Top 7 Stories of 2007 and Happy 2008

Hi,

What a year it has been! Before we all end our year in a high note, let's recollect my take on the 7 biggest economic stories of 2007 (with a slight Malaysia twist):

1. Feb/Mar 2007 - rewinding of Yen-carry trade and global stock markets' collapses over the concern of China's over heating economy
2. Nov 2007 - Price of crude oil reached almost USD100 per barrel!
   
3. Aug 2007 - US sub-prime mortgage crisis led to fear of global financial credit crunch and resulting in billions of dollars write off for major global financial institutions and investment bankers
4. The sale of significant stakes in Citigroup. UBS and Morgan Stanley to Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC) and China Investment Corp (CIC) respectively, following the sub-prime mortgage crisis. A sign of the emergence of Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) as the new master of global finance.
5. Nov 2007 - the emergence (and listing) of the world's largest plantation group, Sime Darby (formerly Synergy Drive) in Bursa Malaysia, post merger of 8 companies under Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB)
6. Dec 2007 - Prices of crude palm oil exceeded the record high of RM3,000 (USD895) per tonne
7. Dec 2007 - KLCI hitting record high of 1,447 on the last day of trading, representing a 31% rise for the year of 2007. Ranking wise in Asia, Malaysia is ranked fifth top performer, after China (162.5%), Indonesia (49.6%), Hong Kong (41.2%) and South Korea (32.2%).

I would like to take this opportunity to also wish all my friends and readers a Happy New Year and may the year ahead be filled with more successes and accomplishments! Be healthy too!

Is It Time To Capitalize On Global Financial Weakness?

Given the current state of credit crunch and financial turmoil experienced by many global financial institutions, investment bankers and hedge funds as a result of US sub-prime issues, a number of them have suffered billions of financial losses that even led to the resignation of some key CEO positions. The ones in trouble include big names such as Merryl Lynch, UBS AG (world's no 1 private bank from Switzerland) and even Citigroup. So it is therefore equally expected that many of their stock prices have also taken a huge tumble, by as much as 40% to 50%!

So the question beckons, have we seen the worst of it or just the beginning of a bigger crisis to come? Coupled with the continued softening of US economy (possible sign of a recession), US consumer confidence at an all time low and the looming threats of uncontrollable inflation (caused by record high prices of crude oil), it is indeed a very challenging moment for anyone to make a fairly accurate prediction of what's going to happen next!

However, i have made some observations recently that some "Contrarians" are already at work, by snapping up "cheap" financial stocks! This time the Contrarians are mainly from the East, and they are led by the Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF), the likes of GIC (Government of Singapore Investment Corp), middle east's Abu Dhabi SWF and China's CIC (China Investment Corp). Take for example the recent events, GIC's USD17 billion capital injection into UBS, and Abu Dhabi's USD7.5billion rescue of Citigroup, in exchange for a stake in these bankers.

Could this be a sign that the worst is probably over and these funds were out for a good shopping spree? It certainly appears to be so.

Back home in Malaysia, some local institution such as CIMB Bank has also recently launched a fund called the "Rebound FRNID", a product that enables investors to benefit from the potential rebound of four global banking giants whose share prices have been negatively impacted by the recent US subprime crisis. These are Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, UBS AG and Morgan Stanley. The Rebound FRNID guarantees investors a fixed return of 15% on a 2-year investment, 23% on a 3-year investment and 45% on a 5-year investment, provided the equity basket exceeds a return of 25% at maturity. The principal is guaranteed by CIMB Bank if held to maturity.

63 Limiting Beliefs About Money

For those of you who are not yet successful or rich, ever wonder why is that so? Consciously or subconsciously, it is likely that you have some limiting beliefs about money that have been holding you back... Now is the time to release yourself from these limiting beliefs! A person's financial position is often a good reflection of a person's state of mind about money. It is therefore important to first manage your own state of mind!

Here's my list of 63 limiting beliefs about Money: (Feel free to add more if you feel i have omitted)

1. Money is the root of all evil.
2. If I am successful, people will dislike or hate me.
3. It’s more enlightened to be poor than being rich.
4. Most rich people probably did something bad or dishonest to making money
5. If I make lots of money, I might lose it
6. There is not enough money to go around.
7. Money is a zero sum game – for someone to gain, there must be someone to lose
8. It is better to take less than to be responsible for someone else’s hardship.
9. If I make more money than my father, I will be betraying him
10. Having lots of money equates heavy responsibility
11. I am not “good enough” to be rich
12. Getting rich isn’t for people like me
13. The rich get richer.
14. Money makes money
15. The poor get poorer.
16. I don’t need lots of money, I just need enough to survive
17. Too much money leads to stress and health problems
18. I can’t get rich because the economy is bad
19. I am not good in managing money
20. I am not smart enough to be rich
21. I have potential to become rich, all I need is a break
22. This is not the “right” time for me to gain wealth
23. I don’t really want to be rich because money causes problems
24. I can’t get rich doing what I love
25. If I strive for money and not succeed, I will feel like a loser!
26. I should always use money wisely.
27. Money is hard to deal with.
28. Money is hard to get.
29. I have to work hard all the time to make money
30. Time is money.
31. I can’t have money and free time at the same time.
32. Having lots of money makes me less spiritual.
33. Accepting money obligates me.
34. To be a better person I have to work more for less money than other people do.
35. Having money stops me from being happy.
36. I am happier by having less money
37. Money spoils me and my thinking
38. To be rich I have to take advantage of people
39. I will never have enough money because money is never enough
40. I get what I deserve.
41. Never buy anything that I don’t need.
42. Never ever borrow money
43. I never want people to know I have so much money because people are really mean to rich people.
44. If I get paid a lot people will find out that I am a cheat.
45. Having more money is a form of greed
46. Rich people are greedy
47. Getting rich is against religious beliefs
48. Good opportunities are hard to come by
49. I am not educated enough to get rich
50. I am too young to get rich
51. I am too old to get rich
52. As a woman, it’s much more difficult to get rich
53. Selling is difficult
54. I wish I didn’t have to deal with money
55. I don’t have time to make more money
56. If I am not born rich, chances are I won’t be rich
57. I have to work to make money
58. Family is more important than money
59. Once I have lots of money, I will feel secure
60. The only reason to work is to make money
61. I will prove myself by being rich
62. Investments are for people who have lots of money
63. Investments are too risky

Top 10 Ideas To End Your Year With A Flourish!

1. Review your financial goals and personal goals
2. New Year Resolution: Prepare your financial and personal goals for 2008. Remember, be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely
   
3. Review performance of your investment portfolio, realign your portfolio and investment strategies for 2008
   
4. Best time to visit your Tax Advisor or scrap through your local tax guide to complete your year-end tax planning. It will certainly make next year's tax submission a lot easier! This applies to both business and personal.
   
5. Plan how to celebrate Christmas and New Year's Eve: time to pamper yourself!
6. Plan for your perfect Christmas gifts for your loved ones....time to pamper them too so that they will likely to treat you better next year!
   
7. If you are a boss or working for people, take your team or fellow staff members for a good night out!
8. Give away to charity....monetary or effort you decide. It must be done whole heartedly and in good spirit! Make sure donation is part of your annual budget.
9. If you are expecting to travel for your vacation, give it a thorough wash for an extra gloss and inspect your car or preferably, send your car for a thorough check-up. You wouldn't want to put your car at risk and thereafter spoiling your vacation!
10. Write down your top 5 to 10 biggest achievement for the year. Feel good about yourself!
    

Why Everyone Should be Wealthy!

Just come across this article by a fellow Malaysian in which I thought was very well written. Better still he is only 21 years old! Below is an extract:

"A lot of people have chosen to better themselves and work on becoming wealthy not for the purpose of achieving the high-class status per se. Yes, they want to better their lifestyle, enjoying what the world has got to offer but I dare say that this is not their main objective. Look at Warren Buffett for example. For those who does not know who he is, well, he is arguably the most famous value investors of all time. Warren Buffett, being the second richest man on earth, is still living in a house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. He doesn’t own many luxury cars at all. He also does his own taxes. You see, it doesn’t mean that you can’t live a simple life when you’re rich. Being rich just gives you more options.

Another thing, philanthropic efforts. Being rich gives you the option of being more involved with charities and humanitarian efforts. Yes, you can still donate to charities when you earn an average salary, but imagine the magnitude of help that you can provide if you’re a billionaire. How much can you give if you earn $60,000 per year versus how much can you give if you earn $60,000 per month?Also, think about this situation:

“You’re a doctor and you decide to volunteer yourself and spend some time in Africa to help the poor. On average, you are able to help 100 people per day.”

That sounds great right? Consider this situation:

“You are a billionaire and you decide to help the needy in Africa. You then hire 100 doctors and send them to Africa. On average, one doctor can treat 100 patients per day. That means, you are helping 10,000 people per day!”

So, which one is better?

Back to Warren Buffett, he recently pledged 83% of his wealth to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. That’s about 30 billion dollars!

Being financially free also opens an opportunity to not have to enslave yourself with working from 9 to 5. You get to do what matters most to your life. You can spend more time with your family, you can spend more time getting closer to God, and etc. A rich-man can also be a family-man. Also, now, stress is no longer an issue. I regard working for people from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 5, for 30 years, as a stressful lifestyle. You worry about money, you worry about time, you worry losing your job, and etc.

Yes, sometimes, we also worry about getting robbed and etc., but hey, if you keep a low-profile and lead a “simple life”, it wouldn’t be much of a problem would it? Also, who says that an “average” person doesn’t pose the risk of getting robbed? Referring to the excerpt above, I think that person is just worried about somebody harming his family, that’s all. Nothing wrong with that. People also spend a lot of money installing burglary alarm system in their homes. Are they saying “Hey, I’ve got a lot of valuables in my house that I need to install an alarm” ? I doubt it. They just care about their personal safety.

Let’s look at an example that is closer to home. Does the name Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary ring a bell? He’s a billionaire but rarely can we see him on TVs and magazines. He only uses a Proton Perdana and I heard somewhere that if you actually meet him in person, you’d be shocked to learn that he’s actually a billionaire. Also, his philantrophic efforts, my goodness, no need to comment on this. All I can say is, if we have more people like him, the world would be a much better place to live.

One might also argue that when you’re rich, you become arrogant. Surprise surprise, there are also heaps of arrogant “average” people.

Another thing, most people would like to have kids. Being rich, your kids’ education in the future is pretty much guaranteed. No need to worry about scholarships, and study loans. Giving your kids a headstart really is a nice thing to do, no?

Another interesting fact, there’s this millionaire that I heard of. He invests his money somewhere and uses the profits to sponsor people to go for their Hajj.

If we adopt a just-enough-to-spend attitude, what happens if something bad happens to us? What happens if we were downsized? What happens if one day you lose your ability to work because of an accident? What happens if, assuming you’re the breadwinner, you die. What’s going to happen to your family? Something to ponder upon…

I guess at the end of the day, you make your own life choices. You can become rich or become “average”. If you do become rich, then you can choose to lead an extravagant life or lead a “simple-life” instead. It really is up to you.

Money is just a tool. It is a tool that can help you and others. Just that, one needs to learn to not get obsessed with money too much that it clouds your judgement."

For the full article, please click this link.

Procrastination Rules Once More!

To all my readers,

Gee, time flies! Without realizing time passes by so quickly, my last post was actually made 21st Nov! That was more than 3 weeks ago since i posted an article! My sincere apology to all my readers who came in either on a regular or ad-hoc basis!

Well, it's a sad fact of procrastination ruling the mind once more.....(i thought I have tried hard getting rid of this bad disease but it comes again to haunt me once more!). Actually, i wanted to inform you all that I would be taking a 2 week break due to my winter vacation in Japan. Then i thought about why not spend a bit of time posting some articles when i was in Japan....there goes the thoughts and that never happened! In fact, i barely had time to look at my emails throughout the trip! It was simply fun packed all the way that i simply had no time or "energy" left for blogging at the end of each day when i was in Japan!

One thing about Japan that fascinates me is the common sight of vending machines at almost any site of town, including inside hotel, pathways, roads and of course shopping centers. Its vending machines sells almost anything from soft drinks, juices, vitamin drinks, coffee, tea to alcoholic beverages, cup noodle and cigarettes! For drinks, both hot and cold option is easily available. Even coffee maker machines (such as the likes of Starbuck coffee) are available! After doing some research, i realize that Japan has the most number of vending machines in the world, with an estimated one vending machine over estimated 23 people (statistics according to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association). With over 127 million population, the number of vending machines would work out to be around 6 million units!

Vending machine is indeed a great source of passive income! Outsource the maintenance to third party and all one needs to do is to collect the coins and roll into the bank!















However, in some countries (particularly less developed or developing countries), vending machines may subject to severe abuse or vandalism.