In a low interest rate environment, it is better to keep the mortgage and cash in the bank, or keep invested.
See this article.
See this article.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
How to solve the messy CPF Life scheme
Many people find it difficult to choose among the four options given by CPF Life. Many of them do not like the CPF Life scheme for reasons that are peculiar to their personal situation. Here are my suggestions on how to get out of this messy situation.
Financially sound retirement
Read this article about how to prepare for a financially sound retirement. Several tips refer to the tax situation in America which does not apply to Singapore. Some of the other tips, e.g. do not have debts, how to spend within your means - are relevant.
Class action on Pinnacle Notes
An important decision on the class action for the Pinnacle Notes in the USA will be decided soon - the hearing will start on 28 September.
By GRACE LEONG (Business Times)
A lawsuit involving allegations that Morgan Stanley & Co Inc sold rigged Pinnacle Notes as 'safe, conservative' products to a group of Singaporean investors including Singapore's oldest credit cooperative, costing them US$154.7 million in investment losses, is making its way through federal court in Manhattan.
A hearing is scheduled for Sept 28 in which the US District Court for the Southern District of New York will decide whether the case can proceed in the US or whether it should be dismissed and heard in Singapore, The Business Times has learned.
If approved, the Singapore investors will seek class-action status.
NOTE:
Under a class action (in the USA), any compensation received will be shared by all investors in the class, including the investors who were not involved in lodging the original complaint. There is no provision for a class action suit in Singapore.
By GRACE LEONG (Business Times)
A lawsuit involving allegations that Morgan Stanley & Co Inc sold rigged Pinnacle Notes as 'safe, conservative' products to a group of Singaporean investors including Singapore's oldest credit cooperative, costing them US$154.7 million in investment losses, is making its way through federal court in Manhattan.
A hearing is scheduled for Sept 28 in which the US District Court for the Southern District of New York will decide whether the case can proceed in the US or whether it should be dismissed and heard in Singapore, The Business Times has learned.
If approved, the Singapore investors will seek class-action status.
NOTE:
Under a class action (in the USA), any compensation received will be shared by all investors in the class, including the investors who were not involved in lodging the original complaint. There is no provision for a class action suit in Singapore.
Volatile gold and silver prices
Gold an silver prices can be quite volatile. Gold dropped 8% in 3 days and is expected to rally. However, there is the risk that it may drop much further. The drop in silver is more severe. This is an example of a speculative and volatile market. Be careful.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-27/gold-rallies-after-biggest-three-day-drop-since-lehman-collapse.html
Here is a bearish view:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44667027
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-27/gold-rallies-after-biggest-three-day-drop-since-lehman-collapse.html
Here is a bearish view:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/44667027
How to use private bankers
In some countries, financial advisers or private bankers can advise their wealthy clients on tax and estate planning, so that they can minimize the tax payable on their income or on the estate that is transferred to the dependants.
It is difficult for these advisers to help their clients in market timing or stock selection - as this is speculation and a zero-sum game. In fact, after allowing for the cost of transactions and fees, it is a negative sum game for the clients.
The best way to get a good yield on the investments is to invest in an index fund and to invest for the long term - to average out the good and bad years. There is little that the advisers can help the client to achieve a better yield.
I have seen many cases where the investor who had relied on the financial adviser to pick the manage the investments on their behalf - only to be disappointed with the bad results. The financial adviser probably did their best, but when the market is volatile, some investors will be at the wrong end, and the results can be disastrous. For each winner, there will be a loser - and after deducting fees and expenses, most investors (actually speculators) will be worse off.
To avoid speculation, you should learn how to invest for the long term. Read my book on financial planning (www.tankinlian.com/ishop) or attend the financial planning talk organized by FISCA (www.easysearch.sg/fisca).
It is difficult for these advisers to help their clients in market timing or stock selection - as this is speculation and a zero-sum game. In fact, after allowing for the cost of transactions and fees, it is a negative sum game for the clients.
The best way to get a good yield on the investments is to invest in an index fund and to invest for the long term - to average out the good and bad years. There is little that the advisers can help the client to achieve a better yield.
I have seen many cases where the investor who had relied on the financial adviser to pick the manage the investments on their behalf - only to be disappointed with the bad results. The financial adviser probably did their best, but when the market is volatile, some investors will be at the wrong end, and the results can be disastrous. For each winner, there will be a loser - and after deducting fees and expenses, most investors (actually speculators) will be worse off.
To avoid speculation, you should learn how to invest for the long term. Read my book on financial planning (www.tankinlian.com/ishop) or attend the financial planning talk organized by FISCA (www.easysearch.sg/fisca).
Monday, September 26, 2011
Best practice of site takeovers
Check these out first
Cadbury Rollpack
After the success of the Gorilla of Zingolo, and kids eyebrow dance ,they have now, with help of Saatchi Australia, managed to customize a youtube page.
24-hour Human Clock-Sprint, mobile phone operator
As part of its 'Now Network' campaign, Sprint has staged a homepage takeover on YouTube using user-generated videos to create a unique human clock
Designed to highlight the relevance of Sprint's network to people's lives the campaign is part of an integrated effory to build buzz around the launch of its new Palm Pre smartphone. Selected participants used their web cam to capture a 3 second clip of themselves displaying their assigned number. The videos were then edited together throughout the day into a digital clock that showed the exact time (for example 12:37), and changed with each passing second.
The ideal fit for YouTube, the ad doesn't just demonstrate the central idea of 'now', but does so in a way that chimes perfectly with the platform's look-at-me community of contributors. Better still, the groundbreaking format is the first time user-generated content has been incorporated into masthead advertising on the site. It's just part of the wider picture, however; tailored homepage takeover ads are also set to appear on Yahoo, AOL,ESPN.com, WSJ.com, People.com and CNET in what is billed as Sprint’s most extensive web campaign to date.
More than 11 million unique users visit YouTube’s US homepage in one day, and the new masthead ad formats are encouraging experimentation and seeing good returns - 14%interaction rates, according to YouTube, compared to the industry average of just under 5% for similar-sized units.
The ad lives on after Takeover day too; it's now available as a widget at sprint.com/nownetwork, along with a host of other content intended to reflect the idea of 'now'. Goodby Silverstein & Partners are responsible for the creative.
Honda Let it shine on Vimeo
E
A Sports Push with Joy
http://www.youtube.com/Samsung3devent
======
Shahrukh Khan gets candid while discussing Ra.One! Watch him share the behind-scenes experience live, at:
http://www.youtube.com/raonemovie
========
After the success of the Gorilla of Zingolo, and kids eyebrow dance ,they have now, with help of Saatchi Australia, managed to customize a youtube page.
Click on the image to visit the dedicated page. You will find also a parrot who plays basketball, and a man in a dog that is shit in a giant wheel.
YouTube Falling Apart
Ads are destroying YouTube, or so it seems with this current ad from Acciona. A Spanish sustainable energy advertisement makes YouTube break into pieces.
Once you go to the YouTube channel the page starts falling apart.
http://www.youtube.com/experiencere
Agency : McCann Erickson
Brand: http://www.re.acciona.es/
Once you go to the YouTube channel the page starts falling apart.
http://www.youtube.com/experiencere
Agency : McCann Erickson
Brand: http://www.re.acciona.es/
As part of its 'Now Network' campaign, Sprint has staged a homepage takeover on YouTube using user-generated videos to create a unique human clock
Designed to highlight the relevance of Sprint's network to people's lives the campaign is part of an integrated effory to build buzz around the launch of its new Palm Pre smartphone. Selected participants used their web cam to capture a 3 second clip of themselves displaying their assigned number. The videos were then edited together throughout the day into a digital clock that showed the exact time (for example 12:37), and changed with each passing second.
The ideal fit for YouTube, the ad doesn't just demonstrate the central idea of 'now', but does so in a way that chimes perfectly with the platform's look-at-me community of contributors. Better still, the groundbreaking format is the first time user-generated content has been incorporated into masthead advertising on the site. It's just part of the wider picture, however; tailored homepage takeover ads are also set to appear on Yahoo, AOL,ESPN.com, WSJ.com, People.com and CNET in what is billed as Sprint’s most extensive web campaign to date.
More than 11 million unique users visit YouTube’s US homepage in one day, and the new masthead ad formats are encouraging experimentation and seeing good returns - 14%interaction rates, according to YouTube, compared to the industry average of just under 5% for similar-sized units.
The ad lives on after Takeover day too; it's now available as a widget at sprint.com/nownetwork, along with a host of other content intended to reflect the idea of 'now'. Goodby Silverstein & Partners are responsible for the creative.
=============
Wario Land: Shake It!
Nintendo and YouTube collaborated to promote Nintendo’s latest Wii release Wario Land: Shake It!. The very unique site got about 1.3 million visits in one week time and blogs likeWired, Kotaku, Joystiq, GameSetMatch and over 800 others wrote about the ad. The idea of trashing a site is not new though, check Hema, Club Internet: Le Duel & Le Défi,Nationale Vacaturebank, The Good Fight, Jumper, Carhartt and Netdisaster
Honda Let it shine on Vimeo
BRAND OWNER:Honda
CATEGORY:Automotive
REGION:EMEA
DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008AGENCY:Wieden & Kennedy
MEDIA CHANNEL
With the launch of Honda’s Insight hybrid car, the automotive brand wanted to make a big impact without a huge environmental impact.
It created Let It Shine – a 60 second TV spot which at first looks like a huge LED screen, but you soon realise the animation is being created by hundreds of car headlights. A matrix of hundreds of car headlights was created and animated with each set of headlights acting as a pixel. The ad was a huge viral hit and Honda wanted to leverage this in an online environment. It teamed up with high definition video hosting site Vimeo to create an experience which went beyond the borders of the usual flash player box, taking the traditional page takeover to a new level.
People who went to Vimeo to view the Honda ad can press play to see the video and the whole page around the video also transforms.
Just as the ad shows action taking place over a whole night until sunrise, so the background of the page goes completely black, blocking out all of the usual page inventory and comments.
The animations created in the desert with the cars leak out into this expanded space. As dawn breaks in the ad, the background of the page also goes through the sunrise colours. Visithttp://vimeo.com/4281939 to see the experience.
The work echoes that of Nintendo’s Wario YouTube ad, where the violence of the game knocks all of the comments and buttons off the web page.
PSA ad on cyber-bullying by National Crime Prevention Council.
CATEGORY:Automotive
REGION:EMEA
DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008AGENCY:Wieden & Kennedy
MEDIA CHANNEL
With the launch of Honda’s Insight hybrid car, the automotive brand wanted to make a big impact without a huge environmental impact.
It created Let It Shine – a 60 second TV spot which at first looks like a huge LED screen, but you soon realise the animation is being created by hundreds of car headlights. A matrix of hundreds of car headlights was created and animated with each set of headlights acting as a pixel. The ad was a huge viral hit and Honda wanted to leverage this in an online environment. It teamed up with high definition video hosting site Vimeo to create an experience which went beyond the borders of the usual flash player box, taking the traditional page takeover to a new level.
People who went to Vimeo to view the Honda ad can press play to see the video and the whole page around the video also transforms.Just as the ad shows action taking place over a whole night until sunrise, so the background of the page goes completely black, blocking out all of the usual page inventory and comments.The animations created in the desert with the cars leak out into this expanded space. As dawn breaks in the ad, the background of the page also goes through the sunrise colours. Visithttp://vimeo.com/4281939 to see the experience.The work echoes that of Nintendo’s Wario YouTube ad, where the violence of the game knocks all of the comments and buttons off the web page.
PSA ad on cyber-bullying by National Crime Prevention Council.
E
A Sports Push with Joy
Samsung 3D takes over YouTube with game
Samsung is taking over You Tube with a game. The game-take-over starts with a film of the 3D projection on the Beurs van Berlage. Then it slowly takes over YouTube. The game is nothing special (click on as many butterflies as possible and win a 3D LED TV), but the take-over makes quite good eye candy.
http://www.youtube.com/Samsung3devent
======
Shahrukh Khan gets candid while discussing Ra.One! Watch him share the behind-scenes experience live, at:
http://www.youtube.com/raonemovie
========
- [CLIENT]
- Virgin Radio
- [AGENCY]
- Buzzman
- [PRODUCTION]
- Film : Iconoclast Web : Lumini
- [CREATIVE DIRECTOR]
- Georges Mohammed-Chérif
- [ART DIRECTOR]
- We Are From L.A.
- [PLANNER]
- -
- [PRODUCER]
- Laurent Marcus, Julie Bourges
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