How to be smart before the event

Every now and then, I read about new ‘geniuses’ in the property market today. Apparently, their winning formula is simple: they locate a new property (usually condos), buy five units by paying the minimum down payment and borrowing the rest. And because the prices of the properties rose significantly in the last two years, they are certainly in the money, at least on paper. (Until they sell, all the profits are just paper profits.)

Now, I must admit that I am happy for them. The higher the number of wealthy people in this country, the better it is for everyone.

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Mmm… another shops available in Jakarta, pretty small, but big enough for airsoft enthusiast like me… It’s located in ITC Kuningan, one of the prime area in Jakarta. Not much guns though, but you can get some cool accessories there…

So, if you’re in Kuningan, give this shop a visit!

Assalamualaikum,
Kebelakangan ni mmg banyak sangat berita2 tentang keadaan ekonomi yg semakin meruncing, dimulai dengan krisis matawang Euro yang menyaksikan negara Greece hampir diisytiharkan bangkrap lantaran tidak mampu membayar semula hutang negara yang berjumlah berbillion Euro. Lebih malang lagi, berita ini hanya permulaan (beginning of the end) bagi krisis matawang, dimana ianya merupakan permulaan tumbangnya matawang fiat dunia, yang telahpun ‘overdue’ (bagi USD) lantaran sikap Amerika yang sesuka hati mencetak wang bagi menampung defisit perbelanjaan yang meningkat setiap saat.

Berita yang lebih menyedihkan ialah matawang dunia, termasuklah matawang Malaysia sendiri, disandarkan pada USD, bermakna bila jatuhnya nilai USD, maka jatuh jugalah matawang Malaysia sendiri… ’side effect’ ini juga dapat dilihat dari kadar inflasi yg dianggarkan 4-5% setahun (sebenarnya nilai inflasi sebenar adalah sekitar 8-9%, berdasarkan kajian sesetengah pihak berkecuali).

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A RM20,000 mattress

A friend of mine, Ong, recently bought a RM20,000 mattress.
Now I can see that some of you are shaking your head, which was exactly what I did when he told me about it. “What happened, man? I thought you were extremely savvy with your finances. But buying a RM20,000 mattress…” I told him. “Isn’t that a little bit too much? I mean, RM20,000 for a mattress.”

Ong smiled thinly and then raised his hands to begin his explanation. He broke out gently, “Okay, let’s look at sheer time – how much time we spend at a particular place. If you work at an office, you’d probably spend some five hours of that sitting down on your chair. You’d spend two hours (tops) in your car commuting to and back from work. Then you’d spend three hours in your sofa and various chairs in the house. Then you would spend eight hours sleeping on your bed. The remaining four hours would be for other things such as walking and running around your day. Of course, all these are just ballpark figures and done without any survey but you would get my drift.”
I nodded my head in agreement.

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IF PROPERTY ADVERTS TOLD THE TRUTH

The property advertisements that we see today are simply fabulous. They make the properties sounds like something right out of heaven!
But what if the advertisements told the truth? Of course, no advertisements would actually do that, but suppose, just suppose that one fine day the advertisements actually told the truth. And when that happens, I bet that it will include some of the following…

Your property is located in a golf course
Yes, we know that one of the reasons you bought the property because it is located in a golf course. Greens, fresh air, clear skies and yes, a hint of exclusiveness.
But of course, you do realize that a golf course equals a lot of land. That means that we are going to build even more properties in the future on all that land. Well, maybe not all, we’ll leave a few tracts so that we can still call it a golf course.

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Memang pelaburan emas amat berbaloi kerana sejak kebelakangan ini, harga emas semasa semakin melonjak naik sehingga mendorong orang ramai membuat pelaburan terhadap barangan tersebut.
Ia dibuktikan pada bulan Ogos 2011 apabila harga emas dunia melepasi paras AS$1,800 (RM5,400) seauns buat pertama kalinya malah sejak 10 tahun lalu harga emas telah meningkat sebanyak 700 peratus.

Kenaikan harga pasaran emas telah mendorong minat orang ramai melaburkan wang mereka dengan membeli pelbagai jenis emas untuk dijadikan aset atau bentuk pelaburan pada masa depan.

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TOO MUCH MATHS, NOT ENOUGH HISTORY

A new coaching client of mine was thinking of remortgaging her current house. She bought the house more than 10 years ago, the amount of her mortgage has dropped while the market value of the property has risen considerably. So now, she wants to take advantage of the situation by taking on a higher loan from another bank, paying off the original loan and yes, have the balance at her disposal. “I can use the extra money as capital for investments so I make more money,” she added gleefully.

“Where did you get the idea of remortgaging the house?” I asked her.

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Assalam, since beberapa minggu lepas, kita menyaksikan penurunan ketara harga saham, komoditi dunia termasuklah harga emas dan silver… Bagi yg baru membeli sebelum penurunan harga ni, mmg gelabah dan terbit sedikit rasa kesal kerana menyangka sudah rugi… Tapi bagi yg sudah lama, termasuk lah saya (hehe..) penurunan ni disambut dgn rasa gembira..! heh?! kenapa lak gembira? “meme lar.!”… Sebab peluang ini diambil utk menambah stok lagi…! ataupun menjual emas mereka dan membeli perak (silver) yg lebih lagi kesan penurunannya… kalau sapa2 yang dah beli buku Saudara Ikram Adi, tentu dah tau teknik ‘tukar ganda’ yang cukup femesss tu..! hehe… (sempat promo lagik tu..)

Sebenarnya kenaikan dan penurunan ni perkara biasa dalam dunia komoditi… apa yg penting, kita kenalah lihat jangkamasa sederhana dan panjang, yg pasti menyaksikan kenaikan! Tambahan lagi keadaan ekonomi dunia yg makin tenat skrg ni, maka pilihan kita semakin kecil utk terus survive dalam sistem ekonomi kapitalis ni….

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BE CAREFUL OF DEBTS

Every now and then I would receive a question on mortgage refinancing.“Azizi, should I refinance my mortgage?” They would ask. “I took a mortgage 10 years ago when the interest rate was 6.75 percent. Now that the interest rate has gone down, I want to refinance the mortgage so that my monthly repayments would drop. This will help ease my cash flow. Furthermore, as the value of my house has gone up considerably, I can get a much higher mortgage, which means I will have some money for investments.

What do you think of the idea?” Though the details about the interest rate and the period may differ, the point of the questions remained the same – should they refinance the mortgage to take advantage of the low interest rate and also the rise in value of their property? In other words, should they take on a new larger debt? I told them that the answer is yes and no!Let me explain the ‘yes’ part first. Yes, they should refinance if the intention is to take advantage of the current low interest rate. By doing so, their monthly repayments would drop (assuming that the loan amount remains the same, of course).

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Assalam, tadi aku tambah lagi lagu2 evergreen yang tak jemu didengar… hampir 100 lebih lagu2 kegemaran korang satu masa dulu..memang best..!

Just tengok list lagu2 kat sebelah kanan ko tu…ENJOY!!

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OK, latest update: boleh gak dapatkan baju askar/outdoor di ‘Green Beret’, di Empire Tower (Behind Subang Parade), Subang Jaya. Pilihan pakaian, beg, boots caps etc. Not bad for a small size shop. Tapi harga a bit premium lar, sbb nak bayar sewa kedai lagi etc… Not bad overall….

The best part is, it’s just next door to where I’m working…!!! hehehe…

Salam, mmm…as of writing this, nampaknya performance emas dan silver dalam keadaan naik turun…bagi pelabur/penyimpan2 baru, mmg terasa panik la bila tengok harga turun ke paras lebih rendah sewaktu membeli tempohari, ye dak? Kalau masih ingat, performance emas dan silver sebenar akan dapat dilihat dalam masa 6-12 bulan…kalau lihat hari2 chart tu, mahu sakit jantung..!!

Dan itu pun dah menyalahi konsep sebenar pelaburan emas dan silver.

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Salam, Alhamdulillah…! Emas naik lagi.. RM3880 per 20gm as of writing this…Walaupun menyaksikan penurunan sedikit minggu lepas, kesempatan itu diambil bagi menambah stok emas/silver… Itupun bagi yang tahu tentang sejarah emas ni… bagi yang baru2, mmg panik jugak…tapi jangan risau, itu mmg senario biasa…. yang penting, Istiqomah..!

Mmm…. I’m back to Jakarta again, and went to the same fav place, STC Senayan. Things are getting better there, with more airsoft shops, including one shop focusing on an authentic US Marines merchandise! Lucky Bastards!! hehe…. Not really sure where he got it, but those things look awesome!

Bought a few stuff there…boy, things are no longer cheap there…
If you get down to Jakarta, don’t give this place a miss! It’s right in front of Senayan City, one of the 5 star mall available in this cosmopolitan city….

PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE IMMINENT FINANCIAL COLLAPSE

There is one truth about money: if you live high on the hog on borrowed money, the day will come when your world will come crumbling down and the U.S. has been living high on the hog on borrowed money for too long. Things cannot carry on like this forever. I see no way out for them and actually, even Ben Bernanke (the Chairman of the Federal Reserve) agrees: “The large U.S. current account deficit cannot persist indefinitely because the ability of the United States to make debt service payments and the willingness of foreigners to hold U.S. assets in their portfolios are both limited.”

So now I’d like to share some thoughts about the matter, which may help you make a better decision about money and investments. After all, knowledge is good but there is nothing like money in the bank, or more appropriately in this case, gold in your hands. Being in Malaysia, we are far from where the action is taking place. So we cannot see it, cannot hear it and to some extent, cannot feel the heat from all the upheavals. It is therefore easy to be hoodwinked by the notion that we will be sheltered from any fall-outs from the excesses. Unfortunately, that will not be the case at all.

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