Soros pointing to another Financial Crisis, starting within the EU

What do the best focus or put their money in ?

I have been reading the GIC's (Government Invest Corporation of S'pore) report for 2016 - 17. In it, it states that the annualised rolling 20 year rate of return is 3.7 % above global inflation (which I think is about 2 to 2.5%). Why am I reading this ? Because this is practically the best guide to finding out what amongst the best investment companies in the world would they do to put their money to the best use.

The mission statement is admirable and it bears repeating :

La Pedrera in Barcelona, Antoni Gaudi's signature condominium, way ahead of his time.

Prudence
Respect
Integrity
Merit
Excellence

There are 6 asset allocations in their Policy Portfolio
1. Developed Market Equities (20-30%
2. Emerging Market Equities (15-20%)
3. Nominal Bonds and Cash (25-30%)
4. Inflation Linked Bonds (4 -6%)
5. Private Equity (11-15%)
6. Real Estate 9 - 13% 

Interestingly the yield horizon is always pegged at 20 years and not shorter. So this is 1 takeaway I must implement if I am going to be an investor of any standing. Be patient ; stay in the same field long enough to beenfit from the domain knowledge acquired through the years and / or decades going through thr 'school of hard knocks'.

Learn from the best, its always the best  strategy. 

Trust your gut yes. But 20 % for me I get it wrong ; use technology or other people to aid

Front 4 km run ; from B1 to near East Coast Seafood Center and return 

Here I was, on a balmy Saturday morning, again doing the hard 8 kms again on my way to the 21 km half marathon in August. I though I knew it all, my body and my pace and my fitness. I started out fast, or so it seemed, as I cruised along the stretch of East Coast Parkway and felt I was running my 'usual' 25 - 26 minutes run. When I looked at my Garmin, I was surprised to find, that I was actually 27 minutes 21 seconds. 
Therein, I learned a I life lesson, yes trust my 'gut' feel but again, the truly great ones who achieve anything of note in life, always have a scorecard, technology or coaches to give them the "real result. " And that morning's result was that though I felt I was doing good, I was in fact slower than normal or the last 3 Saturdays when I recorded my 4 km runs. 

Back 4 km run ; from neat East Coast Seafood Center and back to B1 

For the 20% of the time I get it wrong, think about what I did, did I get enough sleep, ate enough to fuel myself 1 hour before the run (normally I do not eat so I 'run on empty' perhaps this caused me to slow down, or the fact that I also ran on Tuesday 22nd the same distance and this had somehow slowed or tired my body ? 

Always trust your instincts and gut, yes, but remember I am human and 20% I get it wrong, in running, in business and in making decisions. I must always remember this and act in accordance to this maxim. 

Use proven softwares, technology, and people who are smarter and more objective than myself to help me reach my goals. This is my point. 

Carpe Diem ! 

I'm a teenager again ; My boyhood team's successful jersey signed by 3 'legends'

Comes complete in an aluminium casing and rubber back 

Recently with the resurgence if my boyhood football team this last season, I am transformed back to the 70s when I watched TV and sat glued Star Soccer. It was delayed telecast of 2 weeks late but no matter, the teams were full of talent, mainly white players (in the days of old) and the stadiums were beacons of attraction to my boyhood dreams. My eyes were filled with stars as we saw the teams of the day, Leeds United, Manchester, Liverpool and Arsenal vying for the top 3 positions. I somehow, stupidly followed a team from the West Midlands, the Black Country as they call it and supported Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

Wolves was playing a good brand of attacking soccer fronted by John Richards, Willie Carr, Kenny Hibbit and was occasionally on the Star Soccer Channel. Since the '70s, sadly they have been relegated a number of times from Division 1, sunk to Division 3 and won 2 League Cups (one in 1974 and one in 1980). They are frankly, a bunch of underachievers.
Till now.  

True, in the context of the mid to late 70s, we had the colour TV, as well as the coveted Shoot Magazine which was sold for a princely sum of $1 and later $2.50 at the Mamak Shop along Middle Road (I well remember the next to corner shophouse selling Chicken Rice) at the junction of end of Jalan Besar. 

I would save my coins and buy the magazine. Our good friends each had a team to be loyal to, Andrew Lee chose Arsenal, Eddie Cheng chose Liverpool, my brother John chose Leeds United and me, Wolves.

I regretted that decision for almost 40 years until this season. With Nuno Esperito Santos at the helm as chief coach and master class Reuben Neves in the centre of midfield, I believe I can hope again for my bunch of no-hopers. Backed by Fosun, a Chinese conglometare and with super agent Jorge Mendes on the sharp lookout, this team is going places.

I think I would say if Wolves could emulate the exploits of Burnley 7th position in the world's toughest league, I would say they have finally made it. 

The top 6 is pretty hard to crack but my take is that Wolves can and will make it to the top 3 , can they do it in 1 season ??? We live in interesting times.

Below is my prized shirt I bought from the British Sports Museum signed by the 3 'legends' of the '70s, John Richards, Kenny Hibbit (the 2 goalscorers) and George Bailey when they won the 1974 League Cup final against the current Premier League Champions, Manchester City.

Signatures of Kenny Hibbit, John Richards and Mike Bailey with a Certificate of

  Authentification 

   

Do remember, its always about the people

     

       May 9th was a historic day for Malaysia, as the incumbent BN was spectacularly booted out of office, amidst claims of major impropriety, money laundering, and corruption. The people or the Rakyat have spoken and Mahathir Mohammed, the 93 wily politician, galvanised the hearts and minds of the people, cobbled through all the various opposition parties, calling themselves Pakatan Harapan and under this univified umbrella, unseated the incumbent Barisan Nasional which includes UMNO as its major component. He was sworn in as the 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia on May 10th and I take my hat off to this master politician who is so well respected in this part of the world. True, his policies in the past were not too good for Singapore, playing hardball, but he always had the Malaysian people's interests at the topmost of his mind. That is the true difference between him and the recently deposed ex-Prime Minister Najib. 

      My heartiest congratulations to all those who voted, proudly, showing off their unwashed index fingers. Many Malaysians are working in Singapore because of the weakened ringgit in the last 5 years or so, the taking away of many extra overtime pay, and the overall rapid rising cost of living. An ordinary small bowl of wanton mee cost me RM 5 which is S$ 1.80 but for the ordinary technician who earns only RM 3,000 that is a hefty increase from just 10 years ago when it cost RM 3. 

     The question in everyone's minds was, is life better now than it was 5 years ago in the 2013 elections. I think the answer was very clear on May 9th. A 60 odd year ruling party has been unseated unceremoniously at the polls.

      

Reuben Neves ; Midfield Genius and 30 yard spectacular goals

Watching him score those sreamers, 5 with inch perfect placement and just the right amount of power, and 1 with the innocuous roll-in, this 21 year old is a player of the season for Wolves. I sincerely hope he can stay with the club for the longest time and achieve great things. 

There are plenty of top clubs eyeing his talent, so Wolves management better have the purses ready to keep this midfield genius.

Wolves Championship Party 6th May 2018

The Celebrations in the city of Wolverhampton, population of only 230,000. What a season ! What a coach ! What do we do next ???  

Champions ! 

Reconnecting after all these years !

Simon Oh, my year mate from school came back recently for a visit. We had a great time catching up on 'old times' or should I say the times I missed as I was a pretty goody two shoes in school. 

Simon, or 'Churut' as he is normally better known as (Cigar) is currently in Australia working in the F and B business. He was in the 3 and 4 M class next to mine,the Science 2 class. Joe Lee was in 4 Tech 1 and Jimmy was in the 4 Science 1 class.   Simon is currently living in Blue Mountains near Sydney and comes back to Singapore for administration and renewing of family ties.  

Here is a photo of the 4 Amigos from the meeting yesterday at the Tanglin Club.

                                             5 th May 2018 Tanglin Club 



Precious memories re-awakened and new ones created. The bonds are there and we carry on like the 40 years which passed happened only yesterday.




   

Pain, Suffering and Anguish - Part of the Deal in Life

    Here I am after another death defying 8 km run in the tropics from 10.21 to 11.15 am yesterday. In the afterglow of the run, I am motivated to write from the very core of my being. When you are gasping for breath, your energy is sapped and every facet (OK my legs mainly!) of your body is under massive aches, it is time when you are most alive. I had written about that state of mind of absolute clarity about everything about yourself.

    Yesterday was no different. I started out at 10.25 am and ran a hard 4 km front from B1 carpark to somewhere before the East Coast Park Restaurants area, it was getting real hot and humid and I had not had breakfast, only 3 cups of water and a cup of coffee. I was literally 'running on empty' so to speak.

Front 4 km Start Time 10 : 21 am 5 May 2018 

    The Front 4, as I would call it was quite torturous and with the sun beating down on me on a windless morning, I was once again feeling like 25 again. Fortunately there were far less people at the East Coast Park today, as the weather allowed only 'mad dogs and some crazy Singaporeans like me' to partake in this mindless self suffering exercise. From my Polar M 430 records, it took me 25  mins, 58 seconds or an average of  6 : 27.7 min / km *(I am getting faster hee hee) with a maximum pace of 5.16 min / km. Average cadence of 83 steps per minutes and maximum cadence of 88. I burnt 347 kcalories and had an average heart rate of 161 per minute and maximum heart rate of 177 beats per km. I am really going into above maximum levels of heartrate, and am not sure if that is a good or a bad thing.

The Back 4 km ; Suffering and Anguish all the Way 

    Taking a short break midway after 4 km, I hit the road again with the Back 4, this time the tiredness hit me, and I recorded 29 :10.7 minutes for the Back 4, burning 421 kcalories and with average heart rates of 170 beats per minute and a maximum of 181 beats per minutes. I am fortunate not to have burst any blood vessel, and will continue with this neck breaking pace because I can. This time my average pace was 7 : 16 min / km, far slower than the 6 :27.7 for the Front 4.My average cadence was 82 and maximum was 91 per minute.

    Upon completion, I practially waded to the exercise area just past Carpark B1 and then sat alone in dripping sweat leeting my body temperature and heart rate to recover back to 'normal'. That was when my thoughts started to flit back and forth about "Life" and the "Why" of everything.

   One thing I concluded. In life, everyone will suffer pain. Some will have to suffer long periods of pain, both mentally and physically. Anguish is the mental pain and trauma which is also everyone's lot in life.

   The more you or I am to handle pain, both physically and mentally, the better our circumstances will be. Those who have struggled both physically, mentally and financially and came out of in unbowed, will rise to great heights in their lives. 

    Face it (adversity,pain and anguish), Take It (adversity, suffering and stress) and Rule It (setbacks, pain,suffering, anguish and chaos).

    Then you are on your way !   

Cost of Living in Singapore ; living within my means

It is time I took stock at my living expenses and really see how much I would (as an individual) need to live on as a soon to be retiree. It is advisable for us at certain stages in our life to pause, calculate, and take a hard look at one's station and decide what is needed for him or her to continue in his or her life with dignity.

Assuming you are in good health, and your flat/condo/house and car (luxury in Singapore) are paid off. These are 3 big ticket items one should clear as soon as possible, in the run up to living off your earnings. 

There are several things, absolutely one must have on top of the 3 big ticket items. That is adequate health insurance or medical care for critical illnesses. So if you are 55 (like me), ambulant, have basic cognitive abilities (can take the bus, buy food at the market and go to the toilet unaided), then list down the items you would need for a basic, relatively comfortable existence - say for the next 10 years - till 65.  

     Food (cooked at home, say breakfast and dinner)

a) $400 per month per person  (for some fish, vegetables, pork, and chicken)
b) 22 x $ 10 lunch & once a week outside dining or movie say $30 per week - $ 350 
c) House maintenance (HDB SCSS)  : $ 80 
d) Transport (getting around) $ 4 per day so $120 per month
e) Sports drinks (to keep fit) $ 7.20 x 4 : $28.80
f)  Household items : $ 240 per month (oil, rice etc.)
g) Utilities (for flat) : $ 200 per month 
  
So totally, he or she would need $1,500 to subsist.

I will aim to come down and spend $2,000 per month, from a higher base. But I MUST adapt or face the harsh consequences later. 

Holidays in the neighbouring countries, maintenance of house items, medicines and reunion dinners are luxuries.  

Goodbye to Holidays in Venice ; Dior Shop near the Piazza St Marco 

Dec 5th 2017  

Big ticket ,medical costs and luxury items are the killers to long term retirement. So you and I must be mindful of them ; seperate the MUST HAVE from the NICE TO HAVE and live below your expectations.

It will be painful at first ; but once you can live with the baseline, the rest is all upside or
easy. Everyone has the capacity for living enjoyment. Not everyone can take the hardship life throws at you.