Critical Inquiry

What has happened in 2005? Let me see: The hoped for promotion in January did not materialised and really got me thinking if it is really worth being so hardworking and proactive in my job. My good friend whom I dragged to SDU events found his match at one of the events I got my performance bonus, an amount slightly lower than what I received the previous year, despite still getting an outstanding performance review which of course again raises the same question as in January. Obtained my Microsoft Application Developer (MCAD) certification. Became a regular blood donor as a first step to returning more to society than cash donations. Took up additional term insurance (SAF-Aviva) to better align my recommended coverage Pay and got myself enrolled in a gym so that I will exercise more regularly I started my SRS account after doing my calculations and realised that I do not wish to pay additional income tax next year. Made some good returns on my unit trusts investments Made some losses

I have been put through the torture of questioning my religious inclinations recently. The circumstances of why it is so, I will not post here though the rest of this posting might shed some light. I have constantly questioned if god exists because we believe or it is that we believe bacause god exists. Most of the religions that I have came into contact with believes in the latter which recursively poses the question onto itself because one will have to already believe in the existence of a god. As of today, the only religion I am aware of that does not subscribe to a god is Buddhism where everyone can gain enlightenment and become a buddha, the enlightened one. As a lack of the central theme of a god, I really do not take Buddhism to be a religion but more of lifestyle option. As a non-believer, religion is to me a wonderful place to seek solace when one requires the addition emotional assurance. Why do so many people embrace religion when they are in their darkest hours? Why do so m

As anyone who has learnt software engineering will know, software is inherently buggy. Anyone who touts using Firefox instead of IE on the premises of better security, better features, etc. basically failed to appreciate the strengths of each. Too many geeks are embarking on the task of sowing disinformation on IE to get people to embrace Firefox. Firefox is only perceived to be more secure because it does not yet have a sizeable following. Why should a hacker spend effort to hack a low adoption tool when more fame and bragging rights can be achieved against a larger audience? In actual fact, even with the lower adoption rate of Firefox today, critical flaws are already being reported. Also, the many "fantastic" features of Firefox amount to nothing but plugins that only the more technologically inclined are going to download and install. How many people are but lay users who do not bother with getting plugins or whatsoever when all they want is a browser to surf the Internet

Was reviewing my unit trusts portfolio and realised that I had made some mistakes over the past year and also that some reallocation of the invested amount is needed. I sold my OCBC Savers India to buy into HSBC India as it had a larger underlying fund size. During the period of holding HSBC, the performance of OCBC Savers continued to better that of HSBC and also, because of the per unit price of HSBC India, it is impossible to redeem the amount that is required for this rebalancing exercise. In order to remedy this, I will have to sell HSBC India and repurchase Lion India (the former OCBC India) with the intended rebalance amount. Have to remember to look closely at such details in further so that rebalancing will not incur extra charges. My rebalancing strategy through the year had been to put additional investment amounts into my holdings which require further beefing up. As such, the allocation has remained quite well except for India which has performed very well and which someho

What exactly is Christmas? To the religious, it is a significant day. However, to the non-believers such as myself, Christmas is just another holiday. At best, it is a reason for gifts, not that I bought any to give besides the V3 that I bought for myself :P What significance does Christmas hold outside the confines of the churches? Basically, it is not difficult to realise that it is one of, if not the most, profitable holiday to make money out of. Retailers have all geared up, diverting non-frontline staff to help out, to meet the throngs of shoppers. When else will things like chocolates, photo frames, candles and other such cheap but generally useless stuff see brisk sales as the past weeks? Gifts giving is but a useless and superficial gesture when the giver has not really given gifts that are useful and relevant to the receiver. As someone who does not celebrate Christmas, I have once again not gotten into this gifts mode but had received 2 small presents from my colleagues. One

The last page of Straits Times classifieds has been seeing quite a lot of articles being contributed by staff originating from recruitment firms and I have this strong belief that these recruitment firms are possibly hatching some big conspiracy to get people to take up contract jobs instead of trying to land permanent positions. Remember, they do get commissions each time they successfully manage to match people to jobs and with contract staff, they potentially get more chances to earn commissions. "For many people, a contract job is one that is relatively unstable, comes with fewer benefits and commands a lower pay, compared to a permanent position at the ocmpany. On the other hand, employers also tend to have the impression that contract workers are less committed to their work, and therefore, less inclined to perform well." Is this true? It had been the case in the past and it is still the case today. In my industry, contract workers do not see the need to deliver quality

Today we had the department's year end party in the morning and while it was quite ok, it is a much quieter affair than previous years. Many of the staff were clearing leave and did not turn up. Also, the more "crazy" guys in the department had resigned over the past year due to the ongoing rumours that their job functions were going to be outsourced. My luck as always is terrible. Got some useless lucky dip gift once again.

It is interesting to read the Australian PM, John Howard, say that he does not "believe the average Australian is a racist" when 75% of his countrymen disagreed with his Dec 11 statement of "I do not accept there is underlying racism in this country". I do wonder if these politicians are just trying to be diplomatic or they are totally disengaged from reality. Almost all of my friends who had travelled to Australia before had voiced that they experienced varying degrees of racism. And to think that they were there only as students or tourists, not even permanent residents of the nation, staying for only a very short term. Being an Asian in Australian means you stand out. By skin colour, by features, by culture, by beliefs, you are different and you are not home. No matter how Australia tries to position itself, Australia is geographically not part of Asia and it has not yet come to terms with how to interact with the Asia continent. Even with its best efforts to lin

Motorola, my long time favourite brand for telcom equipment. My first Motorola product was a Bravo Flex pager which I subsequently upgraded to a Motorola Startac CDMA, then Motorola V3688, V8088, V66 before I become a Samsung user when I won a Samsung mobile phone in a contest and replaced that which got stolen with Samsung S500, then E600C which were my 2nd best options as they were cheaper. Finally, I have gotten back on the side of Motorola and got myself a Motorola V3 with my bonus and a $50 Starhub voucher. Of course, the price drops of V3 played a huge part in my purchase. Signing a 2 year contract for PowerValue 100 at 20% corporate discount (i.e. $19.20 monthly) lets me get the phone at $138, with the $50 voucher, I had only to pay $88. I love Motorola phones, or more specifically, the clamshell versions. The Startacs that I had were exceptional in terms of reliability and style. Of course, Motorola had not been particularly strong in the fashion or trendy phones like those of

Is NKF at wrong? A most damning report has been compiled and released by KPMG. Watching the news on TV, NKF had made a most outrageous mistake, spending only 10% of the funds raised on patients and centering almost all administrative powers within the organisation with TT Durai. The complete lack of oversight and controls had resulted in kidney patients receiving far less than their fair share of the public donations for their treatment. Remembering that Durai's daughter "appealed to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to help restore her father's honour and reputation if a review of the NKF shows there have not been any wrongdoings", it now appears that Durai is not in the clear. Will she be writing an apology letter to all the Singaporeans? The old NKF is a total embarassment, fiasco under TT Durai. It had only been most efficient as a fund raising organisation. Now that there is a new management at the helm of the organisation, let's hope that donations can be bette

Sold my Singtel shares that were bought with cash today for a small profit when the market opened and it closed even higher. Actually the sentiments is that Singtel is worth holding and it can even go higher quite soon and of course, it also pays very nice divedends. However, I have no regrets taking a smaller profit since I still am holding a few lots bought with CPF. For me, investments made under CPFIS are for long term and as long as they can offer more than the the 2.5% interest rates of the Ordinary Account, they are good investments (I currently do not believe in tapping Special Account funds which constitute the bonds-equivalent of my portfolio). Cash investments in stocks are more speculative and shorter term and profits, as long as attractive enough, should be taken and made available to embrace the next opportunity that pops up.

Was surfing through some forums yesterday night and came across postings on Kinokuniya and Times Bookshop 20% discount coupons in Saturday's papers. These coupons were valid up till Christmas and end of the year respectively. I had totally overlooked these as I usually do not take notice of all these advertisements. Rummaged through the stacks of papers to find Saturday's Life section and cut out the coupons, 4 in total, 2 from each bookshop. I know one book I am going to get, Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes and How to Correct Them. I really am becoming more and more of a financial fanatic...

Should the Dare to Dream Fund provide assistance to Khoo Swee Chiow, a self-proclaimed adventurer? This appears to be the recent debate after it has been highlighted that he has once again obtained funding, this time to the sum of $10,000, for trying to break the world scuba diving record by staying in a tank for 10 days. Personally, I have believed that most of his antics are frivolous and not worthy of so much public funds that can be better diverted to more deserving social enterprises. His so-called achievements, while not possible to be done by just anyone, do not really "develop the spirit of adventure and entrepreneurship" but more so serve his own self-glorification, or more plainly speaking, boost his ego. Even when sponsorship "comes with strings attached" and he had to give motivational talks to share his experiences with Northeast CDC citizens, has he truly motivated them? As a "professional adventurer", perhaps he should be looking for commerc

Was trying to get my Starhub line converted to a corporate one so as to enjoy the 20% discount on the subscription charges, saving about $60 per year. Had to pop by iHub, Starhub Centre, to do the necessary as it is the ONLY place that that can be done according to the staff. When I initially reached there, the queue was so long that there were like at least 60 persons before me. After joining the queue for a short while, I decided to just carry on with some shopping first and check back later if the queue will be shorter. Happily, I went for 2 hours of shopping and got back to the place 2 hours later and was greeted by a much shorter queue. Relieved, I joined it only to realise an hour later that the queue had only moved by 10 metres and that achievement was only made due to people who had given up and dropped out of the queue! Finally I dropped out of the queue also since a quick estimate was that I will still be STANDING in that queue for at least another 1.5 to 2 hours before I eve

SRS, Supplementary Retirement Scheme. Opened an account earlier this month and finally got round to contributing into it today. By doing so I have effectively reduced my taxable income and legally evaded some tax for the assessment year but now it is important to take the next step and invest the amount contributed to SRS. If I can grow the SRS amount by more than 5%, then it will not really matter even if I make premature withdrawals since the 5% penalty will be offset. But considering that SRS is meant for penalty withdrawals after 62 years old and I do not really plan to do premature withdrawals, I will be getting the amount investing into less volatile unit trusts with low sales charges and management fees. This will help bring some stability to my current portfolio of very aggressive holdings of pure equity unit trusts bought with cash (note though that these cash UTs have actually made quite good returns this year). An even split of the free SRS funds invested into UOB United Glo

Was looking at Biosensors the other day when news broke that it was facing a patent lawsuit. A big intraday drop of $0.120 despite it having shown good prospects before the market reacted to the news. I had wanted to buy in believing that the stock was oversold and fundamentals still good but held back as I wanted to have cash on hand to pay for the purchase in case I had to realise the buy after the contra period. Prudent, but less reactive to grasping opportunities in the stock market. Now Biosensors has rebounded, I have lost the opportunity to make $70 per lot as at the present moment. No matter, markets will forever have new opportunities. No point taking unnecessary financial risks just for that little returns.

It's the time of the year again where the luckier ones amongst us get some bonus for hard work put in for the past 365 days. What are you going to do with the extra amount of cash on hand now? Being the thrifty (or miserly stingy, depending on your perspective) person I am, much of the extra cash is going right into savings. But if we look in-depth at the current savings situation in Singapore, we are being offered very bad deals. Where the SIBID (Singapore Interbank Bid Rate) or SIBOR (Singapore Interbank Offered Rate) are at highs of almost 3%, most banks are offering paltry savings interest rates of not even 0.5% p.a. while loans interest rates have remained sky high. Local banks are making more and more money out of our deposits, fattening their bottomline while not letting depositors enjoy the higher interest rates. What should we as consumers do about it? I advocate moving the cash elsewhere so that local banks that are flushed with cash will be forced to offer better rates.