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Tuesday, 16 July 2013

Businessman and investor...at 18

Businessman and investor...at 18

The Straits Times
Monday, Jul 15, 2013

The idea of just leaving money in passive investments in hopes of it growing cuts no ice with teen entrepreneur Wong Li Hong.

The Year 6 Raffles Institution student feels his money should work hard for him. This led him to start an online business with pal Lemuel Low, 18, early this year.

Their site, WhatsNext.sg, aims to be a one-stop guide outlining what locals and tourists can do in Singapore. "Lemuel and I noticed the lack of real guides for events and service providers in Singapore, as opposed to the large number of business directories which feature shop addresses but little else," says Li Hong, 18.

They put $1,000 into the project at first. It took a year to set up before they launched the online platform that allows two-way communication between shop owners and users.

They have now invested about $3,000 in total. Instead of asking their parents for extra money, Li Hong and Lemuel dug into their savings to ensure they were responsible for the project. Li Hong gets $450 a month as pocket money and said that it was more than enough to cover his expenses - mainly food, transport, half his monthly mobile phone bill and books.

His allowance also covers new gadgets, such as computers or mobile phones. The site makes money through advertisements and recently broke even. Li Hong's parents, who are in their 50s, run their own businesses in real estate, food and beverage, and packaging. His 20-year-old brother is studying overseas.

He said his entrepreneurial spirit grew and was influenced by his parents, who started a business together over 20 years ago.

They were conscious about not wanting him to follow in their footsteps and hoped he would take on a less risky career path such as being a lawyer.

But he developed a keen interest in running his own business as he got interested in what they were doing throughout his growing-up years.

The teenager added that his parents have been supportive of his venture.

Q: Are you a spender or saver?
Rather than following a rigid budget, I believe in being flexible but always making sensible purchases. I believe that good businessmen should be both wise spenders and savers.

Q: How much do you charge to your debit or credit cards every month?
I own two debit cards, one for personal expenditure and the other for the joint account which I have with my friend for our business. I use my cards whenever possible because the online records make it easy to log my monthly spending. I typically charge $200 to my personal card every month.

Q: What do you invest in? I have invested in gold since 2010, when I was looking for a first alternative outlet for my savings.

This was largely influenced by my parents who advised me against leaving my savings in the bank.

But instead of speculating in the commodity, they told me to keep it for a longer term. I invested an initial $250 through an account my parents set up for me and have gradually added to that amount since. I've about $2,000 in gold now. Even though gold prices have fallen recently, I view this as a long-term investment and will continue this in the future. Today, I invest mainly in my own business.

Q: Moneywise, what have your growing-up years been like? I developed an outlook on money management under my parents' influence. When I was eight or nine, I used to spend all my pocket money at the toy shop near my old house. I wasn't conscious of my spending and thought that whatever money they gave me could be spent.

It was around that time that they made me keep track of all my purchases and jot down what I spent in a book.

Despite their belief in the virtue of saving, my parents never dictated how my allowance ought to be spent.

After I turned 12, my parents also made it clear that I would not be getting anything above my monthly allowance. T

hey pay for my school fees and holidays. Other expenses come out of my own pocket. That taught me, albeit by force, that if I wanted more to spend, I needed to earn it on my own.

Q: How did you get interested in investing? I believe in two types of investment - investment in passive income sources, and investment in personal projects which we build ourselves.

The former is only a method for financing the latter, which has always been far more appealing to me. I have always been fascinated by functional systems - from cars to computers to well-crafted novels.

Successful businesses are the most fascinating of systems because they function by interacting with humans and interpreting their behaviour. I thus developed a passion for investing in and building personal businesses, which has largely shaped my path since.

Q: What's the most extravagant thing you have bought? Extravagance lies not in price but in value, so that would have to be the suit I had tailored last year for about $1,000.

Q: Home is now... A four-room condominium unit in the Keppel Bay area where I live with my family.

Thursday, 4 July 2013

Drink more water, lose more weight?

Drink more water, lose more weight?

July 4, 2013
A study by Davy's group found that middle aged and older adults who drank two cups before a meal lost about four pounds more than a group that didn't drink the extra water.

NEW YORK: Dieters who drink more water have greater weight loss, according to a new review of several prior studies. In one study that asked dieters to drink water before a meal, for instance, “the water enhanced the weight loss,” said Brenda Davy, a professor at Virginia Tech who led some of the work included in the review. Researchers said there is not yet enough evidence, however, to say for sure that drinking more water will help people shed the pounds. Rebecca Muckelbauer, a researcher at the Berlin School of Public Health, Charité University Medical Center Berlin in Germany, led the new review of the water studies. She said that, as a nutrition researcher, people had often asked her about whether they should drink water to lose weight, and she didn’t know the answer. She and her colleagues decided to examine all of the studies on weight and water consumption. Eleven studies fit their criteria.

Three of them showed that increased water intake among dieters was tied to greater weight loss. A study by Davy’s group found that middle aged and older adults who drank two cups before a meal lost about four pounds more than a group that didn’t drink the extra water. Yet another study found that women who increased their water consumption while they dieted lost more weight than those who kept it below one liter a day. It’s not clear how water might help people shed pounds.

One possibility, said Davy, is that water could squelch feelings of hunger.

“This may have helped them reduce their calorie intake,” she told Reuters Health. Muckelbauer agreed that increased fullness is the most likely explanation, but another possibility is something called “water-induced thermogenesis.” The idea is that “drinking water itself increases energy expenditure of your body. It has an energy consuming effect. This is not very well studied,” Muckelbauer told Reuters Health.

The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults consume between 91 ounces of water for women and 125 ounces for men (2.7 – 3.7 liters) each day, but this total can come through food, plain water or other beverages.

While the experimental studies suggest that drinking water may aid in weight loss, the surveys Muckelbauer examined don’t always show that people who drink more water are slimmer.

In fact, some found that obese or overweight adults drank more water than people of normal size, while others did not find such a link, Muckelbauer’s team reports in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

“We don’t have conclusive evidence that increasing water intake reduces weight, but there are certainly other benefits to increasing our intake,” said Davy. She said people in the US typically drink about 400 to 500 calories a day from other beverages, and replacing them with water is not a bad idea.

One study found that women who drink water, rather than sweet drinks, had a slightly lower chance of developing diabetes (see Reuters Health story of May 31, 2012 here:).

And women who don’t drink plenty of water have greater odds of getting kidney stones (see Reuters Health report of March 29, 2012 here:).

“There’s not a lot of risk for recommending (increased water intake) for individuals,” Davy said. Muckelbauer said it will be helpful to have larger experiments looking at the potential weight loss benefits of adding more water to the diet.
----- Reuters

Sunday, 16 June 2013

Bankruptcy – A reality check

June 17, 2013

For most Malaysians “bankruptcy” is a synonym to being “penniless.” However, it is far much worse than just being broke.

Whereas being broke will revolve around a situation where someone has zero cash for meals or rent, bankruptcy is a legal phrase that comes with a court declaration.

Apart from the fact that you will have the normal financial difficulties associated with being broke, bankruptcy also comes with other baggage that strips one off many rights that many Malaysians take for granted.

Unlike what many people think, you don’t need to owe millions for you to be bankrupt. Any debt that goes beyond RM 30,000 can cause to be declared bankrupt.

To learn more about bankruptcy and its effect, please check out the infographic below.

This infographic has been contributed by iMoney.my – Malaysia’s leading website for personal finance products comparison. Check out their comparison tools to comoare mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, insurance and more.

Sunday, 26 May 2013

30 Tips for First Time Travellers to Japan

30 Tips for First Time Travellers to Japan

By Steve, FlipKey | Mon, May 27 2013

Before you leave, check out our 30 tips for first time travelers to Japan – it’s good to know the dos and don’ts firsthand.

Keywords

japan

tips

traveller

1. Bow to greet a person; bend your body 15 degrees for ward for a casual bow. When you meet elders, bow deeply from your waist. 2. Before eating a meal and after finishing it, be sure to thank your host for the meal and their company with a small bow. This is considered good table manners.

3. Get Suica cards to travel the subway, metro, Japan Rail and also to pay for items in convenience stores. You can load them up with Yen as you go along. 4. Don't use your cell phones on trains and buses. Don't talk to anyone on public transport either. People usually sleep, read or listen to music quietly. 5. Drive and walk on the left side - it's the opposite driving direction when compared to the US. Park on the left and use the left side of escalators and elevators. 6.Food is expensive, so best to avoid restaurants and Starbucks. Rather, buy bread, spreads, rice cakes and noodles from small local shops, as these are less expensive. 7.When you finish eating at a bar, put your bowl up on the counter with your glass and wipe down the counter in front of you with a damp towel. 8. Water is safe to drink - whether it is tap water or bottled water. You can refill at any public fountain without worry. 9. Buy a map that indicates the names of destinations both in Japanese and in English. Carry a Japanese to English translation book to manage small phrases. 10. Carry tissues or hand towels with you - most of the public bathrooms don't have hand-drying facilities, unless you want to use the toilet roll.

11. Carry at least 10,000-20,000 yen in cash with you. Most Japanese ATM machines don't accept foreign cards. Also many establishments don't accept credit cards. 12. Always carry a notepad with you along with a pen or pencil. You may need to write down what you want, or even draw it if someone doesn't understand you

13. Write down the full address of your hotel or destination to show someone in case you're lost. Get it written in Japanese as well. 14. When you're ready to pay your bill at a restaurants, cross your forefingers together to form an 'X'. The waiter will come to you with your check. 15. When you want to point towards someone or something, point with your open hand. Pointing at anything with your forefinger is considered rude. 16. Don't tip anyone; even waiters will be offended if you do so. Other than in the Roppongi area, tipping is considered unacceptable. 17.Public transportation is available only till midnight; if you're stranded after midnight, wait for it to resume at 5 A.M. Avoid expensive taxis. 18. When entering a Japanese house, place your outdoor shoes at the doorway. Wear the slippers your host provides. 19. Remove your house slippers when you enter a room that is covered with tatami flooring. You can step on tatami mats with your bare or socked feet. 20.When you visit the toilet at somebody's home, wear special toilet slippers. Do not wear house slippers in the toilet.

21. When you visit a Japanese temple, throw a coin into the offering box and fold your hands in prayer. Burn incense and wave your hand to extinguish the flame; don't blow on it. 22. Take photos only in areas where they're permitted. Watch the signs, and ask locals if you're not sure. Don't offend by taking pictures inside temples.

23. If you're not sure what to order at a restaurant, indicate one of the plastic food replicas that are displayed near the front of the restaurant. 24. If the restaurant waiters don't lead you to a table, it means you can sit anywhere. Wait for a few moments for them to lead you otherwise. 25. In a traditional Japanese restaurant, take your shoes off at the entrance and kneel at the low Japanese table. Wear nice socks. 26. During formal traditional meals or tea ceremonies, men can sit cross-legged while women must fold their legs neatly under their hips. 27. You can give your host, business partner or friend a gift while meeting, parting or during a special occasion. Make sure you pack it in simple brown paper. 28. While exchanging cards, stand up, bow slightly and hold your card facing the others with the fingertips of both hands. 29. When you receive someone's visiting card, be sure to examine it with pleasure and carefully place it in your wallet. Don't shove it in your back pocket. 30. Do not blow your nose in public; try to discreetly wipe your nose or just snort or sniff to control your cold if you have one.

More PayPal users in Singapore all victim to hackers

More PayPal users in Singapore fall victim to hackersLosses range from $50 to over $3k; PayPal says users clicked on scam links.

By Irene Tham,
The Straits Times | 27-05-13

SINGAPORE - Hackers stole from many PayPal accounts in Singapore in the past two months, highlighting the need for a higher level of security for accessing online accounts.

The losses range from $50 to more than $3,000, with many victims saying this was the first time it had happened to them.

At least one major bank, which declined to be named, told The Straits Times that it has received more complaints in the last few months from customers about fraudulent PayPal transactions on their credit cards.

PayPal, on the other hand, maintained that its system was not hacked into, but rather that users responded to scammers' e-mail, say, by clicking on fraudulent Web links resulting in their accounts being compromised.

A PayPal spokesman said it would refund the account holder "the full amount of every eligible unauthorised transaction if a dispute is raised with PayPal within 60 days of the unauthorised transaction occurring".

Purchaser Janice Leow, 30, was in Bangkok on holiday in March when she received an SMS from DBS Bank alerting her to a $1,000 PayPal transaction which she did not make.

"I was shocked. My credit card was with me. How could it have happened?" said Ms Leow.

On her return to Singapore a few days later, she called DBS and was told that more than $3,000 from multiple PayPal transactions had in fact been chalked up on her credit card.

"I had not used my PayPal account for online shopping for several months, so it couldn't be me making the purchases," she said, adding that DBS is still investigating if her card was defrauded.
Her PayPal account is frozen.

Another victim Jasmine Ser, 32, discovered a suspicious PayPal charge of $47 on her UOB credit card bill last month. After logging in to her PayPal account, she found that her credit card was linked to three unknown sellers in Indonesia with whom she had no dealings.

Like Ms Ser, Ms Leow has terminated her PayPal account. She added that UOB has refunded her the amount and issued her a new credit card.

Ms Ser felt that PayPal should follow the practice of banks, which make online customers enter a one-time password (OTP) to access their accounts.

An OTP is randomly generated on namecard-size devices called tokens or sent via text message to users' cellphones. OTPs, good for only one log-in, provide an added layer of online security in a process called two-factor authentication (2FA), a standard protection for online banking in Singapore since 2006.

Security expert Assurity Trusted Solutions' chief operating officer Chai Chin Loon advises Web users to use complex passwords, change these at least once every three months and activate 2FA where possible.

Many online services like Gmail and Facebook have introduced 2FA.

Earlier this week, Twitter rolled out 2FA following the hacking of several high-profile Twitter accounts. Last month, a bogus Associated Press Twitter feed said the White House had been bombed and United States President Barack Obama was injured.

Some online service providers like Yahoo and PayPal offer 2FA only in certain markets like the US. Singapore users do not have this security layer.

PayPal's spokesman said it is evaluating what extra security options are needed for Singapore users.

Protect yourself
Security expert Assurity Trusted Solutions, a subsidiary of technology regulator Infocomm Development Authority, has advised all Web users to:

- Use complex passwords;
- Change passwords at least once every three months; and
- Activate the two-factor authentication process, a standard protection for online banking in Singapore since 2006, where possible.

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Make money 'without actual work'

Make money 'without actual work'

Joyce Teo
The Straits Times
Tuesday, Apr 02, 2013

SINGAPORE - Some people avoid checking the stock market every day to save themselves from minor heart attacks while others, like student Yeo Sui Chuan, monitor it closely.

"People check Facebook; I check the stock market. It's one of the things you do every day... It's enjoyable," says the first-year business administration student at the National University of Singapore.

Mr Yeo, 22, monitors the market two to three times a day but that's an improvement on his early days: When Mr Yeo made his first trade, he called up stock prices "obsessively".

"I checked it a few times in an hour and that lasted for a few weeks."

He had spent a year studying the market and learning about investing before finally taking the plunge in 2010 and buying four lots of ComfortDelGro.

It involved nearly $6,000 of his savings so he was eager to know whether he had made the right choice.

"I have friends who are into technical analysis so they have to pay close attention to the market. I don't fancy that kind of lifestyle... Mine is more 'chill'.

"If I don't have time, I don't check the market. During the school holidays, I can go for a few days without checking it. It doesn't bother me." If Mr Yeo makes it sound easy, it is because he is not your typical college student.

He already boasts a portfolio of five stocks - one he has built up on his own, acquiring enough knowledge and interest to speak at length about his investing style in the process.

It is rather impressive for someone who started investing around two years ago.

Overhearing his father talk about the stock market with his friends and how much money he made piqued his curiosity.

"I found it quite amazing that you can make money by just buying and selling shares, and not doing actual work. I am interested in the idea of earning money this way," says Mr Yeo.

"So, I read up on investing and Warren Buffett in Wikipedia, and went to the books that he recommended."

It helped that he had worked part-time during school holidays and hates shopping. By 19, he had accumulated about $20,000 in his kitty, which came in handy when he entered the market.

Before making his first trade, he had made a sell call and found that he was right.

His father, a project manager, had helped him buy seven lots of Genting shares at about 70 cents a share when he was 15.

But it was Mr Yeo who decided to sell them in mid-2010 at about $2 after doing his own research.

When it came time to part with his own savings, he decided that he wanted to keep about 25 per cent of his money in cash, leaving him $15,000 to play with.

As he did not want to put all his eggs in one basket, he initially bought four lots of ComfortDelGro and then five of Mapletree Industrial Trust.

"I saw that Comfort's valuation was cheaper than SMRT's and was comforted by that," he says.

"Transport is very personal. I felt that I know it as I take public transport. It also tends to be more stable. Plus it is a blue chip."

Mr Yeo is still holding his ComfortDelGro shares as the fundamentals of the company are
unchanged. "I follow Warren Buffett and do not look at the market."

As a member of the NUS investment society, he meets like-minded peers each week to discuss trading strategies and their purchases and to swop ideas.

Mr Yeo reviews his portfolio quarterly and reads books on investing, his favourite being Security Analysis.

When picking stocks, he looks for companies with large asset holdings and strong cash flow. He also watches out for their interest expense to see if they can continue paying their debts.

His best stock has been Elite KSB Holdings, which he sold for a profit of close to 50 per cent after holding it for a few months. He picked it after finding out that it was selling its core meat-processing business. He then checked its annual report and worked out a value that was substantially higher than its price then.

That did not call for a celebration, though. "To me, money is like a game. I don't have an emotional attachment to it. It's just a medium. It's like doing well in a test."

Still, he does have plans for it.

"Sometimes, I think about the money that I make, about what I am going to do with the money. Otherwise, it feels a bit pointless making the money."

"My dream is to own a good-class bungalow. I have a relative who lives in a bungalow with a pool, and I think it would be nice to have that kind of lifestyle," says Mr Yeo, who lives with his parents in a semi-detached house.

"If I achieve that, I would look at other things. I want to run a charity foundation and not just donate money.

"It helps to have different goals. If not, you will keep chasing money and never be happy."

Monday, 1 April 2013

For Malaysians, a monthly juggle to escape credit card debt trap

By Zurairi AR, Boo Su-Lyn and Emily Ding
April 02, 2013

Many people have fallen into debt due to their poor use of credit cards. — Picture courtesy of savemoney.myKUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — Despite several optimistic views of the economy for 2013 and beyond, Malaysians are struggling to save while attempting to clear off mounting debts as the country flirts below the 55 per cent debt-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio ceiling.

The rosy economic view comes ahead of Election 2013 but economists have expressed concern with Malaysia’s ballooning ratio of household debt to its GDP that hit 80.5 per cent last year, pushed mainly by credit card and personal debts.

“It’s because Malaysian households now are very keen on borrowing money,” said Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) executive director Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid, explaining the main cause for the nation’s rising household debt.

He said that Malaysia’s household debt-to-GDP ratio was one of the highest in the region, although some other countries have racked over 100 per cent.

Malaysia’s household indebtness has steadily increased from 75.8 per cent in 2010 to 76.6 per cent in 2011, and to 80.5 per cent last year, prompting calls for vigilance from financial analysts in the region.

“One of the reasons is lifestyle ... they fall into the trap because of poor financial planning,” said Mohamed Khalil Jamaldin, head of corporate communications from the Credit Counselling And Debt Management Agency (AKPK).

Khalil explained that 25 per cent of the around 84,000 people who enrolled for AKPK’s debt management programme fell into that category, which includes overspending and failure to pay the minimum monthly amount.

Credit card debts
Advertising and design entrepreneur Samantha Fong (not her real name), 36, was one such debtor, after she and her husband incurred debts of about RM10,000 and RM20,000 each two years ago from an unfortunate business loss.

Earning a household income of between RM5,000 and RM6,000 per month, Fong could only afford to pay around RM600 monthly for her two cards, while her husband could pay between RM300 and RM800 monthly depending on his income for that month.

Intan Jacquelina (not her real name), 34, is a single mother who got saddled with around RM10,000 of credit card debt from spending close to RM8,000 when she moved to a rented 1,000-square feet condominium unit in Kinrara, Petaling Jaya from Johor.

“You have to pay the deposit, plus all the furniture inside ... I used credit card because I didn’t have cash. I never managed to reduce it,” Intan told The Malaysian Insider.

The civil service executive confessed that she could only pay the monthly minimum of RM500 with her take-home pay of RM5,500 monthly, despite knowing that it will only pay her seven per cent interest while the principal sum stays unaffected.

Khalil explained that using credit cards to pay the downpayment on a house or car is a misuse of the credit card, which amounts to 13 per cent of the agency’s cases.

Easy credit
Meanwhile, Zakariah blamed the ease of lending money for the huge number of indebted Malaysians, contributed by high liquidity in the banking sector.

“If they don’t give out loans, they will not make any revenue. Their performance, their key performance index (KPI) are based on their revenue,” he said.

Just two Fridays ago, five people were charged in a Session Court with cheating Agro Bank of RM275,000 by fraudulently applying for personal loans, demonstrating such ease.

... I used credit card because I didn’t have cash. I never managed to reduce it. — Intan Jacquelina, a single mother who is saddled with around RM10,000 of credit card debt

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has tried to curb rising credit card debt by raising the minimum income requirement for credit card eligibility from RM18,000 to RM24,000 per annum.

The central bank has also capped the maximum credit limit to double the monthly income of the cardholder per issuer for those earning less than RM36,000 per annum.

However, RAM Holdings chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng noted that it was becoming easier to ask for loans as more people are turning to non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) such as building societies and co-operatives.

“These measures do not govern NBFIs. NBFIs are not supervised by the central bank,” he said, referring to the tight regulations that conventional banks have to follow.

Despite accounting for only 12 per cent of total household credit, NBFIs and development financial institutions (DFIs) account for 57 per cent of personal financing credit.

This has caused an increase in the percentage of personal financing over household debt from 16 per cent in 2011 to 17 per cent last year.

Credit bubble
Several analysts said Malaysia risked being mired in a credit bubble which is looming in Asia’s emerging economies, which also include Singapore, Thailand, China, and Taiwan.

If the bubble bursts, Zakariah warned of havoc when households default on their debts, causing a mini version of the 2008 subprime crisis in the United States which forced foreclosures and the collapse of several financial institutions.

Yeah also anticipated that there would be a “mild shock” to the banking system, with a rise of about two to three per cent in non-performing loans.

Low-income groups who cannot keep up with the urban high standard of living form the bulk of the increase in lending, thus carries the biggest risk if the credit bubble bursts.

According to BNM, most of borrowers from NBFIs earn less than RM3,000 monthly, with 80 per cent of personal loans granted to civil servants.

Zakariah, however, denied that a credit bubble is imminent in the near future, and explained that BNM has been preparing for the scenario since two years back.

“The Financial Services Act (FSA) is likely to come into force this year,” said Yeah, referring to regulations which will rein in the NBFIs.

BNM governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said last month that the central bank was supervising the country’s household debt, and lending measures have been tightened after the household debt-to-GDP ratio hit 80.5 per cent last year.

Zeti gave an assurance that non-performing loans in the household sector remained at only 1.5 per cent, and repayments stayed strong.