Recently I had received a lot of emails and rumours saying Steven's Tea Garden is a scam and it's not paying to their members. At first I was quite worry because I'm joined half year ago but I haven't withdraw money from my STG account. So I decided to withdraw my money for the first time and bank in to my CIMB account. When STG approved my request to withdraw, they said I should received the payment after 5 working days upon the approval.

I had withdraw total of RM 750.00 (RM 150.00 for 5 months). After 6 days of waiting and I still haven't receive my payment and I started to worry. I was wondering if the rumours is true then all my money will be gone just like that.

Finally on the 7th day, all my worries was gone when I received my money in my bank account. I had received total of RM 745.50 after minus a bank charges of RM 4.50. Look like the rumours is just a rumours after all and there is nothing I should worry about.

The year 2008 is a fortune year for Lee Chong Wei. He not only had won the Malaysia First Olympic badminton men singles silver medal and rewarded Datukship by the Penang State Government, Lee Chong Wei also had earn himself over half million Ringgit in 2008.

This year Lee Chong Wei have won 2 champion and 3 runner up from 12 Super Series with the total winning money prize of over RM 170000. However the biggest prize money that Lee Chong Wei get is by winning the Olympic silver medal and Super Series Final with total of RM 440000 is in his pocket . Let see the details of Lee Chong Wei's earning in 2008:

Singapore Open Champion- USD $ 15000 (RM 52500)

Malaysia Open Champion - USD $ 15000 (RM 52500)

Japan Open runner up - USD $ 6000 (RM 21000)

China Open runner up - USD $ 7500 (RM 26250)

Super Series Final Champion - USD $ 40000 ( RM 140000)

Macau Open runner up - USD $ 4200 (RM 14700)

Johor Open Champion-RM 4000

Malaysia National Grand Prix Champion - RM 7000

Olympic Silver Medal - RM 300000

2008 Olympian Award -RM 10000

Plus other reward from the state government, Badminton Association Malaysia's incentive program, earning from Commercial, is estimated Lee Chong Wei had earned over RM 600000 in just year 2008 alone. If we add up his previous year earning, I'm sure Lee Chong Wei already is a millionaire and if I say Lee Chong Wei is the Malaysia richest Badminton Player, I think no one will disagree with this statement. I really can't wait to see how much Lee Chong Wei can continue to earn in this coming 2009.

If you wanted to retire in a early age or having enough money for your retirement, then you must know how to manage your money well. For beginning, there are three main basic step that you should know:

1st step: Saving
Saving is the most basic step when talking about managing money. However it also a step which most people are ignoring. For most people, they prefer to spend their money before thinking of saving or some doesn't save at all. The correct way is we should save some money first before we spend. For example you can use 50% of your total monthly earning for saving and use the rest of the money for other purposes. If you practice this step well, it not only can encourage you to save but also having a better control of your expenses.

2nd step: Control your Expenses
At the end of 1st step, I mentioning about control your expenses. Although you follow and practice the 1st step, it doesn't mean you can spend whatever you like with the rest of your money. You still need to plan your expenses carefully because if you doesn't do so, you might end up with using your saving to cover your extra expenses. When this happen, the 1st step is become meaningless. So it is important to plan and control your expenses. What you should do is you can make a list of expenses from the most important to less important. You must spend on the most important item first and then only less important item. If you follow the list, you will know how much you can spend and what you should spend.

3rd step: Invest your money
You can start to think of invest you money only after you have enough saving. However most of the people skip the first two step and straight away go to the 3rd step. It is not advisable to invest your money without saving because it is too risky. There are also some people only save their money without investing. It is not advisable also because the value of your money is getting smaller because of inflation and you should do some investment so that your money will grow together with the inflation .

There are many kind of investment like investing in stock market or property. Some are low risk and some are high risk. You must be very careful in choosing what you want to invest.

There is a principe in investing which called the 100 principe with the formula of '100 - your age'. For example if your age is 30, with the formula above you will get 70 (100 - 30 = 70). So if you plan to invest ten thousand, by using this principe you should use three thousand to invest in low risk product and seven thousand in high risk product. However this principe is only for your reference and you can use other principe if it is suitable.

When I first introduce Steven's Tea Garden Business Plan to my friends, most of them doesn't believe this plan can actually make money. Some think this is another kind of 'Skim Cepat Kaya' , scam or some are afraid it will bankrupt after they join. I understand why many people are having such concern, even myself having such concern when i first heard about this plan. However after I went to Steven's Tea Garden office and listen to their presentation, then study on the plan carefully, I decided to join Steven's Tea Garden Business Plan because I believe it really can make money with below five reason:

1.It is not a 'Skim Cepat Kaya' because it doesn't promise that I will get rich in a short period of time. In fact, 200% return in 5 years time is a very reasonable plan for me.

2. Steven's Corner is a well known 'Mamak Stall' and they already have 30 years of history in Malaysia. Steven's Corner branches are generating over million ringgit revenue per month. Steven's Corner's is a well known brand and they are making money even when they are sleeping. so I don't think Steven's Corner will risk their 30 years of reputation by cheating people money. Besides why they want to cheat people money while they already making big money themselves.

3. Steven's Tea Garden will not bankrupt because Food & Beverage industry is a very stable industry. People still need to eat no matter what is happening. With Steven's Corner 30 years of experience in the industry, I believe they can manage Steven's Tea Garden very well.

4.Steven's Tea Garden is having a huge market. Have you ever heard about cafe like Kim Gary or Station One Cafe. These cafe main customer are mostly Chinese which is the 30% of Malaysia population. However Steven's Tea Garden market is not only focus on the Chinese but also Malay, Indian and others races. If Kim Gary and Station One can do well with 30% market and why Steven's Tea Garden can't do the same with market of more than 30%?

5.Steven's Tea Garden's Membership Prepaid Card plan is a very good marketing plan. Instead of using million of ringgit to advertise on newspaper or TV, Steven's Tea Garden's is using Membership Prepaid Card plan to reward their member who spreading the word for them.

Steven's Tea Garden's Membership Prepaid Card

Bidvertiser is offering current publishers $20 Free Advertising Credit. When I received this offer, I decided to give it a try. However in the end I din't take the offer because they required me to give them my credit card info before I can received the $20 Free Advertising Credit.

'Your credit card information is only required to activate your account but YOU WILL NOT BE CHARGED ANY FEES as long as you do not exceed your $ 20.00 credit. If you do not wish to be charged, simply pause your ads before your $ 20.00 credit is exhausted. In case you do not pause your ads before this limit is reached, you will be charged weekly, per your Daily Budget ($ 10.00) until the ads are paused. Whenever you wish to pause your ads, simply click "pause" from your account.'

Although Bidvertiser is giving away free advertising but you must be careful with the terms and conditions. For me, this is just a trick to encourage publisher to become advertiser. People always fall in a trap when they heard something is free. If you see at the statement above, Bidvertiser will charge on your credit card after you have exceeded the $20 free credit. Although you can pause before the limit is reached but do you think people will monitor their account everyday. If you forgot to check your account, they will continue to charge on your card and you only will know about the charges after you received your credit card statement. You can't argue and ask for refund because they already stated very cleary before you activate your advertiser account. So please look at the terms and conditions first before you accept a free offer.

Recently Steven's Corner had lauch a chain restaurants called Steven's Tea Garden. They are planning to open 100 outlet throughout Malaysia in 5 years. To achieve that, they are offering a Membership Prepaid Card to public.

Membership Package:
Classic (cost RM 3,300)
Silver (cost RM 9,900)
Gold (cost RM 16,500)
Platinum (costRM 33,000)

So how does this Membership Prepaid Card Plan can benefit the members? Once you have sign up a package:

Classic member:
You are going to received 300 food points when you sign up, 50 Food Points per month for 60 months plus Advertisement Fees of RM 150 per month for 40 months. So total you will get RM6000 Cash +3,300 Points.

Silver member:
You are going to received 900 food points when you sign up, 150 food points per month for 60 months plus Advertisement Fees of RM 450 per month for 40 months. So total you will get RM18,000 Cash +9,900 Points.

Gold member:
You are going to received 1500 food points when you sign up, 250 food points per month for 60 months plus Advertisement Fees of RM 750 per month for 40 months. So total you will get RM30,000 Cash +16,500 Points.

Platinum member:
You are going to received 3000 food points when you sign up, 500 food points per month for 60 months plus Advertisement Fees of RM 1500 per month for 50 months. So total you will get RM75,000 Cash +33,000 Points .

(1 point = RM1)

If you sign up for a classic plan with the cost of RM 3,300, after 60 months you will get RM6000 Cash and 3,300 food points in return. Which mean you will earn RM 2700 together with 3,300 food points after minus off your cost. The points can be use in any outlet of Steven's Tea Garden.

Steven's Tea Garden also will reward you if you refer your friends to join the membership plan. For each member you refer, you can earn a direct referral bonus of RM 200 to RM 3000 depending what package you had sign up and what is the package your referral join. For example, if you are a classic member and you have refer a classic member, you will earn a referral bonus of RM 200. If you are a classic member and refer a platinum member, you will earn referral bonus of RM 2000.

Besides that, you also will received 10% of Advertisement Fees monthly from your downline up to 5 level., For example if you have 5 classic members under you, so you will get additional of RM 75 (RM 15 X 5) monthly.

If you are interested to join Steven's Tea Garden membership Prepaid Card program (for Malaysians Only), please give your details to yssow@yahoo.com and i shall contact you.