Are Wealth Creation and Financial Planning in your Vocabulary?

The other day I met a helpful officer at the ASNB office in my hometown. He briefed me on the elements of financial planning which are investment, tax planning, insurance, retirement planning, estate planning and cash flow. Wished I had more time to listen to him. Anyway thank you so much Mr W for your time.

Over and above, I find that most people do not do this planning as they happily earn their money and spend it quite haphazardly. The reality of life comes to them as a shock when they are about to retire or are faced with grave life events such as accidents or sickness.

Most people depend on their savings, which when placed in a bank, would not have worked well for them financially. Just how much can you save with , say, a monthly income of 3000 at the current 3% P.A interest? That is why we need to delve into other financial products to make our money grow and help us in our hour of need. Needless to say, financial planning is meaningless without money in hand.

Financial products such as unit trusts, mutual funds, stocks, REITs, money market and bonds are there for us to select according to our risk profile. Indeed, wealth creation and financial planning should be in every able person's vocabulary and..... always aim to retire in style.

In the Nick of Time

A 55- year old lady came in with a rather flushed face, complaining of pins and needles on her left leg since the night before when she also suffered from an episode of breathlessness. She spoke of a tightening ring around her chest. Her presentation is not at all classic medical text book.

When queried further she admitted that she had been diagnosed as having high blood pressure a year ago but the drug prescribed did not reduce her headache instead she used some kind of "jelly" as suggested by her friend and found that it helped her a great deal and that her headache had gone. She took this "miracle food" for the last six months. She had never since seen a doctor.

Her blood pressure was measured and found to be 210/120, which was dangerously high and her ECG (electrical pattern of her heart) showed a markedly strained heart! She was promptly given a dose of blood pressure-lowering drug and within 1 1/2 hours her blood pressure was reduced to 140/90. She felt a lot lighter and her left leg's pins and needles were gone.

Had she not come to the clinic in time, she would have been a "stroke statistics". We all have heard of people who suddenly developed slurring of speech and paralysis of half of their body....yes, this is hypertension or high blood pressure, the silent attacker/killer. So monitor your health and stick to scientifically proven medicine.

Like Mother Like Daughter

There are these two sets of family consisting of mother and daughter. The first set, the elderly mother is always smiling and making jokes and the daughter also looks happy and contented to accompany the mother for visit to the doctor. The other set, the elderly mother is glum and hardly smiled and she complained of almost all aches you can think of and the daughter is just as glum and irritable. She looks unhappy to accompany her mother to the clinic. Both mothers suffer from high blood pressure.

The happy mother regularly came to the clinic to get her medications properly titrated as a result her blood pressure achieved the desired target. Her daughter was encouraging the mother to get better and one could see their non-verbal behaviours which reveal how close they are. The other set does not do well at all. The daughter was not happy to take her mother to the clinic at close intervals while the drugs were being titrated as a result this elderly mother's blood pressure has yet to achieve the target. The way this daughter sat showed her cold distance and taking her sick mother to see a doctor was a chore to her.

It seems that a daughter models her behavior on her mother! Ladies, you deserve what you get...

Recurrent tonsillitis and Antibiotics Resistance

She is a 32 year old working woman who came in with a bad sore throat and a high fever at 38.7 deg C. She looked distressed. History revealed that she had been having sore throat repeatedly , 3-4 times a year and she was getting desperate. For the latest episode, she had gone to see a private doctor who prescribed the usual course of antibiotics and acetaminophen (for relief of fever) three days ago however the fever has not subsided and her throat pain was getting worse.

Physical examination showed that her tonsils were enlarged and inflamed with white patches especially on the right side and her right eardrum was also hyperemic (red) and true enough, she complained of right earache as well.

This is a case of antibiotics resistance, meaning that the germs are no longer sensitive to the antibiotics which are normally prescribed for this condition. Either she had not been taking the antibiotics according to the prescribed period, thus the resistant bugs, or due to possible lack of antibiotics efficacy/potency.

To kill off her resistant (and recalcitrant) bugs, the doctor has to carefully choose an antibiotics which are not regularly used by other doctors ( as culture and sensitivity studies of her throat swab would take 2 weeks!) to which her germs have not been exposed to and let us keep our fingers crossed for her!

On an advisory note, whenever you are prescribed an antibiotics, comply with the prescribed time even though you might have felt better before the course is finished.

Shopping for Doctors

A fifty year old lady presented herself with a history of a left red eye (conjunctivitis) for the last three weeks! Her left eye was extremely red and watery and half-closed and she was in some pain. When questioned further she said that she had had visited three private doctors, the first two had given her steroid eye drops and the third gave her an antibiotic eye drop PLUS oral antibiotics to boot! And altogether she had spent almost $200.00 in consultations and medications...

She said her problem started 3 weeks ago following an itchy and watery left eye which later became red and painful. It was observed that the three doctors had given her medication to treat the red eye but no medication to control her pain... so she went from one doctor to the other, trying to get pain relief and not getting it.. poor woman.

o8o8o8

What an auspicious date for China to launch the 29th summer Olympics opening ceremony! It was such a spectacular burning of the Olympics torch...such limitless resources and impressive combination of the old and the new. Looking at those Olympians smiling away as they marched in into the bird nest stadium really lifted my spirit and hope for all nations to coexist and become united through sports. China has also done an excellent job of preparing to receive international visitors. Beijing, despite the weather and the smog will be remembered long after the Olympic torch is extinguished.

Rich and poor nations come together in the planet greatest arena of human endeavors... hope it will not be spoilt by the likes of Ben Johnsons and Marian Jones. Quite surprising though that Brunei's participation was rejected due to late submission of registration?.. Brunei is a wealthy nation come to think of it..even Iraq has managed to get in, at the last minute, to fly aloft their country's sacred flag.

Good on China, there is so much to look forward to in a world infused with international understanding nurtured through sports.

Yet Another Case of Unnecessary Stomach Pain

A fifteen year old girl went to see a General Practitioner(GP) complaining of stomach pain. She has been suffering from this condition for a number of months now. The good GP promptly prescribed antacid for her and off she went. She returned again as her supply of antacids has finished.

It is indeed worrying that a 15-year old should suffer from such pain as it is bound to be chronic or longterm. She looked pale and tired and further questioning revealed that she had been having headaches and given painkillers the side effect of which is.... you guessed it stomach or in medical jargon "epigastric" pain. Her blood test showed that she was anaemic (lack of haemoglobin in the blood) as her Haemoglobin reading was 7.7mg/dl (normal level for female is 12-15mg/dl). The cause of the blood disease is being investigated and she was appropriately treated to normalize her blood haemoglobin level.

The point here is, had the anaemia been detected earlier, cause investigated and appropriately treated, the poor girl would not have to suffer the drug-induced stomach pain causing so much distress for her and affecting her schoolwork and general quality of life.