MADisON_veloCITY: Finding Honey on The Moon

When it comes to money talk, everyone will have all the reason to support his/her spending. The issue of spending a huge amount on the car registration plate number has been hogging the limelight recently. I guess even if the winning bid was won by any rich business man, people will still talk about it. The fact that we are bickering on other people's spending is purely down to one word.

Jealous?

You see, to some people money is the yardstick to gauge one person status in the society. Rich people are often rank top in the society. Don't agree? Nowadays, majority of successful people are often linked with wealth. Will you know who is Mark Zuckenberg if he invented Facebook yet earn nothing? I know him because of him being the youngest billionaire. People often get famous because of wealth. Of course, there are other way of getting famous but my topic is focusing more on money effect.

When money comes in your life, the next word that linked to it is usually 'spending'. I have known one uncle from Hong Kong who told me, hard earned money must be spent. Treat yourself good, son! You suffer so much to save and die the next day without even enjoying a single penny of your wealth. Wouldn't that be a pity?

That is why most of us are pampering ourselves with some vacation every once or twice a year. That's too thanks to Mr Tony Fernandez for making this possible. Some of the people thought by going vacation, you will spend a lot. That's not true. Traveling is considered a luxurious thing to do back then and the frequency of you doing it is like every 5 years once.

Therefore, when someone get to do it on a reduced period, comparison of the previous scenario often make one feel guilty of traveling. So the question is are we too pampered on ourselves? Aviation industry has taken a huge leap. Tickets have became so cheap that the taxi fare you pay to get you to the airport is even more expensive than the flight ticket itself. Tourist nowadays are tech and spend savvy too. Youngsters especially often opt for cheap accommodation. Joining a tour is out of their plan as tour organised back then give you no option by staying at least 4 to 5 stars hotel with all meals provided. Sometimes, tips are automatically included.

But a little bit more research thanks to internet, blog and forum who share their experience on the best mode of transport and cheap food to go for, tourist are more daring to hit the road themselves with "Lonely Planet" book on one hand and map on the other.And English being the international language and the fact that there are more educated person, conversation is no longer a barrier among the tourist with the locals.

That is travelling. But how about spending on phone with all this smartphone frenzy? I got my first phone when I studied in university. Even then, many of my friends still rely on public phone. And that phone followed me to my first job. Since then, I've seen the transformation era of phone. People keep changing phone when there's a new model launched. The trend is you buy a phone for RM2000 plus. Use for one to two years, contract ends and you sell the 'old' phone via EBay for half the price and buy another new model.

"This is to keep updated with technology", exclaimed one of my friends.

Yes I do agree that the phone technology is so advanced that it would be silly not to keep up with the flow. I have no ill feeling towards those who keep changing phone nor did I have grudge on those who laugh at my prehistoric-throw-at-dog dumbphone.

I would like to have a Samsung Galaxy SIII or even an IPhone 4S but the feeling is just not there yet. Reason? Mainly it's too pricey. Another thing is the telco package that we have to sign up. For someone who use less than RM 20 a month on phone bill, it's difficult to commit to a post paid plan which I know I won't be fully utilising it. Last but not least, the main reason is the data package offered in this industry is not matured yet. Imagine that you are lost in the middle of no where and would like to search the company's telephone number to ask for direction. You stuck there for 10 minutes only to load the Google page. And further 10 minutes to get your search result. The fact is the telco in Malaysia is not on par with those in UK or Hong Kong yet.

OK, you can get better plan or connectivity from another plan/ telco but then again it costs you a slightly premium price for that slightly extra speed. Everything is money. I visited my sister in law recently in Australia. I noticed she just got a new phone and was instantly hooked to it. One year back when I met her in Hong Kong, I told her to change her old Nokia. She was saying that she don't feel there's a need for it. When she got back in Australia, she got a contract for a smartphone package. Good connectivity, great call plan plus a free smartphone. The telco plan is so cheap there that the monthly subscription fee you are paying is 80% on the phone itself.On the other hand, it is the reverse here.