tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41293920792659226712024-02-08T09:00:18.799+08:00EkimkeeAn Entertainment, Sharing and Review BlogeKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.comBlogger381125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-19868291260558944582017-12-31T11:45:00.002+08:002017-12-31T11:45:46.366+08:00My 2017 Review & 2018 ProspectsTime flies and today is the last day for 2017.<br />
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Looking back for the past 365 days, I would say it is a memorable year to me in doing business, looking for the other half and the road in investment.<br />
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Doing Business<br />
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With the current economy situation, a lot of things getting tougher and it is no longer comfortable doing business like last time. All we need is keep changing and walk ahead of others. Thank God that this year our business has improved comparing to last year even though the revenue is slightly shrinking. But thanks to the team's continuous efforts, improvement and hardworking, we managed to improve our margin.<br />
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For 2018 prospects, I would say it is getting more challenging due to the stiffer competition of price and competitors, employees turnover and higher demand from the customers. We have no choice but will try to get talented employees and be innovative in order to overcome these challenges.<br />
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The Other Half<br />
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I'm quite sick of looking for the other half at my current age, as I think it should be way over. Unfortunately, I have tried my very best but to no avail at this moment. The available candidates are too limited at this moment. By being more aggressive and thick face, hopefully I can try to solve this problem by 2018. :)<br />
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Investment Road<br />
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I feel like being cheated for my 2nd unit of local property investment by the developer salesperson 2 years ago, and hence, that unit investment brought negative return to me this year. I have no choice but to hold the unit for now. Anyhow, the market is quite pessimistic for now.<br />
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As of crypto currency, I don't understand how it works. Hence, I'm not interested to invest in it for now.<br />
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I'm doing reasonably okay for local stock market investment thanks to bull market. Even though I've made huge mistake in investing one of the companies, there's still good return in overall. I have reviewed the lessons learned this year and look forward for better return in 2018. Hopefully I continuously improve my return and eventually achieve my early retirement age in the future.<br />
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Good bye 2017, and welcome 2018! Happy new year to you, cheers!<br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-38885005299551275962017-12-03T15:03:00.003+08:002017-12-03T15:05:30.740+08:00Seven Traits of Super Investors<h3 style="background-color: white; color: #1a2a60; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Arial, fantasy, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 22px; margin: 6px 0px;">
<strong style="color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, fantasy, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">How to be a super investor?</strong></h3>
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<em>“Investment success does not require glamour stocks or bull markets. Judgment and fortitude were our prerequisites. Judgment singles out opportunities, fortitude enables you to live with them while the rest of the world scrambles in another direction.”</em></div>
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John Neff</div>
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People always ask me how I attain such a spectacular performance in stock investment and how I make so much money in the market. People must be thinking that I got my level of mastery in investing because of my inborn talent. Whilst I wish I had been born with the investing genius in me, I must say that the wealth I have amassed so far is mostly from the effort that I put in to earn and to accumulate from my business and investment. And, I agree with Albert Einstein that “<em>genius is one percent talent and ninety-nine percent hard work.</em>” Of course, it is good to have an aptitude for investment, but you still need to devote a lot effort to nurture the investing talent within yourself before you could become a superinvestor. Always remember that no one is born a superinvestor. It takes knowledge, skills, correct action, patience and experience and lots of trainings to be a superinvestor. These are the main ingredients that you need to excel in investment. Even those well known superinvestors took years, if not decades, to acquire, practice and refine their knowledge, learn from their mistakes, form their investing philosophies and learn to control their emotions before they achieved their current status and results.<br />
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For example, during market crash in 1961-1962, Carl Icahn lost all his money he earned since his Army days. But he later on said that, “<em>going broke was good, because I grew so much from it and realized that I had to learn more than anybody else about something</em>.” By acquiring the right recipe and working hard, he staged a series of striking rebounds after the crash and he eventually became one of the most successful investors in the world. With a $16.6 billion net worth under his belt, he is ranked number 55 in Forbes 2017 Billionaires List.</div>
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Similarly, the Great Depression and stock market crash in 1929 nearly wiped Lord Keynes out financially. But he got back stronger in the game after the crisis and after refining his philosophy by switching from top-down investing method (macro strategy, which is relying on the predictions of economic performance to choose stocks in the industries that generate the highest returns) to bottom-up value investing approach (which is selecting stocks based their intrinsic values, dividend rates, cash flow, future earnings and business prospects). His innovative style, recognition of mass psychology and animal spirits play in the market, and buy-and-hold method enabled the funds he managed, including the endowment fund of King’s College, Cambridge, the fund of the National Mutual Fund Society, the fund of the Provincial Insurance Company and the personal funds of his friend, family and himself, grew exceptionally well and outperformed market indexes almost every year thereafter, except 1938 and 1942.</div>
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By now some of you must be thinking that one has to be very skilful at predicting the next market crash (or boom) to be a successful investor. Far from it – none of the superinvestors, at least not that I know of, have the ability to predict short-term market movement. The competitive advantage they possess over ordinary people is their positive learning attitude, high mental strength, solid financial knowledge and high self-awareness. Thus, to be a superinvestor, you do not need to master the skills of predicting the next market crash or short-term market movement. What you need is to mimic the traits, habits and behaviours of superinvestors and follow the advice I have listed down, based on my observation and my personal experience, below. Once you have appreciated, embraced them, and have them ingrained in your DNA, nothing can stop you multiplying your wealth; only the sky is the limit.</div>
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<em>“Rather than guessing where the market or the economy may be headed, here is a little rhyme to help you remember a better way to decide when to buy stocks:</em><br />
<em>When stocks can be found at cheap prices,</em><br />
<em>the time is ripe to buy.</em><br />
<em>When appropriate values cannot be found,</em><br />
<em>the market is too high.”</em></div>
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Charles Brandes</div>
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<strong>Trait 1: Ability to buy stocks while others are panicking and sell stocks while others are euphoric. Be an intelligent contrarian investor.</strong></div>
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<em>“The market is a pendulum that forever swings between unsustainable optimism (which makes stocks too expensive) and unjustified pessimism (which makes them too cheap). The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.”</em></div>
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Benjamin Graham</div>
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<em>“The time to get greedy is when everybody’s running for the hills with fear. That’s usually a great time to get the greed going.”</em></div>
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Bruce Berkowitz</div>
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There is a famous axiom in the investment world that the market is driven by two factors: greed and fear. When the economy improves, people become bullish about the market. The greed in people will boost their confidence level, stimulate their risk-seeking behaviour, encourage them to chase the winners and result in poor decision making. As they assume that the stocks are on the fast track to profit growth and are fixated to short term gains, they are more than willing to pay enormous premium for the stocks, which results in the prices of the stocks being bid up to an overvalued level and the room for long-term gain in the stocks being compromised. Unfortunately, over the long term, the business performance of most companies tends to revert to the mean, as their profit margins eroded when as more and more unforeseen competitions arrive to share a piece of the pie. Ignorant investors who bid up the stocks to astronomical levels at later-stage are then vulnerable to huge financial loss.</div>
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During the bear attack, when stock prices take a nosedive, the innate fear of losing in human will be triggered. The self-defence mechanism then kicks in immediately. People will suddenly become risk averse. In addition, the exaggerated bad news cast over the media will result in stress and overloading of the brain’s capacity. When the emotions are combined with the herding mental shortcut (belief of following other people selling is safer than doing it differently), it leads to panic selling, as the depressed investors unwittingly allow their emotion to overcome rational thinking in the decision-making process. This is the reason why the speed of stock price falling is much faster than that of its price rising, and the portfolios of people who sell in panic during financial crisis are always severely damaged.</div>
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Superinvestors, on the other hand, understand that the market cycle and the mood of people in the market resemble the movement of the pendulum swinging back and forth to the extremes of its arc. By staying the course and staying sane, they are able to see a wider market view clearly and able to avoid dire mental pitfalls. During market crash, when everyone is in a panic state, they remain unemotional, cool and calm. They know that no matter how gloomy the weather is, when the dark cloud overcasting the sky disappears, the earth will be brightly lit again. They know that the market will boom and bust, but it won’t collapse. And no matter how severe the damage caused by the financial turmoil, given some time, good companies will eventually return to their glory day again. Therefore, superinvestors are able to seize the opportunity to buy aggressively with conviction when stock price plunges. When the crowd is in a euphoric state, the superinvestors are happy to sell their overvalued stocks, even if they could not sell them at the peak, and they then spend the lonely time sitting on their cash to wait for another perfect time to swing their bat again. Instead of following the crowd, stories, fads or hypes, they follow their selection criteria, investment philosophies, focus on risk management and stay level-headed.</div>
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That being said, it does not mean that superinvestors will buy all kinds of undervalued stocks. In any depressed markets, good bargains can be found effortlessly. If they split their money evenly to buy all the undervalued stocks in the market, very little amount of fund they can allocate for the truly good stocks that can outperform the index. Instead of buying all the undervalued stocks, superinvestors buy stocks selectively. They pick only a handful of remarkable stocks that meet their selection criteria and buy them as much as they possible can. For example, they look for high-probability events and they only buy those undervalued stocks that they understand the businesses well, companies with trustworthy management and businesses with strong competitive advantage and tremendous profit growth potential in large quantities. By being intelligent contrarian investors, they can be sure of their winning possibility even before the deals are executed.</div>
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<strong>Trait 2: A great investor is one who is obsessive about playing the game and wanting to win. These people do not just enjoy investing; they live it.</strong></div>
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<em>“We wake up every morning and go to sleep each night thinking about stocks. When you are as focused and obsessed as we are, you develop certain tenets about investing.”</em></div>
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Mario Gabelli</div>
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<em>“Very few people had the tenacity I had. I’m a very competitive guy. Passionate or obsessive, whatever you want to call it. And it’s in my nature that whatever I do, I try to be the best.”</em></div>
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Carl Icahn</div>
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According to studies, most people do not enjoy investing in the stock market even though they trade stocks. If you ask any of the people you meet in stock brokerage house what motivates them to buy or sell stocks, I am very sure the answer -- and the only answer -- you will get is “to make some money”. Neither they have a set of rules to guide them in investing nor do they have any clearly-defined methodologies to buy or to sell stocks. They trade stocks with gambling-like emotion. They buy on news. Most of them do not know that before any good news is released; the price of a stock has gone up substantially. It is probably the worst possible time to buy the stock when the positive news is released. The worst thing is some of them refuse to cut loss when they realise that they have made the mistake. They hope that the price of their holding will rebound so that they get to sell it at their breakeven price. By the time when they sell the stock, as they have frustratingly held the underperforming stock for an extended period of time, the stock price is probably at its lowest level. All in all, they are not making money from stock trading, but are funding their trading with their lifetime saving or with the money earned from their day jobs. How can we expect someone who keeps losing money in stock trading to enjoy playing the game?</div>
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Unlike ordinary investors, superinvestors are obsessive about playing the investing game and wanting to win or to be the best. In addition, these people do not just enjoy investing; they live it. They are so fascinated with the game that they can work extremely hard and are willing to spend most of their time to studying the businesses of each company so that they can find more good stocks to buy. If the joy of finding a girlfriend is in the pursuit, to them the joy of investing is finding another good share to buy. That’s why they devote so much effort to analysing the businesses of each company.</div>
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To superinvestors, investing is also like operating a company. They have their own mission and vision for investing in the stock market. They have a mental picture of what their investments will become in five to ten years. They have their own roadmaps, together with which they use their investing philosophy, method, strategy and intuition to guide them to the glory in their investing journey.</div>
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Superinvestors enjoy what they are doing. They know their circle of competence and they know how to increase their odds of winning in the game. They are loss averse and always do their best to reduce the risk or to protect their capital. Therefore, they only invest in companies they can understand the businesses well and with profit growth potential so that they get to enjoy the snowball effect of wealth accumulation. Further, they never stop learning about investing. They spend most of their time reading and acquiring knowledge. They keep refining their philosophies, skills, methods, strategies. They perform post-mortem on all their trades, so that they can improve their results and become better investors. Moreover, they constantly study their failures, be it in analysis or in decision making process. Because of their fervent passion and commitment to investing success, their performance gets better year by year. That’s why they are spectacularly wealthy.</div>
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Despite their wealth, they do not stop investing. Why? Because their main focus is not on money, but rather on their objectives and targets, to test their philosophies and to leave a great legacy. They know that if they follow their golden rules and the path they have chosen, the monetary reward is beyond their imagination when they reach their destination. To them, money is just a scorecard and a form of reward for their brilliant ideas and magnificent philosophies, and it is not their main goal. The amount of money they need to enjoy the freedom and independence is far lesser than what they possess. That’s why they donate most of the money they have earned, like what I am doing now, to help the needy ones and society and to help more people achieve their goals.</div>
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Sir John Templeton once said “<em>Do something where you’re performing a real service for people. It’ll be a success. I like investment counselling. And I like helping others. It gives you pleasure you can’t get spending thousands of dollars</em>.” Therefore, earning tonnes of money is not their priority in investing. If money is their main motivator, they would have stopped investing after becoming millionaires, but they did not stop – and will never stop.</div>
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<strong>Trait 3: A good investor is one with willingness to learn from his or her past mistakes and to analyse them.</strong></div>
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<em>“To others, being wrong is a source of shame. To me, recognising my mistakes is a source of pride. Once we realise that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there’s no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.”</em></div>
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George Soros</div>
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<em>“While most others seem to believe that mistakes are bad things, I believe mistakes are good things because I believe that most learning comes via making mistakes and reflecting on them.”</em></div>
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Ray Dalio</div>
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<em>“Granted, we all make mistakes. The important thing about making errors in judgement is the ability to admit those errors. If you grow into adulthood unable to acknowledge your mistakes - in life, as well as investing - you will learn your lessons the hard way. Only when you recognise your mistakes will you be able to make corrections necessary to put yourself on the right path.”</em></div>
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Jim Rogers</div>
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Investment mistakes refer to the decisions or judgements made by investors that result in poor returns in their investments. All these mistakes are stem from the presence of bias -- be it representative bias, familiarity bias, misattribution bias, disposition effect, cognitive error or any other psychological biases. Making mistakes is the most important part of our investing journey. Mistakes do not kill us, but they make us stronger if we learn to avoid them.</div>
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Superinvestors are no different from ordinary investors; they too make a lot of mistakes in their investments and are not afraid of making mistakes. Jean Paul Getty once said there is nothing shameful in making mistakes once, but repeating the same mistakes is a disgrace. Therefore, superinvestors constantly look out for their own biases and flaws in their investing philosophies, critically analyse their theses and decisions, ready to admit and correct their mistakes, appraise them and avoid them in the future, so that they do not compound them. This is the reason why Bruce Berkowitz said “<em>We spend a lot of time on mistakes and asking why we make them. It’s great for the investment process</em>.” And at the Value Investing Congress of 2009, David Einhorn shared the practice with people that “<em>when something goes wrong, I like to think about the bad decisions and learn from them so that hopefully I don’t repeat the same mistakes”</em>.</div>
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However, most people never learn from their past mistakes. This is apparent during bull markets. They tend to repeat the same mistakes again and again, and become arrogant after pocketing some profits from their recent bets. Their fear of loss has evaporated. Their egos have grown so big that hardly any sincere advice and invaluable opinions can get into their head until they experience another great setback. Their inflated confidence will lead to overestimation of their abilities and underestimation of the risks. As the winning streak continues, they have the propensity to put all dangers behind them, break their own investment rules, ditch their old philosophies again, and join the herd singing “this time is different”. In fact, the self-serving bias is a hindrance to seeing the imminent danger and the reality is the history is still repeating itself. Most of them won’t see the disaster coming until the moment they are about to fall off the cliff one by one like lemmings. It is undeniable that winning big is so easy and the temptation is so irresistible when stock price soars, but how many people managed to pull the hand brake timely at the edge of the cliff. Before 1997 -- Asian financial crisis, money invested in any stocks, including those speculative stocks with businesses bleeding financially, could be easily turned into “gold”. But how many people managed to walk away happily or had their portfolios left unharmed after the bubble burst? </div>
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Humility should therefore be embraced in the philosophy of every serious investor. Superinvestors always stay humble even when they make enormous profits and remain upbeat when the markets perform badly. Unlike common investors, every superinvestor understands that he or she is fallible and always look out for flaws in his or her investment theses. If he or she discovers the mistakes, he or she will have no qualms about admitting his or her mistakes, abandoning his theses, and even selling the stocks he or she bought earlier on immediately, analysing the mistakes, then learn some painful lessons from the mistakes and avoid them in the future. That’s the reason why Charlie Munger likes the maxim of Jacobi -- <em>man muss immer umkehren</em>, which means <em>invert, always invert</em> -- so much that he does not only use the concept in testing his theses, but he also uses it in analysing his mistakes in a few different ways and then have the findings included in his checklist to guard himself against the same errors and proclivities. </div>
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Some of the superinvestors, on the other hand, like to keep a journal or a diary of their trading records for self-reflection. They understand that human memory is only suitable for remembering stories, but not good at recording facts. By keeping a journal of the information of stocks he or she purchases, his or her emotional state and mood before making decision and how the decisions are arrived at for the investments, he or she can reflect on his or her past mistakes so that he or she is not susceptible to the same mistakes. Moreover, he or she can regulate his or her mood and control his or her emotion so that he or she won’t repeat the same mistakes again in the future.</div>
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<em>“Forgive yourself for your errors. Don’t become discouraged, and certainly don’t try to recoup your losses by taking bigger risks. Instead, turn each mistake into a learning experience. Determine exactly what went wrong and how you can avoid the same mistake in the future.”</em></div>
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John Templeton</div>
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<strong>Trait 4: An inherent sense of risk based on common sense. You must have the common sense to realize the risk of buying any share which has gone up a lot and when all the analysts are recommending buy. Always take an analyst report with a pinch of salt.</strong></div>
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<em>“Economics and markets cycle up and down. Whichever direction they’re going at the moment, most people come to believe that they’ll go that way forever. This thinking is a source of great danger since it poisons the markets, sends valuations to extremes, and ignites bubbles and panics that most investors find hard to resist.”</em></div>
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Howard Marks </div>
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<em>"It is our opinion that the consensus view finds comfort in groupthink and therefore pays little attention, if any, to the historical accuracy of the agencies publishing these estimates."</em></div>
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Arnold Van Den Berg</div>
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Very often people buy or sell shares solely based on their projections, charts or news. For example, speculators make their purchase decisions based on the assumption that the share prices will grow continuously without even using some common sense to examine the risk levels of the investments. This over-optimism problem always results in overpaying for a stock and underestimating valuation risk.</div>
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Similarly, some analysts perform valuation only based on the balance sheet or using those financial models with complex formula, five-decimal-place numbers and all sorts of Greek symbols. Some chartists, on the other hand, making buy calls solely based on the charts with the underlying business performance and companies’ future largely ignored. If you buy stocks in uptrend motion or stocks with a healthy balance sheet, but with no profit growth potential or with oversupply problem, the money that you pour into the investment will not be working productively for your wealth and the likelihood of losing money is fairly high.</div>
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Superinvestors understand the importance of preserving capital. In addition to using some key valuation metrics and charts, they also use some common sense, experience and intuition when valuing a company. This is to ensure that they do not lose money nor have any laggards sitting idly in their portfolios.</div>
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Whilst it is good to read some economic news and analysis reports to keep ourselves abreast of world development and to get some investment ideas, you should not accept the entire information, news, and analysts’ projections without processing them. Be wary of the flaws in analysts’ projections and views. Always take analysts’ reports or news with a grain of salt and be sceptical of the so called “experts”, especially when they express optimism about the future of a company. I have seen many people who reacted swiftly to news and analyst reports ended up having their fingers burned. Making buying or selling decisions immediately after reading news and reports is not investing, it is called speculating. Speculating is a dangerous game, which is highly susceptible to psychological biases.</div>
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According to studies, newspapers with exciting headlines and stories have a better chance in capturing and retaining market share. Any reporters who have the ability to attract more readers will have better chances of getting promoted. Hence, all of them too have a tendency to produce exciting yet exaggerated news. Similarly, sell side analysts are handsomely rewarded for writing good reports and providing right buying recommendations, especially during economic boom. As a result, many of them are not only bullish about the market, but are also overly optimistic about the economy and are overconfident at the peak. Most of their projections and estimations are overblown figures. If you allow your emotion to be manipulated by these mass media stories and analyst reports without using business sense to judge them logically, you are literally chasing hot stocks and your investments will be in danger. You will one day wake up to discover that you are also one of the patsies left without a chair when the music stops.</div>
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<strong>Trait 5: Great investors have confidence in their own convictions and stick with them, even when facing criticism.</strong></div>
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<em>“To succeed as a contrarian you must recognize what the crowd believes, have concrete justification for why the majority is wrong, and have the patience and conviction to stick with what is, by definition, an unpopular bet.”</em></div>
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Whitney Tilson</div>
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<em>“Soros has taught me that when you have tremendous conviction on a trade, you have to go for the jugular. It takes courage to be a pig. It takes courage to ride a profit with huge leverage.”</em></div>
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Stanley Druckenmiller</div>
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<em>“Because I became worried about the Japanese stock market in the late 1980s due to its gigantic credit boom, we sold all of our Japanese stocks in mid-1988. Some investors questioned us for pulling out from the second largest stock market in the world, but I said it’s better to take some money off the table than to participate in market mania. Obviously, I was wrong and unhappy in the next 18 months because the market went up another 30 percent, but in 1990 when the market collapsed, we owned nothing in Japan and our decision was proved logical.”</em></div>
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Jean-Marie Eveillard</div>
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In late 1990s, when the whole world embraced the speedy advancement in Information Technology and when people believed that the revolution will too change the doctrine of conventional investment method and that a new approach assessing investment based on growth model should be employed, a minority group of people adamant that they would shun high tech stocks and would continuously look for undervalued stocks ditched by Mr. Market. This group of investors is no others except value investing followers. And most of them are superinvestors, who had millions, if not billions of dollar assets under their management. According to Bill Ruane, one of the superinvestors Warren Buffett mentioned in his essay called the Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville, <em>“The recipe for delivering superior long-term performance requires equal parts of picking the right stocks and avoiding the wrong ones. We were not even tempted to join the recent speculative frenzy in the dot.com sector.” </em>At the same time, near the peak of the dot com boom, Jean-Marie Eveillard said “<em>I would rather lose half my shareholders than lose half my shareholders’ money,”</em> as he believed technology stocks were overvalued and he foresaw the dot com bubble would burst soon.</div>
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Not only did the media criticise them for their old-fashioned investment style, many of their clients also puzzled why didn’t they buy a single share of those fabulous technology stocks. Their answers to the public were that they really concerned at the high valuation of those information technology stocks and that they only invested in stocks they have an edge and with limited risk. They insisted that only when having informational, analytical and psychological advantages over the crowd would they deploy their capital for the investment. Following the crowd to chase those glittering stocks was not the game in which they would participate. Their convictions were later proven right when the internet bubble burst and their funds achieved double-digit returns in the same year. Their due diligence and convictions did not only protect them from the loss of capital, but it ensured that the odds were in their favours before they committed their capital. In his interview with Ronald Chan in 2012, Jean-Marie Eveillard mentioned that <em>“Our fund had total assets of around $6 billion in 1997, but by 2000 it was down to $2 billion. I was unhappy, but I constantly reminded myself that I was acting in the best long-term interests of our investors, so I had to do the right thing. When the mania was over, investors came back and praised our discipline. The fund [the First Eagle Global Fund] today has a size of close to $30 billion.”</em></div>
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The Dot Com mania mainly stems from the emotional, cognitive errors and psychological biases of human. Human’s greed and fear is the root cause of bubble forming and bursting. Financial losses or economic recession is just a by-product of the crisis, not the root cause. The similar type of nightmare will always come back to haunt people again and again in different contexts. For example, the subprime crisis in 2008 and Asian financial crisis in 1998 began with greed and ended with fear. If you stick to a sound approach, have faith in your convictions, only buy fundamentally good stock with growing profits and profit growth potential, maintain your belief, even in the face of peer pressure, stay sane and are not easily swayed by market sentiments or any other fishy stories, you will not only be able to detect bubbles, but will also be able to capitalise on human’s psychological biases to make tonnes of money in the violently swinging stock market in the future.</div>
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<strong>Trait 6: Ability to think clearly.</strong></div>
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<em>“If you stay rational yourself, the stupidity of the world helps you.”</em></div>
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Charlie Munger</div>
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<em>“The power of psychological influences must never be underestimated. Greed, fear, suspension of disbelief, conformism, envy, ego and capitulation are all part of human nature, and their ability to compel action is profound, especially when they’re at extremes and shared by the herd. They’ll influence others, and the thoughtful investor will feel them as well. None of us should expect to be immune and insulated from them. Although we feel them, we must not succumb; rather we must recognize them for what they are and stand against them. Reason must overcome emotion.”</em></div>
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Howard Marks</div>
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<em>“You need to divorce your mind from the crowd. The herd mentality causes all these IQ’s to become paralyzed. I don’t think investors are now acting more intelligently, despite the intelligence. Smart doesn’t always equal rational. To be a successful investor you must divorce yourself from the fears and greed of the people around you, although it is almost impossible.”</em></div>
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Warren Buffett</div>
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Common stock is the best financial tool for rational investors to amass their fortune over the long haul, but the worst vehicle for irrational investors to even preserve their wealth. The discrepancy between the traits of these two types of investors (rational and irrational investors) is that the former always stick to their dispassionate analysis, whereas the latter allow their emotions to control their judgement. As a result, irrational investors cannot think clearly in their decision-making process. This behaviour is very evident during the bear stampede that this group of investors always busy despondently disposes all their holdings whilst the clear headed superinvestors keep hunting for undervalued stocks in the same market.</div>
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One of the reasons why people cannot think clearly and sell stocks panicky during market crash is that they do not know the actual worth of the businesses when they bought the stocks. According to studies, most of the investors do not like to read financial reports; many of them do not even bother to understand the companies’ businesses. They buy the stocks solely based on hype and hope that the stocks will decuple in twelve months. During economic crisis, when everyone rushes to sell the stocks and analysts also give strong sell recommendations; there is no reason for them not to liquidate their positions hastily as the hope has vanished into thin air.</div>
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Another factor why people are captive to the bias is that they use emotion in their decision making process. In comparison to the systematic and logical approach, this method yields quicker results and is effortless. Instead of performing due diligence, such as analysing the underlying business performance, profit growth prospects and value of the business, this system uses some mental short-cuts based on similarity and familiarity to judge what the market will do next. For example, when the system receives some negative news of a stock, it will link the news to price falling and will trigger the fear of loss. In such case, the most natural reaction the system will take is to sell the stock without investigating further. The massive disposal of a stock will then lead to its price plunging. Likewise, the fear of loss also causes people to ignore bargain. Therefore, this group of investors tends to lose their lifetime savings in a very short cycle and is unable to capture the rare opportunity when the stock price running out of control. This is the reason why Walter Schloss advised people <em>“Try not to let your emotions affect your judgment. Fear and greed are probably the worst emotions to have in connection with the purchase and sale of stocks.”</em></div>
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I remember in 1983 when the Hong Kong stock market crashed, as China Government gave notice to the British Government to take back the sovereignty of Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index went down below 1,000. The fear that the Chinese Communists were going to rule Hong Kong led to the massive disposal of shares in the market as if there were no more tomorrow. Sticking to my own rules and selection criteria, I identified one of the most undervalued stocks called HK Realty & Trust. Before the crash, it was selling at HK$ 13.60 and during the crash it was selling at HK$ 3.60 per share. Moreover, its audited accounts showed that its cash value per share was HK$ 10.00. During the crash, I bought the stock as much as I possibly could. As soon as China granted a 50-year extension of the lease, the market rebounded and HK Realty & Trust shot up above HK$ 15.00, so as most of the other counters. The market had a new lease of life and every investor quickly jumped in to buy. As my holdings went higher I could buy more shares on margin finance and the rest is history. The opportunity for me to make a mint during the crash is mainly attributed to the greed and fear in people. Had the market been more rational responding to the news and been able to overcome the psychological pitfall, it would have not been possible for me to earn so much to afford 46% of stake in Kaiser Stock & Shares Co Ltd.</div>
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<strong>Trait 7: Ability to live through volatility without changing your investment thought process.</strong></div>
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<em>“To be a very successful investor you have to be able to avoid some natural human tendencies to follow the herd. The stock market is going down every day your natural tendency is to want to sell. And the stock market is actually going up every day your tendency is to want to buy. So in bubbles you probably should be a seller. In busts you should probably be a buyer. You have to have that kind of a discipline, you have to have a stomach to withstand the volatility of the stock market.”</em></div>
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Bill Ackman</div>
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<em>“The value investor sees this volatility and says, “What a great opportunity.” However, the masses generally say, “This stock is way too risky, I’ll pass.” We are full believers in the “buy low, sell high” investment philosophy, so to us this would be a great opportunity.”</em></div>
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Arnold Van Den Berg</div>
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<em>“Successful investors tend to be unemotional, allowing the greed and fear of others to play into their hands. By having confidence in their own analysis and judgement, they respond to market forces not with blind emotion but with calculated reason. Successful investors, for example, demonstrate caution in frothy markets and steadfast conviction in panicky ones. Indeed, the very way an investor views the market and its price fluctuations is a key factor in his or her ultimate investment success or failure.”</em></div>
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Seth Klarman</div>
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Every investor wishes to receive a windfall gain from his or her stock investment. However, the fact is, not many people can win in stock investing. Why is it so?</div>
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One of the reasons why so many people lose money in the stock market is that they allow their investment thought and decision making processes to be influenced by their emotion. For instance, when a company reports a sudden drop in profit, they would be sceptical about the company’s future and immediately sell the stock without probing further what drives the cost up or causes its profit drop. The hasty decision without further thought is always the biggest regret of investors when the stock he sold shows increasing profits in the following quarter or next year.</div>
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Speculators, on the other hand, would sell their holdings to buy some hot stocks if they heard from their neighbours or brokers that the hot stocks will be doubled in three months, even though some of the original holdings they disposed are high yield stocks with bright profit growth prospect. Coincidentally Christopher Browne also shares the finding with my observation. In his book titled The Little Book of Value Investing, Browne stated that <em>“Most people seek immediate gratification in almost everything they do including investing. When most investors buy a stock, they expect it to go up immediately. If it doesn’t, they sell it and buy something else.” </em>The myopia always leads to ignorance of the underlying business and overemphasis of short-term gain. What they are interested in is making a quick profit. Most of them hope to become millionaire overnight. When the hot stocks lose their momentum and heading south, the late comers will be spooked by the selloff and tend to sell immediately at a loss. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that some people have never even won a dime in their investments. </div>
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Superinvestors understand the importance of confidence, patience and self-control, which are the keys to success in stock investment. They do not change their investment thought easily. They do not follow the crowd buying any hot stocks. They know what the crowd is always wrong. This statement is further supported by Robert Cialdini that <em>“Quite frequently the crowd is mistaken because they are not acting on the basis of any superior information, but are reacting, themselves, to the principle of social proof.” </em>Superinvestors will not stray from their principles and golden rules. What they normally to do are buying a handful of stocks with marvellous profit growth potential according to their plan after performing due diligence and then they watch the stocks unfold their fantastical tales themselves patiently and let their prices increase gradually. Their investment horizon is usually three to five years or even longer. And they understand that there will be some peaks and troughs along the way. That’s why they adhere to the principle of 7Ps -- Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance. Regardless of market volatility, they always stick to their golden rules, investment philosophies, and methods even when they are criticised by people.</div>
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Article Source taken from: http://koonyewyin.com </div>
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eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-71651847310426627992017-11-25T12:40:00.000+08:002017-11-25T12:40:50.210+08:00I'm Getting Rich SoonI received an email 2 days ago from an anonymous, mentioning that he wants to share with me USD1.25M. Hey, yea I know, again...<br />
<br />
Let's look at his email content (I copied and pasted exactly the same content, font color & size) below:<br />
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Subject: <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 17.6px;">CAN YOU WORK WITH ME</span><br />
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>Dear Sir / Madam,</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>I write to inform you that the GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND in conjunction with International Monetary Fund (IMF), has resolved to refund each victim of scam (Advance Fee FRUAD) the sum of $2,500.000 (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars only) On that note, I seek your consent to collaborate with me so that I will put your name as one of the victims entitle and legible for this refunds for our mutual benefits.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>If you are interested in actualizing this deal with me respond back urgently with your below details to enable me put your name among those that will benefit from the refund this month.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>1 Your full names/ address.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>2 Your phone number.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>3 Your age/sex and occupation.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>Please note that the process of filing for this refund is risk free and has nothing to do with illegality because I have perfected every plan for the smooth processing of the refunds. Bear in mind that our working ratio shall be 50% each as soon as we get the refund in your name.</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>Yours Faithfully,</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: black;"> </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>Mr. Rodrigo de Rato</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>Managing Director</b></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: small;">
<span style="color: #1f497d; font-size: x-large;"><b>International Monetary Fund</b></span></div>
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<br />
What do you think?<br />
<br />
First of all, I found a lot of typos in his email and the content looks really unprofessional. It seems like this fellow has a lot to improve.<br />
<br />
Secondly, this tactic is totally obsolete. But this fellow is still trying his luck, by changing from one story to another.<br />
<br />
Thirdly, this email is attention to Sir / Madam, and TO: is left empty. This fellow doesn't know who to send to. So it should be a mass mailing to try his luck.<br />
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Fourthly, it mentioned he is the MD of IMF, Rodrigo Rato. Okay, have a check at IMF MD list, the latest MD is Christine Lagarde. Rodrigo is retired since year 2007!<br />
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Monetary_Fund#List_of_Managing_Directors<br />
<br />
Finally, I found out if I decided to reply to work together, it is replying to a GMAIL instead of the original email.<br />
from:<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Rodrigo de Rato <rodrigo joy.ocn.ne.jp=""></rodrigo><br />
reply-to:<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>teresa.samonte111621@gmail.com<br />
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<a href="http://cdn2.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/styles/16x9_540/public/2016/07/bullguard_spam.jpg?itok=BSlAPKD7" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn2.alphr.com/sites/alphr/files/styles/16x9_540/public/2016/07/bullguard_spam.jpg?itok=BSlAPKD7" data-original-height="304" data-original-width="540" height="225" width="400" /></a><br /><i>Source: http://aplhr.com</i></div>
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Yes, it is another usual spam email. But it's having fun to find out what can be improved.<br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-79255724959326220192017-10-21T21:29:00.000+08:002017-10-21T21:29:04.035+08:00Hit Jackpot from Share Investment<div class="MsoNormal">
Talk about share investment, my return stumbled badly
yesterday afternoon after one of my heavyweight invested listed company got
serious fire incident at the main factory. This is the first time in my life
suffering so much loss from share investment.<o:p></o:p></div>
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As per quick phone interview with the company director published
by the media, he expressed that there’s about 500 control machines were
affected, estimated $150 million losses and roughly needs 9 months to recover! And
their existing inventory can only last for 2 months.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7nwCY0GUycjNfQ_WsBfFJHHFla5lQTMmoyUTk7yBgua1BXYNcMRy_iutAB2WSwKmMoQBpX73xbAeOYthMa__DA3hf1YCQbNgMxdmBw2IxXYc-m0BPl68fFEaP5dNQ4Sjkk2vwVRmjJfhr/s1600/20171021fk62a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7nwCY0GUycjNfQ_WsBfFJHHFla5lQTMmoyUTk7yBgua1BXYNcMRy_iutAB2WSwKmMoQBpX73xbAeOYthMa__DA3hf1YCQbNgMxdmBw2IxXYc-m0BPl68fFEaP5dNQ4Sjkk2vwVRmjJfhr/s400/20171021fk62a.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Once this news spreads out yesterday noon, the counter share
slumped 30% just within an hour and it’s been suspended due to hit the down
limit. And it also hits the highest volume among the entire stocks, about 36.7
million shares transacted within an hour! Not only that, it also created the
highest volume record since listed from 2005! Why majority of the shareholders has
just a big reaction while fire incident is not something new for manufacturer?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Unfortunately, this is not the first time for this company
to hit fire incident. The previous incident was occurred in Jan 2014, merely
less than 4 years! And this time, the estimated losses and recovery time are at
least 3 times worse than the previous fire incident!<o:p></o:p></div>
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To me, it’s not a big deal about the fire incident and one-time
loss, as most probably they can be recovered 80 to 90% via insurance
compensation. What matters me is the company reputation and customers’ order! With
the production is affected for 9 months or more, how can they deliver the goods
to customers as their inventory only can last for 2 months?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m not sure the current factory capacity % and number of
control machines at Plant 2, 3 & 4, but the affected factory is the core
production site which consists of 1,500 control machines and about 1/3 of the
machines are affected by fire. Assumed the capacity is about 80-90% with
another 750 control machines, they only manage to cover 75 – 150 machines
capacity while the remaining 70-80% of productions are not able to fulfill after
2 months. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Put aside the trust and the upcoming 9 months affected
income, if they are not able to deliver the goods to customer but the customers
are growing, what will happen next? The customers will definitely approach other
manufacturers for the orders, may be for short term. But if other manufacturers
are aggressive enough, providing perhaps a better quality and price than this
problematic company, what will happen next? That’s what I worry about. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The revenue can sure come back upon the rebuild of the
machines and production. But trust and orders cannot once customers ran away.
Unless the management is able to demonstrate the outstanding leadership and effective
way to solve this production issue, else I think that’s it. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOLsJ9G0wby-xk7AtZNTc0kE1TMLESwnbKYadhKgvuGgI1zCb6SjwBBXEFAiJfPuMJ2uUXo0lswYI6Vwt5fQg8ir641LPFFG9o9qmLYNZsP__uTSu0M7UGPQ8xszhe1F4XtXwE3HpKA_E/s1600/Share+Price.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="772" data-original-width="1600" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoOLsJ9G0wby-xk7AtZNTc0kE1TMLESwnbKYadhKgvuGgI1zCb6SjwBBXEFAiJfPuMJ2uUXo0lswYI6Vwt5fQg8ir641LPFFG9o9qmLYNZsP__uTSu0M7UGPQ8xszhe1F4XtXwE3HpKA_E/s400/Share+Price.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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The company market capitalization is about $312m before
slump, and now at $230m upon slumped. Can you see that? The fire incident has
caused $150m loss but the capital is only $230m. It looks very attractive
provided the management takes a prudent steps to pinpoint this issue by next
week. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Well, crisis always comes with opportunity. I think most
probably I’ll give it a small shot on next Monday to average down my buying
price, regardless the share price slumps further, retains or bounces back. I personally think this company is still having a bright future, but perhaps I have to hold
longer than I expected now.<o:p></o:p></div>
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eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-89005327463948891302017-10-08T15:36:00.001+08:002017-10-08T15:36:31.553+08:00How to Fake ConfidenceI watched a video lately from YouKu and found out there are 4 small key areas to boost (fake) our confidence from a seduction guru.<br />
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<a href="http://www.life-with-confidence.com/images/xConfidenceInMind-comp.jpg.pagespeed.ic.csTlTWfagi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.life-with-confidence.com/images/xConfidenceInMind-comp.jpg.pagespeed.ic.csTlTWfagi.jpg" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="448" height="225" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: www.life-with-confidence.com</i></div>
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How? Basically you don't have to be loaded, smart and charming, just be self-confidence with the following keys:<br />
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(1) Always having a relax and steady appearance.<br />
Your appearance will always look relax and steady, including stand and sit posture. You also responding your opponent's question in steady and pausing mode. By acting so, you are basically not worrying anything at all time, you can handle everything under relax and steady situation. Hence, it enhances the appearance confidence.<br />
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(2) Take care of your physical appearance / image.<br />
Yes, you don't have to be good looking. Yet you don't have to wear too over or too casual. Just be yourself and pay respect to yourself. It proves that you can take care of yourself in the first place.<br />
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(3) Don't boast or compliment yourself automatically. Some people are lack of confidence and they afraid others cannot notice them. A person who are confident do not worry about it. The best way is to be cocky and funny, somehow people feel good about it especially women.<br />
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(4) Be humorous<br />
Humorous is not about telling jokes or funny story. It's about demonstrating your self-confidence level, where it proves that you have nothing to worry about and that's why you have time to be funny. Well, this is the hardest part but it can be learned. You can observe and learn the leaders, normally they have absolute humorous and always bring cheers and fun to be public whenever they are around.<br />
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That's the simple 4 key areas to pay attention to. Have a nice weekend, folks.eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-51430824316161246612017-09-17T16:59:00.003+08:002017-09-17T16:59:39.024+08:00Malaysia Economy Is Getting Better or Worse?As a Malaysian, we are happy to see our quarterly GDP has improved for the recent 2 quarters, 5.4% & 5.8% respectively.<br />
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By looking back the past 20 years GDP growth, actually Malaysia in average is able to obtain 5-7% GDP growth year-on-year. That is consider a stable and healthy growth under a developing country.<br />
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<a href="https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/charts/malaysia-gdp-growth-annual.png?s=magdhiy&v=201708181334v&d1=19170101&d2=20171231" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="730" height="186" src="https://d3fy651gv2fhd3.cloudfront.net/charts/malaysia-gdp-growth-annual.png?s=magdhiy&v=201708181334v&d1=19170101&d2=20171231" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: https://tradingeconomics.com</i></div>
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However, a lot of residents complained or felt that the local economy is not getting any better. They feel in pain. Why is that so, since the GDP from low point of 4.0% to 5.8% within 1 year?<br />
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I believe the major pain is the MYR currency depreciation against major currencies like USD and SGD. USD to MYR has appreciated from RM3.10 in year 2013 to RM4.40 lately, and now retrace a little bit to RM4.20. A whopping jump of 35%! Whereas SGD to MYR has appreciated from RM2.50 in year 2013 to RM3.15 lately, and now retrace to RM3.12. A significant jump of 25% as well. That means whatever imported to the country with these appreciated currencies, will be having price hike of at least 25-35%.<br />
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The second pain point is Government Service Tax (GST), 6% GST imposed on all items from April 2015 is also a drastic burden to all citizens. Every 1 dollar you spent, you will have to pay additional 6 cents. That's indirectly make the inflation goes up 6% straight.<br />
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<a href="http://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/381581/224a.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images.says.com/uploads/story_source/source_image/381581/224a.png" data-original-height="502" data-original-width="640" height="313" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: http:says.com</i></div>
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There's another indirect impact which is the deterioration of the Government efficiency and business strategy. You can see most developing countries in ASEAN are trying to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) by improving internal infrastructure and procedure. But it seems like Malaysia is running backward. Well, I'm not sure about it but you can see the local well-known businessmen's negative comments and feedback in business magazines. We haven't talk about the Government investment scandal yet. ;(<br />
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With the combination of these 3 factors, how can the economy turns better in such a short time even with a good GDP statistics? Imagine if you used to make $1,000 and spent $700 and save $300. Now you will have to spend at least $800-$900 and only can save around $200-300. What can the citizens do? Tighten their belt in order to save more and sustain.<br />
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Remember, the salary is the one that won't be increased over such a short time, but inflation & the factors above.eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-39482402763332148672017-09-10T19:08:00.002+08:002017-09-10T19:08:31.111+08:00I'm Back<div class="MsoNormal">
Time flies, I've been escaping from writing this blog for 7
weeks. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Usually on Sunday late noon, I spent my time to write this
weekly blog article. For the past few months, I went out coffee with friends or
do some casual articles reading over the Internet, because I'm bothering by a big issue in my life. :(<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="http://inthiaano.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/821138238_1381248483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://inthiaano.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/821138238_1381248483.jpg" data-original-height="250" data-original-width="594" height="167" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: http://inthiaano.com</i></div>
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My purpose of writing this blog is to share, in terms of
what I know, what I discover and what lessons I learned in my life. I hope the
readers can benefit from those articles, as simple as that. So why I escaped
and came back again?<o:p></o:p></div>
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Initially I thought of giving up, as there’s no response, no
feedback and I’m quite demotivated to write it further. Until I saw a positive feedback
comment last few days about my last blog article, which I missed the comment
earlier. That’s the reason I’m back again. <span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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I'll update again next weekend. For now, let’s prepare to start a tough Monday
again.<o:p></o:p></div>
eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-17044839889883968112017-07-23T22:13:00.002+08:002017-07-23T22:13:57.732+08:0018% Annual Return on InvestmentIf there's a company offering 18% annual return on Australia real estate investment project, are you interested to participate?<br />
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Of course I would love to, if it is genuine! But how to identify if it is genuine, or it's just another ponzi scheme like money game?<br />
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Well, just don't get excited and jump straight into it, even the plan you joined is endorsed by the government! I hit the stone before no worries, I understand how the investors feel.<br />
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<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-22/singaporean-police-investigate-pilbara-businesswoman/8732834">Here's the full news</a> of the suspected ponzi scheme.<br />
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<a href="https://s.yimg.com/ea/img/-/160903/57c9ff068e050_a_180816busmac3_1bsjvnu-1bsjvo6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="490" data-original-width="798" height="245" src="https://s.yimg.com/ea/img/-/160903/57c9ff068e050_a_180816busmac3_1bsjvnu-1bsjvo6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: http://www.abc.net.au</i></div>
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-55127768661965677812017-07-16T17:18:00.000+08:002017-07-16T17:18:29.970+08:00The Only Way to Get Rich Safely for Normal PeopleI have been thinking how to get rich for many years. Well, I guess a lot of people are thinking the same thing. But most of us still at the same spot. We probably made and save some money which we are trying our best. We sacrifice a lot of things to work hard and trying to get more income, and we did get so. However, inflation and assets appreciation kill our hard earn money badly. <br />
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I remembered a kolomee in my hometown used to cost me $3.50 10 years ago. Today it needs about $7.50. And seems like it is going to inflate higher and higher in the future. Same goes to property and stocks. Those good lots and counters, they are flying high and higher, and we never see their price return again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_T4RhHHhd7fsaRS0mVdpLlTrb8gK5eqKRnxsKuI7S1_vi_3VGI73vZ2ryuZlBvi-KezKf50kmhuVkxSrQgCDeeXHOe4uTvtzOhNIKsz7Yon_zzLEfvElbngo3mogAifUj9r80gcw6mCU/s1600/Inflation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_T4RhHHhd7fsaRS0mVdpLlTrb8gK5eqKRnxsKuI7S1_vi_3VGI73vZ2ryuZlBvi-KezKf50kmhuVkxSrQgCDeeXHOe4uTvtzOhNIKsz7Yon_zzLEfvElbngo3mogAifUj9r80gcw6mCU/s1600/Inflation.jpg" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="500" height="327" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: </div>
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I realized apart from work hard and smart is one thing. If we realized we are just ordinary people, investment is the only way to get us rich with lesser risk. I'm not talking about money game, you know you are not going to get such a high interest in any ordinary investment, or at least it's not long term. I'm talking about the only 2 in this world, stock market and property. <br />
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Regardless you are a boss, self employed or working for others, if you want to retire early with sufficient fund and overcome inflation, you will have to invest to let your money grows more than inflation. Invest in 'assets with potential valuable in the future' is the only way to gain capital appreciation AND regular consistent income. For property, it is rental income and for stock, it is dividend. And both return is definitely better than fixed deposit over the mid to long term.<br />
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However, it is not so straight forward. You must do a lot of homeworks, able to think independently, train your insight about the prospect, be daring and greedy when you think the opportunity comes, dare to commit mistake with loss of money, and finally, be able to think big. There's a lot of logic and experience behind this, those who complied and stick to the principles, win big. <br />
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Perhaps you think local property market has already reach a peak time. If you stick to the principles above, I'm sure there are cheap sale and opportunities. If you really think that you cannot afford for now, go for stock investment. It's highly affordable. I'm talking about stock investment, not speculation! <br />
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Refer to the diagram below, it depicts a better picture of how can your assets bring regular incomes to you even you don't work, compare to salary only. Yes, perhaps you think you already know this theory long time ago. So are you already succeed? <br />
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<a href="http://ideasandpixels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/richpoorgraphic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ideasandpixels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/richpoorgraphic.jpg" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="520" height="391" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em>Source: </em><a href="http://ideasandpixels.com/"><em>http://ideasandpixels.com</em></a></div>
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Fight alone is difficult. Perhaps you should join an aggressive group and let's fight hard together. :)<br />
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Have a nice working week ahead.eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-73810295303098462232017-07-08T17:21:00.001+08:002017-07-08T17:21:19.710+08:002 Types of KnowledgeThere's a story from Charlie Munger:<br />
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I frequently tell the apocryphal story about how Max Planck, after he won the Nobel Prize, went around Germany giving the same standard lecture on the new quantum mechanics.<br />
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Over time, his chauffeur memorized the lecture and said, “Would you mind, Professor Planck, because it's so boring to stay in our routine, if I gave the lecture in Munich and you just sat in front wearing my chauffeur's hat?” Planck said, “Why not?” And the chauffeur got up and gave this long lecture on quantum mechanics. After which a physics professor stood up and asked a perfectly ghastly question. The speaker said, “Well I'm surprised that in an advanced city like Munich I get such an elementary question. I'm going to ask my chauffeur to reply.”<br />
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In this world we have two kinds of knowledge. One is Planck knowledge, the people who really know. They’ve paid the dues, they have the aptitude. And then we’ve got chauffeur knowledge. They've learned the talk. They may have a big head of hair, they may have fine temper in the voice, they’ll make a hell of an impression.<br />
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But in the end, all they have is chauffeur knowledge. I think I’ve just described practically every politician in the United States.<br />
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And you are going to have the problem in your life of getting the responsibility into the people with the Planck knowledge and away from the people with the chauffeur knowledge.<br />
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And there are huge forces working against you. My generation has failed you a bit… but you wouldn’t like it to be too easy now would you?<br />
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Source: https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2015/09/two-types-of-knowledge/eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-16002280650731493932017-07-02T22:07:00.002+08:002017-07-02T22:09:45.482+08:00How to Keep Skin Looking Young?I read a newspaper article 2 days ago about 3 sisters and their parents all look at least 10+ years younger than their actual age. The article topic immediately drew my attention.<br />
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The sisters age 36, 40 and 41, namely Sharon, Fay and Lure, but most of them look like late 20s. On top of that, all the 3 sisters look pretty and maintaining slim body. I personally prefer Lure, the eldest yet she has the most attractive face and attractive line. What shock me further is, their mother 63, but only look like 40+. That's amazing!<br />
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<a href="https://nextshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/19428649_244468959378876_4940730523900182528_n-e1498757879168.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="800" height="306" src="https://nextshark.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/19428649_244468959378876_4940730523900182528_n-e1498757879168.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Lure (41), Fayfay (40) & Sharon (36)<br />Source: https://nextshark.com </i></div>
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What could be their secret when asked by the journalist? It turns out the family works their magic with hydration and proper diet. Lure said that the key is to drink water and eat vegetables. She added that moisturizing helps so - “you don’t even need to worry about aging and wrinkles”.<br />
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Do you believe what she said? Or we just give it a try?<br />
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For the entire news URL, you can read it here.<br />
https://nextshark.com/mom-63-daughters-41-40-36-stuns-internet-youthful-looks/<br />
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<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-26517986777245318082017-06-18T14:53:00.000+08:002017-06-18T14:53:13.080+08:003 Things You Should Do Every Day If You Want to be SuccessfulWhen it comes to money, it's easy to understand how daily habits add up. There are simple equations you can use and routines you can set up to make sure you stay within your budget.<br />
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But optimizing how we spend time is more difficult, psychologists say. Spending the odd hour scrolling through social media doesn't seem like such a bad thing until we realize what that time could have been used to accomplish.<br />
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Business titans like Bill Gates, Tony Robbins and Warren Buffett know that over time, daily habits can amount to big achievements. That's why they make a point of adhering to a few specific ones.<br />
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Here are three things to do every day to become more successful:<br />
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<b>1. Take time to process</b><br />
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Every morning, Tony Robbins starts his day with 10 minutes of meditation that involves a specific breathing technique, prayer and a pep talk.<br />
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<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/7e/75/5c7e75610b0a48acc1b08d358d87516d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="736" height="312" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/5c/7e/75/5c7e75610b0a48acc1b08d358d87516d.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: <i>www.pinterest.com</i></div>
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It sets him up for success, he says, because he primes himself to be grateful and calm. Having quiet time to analyze your thoughts is associated with stress reduction, studies show.<br />
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Meditation is also shown to boost activity in areas of the brain related to paying attention, indicating it could help you focus better throughout the day.<br />
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If you're interested in starting a meditation practice, entrepreneur and author Tim Ferriss has some great advice.<br />
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"Start small, rig the game so you can win it, get in five sessions before you get too ambitious with length," Ferriss says on his podcast. "You have to win those early sessions so you establish it as a habit, so you don't have the cognitive fatigue of that practice."<br />
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Begin with a two-minute routine a Harvard-trained psychologist recommends to help you relax.<br />
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<b>2. Go on a daily walk or to the gym </b><br />
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Spending even just a few minutes every day exercising will clear your head and make you feel more motivated, studies show. That's one of the reasons many successful business leaders make sure to work out.<br />
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Twitter co-founder and Square CEO Jack Dorsey likes to run six miles every morning. Oprah Winfrey practices yoga and makes sure to log over 10,000 steps each day on her fitness tracker.<br />
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Billionaire Richard Branson says his morning routine of waking up at 5 a.m. to play tennis or bike has doubled his productivity.<br />
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"I definitely can achieve twice as much by keeping fit," Branson tells FourYourBodyPress. "It keeps the brain functioning well."<br />
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<a href="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/virginatlantic-130808111904-phpapp01/95/virgin-richard-branson-5-638.jpg?cb=1375960793" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="638" height="300" src="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/virginatlantic-130808111904-phpapp01/95/virgin-richard-branson-5-638.jpg?cb=1375960793" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: <i>www.slideshare.net</i></div>
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If you don't have time to go to the gym, take five minutes to go on a walk. Stanford researchers found that the very act of walking boosted a person's creativity by an average of 60 percent.<br />
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"TO ENJOY LIFE, YOU DON'T NEED FANCY NONSENSE, BUT YOU DO NEED TO CONTROL YOUR TIME."<br />
-Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur and author of "Tools of Titans"<br />
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<b>3. Pick up a book</b><br />
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Both Gates and Buffett make a point to read every day, a habit that research shows reduces stress and boosts intelligence.<br />
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"Reading books is my favorite way to learn about a new topic," Gates writes on his blog. "I've been reading about a book a week on average since I was a kid. Even when my schedule is out of control, I carve out a lot of time for reading."<br />
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<a href="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-44768bbb802972a14f8ab8fa9e20ed16" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="283" data-original-width="602" height="187" src="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-44768bbb802972a14f8ab8fa9e20ed16" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: <i>www.quora.com</i></div>
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Every evening before bed, he reads for one hour. By making time every day, he reads a whopping 50 books each year.<br />
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Buffett too credits much of his prowess to reading. He says he starts every morning by poring over several newspapers and estimates he spends as much as 80 percent of his day reading.<br />
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When asked once about the key to success, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO pointed to a stack of books and said, "Read 500 pages like this every day. That's how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest. All of you can do it, but I guarantee not many of you will do it."<br />
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As Ferriss writes in his popular book "Tools of Titans," habits are more important than we think.<br />
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"To enjoy life, you don't need fancy nonsense," Ferris writes, "but you do need to control your time."<br />
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Article Source: <i>http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/3-things-you-should-do-every-day-if-you-want-be-successful.html</i><br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-61777771504825854942017-06-11T16:42:00.004+08:002017-06-11T16:42:58.012+08:00Malaysia's Hotels Check-In Time is 2pm Now?Do you know West Malaysia, especially Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Melaka's most of the budgeted and mid cost hotels' check-in time has changed from 12pm to 2pm?<br />
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I only realized this when I brought my family there for vacation last week (and that's why there's no blog update from me last week ;)). The last time I visited KL was only early last year.<br />
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<a href="https://www.smartertravel.com/uploads/2017/03/tip-hotel-housekeeping-shutterstock-1400x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="286" data-original-width="800" height="142" src="https://www.smartertravel.com/uploads/2017/03/tip-hotel-housekeeping-shutterstock-1400x500.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: https://www.smartertravel.com</i></div>
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Out of my curiosity, I asked the receptionists but they did not tell me the truth. They just said it's their policy. I did ask Grab (similar to Uber in Malaysia) driver what's going on later. I was told that it's because the hotel operators are short of 'house keepers', due to increasing number of hotels and tourists, unable to find local workers, lesser foreign labors available as Malaysia currency has dropped so much and increasing foreign labor cost.<br />
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Well, I'm not sure if it's true, but it does makes sense they want to postpone the check-in time from 12pm to 2pm to alleviate the house keeping resources.<br />
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If you ask why there's no local people want to do house keeping job? Please don't get me wrong, they don't want to work for low to mid cost hotels due to the low pay condition.eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-68805336549922172522017-05-28T17:07:00.003+08:002017-05-28T17:07:57.844+08:00Project Management Professional (PMP)If you are interested to be a project manager, or currently a project manager who wish to get a certification on project management, perhaps you can try to go for Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.<br />
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I did it before and it is not that difficult, as long as you put some efforts on it. Before I took it, I was a only 1.5 years project manager, which is consider green. For exam details, you can refer to PMI web site, as it can be changed from time to time. But we have no choice that we have to sit there for a couple of hours like a student to go through hundreds of questions!<br />
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Below are how I did for my PMP certification:<br />
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1. When I did research via Internet, most of the people are proposing PMP Exam Prep from Rita Mulcahy. Without hesitate, I purchased PMP Exam Prep latest edition written by Rita Mulcahy. It costs about USD60-80 depends on where you buy. You can buy directly from Amazon for cost saving. No doubt, the content she written are really aim for exam prep. The way she tried to explain is bringing us to the right understanding on what the answer we should input. One time study may not enough because I don't really get 60% of understanding from my first study. The book is quite thick but the second time should be very fast.I spent about 4 weeks to read it twice. <br />
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<a href="http://store.rmcproject.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/m/pmp_8ed_updated_book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://store.rmcproject.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p/m/pmp_8ed_updated_book.jpg" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="300" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: http://www.rmcls.com</i></div>
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2. When I started my 2nd time study on PMP exam prep, I have registered for the official 4 days PMP training course at Kuala Lumpur (KL). The instructor was the famous MC Leong. I managed to pick up the training syllabus easily because I have done item 1. Among all students, I was the only one can pick up, while the rests are facing some challenge as the instructor is doing knowledge transfer based on the PMI's PMBOK (A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge) text book.<br />
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3. Upon return from the training, I scheduled for the exam in 3 weeks time. I went through the PMBOK text book once and then start to do sample exam questions available from the Internet.<br />
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<a href="http://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/other-images/publication-covers/pmbok-guide-standards/pmbok-guide-5th-edition.jpg?w=600" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/other-images/publication-covers/pmbok-guide-standards/pmbok-guide-5th-edition.jpg?w=600" data-original-height="776" data-original-width="600" height="320" width="247" /></a></div>
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<i>Source: http://www.pmi.org</i></div>
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4. The final stage is doing the exam. I flew over to KL again for my PMP exam. It was a sleepless night as I was stress. I only managed to sleep a couple of hours then attend the 4 hours long rally exam! About 45 mins before time's up, I managed to finished the questions. I examined back the questions which I have doubt, and then end the exam 20 mins before ending. And kaching! it shows passed!<br />
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For those who is single, have free time at night and weekend, and on the project management path, perhaps it's time to go for PMP. It's an excited one.<br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-15925876864324242442017-05-21T16:11:00.003+08:002017-05-21T16:11:55.890+08:00Past Experience Can Causes MistakeI learned an interesting lesson few days ago when I got a loaner car from local KIA/Mazda service center for my car issue inspection. I would like to share something with you here.<br />
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Well, I have drive a car with the located functions over the past 20 years. I would say I'm very experience in driving a car, including how to switch on a air-con, release break, etc. But, I have to admin I was wrong after this lesson.<br />
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The car service center loan a Mazda 929 to me this time, which I have never drive before but I would say it's classic and old. I'm not sure why they treat me so 'good', as previously they have loaned me Optima, Carens, Sorento, etc.<br />
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<a href="https://img.vehiclepad.com/7ca905f3575532a30b5bde6b357f4f68_file2015-mazda-6-touring-25l-vs-1990-mazda-929-v6i-16651312078-1990-mazda-929_4128-2322.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://img.vehiclepad.com/7ca905f3575532a30b5bde6b357f4f68_file2015-mazda-6-touring-25l-vs-1990-mazda-929-v6i-16651312078-1990-mazda-929_4128-2322.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>Mazda 929 vs 6<br />Source: www.vehiclepad.com</i></div>
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When I got the car at service center, I noticed it is the same breaking system with Mercedes. I try to press the break pedal to release the break. But I couldn't and it stuck there. I tried to look around alternative for a couple of minutes, but to no avail. In the end I have walk inside the service center and ask the counter service guy for assistance. He showed to me that there's a break release puller to release the break, which is located at the lower left of the steering.<br />
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I have to admit this design is sucks, as it is totally blocked by the steering. The 'break release' label on it also the same color as the puller, how am I suppose to notice it? However, when think back, I have leverage too much on my past experience. And my focus is only on using my past experience driving Mercedes to release the break. I believe that's the point where I didn't notice the puller when I look through the options over the dashboard.<br />
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And after driving for a while, I noticed the car air-con is not working! I thought my car would be fixed by the end of the day as I sent in before 8am on Thu. I need to bare with it for just 1 day. I feel very dizzy in the late noon because the weather is very hot and I need to drive around for working. What make thing worsen is, I didn't get call to collect the car in the late noon.<br />
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The next day, I decided to call the service center to complain about the loaner car. How dare they loan me the car to drive without an air-con! I looked for the same guy and asked for my car status, unfortunately they told me they need me to leave it over the weekend to further fix the defects. I asked him about the air-con, and he said that car air-con was modified, I just need to switch it on from the right of the steering (1st switch from left) instead of the central air-con switch:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoL-qlT5jIk3ZePC7BTocj5NsYeBfULPic-5JVidzBk_dbRrQMZJyOpWLk7w8tRpNSeb6X4xI5WzJ_dkQgm064avzXVpBZ0Yj88-eSwO6H43kLiD0jPIQcPT4EYrCwkUEMwHqPK0OTvUF/s1600/aircon+switch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzoL-qlT5jIk3ZePC7BTocj5NsYeBfULPic-5JVidzBk_dbRrQMZJyOpWLk7w8tRpNSeb6X4xI5WzJ_dkQgm064avzXVpBZ0Yj88-eSwO6H43kLiD0jPIQcPT4EYrCwkUEMwHqPK0OTvUF/s400/aircon+switch.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<i>Modified aircon switch</i></div>
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<i>Source: ekimkee.blogspot.com</i></div>
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I was speechless.<br />
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The moral of my story, try not to judge or make final decision based on past experience alone. There's always something we overlook, or beyond what we have know or seen. ;)<br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-19640236058277205552017-05-13T20:26:00.000+08:002017-05-13T20:26:19.999+08:00Movie Review: Passengers 2016I just watched Passengers last night, and hence would like to give a review about this movie. I'm sorry as I know this is a Dec 2016 movie but I just came across it yesterday!<br />
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<a href="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk4MjU3MDIzOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjM2MzY2MDI@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,675,1000_AL_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTk4MjU3MDIzOF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMjM2MzY2MDI@._V1_SY1000_CR0,0,675,1000_AL_.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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Source: www.imdb.com</div>
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In summary, the story line sounds very simple and boring, but when watch along I feel it is all right and I managed to watch it in one shoot (normally I split a movie few times to watch). What keep me watching is the interesting stuffs found in the movie when Chris Pratt trying to explore new stuffs in the spacecraft. After a while Jennifer Lawrence joined, then only started the typical dating story. Next, it comes the very typical disaster, and end by typical ending.<br />
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There's no surprise for the movie, and overall only 3-4 people are staring in this movie! But somehow director managed to make use of the spaceship new things to create the curiosity out from us. On top of that, Jennifer Lawrence is pretty and she is trying hard to show off her body. That's the only selling point I guess.<br />
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Below are my review rating about Passengers:<br />
Cast: 7.5/10<br />
Plot: 8.5/10<br />
Effect: 7/10<br />
Action: N/A<br />
Story line: 4/10<br />
<b>Overall: 7/10</b><br />
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You can spend time to watch, if you like about adventurous. ;)<br />
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-88641709479970721682017-05-07T21:00:00.004+08:002017-05-07T21:00:49.521+08:00Money Game's JokeAs you know Money Game is really a hot topic in Malaysia for the past 2 weeks. There's a joke about how it works.<br />
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<a href="http://img.stomp.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_detail_fi_breakpoints_theme_bootstrap_screen-lg-min_1x/public/images/2016/07/scam.jpg?itok=z4J_Sc5U" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.stomp.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_detail_fi_breakpoints_theme_bootstrap_screen-lg-min_1x/public/images/2016/07/scam.jpg?itok=z4J_Sc5U" height="240" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: www.stomp.com.sg</div>
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"One day, the vegetable market comes a beggar. Some people donate him some money, but most people don't.<br />
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The beggar asked and recorded all the people's address who donated him some money. After few days, a Bentley stopped in front of him. He rides on the car and visited each of the person in the address list to pay back the money, but pay back in 10 times of what they offered earlier. $1 he gave $10 back, and $5 he gave $50 back. The news was spread widely and most people in the vege market were shocked.<br />
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The next day, he came to the market again. The mass started to rush and gave him money. Within an hours, more than hundreds have passed the money to him. As usual, he records all the people address properly. The next few days, he brought assistants and more and more people gave him money. He also promised he will return they money to them in few days time.<br />
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After one week, the people started to stop giving money to him. And hence, the beggar collected a lot of money, then he left for good and did not return anyone's money.<br />
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The name of the beggar is called ......... Money game."<br />
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<a href="http://img.stomp.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_detail_fi_breakpoints_theme_bootstrap_screen-lg-min_1x/public/images/2016/07/scam3.jpg?itok=SO2cUZ2l" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.stomp.com.sg/s3fs-public/styles/article_detail_fi_breakpoints_theme_bootstrap_screen-lg-min_1x/public/images/2016/07/scam3.jpg?itok=SO2cUZ2l" height="271" width="400" /></a></div>
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Source: www.stomp.com.sg</div>
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I have involved in money game once, and of course, I was very unlucky as I joined during the last stage, where the fund has already grew up to $200M. After joined for less than 3 months, it collapsed and the rest is history. I paid $8,000 for this lesson. ;(eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-34432193408767907312017-04-30T16:45:00.002+08:002017-04-30T16:45:37.207+08:00To Buy or Rent a House?Accidentally comes across the video below, to buy or rent a house for your own stay?<br />
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Your call.<br />
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<doctype html=""> <script src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/core.min.js"></script><script src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/video-plugin/main_html5.min.js"></script><script src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/skin-plugin/html5-skin.min.js"></script><script src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/video-plugin/bit_wrapper.min.js"></script><script src="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/video-plugin/osmf_flash.min.js"></script><link href="//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/skin-plugin/html5-skin.min.css" rel="stylesheet"></link></doctype><br />
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<script>var playerParam = {'pcode':'BhdmY6l9g002rBhQ6aEBZiheacDu','playerBrandingId':'6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e','skin': {'config': '//player.ooyala.com/static/v4/stable/latest/skin-plugin/skin.json'} };OO.ready(function() {window.pp = OO.Player.create('container', 'oxcGszNTE6eSxisbhPC7r9N-g8G4-Qok', playerParam); }); </script>
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eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-4085639723218087732017-04-23T16:02:00.000+08:002017-04-23T16:02:08.591+08:00How Good is Your Adversity Quotient (AQ)?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">I came across Aversity Quotient while reading a business magazine this morning. Hence, would like to share it with you here. Hope it will helps in your success and performance of whatever you are doing.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">The information you are about to read is a clip of the introductory concepts and principles of Adversity Quotient (AQ) developed by Dr. Paul Stoltz. Complete information on this subject can be further accessed through his website at </span><a href="http://www.peaklearning.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #539424; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; outline: none; text-align: justify;">www.peaklearning.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9wQEBmAV8WKmanKA1vw_m1qjxhSCa2ZXO5J5fgLK4AE5iDSodV8b-USQG6NhCElAGA80Q99MuDo_vBmnJ3K2FG_HiW7395mm25LoABOksG2y4e_prLQxGvM_SEnW7vV5G3Ds3Yvxar4/s1600/TTC-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB9wQEBmAV8WKmanKA1vw_m1qjxhSCa2ZXO5J5fgLK4AE5iDSodV8b-USQG6NhCElAGA80Q99MuDo_vBmnJ3K2FG_HiW7395mm25LoABOksG2y4e_prLQxGvM_SEnW7vV5G3Ds3Yvxar4/s400/TTC-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span id="fullpost" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Definition & Concept </span><br /><br />Dr. Paul Stoltz defines Adversity Quotient as “the capacity of the person to deal with the adversities of his life. As such, it is the science of human resilience.”<br /><br />For many years, researchers have devoted a great deal of their studies to Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and Emotional Quotient (EQ), which are considered to be determinants of success and superior accomplishment. A decade ago (1997), Paul Stoltz introduced a new yet interesting & intriguing concept – Adversity Quotient (AQ), which tells how well one withstands adversity and his ability to triumph over it. In fact, more researches recently have shown that measurement of AQ is a better index in achieving success than IQ, education or even social skills.<br /><br />By understanding the concept of AQ we can better understand how we and others react to challenge and adversity in all aspects of our lives. In fact, how people respond to adversity is a strong indicator of ability to succeed in many endeavors.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Scientific Backbone of AQ </span><br /><br />AQ is rooted in three sciences: psychoneuroimmunology, neurophysiology, and cognitive psychology. They are its building blocks. Hundreds of research studies lend support to the role AQ plays in determining one’s ability to triumph over obstacles.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Psychoneuroimmunology</span> is a field in science that examines the mind-body relationship. In essence, it studies the relationship between what one thinks and feels and what goes on in the body. How do thoughts and feelings affect the body and its overall health?<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bottom Line</span> Your thoughts and emotions determine the strength of your body chemistry down to the cellular level.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Neurophysiology</span> is a field in science that focuses on the brain. It studies how the brain learns and functions. How are habits formed and what must occur to change habits once they are established?<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bottom Line</span> The brain is ideally equipped to hardwire habits of thought and behavior.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Cognitive Psychology </span>is the most popular aspect of psychology focusing on the relationships between thoughts and feelings associated with one’s mental health. While there are many aspects to cognitive psychology, of particular importance to AQ is the research examining the human need for control or mastery over one’s life.<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Bottom Line</span> Learned Helplessness, considered to be the “Landmark Theory of the Century,” explains why many people give up or stop short when faced with life’s challenges.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Measurement Tool </span><br /><br />To measure AQ, Stoltz developed an assessment instrument called Adversity Response Profile (ARP).<br /><br />The Adversity Response Profile is the only scientifically-grounded tool in existence for measuring how effectively one deals with adversity, or one’s AQ. AQ, according to him, is a valid predictor of one’s success, stress-threshold, performance, risk-taking, capacity for change, productivity, perseverance, improvement, energy, and health.<br /><br />The ARP is a highly valid assessment instrument based on 25 years of research and 1000+ studies at more than 150 universities and organizations worldwide. Unlike IQ, AQ can be improved!<br /><br />AQ scores fall into 3 broad bands, with an expected normal distribution.<br /><br />Low (0-59) AQ characteristics:<br />• Low levels of motivation, energy, performance, and persistence.<br />• Tendency to ‘catastrophize’ events.<br /><br />Moderate (95-134) AQ characteristics:<br />• Under utilization of potential.<br />• Problems take a significant and unnecessary toll, making climbing difficult.<br />• A sense of helplessness and despair arises from time to time.<br /><br />High AQ (166-200) characteristics:<br />• Able to withstand significant adversity and continue forward and upward progress.<br />• Maintains appropriate perspective on events and responses to them.<br /><br />AQ response is comprised of four CORE dimensions. Understanding them is the first step toward improving your response to adversity, expanding your capacity, and, ultimately, increasing your overall AQ.<br /><br />Now, look at your CORE breakdown and determine which aspects of the AQ you need to improve.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">C = Control </span><br />To what extent can you influence the situation?<br />How much control do you perceive you have?<br />Those with higher AQs perceive they have significantly more control and influence in adverse situations than do those with lower AQs. Even in situations that appear overwhelming or out of their hands, those with higher AQs find some facet of the situation they can influence. Those with lower AQs respond as if they have little or no control and often give up.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">O = Ownership </span><br />To what extent do you hold yourself responsible for improving this situation?<br />To what extent are you accountable to play some role in making it better?<br />Accountability is the backbone of action. Those with higher AQs hold themselves accountable for dealing with situations regardless of their cause. Those with lower AQs deflect accountability and most often feel victimized and helpless.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">R = Reach </span><br />How far does the fallout of this situation reach into other areas of your work or life?<br />To what extent does the adversity extend beyond the situation at hand?<br />Keeping the fallout under control and limiting the reach of adversity is essential for efficient and effective problem solving. Those with higher AQs keep setbacks and challenges in their place, not letting them infest the healthy areas of their work and lives. Those with lower AQs tend to catastrophize, allowing a setback in one area to bleed into other, unrelated areas and become destructive.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">E = Endurance </span><br />How long will the adversity endure?<br />Seeing beyond even enormous difficulties is an essential skill for maintaining hope. Those with higher AQs have the uncanny ability to see past the most interminable difficulties and maintain hope and optimism. Those with lower AQs see adversity as dragging on indefinitely, if not permanently.<br /><br />Note: The average ARP score is 147.5.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Responding to Adversity </span><br /><br />At the highest level people fall into two groups:<br /><br />A. Pessimists<br />• Consider any adversity to be permanent, all pervading, and deeply personal.<br />• They believe that any crisis will never end, and that it will destroy everything.<br />• They also believe it is their fault.<br /><br />B. Optimists<br />• See adversity and problems as challenges<br />• See problems as temporary, limited, and external to themselves.<br />• Do not internalize issues, and have a ‘This too shall pass’ philosophy.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">How to Improve AQ?</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">L</span>isten to your response to adversity.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">E</span>xplore all origins and your ownership responses.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A</span>nalyze the evidence.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">D</span>o something. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Source: </span><span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">http://stitchestm.blogspot.com/2007/09/adversity-quotient-aq-emerging.html</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></span>eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-36155356368896592912017-04-16T12:44:00.002+08:002017-04-16T12:44:42.722+08:00Property Investment - Loan Compression Strategy?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">A lot
people want to make money out of property market due to its 'easiness' and 'do
nothing' but via rental and capital appreciation. However, there's a guru
shared in FB that the one should try to avoid Loan Compression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">What is
"Loan Compression"? Do you know what the consequences are if the
local banks found out?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.awaba.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.awaba.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/22.jpg" height="206" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It means
when you are greedy wanting to buy 3 properties at the same time knowing that
your income can only support 1 unit, u are trying to trick different banks by
submitting different applications for your 3 separate unit loans, and when
both bank gives loan approval, u sign at the same time *(hoping that the bank
won’t check your CCRIS before releasing your loan) and you've
successfully tricked the bank by buying 3 property at the same time which
your income supposedly only able to afford 1 unit.</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Everybody
knows in year 2011 Bank Negara had imposed a ruling of MoF (Margin of Finance)
70% or LTV (Loan to Value) 70% for 3rd property onward. (Which was meant to
bring down household debts, reduce gearing, and control housing prices).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When one
is being greedy, in order to buy more at the same time with 90% loan young
innocent individuals are advised by so called expert Property Guru to Multiple
Submission using "Loan Compression" technique.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This is
based on true story where a local financing expert property guru teaching an
innocent lady to execute Loan Compression.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Last night
a little naive and innocent lady came to me and ask for this ethical FB guru
advise that whether what she is doing now being rational or not. She paid money
to join a class conducted by a Property Guru and join them into purchase of a
RM1million property with rebates up to 20%.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">(If she
can get a loan up to 90%, she is able to Cash out RM100k from this purchase,
because developer mark up SPA giving higher rebates).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As a
matter of fact, this little lady is a salary earner only getting a paycheck of
RM8,000 a month.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">She was
advised by the property guru to WHACK x5 units at the same time (RM1mil x 5 =
RM5million portfolio = RM4.5mil loans = RM500k Cash Out).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Using
Loan compression technique trying to deceive the banks by submitting
application into 5 different banks hoping that all loans will get through so
that she will Cash Out RM500k with a RM4.5million loans to repay, a monthly
installment of up to RM25,000 *(plus maintenance = RM28,000 TOTAL).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://nuprop.my/img/property_images/20160503164909_EastParcF_Fiamma_podium.jpg?w=570&h=428" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://nuprop.my/img/property_images/20160503164909_EastParcF_Fiamma_podium.jpg?w=570&h=428" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Banks
before releasing/disburse the loan to the developer, the credit/risk department
will once again check the applicant ccris, and all the loans will reflect in
the ccris if Loan Offer signed. Once the bank sees there are x5 loans under
ccris with a total of RM4.5mil loans, it will trigger an "ALERT" and
Then the Risks & Investigation Officer will:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Terminate
the applicant loan acceptance (and put the individual name into Special
Attention Record) within all the banks (Internal Systems) in future she will likely
not being able to get loan from this bank anymore.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The bank
will recall the loan acceptance (consider nothing happened). LUCKY case.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The bank
will INVESTIGATE this individual by interviewing the applicant to justify what
are the loans. Once found out, the bank will REDUCE THE LOAN MARGIN to 70% and
applicant requires to pay additional differential of 10% to the developer
(because got 20% rebates off spa initially).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If the
loan has disburse/drawdown to the developer, and after few months Bank's risk
dept will random pick applicants to check their ccris, if found out there are
multiple loans in ccris, banks will investigate the applicant to justify the
loans. If cannot justify, the banks will RECALL and REDUCE the margin to 70%.
Hence applicants need to top up the 10% to BANK, because bank has release the
loan money to developer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">If the
purchaser cannot afford to pay and bail out, then BANKRUPTCY is her only
option!</span></div>
<div style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-32206399909935822062017-04-09T18:27:00.001+08:002017-04-09T18:27:16.970+08:00Personal Sales Experience SharingIn my previous post, I shared on the common traits about top sales. Today, I would like to share a little bit on my sales experience. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I do involving in the sales field, unfortunately I'm not the top sales in my industry in terms of numbers. Currently I'm still far away from the top sales. Nonetheless, I'm a person who is always wanting to spend effort to improve and achieve my goals. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/brettwallace-140326095734-phpapp02/95/brett-wallace-how-top-sales-teams-leverage-linkedin-for-social-media-engagement-12-638.jpg?cb=1395829650" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://image.slidesharecdn.com/brettwallace-140326095734-phpapp02/95/brett-wallace-how-top-sales-teams-leverage-linkedin-for-social-media-engagement-12-638.jpg?cb=1395829650" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I noticed that extraordinary hardworking is insufficient nowadays, as most of the sales will have to do so. To stand out from the ordinary batch, my experience taught me 3 things, as follows:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
1) Work differently </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
If you follow the same sales strategy and methods that most salespersons are applying, then the outcome perhaps more or less the same. Yes, price always dominant the decision, but it's not 100%. That is why we have top sales. How to work differently? </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There's many strategies you can find online or from books, The advantages can be relationship i.e. make friends, sales pitch i.e. know how to convince, referrals - highly recommended by prospects' friends, etc.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
2) Prepare to change</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Things are changing, so do sales strategy, products and solutions. I do see some products have not make a single change over the past 5 years, and that is why their revenues are dropping. To remain on top or become a top sales, sales strategy always need to accommodate or adjust to the latest trend or market. Or we call it constantly improve. Don't strictly follow the rules. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For example, I noticed one IT infrastructure vendor is a top sales vendor selling network hardware solution. And recently they have launched new network solution which is cloud. And the customers are buying their ideas because the cloud solution saves them a lot of CAPEX.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
3) Efficiency</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
With the advent of the technology, communications make easier, and things get done faster nowadays. So do our efficiency. We all like to be serve in priority. For example, an ordinary salesperson spent about 3 days to handle 1 case, we tried to spend 1 day instead. I'm always practicing it, and believe me, it always works and the customer might return if the price is right. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Cheers. </div>
eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-62750838883598922002017-04-02T18:00:00.001+08:002017-04-02T18:00:09.329+08:00Common Traits for Local Top Sales<div class="MsoNormal">
I read a business magazine lately reporting a couple of top
sales in Taiwan doing well amid this economy recession. Coincidentally, I also
came across a local newspaper article on reporting a couple of top sales that are
doing very well amid the worsen economy situation in Malaysia. And what beaten
me was, I also came across the local top sales sharing how they walk against
the crowd to get their title on air (radio)!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You have to know most of the salespersons are struggling for
their numbers during this hard time. It’s very challenging to exceed the target
quota company assigned and become the top sales during this period. But if you
are, then I would like to congratulate you. Because you managed to stand out of
the crowd and become a top sales during this period! And if you managed to hit
it now, most probably you will be doing even better when the good time is
coming.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/23541/file-582402287-jpg/top_sales_performer.jpg?t=1403946156000" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/23541/file-582402287-jpg/top_sales_performer.jpg?t=1403946156000" height="262" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Apart from sharing their numbers hit, they also shared what
are the secrets to achieve it. Well, some you may feel are common, entertaining
and exaggerated, but some perhaps can take it as reference. However there are
few traits and sharing these successful top sales have in common. Below are few
of them I remembered and would like to share with you.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">1)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Faced Initial Failure and Rejection</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of them faced initial failure. Even though they spent a
lot of efforts, they get a lot of rejections from the customers initially. Some
of them are not familiar with the products or services, workflow, industry,
etc, that caused them losing the deals.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">2)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Getting a mentor</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most of them have a mentor or immediate supervisor / manager
which have vast experience and successful assisting them.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">3)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Extraordinary hardworking</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They are extraordinary hardworking than anyone else in the
group, company and industry. This seems the essential rule of thumb to climb in
the sales field. They sacrificed their leisure, dating, family and hobby in
order to work this out.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">4)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Passion in their job</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Normally you found they have great passion in what they are
doing. Yes, perhaps it’s because of money, but they do like to do it. Else, eventually
the customer can feel that they are just entertaining them for money only.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">5)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">They treat the customers as friends</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, it’s always easier to sell to friends compare to
stranger, because friends do help!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">6)</span><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Stay out of comfortable zone</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to be outstanding, you have to try something other
salespersons don’t try. Perhaps some of unique sales tactics and strategies.
Else how to achieve outstanding numbers? Always staying out of comfortable zone
in order to make more out of it. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If you want to make more money at this difficult time and
you are highly interested with the traits above, perhaps you can consider to be
involving in the sales field.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://successfulculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/out-of-comfort-zone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://successfulculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/out-of-comfort-zone.jpg" height="232" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In fact, these traditional traits are actually in the midst of outdated from my opinion. If you are able to think and do out of the box, perhaps you will make it anyhow. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-25885260869037796202017-03-26T17:31:00.000+08:002017-03-26T17:31:49.850+08:00How to Improve Employees Loyalty?<div class="MsoNormal">
I always hear a lot of bosses complaining about their staff,
in terms of performance, quality and loyalty. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among all, perhaps employers would like to pay high
attention to high performance staffs’ loyalty. As they may able to churn out infinite
values to the company. If they are not taken care properly, they may either
jump to competitor or come out at their own to seek for better return.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I have come across a magazine’s article about 3 simple ways
on how to improve the royalty of the employees, to let them fight for you.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->1.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Reward Adequately<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I did see some stingy and generous bosses. But please don’t
get me wrong. Some bosses have their own ways to reward their staffs, but they
are pretty stingy when come to operating and personal expenses. If the staff
achieve what they want, please do reward adequately. With great reward, they
will know how to achieve out of their best. Else, who want to fight hard for
you without it?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->2.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Empowerment<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Avoid micro management. Once you empowered your trusted
employee to execute the goal, he / she should have full authorization. Do not
overwrite them unless they are misaligned with the goal. If you feel
uncomfortable, do ask them to provide weekly report or have weekly meeting to
discuss the progress.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->3.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Prioritization <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Human makes mistakes, so do your trusted staffs when they
execute the company’s goal. Do prioritize the goal and embrace their mistakes.
Discipline is important. But sometimes because of pursuing company’s goal, it
is unavoidable to break the rule to get the best out of it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]-->4.<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span><!--[endif]-->Encouragement<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The boss would need to consistently encourage and make sure
the staff are progressing. The history shows that they can execute the company
goal better if there’s positive courage from the superior. A simple
conversation of the day perhaps will makes his / her day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Have fun being a management.<o:p></o:p></div>
eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-5636501462641429572017-03-18T22:08:00.001+08:002017-03-18T22:08:14.814+08:00Discovering of Value Added Employee<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I went to a famous old time coffee shop for tea break while
waiting for cash wash this evening. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I guess this coffee shop has about minimum 20 to 30
foreign waitors and they are required to wear uniform during working. One of
them somehow in casual wear and I found out he is actually on leave today. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
What surprised me is that, he served the customers
whenever available, while spending his free time to sit down to talk to
customer, go out direct car traffics, and walk around. Is this what we called
value added employee?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.corporatebenefitsolutions.biz/files/65637/Warren%20Buffet%20Quote%202~001.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.corporatebenefitsolutions.biz/files/65637/Warren%20Buffet%20Quote%202~001.png" height="140" width="400" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
Perhaps he has nothing to do during that period, but he
still help the boss to serve the customers during his leave. There's definitely
no extra pay for that. How many of us willing to do so? Is it what we called
value added employee?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
I believe most of the bosses would like this kind of
employee. Not only because the extra hard works, but it is more like contributing
as one of the family members, trying to help whenever possible. </div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
If this kind of
spirit exists in a company, I strongly believe the company can do better than
others, have the bigger possibility to attract more customers and obtain more revenues,
and eventually, the boss can distribute bigger bonuses to the employees under
normal circumstances.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4129392079265922671.post-76318772762189593852017-03-12T16:01:00.002+08:002017-03-12T16:01:22.244+08:00Generate Cash Flow from Property RentalWith the drastic hike of property prices for the past 8 years with the economy recession over the past 1 year, most of property investors facing great challenges on generating positive cash flow from their existing residential property. For rental supporter like me, I think most of our objective is the same and simple, we just want to fully cover our monthly mortgage using our rental income. But how?<br />
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I noticed there's a guru discussed about this topic in Facebook, and I thought of discuss about this topic today. I have some thoughts about it last night, perhaps I'm not an innovative person, I have not much ideas about it. Nonetheless, below are the 5 common ideas that I noticed they are in practice nowadays.<br />
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1) Homestay<br />
Convert your residential unit into homestay and promote it under homestay app i.e. Airbnb, instead of monthly rental. This can generate huge positive cash flow compared to monthly rental income. It's tax free some more! However, this is suitable only for tourist hotspot, CBD or city center.<br />
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<a href="https://www.victoriahotels.asia/images/sapa/homestay/Victoria%20Homestay_Sapa_Vietnam_Overview%2017_Fotor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://www.victoriahotels.asia/images/sapa/homestay/Victoria%20Homestay_Sapa_Vietnam_Overview%2017_Fotor.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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2) Turn into Many Rooms<br />
If your residential unit is located at CBD or city center, perhaps you can partition your unit into as many rooms as possible, and rent it per room basis. This also can then turn to homestay if you want to. If it's condo, you may need to check with the building management if you are allow to do so.<br />
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3) Dual Keys Condo Unit<br />
If your unit is dual keys unit, you are able to split the unit into 2 tenants or more. Hence, generate more rental income for your unit.<br />
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4) Target Niche Tenant<br />
Some affordable tenants favor certain interior design, setup, lifestyle and property type. Target them and then renovate towards what they are looking for. Of course the risk is higher, but potential return is there.<br />
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5) Leverage on Agent<br />
Look for a outstanding agent, get their advice and pay extraordinary commission to them to get what you want. Perhaps this is the better way if 1-4 are no suit for you.<br />
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<a href="http://maxwellestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Indias-top-Maxwell-Estate-Agents-Buy-Sell-Rent-Property-NRI-Expats-MNC-Corporate1-900x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://maxwellestate.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Indias-top-Maxwell-Estate-Agents-Buy-Sell-Rent-Property-NRI-Expats-MNC-Corporate1-900x600.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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There should be more creative and innovative ideas out there. All the best, property investors!eKimkeehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12737761786140892171noreply@blogger.com0