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Investment Lessons

In February 2010, Personal Money, one of the leading financial magazine in Malaysia interviewed me on how to be a better investor. In order to help more young investors to know more about share investing, here, I would like to share with you part of the interview contents. Personal Money: "Personally, how did you learnt to be a better investor? What are the experiences that you went through (mistakes you made) that taught you the “better” ways?" Pauline Yong: I had some rough rides before but I’m glad that I started young as those experiences help me to become a better investor now. The first lesson that I learned was back in my high school. One of my school teachers was an ex-broker in stocks, so he liked to talk about shares in our class. Under his influence I bought the first stock under my relative’s account. I had no idea what the company was doing and I didn’t bother to find out either. Then I went to overseas for my education and when I came back the value became less ...

China - The Next Super Power?

In Goldman Sachs's 2007 update on the BRIC's report, by 2027 China will overtake US to be the world no. 1, if this is true will it surprise you? For those who know the ancient China history, China was once a very powerful nation interms of military and prosperity during the beginning of the Qing dynasty, under the guidance of Kang Xi (reigned 1662-1722), Yong Zheng (reigned 1723-1735) and Qian Long (reigned 1736-1795) emperors. The divergence between China and the western countries started during the 1800's where the European countries led by Britain were gaining power through the industrial revolution. Since then the divergence became bigger and bigger until 1978 when Deng Xiao Ping decided to open up its door to the world. From 1978 - 2000, China's economy was rising due to its capitalism. Later when China joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), it's growth has been accelerated and now, China has become the world 3rd largest economy in terms of GDP (lagging beh...

The China Renminbi (RMB)

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While everyone is celebrating the news that the Chinese government has decided to let its currency to revalue I'm still skeptical about it. Since 2005, China has been under tremendous pressure from the US to revalue its currency as the US blamed China for causing the US high current account deficit with cheap influx of the Chinese goods. Hence, in July 2005, the RMB was revalued to 8.11 per US dollar, which was a mere 2% increment (Prior to that the Yuan was pegged to the US dollar at 8.27 from 1997 to 2005). Since 2005 the Chinese yuan was unpegged and allowed to float within a narrow band of 0.3% - 0.5%. However, in 2008 due to the financial crisis around the world, the Chinese Central Bank has manipulated their yuan to the dollar of around 6.90. Until recently, the Central Bank of China has announced to further revalue their currency through a more flexible exchange rate policy, how 'flexible' we do not know as there was not much information given. According to the Big M...

British Pounds

For those who has been keeping track of the British pounds will notice the recent rapid depreciation of the currency. Over a period of two years, the pound has fallen almost 30% against the ringgit. How nice if I could delay paying my MBA tuition fees! There are many factors affecting the British pounds. The following are some of them: 1. Current account deficit Since 1997, UK's current account has been in bad shape. Having a current account deficit means that the country is spending beyond their means, or they are importing more than what they are exporting. This will increase the supply of British pounds that subsequently reduce the value of the currency. 2. Fiscal policy Over the years, the British government has been proposing a national budget that is bigger than before. The 2009 public spending on welfare and social security stood at 650 billion pounds which was equivalent to about 46% of the UK GDP. The unprecedented size of the UK budget deficit has in fact balked by many e...

Think Like Warren Buffett

Think Like Warren Buffett by Glenn Curtis Back in 1999, Robert G. Hagstrom wrote a book about the legendary investor Warren Buffett, entitled "The Warren Buffett Portfolio". What's so great about the book, and what makes it different from the countless other books and articles written about the "Oracle of Omaha" is that it offers the reader valuable insight into how Buffett actually thinks about investments. In other words, the book delves into the psychological mindset that has made Buffett so fabulously wealthy. Although investors could benefit from reading the entire book, we've selected a bite-sized sampling of the tips and suggestions regarding the investor mindset and ways that an investor can improve their stock selection that will help you get inside Buffett's head. 1. Think of Stocks as a Business Many investors think of stocks and the stock market in general as nothing more than little pieces of paper being traded back and forth among investors...

PUBLIC LECTURE by Dr Jomo Kwame Sundaram

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Details of the lecture are as follows: Title: When will we ever learn? Has Malaysia learnt the correct lessons from past crises? Date: Wednesday, 16 December 2009 Time: 7.30pm Venue: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, 46760 Petaling Jaya (next to Taman Jaya LRT Station) Admission: FREE The Topic The world is still struggling to emerge from the longest and deepest financial crisis in six decades. For every piece of optimistic news about recovery there are stories of setbacks and worsening downturns. Asia has been here before. A decade ago, the Asian financial crisis swept across the region. It not only prompted some rethinking of how to 'manage' financial crises but also stimulated some serious rethinking about the character of the development model in Asia. Lessons were learnt and new policy and institutional frameworks were put into place. But the severity of the current crisis begs a question: did politicians and policymakers really learn the right lessons ...

Book Fair at Danga City Mall

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There will be a book sharing session at the following book fair: Venue: Danga City Mall Johor Bahru Date: 28-11-2009 Time: 5:30pm - 6:30pm As usual, I'll be sharing with my readers some usefull investment tips. So see you there!