Frank Comments by Dennis Ng on various Topics

[Dennis Ng]

The joy of Financial Freedom? One of them is the "choice" of what I do daily.

My mother stays in the same HDB block as me. In the past, when she visited in the morning, I have to say:"Sorry mother, need to rush to work" after a short 5 min conversation. Nowadays, I can have the luxury to listen to her talk and talk and talk....and sometimes after 30 mins or so, she would say:"I have to do something, talk to you again..." I no longer have to rush to work and can have ALL the time for her. This is just one of the "gifts" of Financial Freedom.

[Dennis Ng]

My sense is we are nearer to the end of the Bull market than the beginning.

I just leave the markets to tell me where they want to go...the next few weeks markets may show us a Clearer Way, whether it is Up or Down.

STI need to stay above 2,900. HSI above 20,000, Dow above 12,600 and S & P above 1,350...for markets to remain in uptrend.

Be alert, this is what I want to say to everybody now.

Seems like the only hope everyone is holding is U.S. to have QE3...if it does happen, it is just a pain killer, the Next Global Financial Crisis is inevitable...can postpone but cannot avoid. It's not a matter of whether it might happen, it is just a question of WHEN it will happen.

[Waterman]

The joy of Financial Freedom? One of them is the "choice" of what I do daily.

My mother stays in the same HDB block as me. In the past, when she visited in the morning, I have to say:"Sorry mother, need to rush to work" after a short 5 min conversation. Nowadays, I can have the luxury to listen to her talk and talk and talk....and sometimes after 30 mins or so, she would say:"I have to do something, talk to you again..." I no longer have to rush to work and can have ALL the time for her. This is just one of the "gifts" of Financial Freedom.

Like

[Dennis Ng]

sometimes it takes the celebration of Mother's day for us to remember and treasure our mother. We must really keep telling ourselves that we should treat everyday as a Mother's Day, and not only wait till Mother's Day to express our love, concern, gratitude to our mothers.

I'm so lucky that I'm like having 3 mothers, both my mother and my mother-in-law shower us with love...and even my wife, takes care of me so well, that I often tell her that she has 3 children instead of 2. : )

[Dennis Ng]

In Oct 2010, share price was S$6.23, I warned about Wilmar then.

Now share price fell to S$4.37, or down 30%...increasing investment knowledge can indeed help us to reduce/avoid losses.

By having FA knowledge, one would not really find Wilmar attractive then. By having TA knowledge, one would have got out of this stock (sold) when it broke below support price.

From TA point of view, share price and 50 day MA BOTH cut below 200 day MA at about S$6.13... (so even if one bought Wilmar at S$6.23, one would have cut loss when it went below S$6.13 and not be holding till now and suffer a 30% loss.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Wilmar International 1Q Net Profit Falls 34% To US$255.9 Million
7:37 PM ET on Wednesday, May 09, 2012

SINGAPORE -(Dow Jones)- Wilmar International Ltd. (F34.SG, WLMIY) said Thursday that its first-quarter net profit fell 34%, as margins in the commodity supplier's oilseeds and grains business were squeezed.

Net profit for the quarter ended March 31 was US$255.9 million compared with US$386.7 million in the same quarter a year ago, the company said in a statement to Singapore Exchange.

Revenue in the first quarter rose 9.8% to US$10.5 billion, Wilmar said and predicted a challenging year ahead.

"All the other key business segments of the Group, especially palm & laurics, are expected to perform satisfactorily for the rest of the year while oilseeds crushing margin in China is expected to remain challenging due to excess capacity," Kuok Khoon Hong, Wilmar's chairman and chief executive, said in the statement.

-By Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Dow Jones Newswires; +65 64154 154; gaurav.raghuvanshi@dowjones.com

18 Nov 2010

Wilmar's current share price is S$6.23. PE is 13.9 times.

How much is the Upside potential for Wilmar?

How much is the downside risks for Wilmar?

I personally don't think the Upside is at least double the downside. Of course anyone can have a different opinion.

[Dennis Ng]

thanks for sharing.

I highlighted what I agree 110% with you.

There is NO free lunch. You look at U.S. and Europe, yes, the government promised many benefits, but problem is with aging population and rising competition, can the government deliver the Promise? Answer is no. Answer is in order to have all those "freebies" (social welfare, free medical care, unemployment benefits) etc, is part of the reason why it lead to U.S. and Europe in borrowing more and more...and having a bigger and bigger Sovereign Debt Crisis.

And the more the Country owes, the debt is still borne by the people...so it is NOT free.

Check how much National Debt each American has to bear here: http://www.usdebtclock.org/ I don't envy any American for the many "benefits' they enjoy.

People need to wake up to the truth that there is really no free lunch, it is either you pay in One Way or Another Way/Form.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

The thread in yahoo generate alot of irks among Singaporean and claiming citizen are suffering, Singapore tax rate is very high after factor in GST, COE, no free medical care, no free schooling, no hand out when out of job, no social welfare, CPF money not easily accessible, ERP....blah blah.

Who is right who is wrong ?

To me, each of us need to be a responsible person to take care of its own well being, plan our own life journey ; keep improving to be Self sufficient . One thing for sure I do not want to be the burden to my children income tax to pay for my medical bill/social welfare..

Of course, to those who are in better position should help the needy to better their life too.

To our financial savvy journey,
Wei Teck

[Dennis Ng]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKB0GHwPmnA

Jermaine Paul, a back up Singer was not a favourite in "The Voice" singing competition...in one of the sessions, a judge commented that his problem is he sings like a back up Singer...but he sang so well in the Final on Tuesday that the Host Carson Daly commented he was no longer a backup singer...

Against all odds, Jermaine Paul won, singing the song "I Believe I can Fly". This song holds a special place in my heart as during times when I was feeling down, when I listened to and sing out the song loud, it helps me to reinforce the belief again...

Yes, truly as the lyrics go:"If I believe it, then I can do it, if I just believe it, there's nothing to it." and Jermaine Paul proved it, another Real Life Example how a person by believing in himself, can achieve "miracles". All 3 other finalists are experienced professional singers and Chris Mann even sang at Broadway...and all sang equally well...but as they said, the rest is history.

Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in yourself 100%? If you do not, who else do you think will do that? Nothing great has ever being achieved by anyone who didn't believe in themselves. Think about it.

CBA truly works. I'm one of the many Real Life example, and the world just witness another real life example in Jermaine Paul.

The greatest thing I want to do as a Teacher is to inspire and encourage others to believe in themselves. Nothing else comes close.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

Jermaine Paul of Team Blake won TV singing contest "The Voice" on Tuesday night, gaining a shot at his dream of singing stardom and proving true host Carson Daly's statement that he was "no longer a backup singer."
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Jermaine Paul talks about winning The Voice, and a duet with Beyonce.

Upon winning, Jermaine Paul collapsed into a hug from his coach, country singer Blake Shelton, and wiped away tears as he thanked his wife, children, and all of the people who voted for him, ending his speech by exclaiming "nobody but Jesus!"

The former backup for Alicia Keys took center stage as he sang R. Kelly's "I Believe I Can Fly" to close out the show, which he also sang in his final performance on Monday's penultimate episode.

Paul received embraces from his wife and family members as he sang. He takes home a recording contract with Universal Republic Records and a $100,000 cash prize.

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Paul beat fellow contestants Juliet Simms of Team Cee Lo, Tony Lucca of Team Adam, and Chris Mann of Team Christina. Host Carson Daly revealed that Paul edged out second place finalist Simms by fewer than four percentage points.

Tuesday's results were determined by audience voting, which commenced at the end of Monday's performance episode. During that show, the four finalists each sang their final solos and duets with their respective coaches.

Paul's rendition of "I Believe I Can Fly" was backed by a full choir and drew on his childhood in upstate New York where he frequently sang in church choirs himself.

Runner-up Simms sang Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird."

Lucca, who placed third, performed Jay-Z's "99 Problems. The song, chosen by his coach Adam Levine, was said to be a cause of friction between coaches Levine and Christina Aguilera, which was palpable after Lucca's performance.

In her feedback, Aguilera said the song's lyrics were derogatory toward women and admonished Lucca for performing it with his wife and children in the audience.

In his performance, Lucca muffled some words and sang around lyrics that contained other words which might have seemed out of touch with the show's family audience.

Building on his classical chops, fourth place finalist Mann sang Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up," bringing Aguilera to tears. Mann also realized his dream of singing "The Prayer" by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli with Aguilera during the duet portion of the show in which contestants sang with the pros.

Tuesday's star-studded two-hour finale included a variety of performances from stars such as Justin Bieber, Lady Antebellum, Flo Rida, and Hall & Oates.

Bieber, who had stopped by the show earlier in the season to debut the video for his new single "Boyfriend," sang the song live this time.

Simms joined Flo Rida in a version of his popular song "Wild Ones," and all four finalists sang backup vocals for Hall & Oates as they performed their old No. 1 hit, "Rich Girl."

Contestants previously voted off the show also were invited back to perform with the four finalists.

"The Voice" became one of the most-watched TV shows in the United States earlier this season and was seen a challenge to Fox's top-rated singing show "American Idol."

During the season, it proved very competitive against "Idol," especially in the coveted 18-49 viewer group where the two shows are in a close race to be the most-watched program.

But "Idol" draws many millions more total viewers than "The Voice" - an average audience size of 19.2 million this season compared to 14 .8 million for "The Voice", according to figures from the two TV networks. (Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

[Dennis Ng]

As I always share with seminar graduates, do NOT over-estimate these so-called Experts and Professional Investors...they are NOT as good as they portray themselves to be.

JP Morgan loses US$2 billion in Chief Investment Office!!!

And an average person if willing to learn how to invest, can also achieve 15% average annual returns a year, which is making about 100% in 5 years by practising Market Cycle Investing. If you observe, most stock market cycles are just 3 to 4 years and can go up 100% to over 200%, so making 100% in 5 years is achieveable. I know becos I've done it, from year 2002 to year 2007, I made over 200% returns when STI went up over 200% in the same time period.

And you can do it too if you learn how to invest. The good news is If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach.

Cheers!

Dennis Ng

JPMorgan Loses $2 Billion in Chief Investment Office
By Dawn Kopecki and Michael J. Moore - May 11, 2012 5:59 AM GMT+0800


JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said the firm lost about $2 billion on synthetic credit securities after an “egregious’” failure in its chief investment office, which the bank says focuses on hedging.

“This portfolio has proven to be riskier, more volatile and less effective as an economic hedge than the firm previously believed,” the New York-based company said today in a quarterly securities filing. JPMorgan declined 5.5 percent to $38.50 in extended trading at 5:55 p.m. in New York.

The chief investment office has been transformed in recent years under Dimon into a unit that makes bigger and riskier speculative bets with the bank’s money, according to five former employees, Bloomberg News reported April 13. Some bets were so big that JPMorgan probably couldn’t unwind them without losing money or roiling financial markets, the former executives said.

Bloomberg News first reported April 5 that London-based trader Bruno Iksil had amassed positions linked to the financial health of corporations that were so large he was driving price moves in the $10 trillion market.

After the Bloomberg report, Dimon on a conference call said the news coverage was “a complete tempest in a teapot.”

The losses disclosed today were “a little bit to do with the article in the press,” Dimon said, without specifying who in the bank oversaw the trades. “I also think we acted a little bit too defensively” to the reports.
‘Flawed, Complex’

Synthetic credit products are derivatives that generate gains and losses tied to credit performance without the owner buying or selling actual debt. The losses occurred as the company sought to unwind a portfolio of the instruments used to hedge JPMorgan’s credit exposure.

“In hindsight, the new strategy was flawed, complex, poorly reviewed, poorly executed and poorly monitored,” Dimon said.

JPMorgan said the losses were partly offset by gains from the sales from its available-for-sale credit portfolio, resulting in a net loss for the firm’s corporate division, which includes the CIO, of about $800 million after taxes. The losses could widen or narrow during the rest of the quarter, Dimon said.

The bank is “repositioning” the synthetic credit portfolio, and the CIO “may hold certain of its current synthetic credit positions for the longer term,” the firm said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dawn Kopecki in New York at dkopecki@bloomberg.net

[Dennis Ng]

Anyone to explain the significance of such announcement?

GUOCOLEISURE LIMITED APPROVES ESTABLISHMENT OF S$300,000,000 MULTICURRENCY MEDIUM TERM NOTE PROGRAMME

http://info.sgx.com/webcoranncatth.nsf/ ... penelement

this is quite common, many Listed companies have such a thing (Medium Term Note Program) in place. Basically, it is to prepare first, so if company wants to borrow money, they can do so under such a program...

Most of the Rich NOW are either Raising their Cash Position (mine is now raised back to about 67%, up from 60% 1 month ago) or Borrowing money to stand by for Opportunity in the Coming Financial Crisis (Genting Singapore borrowed over S$1 billion Perpetual Bond, happily paying interest rate of 5.125% to wait for any Opportunity)....

On the other hand, many middle class Singaporeans after waiting for 3 years doing nothing, now finally rushed to Invest their money. Many choose to buy properties when prices are much higher, imagine Bishan condo at S$1,700 psf when one can buy The Sail at S$1,800 psf. Or pay S$1,300 psf to buy property in Punggol when one can buy S$1,300 psf in the Resale condo markets for many better locations.

They are now rushing to invest to get some yield, some rush for residential properties to get "attractive Rental Yield of 3%" (while I bought 2 years ago at lower prices enjoy yield about 4.7%. Or they buy dividend stocks to get dividends of 4%...without knowing that many of the REITS I bought in Oct 2008 and early 2009 that time yield me dividend yield of 10% or even higher...recently, I sold almost ALL the REITs I hold as yield has come down and Asset Value has gone up (remember that Asset Value can come down fast too when market falls as REITS have to revalue their properties).

If you talk to your friends (if they are mainly middle class people) you would realise that my observation is "Spot on". And unless you talk to experienced Investors which I do, again, you will find it silly or unbelieveable for some people to want to hold millions of Cash earning next to nothing when inflation is 5%. Well, people forget that when we do deploy our Opportunity Fund, minimum Potential Upside we look for is 50%, so what is losing 5% per year and Worst Case Scenario wait for maximum 2 years, or lose total of 10% (max downside for us), if we can make Minimum 50%...

What I teach in the seminars is really what the Rich Know and Do, but after my seminars, many seminar graduates still have half-hearted belief in what I taught, having doubt whether it would work or not, since what I teach may be Contrary to what they Learned ALL these years from schools, from parents, and from Public media such as CNBC or Channel News Asia.

[Dennis Ng]

unlike many Singapore households, we don't have a live-in maid, we only engage a part-time maid, who comes once a week. This morning, she called in to say she is sick. To my surprise, my elder son volunteered to help to sweep and mop the floor. I'm so happy when I hear this as it shows that he has really grown and matured...

[Dennis Ng]

Our family is like any middle class household. The only difference is that we do NOT live in a condo, we do NOT own a Car, and we do NOT have a live-in maid.

Instead of having a car and driving children to school, my younger son takes the school bus, while my elder son now just takes SBS bus to school daily. I want them to learn to be independent and also have chance to mingle with others and also get to see the real life in Singapore.

My elder brother still drives his children to school when they are now in university and to him, this is expression of love.

While my expression of love for my children is to teach them to be independent.

It is just a matter of choice, but sometimes, overdoing can lead to children overly dependent on parents.

I even know of clients who have children who are in their 20s and 30s and working and still get pocket money from their parents every month as my clients felt that they only earn S$3,000 to S$4,000 and may not have enough money to spend...this is indulgence to the extreme in my opinion. Is this Love? I think this Love can cause Harm, teaching them to spend more than they earn can lead to disastrous consequences in future.

[Waterman]

unlike many Singapore households, we don't have a live-in maid, we only engage a part-time maid, who comes once a week. This morning, she called in to say she is sick. To my surprise, my elder son volunteered to help to sweep and mop the floor. I'm so happy when I hear this as it shows that he has really grown and matured...

Dennis, i am happy for you...

[Waterman]

Every day, when I walk from Raffles Place MRT station to my office in Marina Bay Financial Centre, I will walk pass a coffee house @ the Sail, at around 8.50am, I will see an old gentleman already finished his breakfast at the same table outside, reading his iPad and smiling to every passer-by rushing to reach the office at 9am (including myself).

I told to myself, this is financial freedom.

[Dennis Ng]

Every day, when I walk from Raffles Place MRT station to my office in Marina Bay Financial Centre, I will walk pass a coffee house @ the Sail, at around 8.50am, I will see an old gentleman already finished his breakfast at the same table outside, reading his iPad and smiling to every passer-by rushing to reach the office at 9am (including myself).

I told to myself, this is financial freedom.

Hi Waterman,
yes, one of the benefit of Financial Freedom is the freedom to choose what one wants to do each day. When I was working in the bank, each morning I had to rush to work, and becos I stay at Jalan Besar, many buses by the time they reach Jalan Besar are full, and sometimes I can wait for 3 rounds of buses before the bus is willing to let passenger to board the bus...and when this happened, I would be late for work.

Or I can choose to walk 15 mins to Bugis MRT station, rushed into a jammed packed MRT, then walked another 5 mins and reached office drenched in sweat...back in 1998, Financial Freedom seems a distant dream...

Those were the days. Nowadays, I'm "retired", I leave the day to day management of my 3 companies to 2 capable COOs, and I'm back at my study room...spending most of my day learning and sharing...a dream Life that I dreamed of many year ago when I was working in the bank...and it become a Reality...

No more rushing to work, no more rush hour traffic.

Everything starts with a Thought. CBA.

[racoon12]

Sharing

http://www.salary.sg/2008/case-study-2- ... f-million/

http://www.salary.sg/2008/case-study-3- ... -property/

http://www.salary.sg/2008/case-study-4- ... in-shares/

http://www.salary.sg/2007/watching-mill ... mment-1761

Many thanks