You'd Be A Fool To Hold Anything But Cash Now

[HP_Lee]

it's good to see bank acct growing but also to use the money appropriately to enjoy well within means.

i am not more happy to see an additional $200k in my bank account versus me driving my fully paid CLS.

 

btw a cruze does not have a luxury look, please.

it is nice looking car for its category, that i would agree.

 

Different people having different thoughts. If you have more the a million in bank account, that fine. It enough for retirement. Aleast you don't work for the bank, like most of us are? Reason, of I taking a 5 year loan for a Cruze @ 1.88%/yr(effectively 3%) , is because I can easily yield 10% /yr. I still can make an excess money of 7%. So is capital allocations. I learnt that from Buffett.

Edited March 9, 2012 by HP_Lee

[HP_Lee]

Important thing is live within one's means. Don't compare...

 

Life can be unpredictable, so be as happy as can be

 

I like this. You seem to be of certain age to understand about life

[HP_Lee]

At last count, there are 17 15 ultra high net worth individuals on this forum regularly.

 

You really keep track on this numbers? Anyway is common to see a person with a million staying in HDB. My place already have 3 - 4 families that I know of. There maybe more.

[Throttle2]

Different people having different thoughts. If you have more the a million in bank account, that fine. It enough for retirement. Aleast you don't work for the bank, like most of us are? Reason, of I taking a 5 year loan for a Cruze @ 1.88%/yr(effectively 3%) , is because I can easily yield 10% /yr. I still can make an excess money of 7%. So is capital allocations. I learnt that from Buffett.

 

thats great, 10%per year.

i dont doubt your strategy, of course.

you sound like someone who makes good use of money

 

i'm fairly conservative so i average probably 5% to 7% per year.

and i dont try to squeeze every cent out of the things in my life.

everybody works for the bank including me.

the difference is i have a choice not to.

but it is my choice to do so at least for the next 15 yrs.

 

as it is , i wont stinge on my lifestyle becos i do enjoy certain finer things in life like cigars, cars and watches. neither will i be extravagant and go buy a Lamboghini, its just unnecessary.

Buffett to me is just another guy in the market. i dont subscribe to his life lessons.

 

 

Edited March 9, 2012 by Throttle2

[FastFastCar]

That is only you buy fund. And if you are lucky you get 6%/yr. Most funds barely hit 5% after deducting all mgt expenses after 20years. If I do that with funds or insurance, I would have never hit $1mil for 19 years. Whatever you do, don't leverage just to make fast money. This kill many wannabe rich overnight. And never believe so much on newspaper adv, telling you that you can make $20k over a week. Before people can invest and make some money, these talks already make few grands from you. If money is so easy to make, many would rather chose not to work by now. To really make money, you have to hands on and not allowing investment link insurance to do that for you. So hard work, is yourself. You don't buy insurance just for growing money. You buy insurance purely for protection while in are living.

 

P/S : I used to treat friends with meals most of the time and they asked, "you win TOTO again"? I smiled back and reply, " just enjoy the great meals".

 

Wise words from you, but because at the moment I can only afford about 1 to 2K a month on my meagre salary, so I feel that putting it into unit trusts for dollar cost averaging is the best move, 1 to 2K is too small an amount for individual stocks and the transaction fees will eat up my returns plus too much concentration risk. Hard work is good but may not always reward, it is important to work smart.

[Camrycamry]

just lead a normal, stress-free life. what's the point worrying over your investments?

[The_Bear]

You really keep track on this numbers? Anyway is common to see a person with a million staying in HDB. My place already have 3 - 4 families that I know of. There maybe more.

Yah. 15 after Chemmie and Sabbie left.

[HP_Lee]

thats great, 10%per year.

i dont doubt your strategy, of course.

you sound like someone who makes good use of money

 

i'm fairly conservative so i average probably 5% to 7% per year.

and i dont try to squeeze every cent out of the things in my life.

everybody works for the bank including me.

the difference is i have a choice not to.

but it is my choice to do so at least for the next 15 yrs.

 

as it is , i wont stinge on my lifestyle becos i do enjoy certain finer things in life like cigars, cars and watches. neither will i be extravagant and go buy a Lamboghini, its just unnecessary.

Buffett to me is just another guy in the market. i dont subscribe to his life lessons.

 

That's already good enough running at 5 - 7%. You are a few able ones to do that, while the general population is still in negative returns in the banks(2.5 - 3.5% yearly).

[HP_Lee]

Wise words from you, but because at the moment I can only afford about 1 to 2K a month on my meagre salary, so I feel that putting it into unit trusts for dollar cost averaging is the best move, 1 to 2K is too small an amount for individual stocks and the transaction fees will eat up my returns plus too much concentration risk. Hard work is good but may not always reward, it is important to work smart.

 

Not forgetting that funds do eat up your returns without you know much on transaction fees. This is a recurrence expenses every year. Hope you are aware of that. In long run, a few percentile point mean a lot .

[West]

Different people having different thoughts. If you have more the a million in bank account, that fine. It enough for retirement. Aleast you don't work for the bank, like most of us are? Reason, of I taking a 5 year loan for a Cruze @ 1.88%/yr(effectively 3%) , is because I can easily yield 10% /yr. I still can make an excess money of 7%. So is capital allocations. I learnt that from Buffett.

 

Wow, its a big achievement to yield more than 10% per year consistently. For me, I do get 10%/year on most years but on certain years it go negative that eat up previous yearss gain, and annualise return work out to be about 4 to 5% only.

Do you invest in stocks only or various investment vehicle such as FX, property, arts, commodity etc. Do you buy and hold, or buy/sell based on valuation?

 

Thanks.

[West]

Wise words from you, but because at the moment I can only afford about 1 to 2K a month on my meagre salary, so I feel that putting it into unit trusts for dollar cost averaging is the best move, 1 to 2K is too small an amount for individual stocks and the transaction fees will eat up my returns plus too much concentration risk. Hard work is good but may not always reward, it is important to work smart.

 

poems has a share builder plan that let you buy selected blue chips in small amount every month. For $1K monthly, the fee is $6, which is about 0.6%. Its lower for higher amount.

 

alternatively, open a standard charter online trading account. The fee s 0.2% with no min comms. So if you buy just one lot of a $0.50 share, the fee is $1.

 

[Scb11980]

Business Times - 10 Mar 2012

 

Dealer in US accused of selling counterfeit wine

 

Indonesian taken into custody in LA on mail and wire fraud charges

 

(New York)

 

RUDY Kurniawan, an Indonesian living in the United States, had ascended to the upper reaches of the wine world on both coasts, renowned as much for his palate as for his eye, fixed often on the highest of high-end bottles. His presence at auctions was constant. His interest by itself was enough to drive prices at the top of the market.

 

And as his collection brought in millions, he made a show of his own authenticity, offering major buyers an unconditional return policy - exceedingly rare in the industry - while attracting a clientele that included billionaire William Koch. But on Thursday, in the culmination of persistent rumblings about the veracity of his products, Kurniawan was arrested in Los Angeles by the FBI on charges that he had tried to sell counterfeit wine that, if genuine, would have been worth US$1.3 million.

 

Kurniawan, who sold US$35 million worth of wine in 2006 alone, was taken into custody in Los Angeles on mail and wire fraud charges filed in federal court in New York, according to court papers.

 

The criminal complaint in the case said that in 2008, Kurniawan consigned for auction at least 84 bottles of counterfeit wine purporting to be from Domaine Ponsot in Burgundy, France, which were expected to sell for approximately US$600,000. Although he represented the wine as authentic, it was not, prosecutors said.

 

He was also charged with trying to sell a single bottle that he claimed was a 1929 Domaine Ponsot. That was not possible, according to the complaint, because Domaine Ponsot did not begin estate bottling until 1934.

 

Kurniawan, 35, was also charged with fraudulently obtaining millions of dollars in loans to finance what prosecutors called his 'high-end lifestyle'. Prosecutors said that a search of his home had turned up materials used in the counterfeiting of wine bottles, according to a person briefed on the proceeding. According to the complaint, he also consigned wine that had purportedly been bottled between 1945 and 1971 from the Clos St-Denis vineyard of Domaine Ponsot, even though the domaine did not make wine from that vineyard until 1982. The wines were later withdrawn from the auction at the request of Domaine Ponsot's administrator.

 

Kurniawan maintained that he had obtained the bottles from a person in Asia and had given the administrator two telephone numbers for that person, according to the complaint. But neither number led to that person or anyone else who sold wine, the complaint said; one number was for a regional Indonesian airline and the other was for a shopping mall in Jakarta.

 

The arrest of Kurniawan, who is charged with three counts of wire fraud and three counts of mail fraud, was announced in a news release issued by the office of the US attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara.

 

'The bad-faith sale of any commodity you know to be a counterfeit, fake or forgery is a felony,' Janice Fedarcyk, the FBI's assistant director in charge of the New York office, said in the news release. 'Whether you are peddling a Picasso or a Petrus, a Botticelli or a Burgundy, unless it is what you say it is, the sale is a fraud.'

 

'Mr Kurniawan's days of wine and wealth are over, if the allegations in this case are proven,' Mr Bharara said in the news release.

 

 

[FastFastCar]

poems has a share builder plan that let you buy selected blue chips in small amount every month. For $1K monthly, the fee is $6, which is about 0.6%. Its lower for higher amount.

 

alternatively, open a standard charter online trading account. The fee s 0.2% with no min comms. So if you buy just one lot of a $0.50 share, the fee is $1.

Thanks for sharing, will enquiry about the poems share builder plan, seems good for younger people like me without big capital

[FastFastCar]

Not forgetting that funds do eat up your returns without you know much on transaction fees. This is a recurrence expenses every year. Hope you are aware of that. In long run, a few percentile point mean a lot .

Yes I am aware of this, which is why I choose funds with lower expense ratios , some funds did give a historical returns of 8% pa

[Alechi]

Cash is king

[FastFastCar]

Cash is king

 

Not when it loses purchasing power

[HP_Lee]

Yes I am aware of this, which is why I choose funds with lower expense ratios , some funds did give a historical returns of 8% pa

Ok. As long as you know what you are doing, that fine.

[T711]

I am trying to convert most of my investments to cash. Wait till the real credit crunch comes, that's when the fun starts