The First Male Pregnancy

A Blog Posted by Singapore 's Youngest Millionaire

Some of you may already know that I travel around the region pretty frequently, having to visit and conduct seminars at my offices in Malaysia,Indonesia, Thailand and Suzhou (China). I am in the airport almost every other week so I get to bump into many people who have attended my seminars or have read my books.

Recently, someone came up to me on a plane to KL and looked rather shocked. He asked, 'How come a millionaire like you is travelling economy?' My reply was, 'That's why I am a millionaire.' He still looked pretty confused. This again confirms that greatest lie ever told about wealth (which I wrote about in my latest book 'Secrets of Self Made Millionaires'). Many people have been brainwashed to think that millionaires have to wear Gucci, Hugo Boss, Rolex, and sit on first class in air travel. This is why so many people never become rich because the moment that earn more money, they think that it is only natural that they spend more, putting them back to square one.

The truth is that most self-made millionaires are frugal and only spend on what is necessary and of value. That is why they are able to accumulate and multiply their wealth so much faster. Over the last 7 years, I have saved about 80% of my income while today I save only about 60% (because I have my wife, mother in law, 2 maids, 2 kids, etc. to support). Still, it is way above most people who save 10% of their income (if they are lucky). I refuse to buy a first class ticket or to buy a $300 shirt because I think that it is a complete waste of money. However, I happily pay $1,300 to send my 2-year old daughter to Julia Gabriel Speech and Drama without thinking twice.

When I joined the YEO (Young Entrepreneur's Organization) a few years back (YEO is an exclusive club open to those who are under 40 and make over $1m a year in their own business) I discovered that those who were self-made thought like me. Many of them with net worths well over $5m, travelledeconomy class and some even drove Toyota's and Nissans (not Audis, Mercs, BMWs).

I noticed that it was only those who never had to work hard to build their own wealth (there were also a few ministers' and tycoons' sons in the club) who spent like there was no tomorrow. Somehow, when you did not have to build everything from scratch, you do not really value money. This is precisely the reason why a family's wealth (no matter how much) rarely lasts past the third generation. Thank God my rich dad (oh no! I sound like Kiyosaki) foresaw this terrible possibility and refused to give me a cent to start my business.

Then some people ask me, 'What is the point in making so much money if you don't enjoy it?' The thing is that I don't really find happiness in buying branded clothes, jewellery or sitting first class. Even if buying something makes me happy it is only for a while, it does not last. Material happiness never lasts, it just give you a quick fix. After a while you feel lousy again and have to buy the next thing which you think will make you happy. I always think that if you need material things to make you happy, then you live a pretty sad and unfulfilled life.

Instead, what make ME happy is when I see my children laughing and playing and learning so fast. What makes me happy is when I see by companies and trainers reaching more and more people every year in so many more countries. What makes me really happy is when I read all the emails about how my books and seminars have touched and inspired someone's life. What makes me really happy is reading all your wonderful posts about how this BLOG is inspiring you. This happiness makes me feel really good for a long time, much much more than what a Rolex would do for me.

I think the point I want to put across is that happiness must come from doing your life's work (be in teaching, building homes, designing, trading, winning tournaments etc.) and the money that comes is only a by-product. If you hate what you are doing and rely on the money you earn to make you happy by buying stuff, then I think that you are living a life that is meaningless.

Credit Crunch May Make Couples Delay Trying To Start A Family, Which May Lead To More Fertility Problems

Leading UK fertility expert Professor Brian Lieberman has warned of an increased risk of fertility problems as more couples delay starting a family due to the credit crunch.

With the cost of food, petrol and household bills rising at an alarming rate, IVF specialist Professor Lieberman says the added financial burden of having a baby may prove too much for potential parents. He is concerned that the credit squeeze will lead many couples to postpone starting a family - either naturally or with the help of IVF - well into their late thirties and early forties.

The cost of raising a child is now estimated at more than £100,000 over 21 years.* Would-be-parents have named money worries and the need to remain in the job market as the main reasons for putting off trying for a baby.

Professor Lieberman - credited with the establishment of the UK's first NHS IVF centre and founder of Manchester Fertility Services - predicts a sharp rise in the number of older women requiring IVF treatment after choosing to wait until they're financially secure before trying to conceive. Couples are being faced with the dilemma of bearing the financial weight of trying for a child now - or spending even more money on fertility treatment in a couple of years.

He said: "Fertility falls dramatically for women as they grow older. Women in their early twenties are generally twice as fertile as women in their late thirties, with the most significant decline in fertility beginning during the mid-thirties.

"We are predicting a steep rise in the number of women requiring IVF and other forms of fertility treatment, as women delay conception to further their careers.

"Having a baby can be costly, but I would urge women not to wait too long as their chances of conceiving will drastically reduce with age. Living on a tight budget can be stressful but missing out on the chance to have a family is even more traumatic. The effects of the credit crunch are already being felt, with an increasing number of would-be parents paying for fertility treatment on credit."

To date, more than 3,000 babies have been born thanks to the skill and dedication of Professor Brian Lieberman and his team at Manchester Fertility Services, which is based at Bridgewater Hospital in South Manchester.

Yonatan, Omer & Evyatar

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Israeli_gay_couple_gets_a_son/articleshow/3724754.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Israeli_gay_couple_gets_a_son_in_India/articleshow/msid-3724754,curpg-2.cms
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=4856004b-ee00-419b-93ef-59d7e5b0f674
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1207409
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1207405

Coffee and Getting Pregnant: Can Coffee Keep You From Getting Pregnant?

Does caffeine affect fertility? ) When we're feeling tired and stressed at work, a cup of coffee packed with caffeine can help get us over the afternoon (or morning) hump. That cup o' joy is great for our co-workers -- we'll snap at them less! But what about our dreams of getting pregnant?

A recent study implies that too much coffee can have a negative effect on your fertility, especially if you already are dealing with fertility issues. The study looked at couples who went through IVF treatment, but later went on to try to conceive naturally. The study showed that drinking four or more cups of coffee a day reduced a couple's chance of conceiving by 26%.

Now, four cups is a lot of coffee. Most researchers say that if you stick to less than 300 mg of caffeine a day, you'll be safe. That's about two to three 5 oz. cups of coffee (depending on how strong the brew is).

Also, it's important to consider that previous studies failed to find a connection between caffeine and fertility. The topic is certainly up for debate.

Some studies have also found a possible link between miscarriage and coffee drinking. As with infertility, the studies that warn against caffeine say less than 300 mg a day should be OK.

You don't have to cut out coffee completely. Just don't drink too much.

Ovarian Test: False Hope for Aging Ladies?

Here's something that will put you off your omelet. A UK firm called Lifestyle Choices has started selling a fertility test called Plan Ahead which purports to tell women approximately how many eggs they have left in their ovaries. Though it won't provide you with an exact number, it measures 3 different hormones to give you an "assessment."

More and more women are putting off having children until their 30s and 40s. Yet a growing body of research shows that female fertility begins to decline rapidly in the mid-30s -- leaving some women with a difficult choice: bearing children earlier or risking infertility later on.

Lifestyle Choices, a firm based in Sheffield, U.K., has begun selling a consumer test that it claims will help women make this important decision. The test, which went on the market last month, assesses the number of eggs that a woman has left in her ovaries, by measuring three different hormones.

However, some experts say that the results of these kinds of tests can be unreliable -- and therefore give women a false sense of security about delaying childbearing.

Women are born with a set number of eggs -- a number that declines with age, first slowly, then rapidly after the mid-30s. The rate of decline varies from woman to woman -- some can easily get pregnant in their 40s, while for others it's difficult or even impossible.

"Some women start to go into menopause in their 30s," says Rogerio A. Lobo, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University in New York City. "Without some kind of clinical testing, or a suggestive family history, that [life stage] is impossible to guess."

Women can go to their doctor for blood or ultrasound tests that will give a sense of their fertility status. But women in the U.K. may have a new option now: a mail-order test. For £179 (Rs 15,000), they can order the test kit, go to a doctor's office for a blood test, then send the sample to a lab for analysis. Their blood is analyzed for the levels of three different hormones, which predict the number of eggs a woman has available. To interpret the results further, hormone levels are compared with the average hormone levels for the woman's age group.

"As tests go, these are as close to the best things we have out there, but there are still a lot of questions and a lot of caveats," says Lobo, who regularly measures the same three hormones in his clinic. "It can give you some information -- but it's not 100 percent."

Kim Thornton, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, thinks "the issue with all ovarian reserve testing is that the test cannot necessarily tell you that it's okay to delay childbearing. There are a lot of false negatives." An abnormal result gives a good indication that a woman may have fertility problems; but a normal result does not guarantee that a woman has several years of fertile years ahead, Thornton says.

Indeed, experts say the only way to really gauge the accuracy of the U.K. test is with a long-term clinical trial showing that women who get a "normal" result from the test can get pregnant.

Stuart Gall, commercial director of BioFusion, the parent-company of Lifestyle Choices, says the company has run some clinical trials; however, for proprietary reasons, they are not releasing the results.

The problem is, many doctors think this will give women false hope that they can delay their childbearing years, when the rate of egg decline actually varies from woman to woman. The test isn't approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration at this time, so if your wife/girlfriend is starting to pressure you for that bundle of joy, you won't have to deal with this kind of data just yet.

Disguise