A Chinese Odyssey II - Cinderella - Only You (Cantonese)

周杰伦jay chow"七里香" funny version

Lifehouse - You And Me - Smallville Love Theme Video Version




I would say that Smallville is MY FaV Show at this pt of time, probably the only show I have time to watch because I bought the whole SeaSon...... HAhA, I say Lana lang AKA Krustin Kreuk (Did I get the Name correct?) is still the pretty lady .

YEAH!!

This theme song simply rocks!!

If You Like YouTube SO MUCH That You are there everyDay! Watch this!!

Anthony Robbins At Work

Very Nice Voice!!

Hi all, I have not been posting regularly at this point of time due mainly to my busy schedule at work and some other factors....

Yep, still working at my new blog andy-ang.com
Which will be up before the July ends!!

Cheers!

IS MLM = NETWORK MARKETING??

A friend told me that he is doing network marketing, then I say," Oh, MLM la!!" Seems like a taboo word to my friend, he kept saying the MLM is DIFFERENT from network marketing. Ok.... I decided to do some research.

First, I went to the DSAS(Direct Selling Association of Singapore) to check out more about Multi-Level Marketing, Ponzi Pyramid so on and so forth. There is no mention of the term "network marketing" in the entire website. So is it true that MLM don't = NETWORK MARKETING??

I doubt so. Any mature-thinking adult who has came across MLM or network marketing, or even joined the MLM company, will somehow know that Amway is the oldest MLM (or network marketing) company in the world. DSAS was formed specifically to represent the interest of legitimate direct selling companies operating in Singapore, in this case, MLM companies...

So is Amway a member of DSAS?? Definitely!! So who dares say the Amway is NOT a network marketing company?



If you can click on it and enlarge it, you will be able to see network marketing on the webpage.

So, its really very confusing.... Is the oldest MLM/network marketing company also confused, and they joined DSAS as a member and branding itself of doing 'illegal' MLM? Or has it gone coco?

Hmm... probably the reason is that MLM AND NETWORK MARKETING IS DARN THE SAME!!!

Of course, if I were to type in the term "network marketing", I will definitely get searches that say MLM as well. Do it yourself.

So at the end of the day, why will some sane people say that MLM is illegal in Singapore but Network Marketing is not??

The obvious reason will most probably be that they have no guts to let people know that they are in fact doing MLM, so 'honey-coated' the word "Network Marketing". After all, it is definitely a nicer word to say.

That may be the same as an insurance agent and a financial adviser, is it the same? Hmm... well I will suppose that the jobscope is largely similar. However, that is a "Financial Advisers Act". Why DSAS don't say "Network Marketing" in its website?

So in this case, is MLM a Singapore word, and "network marketing" an ang moh word? You decide for yourself....

Well, a good reason why someone will say that he is doing network marketing but not MLM would probably be that MLM is the nature and structure of the compensation plan.....


"So is it reasonable to say that those people who say that they are doing "network marketing" not MLM, are simply turtles, and are simple not proud of the career that they are having, or they just made a genuine mistake? Its not up to me to comment about it."

Hasn't been posting original posts, due to many factors... Seriously this is a very 'stressless' and 'undemanding' period for me.... OopS, pardon me, I wrote everything in opposite. Oh DuH, what the heck.

Do I look shag? Yeah Definitely!!! Not enough sleep for da past 2 weeks!!!! ARg!!!!!

Haha, think its been some time since I posted my photo on it.... Comparing with it, I have really lost a lot of weight. Blame it on my poor management of stress!!

Yep, thats about it, will definitely post something longer and more fruitful on SAT, I mUsT!! If I didn't, whoever reads this post, just leave their name and contact number, I will transfer them $5 each!!! THATS PUTTING MYSELF ON THE LINE!!

Life Insurance - Buy Term and Invest the Rest?
By Glenn Lamb

Term life insurance generally provides a death benefit and does not accumulate cash value. Some people believe that it is more cost effective to get a term life policy and put the extra money that whole life would cost into a separate investment. Their slogan is “buy term and invest the rest”. That is over simplifying the subject. For example, invest in what? And how exactly does a particular whole life policy’s features compare to a term plus investment plan? The truth is that there is no single insurance product that is always best for every person and situation.

As a Houston insurance agent, my suggestion is to compare whole and term products if you want life insurance. A good agent should be able to show you rates, and discuss the features and benefits, of different policies. My belief is that my job is to show customers what is available and present options (not to try and sell a customer on any particular product).

Some situations that could favor a term policy include:

· If you want to get the highest amount of coverage for the least amount of monthly payment.
· If you only want life insurance for a certain period of time. (For example 5 years until the kids are on their own, or 10 years until the house is paid for.)
· Certain estate planning purposes. (Consult your financial advisor)
· If you have an investment selected for surplus funds that you feel has an advantage over putting the extra in a whole life product. (For example, if you put the additional available into a 401 plan with the employer matching your investment) (Consult your financial advisor)
· You believe in term vs. whole life. We all have favored products; there is nothing wrong with buying something just because that is what you want!

Some situations that could favor a whole life policy over a term policy:

1. You want a life long policy, or very long term policy. The total cost can be much lower than maintaining term insurance over many years. Some people call this the benefit of owning your policy vs. “renting” a term policy. (Renting is not really an accurate description of having a term policy).
2. You like or want the benefit of your policy accumulating cash.
3. You like or want the benefits of a particular whole life policy. Whole life, and universal life (more flexible whole life policy), often have more features and/or flexibility than term policies. 4. Certain estate planning purposes. (Consult your financial advisor)
5. You want your policy to supplement your income for you or your spouse at retirement. (Not all whole policys have this feature).
6. You believe in whole life vs. term. We all have favored products; there is nothing wrong with buying something just because that is what you want!

Just some quick thoughts after reading Nigel's post on 'Buy Term and Invest The Rest', its pretty interesting. Do take note that this is not a 'die-die-must-follow' method as compared to the normal conventional strategy of buying Whole Life to protect oneself till he dies, and whatever remaining money for investments into endowment policies, money market funds, and of course, unit trusts.

Like what Nigel said, a Term insurance usually insures one til 65 years old, then after the person is not insured anymore. A whole life insurance insures one until usually 99 years old. The differences between the 2 is: ( correct me if I'm wrong)

1. Premium paid for term is significantly lower than that of whole life
2. Term is mainly for protection needs, whole life gives protection and a bit of savings ( has cash value)
3. Term if surrender, will get no money back. Whole life have... think after a few years

So why the emergence of such a strategy?? To me, the rationale behind this is:

Let me give you a very simple analogy, usually for a whole life, to be insured for $100k, monthly premium needed will be around $120-$160. For a term insurance to be insured for the SAME $100k, the premium per month will be around $30-40. On a minimal basis, if I were to compare in this way, and I bought a term, I will have a surplus of $90 (120-30) left t0 invest.

So the surplus can be used to invest in other financial instruments such as futures, options, stocks and shares, or relatively lower risk investments such as unit trusts, bonds and treasury bills. And can reap higher returns than that for a whole life insurance.

A few of you may be confused.... A TERM insurance ONLY offers personal protection. Thus I only pay for the mortality charges, which makes the premium so cheap!!

For a WHOLE LIFE, besides paying for mortality charges, there is also a SAVINGS element in it. So, part of the premium I pay goes to something called a LIFE FUND which invests in stocks and bonds, and so on so forth. But we don't know how much goes into equities, how much goes into bonds. So people tend to INFER that most of the money goes into bonds, as it is more safer.... ( I will post this in detail in my next post)

Hence, for a person who is in their early 20s, people like me, we can afford to stay invested for many many years, like 30 years? So our investments can afford to be more aggresive in nature ( I will speak more about this in the coming post on the reasons why), hence can reap higher returns.

Hence, that's why certain financial advisers will advocate "buy term invest the rest".

Clear?

Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 3, well I must say that the 1st and 2nd one is better. This one's a bit too draggy, but Johnny Depp still his usual funny self, though could be better.


Here's the trailer for it :)

Actually there's another experience I had about an old man I met during supper... but think I'll share it tommorow or later in the night.

Went to Rock Auditorium at Suntec City for the 1st time in my life and I must say that its a memorable event, and the place is darn huge.. Probably can hold more than 1000 people!!

Almost all local major securities firm are involved in this event, Kim Eng, POEMS, OCBC Securities, and basically hosted by this Dutch Bank from Swiss?? RaboBank, which is the 3rd most secured bank in the world. I never heard of this bank in my life before, I was even shocked to hear that their HQ is based here!!

After that, the lunch is excellent!! Wide spread of food, especially theres sushi, and people serving laksa!!

After having a sumptous lunch, I went to Sim Lim Square to collect some hardware. Was thirsty hence I went over to get a drink. I realised that Anything is for sale!! Wow, I bought the drink for $1.20, was pretty skeptical on what the drink is, so I sip a bit through the scraw, and its APPLE JUICE!!!

AND IT WAS THE WORST DRINK EVER!!

And I won't buy another Anything again.....
Seriously, I know that people will disagree with me, but I haven't drink CARBONATED apple juice for very long....

It made me think about whether this drink will be a hot sale or not. In my opinion, I think it is. It is not because that this is the nicest drink or what, BUT because most Singaporeans don't know what they want, so Anything lor.... Right??

How many people do you think will know what they want in their entire life? If you have, then how many would have a strategy to reach what they want?? Do they have a detailed plan to know how close are they to their objectives?

I don't know, but I can find many more classic examples around myself, who doesn't have goals at all.

Its just like drinking Anything, we have a choice to choose what drinks we want, however, many time we just think anything will do, because it won't be anything bad right?

Yeah, I agree. Who knows if anything is just another sales method for people to drink more syrup thats not really beneficial to your body? Who know if its just another strategy to clear more those drinks that nobody wants? I mean its just anything right? So if I wanna clear my stocks, I just packaged it into anything, and everybody will take it.

This may seem a bit complicated. The point I want to drive in is that:

"If you don't have a plan for yourself, a vision for your future, you will definitely fall into someone else's plan, and you can be sure that they will not leave anything good for you."

Finally got the chance to have a meal at Suntec's newly-made Food Republic, and I must say its a memorable experience.

I ordered a plate of Sgt Chicken Rice, the chicken rice itself costs me $4.50, the cashier asks me if I wanted to add an egg, lucky I didn't add.... One 'lu' egg will cost $1 more!!

Then, I had great diffculty finding a seat as I saw the infamous tissue packet chopping technique again!! Does this happen to every darn foodcourt in town!! Very crowded!!

Ambience-wise, I would say its really nice, as the decor is somewhat like in Harry Potter the Hogwarts school-type. The walls are 'full of books' and the tables are lit with ancient looking lamps, which really sends us back to the medival ages, where we eat.

Food-wise, seriously.... To be honest, BELOW-AVERAGE. The chicken rice tastes like any other normal chicken rice out in the streets. And there's a guy having prawn noodles complaining that the soup base don't even have prawn flavour, way below standard for a $5 prawn noodles!!

Price-wise, I would really say that the food there is over-priced!! Unless someone shows me good proof that its peg with the current inflation, if not, I would rather have my meals somewhere else.

'Dopey' Sylvester Stallone Made his Dream of Stardom a Must
Surely one of the best examples of the power of commitment and howdoing whatever it takes will get you what you want' is the storyof Sylvester Stallone.

At his peak, Stallone was one of the most popular and highly paidstars in Hollywood, commanding a fee of US$20m per movie. Was he just born under a lucky star?

Was he a naturally talented actor? Was he at the right place at theright time? Hardly. He was someone who seemed to have all the oddsstacked up against him.

His family was so poor that his mother had to give birth to him onthe doorsteps of a school. A blotched delivery by students caused afacial nerve to be severed, leaving him paralyzed on the right sideof his face.

As a result, Stallone had to live the rest of his life with slurred speech. He even had to deal with having a drooping lower lip andbeing made fun of because of his name 'Sylvester' (associated withthe Looney Tunes cat).

Despite all these limitations, young Stallone dreamed of becomingan actor and inspiring millions of people through his movies.

As you know many young people go through a phase of wanting to bean actor, a star ...the difference between Stallone and the rest of youthful dreamers was that his dream was not a merely wishful thinking.

To Stallone, it was an absolute must. He was truly committed to doing whatever it took to make it happen.

First he enrolled in acting school and then started going for auditions. Predictably, with his wooden acting, his dopey looks and his slurred speech, Stallone was rejected for every part he appliedfor. But he never gave up. Doggedly he just kept changing his strategy and taking action.

The way he landed his first part is a fine example of how he was willing to do whatever it took. When he was rejected after yet another audition, he pulled up a chair in front of the manager's office and sat down, refusing to leave unless they gave him a chance.

After sitting there for hours, they were so moved by how much he wanted a chance that they relented and gave him a part. Although he appeared for a couple of minutes (as an extra), it gave him that first breakthrough he was after.

Unfortunately, that experience was followed by yet another string of unsuccessful attempts at getting another acting job. At that point, his wife told him to give up his 'stupid dream' and get a real job.

His reply was, 'If I get another job, I would lose the only thing I have got going for me...my hunger.' 'By quitting and getting a job, I would be selling out on my dream'.

Stallone eventually wound up so broke and desperate that he was forced to sell his dog for $50 in order to survive. It was the saddest moment in his life because his dog was the one friend he had got left.

At this, the lowest point in his life, he watched a boxing match between then world heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali and Chuck Wepner, an underdog that everyone thought would be defeated within three rounds.

What no one expected was Wepners' determination and tenacity. He lasted the total of fifteen rounds with Ali, just refusing to go down.

Sly was so inspired by what he saw that he had visions in his head about a movie that he was going to write. He started writing profusely for 72 hours non-stop until he finished the manuscript for 'Rocky'.

He was so excited by the script because in his mind he knew that this was going to be the movie that would change his life and his fortune.

But when he went round attempting to sell his script, everyone felt that it was too predictable and that nobody would be interested in watching a movie about boxing.

But he didn't give up. He kept on going and going until one company made him an offer of $125,000 for the script and the rights to make the movie. This should have made Sly overjoyed but his dream was to be an actor and not a writer.

So, he told them that the condition of sale was that he be cast as the lead actor. They objected saying, 'You're a writer! you're not an actor!' 'There is no way we will let you act!'

But Sly stood his ground and refused to sell the script if he wasn't the lead actor. They even increased their offer to $250,000,but Sly kept insisting that he fitted the role of 'Rocky', and no one else.

Although he was broke and hungry, he refused to sell out his dream for a six-figure pay check. That was his level of commitment!

Eventually they reluctantly agreed, on the condition that the moviebe made on a shoe string budget of less than a million dollars and Stallone would get only $35,000 for the writing, directing and acting. Sly would however, get a percentage of the profits, if the movie made money. He agreed immediately.

The first thing Sly did when he got his money was to go in searchof the man who bought his dog to buy it back. When he finally tracked down the man, he offered to buy his dog back for $100.

The man declined his offer saying that he was not interested. Sly upped his offer to $500. Still the man refused. Sly again upped his offer, this time to $1000. The man still would not budge saying,'No amount of money will ever convince me to sell this dog.'

While most of us would give up at this point, Sly knew that if he was committed to do whatever it takes, he would find a way. Eventually he did get his dog back. He paid the man a whopping $15,000 and also gave him a part in the movie as part of the deal.

When Rocky was launched at the box office, it grossed over $225million and was nominated for ten academy awards (including best actor), eventually winning an Oscar for Best Picture & BestDirector.

Sylvester instantly shot to fame as an action star and lucrative offers came in for future blockbusters, which were to eventuate in First Blood, Rambo and the Rocky sequels. His eventual success came from the fact that to him, becoming an actor was truly a must. He believed that when you are committed enough, there is always a way!
___________________________________________________________________
Credit given to Adam Khoo with such an inspiring story!!
www.SuccessWithNLP.com

Today is quite a tiring day, I believe its the long term of not exercising.... Really darn tired man..
However, before jam session, I happen to study at a KFC at Fuchun Community Club (I don't really know where is it, should be somewhere in Woodlands).

I happen to see this:

This is a "Special" KFC, that has crews that are deaf. I must say that intially I was a bit uncomfortable at the ordering procedure. There are actually 4 simple steps to follow at ordering.
1. Point the food of choice at the menu
2. Choose my choice drink and other side dishes
3. ..... I forgot...
4. Make Payment

After studying there for an hour, I realized that they are really one of THE MOST COURTEOUS staff around, if I would say, around Singapore.

It is really a great feeling to see that KFC actually took care of deaf people, by giving them a job, and setting all the different systems from the cooking to ordering exclusively to ease there job. Its really something that I have not seen in Singapore at all!!

I would say that ordering my food to deaf staff seems a bit diffcult at first, as the main communication (Verbal) is lacking. However, I realized that their service is much better than any normal KFC staff out there, as they take the effort to 'connect' to the customers, and really a simple smile on their faces really makes our day. Compare this to staffs who takes your order, follows the script to take orders yet putting on a lousy face.

For deaf people, a lot counts on facial expressions and one can tell if they are sincere in taking your orders.

For me, I really got an eye-opener, and feel that there should be more outlets like this to help deaf people find their dream jobs.

Just had a drink with GM guys at Plasma. Finally got a chance to drink with them, realized that I had not drank with them even once... talk about friends since sec school manz....

Still staying up late to study.. haiz, haha, well life still have to go on.

One date I gotta remember is 13 July - Liang Wei's Bdae!!~
I promised him a Chivas and VSOP for his bdae, gotta honor my promise, and make sure he is drank by da end of the daY!!

NEO VS ROBOCOP!!


The Creator of this clip is super duper powerful at flim editing and animation manz!!! VERY SHIOK CLIP!!!

Hi all, pardon me if I posted something weird or wrong, as I have justed came back from a birthday party for Marq and Darren at Plasma. And boy did I have a wild time!! And I broke 2 taboos......
1. Drank Damn Lotsa Liquor
2. Smoke a puff

Though I have seen this before, but I never actually have the chance to drink from it, I must say its really difficult to finish even with 10+ ppl, not to include the bottle of VSOP and Mattell before we started on this.....

We started at 8pm and ends at 2am... Talk about heavy drinking manz.... and I realised that I'm actually good at playing dices :)

I was browsing through my friends' blogs and was quite astounded by a post which Nigel wrote at this blog. A brief introduction about him, knew him in my sem 1 at econs class, was a groupmate, I saw him as a person with ambition.

So what happened was that he was blogging about his thoughts and opinions about financial planning (he's a hot-from-the-oven Prudential Adviser), and I find his views are very true to the society, especially in Singapore.

A very novel he made was: What you see a vampire and a financial adviser, which one will you run away from? Vampire or adviser? Of course, financial adviser la, because they will suck off all your $$!! Really had a good laugh out of it. But how true is it?

Well I can firmly say that ITS TRUE!!!............ from the mindset of the public. People (including me) always think that an agent/adviser always aims to push us any product that reaps the highest and longest commission, 3C us (convince, confuse, con), then force us to sign, then don't care about us and go find another victim to scam!! Pardon me for being too frank about it. If not, why are about 80% of Singaporeans are UNDER-INSURED!!

These are some of the following reasons:
1. No money/Don't have enough $$
2. Assume/thought I am well-insured
3. Parents got buy insurance for me, so no need lor
4. Wait la, got time then think about it

I believe at least some of these reasons, my readers you will thought of it before in one way or another. And I know insurance or insuring for death is something not many of us would like to think of....

Read Nigel's Blog to know more about it.

This is one of my old-time fav song, with my new-time fav tv-show!! What a Unique Combination!!

Hi, long time no blog liao... About 2 weeks?? Hehe

I gotta blog this time, due to a series of er.... fortunate events happening one after another today??

Do I look like an uncle??......

I was studying at kallang mac til about 3am... Then an old uncle (I will call him a pek) and this is what happens:
1. The a pek called me 'uncle'!!
2. Ask me if I got car anot ( I said no for security reasons, and I was correct)
3. He said his ear very painful and can't hear anything clearly, and ask for $10 to take cab to SGH
4. I said that I student, got limited resource. Then he walked away...

Am I a bastard to do that?? I don't know.... But I observed some stuff...

1st: In the early morning, cab fare costs a bomb, at least 50% more, $10 enough to go SGH, according to my experience, the nearest is TTSH..... what the hell...
2nd: a pek went out for a smoke... No $$ take cab, got $$ buy cigarette!!

Next, on my way home.... I got stopped by police... For the 1st time of my life, what ever happens next, is food for thought...

ONE Last Paper Left To Clear!! 3 May's The Date

Finished all my papers except Stats, and its a module that I have not started to revise yet, fret not, got 4 - 5 days to revise..... hehe, apparantly I screwed up my Finance paper so badly that my goal for this sem won't be attainable anymore, haiz....

Right now, I will lower my aim to have a CAP score of more than 3.0/5.0, I will be satisfied.

Just had supper with a friend, and it really amazes me to know that there is a free meal in the world!! How? Simply don't pay for it!!

I just had supper at a kopitiam along Serangoon Road, and the place was packed with people, so much so, that the workers can't really handle it!! And after our meal, we just walked off just like that!! No workers actually chased after us!!!

Then again, our conscience got the better of us, and we walked back to pay, but saying that I almost forgot to pay. Haha!!

1sT Paper Completed! 4 More to Go!!

Just finished my Finance Paper a few hours back. Felt quite indifferent before, during and after the exam, din even bother to find out the answers for the paper. Probably because of my thumping headache thats bugging me since the start of the week. But I can't say that it affected my performance, that will be unfair....

Next up: Operations Management. Quite optimstic about tomorrow, probably due to the fact that after Friday, 1 last paper to go..... Stats.... Hehe

NEW WEBSITE IN PROGRESS!!

Hi people, its been some time since I have posted something... Cos I'm in a midst of improving the blog for easy reading. So I have decided to engage my own domain name, and web hosting!!
I have scouted a few websites as a template and I'm really excited about it!!

Any ideas for domain names?

Most probably the website will be up sometime early May 07, in da meantime I will still be posting here :)

Cheers

Hi people!

Gotta apologize for not posting frequently, especially its on a weekend. Have to work over the weekend, help my friend to cover his shift.... Most probably I won't start posting till Wednesday night, when all my projects and presentations are completed.

Pls be patient!!!

Stock Valuation using Fundamental Analysis (Part 1)

What is a stock/share?

A type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the corporation's assets and earnings. (Investopedia)

There are 2 types of stocks, common and preferred. For the whole series, I will only be taking common stocks, which are those that are traded on the stock exchange.

I will be writing with relevance to the Singapore market, and a bit on the US market.

For a company to have its shares traded on the stock market, it has to meet the requirements set by SGX to qualify for a listing. For the SGX, there are 2 boards, the SGX mainboard and SGX Sesdaq. The mainboard is for bigger companies and the SesDaq is for relatively smaller companies.

What is Investing??

Investing must be construed a continuing endeavour aimed at the preservation and creation of wealth, bearing in mind all necessary and incumbent risks over a period of time for appropriate returns.

In short, invest with full knowing of what the hell you are doing!!

For stock investing, there are mainly 2 schools of thought, Fundamental Analysis and Technical Analysis.

For FA, it is more on the reading and interpretation of the company's annual report, to relate the company's prospects in relation to the industry and in turn the industry in relation to the economy as well. This is done to find out the "instrinsic value" of the company in relation to its current market price. And of course, Benjamin Graham, the father of Value Investing, is considered the founder of FA. For more information, read his book "The Intelligent Investor"

For TA, the foundation lies the the principles of the "Dow Theory" and that the stock market moves in trends and cycles. Knowledge on volumes and chart reading (ie Japanese candlesticks) can provide information on future market prices. TA is more concerned with the study of day to day charts and volume compared to FA.

However, FA & TA have both its strengths and weaknesses, and I believe that each other's strengths will complement the shortcomings of their analysis. For me, FA will tell me what stocks to buy and TA will tell me when to buy and sell them.

Here is a table to recap what I have said so far (just in case you don't understand)

I read through my posts to find out that I initially wanted to make a series of posts on my investing experience regarding stocks and unit trusts.

I have decided to start my posts tomorrow, since I have just finished my stock valuation course at SGX centre. Well, I will say that my objectives of understanding how the Singapore market works and how to trade Singapore Stocks are attained. The course is nonetheless fruitful and informative.

The instructor is Mr Robert Tay. He is currently a trading representative for UOB Kay Hian Pte Ltd, was with Philips Securities, DBS Securities, Morgan Grenfell Asia Securities before.
He has over 25 years of teaching experience on fundamental analysis. An indication of how old he is..... He began teaching in SGX since the time when SGX centre was located at the red building or something ( can't remember).

From what I learned from him, I can tell that he has a lot of experience on the stock market and a firm believer of fundamental analysis. Like me, he uses technical analysis only to determine the stock's buy, sell and cut loss price.

If one asks me how I invest in the stock market, I would say that I am 80% fundamental analysis, 20% technical analysis.

I believe that if I had the chance to learn investing from someone, it will definitely be the 2nd richest man in the world, Warren Buffett. Whats the point of investing if one don't want to be the best?? Must learn from the best rite?

I post this in the middle of the night. So why am I not sleeping yet?? hmm.... because I'm studying!!

Damn, is studying boring??

Can anyone just comment why must we (Singaporeans, in particular) study??

Whats the purpose of studying?? Just for that piece of paper that seemed to allow us a secure future??

If this is your reason, I recommend you to read "The World Is Flat" by Thomas Friedman

Hey, I really gotta apologize that I haven been updating my blog, I take responsibility for it... A good excuse will probably be that I'm rushing out my Operations Management term paper, which is due on coming Friday... (Just finished it, only left editing..)

Behold this PICTURE!!

This is an interesting picture taken yesterday in the carpark at my campus.... Okie, whats SO INTERESTING ABOUT IT!!

Can anyone tell whether it works or not? OR has the credit top-up been activated?? Hmm.....

This is gonna be a joke of the day.

My friend (for easy remembrance, the name is X...) we were walking by the carpark to the library when we saw this grey structure at da side of the carpark. So curiosity got the better of us, and we decided to take a look at what is it....

LOW & BEHOLD ITS A CASHCARD TOP-UP MACHINE!!

Wow!! So X decided to top-up the cashcard..... X made 2 mistakes

1. How to top-up a cashcard?? 1st we gotta press how much we want rite... Then... we are supposed to swap an ATM card for the credit to process....

WHAT X DID: X thought NUS will subsidise the credit for us, Talk about not topping up the 1st time!!

2. After X realises that we gotta use an ATM card 1st, X does it, press the pin, then insert the cashcard. What happens is that the machine said "No Dial Tone".....

WHAT X DID: Initially, I thought its an error, so X did da whole process again, the same thing happened. At this point of time, some people along the way looked at X.... for some reason...

Okie, seems that the machine hasn't got 'opening ceremony' yet!

THE SECRET OF ATTRACTION HAS WORKED ON ME!!!

Okie, I know all of you will think I'm mad about "The Secret". But if its not the law of attraction, its probably some great power willing me!!

Yesterday, I was intending to go AKLTG to pay my course fees for POE Mod 2, and I also have a letter I need to mail out. So I was wondering if there's any mailbox nearby where I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone...

So as I was driving there, I kept looking out for it but can't find it. Then I was intending to find a space to park by the roadside near AKLTG, then I couldn't find ANY!!! Worse still, I gotta make 1 BIG detour to get to the same place again!!

I was really frustrated, having to make such a long detour, scoulding tons of vulgarities, blaming the slow traffic light, slow cars.... about EVERYTHING (talk about lost control of emotions)

I decided to drive and park my lorry 2 streets across AKLTG, where there's a shop that serve very nice "tisu prata"(will take a pic next time). Guess WHAT?? I can see a mailbox just across the road!! Talk about attraction manz!!

Prata shop at the end !!

Mailbox from my view in lorry!!

BURNT BY STOCKS
I LOST $700,000 IN 3 MONTHS
Student on winning stock market streak, then he loses dad's life savings OCT LAST YEAR: Just a student in Australia, he makes $80,000 from trading DEC LAST YEAR: Back in S'pore after exams, he role-plays trading & makes an imaginary $100,000 on 1st day & $110,000 on 2nd day DEC-JAN: Convinces dad to give him life savings of $300,000. But he loses it & the $80,000 Feb: Girlfriend dumps him. He stops trading for 2 weeks. FEB: He puts money on stocks of 9 companies when market reopens after Chinese New Year
EVEN before he graduated from an Australian university, this Singapore engineering student earned $80,000 in a month.
By Maureen Koh
12 March 2007
EVEN before he graduated from an Australian university, this Singapore engineering student earned $80,000 in a month. Mr Chan (we are not giving his full name to protect his identity) did not have a job. The 27-year-old was betting on the Singapore stock market, and managed to pick the shares whose prices rocketed in the recent bull run. Buoyed by the success, his father was convinced that his only son had a Midas touch. So, the 67-year-old former sailor, who runs a shop selling women's clothes in Chinatown, gave his son $300,000 - his whole life savings - to invest in shares. That was a couple of months ago. Today, Mr Chan has not only lost all his father's savings, he has incurred another $320,000 in trading losses. When the global market went through a sudden meltdown last week, so did his luck and fortune. EVERYTHING BOMBED In just two days, Mr Chan chalked up a few hundred thousand dollars in losses when The Straits Times Index (STI) dived by 75.9 points on 27 Feb and another 127.87 points (the steepest dive in 20 years) on 28 Feb. He said: 'Everything bombed in just 48 hours. My life, my future... and now, even my parents could lose their home.' In three short months of trading, Mr Chan has lost about $700,000. Although the market has regained some of its earlier losses this week, the recovery means little to him. Mr Chan was dabbling in high-risk contra trading, where you buy and sell the same shares within three days, putting up no money and earning the profits when share prices go up. But investors can lose money when the stock market is having a downturn, and they will have to pay the losses to their stockbrokers within days. Mr Chan bought heavily into popular counters such as DBS, UOB, Capitaland and even China stocks such as Longcheer Holdings, and hoped to sell them for a gain before the usual deadline. But as the market dipped suddenly and he could not afford to pay and keep all the shares, he had to make up for all the losses he incurred during his trading period. Even after exhausting his previous winnings, his father's savings, and loans from friends, he still owes two of his remisiers more than $200,000. To add to his woes, his girlfriend of eight years has also walked out on him, disappointed by how his gambling had cost him dearly. Most of his friends are also avoiding his calls or finding excuses not to meet him. Word has gone around that he is desperate for money because he has already borrowed some $70,000 from 20 of his friends. Mr Chan said: 'No one can blame them for avoiding me. Thankfully, I still have my parents on my side, otherwise I'd probably have gone insane.' To help him, his father is prepared to move to a smaller home if needed. While the family is scrambling to raise the money to clear the debt, Mr Chan admitted he had entertained thoughts of filing for bankruptcy. He said: 'I was told if I did that, it'd be tough for me to find a decent job.' During the interview with The New Paper on Sunday, Mr Chan became rather agitated and restless when he related his problems. 'Look, it's fine if it's just me, but I've got to think of my parents,' he said. This is a far cry from October last year when he was preparing for his final-year examination in Perth. At a group study session, one of his Singaporean classmates checked on his own trading account and shouted happily when he made a few thousand dollars. Mr Chan recalled: 'I was hooked from the minute he started talking about how easy it was to make a profit. ''He encouraged me to do likewise and even suggested that I start off with contra trading since I didn't have much cash.' Mr Chan then contacted a cousin, who had an online trading account in Singapore, and asked him to buy some shares he selected. He said: 'I made $23,000 by the end of the first week and my friends started calling me Prince Midas. 'I guess I sort of got carried away when I made another killing of about $30,000. I got bolder and by the time I stopped because of the exams, I was richer by $80,000.' Mr Chan returned to Singapore in early December after his examinations and shared the news with his father and 58-year-old mother. They were impressed with his 'windfall'. Still, he insisted that it was not the 'easy cash' but boredom that got him trading again. He said: 'I wanted to take a break for a couple of months before looking for a job, so I was idling during the day when my parents and my girlfriend were at work. 'I was surfing the Internet when I decided to check out the SGX homepage. I randomly picked a few companies and the chart pattern I saw was definitely encouraging.' He started to monitor the shares, and role-played as if he had bought heavily into them. When the STI closed on the first day, he had made an imaginary $100,000; on the second day, it was another $110,000 'win'. 'I was, like, geez! If only I had dealt in real money. Then it occurred to me, maybe this is my calling. If I were good, I could afford to let my parents retire comfortably, have a lavish wedding, and upgrade my Honda Civic.' Over dinner that night, Mr Chan shared his plan with his parents and asked them if they would like to pool in their money. He said: 'My father told me, no risk, no gain.' Two days later, the senior Mr Chan transferred $300,000, his whole life savings, to his son's bank account. Flushed with cash, Mr Chan was able to open trading accounts with three stockbroking firms. He was so focused on his new 'responsibility' that he 'ate, slept and breathed stocks'. From analysing companies' chart patterns to buying stocks after a fall, Mr Chan traded shares of up to six companies at one go. 'I thought I was so smart to diversify... you know what they say, never put all your eggs into one basket,' he said. But when he registered the first negative return, Mr Chan 'freaked out'. 'I felt it should not have happened because people were making money.' The $28,000 loss was just the beginning of his nightmare. He said: 'I lost control. I could not afford to lose the money. My family does not belong to the high-income strata.' His confidence level dipped further when he kept picking 'the bad eggs'. As his stocks dipped further, he started to panic and began to ask his friends for loans. To help him, his girlfriend applied for four bank overdraft facilities and even maxed the limit on five credit cards. She was the only one who knew the true extent of his losses. Mr Chan said: 'I couldn't tell my parents. But my girlfriend was there for me... until she could not take it anymore. He covered his face for some seconds and said quietly: 'I've let her down. Really.' In his bid to win his girlfriend and his money back, Mr Chan said he stopped trading for about two weeks, but continued to monitor the charts. Hoping to recover some of his earlier losses, he set his sight on the stocks of nine companies when the market re-opened after the Chinese New Year. But Mr Chan ended up suffering $100,000 in paper losses and $220,000 in contra trading. He said: 'I went in for the kill, only to find I could barely stay alive less than five trading days later. My loved ones may now have to 'die together' with me.' He added: 'I don't even know if I have the money to return to the university for my convocation end of this month. I can't bring myself to think of what's next.' Taken From New Paper, 12 March This article is just a constant reminder to everyone out there..... Its INVEST WITHIN YOUR MEANS!!

Went to Quality Hotel at Balestier for supper just now.... Guess what? Only for a $6.80 Nett!! Thats right, only $6.80 for a taiwan porridge BUFFET. Well, its available from 10.30pm to 12.30am, for weekdays.

Take a look at the pictures I have taken,

Wonderful Buffet for the supper-people!!

Sorry, too hungry!! Finished it b4 capturing it!

Look at the spread for the ice-kachang!! Okie, for $6.80, its really worth it!!

Ice-kachang created!! Except for my poor photography....

THE SECRET IS GONE!!

Alrite, I'm taking down the link to the FULL version of 'The Secret', due to copyright issues. To the people who missed the chance to watch it, msn me at rand_sg@hotmail.com. I think I can cook something up for those people that REALLY want to watch it!!

A quick recap, 'The Secret' is a documentary on an age-old but POWERFUL concept called the "LAW OF ATTRACTION". This movie is so well-received that it has been featured on "Larry King Live", "Oprah Primetime", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and they have talked and raved about it. Besides that, they specially invited those speakers in 'The Secret' to talk more about it. Talk about publicity!

Please watch the preview, it's absolutely amazing!



So what is the LAW OF ATTRACTION?

This law has been around for centuries. The ancient greeks and babylonians have known about this law and have used it for hundreds of years. Almost all major religions knew about this law and stated it one way or another.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.” - Buddhism

‘And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you’.- Luke 11:9

In 'The Secret', the law states that whatever you are experiencing in your life (e.g. poverty, wealth, bad luck, good luck, opportunities, problems) right now, is the outcome of what you have been attracting by your thoughts.

Through this movie, people now know that every thought generates brain waves of a particular frequency. In addition, Einstein stated in his Quantum theory, that every thought is a quantum of energy that vibrates at a particular frequency.

These thoughts that we generate can penetrate through space and time, serving as a 'magnet', that will go out and 'attract' other similarly charged thoughts, thereby bring thoughts to become things.

In other words, if you think about wealth, success and luck, you will send out thoughts of that positive frequency to the collective consciousness (metaphysical universe) and you will attract them into your life.

Similarly, if you keeping thinking that you have bad luck or keeping thinking of what you DO NOT WANT (e.g. problems, debt, unreasonable customers, dishonest people), you too will attract these elements into your life because the law of attraction doesn't know whats right or wrong, it doesn't incorporate 'no', 'don't', 'cannot' and other 'no' words.

For those who have not watched this movie, I urged all to take 2 hours off and watch it( do whatever it takes to watch it!) over the weekend, because this movie is not only INSPIRING but POWERFUL.

Achieve something bigger in your life that you truly deserve! Go for it!!

Finally finished all my mid-terms!! Next up are all my projects and term papers, awesome!!! Yeah right....

Got something to share when I was studying at McDonald's (seems that I'm Loving It!), and involved a 2-years old 'baby' (or toddler.. I don't know). He is darnright cute man!! Too bad I can't have a close up picture of him, if not his parents will be looking at me suspiciously....

Okay, I can't find a decent picture of a cute toddler on the net.... So please visualise.... U know those chairs in Mac, think about the height of the chair..... Very short right? The baby's height is just a bit taller than that!

Then, this baby is very funny, in that he attempted very hard to get up to the chair, but couldn't!! His mom sitting in front of him seems to enjoy the moment, so do I!! (Really, the baby is damn adorable till I can't concentrate on my studies)

After a while, he still persist on and hold on tightly to get up the seat!! So finally his dad came and helped him up :)

This kinda make me reflect the time when I actually learnt how to give up. I realized that certain habits and actions that we do are reflections of the life we have been living, the people that we modeled after (ie. Parents, friends, celebrities, mentors). As babies, I believed that we didn't really know how to give up, because of the fact that you are reading my blog and able to walk and run are the results that as babies, when we are learning how to walk, we fell down sometimes, but evantually we know how to walk!

Kinda scary if we learn how to give up easily when learning how to walk is difficult!! We will be crawling all around the place!

The people we modeled after is very important, because these are the people we will become in the future. As the famous sayings go, "If you want to be an eagle, NEVER flock with the turkeys", "Birds of a feather flock together". Though we are not birds, but this is really true.

If we were to do a little test.... List down 5 of our closest friends, and ask ourselves these questions. Am I earning around the same income as them? What about my grades? Achievements? Still single?? I believe that the friends we make are reflections of ourselves.

I'm not saying that I should choose my friends, but spend more time with those I think will help me to succeed in life, not pull me down, because 'friends' is a team that will achieve my dreams with me.

Be Happy ... Break Free ... (Taken from everydayishappyday, visit it!)

WHAT A TYPICAL SINGAPOREAN WILL DO??

I was studying at McDonalds at Kallang this early morning, when I noticed this incident that caught my eye. A family was ordering Mac and 3 hot fudge sundae ( Ice-cream with Chocolate toppings), and the wife was complaining to the husband that the toppings on 2 sundaes were very little.(In my opinion, its really okay) Then the husband actually egged his wife on to complain to the counter, and they went to complain.

They made a huge woo-ha about everything, and from the place where I was sitting (at least 25m away from view of the counter), I can actually hear them screaming and shouting.

What really irks me is that through the whole meal, when the husband and daughter were eating away, the wife kept complaining and saying -ve things like the supervisor is terrible, the management sucks, blaming herself that she don't know English, if not she will win or something... And the more she says, the angrier she gets!! Whats more, she didn't even touch her food!!

Here is a pic of the family: ( I intentionally blurred it, just in case anyone knows)


The woman in red on the left with her arms folded (if you can see it), is the wife I'm talking about. At that time, she is complaining aloud about the supervisor, the counter girl that's serving her.... ARGH!!!

From this incident, I really realized how emotions can take control of a person's actions. She left her food totally untouched, talk about wasting food worth $5!! And the more she says and thinks about it, the angrier she gets!! Whats the point of getting angry over something so trivial to the point that one loses her appetite. Is it really worth it??

I learnt from Pattern of Excellence that Events + Reaction = Outcome. I can't control the events that are happening to me, but I certainly can control how I react to it. Which in turn will dictate the outcome of how I handle this situation. That's the key!! You see, Events only make up 10% of the outcome, 90% is due to my own reaction to the event. In this case, does that mean I can turn a -ve into a +ve? Certainly, I'm sure everyone knows that for a given situation, different people will handle this problem differently. That's because we react differently!!

I hope that everyone of my readers will turn -ves into +ve in everything they do. Take this recent market correction for instance, this is actually a very time to go into certain markets because some stocks are selling at a low price!!

I need comments and improvements for my blog!!! I have received comments from friends saying my blog looks too wordy... Yep I take responsibility for it, and will commit to put more beautiful pictures on my future posts, I promise!!

Any other comments?

I was told to use other blog skins, anyone recommend some? Websites?

Anything... Or things you want me to blog about... I do my best to post it :)

I just came back from this super-duper energy-charged internet marketing preview at AKLTG conducted by Stuart Tan, Founder of InternetMarketingSingapore.com. He was giving a preview about his upcoming action-packed seminar called Internet Money Secrets 2007.

One thing about his seminar (in this case, preview) is that its never boring, and it always seems that the seats in the room are always almost packed full!! In additon, he never fails to over-deliver on his preview, as we not only learn more about the convention (IMS 2007), we definitely learnt more skills and tips on starting our journey in Internet Marketing.

Some thoughts after the preview, 1 question Stuart posed to me is "Why are we here? Why Internet Marketing?" There are TONS of $$-making business opportunities out there like MLM, financial planning, property investment, paper assets investment and so much more. So why Internet Marketing? He gave us some reasons why:

1. Very low start up cost - Consider starting a traditional business, it may cost anywhere between $30,000 to $50,000 to rent the place down, excluding renovations, buying goods etc.

2. No inventory - Many ways to start Internet Marketing, I would a lot of ways one can start without having to stock up inventory, as most of the products are in digital-format. Unless you are bringing a brick-and-mortar biz online.

3. 24/7 - As the internet does not sleep, so does my biz on the internet. Hence, so long I automate and maintain my website properly, I can earn money even when I'm asleep.

For me, considering my circumstances, doing Internet Marketing is the best way for me to start a biz. As I am in school with literally zero biz experience and low on cash, Internet Marketing can be a good way for me to start to gain exposure and of course, earn money online. Moreover, as I have little time to spare, doing a traditional biz will take up too much time and hinder my studies, but I can put 2 hours aside everyday to do this.

For anyone who is keen to take a look at Internet Marketing, I will seriously recommend anyone to go for the preview.

Here's the link for you to register.

Hi all!!

Pretty busy lately with school work as mid-term tests are just around the corner(in fact I'm having 1 tomorrow!!) So I will do my best to do a good sharing. :)

Besides studying, I'm also looking for opportunities to earn some extra income, hence stepped into the realm of investing. I recently bought OSIM stocks, this is a company that I have watched for a few months, and I never bought in earlier due to the stock going on a downtrend. After it tanked after it releases its annual report forecast, as the company reports a potential decline in profits for 2006.

Then after, it began consolidating sideways for a period of time, so I thought its a good time to buy some. I bought some shares at $0.94 on the 16th Feb.

On 22nd Feb, OSIM released its annual reports, despite an increase in revenue, the company registered a 28% decline in net profits. The funny thing is the stock price went UP!!



On the next day, it hit the $1.13 high!! My greatest mistake came when I thought the stock price will either go sidewards or up, so I bought more shares on the 24th at $1.13. Before 24th, I have already made a tidy profit of $600 if I sold all my shares.

For the next few days, the signs are not in my favour, the stock price is ding-doning up and down, and today, 27th Feb, it broke through my 8% stop loss support, went down to $1.01!! I know I can't let my emotions get the better of me by holding the stock any longer. So, I immediately sold my shares I bought at $1.13.

Guess what?? In this way, I made a bloody LOSS OF $600!! So, after adding up the brokerage fees, I will make a NET LOSS OF S$200.

As I am writing this blog, I reflected and realized that an emotion that an investor should not have has taken over me at that point of time, Greed... If I would have sold all my shares then, I would have locked in my profits, in my very 1st trade!! Not a $200 loss....

For the whole of today, when I'm in school, my thoughts are literally consumed by stocks and can't concentrate on the lessons. This thought me one thing, Do my best to restrict my investments to a small amount, and not let it affect my studies. As a student, I know my priority is in my studies, not investing..... yet.

What I will do from now on... Paper trade my way till I graduate, hold only 2-3 stocks with real money, restrict my overall stock portfolio to a mininum sum.

This is my commitment.

The Secret......

Okie, I got a link to the whole full movie of 'The Secret'!! Once again, this is a MUST WATCH MOVIE, whoever you are, whereever you are. This is a very important movie, not just because I recommend it, not just because Oprah Winfrey, Larry King recommend it. Its just you deserve this.

You will understand why, your life is such, why your life sucks, why some other is so rich beyond your wildest dreams... One powerful message I got from 'The Secret' is that, 1% of the population in the world owns 96% of the world's wealth is because they knew
'The Secret'....

Once anyone watches it, feel free to post your comments on my blog and share it with other readers here.

Here's the link again.

I have finished my 7-day mental diet!! Yeah, feeling darn positive right now, and yeah you're darn sure I will be carrying on this wonderful diet!!

If anyone is wondering what this is all about, its about challenging myself to close out all -ve thoughts for 7 consecutive days, only +ve thoughts are allowed into my mind. After 7 days, I really feel so powerful that I can achieve anything man!! This is the limitless power of the human brain.

If you are wondering why am I talking about the mind or something, or have I lose my mind... Well, I am came across this powerful movie called 'The Secret', most discussed on Larry King, Oparh Winfrey, Allen Dengeneres Show, its a documentary about the power of the human mind, and what amazing things you can actually do with it.

I have watched it 3 times, and will definitely be watching more soon!!

Apparantly the actual movie is taken out from Google Video, due to copyright issues. Its being replaced by reviews on The Secret by Oprah Winfrey, which is equally powerful. Listen to the way she talks about this movie, the number of people talking to her about this, how she applies this sub-consciously.

Must watch it!!

Hi all, Happy CNY!! May the golden pig bring prosper and great wealth to all of you and your family.
As I am recently into Internet Marketing, I wanna introduce this package to all of you, its regarding affiliate marketing. Ewen Chia's Secret Affiliate Weapon

Test

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone!!! Alrighty, gonna have my reunion dinner in a few hours time, so think its a good time to blog while I have some time to spare :)

Reflecting back since my last CNY, many things happened, like quit doing MLM, getting interested in sales and investment, ORD, my 1st year in NUS Bizad, WA, POE.... Kinda make me think that these things happen for a reason, if all this did not occur, I may not be writing this blog at all ( Kinda Scary eh!!).

One of my mottos in life: " Things that don't break me, only makes me stronger". Throughou the year, it has really been a rollercoaster ride for me, suffering new lows, and also enjoying new highs.

Some things that pull me through this situations are support from my family, especially my mom, and most of all, MY DREAMS IN LIFE.

I'm a person that hates to live a life of regret, I don't want to reflect on my life when I'm dying, to ask myself why didn't I do this, why didn't I do that. I don't like that!! I am committed to fulfill all my dreams and goals, even if I can't finish them before I leave this world, I know that I have done my best...

Yep, some food for thoughts. ALL THE BEST, HAPPY CNY, All of us will definitely succeed!!

Been some time since I posted, my excuse will be that I'm too busy to do other things than blogging ( yeah right). I'm back!! with more motivation and determination to continue this journey down to blog in my diary.

Just attended POE (Pattern of Excellence) conducted by Singapore's Team-Made Millionaires, Adam Khoo and Stuart Tan. I must say that this course is really Life-Changing if one put 100% commitment into it, and I am confident to say that I have!! Indeed I have discovered much much more about myself and understand myself better ie. whats my motivation in life, my beliefs and values that made me etc.

Other than that, I have made many friends over the past 4 days....


My group member, Valery with coach, Tracy Tan!!
My Yahoo! fren with me!! Yahoo!!!
Donny and me, wonderful guy!!
Me with Alan, Awesome guy with an ambition,
Full-time SIM student, part-time wealth builder
Min Min, pumped up after breaking her fears and bad habits!!
Me & fellow NUS buddy Daryl!!! Man he's full of drive and motivation!!
Me, Stuart and Jing!!
And of course!! The man who made this all possible,
Adam Khoo!!! and his cape......

Wonderful day I had!! Met my friend, Zhan Xi who came back from China to settle some personal stuff. Its been abour 6 months since I met up with him, and I still remember that we has Muthu Curry Fish Head together the last time we met. :)

It is then that I know the names of the 5 olympic mascots for 2008 in Beijing. "Bei Bei", "Jing Jing", "Huan Huan", "Ying Ying" , "Ning Ning", and it represents "Beijing huan ying ning" which means "Beijing welcomes all of you". The moment I heard it....... No comments!!

So today we had dinner at my favourite ramen store in Marina Square, and discovered that he is into investing, stocks and shares to be precise. Moreover, he said that he made quite a bit from trading (haha, my china inside info...).

Moral of the story: Networking is of utmost importance in biz and investing, especially if I am venturing into China. It is said that when one goes to China, it is best to bring wisdom there than money, because of the lack of transparency and regulation in certain parts of China. Even my dentist who venture into China learnt his lesson from failing in his franchising biz.

For investing, besides the fundamentals and technicals, I think its good to have some inside info to support my buys :)

Humans are selfish by nature. True or False?

I say its true, I know a lot of people who read this blog will rebutt it, saying I'm pessimitic about life yada yada... Yep, let me show you examples to verify this.

In work, a lot of people will definitely cover their ass 1st before reaching out to others. Who do otherwise? I don't think so. Will one actually help others out 1st before settling their own stuff? One may argue that I should know how to prioritize blah blah blah, but what if I know I have enough time to do my stuff and help others in their work? I believe that there will definitely be a little guy speaking to you softly.... "Mind my own business 1st before minding others, I can't take care of yourself then I wanna care for others? People won't appreciate my help I extend my hand to help them" Or worst still " They never care for me, why should I do that to them?

My point here is, how many people out there really exhibit the value of "Contribution before recognition", how many people will expect something out of the person he/she helped? How many people helped out because they themselves can get some benefit out of it? Win-Win situation? That's BULLSHIT, BigWin-SmallWin Situation that is.

Just realised something that I have not discover about my work in California Fitness, my main objective of my job as a dragger.... that is to 'drag' or invite guests from the public to take a tour of our clubhouse. Did it specify by any method? Nope. I realized that I am not the one who decides whether if my guests sign a membership or not, its the fitness consultants' job. If he can't close the deal, he sucks.

I realized that ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN after a presentation is done, nobody goes out with an inkling that ' oh today i walking around novena, a guy will approach me to go for a tour in a gym, then i will join', absolutely no one!! SO why help them to 'fortune tell'? Just throw them in!!!

2nd day of the new week and something good happened to me!! I was actually given a tutorial slot that I can't commit due to work commitments, then alas!! I checked my mail today and realised that some kind soul actually stepped forward to swap his/her place in the tutorial with me.... Though I don't know who the person is, I must really thank him/her for this!!

Some thoughts on retirement planning.... 1st question you may have: "Andy, you are 21 yrs old, isn't it a tad bit too early to plan for retirement? Its like so many years away!!" Okay, I'm intending to retire at a 'ripe old' age of 43, that will make about 22 years more to plan for it. Still far? I personally don't think so. Lets do some maths, assuming I live till 95, after retirement I will spend another 52 years chasing my dreams. In addition, I want at least $5k/month after I retire($60k/year in 2007 dollars). Plug in a conservative 2% inflation... to retire at 40, I will need........ $4.82 million SGD. Now assuming that interest is negligible, divided by 19 years, I need to save $18270.67/month!! Now, as an NUS student, is that possible??

If I invested in unit trusts, stocks and shares and other financial instruments, I assume I reaped a conservative 12% per annum, I need to save $2243/month, what a big difference it makes!! And I can firmly say that, $2000 a month is darn right achievable. I don't think I need to say how much 1 more year of procrestination of retirement planning will do to your funds in the end.

That's not all, what about wedding expenses, car, housing, family and all other expenses?? The $ sign is all-present around. Just some information from my Gym buddy, Kwek. He just wedded, and the expense are as shown:
1. Wedding dinner ($650/table * 60tables): $39,000
2. Photography, car rental, other expenses: $10,000
3. New 5-room flat (Tampines) : $35,000
4. Renovation, furnitures : $15,000
Total : $99,000

Hence, there are 2 main advantages to start planning early.
1. The effect of compounding will work wonders for one over a super long timeframe
2. Compounding effect will be undermine if the money invested is put in low yield instruments like endowments, time deposits. The idea of starting early gives one time to let your money work harder than you through higher yield instruments.

Hello again, im SOOO happy that I have been disciplined to start posting regularly, and I truly enjoy every moment of it (except for the technical side). Alright, I'm gonna continue what I have learned the previous night, from the Wealth Mentorship Session at AKLTG.

I will be writing on sector rotation and something thats alien to me (still very alien though), Japanese Candlesticks.

For sector rotation, I have to be frank that I don't really know a lot, and the idea is still very novel to me (however seasoned investors sees otherwise...). In US context, sectors are what made up to become an economy. Some sectors are, Financial, Healthcare, Housing, Energy etc. So, funds flow into different sectors at different phases in the economic cycle, hence though an economy is registering -ve GDP, certain sectors may reap +ve returns. For example, right now in US, the financial sector is in the boom, however it may be ending soon. Next up will most probably be the healthcare plan sector. From what I know, in US, hospitals actually have the authority to reject treating patients if they don't have medical insurance (Luckily I'm in Singapore :) ) hence the need for insurance coverage is always needed. Thus the healthcare plan sector will be the next to experience the boom. To verify this, we can go to finance.google.com to check it out. Under 'Sector Summary', Google actually have all the sectors' performance and key developments.

For Japanese Candlesticks, it is still a mystery to me. I have heard stories that some traders trade only using Japanese Candlesticks, not relying on financial reports or any forms of technical indicators. Personally, I'm still facing challenges differentiating the 2 diff color candlesticks. Different formations can will result in different movements of the stock, and accuracy can be high til as high as 90%!!! Well I shan't bore readers with the details and the names behind different formations. They can be seen at patterntrader.proboards106.com, Conrad's explanations are far better than mine.

Hey hey!! Just reached home from a wonderful and absolutely jam-packed session in stocks investment. Finally got to see Conrad's prowess in stock investment, and its really awesome to learn how to trade from him.

Just a little background about him, Conrad had just been hired by Adam Khoo to be his investment strategist, and co-speaker in Wealth Academy on the investing module. Well, he is someone I really admire, trading in stocks was never his cup of tea until he was left with no choice but to take on the path of a trader.... Conrad declared bankruptcy 5 years back due to his business failures. He actually put himself on the line and learn how to trade, and in a few years time, he traded himself out of bankruptcy, currently earning US$5000 to US$7000 a month purely just from trading at home!!! He actually have a website which he updates daily before the US market opens and after it closes, and all I can say that he is really downright accurate at giving projections!! Just in case you all want to know his website, http://patterntrader.proboards106.com

Really really learnt a lot from tonight's session, that I will be blogging about in sequels. Give me time to digest all the knowledge!!

Talked to Victor, my financial planner today about investment stuff, and realized that there is really too much information about investment instruments to finish absorbing and understanding. Probably its because of different schools of investing philosophies, like the value investing-kind from Warren Buffet, different opinions about dollar cost averaging and investing 1 lump sum.

Something that I have learned today and my thoughts about it. Since my little knowledge about unit trust investing, I can say that I have truly felt the impact of using dollar-cost averaging and investing lump sums in different phases. For $$-cost averaging, it is said that it takes away the investor's greatness weakness : emotions. I like to see the market as being controlled by human emotions, and they tend to overreact to good or bad news. So dollar-cost averaging (DCA) eliminates that part. By setting aside a fixed amount of money every month and investing it at regular intervals, the investor don't have to care if the market is in a boom or bust. Hence, this technique will allow one to buy more units when the fund price is down, less when the price is high.

However, I personally feel that this method only works if and only if, the fund is in a long-term upward trend. Think about it, if the fund price is tanking every month for say, 3 years due to recession or mismanagement by the fund manager, will DCA work? You are buying a fund that has its price tanking all the time, it is highly unlikely that you will make a profit when you sell them at the end of 3 years. Another point is, DCA requires little supervision, just pumping money in every month, isn't that what your fund house or financial planner wants!!! So when bad things happen, you don't even know!! How many people actually forget what happened in 2000 when the tech bubble bursted, will DCA help out at that time? NOOO!!

Well, I have done a bit of both to see for myself what really works. Investing in phases will require experience and maybe (in my view) timing the market. Though many investors, including Warren Buffet, said that one who times the market will always lose out in the end. History has supported that this is usually true. I don't really know how to explain it myself. Will get back to it later.

I recently realized that the best part of the chicken is neither the chicken breast nor the drumstick, nor the wings BUT the chicken tail part. Got this tip from my adviser, Victor from Alpha Financial. I sampled it, and its true!! The chicken tail is nowhere near the chicken backside, and the bones are soft enough to be eaten combined with the tenderness of the chicken meat. Whoa!! Shiok shiok. Besides that, I heard from the vendor that only older generations know this secret... haha, now I know it....

1st week of school is over me (Fri is my off day)! Its back to work again for me, back to California Fitness, to earn my living and for survival ( talk about harsh reality...) Sometimes, I asked myself why I have to do this.... Successful people say to find the work that one is most passionate about, thus working will be like playing, because one really enjoys doing it. Then in the midst, the dough will evantually follow.

However, my question is: "How many of us(especially Singaporeans) really found something we enjoy doing as our work?" I would say about 3%? An example is Adam Khoo, a self-made millionaire at the tender age of 27 (now 31), he made his millions from coaching seminars, public speaking and training, something that he throughly enjoys. But how many of us really think that way? I believe people will say that things like hobbies can't earn one a living. THAT IS SOOO WRONG!! Someone once told me "If you're treating your work as a hobby, you will only earn hobby money, only when you treat it as your heart & soul, as a business, then you will start to make REAL money". Now isn't that the usual case, people treating their job only as a form of passing time, not really working hard, slacking around waiting for time to fly by, and wait for the paycheque to arrive at the end of the month?

I think that is the main reason why most people don't get the recognition or promotion they think they deserve. Doing the mininum will get you nowhere!! Funny that I now realized that only those who spoil the market are the ones that are really successful.... because they are committed to do the things that normal people aren't willing to!!

The reasons why I work when I'm studying? Besides earning money, I wanna start to accumilate wealth and money way before my peers start to. I wanna do a biz during my studies and make money from it. I wanna do the same things as my peers BUT I have more money in my bank account. Anymore? Think I will stop here for the moment... Hehe