Formula Drift

My social life seems to have become more fulfilling these days.

I was invited to watch the Formula Drift Competition held at the Changi Exhibition Hall. For the uninspired, Changi Exhibition Hall is located at the ulu far eastern corner of Singapore, where you get a spectacular view of Pulau Tekong, a place many 18 year olds would shudder at the mere sight of it. The compeition is held over the 2-day weekend but I only have time for the Saturday practice session.

It was one of those scorching hot weekends where you have to slather on lots of SPF, wear a farmer’s hat and Oakleys to avoid sunburn. The sound and smell of burning rubber on asphalt raised the temperature a few notches higher.

 The layout of the event … where the cars, beer and babes are. 

Grand Stand where you are sheltered from the sun … to be honest, its better to get the Walkabout tickets as you can catch the action from different angles.

Practice Car #1 speeds, drifts and crashes

Practice Car #2 trailing closely behind and belching a pipeful of smoke

Not to be outdone, Practice Car #3 does the ditty on the tarmac and comes to a screeching halt.

Hey Bro … do you mind? You are ruining the picture!!!

Where the Money Goes

Its been 3 months since I started tracking these 3 currencies and the results speak for themselves.

Overall, you would have gained 4.8% or $143 if you had invested S$1000 in each currency since 29 March. And that’s not counting the 3% and 2.6% interest you would receive per annum from AUD & NZD respectively.

More than Meet the Eyes

 

I was invited by a friend to a private screening of the movie “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” yesterday. The seats which we were offered were a bummer (3rd row from the screen) and we had to crane our necks in order to watch everything on the big screen. Not an easy feat when there are lotsa explosions and “transforming” taking place half the time. Fortunately, the movie was … more than meet the eyes.

INTENSE!!! The movie caught my attention from the minute the 120-min film started rolling. While it is common for movies to include lots of CGI effects, due credit must be given to Michael Bay and his entire crew for the well-written script as well as the efforts put in by the animators to make the movie as realistic as possible. My eyes stayed glued to the big screen all the time. I remembered the last time this happened was when I watched Speed 1 eons ago.

For those folks who have not watched Transformer 1 (like me), please go ahead and watch this sequel. I did not feel I was left out from the story at all despite not watching the prequel.

And as for other movie-goers whose interests have somewhat been shaken by the critics, I would say “To hell with the movie reviews and go have fun”! I sure enjoyed myself. In fact, I felt like an eight year old all over again.

Now, where did I hide my Optimus Prime toy???

Paying Tribute

They have entertained us for decades and certainly do not deserve to go down quietly into the annals of history.

While FF is somewhat unfamiliar to me, I was raised on a diet of MJ’s popular hits such as Thriller, Billie Jean, Bad, Dangerous, Jam, Heal the World and so on. My all-time favourite was the Coke commercial which starred MJ singing “I like to teach the World to Sing (in perfect harmony)”.

Indeed, MJ’s career history has been tainted with blemishes of his miserable childhood, bankruptcy, charges of sexual abuse etc. These are important no more. His legacy will last many more years and he will always be remembered by fans for his slick dance moves and his contributions to Pop culture.

Farewell MJ & FF and RIP.

www.michaeljackson.com

http://wikiepedia.org/en/wiki/farrah_fawcett

Monopoly and Investing

I believe most if not all of us have played monopoly at some point in our lives. In fact, I still have a very old set back home. This boardgame has been around as long as I have been (and longer) and has continued its popularity throughout generations.

For the suakus souls who have NEVER played monopoly before, this is a boardgame where players move along the squares on the boardgame onto the path of wealth and glory. You are given a sum of money to kick off the game and you collect money when you pass go (provided you do not get thrown into jail). Along the way, you are able to buy property and build houses and hotels to earn rental income. The winner is the one who owns the most assets at the end of the game.

There are some basic truths in Monopoly which resonate well with Investing:-

1) Property is arguably the best form of physical asset. When you invest in an asset and develop houses, hotels and township (aka own all the properties with the same colours), you are able to charge more rental income. Prime districts are also able to command higher rents. The poor player (tenant) who accidentally lands on your properties have no choice but to pay you rent. This is a universal truth since time immemorial. In the olden days, the landlord is able to “seize” the farmers’ harvests and get rich and fat without lifting a finger.

2) Besides property, Utilities and Railway stations are the next best assets in the money game. The main reason is “monopoly” (no pun intended). In Buffet-speak,  Utility and Rail companies own moats which are impenetrable. Everyone has to use them and has to pay whatever ridiculous sums they are charged for usage. It is extremely difficult for users to complain as Utility and Rail are strategic industries which hire lots of people. Should profit margins even decline slightly, these employees face the unnerving prospects of redundancies. Governments also tend to sympathise with the Utility and Rail companies and rarely question their intentions to raise fares or charges.

3) The path to richess contains pleasant surprises but also lurks with danger. Sometimes, you have to take chances and could end up either richer or poorer. If I am not mistaken, the probabilities of becoming poorer are theoretically higher (you can count the Chance and Community Chest cards to verify). Also, have you ever wondered why the “Pass Go and Collect $200″ and Jailhouse are located in the same square on the board?

Principles that childhood games teach us …

FX – 2 months later

I made buy recommendations on 3 currencies; AUD, NZD & RMB 2 months ago. Let’s see how the results compare against the recommendations:-

Source: www.oanda.com

 

 

As you can see, AUD & NZD continue to strengthen against the SGD, mainly driven by rising commodity prices. RMB maintains its weakening stance against many major currencies as China strives to drive export growth, hence a RMB play would not have turned out well. Personally, I still like RMB in the long run and would advise accumulating RMB as China embarks on its path to liberalise its currency moving forward. This would enable RMB to become more “tradable” and “investor-friendly” gradually.

In dollar terms, a $10,000 Foreign Currency Fixed Deposit in AUD & NZD would have yielded $900 & $700 gains in 2 months respectively before interest gains (about 2.5% per annum). A similar play on RMB would have lost $500. The nett gain would have been $900 + $700 – $500 =$1,100 in 2 months, not bad if you are cashed up but still do not dare to invest in riskier stocks or real estate. Of course, stock markets have gone up at least 30% in the last 2 months but high rewards for high risk-takers.

Have you made money in the last 2 months?

Complan

I could not resist snapping a picture of this snack found in a local grocery store.

Taking the less well-trodden path

I recently chanced upon this blog which personifies the journey of one young gentlemen who was born Malaysian, raised in the UK, worked in the U.S. and who finally chose to live and work in Japan.

What I like about this blog besides the eye-catching bright orange colours and the lovely figurines with huge *eyes* is the honesty and candour coming forth from the author, Danny Choo. Danny spares no effort and humour detailing his sojourn from one continent to another. Besides describing his miserable childhood and growing up years, he captivates the readers with snippets of his life where fate took him around the globe.

After working at tech giants like Amazon and Microsoft for several years and making heaps of money from affiliate/adsense (read: blog) earnings, he later took the step of faith of moving to Japan and setting up his own company which embraces and actually generates income from all things Otaku. In his blog, he also jested about how he found his calling in the Anime and Otaku subculture and spent several years learning Japanese in preparation of his eventual move to Japan. While he is born Malaysian Chinese, he does not speak Mandarin very well and actually picked up Mandarin through Japanese as the written characters and tones are very similar.

His blog is divided into 2 main sections; Japan itself where he shares with readers his emotions and pictures of his numerous road trips to the different hidden corners of Japan and the Otaku/Anime/Manga subculture that is pervasive and deeply entrenched in the Japanese society. He has also been invited to speak at a variety of social media events across Asia. Whenever he has time, he loves donning a Darth Vader or Storm Trooper suit and traverse the crowded streets of central Tokyo.

Before I forget, click Danny Choo and his blog should appear in another window.  Another snippet of himself; his dad is a famous and (presumably wealthy) maker of woman’s shoes from Malaysia who is now based in UK.

Big Money

It has been a month since I posted my views on how regional currencies would behave. Now for the moment of truth … 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Source: www.oanda.com

Amongst the 3 currencies, only the prediction that AUD would strengthen against SGD has come true. AUD is now 4% stronger relative to SGD from a month ago.

As for CNY & NZD, continued softness in the Chinese export market as well as a 50bps cut in NZD OCR resulted in these 2 currencies depreciating 2% & 3% respectively against SGD.

However, I continue to hold onto my belief that all 3 currencies should demonstrate relative strength against SGD once the global economy recovers.

Where do you think these 3 currencies would be heading in a year’s time?

FX FX FX

No … I am not talking about the retail brand FX creations.

I just wish to do a quick compare against my hypothesis last week. I believe the Aussie & Kiwi have strengthened somewhat against the SGD. However, the CNY seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. I suspect it is due to the Chinese Central Bank deliberately depreciating the CNY to drive its export competitiveness.

Source: www.oanda.com

Kiwi strengthened 1.7% & the Aussie strengthened 2.2% against SGD in one week. However, the CNY bet did not pay off as it depreciated 0.7% against the SGD.

CAVEAT EMPTOR