MONEY THOUGHTS: Is this as good as it gets?

New Straits Times

04-05-2025

A FEW weeks ago, I managed to squeeze in an overdue family holiday. The six of us stayed at Strawberry Park Resort in Tanah Rata, a picturesque town in Cameron Highlands.
The resort's on-the-ball and personable general manager John Yeo granted us a private tour of the property's fruit and vegetable farm, which was fascinating. Also, each night while resting in my room before bedtime, snug in my thick hoodie and wearing socks because I'm lousy at dealing with cold weather, I read.
(Confession: I typically read between three and six books at a stretch, cherrypicked from my home and office libraries, and also from various titles I've stuffed into my travel bags.)
Unsurprisingly, therefore, another highlight of that trip was lunch at a cosy eatery called Amsterdam Cafe, just 5km from Strawberry Park.
When we showed up there, we were served by the owner, a friendly Malaysian who is married to a Dutchman. Upon entering, we gravitated to a quiet table toward the back. And as I walked in, I spied shelves weighed down by beckoning volumes, so I made a beeline for that collection of books, thick and thin, set against the far wall.
I scanned several titles before settling on a slim kids' book entitled The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden. The book was first published in 1960, four years before I was born, which appealed to me because I often prefer older novels set in times simpler than our own.
Then, book in hand, I joined my family at the table, hoping to consume a few pages before my meal came. But there was no chance to do so because of the swirling conversations. Our food arrived quickly and, between bites, we made plans for what we would do in the second half of that lovely day.
As such I quickly realised I wouldn't have time to read even a few pages of what appeared to be a fun story. So, before dutifully returning the Amsterdam Cafe's copy of Selden's book to its place on its shelf, I photographed its cover.
Then, still at our table, I fired up the Amazon app on my phone and ordered a copy for myself.
Fast forward: Although I didn't pay for expedited shipping, which I consider a waste of money, my personal pristine copy of The Cricket in Times Square arrived in fewer than 10 days.
Today, as I write this Money Thoughts column in Singapore, where I am for work meetings and visits to other family members, I've just completed the delightful tale of Chester Cricket, a diligent young boy named Mario, and Chester's friends Harry Cat and Tucker Mouse who are, as their names attest, respectively, feline and rodent.
LIVING LIFE WELL
Permit me now to switch tracks: As I think back more than 20 years, there was an unforgettable quotation by American publisher and high-octane motivational speaker Charlie 'Tremendous' Jones, which truly spoke to me then. It still does.
Jones said: "You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read."
I actually met Charlie Jones once, at an event organised by MAPS, the Malaysian Association of Professional Speakers. It was most likely in 2007 or early 2008, because he passed away from cancer on Oct 16 2008.
I had taken to heart his teachings long before that encounter so I politely thanked him for his powerful presentation to us MAPS' members. As the night wound down and I said my goodbyes, Jones then drew me into a tremendous bearhug that surprised me and delighted me.
He lived his life tremendously well. Also, his legacy of teaching others to celebrate life enthusiastically continues to gather momentum. But what about us?
With each passing year, life grows tougher for most people in most places. Therefore, I'm sure that many of us sometimes wonder to ourselves: Is this as good as life gets?
Well, if you find yourself asking that same question with growing pessimism, then I hope these three pieces of advice — from me to you — inject hope, optimism and anticipation into your mind and your whole life:
1. Grow your ability to earn money by expanding your network of high calibre people;
2. As you do so, learn, think, and apply what you gain from reading and from meeting interesting people; and
3. As you earn more money through active income-generating effort, channel some of that arduously earned active income into savings and investments that can later pump out copious amounts of passive income.
Do also remember the two dovetailing parts of Jones's advice to our world:
1. Meet high quality people and learn from them. As you do so, develop yourself so that they, too, may benefit from knowing you.
2. Read books, both non-fiction and fiction; and do so voraciously and intentionally.
Jones' advice is simple. It's also tremendously effective. So, I hope you enrich your bank account and — far more importantly — your entire life by heeding his wisdom.
© 2025 Rajen Devadason