The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby

Today when I was driving back home, this song was played on the radio. It's nice to listen but I really don't wish it actually happens to any of us.

Song: The Way It Is
Artist: Bruce Hornsby
Album: The Way It Is

Standing in line marking time
Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job
The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old ladies' eyes
Just for fun he says "Get a job"

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

They say hey little boy you can't go
Where the others go
'Cause you don't look like they do
Said hey old man how can you stand
To think that way
Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules
He said, Son

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

Well they passed a law in '64
To give those who ain't got a little more
But it only goes so far
Because the law won't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time
Is the line on the color bar

That's just the way it is
Some things will never change
That's just the way it is
But don't you believe them

教育非零和游戏

【党团文告／马华公会公会（蔡细历）】雪兰莪州务大臣卡立依布拉欣建议开放玛拉工艺大学的学额给非土著的建议，引起马来人社群强烈抗议，这令日前因为反对律师工会举办回教徒论坛所挑起的种族紧张气氛升温。事实上，卡立所说的正是非土著所爱听的话。

然而，我担心有心人将企图把上述课题扭曲成国内各种族间的一场零和游戏，即一个种族得益，等于其他族群蒙亏。这将演变成一个分歧性的课题，对国家不是一种健康现象。如果我们不谨慎处理，国家将因为意见的分歧而四分五裂，失焦于为共同目标而团结一致。

我尊重那些学生及各组织的反对权力，那是群众的愤怒声音，他们通过声明文告及大字报提出抗议，来自国内各种族、宗教背景的有正确思维人士，已经对这样的局势表示关注。尽管我们坚持教育不该被政治化，但在我国，教育课题已经成为政治议题。

在玛拉大学的风波上，马华公会及其资深领袖当前必须阐明他们在这个课题的立场。

马华公会应该指出，全体马来西亚人民的共同目标，是要政府确保能向所有人民提供最高素质的教育机会，不论是马来人、卡达山族、伊班族、印裔或华人。玛拉工艺大学是否要开放给非土著，其实是一项可以开放及成熟的讨论。

指名道姓喊口号无法解决问题

据我了解，大部分马来西亚人民及政治领袖对任何种族课题感到不自在，其实把问题扫在地毯下是不健康的做法。我相信，大部分有正确思维的马来西亚人民，不管他们来自哪一个宗教，不仅是态度成熟，同时也能够以体谅他人感受的态度，去讨论或辩论那些尤关每一个人权益的课题。

指名道姓或高喊口号将无法解决事情，除非我们比赛谁喊得最大声。马华公会作为国内其中一个历史悠久的政党，可以扮演引领中庸及先进性的角色；举例说，如果其他族群对华人不满，那么马华公会有责任向他族证明，我们强调的是国内全体人民都是同等的伙伴。

我认为应该从表面意义去看待卡立的建议，或者这是所有人都不赞同的建议，但必须尊重。我不认为他应该被视为叛徒。

若 该大学日后开放给非土著，将是受欢迎的举措，就像任何由华社创办的学员，一向来都开放门户给各族群学生。我确信，这将促进各种族学生互相交融，这也是政府 在各项计划所要贯彻的精神。我们不要因为过去一星期出现言分歧论而自我分化，不论是关系到宗教或种族。让我们放眼一个共同目标，确保所有马来西亚人民都能 有最好的教育。

教育绝对不是一场零和游戏！

Source: MerdekaReview

Is Barisan 2004 Election Victory Legal?

GEORGE TOWN: The sum of RM218mil that a High Court has ordered Umno to pay for 2004 general election campaign materials exceeds the 2004 general election spending limit, said DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng.

He said in a press statement here Tuesday the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment meant that the party had exceeded the spending limit of RM94.3mil at the maximum of RM200,000 per parliamentary constituency and RM100,000 per state constituency.

It was reported Tuesday that a High Court deputy registrar had ordered Umno to pay the sum to supplier Elegant Advisory Sdn Bhd for printed materials, transportation and mineral water used by the party in the 2004 general election.

Lim said that under Section 19 of the Election Offences Act 1954, a candidate could not spend more than RM200,000 and RM100,000 respectively for a parliamentary and state constituency.

"Umno had claimed that the campaign materials were for Barisan Nasional and had nothing to do with Umno. With 219 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats contested in the 2004 general elections, this means that a party like Barisan that contested all seats cannot spend more than RM94.3mil or else Barisan's victories are illegal.

"With RM218mil spent whether by Barisan or Umno on campaign materials alone, this is more than double the legally permitted amount," said Lim.

He said that spending above the limits imposed by the Elections Offences Act 1954 was an illegal practice under Section 27, and subject to a fine of RM5,000 by the Sessions Court, disqualification as a wakil rakyat and removal of rights as a voter.

"However, such laws are marked more by its breach than its compliance," he added.

Lim said this might now be an academic question since the 2004 general election had been superseded by the 2008 general election.

"The Election Commission’s failure to act and question the legality of the 2004 general election victories by the Barisan government not only makes a mockery of the very election laws it has drafted but also the spirit of democracy that votes should not be bought and sold," he said.

Source: The Star

What Every Aspiring Accountant Should Know About FX Rates

The first thing you should know is that FX spot rates are written with the base currency first and the terms currency second. (The base currency is the denominator currency. The terms currency is the numerator currency.) For example "USD/JPY 120.50" means 120.50 Yen per Dollar. BASE/TERMS is contrary to the way most people would write a fraction, but it is the convention of the market. What is the market convention for determining which currency is the base currency of a currency pair? There is a hierarchy of currencies: EUR, GBP, AUD, NZD, USD, CAD, JPY. Given a currency pair, the base currency will usually be the first one you reach in this list.

The second thing you should know is that FX spot rates are actually two day forward rates. That's because FX spot contracts are for settlement in two business days. If you agree to the spot trade on Monday, each party is expected to make payment two days later on Wednesday. The exception in USD/CAD. Spot settlement is only one business day forward for USD/CAD. There is an FX market for immediate delivery. It's called the cash market and the rate is called "the cash rate." Also, there is an FX market for next-day delivery. The rate is called "the tom rate." (Tom for tomorrow.) Note that the tom rate is the same as the spot rate for USD/CAD, because for USD/CAD, spot contracts already deliver the next day.

Finally, you must be aware that an FX spot rate should never be applied to an income statement item to change it into another currency. FX spot rates should only be applied to balance sheet items. A balance sheet is a snapshot in time and balance sheet items are balances that existed at that moment. An income statement shows change in balances over a period of time. If you were going to use an FX rate to change an income statement item to another currency, would you use the FX rate at the start of the period, the end of the period, or an average rate? The answer is none of the above. Do not apply FX rates to income statement items.

Here is an example. Suppose you are a US-based entity and you buy a European bond (1 million Euros face) for one month and then sell it. You want to calculate your PNL in USD.

Date EUR/USD Bond Price (EUR)
Jan 1 1.2050 100
Feb 1 1.0050 101


Here is how NOT to calculate the PNL in USD.
(1,000,000 EUR) x (1.01 - 1.00) x (1.0050 USD per EUR) = 10,050 USD

This is the correct way to calculate the PNL in USD:
[(1,000,000 EUR) x (1.01) x (1.0050 USD per EUR)] - [(1,000,000 EUR) x (1.00) x (1.2050 USD per EUR)] = -189,950 USD

In this example the bond has increased in price by one Euro cent. But the US-based investor lost money on the position, because the Euro weakened dramatically over the period. Notice that in the correct calculation we are applying FX rates only to balance sheet amounts.

董事长给一个女学生的18条经典忠告

1、一定要有独立的人格、独立的思想。一个经过独立思考而坚持错误观点的人比一个不假思索而接受正确观点的人更值得肯定。不要成为灌输教育的牺牲品。

2、仕途，商界，学术。大致说来，每个人都注定要走上三条道路中的某一条。在进行职业生涯规划的时候，不妨以此作为思考的出发点。根据不同的职业生涯规划来塑造各自的核心竞争力。只有知道自己以后要做什么，才能知道自己应该学什么。

3、专业无冷热，学校无高低。没有哪个用人单位会认为你代表了你的学校或者你的专业。千万不要因为你是名牌大学或者热门专业而沾沾自喜，也大可不必因为你的学校不好或者专业冷门而自卑。

4、千招会，不如一招熟。十个百分之十并不是百分之百，而是零。如果你有十项工作每项都会做百分之十，那么，在用人单位眼中，你什么都不会。所以，你必须要让自己具备核心竞争力。“通才”只有在“专才”的基础上才有意义。

5、不逃课的学生不是好学生。什么课都不逃，跟什么课都逃掉没什么两样。一定要掌握学习的主动性，不要像读中学一样被老师牵着鼻子走。逃课没有错，但是不要逃错课。同时，既要逃课，又要让老师给高分。

6、一定要学会理财。对于贫困生来说，首先要做的不是挣钱，而是省钱。很多大学生读书的时候一掷千金，可是，毕业以后一个月的工资还不够交半个月的房租。

7、大部分女生将电脑当成了影碟机，大部分男生将电脑当成了游戏机。大学生要掌握必要的计算机操作能力，但是，很多时候电脑会成为浪费时间的堂而皇之的借口。有电脑的大学生非常多，可是，这中间很多人可能大学毕业的时候还不会Excel，不会做一个像样的PPT

8、做事不如做人，人脉决定成败。一个人有多少钱并不是指他拥有多少钱的所有权，而是指他拥有多少钱的使用权。一个人具备多少能力，不只是说他一个人的时候能做什么，还包括他能通过别人做什么。一个人赚的钱，12.5%是靠自身的知识，87.5%则来自人脉关系。三十岁以前靠专业赚钱，三十岁以后拿人脉赚 钱。所以，请好好珍惜大学期间建立起来的人脉关系。这几年你认识的朋友可能会是你毕业以后最可宝贵的财富。

9、互联网固然威力无穷，但是，如果你沉迷于网络聊天，或者沉迷于网络游戏，浪费的金钱倒是可以弥补，荒废的青春就无可追寻了。轻舞飞扬已经红颜薄命了，而痞子蔡却继续跟别的女孩发生着一次又一次的亲密接触。对于很多大学生而言，网吧就是一个血淋淋的黑洞。

10、爱情是不期而至的，可以期待，但不可以制造。花开堪折方须折，莫让鲜花败残枝。一个有一万块钱的人为你花掉一百元，你只占了他的百分之一；而一个只有十块钱的人为你花掉十块，你就成了他的全部。

11、研究生扩招的速度是30%，也就意味着硕士学历贬值的速度是30%。千万不要以为考研究生就是积极进取的表现。对于很多人而言，考研不过是一种消极 逃避的方式罢了。对于绝大多数人而言，读研究生纯粹是浪费时间浪费金钱，立志从事科研、学术的人及其他少数人除外。

12、不要一门心思想着出国，更加不要迷信外国的月亮比中国圆。削尖脑袋记GRE词汇很可能是一件非常愚蠢也非常可悲的事情。既然全世界的公司都想到中国的市场上来瓜分蛋糕，为什么中国人还要一门心思到国外去留学然后给外国人打工？

13、人才市场就是一个地雷阵。通过多种方式求职固然没有错，但是千万不要饥不择食。只要用人单位一说要你交钱，你掉头就走便是了。

14、求职简历必须突出自己的核心竞争力。求职的时候大可不必像严守一那样“有一说一”，必要的时候恰到好处地说一些谎言是非常有用的。一份求职简历只要 用一张A4纸做个表格就足够了。很多女生的求职简历就像是写真集，不但浪费钱，而且对求职毫无用处。面试其实是有规律的，每次面试的时候只要背标准答案就 行了……

15、垃圾是放错位置的人才。所以，在找工作的时候一定要把自己放到那个让你成为人才而不是垃圾的职位上。当然，前提是你要知道自己究竟想做什么、究竟适 合做什么。世界上最大的悲剧莫过于有太多的年轻人从来没有发现自己真正想做什么。骑驴找马固然没错，可是，并非随便找一头驴就能找到千里马。所以，一定要 重视第一份工作。

16、大公司是做人，小公司是做事。进入公司工作以后，必须尽快融入写字楼政治。职员能否得到提升，很大程度不在于是否努力，而在于老板对你的赏识程度。在写字楼的政治斗争中，一定要学会自我保护。（具体技巧就不多说了，书中每一条都说得非常具体）

17、瘦死的骆驼比马大。撑死胆大的，饿死胆小的。一定要有创业的勇气和魄力。如果你一只满足于给别人打工，那么，不管你工资多高，永远都只能是一个可怜的穷光蛋。就算月薪2万，在深圳上海那种地方，一年的存款还买不来一个小小的洗手间

18、大学期间一定要多去图书馆多去自习室。很多书你现在不读，一辈子就再也没有机会去读了。虽然不是每本书看了都一定有用，但是，因为你不知道究竟哪本 书以后会有用，所以只好多看书，并且抛弃那些过于功利的想法。尽管每次网到鱼的不过是一个网眼，但要想捕到鱼，就必须要编织一张网。

Why Warren Buffett chose Coca-Cola

GIVEN the weak stock market, we think now is the best time to search for the good and solid blue-chip stocks for long-term investment. However, most investors always have difficulties in choosing the right stocks.

Today, we will look into how world famous investment guru Warren Buffett identified his favourite stocks. At present, The Coca-Cola Co is one of Buffett’s key stocks that he will practically hold forever.

We believe a lot of investors would like to know why Buffett chose Coca-Cola as one of his key long-term holdings when one Wall Street analyst at that time labelled it as a “very expensive stock”.

Established in 1886, Coca-Cola is the world’s largest manufacturer, marketer and distributor of carbonated soft drink concentrates and syrups. At present, it operates in more than 200 countries and markets more than 2,800 beverage products. Besides, it also owns four of the world’s top five non-alcoholic sparkling beverage brands: Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite and Fanta.

Why did Buffett choose Coca-Cola? He likes caffeinated soft drinks. He acquired 7% of Coca-Cola stocks in 1988 for a total investment of US$1.02bil or at an average price of US$5.46 per share. As at Dec 31, 2007, Berkshire Hathaway owned 200 million Coca-Cola stocks, or 8.6% of the company’s outstanding shares.

Buffett’s original cost in this company was US$1.3bil. Based on the latest market value dated Dec 31, 2007, he achieved an annual compounded capital gain of 11.9% for 20 years. However, if we include all the dividends received, we believe his return from this stock may be more than 20% per annum!

Buffett considers Coca-Cola “inevitable” where it has low business risk and is suitable for long-term holding. To him, buying Coca-Cola has far less business risk over the long term than any computer company. Being the most recognised international trademark, Coca-Cola enjoys global power with very high competitive dominance and economies of scales.

Coca-Cola sells 1.5 billion servings everyday worldwide. As a result of its strong brands, the attributes of its products and the global distribution systems, it has a very high business consistency and performance throughout the years. Given the certainty of its long-term prospects, Buffett may choose to hold this stock forever.

He also finds that Coca-Cola has a simple and understandable business. Besides, Buffett likes to acquire companies with high profit margins and return on equity (ROE). When he acquired Coca-Cola in 1988, it reported a pre-tax profit margin and ROE of 19% and 31.8% respectively.

Apart from that, Coca-Cola also showed very high cash flow or “owner earnings”. Buffett defined owner earnings as reported earnings plus depreciation and certain other non-cash charges, minus the average annual capital expenditures required for a company to maintain its unit volume and competitive position. In 1988, the company showed an increase in owner earnings to US$828mil against US$262mil in 1981.

Buffett always advises investors to study the raw data in the financial statement and trust our own eyes rather than analysts’ summaries. When Buffett acquired Coca-Cola, he paid quite a high premium compared with the overall market average. He paid about 15 times and five times for Coca-Cola based on price-earnings ratio and price-to-book ratio respectively.

Given the strong performance and certainty in management quality, Buffett felt highly confident that he would be rewarded by the management’s ability to generate more owner earnings and to realise the full potential of the business.

A good company should pay dividends to its shareholders. If the company decides to retain its earnings for future expansion, every dollar it retains must translate into one-dollar market value. Buffett labels this as a one-dollar premise.

Since 1987, apart from paying good dividends, the overall market value of Coca-Cola has surged much higher that its retained earnings.

In summary, even though it is not easy to identify the next Coca-Cola, with hard work, the current downturn provides us a golden opportunity to hunt for good fundamental stocks for long-term holdings.

l Ooi Kok Hwa is an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting.

Strategies For Inflationary Times - Deutsche Bank

This artcile was published in The Business Times (Singapore). Click to enlarge.

Cops Pay RM24m To Lease 2000 Cars For 6 Months

KUALA LUMPUR (June 19. 2008): Police investigation officers (IOs) will be required to respond to crime cases within 30 minutes upon receiving a distress call with the delivery of 2,000 cars leased specially for the purpose of investigations.

Federal CID director Commissioner Datuk Mohd Bakri Mohd Zinin said with the Proton Waja cars from Spanco Sdn Bhd, there should be no more excuses from IO's about having difficulty getting to crime scene due to the lack of vehicles.

He said currently response time for patrol cars to a distress call is five minutes.

Today, at Spanco's headquarters in Gombak, he launched the use of the IOs' cars and took delivery of the first batch of 1,100 of the vehicles.

Bakri said the cars would be distributed to state and district police nationwide for the use of IOs attached to the CID, Commercial Crime, anti-narcotics and traffic divisions.

He urged those given the use of such cars to take good care of the vehicle and to ensure it is roadworthy at all times.

"The car is not for personal but official use only. I urge those entrusted with it to also economise on fuel when driving, especially at a time when petrol prices have skyrocket," he said, adding the maintenence of the vehicles will be undertaken by Spanco.

Mohd Bakri said the cars are embossed with police logos to deter the vehicles from being misused.

He thanked the government for the funding of the car lease which was allocated in last year's national budget.

Although he did not say how much it will cost, sources said the lease is said to be at RM2,000 per car or RM24 million for the 2,000 cars for six months. Spanco is a company awarded contracts to lease vehicles to government agencies and departments.

Spanco chairman Major General (Rtd) Datuk Osman Mohd Zain said the police force was their biggest clients with the latest procurement. He said another 1,300 cars would be provided to the police in the near future.


Comments:
RM2000 per month for a car? What car are the police taking??
The amount is just too high and way above what average people is having for monthly car installment. Is this contract being awarded through open-tender? What about the petrol? Is this really worthwhile?


The Sun: Cops Pay RM24m To Lease 2000 Cars For 6 Months

Buying and Selling Signal

This article by Ooi Kok Hwa, an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting, tackles some basic skills needed to detect the buying and selling strength of a stock price.

THE price movement of a stock is dependent on the demand and supply of the stock, which in turn is influenced by the buyers’ buying interest and the sellers’ selling interest.

Every buyer or seller has different purposes when entering into a trade. The followings are general “rules”, which provide us with some hints on whether the stock price will probably go up or down.

Investors should not view these “rules” as a foolproof method that will hold true all the time. There are certain occasions that market manipulators might be using these “rules” to mislead the general public.

Rule 1: Buyers are showing small orders and sellers are showing big orders. However, the stock prices are holding quite well – buy signal.

When we want to purchase a stock, we will call our remisiers to check on buying or selling orders on the stock. A lot of selling orders with only a few buying orders on the stock may imply that the stock price would come down.

However, if the stock prices are holding quite well, it could mean there are some net buyers accumulating the stock.

The reason for this is buyers may refuse to show their buying orders to attract sellers to sell at the buyers’ buying price.

Showing high buying orders may delay selling interest, as sellers will wait for the buyers to buy at their selling price. Hence, it is a “buy” signal if we notice the above rule on any stock.

On the other hand, if buyers have big orders and sellers have small orders while the stock price continues to drop, it might be a “sell” signal that this stock has some big sellers that are not willing to show their selling orders but they need to sell the stock now.

Showing big selling orders may cause panic on the stock. Hence, to sell at higher prices, sellers will try to hide their selling orders.

Logically, if a stock has a strong buying interest, the stock price should go up instead of come down. Hence, the weakening stock price may imply that sellers outnumber buyers.

Rule 2: The overall market is weak but your stock price is moving against the overall market trend – buy signal.

In a down market, if a stock that you own is inching up steadily despite the overall weak stock market sentiment, this may imply that there are some net buyers on this stock.

We view this as a “buy” signal where buyers are eagerly accumulating the stock in spite of the weak market. In most instances, the stock price will move higher the moment the overall market sentiment recovers.

In contrast, if the overall market is moving up but your stock is being beaten down, it is a “sell” signal. Normally, insiders are aware of certain crucial bad news that is still not available to the market yet.

Rule 3: Stocks carry a lot of bad news and are trading at high volume but stock price remains stable – buy signal.

Sometimes a certain stock is facing huge bad news but the stock price is holding on quite well. Normally, it may imply that buyers are not worried about the market concerns on this stock. The current stock price may have discounted all the bad news.

In contrast, if a stock, despite having all the good news in the media, continues to see its price decline, this is a “sell” signal that shows there are certain sellers who have some concerns over the stock, but the overall market is still not aware of the news.

STAR: Fund managers turn defensive

Today STAR has published an article which carries five fund managers and heads of research stock picks for 2008:


One of them is my idol: Mr Tan Teng Boo. Just wondering why is he still keep recommending Tong Herr as one of the top picks. Based on London Metal Exchange nickel price graph, nickel price has been heading south since Mar'08.

We shall review each of their performance after one-year from now :-)

Star: Fund managers turn defensive

危险驾驶 vs 小心驾驶

昨晚放工回家时差点就遇上了车祸. 正当我在Fast Lane快速行驶时, 忽然路中的一辆车亮起方向灯就即刻转右驶入我的车道. 我立刻猛按车笛, 踩煞车器! 幸好那司机及时移向左边少许, 而我就在轮胎打滑, 非常近距离的情况下从那车只的右边驶过... (那司机是个老头)

事发后, 心里有些余悸, 脑里不断想着许多事情. 生命实在是太脆弱, 有时可能因为别人的疏忽, 就这样去了. 也想起了我同事所形容的: 在印尼, 人命伤亡就像"Katak Mati" - 太多了, 所以没有价值.

希望大家爱惜生命, 小心驾驶, 保护自己也保护大家.

驾车时要不断注意四周的车辆, 别随便开快车, 也不胡乱割车.

MidValley 遇到老千

近来要到MV去的朋友要小心, "中国老千"已经在那里开始干案, 我就差一点上了当. 首先一个肥胖的中国男人 (叫陈军, 应该是假名) 会先叫你留步, 再向你表明他远从中国到这里做生意, 身上现款用完了, 提款卡被提款机给吞了, 生意伙伴又到了国外, 要向你借些钱以吃晚餐和住宿酒店, 还会给张名片证明"身份". 如果你还是不相信, 他又会打电话叫他的同伙 - 另一个女生来. 那女的基本上会重复他之前所说的 (无非是要说服你).

这两个"中国老千"会说很多狗屁话: 什么大家是华人要帮忙; 不会为了几百块把中国人的脸给丢了; 曾经是个军人很讲信用; 现在帮他下次在中国有他照应...

为什么很肯定他们是老千呢? 因为:
1. 既然是出国做生意, 一定会携带足够的现款或信用卡
2. 既然有展览, 肯定有本地的伙伴可以帮忙
3. 不允许我打电话查询 - 如果是真的, 何必心虚
4. 在我决定不理睬他们之后, 那女的还把给我的名片给抢回

对于这两个"中国老千", 我想说声: 去你的乌龟王X旦, 你妈没教你礼仪廉耻, 真的是丢尽华人的面光. 再见到你们, 我就带你们去警察局 (MV里有警察局).

想不到这些老千, 在这越来越冷漠自私的社会里, 连那仅存的怜悯之心也要加以利用! 真的是令人气愤! 我鄙视他们!!!

新电话 - SE K770/W580

两年前买的Panasonic VS2终于退休了. 我和大虾头最近一起换了新电话. 我换了SE K770而她则拿了SE W580. 这里要介绍的是一间在PJ牛车水的电话铺, 位置在Starbucks对面的, 专卖AP机, 价钱还便宜过金河那里. 先说明我和那店毫无瓜葛, 只是觉得有好地方就该介绍...

有型的K770

可爱的W580

P/S: 我的猪朋Mr Chet也换了咖啡色的K770

Lessons from Warren Buffett’s guru

Personal Investing: By OOI KOK HWA

Phillip Fisher says he doesn't want a lot of good investments but a few good outstanding ones.

Q: What can we learn from Philip Fisher?

Philip A. Fisher, one of Warren Buffett’s investment gurus, is known for his philosophy on the qualitative aspects of selecting a good company for investment. Buffett learned qualitative analysis from him.

Fisher got his early education at Stanford Business School. He joined an independent San Francisco bank as a securities analyst in 1928, and founded Fisher & Co, an investment counselling business, in 1931.

According to his book entitled Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, one of the most important investment philosophies from Fisher is Scuttlebutt, which he also calls “the business grapevine”, in investing.

Scuttlebutt is the use of the business grapevine to analyse a company. We can obtain the information from customers, employees, suppliers, academics, trade association officers, industry observers, etc. This information is crucial in determining the character of its managers and the potential of the company.

A good company should exhibit unquestionable management integrity, own highly competitive products, be in a healthy financial position, have good cost control and be effective in its research programme.

According to Fisher, even though it is hard to know quality of management, a good management team should possess the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks efficiently and have good long-term planning. The management should also have high integrity and maintain good labour, personal and executive relations.

Fisher is a believer of growth investing. We need to select stocks that have great potential to grow their businesses. It will be a waste of time to hold on to stocks that have no growth potential. He believes that we can get capital gains by buying into these companies as their stock prices would go up in line with the increase in their intrinsic value.

It requires extensive research before you can get one. Fisher said: “I don’t want a lot of good investments; I want a few outstanding ones.” These companies can be bought at high historic price earnings ratio (PER) because there is a possibility that their stock price is reflecting good news you don’t know about yet.

The growth companies should demonstrate strong and well-directed research capabilities. These companies should also exhibit an above-average sales organisation. Besides, they need to have a sustainable profit margin and good return on capital. Normally, these companies are the market leaders in the industry and have the advantages of scale.

A consistent and predictable dividend policy will provide the minimum returns to investors. Although high dividends are good for investors, to maintain business growth, high growth companies need to retain a certain level of profits for future expansion.

If a company is paying dividends with little retained earnings, it will cause lower reinvestment, which will affect its long-term growth. As mentioned earlier, the main returns to an investor is capital gain. He believes that buying into high growth companies will provide the capital gain.

When to sell

Fisher believes in long-term investment. According to him, the most important thing is to select the right stocks. “If the job has been correctly done when a common stock is purchased, the time to sell it is almost never,” he said. However, if we select the wrong stocks, we need to sell.

We need to admit that we have made mistakes in our calculation. This attitude is important as not many retailers have the courage to admit their mistakes. Furthermore, we should not expect to be right all the time. We should be aware that we can make mistakes and we will make mistakes in our analysis, but more importantly, we need to learn from our mistakes.

Fisher said: “The chief difference between a fool and a wise man is that the wise man learns from his mistakes, while the fool never does.”

Fisher will only call a sell on a stock when the company or industry has changed and the stock no longer qualifies as a growth stock or a better prospect is available elsewhere. He will not sell a stock just because a stock appears to be selling for a significantly above average PER or because the stock price has increased.

He believes that most investors always make mistakes by selling their stocks with the hope of buying them back at lower prices. In most instances, the investors miss the stock when it recovers.

普吉岛旅游照(23-26 Oct 2007)

虽然家乡是米都, 却从来没有到过泰国的我总于在去年到了普吉岛. 曾经遭受海啸袭击的普吉岛如今已完全恢复, 绝对适合喜欢大自然的朋友. 和吴哥一样, 最适合自助旅行不过了.

幻多奇主题乐园

到此一游

团体照

鱼儿在脚下游

一起来喂鱼

跳

猴子吃蕉

傍晚街景

餐馆里

海鲜

和世界小姐和照

艺术

美女

* 此美女非真女, 要找小姐的在那里可要小心...

吴哥旅游照(11-14 Jun 2007)

这里放的是去年六月到吴哥(SiamReap)旅游的照片. 最著名的旅游景点就是吴哥窟. 在这里载帖一些有关吴哥窟的资料:

相对于柬埔寨人来说, 吴哥窟不似是人间的制作, 而是一个神话传说. 按传统的说法, 居住于 Meru 山上的 Indra 神, 赐予人性的生命给祂的儿子Ketomealea, 让祂能保护佛教, 及维持其王国的光荣. 一个晚上, Indra 神 派遣 Meatolei 神到世上, 带回Ketomealea , 乘祂坐着马车前往拜访 33 神的天堂 ( Heaven of the 33 Gods ). 于停留时, Indra 神教授了 Ketomelea 10 种神圣的使命, 并连续七天, 于花园内, 替 Koetomelea 每天洗浸香浴七次. 再邀请 7 位神圣的 Brahmans 为祂念诵七咒语, 及洒泼神水, 祝福祂能享受百岁长寿. 礼成后, 他们乘坐马车, 飞到 Indra 神的宫殿. 此后 Ketomealea 便被选定为建造人世间的使者 . 天上的建筑师并建成了吴哥窟. Ketomealea 看都吴哥窟的宏伟建筑, 感到非常高兴. 并要求Pisnouka 同样多建造几处像吴哥窟的地方. 直至 Ketomealea 受封为此社稷的国王时, Indra 神再重临大地, 向其儿子祝福, 并赐祂为 " Aritha-polape a-hano " ( 即消灭敌人的强者 ). Ketomealea 并将祂的国土命名为 Kampuja, 即是现在的Cambodia 柬埔寨. 吴哥窟为于柬埔寨的西北面的 Siam Reap ( 暹粒 ), 距离泰国边境约 150 公里. 吴哥窟旳高棉人与泰国的暹罗人常常发生战事纠纷. Siam Reap 是平服暹罗的意思.

乘坐木船到Tonlé Sap

著名的吴哥窟

吴哥窟的顶端

团体照

老树盘根

无名树

和照

自助旅行到吴哥是十分简单的. 住宿可以通过网络预定, 导游也可以(临时)通过酒店预订, 价钱大同小异. 通常交易都是以美元计算. 信用卡不普遍. 四天三日游两人费用大约在马币一千以内.

Malaysian Citizenship or PR?

I was disappointed again when reading through these two pieces of news last Tuesday. Though they were just verbal statement/pleading from the people, government should take a serious check whether such double-standard does exist in its policy.

TheStar dated 26 Feb 2008, Page N44. (Click to enlarge)

The writer (Malaysian) is pleading the government to grant his parents a PR status.

Jakarta Post dated 26 Feb 2008, Headlines Page 2. (Click to enlarge)

The interviewee (Indonesian) claimed that by staying in Malaysia for over 5 years, one can apply for Malaysian citizenship and get a Blue IC.

Are we keeping pace with FDIs?

MALAYSIA’S reliance on foreign direct investment (FDI) is well noted. Historically, it was FDIs that laid the backbone of the Malaysian economy – under British imperialism, plantation (rubber and palm oil) and mining (tin, petroleum) and after independence, the manufacturing sector (electrical and electronics).

FDI has played an important role in financing long-term economic growth in Malaysia. However, since the financial crisis of 1997/98, the changes in Malaysia’s FDI stock have been a cause for concern, especially when compared to its competitors.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) reports that global FDI stock has risen from US$551bil to US$12 trillion since 1980, with most of the FDI concentrated in developed countries. In 2006, 70% of FDI stock was located in developed countries while developing countries accounted for only 26%.

The lion’s share of the FDI stock in developing countries was in the East Asian economies. Together, they accounted for 38% of FDI to developing countries.

Malaysia cannot emulate China, India, or Vietnam but should emulate Singapore and Hong Kong given similar socio-economic conditions.

FDI stock in China increased from US$1.1bil in 1980 to US$293bil in 2006, with a significant jump recorded since the 1990s. If the FDI stock in Hong Kong, the gateway to China, was included, the performance would be all the more startling.

FDI stock in Hong Kong alone increased from US$21bil in 1980 to US$769bil in 2006. This is truly remarkable, as Hong Kong does not offer any incentives for FDI compared to other developing economies. India, another awakening giant, too has been recording tremendous growth in FDI stock. In 1980, FDI stock in India was only US$452mil. This grew to US$51bil in 2006.

In Asean, the star performers are Singapore and Vietnam. FDI stock in Singapore rose from US$5bil in 1980 to a staggering US$210bil in 2006. As for Vietnam, FDI stock increased from US$1bil in 1980 to US$33bil in 2006. This was remarkable considering that Vietnam was at war until 1975 and faced economic embargo from the US until 1994.

Malaysia started like Singapore with an FDI stock of US$5bil in 1980. In 2006, its FDI stock stood at only US$53bil, which paled in comparison with Singapore’s US$210bil. Furthermore, for the years 2001 to 2005, FDI stock fell lower than the US$53bil recorded in 2000. This is distressing as Malaysia has all the prerequisites as a favoured FDI destination and provides generous incentives to foreign investors.

There are several reasons why Malaysia is failing to attract and retain FDI in comparison to the frontrunners, especially Singapore and Hong Kong. The main problem has much to do with institutions.

In the World Bank's Doing Business 2007 Report, which measured “the ease of doing business,” Singapore was at the top while Hong Kong ranked fifth. Malaysia was only ranked 25th. It takes 11 days to start a business in Singapore and Hong Kong and 30 days in Malaysia, while addressing licensing issues in Malaysia takes 281days compared to 129 in Singapore and 160 in Hong Kong.

The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report and the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook provide similar findings on institutional challenges in Malaysia.

Malaysia cannot emulate China, India, or Vietnam but should emulate Singapore and Hong Kong given similar socio-economic conditions. Lessons from Singapore and Hong Kong call for a return to meritocracy in the Malaysian civil service and an arm's length relationship between politicians and civil servants.

Extracted from TheStar

香港最新电影 - 淫间道

今天收到了这香港最新电影<< 淫间道 >>的电影海报, 有够搞笑!