January 01, 2012

Control and Command Freaks!

My DUMC senior pastor started the new year sermon by conducting an experiment on the congregation.


He distributed a rubber band to all of us.

The rubber band should be placed on your left wrist. If you have a complaint in your heart or have verbalized it, then you would have to shift it to the right wrist.

Any redemption at the end of the day will allow the rubber band to get back onto the left wrist.

I doubt many mortal can really pass this test. Not if done with absolute sincerely, and it will not be sustainable.

My reasoning?

 It is not how good we are but how we are build emotionally.

Stoic, we are not. No Man of La Manca are we!

The basic reason is a majority of us are control freaks save for a good minority of victims!

 Dealing with a control freak can take a lot out of you. The way they command attention and make demands makes it almost impossible for you to reject them except at your behest which could range from foul words to other forms of embarrassing anti-social behaviors.

They take over your will and you are rendered virtually opinionless much less a brain to work with. Soon, you've become the control freak's life-long zombie serf!

So, how does one stop this ?

Unless they are optimally incommunicado on the gray matter level, reasoning is the best way. Doesn’t work with me because the person is a freaked out savage where slave driving is the norm.  There is just no private time or private space. You are at the beck and call of King Ramses or a devilish Jezebel! You are fully stressed out by the end of the day!

Most controlling personalities have a fear of rejection or failure.  They do not know how to lose. So they become belligerent. They should be shown the psycho analyst couch pronto!

Dividend for you this 2012

Schroders predicts that 2012 will be dividend play in Asia.
Asian Dividend Performer in 2012
Why?


Returns of investments in Asian stocks have yielded 66% return on the long run for them.


Moreover both global and domestic factors will be underpinning this strategy.


As long as the Eurozone sovereign debt issue remains prickly, the forerunner of global dividend payout will no longer be Europe but gravitate towards Asian stocks.


Despite the romance with capitalisation gains, traditionally dividends has been the bedrock of long term returns globally as it reflects the actual dynamics of the economics of the day.


Schroders research has shown high dividend yielding stock has outperformed he market for the last 20 years!


The opportunity cost for entry now is low and payout should be good for yet many years to come.


So, I am going with Schroders' this year!


Look out particularly for CIMB,Maxis,Digi,GAB,BAT,Sime,MBB and other high yielding stocks in 2012 if you are playing Bursa KL.

Revel at the Urban English Carvery

Yes, at Hotel Istana, you can revel at a choice of lamb,beef and chicken roasted and be served in thin servings as your heart would desire.


The lamb was heavenly though the beef tasted ordinary. The chicken was just not up to par.

The soup was potato and leak and it was salty.


Some of the bread selections especially the garlic bread, pizza and a few pieces of crusty bread chips was great, to say the least.

The smoked salmon was noteworthy with its side dips of mustard and wasabi.

Some may like the fettucinni but I felt it was too spicy to my liking. Made in Malaysia?

There was a good choice of potatoes and I like the red Japanese ones best.

The dessert is really good especially the caramel and cheese cake.

To spice up the meal, we topped it with a maitai and a grenadine cocktail. The maitai was a little stiff but the grenadine was great!

There should have been fruits. That was sorely lacking!

All in all, the last restaurant meal we had for 2011!

Happy New Year 2012!

We reflect;we remember.

We regret;we resolve.

The new year is in, out went the old one.

Have one great year ahead, wont' you?

Here are some shots of the fire display in some major cities of the world.

Big Ben's fury
British Blowup
Manila Mabuhay!

German Glimmer

Moscow Marvel

Singapore Sky Shower

Sydney Sparkle
Surreal Sydney

Vienna Va va voom!

December 30, 2011

Bursa KL: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly


Star Performer
Well, today is an opportune time to review how your stocks did in 2011 now that trading will only resume on 3 January 2012.

Dividend Star

For me, I have my share of winning and losing. On hindsight, we are all 2020.

Bountiful Harvest
There were times when we were suckered in by irresponsible regulatory bodies,analysts and industrial banks. There should be a law to punish these irresponsible people and investment banks!

Commodity King
Then there were the circumstances-really extreme in 2011.

Digital Leader
Wall Street jitters, the horrendous Eurozone sovereign debt issue led by the sick Greeks and the debilitating effects of the constant property meltdown possibility in China. Remember also the tsunami and nuclear meltdown in Japan. These all added to the vagaries of dabbling in equities in 2011.

Fast Food Champion

So, what are in my list of the good, the bad and the ugly? What are the regrettable and poor decision making fumbles?

Megamall Master Builder
The shining stars are definitely GAB; Krisassets and TWS which went beyond 100% capital appreciation. This was followed by Digi.Com,BAT, Berjaya Assets, KLK,IGB,Kencana and KFC which brought more than satisfactory capaitalisation gains.

Time Square Operator
O and G Monolith
Megamall Super Administrator
On the other side, the greatest screw-ups include UOA Development,Metronic Global,EIG,Maybulk, Adventa,Ramunia,Hai-O,KHSB,KPS,MNRB and Time Engineering Berhad.

I bought Ramunia based on bad analysts’ reports, Metronic-based on a smart alec statistician’s appraisal but should have left when it ran into bad debts. 

PN 17 Red Herring
As for Time Engineering, I did not know why just selling TdC shares to shareholders would lead to its share price downgrade. Something lost in translation?

Lost in Translation
MNRB went down in spite of giving a good dividend? Why, oh, why? 
Loss of Agencies?
EIG was an unattractive share that the market kept away with a 10 meter pole given its change in ownership when the ‘beauty people’ left. 

Biting the Bullet
Hai-O went down because it followed the government’s ruling to tighten up its direct selling member-get-member structure. 

Potential Winner?
Maybulk going south is generally attributed to poor demand for shipping while Adventa's sharp fall was because of the increasing price of rubber.

Die hard?
As for KPS and KHSB, it is because of the water amalgamation mess in Selangor and the court cases.

Foggy Perspective
Hopeful Candidate?
Finally, UOA development, blame it on the Securities Commission and the analysts. They were too laid back in their valuation for the IPO and were faulty in their advice as well.  Minority shareholders were all made lambs for the slaughter. No ethics!

Bad Debts
Low Ebb
Institutional Irresponsibility
So, how did your investments went?

December 29, 2011

Fantabulous Shots

Yes, these surely are.

Enjoy!

Banpo Bridge Korea
Belgium-Netherlands Cafe Boundary line
Rich Man,Poor Man-Favelas-Brazil
Bruno Catalona Sculpture Creations
Cappadocia Balloons
Crescent Moon Tower
Danxia landform China
Emerald Lake New Zealand
Lena Pillars Russia
Night and Day Sower-Lithuania Monument
Maldives Airport
On Bended Knees Gryfino Poland
Yucatan rayfish migration from Florida
The Density Waveline Breaker in Baltic Denmark

Digi:Just to Touch..........

It must have been some sort of de javu for Digi shareholders when Digi touched its highest historical price peak of RM3.88 momentarily this morning.
Riding beyond RM3.88 in 2012?
It is definitely consoling when it managed to breached the RM3.80 price obstacle.

That it has been firm in maintaining above this price continues to be re-assuring as the day moved on.

After trading in a tight range of RM3.85 and RM3.86,Digi finished 10 sen up for the year-end at RM3.88. So, it ended highest for the year. Good omen for the Year of the Dragon!

Finishing up 10 sen for 2011
It has been a good two months since Digi went ex-split. If you have entered at RM32.00 cum split, you would have made a tidy sum of RM6,800 by year end.

Happy New Year 2012.