The First Class honours Graduate.....

Diversification of portfolio through unit trusts

2012-01-24T00:21:00.000-08:00

For some time, I have thought about diversifying my portfolio geographically (outside of Asia) and across different asset classes (apart from equity). With my limited capital, unit trusts present one of the low-cost avenues for achieving this.

Between the two online unit trust fund distributors Fundsupermart and dollarDEX, I opted for the latter to avoid paying the "platform fee" which Fundsupermart had imposed in 2010.

Since fixed income instruments such as bonds are currently mixing from my investment mix, I decided to initiate a Regular Savings Plan into two funds:

Franklin Templeton IF Templeton Global Bond Fund A(mdis) SGD-H1 - note: mdis denotes monthly distribution and SGD-H1 denotes the SGD hedged version since the mother fund is managed in USD terms
First State Bridge - note: this is an Asian balanced fund

Personally, I like the monthly distribution characteristic of the former, and the Asia-centric nature of the latter as this will give me the option of exiting my ILP in future but still retain some exposure to Asian equities.

Meanwhile, I am also on the lookout for a proven and low-cost precious metals fund to benefit from the long-term uptrend of gold and silver prices.

Happy Chinese New Year and good fortune to all !

Aviva SAF Insurance II

2012-01-01T19:08:00.001-08:00

For a while now, I have been considering increasing my critical illness coverage to complement my private MediShield plan (including a rider to cover the deductible and co-insurance portions) which I had signed with GE.

Of my existing plans, there were two immediate options open to me: tagging onto my Aviva SAF Grou p Insurance or onto my ILP. However, as my ILP was meant almost exclusively for investment purposes (as opposed to insurance), my preference was for the former.

Cost-wise, up till age 45, the charge for critical illness coverage under the Aviva SAF Group Insurance was $5.00 monthly per $50,000 coverage (max $300,000 coverage). Thereafter, the monthly premium progressively increases from year to year until the cut-off age of 65.

For reference, some details for two of the more prominent critical illness plans are as follows:

GE Early-Payout CriticalCare Plus - advertised as providing payout at the earlier stages of critical illness, $63 a month based on a non-smoking male, aged 30 at next birthday with a sum assured amount of $100,000 for a policy term of 30 years

PRUmultiple crisis cover - advertised as providing up to three critical illness claims, inclusive of 2 cancer claims, $1.76 a day for a female non-smoker aged 35 on her next birthday covered for $50,000 over 50 years

Just for comparison purposes, the monthly premiums for a 30-ish male/female non-smoker to be covered for $50,000 are estimated to be (* please consult a qualified agent for accurate quotes and kindly do not take these values at face value):

Aviva SAF Insurance: $5.00
GE Early-Payout CriticalCare Plus: ~$31.50
PRUmultiple crisis cover: ~$52.80

For cost-conscious consumers, the Aviva plan is clearly the most basic and hence least expensive. If one should desire the additional benefits which the other two plans bring, then there is of course an additional price to pay. To each his own...

AUD / NZD Update December 2011

2012-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

Rate cuts by Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) while Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) holds its rate steady. A sign of the slowing economy ahead?

RBA: Cash Rate Target
Effective Date	Change in cash rate Percentage points	New cash rate target Per cent
7 Dec 2011	-0.25	4.25
2 Nov 2011	-0.25	4.50
3 Nov 2010	+0.25	4.75
5 May 2010	+0.25	4.50
7 Apr 2010	+0.25	4.25
3 Mar 2010	+0.25	4.00
2 Dec 2009	+0.25	3.75
4 Nov 2009	+0.25	3.50
7 Oct 2009	+0.25	3.25
8 Apr 2009	-0.25	3.00
4 Feb 2009	-1.00	3.25
3 Dec 2008	-1.00	4.25
5 Nov 2008	-0.75	5.25
8 Oct 2008	-1.00	6.00
3 Sep 2008	-0.25	7.00

RBNZ: Official Cash Rate (OCR)
Effective Date	Change in OCR Percentage points	New OCR Per cent
10 Mar 2011	-0.50	2.50
29 Jul 2010	+0.25	3.00
10 Jun 2010	+0.25	2.75
30 Apr 2009	-0.50	2.50
12 Mar 2009	-0.50	3.00
29 Jan 2009	-1.50	3.50
4 Dec 2008	-1.50	5.00
23 Oct 2008	-1.00	6.50
11 Sep 2008	-0.50	7.50

Portfolio Review 4Q11

2011-10-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

One transaction completed:

PST

Buy
Counter is traded in USD but settled in SGD (see Taking advantage of the falling US dollar)
Acquisition of non-container vessels (two Capesize Bulk Carriers chartered to Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., two Multi-Purpose Vessels chartered to Cosco Xiamen and five Supramax Bulk Carriers chartered to Glovis) -> diversification of fleet and widening of charterer base
Sell
Exit offer made by Pacific International Lines (offer price exceeded highest transacted price in the last three years and was at a premium of 15% over last transacted price of US$0.375 before trading halt) -> immediate realisation of capital gains
USD rally against SGD during Sep 2011 (refer to chart below) -> additional capital gains from USD/SGD foreign exchange rate appreciation

Currently holding on to 7 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-3, Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 4, Portfolio Review 4Q10 for 5-6 and Portfolio Review 1Q11 for 7):

FrasersCT
PLife
Starhill
Cache
First REIT
Sabana
Cambridge

Next portfolio review due after 31 March 2012.

Note to self: only simple P/L calculated

Importance of steady dividends
In their reports and articles, financial analysts and columnists have always stressed the importance of dividends in making one's stock selections. Thus far, I have subscribed to this as well. However, to ground my belief in facts and figures, I have tabulated my own portfolio's change in value for presentation in graphical form to fully assess the impact of a regular dividend stream.

* Note: % value calculated as (paper worth of holdings + cash for stock investments - cash injections) / original cash amount X 100%

Indeed, the slow-but-steady dividends can sometimes be under-appreciated in the face of quick and at-times spectacular trading gains. Still, the above does help to remind myself of some of the merits of going down this 'cashflow cum dividends' path.

At present, my portfolio is enjoying a blended dividend yield of 8-9% p.a. =) Hopefully this may continue, and happy new year to all!

Stock Portfolio Update Oct/Nov 2011

2011-10-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update Aug/Sep 2011,

15 Nov 2010, 4 May 2011, 8 Aug 2011 - 6 Oct 2011
Bought PST at US$0.35, US$0.36, US$34 (average US$0.35 @US$1=S$1.2539) and sold at US$0.43 @US$1=S$1.2993
October 2011
Added to Starhill existing holdings
8 Nov 2011
Received advanced distribution from FCT due to private share placement
23 Nov 2011
Collected dividends from Cambridge
29 Nov 2011
Collected dividends from Starhill, Cache, First REIT and Sabana
7 Dec 2011
Collected dividends from PLife

Portfolio Review 3Q11

2011-09-30T19:54:00.000-07:00

Currently holding on to 8 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-3, Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 4, Portfolio Review 4Q10 for 5-7 and Portfolio Review 1Q11 for 8):

FrasersCT
PLife
Starhill
Cache
First REIT
Pacific Shipping Trust
Sabana
Cambridge

Next portfolio review due after 31 December 2011.

Note to self: only simple P/L calculated

Remark: first quarterly decline in portfolio net value since inception (refer to spreadsheet) =(

Stock Portfolio Update Aug/Sep 2011

2011-09-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update May/June 2011,

August 2011
Added to PST and Sabana existing holdings
25 August 2011
Collected dividends from Cambridge
29 August 2011
Collected dividends from FCT, Starhill, Cache, First REIT and PST
6 September 2011
Collected dividends from Sabana
8 September 2011
Collected dividends from PLife

REITs Performance II

2011-08-15T06:32:00.001-07:00

Out of curiosity, I investigated how selected REITs performed against the STI during the recent market volatility this past week or so.

From the chart, it appears to me that:

Ascendas and PLife were the top performers from this list during the reference period;
Ascott, FCT, K-REIT and perhaps Suntec generally performed better than the STI;
CMT and MLT more or less tracked the STI closely;
CCT generally performed worse than the STI; and
CDLHT was the bottom performer from this list during the reference period.

Hope this might be interesting to some =)

AUD / NZD Update July 2011

2011-07-28T09:07:00.001-07:00

It has been some time since my brother and I started our AUD & NZD fixed deposits, more specifically we are just one quarter short of 3 years.

Despite being hit by the financial crisis worldwide interest rate cuts, the interest rates have stabilised at around 4% and 2% respectively (source: OCBC 3-mth tenure rates). Although these are not fantastic returns, AUD and NZD remain the highest-yielding foreign currencies.

The main risk for foreign currency investment of course is that the exchange rate with your home currency becomes unfavourable for changing back (i.e. the worst case scenario will be that the home currency strengthens so much that the interest does not even cover back the shortfall, giving an overall loss of capital).

ILP Update July 2011

2011-07-28T08:43:00.001-07:00

Having reached three years for my ILP, it was useful for me to take stock of where it currently stands. The reason for this is simple: in Year 1, a hefty penalty is imposed where only 15% of premiums paid is allocated to investment, this increases to 60% in years 2-3 and to 102% from years 4-6, thereafter from year 7 onwards, 105% is allocated to investment.

Looking at the graph plotted for premiums paid (blue) and amount allocated to investment (red), one can see the change in gradient of the red line to reflect the higher percentage in years 2-3 compared to year 1. What is disappointing to me is that the green data points for cash values are not consistently above the red line. This means that after deducting all expenses, the fund is not yet making money for me. For now I am continuing to monitor. After all, with the Europe and US debt situations not being healthy, this has had a toll on equity markets which have been pretty range-bound.

Ultimately, I would hope for the green points to go above the red line first and then the blue line over the long run. Only time will tell if these ILPs are worth it for private investors like myself.

REITs Screening Criteria II

2011-07-14T09:31:00.000-07:00

For some time, REITs have been my preferred investment instrument. As mentioned in an earlier post, some screening criteria which I had formulated are:

Low gearing, i.e. < 35%
Presence of a sponsor, preferably a strong one, eg. Capitaland, F&N, etc
High yield, preferably > 8% p.a.
Discount to NAV, i.e. paying less for more
Quarterly distributions (as opposed to semi-annually)
Portfolio mainly in Singapore

The reader can perhaps notice that the list of 6 is split into 2-2-2. My current thinking is that 1-2 now form the 'pre-requisites' (i.e. the counter should possess these two characteristics before I even begin to consider entering), 3-4 would then constitute the 'buy signals' (i.e. they will indicate to me when to enter the market) and 5-6 are 'preferables' (i.e. good to have but not a must for me at this point in time).

Pre-requisites
These should be self-explanatory, although the strength of a sponsor can be debatable. For me, I should frequently remind myself of the 2008 financial crisis during when credit had dried up to a trickle. During such times, low gearing helps REITs to remain on a stable footing and having a sponsor would perhaps increase the REIT's chances of securing hard-found credit.

Buy signals
I have an untested and unproven theory that the market prices of REITs generally have upper and lower bounds. Based on my own observations, there are possibly two metrics:

Yield
Defined simplistically as (quarterly DPU x 4 / market price), each individual REIT's price might fluctuate within a certain range. This range would vary from REIT to REIT depending on the strength of its sponsor, past reputation, etc. When the market price falls to a point where the computed yield based on the last announced DPU reaches the upper bound of the range, this may present a buying opportunity.
P/NAV
Similarly for the P/NAV ratio, this might again fluctuate within a certain range which would vary depending on the sponsor, reputation, etc. At the low end of this range, a buy signal may be detected.

Preferables
Just to remind myself, quarterly distributions are better for me in terms of my personal cashflow and having its portfolio mainly in Singapore will enable me to have a more intimate feel of a REIT's operations.

For future posts on this topic, my self-assigned homework is to collate past records of yield and P/NAV to verify or disprove my theory on buy signals.

Cheers!

Disclaimer: these represent merely my own personal amateurish views on the subject =)

Portfolio Review 2Q11

2011-07-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Currently holding on to 8 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-3, Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 4, Portfolio Review 4Q10 for 5-7 and Portfolio Review 1Q11 for 8):

FrasersCT
PLife
Starhill
Cache
First REIT
Pacific Shipping Trust
Sabana
Cambridge

Next portfolio review due after 30 September.

Note to self: only simple P/L calculated

Stock Portfolio Update May/June 2011

2011-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update Jan/Feb 2011,

May 2011
Added to PST existing holdings
30 May 2011
Collected dividends from FCT, Cache, First REIT and PST
31 May 2011
Collected dividends from Starhill
8 June 2011
Collected dividends from PLife
14 June 2011
Collected dividends from Cambridge
16 June 2011
Collected dividends from Sabana

Rights Issue

2011-04-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Thus far, I have twice had the opportunity of participating in a rights issue. For an investor in REITs, one should always be prepared for such exercises, especially in the current climate of acquisitions and increasing gearing levels (read Debt turns from foe to friend for many Reits).

When a REIT is seeking funds, there are various avenues open to it:

Debt
This is the most straightforward and directly results in an increase in gearing level. Recall that the subprime crisis in 2008 had resulted in the collapse of the CMBS market and caused some S-REITs to face refinancing woes (more specifically, Saizen comes to mind). Being neither a financial expert nor economist, I do not claim to understand the subprime crisis nor CMBS at all but to my simple mind, continually taking on debt can't be a good thing.
Private placement
My earliest experience of an acquisition by one of the REITs which I was holding was with FCT, Northpoint 2 & Yew Tee Point malls. FCT went the route of private placement with institutional investors. For the retail investor such as myself, what one should probably look out for is that the placement shares are not overly discounted and that the institutions to which the shares are placed out to are reputable ones. The advantage here is that the retail investor does not need to fork out any money for the acquisition(s) but faces a certain amount of dilution risk.
Bonds
Recently, CMT issued the first retail bonds by an S-REIT. This was overall 1.9 times subscribed and in particular, the public offer portion was 4 times subscribed. Going forward, tapping on the fixed income market might be an increasingly viable option for S-REITs now that a precedent has been set.
Rights issue
Possibly the most popular means of fund-raising with retail investors, this offers the chance of accumulating more units at a discounted price to the market. On the flipside, if one does not have the means of participating in the rights issue, one might face the double whammy of loss of capital (in a rights issue, the share price will drop to the TERP or thereabouts due to simple dilution) and a drop in dividend stream (again due to dilution but the extent largely depends on the purpose to which the funds are used for, ranging from acquisitions to AEI to paying down of debt, etc.)

This is not an exhaustive list and there are more exotic fund raising means such as CPPUs as well as combinations of the above.

As mentioned in the opener, I had participated in two such rights issues: First REIT and Cambridge. These two occurred in contrasting situations. For the former, I was not a unitholder and specifically bought into the counter so as to be allocated the rights units; for the latter, I had bought into the counter just before the rights issue was announced and for better or for worse, decided to simply go along with the exercise.

On hindsight now, both turned out to be profitable moves as the two counters managed to stay above the TERP after the rights units started trading pari passu. Furthermore, I tried my luck at excess rights for Cambridge in an attempt to round up my odd lots and was successful. Speaking of which, this last brings me to a final point on odd lots.

On occasion, retail investors may be stuck with odd lots in a rights issue exercise. To remedy this, there are a few possible ways:

During the CR period, buy or sell units such that the number of lots held is a multiple of y in an x-for-y rights issue. For instance, in a 1-for-8 rights issue, one should hold 8, 16, 24, ... lots to avoid being allocated odd lots.
During the trading period of rights, there will usually be a separate counter to trade rights, including one for odd lots denoted by a number at the end which indicates the board size. To continue with the 1-for-8 example, this will mean that there is a counter zzz 25 for trading in board sizes of 25. One thing to note though is that the overheads for trading rights can be significant since the dollar amounts will be smaller than that for trading the mother share.
Arguably the most cost-effective and convenient way is to apply for excess rights when making the payment at the ATM for the rights units, since one will directly reap the benefits of the discounted price without going through the hassle of trading on the market.

Happy Easter to all =)

Stock Portfolio Update Jan/Feb 2011

2011-03-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update Nov/Dec 2010,

5 Feb 2010 - 4 Jan 2011
Bought Saizen warrant at $0.070 and sold at $0.075
28 Feb 2010
Collected dividends from FCT, PLife, Starhill, Cache, First REIT and PST

Portfolio Review 1Q11

2011-03-01T20:37:00.000-08:00

One transaction completed:

Saizen warrant
- Buy
  Probable DPU resumption in 2010 -> possible share price re-rating by market
- Sell
  See Portfolio Review 4Q10

Currently holding on to 8 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-3, Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 4 and Portfolio Review 4Q10 for 5-7):

FrasersCT
PLife
Starhill
Cache
First REIT
Pacific Shipping Trust
Sabana
Cambridge
- Buy
  Gearing has been progressively lowered through periodic repayment of debt and is around 33.4% after the latest round of paying down approximately S$20.0 million on 17 February 2011 (cf. gearing level of >40% in the early part of 2010, see From the Beginning...), but continues to offer high yield of >9% at ~50cents
  Cessation of Distribution Reinvestment Plan -> no DPU dilution resulting from DRP ("Distribution Reinvestment Plan
  The Manager has been informed by the Ministry of Finance on 17 December 2010 that the Distribution Reinvestment Plan (“DRP”) for REITs will not be extended beyond 31December 2010.")

Next portfolio review due after 30 June 2011.

Note to self: no P/L and NAV calculations due to ongoing rights issue by Cambridge

Sixth time (un)lucky?

2010-11-26T20:31:00.000-08:00

Previously for IPO applications...

CMA - unsuccessful
Ryobi Kiso - unsuccessful
Cache - successful (see Third time lucky)

MIT - unsuccessful
STX OSV - unsuccessful
Sabana - successful (again only allotted one lot as is the norm for applications of less than 10 lots)

Alas...

"Sabana REIT falls on market debut

Sabana Shariah Compliant REIT , which owns industrial properties, fell on its debut in Singapore on Friday, weighed down by jittery market sentiment.

At 2:05 p.m., Sabana REIT was traded at $1.00 with 15.9 million shares traded. The shares traded as low as $0.97 -- 7.6% below the initial public offering price of $1.05.

Sabana REIT, Singapore’s first Islamic REIT and the world’s largest shariah-compliant property trust, sold 508 million units at $1.05 each in its IPO. The IPO was 2.5 times subscribed.

Sabana controls 15 industrial properties in Singapore with an aggregate floor area of about 3.3 million square feet."

Guess only time will tell how this is going to turn out...

Note to self: Low of $0.97 on first day of trading, @$0.96 annualised yield for Sabana will be ~9% in 2011; with a purchase of a further two lots @$0.96, average unit cost for me will be $0.99 and blended yield of Sabana holdings will be 8.72% in 2011

Portfolio Review 4Q10

2010-11-21T02:03:00.000-08:00

One transaction completed:

Suntec
- Buy
  MBS and Esplanade + Promenade Circle Line MRT stations catalysts
  Retail strength in central CBD area
  Only mixed office and retail REIT -> diversification within a single REIT
- Sell
  Decreasing dividends from falling office rentals and dilution through issuance of new units (placement and deferred)
  Proposed acquisition of one-third stake in MBFC financed by private placement and term loan will result in lower DPU for unitholders (10.915cents to 9.812cents) -> not at all beneficial to unitholders not entitled to placement units

Currently holding on to 7 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-4 and Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 5):

FrasersCT
PLife
Starhill
Saizen warrant
Cache
First REIT
- Buy
  Proposed acquisition of two Jakarta hospitals (Mochtar Riady Comprehensive Cancer Centre and Siloam Hospitals Lippo Cikarang) financed by rights issue and term loan
  Rights units priced attractively (discount of ~47% to closing price ~1 week before announcement) -> beneficial to new unitholders
  Healthcare is a defensive sector -> stable DPU (cf. PLife)
Pacific Shipping Trust
- Buy
  Counter is traded in USD but settled in SGD (see Taking advantage of the falling US dollar)
  Acquisition of non-container vessels (two Capesize Bulk Carriers chartered to Jiangsu Shagang Group Co., two Multi-Purpose Vessels chartered to Cosco Xiamen and five Supramax Bulk Carriers chartered to Glovis) -> diversification of fleet and widening of charterer base
Sabana
- Buy
  First Syariah-compliant REIT here in Singapore
  Luck with IPO balloting for public (see Sixth time (un)lucky)? entry)

Next portfolio review due after 31 March 2011.

Looking to hold
There were three counters which I held for the the entire 2010: Frasers Centrepoint Trust, Parkway Life and Starhill Global. Definitely, if distributions remain stable, I would continue to sit tight on these three and collect the quarterly dividends.

Looking to add
Of the remaining counters in my existing portfolio, four continue to have relatively high yields at current prices: First REIT, Cache Logistics Trust, Sabana and Pacific Shipping Trust. Cache and Sabana (and also MIT) are the new kids on the block for S-REITs and they remain largely unproven. First REIT has just undergone a rights issue to acquire two hospitals in Indonesia and there are always country risks to consider but otherwise, comments from the online community on the stability of its payouts have been favourable. As for Pacific Shipping Trust, of late it has been on a policy of acquisitions towards diversification of its fleet and I personally view this positively. Also, it has seemed to be the most prudent in its distribution policy and relatively free of counter-party risks compared to the other two shipping trusts (First Ship Lease Trust and Rickmers). However, as it is traded in USD, there are foreign exchange currency risks and one would have to keep an eye out for SGD/USD rates in addition to the share price.

Looking to release
The last counter which I am holding on to is the Saizen warrants. This was more of an opportunistic purchase to take advantage of a possible boost in share price from the resumption of distributions for this trouble-plagued REIT, so as to hopefully make some capital gains. Alas, I missed the window to sell when the price climbed for a bit earlier in the year and I will be looking to release it if there should be another similar window of opportunity to sell.

Finally, here's wishing everyone good fortunes in 2011 and a better year ahead!

~ Happy New Year! ~

Stock Portfolio Update Nov/Dec 2010

2010-11-21T01:31:00.000-08:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update Aug/Sep 2010,

7 Aug 2009 - 15 Nov 2010
Bought Suntec at $0.985 and sold at $1.47
29 Nov, 13 Dec 2010
Collected dividends from FCT, Suntec, Starhill, Cache and PLife

Taking advantage of the falling US dollar

2010-10-17T07:06:00.000-07:00

With SGD hitting an all-time high against the USD, I was very much interested to find out how I could turn this situation to my advantage.

After mulling over this for some time, I came up with the following list:

Changing some SGD for USD at the moneychanger
I was at Suntec over the weekend and saw a long queue at the moneychanger opposite Watsons, guess some people like to keep physical cash or they are going to the US for a well-timed holiday.
Changing some SGD for USD and keeping it in a bank account
I was looking at some foreign currency accounts and concluded that unless you have use of USD in your daily work or otherwise, there was not much point in opening such an account.
Buying into USD-denominated shares on the Singapore stock exchange
STI component stocks denominated in USD include Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Strategic Holdings. However, valuations appear to me to be on the high side right now. Besides, I was also none too familiar with these two counters.
Buying the upcoming American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) quoted on the Singapore stock exchange
By chance, I came across this piece of news, saying that SGX will quote ADRs of 19 major Asian companies from 22 October 2010. Coincidentally, that was next week.

From the list, we can see some of the big companies in China right now. Personally, I am most interested in Baidu. Firstly, it has the highest 6-month daily turnover in the list, reflecting a high level of liquidity. Secondly, with the exit of Google from China, this opens up an opportunity for other search providers such as Baidu. Thirdly, the China growth story is arguably the current flavour of the times, and Baidu is well-placed to ride on this.

For now, I am content to adopt a wait-and-see attitude first but definitely, I am looking to get in on a slice of the action. Good luck to all!

Portfolio Review 3Q10

2010-10-01T21:24:00.000-07:00

Currently holding on to 6 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for 1-5 and Portfolio Review 2Q10 for 6):

FrasersCT
Suntec
PLife
Starhill
Saizen warrant
Cache

Next portfolio review due after 31 December.

Note to self: NAV includes realised P/L, fees and dividends. Performance vs. STI measures only paper value.

Stock Portfolio Update Aug/Sep 2010

2010-10-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

Continuing on from Stock Portfolio Update May/June 2010,

27 Aug, 9 Sep 2010
Collected dividends from FCT, Suntec, Starhill and PLife

REITs Performance I

2010-09-04T10:04:00.000-07:00

Due to the uncertainty surrounding the strength of the global economic recovery, the general consensus seems to be that the STI is pretty much range bound. In such an environment, stock picking becomes even more crucial in sieving out the likely outperformers.

REITs are no exception to this.

The table shows the month end prices for selected REITs with the STI as the last row for reference. To illustrate the point more clearly, a graphical form in terms of percentages is presented next.

I observed that amongst these, there were three that consistently outperformed the STI:

PLife
CDLHT
MLT

In a previous post, I had already highlighted CDLHT's potential.

MLT's strong performance could be attributed to its string of recent yield-accretive acquisitions. PLife is not so clear to me though. On 27th of August, it jumped 9c from 1.44 to 1.53 on volume of 1.262m and on 31st of August, it jumped 7c from 1.51 to 1.58 on volume of 3.48m, both days without any announcements.

Going forward, I would favour a sectorial-cum-sponsor approach in the S-REITs market.

The hospitality sector is clearly benefiting from the IR tourism effect, which could spill over into the retail sector. Industrial rents seem stable enough and office rents appear to be bottoming. As for healthcare, its rental has all along been pegged to CPI and can be seen as a defensive play.

Strong sponsors would include Capitaland, Ascendas, CDL, Keppel Land, Mapletree, F & N, Parkway, in essence all those which I deemed fit to include in the table and graph.

One last thing I would keep my eye on is the Mapletree Industrial Trust IPO planned for later this year. I would definitely subscribe for it if and when it does materialise =)

AUD / NZD Update July August 2010

2010-08-13T20:27:00.000-07:00

Status quo on the AUD front, whilst NZD rate continues to rise (see below).

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) media release statement on monetary policy decision found below:

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.5 per cent.
... (statement continues in a similar vein to previous releases)

Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) news release on the Official Cash Rate (OCR) found below:

The Reserve Bank today increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 25 basis points to 3.0 percent.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said: “While the outlook for economic growth has softened somewhat, it is still appropriate to continue to reduce the extraordinary level of support implemented during the 2008/09 recession.

“The world economy continues its fragile recovery. Trading partner growth has turned out stronger than we predicted, however, future prospects for growth have deteriorated. While still at high levels, our commodity prices have moderated.

“In New Zealand, domestic demand is subdued. Households are cautious, with retail spending growing only modestly, housing turnover in decline and household credit growth weak. While this caution has been evident for some time, the recent slowing in net immigration will act to further dampen consumer spending. Business investment remains very low, with corporate lending continuing to be subdued.

“The New Zealand dollar has appreciated in recent weeks. This appreciation is inconsistent with the softening in New Zealand’s economic outlook and moderation in our export commodity prices.

“Overall, we continue to predict respectable near-term GDP growth, with manufacturing confidence remaining elevated and forestry exports continuing to expand. An eventual recovery in business investment will assist growth over the medium term.

“Annual CPI inflation has been near 2 percent for the past five quarters. As the economy grows, inflationary pressures are expected to pick up.

“Given this, some further removal of monetary policy stimulus is appropriate at this stage. Even after today’s move, the level of the OCR is still very supportive of economic activity. The pace and extent of further OCR increases is likely to be more moderate than was projected in the June Statement. Our policy assessment will be continually reviewed in light of economic and financial market developments.

“The coming increase in the rate of GST and other government-related price changes are likely to temporarily push annual CPI inflation above 3 percent. The Bank does not expect this price spike to have a lasting impact on inflation. However, the price and wage setting behaviour of firms and households will be monitored for evidence of any increase in inflation expectations.”

Discount to NAV / Analyst TP

2010-07-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

In an earlier post on REITs, one screening criterion I mentioned was that of discount to NAV, akin to the notion of paying less than what something is actually worth. Recently, while reading through some analyst reports, another idea struck me, that of discount to analyst target price.

From what I can gather, most if not all of these analyst houses use some sort of discounted cash flow (DCF) method to arrive at their forward target prices (TP). Simply put, NAV is like the current valuation of a house (less the purchase loan), and a DCF TP is like what the house is worth based on the future rental income (forecasted) that it can fetch.

Below is a summary of the target prices gathered from 9 institutions for S-REITs.
Those highlighted in green are those with current discounts of >10% to both NAV and TP.
Those highlighted in red are those with current discount of >10% to NAV.
Those highlighted in yellow are those with current discount of >10% to TP.

Of the highlighted REITs, one in particular has caught my eye: CDLHT. It does not have the highest discount to the average TP at 14%, but shifting our attention to the other column, we see that it does have the highest premium to NAV of not just the highlighted selections, but of all the S-REITs, at 28%.

Evidently, the analysts must be seeing something that the market perhaps does not. Upon closer inspection of the analyst reports on CDLHT, I have picked out two main factors for the apparent optimism.

Strong balance sheet, especially after the recent placement exercise, points to probable acquisitions which would act as price catalysts
Singapore tourism boom with the improving global economy and further boosted by the opening of the two IRs

In my opinion, these seem sufficiently justified.

Normally, people pick stocks either as growth counters (for capital appreciation) or as defensive counters (for dividends). However, where possible, I would like to have a bit of both. Previously, I would choose a REIT primarily for its dividend yield, and then for its price appreciation as a secondary objective. Barring a double dip recession, which looks increasingly unlikely to me, the STI might just fluctuate within a range. In such a case, buying a REIT such as CDLHT would be first for price appreciation since the yield might not reach interesting enough levels for me when the market goes down. And if I manage to catch the CD period then even better, although that would only be at year end since CDLHT has a semi-annual policy and the first half dividends had been brought forward due to the placement exercise.

In the meantime, my rough guideline for entry into CDLHT would be the placement price of $1.71 plus minus, to be refined further with TA. Cheers!

AUD Update July 2010

2010-07-09T09:16:00.000-07:00

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) media release statement on monetary policy decision found below:

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate unchanged at 4.5 per cent.

The global economy has continued to expand over recent months, consistent with a trend pace of growth. The expansion remains uneven, with the major advanced countries recording only modest growth overall, but growth in Asia and Latin America, to date, very strong. There are indications that growth in China is now starting to moderate to a more sustainable rate. In Europe, while output in some key countries has been improving recently, prospects for next year are more uncertain given the budgetary constraints governments face and the pressure on euro area banks. US growth has looked stronger in the first half of 2010 but the pace of labour market improvement is slow.

Caution in financial markets has been evident in the past couple of months, driven principally by concerns about European sovereigns and banks but also by some uncertainty about the pace of future global growth. Financial prices have been more volatile and equity prices and government bond yields in major countries have declined. Some tightness in funding markets is evident, though not on the scale seen in late 2008. Commodity prices are off their peaks but those most important for Australia remain at very high levels, and the terms of trade are approaching their peak of two years ago.

With the high level of the terms of trade expected to add to incomes and demand, output growth in Australia over the year ahead is likely to be about trend, even though the effects of earlier expansionary policy measures will be diminishing. Consumption spending is recording a modest increase at present, with households displaying a degree of caution, but most indicators suggest business investment will increase over the coming year. Business credit appears to have stabilised, though credit conditions for some sectors remain difficult. Credit outstanding for housing has continued to expand at a solid pace, but dwelling prices are rising more slowly than earlier in the year.

The labour market has continued to firm gradually, and after the significant decline last year, growth in wages has picked up a little, as had been expected. Underlying inflation appears likely to be in the upper half of the target zone over the next year. The rate of CPI increase is likely to be a little above 3 per cent in the near term, due to the effects of increases in tobacco taxes announced earlier in the year and significant increases in prices for utilities.

The current setting of monetary policy is resulting in interest rates to borrowers around their average levels of the past decade. Pending further information about international and local conditions for demand and prices, the Board views this setting of monetary policy as appropriate.

Germany lost!!

2010-07-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

:(( So Yogi won the bet.. Screw him!

Round of 16: England out (Ber)
Quarter finals: Argentina out (mInG)
Semi Finals: Germany out (KKS)
Finals: Holland out? (Yogi)

Can this pattern hold true? What will the prophet Paul predict next? Find out in the next episode of World cup Paul prediction..

Therefore, Spain is the winner. *rushes to Sgpools to bet..

KKS

Not Everyday is a Sunday..

2010-07-04T04:13:00.001-07:00

But.. Today is a Sunday... I guess this is what they mean by 情场失意，赌场得意...

KKS

Portfolio Review 2Q10

2010-06-30T02:27:00.000-07:00

One transaction completed:

GuocoLeisure
- Buy
  Possible privatization by Quek Leng Chan
  Hospitality strength in London and oil royalties from Australia Bass Strait
  Proxy to hospitality sector
  Possible 2012 London Olympics catalyst
- Sell
  Rumours proved unfounded and privatization did not materialise
  UK elections overhang -> possibility of hung parliament -> political uncertainty
  PIIGS (Portugal Ireland Italy Greece Spain) debt woes in Eurozone
- Lessons learnt
  There's no smoke without fire, except when a lot of people smoke together

Currently holding on to 6 counters (see Portfolio Review 1Q10 for nos. 1 - 5):

FrasersCT
Suntec
PLife
Starhill
Saizen warrant
Cache
- Buy
  First pure logistics REIT listing in two-and-a-half years
  Luck with IPO balloting for public (see Third Time Lucky entry)
  Logistics strength in ramp-up warehouses located in established logistics clusters, near air and sea transportation ports -> barrier to competition

Next portfolio review due after 30 September.

Note to self: NAV includes realised P/L, fees and dividends. Performance vs. STI measures only paper value.

Can you put a price on love?

2010-06-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Yes you can!

Money in a guy account before you consider accepting him as your life partner?

10K - 20K	[ 22 ]	[6.96%]
20K - 30K	[ 65 ]	[20.57%]
50K - 80K	[ 95 ]	[30.06%]
100K -120K	[ 31 ]	[9.81%]
150K - 200K	[ 41 ]	[12.97%]
Nothing matters	[ 62 ]	[19.62%]

Poll Taken from some local female forum..

Hmmm Interesting! I dun have 50K to 80K leh.. how? :( So moody..

KKS

NZD Update June 2010

2010-06-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Finally, NZD rates up...

WELLINGTON - NEW Zealand's central bank lifted the official interest rate by a quarter percentage point Thursday from a record low of 2.5 per cent, the first change since April last year.

Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Alan Bollard said the official cash rate was being raised to 2.75 per cent because the economy was entering its second year of recovery and inflationary pressures were expected to be contained.

'Given this outlook and as previously signalled, we have decided to begin removing some of the monetary policy stimulus that is currently in place,' Mr Bollard said.

'The further removal of stimulus will be reviewed in light of economic and financial market developments.'

New Zealand slumped into recession at the start of 2008, emerging only in the second quarter of last year with economic growth picking up to 0.8 per cent in the three months to December compared with the previous quarter. -- AFP

Stock Portfolio Update May/June 2010

2010-06-09T07:43:00.001-07:00

Continuing on from the Personal Financial Journey entry,

15 Mar 2010
Received advanced distribution from FCT due to private share placement
21, 27 Jan - 5 Apr 2010
Bought GuocoLeisure at $0.73, $0.63 (average $0.68) and sold at $0.70
27 May, 9 June 2010
Collected dividends from FCT, Suntec, Starhill and PLife

Reminder to self: second portfolio review due after 30 June.

AUD Update June 2010

2010-06-01T00:33:00.000-07:00

Looks like AUD rates will be staying at current levels for the moment...

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA paused an aggressive series of interest rate rises on Tuesday, citing turmoil on global markets over Europe's debt woes which have raised the spectre of a 'double dip' recession.

The Reserve Bank of Australia opted to leave rates on hold at 4.50 per cent, deciding against a fourth straight quarter-point hike and the seventh since October.

'Interest rates to borrowers are around their average levels of the past decade, which is a significant adjustment from the very expansionary settings reached a year ago,' said Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens.

'Taking all the available information into account, the Board views this setting of monetary policy as appropriate for the near term,' he added. Australia's stock market and national currency have fallen sharply over the past month as investors were rattled by debt problems in Greece, Spain and elsewhere which have prompted emergency action by European leaders.

The economy has also been overshadowed by a row over a new tax on the key resources sector, which has helped drive Australia's strong recovery from the financial crisis.

The rates decision followed mixed data on Tuesday, with April retail sales up a better-than-expected 0.6 per cent from a month earlier but housing building approvals down 14.8 per cent. -- AFP

How much do you need to have to get married?

2010-05-31T06:40:00.000-07:00

Supposing you want to get a decent sized ring , 0.5 carat. Nevermind the clarity , colour or setting.. It'll cost you around 4.5k. That's just the diamond ring, you need to get wedding bands too, which will easily cost up to 2k.

So we've got that settled. You're a face-loving Chinese descendant who needs to host a grand wedding. You need to host a wedding dinner/Banquet for all your family members and friends. Suppose the going rate for 1 table is at least 1k, you'll host at least 30 tables depending on how sociable you are. That's 30k for 30 tables + booking fees for dining hall which is another say 10k. You'll need some more money for the misc stuff, wedding gown, suits, photo albums, etc etc. That'll cost about 10k
All in all it'll cos 50k

Then you'll need to go on a holiday. Suppose you two go to the NATAS fair and found a really good deal for 2 to Hokkaido for 10k.

Summing it up, 50k +10k + 6.5k = 66.5k

Supposing your girlfriend is really picky and wants another setting at you ROM, that'll cost 3.5k? to round it up, So in total you'll need at least 70k to get comfortably married.

On the up side, you may recover up to 20k-30k from Angbaos depending on how affluent your friends and immediate family are.

I'm pretty sure every lovebirds would want a private nest they call home, so you'll still have to pay 20% upfront for your HDB if you're buying one. Let's take the average of 250k *20% =50k. Damn you still need to top up 30k and all your Angbaos will go to paying for your new flat.
Plus, 40% max of your earnings will go into your new flat as illustrated in previous post, which will make your life so damn miserable.

Sigh, almost makes you want to have a void deck wedding doesn't it?

~KKS

Affordable HDB

2010-05-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've been thinking, does it make sense to get a new HDB flat?

Mr Mah said on 10 Apr 2010 that housing was still affordable. Is it really?

Let's just say for argument's sake that you ballot for new HDB BTO project in Choa Chu Kang and you got it on the first try. Woopee!

For new 4-rm units, pricing ranges from $226K to $278K. Let us take the middle of $252K as representative.

252K, That's not so bad right, so you wanna use your CPF to pay. Let's just say for argument's sake that you and your gf have just nice 52K in your CPF OA + 1st time grant etc. So your CPF is basically wiped out.
To pay for the 200K balance, you have to get a loan, let's say you apply for HDB housing loan..

Let's just say you and your gf have a gross monthly income of $5500, of course, that won't be stagnant as you get more experienced. And you decide to pay the whole thing in 10years because, let's face it, 2.6% loan interest is too high, and the more you decide to delay payment the more money you lose.(Max 30 years)

$5500 * 40% = $2200 repayment per month @ 2.6% interest.
HDB max ceiling for housing repayment is 40% for income. so your CPF OA per month is wiped out for 10 years
So if you do a little calculation, you can repay the HDB in around 9 years.
$2200*9years*12mths=$237600. That's over your loan of 200K , including interest
Let's just say that amount is the amount you pay for 9 years with interest.

So let's sum it up, your
1)OA is wiped out for 9 years
2)You have $3300 left for household expenses, clothing , food,personal insurance, housing insurance, bills.
Let's say you spend $2000 total on all the stuff above.
You have $1000 left in your savings for holiday and extraordinary expenses like eating out on special occasions, personal entertainment.

So what happens when you want to have a baby? You can't possible be waiting for when you're 30+ to have a baby. How are you able to pay for all that?

And of course, all that is dependent on you , having a reasonable girlfriend who doesn't demand that you pay for all the expenses.

Yes, HDB is affordable, but the cost of living here is not. We do live a sad, debted life. No wonder we always complain "Money not enough"

KKS out.

REITs Screening Criteria I

2010-05-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

It is no secret that I am a fan of REITs. For me, the great thing about this class of assets is that I get to enjoy regular and predictable distributions in most cases, barring any extraordinary circumstances. However, what the recent credit crisis has done is it has exposed the weaker REITs for their ability to secure financing and ultimately, the fallabilities behind the management of their debt profiles.

As a retail investor, I have thus learned that I have to screen my buys stringently to protect my own interests. Below is my newbie attempt to establish a set of criteria to determine which REITs to buy for stability and for value-for-money:

Stability

Low gearing, i.e. < 35% (also the limit for REITs without a credit rating)
Presence of a sponsor, preferably a strong one, eg. Capitaland, F&N, etc
Portfolio mainly in Singapore, as I will have a local knowledge of the industry in that case

Value-for-money

Discount to NAV, i.e. paying less for more
High yield, preferably > 8% p.a.
Quarterly distributions (as opposed to semi-annually), this is just a personal preference to improve my own cash flow

After Saizen had set the precedent of suspending its distributions to conserve cash for paying off debts, I typically ascribe the most importance to the gearing criterion. Having a sponsor can be argued both ways, it can bail the REIT out in times of trouble, but it can also dump its own rubbish into the REIT. Reading about the efforts of F&N with regards to FCOT which it took over, I choose to believe the former rather than the latter. Despite the general penchant that Singaporeans have of complaining about their own country, I actually think Singapore is a stable country to do business in and hence have no issues with REITs having the majority of their portfolios here. Discount and yield are somewhat related since they are based on the share price, here TA is extremely helpful in determining good entry levels.

When I decide to enter into a counter, I settle for nothing less than 5 ticks. Of my holdings, 4 out of 5, with the exception of FCT, still pass my screening at current levels. Additionally, AIMSAMP after their recapitalisation exercise and the two Indo-based REITs, First and LMIR, fulfill the majority of my criteria and are on my watchlist.

As always, I am constantly seeking to refine and add on to my screening criteria and appreciate any inputs from friends and well-wishers, cheers!

Yield

2010-05-23T01:39:00.000-07:00

As stock markets head towards a correction this May, for me this represents an opportunity to accumulate. Principally for me, I am vested in shares mainly for the dividends as an additional stream of 'passive' income for me. Once in a while though, my fingers get itchy and I attempt to do a spot of trading, but so far, have not been very successful at it =P

It has always been a dream of mine to be a 包租公. For the more ang moh pai people, it means to own properties and collect rental. Since I have just started working, this is of course not possible. So, when you have peanuts, then you play with peanuts. REITs represent a chance for me to own perhaps a single tile of huge properties like malls and hospitals and warehouses and enjoy the rental income from them.

With regards to my current portfolio, I was fortunate enough to begin my buying at a reasonable level and hence, have built up a certain margin before I begin worrying about losing my capital.

At the moment, my collection of REITs are yielding 8.2% per annum. Actually, my aim is for 8% and anything above that is a bonus. To put things into perspective, suppose you wish to generate an annual cashflow of $50k from stock dividends, you would need to invest $625k at 8% yield. This has taught me one thing: always try to buy at reasonable or even better, underpriced, levels so as to benefit from better yields (capital growth) and limited downside (capital protection).

Thus, my strategy for this correction is to keep my eye open for sustainable 8% yield stocks and continue to add to my portfolio. Wish me luck!

Hijack!!

2010-05-17T07:37:00.000-07:00

So Micheal Ballack msged me the other day, he said Germany is going to win the world cup. That was way before FA cup when he got injured by Boateng. Now the German Captain is out of the world cup. Sadness. I'm sure Podolski or Klose will score some goals on his behalf..

The yongkiat is being ridiculous. Everytime I mention about Micheal ballack msging me he shuts me out. He's ignoring the fact that Germany will win the world cup. It's in the maths. 1954 -> 1974, 1990->2010.
20 years apart. It's all fated. Nothing can stop them. The world is coming together for their victory!

Check out the groups..

1	Australia	0
2	Germany	0
3	Ghana	0
4	Serbia

oh come on.. Ghana ? Australia? Serbia? pffftttt cya in world cup 2010...

and yes, I got an iPhone, finally succumb to the temptation.. now BKMY left Kiat without an iPhone.. When are you gonna get one?

KKS out.

Aviva SAF Insurance I

2010-05-08T01:17:00.002-07:00

Recently, Aviva sent me a letter offering me an "exclusive offer to automatically upgrade your (my) group term life insurance cover to $200,000". The key points of the letter were:

Revision of maximum coverage to $600,000 in October 2009
Automatic upgrade of insurance coverage to $200,000 costing $0.85 daily (monthly premium $25.60) unless the insured person opts out

Upon reading the letter, I had an issue with (2) straightaway. It reminded me of the "innocent unless proven guilty" versus "guilty unless proven innocent" conundrum. In this case, Aviva was adopting the "Yes you want it unless you say otherwise" approach. I do not think this should be the way. For me, where insurance is concerned, there are two conflicting stands:

The level of coverage I would like to have
The level of coverage I can afford

Who doesn't want to be covered for a million bucks? But would you be able to pay the premium every month?

Subsequently though, Aviva realised its customer relations folly and sent me another letter. This time, it was "Yes you want it if you say so, otherwise status quo", which is of course much more palatable to the customer. In fact, Aviva was fairly quick to act upon its initial boo-boo. The first letter was dated 30 March and the second one 12 April.

I first signed up for this policy back when I was a blur-like-sotong NSF. It was only when I graduated and entered working life that I started to review all my existing insurance policies and recalled that I have been paying for this all this while. Initially, my monthly premium was $16 for a coverage of $100,000. Then, in a letter dated 28 April 2008, Aviva offered existing customers an automatic upgrade (similar to the one now):

This brings me to my current policy. Upon receiving the recent letter from Aviva, I did a brief comparison:

The third column is the premium per month per '000 coverage and shall serve as the basis of my comparison. To my surprise, the insurance component of my Manulife ILP turned out to be the cheapest in this respect, followed by the CPF DPS, and finally by the Aviva SAF insurance.

However, I will be the first to concede that this is not an entirely fair comparison study.

Firstly, insurers have to make money from somewhere, and for an ILP, the insurer's profits do not come from the insurance component but from the investment portion in the form of fees and the penalties incurred during the first few years.

Secondly, to compare amongst these various insurance policies that I have, is a bit like comparing apples to oranges. For instance, the Aviva SAF insurance has amongst other benefits, accident coverage and hospital cash whereas the CPF DPS is solely for death and total and permanent disability (TPD), which the Aviva SAF insurance also covers. A fairer comparison would entail comparing between policies which have the exact same terms and benefits, such as between term policies. The trouble is, I find that policies nowadays tend to combine benefits across various categories such that it is harder to classify them solely as just one certain type of insurance.

Nevertheless, despite the seemingly unfavourable results of the comparison, I have decided to go for the upgrade due to a few reasons:

To increase my overall coverage
Aviva SAF insurance allows spouse and children to enjoy the same coverage under one policy
Every year, I receive a partial cash rebate which helps to lessen the actual cost of the insurance
This offer includes free first one month premium

For more details on Aviva SAF Insurance and CPF DPS:
http://www.aviva-singapore.com.sg/life-and-health/for-individuals/saf-insurance-for-nsmen.html
http://ask-us.cpf.gov.sg/explorefaq.asp?category=23023

Disclaimer: The writer is covered under GE DPS, Aviva SAF Insurance and Manulink Flexi ILP mentioned in the post. This is not a solicitation to purchase insurance. Premiums quoted are for males who are non-smokers, aged 35 and under.

Private MediShield Plans

2010-05-08T01:17:00.001-07:00

CPF

In Singapore, we have 3 accounts under CPF:

Ordinary Account (OA)
Special Account (SA)
Medisave Account (MA)

From CPF website:

For (1) Private Sector Employees

(2) Government Non-Pensionable Employees

(3) Non-Pensionable Employees in Statutory Bodies & Aided Schools

(4) Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) employees from their 3rd year onwards

Employee Age (years)	Contribution By Employer (% of wage)	Contribution By Employee (% of wage)	Total Contribution (% of wage)	Credited Into
Employee Age (years)	Contribution By Employer (% of wage)	Contribution By Employee (% of wage)	Total Contribution (% of wage)	Ordinary Account (Ratio of Con)	Special Account (Ratio of Con)	Medisave Account (Ratio of Con)
35 & below	14.5*	20	34.5*	0.6667*	0.1449*	0.1884*
Above 35 - 45	14.5*	20	34.5*	0.6088*	0.1739*	0.2173*
Above 45 - 50	14.5*	20	34.5*	0.5509*	0.2028*	0.2463*
Above 50 - 55	10.5*	18	28.5*	0.4562*	0.2456*	0.2982*
Above 55 - 60	7.5*	12.5	20*	0.575*	0	0.425*
Above 60 - 65	5*	7.5	12.5*	0.28*	0	0.72*
Above 65	5*	5	10*	0.1*	0	0.9*

In addition, at the May Day Rally 2010, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the Government will raise the employers’ CPF contribution rate by 1 percentage point. The increase will be done gradually in two steps to moderate the impact on employers. The first 0.5 percentage point increase will be implemented on 1 September 2010, and be made into the Medisave Account (MA). The remaining 0.5 percentage point increase will be effected 6 months later on 1 March 2011, and will be made to the Special Account (SA).

For illustration purposes, this means that for the 35 and below age group in the above table, the contribution by employer will be 15% wef from 1 Sep 2010 (extra 0.5% going towards MA) and 15.5% wef from 1 Mar 2011 (extra 0.5% going towards SA). Hence, the percentages under the green heading will change accordingly to reflect this.

For more details:
http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Gen-Info/Con-Rates/ContriRa.htm
http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Gen-Info/CPFChanges/Changes_ConRates.htm

MediShield

MediShield is the basic medical insurance scheme introduced in 1990 by the Singapore government for CPF members. It is designed to help meet medical expenses from major illnesses, which could not be sufficiently covered by the balance in Medisave, and will cover up to 80% of medical bills at the Class B2/C level. MediShield operates on a co-payment and deductible system to avoid problems associated with first-dollar, comprehensive insurance. Premiums for MediShield can be paid by Medisave.

From MOH website:

Age Next Birthday	MediShield Yearly Premiums

Age Next Birthday

MediShield Yearly Premiums

1 to 30	33

1 to 30

31 to 40	54

31 to 40

41 to 50	114

41 to 50

114

51 to 60	225

51 to 60

225

61 to 65	332

61 to 65

332

66 to 70	372

66 to 70

372

71 to 73	390

71 to 73

390

74 to 75	462

74 to 75

462

76 to 78	524

76 to 78

524

79 to 80	615

79 to 80

615

81 to 83	1087

81 to 83

1087

84 to 85	1123

84 to 85

1123

MediShield covers medical expenses incurred during hospitalisation, including:

Normal ward charges
Intensive care unit charges
Medications
Investigations
Surgical implants
Surgical procedure fees

MediShield also caters for certain approved outpatient treatments such as:

Kidney dialysis
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy for cancer treatment
Cyclosporin and Tacrolimus drugs for organ transplant patients
Erythropoietin drug for dialysis patients

For more details:
http://ask-us.cpf.gov.sg/explorefaq.asp?category=23069
http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/hcfinancing.aspx?id=306

Medisave-approved Integrated Shield Plans

Apart from MediShield, Singaporeans can also choose from several other Medisave-approved Integrated Shield Plans offered by private insurers:

NTUC Income
AIA
Great Eastern Life
Aviva
Prudential Assurance

Since 1 July 2005, each of these Medisave-approved plans have been integrated with MediShield to form a single integrated plan. These Integrated Shield Plans provide you with additional benefits and coverage when you opt for Class A and B1 wards in the restructured hospitals, or private hospitalisation.

Policyholders on the Medisave-approved Integrated Shield plans retain the benefits of MediShield membership, while their private insurer will service all their needs. In other words, policyholders pay their premium, and submit claims directly to their private insurer. Their private insurer will then sort out all arrangements with MediShield.

Medisave can also be used to pay for premiums of these private Medisave-approved Integrated Shield plans, subject to a withdrawal limit of $800 per policy, per year. For policyholders aged 81 and above, the withdrawal limit is $1,150 per policy, per year.

Since MediShield premiums are paid on a yearly basis, the transition between MediShield and this is effected by crediting back on a pro-rated basis the unused remainder of the MediShield yearly premium which has already been paid, and then deducting the premium of the Integrated Shield plan, whereupon the new coverage starts.

From MOH website:
The following claims return rate table shows how long it takes each insurer to process claims with positive payouts.

The phrase, cumulative claims return rate, refers to the percentage of claims processed by the insurer within one week, two weeks and one month. Note that the fifth column shows the median number of days it takes each insurer to process claims.


	Cumulative Claims Return Rate			Median claims return rate (days)
	<= 1 week	<= 2 weeks	<= 4 weeks	Median claims return rate (days)
AIA	69%	76%	83%	4
AVIVA	77%	79%	85%	2
Great Eastern	90%	92%	94%	1
NTUC Income	93%	94%	96%	1
Prudential	81%	87%	93%	1

(1 January 2010 – 31 March 2010)

I did a bit of research into the various Integrated Shield plans. Premium-wise, NTUC appears to be the cheapest, this could be due to its mass market customer base and reputation as the "people's insurer" (according to my cousin who is with GE). Coverage-wise, they all appear to be similar, other than for specific diseases and/or certain benefits.

One other thing to take note of about these plans is that they normally have a few levels
of coverage, from Class B1 to Class A and finally to private hospitals. Also, there is usually some sort of rider available which takes care of the deductible and co-insurance portions of the bill, but this of course comes with its own separate premium. So depending on one's needs and finances, one may opt for the plan (with or without rider) which gives greatest ease of mind. After all, this is what insurance is for.

For more details:
http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/hcfinancing.aspx?id=342

Disclaimer: The writer is covered under GE since Jan/Feb 2010. This is not a solicitation to purchase insurance.

AUD Update May 2010

2010-05-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) media release statement on monetary policy decision found below:

At its meeting today, the Board decided to raise the cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.5 per cent, effective 5 May 2010.

Recently, forecasts for world GDP growth have been revised up again, and growth is expected to be at trend pace or a little above in 2010. Conditions in Europe remain quite weak, though recent data suggest growth is becoming more established in North America. In Asia, where financial sectors are not impaired, growth has continued to be strong, contributing to pressure on prices for raw materials. The authorities in several countries outside the major industrial economies have now started to reduce the degree of stimulus to their economies.

Global financial markets are functioning much better than they were a year ago, but sovereign risk concerns have escalated significantly in Europe over recent weeks. This has prompted additional efforts by policymakers to put fiscal policies onto a sounder footing and to provide support for Greece in the near term. To date, there has been very little contagion outside Europe.

Australia’s terms of trade are rising by more than earlier expected, and this year will probably regain the peak seen in 2008. This will add to incomes and foster a build-up in investment in the resources sector. Under these conditions, output growth over the year ahead is likely to exceed that seen last year, even though the effects of earlier expansionary policy measures will be diminishing. The process of business sector deleveraging is moderating, with business credit stabilising and indications that lenders are starting to become more willing to lend to some borrowers, though credit conditions for some sectors remain difficult. Credit outstanding for housing has been expanding at a solid pace. New loan approvals for housing have moderated over recent months as interest rates have risen and the impact of large grants to first-home buyers has tailed off. Nonetheless, at this point the market for established dwellings is still characterised by considerable buoyancy, with prices continuing to increase over recent months.

Recent data on inflation confirm that it has declined from its peak in 2008, helped by a noticeable slowing in private-sector labour costs during 2009, the rise in the exchange rate and the earlier period of slower growth in demand. In both underlying and CPI terms, inflation over the most recent 12 months was around 3 per cent. Nonetheless, the extent of decline from here may not be quite as much as earlier forecast and inflation now appears likely to be in the upper half of the target zone over the coming year.

With the risk of serious economic contraction in Australia having passed some time ago, the Board has been adjusting the cash rate towards levels that would be consistent with interest rates to borrowers being close to the average experience over the past decade or more. The Board expects that, as a result of today’s decision, rates for most borrowers will be around average levels. This represents a significant adjustment from the very expansionary settings reached a year ago.

The Board will continue to assess prospects for demand and inflation, and set monetary policy as needed to achieve an average inflation rate of 2–3 per cent over time.

Third time lucky

2010-04-09T07:10:00.000-07:00

Previously, CMA - unsuccessful
Ryobi Kiso - unsuccessful
Finally this time, Cache - successful (albeit only allotted 1 lot) =D

Yeah! Hope it has a solid debut on 12 April, Monday!

Cache IPO 7.8 times subscribed

CACHE Logistics Trust’s initial public offering (IPO) of 474.1 million units was about 7.8 times subscribed, drawing support from major institutional investors from Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Australia.

Other institutional investors who were allocated units under the placement tranche include DBS Asset Management Ltd and Fullerton Fund Management Company Ltd.

Trading in the counter on the Singapore Exchange is expected to begin at 2pm today.

At the offer price of 88 cents per unit, gross proceeds of $417.2 million have been raised.

The trust will be managed by ARA-CWT Trust Management (Cache) Limited, a 60:40 JV between ARA Asset Management and CWT Limited. CWT is also the Reit’s sponsor.

The offering comprised an international placement of about 433.1 million units, as well as 41 million units to the public in Singapore of which 14 million units were reserved for subscription by the directors, management, employees and business associates of CWT, ARA and their subsidiaries.

The real estate investment trust (Reit) will hold an initial portfolio of six properties in Singapore with a total gross floor area (GFA) of 3.9 million square feet.

The Reit will focus on expanding locally in the near term before looking at acquisitions in foreign markets such as Greater China and Malaysia.

Some of the principal unitholders of Cache include CWT (12.2 per cent), ARA, C&P Holdings, and cornerstone investors JF Asset Management Ltd and Morgan Stanley Investment Management Company.

Cache’s manager has forecast for the current year ending Dec 31, 2010 a distribution per unit of about 7.65 cents, which reflects a distribution yield of 8.7 per cent.

Cache Logistics Trust rose 8.5% on trading debut
By Jo-Ann Huang | Posted: 12 April 2010 2301 hrs

SINGAPORE: Cache Logistics Trust (CLT), the first pure logistics real estate investment trust (Reit) to be launched in 2.5 years, had a bright debut in the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on Monday.

The counter ended its first trading day at 95.5 cents up 8.5 per cent from its offer price of 88 cents.

The stock also hit as high as 99.5 cents during intra-day trading before some profit taking activity pared off part of its gains.

It was also the most actively traded counter in SGX with 149.4 million units changing hands valued at S$144.8 million.

The Reit is jointly managed by CWT-ARA Asset Management and currently has six properties with a total gross floor area of 3.9 million square feet in its portfolio.

Brokerage firms CIMB and DMG have issued upbeat reports on the Reit as well.

CIMB has an "outperform" rating with a target price of S$1.23 supported by potential acquisitions worth S$220 million.

Meanwhile, DMG has a "buy" rating with a target price of between 96 cents and S$1.09.

Citing the properties proximity to established logistics clusters such as Changi Airport, PSA Terminal and Jurong Port, the DMG analysts reiterated that the assets currently enjoy a higher than average occupancy rate of 94.1 per cent compared to the industrial average of 90 per cent. - CNA/vm

AUD / NZD Update April 2010

2010-04-06T08:19:00.000-07:00

AUD and NZD are traditionally high-yielding currencies. Historically, foreign currencies also tend to trade within a band. Therefore, when it was reported in the news that the AUD was at a historical low, my brother and I felt it was a safe bet to park our non-emergency money there and just let it grow. Even if the exchange rate doesn't appreciate in our favour, we would still have the high interest to fall back on, not forgetting the power of compounding. However, our plan turned out to be not as foolproof as we thought and we were hit by the interest rate cuts, although Australia has started to restore them back to historical levels (see below).

SYDNEY - AUSTRALIA announced its fifth rate hike since October on Tuesday and said borrowing costs would continue to rise as growth and inflation return to normal after the global crisis.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lifted the official cash rate 25 basis points to 4.25 per cent, underlining confidence that the country has seen off the downturn unscathed and must now work to moderate prices.

'The board judges that with growth likely to be around trend and inflation close to target over the coming year, it is appropriate for interest rates to be closer to average,' RBA governor Glenn Stevens said in a statement.

Australia was the first developed economy to lift rates after the world's biggest financial shock since the Great Depression, raising them 25 basis points to 3.25 per cent in October and a further four times since.

The Reserve Bank is now unwinding its emergency cuts of late 2008 and 2009, when interest rates were slashed by 425 basis points to a five-decade low of 3.00 per cent as the world economy tanked.

'Australia's terms of trade are rising, adding to incomes and fostering a build-up in investment in the resources sector,' Mr Stevens said. 'The rate of unemployment appears to have peaked at a much lower level than earlier expected. 'The process of business sector de-leveraging is moderating, with ... indications that lenders are starting to become more willing to lend to some borrowers.' -- AFP

Disclaimer: Rates plotted are for 3-mth fixed deposits with OCBC, and not RBA nor RBNZ rates

Portfolio Review 1Q10

2010-04-02T03:32:00.000-07:00

This is to track the performance of my stock portfolio over the course of the year.

Currently, I am holding onto 6 counters:

FrasersCT
- Buy
  Upcoming acquisitions of NP2 and Yew Tee Point (achieved) -> increase in DPU
  Suburban malls near MRT stations mean non-discretionary spending by catchment populations -> stable DPU
Suntec
- Buy
- Upcoming Marina Bay Sands and Esplanade + Promenade Circle Line MRT stations catalysts
  Retail strength in central CBD area
  Only mixed office and retail REIT -> diversification within a single REIT
PLife
- Buy
  Low gearing -> possible debt-funded acquisitions (achieved) w/o share dilution
  Resilient healthcare sector -> stable DPU
Starhill
- Buy
  Announced acquisitions of David Jones building in Perth, and Starhill Gallery and Lot 10 in KL
  Retail strength in prime Orchard area
  Share price near placement price -> downside probably limited
GuocoLeisure (2012 portfolio)
- Buy
  Possible privatization by Quek Leng Chan
  Hospitality strength in London and oil royalties from Australia Bass Strait
  Proxy to hospitality sector
  Possible 2012 London Olympics catalyst
Saizen warrant (2012 portfolio)
- Buy
  Probable DPU resumption in 2010 -> possible share price re-rating by market

Next portfolio review due after 30 June.

Note to self: NAV includes realised P/L, fees and dividends. Performance vs. STI measures only paper value.

From the beginning...

2010-03-13T08:15:00.000-08:00

In July 2009, I opened my first and at present, only brokerage account with DBSVickers. For its Cash Upfront online trading account, it charges a minimum of $18 per trade, as compared to $22 for Citibank and $25 for the rest.

When I started out, I knew minimal FA and zero TA. I was armed only with my personal belief in two things at that time: property and commodities.

From a school project by my brother's gf, I first got to know about REITs and after further research, I decided to focus on REITs for the property part of my stock strategy. As to the commodities portion, I looked at the SGX website and clicked on the AGR and MINQ categories. This led me to the oil palm and coal-mining companies.

REITs

Cambridge
- Buy
  High yield
- Sell
  High gearing of >40%
  Scrip dividend plan (can opt to receive dividends in the form of shares) -> DPU dilution
Mapletree
- Buy
  Announced acquisitions of warehouses in Singapore and Japan
  Share price near placement price -> downside probably limited
- Sell
  ARA and CWT plans to list a new industrial REIT (Cache Logistics Trust)

Commodities

Golden Agri
- Buy
  Cheapest STI component stock
  Low PE
  CPO prices near historical low
  Proxy to commodities sector (palm oil)
- Sell
  Took profit
  Kancheong
- Lessons learnt
  Exercise patience and timing
Straits Asia
- Buy
  China increasing coal demand
  Global economic recovery
  Proxy to commodities sector (coal)
- Sell
  Loading facility in the coal mine collapsed due to heavy rain
  Share price gapped down the next day
- Lessons learnt
  Expect the unexpected

Currently, I rely on a friend to help me look at the charts occasionally when he is free. Hopefully in future, I will be able to learn more of FA to improve my stock screening and more of TA to time my entry and exit points better. Finally, to all FA investors and TA traders and "Huat ah, shortist/longist die pain pain" speculators out there, I wish everyone good luck and HUAT AH!

One for the books!

2010-03-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

This is a funny story. Will be telling for generations to come. Future cyclers will hear our tale and heed our advice.

Things that went wrong
1)KKS woke up late (wasted time waiting for kks at bishan)
2)Ralf was late (wasted time)
3)Bernard forgot to take the coupon for rental (Wasted time)
4)KKS Waited at the wrong point
5)Couldn't decide on a meeting point ( too much people) (wasted time)
6)Ralf and Yogi decide to pump their tyres (Wasted more time)
7)Wasted too much time, cannot start already
8)Ralf's tyre was punctured (That was the last straw)

Well, at least we did something.
Things that mounted to frustration
1)Official said we couldn't start
2)Human traffic and road closures

Ralf and yogi (Ralf pushing the punctured bike)

Guess who? (ok too small to see. Click to enlarge, I think)

Personal Financial Journey

2010-02-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

This blog was started as a joke by one of my crazy friends and for what it was worth, faithfully maintained throughout my undergrad days. For that, thanks kks! (btw, how do I reinstate the chatterbox?) However, henceforth this space shall serve a serious purpose for me. From now on, it will track my personal financial journey, for better or for worse, and will be a reminder of my investment efforts, whether in the stock market or otherwise.

Firstly, to bring my portfolio up to date:

30 July 2008
I graduated in 2008 and my first job began on 1 Aug 08. One of the first financial instruments I set up was an ILP with Manulife, with regular monthly premiums going into a China equity fund and a Singapore equity fund.
16, 17 Oct 2008
Opened AUD and NZD fixed deposits respectively with OCBC under two names: my brother and I. Bought AUD at 1.0602 and NZD at 0.9208 with auto-renewal every 3 months.
7 Jan 2009
Did a top up of my ILP China and Singapore funds
11 May 2009
Did a top up of my ILP and bought into GEMs and India equity funds
6 - 24 July 2009
Opened a trading account with DBSV, using ibanking cash upfront account for cheaper brokerage fees of $18 per transaction. My first trade was Golden Agri, bought at $0.33 and sold at $0.375
28 Aug 2009
Collected dividends from Cambridge and FCT
2 - 9 Oct 2009
Bought Straits Asia at $2.03 and sold at $2.07 after the loading facility collapsed due to heavy rain (must thank Bernie for alerting me to this news, otherwise I would have been mong cha cha about the sudden share price plunge the following day)
15 July - 14 Oct 2009
Bought Cambridge at $0.375 and sold at $0.45
26 Nov, 14 Dec 2009
Collected dividends from FCT, Suntec and PLife
2, 15 Dec 2009
Did a fund transfer of all my existing ILP funds into a single Asia equity fund and then a partial surrender to lock in my profits from the two top ups earlier in the year. Also, switched the allocation for all my monthly premiums to the same Asia fund
24 Dec 2009
Received advanced distribution from Mapletree due to private share placement
20 Jan 2010
Received advanced distribution from Suntec due to private share placement
10 Nov 2009 - 10 Feb 2010
Bought Mapletree at $0.705 and sold at $0.785
26 Feb 2010
Collected dividends from FCT, Suntec, PLife, Mapletree and Starhill

Will review my current portfolio after every quarter, first one due on this blog after 31 Mar.

OWE MONEY PAY MONEY!

2009-08-27T08:49:00.001-07:00

So I've won the last season's FPL!

Go me! You can rest assure that this season I'll be the winner again!

but someone hasn't paid me yet... and the new season's starting..

Now that Newcastle has been relegated.. I'm a new found Wolves fans.

I digressed.. someone *cough ask cough*ka *cough.. hasn't paid me yet.

in the famous words of Jerry Maguire "You had me at Hello"

er.. wrong quote..

"SHOW ME THE MONEY!!"

That someone.. OWE $ PAY $!!!~ You know who you are..

Newcastle lost again!

2009-05-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Omg Omg.. If Newcastle loses to Aston Villa in week 38, They're relegated.

If Hull city beats Man U,Regardless of whatever the result, They're relegated.

So Newcastle is at the mercy of Man U. Now that they got the title, they'll probably let Hull Beat them

Omg Omg!

The only way to save Newcastle is if they win Aston Villa and Hull city loses to Man U. That's probably 10% chance.

*plays sad music

No worries, We'll be back..

Meanwhile check out more Nobody MVs from Today's Pinkdot Event...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ho_vg-OLo4

Omg omg..!! This girl reminds me of...

2009-05-13T08:03:00.000-07:00

Aska.. Lol!!~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vM-SfiqBCJE

Hi, I'm still alive..

2009-05-10T04:47:00.001-07:00

holy Crap, my chat is broken.. boo hooo....

HAPPY CHINESE 牛 YEAR!!

2009-01-23T06:28:00.000-08:00

GET IT?

Niu sounds like new which is like so creative la!
I'm so awesome!

Ate at ministry of Food!! ming says 牛 year cannot wear red, cos Cows will ram you as you're wearing red. It's so ridiculous! What if you're chasing a girl who's born in the year of the cow, and you want her to be attracted to you? Then how? haha

Playing the "best cover your face look game!!"

IS IT MING!!?

OR IS IT BER?

OR IS IT MEEE!!!!

HINT* Pick me!!!!!

Whahahaaa

We had this hot and cold japanese Dessert. It's awesome, the ice cream's not so sweet and the sweet potato is hot and nice. It's a marriage between hot and cold.You have to eat it really quickly cos the Potato is hot and will melt the ice cream.

FINISH!!

Till next time!!
tata

HAPPY NIU YEARRR AGAIN!!

Happy 2009~!

2008-12-31T21:24:00.000-08:00

Wishing everybody success in their careers, love lives and Strike 4d once in a while!

Yippee!!!!!!! ORD LOR

2008-07-14T09:13:00.001-07:00

Woot!!~ ORD LORRRRR!!!!!!!
:)))

Commencement

2008-07-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

4 years for a piece of paper that says you have been conferred the bachelor of Engineering First Class honors.

4 years for a scroll containing the bloody piece of paper that says that!(and a book to put your transcripts)

Was it worth it after all?

Liverpool Signs Villa!

2008-06-29T08:56:00.000-07:00

Torres and Villa
In the same club!?~
Liverpool = Spain?
Is it finally gonna be Liverpool's year?
.
.
.
.
.
.

Nah.. cos Chelsea will win!~ CHELSEA Ftw~

Steamboat!

2008-06-06T05:11:00.000-07:00

Had treated the guys cos I got Lots of As again! woot.. I love me...

Piles and piles of meat!

Crab meat!!

Can't wait for my down under trip!

Ciao~

Treat!

2008-05-29T20:06:00.001-07:00

Omg I got A+ for Computational finance. Treats for all my Gek Mates! As promised!

I'm a man of my words!

Seriously.. It was so easy. haha

Squash!!

2008-05-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

Squash!

TAIWAN!!~

2008-05-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

First night
Chocolate box hostel!! It's nice, clean and homely. The owners are really nice too!

Jimmy, Lam and us in the living room

After Checking in, we went to Shida night market to eat, it was just behind the hostel. Then we went to Room18 near NYNY Taipei 101.

Us at room 18!!~ A lot of Tw meimeis!!
There's this 马甲秀 that night which Ber wanted to go see :P It was great!

Day 2

Breakfast 豆浆油条。。

Went to Shida university

Walked around the School..

Went to a park! saw Squirrels!
OMG so cute!
So many of them
*Drools
Uncle feeding the Squirrel

CKS memorial

Went to 西門町 to walk walk, Lam( the hostel guy) said there are 援交妹 ard the MRT exit 6 towards ximending area abt 3000NT for 1. Don't wait around the area if you're there or people will think you're a 援交妹.. haha..lots of clothes, there are occasionally beggars in the centre square and a fatty guy dancing on the Sony platform in front of the Plasma Tv screen.He's one of the "attractions" also .. haha..watch out for him if you go there.

then we ate Donuts!
Then we went to 公馆 Nite market..
超大葱饼！Eat until very full..

Then eat some more

鸡排！

羊肉菜

Then on the way back.. eat some more..

Mixed fruits Dessert! for 3

Day 3 Alishan

Took HSR about 1.5hrs compared to normal train 3.5hrs to Chiayi, where Charlies liu , our tour guide was waiting

HSR train
Inside the train

Met with our guide, had Famous Chicken rice, then went to fruit stall to buy fruits

That guy is Charlies liu!

The melons are damn big!!
Went to see some bridges..

天长 Bridge..

地九 bridge lower down..
Walk both bridge will 天长地久...
Charlies liu! Alishan 车神， he drives damn fast!~

View from above the mountain.It's foggy, and cold.
Our room. It's freaking cold at night.
View from the room
Receptionist

Their dogs, 小虎，老花 and 小花
Walked ard the shops of 奋起胡 and the some tracks.
奋起胡 station where we saw Yagiza when we were taking the forest train back the next day, but she didn't see us..
People cooking Bamboo

Chickens sleeping on the perchAte 阿良火车便当 with Bamboo soup for dinner. Charlies Liu packed our leftovers for the dogs.

Went to some other home restaurant to eat 爱玉，Chinese Jelly nice!

Me through the fog

Day 4 Alishan

Internet Access
Common area
me coming down the stairs

好想告诉我的她，这里像副画
阿里山Forest Recreation area.. Bring Student ID, Half price!!
Us and Charlies Liu!
Train station
Had a heavy Breakfast. The Gal thought we wanted more guotie, then gave us like 3 plates.

Alishan rail, it would be really nice in Cherry blossom season when the 樱花 are in Full bloom

Us in front of a hole in a tree trunk
Me acting cool at the Big Sister pond.
Tree trunk that looks like a pig
Walking the forest trail, hiked for about 2hrs..

3 Generation tree
Hole in a tree
Tree that looks like an elephant
Food!!

Bamboo chicken
On the forest train back! 3.5 hrs to Chiayi

View from Train.. It's really a Forest TRAIN!!
Went to buy Chiayi's Turkey Rice cos it's everywhere, we thought we gave it a try.
Waiting for train at Chiayi Rail
Turkey Rice we ate on the Train
Me on the train back to Chiayi.. Pretending to Msg someone.

Checked in at Taiwanmex. It's named Taiwanmex because, Raul's Mexican and his wife is Taiwanese, so Taiwanmex!! cool!
Went to try 肉棕，四神汤。。for supper

Day 5

Had 汤包 some 蛋饼 and 豆浆 for Breakfast
Went to Taipei underground mall to play some basketball games
199NT jeans!

When to Ximending to walk again!
Had Duck noodle

went to 国父纪念堂
There are a lot of hiphop dancers practicing outside the memorial hall. Some of them are cute mei meis!! Slurps

Sun Yet sun
View from the memorial hall
Taipei 101 nearby
Hourly Changing of the guards.
The Green is army, the white is Navy, the three Branches, Army, Navy and Airforce take turns doing shifts guarding the statue
We saw the 5 pm changing of the guards

Not bad wor..

Went up to Taipei 101!!! Go to the fifth floor to buy tixs! Bring student pass, got discount!

View from on top
Interior of the viewing room
Ahh it's so tall!
101om/min Elevator!

View of the building at the outdoors observatory
Sunset on top 101
Wind Damper!!

Wind Damper info tilted sideways!!
Same LOVE as the love outside glasshouse Fish and co
太帅
Infested with People!!
Wufengpu

Then we crossed the Street to a bridge to go to Raohe night market

绕河night market It's the second best of all the night markets we went to compared to Shilin.

Me finally tearing off my old screen

Asking the uncle to put the handphone protector

Took a train back for 18NT It's faster than the Metro mrt.

Day 6

Had Ham Egg roll

Took an inter-area train to Keelung

Keelung!!

Raining weather

Took a bus to Yeliu , bring coins! Coins are needed to take the bus

Cute dog at Yeliu
Yeliu
View from Yeliu harbour

Yeliu Park!
GeoRocks
I'm looking far away, I'm look so cool

Seeing the rocks!!
Famous Queen head at Yeliu
Seafood Lunch at Yeliu
Yum!
Sweet oranges
Omg what's that!!
OMG a Dead pufferfish!

Took a bus from Yeliu to Ruifang
Wanted to go to jing gua shi to dig gold
But it's closed on mondays and it opens until five on other days, so our planning is flawed! Should have gone to jing gua shi on other days in the morning

Took a bus to Jiufeng to walk
Streets of Jiufeng
Ice cream peanut roll
Tastes nice
View from top of Jiufeng

Some bobo chacha thingy
Big Fish ball at Jiu feng, forgot to take picture, so left 1

Took a bus back from jiufen to Taipei槟榔妹! on the way back to Taipei
Drop off at Zhong xiao fu xin

SMRT should consider installing these
鲜芋仙！ Ber admiring the cute girl making his drink
We went into a Convinence shop and at a discreet corner in the back they were selling Jap AV videos, Dildos and Vibrators! Ber wanted to get.. but was shy :P
Huaxi Jie
Salted Chicken stall

The salted chicken
More food!
FOOD!

Day 7

Mac Pancake Breakfast
Bus to Yangming shan from Taipei Rail Station
This bus uses the Ezcard tap.

Yang ming shan

15NT per bus ride, can use Ez card too! Didn't buy the unlimited rides for 60 cos we only took 3 rides
Ber!! Excited about the Greenery!
Wah damn pro rite
Trail up Mt Dadun
Looks near and short right? but it's damn tiring up
0.5km more! omg!

Bee!
On top of the mountain!
Scenery is beautiful. Nice big winds

Pavilion near the top

On the way down

Help Man! Don't take a pic of me and Xiao qing..

Releasing Xiao qing back to the wild

OMG Guangming road!!!

Took a bus from yangming shan to Beitou to try some hotsprings

Went to a mixed Public hotspring! 40NT only!

Food being sold outside

After that we took a bus to 淡水
to see sunset

Fisherman's Wharf

The bridge at fisherman's Wharf

Sun setting

View from the shops besides the bridge

Cute baby birds on the nest listening to Jay chou music playing from the shops

Super Big 鸡排! Too bad they don't cut it

Sun setting.. So nice

View from the harbour
Lights at the bridge
Took a boat ride to 北投老街 which is near the MRT
View from inside the boat!
Tall Ice cream
北投老街

Went to Shilin after that , it's the best nite market imho(in my honest opinion), then there are makeshift shops ard 11+ in the centre of the 2 shops streets It's interesting, when the police comes, the whole makeshift shops "disappears" within 10 sec, the guy just closed his bags and walked away with his table legs as if he was one of the shoppers. The same goes for the food shops, we were walking to some of the illegal food stalls, then suddenly all their lights got turned off,then some of the shop owners moved their carts to somewhere else. I thought it was a blackout but I went to buy a stick of fishball and kakashi asked if they're closing, the auntie said in chinese " 跑警察“ lolx

Shilin nite market and makeshift stalls
Ate some jian bao
Had Beef noodles

买东西
吃东西

买东西
吃东西
View from the MRT

Gongfu panda!!

Back at the hostel!
Cup noodles and fruits!

Bottles we used

Non-Mama's boy cutting the fruits using the 10NT knife we bought at ShilinMango we bought from Alishan

Last day

Breakfast!
We went for a leg massage

Dipping into the water
Hmm.. shiok my Masseuse is female!!

Back at the hostel

Took a pic b4 we left

The 2 computers we used
The rooms.. Up rooms a-f

Where we bathe: makeshift toilets

Inside of the box. So simple and cool rite Aksa?

Went taipei underground mall to do some last minute shopping
Me! Soliciting a 援交妹。。 but too ex liao..

Went to play 抓抓族。。 It's so easy!! I'm like Damn Pro can! only 10NT per catch and we each got one! yay

Bought Some ru wei..
Ate with cup noodles..
Ate ru wei
Going back!! 桃园airport!
Cheese!!
Ber picking up Cosmetic
me the 分牌仔!
A4 waiting area
Jetstar plane
Back to Sg.. Ciao~~

Back! for a breather...

2008-05-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

Back from Phuket.. It was fun!! check Aska blog for pics!~

Before I go to Taipei!!~
TAIPEI!!~ Woot.... Taiwan xmm here I come.. Muacks..

Check this!! I'm the Champion!!! that meansss....... ASKA BER KAKASHI AND MING OWE ME 10 BUCKS EACH!! Ralf didn't play, he scared he lose..

WOOT! KA CHING!! 40 bucks Richer!

YEAH!!I'm so good!!

BATAM Tripppp!!

2008-02-27T03:00:00.000-08:00

Went to Batam with the guys! It was fun. The people there don't Speak English at all.. Their schools don't teach English, only up to University level then they would know a bit of English. Lucky we have our Bahasa Indonesia A+ Student Ber with us.. keke
He was liaising with the taxi driver. Asking him questions and stuff.

They didn't have two single beds, so we took the couple's bed~ Since it's a couple's room, the bathroom is open, can't be locked, only separated by a curtain.. But the room is really nice. Really a resort getaway, Really relaxing.. However, there's nothing around the hotel. There's a sofa beside the bed that could be used as another bed. The Tv has HBO , Starchannel, Ch 5 More importantly there's ESPN! Watched Everton-ManCity Match! Lescott! FTW!~

Gm.. He's really a sleeper... Anywhere also can sleep.. Anywhere anyplace anytime.. Sleeper..

Go there watch movie.. ahhhhhh Really got nothing to do.. 15000 Rupees = S$2.50. Cheap..

Played some Mario racing game while waiting for the movie... See that's me..So Shuai right!!? I came in first and won a free game. lols
No no we didnt catch Sleeper.. We caught Jumper.. Lol..

Went to A&W...

It's like Singaporean's favourite place to eat because A&W is no longer in Singapore We Ate Waffles , root beer float and their famous hotdog...Burgers.. Curly fries.. TWICE..

Ate at Golden Prawn 933 too.. The seafood's really cheap, if you don't order the Shellfish.. one Shellfish is 40000 == 7 bucks..*4 = 120000. could have eaten two fishes.. with that kind of money. We had 2 pepper crabs, 500 grams crispy Golden Prawns, delicious Steam Fish, 4 shellfish , 2 vege dishes, drinks and rice.. =SGD24 each. The food was great.

ok that's all Tata....gotta get back to work..

Omg That's so shuai!!

2008-01-31T08:20:00.000-08:00

Guess What?!?!

I got my CARD today!! I look so shuai in it..!!

I'm finally part of the community that is liable for paying ERPs to contribute to Fundings to failed overseas investment!!

I'm Exhilarated! It's like winning the F1 race. Free cookies and donuts for everyone!!

Wah the Deal or no deal girl...

2008-01-17T06:44:00.000-08:00

Looks abit like Aska rite. But she's cuter! and less fierce.. and more desirable.. haha but she doesn't have a 'magnetic' personality

What?! I got outbidded at 600 and 3200 pts!?!

2008-01-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

NO!! THIS IS IS SPARTAAAAAAA!!!!!

OMG Newcastle is gonna be bought over by Secret Singapore organisation

2007-12-09T21:16:00.000-08:00

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/27742/New-Toon-takeover-plan-hits-Allardyce
"Sam Allardyce’s Newcastle future will be thrown into doubt once again in the new year amid a £200millon takeover battle for the club.

A mystery Singapore consortium is on the verge of launching a megabucks bid to buy out Newcastle’s current owner Mike Ashley.

And if the deal goes ahead, manager Allardyce will be facing another uncertain time under his third set of owners since arriving at St James’ Park.

Though Ashley insists he has no plans to sell the Premier League strugglers just six months after buying it for £170m, the signs are he is ready to listen to serious offers.

And, after such a torrid start to his reign in the north east, the loaded retail sports magnate, worth £1.9billion, may well find the interest from Singapore too tempting.

Our source said: “The talk is that £200m would be enough to buy Newcastle – and it could happen early in 2008.”

If he cuts the deal, Ashley will walk away having banked a whopping £30m from his investment – or £100,000 for each day in charge.

Nice work if you can get it – but the news from the Far East is a major blow for Allardyce, coming so soon after the Geordies’ draw with Arsenal and yesterday’s 2-1 win over Birmingham earned him crucial breathing space.

That point against the league leaders resulted in chairman Ashley issuing his manager with a third vote of confidence in as many weeks.

But, tellingly, he refused to give Allardyce any long-term security – admitting only that his position was not under ‘immediate’ threat."

OMG! Actually it's me la.. I always had an interest in the toons, dun tell anyone k..

la la la..

Failed!

2007-11-19T08:59:00.000-08:00

I failed my TP!! omg!

Immediate failure!! I didn't give way to pedestrian... Jimmy Tiew!! I'll remember you forever!! Arghhz

Failure is not a word in my dictionary... This must be a mistake.. I'm devastated... Sighz...

Haiz..

I'm depressed...

FAIL!!!

hEyPi BiRthDaY mInG!!!!!!!!!!

2007-11-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a Pic of him... For today only he's more handsome than me cos it's his Birthday!! Birthday people have a sort of birthday glow.. Like buddha magic.. hur hur......

Dun so stress K! Jiayou!

omg omg open le!

2007-10-28T09:24:00.000-07:00

https://aces01.nus.edu.sg/passfail/StudentLogin

I got A for cultural studies! B+ for my SS

wahahaha I'm Sick! SU still can get A! wahaha

I rule!!

....so how Un-SU my B+ and slack off in the last sem or.... Dun un S/u it cos it'll pull down my cap?

SLACK off or work hard??? Advice ?

I cut my hair!

2007-10-18T09:51:00.001-07:00

Pic of me and some guys who are not as suave as me.

Yeah finally got time to chop off my dark bushy locks. Suave! Yeah the pic is 90 deg anticlockwise off. Dun hav time to rotate it. But I still look as handsome just goes to show no matter how u see it I'm suave!

Quiz: Who is the most handsome guy in the above picture???

a) Guy in blue
b)Me!! (yogi)
c)Yongkiat!
d)All of the above

if your answer is anyone of them. You're right! it's me! Wakaka. Possibly the easiest quiz ever!
Any person with the IQ of a nutcracker could figure it out.

Here's a pic of me in 牛仔 outfit.. YEEEEEEHAAAAA.. 牛仔很忙的。。。美女需要我。。
k gtg

我很忙！！！！！

Omg! Guess what!

2007-10-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

It's my Birthday!!!

But I'm sick.. Sob went to see the doctor..

Sighz..

I need a hug..

Some Birthday...

*plays sad music...

Titleless..

2007-10-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

Why are 10 men luckier than 9 men??????

anyone?

Anyone?????

I see a hand there...in the corner.. nope my mistake..

ok cos (in indian accent..) more birds more luck..

OMG SCANDAL..

2007-09-18T04:08:00.000-07:00

OMG!

I saw rough today!!He said he was eating with his friend. Then he walked passd me table.. Well, I wanted him to get me some ice lemon tea but nnooooooooo He wanted to get Fruit juice stall to buy smoothies and reject me... sob..

Then I made a shocking discovery...

Gasp..

He was with someone, for completeness sake, let's call her Smooth. Opposites attract mah.You can only see smooth's silky smooth hair.. Ok I'm a bad Photographer.. but you get the idea.. Sparks were flying man.. I thought it was national day all over again! Anyway I hope ur smooth likes the smoothie you bought..Good luck!

PS: OMG TOONS lost to derby.. Sighz.. I'm gonna convert to a Chelsea fan.. CHELSEA!!! for the win!!

of barricades, beanbags and chilli crabs...

2007-07-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

So I'd like to tell a story. Once there was this guy, let's call him 'Rough'. So Rough had this job he wants to do, He decided to call all his frens to help.. so Y, K and B decided to help him. But then B at the last moment had a very important Wimbledon match with Martina Hingis he had to attend and he backed out.(lucky for him)

So the time came when the three gathered to do the job. Turns out there was some beanbags to be emptied so Rough decided to do the beanbags. Then Y and K were assigned to the Barricades. The Barricades were very heavy and required humongous strength to move. After moving the barricades Y felt like he could lift girls with ease cos his muscles had grown so much. Meanwhile Rough was still doing the really easy job of emptying the beanbags. Then Y and K thought they had moved all the Barricades they had to but it turns out there were more. The horror! Meanwhile rough found another job which was to push trolley around.. He often wondered how the mucles of Y and K became so big.

So when it was time to go, they couldn't find Rough! They were looking around for rough, turns out his Trolley-ing job is extend and there were other stuff to do! What Y and K could do was grin and bear. The End!

So the moral of the story is , Never trust Rough!
PS:This story is completely fictitious and any resemblance to any persons, Rough or smooth, events or happenings are purely coincidental
Oh this is the chilli Crab. It's suppose to be Singapore's Mascot. See the chilli on it's left paw.

It's so cute..
And it plays dead on command... hehehe
Side view..
Likes to Zipai... like ME!! hehe..
see the resemblence??

Dean's list!!

2007-07-10T10:01:00.001-07:00

Congrats!!!! ... So many bosheng in dean's list.. Zzzzzz

Meme

2007-07-02T08:50:00.000-07:00

Got tagged by Aska

Wah .. ask me write weird things about myself.
I'm 100% normal can? I'm not weird in anyway

why do they call it a MEME anyway is it like ME ME LOOK AT ME ME ME ME ME ME
It's ALL ABT ME!!! ME ME !! Just like my blog ME ME ME!! I LIKE!!

Each player of this game starts out by giving 6 weird things about themselves. People who get tagged need to write in a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rules clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. After you do that, leave them each a comment letting them know you tagged them and to read your blog!

1.I'm Shuai! Some people just can't take it. But it's the truth , the whole truth and nothing but the truth. SHUAI ness is inborn .. My dad and Bro are oso as Shaui.. But the most Shuai is still me.!! me me me!! afterall this is a MEME!

2.I don't like getting into dean's list. I know all the answers to all the questions that are in the exams. And I do just enough right so I can just miss the dean's list. I've been doing it for 4 sems. Apparently, last last sem I miscalculated and hit dean's list. DAMN! I've been dealing with girls phone calls asking me to help them in their hw everyday ever since. Sigh.. The perils of being SHUAI and SMART..

3.I read ~~pervert~~ decent comics! Like Strawberry 100% or Ichigo 100%!! ichigo is strawberry in jap. It's a completely decent comic! Honest! Check out the cover! Woot. How Decent!!
The main Character.. Which I imagined to be always me.. !!(Check out the pic! I've magically transformed myself into the pic so people who are lacking in imagination can just See it as I see it) ME ME ME!! always surrounded by girls. I'm in heaven. Yar I like anything with strawberries.. Like my msn font is fushia not pink! Which resembles the colour of a pink strawberry.

4.I love coining Acronyms! Like..ffrotss or htlagitd and POTCDMC!!
ffrotss == Fantastic four rise of the silver surfer...
htlagitd == How to lose a guy in ten days
POTCDMC is pretty obvious. so I wont say.
oh oh.. and

or my favourite acronym I coined.. QTP!!
as in Nini's such a QTP!!

5.I support Newcastle! It's weird! Most people support Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool Arsenal... Champion chasers! I despise them! Except Chelsea supporter.. Chelsea rocks in a different way!!!

ok here's a pic of me me me again..

YONGKIAT SCORES!! after putting one through Wigan goalkeeper Mike Pollitt
hehe...

6. I have to lift dumbbells every night without fail no matter rain or shine.... I aspire to be

heh heh!!

This is my greatest wish of all. That way , I can protect my girlfriend when Gangsters try to 调戏 her.. This is me, the incredible hulk side of me. With That I'll be Shuai, Smart and Strong!! The 3 S-s!!

Tag:

All the girls that I ever loved and loved me. That includes Chole, Michelle,Clare, Jennifer Claudia, Amanda, Nicole in the back secretly reading my blog..my love. Just Kidding girls... If I said that all the female bloggers in Singapore would do this Meme.

ps: None of the girls I listed actually existed. They are just a figment of your imagination...

MILKRUN!! 2007

2007-07-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

I went for the MILKRUN!!! Gm asked us to go so we went.I'm such a good buddy!!(no actually I wanted to look at hot sweaty babes running.)

WOOT! Running for milk!!! In the goodie bag really got one PACKET of milk.

Check out this Shuai ge!! OMG IT'S ME!! Lolx.. Guy that are 认真 are so Shuai!! dun you agree.
I can't stand it..

OK the Ralf in the back is shuai1 but not as Shuai4 as me. He's the guy who tot there was full running attire provided and didnt Bring running shorts. OMG !! In the end he bought a pair of shorts at the 2 for $5 Pasar Malam near Outram park MRT.

ok So I ran super fast!! Like lightning speed!! If I had been in competitive I'd have won first la..
REALLY!! NO JOKE!!
Actually, I had a babe to follow so I had to delibrately slow down for her to catch up.. What a waste of my running capabilities! But woot She's hot!

ANYWAY!! BYE!!

I'm back!!

2007-05-28T09:02:00.001-07:00

HK is so fun !! Damn I couldn't stay longer. I've been to every place in HK!!! Woot.. Except Ocean's park.. Can u believe that!? Pity I didn't meet any Cute Hk girls..I swear!!.. not cute ones anyway.

http://vividpaperart.com/
Visit this site! and tell me how much paper i should bring back to sell! Make some $$ while here.
I made my first one, did it in a few tries.

of course the one I made looks cuter. hehe. Got some other cute ones on the site too, like Eeyore! Astroboy, Doreamon etc etc etc

Ber got into Dean's list la with his grades, i reckon.. Seems like my Dean's list aura is rubbing off the people around me. haha.. Come rub on me if u want to get into dean's list. No I won't bite. I'm FRIENDLY.

NewCastle united!!!

2007-05-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Man U may have won this season's EPL.. but...

Next season.. Yeah!! Newcastle are the new champions of EPL!!

Woot!! Micheal owen will bring us to glory!!

Ok.. jokes aside.. I still think Chelsea will win.. hohoho...

Happy Birthday ASKA!!!!!

2007-04-15T10:29:00.001-07:00

Wahaha.. Today is ASKA's birthday!! Have you seen my video!?! I put a lot of thought into it... Wanted to upload to youtube ... but I shy la.. later all the girls come after me after seeing the video..

Cantonese: Sun Yat Fai Lok!
French: Joyeux Anniversaire!
German: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag!
Japanese: Otanjou-bi Omedetou Gozaimasu!
Chinese: 生日快乐！

Dun be jealous I know so many languages... Geeez I can't help it if i'm so talented in many languages...

Btw... You miss me right?!

Yah I miss you too.... I think of you periodically in HK.. (This sentence is totally not true..)( sorrie i have to say or my favouritest girl might get jealous)
Yar in case you forget how I look like..Yup That's how I look like now...haha I know what you must be thinking.. "what? A downgrade from my previous shuai look?"

ok lar this is how i look like..

So ANYWAY.......

yup so now u know.. my secret identity is Astroyogi!

PS: I had to put a lot of Gel for that last photo.. In case you were wondering how i did my hair.. haha....

Back!!

2007-03-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

Ok I'm back!! I'm back in Singapore for the weekend. I've got a test before my flight and another after my flight. Whateva la. I'm such a genius I can pass them without actually studying hehe..

My actual motive is to watch Phantom of the Opera. It's the bestest-best show ever.I've always wanted to watch it since I was little When I thought I couldn't see it I was devestated.The flight was supposed to be budget flight. Buttt my mom sponsor the flight back and gave a chance to watch.. I'm so blessed.

oh yar.. I got new hair cut over there(but it grew back) and new specs!! I'm trying to sculpt a new me! It costs me 1500HK==SGD300!! That's like so EX!! But I'm rich wad.. what can u do? wahaha.. Anyway I think I looked really cool in those specs.

Check me out : 太帅了！！！
The blue and greenish colour just compliments with my slightly tanned skin tone.. and my choice of wear.. hardrock cafe.. as perfect as ever. My brilliant perfect smile, takes me years to perfect. Wahah that look of overall confidence, I can charm any girl..

You kinda know how many good friends you have when you can call them up on such short notice. And they'll come despite the rain and late-ness. I love you guys!!! I'm so touched that I'm gonna give you all a BIG BIG BIG TREAT when I come back for good k.. I promise. If i break it i'll get a U for my subjects...

BKMY.. Ralf is extra.. dun mind him..

My lovable classmates.. Like I said b4 ralf is extra..
.
.
.
Maybe He should get braces oso.. then we can be the braces gang..

Oh man Singapore's so hot.. I can't wait to get back.. Over there it's much cooler.. I can wear a lot of nice jacket and act cool like Bae yong joon..but he's not as shuai as me.

Tmr taking a 6am flight back.. ANYONE wanna send me off? ANYONE?? haha..

Woot!!

2007-03-13T09:33:00.000-07:00

It feels like an extended holiday here. I got a lot of work to do,but i'm on Exchange, everything's SU-ed.. situation's different ..no? The Modules mapped are all wrong. I don't know what I'm studying... So heck la..Close eyes also can get S right... No... those are my famous last words before I got that horrid U..

Anyway, I'd just go around hiking visiting places.. seeing stuff.. getting massages.. the girl small small sure got a lot of strength, I got bruises all over my body. People might think i kanna abused by the girl.

Oh ya did I mention my floormate is getting me a facial! Cos i'm such a nice guy. He's my floormate cos he sleeps on the floor while I take the bed. HAhaha.. ok Cold joke.. same storey la So I call him my floormate.

I'm going for my facial tmr! Omg I feel like a tai tai...

Guess what?!

2007-01-23T04:15:00.000-08:00

Tsk, anyhow put my name on the list. It's not like I wanna be in it lor.

I'm elated!!!I'm delirious! I'd treat you all but I'm in HK now. 'Enjoying life.' Haha It's freaking cold la. Taking some really 'really interesting' courses.. yawns..

Anyway, now I can strike that off one of the things I wanna achieve before I graduate. :))<< Double smiley = double the happiness.

PS: Follow this link :http://www.eng.nus.edu.sg/ugrad/awards.html for the full list.

PPS: If you don't know what List it is, For the benefit of the doubt, It's Dean's list!! Wahaha I'm so happy. There I've said it. LOL!

PPPS: Do you know Dean lister's get 8 ECA pts? and I have to go to the Dean's office to get the certificate. Where's that huh? Wonder if they'll burn my cert if it's unclaim? I hope not I wanna frame it one leh...Somebody claim for me leh?

Happy Wedding !!

2007-01-08T01:33:00.000-08:00

Happy Wedding Cl and Cl..!! "Early Have Expensive Children!!"(早生贵子）

That's me in the corner.. Actually I didn't go. They just photoshop me in that's why I'm at the side. Pro right.. heh..

Happy new year to all!!

2007-01-01T00:12:00.000-08:00

New year's Resolutions!

1) Get a gf!!! (I heard HK got a lot of pretty babes )
2) Get my driver's license.(So i can ferry girls and guys around)
3) love everyone more (= (self explanatory)
4) be nicer to everybody (But I'm already nice so I'll try to be nicer.)
5) Give more treats! (What can I say I'm Rich!!)
6)Last but not least wOrLd pEaCeEee!! (eh sorry I can't think of anything that is less cliche but noble actually I can, help Africian Aids babies, save the killer whales, stop animal abuse yada yada..But World peace is more generic.)

I am concerned ok!

2006-12-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

I am CONCERNED!!

yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
which sartor u taking next sem?
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
MNO?
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
either MNO or FNA
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
but u're in hk
yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
yah
yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
just asking ah
yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
concerned for my friends ok?
yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
I'm such a nice guy, I can't stand myself
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
er. okie
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT?!
はたけカカシ~Sluggish Internet and a happy new year says:
i'm the kind of guy who believes that people go in contact with each other purely for self interest
yogi, earthworm, ninja.. if you don't mind, 和我坐下来看看天的蓝 says:
no lah, dun be so cynical

ya it's true I'm concerned about friends. yup that's me. Kind, caring lovable huggable yogi. FULL of love that puts carebears to shame.

Yah i treated the Chem eng ppl to dinner @Cafe Cartel! I'm such a nice guy. I paid for the dinner... $108 bucks! Tat Zer Buay Zhi dong! Oso got Scholarship. Share share mah.

Reservist tmr! 11dec to 22 dec

2006-12-10T07:53:00.000-08:00

so 'excited'.. 'yay'

Curse of the Golden Flower by Zhang yi mou..
Must watch!! Opens on the 21st.. thats one day before I get released.
Who wanna watch?? There's Jay chou.. not that I care.. and a lot of..

All the concubines

Gong li..

I wanna be the king too. I think the cinema will be very bloody after the movie. Not from the battle scenes but from nose bleeds.. wahaha..

Till then..

No updates till the 22nd cya.

DAFT!

2006-12-07T07:12:00.000-08:00

Short for Delightful Arty Fire Training. It's really fun! You get to sit inside a computer simulated room and call for Arty shots. Just like a computer game except it's training for when enemy attacks.

I think the instructor was Doats by all our jokes. like.. When PS didn't show up. Somebody said. Army couldn't afford him. (Army pays civilian pay for working personnels). Ryan recited his own coordinates as the target.. haha... Screwed up man.. bombing himself..lol

Anyways, we were suppose to range like right how many left how many.. then record as target for when the target comes then call the code. The Instructor gave us the freedom of choice to choose whatever code names we wanted. So there were a lot codenames that we names of people in the platoon. Jeremy.. Fat cat.. Tree truck.. Rice... small cow..Then it was my turn.. I wanted to record as target Kakashi.. but then he was so nice to me and all.He's practically the man!! The best guy in the entire universe..(read: he didn't put a gun to my head and asked me to write this) I couldn't bear to bomb him.. then Ber suggested Aska.. Woot! Aska.. now there's a name that would sound nice as a target. So Estab. Nuke on Target Aska. Target Aska is destroyed!! yay!
Dun blame me I'm just an innocent puppet.. blame Ber.. HE suggested it.

*Ka ching... Just like that I'm $20 richer.. Pay for one day worth's of reservist. minus Cab fares and canteen breaks.. I think I just about break even.. haiz.. poor again.. Excepts on DATES! cos I'm always rich when it comes to dates.. Ask me on a date anytime! Must be a girl to apply.. I'll shower you with cute killer whales cushion and whatnots..

PS: Wau lau ber is unstoppable la.. I hope John Terry scores this weekend !!

I need a Morale booster

2006-12-06T07:02:00.000-08:00

ok tmr going to don green fatigue again. The very thought of it dis-morales me..

so I'm gonna post a pic to up my morale!!

Cute right!! Look at her.. erm... wahhh hahaha..
*nose bleeds....

Anyway she's Satako Urata(see her name at her bottom piece) from Jap volleyball team at the Asians games in Doha.
Hot la! The opponents dun match up to their(japanese) outfits. wahhaa. Such a rare sight in the muslim Doha world!

anyway gtg..
I need more tissue!
later i nose bleed to death..

Ps: No I'm not pervert, I just appreciate cute girls like all straight guys do.. **HONEST!!

COTY of the year goes to...

2006-11-23T05:54:00.000-08:00

I lost my cashcard AGAIN!!

In less than 1 year.

I'm such a coty..

I lost it buying drinks..

*bangs head on wall..

*twice..

Previous link that I lost cashcard that was in feb

Oh yar.. Arts canteen died..

Rest in peace..