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05 May 2009 | General | Si Pin

At most you are making the organiser rich, not yourself!

Way back in 1998 when the Asian Financial Crisis hit our shores, many who were in the job market suddenly found themselves retrenched or jobless without any security-net in place. The loss of a job was already a huge burden to shoulder but to weather the storm with young children and a wife who was not working is an added responsibility that is hard to overcome.

Many resorted to doing part time jobs and ad-hoc work to make ends meet. Some, a friend of mine which succumb to the pressures of the times ‘jump flight’ and went to London to work in a Chinatown restaurant washing ‘big biscuits’ (a.k.a. plates). He hasn’t returned to our homeland ever since.

Imagine the opportunity that he had missed since the recovery of the Asian Financial Crisis 2 years after that. The Bourse went up all the way to 1300 again during the beginning of Pak Lah’s administration. Throughput of most small and medium size entreprise (SME) on average went up 300%. Palm oil price in the interim saw unprecented spike in price levels, unseen of since Merdeka.

Then the 10 year cycle returned again. Starting with the sub-prime crisis that started way back end of 2007 before it became full blown beginning of 2009. Followed by the collapse of major banks in the US, and Capital Adequacy Ratio strapped banks in Europe. Although we in South East Asia were well insulated from the rest of the world, Singapore as well as banks in Japan and Hong Kong were brased for the worst to come.

While we had SARS and bird flu just right after the turn of the Asian Financial Crisis, now we have the pandemic of the Influenza A (H1N1) virus spread. Events are just unfolding hauntingly similar to what we had 10 years ago.

So what did most of the professionals who lost their jobs 10 years ago do? Find the shortest route to replenish their net cash position. Some as I have stated, went on to do part time jobs, some took up ad-hoc work to help out the impoverish position. Others who were more daring ventured into Direct Selling, Multilevel Marketing as well as pyramid schemes. Some were so gungho that their Risk Quotient went through the roof – dabbling in Gold Coin schemes, ‘Swiss’ Account Investments and Nigeria windfall Trusts.

Come 2009, I believe the predicament landscape hasn’t changed at all. People whom have lost their jobs or retrenched this round would have aimed for the same things that most of us did way back in 1998. Finding the easy way out.

I was reading a major newspaper today and noticed that on 3 subsequent pages were 3 different advertisements for (some would come to know as) “get-rich-quick” schemes. The first was, “how to become a millionaire buying properties without any money down”. The second was a “ebay power seller plan”. The third, “earn RM22k in 2 days trading forex”.

Why do I find these gullible schemes so nauseating? The fact that I was one of them in the late 90s make me run a mile away when I see one. Of course I’ve had my fair share of attending all these nonsense Anthony Robbins Wealth Mastery Seminar costing thousands for 4 days of jumping around with rock music, but in the end, if you do not have the psychological make-up nor the stomach to be able to trade like any of these ‘gurus’, one might as well spent the hard earned money putting it in the Children’s Educational Fund.

Most of this schemes prey on the fear factor of people whom have recently lost jobs or are looking a way out of their cash-strap positions. And most people do fall for these unscrupulous schemes.

The only caution I would like to recommend to the young and the young-at-heart during these times of challenge is to really look carefully before you leap into the abyss. There’s always an amount of cash you need to put upfront before the millions come rushing in. And if that’s the promise, better think 3 times before you make the final decision.

A Dollar in Hand is better than 1 Million in the Air.