Lazy sunday

This is one of those lazy Sunday that I didn't have to work and have the time to read newspaper at a very leisurely pace. This is so unlike the past few weeks where I've to scan the headlines and basically leave it at that. So, naturally, my eyes focused on the investing segment of the Sunday Times. This person was giving 5 tips on how to invest despite the bear. My first impression is that how come nobody is giving tips on how to invest despite the bull. Perhaps it's our natural inclination to see prices rise up. Even the major stock exchanges...

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The flight of Icarus

I would like to share a Greek mythology with you. This is not about Odysseus nor Sisyphus - it's about the story of Daedalus and more importantly, his son Icarus. You might not have heard of Daedalus but surely, you must have heard of the Minotaur. The Minotaur is the half man half bull creature that is found in the Labyrinth of Crete. There is a great story of how Theseus, the 'real' son of Poseidon (not the Hollywood fake version of Percy Jackson),...

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Reality check 2

This is more of a personal reminder not to over invest in the market. There's a lot of uses for my cash these days and the problem becomes a little bit more thorny when the market is showing more value these days, after crashing and crashing when the Olympian Gods turned their backs on the troubled Greece. Better do a little back-of-the-envelope calculation to ensure that I have sufficient cash for immediate use. Here's a quick breakdown: 1....

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Of rainy days

I was walking my way to work and when it was about to rain. Not just the typical afternoon showers but it was this gigantic, monstrous, end-of-the-world kind of rain. The clouds are so dense with water vapor that it seems as if the mothership from Independence Day are coming to consume all lifeforms on Earth. It seems that I'm going towards Mount Doom I was just enjoying the sights, sounds and smell of the impending rain. I was so suitably...

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An hour to eternity or an eternity in an hour?

I saw this panel from my favourite one-panel comic site : Wulffmorgenthaler. As always, it always inspired me to write certain things after reading it. One panel comic also makes me think a lot, despite its apparent simplicity. So this is one of the latest one from those comic genius: We have a very short time to spend with people before we each go our own separate ways I like this one because it reminds me that we have a short moment to spend...

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Fair value of noble after XA

When I saw noble, I suddenly remembered that they are going to go XA today. Haha, it just slipped my mind, if not I'll have calculated the fair value of noble before today. BTW, I chose option 3. Seriously, I didn't really choose it. I can't sell it at the price I wanted, so no choice but to hold it then :) They are going to give a dividend of 0.036 USD per share, payable on 6th July. I didn't read closely and I suppose that the dividend is only for shares held before XA and doesn't include the new rights shares. Here's the information required: Dividend:...

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What are your reasons for having kids?

** "BIAS" is a special feature in my blog where I get to say whatever I want with scant regards for your feelings. I'm not politically correct in this feature, so go ahead, judge me." I was talking to a few people about the cost of rearing a kid in Singapore. It dawned on me that there are so much responsibilities and duties, not to mention the financial cost, associated with bringing up a kid. That makes it strange because when I (casually)...

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Musing over my options for noble

For some strange unfathomable reasons, noble had decided to issue a bonus exercise of 6 bonus shares for every 11 shares held before ex date. Why 11 - a prime number? Wouldn't it round off nicer if the exercise is 6 for 10, or even 6 for 12? In order to round up nicely, investors must hold shares in multiples of the lowest common multiple of 11 and 1000 (who say maths is useless?). However, 11 is a prime number, so you must have 11 lots at the minimum in order not to end up with odd lots. If not, I think the trailing decimal places in the calculation...

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For whom is the whole life insurance meant for?

Just for whom is the whole life insurance meant for? I've heard a number of people saying that they don't want to buy whole life because when they get older, their dependents would have grown up and thus there's no need to cover them anymore. The alternative is thus the term life plan because it's cheaper. This seems to suggest that the whole life plan is just for the coverage of their dependents in case the sole breadwinner (the person insured...

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The official reason why MBS screwed up

** "BIAS" is a special feature in my blog where I get to say whatever I want with scant regards for your feelings. I'm not politically correct in this feature, so go ahead, judge me." I saw from my favourite one panel comic site, Wulffmorgenthaler, dated May 7th, regarding this picture shown below. I liberally changed the script and inserted my own as a dig at the latest Marina Bay Sands (MBS) saga over the kind of world crass standard...

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How my world came tumbling down

After a few people smsed me and emailed me, I kind of realised that this post is a bit too much. Hence the disclaimer before the actual post itself. Do know that while reading this letter, it's supposed to bring out a certain point that is found only towards the end of the letter. SO, while reading it, the scenario painted out are NOT TRUE. While writing this disclaimer will spoil the "ah-ha" effect, I think making people unnecessarily worried about me isn't exactly the intended point either. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear...

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Of fishes and men

You must have heard of this story, it goes like this: -------------------------------------------------------- An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "only a little...

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STI spooked by the PIGS

Who's afraid of the big bad PIGS? In the real world, the wolf should be afraid of the PIGS. One little pig knocked on the wolf's door and caused such a panic around the world. Now, the wolf is afraid that other little PIGS will come to knock on his door. Let's take a look at STI weekly: Weekly chart shows a bearish divergence on long term force index, but not on macd histogram yet. The degree of selldown isn't as much as that experienced in January...

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