Pay(scale)

Salaries are sensitive topics , because in tiny Singapore once it mentioned , the comparisons are bound to be unavoidable.

According to MOM the top best-paying jobs for 2008 across all industries

1. Specialised surgeon – $27,977
2. Managing director – $26,444
3. Personal banker – $20,238
4. Commodities futures broker – $19,098
5. General manager – $18,068
6. Foreign exchange dealer and broker – $17,383
7. Company director – $16,025
8. Finance sales associate professional – $15,833
9. Fund manager – $12,634
10. Risk management manager – $12,200

43. Structural engineer – $7,295

81.Building architect – $5,500

As you can clearly see, most of the top ten jobs are in the Banking/finance sector. Even a structural engineer earns 50% more than an architect.
When your boss tells you you are getting a small pay rise because of your good performance, always compare first with your peers.
Then check whether if is within the average band for the amount of experience that you’ve gained ( ie other companies are willing to hire you the same amount), more money also means more responsibility and work.

In reality , pay rises are necessary because of inflation. The prices of consumer goods and services are rising each year due to inflation, if your wage doesn’t catch up at the same rate. It means you are getting poorer and poorer every year because you can buy less with the same amount of pay. I was studying the expenditure patterns vs income for various asian countries as part of a research presentation for work.

Notice the wage rise is exponential for singapore (purple) from 2004-2008 dropped in 2009 due to the financial crisis before continuing along a linear projection. Singapore is number 1 in wages per capita !

Each circle represents total consumer expenditure, the circle in 2008 for singapore is blown up in the following:

Backpacking over Land Sea & Air

My over land,sea,air to korea is finally updated, check it out here.
This was the best road trip I’ve planned since my  melbourne to sydney one back in 2006. Probably the last one I’ll do, as it’s pretty exhausting physically and mentally.

Trying to meet the schedules of different modes of transport is a very daunting task, at the same time juggling for time to sightsee and book accomodations.
In the future , I’ll be flying direct and on booked tours. Thank God I came back in one piece!

Comments : Singapore Budget 2009

This has been late due to the Chinese new year and my interim preparations , so here are my short thoughts on the recent budget 2009 which was brought forward earlier in the financial year before companies close their books.

The MOF reeks of keynesian economists ,  believing that big short-term stimulus to break the economy out of a vicious downward spiral. Loss of Jobs -> cut in spending -> Further retrenchment due to recession.

What is different from our  US counterpart’s TARP (trouble asset relief program) is that fortunately our government is not funding budget by borrowing on future earnings, by not issuing bonds and flooding the market with extra bond paper  , thereby depressing bond prices and yield.

Banks should start to lend in order to stimulate the economy, since the government is has already made guarantees on all bank deposits as well as other fiscal measures.

No Personal income tax cut , but good also no CFP cut so it does not affect the long term burden on workers.

I read somewhere that the school of Keynesian economics grew from elitist perspectives on how government systems should be run by a few ‘good’ men in Cambridge.

The original perpertrator John Maynard Keynes believed that the government should dictate what you eat , how many babies you should have etc…

If I’ve the time , I’ll download ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’ to my reader.

http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/keynes/general-theory/

O’ levels results

Results of the O levels are out today, I’m delighted that my alma mater is mentioned as a top school : Catholic High dominates O-level list . It produced almost half of Singapore’s top Secondary 4 Chinese students in the 2008 O-level exams. haha despite the fact that I was once a higher chinese student back then even though I CMI (cannot make it). It was ranked 11th when I enrolled , 21th when I graduated.

I believe it is because the better students are not taking O levels like those in the IB program in RI or Chinese High . Cream ala cream.

However, in the mailing list , it was stressed that teachers have to stay behind and teach until 8pm everyday, should the school be reduced into number crunching factories by all this rankings, I doubt these quantitative measures (ie no. of students with A1) is a good indicator for good schools

A litmus test of a good school should be one that produces good leaders, I certainly hope the MP that caught fire last weekend isnt from Cat high

Other musing on the search trends from google showed the following term rankings as at end of today.One can deduce that temasek poly will be the most popular choice for many O level graduates, therefore they will lower their cut off point this year.

1.	temasek poly
2.	singapore poly
3.	ngee ann poly
4.	republic poly
5.	nanyang poly
7.	nanyang jc
8.	acjc
9.	nyp
10.	singapore polytechnic
11.	o level results
12.	anderson jc
13.	meridian jc
14.	jae

15.	sajc
17.	temasek polytechnic
18.	nanyang polytechnic
19.	catholic junior college
20.	innova jc
21.	nyjc
22.	republic polytechnic
23.	mdis
24.	millenia institute
25.	jae 2009

Looking ahead, my 2009 to Come

An obligatory last day post of 2008, for review and stock taking. However never a regressive person I’m, I will look for new grounds to cover and paths to navigate. I do not fear the unknown but only worry being stagnant and redundant.

So the new year brings new resolutions, despite the bleak economic outlook.

Investments wise irregardless of not doing well in my financial portfolio , I will continue investing in creative capital. Because it is the future currency in the coming knowledge economy.(unless the world follows china and becomes commie, then dah government owns you and your intellectual property)

Making critical choices.

Career wise,  after graduation I would prob be stuck working in the same industry for the next 5-10 years till the next business cycle. I’ll have to decide either to pursue my professional registration or not.

Relationship wise , I want to take time to start on the right foot. When work starts, it is difficult to juggle a reasonable work-life balance especially in the building line with deadlines aplenty. Making decisions are tough,nonetheless critical choices have to made.

‘C’ this post refers to you, despite trying my darn best to understand you and from your writings, the feeling is non-congruent with I get in our communications. I don’t seem to get across. No point throwing my good time after bad, and I shall mention this again , it’s all about give and take.

‘J’ with you I think I’m out of my league, not sure you’ll be able to tolerate my humour haha. If I do ever get you to laugh

And on the same note, I came across this hilarious story as told from a female perspective.

A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three
likely candidates. He gives each woman a present of $5,000 and watches
to see what they do with the money.

The first does a total make-over. She goes to a fancy beauty salon,
gets her hair done, new make-up and buys several new outfits,
then dresses up very nicely for the man. She
tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because
she loves him so much. The man was impressed.

The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs,
some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she
presents these gifts, she tells him that she has spent all the money on
him because she loves him so much. Again, the man is impressed.

The third invests the money in the stock market. She earns several times
the $5,000. She gives him back his $5,000 and reinvests the remainder
in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their
future because she loves him so much.
Obviously, the man was impressed.

The man thought for a long time about what each woman had done with the
money he'd given her. Then, he married the one with the biggest boobs.
Men are like that, you know.

Knowing men are from mars like myself, I tend to agree as well. However I would choose a bride with the biggest asset, (not necessary boobs) A bigger ‘heart’ is more important

How Kind are you? 1 to 10

I was asked this question by a silly girl, how do I rate myself from 1 to 10.

The paradox is firstly ,others may call you kind for the things you’ve done for them, but dun you think it is hypocritical to say you yourself am kind? Secondly really how does one objectively quantify something as subjective as kindness. Fortunately it is not an impossible task and the key lies in statistics, numbers are one’s best friends. Take a statistically significant random sample of population as ask them to complete the singapore kindness survey.

Plot all the scores in a chart, divide the distribution by 10 equal percentiles

Attempt the quiz yourself , and volia you will know which rating or percentile of kindness based on your result. Curious of my score? Well I belong to the category “I’m trying hard to be good person, and a friend to myself”  group Haha I can readily think of 10 reasons why I’m not unkind. does that mean I’m kind?

1. I can make people laugh
2. I can make people happy
3. I can make people smile
4. I can cheer people up
5. I can brighten people’s day
6. I can be a good friend
7. I can be approachable
8. I can be crappy
9. I can make a good joke
10. I can make your day

Yes read between the lines! This only happens in uniquely singapore where we need a week of kindness movement and a month of courtesy campaign

The Grasshopper and the Ant

I loved Walt Disney cartoons when I was young, each were inspirational with moral fibre. Nowadays, clearly cartoons are all about fighting and violence, think Pokemon. This particular one I remember very clearly , perhaps why I thought ants are fascinating creatures. Parallel to the sub-prime crisis , the grasshopper is an excellent personification of America as well : “The world owes me a living”. Now that we are approaching financial winter, hardwork is key to survival.

Weakening SGD,but USD will weaken more

Never believe a talking head esp a US banker,unless you want to learn a painful lesson. I’m waiting for USDSGD to hit 1.55-1.6 before I convert all my USD denominated equities into SGD. US is printing deadman’s money, it is going to be more worthless than toilet paper looking at the huge amount of trade deficit it has with it’s major trading partners and the economic downturn ahead.

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Money/Story/STIStory_301554.html?vgnmr=1

“THE Singapore dollar is set to weaken sharply to $1.80 against the greenback within the next year, leading United States investment bank Morgan Stanley has predicted.

On Wednesday night, the exchange rate was about S$1.50 to the US dollar.

Morgan Stanley believes Singapore, like many export-oriented nations, will experience a more than expected weakness in its currency ahead.

However the Government is likely to endorse this currency weakness in order to support exports amid the global downturn. A weaker Singdollar generally makes exports relatively cheaper.

Mr Stephen Jen, the US bank’s global head of currency research, made the prediction here on Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Summit.”

Red-nano caught Red-handed

I’m be really stupid to believe this mistake? haha what do you think is the value of $50 and $100 in 6 nov 1958 when a bowl of noodles just cost only 5cents.Assuming if I’ve $100 back then,why would I want to enroll in local chinese communist schools knowing that I have the deep pockets to go cambridge and graduate as a top-class propagandist with honours in fabricating history . Red-nano is a product of Singapore Press Holdings.

Recap: Afternoon with Jim Rogers and MTI

Source: KAL cartoon, The Economist

Jim Rogers condemned the bailout us, us bankers should be jailed

• Shorted US Bonds
• Water Treatment
• oil-sands in alberta
• Airlines next to pickup
• Chinese Tourism boom like japanese tourism in the 90s
• Holding on to NZ/AUD currency
• Commodities 16yr bull run , now in 9th year
• More energy need to get energy out from biofuel
• 19th century -> UK , 20th century -> US , 21st century -> Asia

MTI-NUS dialog

• Banks leverage and blow up in cycles , cannot be avoided because of financial innovations
• CPF is self-funded, 1 to 1 system.
• CPF in 2030 due to aging population might experience more net withdrawal then deposit
• CPF buy govt bonds, GIC pays 4% on those bonds,
• Not good to socialise all CFP members’ risk, 20 yr old might have different risk profile from 60 yr old
• Inflation is imported , due to economy of singapore, MAS fiscal policy directed at exchange rate / trade weighted basket of currency rather than an interest rate policy. Pros and Cons cannot control both at the same time.
• Growth = capital + land +Total Productivity Factor (TPF)