I chanced upon this blog 'The Life Experimenter' recently, which made me recalled something similar, Matt Cutts' TED video on trying something new for 30 days. And so, I decided to take up a series of Life Experiment of my own too.
I will blog about them after I completed the challenges and so stay tune!
Monday, 31 August 2015
Monday, 24 August 2015
The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone
It was my lucky day! I was at the national library over the weekend and decided to try my luck and see if I can lay my hands on this book by the Million Dollar Listing New York (MDLNY)'s start Fredrik Eklund. And I did!
The book was marvelously written and is a must have hand-book for every sales person or anybody who is passionate in sales. Fredrik is renowned in the real estate industry and his fame rose sharply after appearing on an American Reality TV series MDLNY, where he is would occasionally show audiences' his signature high kick.
I couldn't bear to put this book down because it was so fun and interesting to read. His personality was shown throughout the book which makes reading very enjoyable. He detailed his daily routine, starting from the time he wakes up all the way until the time he went to bed. He not only gives away his secrets to selling, but also put emphasis on the importance of getting ample rest, exercise and a healthy diet.
This book is not just for those in the sales industry, although it would be exceptionally helpful to them. Everybody is selling something everyday. For instance selling ourselves during interview, or during promotion, asking for salary increment etc.
I strongly recommend this book to those who is looking to be a superstar and want to achieve great accomplishments in life.
Tuesday, 18 August 2015
An Income Investor's Journey
I opened up my mailbox yesterday and was glad to received dividend from SIA Engineering Co Ltd. I have 1,000 shares with them and so my dividend income amounted to SGD85.00. I would have been very happy if not for the fact that there is still a few hundred dollars of paper loss in my portfolio. Since my purchase of SIA Engineering early this year, the price has been going south. I have to constantly tell myself that I am a dividend investor and my objective is to grow my dividend income.
My goal is to have enough passive dividend income to support my expenses and eventually serve as an income when I retire. I want to build a diversified portfolio that provides me with enough income to support my lifestyle. Despite knowing very well the real reason why I want to buy into certain company's shares, I still get affected when prices dropped. I have some rules which I adhere to and they help to calm myself down when stock market becomes very volatile.
1) Do not check my shares too frequently
I once bought Hock Lian Seng's shares and the prices didn't move as I expected them to. I was disappointed, thinking I must have made a wrong investment choice and thus decided not to log into my online trading account to monitor anymore. One day, I was bored and have nothing better to do, I logged into my account and saw that the share price has gone up by a dollar. I was over the moon when I see the paper gain! I then decided to cash out my profits. I remembered the dividend yield was impressive but at that moment, I forgot why I invested in the company in the first place.
Checking prices daily when you are investing for a longer time horizon like three to five years is meaningless. Not only does it affect your emotion and mood, it will sometimes result in over-trading or selling out of fear when we mistaken the 'noise' for a sell signal.
2) Do not keep thinking about the price I paid
Like many investors out there, I also want to buy a share at a bargain, when it is below its fair value. After doing some homework, I may have a price range that serve as a good entry point. However, sometimes the prices continue to go South and that makes me feel terrible. What I have learned is to buy and forget. If the price is still attractive and I still have some capital to invest, then I just buy when it goes down to a certain level.
3) Do not just buy a share based on dividend yield
When I just started investing, I select shares based on dividend yield. However, some of these companies are smaller and less established as compared to the blue chip companies. They also have a higher risk of failing to perform or dissolution in difficult times. I think it is better to invest in companies that have been proven to provide good and consistent dividend than those that may give you a high dividend this year but subsequently struggling to do well.
Furthermore, I am looking at a longer time horizon like three years and above. I do not want to be worrying whether will the company still be around several years down the road.
My goal is to have enough passive dividend income to support my expenses and eventually serve as an income when I retire. I want to build a diversified portfolio that provides me with enough income to support my lifestyle. Despite knowing very well the real reason why I want to buy into certain company's shares, I still get affected when prices dropped. I have some rules which I adhere to and they help to calm myself down when stock market becomes very volatile.
1) Do not check my shares too frequently
I once bought Hock Lian Seng's shares and the prices didn't move as I expected them to. I was disappointed, thinking I must have made a wrong investment choice and thus decided not to log into my online trading account to monitor anymore. One day, I was bored and have nothing better to do, I logged into my account and saw that the share price has gone up by a dollar. I was over the moon when I see the paper gain! I then decided to cash out my profits. I remembered the dividend yield was impressive but at that moment, I forgot why I invested in the company in the first place.
Checking prices daily when you are investing for a longer time horizon like three to five years is meaningless. Not only does it affect your emotion and mood, it will sometimes result in over-trading or selling out of fear when we mistaken the 'noise' for a sell signal.
2) Do not keep thinking about the price I paid
Like many investors out there, I also want to buy a share at a bargain, when it is below its fair value. After doing some homework, I may have a price range that serve as a good entry point. However, sometimes the prices continue to go South and that makes me feel terrible. What I have learned is to buy and forget. If the price is still attractive and I still have some capital to invest, then I just buy when it goes down to a certain level.
3) Do not just buy a share based on dividend yield
When I just started investing, I select shares based on dividend yield. However, some of these companies are smaller and less established as compared to the blue chip companies. They also have a higher risk of failing to perform or dissolution in difficult times. I think it is better to invest in companies that have been proven to provide good and consistent dividend than those that may give you a high dividend this year but subsequently struggling to do well.
Furthermore, I am looking at a longer time horizon like three years and above. I do not want to be worrying whether will the company still be around several years down the road.
Monday, 17 August 2015
Bedok Food Trail - Chir Chir Fried Chicken & IScream Ice Cream Parlour
It was my first time eating at Chir Chir. Korean food has been gaining popularity in Singapore due to K-pop fever. My friends have also fell in love with Korean fried chicken from watching Korean drama and suggested meeting out here for our 'gossip' session and gathering. Prior to that, I have not heard of Chir Chir before and by the way, it is pronounced as 'Chi-Re Chi-Re'. As of now, there are two outlets in Singapore. One of it is located at 313@Somerset and the other at Bedok Point.
It is rather thoughtful and innovative of them to come up with a tool like this. We would not have to worry about dirtying our hands when eating the fried chicken.
It is my first time blogging about food and so please pardon me if I get the names of food item wrong. Perhaps I should have taken picture of food menu too. From the picture above (clockwise direction), we ordered Cheese fries, 2 drinks (non-alcoholic), The Nest and Garlic Roasted Chicken.
The Nest (SGD32.90) is fried chicken in white sauce and with whipped cream on top. Hidden in the middle of the dish is mashed sweet potato, which acted like a 'salad' to us. The Garlic Roasted Chicken (SGD32.90) has baked potato, salad and hard boiled egg to go along with it. We spent a total of SGD130 on the meal.
For dessert, we headed to IScream Ice Scream Parlour.
There is a wide selection of ice cream. We ordered a single scoop of Avocado with gula melaka and Soogle (SGD11.90) which consists of 4 macarons with 4 choices of ice-cream namely (in clockwise direction) Crunchy chocolate nut, Salted caramel, Coconut and Man-go Mad.
We were too full to try other item on the menu like waffle and bingsu (shaved ice). The pricing is reasonable and so I will definitely be back again.
Address:
Chir Chir: Bedok Point, #02-05/06, 799 New Upper Changi Road, Singapore 467351
IScream Ice Scream Parlour: Blk 89, Bedok North Ave 4, #01-09, Singapore 460089
Friday, 14 August 2015
The Live Turtle & Tortoise Museum
Despite living in Singapore for more than 20 years, I did not know there is a turtle and tortoise museum until last week. Since there was nothing much to do, I decided to head down to the museum for a look. You can find out more information here.
The museum is located inside Singapore Chinese Garden. The entrance fee for adult is SGD5.00 and SGD3.00 for kids and senior citizens. If you are keen to feed the tortoise and turtles, you can purchase the leafy vegetables at SGD2.00.
The museum wasn't very big. One would probably spend 30 minutes to an hour inside and you will be done. It was quite an eye opening sight to see so many tortoises and turtles up close and some of them are endangered species.
The museum is located inside Singapore Chinese Garden. The entrance fee for adult is SGD5.00 and SGD3.00 for kids and senior citizens. If you are keen to feed the tortoise and turtles, you can purchase the leafy vegetables at SGD2.00.
There are some tortoises wandering around freely. Having said that, you need to pay attention and avoid stepping on their faeces which look similar to that of ours.
The alligator snapping turtles are more dangerous and thus weren't roaming freely like the others. It is intrigue to see that inside their mouth there is a worm-like tongue. For those fishes who may mistaken that of a worm might suffer some serious damage if they were to head straight to that 'worm'.
The museum wasn't very big. One would probably spend 30 minutes to an hour inside and you will be done. It was quite an eye opening sight to see so many tortoises and turtles up close and some of them are endangered species.
Thursday, 13 August 2015
The Candle Problem
Feeling bored last night, I decided to watch some of the old TED videos and came across the one by Dan Pink. I had watched this before but decided to watch it again. It is titled 'The Puzzle of Motivation'. The main idea of this video is about a mismatch between what science knows and what business does.
The Candle Problem
There was an experiment done, titled 'The Candle Problem'. This experiment was done on two groups of people. One group was told to complete the task at their own pace. The other group was given incentives as a motivation factor. If you belong to the top 25 percentile of those who complete in the shortest time, you will be rewarded with $5. If you are the top, you will be rewarded $20.
Each user was given a box of tacks, a candle, and some matches as per the image above. The instruction was to tack the candle to the wall and the wax must not get onto the table. The solution is shown below.
It was found that the incentivized group finished three and a half minutes slower than the un-incentivized group.
Another experiment was conducted and this time, the layout in which the materials they were given changed to the image as shown below. You will notice the tacks are now outside the box. This experiment was done on two groups of people as per the first.
The result was the incentivized group figured out the problem much faster when the tacks were outside the box. This was because the task was straight forward and had a set of simple rules.
Conclusion
There is an obvious mismatch between what society imposes and what science knows. Now we know, incentives do not always bring the best out of people. Incentives work best if the task is straight forward and the rules are simple. In situations where creativity is required, this may not be the best technique to use. In future if we want to motivate someone to work more productively, we will know what to do if the task on hand requires one to think out of the box.
The Candle Problem
Each user was given a box of tacks, a candle, and some matches as per the image above. The instruction was to tack the candle to the wall and the wax must not get onto the table. The solution is shown below.
It was found that the incentivized group finished three and a half minutes slower than the un-incentivized group.
Another experiment was conducted and this time, the layout in which the materials they were given changed to the image as shown below. You will notice the tacks are now outside the box. This experiment was done on two groups of people as per the first.
The result was the incentivized group figured out the problem much faster when the tacks were outside the box. This was because the task was straight forward and had a set of simple rules.
Conclusion
There is an obvious mismatch between what society imposes and what science knows. Now we know, incentives do not always bring the best out of people. Incentives work best if the task is straight forward and the rules are simple. In situations where creativity is required, this may not be the best technique to use. In future if we want to motivate someone to work more productively, we will know what to do if the task on hand requires one to think out of the box.
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