Recommended Reading

"Toast will always land on its buttered side"
-Anonymous-

"Cats will always land on their feet"
-Anonymous-

What happens when the 2 conflict?
Read more here.

A Revelation

Q: Who's the most oft-quoted in person in the world??

A: Anonymous.

Wahurhurhur.

The Strangest People

The most expensive laptop. ever.
Maybe N stands for Nuclear, as in a nuclear-powered laptop.
At the "great price" of S$192,012.45, it'd better be good.

Ask Uncle rb

All your questions answered!

Question of the day:

"I hold a working permit. Am I allowed to apply for a license in Singapore?"

Answer:
Since the permit is already working, I guess it can continue with the status quo. You, on the other hand my wish to apply for permission to work in Singapore first. You may find the relevant details at http://www.mom.gov.sg.

Telltale sign #1 of a lady driver

Telltale sign #1:
Car is going at 80km/h on the right/second rightmost lane of the expressway, and cars are overtaking it any way they can.

Sample size: 3.
Number of observations: 3.

Oh well... I know it doesn't apply to everyone ya.

In other news, I think I have discovered a new hobby.

Let it be... "Cats!"

Heh.

Photos from the Ascott

Not many words needed I guess...

Dining Area:

Kitchenette:

Living Room:


Bedroom:

Bathroom:

Adding Value

Was stuck in the lift last Tuesday, while on my way to dinner before dance class going back to office to continue working hard.


Damn sian lah... how to add value when kena stuck in the lift you tell me?

Was thinking about that the whole week, and unsurprisingly someone's already found a way to add value more efficiently. I only saw there solution today...
And it was staring at my face in Tanjong Pagar anyway.
I'm sure you'll suddenly realize there's plenty of places in Singapore where you can add value.

Just look out for this:

Shoulda seen it sooner.

Analyzing FIs

This is going to be a short but extremely crappy post.

You have been warned.

What exactly is risk? Other than the board game, those who take finance theory will understand that risk is the possibility of an event occurring. It might be gain (upside risk) or loss (downside risk).

So there. Next, we move on to analyze a company...

Hypothetical Scenario:

Boss: "How risky is this FI? Can we allow it to operate here?"
Kah kia: "Its not risky at all..."
Boss: "Ok, we can approve its operations here."
Kah kia mumbles to himself: "There's no risk what. The FI confirm plus chop will collapse one. No uncertainty about that whatsoever..."

Perfect.

Structured Products 101

After coming across some weird people in the course of my work, let me just do the world a favour and give everyone a mini-lesson in structured products.

Today's lesson: Structured Deposits (Interest Rates)

Background: SIBOR refers to Singapore InterBank Offer Rate, which is the rate at which banks lend to each other in Singapore.

Some might know of the products that pay better interest of (x-SIBOR)% if SIBOR is smaller than a certain rate x, but zero interest if SIBOR is greater than x. These products include a clause that stipulates that

"the bank may, at any time repay the entire amount of the principal."

Sounds good right? If SIBOR is greater, you don't lose, and the bank can pay you your deposit back. If SIBOR is smaller, you get a much higher return on your money than you would in a conventional savings account or fixed deposit.

WRONG.

Here's the thing, if SIBOR is greater than x, PLEASE DON'T EXPECT THAT...

"The investments are not performing, so the bank will pay you your full principal back"

Bullshit. You wait longlong lor. You can say that to the face of any sales staff who tries to tell you that.

Here's why.

Would the bank actually refund you your deposit if SIBOR is greater than x? If SIBOR is greater than x, what happens? Congratulations! You've effectively locked yourself into a (insert number of years here) year INTEREST FREE DEPOSIT. In other words, loser^(max).

And the bank? Winner^(max), as by taking your money and loaning it to other banks they earn the SIBOR rate instantly. They don't even have to take the trouble and absorb the credit risk by loaning it out to a company or individual. Good deal.

However, if SIBOR is much smaller than x, what happens? Good for you right? Sit back, relax and collect the much larger interest on your deposit with whatever bank you've purchased that product from.

WRONG (Again. I just love telling you that you're wrong. So sue me).

Whenever it becomes cheaper to pay off your principal rather than loaning out the money (at SIBOR or otherwise), the bank will just pay you in full, and you lose the anticipated higher interest rate. You'll probably place the funds in a fixed deposit or savings account, and since SIBOR is lower now, the corresponding floating rate you get will be lower too. Alternatively, you could get yourself into another structured deposit. In other words, loser^(max) again.

And why can the bank do this?
Well, by signing on the dotted line, what have you effectively done?
You've sold the bank an Interest Rate Option.
And instead of getting cash for selling this option, you're actually delivering your money to them too. Well done. Of course, you could get the potentially higher returns, BUT... what happens when your returns get too high?

That's right. The bank repays the principal. loser^(max) situation again.

Please note that while this post focuses on interest rate structured products, the same logic applies to forex deposits and the like too...

A final line?

"Caveat Emptor."

Good luck for your investing.
Heh.

Aural

Strangely enough, was provided this link by someone today.

Right here.

How strange.

Testing Scribefire

Thought of the day:

"If you're driving as fast as the car in the lane to your left, you should be in that lane."

-rb (2006)-

Powered by ScribeFire.

Weekends

Studying for CFA seems so much more bearable when you have company =)

In other news it seems that 2 of my esteemed banker friends have signed up for salsa classes at jitterbugs. So...

LT/Monster! When is we hitting union?

Also, irisT. Eh. You all is at Inter 3 already izit? I'll prob start inter 2 next monday... haiz. got some catch up to play now. May be getting WL for the private classes, see how things go from there.

I realise that this is a very disjointed post, but oh well... got something to study for!

I knew I should have paid more attention to stats class in school. Might have been able to ace it. So sad. T.T

Back from KL

First up, apologies to JC. I know we were "maybe" "kinda" "possibly" going to do supper yesterday, but was/is/am still feeling extremely sick.

Started on Friday afternoon lunchtime, when a headache set in in conjunction with the midday heat.
Fortunately, we ended work early that day as most of the stuff was already shipped back on Thursday. Was intending to go for even more shopping but ended up with a fever on my bed.
Dinner was nothing fantastic, the usual Peking Duck, durian pancakes etc.

Wasn't feeling better after tossing and turning the whole night, but managed to drag myself out of bed at about 7am to get to the airport. Where I found, to my horror that KL is much like BKK in the sense that it discriminates against people with big feet too.

Case in point: At KLCC, spotted this fantastic pair of dancing shoes. Black with white lining, and cheap too. Me: "What's your biggest size?" Salesgirl: "10" Same thing with a pretty pair of brown Bonia shoes that were on 30% discount at the airport. Can't even use finish my tokens. KNS.

Touched down at about 11.20am to a warm family reception. Managed to sit through lunch although I was FREEZING and then it was back home for a nap. Skipped dinner as I was too weak to head out, much like today where my family has just left for dinner without me.

Oh well.. More time to try out that facial mask. Hmmm.

Anyway... gross picture!!!


Time to go sleep...

ZzzzzzZZZzzzZZz...