Open Letter to Temasek Holdings

Dear Temasek Holdings,

WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?!?!?

Sincerely,
Eugene

Building Castles In The Air

I recently read a quote by Henry David Thoreau which was quite interesting. It goes something like "If you build castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."

People have always been saying "don't build castles in the air" or the equivalent "stop daydreaming". But not much people have actually told anyone to work on those dreams. Which makes me wonder why. Aren't dreams the precursors of reality? We would not have airplanes today if the Wright brothers did not dream of flying. We would not be travelling in space today if someone did not dream of walking among the stars.

Difference was that these people dared to work on those dreams. They dared to lay the foundations to their castles in the sky. No doubt, many people would have scorned and scoffed at these individuals but they did not let that stop them

I personally have built that castle in the air. I have spent many years building it. This quote by Henry David Thoreau has given me the inspiration and courage to lay the foundations under that dream. I hope that it would do the same for you

On another note, something more finance-based, is another quote: "Obvious prospects for physical growth in a business do not translate into obvious profits for investors." Eg, Airline industry expanded rapidly in the 1970's but this did not translate to additional profits. This is just something I wanted to put down here to remind myself

PS. Referencing the two quotes, you should be able to find out which book I am currently reading. =)

Heading Up?

So the stock market has been generally going up for the last few days, in Singapore at least.

The STI just went up the 1,500 mark again. Seems like it won't stay below 1,500 for long. In particular, I was watching CapitaLand's stock last week. It went from $1.79 last week to close at $2.13 just today. Let's just say if anyone had bought 1000 lots at $1.79 and sold them all today, they would have made $340,000 in less than 7 days.

According to its CEO, Citigroup has been turning in a profit for the first two months of 2009. This news sent Citi's stock soaring last week.

Are we seeing the end of the crisis? I really wouldn't know but I highly doubt so. I believe we need to wait for the first quarter 2009 reports to come in before making any guesses. Jobless rates are still very high all over the world and Australia seems like it is just headed for a recession.

Ah well, we will have to wait and see. Anyways, I've been super busy with projects this past few weeks. Got a deadline this Friday, then two the following Monday and another one 3 days after that. Not forgetting the lecturers are not easing on the quiz. Really.. Drowning in the workload.

Interview has been postponed to next Tuesday because the interviewer got tied up with something else. Also applied for REIP today. Have to secure an internship this holiday so really keeping my fingers crossed. Otherwise I will probably look for some part-time jobs and go for summer school overseas. Either Canada or Germany. Still, internships come first.

Wish me luck! =)

Finanical Crisis..

It looks like the financial crisis has finally overflowed into the economy. Althought there was wide spread talk of the crisis, it was contained to mostly financial firms for the past few months. Right now, in what is a sure sign of the spillover, the "Big Three" carmakers in the US are appealing for government bailout.

It seems this financial crisis is going to overshadow the Asian economic crisis in 1998. And it's exactly 10 years on. Talk about financial cycles. Job cuts have been creeping into the news lately too. DBS have started slashing 900 jobs, Citigroup is cutting a near-record 50,000 jobs worldwide. It is predicted that this will get worse going into 2009. I'm still a student but I can feel the fear in the air. This crisis is bringing back memories of 1998. Things were really bad then and I can't imagine it is going to be worse next year.

Already, the STI has free-falled to 1,665 points, that's more than half it's value slashed from early last year. I remember reading in the papers then that analysts were saying it would breach the 4,000 mark by this year. In just one year, things have changed so drastically.

But admist all the gloom and doom, there is always good news. Especially for the uninvested. Now is a good time to start picking up stocks. Of course, do the due calculations first and pick up the discounts. There is always some people who would say that the stocks will continue to fall. But if you are already buying at a (huge) discount, what's there to fuss about? The stock market is awash with prizes now. Certainly wished I had the capital to pick some up. Well, anybody out there wants to invest in my mutual fund?

DRE Public Talk: The Potential and Challenges of the Real Estate Funds Business!

Wednesday (26/03/2008) 12pm at LR423.

Mr Jonathan Yap gave a presentation on his views regarding the real estate business and gave specific insights on how Ascendas India Trust (a-iTrust) is run. I was priviliaged enough to be able to attend his talk. Below is a brief outline of what he covered.

Changing Market Dynamics
Investments into Asia have grown over the years. Surprisingly, this is actually due to the greying of the world's population. Currently, 11% of the world's population is >60 years old and that number is expected to hit 22% by 2050. This leads to retirement/pension money increasing and thus more money have been pumped into investments in developing economies, including Asia. With the globalisation of sources of funding, the accessibility of funds have gone from local to global with the interest in cross-border transactions increasing (think SWFs and foreign investors, etc). In Asia, REIT IPOs have generally been oversubscribed and currently, Asia REITs distribution yields have substantial spreads above 10-year government bonds. Just in Japan and Singapore alone, the REITs market cap have grown by almost 3 times to S$60 billion over 2005 to 2007.

Tapping on Real Estate Funds
There are several key advantages in tapping into REITs. First of all is the streamline operations of these funds. Real estate funds bring their niche expertise to the table, including development expertise, management expertise and local deal sourcing expertise. In addition, there is an add-on for capital market capabilities including fund structuring, capital raising and fund management.

The Ascendas Business Model
Ascendas employes a three-pringed strategy to provide maximum shareholder value. They are creating assets, enhancing asset value and finally unlocking the asset value. Ascendas manages about 7 funds (2 public and 5 private) including a-reit and a-iTrust as their public funds. The key investment highlights of a-iTrust include a high quality portfolio managed to international standards, strong growth potential, unique three-pronged acquisitions growth strategy, exposure to the booming Indian economy and Ascendas sponsorship and strong corporate governance.

a-iTrust closed up 2 cents to S$1.04 per share yesterday (Friday, 28/03/2008).

About the Speaker

Mr Jonathan Yap is Executive Vice President, Real Estate Funds Business, where he focuses on the formation of new private funds for Ascendas across the Asia region and developing business synergy across these funds.

Mr Yap is concurrently CEO of India Funds, overseeing Ascendas' India-focused funds business, including the Ascendas India Development Trust (private fund) and and the award-winning Ascendas India Trust (listed on SGX-ST).

About DRE Public Talks
These talks are organised by the Department of Real Estate and are opened to members of the public, students and staff of SDE. If you're interested in finding out how to attend these talks, drop me a message and I'll forward the registration links to you the next time there is a talk.

SMART Investment Expo 2008!

The SMART Investment and International Property Expo is going on at Suntec City next weekend (29th & 30th Mar)!

--> http://www.smartexpos.com

It's one of the biggest and longest established expos in Asia and it brings together the world's most attractive investment opportunities from the real estate and financial sectors. This expo is one of the most well-known and trusted platforms in Singapore because of its' many educational programmes and international property showcases. The SMART expo is one of the most important for all serious investors because of the many free expert advice on offer.

To top it all of, admission is FREE!! All you have to do is register your seat! Do not hesitate any further!

--> http://www.smartexpos.com

This is NOT an affiliate link. The only reason I'm promoting this is because I want some company to go with me!!! It's lonely to go alone and hey, it's always better to go with friends and learn in a group. You know what they say "hao dong si yao fen xiang". It means "good things must share"! So that's why I'm promoting this on my blog. I think this is going to be pretty helpful. And what's the opportunity cost? One weekend spent learning and expanding your knowledge on investment and property. Now I wouldn't call that an opportunity cost at all. Nope, it's called an investment in time! And again it's FREE!! What more do you need to convince you.

--> http://www.smartexpos.com

And to all my friends in SDE if you're reading this, this expo is something we can't miss. It's an expo on investment and property for heaven's sake. We're studying Real Estate. This expo is practically made for us! There'll be industry heavyweights there dispensing free advice and guidance plus their views on the property market for the near future (click here for the seminar timetable). If this doesn't concern us, then I don't know what does!

Register your seats now! And don't forget to drop me a msg so we can go together! =)

--> http://www.smartexpos.com

Your Greatest Asset: Your Mind

Happy CNY! It's now officially the Year of the Rat! How's everyone's CNY celebrations coming along? Hope all's great with the visiting and catching up with relatives.

In my previous post, I mentioned about the mindset of self-made millionaires. I strongly believe that a person's mind is one of his greatest asset. It is something that everyone is given at birth so there is no discrimination. Everyone is given the same mind at birth. It is through the different experiences, training and exposure that a person will shape his thought-process and it is exactly this thought-process that is so very important in the search for wealth. Think about it, no two persons will see the world in exactly the same way. Although they can be looking at the same thing, what they see in their minds are different.

In order to achieve financial success, you will need to adopt the mindset and habits of individuals who have achieved financial success. It makes sense, doesn't it? Like for you to be able to drive a car, you need to learn from someone who knows how to drive a car. There is so much to know about the millionaire mindset. The way they see the world is totally different from the ordinary person. The way they think and their entire thought-process is totally different from the guy next door.

Napolean Hill wrote at length about the power of the subconscious mind in his book, Think and Grow Rich. He mentioned that the subconscious mind is so powerful that, if properly conditioned, can be the source of immense wealth. It will begin to attract money to the person who has that mind. That is not to be literally of course. It simply means that the person will begin to see money-making opportunities that other people who not even notice. He wrote "All impulses of thought have a tendency to clothe themselves in their physical equivalent". So if you can condition your mind to see the money-making opportunities around you, money will naturally flow towards you. You can read more about the book here.

Adam Khoo also mentioned the millionaire mindset in his book The Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires. In fact it is one of his 7 essential steps of financial success. You can learn more about his book and the 7 essential steps here.