Cats or Dogs?

I made a poll not too long ago, so I think it's appropriate to conclude it after 1-2 weeks. After a turnout of 11 responses, here's the results: It's quite surprising to me because I thought more people would love dogs, judging by how people treat dogs as a better companion than cats. Nevertheless, cats win this time round! In my line of work, it's more usual for me to encounter dogs than cats. I've only have 1 household that keep cats (but...

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The Lioness

Recently I had put the ebook Aesop's fables into my hand phone to read during those little bits of time like waiting for buses and mrt. Since the stories are pretty short (most are around one paragraph) and full of meaning, I can spend the time reading a few stories at one go and reflect on them as I travel (I can't read while travelling on buses...makes me giddy). Here's one that is striking to me. It's called the Lioness. Here goes: A Controversy...

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Kindle firmware updates

Amazon's Kindle DX or Apple's ipad? I had a kindle dx and I saw the ipad in action (I've played with it for a while), so I think I'm in a good position to comment on both. The most important thing I want to say is that the ipad is not the 'kindle killer'! Both of them serves a different function, I must stress. If you prefer to read books, the kindle is the only choice that you'll want to get because of the screen. The ipad uses backlighting LED...

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How to catch the bottom?

It's hard to buy right at the bottom. From personal experiences, if I ever bought a counter right at the bottom - the elusive inflection point just before it turns up - it's just due to sheer luck rather than any godly skills in technical analysis or fundamental analysis. And because it's just luck, it's hard to replicate it consistently. Reflecting from previous years in the market, I spent quite an amount of time and effort to learn the how...

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Ramblings

** "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." Most of the time, my thoughts are on various topics. It's not enough to blog a full article about it, hence there will be times that I would have to 'discharge' my thoughts out so that I can stop mulling over it. This is one of the times. I wonder what is the reason...

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When to buy?

I happened to see my buddy unicorn78's comments that he wanted to get some reits/divy counters but is not sure if now is a good time to get in. I gave that question a fair amount of thought because I've asked myself that question a few times too. So, instead of sharing with him alone, I thought it'll be good once I posted my views, the other more experienced market practitioners can share theirs in the comments. As we learn more and read more...

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To be a cat

I realised that I have a very relaxed stance towards investing my money these days. It's not a lack of interest on my part - I mean who wouldn't want to make more money right? It's more of a change in attitude in me. Perhaps it's the general lack of emotions towards my profits or losses that accompanied this change in attitude. This didn't happen overnight. It happened in bits and pieces over the years, accumulating perhaps like water dripping into...

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Retirement

I was intrigued by a newspaper report that in Europe, the retirement age is pushed back to 70 yrs so that the pension scheme that they had there will continue to function fully. I guess with a aging population, it's harder to support with a diminishing working class as the birth rates cannot continue to support an inverted pyramid for long. It's just too unstable. Retire. If you break up the word it become two parts - Re and Tire. Re means to...

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To milk or to slaughter?

Having sold a dividend yielding counter recently, I was thinking about the age-old problems that plagued me. I was suitably reminded of someone's analogy (bro8888's?) that a dividend yielding counter is like a milk cow. Every other time, a milk cow will give off milk, so that you can drink some and sell some, thus giving you a good cash flow. Alternatively, you can sell the milk cow to someone at a good price and get several years worth of 'future'...

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