It really come alive now. The rich and successful have different attitude/mindset towards their life and wealth creation. Even by speaking to them, you will catch something from them.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Soar with the eagles
I recall what Pastor Kong Hee said "If you want to soar, you must mixed with the eagles"
Monday, February 27, 2012
First time in my life I refute my parents
I did that to the shock of the people around when I rebute them to praise a child instead of critise her drawings. Valencia was happily drawing to show them when my father keep saying it doesn't look like angry bird to her annoyance. Consequently, my child was in tears. That really agitated me and without any hesitation, I went up to refute them. I have only 1 child and I love her too much to let her be cristicised.
What should I do?
GE  | vs | NEC  |
I can't wait to hand in my resignation letter but GE have not finish their AIM screening till probably next week. I got a feeling Steven Tan knows that I am going judging by the attitude he has shown to me. Probably, one of the company I applied for contact CAE? If that is the case, I surely have to carry on. I heard from Ramesh during lunch time, if CAE sign the contract with Brunei MPTC next month, CAE SG could be assigned to do the infrastructure work and possibly PC7 (part of MPTC). That excites me for a moment, but only just a moment, the though of working with the likes of Joshua really puts me off. With due respect, I don't think they are up to the mark.
I am in a dilenma of whether to accept the NEC offer, because of the fear that the AIM screening test may fail (what if). Maybe it would be better if I just patiently wait & trust God for GE to come back (maybe next week), before pushing the resignation letter out. After the AIM result came back, I still need to do Health screening. God, I pray that everything will be smooth.
I am looking at last day to be around 1st May 2012.
Yet to settle matters
Right now the things left to be done are:
1) Settle my refinance of Ambra - have decided to stick with OCBC but going for fixed rate
2) Help Fiona find new job
3) Settle Ambra's will
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Spiritual or Faky?
Here are some spiritual stories I have seen:
a) In 1999, I was introduced to CHC or rather christianity by my school mate Terence. This guy appears very spiritual, he would bind spirits even before getting on the car and classrooms. He even pray 1 time to help me identify the questions for the forthcoming exam. That arouses my interest in christianity and subsequently make me converted to christian.
b) I am convinced that Jesus is the truth, the only way. Upon conversion, my grandma said she had dreams that my mother came crying to complain that I have switch to christianity. How in the world does she suppose to know when I didn't even give a hint?
a) In 1999, I was introduced to CHC or rather christianity by my school mate Terence. This guy appears very spiritual, he would bind spirits even before getting on the car and classrooms. He even pray 1 time to help me identify the questions for the forthcoming exam. That arouses my interest in christianity and subsequently make me converted to christian.
b) I am convinced that Jesus is the truth, the only way. Upon conversion, my grandma said she had dreams that my mother came crying to complain that I have switch to christianity. How in the world does she suppose to know when I didn't even give a hint?
Tough but necessary - Taking risks
There are times I asked myself why so tough buying 2 houses? Maintain 2 houses and 1 car is very tough. People are saying properties are going to drop big time, but I suspect with low borrowing cost and high liquidity out there, it will be well supported. Morever contrary to analysts' view of gloomy economy, I believe the market has bottom up and well poise to make a spectacular recovery.
With rising COE prices, food prices, electrical bills, property prices, etc, it has make inflation at multi-year high. If we don't do anything to increase our wealth, sooner or later we will become poorer.
There is only 2 ways for people like me to get rich - stocks & property. The trick is to leverage. With property, you can loan up to 60-80% of LTV which makes a 3-4 times leverage. With stocks, I don't know why some people gloat about buying dividend stocks with their limited cash. True, they collected dividends and see capital gains but is that enough? You make 100% from your $50,000 investment after 3 years which is highly remarkable. I would think it would be more fruitful to put this $50,000 into CFD and use 4-5 times the amount giving some buffers to it. I don't have the cash now, probably in March or April I will put $15000 inside my CFD to play. I want to make it big in life and to do that I know I need to take considerable amount of risk.
With rising COE prices, food prices, electrical bills, property prices, etc, it has make inflation at multi-year high. If we don't do anything to increase our wealth, sooner or later we will become poorer.
There is only 2 ways for people like me to get rich - stocks & property. The trick is to leverage. With property, you can loan up to 60-80% of LTV which makes a 3-4 times leverage. With stocks, I don't know why some people gloat about buying dividend stocks with their limited cash. True, they collected dividends and see capital gains but is that enough? You make 100% from your $50,000 investment after 3 years which is highly remarkable. I would think it would be more fruitful to put this $50,000 into CFD and use 4-5 times the amount giving some buffers to it. I don't have the cash now, probably in March or April I will put $15000 inside my CFD to play. I want to make it big in life and to do that I know I need to take considerable amount of risk.
Monday, February 20, 2012
The time has come
The time is coming sooner rather than later to leave CAE. I have no regret joing CAE 2 years ago from ITE.
It was an opportunity to rejoin the industry because I know it is difficult to go outside once you are in ITE for awhile. From a rookie in simulation and train domain, I have learnt and adapted well. I dare say noone in my company knows the train domain in terms of knowledge and technically better than me.
Looking back, when I first join CAE, I was told by friends how bad Adrian was, how little increment or bonus he will give, how he will ask you to sign unfair bonds and how he will squeeze me till I dry. That certainly scare the soul out of me. When I was presented with a 18mths bond, I was complemtating whether to quit. At the end, I decided to give it a try. I was planning to make the exit after 18mths when I gained enough exposure. I was roped for a R&D project with Temasek Lab but that never materialise when the lead for the SMRT project left. I was immediately placed there. I heard the guy that left refuse to sign any bonds for being asked to go the Kiel, Germany and Adrian threaten to sue him. The first 3 mths at Kiel, Germany was lonely, but looking back it was quite fun. I miss my family alot in Germany but I endure. I was determine to keep mum about the 14 days leave and my house in TK a secret as not to arouse any jealousy among the ranks in the company. I disciplines my mouth not to gossip about Adrian or Brian even during tea breaks, which I tried to skip. For the first 1 year, I didn't get any bonus or increment but after I quarrelled with Kien Lip, Adrian gave me a 3000 incentive instead of sacking me. I was told that they value my opinion and have high regards of me.
Not to disappoint them, I completed RNS almost singlehandedly. It was tough, especially I was still working during the CNY period.
After RNS is commissioned, I was immediately drafted to NMSC. It was a completely different project but I architected the UIs, networks, Software architecture & database. It was a tough 2-3 months in Brunei, where I can't see my Valencia often. It was fun and satisfacting to see the software (Server/Client SOA, remoting), Networking (Mulitple VLANs, Subinterfaces, Cascading), Client Client + Dialog integration works successfully. I even architect the AV server to have 5 subnets and 2 sound cards to cater for broadcast successfully. After this project, I was given 2000 incentive and a 8% increment. I even asked for a bonus with David when everyone in the company just keep mum. The one thing I can't work with is this guy called Joshua. Boot licking and stubbornness typifies this guy. He would only listen to people above him, refusing to take advise or instructions from others. A few times, I would argue with him on his approach.
2011 indeed was a successfully year to end. Completed 2 projects; Getting bonus and high increment caps it.
With PC7 in the pipeline, the company looks on the right track. Suddenly, things took a turn. Brian is forced out possibly by the emergence of Jason; Adrian is being forced out by Kevin Speed. All is not well, I dare say the company will not do well without Brian & Adrian. What is left of the company is dreams. The marketing management scraps PC7 and project a quite impossible sales target.
With no project in sight after 6 mths when NMSC is commissioned, I was worried also. Even with project, with due respect to Steven and his team, there is somehow lack of technical know-how to execute them. I remember proir to Jason's departure, he advised me to look elsewhere if there are still no project coming in the first quarter of this year. They have just signed a MOU between CAE Montreal and Brunei Mindef for MPTC but realistically the real contract will only be signed in 2014 and how much slice of the cake is Montreal going to give Singapore? The only high chance projects are RTT & Cab Sim upgrades. Sad to say, the only 2 persons with the adequate domain knowledge is Brian & me. I don't think the likes of Yeow Heng is up to the mark.
It was an opportunity to rejoin the industry because I know it is difficult to go outside once you are in ITE for awhile. From a rookie in simulation and train domain, I have learnt and adapted well. I dare say noone in my company knows the train domain in terms of knowledge and technically better than me.
Looking back, when I first join CAE, I was told by friends how bad Adrian was, how little increment or bonus he will give, how he will ask you to sign unfair bonds and how he will squeeze me till I dry. That certainly scare the soul out of me. When I was presented with a 18mths bond, I was complemtating whether to quit. At the end, I decided to give it a try. I was planning to make the exit after 18mths when I gained enough exposure. I was roped for a R&D project with Temasek Lab but that never materialise when the lead for the SMRT project left. I was immediately placed there. I heard the guy that left refuse to sign any bonds for being asked to go the Kiel, Germany and Adrian threaten to sue him. The first 3 mths at Kiel, Germany was lonely, but looking back it was quite fun. I miss my family alot in Germany but I endure. I was determine to keep mum about the 14 days leave and my house in TK a secret as not to arouse any jealousy among the ranks in the company. I disciplines my mouth not to gossip about Adrian or Brian even during tea breaks, which I tried to skip. For the first 1 year, I didn't get any bonus or increment but after I quarrelled with Kien Lip, Adrian gave me a 3000 incentive instead of sacking me. I was told that they value my opinion and have high regards of me.
Not to disappoint them, I completed RNS almost singlehandedly. It was tough, especially I was still working during the CNY period.
After RNS is commissioned, I was immediately drafted to NMSC. It was a completely different project but I architected the UIs, networks, Software architecture & database. It was a tough 2-3 months in Brunei, where I can't see my Valencia often. It was fun and satisfacting to see the software (Server/Client SOA, remoting), Networking (Mulitple VLANs, Subinterfaces, Cascading), Client Client + Dialog integration works successfully. I even architect the AV server to have 5 subnets and 2 sound cards to cater for broadcast successfully. After this project, I was given 2000 incentive and a 8% increment. I even asked for a bonus with David when everyone in the company just keep mum. The one thing I can't work with is this guy called Joshua. Boot licking and stubbornness typifies this guy. He would only listen to people above him, refusing to take advise or instructions from others. A few times, I would argue with him on his approach.
2011 indeed was a successfully year to end. Completed 2 projects; Getting bonus and high increment caps it.
With PC7 in the pipeline, the company looks on the right track. Suddenly, things took a turn. Brian is forced out possibly by the emergence of Jason; Adrian is being forced out by Kevin Speed. All is not well, I dare say the company will not do well without Brian & Adrian. What is left of the company is dreams. The marketing management scraps PC7 and project a quite impossible sales target.
With no project in sight after 6 mths when NMSC is commissioned, I was worried also. Even with project, with due respect to Steven and his team, there is somehow lack of technical know-how to execute them. I remember proir to Jason's departure, he advised me to look elsewhere if there are still no project coming in the first quarter of this year. They have just signed a MOU between CAE Montreal and Brunei Mindef for MPTC but realistically the real contract will only be signed in 2014 and how much slice of the cake is Montreal going to give Singapore? The only high chance projects are RTT & Cab Sim upgrades. Sad to say, the only 2 persons with the adequate domain knowledge is Brian & me. I don't think the likes of Yeow Heng is up to the mark.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Air show fatigness & others
Since last Saturday, I have being involve in the Singapore Airshow 2012. These 2 days have to woke up as early as 5+am and stand throughout the show to 5+pm. This is really tiring and especially straining considering I can't send my kid to school and miss my time to spend with her. I really miss her. Am I an abnormal dad? I really love my child so much that everything I do now is for her sake. I want to earn alot of money and prepare her for a better future ahead.
There is still thoughts that will always be with me throughout this life:
a) Why does my dad doesn't seems to love me as much as I love my child?
b) Why does my dad doesn't apologise for his misdeed many years back?
c) Why does my dad doesn't feel proud about his son's achievement?
I guess I would not know the answer till I see God but One thing I do is I look forward and work hard for the things to come. Though is really scary to know that maybe the end times is coming with the emergence of the beast (widely known as a resurrected John Paul II Pope). There is no point with living in constant fear but in constant hopes and dreams instead. I believe that I can achieve much more in this coming years.
There is still thoughts that will always be with me throughout this life:
a) Why does my dad doesn't seems to love me as much as I love my child?
b) Why does my dad doesn't apologise for his misdeed many years back?
c) Why does my dad doesn't feel proud about his son's achievement?
I guess I would not know the answer till I see God but One thing I do is I look forward and work hard for the things to come. Though is really scary to know that maybe the end times is coming with the emergence of the beast (widely known as a resurrected John Paul II Pope). There is no point with living in constant fear but in constant hopes and dreams instead. I believe that I can achieve much more in this coming years.
Disgusting people
These types of people I just can't stand:
a) People who act till they know eveything
b) People who boot lick the bosses.
c) People who gossip and complain alot.
d) People who made use of people and act as they are sacrificing for the people involved.
a) People who act till they know eveything
b) People who boot lick the bosses.
c) People who gossip and complain alot.
d) People who made use of people and act as they are sacrificing for the people involved.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Housing Dilenma
I was caught in between a Geylang Lorong 27A 2000+ sqft penthouse & Treeline 1281 sqft 3 bedder. Both were 1.2m but Geylang one fetches 4.5k in rental while Treeline 3.8k. But then, it's Geylang and is older and on leasehold.
After much consideration, I have decided to go for Treeline. It is newer but smaller in terms of size. The reason I am buying this:
a)Near Kembangan MRT, in fact 5 mins walk.
b)Freehold in District 15
c)80k below bank valuation.
d)No agent fee.
e)Comes with Tenancy.
f)Good conditions and buying with furnitures.
g)Can move in next time if I did sell Ambra.
Today, I paid the stamp fee and exercise the option. It has been some process. Went to DBS, UOB, Citibank & Standard Charter to get Loan after DBS give me a scare by taking more than 1 week to process. In the end I chose Citibank fixed interest rate, it is less favourable than DBS but it allows me peace of mind.
After much consideration, I have decided to go for Treeline. It is newer but smaller in terms of size. The reason I am buying this:
a)Near Kembangan MRT, in fact 5 mins walk.
b)Freehold in District 15
c)80k below bank valuation.
d)No agent fee.
e)Comes with Tenancy.
f)Good conditions and buying with furnitures.
g)Can move in next time if I did sell Ambra.
Today, I paid the stamp fee and exercise the option. It has been some process. Went to DBS, UOB, Citibank & Standard Charter to get Loan after DBS give me a scare by taking more than 1 week to process. In the end I chose Citibank fixed interest rate, it is less favourable than DBS but it allows me peace of mind.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Update on New Year
It's being quite awhile since I have updated this blog. Here are some updates:
Houses
I have sold my hdb for some 320k profit. Its always sad to sell your assets. The reason for my sale is that the house is too far out from the city and it is on a low floor. With the aggressive introduction of BTOs and likely increase percentage for 2nd timer applicants for BTOs, I suspect HDB has limited upside. I don't think HDB will drop much though.
Alot of analysts and people were hoping and saying property would definitely drop due to uncertain economic outlook and the introduction of Additional Sellers Stamp fee of 10% on foreigners. Contradictally, when I saw how singaporeans snap up new projects like Watertown, Parcwood, Tampines Trilliant at ridiculous high prices, I suspect property would not drop much. I think a 5-10% drop is max.
Property is still the safest investment in Singapore due to the aggressive printing of monies in US & EU. Throughout the year, salary increase has not catchup with the increase in properties prices. Therefore, We have decided to reinvest our money to get another private. Now in the process of competing the sale and getting the loan. The loan will be 40% but think instead of complaining, we just have to abide by the game rules. (I have heard bank staff can loan up to 90% of the sale amount - ridiculous). Where in Singapore can you find a freehold property in D15 for 950psf?
Jobs
Right now, its lull time at CAE. Adrian, Jason & Brian have left. Lately, I have being getting calls and interviews which are good signs. Hopefully, I can get a new job soon as I can't stay in a sinking ship for very long.
Valencia
This has being a tiring time for my child. We thought she would be better at childfirst, a full day child care center. But barely 2 weeks, she has being crying and even refuse to eat at the school. Enough is enough, we have to switch back to Chiltern House. Thank God, there is a morning slot available but different class from the one she came out from.
Houses
I have sold my hdb for some 320k profit. Its always sad to sell your assets. The reason for my sale is that the house is too far out from the city and it is on a low floor. With the aggressive introduction of BTOs and likely increase percentage for 2nd timer applicants for BTOs, I suspect HDB has limited upside. I don't think HDB will drop much though.
Alot of analysts and people were hoping and saying property would definitely drop due to uncertain economic outlook and the introduction of Additional Sellers Stamp fee of 10% on foreigners. Contradictally, when I saw how singaporeans snap up new projects like Watertown, Parcwood, Tampines Trilliant at ridiculous high prices, I suspect property would not drop much. I think a 5-10% drop is max.
Property is still the safest investment in Singapore due to the aggressive printing of monies in US & EU. Throughout the year, salary increase has not catchup with the increase in properties prices. Therefore, We have decided to reinvest our money to get another private. Now in the process of competing the sale and getting the loan. The loan will be 40% but think instead of complaining, we just have to abide by the game rules. (I have heard bank staff can loan up to 90% of the sale amount - ridiculous). Where in Singapore can you find a freehold property in D15 for 950psf?
Jobs
Right now, its lull time at CAE. Adrian, Jason & Brian have left. Lately, I have being getting calls and interviews which are good signs. Hopefully, I can get a new job soon as I can't stay in a sinking ship for very long.
Valencia
This has being a tiring time for my child. We thought she would be better at childfirst, a full day child care center. But barely 2 weeks, she has being crying and even refuse to eat at the school. Enough is enough, we have to switch back to Chiltern House. Thank God, there is a morning slot available but different class from the one she came out from.
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