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A fad or the real deal? Let's not beat around the bush about Bitcoins, the digital currency that has stirred up the financial world the past year or so.     Bitcoins are a virtual currency, now accepted by some merchants and commercial enterprises as a form of payment for services or products. Because Bitcoins have a fluctuating market value, many try to exploit price volatility and treat Bitcoins as an investment--similar to investors who might purchase foreign currencies with hopes that volatile swings will result in handsome profits. However, most participants are still not sure how Bitcoins came to be, who or what oversees the marketplace, and where all this is headed.   Let's be real. Any purchase or investment in Bitcoins is a speculative investment.   Uncertainty, volatility and mysterious (or mystical?) origins offset confidence prudent investors or users for payment purposes might have in its legitimacy.   As we saw in late 2013 when the Chinese government intervened

Equity markets: More of the same in 2014? If the year 2013 ended with moods, markets and sentiments on an upswing, what's on deck for 2014 ? What will happen in the upcoming year? What is the agenda for banks, investment managers, hedge funds and an assortment of institutions in financial services? Let's first sort through equity markets . Last year, we saw blockbuster returns--over 25%, depending on the index you follow. There were the usual dips, dives and concerns, but by autumn, equity markets continued to edge upward. Anybody's diversified portfolio of stocks performed well. The upbeat markets reflected perceptions by many (traders, investors, bankers, et. al.) that we had climbed out of the financial crisis, that the economy had finally reversed course, and that we could confidently move on. But market returns above 20%, for some portfolio managers and investment gurus are nothing to rave about. They become headaches, causes for concern.  Are we headed toward another

Recently a close relative of mine was scammed away more than RM100k and I think I need to write this article to warn people about scams. This can happen to anyone, whether or not you are educated and you have seen many times these things happened in the media, you may well be a victim of a scam. You've saved all your life and you've been investing wisely to accummulate your wealth, but one unlucky day you encounter a professional syndicated group of people who got hold of your emotional weakness and you may lose your life savings. Internet Scams The most common is through internet.  It is reported that many scams are initiated through the Internet; victims range in age from 18 to 81 and come from all socio-economic backgrounds. All types of advance-fee scams have one point in common – the targeted person is led to believe that he or she has a chance to attain something of very great personal value (financial reward, a romantic relationship, etc) in return for a small up-front m

Yale SOM's Evans Hall opens up in January (NH Register photo) Yale School of Management , one of the Consortium 's 18 schools, is opening up a new campus facility, Evans Hall, in New Haven in mid-Jan., 2014.  The school will launch the new state-of-the-art building with receptions, lectures, presentations and celebrations of what has made Yale SOM special and unique among the panoply of business schools. The week's theme is "Leadership in an Increasingly Complex World." The new campus will feature the marvels of business-school technology and covers 242,000 square feet, at a cost of $240 million, much of which was made possible by benefactor Edward Evans, who was an undergraduate student at Yale and later CEO of Macmillan, Inc., the publishing house. Besides interview rooms and three libraries, it will even have a student gym and entertainment space. Yale's dean, Edward Snyder, migrated to Connecticut in 2011 from Chicago's Booth School of Business. In the

In review of 2013, I made a few predictions based on my research on the historical price data that: 1. 2013 was generally a bullish trend 2. Support and Resistance was 1600 - 1840 3. Aug - Nov was volatile 4. Buy in the month of Feb, May, Aug and Nov 5. Last quarter of 2013: Oct mixed, Nov down and Dec up month Most of them were right on except: October was a clear up month not mixed, and that the year end closing was above my 1840 resistance price target which closed at 1866. In recall the year before 2013, that was at the end of 2012, people were generally bearish about the Bursa Malaysia due to the uncertainty in the coming election, but it turned out fine and many people make big money in the stock market. So this year 2014, although people are worried about the cooling measures of the property market and rising prices, but I think our market is quite resilient with strong support at 1680. Last year I kept mentioning about investing in the right sectors because we had clear theme s

An informal glance of the year just past Years from now, a finance historian or a research analyst looking back at 2013 won't have a clever moniker for the notable financial events of the year.  The year was eventful, but may not even deserve a whole chapter in finance history. And perhaps that's a good thing. It wasn't like 1987, 1994, 1998, 2008, years that conjure memories of crises, crashes, volatility, and uncertainty. The year 2013 was not one of turmoil.  Markets behaved well. We saw equity upswings of the likes of the mid-2000's and mid-1990's, even while old hands suggested a bubble is near and we shouldn't get accustomed to double-digit percentage stock-market increases. The fury and hoopla over BitCoins , that arcane, macabre digital currency, didn't rise to the surface until late 2013.  That, in fact, could be the bubble that bursts in 2014, and let's hope that damage won't cause debilitating financial ripples around the world. The year 2