Buy gold now - is it wise?

Now that gold price is above $1,400 per Troy ounce, many people are divided in their opinions about the wisdom of buying gold now.

Some people are advocating the Buy Gold Now concept. They say that if you do not buy gold now, you will miss out the opportunity of a life time. They say that if you do not buy gold now, the gold price will keep on increasing, and you will not have a chance to buy it again.

Others are saying that the price is way too high. They say that you should buy it a few years ago when the gold price is still low.

They say that it is time for you to dig out all the gold earrings, and gold coins, and sell them away before the price drops.

So what is what? Buy gold now or sell gold now or buy later or do not buy at all?

The most important factor is your current financial situation.

If you have outstanding credit card debt, the most important thing is to pay off the credit card debt. Investing is for those with cash to spare, and do not need the money now.

If you foresee a large expenditure in the future, such as buying a new car, the coming wedding or the birth of a baby, you should not buy gold now. Nobody knows how gold price will perform in the near future, even though everyone agrees that gold price will increase in the long term.

Before we go into the matter of buy gold now or later or not at all, let us see the factors that account for the increase in gold price.

1. Governments

Governments keep gold. If you look into the central banks of the major powers in the world, you will see they have a large gold reserve.

The fact is that governments keep a large foreign reserve, gold reserve and oil reserve for the stability of the economy. It is hard to find a government that has no gold in its investment holding.

In times of crisis, governments and individuals hold on to the gold. That is why gold price rarely comes down in a crisis.

2. Fear

People fear the unknowns. The current Middle East crisis triggers the fear of the people worldwide. They do not know how long the Middle East crisis will last. They do not know if the supply of oil from Middle East will cease.

That is why they buy gold, and sell in the stock market. Gold is the commodity to relieve fear.

If you think the Middle East crisis will escalate, then buy gold now.

3. US dollar

Gold is quoted in US dollar. The declining value of US dollar means an increase in gold price.

When people find that a dollar is worth lesser and lesser with each passing day, they will buy gold to lock in the value.

Now let us talk about the different ways to buy gold.

1. Gold jewelries


If you want to lock in the value of your money in gold, never even buy gold jewelries.

Gold jewelries do not have high gold content. That means you are paying for the rental of the shop, the salary of the salespersons, the salary of the goldsmith, and many other metals except gold.

Gold jewelries look nice, but are practically useless as an investment tool.

2. Gold saving account.

Gold saving account allows you to invest in gold without holding the physical gold. Another advantage is that it allows you to buy gold into small quantity. For example, instead of paying $1,400 for one Troy ounce of gold bar, you can buy a few grams this month, and a few grams the following month.

You can use the dollar cost averaging method to build up a sizeable gold holding.

The problem with gold saving account is in the costs of maintaining the account. Some banks have higher cost of maintaining the account.

If you keep the account for a long time, you will find that the maintenance fee eats into the value of the investment.

It is best to find a gold saving account with low or no hidden fee.

3. Gold ETF

Gold ETF, Exchanged Traded Fund, allows you to buy and sell gold as if trading stocks.

Gold ETF allows short term speculating in gold price.

That means you can buy today and sell the next day. You need to pay the transactional fees.

4. Gold coins

Many people are familiar with gold coins.

They are likely to inherit the gold and silver coins from their ancestors.

The problem with gold coins is in determining the value of the gold coins. Gold coins are rarely investment grade. That means it is not .999 pure gold. You are more likely to find .916 grade.

Many gold coins are fetching a very high price, due to the design or the age or the rarity of the coins. These are the numismatic gold coins or commemorative gold coins.

The selling price depends on the interest of the collectors, not the actual gold content.

The Presidential Collections and other Presidential products are examples of commemorative gold coins.




5. Gold bars

The rich are the ones who buy gold bars, and keep in the safe.

They are likely to pass the gold bars to the children.

Buy gold now, as in the form of gold bars, for long term investment is advisable. While the price of gold goes up and down in history, the long term trend is upward trend.

That means you must prepare to lock in your money for the next few years.

Back to the question of Buy Gold Now - Is it Wise?

The answer is that anytime is the right time to buy gold, provided you can hold them and sell for a higher price.

The short term fluctuation in gold price matters if you are using Gold ETF method to trade gold. If you are investing for long term, buying gold coins and gold bars are better.

If you do not have so much money to invest in physical gold, open a gold saving account is the wise choice. It allows you to buy gold every month, and build up a sizeable gold holding as time passes.

Google kills article directories

The conventional wisdom in article marketing is to set up a website, write a sales pitch with links to the websites of the merchants, and write many articles for submission to article directories.

The articles will contain a link to your website.

The readers will click on the links from the article directories, enter your website, and click on the links from your website to buy the products or goods.

You will earn from the sales of the products and services.

That is the way article marketing used to work.

Many people willingly submit articles to article directories, since the articles have a better chance of ranking in the top article directories.

However, the recent change in Google search algo changes all that.

The recent change devalues the importance of article directories.

That means an article that used to rank in the top three positions will drop in the search engine result page.

The purpose of the change in search result is to reduce the ranking of websites with tons of crappy content.

Article directories happen to contain massive load of crappy articles.

Some marketers used to boast of their effort in writing 30 articles per day.  They just change the keyword and rewrite the content.  All the 30 articles use the same points, with different sets of keywords.

The article directories do not have stringent standard in the selection of articles.  As long as the article is in English, and students in elementary school can understand, they will publish it.

As a result, there are more nonsense than good articles.

Not many people will give their best to write for article directories, since they do not receive payment.  Why would people want to spend hours in researching, and writing, and then give out the content freely?

Hardly anyone will do that.

They prefer to post the best articles in their own websites, and hire ghostwriters from developing countries to write the articles for submission.

The current rate for hiring ghostwriters is 1 cent per word.  Some ghostwriting services even quote lower than that.

Imagine asking someone to write an article of 400 words, and pay just two dollars.  Do you think the quality is top notch?  Unlikely.

The ghostwriters may do their best to produce a good article.  However, English is not their first language.  In some cases, it is not even their second language.

The marketers do not need well researched content.  They just need an article with sufficient information so that readers will click on the links to read more.

The change in Google algo benefits the readers, since readers can read articles from good writers instead of crappy articles from article directories.

If you are thinking of article marketing, you need to write informative articles, and post in high ranking websites that welcome good writers.  The basic concept of article marketing remains unchanged.  However, selection of websites to post your articles becomes an interesting venture.

Content is king.  Google recognizes that.  As long as you write for the readers, with seo techniques, your content can benefit your readers, and earns money for you.

USD37 billion free government money to keep Saudi people off the street

Free government money always come with a heavy price tag.

In the case of Singapore, the price of free government money is your vote for the leading political party.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, USD37 billion free government money is to keep the Saudi people off the street.
Saudi King Abdullah does not want its people to revolt.

Will the people in Saudi Arabia throw the money back to the King and fight for their rights?  Definitely no.

While people will feel that is an insult to their dignity, they will still keep the USD 37 billion.

Nobody in the right mind will return the money to the government.

After all, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia is rich enough.   If the King of Saudi is willing to part with his wealth, why not accept?

However, that does not stop the people from treating it as an insult.

Money is welcome.  However, respect and freedom are demanded.

The people in Saudi have practically no say in the politics.  They have to follow whatever the ruling family say.

What if the people are not satisfied with the money?  What then? Can Saudi Arabia offer another USD 37 billion free government money?

Just too bad that not many governments in the world can afford to bribe its people with USD 37 billion.  If only stupid Gaddafi is willing to part with half his wealth, the political unrest in Libya will cease.  Everyone will go home, and think about what to buy and what to eat.

They will spend days having party and praise the generosity of Gaddafi.

Gaddafi is certainly very stupid, and his arrogance is leading the country into a full blown civil war.

Reflection on Christchurch and Libya

The dominating news these few days are about the earthquakes in Christchurch and the political unrest in Libya.

While the earthquakes in Christchurch are considered act of God, the heart warming news is the acts of love shown by the residents, and the international rescue teams.

They are doing all their best to help the victims.

There is no doubt that the earthquakes bring out the best in everyone.  Those who can contribute time, money, love, prayers are doing all they can.

In contrast, the political unrest in Libya is made worse by the stupidity and arrogance of Gaddafi.

The stupidity of Gaddafi accounts for the high number of death in the country.

It is impossible to talk sense to a mad man, albeit a mad man with absolute power.

However, is there such thing as absolute power? The fact that the people are staking their lives to overthrow him is proof that nothing is absolute.

There is no doubt that the people want him dead.  However, the question is: what will happen if someone kills Gaddafi?

Who can take over the government?

The situation is even worse.  Nobody in Libya has the authority or the intelligence or the knowledge to build a government that is corruption free.

It is impossible.  It is unthinkable.

The fact that for the past 41 years, everyone only knows to obey Gaddafi, means that nobody is in charge, and nobody can lead.

The devastation of Christchurch costs money to rebuild.  After a few years of concerted effort, and determination, Christchurch will be as good as new.

However, the political devastation of Libya takes more than money to rebuild.  It will take decades of infighting for a dominant power to emerge, and peace in the country.  Lives will be lost.

The only exception is for a son of Gaddafi to kill him, and takes over the power.  As long as he can prove to be a more humane ruler than Gaddafi, and he is willing to share the ill gotten wealth with the country, the political unrest will cease for the time being.

The impact of the earthquakes in Christchurch hardly affects the rest of the world in negative sense.  The main impact is the local economy, especially the tourism.

The oil price will not increase.  The stock markets around the world will not crash just because Christchurch suffers from earthquakes.

However, the political unrest in Libya is causing the oil price, the gold price and the silver price to shoot up, and the stock markets crash all over the world.

What will happen next?  The investors imagine the worst. That is why they are selling in the stock markets, and buying gold and silver.

The governments of the world prepare for the worst too.  They are pushing the price of oil to a new high every hour.

The worst is the major disruption in the supply of oil.  That means shortage of oil.  Be prepared to walk to work if that happens.

Price of gold and silver - how high can it go?

The price of gold and silver is reaching new high every day.

The Chinese are buying gold and silver, since they want certainty amidst the uncertainty of government policies and inflation.

People worldwide are buying gold and silver due to fear.


The unrest in Middle East is causing fear throughout the world.   The unrest in Middle East is linked to the fear in the shortage of oil supply.

How bad can the political unrest in Middle East escalate?  Nobody knows.  No computer program can predict the outcome.

The technical charts predicting the major market correction for gold and silver are not applicable now.  The political unrest and crisis push the technical charts out of the window.

When people are acting on fear, hatred and doubt, anything can happen.  Nobody has the power to stop the mass of angry and hungry people from destroying the country.

That is why the price of gold and silver shoots up.

The wise ones are buying gold and silver for security.  The greedy ones are buying gold and silver for the sake of speculating, and making a quick killing.

There are more people at the sideline.  They think that the price is too high, yet they fear the price is going up and up.

They fear to buy, since they are doubtful of the staying power of such a high price.

They fear not to buy, since they may miss out on the chance of a lifetime.

If the price of gold and silver doubles within a year, they will regret.  They will keep on telling everyone the “if only” story.

The best is to adopt the dollar averaging method.  Buy a few gold coins or silver coins.  If the price of gold and silver increases, at least you can make a little profit.

If the price drops, you do not suffer much.

Those holding gold and silver coins and bars are not selling if they do not need money now.  They are holding tight to the physical assets, hoping that the price of gold and silver keep on going up.

The current gold price is more than $1,400 per Troy ounce.  The current silver price is more than $33 per Troy ounce.

Seasoned investors are betting more on silver than on gold.

The reason is that silver is an industrial commodity, and the price is still affordable to most people.

If the unrest in Middle East escalates, or the political unrest occurs in another part of the world, the price of gold and silver will hit new high in the foreseeable future.

If the property bubble in China burst, the price of gold and silver will shoot all the way up.  In that case, I think it is wiser to sell gold and silver, and start to hunt for cheap deals in China.

That day is still a long way off.  The China government is smart enough to increase interest and reserve ratio to avoid the bubble burst.   The restriction on foreign investments is the new measure. However, it seems the actions by the government is not enough.

What will China government do next to avoid the bubble burst?  Nobody knows.  Whatever the action of China government, the result is the sharp pike in the price of gold and silver.

Free money from the government. Really?

The Singapore government has announced the Budget.

It is going to give S$600 to S$800 in cash to the locals in the month of May.

That sounds like free money from the government.   Is it really free money from the government?

While we are happy to receive the free money from the government, everyone knows that there is a price for everything.  No such thing as free lunch.

What is the catch?

While the Singapore government did not say it out loud, everyone knows that the catch is to vote the PAP party in the coming election.

If this is not the election year, there may not be so much freebies from the government.

The fact is that election is coming, and the PAP political party needs the votes of the people.

What is next after the election?

The answer is rather obvious.  The government will do its best to claw back the money.

How is it going to do so?  Since the personal income tax is lowered, the obvious method is to increase taxation income from other sources.

The Goods and Services Tax is now at 7%.  The government may increase it to 10%.

The smokers may face even more expensive cigarettes, since the tax on a pack of cigarette is high, and may go higher.

Nobody doubt the ability of the government to claw back the money.  The only question is how.

That is why free money from the government is not really free.  In fact, it comes with a very high price. The uncertainly of tomorrow is weighing down on everyone.

If only the government announces the method of clawing back earlier, people could make preparation for it.

For example, the increment in the Goods and Services Tax will see people buying big ticket items now.

Anyway, that is still in the future.  The bad news will definitely not come before election.

The question now is: how to spend the free money given by the government?

Investing is the best answer.  Saving is the second best.  Paying off debt is the third best, and spending all on luxuries is the worst possible answer.

I think I will use it to buy a couple of silver bullions.  Hopefully the silver price will not increase so much.

Buy Silver now?

I was checking the silver price when I came across an advertisement that stated: Silver prices hitting record highs, buy silver now.

Do you see any flaw with this advertisement?

I see many flaws with this particular sentence.

First of all, if the price of silver is at record high, and will not go higher, then buying silver is not the best choice.

Nobody should buy silver when it is at an all time high.  Everyone knows that buy high and sell low is stupid.

The current silver price (as of 19 February 2011) is high, at the rate of $32.66 per Troy ounce.  If you take a look at the 30 days chart, you can see the lowest price is $26.68 per Troy ounce.

That means there is an increase of 20% or more in less than 30 days period.

Does that mean the silver price is at an absolute high now?  It is possible, even though I do not think so.  The price of silver has the potential to go higher in the foreseeable future.

Does it mean that the silver price will not come down?  No, the silver price is very volatile.  It may go down to $25 in the next 30 days.

If you buy silver now, you will regret when the price drops momentary.

Since the price of silver is at record high, you should start to do research into the historical silver price, and find ways of buying silver.

You can choose to buy the Silver Exchange Traded Fund from the stock exchange.  Beware of the transaction cost.

You can choose to buy physical silver, in the form of silver bullions and silver coins.

You must choose investment grade silver, that means a purity of .999.

There are some premium brands, such as Engelhard silver bars which are in very high demand, and limited supply.  The company that produced Engelhard silver bars stopped the production years ago.

You can buy generic brand of silver bars, which are freshly minted.

It is important to check for the lowest premium over silver spot rate. You have to bear in mind the taxes, such as the Goods and Services Tax or Value Added Tax.

Another factor in buying silver bars is the time factor.  It is harder to sell physical silver than Silver ETF.  Silver ETF is a paper asset.  You can buy and sell the Silver ETF as if buying and selling stocks.

However, liquidity of silver bullions is tougher.  You can sell online or offline.  Regardless your sales method, you have to bring the physical goods to a location, eg the pawnshop or the post office to send the package away.

If you need money in the short term, investing in precious metals is not a wise choice.

You must bear in mind that nobody really knows how long the price can hold.  The current price of $32.66 per Troy ounce may drop to $20.66 in just a matter of days.

If you have no holding power, you will make a loss.

Let us reexamine the advertisement: Silver prices hitting record highs, buy silver now.

Well, buy at your own risk.

Buy silver not because the price is hitting record high.  Buy only when you have money to spare, and the expectation that the price will go higher.

Time for investing in US

Is it time for investors to invest in the US market now?

Judging from the news about Government Investment Corporation of Singapore (GIC), a sovereign fund of Singapore, the time is ripe for investors to enter US market.

After the sub prime crisis, many investors are pulling out from the US market, and invest heavily in emerging markets.

Now that China is trying to ward off a property bubble burst, which can harm the economies of the whole world, perhaps it is time to pull out from investing in China, and start investing in US.

GIC is offering US$1.5b for a group of bankrupt resorts.  That means the Sovereign Fund of Singapore is very confident about the recovery of the US economy.

It is hard to imagine why anyone would want to invest in a chain of holiday resorts at this moment.  The only explanation is in its confidence in US economy.

The US residents are trying to cut down costs, and to eat cheap and healthy food.  Going for a holiday is probably one of the last things in their mind at the moment.

The worries of having a job, paying the mortgages to keep the car and the roof, and to put food on the table, are more than enough to keep people awake.

Going for a holiday in Hawaii is probably the last thing they consider. Definitely not at this time.

However, when the economy recovers, everyone would want to go for a holiday.  They have cooped up in their houses for too long.

Once the financial security returns, the desire for a holiday will push them to the resorts.

I think GIC is betting that the full economy recovery is not too far off.

The more investors start investing in US, the faster the recovery of the economy.

While many people in US blames China for taking away the jobs, the fact is that without the support of China, the US economy is doomed.

If China were to sell off all the Treasury bills, there is no way the world can absorb the debt.  There is no way the US government can deal with the devastating effect.

Many Chinese are investing in US too. They buy houses, business, and education.  They send their kids to the colleges in US.  They come to US to give birth so that the kids can decide to stay in US when they grow up.

Are you planning to invest in US?  Buying index fund or mutual fund is probably the likely choice for small investors.
Those with stable income can consider buying foreclosures.  Once the economy recovers, they can see their investment increases a few folds.

Triond earnings

I joined Triond last year.  The precise date was 31 May 2010.

I guess I have a better start than many new writers, since I can utilize my knowledge of seo from having this blog, and article writing niches from the past years of writing online.

At least I know that writing poems and short stories are not the way to make money online in Triond or elsewhere.

It is very fulfilling to write short stories, but the earnings are not enough even to buy a can of Coke.

That is why I stay clear of creative writings when I joined Triond.

I do not want to spend time working on a short story for hours, just to earn one cent for the effort.

The first two months I put in a lot of hard work.  I submitted articles mostly to Bizcovering and Healthmad, since these two are the categories that always make money.

I am not a marketing person.  Getting lots of referrals is not my expertise.

There are some people who can get 50 or more referrals in a short period of time.

They can get away with less writing since their monthly income from referrals exceed ten dollars per month.

I do not have a single referral.  I did not put in the effort to get referrals for Mylot, a paid discussion forum, nor Triond, a paid writing site with Adsense sharing feature.

Interesting I have one referral in Mylot this month.  Mylot paid me a quarter of what he earned.  I earn 3 cents so far, that means he earns 12 cents.  The best thing about referrals earnings is that it comes from Mylot and Triond, not a deduction from the joiners.

The earnings from Triond come from my own effort in writing informative content.


English is not my first language.  Therefore, the articles are not written in perfect English.  The only mitigating point is that I do research to ensure the accuracy of the content.

At the very least, the readers should gain something to better their lives.

Triond basically allows us to earn from article writing, uploading our photos and videos, and referrals.  Since it allows Google Adsense, it opens up another source of income.  The only limitation is that a writer must have 5 articles before he can use his Adsense code.

Some lucky writers manage to earn from page views in Triond, Google Adsense, and referrals.  For me, I do not have a referral, my income comes from Triond and Google Adsense.

For every dollar that Triond pays me, I earn double in Google Adsense.  My average earning is $30 per month, $10 from Triond, and $20 from Google Adsense


My Triond earnings is enough to pay for my cellphone bill.   It is not enough to take over the full time income yet.

If I stop writing now, I can still receive the same amount every month for the next few years.  Most of my readers come search engines, and some of my articles are in the first page of Google search result page.

I can rest assured that the readers will continue to come, unless Google change the search algo completely.
Guess what articles are my best earners in Triond?

Those former coursework for college.  I think students who are studying the same topics are hunting for the information.

If you were or are a student, you can join Triond, and upload all your essay papers.  The best is each essay question as one article.

Since you have studied so hard for the examination, you might as well earn from it.

In the long run, you will find the article earning $10 for you.  That may take a few years.  However, it is just an one-off effort to upload and wait for money to come.

Join Triond and Mylot if you are keen to explore online earnings.

Train yourself to get quality sleep

Getting quality sleep is a matter of training.

Most of us were trained to get quality sleep from young.

Remember those days when our parents screamed at us to go to bed?  That was the time when bed time mattered.

We had to go to bed by 10 pm so that we did not get scolding from our parents.

It was only when we entered the rebellious age when we were neither tadpole or frog that we forgot all about getting quality sleep.

Some of us were stupid enough to stay awake the whole night playing games.

We even challenged our friends to beat our record, as if not getting enough sleep was such a big feat.

From then onwards, we lost the good habit of getting to bed on time, and woke fresh.

When we joined the workforce, the frequent late hours partying did not help.  It certainly worsen the already bad situation.

A time came when we simply could not get to sleep, even when we were dead tired.


What can we do about it?

Getting quality sleep is a matter of training.

Only this time round, we have to play the part of our parents, forcing ourselves to go to bed on time.

1.  Bed time

Setting bed time so that you can go to bed the same time every day.

It is easy to decide when to go to bed, since most of us start work at the same time everyday.
If we need to wake up by 6 am, then we have to go to bed by 10 pm.

8 hours of quality sleep is necessary.

2.  Wake up at the same time

Actually many of us can wake up at the same time, even without the alarm.

Sometimes we wake up before the alarm.  It becomes an automatic reflex.  However, we break our own rules during weekend.

We wake up, then remember that it is the weekend, we go to sleep again, and do not wake up until 10 am.
That is a bad habit.  Once we disrupt our sleep pattern, it is hard to get to sleep the following night.

3.  No TV No Computer

No TV and no computer at least two hours before bedtime.

That means if you need to go to bed by 10 pm, switch off the computer and the TV by 8 pm.

What can you do after that?  It seems hard to pass time without TV or computer.

You can wash the dishes, or do some light cleaning.  You can take a warm bath.  You can do meditation or yoga.  You can do your ironing for the next morning.  You can read.  You can spend half an hour to write down whatever worries you.

Once you have emptied your worries on the paper, your anxieties will not keep you up half the night.  You can go to bed with a peaceful mind.

You can listen to music.

The best is to have a standard bedtime routine.  It can involve drinking a glass of warm milk, brushing teeth, and listening to music.

Once you have a standard bedtime routine, the body switches off easily into a deep sleep.

4.  Continuous sleep

It is important to get continuous sleep.

If your friends who have later bedtime tend to call you, you need to switch off your cell phone.  It is best to plug out the connection to the house phone.   After a month or so, your friends will get the messages and stop calling.

Most of us find it hard to go to sleep once we wake up in the middle of the night.

It is best you empty your bladder, so that you do not need to get up in the middle of the night to go toilet.  Ask all your friends and relatives not to call you, unless it is an emergency.

5.  General health

It is a fact that healthy persons get quality sleep.  If you are not as healthy, you are more likely to have problem getting quality sleep.

There is no secret to regaining health.  You have to exercise every day.  You have to eat healthy food.

The worst thing you can do to treat insomnia is to rely on sleeping pills.

While sleeping pills can provide a good sleep for the time being.  Prolong use causes addiction.

It is for this reason that many people turn to herbal supplements.

Chinese herbs, such as Os Draconis, Caulis Polygoni Multiflori, Rhizoma Acori Graminei, Radix Codonopsis Pilosulae,  Semen Ziziphi Spinosae,  Rhizoma Sparganii, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Fructus Mori and Succinum, help in improving the general health of the body so that you can get quality sleep every night.

If you do not know what all these herbs are, you can check out the website of Hsin Kuang Herbal Store and Clinic for the detailed explanation of the origin and health benefits of these herbs.

It takes a few years for you to destroy your health by eating junk food, lack of exercises, sleep late, take drugs or whatever.  It will take an equal number of years or longer to rebuild your health.

A quality sleep is the best indication of your general wellbeing.

I want it I want it now

The attitude of I Want It I Want It Now is one of the reasons why so many people cannot get rich.

The problem is not just the attitude of instant gratification.

The problem is the thing people want.

When people say I want it I want it now, what do you think they want?

The item of interest usually takes the form of luxury or the lure of easy money.

The form of luxury means anything from rich food to branded goods.

Most people forget to bring their brains when they go shopping.  They like the items from their hearts, be it the pair of shoes or the branded handbag or the new sports car.

They do not think about investment or saving the money so that they can get more of it next time.

The attitude of I want it I want it now dictates their emotion.  Their power of reasoning stays home, and causes regrets years later.

The availability of credit cards means that more people can hold the I want it I want it now attitude, with the pay later convenience.

When it comes to the time of payment,  most people do not have ready cash to pay off the bills totally.

They have to pay partial, and roll over the balance, with high interest eating up their wealth.

It is sad to see that people do not have the I want It I want It Now attitude to the workplace. If everyone works as if they want to see results instantly, they can add value to the company.

When it comes to work, most people try to delay, and hope that they can get away with not doing the work.

Even if their boss says I want it, I want it now, they still dare to test the water by pushing the deadline a few hours or a few days later.

The instant gratification attitude draws people into the casino.  Winning or losing is just a matter of a second difference.

One second earlier, you were pressing the button on the slot machine.  One second later, you are the new millionaire.

That is the lure of instant gratification.  It is the secret dream of everyone who steps into the casino.

However, the reality is that one second is all it takes to make you poorer.  It takes just an hour for you to clean out the entire savings of the last ten years.

Imagine how horrible it is.  For the last ten years, you deny luxury to yourself.  You keep on saving and controlling the urge to spend money.

Yet in an hour of foolishness, you spend everything. It is not even an investment.  There is no prospect of getting the money back again.

I want it I want it now attitude is good only when you apply to your work.  It can kill you if you hold this attitude when it comes to expenditure.

Preformed pond unit

Performed pond is one of the great inventions for households.


It allows everyone to enjoy fish keeping.

If you have a garden, you can buy a bigger preformed pond unit.  If you are like an indoor pond, you can use the preformed pond unit to create a raised pond.

Let us look at the advantages of using performed pond.

1.  Easy installation

If you want a ground pond, you just need to buy the preformed pond, measure the size, and dig the ground.

Once you have done the digging task, just put the performed pond unit into the ground.

The easy installation makes it a joy to create a pond.

If you want a semi-raised or even raised pond, the task is even easier.

2.  Varieties

You have a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and material to choose from.

You need to choose a deeper color for the ground pond, so that it will not look artificial.


However, if you are using it as an indoor raised pond, you can choose the color that goes with the décor of the house.

3.  Cost

The cost of preformed units vary according to size, and material.

You can get a small preformed unit for just a hundred dollars or even less than a hundred dollars.

If you need a large performed unit, you can get it at a relatively low cost as well.  This is much better than hiring the professional builders to build a concrete pond for you.

4.  Resale value

You can sell the performed unit if you lose interest in maintaining the hobby.

If you have a small one for indoor use, you can bring it with you when you shift home or just sell it away.

Let us look at the disadvantages of having preformed unit.

1.  Fixed shape

If you happen to have an odd shape garden, you may find it difficult to get the shape you want.

The fixed shape and size constrain your imagination to build the pond you want.

2.  Depth of the pond

If you intend to have the ground pond for a long time, and do not intend to bring the fish indoor during winter, you need to have a deep pond.

The problem is that many preformed pond units are not deep enough.  If the pond is not deep enough, the fish may freeze to death in winter.

3.  Hard to repair

If the preformed unit is damaged by roots of nearby trees, it is hard to repair, you may need to drain off the whole pond, and replace it with a new one.

Should I buy stock now?

My friend calls up to ask this question.

She observes that the Singapore stock market is falling at the moment.   It has fallen since January.


The newspaper claims that the Singapore stock market is falling due to many reasons, such as the unrest in Egypt, the tension in Cambodia and Thailand, the action by China government to curb the runaway growth and the major funds pulling out of the Asia stock markets.

Is this the time to enter the stock market?

My friend apparently thinks so.  But she is not sure, since she never bothers about fundamental analysis.

She believes that down market is the best time to enter stock market.  She thinks that when everyone panics and sells, it is the best time to enter market and soaks up the low value stocks.

I do not know whether now is the time to buy or sell stocks.

Too many factors are involved, and I do not have the time to think about it.


The negative factors of potential unrest and political tension can escalate out of control anytime.

The action by the China government to tighten the flow of money is predictable, since the economy in China is heading towards a major bubble burst.

Apparently, the action by China government is too little, and too late, to cool the feverish economic.

I guess the China government will continue to take actions to tighten the supply of money.  In this case, the stock markets in Asia are not likely to go up.

However, the good news is that many companies are making healthy profits.

The economy in Singapore is growing steadily and healthily.  There is no reason not to buy the stocks of strong blue chips.

I ask my friend what stocks she has in mind.

She mentions NOL and SPH.

These two are very strong companies.

I tell her that these two companies are worth buying for the sake of long term holding, but not for speculation.

The risk of buying when the stock market keeps going down is that, we do not know when it will hit bottom.

It may continue the downward trend for another month, or a quarter or a year.

Once the panic hits the big funds, and everyone starts cashing in, then the stock market can crash, even though the economy is doing very well.

After all, Singaporeans do not have the ability to stop the global or regional trend.  Even if all the working adults start soaking up the stocks, it is no match for the trillions of dollars in the hand of the powerful funds.

After the marriage of London and Toronto stock exchanges, what is next?

The recent big news is the merging of London and Toronto stock exchanges.  In this case, London buys over Toronto stock exchange.


As this news come just after Singapore stock exchange created a furor in Australia, after the announcement of merger with Australia stock exchange, I wonder if the stock exchanges around the world are ganging up to merge with each other.

The merger of London stock exchange and Toronto stock exchange is slightly different from Singapore, Australia merger.

The merger of Singapore and Australia stock exchanges create a political storm.  The shareholders in Singapore does not like the deal.  Certain parties in Australia also do not like the deal.  It is still subjected to the approval of the parliaments in both countries.  There is a possibility that the merger will not go through.

The London and Toronto merger seems more peaceable, with both parties agreeing to the deal.


I wonder what is next.

Will Shanghai stock exchange merge with Hong Kong Stock exchange?

Both are very formidable stock exchanges in the Asia Pacific region, possibly in the world.

When Shanghai sneezes, the Wall Street will get infected.

The sentiment in Shanghai stock exchange is basically affected by the China government.

Should Shanghai and Hong Kong merge, the effect on the stock market around the world is unthinkable.

Both stock markets are full with speculators, who knows how to create big wave.  The China government will have a hard time reining in the roaring bull.

I think if Shanghai stock exchange starts to buy other stock exchanges in the world, it will definitely create more political storms around the world.

Nobody likes the idea of having rich Chinese buying up assets all around the world.

Keeping fish in a dustbin

When I was checking out the forum about keeping walking catfish in Singapore, I came across a discussion thread.

The one who started the discussion thread kept his catfish in a dustbin.

It seems so funny to use a dustbin to keep a fish that has reached one feet.

However, given the nature of this particular breed, it is a very practical solution.

Walking catfish can take in oxygen from the air, since it has a lung, same as human being.

There is no need to use air stone to provide oxygenated water.

The owner takes good care of his fish, to the extent of changing every day.  There is no need to use filter in this case.

Dustbin is also tall.  It can prevent the walking catfish from jumping out of the bin, and takes a walk round the house.


Actually fishes need not keep in a proper fish tank.

They are happy to live anywhere as long as you give them enough food, and provide clean water every day.

The best is to add in a bit of salt to the water, so that the fishes can ward off bacteria attack.

Once you have fulfilled these two basic requirements, the fishes are happy.

The only factor is in your enjoyment of the fish.  The fish does not look as nice from the top as from the side.

I have a friend who does not keep her guppies in fish tank too.

They use all kinds of large and small clear plastic utensils and containers for the fish.

Imagine entering a house, and you see a big crystal bowl with a few guppies on top of the shelf for the shoes.
There is another bowl of fish in the living room table.


A large rectangular container with guppies occupying the whole of the side table in the living room.

There are some other bowls or containers with guppies scatter in different corners of the house.

It does look nice in this way. However, changing water is a daily headache.

Since she is a retiree, she can afford the time to feed all the guppies, and change water everyday.

I doubt I have time for so much work.  I rather have all the guppies in the community tank.

Do you have an aquarium at home?  Do you keep the fish in a dustbin?

Volatility of silver price per ounce

After following the silver price for a couple of months, I can see why many investors warn about the volatility of silver price.


The silver price is quoted per ounce.

In the beginning of January, the silver price per ounce was very high.  The closing price for silver on 4 January was $30.67.

By the end of January, we see the price dropped to a monthly low of just $26.68 on 28 January.

On the next trading day, silver staged a spectacular return to $27.75.  That means an increase of more than a dollar.


If you look into the historical data, you will marvel at the volatility of the silver price.

The lowest point for year 2010 occurred in the month of February 2010.   The lowest was $15.14.

The highest point for year 2010 occurred in the month of December 2010.  The highest was $30.70.

If you had purchased this commodity at $15.14 and sold at $30.70, you would have gained 100% profit.

The performance of this precious commodity is not that outstanding prior to 2010.

The lowest price in year 2006 was $8.83.  The highest price was $14.94.

In year 2007, the lowest point was $11.67 and the highest point was $15.82.

In year 2008, the lowest price was $9.17 and the highest price was $20.92.

Year 2008 seemed like a good year for silver investment.  However, the sad news was that the price moved downwards.

The highest record of $20.92 in year 2008 took place in March and the lowest record price of $9.17 took place in November of the year.

In year 2009, the lowest price was $10.51 in the month of January.  The highest point was $19.18 in the month of December 2009.

The silver price per ounce is even more volatile than the price of gold.

If you want to invest in silver, the best is to follow the trend, and do not panic when the price starts to fall.

The price of silver apparently suffered a major correction in year 2008.  However, the price rebounded in year 2009 onwards.

If a person started to lose his cool when the silver price started to fall, and sold off all his silver bullions, guess how he feels now.

All investments carry risks.

The risk in precious mental investing is mainly in the falling price of the metals due to increased supply through mining or decreased demand in industrial use and collectors.

If you are holding physical silver bullions, there is an additional risk of loss through theft and fire.

However, in times of crisis, you can see the increase in silver price per ounce, and gold price per ounce.
In term of percentage, silver outperforms gold.

It is best that you study the trend in the silver price for the past five years, monitor the price for a period of time until you are confident of silver investing.

If you want freedom of speech, make sure you are rich

US is the only country that keeps on emphasizing about the freedom of speech.

Ironically, many minimum wage workers do not have the freedom of speech, since they need the job.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America


If you want freedom of speech, make sure you are financially rich.  If not, forget about it.

Imagine you are the lowest paid worker in the supermarket, doing all the dirty works, and your manager screams at you to work faster, harder and accurately.

If you make a mistake, you know that the manager is going to hurl insults at you.

What can you do?  Are you going to exert your right to the freedom of speech?

Are you going to insult him?

You can if you want to lose your job.

For many people, that is not an option. They need the money, even though that amount of money is the lowest salary in town.

At least they have a job, and a stable income to pay for rent, feed the baby, and medical insurance coverage.

Many people are in similar situation.

They hate their bosses.  They hate the company they work in.  They hate all the insulting remarks that their bosses do not even use on their dogs.

The insulting remarks make them feel worthless, even less worthy than a dog.  However, they just have to bear with it.

No money means no freedom of speech.

The only correct thing to say is sorry.  They cannot say anything else to improve the situation. They dare not argue, and claim that it is not their fault, even though it is really not their fault.

Their bosses will tell them that making excuse is the worst sin.  They are not interested in what goes wrong anyway.

They just want to scold someone to make themselves feel better.

When business is bad, the fault is never with the bosses.  The fault is always the workers who are plain nuisance to the company.

When business is good, the bosses do not give additional rewards to the workers.  They give bonus to themselves, claiming their abilities to market and sell the goods.

They do not even bother to thank the minimum wage hourly workers.

They keep telling the minimum wage workers to be thankful for their jobs.  After all, if the workers do not want to work, thousands are willing to take over.

That is why freedom of speech is a myth.  Freedom of speech is definitely for the rich and powerful.  They are the ones who can misuse the freedom of speech.

If you want freedom of speech, make sure you are rich.  Once you are rich, you can tell your boss to go to hell.

Random thoughts about life and writing

Today is the first day of Chinese New Year.

There is a Chinese saying of staying up late on the eve of Chinese New Year, so that our parents can live a long and fruitful lives.

Nobody really knows how true it is.  However, many of us learn to stay up late, as late as possible, in order to enjoy the festive atmosphere pending the arrival of the Rabbit year.

As a result, I did not get to bed until 2 am.

I wake up this morning, still sleepy, and do the worst possible thing on the first day of Chinese New Year.

I read the newspaper.

That is the mistake.  Nobody should read the newspaper if they want to feel happy.

The news about the powerful cyclone hitting Australia definitely does not bring cheers.  The flood in Segamat and other parts of Malaysia is not happy news either.

The earthquake in Yunnan is not a cheerful news.

I can do without all the bad news.

It is pointless to know about the suffering of others when I cannot do anything.

If I could help them, I would do so.  I will not feel so bad about the relative comfort of my home, and the relative happiness of ushering the Rabbit Year.

To make myself happy, I search out on motivational information online.

I have the sudden urge to update an old article about writers with ten million page views written last year.

After checking the profiles of those successful writers, and finding some writers with more than 20 million page views, I feel very motivated and happy.  I start to write an article about 5 such writers.

You can read the article:  Writers with ten million page views as of 3 Feb 2011.

I start to calculate their passive income on the basis of the page views, based on the rate paid by Associated Content.

At the rate of $2 for every 1,000 page views, a writer with 20 million page views earn $40,000 in passive income.

Even though we are talking about a period of 5 to 6 years, earning $40,000 is still a remarkable achievement.

I think with the upfront payment, those writers are making in excess of $100,000.  Since most writers do not write for just one website, this shows that earning a full time income from home is possible.

This article makes me very happy as I was writing it.  It shows that everything is possible, as long as a person is willing to work hard for it.


Even though my page views in most writing sites is nowhere near a million page views, much less ten or twenty million page views.  I know that I can join the rank of page views millionaire if I work hard enough for the next five years.

This will be my goal for the Rabbit year, and the next few years.  Reaching the first 100,000 page views in Triond for this year is the goal.

After that I will aim for the first 500,000 page views, and the ultimate goal of 1,000,000.

With the first 100,000 page views in Triond, I could have a few hundred dollars in earnings.  I can buy a few silver bars and wait for the silver price to appreciate.

Unforgettable trip to Cameron Highland

A few years ago, I traveled to Cameron Highland with my family and extended family.

It was really an unforgettable trip, due partly to my stupidity.

We arrived in Cameron Highland in two carloads on a certain afternoon.

We checked into a spacious apartment in one small town.  This Cameron Highland apartment had three bedrooms.

Since we were rather tired and hungry after the trip, we crossed the street to enjoy a steamboat dinner.

That is one of the few things we did right in Cameron Highland.

We had steamboat dinners every night in Cameron Highland.  We chose different ingredients so that each steamboat dinner was different.

We spent the second day joining the farm tours.  That was another thing we did right.

The farm tours were interesting, since for us city folks, we did not know that farms could look as nice as imperial gardens, and produced so many fruits, vegetables and flowers.

My silly mistake occurred when I chanced upon the tour to see Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest flower in the world.

My enthusiasm to see Rafflesia arnoldii, the largest flower in the world, spread to my family members.  All of us signed up for the tour eagerly.

The tour was for early morning the next day.

We hardly able to contain our excitement.  I thought that we were going to a farm to see the Rafflesia flower.

I thought we were just taking a walk in the park, much like visiting the strawberry farms.

I realized my mistake only when the jeep parked in the forest, and the tour guide said that the Rafflesia flower was not really in Cameron Highland, but existed deep in the virgin rainforest.

I was wearing a worn out office shoe.  My uncle was in slipper.  My mother, my two aunts and brother were wise enough to put on track shoes.

The rain started to fall incessantly the moment we started the hike in the virgin forest.

It was not a heavy downpour.  The sky was grey throughout the half day hike.

Our heart was as grey as the sky, and our faces were darker than the sky.

It took more than an hour of walk just to look at the Rafflesia flowers.  I did not make it, since the sole of my shoes caused me to slip repeatedly.

One of my aunts did not make it too, since she had rheumatism problem, and could not tolerate the uneven forest trek.

When we finished the walk and boarded the jeep thankfully, the jeep could not start.

Something wrong with the engine.  In the end, we had to push the jeep to get the engine started.  By then, we were hungry, tired, with sore muscles, and in extremely bad mood.

In the evening, when we were having our blessed steamboat dinner, my brother asked me what on Earth possessed me to sign up for the jungle walk.

Other than stupidity, I had on answer.  If only I had asked more about the trip, we would definitely not go in this condition.

We were just not ready for the strenuous hike, definitely not with slipper and worn out office shoes.

On the third day, we did not have mood for anything.  We slept the whole day in Cameron Highland.  We woke up for lunch, and returned to the apartment to watch the rain.

Can you imagine traveling all the way just to sleep whole day?  That was unfortunately what we did in our spacious apartment in Cameron Highland.

On hindsight, it was stupid. We could have stayed home and slept whole day.


The second thing we did right was to buy a few packets of 3-in-1 Ipoh white coffee from the provision shop in Cameron Highland.

It was a heavenly existence to enjoy a steamy hot cup of white coffee and watched the mountains baptized with the rain.

Was the trip to Cameron Highland worthwhile?

Definitely.  The memory of seeing my uncle hiking in the virgin rainforest just to see the largest flower in the world was simply hilarious.