Jolll & the Pussy Cats

Banks are Bloodsuckers!

I had never realised how much hard earned money a bank can suck out of a person. Its simply appalling!!

Imagine a loan of $1,000,000.00 to be paid over 20 yrs at an interest of 6.3% per annum. On surface it might look like one is paying $63,000.00 (6.3% of 1,000,000.00) as interest for the entire loan. However, this is not how the bank operates.

Interest is calculated on a compounded basis - so your interest owing is calculated based on your balance owing to the bank at the end of every month for the next 20 years. According to this format, at the end of the 20 years loan repayment period - a whooping $660,000.00 would have been paid as interest!!!

Is that draining your blood or what??

The way I see it, banks are just a legalised form of loan sharks... At least loan sharks do not try to conceal the interest they charge in cleverly obscured language...

Update: In fact the total interest accrued after 20 years for a 1 million loan is $711,000.00!!!

Jolll Meowed at 12:40 pm |

Count your blessings

We humans always take things for granted. I am guilty of that too…and it took someone that I hardly know to make me realise that I ought to start counting my blessings…

I was at my regular petrol kiosk, when the attendant came over and helped me fill up my petrol tank.
Petrol Kiosk Attendant (PKA): Hi, haven’t seen you for a while... How are you?
(No, he’s not trying to pick me up – he’s just being friendly, as you do with a regular customer…)
Jolll: Hello… I am fine
PKA: Just finished work…? I remember you told me that you work nearby…
Jolll: Yes, you are right… I just finished work.
PKA: You are working in a construction company, so where did u graduate from?
Jolll: (matter of factly) Oh… from Australia.
PKA: (in awe) Wow… so did u get a scholarship to study there…?
Jolll: (embarrassed) Err… No
PKA: Why did u decide to go overseas?

How should I tell him? That I decided to go overseas because I was sick of the bloody education system in Singapore…? That I wanted to experience something different, and it has always been a tacit understanding within my family that I would be sent overseas, like my sisters… Deciding that it might sound too haughty to tell the truth, I gave a half-truth.

Jolll: Err… because I never studied Malay, and so its hard for me to further my studies locally… (I know this sounds a bit lame...)
PKA: Oh.. I see.. So how did you pay for your overseas education? Bank loan ah?
Jolll: (more embarrassed) Err… no lah. My father is my sponsor…
Look of Envy registered on PKA’s face.

By this time, I had filled up my petrol tank (thank goodness!), and I bid farewell to my friendly neighbourhood petrol kiosk attendant.

Yet that short 5 minute conversation struck a chord in my heart.

Things that I have always taken for granted might be another person’s desires. Instead of lamenting “why don’t I have this?” I ought to be thankful of what I’ve got:

1) I am thankful that I was safely delivered by the midwife even though I was a breech baby.

2) I am thankful that I grew up having a happy and comfortable childhood, with neither worries nor troubles.

3) I am thankful for my dad, whom despite having to provide for all 6 of us, managed to give us all the best education that we could get.

4) I am thankful that I was able to study overseas, which opened my eyes and my mind to the world beyond.

5) Finally I am thankful that I am surrounded by good friends and supported by a close-knit family. Without them, life would just not be the same.

Start counting your blessings today.

Jolll Meowed at 6:17 pm |