Author: Wong Kong Thean

Interests: Join any activity like stay and tour plans.

Art Auction

Too good to miss !!!

There’s a great free event today Sun 18 May 2008 with buffet. It’s the Burobudur  art auction at Suntec Level 2, Ballroom 2. It is run like Sotheby or Christy. There are many high networth individuals, many of whom are rich Indonesians and their brokers. You have paintings running up to $200K, collectors watches and pens. Best of all they have a free art brochure with colured pictures of every lot.

Sign up as a member. The food is served only at the end, probably 6pm. You can estimate it by the running number. Give 2 mins for each lot. Register early, do your shopping and come back for the food.

May BBQ – SHC Flea Market /Networking Nite

May BBQ
Flea Market & Networking Nite
                                      

Friday, 23rd May, 2008 7.00pm @ Scorebot

A time to sit back and relax after a long week; meet fleamarketrepreneurs, traders, entrepreneurs and other like-minded people; mingle and make friends whilst digging into a great feast. Great band music and dirty street dancing too.

Events

  1. Flea Market sale / talk / demo by fleamarketrepreneurs including our SHC members. Learn about the secrets of Peruvian love charms and many more.
  2. Check out our consignment stocks. Select the no-money-down business that will change your life.
  3. Learn more about Virtual Office and Home Entrepreneurship. Meet potential partners and flea funders.  
  4. Free talk
    DO YOU KNOW….…The DIFFERENCE between
     
    Public Speaking And PROFESSIONAL SPEAKING?
    That by MASTERING Effective Spontaneous Professional Communication, is one of the Speedway to become Successful in your Field of Interest / Expertise, AND Stand out in today’s Globalising Crowd?
    Dr Ramesh Nambiar, PhD (Hon), an International Professional Speaker for more than 20 years, Professional Speaker Trainer & the First Asian to be inducted to the US Speakers’ Platform in the mid 90s has graciously agreed to share with us proven & effective tips on:

*          Communicating messages effectively
*          Imparting ideas artfully
*          Understanding the needs of your listener/s
*          Creating Response from listener/s
*          Learning from your listener/s
*          Spontaneous response methods

Grab this opportunity now @S$12.00 per pax!! Call 6396 8116 and register early to avoid disappointment.

Invest in Foreign Currencies – ST 4 May 2008

Everybody should cut this out. Today ST Sun May 4 2008 ( Invest Page 19) has a lead article on Foreign Currency investment. The areas examined are

(a) Buy low, Sell high ie trading foreigh currencies

(b) Carry Trade

(c) Invest in high yielding currencies like Aussie and Kiwi

The ST report  relates mainly to physical currency converted from SGD. It is what most layman would do when they think of foreign currency. But this is an inefficient and costly way to address to opportunities in the currency world.

You should be thinking about forex which is a leveraged and derivative of the underlying foreign currency. The confusion is because they share very similar name.  You can do everything you want to with physical currencies much more efficiently with forex.

(a) This is a no brainer. It’s just directional trades with forex

(b) It doesn’t really make much sense to do simple carry trade in both physical and derivative. The underlying volatility of currencies will make the carry trade irrelevant. In the end the cross rate between the currency will dominate and decide the P&L in the trade most of the time.

(c) Long the physical and hedge with the derivative. Eg buy the KIWI currency for the near 9% interest rates for long term. Dynamically Value Hedge (DVH) the KIWI and USD forex. The likelyhood is that you will make three ways – capital gains on the KIWI, interest income and DVH profit.

Compare to the conventional method. If you just long the physical KIWI, whatever you make on the interest rates you may lose back on the KIWI to SGD conversion given the strength of SGD. You don’t have the benefit of any profits from DVH.       
 

Virtual Shop & Flea Market, Wed 7 May 2008

Here’s another fun meeting.

Subject: Home Entrepreneur – Virtual Shop & Flea Market

Date / Time : Wed 7 May 2008 7pm

Venue: Scorebot, 18 Bali Lane

We are invitating all aspiring Home Entrepreneurs to form  Virtual Shops.

A virtual shop has the following advantages

– List of instant turnkey businesses that you can get in now starting with consignment stock lots. First come, first serve. Once booked we try not to create internal competition for the same product line. 

– A low-cost, global MNC for you. We can help in funding to merchandising.

– It operates like a 3-in-1 business ie a  physical shop, on-line marketeer and event/flea market enterprise

– Facilities to sell for auction of limited items and sales of mass products

– Internet marketing of products including blogging and search engine optimixation. We save by marketing the whole group as one classified listing.

– Save on shop rental. We share physical facilities for OTC sales (over-the-counter), storage and logistics

– Save on  inventory working capital to hold stocks. Inventory is from collection and consignment.

– Save on  fixed labour costs. We  pool professional management and staff. 

– You can help out in the planning of the next event. Flea market music festival. (Be the early bird to book the prime location.)

– You don’t even have to leave your full time job. Start a virtual shop now and sack your boss by New Year. Remember to collect your bonus first before you tell him what you really think of him and his stupid ideas. Tell him to lick his own azz and hopes that he works till he die.

Hee-hee

See you boys and girls.

 

An historical first in Singapore

History is in the making. And you can be witness to it. Seats are limited to 160 and only few are left.

The Singapore Automated Forex Trading is a non-partisan, non-commercial and non-profit  group comprising of the best and brightest traders in advanced trading techniques in Singapore.

As it is the first meeting, it  is free and open to public. Come and see what the state-of-the-art passive income generation from trading and investment can offer to you. This may be the only glimpse you can have as a layperson of the inner workings of a very elite and private group. Come and see what all the experts are saying. It may be your ticket to true financial freedom. I won’t miss this even it is my own wedding. 

Date/Time : Friday, Apr 18, 2008, 7:00 PM

Venue : SGX Auditorium, 2 Shenton Way, Singapore

For details and sign-up see:

http://forextrading.meetup.com/152/calendar/7106002/

Normal Disclaimer: I have been invited as a participant. But I have no commercial ties nor am I a organiser to the proceedings. I do not even know that this group existed until the recent invitation.

Sweeter Smell of Durians

It is about time that the King of Fruits is rehabilatated. Can this great local fruit  be nice to eat  and yet good for health.

Is it just a old wives tale that mangosteen is antidote for durians. Is it true that rinsing with durian shell will get rid of the smell.

What is the truth and what is myth. If the truth is known can we now eat, eat and eat.

Yipeeee…

Going Bananas

Besides yoghurt, the banana is another on my list of my amazing foods. 

We are fortunate to have this highly prized  fruit, favoured by many foreigners,  as a local fruit. Bananas are relatively cheap here and can be grown in our backyard.  

After reading through the long list of benefits, you may have a totally different perspective of the fruit. The banana is a meal-in-one and can replace expensive supplements.

Throw out the junk food. Fix your craving with home-made yoghurt, bananas and nuts. Stay healthy, live longer and defend your standard of living.  Natural bananas don’t keep and you should never put it into the fridge. So the next banana you’ll  have is probably a fresh one.  

Perphaps, monkeys are really  on the next rung "UP" on  the evolutionary ladder. The kind of junk food that people consume may very well drive us to extinction.

Yes. You can have your banana and eat it too.

A Tryst with Money

WARNING: Anyone who is easily offended by matters related to money should avoid this thread altogether. This is a discussion thread on investments, trading and income generation matters. Remember this is a discussion not a lecture. It may contain counter  points in advocacy, defence  and passionate debate.
 
One cannot have a thread on cars without discussing brands eg BMW, Merc etc. So it is with investments. The important thing is not to mix endorsement with analysis. Anyone should declare commercial interest, if exist, when discussing specific products and service by brand. If the discussion is general eg when discussing CFD as a class of instruments then there is no need to do so.
 
The other extreme of not allowing any discussion on money matters is equally bad.  This thread on investment and strategies is to provide options and alternatives. It is used to educate and help members to approach retirement funding in a more pragmatic manner.  It could be immensely beneficial to participants but only if they possess enough knowledge to discriminate between different points of view. 

Members can learn much from the experience and expertise from fellow members. In shielding one group, we do not want to deprive another.

Singapore National Dish Contest Results

Our Singapore National Dish Competition held at Scorebot on Sat 15 March 2008 is over.

The dishes with the highest ranking are as follows:

Choice1: Hainanese Chicken Rice

Choice2: Char Kway Teow

Choice3: Chilli Crab

Congratulation to the Winners.

Top Prize(Micro A/C): Alicia Lim (First Algo traded Profit on Monday 4pm onwards).

Five consolations:

Tsin Yeong Cheng

Susan Chan

Eileen Lee

Margeret Tian

Chin Kim Sen

In Search of a New Identity

Following Terence’s clarion call for new directions, we find ourselves faced with many challenges.  Let’s continue discussing the issues and  our options here.

New face comes with new name. We will start a search for a new identity. This will be next month’s SHC Challenge. We’ll announce  the next prize after last night’s winner has collected the prize for Singapore National Dish on Monday.  In case, it is not collected we will snowball  the millions over  to the next session. Like Toto. Don’t worry. In the meantime, we’ll put the float  to a good  Poor cause. Like Shareholders’ Bonus Dividends.

Hee-hee. 

OK. Here is the name list for  March’s SHC Challenge "New  Name". Put in your bid.

  1. Senior Haven’s Club
  2. Social Harmony Club
  3. Singapore’s Hottest Club
  4. Silver Hairs Club
  5. Social Harmony Club
  6. Sexy Hot Club
  7. Singapore’s Hottest Club
  8. Senior Hotties Club
  9. So Hot & Chic
  10. Seniors Holistic Club
  11. Silver(y) Tints
  12. Silver(y) Glints
  13. Silver(y) Glows
  14. Silver Hares club
  15. Silver Bamboos
  16. Autumn Leaves
  17. Sunset Hobo’s Coven
  18. Silver Hares Club
  19. Silver Threads
  20. SilverHedge Club
  21. Slick Hip & Cool
  22. Solidarity Homogeneous Club
  23. Silver Hobby Club
  24. Solid Homosexual Club

The Singapore National Dish Contest

Oh, you lucky people. You can be part of history in making this coming Sat.

USD $200,000 (revised upward) Euro-USD auto trading account can be yours for a auto trade. Scorebot is pleased to sponsor the first ever competition and prize of its kind. 

A Singapore National Dish Contest.

All you need to do is to buy a meal on the Sat SHC Flea Market at 18 Bali Lane. Vote for your favorite candidate for the Singapore National Dish. And you stand to win the first trade profit or the “first blood” from a USD $10,000 on the following Monday!

Someone must win. Will it be you??

—————– (Can’t edit my own comment. So I am adding the updating list of candidates here) ————–

How to win?

Very simple. Easier than Toto.

Buy a meal on SHC Flea Market Day. Just vote five of your favorite dishes in order of priority. The winner is the one that scored most of the five correct.

Below is a list of current candidates for your selection. Scorebot is pleased to bring you for your eating pleasure many of the delicious dishes listed. Members are invited to sell other dishes not on Scorebot’s list. Members are also invited to propose other candidates by Wed.

On Scorebot’s menu

—————————

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Curry Chicken Rice

Nasi Briyani

Seafood Fried Rice

Laksa

Mee Siam

Mee Pok Dry

Vege Bolognese Spaghetti

Udon Teriyaki Chicken

Udon Teriyaki Salmon

Spaghetti Chicken Bolognese

Chicken Tomato Baked Rice

Teriyaki Chicken Chop

Black Pepper Chicken Chop

Garlic Rice

Yong Tau Fu

Not on Scorebot’s Menu

———————————

Satay

Rojak

Char Kway Teow

Hokkien Mee

Carrot Cake (new; just added)

Mee Goreng (new)

Roti prata (new)

Mee Rebus (new)

Kaya Toast (new)

Chilli Crab (new)

Steam Boat (new)

Fishball noodle (new)

Bak Chor Mee (new)

The flea market that never ends

We have an on-line SHC Flea Market webpage. Feel free to post your items for sale. You can put pictures and video.  Get exposure for your product and put your bidders into play. Buyers can post an auction price before this Sat’s 15 Mar  SHC Flea Market at Scorebot, 18 Bali Lane.

Here’s how to post

You can now promote and we will help to market your product. You need to register once to create a e-flea market space for your self and put in as many products as you wish. You can put in description, pictures or video. Sell your whole house or create an entire industry if you wish.

Just register and simply follow instructions at

http://www.dowindowshopping.com/dsupcrafrm.do?refid=FLM5&sid=5&type=3&dslogo=yes

The whole world can then beat at your door on the live website at

http://www.dowindowshopping.com/

You should find your product under the SHC Flea Market listing at the right. Use the same username and password that you registered.

Spore’s National Dish

I asked an Italian friend. "Do you make your own pasta?" She asked me. "Do you make your own chicken rice?" Which set me thinking.

Obviously, she can’t cook to save her life. But that’s not the important question.

Besides Italian pasta, many countries are identified by their favorite food eg British Fish and Chips, American Burger, Japanese Sushi etc. What do you think the world think of us.

What is our national dish. Which is the best version of the dish in question.  Are you Sporean enough to be able to cook it yourself.

SHCIC – Money and You?

I want to share a good article on the budget and state of the real economy. We thank a SHC member for reminding me.
"Stagflation Hits Singapore as Inequity Grows"  Andy Mukherjee  Feb. 18 (Bloomberg)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aZM2OxYMU7f8

"the perils of slowing growth and accelerating inflation"
GDP growth coming in at or less than 4% sees the economy braking. In addition, "..the bigger threat is clearly the 4.4 percent rate at which consumer prices rose from a year earlier in December, the quickest pace in a quarter century."
Translation :  Money comes in a drying trickle and pours out in a torrent.

We will have a free time slot for an informal meeting for SHC Investment Club at Scorebot on Thursday 20 Feb 2008 at 7pm. Free. We will discuss
(a) The Budget
(b)  CPF and implications
(c)  How to compute your annuity payout and manage your CPF.
(d)  Strategies to stay on top of the Real Economy 

"However, the rich have fared much better. Starting in 2000, inequality has widened a little every year. Singapore’s Gini coefficient, a widely used measure of income concentration, overtook that of the U.S. in 2006 and rose further last year to 0.485, a very high level of disparity for a society with an educated workforce."
In other words, being smart is suppose be the universal economic leveller. But in Singapore, the rich is even smarter in staying ahead.

Personally, I think the overall statistics understimates the truth. The offical inflation rate has long become a joke. Do you know a single living Sporean who is facing less than double digit inflation of costs? Hint: Forget CPI. See what they do, not what they say. Annualised their pay rise over the years to arrive at a true inflation index. The day that they pay themselves less than inflation will be the day that furry animals fly.

I was at a house party last Sat in Tanjong Rhu. Someone said  that every block in the area has enbloced except one. No wonder than there are so many parties there. So many relatively unassuming and unambitious people have become millionaires overnight doing nothing much except for holding on to their assets for long term until the right time. Smart investments can look very unfair to the guy who is asked to work to his grave. It takes only one good run and you are home on the beach.

Life is actually fair. Everyone has many chances in a lifetime. Few take them.  Question is which side on the inequity line stands thee. If you are on the wrong side, do you know how to cross over?

Staying young forever is just a hat trick

In ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2008), infra red light is found  turn back the brain’s biological clock and reverse the effects of dementia and memory loss.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080124104917.htm

Here’s the medical evidence for us to stay and think forever young.

“Pioneering research at the University of Sunderland has shown that regular exposure to safe low level infra-red light can improve learning performance and kick-start the cognitive function of the brain.”

To be young forever is now just a hat trick.

Flea Market – Learn Origami and Earn $$$

This is exciting. Incubated in the womb  of SHC’s forum
https://silverhairsclub.com/2008/01/1423

This is the long awaited planning meeting for Flea market and Origami project.

Venue:   Scorebot, 18 Bali Lane (nearest MRT Bugis Junction; Opposite Raffles Hospital; Other Parking at Kg Gelam open area,  Landmark, Bugis Junction or Raffles Hospital)

Date:    Monday, 11 Feb

Tine:    12:30 pm

Mentor:  Ron Koh

Free seating. All SHC members invited

The main subject is the Origami classes-cum-project. "Learn Origami and Earn $$$" program.

If time permits, we will unveil plans for the Flea Market program which also includes a total support program for SHC Flea Marketrepreneurs.

Stroke and Smile

A fellow SHC member sent to me what seems to be very good advice in a chain e-mail. I double check its authencity.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/identify-stroke.html

Here’s the abridged version

Identifying a stroke early can save life. Here’s how

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S – Ask the individual to SMILE.

T – Ask the person to TALK and SPE AK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently, i.e. It is sunny out today)

R – Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

S – Stick out Your Tongue. If the tongue is ‘crooked’, if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call for help.

 

Till death do you part – The Annuity Story

Get it. It is the most important policy statement for your financial planning.

http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/STIStory_202070.html

To sum 5 recommendations + 1

1 Refunds. Families of those who die before reaping the full sum of what they had paid in premiums, get back the remainder

2 Flexibility. The choice of deciding at what age they want to start getting money from their annuity.

3 Payout. Default from 85 to 80

4 CPF Board to administer it.

5 New Name. Rename Longevity Insurance as Life-Long Income

6 Exemptions. Not compulsory for People who do not have enough in their CPF Minimum Sum, the medically unfit, people with private annuity plans and civil servants with pensions.

The last may be the best. This is the one that is not included in the publised summary of 5 recommendations. The one they hope that you missed in the fine print.

What do you think?

United Bank of Singapore (UBS)

Yee yee.

There is a difference between "Hee hee" and "Yee yee"

"Hee hee" is when you make a joke about an investment that could go boo-boo. You joke about money not enough, having to work till you die  and how you could be living in the five foot path.

"Yee yee" is after you have sunk $14 billion yesterday and found today that the investment posted "the biggest loss ever by a bank after raising fourth-quarter writedowns on securities infected by U.S. subprime mortgages to $14 billion." This is when you joke no more, brush up your resume, wash your tent and start check whether you qualify for social welfare.

Lost Caution

The much celebrated "Lust, Caution" from director Ang Lee comes across as somewhat a disappointment. Caution is Lost in the Lust. It will be best remember for the most audacious full frontal nudity of any mainstream movie.

The plot is simple enough. The heroine (Tang Wei) tries to kill running dog (Tony "Long") with an overdose of sex. (hee hee that’s not exactly it but close enough). The much awaited 10 mins turn out to be a heavy breathing rendition as old man Leung struggles to do push ups in bed. Ang should stick to portraying gay love or guys breaking backs on a lonely mountain. Don’t worry. If you watch it here, you’ll probably be saved by censorship.

I don’t like the stereotyping of Tony’s  bitchy, elegant wife (Joan Chen) who spends her days shopping and playing mah-jongg with her friends.  Isn’t this what all retirees do? At least it is better than humping in a seedy short-time motel with someone who is prepared to cut out parts from your body.

Lee Ang’s cinematic impact seems to be confined to making heros out of demons.  Ang should stick to portraying gay love or guys breaking backs on a lonely mountain.  This is my last straw. Remind me to give his next movie a miss.   

How do immortals pass time?

A team of University of Florida scientists has for the first time developed an artificially created DNA-like molecule. This is not just chemistry. It can mimic the natural evolutionary process living organisms undergo. In other words, it can self-replicate.

At this rate of techhnological advance, artifical life or at least genetically matched replacement organs is in the realm of possibility. If we can live for another 20 to 30 years without major breakdowns, we’ll have a shot at immortality.

Imagine now.

"Work till we die" becomes a curse for eternity. SHC will have a billion members and resets the minimum age at 150. If you are not successfully invested, money runs out before you are a quarter way to run-out date.

Now, let me see…. What specs should I order for my artificial lifeform custom clone ?

What are you going to do with your Forever?

To Kill a Mockingbird

In this 1960 American Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, white woman accuses black man of rape.

Fast forward to primaries in 2008. white woman accuses black man  of  voters’ rape in Iowa. She has her revenge in  Nevada. The story now moves further south to Carolina and Florida.  

Oh, Bam-bam.

You will be blown away unless you prove otherwise. Be careful. Behind the  white squaw is the Big White Chief.  He is responsible for history’s most famous blow job and cursed the world with a withering Bush.

$3 million boost for your financial freedom

Here it is. This is one rare payback for suffering unprecedented inflation and vaporising CPF values.  But it is up to you to take it up.

If you have an idea of devices and systems for the idea, you can tap into the new established government fund.  The Government’s focus is on developing and adapting new ideas and technologies to local conditions and producing prototypes for HDB living

http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_195694.html

Any ideas? Get together?

SHC Multimedia Conference

Come and experience  the state-of-the-art conference tonight. Join us even if you are not present physically. You can log in now from anywhere in the world.  You will seldom have a chance to have the unique experience of communicating seamlessly with both the physical and virtual world at the same time.

The physical meeting is for both the Investment Club and Travel Club.

Venue: Scorebot at 18 Bali Lane (opposite Raffles Medical; nearby MRT Bugis Junction)

Date:   Fri 4 Jan 2007

Time:   7 pm for the main physical session

If you cannot join us just log into our multimedia on-line chat conference. You can use both chat and audio to address the group.

It is very simple. Just log in here

http://www.star-conference.com./

Use the following:

Conference name: star-conference

Conference password: star

Guest name: their name.

In case you need more info, the user guide is here

http://www.webpresentationserver.com/download/stwps-clientguide70.pdf

Page 16 & 17 shows you how to "phone" in and talk to us. Otherwise just stick to on-line text chat.

You can now log-in to start a chat,  submit suggestions, ask questions for the group even before the real meeting starts. You are encouraged to do so earlier to familiarize yourself especially if you are new to SHC on-line chat. During the actual session we may be too busy to handle connection issues.

So come in now and be ready. Have a great session. Enjoy.