Rich Dad Poor Dad With A Twist..

Many people are familiar with the book Rich Dad Poor Dad authored by Robert Kiyosaki.

Here's a different twist with a different perspective on who's rich and who's poor.

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son.
Father: "How was the trip?"
Son: "It was great, Dad."
Father: "Did you see how poor people live?"
Son: "Oh yeah."
Father: "So, tell me, what you learned from the trip?"
Son: "I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end; We have servants who serve us, but they serve others; We buy our food, but they grow theirs; We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them."
The Father was speechless, before the son added: "Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are!"

A different perspective may change our way of life and success, for the better forever.

Do you have a story? Please share.

Is Michael Jackson Worth Investing?

The news of Michael Jackson's death has caught many people by surprise. Right after the news were released, the memorabilia market instantly heated up. Copies of his best-selling album, "Thriller", worth normally US$10, were fetching 5 to 15 times more thereafter!

Bizarrely, a single Cheeto, a cheese-flavored, finger-sized snack, that purportedly resembled Jackson doing the moonwalk was sold for $35.18 on eBay on Jun 25th!

Prices for all things Jackson, from albums and tour posters to commemorative coins and more, popped up like a champagne cork and have shown little sign of coming back to earth.

People are so overcome with emotion that they are willing to pay almost anything rather than thinking they should wait for the spike in prices to disappear.

Other groups of people are now either looking to cashing in all things Jackson related or investing (buying) with the hope of holding on to it for future gain.

But this will come back to reality soon, most likely when the news stop producing Jackson's headlines or when people get tired of it. People are often fickle minded after all! They will move on to the next major headline after some time.

For the matter, anyone thinking of Jackson memorabilia as an investment, or with a spare copy of Thriller gathering dust in the basement, may want to move it now because the market is never likely to be this hot again.

However, if someone does hold on to something genuinely unique or rare items of Jackson's, then perhaps there is a higher chance that these unique or rare items can fetch a much higher price in the future. The same principle, however, is unlikely applicable to something like Jackson's Albums (eg., Thriller) though, where there were huge production supply in the market.

Also watch out for items that are fake or scam!

Ultimately, people should return to their senses.

Nevertheless, Michael, thank you for bringing to us your special brand of music and entertainment that will live with us forever!

For those who would like to catch a glimpse of one of Jackson's final moments, watch
this video of Michael Jackson's last concert rehearsal on June 23 2009, two days before his death, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Liberalisation or Desperate Measure?

Finally, the 30% quota Bumiputera (Native) requirement for new listing of public companies in Malaysia has been abolished by the Government of Malaysia! This is in the wake of the country's diminishing competitiveness and the continued diminishing foreign interest in Malaysia's capital market. The Government labels the move as an economic liberatisation. To me it's more like a desperate measure (against potential political flak) to salvage the alarming situation!

Let's take a closer look at the equity side. The current weightings of 2.2% of foreign funds in Malaysia (as a percentage of their Emerging Asia exposure) pales in comparison to its own historical averages of 3.7% post crisis and 4.0% in the preceding upcycle of 2003-07. The resulting ratios of current exposure to previous historical averages are therefore the lowest ever recorded! (Source: CIMB Research).

Despite the recent 20+% market rally in Malaysia, the support is primarily coming from local funds. This shows that Malaysia market has been ignored by foreign investors thus far in this run up, and the exposure is clearly on a downtrend rather than up!

Nevertheless, with the new measure, what this has done is that it has freed both Malaysian and foreign entrepreneurs from having to worry about obtaining a 30% bumiputra equity participation before they can expand their businesses.

The 30% bumiputra equity requirement thus is no more an administrative micro target. Instead the government will keep that as an overall macro target leaving it to regulators in the respective sectors to decide how to do it.

The significance of this becomes more apparent if one considers the listing process. Previously, one had to get a 30% bumiputra partner and then float at least 25% of the issued capital on the market through an IPO. That effectively meant that a majority of 55% stake had to be given up!

If the bumiputra investors subsequently sold out, the major shareholder will most likely be required to top up the bumiputra equity stake at the next fund-raising exercise.

Now, all it takes is a 25% public float of which half or 12.5% of equity capital will be allocated to bumiputras via a public balloting process. If not enough bumiputra participants have applied, the bumiputra requirement is deemed to have been met.

Also all listed companies do not have to periodically increase their bumiputra stakes to previous levels when these are sold down, thus eliminating a recurrent headache!

A more interesting public statistics shows that of the RM54bil of equity distributed to bumiputras through these means between 1984 and 2005, only RM2bil are still in bumiputras' hands!

On the other hand, all property transactions, except for those involving a dilution of government or bumiputra interests for property valued at RM20mil and above, would no longer require Foreign Investment Committee (FIC) approval.

The role of FIC has also become obsolete...Way overdue!

The world is getting flat....It's time to heed the wake up call or face elimination!