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Some companies only give 500 to1k for transport allowance, can you afford to buy a car just for the sales job? Or u may switch line? Currently got offered a sales job with 1k transport allowance. After calculation I think it need at least 1.5k in order to own a car now. Now really don't know what t do

I have been eyeing the new Suzuki Swift Sports 1.6 (CVT), by am wondering if they will survive in Singapore. Anyone have any insights? LTA's new registration of cars by make (2014) shows that they sold only 1 car in the month of January, and now they are having a weekend clearance sale! And I don't see new models in their pipeline that could keep them going. Naresh.

Gobsmacked. This guy takes home $1800 all in and his wife is not working. He has 5 kids with a 6th coming. They can even go Genting for holiday.

Till end of this week? Btw, his escape plan can be made into a movie "The Great Escape 2". The late Steve McQinn may want to come back to play the lead role.

Hope this will pass on to any cancer patients. True or not, no harm trying since it is better to believe it than nothing. Alkaline Diet for Cancer: Cancer Cells Cannot Survive In an Alkaline Environment Maintaining a diet that promotes an alkaline pH within the body is good protection against cancer. When a person eats this kind of diet, the natural pH balance will lean more towards the alkaline side of the scale, instead of the acid level of the scale. Unfortunately, all too often a person

Did a stupid move two days ago: placed my iPhone 4 next to a glass of water and when moving my right hand accidentally hit the glass and toppled it to cause the water inside to splash over my battered but trusty phone. In a panic quickly removed the external cover to find that inside the cover also got water. The phone display still looked ok then. Hum liao siao liao jia chao liao.... Next used my T-shirt to dry the phone while at the same time switched my brain cells on to be on NOS mode... My follow-up actions are described as follows: 1) Set phone's Auto-Lock to Never; 2) Connected phone to charger; 3) Placed phone on top of my SH decoder which was switched on; These steps are to heat up the phone and hopefully dry up any water or vapour which might have seeped in and I left this desperate set-up like that for about 5 hrs. Then the moment of truth.... While still connected to the charger I activated a games app which was my present fav Shake Spears. when there was no music though the app started out normal and went to start mode. Tried other apps and same thing happened - Bo Siah!!!! Luckily the ringing sounds ok when I tested it so the speaker seemed no affected. Bo bian left the same set-up as it was until early morning then tried again and... SUCCESS!!!!!!! This time round there was music coming out when playing game apps. HURRAY!!! LESSON LEARNT: Never placed your phone, SMART or not, next to any liquid in a glass. Heck, it is better not to place ANY sensitive electronic stuff next to any glass containing any liquid. Until today still keeping my fingers crossed... Or maybe it's time to upgrade my outdated iPhone hor?

look this link Click here sales figure so low, can't imagine

http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp too much cranberry shiit can lead to this you know Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse The following was originally posted on CDC Public Health Matters Blog May 16th, 2011 by Ali S. Khan. There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That

Car salesmen: It's impossible to survive New car sales down by between 30-50%, say sales execs. An 18-man team has shrunk to just 5. -TNP Tue, May 25, 2010 The New Paper By Pearly Tan ON GOOD months last year, Mr Rahmat Mohamad Isa could sell up to 10 new cars a month. With an average $500 in commission for each car sold, the sales manager could take home just under $6,000, basic pay included. But today, those good old days are over, said the veteran car dealer. He said this is the worst slump he has seen in his 16 years in the car industry. Mr Rahmat, 60, managed to sell only two cars last month. He said the situation has been dismal for the past few months, but could not provide exact sales figures. He took home only about $1,500 last month. On average, he earns $3,000 a month. He expects this month to be even worse - he has not sold any car yet. He lamented: "Our basic pay is only about $500 and if we don't sell any cars, it's almost impossible to survive. "Some of my friends who used to sell about 30 cars a month have not sold a single car in two to three months. That's how bad the industry is." Mr Rahmat is not alone. Ten other car sales executives The New Paper spoke to at showrooms along Alexandra Road, Ubi and Turf Club Automobile Emporium said sales of new cars have fallen by between 30 and 50 per cent from last year. The New Paper contacted at least five car distributors here, including Kah Motor, Borneo Motors and Komoco Motors. But all declined to reveal their sales figures. New vehicle sales could possibly sink below 55,000 cars this year - less than half the average 117,000 sold each year in the last decade, reported The Straits Times earlier this month. Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices hit a 10-year high last month - about $49,000 for open category - due largely to a reduction of COE quotas which came into effect that month. The result? New cars have become more expensive. For Mr Rahmat, his 18-member sales team at Car City, a parallel importer, has shrunk to just five people. The company sells Japanese, Korean and continental cars. There was a time when he was glad just to catch a 15-minute breather between attending to customers. Now,walk-in customers are fewand far between. Said Mr Rahmat: "Our showroom used to be so packed, even the sales director would have to help attend to customers. "Now, he can stay in his room because there are just so few customers. Many colleagues knew they just couldn't survive in this industry any more and decided to change jobs." Some have set up their own businesses while others have moved to the real estate industry hoping to earn more, he said. Mr Rahmat now spends his day chit-chatting with his colleagues while waiting for the occasional customer to show up. He considers himself lucky as his two grown children help to support the family. "I have some savings and my children are working, so it's not so bad. But some of my colleagues have even fallen into debt because they earn too little," he said. Few customers When The New Paper visited the Turf Club Automobile Emporium onTuesday, there were few customers. Some dealers said the situation is the same on weekends. Said Mr Rahmat, who was casually dressed with his shirt tucked out and unbuttoned at the top: "We used to wear ties and tuck our shirts in. But now, there's no point dressing up. There aren't any customers to serve." Over at Alexandra, the situation at some of the spanking new showrooms was the same - few customers, many sales executives. Car salesmen The New Paper spoke to said they typically earn a basic salary, but rely on sales commission for the bulk of their income. A sales executive, who wanted to be known only as Ms Lim, said: "If I'm lucky, I can sell one car a month now. But I have colleagues who have not sold a single one in a few months. "Customers now think thrice, even four times before buying a car, whereas before they used to make quicker decisions and doless homework." The number of new cars registered fell by 29,000 - from about 97,000 in 2008 to just 68,000 last year, according to the Land Transport Authority's (LTA) website. The used car market, on the other hand, has grown. In the first three months of this year, 25,754 vehicles changed hands, up from 19,704 in the same period last year, according to a Straits Times report last month. Mr Damien Lim, 34, an IT manager, was one of those who chose to buy a second-hand car over a new one. "I got my Honda Stream within two weeks and I avoided the disappointment of not getting a COE, especially when prices were going through the roof," he said. Mr Lim paid $65,000 for his three-year-old car. A new one costs about $90,000 including COE. Professor Paul Barter, an urban transport analyst, said it's unlikely COE prices will return to as low as they were before. He said: "With the supply of COE down and the demand of cars remaining constant, prices naturally rise. "And if the economy continues to do well, the high COE prices look set to stay for awhile. Or at least until people become discouraged at the high COE prices and switch to

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/04/kwong-...ill-it-survive/ One hundred years ago, in 1910, a group of Cantonese merchants founded the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital (KWSH) to provide their Cantonese comrades with free medical care. Originally, the hospital only served Cantonese members. In 1974, however, its constitution was amended and it admitted anyone from any ethnic or racial group. The hospital, located along Serangoon Road and which came about from an agreement between the British colonial authorities and the merchants, was built on a 6 hectare piece of land with a 99-year lease. The British government charged it a nominal annual rental of S$1. Fast-forward to 2010. Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital and Nursing Home has 14 buildings within its compound. Its facilities include an In-patient Department (IPD), an Out-patient Department (OPD), a Day Rehabilitation Centre (DRC) and a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Centre. It also operates a 350-bed nursing home facility which is dedicated to the care and treatment of senior citizens who need daily treatment on a long term basis. When its 99-year lease expired in February this year, the land was returned to the Singapore government. After discussions with the Ministry of Health (MO) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA), the hospital was granted a new 5-year lease

When General Motors and Chrysler entered bankruptcy proceedings in 2009, it was very clear that one company had a future product portfolio and one didn't. So while The General received the lion's share of government funding, Chrysler was basically given to Fiat with the hope that Team Pentastar could benefit from platform and product sharing. The early results of the Chrysler/Fiat team have been somewhat encouraging. Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and his team have made significant progress cutting costs, and the management team created a five-year plan for Chrysler that includes new, Fiat-derived platforms and re-badged Lancias and Alfa Romeos. Will these steps be enough for Chrysler to remain the full-line manufacturer it is today? A report in Automotive News shows that Bernstein Research analyst Max Warburton doesn't seem to think so. Warburton reportedly wrote in an assessment for Fiat investors that "we remain unconvinced Chrysler will survive in its current form despite Marchionne's blood, sweat and tears." Warburton cites four unnamed senior executives from Detroit. The analyst's feelings come despite the fact that he feels Chrysler will come close to breaking even in the first quarter even with relatively poor sales. Warburton actually anticipates that Marchionne will announce Chrysler made a small profit in the month of March. So why the doom and gloom? Warburton cites Chrysler's still limited product development, light product portfolio and limited synergies between the two companies. The analyst also points to Marchionne's target for Chrysler to hit a 14 percent market share by 2014 as a reason for alarm. Chrysler hasn't been at 14 percent market share since 2000, and the Pentastar is currently just under 10 percent share.

Sports cars like Subaru are made to withstand heavy impact like this? This article was from The New Paper - IT WAS, reportedly, the worst crash of the day on the North-South Highway. The car, with four men onboard, flipped as it crashed into a ravine and caught fire. But it was also a miracle of sorts. All four men in the vehicle escaped with nary a scratch. Two construction workers, who were by the side of the road, also very narrowly missed being run over by the car. The driver, Singaporean Brian Yeoh, told The New Paper about what he described as a 'life-changing experience'. Mr Yeoh, 33, a business analyst, said the accident took place on Saturday afternoon while he and the others were driving from Malacca to Kuala Lumpur for lunch. Mr Yeoh was travelling with three friends, including another Singaporean and two Indonesians. The group of four left Malacca at 1.45pm and had been driving for about an hour when it started to rain near Seremban. Mr Yeoh, who was travelling on the innermost lane, slowed down because of the rain, but a white sedan car overtook him and slowed down in front of his car. Stepped on brakes Mr Yeoh, who said that he was driving at about 100km per hour at the time, stepped on the brakes. This sudden move to avoid hitting the other vehicle made his car spin and crash into the railings on the left side of the road, before going down a ravine. The vehicle flipped after hitting the railings and hit the ground upside down. The momentum caused the car to flip a second time and the car landed right side up. It continued to move and rolled over a fallen tree before coming to a halt. Then, the bonnet of the car started to smoulder, and the four quickly scrambled out. But surprisingly, all of them survived the horrific crash relatively unscathed. Mr Yeoh suffered a whiplash injury to his neck, another friend had a slight bump on his head and one was completely unhurt. One of the passengers in the back seat did not even have his seatbelt on, but he was able to brace himself against the front passenger seat, suffering only a minor cut to his left foot. As his car plunged into the ravine, Mr Yeoh had two thoughts. 'I've seen this before in a Youtube video, and we're all going to die,' he thought. 'I saw the roof cave in about 15cm in front of my head. When the car came to a stop, we were quite stunned that we were all still alive. The guys in the back started shouting, 'Are you ok? Are you ok?'.' They also narrowly missed hitting two construction workers who were doing maintenance work about 5m from where they crashed into the railings. Said Mr Yeoh: 'We drove about 30m off the road, 5m down and didn't hit anything on the way, not even a tree, a lamp post or a signboard.' Coincidentally, Mr Yeoh had bought a $40 fire extinguisher to put in his car about two weeks ago, as he was worried that car would overheat while he was driving. The fire extinguisher came in handy and he was able to put out the fire within 10 to 15 minutes of the crash. He was told by the police officers who arrived at the scene that it was 'the worst crash' of the 25 they had seen that day. Mr Yeoh said that he has been driving up to Kuala Lumpur about once a month for the last one-and-a-half years and has never had an accident on the North-South Highway. The car he was driving is only two years' old and it was last serviced a month ago. Mr Yeoh, a car buff, said that he takes very good care of his Subaru car and had checked things like tyre pressure and the radiator that very morning before they left Singapore. He estimates that repairs to the car will cost him between $50,000 and $60,000. He added that the money lost is nothing compared to the lives that could have been lost. He said: 'It feels good to be alive. Everything else is a small problem. 'It's one of those moments when you think: Now, I'm living on extra time.' What could account for his narrow escape? He said: 'It boils down to two things - we weren't going very fast, and the sturdy car saved our lives.' When contacted, Sergeant Beasir of the traffic police department at Seremban confirmed that a police report of the accident was made. Day of crashes A TOTAL of 31 deaths were recorded in road accidents on Monday in Malaysia, reported Malaysian Insider. The three categories which registered the most fatalities were motorcycle users, followed by car users and pedestrians. The number of accidents yesterday totalled 1,013, and summons were issued to 4,766 offenders, police said. Municipal roads registered the highest number of accidents with 340 cases, followed by federal roads with 277, state roads with 225, other roads with 118 and highways with 71, reported Bernama. The Malaysian authorities are again conducting an exercise, OpsSikap, which started on 13Sep and will go on until 27Sep, to reduce accidents during the Hari Raya festive season. In addition, the Kuala Lumpur Fire and Rescue Services Department will during the festive season patrol highways and main roads identified as accident-prone areas to provide speedy assistance.

http://motoring.asiaone.com/Motoring/Drive...807-159764.html

Read from somewhere and here's sharing. If you do have any other good ideas / suggestion please add on to the suggestions. How to Survive the Global Financial Crisis? This Global Financial Crisis is a real test of our Financial Management Knowledge and our application of financial knowledge. At the end of the day, it is our own responsibility to plan and manage our own finances. Below I share with you what you can do to ensure you survive the crisis: 1. Have a Just in Case Fund sufficient to pay for at least 1 year of your total expenses, including Housing Loan instalment. Becos this is the Worst Crisis in 70 years, we might want to provide more. Personally, I would standby sufficient money to pay for 2 years of my total expenses, including Housing Loan instalment. 2. Do not over-borrow. Our debt-service ratio, ie. percentage of our Income going towards debt repayment each month should not exceed 35%. My debt-service ratio is 10%, as I have increased my income over the years, but did not take on additional debt. 3. Have medical insurances to cover risk of medical expenses arising from medical treatment. Basic Medishield is not sufficient. Upgrade one's Medical plans to enhanced Shield plans by one of the insurers, eg. NTUC Income, Great Eastern, AVIVA etc. 4. Upgrade ourselves. The world is getting more competitive and the world is moving ahead. There is no status quo. If we do not move forward, we are moving backward becos the world is moving forward. We need to ensure that we stay updated otherwise, we might be out of date and out of job/business. 5. If possible, have some Opportunity Fund. On one side, this is the Worst Global Financial Crisis in 70 years. On the flip side, this is possibly the Best Opportunity in 70 years as well. Standby some Opportunity fund so that we are in a position to consider investing when the Opportunity presents itself. 6. Stay upbeat and Think Positive. Worry and fear are useless, since they will not solve problems. How not to worry or fear? Think of positive things. For instance, this year I plan to launch at least 1 book, finally fulfilling one of my dreams which I have for a long time. So thinking about, planning and making this happen (launch a book) is keeping my upbeat and excited. 7. Be Thankful and express Gratitude for what we already have. Rather than looking at our losses, eg. investment losses, possibility of pay cut, retrenchments, we need to learn to be thankful and express gratitude for what we already have. I'm very grateful to be alive. Grateful to have a wonderful wife and 2 fabulous kids. Grateful that my mother and my in-laws are healthy and they can be with us. Grateful to my relatives and friends who have given me care and support. Grateful to have wonderful employees who go the extra mile without me asking them to. Grateful to all my mentors who have so unselfishly shared with me their knowledge, wisdom and experience. Grateful to my clients who have provided my livelihood. There are so many things to be grateful for. 8. Do some charity, do something for society if possible. No man is an island. If we can do so, continue to donate to charity. The charities might suffer from a drop in donations. They need money to do their work. Try to see other than money, how else can we do something for the society eg. doing volunteering work. Remember give and you shall receive. Sow good, sow well. One day we shall reap the fruits, the Law of Cause and Effect will assure this. So don't worry, just focus on giving and sowing. Cheers!

From TNP WHEN community workers recommended a higher-paying full-time job earlier this year, she wouldn't take it. Click to see larger image POVERTY TRAP: Madam Lim holding letters from HDB and Singapore Power saying she owed them money. Behind on the beds are her three teenage children. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO Her reason: The workplace was too far. Prospects at the proposed job were better than at her last job, as a part-time general worker at a voluntary welfare organisation. Yet Madam Lim Geok Tin, 48, chose to rely on charity, free food rations and temporary financial help. She also called this reporter to tell her story with the aim of seeking donations from the public. She claimed she had not been working for the past year. But our checks showed this was not true. The Central Community Development Council (CDC) and a nearby family service centre (FSC) revealed that she had been working until October this year earning about $500 a month. Click to see larger image It was not known why she had to stop working. Madam Lim, who is divorced, lives with her three teenage children in a rented one-room flat at Jalan Bukit Merah. She claims she does not get any maintenance from her ex-husband. For the past few years, she has been supplementing her income with help from The Straits Times Pocket Money Fund. The CDC has also helped her with rental and service and conservancy vouchers. Madam Lim claimed she cannot remember the number of times she has gone to her Member of Parliament for help to pay her rent and utilities. She claimed her case worker from the FSC had told her there was little more that could be done to help her unless she found a proper job. Said Madam Lim: 'I've been told many times by the social worker to get a stable job, but I cannot work long hours. I have an old injury in my back, left leg and right hand from years ago, which acts up now and then. I cannot stand or squat for long, and cannot carry heavy objects.' The New Paper visited the family at home twice last week and noticed Madam Lim's right hand swathed in bandages. She appeared to have problems walking and standing, and frequently sought her children's help. But she could not show us medical documents, claiming that she had not seen a doctor for her ailments. Intellectually disabled Her eldest daughter, now 17, is intellectually disabled. She also has a 15-year-old son and a second daughter aged 13. Madam Lim claimed that she received $105 for only three months last year through the ST Pocket Money Fund. But her case worker, who declined to be named, said the amount was much more and help was extended over a much longer period. She could not reveal the exact period and amount, citing client confidentiality. Madam Lim also claimed that she was working as a contract worker at a factory last year, earning about $400 a month. Her contract ended in December last year and was not renewed. She has not found full-time work since, she claimed. She said she works odd jobs a few days every month, earning only $5 an hour. But the CDC revealed that she had been earning $500 a month as a general worker until October. She claimed that the CDC did not help her look for jobs. But a CDC spokesman said it had been 'advising her on getting long-term employment with better prospects, but she showed no interest'. 'The reason she gave was that her current employment could be reached by foot and that would save her money on transportation,' the spokesman said. She had been switching jobs often, the FSC case worker said. Madam Lim also claimed she had no money for food, but when asked about the bags of uncooked rice in her refrigerator, she admitted that she gets free monthly food rations, including canned food and biscuits, from the Salvation Army, and another nearby welfare organisation. Her story was published in The New Paper two years ago when she received help from the Young Women's Christian Association's Meals-on-Wheels programme, under which free dinners are delivered to the family every weekday. She received several hundred dollars worth of donations after the article was published. Madam Lim recently got in touch with this reporter again, asking for help to pay her rent and utility bills. She received a letter from HDB dated 21Oct, a copy of which was shown to The New Paper, stating that she still owed $265, six months' rent. Another letter, from Singapore Power, dated 20Oct, stated that she still owed more than $500 in utility charges. Madam Lim said her financial woes started in 2000, when her ex-husband's business ran into problems. She claimed that when the business failed, they were left with debts of thousands of dollars. The family was then living in a three-room flat in Bukit Panjang. To help pay off the debts, they sold the flat and rented another three-room flat in the same area, she said. But things didn't improve. Madam Lim's ex-husband could not get work. In 2003, to avoid his creditors, they moved to another rented three-room flat, in Marsiling. Madam Lim found work as a dishwasher, earning about $200 a month. Her ex-husband was then still unemployed. She claimed he was aggressive and often demanded money from her. The couple separated in 2005 and are no longer in touch. As she did not want any contact with him, she quit her job as a dishwasher, she said. Sell tissue packets With no savings and no income, she resorted to selling packets of tissue on the streets with her children, she claimed. In July 2005, Madam Lim took her children and moved to the one-room Jalan Bukit Merah flat where they live today. Her elder daughter, who has an IQ of only 70 (normal is 90 to 110), has been attending a special school since 2006. Her school fees are subsidised. The two younger children are in neighbourhood schools. Their school fees are waived, and the schools give them free books and vouchers for meals, she said. During our visit, the son was fiddling with a hand-held electronic game. On his sister's bed was a Sesame Street soft toy, the size of a bolster. Madam Lim claimed these were gifts. She said: 'It's not that I don't want to work, but I cannot.' So she continues to look for help from others. Old habits die hard. Sometimes i wonder does this kind of people deserve help