52 books a year challenge

2 more months before the year 2014 is over. I still have one last major thing to tick off in my goals for this year. This is something pleasurable - reading 52 books per year. I've been doing this for quite a number of years already, so it's nothing new. However, it's always a challenge because I'm operating at a zone just between the impossible and the just possible, which makes this a really good challenge because there's a good chance it may...

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Which one suits you better - earn more or spend less?

We all know there are only two ways to save money. The first is to reduce your expenses. If you spend less, then whatever is left is your savings. The second is to increase your income. If you keep your spending to be the same, what you earned after your spending will be your savings. But which way works better? I think the key point here is whether your income is scalable. If your income can vary according to the amount of work that you produce, then it's scalable. If that's the case, then you might want to focus on earning more income. My...

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My service standards in tuition

A student asked me a question that I thought is quite interesting. She had been messaging me through whatsapp, spamming (her words) me with questions throughout the day because of the O'lvls and I had been answering them as and when it comes. She asked if I'll be pissed off because of the spamming of the questions and why I'm so free to answer. The short answer is that I won't be angry. In fact, I'm actually glad that people asked me a lot of...

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Prepare yourself mentally for bear market

For those of you who had not seen a real mother bear striking down at the market, here's a sneak preview from the past. Unfortunately, I've lost some of the pics when the server I've uploaded them crashed and died. The pictures I saved is meant to serve as a reminder for me when the next bear comes...which might be now. This one is taken from 2009 Sept 10. Just look at the Nasdaq and SP500, you'll see why we haven't reached 'there' yet. This...

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How do you feel in a jittery stock market?

I noticed a big difference in how I handled the bearish stock market sentiments recently. STI had fallen from a high of around 3300 in early-mid Sept to about 3160 in mid October 2014, roughly about 4%. STI closes on 2nd Jan 2014 (the first trading day of this year) at 3180 and now it's slightly under, wiping all all the gains made so far. Market is getting more delicious  How do I feel? Nothing. Is it calmness or simply bo chup? A...

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Bullythebear's 3 Steps Guide to Stock Market (for newbies!)

There’s a lot of people in this last quarter of the year on how they can start investing in the stock market. I always tell them to read up and I’ll get back to them. If there’s a market truism that you need to remember, it’s this: "The market is not your mother. It consists of tough men and women who look for ways to take money away from you instead of pouring milk into your mouth."  Alexander Elder You must not expect the market to give...

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Storify your facts

My wife and I like to embellish facts with stories. There's a very recent example of how we do it. There's a blue dustbin that we had in our void deck, that is used to collect bigger pieces of junk for recycling. One day when returning home, wife exclaimed that the dustbin is no longer there. Instead, on the floor where it used to stand were pieces of rubbish that the dustbin is meant to collect. She told me about it and I told her that the...

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Kungfu Cats Academy is here!

For those of you who are regular readers, you'll know what I do for a living. I'm a full-time tutor and had been one for the last 10 years (and counting!). I recently set up a new website to showcase the things that I do as a tutor, and it's called Kungfu Cats Academy. I'll like to share it with you :) One of the main reasons why I wanted to set up a separate site for my career is so that I can blog about different things that interest me. I find...

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