Friday, July 12, 2013

The Evolution of Money



1.       Business community started business in form of barter trade
2.       Due to limitation of barter trade, the business community came up with an agreed item that represent value – commodity.
3.       Again due to the limitations of commodities: there are heavy, difficult to move around, the idea of receipt money came up.
4.       How the receipt money work is that the rich merchants will deposit their gold or other precious commodities into a reputable vault service provider in return the service provide will issue a receipt stating the value of precious commodities kept in the vault.
5.       The merchant pay for the good he bought using receipt money then the seller will present receipt money at the vault to convert into gold.
6.       The interesting part is the vault service provider realized that a lot of sellers did not convert their receipt money into gold, instead use it to pay for their own purchases.
7.       The process continued for years where the receipt money continue to circulate in the market without going back to the vault that issue it.
8.       Occasionally, some bearers of the receipt money appeared at the vault to request for a replacement of receipt money as it was torn or the ink faded but no one asked for gold.       
9.       The vault owner start to realise that since no one is asking back their gold and probably they have lost track of the original owner of the gold.
10.    The idea of issuing additional new receipt money during the waiting period to merchant that did not deposit gold.
11.    Of course for a fee known as interest.
12.    That is how the banking business started.
13.    The evolution in banking business give birth to the fractional reserve receipt money concept – issue 2000 while gold only worth 1000 – 2:1
14.    Proliferation of small banks started to issue their own receipt money and went bust.
15.    Lead to formation of bank of England and Federal Reserve was formed to regulate the banking industry
16.    Key regulation of central banks is only one form of paper money.
17.    Those who control central bank will b so powerful that control supply of money.
18.    Central bank objective is to regulate the supply of money with long term objective of economy growth and employment rate and policy interest rate.
19.    A critical decision severe the link of money to gold in 1971 has changed the anatomy of money.
20.    Since then money no longer back by gold, instead back by debt – a promise that will be paid in the future
21.    Hence, since 1971, money we use today is no longer “money”, but debt
22.    Since then, knowledgeable folks started to reject paper money
23.    Slowly, more and more wealth is finding its way to gold and other commodities that has ever lasting value
24.    Gold was valued at USD30-US40 per ounce – the price was derive from Bretton Wood Agreement (1944) where US has agreed to peg 1 ounce of gold ot USD35.
25.    This system worked well for almost 30 years – ie the gold price fluctuation was minimal but not after 1971.
  
26.    See chart above, gold shot up to approximate USD180 in Jan 1974 and retreated to just above USD100.
27.    Gold touched USD700 in Jan 1980 a whopping increase from 1970s.
28.    Where is gold price now?
         

29.    Although USD was fiat money, the American is so good in marketing their dollar to the whole world
30.    Gold stayed USD 250 – 450 range for period of good 20 years (1980s – 2000s)
31.    In early second millennium (year 2000 onwards) the mounting of US national debts and real demand from China and India has push gold to unprecedented territory – how about USD1,900 per ounce in early 2011.
32.    It is really mind-boggling.
33.    Let’s do a quick calculation: from USD350 (2000) to USD1900 (2011) : 540% increase in period of a decade.
34.    Why is it a fall in 2013 to current USD1200 level?

Friday, June 21, 2013

QE3 Tapper Off


Gold crash lower! Break the 1300 level. Look like the world really take Bernanke's words seriously. What's that? Yo, the tapper-off QE3 which will happen soon. The question is will US economy recovery strong enough to boost consumption leads to GDP growth? Let wait and see.





Friday, June 14, 2013

What A Waste!

A person that influenced me to make lots of money in property is not a old seasoned man. He is not other than this young man - Mervin Chow! The last i has contact with him was in Mar 2011. Not knowing that he has passed away in July 2011. Only got to know this news after 2 years. Those who has read his report on Property Mania issued in 2009 will know what meant a waste.


RIP Mervin.

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

What is life about.

I believe a lot of people has been asking this question. Various walk of life have difference expectation of how their life should pan out. i m closed on forty now. Flash back, for the last 15 years i always wonder whether i lived my life!! Started with just stepped out from University, got on to the first job that last for 4 years. During this period, life was only one word - WORK! Then the next 5 years was about buying house + buying car, getting married resulted in accumulating debts commitment. In order to serve the commitment, life during this stage is 2 words - WORK HARDER. For the last 5 years, it was about looking for bigger house + bigger car + kids education funds hence 3 words - WORK EVEN HARDER. So it is really time to sit down to re-strategies whether i want my life to be WORK EVEN MORE HARDER!

Enjoy this video!







Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Definition of Wealth

  Only if this concept is taught in school!

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The Definition of Wealth

The Definition of Wealth image

Why being wealthy is different (and better) than being rich

When I was a young boy, my rich dad told me about the difference between the rich and the wealthy.
“Many people think that being rich and being wealthy are the same thing,” said rich dad. “But there is a difference between the two: The rich have lots of money but the wealthy don’t worry about money.”
What rich dad meant was that while the rich might have lots of money, they also might have lots of expenses that keep them up at night. Or they might have a high paying job but have to get up to work everyday and have fear of getting fired or laid off.
The wealthy, on the other hand, don’t have these worries. Why? What’s the difference?
 
The definition of wealth
The definition of wealth is the number of days you can survive without physically working (or anyone in your household physically working) and still maintain your standard of living.
For example, if your monthly expenses are $5,000 and you have $20,000 in savings, your wealth is approximately four months or 120 days.
Wealth is measured in time, not dollars.
 
The difference between being rich and being wealthy
In 1989, Kim and I became millionaires, but we weren’t financially free until 1994. This is because there’s a difference between being rich and being wealthy. By 1989, our business was making us a lot of money. We were earning more and working less. We had what most people considered financial success.
Though we were rich, we still were not wealthy; much of our time was spent working to build our business and its systems. Our goal was to build the business to the point that it would cover all our expenses from cash flow each month—without us working. Additionally, we were invested in other assets like real estate and commodities to add to our cash flow.
By 1994, the passive income from our business and assets was greater than our expenses. At that point, we were wealthy, not just rich.
 
It’s not what you make…
Ultimately, it’s not how much money you make that matters but how much money you keep—and how long that money works for you.
Every day, I meet many people who make a lot of money, but all their money goes out of their expense column. Every time they make a little more money, they go shopping. They often buy a bigger house or a new car, which results in long-term debt and more hard work. Nothing is left to go into the asset column. It’s this kind of behavior that separates the rich from the wealthy.
I like the fine things in life just like everyone else; the difference is that I don’t have to work to purchase them, or go into deep debt. Rather, I spent the time necessary to be smart with my money, work hard, and build a business and investments that provide enough cash flow each month to cover my expenses—including my fun liabilities like cars and houses.
I don’t work for my money. It works for me.
Lots of people can become rich. But only financially intelligent people can become wealthy—and that takes a strong financial education that allows you to build cash-flowing businesses and assets.
The rest is just playing at wealth, and a lot of worry.
Wanna be wealthy? Learn how by joining our free, financial education community here.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Absence

Wow, has been absence for almost 2 months. Has been very busy with my personal matters and work. Further there are nothing much to talk about the Malaysian market as shrewd investors are keeping sideline before the GE 13 is finalised. I strongly believe the last three weeks technical rebound is absurd. We are talking about just another 2 months to Parliament to be compulsorily dissolved,  rather GE 13 could happen any time now how could it still gain support from long term investor? But there are thousand of reasons why people involved in the market. So trade the trend. if market is pointing up although you dont think so, you still have to follow. Off course you can choose to stay sideline.

Monday, January 21, 2013

KLCI Plunge 45points in one Day


I think this could be the picture of the year.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The Fed Doubles The Dosage

How? The bubble is getting bigger and bigger. I believe a lot of naysayers have been speculating another global recession is around the corner many moons ago. But with another round of QE3,4 or 5? lost count! Most of the tangible class of assets have or will be appreciated / inflated. If you intend to accumulate wealth true investing earlier but has not done so due to following the saying of the negative outlook of world economy, you would have banged your head now. Hoping the price will come down as a result of bad economic conditions, instead price has rise to a new level. 

Really, there is no real good time to invest in assets. Investment should be a program / system to be consistently apply whether good time or bad time. Whenever you are financially ready you should invest, not overly affected by opinion of someone - who may be just a naysayer. Whether what was predicted will eventually happen or not is everyone guess. Investment conditions will not turn in light speed. Losses may be incurred due to wrong judgement if naysayer is right! if wrong cut loh, is part of a success journey. What if you are right! the rewards is marvelous! Catch the opportunity whenever it arises. A bird in hand is better a couple in the bushes!  

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The Fed Doubles The Dosage

On December 12th, the Federal Reserve announced the most aggressive program of monetary stimulus ever undertaken in peacetime. Beginning in January, the Fed will more than double the amount of fiat money it creates each month from $40 billion to $85 billion. On an annualized basis that amounts to more than $1 trillion a year. This week we will consider 1) What they did; 2) Why they did it; and, 3) What impact it will have on asset prices over the short-term.

 What They Did:
In a nutshell, the Fed announced it will more than double the amount of fiat money it creates each month and that it will use that money to buy government bonds and mortgage-backed securities until the unemployment rate drops substantially or until the inflation rate accelerates. The press release stated:  “…the Committee will continue purchasing additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month. The Committee also will purchase longer-term Treasury securities … initially at a pace of $45 billion per month.”

Take note of the word “initially”. That strongly suggests the Fed may soon increase the amount of money creation beyond $85 billion a month.

Furthermore, the Fed also pledged to keep the federal funds rate at 0 – ¼ percent “at least as long as the unemployment rate remains above 6 ½ percent, inflation between one and two years ahead is projected to be no more than a half percentage point above the Committee’s 2 percent longer-run goal, and longer-term inflation expectations continue to be well anchored.”

In other words, the Fed intends to keep interest rates near zero percent and to continue creating fiat money at an annual rate of $1 trillion (or more) a year until it succeeds in bringing down unemployment or until inflation becomes a threat.

Why They Did It:
I believe the Fed took these unprecedented steps because it is terrified the world is dangerously close to spiraling into a new great depression. As I have explained before, credit growth in the US has fuelled economic growth in the US and, therefore, the world since World War II. Since 1952, any time total credit (adjusted for inflation) expanded by less than 2% during a year, the US economy has gone into recession. Now, it is not increasing at all.  Consequently, the US economy is very weak. Imports into the US were no greater in the third quarter of 2012 than in the third quarter of 2011. US imports have acted as the driver of global economic growth since the 1980s. Now, with imports flat, world trade has ceased to expand – and there is a very real danger that it will begin to contract. The Fed hopes that its money creation will spur credit creation by pushing down interest rates and by pushing up asset prices, thereby, preventing a downward spiral into depression.

The Fed’s fears have been exacerbated by the danger posed by the “fiscal cliff”. Even if this politically induced fiasco turns out to be only a fiscal ditch (as I expect it will), it will still inflict at least some damage on the economy in 2013 and beyond.

 What Impact Will It Have?:
The Quantity Theory Of Money states that any time the quantity of money is increased, it will cause inflation. But there are different kinds of inflation. What kind of inflation will QE 3 cause?
I expect it to cause asset price inflation. As the Fed creates money and buys $85 billion worth of assets each month, that money will be reinvested into other assets and push up their price. That is certainly what the Fed hopes will happen. That is what QE 3 is designed to do. Therefore, the price of stocks, bonds and real estate should appreciate.
I also expect commodity price inflation. The price of food and metals – including gold and silver – seem likely to move up. The near-term direction of oil is less certain given the enormous surge in oil production in North America and the rapid development of alternative energies that will eventually drive the price of oil sharply lower.

The expanding supply of dollars should exert downward pressure on the value of the dollar relative to other currencies – unless the central banks of other countries follow the Fed’s example and expand the quantity of their currencies as well. It is highly probable that many central banks will choose that course – creating money to buy assets denominated in their own currencies to boost their domestic asset prices or else to buy dollars in order to prevent their currencies from appreciating to protect their export industries. In either case, this will further add to global liquidity, resulting in still more asset price and commodity price inflation.

Thus, the Fed’s strategy of creating more money should succeed in stimulating the global economy in the near term by inflating new asset price bubbles that create a “wealth effect” that underpins consumption. This strategy cannot succeed over the long run however unless accompanied by additional policies that boost median income in the US and globally. Unless wages rise, the public will soon once again be incapable of paying the interest on the money they borrowed to purchase the inflating assets. Then the asset price bubbles will pop and a new and much worse crisis will ensue.
Economic management through bubble creation is not a viable long-term solution to a global crisis caused by unchecked, credit-induced economic bubbles.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Falling & Surging Stock

Falling Stocks @ 121212 

1. Airasia - 2.78
2. SPSetia - 3.10
3. MAS - 0.78
4. Lionind - 0.93
5. Annjoo - 1.33
6. MRCB - 1.58
7. Kimlun - 1.38
8. Canone - 2.43
9. Rsawit - 0.82
10.KNM - 0.42
11. JCY - 0.43
12. KHSB - 0.36

Surging Stocks @ 121212
1. Perdana - 1.03


Correcting Stocks @ 121212
1. Oldtown - 2.00
2. Padini - 1.80
3. Scomi - 0.38