Enlightenment on Investment..

Having gone thr the Financial Crisis that the whole world is going thr, I can't help thinking how foolish I was to have put all my investment into a single Basket (Aka Prudential) who not only disappoint me mainly because their investment are so slow and I wasn't enlighted on how to maximise my return except the Agent know how to maximise their return...(Agent always ask u to invest with them forever and ever....True only if the charges are reasonable and dividend are given out)

I failed to realise that they Charges me a 5% Admin Charges + an Annual Fee for investing with them which amount to 1.5%, add in a bid spread of 5% and ZERO Dividends given out.. Do the math on a large sum of investment and you know how much I am lossing out especially when all prices now are so low...I lost almost 30% of my Capital.(1.5% x 4 year is alot and the funds are not performing)

The Good news is that I discover a whole new world of investment tools that are way way better than Prudential. With a friend enlightenment and doing my own research, I realise that I could actually make my money work for me...

The Answer is in Stocks and share, Unit Trust. The Latter is an basket of share investment tools while the former is an investment into a company.

The Investment Cost is minimum,with brokeage fee amount to $25 or 0.28% and no Annual Charges and Dividend Distributions...Yield Can be as high as 10%. It a win-win situation for both investor and broker.

Will start a blog entry series on invesment and my thoughts...probably to share more of mistakes I made in the past as well...

So what Enlightenment Have I gain over this Crisis Saga?

1. Warren Buffett Famous quote " Never Loss money" and Never Forgot this rule

2. Build a diversify Portfolio.

3. Invest for the long Term (3-4 year i Meant, not forever and ever)

4. Set a Target prices to realise your profits (U have to gain something and this is not paper gain I am talking about)

5. Learn the trend, property and bank stock usually ride up rally first...

6. Do Dollor Cost Averaging

7. Invest in Blue Chip stocks and of course company with potential and good capital

8. Investment must have liquidity. Never invest in something that lock u up for years and cause u to loss money. e.g. Structure products, Insurance Endownment

9. Cost of investment. (Remember insurance ILP - Investment link policy charges mortality charges, Insurance Charge + 1.5% Annual Fee + 5% Bid Spread....)

10. Save as much as possible to build opportunity funds and stay invested always

What a painful way to learn all this...but lucky fact is that I still have time to remedy this.....lol

Summer Movies : Taking of Peham 123

Heard that this was a remade of an old movie shot in the 1974. I have never seen the early version. Was free so ask a friend out to enjoy a movie. The Taking of Peham 123 (Aka name of the train they hijack)

Cast

It Star, John Travolta as Bernard Ryder / Dennis Ford / Mr. Blue. These are the name he use throughout the movie to different person. He is the one who hijack Peham 123 and put the president career at risk as well as those of Denzel Washington at risk as well. He wasn't extremely smart here. He seem like a sadist here....not afraid to die. But I must say, He will real good here as the Villian here.

Sad thing I intro the Villian in the show first. Denzel Washington as Walter Garber, the New York City subway dispatcher, His job is to ensure train get moving and regulate the traffic along NYC busy train or subway system. He was damn "Suay" to have encounter John Travolta and having such a big responsibilty place under his shoulder. But he seem to have aged quite alot here in this show and look really fat. (See picture)

John Turturro as Camonetti, the lieutenant of the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD of hostage negotiations.He is the one who provided the comedic moment here in the show. His Face does seem to point to a career in a funny role...

James Gandolfini as The Mayor of New York City, who is under heavy pressure to address the hostage crisis. He seem like a "bo Chay" here....wonder is this a typical politician behaviour in the States or it just for the movies? lol

Story
Simpy Story I must say. Started of with the regular day to day event. Then the hijacker came to the station and just hijack a train which happen to be called Peham 123. It really make me wonder is it really that easy to hijack a train in NYC? pointing a gun is all it takes

Once the Train is hijacked, the hostage are the focus of the story. one particular guy is off interest as he manage to leave is notebook on, with an internet connection to stream live video. How stupid of the hijacker not to realise that could be a potential downfall for them...(Lame)

They demanded for a sum of money and will start Killing hostage if they demand is not met within a certain timeframe. Here the Depatcher will be killed next....(not shown though)

The Police start to send backup down the tunnel. Some misfired happens and some of the hijacker got shot....making John really upset.

All the while he is maintaing communication with Denzel Washington via the train comm system. and The latter are having help for the hostage negotiations from the experts.But Seem like only Denzel can keep John occupied. lol

After going through a series of process to get the money the hijacker wanted. Denzel Washington wss task to bring the money to him. He also became the unlikely hero as he know the operation really well and got the John and got him killed. Some scene are really not understandable as during the ending portion, when Denzel Washington was holding a gun at John. The Police really took their own sweet time to get to him....lol

Worth the Money?
Well. It turn out better than expected. But nothing really fantastic though. Predictable storyline but with strong acting and good pace overall. I give it a 6/10. Go for it as it is enjoyable though not a must see.

Wedding Dinners - Jun 2009

June is one of the Poorest Month I have in 2009, Not that I have save lesser this month or my investment are losing more money (They are still...due mostly to by ignorance)...It is that I have 2 Wedding Dinner this month and they are all at relatively "higher Graded" Hotels...

3th June, was the First one.....Wahlih's Wedding....One of my STM Collegues. Not really that close to him, but we do work quite closely together and sometime got into some disagreement, but that the nature of working life....after things are resolved , we are still friends..lol

Was really happy for him, expected this to come sooner or later...one thing I must say...is that he manage to "Score" a goal for his managers.....(Aka....say good words to them lo)...which may be good for "promotion"...lol.....Gald he was promoted today into a next stage in life....and I suspect....the next promotion....(a cute baby) is on the way....soon....I think...lol

Next up, was on 14th June, right after Mizuno Mt Faber Run, on the evening....Benny See's Wedding....Been a long time since I met him, a sudden phone call and I realise that his big day is coming....and it was @ Raffles Swiss otel...another high grade hotel.....

Looking at his menu, I know it got to be at least >$1000+. Hopefully my red-pack is enough....He only tell me it's 1000+, not sure of the exact amount....

For the first wedding dinner I have an abalone to myself......it quite a big one ...lol....Usually I only get to have say 2 bowls of Shark-fin....they have both here....

A Cup of well wishes to the married couple.....hopefully we still keep in touch....as that what happen when one get married....they become busy with family life and could find lesser time with their friends...(An Opinion which I experience and see it happen b4)...

A thank-you speech from the couple.....and that end the wedding dinner....where we have a wonderful dinner.. The food are not bad....especially the shark-fin, Abalone and the dessert....mango sago....yum yum!!

Let's hope they post me the photos taken by the professional photographer soon.....

Summer Movies : Night at the Museum 2

The Sequel to Night at the Muesum, this time round focus on another museum in DC, The Smithsonian. Though I have been to DC years ago, have never been to this muesum before, plus I am not really a museum person....and seldom visit any during travelling.

Story

Nothing particularly new with the story, in order to continue the story where it first left off, they started with the Natural History Museum closing for renovation and the exhibits moving to the Smithsonian. However, the Tablet that give them life will not move there and not all the exhibit will go over.

However, the tablet was stolen by the monkey (Dixter) and now the exhibit @ Smithsonian are alive and attacking them (Aka the NHM's exhibits)...This start the story for the whole 145mins film

Characters/Cast

Ben Stiller is the main Character here, Larry Daley, here, his job is to rescue all the exhibit and bring them back to the Natural History Museum with slight help from his son and the beautiful lady with her...which he kinda fall in love with...

Theodore Roosevelt (Robin William) has a lesser presence here, cos he was not brought over to the Smithsonian and with the tablet stolen, he was reduce to a talking scrupture with half a body...

The bad guy here is Hank Azaria as Kahmunrah who according to the film details also acted as /The Thinker/Abraham Lincoln.
Here he is kinda stupid, wanted to take over the world and open the door to bring in his evil friends (Birdmen) from another dimension, using the tablet. Of course he failed to succeed, mainly due to his stupidness...lol...Also the Statue of Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial came to life and walk over to save them from those birdy guys...He ended up banish to the underworld...via the door which he opened...

His company of evil-doing includes

Alain Chabat as Napoleon Bonaparte and Christopher Guest as Ivan The Terrible (Grey guy)

Both are really funny and stupid, Napoleon here appear to be a coward and a cry baby...

Even Darth Varder and Oscar...came to audition to join them ....

The Only Lady in the show....I meant Watchable ones...

The most interesting to watch character must be Amy Adams as Amelia Earhart. The First women pilot. She still think she is in that Era. She make the show worth watching. She got to fly Larry home.....though she know that she cannot be with Larry. She Later appear at the Natural Museum as a patron....how interesting...

Summary

The show was't very bad, it is just not as funny as the original and though they have added in more

characters into this one, still it did not make it funny enough. Most of the jokes are not funny at all,

though you would be quite satisfied with the amount of CG put into this one....make me wonder how

advanced in CG we have become. I hope Amy Adams goes on to be a big star in the future, she does show potential both as a serious actress and a comedian...lol

A 5/10 will be good enough for the show....

Boxoffice 2009 so Far

1. Transformer 2 - $350Million and counting..Review coming right up

2. Up - $276Million - Yet to seen this one yet....probably in Sep

3. Star Trek - $253Million. Seen it ...Best show so far...

4. The Hangover - $227Million - Comedy, yet to seen, wonder how come it is doing so well

5. Monster Vs Alien - $197Million - Crappy....

6. X-Men Origin - Wolverine - $179Million, Popcorn movie...

7. Night at the Museum 2 - $171Million, Ok but not funny enough

8. Fast and Furious 4 - $155Million, Love the Cars!!

9. Paul Blart: Mall Cop - 146Million, Funny

10. Taken - $145Million, Yet to Seen

I suspect another 2-3 movies will be out of the Top 10, in the coming weeks, With Ice Age 3, Harry Potter and probably GI Joe taking over soon....

I become a Supporter @ Sundown Marathon...lol

I have actually wanted to join this run, but failed to register for it, didn't expect the run to close so early and the 42Km to be fully registered in such a short time...Singaporean have really turn more healthy.

Kinda promise a Chicken Friend to support it in it first ever 42Km Run, and since he asked me that day, and with a promise of breakfast...I was thinking to myself, why not go and take photos as well...Set-off around 1015pm on a cab...The Run start at 2359.

Was this early so that Chicken for do it's bag deposit and also his businesses before running...The Queue was located at the far-end (Kinda like opposite the official ground where they are showing some movies). Since we are quite early, (11+) the queue was relative short

It was kinda like a big sports event, they even have this big screen setup for supporter of their friends to "Tog" through the night awaiting for their arrival. The Movie they are showing is Ironman, Transformer and Incredible Hunk... Since I have seen all the movies..and worry that by seating down here in the warm weather, I will fall asleep, I proceed to Pasir ris to catch a late night show...Monster Vs Alien...lol (read my review on this show though)

Lots of people are snapping photos just before the race...I saw this famous blogger "Fatbird". However, that chicken friend whom I am suppose to take photos of...is MIA, near the toilet area....u can guess what he is doing...

The flag-off was on time and lot of the runners are already packed-up at the starting line...FYI, the 42km and 84Km Starting line is different, and there are quite a few confused soul around...

The 84Km starting and finishing line is located at the opposite end...(42km is infront, 84Km is at the back nearer to the beach)

To Keep spirit high,they even get the volunteers into spin-up some druming rythums....noisy though...lol

11.59pm, the runners slowly make their way cross the starting point while registering their BIB chip timing,....It's quite a huge turnout, but though not as much compare to Standard Chartered...

It took quite a while for the line to cross the starting points...I guess some of them are probably late....(I wonder why they can be late for a midnight event)

The MCs are encouraging the runners.....as they start their engines....

While I proceed to my midnight show @ Downtown East, I went over to catch what going on at the site where they are showing the movies....What a huge crowd @ midnight..I wonder how many are still left some 6hrs later....(i.e, how many are still awake??)

After finishing the show @ downtown east, as the night is still younger, I decided to walk all the way to Changi Beach....just to keep myself awake...and to past time. Walk from downtown east all the way to upper Changi...(It not too far though)...and I am already seeing runners running past Downtown East, Time : 3am...wow these runner are fast. Photos above taken some 1hr later...

@ 36Km , Time Checked, ~4.30am. These fellow are super fit....they are on their way to finishing the marathon in about 5hrs...and one trend I notice is that they are really young, kinda like in the Army....age...

SIA Engineering Company, having walked about 2hrs now....from 2.45 - 5am, 30mins to destination...

Reach the finishing line at about 5.30am, I expected Chicken to come in around 6hrs 30min - 45mins...cos that about the same timing I did for my 42Km...lol..While waiting, These are some of the finisher photos I took..

Slow and Steady....win the race...!!

This super-tired guy .....is too weak to even lift his head...(U got to run it to know how difficult it can be to finish a marathon)

Was surprise many people actually choose to run together, can be tough as everyone have different speed, furthermore it such a long distance...kudos to them for their training together...

The Ladies are not the weaker sex here, they came in faster than some of the very fit guys...They definitely beat me hand-down with this timing....

I suspect most spend quite a bit of time walking to the finishing line only to give their final burst toward the end...a time of > 6hrs indicate walking...lol

6.43 is the time with the most participate arriving at their destination...

It, finally make it to the 42km Marathon....proud as he is....right now....

It's look like a really exciting run, I just hope I got to experience it. The Medal and Shirt they given out are fantastics....I be there in 2010...anyone joining me? at least to help me take photos mah...lol

Summer Movies : Monster and Alien

The First CG Toon Released by Dreamwork Animation this year. But I must say I was quite disappointed with it. The Story is just too simply and though the CG and drawing + the voice over is good, it just feel like ..."been there...done that" .....I catch this show while waiting for a "Chicken" running it's first ever night run...

Story

Simple and predictable. About a lady about to get married, hit by a metoerite and become super huge and was capture by Human Scientist.

She met fellow monsters in the lab and got to know them.

The Alien, came to conquer Earth, and the last weapon they have against it was the Monsters.

The Heroine, finally have to fight the Alien, and end up defeating it

Thus start the story...about these misfits, saving the world and making a fool of themselves while doing that, I must say the jokes are way too Lame to make me laugh...

and the ending kinda suggest a sequel, but I think it is better for Dreamworks to start thinking of a credible and good storyline instead of rely on Stars' voices and 3D to attract audience....(We are'nt that stupid anymore..lol)

The only saving grace for this show was the highly-detailed CG rendering...and of course the Star-studded Voicing Cast...

Voice-Cast

Reese Witherspoon as Susan Murphy, aka Ginormica

Seth Rogen as B.O.B. (Bicarbonate Ostylezene Benzoate)

Hugh Laurie as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D

Rainn Wilson as Gallaxhar

Will Arnett as The Missing Link