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!!!