University, Work, and Asus Eee PC
A new semester begins this week. Yeah, pretty boring. I know. Lucky for me though, this semester, I’ll be having a 3-day work week and 4-day weekend. Woohoo! That means, only 3 day of classes (about 3 to 4 hours a day on those days) and no classes on the remaining 4 days! Too bad for my mates in Psychology and Engineering ;) Hehe.
In line with the new semester, I have a new resolution. The resolution is to do consistent work towards my academic duties. To pre-read lecture materials, to revise afterwards, to read textbooks, etc. etc. Some of the things that I have failed to do during my time in uni so far. It’s a wonder that I’m still here. Oh, by the way, I am 100% sure that that resolution is going down the drain this time as well. Hehe.
Anyway, you might be wondering about what the title is all about. Asus Eee PC. What the heck is that you ask?
Well, it is this tiny lil’ computer that I bought yesterday.
Purpose? Well, I have been a Contract-for-Difference (CFD) trader for some time now. Most of the time during the week, I need computer and internet access. Previously, I have been carrying my awfully heavy laptop around campus. Too much hassle. So, I decided to get this Asus Eee PC. It weighs less than 1 kilogramme (0.92 kilogramme to be exact) and it has almost everything that I need to make my CFD trading activities a tad simpler.
Filed under Technology | Comments (11)A 13-year-old Homeowner: Arguably the Youngest in Australia
Just now, I watched on Seven’s Today Tonight (current affair show) about something that really caught my attention.
Have a look at the title. Can you believe it? A 13-year-old girl owns her 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom, house. Not just that, she almost paid off the whole amount of her loan. The story was also posted on the Seven Network’s website. Here’s the article here.
Ok, fine, she might have a bit of an advantage over mere mortals like us. She might be paid “modestly” through her modelling career, but that’s not the point! The point is, a young kid actually has the intention to invest their money rather than spending on other useless things.
The best thing is, in Australia, it doesn’t really matter how old you are. All that matters is your income. If you can afford it, then by all means, go out and get it!
The second part of the feature was about this guy, Paul McManus, who just celebrated his 22nd birthday. As of today, he has AUD 6 million dollars worth of property under his belt.
Filed under Economic & Finance News | Comments (3)Market Day for 1st Semester 2008
A couple of days ago on Wednesday my university had this thing called The Market Day. On that day, clubs and associations showcased what they can offer to returning and new students this year. In other words, recruiting members.
It was also supposed to be a day for us students to hoard on freebies, gifts, craps, and etc. (then realised that we don’t need those stuff in the first place and threw them into the rubbish bin). Unfortunately, this year was rather disappointing. It was not as “happening” as the previous years!
Filed under Daily Thoughts/Observations | Comments (6)Siti Nurhaliza Mengandung (Pregnant)
It has been more than a year (around 1 year 6 months) since Siti Nurhaliza wed her sweetheart Datuk Khalid Muhammad Jiwa (better known as Datuk K) on August 21, 2006.
Back then, we were busy gossipping away about “who is she going to marry???” and “when is she going to marry???” and “did she steal somebody’s husband???” and etc.
Right now, I’m more interested to hear about an announcement of Siti Nurhaliza’s first pregnancy! Hmmm…. I wonder when that will be… My blogging buddies like Kate and Ici is pregnant. Sting on the other hand is busy taking care of her very own Baby Zen! It’s now your turn Siti :P
I tried google-ing about Siti Nurhaliza being pregnant and I was quite baffled with some of the results that I’ve got.
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Currency (FOREX) Trading
What is it?
One of the most versatile money-maker out there lies within the Foreign Exchange market whereby currencies are traded. Other names for Foreign Exchange are currency, FOREX, and FX.
The market happens and money is made whenever one currency is traded for another.
For retail investors/traders like us, we can trade through specialised FOREX brokers offering online FOREX trading platform. There are also traders out there who trade FOREX using Contract-for-Difference (CFD), like myself.
The price change of the exchange rate is called PIPS. 1 pip, 2 pips, 3 pips, and etc. 1 pip is the smallest movement an exchange rate can make.
Say the quoted exchange rate for AUD/USD is 0.9000. 1 minute later, it is 0.9005. That means the AUD/USD pair has moved by 5 pips.
FOREX are always traded in pairs. You are exchanging one currency for the other.
Now, let’s look at the costs involved, advantages of FOREX trading, and disadvantages of FOREX trading.
Filed under FOREX | Comments (9)The Life of a CFD Trader: Missed opportunities
If you were a Contract-For-Difference (CFD) trader or a share trader, which one is more “painful” to you?
1. The trade that you entered goes wrong, hit your stop loss, and you lose money; or
2. You have spotted a winning trade but you did not get on board because of some mistake you made and you miss out on a huge gain?
For me, number 2 is much more painful. Why? I don’t really mind about number 1 because I have a capital management model put to place, limiting my loss on every trade (assuming nothing serious happens of course). I also have accepted that losing money on bad trades is part of the life of being a trader. Remember, there’s no systems or methods out there that gives you 100% success rate!
Filed under CFD Trading/Share Trading | Comment (0)Chain Letter: How to Drive Petrol Prices Down
Recently, I have been receiving e-mails on how to drive petrol prices down. There are a number of variations of the e-mail. The first one is about boycotting the big players like ESSO/MOBIL, SHELL, PROJET and opt for the so-called small players like CALTEX and PETRONAS. This way, we can make the big companies bleed, and thus bringing petrol prices down. This idea supposedly came from people from PETRONAS. They regard this idea as “price control”. This idea was also supported by somebody that goes by the name of Phillip Hollsworth (try google-ing this name, and you won’t even find a trace of this bugger).
The second e-mail variation is about boycotting petrol as a whole for a certain period of time.
Now in this article, I’ll explain to you why not in a million years these concepts will work. By the way, I’ll be using the words fuel and oil interchangeably.
Firstly, we need to understand that fuel is a necessity (need) and not a luxury (want). At this day of age, it is impossible to go through your day without encountering fuel or fuel-induced goods and services.
Filed under Economic & Finance News, Scam Watch | Comments (10)Malaysia: Results of Malaysia’s 12th General Election
Let’s talk politics!
In line with the big upcoming event in March, the general election (pilihan raya umum), we can see the news on TV and newspapers flooded with stories about the general election. The same goes to the blogosphere. Everybody has got their own opinions. Some say the Barisan Nasional (BN) will be re-elected again, and some say the opposition will win. Bloggers are also fighting for the top spot in search engines (talk about SEO War huh?)
I’ll be doing a few write-ups about what I think as well. The blogosphere is the only place where freedom of speech can truly be expressed (to a certain extent), with hopefully, no retribution. Just watch the news on TV, nearly everything is one-sided. Only one side of story is being heard. Yet, there are “those few” who say that freedom of expression is practised in Malaysia.
Anyway, we will be electing a new government this coming 8th of March 2008. So, who do you think will win? Who will take the two third majority?
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Types of Mutual Funds (Unit Trusts)
Today, we shall look into a number of types of mutual funds (unit trusts) available out there:
Income Funds
These funds are designed to concentrate on low-risk assets like cash and fixed interest instruments to focus more on income for their unitholders. Income funds can also be known as defensive funds.
Growth Funds
These funds are designed to concentrate on long-term capital growth (not so much on income) and usually invests in higher-risk assets like stocks and real estate.
Index Funds (Passive Fund)
These funds are designed to track/reflect the performance of a chosen index. They are known as passive funds because it is usually a no-brainer for the fund managers to make investment decisions. They don’t usually care about stock picking and market timing. Index funds usually hold all the securities in the index that they are tracking, or perhaps choosing certain number of securities in an index that represent the index as a whole. These funds are meant to achieve performance like the chosen index.
For example, there’s an index fund called Bobby Fund (BBF) that tracks S&P/ASX20 index. There are 20 stocks in that index. So, BBF buys all that 20 stocks (according to their proportion) to track the index’s performance.
Single Sector Funds
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New Project on Contract-for-Difference (CFD)
Hi all!
I’ve got an announcement to make. I’d like to introduce a new blog project of somebody close to me entitled “Pumpy’s CFD Trading Journal“.
Basically, the blog is a journal of a 5-year-old little elephant in trading Contract-for-Difference (CFD).
In that blog, you shall follow Pumpy in his quest to achieve financial independence through Contract-for-Difference (CFD) trading.
Have a look at the blog, bookmark it, and add it to your blogroll if you don’t mind. Pumpy told me that he will link back to your blog/website!
Visit Pumpy’s CFD Trading Journal here at http://babypumpy.blogspot.com
Have a look at my CFD Trading articles to learn more about CFD.
- CFD Trading : An Introduction
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : Setting Stop Loss
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : Stop Loss in Perspective
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : Being Long and Short (Concept of Short Selling)
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : Short Selling in Perspective
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : The 2% Rule
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Miss India: Food Food Food!
If you haven’t noticed by now, I love to blog about food. Well, an investor-trader must eat out also right? It’s not all about sitting in front of the screen watching tick charts all day! Haha.
A couple of weeks ago, I went to this place called Miss India. The prices were in my opinion, reasonable. I went with my partner and my partner ordered rice with Tandoori chicken and I ordered Thali (I have no idea what the word actually means).
Due to the food being so good, I have to post up some pictures!
Here’s the rice with Tandoori chicken. Cost? AUD6.50. Look at the massive chicken maryland! Totally worth it.
Now the Thali. Cost? AUD10. It consists of rice, roti, three types of meat curry, and salad.
Do go there when you’ve got the chance (i.e. if you are already in Brisbane or about to go to Brisbane).
Go to HOME
Go to SITE MAP
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Visit my project: Pumpy’s CFD Trading Journal
Other related posts:
- CFD Trading : An Introduction
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : Setting Stop Loss
- CFD Trading/Share Trading : The 2% Rule
- My Lobster Project
- Risk Tolerance Level: Part 2
- Understanding Unit Trust
IKEA IKEA IKEA! Oi Oi Oi!
A couple of days ago, I went to IKEA Australia for the first time. The only IKEA in Queensland mind you and 1 of 3 in Australia. Can you believe it? Such a huge country but only 3 IKEAs.
As usual, IKEA never ceases to amaze me. It was like a trip to a theme park for me. Hehe. Imagination runs wild. “Ooooh, I want my bedroom like that!” and “That’ll be my home office in the future” and “One day, I’m going to bring 20 thousand dollars to this place and shop till I drop.”
What I did first was browsing around the place for a while (a while means an hour plus I think), then had lunch at the IKEA restaurant. My first ever meal in IKEA and I have to say, I was pretty impressed.
This is what I ate. Fish & Chips that cost me AUD5.50 and soft drinks in a wine glass (free refills by the way) that cost AUD1.50.
Now compare the actual food and the advertised picture below. Finally, a truthful advertisement!
Filed under Daily Thoughts/Observations | Comment (0)What is more important to you? Money or Family & Friends?
One of the most common questions posed to mankind is this:
“What is more important to you? Money, family and friends, religion, or life principles?”
So, what’s your answer? How do you rank these things in your life?
I’m sure the choice of most would be “Of course family and friends Nadlique!”
I read an article in Australia’s Money Magazine February 2008 edition a few days ago that totally changed my perspective. If you ask me now, quoting from Roger Corbett (Woolworth’s former CEO and current director of Reserve Bank of Australia), I would say:
“I don’t think of ranking these things. They are all integral parts of what makes up life for you, and they are all important. They’re like legs to a table. You need all four.”
Filed under Rationale of Investing | Comments (4)Withdrawing EPF money for Holidays
While I was in Malaysia, I heard a story that I thought was rather… shocking.
There’s this person that lives around my neighbourhood. He recently went overseas for a holiday.
What is shocking is that he had withdrawn a sum of money from his Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) account to fund his holiday trip. In Australia, their version of EPF is called Superannuation Fund, and in the US, if I’m not mistaken, social security right?
Now that’s a ’smart’ move don’t you think? Take note that he still has a lot more years to go through before his retirement.
Filed under Retirement (EPF and etc.) | Comments (16)Amanah Saham Malaysia : ASM
The other day my mom went through the drawers and cupboards and surprisingly, she came across two gold coloured account books. One is hers, and another one is mine. They were Amanah Saham Malaysia’s (ASM) account books. Have no idea how long they have been there, gathering dust.
What is Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) you ask? Well, ASM is another one of Permodalan Nasional Berhad’s (PNB) fixed price unit trust fund.
I read PNB’s latest prospectus recently and I have compiled a summary of what Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM) is all about.
Here are some of the features of Amanah Saham Malaysia (ASM):
Filed under Unit Trusts (ASB, Public Mutual and others) | Comments (2)
