November 2012 - SG Wealth Builder

Month: November 2012

Given the prevalent use of mobile phone, is it possible to earn your first million as an appreneur?

Nowadays, most people carry smart phones and download apps. This represent a good opportunity to make good money from making apps. In fact, with the advent of online technology, the entry barrier to develop an app has been lowered. Nowadays, you don’t need much programming skill to develop a simple app. All you need is a good solid idea that has not been developed as an app and is useful in our daily lives.

Every now and then, you would come across articles on wonder kids who became rich from developing apps. Some of these kids were not even 10 years old when they made their first million! So now everybody, whether you are old or young, has a chance to become rich through developing apps.

You stand a much higher chance earning your first million from developing an app than striking the toto or lotteries. And you don’t need to quit your job to become a full time appreneur either. You can develop apps after work and at your own sweet pace.

If you don’t like the process of developing an

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Retiring in Singapore

sgwealthbuilder

November 19, 2012

Retirement

1 Comment

Recently, on a flight to Japan for work, I watched Andy Lau and Deanie Ip’s A Simple Life. The heartwarming film is based on a true story of a producer and his servant. It is about a relationship between a young master called Roger (Lau) and the servant of the family who raised him, Sister Peach (Ip). I had a lot of mixed feelings after watching the film and decided to blog down my thoughts.

Just like Hong Kong, Singapore is also facing the ageing population issue. To tackle the “silver tsunami”, the government is currently building up the infrastructure, such as nursing homes, community hospitals, training more nurses, doctors and therapists. But I suppose there is so much our government can do, in terms of hardware.

In Singapore, we are still lacking in software to manage the ageing issue. For example, every now and then, we read in the news of elderly who passed away unknown in their homes. Their decomposed were only discovered after their neighbours reported foul stench to the police. I believe as more and more Singaporeans choose to be single, the issue of providing community support to lone seniors will be a problem in the

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Reckless HDB buyers

sgwealthbuilder

November 15, 2012

Property investment; Singapore market;

3 Comments

Lately, one of the fellow bloggers responded to one of my previous posting which criticized him for promoting unethical values in The Finance SG. I always believe in differences in views and accepted that different people can have different opinions and outlook in life.

But promoting unethical values that border on criminal act of false information declaration is another matter altogether (the culprit actually lied to the authority and gave fake information for delaying the signing of agreement so that he can use his girlfriend’s December CPF bonuses to pay for the downpayment).

The culprit got the cheek to claim he got the money to pay the downpayment. Fine then go ahead and pay in cold hard cash please. By delaying the payment, the blogger is actually depriving another deserving Singaporean couple of a chance to own a HDB flat. My sister-in-law is among those who are affected by such scumbags.

This fellow needs a reality check but obviously he is still a student and has not stepped into the working world.

And to top it off, his younger sister of 21 years old is also applying for a HDB flat after getting into a relationship of 7 months. No

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My investment adventure with YHM (formerly known as China Enersave)

sgwealthbuilder

November 14, 2012

Stocks

2 Comments

I invested in YHM, formerly known as China Enersave, since 2008. Recently, I noted that it is currently one of the top traded stock in Singapore stock market. I would like to share with my readers my investment experience on this stock.

Back in 2008, China Enersave was a company that specialized in building and operating biomass generation plants in China. The business model was good as it collected waste biomass from farmers in China and used the waste as feedstock to generate electricity.

However, instead of focussing on the renewable energy sector, the company made the terrible mistake of investing in one coal powerplant. The management team hope to generate revenue from the coal powerplant to fuel the expansion of its biomass plants. Apparently this strategy did not work out as the fluctuating coal prices hurt their revenue from the coal powerplant. Second mistake by the company was that it had diversified it’s business ventures too much and had lost focus. At one point, it had 7 to 10 business associates/subsidiaries, ranging from property investment, renewable energy and marine scaffolding.

Because of these factors, coupled with the financial crisis in 2008-2009, the company was on the brink of being

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Lending money to friends

Recently, one of my army acquaintances texted me to borrow money from me. He is one of my reservist army bunkmates and I got to know him only a few years back (both of us were from different units during active times).

When I received his message for help, I was a bit apprehensive to lend him the money. This is because my father was hospitalized recently and my wife is a full-time homemaker. And I have a baby daughter. So I thought to myself if I had any spare cash, my priority would go to my immediate family first.

After some thinking, I texted him back and explained my financial situation to him. I also suggested to lend him $50 instead. He understood my plight and politely turned down my suggestion.

Gold and Silver Bullion

I suppose most of us would face financial difficulties at certain points in our lives. Sometimes we really need a helping hand from close friends to tide us over obstacles. I believe in this case, my friend genuinely needed my help but unfortunately, I could not support his request due to my family circumstances. I wish him all the best and hope things would

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