Negotiate with your telco!

For those who are young, do take note that the faster you shed the world of your idealism, the better you'll be. I took 30 yrs or so to realise that the world is built on relationships. It's that simple. I give you a very recent example of how not to follow the rules.My gf wanted to get a new phone from a telco. Having convinced myself that life is truly negotiable, I told her to call them up and asked them to entice her to recontract under them...

Read More

Details of brunch on Boxing day

Happy Christmas and a Merry new year!For those whose names are listed in the here, do take note of the following:1. Venue of the dim sum lunch is at Suntec city, Pearl River Palace. Pearl river palace is located at Suntec convention and exhibition centre, on level 3. If you take the escalator, you need to turn to the right and walk straight into this chinese restaurant.For those who have problems, do contact me at nine-four-three-five-eight-nine-three-zero.2. The time of the event is at 1130am, 26th Dec 2008, a Friday. The last order is at 1400,...

Read More

The Joseph cycle - Simon Sim (2004 edition)

I happened to come across a copy of the famous book by Simon Sim - The Joseph Cycle (2004 edition) while browsing through the Singapore section of the national library. Much to my surprise, there are a lot of gems and treasures hidden among the singapore section, which I had always avoided till yesterday. There are old copies of company annual reports, industry and market analysis, accounting standards in singapore, local tax guide, local real estate...

Read More

DBS rights issue

DBS halt trading early this morning and rumors are flying about as to what is the actual reasons for the trading halt. I thought that DBS will be settling the troubled bonds issue today, as the relevant authorities mentioned that an answer would be made at the end of this month. But that was not the reason for the trading halt. The real reason caught me a little by surprise.DBS announced that it is going to raise capital to the tune of SGD 4 bil...

Read More

Thanking my lucky stars

Before we know it, we've flipped near to the end of the calender. As the end of this year ushers in the new year, I begin to reflect on all that had happened for this year. In summary, I would say that this is a very exceptional year for me, in terms of my career, investment philosophy and my personal growth.Here's a few things to be thankful of:1. I've survived my 2nd year in the stock market, with a few spots of 1st degree burns and a few amputated...

Read More

A strange dream

Yesterday night, I had a very strange dream. I dreamt that a golden buddha was sitting under a banyan tree in one of Ho Bee's development - Dakota residences. A booming voice echoed around me and strange as it may seem, the voice sounds very familiar.I nearly pee-ed in my pants when the golden buddha opened his palms, as if to squeeze me like those shortists who had the impunity to short noble. The golden buddha smiled, the first time since I met...

Read More

About this blog

La papillion is french for butterfly. This blog chronicles my journey from an amateur in the stock market to where I am today. Have I turned into a beautiful butterfly? I don't know, but I think my metamorphosis is still on-going now :)Well, the intention to start a blog so that years down the road, I can look back and see what I've learned along the journey. But in life, things seldom go accordingly to plans - and that's a good thing! Along the way, the chatbox - a central feature of this blog - grew into a nice community of like-minded people...

Read More

The financial crisis and the shift from west to east

This is a speech by Stephen Green, group chairman of HSBC holdings, at the FT/DIFC World Financial Centres summit, dated 20th Oct, 2008. He makes a lot of sense all the time, so I think it's worthwhile listening to what he had to say about the world in general. It's a bit drawn out, but I assure you, there are lots of gems in it.Here's the actual link of this speech which I've cut and pasted here:---------------------------------------------------Good...

Read More

Managing the Schrodinger's cat

I think there's a fundamental shift in my research techniques. After immersing myself in investing and all the literature on investments, I came to the realisation that numbers and ratios are not everything. What is? Management!Imagine out of your classmates in secondary school, you're supposed to pick one whom you think will have the greatest potential to be the most successful. Who do you pick? Do you pick the ones that perennially top the cohort?...

Read More

New template!

After a number of complains on my blog regarding the old red/white/black template, I decided to overhaul the old one and usher in the new template. This will be the 2nd template change that I had for the year, even though it's damn tough changing it. Imagine changing the codes and keying in the widgets in again!The usual complaints for the old templates are:1. The contrast of the background and the words are not sharp enough. Hard for those with...

Read More

Life is negotiable

It takes a few years to temper a youth's idealism, especially about the world at large. When I'm young and green, I thought that the world follows rules and that these rules are un-bendable and unyielding. How wrong was I! As I get more experience dealing with people and thinking how certain people gets certain favors without going through the usual route, I came to realisation that in life, most things are negotiable. You just have to dare ask...

Read More