savoy078

We have had more than 30 days of straight net selling by foreign holders of local shares. Thankfully we started falling way before the "across the board selling over fears of contagion with respect to emerging markets". I would be the first to say that we should stomach some short-term pain on our shareholdings, just to have a change in government. It is easily worth the price. The rectification of past mismanagement will take some time. So where are we now? What started off in Turkey, Argentina and to a lesser extent Italy... has somehow steamrolled to include Vietnam, Indonesia, the Phillippines and Hungary. To a much lesser extent, Malaysia and Thailand also were hit - thankfully it was muted at best. Causes : a) fears of emerging markets debt contagion;  b) the developed countries kept interest rates low following 2008 to revive their battered economies, flight of capital went to developing nations seeking better returns - now that pendulum has shifted thanks to the ...

Investing is a lifelong experience and adventure, and sometimes a nightmare. Academic intelligence does not guarantee success. In fact, rote-learning and ivy league MBAs mostly lead to a decision by numbers or an aggregation of numbers and spreadsheets.  By looking at how people make the most common decision-making mistakes in investing, we can know and understand better what makes good decision-making in investments. As I am still thinking through this, the list is not exhaustive: 1)  The academic deduction does not equal right investing decision (the "trigger factor")  - When the information in front of you and the amount of research you did agrees with you, it still may not be the right investing decision. Many years ago Warren Buffet warned about US' trade deficit and put his money where his mouth is by betting heavily against the US dollar over the past few years. He has lost heavily on that bet.  All the economic and financial indicators point to an unsustainab...

Nowadays everyone can be a chef, just follow the thousands of recipes on YouTube. What is a generic pasta recipe? Here are a few tips on how to do a good pasta. It is for home cooks who don't want to make their own pasta or sauces. Just buy decent pasta and pasta sauces and cook them yourselves. Decent and widely available pasta :  De Cecco is my pick Good sauces :  Paul Newman's sauces are pretty good, SACLA (my favourite), Mezzetta Chillies : Try not to use fresh chillies, does not go that well with pasta. Use dried chillies, soak in water first before chopping them up, otherwise won't be spicy in the pasta dish. Mince Meats : Pork, beef or lamb minces (or even chicken mince... but my fav is still lamb) go well with basic pasta dishes with any off the shelf sauces. Marination of mince meats : This is the critical part of what makes a really good pasta dish.  While there are hundreds of combinations, my favoured marination is: Use 2 tbs shallo...

Let's all take a breath. The issues that are being debated and discussed today are good issues to have, in a totally different environment. Our new government would listen and react accordingly. The public must also know everyone's got an opinion, and we cannot just follow the lowest common denominator to placate everyone. Sometimes we elect good people so that they will take the hard decisions. We also should be aware all are human and will make mistakes. Let's get on the path to recovery and glory for our country together. Discuss and debate issues without malicious intent but out of the goodness of our hearts. Foreign Cooks - A very swift about turn. In short, a mistake by the Minister. Should have called for a study before making statements. Anyway, the immediate feedback was better than any study could offer. We cannot just say that locals do not want to be cooks - we lost a lot of Malaysian chefs and wannabes to Singapore because of currency factor; there are plen...

First of all, this is not paid content. I never take money for product placement for my blog. Thats why my blog is always free of ads and no popups. Hence I make zero money from my blog lol. If you have kids between 2-12, you should take them to Kiddomo Universe at Level 3 of Starling Mall. Unlike other theme parks or playlands, Kiddomo merges technology with fun. Kids get to create their own character, and later see that character be your avatar in various games. Kids can create art and see their art come to life. There's even craft and entertainment workshop. Give it a go, its a family enriching experience. Parents are encouraged to participate together with their kids.

a) Grab Food  - I don't know about you but Uber Eats was fantastic. I don't know why that even after 4 weeks of Grab taking over, Grab Food is just as bad as Food Panda. Food Panda, the app that is like a casual barista, kinda worked sometimes but you just didn't know when. Food Panda's problem is a lack of control over its last mile delivery. It is the management of a secure team of last mile couriers that spells the end for most retail/service delivery apps. Particularly in Malaysia where getting a permanent group of loyal and dedicated couriers is as difficult as getting someone off handbags addiction. So far, Grab Food (and Food Panda) vs UberEats is like Malaysia's version of 7-11 vs Family Mart respectively. Btw just try and sign up for Grab Food, its a doozy (not). Grab and its competition in Manila ... b) Grab's Domination - Following the deal, Grab is largely a Southeast Asian app. Didi conquered China following a similar deal sale...

Euromoney came up with an article which questioned how far should the "bloodletting" continue in finance in Malaysia. I bring this to a wider spectrum, not just finance but in every facet. https://www.euromoney.com/article/b18m0sqgwgs3x2/mahathirs-return-puts-the-fear-into-malaysian-finance Despite public delight, there is a mood of some paranoia in Malaysian business and finance right now – and you can see why. Since the shock opposition election victory on May 9 restored 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad to power, deposing the party he once led, one person after another with ties to ousted prime minister Najib Razak has been removed from leadership positions in Malaysia’s key institutions. And the big question for many is: who is next? Is it me? Other institutions said to be facing a great deal of scrutiny under the new government are the Securities Commission, which regulates the capital markets, and the fund for Muslim pilgrimages, Tabung Haji. When the dust settles and afte...

We all saw the ones that got hit big time following the recent elections. Thats because construction are big ticket items and the likelihood of some big projects being pulled, scrapped or renegotiated is enough to adopt the sell first ask questions later strategy. Why oil and gas stocks were relatively unscathed? My two bob answers: a) It is so much easier to inflate contract value in construction jobs b) The ownership of oilfields, not exactly under the jurisdiction of certain ministries c) To develop oilfields, even if you give it to me free, is not profits, capital still has to be expended and returns are years down the road (same analogy if you were to inflate contract value) d) The most defining factor was that oil and gas prices were relatively depressed over the last 3-4 years (thankfully) which meant more belt tightening and cutbacks by companies than new projects While waiting for the construction big projects to settle down, it is only natural that oil and gas counters...

Almost everyone was devastated when hearing the news of his suicide. I will not pretend to know him well. His death is all the more sudden considering that he has possibly the best job on earth. I mean, please describe your ultimate job ... go to places globally, visit tourist sites, eating the best food there is, making snarky comments, meeting passionate and brilliant cooks, voicing your opinions as if the world cares about them, be free to perform your vices on camera (be it alcohol or ciggies) and getting paid well. Why we feel so connected to Bourdain. He is us, he makes it so easy to live vicariously through him when we watch his shows. We are him when he is traveling, eating, enjoying life, passing commentary on life and its gentler purposes, reflecting on harsher realities together, ruminating on unanswerable questions which we all ponder ... One thing the media has not focused on was the cause for his demons, much like for Robin Williams, was their previous liberal use of cok...

You cannot possibly get the lyrics to totally be in sync with what Malaysia just went through. There are enough parts in these songs for us to sing with gusto.

Boy, I am so happy to be able to talk about Zhang Zhiyi in my blog on Asian business. Can you imagine that? Many years ago, Zhang had a wonderful 12 months thanks to Memoirs of A Geisha, but suffered enormous criticism over her role, which involved being involved with a Japanese man... in a movie role.  I am not even going to go into how low-brow and uneducated an opinion it is to be offended by that MOVIE ROLE. You'd think things would die down..., NO... Zhang appeared magnificently in the  Oscars that year (presenting the Oscar to Crash), and even presented and she spoke surprisingly well in English.  Was that good enough for the media? Apparently not. The media in China, HK and Taiwan have plenty to say about Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and most of it is downright vicious.   Hollywood was enthralled with Zhang's beauty in Memoirs Of A Geisha, but it was her turn in House of Flying Daggers that captivated my attention. After her role as a presenter in the Oscar...

Singapore, you are our sibling. By proximity, by the number of Malaysians working there, by the number of brain drain cases, and many of us have relatives living in each other's country. We thought that maybe you would be happy for us now that we have changed government, but there are things said and done that maybe you wanted a weak Malaysia to deal with. That you may continue to siphon the brains and resources. The Straits Times interview: Just come out and be clean. https://www.malaymail.com/s/1637629/the-edge-keeps-up-war-with-singapore-paper-over-justo-interview?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan today (June 1) openly threatened Malaysia vowing to make Malaysia pay for expenses in addition to the contracted compensation clause of US$125 million: “Should Malaysia cancel the project, Singapore will study the implications and exercise its rights – including any right to compensation for expenses – in accordance with the terms of a bilatera...