Lunch with Buffett = $2.1 Million

Guess what? It takes $2.1 Million to have lunch with a person who controls billions!

Chinese investor pays $2.1M to eat with Buffett
6/28/2008, By JOSH FUNK The Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Chinese investment fund manager won the chance to have lunch with billionaire Warren Buffett by bidding $2.1 million in the most expensive charity auction ever held on eBay.

Zhao Danyang of the Hong Kong-based Pureheart China Growth Investment Fund won the auction, which ended Friday evening with a bid of $2,110,100.

A spokeswoman for the Glide Foundation, which receives all the proceeds from the auction, identified the winner Saturday.

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Our Challenge with High Soaring Prices

Singapore’s annual [CPI] inflation rate rose to a new 26-year high of 7.5% in April [2008] as food, housing and transportation costs soared and is now a risk to the economy, the government said on Friday [23 May 2008]. Food prices alone rose 8.5%, transportation and communication were 7.0% higher and housing costs became 11.8% more expensive, the statistics department said. It said April’s inflation rate is the highest since February 1982, when it stood at 9.0%. Oil prices surged to unprecedented record peaks of more than US$135 a barrel on Thursday [22 May 2008] and analysts said it could still go higher.

Ravi Menon, second permanent secretary at the trade ministry, said inflation is emerging as a bigger risk to the economy : “We expect food and oil prices to remain elevated over the near term and filter through into domestic prices.” The trade ministry said inflation should remain around the current levels for the next two months and ease in the second half of the year. Analysts said the central bank could further strengthen the Singapore dollar in a bid to tame inflation.

JonQ: Well, the 7.5% inflation rate is just the CPI figure. We all know that the actual street prices are in many cases running much higher than that! As inflation takes off and goes exponential worldwide, it is essential for you to develop strategies to cope with and to fight this enemy which is reducing your purchasing power of the money that you have every hour, every minute, and every second of every day.

The following are some tips of beating inflation. Please feel free to contribute if you do have any tips.

DANGER! Money Predators Ahead!

Making money is important, isn’t it?

However, sometimes we over-emphasize on wealth creation and ways to leverage our money to work harder for us that we forget to protect our money. Guess what? Protecting your money from Money Predators is equally as important.

You see, the world we live in is filled with people and organizations waiting for the opportunity to help themselves to our money. Worst still, these people are SMART! If they are smarter than you, they will definitely GET YOUR MONEY!

Besides, how many advetisements are you seeing on newspaper everyday about self-proclaimed Wealth or Money Guru who would like to share with you some tactics to earn lots of money for a minimal tuition fee ranging $3K to $6K. Now, think about it, how many gurus are out there to teach us about the measurements to take to protect against the money predators?

So, Who are the money predators?

Game On!

In 2005, Arizona State University did a study on the viability of CASHFLOW game for teaching accounting and investing to business school students. Their findings were extremely positive and favorable, concluding that students actually learned faster and retained knowledge longer than when they learned in other ways. The university also introduced to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Learning, pictured below:
 

The Tortoise and The Hare

Once upon a time, there was a hare who always go around boosting how he could run faster than anyone else. Worst still, he was forever teasing the tortoise for its slowness. Until one day.. the irritated tortoise could not take it and he answered back: “Who do you think you are? Indeed, you may be fast, but I bet you can be beaten!” The hare then squealed with laughter.

“Beaten? Beaten in a race? By whom? I bet there is nobody in this world who can beat me. I’m too speedy. Now, why don’t you try having a race with me?”

Being annoyed by such bragging, the tortoise accepted the challenge!

A course was planned by the other animals and the next day at dawn, the tortoise and the hare stood at the starting line. The hare yawned sleepily as the meek tortoise trudged slowly off. When the hare looked back and saw how slow his rival was, he shouted at the tortoise, “Take your time! I’ll have forty winks and catch up with you in just a minute.”

Investing on Solid Ground!

Recently, I’ve found an excellent method to make your money work even harder for you via an investment opportunity called Land Banking. After being drawn by the low risk, high returns and buy-back capital guarantees concept, I registered to attend the “Wealth Creation by Land Banking” seminar and later on became one of the consultants at Walton International Group.

The idea of investing in land came to the forefront in United States. Big names such as Bob Hope and Donald Trump are some of the infamous people who purchase large areas of land where the development opportunity had not yet arisen. These land made them a considerable massive returns when sold!

How Land Banking Works?

Smart Ladies Finish Rich

Think bout it..

‘Some woman’ marry for money, stay in bad marriages or relationships because woman are afraid that they can’t make it financially on their own, let ‘their true love’ make all the key financial decisions. When bad decision are made, the woman keeps quiet to keep peace & hope that their man will change, settle for “OK” in life when what they really want is “Great” & lastly, look into the future and think, “Someday…”

The way I see it?

A major mental disaster!

Check out the statistics below:

In the U.S:
i) 47% of women over the age of 50 are single (This means they are financially responsible for themselves
ii) Women’s retirement income is less than that of men because woman is away from the work force an average of 14.7 years as compared to 1.6 years for men, (Women are typically the primary caretaker of the home) This, along with lower salaries, adds up to retirement benefits that are only about 1/4 of those of men (National Center for Woman and Retirement Research -NCWRR)
iii) 50% of marriages end in divorce. (Typically, the woman ends up with the children. So now she is solely financially responsible for herself – and her children)
iv) IN the first year after a divorce a woman’s standard of living drops an average of 73%
v) Women are expected to live an average of 7 to 10 years longer than men
vi) Of the elderly living in poverty
- 3 out of 4 women (Morningstar Fund Investor)
- 80% of the women were not poor when their husbands were alive
vii) 90% of all women will have sole responsibility for their finances within their lifetimes.. yet 79% of all women have not planned for this

So, why women MUST upgrade their Financial Intelligence?

The 3 Blind Man & A Financial Planner

A long, long time ago in Singapore Zoo, there were 3 blind people who were trying to figure out what an elephant looked like.
The first blindman touched the body of the elephant and said, “The elephant is like a wall.”
The second blindman touched the tail of the elephant and said, “The elephant is like a thick rope.”
The thrid blindman touched the leg of the elephant and said, “The elephant is like a tree trunk.”

Based on my personal observation in Malaysia and Singapore, when most people are asked what financial planning is, the answers are not so much unlike the answers given in the elephant story. Apparently, there are too much confusion as to what financial planning really is.

A lot of individuals tend to equate financial planning to unit trust or insurance. They tend to relate that “financial planner” is the new title that unit trust or insurance agents give themselves.

No doubt..

The Solid Sectors!

When I received my income from my job and I bought something at Giant, the part of that money that I’ve paid goes to Giant’s employees, suppliers, etc. The respective individuals will then spend their money and this cycle continues over and over. When the more times the money turns over, the higher the velocity of money and the bigger the economy is. Recession is basically a slowdown in economy and during recessions, people tend to feel insecure in their jobs or the outlook for the increase value in their assets.

If the United States goes into recession… Guess what?

You may soon lose your job. If you carry a credit card balance or adjustable rate mortgage, it may lead to increased payments. This may lead you to downgrade from Starbucks to Old Town or Yakun. From Old Town or Yakun to Kopitiam. From Kopitiam to the Ah Pek’s shop down the road. And soon you might just get a packet of 3-in-1 Nescafe from Giant in order for higher savings!

In this post, I would like to share the 12 recession proof sectors that will ride through the stormy weather in style even if the United States goes into recession.

(The information in this post was extracted from the preview seminar conducted by Freely Business School)

Mummy! Mummy! Money is bullying me!

Imagine a donkey dragging a cart with its owner dangling a carrot in front, moving the carrot further forward with every step the donkey takes. The donkey will never reach the carrot, yet it keeps trying. The donkey is chasing an illusion, isn’t it?

Guess what? This is true with humans as well!