Yes! After so many years, finally our majestic North-South Expressway is extended with the 3rd lane.

I am as excited as any other Malaysians, really...but wait, it may not be as safe as it seems to be according to this BMW 5 Series contractor.

So guys, try to be careful on the road ya.

The Malaysian market plunged further in mid March 2008 after my previous call to pump in more capital to invest in the market (unit trust). And this is the time I topped up more than one-third of my initial capital for both PFEDF and PCSF as lauded by all fundamentalist gurus (e.g Warren Buffett, Pat Dorsey...etc) to buy when no one is interested.

Ok, I did not top up just to heed their call, but to perform dollar-cost averaging to buy in more units at dirt cheap price. Reason? The funds are near to announce dividend distribution:)

So I was pleased when I found out today that my portfolio has twisted its fate from suffering a total of 35% loss to the current 1.74% profit. Power of DC averaging! By the time I received the distribution (which is normally more than 8%), with the growth anticipated, my portfolio would be hitting a healthy 20% in ROI.

This also meant that since the downturn in Jan'08 till now, the growth of the funds are approximately 20% - 30%. So if you have chip in then, congratulations to you! Nonetheless, this is just the start, to me the buying signal is still strong, especially in the long run:) Lookout for PRSEC and the others here. At least for me, I will go for PRSEC next.

Ok, I am also hunting for reliable agents in Penang, KL and JB. If you are interested, please feel free to drop me a mail at gnustiy@yahoo.com.

In the coming entry, I will explicitly talk about how to select a good fund. Stay tune!

For those who wants to use their EPF to invest in unit trust, this is considered as a good news. Previously, one would need to have more than RM50,000 in Account I to be eligible for this scheme and can invest a minimum of RM1,000 up to 20% of the saving amounts that exceed the RM50,000.

Starting from February 1, 2008, the minimum saving of RM50,000 which applies to all has been changed with respect to the table below - each age level would have its own minimum savings limit in their Account 1.

This is a positive change knowing that not many people are able to accumulate RM50,000 at an early stage in their EPF account. With this, the younger generations are able to invest earlier and reap the effect of compounded ROI. Based on the table above, you can use the following formula to calculate how much you can invest your KWSP money into a privately managed fund. 

For example, a 25 year-old with savings up to RM20,000 in Account I would be able to invest a maximum of:

(RM20,000 - RM9,000) x 20% = RM11,000 x 20%

                                        = RM2,200

But still, withdrawal can only be done once every 3 months and the minimum withdrawal remains at RM1,000.

For more info, please visit the KWSP website.

I was writing and uploading this post using the Jurassic era 56K internet line. Why? Because after years of deploying the broadband service (which actually is constricted these days, if compared to our neighboring country’s broadband who is running at 6Mbps.), it didn’t hit TM’s leader’s exceptional corporate business mind to set up a port at my hometown – Kluang.

Kluang, although many may not have heard of this place, is definitely not an “ulu kampong” area nor a remote slow-moving “pekan” where you need to travel km after km of winding road snaking through the oil palm estate before reaching. It is a TOWN, alias BANDARAYA, for god’s sake. No wonder after applying Streamyx for 2 months, not a soul has turned up with the modem till my father went back to question them. 

TM Customer Service: Encik ada apa hal?

Dad: Sudah 2 bulan, tapi tak ada orang datang pasang apa-apa pun, kenapa?

TM CS: Tunggu sekejap ye, biar saya “check”. After  2 minutes. 

TM CS: Encik, you punya tempat tak ada port, tak boleh pasang lah.

Dad: Takda port, kenapa you punya agen minta saya sain kontrak?

TM CS: Siapa suruh encik apply?

Dad: … 

WTF? How could the customer service agent treat customer like that? And, obviously, there is a huge miscommunication within this communication giant (only in Malaysia).

So again, the way I see it, the karma runs in circle:

Less applicants à wait till there is sufficient demand before adding ports à customer wait and get frustrated à customer withdraw applications à demand quota remains low à No port à No customer à No business à Company bankrupt…. 

CEO of TMNET(and yes, I couldn't get your name because the TMNET website took like hours to load through my 56K modem.), is this how your corporation is running business? Actually, I wouldn’t be surprise as you have predecessors like PROTON and MAS. I am just chagrin that you didn’t learn a nickel from them. *shake my head and sigh.

If so, I have a prophecy for you from Zion: TMNET is going to go down real soon, like the 013 service which was beaten terribly out of business a decade ago, once the other telcos offer broadband service with a competitive price (like the wireless broadband launched by TM's sister company - Celcom). And by the way in this era where everybody owns a cellphone, who needs a line? 1Mbps vs 6Mbps…pft

Is that air that you are breathing?

I am going for Broadband 1800...:p 

After 2 weeks of hard work tuning those 16 parameters and finally got the best result. I realised the model used all along by the datuk-datuk and nenek-nenek moyang before me is WRONG!

After those late nights without watching America's Next Top Model, Heroes...

Those early mornings where I will jog to school 7am, bath and reach the lab god damn early at 8.30am.

After 24/7 sitting front of the bloody PC for weeks, tweaking the variables till I nearly get RSI after Bells Palsy...

The moment I confirmed that the model was wrong, I was like:

ps:cmos, thanks for the pic. It somehow resonate with my feeling now. kena stun + bash + watever ultimate.

Following my previous post (When It's Time to Sell, Sell), which was before the second global market plunge in January 2008, here I am again after the long hiatus as I was undegoing some transitions for the past few months. This time I am going to convince you to dig out all the cash you have been keeping in the Milo tin container (or biscuit tin, whatever.) and put it to good use - it's time to do some shopping!

Despite the negative sentiments, if you have some moolah to spare which you are able to put aside for long term, you can now chip into some funds which are being offered at a reasonably low (discounted) price.

Some of my favourites:

1. PDSF: Promising annual dividend.

2. PRSEC: Aggressive return in terms of capital gain, earned 37% from this fund within a year. Give out good dividend as well. Next on my list to top up.

3. PFEDF: Slow and steady in uptrend market. If managed well, I would have attain 30% just by switching fund. Last year's dividend is 8% - 15%. I am still buying in.

4. PCSF: If the bull starts charging, you will not be able to catch this fella. So, chip in now when the price is really low. I am still buying in.

Of course, if you have one lump sum to spare. Do not invest all at once, because you do not know when the market will hit the global minima. Thus you do not know if you will get a cheaper bargain the very next day. So, invest in batches, exercise strategic pricing, wisely. The same thing if you are diving directly into the stock market nowadays.

Adios, amigos! 

ps: For my dear clients, I will help to support the portfolio monitoring spread sheet FOC :)

Still working in the lab at this hour, like the good ol' days in Al-Terror.

My sup ask if I want to participate in a conference in Salt Lake City in May. So soon? I was barely 3 months old here, dude.

So here I am, applying my idea in my experiment. Crossing my fingers, hoping for the best. Hopefully, I have some salient outcomes for my paper and I am able to make it before the deadline.

Adios amigos!

Heard it's a 50/50 between MCA and DAP as of 10pm in Mengkibol...Come on...UNOFFICIALLY, DAP won! (11.19pm) It's either someone out there don't want to admit defeat or they are too slow to react. DAP won in Mengkibol. (1.51am)

The CEO of Semi-Value Inc is officially going to retreat to his ranch in Australia...10.05pm. Happy 72nd Birthday:)

Awaiting for his fate as well...10.20pm. Little Ong is quite lucky this time...10.39pm

Nurul Izzah Anwar won against Shahriezat...10.26pm. (WTF, 14 uncounted ballot boxes emerged out of nowhere. (12.00am) 

What about the AP Queen? She is lucky too.

UNOFFICIALLY, Koh Tsu Koon is out as of 8.27pm. Confirmed 11.34pm.

UNOFFICIALLY, Skudai has fallen to DAP, Dr Boo. 11.26pm. Confirmed 11.34pm.

A BIG BREACH IN BN's STRONGHOLD in JOHOR.

I am glad I participated in the GE this round, and make a difference.

~~*~~

Stay cool, stay calm, stay home. Young bloods, don't let this go to waste. Let no one has the reason to declare emergency. Peace.

I was watching closely on the polling results at half past eight...

And I captured this speech from the IGP on the electronic media:

Minutes later the same channel reported 2 cases of phantom voters exposed by the public...

It's like the IGP is telling the whole universe:

To my ears...it's merely like:

My dear BLACKie...I hope you would heed my advice:

The GE phenomenons:

• Representatives that we do not recognize or know of his/her existence pop up like mushrooms after the rain, like the corridors launched by Pak Lah. *lol.

Do you know Chua Tee Yong? The son of the ex-Health Minister who demonstrated his super karmasutra skills in front of the entire nation. I wouldn't know this fella if not for his folly dad.

• Out of nowhere, the multi-talented to-be leaders will be walking along with normal Bolehland commoners, shaking hands, hugging, and patting people's shoulders in wet markets, pasar malams, hawker centers...etc.

• Some of them would even show off their hidden talents in making teh tarik, roti canai and frying char koay teow.

Khir selling mee after the Broomy award.

• Vulgar and lewd jokes came to a halt. To reminisce a few darndest quotes by our politicians: Batu Gajah setiap bulan pun BOCOR! Boleh nampak TEROWONG.

• Mat rempits helping out with the campaigns.

• Voters name missing from the system after participating in the GE for nth times. *Sigh.

• Sudden change of polling points. *Baffled.

Poor Mr Goh (69-year-old) has to travel all the way to Penang alone to vote despite the fact that he has been voting in Negeri Sembilan for all his life.

~~*~~

Despite the fast and smooth polling process this morning, I was wondering why the EC needs to station 6 buggers in a polling station (not to mention several polices guarding outside.)

One guy will check the IC and read the voters name aloud, the ticket ripper will tear the voting tickets and the person beside will help to fold the tickets (like we don't know how lar.) Then, there is this young pretty lady sitting in the middle staring blankly at the transparent poll boxes while the ketua behind is ogling her. 

The Bolehland authorities really know how to generate job opportunities for the some Bolehlanders...Like the toll booths on the highway which supposingly should be eliminated for smooth traffic flow long long time ago (maybe even before Singapore has its ERP gantries) are still standing in the way JUST to cater job vacancies...(Don't even want to mention Touch n Go or SmartTAG.)

In the end, the progress of Bolehland's development is just like the traffic condition on the highway: jalan kejap, henti kejap, jalan, henti, jalan, bang! henti, bang...so on so forth. So sad.