Posts

Showing posts from October, 2013

Watch Out for Scammers Claiming They are from ICA

Source 63 cases this year and over S$40,000 cheated from 26 victims, that means on average each victim was cheated of more than S$1500, wow, how can they just transfer so much money to strangers just like that, that's some easy money, too easy. Just think, if I were to get a fine from ICA, they won't call me up and tell me to transfer money to a bank account, ICA is a government agency, they are not a private entity, they will never ask you to transfer money to their bank account. And this is Singapore, every fine comes with a ticket or letter, in black and white, no paper no fine, it's that simple, and also, after you pay the fine, you will get a receipt, that's for sure.
Post a Comment
Read more

San Francisco Meth Zombies Documentary

Image
Documentary about meth addicts, dealers, suppliers, shows a part of their lives, I find it very interesting, and shocking, especially the addicts, their lives revolve around drugs, only drugs, and their only friends are fellow drug addicts.
Post a Comment
Read more

When will I Buy a Car?

I was thinking as long as I'm in Singapore, I will never buy a car, the reason is obvious, I can't afford it, but when can I afford it? Let's see. I'm currently earning S$3480, after CPF and CDAC deductions, my take-home pay is S$2783, now let's look at my expenses. Expenses Give mom 500 Give wife 600 Myself 500 Mobile phone 46.65 Internet/Cable TV  66 Total 1712.65 Left 1070.35 I invest most of the rest, probably about S$800 a month, so I am left with S$200+, don't think it's enough to pay for one month's installment, unless I have another S$1000, I think that will help, that means if my take-home pay is S$3783, I think I might be able to afford a car, but that's provided I don't have children. So when will my salary hit S$5000? Maybe when I'm 40? By then S$5000 is probably not much due to inflation, and COE will probably be a 6 digit sum, when I think about this, it's quite scary, better try not to see too far, can get de...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jacky Wu Go Go Go Ale Ale Ale!

Image
Super funny!
Post a Comment
Read more

96% will Move in For Others to Board the Train, Haha, Don't Bluff La!

Source 94% will give up their seat to those in need There were at least 2 occasions since I saw these signs, in fact the signs were right behind these sleeping commuters and on each occasion there was an elderly standing right in front of them, suddenly all of them fell asleep! 96% will move in for others to board the train. No, I don't believe, just look at the center of the cabin, there is always some space, some idiots just refuse to move in, they rather use that space to read newspaper, play their phone or tablet, some even stick out their feet, hold the handle and lean on the pole, one person take up 3 person space. And those who get to sit, especially women, they like to sit with their legs crossed and their feet sticking out, come on, it's a crowded train, spare a thought for those squeezing at the train door area. 98% will queue up and give way to those alighting. Maybe, nowadays the queue thing became a trend, seems like most people are doing it, but giving...
Post a Comment
Read more

Create Diagrams Online Using Gliffy, for Free!

Image
Last Friday I was doing up a user guide for a new system and I needed to provide a diagram to show an overview of the system but I didn't have Microsoft Visio, luckily I found this free web application and managed to quickly draw up the diagram that I needed, it was so simple, all I needed to do was drag and drop the shapes that I want to form the diagram, create an account and export the diagram into a picture e.g. jpg. I explored a bit more and found that there are so many types of diagrams that I can create, network, flowchart, UML, even ERD and floor plan! A Simple System Overview Created with Gliffy If your interested, here's the link .
Post a Comment
Read more

IPPT Changes? Nope...

Image
This morning I overheard my colleagues talking about IPPT 2.4KM has been changed to 3.2KM but I was too busy to check it out. Then after I went home, I saw this news with an update from the army on Yahoo!. The army has clarified that there will be no change, well too bad, I was hoping they would come up with something new, the 5 stations are boring as hell, I've been doing it for so many years! But looking at the changes, other than the run, standing broad jump replaced with push-ups sound good, push-up is way easier than jumping, this can save a lot of people. Just read about this article saying 13 year old girls are running 3.6KM at cross-country , was quite pissed off when I read it, obviously the writer has absolutely no idea what he/she is writing, it's not all about the distance, we have different category, we have different timing, we have different consequences, so what if the girls lose the cross-country, nothing will happen to them, if we fail our IPPT we need to...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's the Point of Medisave?

From what I understand, Medisave is part of CPF, this whole CPF thing is meant to help Singaporeans save up for rainy days. CPF is made up of 3 main components, Ordinary Account for education, housing and some other stuff, Special Account is for retirement and Medisave is for healthcare, but today an incident made me lose confidence in Medisave. My mom went to the polyclinic because her forehead is swollen due to a fall, they directed her to CGH for x-ray, no referral letter, they simply told her to go there, so my mom went to the A&E and paid S$100 in cash, after that she did the x-ray, she paid another S$157.50, so today she paid a total of S$257.50 in cash, she has money in her Medisave, but they won't allow her to use it, and I overheard her telling my dad she's only left with S$10+ in cash. She's born in 1957, which makes her 56 this year, she's unemployed, financially she's mainly depending on my father, I do give her S$500 a month but that's for u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Regarding Ms. Han Hui Hui and CPE

I think I saw this news a few months back but I didn't thought much of it, and today, I happened to see this news article on Yahoo, I read about it and found that CPE was trying to sue Ms. Han for defamation. This really kept me thinking, I don't really know much about CPE except that it regulates private schools like Informatics, MDIS and etc, it's like the private school watchdog to ensure they do things correctly, same like how IDA regulates telcos, see the recent record-breaking fine handed to M1 for service outage. CPE was only setup in recent years, I don't really remember which year but when I was studying for my private diploma and advanced diploma at Informatics, they didn't exist, and that was from 2004 to 2007. During that time, many private schools can suddenly close down, leaving many local and foreign students in the lurch, most lost their money and had no way to recover since the school owners went missing. Lucky for me, Informatics was one of t...
1 comment
Read more

And I Thought Filipinos Only Job Offer is Bad

Image
Quite a while back, I saw a job offer at a restaurant, forgot which restaurant but they pasted this note on the wall beside their entrance which says something like this, "Seeking Service Staff, Filipinos Only", I thought it was very discriminatory, how come a restaurant running their business here in Singapore can post a job offer like that, right in public eyes, I wonder how many Singaporeans saw that. Please note that I have nothing against Filipinos, it could be Thais, Burmese, Indians or any other nationality, what annoyed me was they only choose a specific group of candidates instead of opening the position to anyone capable of doing it. Today I saw this, this one really ultimate, it was a job offer from this recruitment firm called Randstad . Source This position is open to candidates who are not Singaporean Citizens or PR. They actually posted " This position is open to candidates who are not Singaporean Citizens or PR. ", wow, I sure hope MOM is ...
Post a Comment
Read more

US Debt Crisis Over... For Now

Source As expected, they managed to come up with an agreement before the 17 Oct deadline when the US would hit the debt ceiling limit. And also as expected, they did not completely solve the problem, this deal merely funds the government until 15 Jan 2014, this is when they will face another government shutdown if they cannot resolve their differences. Another date was also set for the debt ceiling limit, it's on 07 Feb 2014, basically what this means is we will see another drama if they cannot resolve their differences before 15 Jan 2014. 01 Oct 2013 - Government Shutdown In between - Fight between Democrats and Republicans over Obamacare 17 Oct 2013 - Debt Ceiling Limit 15 Jan 2014 - Government Shutdown In between - Fight between Democrats and Republicans over Obamacare 07 Feb 2014 - Debt Ceiling Limit I know where the Republicans are coming from, they wanted to save money for Americans, they see Obamacare as general waste of money, I also know where the Democrats a...
Post a Comment
Read more

STI and US Markets Rise

Seems like investors here and the US are not very affected by the debt ceiling issue, me too, I have confidence that the Democrats and Republicans can come to an agreement, just like what Warren Buffet said, "We will go right up to the point of extreme idiocy, but we won't cross it", he predicted a last minute deal that will solve the debt ceiling crisis. I just find the whole thing too dramatic, they are like arguing over something that needs to be done no matter what, why not just do the necessary and negotiate later? If the Republicans have problem with Obamacare, attack it bit by bit instead of putting their economy at risk, and Democrats should be nicer to them, I know standing firm is good, but not in the face of a potential recession. I think the shutdown is more of a problem now, federal workers don't get paid, their families suffer un-necessarily, even affecting US war veterans, these are people who have put their lives on the line for their country, how ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

DBS Vickers CPF Investment Account Interest

Just noticed they actually give interest for money parked inside the CPF Investment Account, seems like it's given on the last day of the month, mine was credited on 30 Sep 2013. I had S$20,476.70 inside, now there is S$20,476.87, S$0.17 difference, how many percent is that? 0.17 / 20,476.70 * 100 = 0.0008% Very pathetic, but better than nothing since the money has to go through there anyway.
Post a Comment
Read more

Bought 12 Lots of Cache Logistics at S$1.165 With CPF

Image
Initially wanted to buy 19 lots, but unfortunately there was a hiccup, my buy limit is only S$15,000, DBS Vickers suggested that I use up my buy limit first, then request a temporary increase to purchase the rest, but that will mean extra charges. The commission, clearing and trading fees are negligible, the problem was with the CPF buy charge, for every 1000 shares, there will be a S$2.50 charge, up to a maximum of S$25. You can get the full CPF Investment Charges here . Let's see the total cost of buying 19 lots at one go versus buying 12 and then 7. 19 Lots: S$22,239.85 19 Lots 12 then 7 Lots: 14,056.27 + 8,205.15 = S$22261.42 12 then 7 Lots Difference: 22261.42 - 22,239.85 = S$21.57 Hmmm... not a huge difference, actually this amount is negligible, assuming I have 19 lots and if there is a S$0.005 change in the share price, I'm looking at almost S$100 difference, but well, market is closed now, too bad. But today I was aiming for Cambridge, the s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Singapore Press Holdings 2013 Full Year Profit Down 26%

Source The result is for 01 Sep 2012 to 31 Aug 2013. Profit after taxation (S$000) 2013 434,302 2012 586,648 Dividend 2013 Final S$0.08 Special S$0.07 Total S$0.15 Dividend 2012 Final S$0.09 Special S$0.08 Total S$0.17 Total Debt 2013 (S$000) 2,721 + 872,495 + 865,727 = 1,740,943 Total Debt 2012 (S$000) 3,293 + 301,582 + 978,740 = 1,283,615 Long-Term Debt 2013 (S$000) 872,495 + 865,727 = 1,738,222 Long-Term Debt 2012 (S$000) 301,582 + 978,740 = 1,280,322 Total Asset (S$000) 2013 6,373,354 2012 5,485,359 Total Liability (S$000) 2013 2,157,648 2012 1,732,183 Total Equity (S$000) 2013 4,215,706 2012 3,753,176 Gearing Ratio 2013 Total Debt / Total Asset = 0.27 Total Debt / Total Equity = 0.41 Long-Term Debt / Total Equity =  0.41 Gearing Ratio 2012 Total Debt / Total Asset = 0.23 Total Debt / Total Equity = 0.34 Long-Term Debt / Total Equity =  0.34 Their foundation is still very strong, but their newspaper and magazine revenue i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Learning About Gearing Ratio

If you surf the internet while researching on your favourite stocks, no doubt you will eventually come across this term "Gearing Ratio", so what is it? Basically this tells people how much the company is borrowing to fund its business, too high means the company is at risk because it is over-leveraging, one good example is Lehman Brothers, before their collapse, they were owing way more than they were owning, so when they went bankrupt, there was nothing left to give back to shareholders, a lot of people lost their life savings. In the first place if they didn't over-leverage so much, they probably wouldn't have collapsed. If you do a Google search on "lehman brother over-leverage", sources say they leverage from 30-35 to 1, that means for every $1 they own, they owe $30 to $35. There are also a few ways to calculate a company's gearing ratio, but let's look at the Debt-to-Equity Ratio, where Equity means Shareholder's Equity. We will use the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bought Cambridge Industrial Trust at S$0.68

Bought 10 lots today, wanted to buy with CPF too but DBS Vickers didn't raise my buy limit, I think maybe it's due to the SingTel fire, something wrong with their email, should have called them but was stuck in a meeting, or wait Monday see how, who knows it will drop, then even better to enter with CPF. I like this trust because it has many properties in Singapore and the dividend yield is high at 7%+ and has an increasing trend so far, was thinking of buying Sabana or Lippo Malls, but their prices increased beyond my target, I thought maybe as we get closer to the US debt limit deadline on 17 Oct STI might go down, but well, it kept going up since 07 Oct, I guess people are very sure the US won't default on their debts. But imagine the US went on to default on their debts, I think all stock markets will crash, so what will I do if STI crash? I'll wait, I won't cut loss, no point, instead I will buy more if I have spare cash, actually it doesn't really matt...
Post a Comment
Read more

SingTel Internet Exchange Fire

Wow, there really is a fire, yesterday I overheard my colleagues talking about SingTel on fire, I thought it's some kind of new F1 promotion they are running, seems like many people were affected, from consumers to corporates, even DBS and Starhub were affected, but how come I didn't feel the damage, I was still happily using my fibre connection yesterday, my dad was watching cable TV, or maybe my line wasn't damaged or they rectified very quickly. I wonder if SingTel will be fined for this, I'm more curious as to how the fire started, how can it just start burning like this, maybe a sabotage? Anyway, it didn't seem to affect SingTel's share price, closed flat at S$3.75 today.
Post a Comment
Read more

Submitted My Wife's PR Applicaton Today

No hiccup, everything was smooth and we didn't wait too long until our turn, the officer said to wait between 4 to 5 months, I really hope my wife can get PR this time, if reject again, I will definitely appeal, I will want to know why, I will not allow them to happily reject me without giving any reason again. While at ICA, saw quite a few Singaporean guys with their foreign spouse also applying for PR, have Chinese, Vietnam, Indonesian, Thai, and also saw many foreign families applying for PR, Indians, Filipinos, Chinese, I wonder who will be the lucky ones, almost felt like entering a lucky draw. Looking back, this is the second time my wife is trying for PR, last time we tried was in May 2011, that time I was earning S$2850, now S$3480, my salary has increased about 18.1% over the course of 2 years and 5 months, I really hope this helps because this shows that financially I have no problem taking care of my wife, what else would I need to prove? If talking about years of re...
2 comments
Read more

Asiasons, Blumont and LionGold Share Price Continue to Plunge

Image
Last Friday they suffered massive losses in their share price, today they took another hit. I hope nobody was doing contra during this time, the kind of losses we are looking at here is massive, more than 90% of your capital would be wiped out. These stocks are very risky, I have no idea how their prices even managed to get so high in the first place and the plunge last Friday was jaw-dropping. Heavy Losses I feel sorry for those who didn't get to sell before the plunge, or those who averaged down, even though I'm not invested but I feel heartache for their shareholders who probably are ordinary people like me, so much hard-earned money gone in just two days of trading. I hope SGX and MAS would thoroughly investigate this, there's just too much that has not been explained, a company's share price won't just drop from the sky for nothing, very fishy. By the way, STI closed at 3136 today, seems like getting lower and lower thanks to the US government shutd...
Post a Comment
Read more

Asiasons, Blumont and LionGold Trading Halted

Image
If you look at their 1-year charts, their share price surged so fast so furious, and then last Friday their prices dropped from the sky, I wonder what's going on, those who bought at the peak price must have had a heart attack, that's why never ride on a bull, last week I was still looking up on LionGold's business because I was thinking of investing in some gold products, lucky I never took action, but then again, even if I really want to invest in gold, I would probably open a Gold Savings Account at UOB and buy using my CPF. Down Double Digit % Anyway, I promised myself not to dabble in such high-risk stocks again, my first and last such gamble was with Olam, lucky I only bought 1 lot so the impact was very minimal. Also note that this kind of stock does not give out much dividend, some don't even give, which makes it even more risky because when the price goes down, you have no choice but to hold on, or sell at a loss, but if they give decent and reg...
Post a Comment
Read more

Applying PR for Wife (Again)

The first time I tried, our PR appointment was on 23 May 2011, it was right after the 2011 Singapore General Election (held on 07 May 2011). At that time, anti-foreigner sentiments was strong so our government had to do something about it because the election results was shocking, they lost Aljunied GRC to Worker's Party, overall votes for the ruling party was lower when comparing to previous elections, obviously more people were unhappy with the government. After the GE, they implemented several changes so as to pacify the people, one of it was to reduce the number of foreigners in Singapore, reject immigration and work passes, I'm sure you felt the impact regardless of whether you are a Singaporean or foreigner, I think my wife's application was rejected due to that, otherwise I can't think of any good reason why it would be rejected. At that time, my salary was S$2850 thanks to a full-time employment in a good company i.e. I had a stable job, my wife doesn't ...
2 comments
Read more

Google Changed Quick Link Location

Image
Just noticed that they changed the quick links, all the buttons are now located as a quick-dial button so that means I have to click at least twice to go to for example YouTube, I still prefer the old rows of buttons at the top left, and I only need to click once, should at least ask me if I wish to change. Quick Links Now On The Right
Post a Comment
Read more

NS.SG Error 500--Internal Server Error

Image
Yesterday I complained the website super slow, today it totally down, power la, now everybody cannot book IPPT, RT or IPT, I think have to call their hotline, must be super congested. I wonder how come they don't have a failover server i.e. when server A is down, server B can continue to provide service. NS.SG Down
Post a Comment
Read more

NS.SG So Slow

Aiyoh, just want to check my IPPT award payment date, this ns.sg really cannot make it, been really slow recently, other times also slow, I think they are doing maintenance or something, shouldn't they at least let me know what's going on, let me know what to expect, or simply tell me to try again later, first thing that greeted me is always the slowness, I'm sure they also know it's damn slow. I know it's a free service but free doesn't mean it's ok for it to suck, see, from typing this post until now, it's still loading, what the heck, if the server can't deliver the content within an acceptable time frame, just show a maintenance message, don't make people wait for nothing, that is like so basic. Or not enough bandwidth, seems like the website is shared by Mindef, Police and Civil Defense personnel, I think it could be overloaded, there are so many national service personnel in Singapore, must be overloaded.
Post a Comment
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

Long-Term Visit Pass - Plus (LTVP-PLUS)

http://www.ica.gov.sg/news_details.aspx?nid=12665 Good news for those of us who cannot get PR for our beloved spouse, because the Singapore government has come up with a enhanced long-term visit pass called LTVP-PLUS or LTVP+. I'll sum up the key points in the FAQ provided by ICA so you don't have to go through one big page. Do let me know if I missed out anything or correction is required by dropping a comment. GENERAL LTVP+ will be in effect from 01 Apr 2012. LTVP+ holders will enjoy extended duration of residency, public healthcare subsidies and easier access to employment. No separate application required for LTVP+; an application for LTVP will automatically include your spouse for LTVP+, if eligible. LTVP applications submitted from 01 Feb 2012 will automatically be considered for LTVP+. The first approved LTVP+ will grant 3 years residency and subsequent renewal will be 5 years. Current holders of LTVP will be considered for LTVP+ on next renewal. If holde...
Read more

How to Marry a Thai in Singapore

Image
You should refer to here -  https://www.rom.gov.sg/reg_info/rom_marriage.asp Please spend some time to go through and understand the information on that section (legal provision, other information, filing of notice, solemnization and etc), if your still not sure, feel free to drop a comment here or you can use their FAQ . The ROM website did a really good job of putting together the information that you need in a well-organized manner. I've done it once and I think the guide is very easy to follow. The only hiccup I've had with my marriage is during the  Appointment for verification & Statutory Declaration where both of us were required to read out a wall of text and my wife had difficulty getting past the first few lines and the counter guy got fed up and told my wife to stop. Definitely my oversight as I didn't arrange for an interpreter beforehand but luckily, there was a licensed interpreter at the scene and we managed to get her to do the interpretation ...
Read more

Commission Calculator for DBS Vickers SG Stocks

Made this little tool to help me calculate the costs of buying or selling a stock, just enter number of shares and price and it will show both buy and sell costs at the same time. Can even choose by cash upfront, online or phone and it will calculate using respective rates. Cash Upfront ONLINE By Phone Shares: Price: Value: Commission: Clearing Fee: ...
Read more