dinarpmkum

First of all, Happy Merdeka to all Malaysians. Yup, we love peace and prosperity as mentioned by our beloved prime minister. 55th years of independence would not come true without unity of people from various races. No doubt, we Malaysians are from various background. Yet, we have come together, good or bad, to shape our nation until what we already achieve today. Anyway, Finance Malaysia hopes our nation can transform itself by realizing the 2020 vision "Developed Nation". Just when everyone was celebrating today, I came across one news titled " Mat Rempit to help fight crime " and my writing instinct once again being activated. Fighting crime by collaborating with Mat Rempit? This is the first reaction I believed many readers would asked!!! Don't we know that Mat Rempit were those who rides their motorcycle dangerously? Don't we know that Mat Rempit were those riders that endangered the life of other road users? And, I really don't know how and why our...

I don't know about you but I am really fatigued by the number of similar talent reality shows for the past few years. Finally, one that has a better concept and a very engaging group of 4 brilliant master musicians / singers / composers / producers as judges (team leaders). You must have watched The Voice before, but somehow, the mix is just right, the participants generally are sincere and genuine. For once, its really their voices and not the packaging. Here are some of the highlights: It is not brilliant to be able to sing almost exactly like Teresa Teng, but she has certainly a lot more to offer. Try not to be touched. His range is unbelievable, just lifts you up. Jazz singing in Chinese ... you better believe it. Like Dinah Washington / Sarah Vaughn reincarnated into a Chinese lady. In terms of voice texture and potential, I think she should win.

As Japanese restaurants go, its not a difficult task to locate good ones, as seriously there is very little cooking with good Japanese food. It all has more to do with getting the  best produce, best cuts and delivered with sincerity and care. One more Japanese restaurant that fits the bill perfectly is Hanazen @ Jaya One . You may choose to order the sets, which are more than reasonably priced to get a good taste of what Hanazen has to offer. Most sets are under RM40.  However, to get a real good taste of the best of Hanazen and what chef/GRO Mun Mun has to offer, go for the omakase ( chef's choice), it will set you back RM250-300pp but its certainly worth it, just the very best of what they have on offer and more. The sashimi platter might not look like much but it offers the best of what they have, isn't that what you want, the best on the menu?  This was quite decadent, Kobe beef, Grade 5 (top level), marbling 9, crispy fish skin plus foie gras.  When...

Addressing the issue, which Finance Malaysia thinks was critical at a time of globalization heats up, Malaysia needs to formulate and take action immediately without much hesitation. But, before we jump into action, we need to know the root of the problem. Right? Exactly, we must find out the reason why we left behind other countries in terms of GDP per capita , which refers to the country's gross domestic products at purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita. According to Wikipedia, it was the value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given year divided by the average population for the same year. Why not using nominal GDP to measure national wealth? Comparison of national wealth are also frequently made on the basis of nominal GDP, which does not reflect differences in the cost of living. Using a PPP basis is arguably more useful when comparing generalized differences in living standards on the whole between nations because PPP takes into account the re...

I was browsing through The Edge's Options and they featured the president & CEO of Davidoff Group, Hans-Kristian Hoejsgaard, talking about smoking cigars. Its all fine and dandy until he shared some interesting tips in "Doing It Right" when smoking cigars. I literally fell off my chair. Just because someone is CEO of a big cigar company, do not take their views as "the bible". His opinions would have elicited a heated counter argument from me. I am not a snob but I like my cigars with a passion having smoked them for nearly 20 years. My views may not be better but certainly, let's weigh the views properly. Cigar aficionados please contribute. The CEO said: a) The most important thing is storage at the correct humidity. A humidor is necessary even in countries like ours. If you don't have a humidor, keep your cigars in a cool, dark drawer but bear in mind they will not stay fresh for very long. Comment: The most important thing is not the humidor. ...

After AmMutual's asia pacific dividend fund early this month, AmIslamic also don't want to lag behind its sister company by introducing AmGlobal Sukuk . The Fund aims to provide capital appreciation by investing primarily in Sukuk both locally and globally. To achieve the investment objective, the Fund will undertake active management to enhance and optimize returns from investing in sovereign, quasi-sovereign and corporate Sukuk. The sectorial weightings may be adjusted to maximize the performance. There is no minimum rating for a Sukuk purchased or held by the Fund. What's so special about this Sukuk Fund? Value-add of the Fund is derived from active tactical duration management, yield curve positioning and credit spread arbitrage . Credit spread arbitrage and yield curve positioning is part of relative value approach that involves analysis of general economic and market conditions and the use of models to analyze and compare expected returns as well a...

The taxpayer stepped up to the plate in the fall of 2008 to underwrite General Motors and FNMA and FMAC requiring a commitment of $ 250 billion plus.  We are now approaching round two.  Government Motors, as most people now call GM, is rapidly on a glide path to another bankruptcy, which will cost taxpayers approximately $ 50 billion and require, at a minimum, another $ 25 billion to protect the unions' juicy benefits.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have an unlimited lifeline and their losses, now over $ 200 billion, are essentially unlimited.  But both GM and FNMA and FMAC have created many more millionaires as government-appointed bureaucrats, lawyers and accountants feast at the taxpayer's expense.  This is what happens when the government gets involved. Europe has its own version of this.  Propping up banks in Spain, France and Germany has simply made matters worse in the Eurozone and has weakened, not strengthened, the banks. GM and Fannie and Freddie and...

Music plays a huge part of our memories. As in any balik kampung event, its our memories and nostalgia that fill the air. So, here are my favourite keroncong tunes by Kartina Dahari for listening pleasure over this festive period. Drive dafe. Many Malaysians (including younger Malays even) have not heard of Kartina Dahari. Well, she was one of the top singers in the 60s and 70s. She was known for her keroncong songs. Don't ask me how I know of her songs, heard it on the radio when I was much much younger but you could hardly get a copy of her recordings on CDs. Keroncong styled songs are not everyone's cup of teh tarik , for me it struck a chord, you need to slow everything down, relax and take it easy and go with the flow of the songs - it soothes the soul. She is from Singapore although she lives in London most of the time now with her son. I love her voice, her delivery and her keroncong songs were highly accessible. Whenever I listen to her songs, I think of my younger d...

Never has the cliche been more meaningful when it comes to designing a company's logo. The two best logos for big companies have to be Coca Cola and Google, and they both cost the company $0 because it was done in house. cost: $35 Nike co-founder Phil Knight purchased the famous swoosh logo from graphic design student Carolyn Davidson in 1971. Knight was teaching an accounting class at Portland State University, and he heard Davidson talking about not being able to afford oil paints in the halls. That's when he offered her $2/hour to do charts, graphs, and finally a logo. "I don't love it, but maybe it will grow on me," Knight said, after doling out $35 for the swoosh. I mean, seriously Phil, the company has grown so big, if it was me I would have offered the designer $1m bonus when your net worth started surging past $500m. The swoosh was a great design, its cool, signify speed and upward mobility and agility. cost: $33,000 Paul Rand was paid $33,000 for c...

Much of the political debate today is simply a question of whether one thinks capitalism is a good idea or not.  Many westerners seem to believe that the profit motive is fundamentally evil. Defenders of free enterprise are often thought to be morally suspect.  This is where the real struggle is being waged in today's politics. The discussion about Bain Capital brings into sharp focus the debate on the merits of capitalism.  Should people risk their own capital to make money or should, instead, the government take people's wealth and 'make investments' with it.  That is what this debate is really all about. A similar debate about free markets rages about health care.  Should a panel of educated and enlightened people appointed by polticians decide on your health care or should you purchase the health care and the insurance that you need and make such decisions yourself with consultation with health care professionals?  That some people are poor seems to wei...

While valuations are still reasonable and liquidity still ample in global markets, there is going to be a confluence of events that could derail even decent or fair valuations. Global markets have been through a pretty bumpy ride so far this year, thanks to the Greece worsening on/off debacle. Every single time, the EU leaders would convene another hastily reworked package to stave the bleeding patient. Now we have not one bleeding patient but another coming into ICU (Spain), the hospital is running out of blood and nerves are shot. To a large extent, we did not see the boil over yet because the US economy showed signs of recovery even though unemployment kind of stopped improving over the last two months, however retail spending and housing there showed signs of life in the lake of death.  Hugely uncertain political developments and big macro boil overs seem to be on the cards as the year winds down. If the US starts to look shaky again, all bets are off for a sustained markets ...

"Rule No. 1: never lose money; rule No. 2: don't forget rule No. 1" Source: The Tao of Warren Buffett "Investors should remember that excitement and expenses are their enemies. And if they insist on trying to time their participation in equities, they should try to be fearful when others are greedy and greedy only when others are fearful." Source: Letter to shareholders, 2004 "The line separating investment and speculation, which is never bright and clear, becomes blurred still further when most market participants have recently enjoyed triumphs. Nothing sedates rationality like large doses of effortless money. After a heady experience of that kind, normally sensible people drift into behavior akin to that of Cinderella at the ball. They know that overstaying the festivities ¾ that is, continuing to speculate in companies that have gigantic valuations relative to the cash they are likely to generate in the future ¾ will eventually bring on pumpkins and mice...

If you mention any other kind of investing other than "value investing", they'd seem like bad words next to value investing. Thanks to Warren Buffett, value investing has almost reached the nirvana of acceptance by all and sundry as the safest and most consistent long term performance tool.  Value investing to pay less for something. The off shoot of value investing is something called growth investing. It has the same basis as value investing but is willing to pay a lot more for potential. As long as growth is evident and in the works, these investors will not mind riding the bull in a growth stock. Beware of growth stocks because they are very easy to like, and you can get totally smitten with them. Strong growth stocks usually have a strong retail element in them - its like discovering something new (assuming chewing gum has never been invented),like chewing gum and marketing it to the world. Your growth potential is enormous. Two of the most fantastic growth stocks...

Launched on the same day with AmMutual new fund, the CIMB Islamic Al-Azzam Equity Fund is an open-ended fund that aims to achieve consistent capital growth over the medium to  long term. The asset allocation strategy for this Fund is as follows:  between 70% to 98% (both inclusive) of the Fund’s NAV will be invested in Shariah-compliant Malaysian equities; and  up to 30% of the Fund’s NAV in other Shariah-compliant investments and Shariah-compliant liquid assets, with at least 2% of the Fund’s NAV to be maintained in Shariah-compliant liquid assets. For this Fund, the investment into Sukuk must satisfy a minimum credit rating of “A3” or “P2” by RAM or equivalent rating by MARC; “BBB” by S&P or equivalent rating by Moody’s or Fitch. In line with its objective, the investment  strategy and policy of the Fund is to rebalance the portfolio to suit market conditions in order to reduce short-term volatility and provide consistency in capital gro...

Wanted to diversify your investment portfolio especially on dividend based investments? You may look into this newly launched fund by AmMutual named AmAdvantage Asia Pacific ex-Japan Dividend Fund, a  fund managed by AmInvestment Services Berhad. The Fund is a feeder fund, which will invest into the   HSBC Global Investment Funds  – Asia  Pacific ex Japan Equity High Dividend (the “Target Fund”), a sub-fund of the  HSBC Global  Investment Funds domiciled in Luxembourg.  The Fund seeks to provide income and long term capital growth by investing in the Target Fund  which has an investment focus on Asia Pacific ex Japan equities. The Fund seeks to achieve its investment objective by investing a minimum of 95% of the  Fund’s NAV in the distribution share class in the HSBC Global Investment Funds – Asia Pacific  ex Japan Equity High Dividend at all times. This implies that the Fund has a passive strategy. More about the Target Fund HSB...