions can affect you.

Lifestyle choices that make you and your family happy are never crazy, no matter how other people choose to live.

4 Amazing Life Lessons from Scrooge McDuck

When I was a little boy, Donald Duck was my favorite comic series, and I used to read it every week. The ducks are caricatures of us human beings, which makes it interesting reading, and there are always some philosophical lessons to be learned in the comics.

One of the most interesting characters is Scrooge McDuck — a greedy capitalist that is the richest duck in the world. His only goal in life is to get richer, no matter what he has to do in order to succeed financially.

Like in every person and duck, there are both good things and bad things in Scrooge. We can learn from both the positive and negative sides of the world's richest duck. Maybe there is something that he has done right to get into the financial position he is, or maybe his greediness is a something we should avoid. It is up to you how you decide to see it.

Here are four important areas in life in which we can learn something from Scrooge.

Wealth

Heavenly heather! The genie in the magic lamp! The fortunes I could own! I could have the world's biggest diamond! No! The world's biggest diamond mine! No-no! All the diamond mines! No! The entire mining industry! Yes, yes, yes! I can see that this is going to take some careful thought.

According to Carl Barks, Scrooge is worth five billion quintiplitilion unptuplatillion multuplatillion impossibidillion fantasticatrillion dollars. No matter what the actual amount is, Scrooge is never satisfied with it and always wants more.

While the good thing about Scrooge is that he has been able to build his fortune from the scratch by clever moves and working hard, moderation apparently isn't one of his virtues.

Of course, most people want a certain amount of money to get a decent living in a Western society, but after a certain point, additional money does not make us any happier.

Giving does.

When you have enough (which is, by the way, often quite little compared to Western standards), why not learn from Scrooge's mistakes and, instead of trying to get more things to yourself, give value to other people and focus on making other people happy?

Even some of the world's richest men like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have given a huge part of their fortunes away, and there is certainly a reason for it. It makes them happier than keeping the money.

Education

It appears that Scrooge isn't properly educated and has quit school at an early age, but it is unclear why he did it. However, Scrooge is a clever duck and is always willing and ready to learn new things — which is much more important than formal schooling.

Getting a nice degree will open some doors in life, that is for sure. It also never does any harm to be educated. In my opinion, however, the most important things that I have learned during my studies are how important good language skills and networking with the right kind of people are — everything else can be learned quite quickly from books or Google, when needed.

Willingness to learn new things constantly is much more important than formal education, and usually the most important things in life are not taught in school, anyway. At least I wasn't being taught social skills or how to make my own living by starting my own business — I have to learn those things by myself.

Appreciate education, but remember that education can be anything you do to learn new things in life. It isn't just formal schooling.

Morality and Beliefs

As a businessman and treasure hunter, Scrooge always needs to set new goals and face new challenges. For Scrooge, there is always another rainbow, so to say. His motto is "Work smarter, not harder."

We should all learn from Scrooge's positive attitude towards success and work. Like he believes, it is possible for everyone to do almost anything, if there is just enough persistence involved.

You should also always remember to work smarter, not harder. The amount of work becomes insignificant if you are doing the wrong things, so focus on doing the most important things efficiently and try to skip all the insignificant tasks.

Scrooge seems to have a personal sense of honesty that offers him an amount of self-control, but as a businessman, he often resorts to aggressive tactics and deception by manipulating people and events towards his own ends.

It seems that some successful entrepreneurs are quite selfish and only give to other people when they expect to get something in return in the future. If you have seen the movie There Will Be Blood, you know what I mean.

I don't think that any amount of money in the world is worth losing yourself in the process. When you lie in your dying bed, do you want to be remembered as a greedy and lonely guy who was filthy rich or a lovable person who made everyone feel good and whom everyone loved?

Relationships

Here I sit in this big lonely dump, waiting for Christmas to pass! Bah! That silly season when everybody loves everybody else! A Curse on it! Me — I'm different! Everybody hates me, and I hate everybody! — First line, inChristmas on Bear Mountain (1947)

Scrooge is described in some comic strips as an old, bitter, and lonely person, who does not enjoy being around other people unless it involves making more money. It is a caricature taken to extremes, but I don't think that it is too far from truth for many people around us.

The inability to build good relationships is a major obstacle when trying to find happiness. Maybe some people enjoy being alone more than others, but deciding to hate everybody and assuming that everyone hates you is an extreme example of harmful negative energy.

Before you get bitter because of feeling lonely, try to see if there is something wrong with your own attitude. Other people are often mirrors of our own attitudes, so it is very useful to test what happens if you, just for one week, decide to only think good things about everyone and genuinely assume that everyone likes you.

It easily becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy that makes you happier in a short period of time.