The Wholesome Angel

If there is anyone of 'Charlie's Angels' that can be considered really wholesome, then it must be Cheryl Ladd. This star has the appeal of whatever is meant by the word, 'nice and beautiful'.

If I want to hazard a description of the other Angels, then Farrah would be the most sexy followed by Tanya Roberts and Shelley Hack. Jaclyn Smith was good to look at while Kate is just the girl next door.

I was looking through the WWW and only these Cheryl photos fit my description of 'nice'.

It's 29 February Today-Leap Year 2012

Well, as in all leap years, this day props up. Those who have 29th February as their birthdays certainly saves more money as they celebrate less much to their dismay, red-letter day or not.

Remember the movie,'Leap Year' starring the beautiful Amy Adams?

In the role of Anna Brady, Amy travels to Dublin, Ireland to propose to her boyfriend Jeremy on February 29, leap day, because, according to Irish tradition, a man who receives a marriage proposal on a leap day must accept it.

Interesting tradition if they still practise it.

Wonder what would happen if it is a Malaysian tradition?

Would that make for unhappy couples every 4 years?

Gentings-A Foothold in Banking

Genting Berhad has now gone into banking; albeit in a small way, for now and not at home.

Its maiden banking investment via its unit Vista Knowledge Pte Ltd is a 20% stake is in CIMB Group Holdings Bhd's investment banking advisory joint venture in Sri Lanka called CIMB Pte Ltd.

With Genting's entry, CIMB now holds a 45% stake in the JV (from 51% previously), while its two Sri Lankan partners — Alex Lovell and Reshani Dangalla — own 20% and 15%, respectively.

Last August, CIMB had formed a partnership with Lovell and Dangalla to establish an investment banking and corporate advisory presence in Sri Lanka. Shareholders had committed up to US$2 million for the venture.

Let us see how this investment can be spun into gold for the Genting group and its shareholders.

BAT Recovers on Last Minute Heavy Buying

It is not everyone's risk appetite to buy into a full lot of BAT at RM52.56 per share.

So, when you see a 100,000 share purchase or 100 lots done at this price, it is really a big cash outlay. Estimated gross payment will top RM5.2 million.

I guess a foreign fund came in to take out this tranche.

The highest price it went up to recently was RM54.00.

Today, BAT went up to RM52.64 before retreating to end at RM52.56.

Is something burning in BAT that is going to make minority shareholders stir crazy?

That, we have to see.

The Greek Tentacles are Here

Talk about globalisation and the effects will be felt from now on.

While the formal economy can parade all kinds of cosmetic numbers to shore up support for the government and the stock market momentarily,you cannot mickey mouse with the man in the street.

Go to the wet market and you can feel the gloom and impending doom. Ask the nasi lemak seller hawking in the byways and she tells you she used to sell 6 kilos per day and now even with only a reduced 3 kilo of rice, there is a visible lack of sustained buying.

Where have all the buyers gone?

I guess every one is cutting back. In spite of the 2 million odd foreign workers here, the lack of demand for cooked food at the stalls is alarming.

I believe every one is cooking at home or eating bread which is cheaper in comparison.

The crunch is coming to the informal sector. Very soon, the put on cosmetization of numbers from the formal sector will peel off and turn ugly.

As the Eurozone rolls back its demand for our commodities,the Greek debacle will be at our doors soon and this time it is no Trojan horse!

How sad. As they say, "In times of crisis, cash is king".

So, hold on to your cash, avoid unnecessary expenditure and buy the cheaper alternative to stretch your ringgit.

Pray, we get out of this economic black hole.

TASCO-Buyers' Reaction

Early morning trading pushed the prise of this logistics company to RM1.94 before the share retreated to RM1.87. There is not really many buyers for this stock even though dividend has gone up to 10%.

A cursory analysis shows the biggest lot done is 3,0000 shares, indicating very small buyers are nibbling on the counter.

I think TASCO is a good stock to have in one's portfolio if it continues with its profit and dividend performance. I am also incline to believe that the Malaysian-Japanese management is doing one fine job efficiently in a challenging sector.

TASCO ended at RM1.90 for a 5 sen gain.

Foreign Land Deals-Silly Risk Taking?

Investing in land is a very good move towards developing a nest-egg. Remember, location of your land is very important if it is to appreciate in value.

Strangely, many Malaysians have invested much of their hard-earn money in overseas property from USA, Australia,UK to Canada.

There were a number of issues with regard to these overseas land investment. Some people are of the view that this type of investment is illegal and disallowed by Bank Negara Malaysia. A few years back, a local company dealing with UK land was in the lime-light. This land investment was advertised widely on Malaysian radio stations then but I do not know whether the issues were amicably resolved with BNM.

Buying land overseas is very risky. You do not know the laws in that foreign country. You can likely fell prey to sundry risks from illegal activities to misrepresentation. There are loop-holes just like what Edgeworth took advantage of, for their own nefarious leverage purposes or even those that constitute downright cheating of the gullible.

In many overseas land sales, foreign buyers have been duped to buy non-residential or commercial land with the most remote hope that it will be converted in due time. Sadly, not all such lands may be allowed to be converted and may be land to be reserved for 'green lungs'. After all, agents are just interested in their commision and not in after-sales service. They convince you to get your sale in grand style by giving you a hard talk,lunch at a 5-star restaurant as well as complimentary shopping vouchers. So, caveat emptor when approached by any such agents.You may just be the 'sucker' that they are waiting for!

When I read about the plight of Malaysians who fell prey to the Canadian land scheme sold through Edgeworth Properties, I remembered all too clearly my experience with one such company a few years back.

I do not know about anyone getting super returns from their risky investments but my investment forays overseas have been bitter sweet,at best. My investment in an overseas insurance policy in an off-shore facility was disappointing and that pertaining to an Australian scholarship trust was really not worth the while.

A friend of mine who invested in a piece of land in Florida had so much anxiety woes that he visited the land physically in the USA and seeing that there was no' safety net' in the investment, he sold it. Thank God, he did it before the sub-prime fiasco.

Some people are really gutsy. Investing RM750,000 in parcels of land overseas through dubious companies and agents.They dared to invest in the 'unknown' overseas and yet not invest in blue chips on Bursa KL or land in their back yard in Malaysia.These are definitely less risky, for sure!

I wonder why the so called investors are attracted to the remote, 'potential gains' from such land purchase overseas?

Gullibility, again, financial adventurism or just plain silly greed.