I attended a talk yesterday and one of the most inspiring speaker will be Merry Riana, a nice looking 27-year old Indonesian lady. She has made her 1st million at the age of 26. The Sunday Times has featured her early this year.
The key points that she shared with us are:
1. Entrepreneurship is the best way to become financially independent
2. Sales is the key to any business
3. Keys to successfully Sales: mindset to be able to take rejections, hardworking, and great discipline
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Lee Kum Tatt's answers to my comment
http://www.leekumtatt.blogspot.com/
Why Study Science?
Anonymous said:
At times I wonder . .. without all those advances in science, will human life be less happy or will it be less satisfying. I truly doubt so.
So what have all these advancement contributed to? They simply give us more reasons to earn more, to be financially successful so that we can enjoy them. Do the poor get to enjoy them? No.
Science saves more lives but it also kill more lives.
Improvement in science without improvement in our spiritual level is basically a zero sum game.
My Reply.
You commented that:
(i) you have doubts that without the advances in science human life will not be less happy or less satisfying and
(ii) that the poor do not get to enjoy what the advancement in science contributed.
These are very general statements. The issue is not on the study of science to generate more knowledge, which is neutral. It has more to do with the our wisdom (the ability to use the knowledge and experience) individually, collectively or as a country,to make sensible decisions and judgment.
As a country Singapore has not done too badly in transforming itself from a third world country to a 2nd if not 1st world country within a span of 48 years since we gain self governing status in 1959. We should ask ourselves how did we do this and what more could have been done? This is a question which many in the developing countries asked us.
We never had much science education and its application during the colonial days. We just existed and had hardly enough to live on. Now science education has given us more to live on and something to live for. The rest is up to us.
We must never allow ourselves to kill the spirit of science, the spirit to ask questions to get knowledge which can help us move forward. During the colonial days many of us have been taught the virtue of ignorance as expressed by the poem by Thomas Gray “On a distant prospect of Edon College” It reads as follows:
“Yet ah : why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late.
Any happiness too swiftly flies,
Thoughts would destroy their paradise.
No more, where ignorance is bliss
‘Tis folly to be wise “
Gray emphasized that WHERE ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.
As I grew up I discovered that
Not all ignorance is bliss
Remaining ignorant is easy. It makes one lazy and selfish – two of human beings most pronounced and common trait. It only makes it easier for others to manipulate or control us.
After that I tried to learn how to be wise to search for wisdom with integrity and honesty for the good of others because “ When Wisdom reigns, Knowledge is Divine.”
Fewer people will be confused if we can do that.
Posted by Tan Kin Lian at 10:48 PM 0 comments
Why Study Science?
Anonymous said:
At times I wonder . .. without all those advances in science, will human life be less happy or will it be less satisfying. I truly doubt so.
So what have all these advancement contributed to? They simply give us more reasons to earn more, to be financially successful so that we can enjoy them. Do the poor get to enjoy them? No.
Science saves more lives but it also kill more lives.
Improvement in science without improvement in our spiritual level is basically a zero sum game.
My Reply.
You commented that:
(i) you have doubts that without the advances in science human life will not be less happy or less satisfying and
(ii) that the poor do not get to enjoy what the advancement in science contributed.
These are very general statements. The issue is not on the study of science to generate more knowledge, which is neutral. It has more to do with the our wisdom (the ability to use the knowledge and experience) individually, collectively or as a country,to make sensible decisions and judgment.
As a country Singapore has not done too badly in transforming itself from a third world country to a 2nd if not 1st world country within a span of 48 years since we gain self governing status in 1959. We should ask ourselves how did we do this and what more could have been done? This is a question which many in the developing countries asked us.
We never had much science education and its application during the colonial days. We just existed and had hardly enough to live on. Now science education has given us more to live on and something to live for. The rest is up to us.
We must never allow ourselves to kill the spirit of science, the spirit to ask questions to get knowledge which can help us move forward. During the colonial days many of us have been taught the virtue of ignorance as expressed by the poem by Thomas Gray “On a distant prospect of Edon College” It reads as follows:
“Yet ah : why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late.
Any happiness too swiftly flies,
Thoughts would destroy their paradise.
No more, where ignorance is bliss
‘Tis folly to be wise “
Gray emphasized that WHERE ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.
As I grew up I discovered that
Not all ignorance is bliss
Remaining ignorant is easy. It makes one lazy and selfish – two of human beings most pronounced and common trait. It only makes it easier for others to manipulate or control us.
After that I tried to learn how to be wise to search for wisdom with integrity and honesty for the good of others because “ When Wisdom reigns, Knowledge is Divine.”
Fewer people will be confused if we can do that.
Posted by Tan Kin Lian at 10:48 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Youngest vs Eldest - The Impact
From my observation on how my youngest brother behaves towards our parents and his elder brothers, I noticed that he is a person who don't have the urge to share good things with his brothers. I mean he is not the type who will pro-actively share.
Though there could be many reasons why he behaves that way, I think one of the possible cause is the fact that he is the youngest among us.
Such behaviour is quite a contrast with me as the eldest. I have in my heart a natural tendency to share. I'm not trying to say that I'm a better person than him. I know my youngest brother is a good person, but I realized that I cannot expect him to be like me in term of caring for our brothers.
My expectations on him to be as care as me were compounded by the fact that I knew he learned Dharma teaching. But I think living all these years being someone who is youngest in the family, I should be aware that I can never expect him to care (and show the care with concrete actions) as much as I care for our brothers.
Being the eldest or the youngest does contribute to who we are. It also contributes to our natural tendency to care & share. It will be interesting if there is a statistical figure to back my observation.
Though there could be many reasons why he behaves that way, I think one of the possible cause is the fact that he is the youngest among us.
Such behaviour is quite a contrast with me as the eldest. I have in my heart a natural tendency to share. I'm not trying to say that I'm a better person than him. I know my youngest brother is a good person, but I realized that I cannot expect him to be like me in term of caring for our brothers.
My expectations on him to be as care as me were compounded by the fact that I knew he learned Dharma teaching. But I think living all these years being someone who is youngest in the family, I should be aware that I can never expect him to care (and show the care with concrete actions) as much as I care for our brothers.
Being the eldest or the youngest does contribute to who we are. It also contributes to our natural tendency to care & share. It will be interesting if there is a statistical figure to back my observation.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Stock Picking
Next Tue 12th June 2007 will be 4 weeks since the accident that get me into what medical term called as "mid-shaft humerus fracture". Now I'm still typing with one hand.
Anyway what I'd like to put up here is some of the stuffs that can IMPROVE my chance of picking winners in the volatile stock market. The list here are sequenced from the most to the least important point.
1. Excellent/Good Management.
This sounds very logical and no-brainer. But deciding which management is good & which is not, is truly a tantamount job, especially if you are just an average retail investor which means most of the time you don't have chance to meet the management team. It's save to say that most retail investors rely on analyst coverage reports. So I think investing some monies in getting those reports is a must, however never never never made your decision solely based on analyst report. The number one thing about management is trustworthiness. You must do you homework to figure out if you can trust the management or not, if you do not have confidence or not clear about the management you better stay out of this stock. Blue chip companies tend to have more reliable management and good corporate governance. This is to me one of the key reasons why PE of blue chips is usually higher. For small caps, you really need to do lots of homework to figure out about the management. Track records are important, example consistency in delivery quality profit (= profit supported with strong cash flow) year after year, consistency in paying out dividend (= which means the profit is not just paper profit), good branding, certification of excellent (e.g. Singapore Quality Award), etc..
2. Pick the right industry, at the right time.
Timing is important as it gives us a better chance (higher probability) in selecting the BEST performers. Deep understanding on bussines cycle is extremely useful. Example: those who placed their bets on Construction/Property sector starting from last year would by now have benefited strongly from the boom in this sector, especially when compared to the laggards in the technology sector.
3. Margin of Safety.
To me there are various type of margin of safety. Those I like: High discount on Nett Asset Value (especially when the asset is backed strongly by cash) - But beware of loss making companies as the loss can easily wipe out the NAV. Another thing that I consider is intangible assets like brand, proprietary knowledge, patent, etc. Last but probably the most important: select stocks that are trading at discounted PE (to its peer in the same industry and also to general market).
4. Dividend
If you got all the above items cleared and the company is giving good dividend, then you should be ablle to bet on this company without having restless nights.
5. Speculative Buy
Invest about 15% of your portfolio in the ultra small caps. These stocks will for sure have high beta, but they could offer you great return, examples are recent RTO-mania like Digiland (10 cents to 65 cents cents, Rowsley 7 cents - 25 cents, and many more). For this type of stock, again look for management who is a potential deal-maker. Don't by them when the price is going down, but buy only after the price has stablized a the low absolute price, especially if you noticed that the price is battered down but with LOW volume. Jet Technics falls into this category: low absolute price, price down but with low volume, business is suffering loss (hence the down trend in stock price), have great potential to recover if they manage to break export market, environmental theme which offers significant long-term opportunities, and most important thing is "do you have confidence in the HONESTY of the management?". Speculative buy is only best during MARTKET UPTREND, during bearish market avoid speculative buy.
Anyway what I'd like to put up here is some of the stuffs that can IMPROVE my chance of picking winners in the volatile stock market. The list here are sequenced from the most to the least important point.
1. Excellent/Good Management.
This sounds very logical and no-brainer. But deciding which management is good & which is not, is truly a tantamount job, especially if you are just an average retail investor which means most of the time you don't have chance to meet the management team. It's save to say that most retail investors rely on analyst coverage reports. So I think investing some monies in getting those reports is a must, however never never never made your decision solely based on analyst report. The number one thing about management is trustworthiness. You must do you homework to figure out if you can trust the management or not, if you do not have confidence or not clear about the management you better stay out of this stock. Blue chip companies tend to have more reliable management and good corporate governance. This is to me one of the key reasons why PE of blue chips is usually higher. For small caps, you really need to do lots of homework to figure out about the management. Track records are important, example consistency in delivery quality profit (= profit supported with strong cash flow) year after year, consistency in paying out dividend (= which means the profit is not just paper profit), good branding, certification of excellent (e.g. Singapore Quality Award), etc..
2. Pick the right industry, at the right time.
Timing is important as it gives us a better chance (higher probability) in selecting the BEST performers. Deep understanding on bussines cycle is extremely useful. Example: those who placed their bets on Construction/Property sector starting from last year would by now have benefited strongly from the boom in this sector, especially when compared to the laggards in the technology sector.
3. Margin of Safety.
To me there are various type of margin of safety. Those I like: High discount on Nett Asset Value (especially when the asset is backed strongly by cash) - But beware of loss making companies as the loss can easily wipe out the NAV. Another thing that I consider is intangible assets like brand, proprietary knowledge, patent, etc. Last but probably the most important: select stocks that are trading at discounted PE (to its peer in the same industry and also to general market).
4. Dividend
If you got all the above items cleared and the company is giving good dividend, then you should be ablle to bet on this company without having restless nights.
5. Speculative Buy
Invest about 15% of your portfolio in the ultra small caps. These stocks will for sure have high beta, but they could offer you great return, examples are recent RTO-mania like Digiland (10 cents to 65 cents cents, Rowsley 7 cents - 25 cents, and many more). For this type of stock, again look for management who is a potential deal-maker. Don't by them when the price is going down, but buy only after the price has stablized a the low absolute price, especially if you noticed that the price is battered down but with LOW volume. Jet Technics falls into this category: low absolute price, price down but with low volume, business is suffering loss (hence the down trend in stock price), have great potential to recover if they manage to break export market, environmental theme which offers significant long-term opportunities, and most important thing is "do you have confidence in the HONESTY of the management?". Speculative buy is only best during MARTKET UPTREND, during bearish market avoid speculative buy.
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