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Time to plan those annual leave wisely, starting from Chinese New Year. *Posted the Malaysia one. Please refer to below calendar for SG Calendar. Whoops.

Investment tips - from the Red Cross Lim Tern Poh's experiences and observations in his daily life give him investment ideas. Wed, Oct 26, 2011 The Business Times By Dolly Chia A GOOD book can stir the heart. For 23-year-old Lim Tern Poh, reading The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach was all he needed to kick-start his investing career. When he was 17, the book revealed to him the world of mutual funds, which became his first investment. Dollardex.com was his gateway to the investment society. Subsequently, he started diversifying his portfolio by going into equities. Every dollar in his portfolio came from his own savings from his part- time job. The money-savvy college student won the Money SENSible Youth Award presented by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) during his sophomore year in Republic Polytechnic. Currently embarking on his second year in finance at Singapore Management University (SMU), he hopes to enter private banking upon graduation, while growing his portfolio 10-20 per cent. Q: What do you currently invest in? A: I invest primarily in mutual funds that focus on Singapore, such as Aberdeen Singapore Equities, and equities in general. I also hold StarHub and Sheng Siong stocks right now. My most recent purchase was SMRT stock. As Peter Lynch said: 'Investors can beat the market by using common sense and information available to all of us as we go about our day-to-day lives.' You see the trains getting more crowded now, and with the new second line, I'm sure SMRT will have higher future profits. Q: What was your best investment? A: My best investment was in StarHub. I hold some StarHub shares and I'm quite happy with it. I gained about 10-20 per cent from investing in its stocks. I am still holding them right now. Q: And your worst investment? A: My worst would be a unit trust because back then during the 2009 financial crisis I think I sold off too early; I didn't hold on long enough. That's why I think I made quite a loss in the unit trust which I initially bought when I was 17 or 18. I invested in it for 2-3 years back then. If I had held on to it longer, I would've gotten much more. Q: What is your investment strategy? A: My investment strategy depends on a lot of factors. For example, through your daily lives, you can observe what are the better companies. By observing that trains are getting more crowded, it might be a good time to buy SMRT now. Q: What are your plans after graduation? A: I plan to work in a bank, maybe on the investment side, but now it's still tentative because it depends on whether I would still have the interest when I graduate. Now I'm still exploring other alternatives. Perhaps other than banking, I could go into sales in the front office of the banking operations. Q: Do you have an investment strategy? A: Take on calculated risks so that when you invest, you don't take on too much or too little risk. It is based on my individual judgement. I can't put it in words. It is subject to a lot of things like market conditions, personal opinions of the market and other things. I believe in Warren Buffet in 'buying low, selling high', so I look for stocks that have low P/E ratios. On top of that, I also look at the fundamental analysis as it teaches you what is a good company to buy while TA (technical analysis) tells you when is a good time to buy. Q: Do you have any valuable lessons to share? A: When it comes to investing, what I learn from textbooks is not enough. I am a member of the Red Cross disaster management committee. So you're taught how to manage a disaster when it happens, so from there I learn more about risk management. When a disaster happens, you're taught how to remain calm and be objective. So I apply those principles in investments and when the market is volatile, I learn to use those principles to keep my emotions under control and be objective. The textbook tells you to be calm and objective during a crisis, but without going through real experience it's hard to apply that. You need to do something outside the textbook to learn about risk management. These are the essential soft skills which will help you in your investments. Q: What other exposure do you have to investment? A: I am actually a part-time financial planner for Manulife Financial now. That's one of the reasons I am considering sales in a bank's front office. I have worked as a financial planner for AXA Life Insurance and met a good mentor who advised me to move to Manulife after six months in AXA. I have been in Manulife for one-and-a-half years now. Q:What do you find so rewarding or fascinating about investing? A: Investing is fascinating because it is not just a test of one's analytical ability; it is also a test of one's emotional stability, foresight, courage and discipline. I cannot think of any other thing that is so intellectually stimulating, challenging and rewarding. This makes investing one of the most exciting things in life that I have ever come across.

Microsoft Introduces Tool for Avoiding Traffic Jams By JOHN MARKOFF Published: April 10, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO