WY on investment

My new blogs

2011-06-04T01:40:00.001+08:00

Hi all, I may start two new blogs on Tumblr platform: Insights on Investment and Insights on Innovation I like its ease of posting (through my smartphone) and its function as something between a blog and a twitter-like microblog. Stay tune.

Post on some outsourcing websites is on my another blog

2010-02-02T13:39:00.006+08:00

Some friends just mentioned that they can't find my post on outsourcing websites that I mentioned to them.It is on my another blog.It's here.Bankers, investors, researchers who have tasks that you wish to outsource may try the websites. You may get a glimpse of varieties of tasks being outsourced.It's amazing.

Whack a Banker arcade and game

2009-12-13T20:54:00.003+08:00

I saw this article: 'Whack A Banker' game proving a hit in Britain in Yahoo! News and decided to do a search.Found it ! It can be found in Tim Hunkin’s (the inventor's) website.Read its "making of the machine". It is both hilarious and saddening.Highlights:"Two weeks later:The good news is that the 'boring' facade doesn't seem to put people off. The bad news is that none of my hammers are lasting

Dubai World crisis – a look at CDS market

2009-12-02T00:16:00.006+08:00

I don’t have access to CDS detailed pricing data. However, I can take a glimpse of market data from Markit and CMA. We can only see the "minimal" but let’s explore to see what we can get.Just saw the "Agreement" in the website: not supposed to reproduce data etc.., so I just point to the direction to get data.CMA data pageWe can look at movers, there are:largest widening spread: greatest credit

Dubai World “crisis” – a look at the sukuk market

2009-11-29T20:29:00.004+08:00

What is the effect of Dubai World "financial crisis" on sukuk market ?Take a look at Sukuk market data:Sukuk market dataIt seems that Nakheel Sukuk (nakh.sn), of type "Ijara", previously 90, has down 28 to 62, a drop of 31.11%. However, it seems like there isn’t much effect on other sukuks, even on entities that are downgraded their credit ratings, for e.g. Jebel Ali Free Zone FZE (jafz.sn), DEWA

Global Property Guide - a good resource on global residential property investment

2009-11-26T10:47:00.003+08:00

Global Property GuideThis is a one-stop website for global residential property investor.Some highlights:1. Interactive Comparison toolIts Interactive comparison tool is useful.Add to list the countries that you want to compare, click "compare" and it will yield a comparison table ofbuying price, gross rental yield, rental income tax, roundtrip cost, capital gains tax, buy-to-let income rating. I

Crowdsourcing on knowledge, example : best source of business / investment news in a country

2009-11-25T16:08:00.004+08:00

(This is the elaboration on Mahalo Answers that I mentioned in the comment of this post.)For foreign investors, one of the major drawbacks is : the investors are not familiar with where and how to get updated local news related to business/investment aspect of that country. He may be disadvantaged on information aspect. It will be good if I can find these insights/resources from Mahalo Answers’s

Gold price time series (dated back to 1950s)

2009-11-22T09:14:00.002+08:00

Gold price time series is available in Deutsche Bundesbank website, yearly average, monthly average and daily rates.Data on websiteWe can find: Price of gold in London, morning fixing and afternoon fixing, USD; Price of gold, Frankfurt Stock Exchange fixing, DM; Price of gold, Dresdner Bank AG fixing, Euro. These time series are amazing, with monthly average of price of gold in London, morning

US Public Debt and Statutory Debt Limit

2009-11-19T16:56:00.003+08:00

How much is current US Public Debt ?Is the US Public Debt near the Statutory Debt Limit ? How near ?Where can we find updated information on these ?Daily Treasury statementhttp://www.fms.treas.gov/dts/Example:Nov. 17, 2009 Daily Treasury statementGo to "Table III C – Debt Subject to Limit", look at the "Closing balance today", at items "Total Public Debt Subject to Limit" and "Statutory Debt

Saudi drops WTI oil contract, use Argus Sour Crude Index instead.

2009-11-14T14:38:00.002+08:00

From this FT article: "Saudi drops WTI oil contract", Saudi Arabia will use Argus Sour Crude Index instead.What is this Argus Sour Crude Index ?I did a search on Argus Media which created the index.Found this PDF file: Argus Sour Crude Index.We can see the methodology and specifications from this file (details and examples of calculations are illustrated).This Argus Sour Crude Index (ASCI)

Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard : a mark-to-model shipping evaluation

2009-11-01T16:51:00.002+08:00

Saw this interesting article on Financial Times, titled:Ship valuation method sparks inflation fears.It was said that "German shipping banks are expected to follow the lead of HSH Nordbank, the world’s largest shipping bank, and Deutsche Schiffsbank, Germany’s second-largest, which have praised the Hamburg Ship Evaluation Standard and look set to start using it".It was said that there is a report

Investment Guru - Marc Faber

2009-10-29T10:48:00.003+08:00

Marc Faber’s GloomBoomDoom website is insightful.We can see his investment style and biography from the “About Marc Faber” section.Some books authored or co-authored by Marc Faber: (I search in Amazon)Tomorrow’s Gold : Asia’s age of discoveryZukunftsmarkt Asien (in German)Riding the Millennial Storm: Marc Faber’s path to profit in the financial marketsThe Goldwatcher: demystifying gold investing

Effective real property gain tax of Malaysia Budget 2010

2009-10-26T10:24:00.003+08:00

Proposal on real property gain tax on the Malaysia Budget 2010 can be seen in this Appendix of Budget 2010, at Appendix 15.The Malaysia Budget 2010 speech can be seen here.Did some calculation: data.Taking into account of exemption “up to RM10,000 or 10% of the gains, which ever is higher be given to individuals”, it can be seen that there are 3 "regimes" of effective real property gain tax:1.

US anti-dumping, anti-subsidy: US ITC

2009-10-16T16:18:00.003+08:00

In recession, there is greater risk that countries will implement protectionism measures.These protectionism measures may affect industries and companies, and thus our investment.The anti-dumping, anti-subsidy order seems abrupt in newspaper announcements and often caught investors off-guarded. However, it’s actually not an abrupt event.United States International Trade Commission (US ITC) and US

a book on housing

2009-08-20T17:05:00.002+08:00

There is this book (in chinese) that I found very useful for insights on selecting a house.Many aspects of house like waterproofing, earthquake rsistance, fireproofing, power supply, water supply, drainage, insulation, acoustics, airflow, exterior are discussed.寻找梦想的家More information on the book.Book content, sample chapter are available.

Hospital charges – Malaysia, Singapore, US

2009-07-30T23:06:00.004+08:00

Medical fees may be a drain on household income if any member of the family falls sick. Besides long term medication costs, one of the big portion of medical fees will be hospital charge. Malaysia hospital charges Malaysia’s government hospital charges (various types of medical fees and dental fees, for class 1, 2, 3; refer to form A to G) Malaysia’s Ministry of Health website I wonder whether

Economist - David Friedman

2009-07-23T15:42:00.003+08:00

David Friedman is the son of economists Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman. He is one of the Chicago School economists too. He is a PhD. in Physics and has taught economics and law (AP of Econs, Professor of Law).Some of his books:The Machinery of FreedomPrice Theory: An Intermediate TextHidden Order: The Economics of Everyday LifeLaw’s Order: What Economics Has to Do with Law and Why It

Cassandras of current financial crisis

2009-07-21T22:46:00.003+08:00

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was granted the gift of prohecy, but was cursed such that no one would ever believe her predictions. Quite some time back, I read with interest this article in Nouriel Roubini’s RGE Monitor on "the thinkers who predicted early on many aspects of this financial crisis". Many of the "Cassandras of current financial crisis" are mentioned. Great article ! At least we

MAS report on sales & marketing of structured notes

2009-07-08T23:30:00.005+08:00

On 7 July 2009, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued a report titled:Investigation report on the sale and marketing of structured notes linked to Lehman BrothersThe press release provides a good summary.10 distributors (banks/finance companies and stockbroking firms) of structured notes linked to Lehman Brothers:(i) ABN AMRO Bank N.V. Singapore Branch (ABN)(ii) CIMB-GK Securities Pte

Stonehage Affluent Luxury Living Index 2009

2009-07-02T22:56:00.001+08:00

Stonehage Affluent Luxury Living Index, or SALLI is an index to measure the inflation experienced by High Net Worth (HNW) and Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) individuals and families. It’s Sterling-based.PDF file : SALLI 2009One key highlight is that SALLI actually falls by an average of 3.7% in 12 months ended on April 09, compared to average inflation rate of 2.3% of UK’s CPI over the same period.

Nordic Capitalism (2)

2009-06-28T23:56:00.001+08:00

I have previously blogged on Nordic Capitalism.While doing some searches on internet, I found some insightful lecture notes on Nordic Capitalism.Great read !

WSJ top 20 most influential business thinkers

2009-06-24T15:45:00.002+08:00

WSJ top 20 most influential business thinkersThe Top 20 mentioned are:1. Gary Hamel2. Thomas Friedman3. Bill Gates4. Malcolm Gladwell5. Howard Gardner6. Philip Kotler7. Robert B. Reich8. Daniel Goleman9. Henry Mintzberg10. Stephen R. Covey11. Jeffrey Pfeffer12. Peter M. Senge13. Richard Branson14. Michael E. Porter15. Michael S. Dell16. Geert Hoftstede17. Clayton M. Christensen18. Jack Welch19.

Peter Bernstein

2009-06-09T16:39:00.005+08:00

Just saw a news article that Peter Bernstein, an economic consultant and historian, a guru in risk management and modern investment theory, dies on 5 June 2009, at the age of 90.Peter Bernstein Inc.He is a proponent of Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH). Though EMH is controversial among investors, it's still an important concept in investment.He has written many books (refer to Peter’s Book from

The Great Singapore Sales 2009

2009-05-28T15:42:00.001+08:00

The Great Singapore Sales 2009 is around the corner, 29 May to 26 Jul 2009 (such a long time).It’s not advisable to go for a spending spree, especially if someone is financially tight.But if you happen to be in Singapore and is searching for some bargains that you think you need or wish to re-sell for some profits, try the website.The information in "Promotions", "Events", "What’s on Sale" and "

Singapore Exchange – buying-in by CDP

2009-05-25T11:52:00.002+08:00

Just to have a glimpse the magnitude of buying-in (related to naked shorts) in Singapore Exchange market.CDP buying-in informationFor everyday, it comes with 2 files. One is during the morning (at about 10:30), showing "buying-in securities"; one is after the market closed, showing "buying-in executed on".Just take a look at how much are the $ amount of naked shorts (intentional or accidental)