Wow..the bull run managed to last until this long..

Everyone is screaming buy buy. But employment at the states are still high.

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The upcoming Pixar movie character in "UP" reminds me of Warren Buffet. LOL..

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A sad day for Reader Digest readers, the company is filing for bankruptcy because of the management's poor timing . They borrowed a huge sum of money at the advent of the global financial crisis.

I used to be a reader digest reader when i was in secondary school. My father would subscribe them for me. Year by year the fees got higher. I remembered that it was only RM11 when my dad first subscribe it but leaped to RM15 in a couple of years.

Reader Digest's marketing strategy is actually quite aggressive. Every year they will diligently send a nicely crafted letter or contest form telling my dad that he is going to win a brand new luxury car or RM100K "PROVIDED" that he bought some books that they advertised.

My father bought quite a lot of books but sadly never won anything. But nevertheless, my dad never bothered or sad about winnning anything. He just wanted his children to enjoy reading them. That my dad :)

Reader's Digest -- the publication that grandmas everywhere used to love -- was the original aggregator, the first blog, the pioneer of short-attention-span reading. How ironic, then, that it has been gnawed nearly to death, like everything else in the old media, by a new media that is doing what the fusty, family-friendly Digest started 87 years ago.

In one of those periodic shocks to nostalgists that seem to come all too often during this recession, Reader's Digest's owner announced Monday that it plans to file for bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days for its U.S. operations. The Digest will continue publication, but as a wounded bird.

Chief executive Mary Berner said she didn't anticipate new layoffs, after a round of job cuts earlier this year. The financial reorganization is primarily designed to reduce the company's debt by about 75 percent.

The proximate cause of trouble was a buyout launched by an outfit with a homey, Reader's Digest-y name (Ripplewood Holdings) in 2007. Ripplewood borrowed the better part of $2.8 billion to cash out the Digest's old shareholders. And you know what happens when you're still carrying $2.2 billion of that debt in 2009, the era of ad-starved, circulation-shrunken periodicals.

Right. You end up as the subject of an article the Digest might have called "I Am Joe's Chapter 11 Reorganization Plan." Bottom line: Ripplewood will be moved aside and the banks will own the Digest.

The larger issue, however, wasn't really the Reader's Digest Association's balance sheet. It was -- the nature of the Digest. Started by DeWitt Wallace and his wife, Lila, in the years after World War I (a boom time for magazine entrepreneurs), the Digest thrived by reprinting the work of others. Well, much of the work of others. The Digest was edited -- "condensed" was the word -- for speed. Its editors might boil down a 5,000-word exegesis on the growing Soviet missile threat to 1,500 words, and pack two dozen or more such featurettes between the pages of a magazine that looked like a dime-store novel.

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Today, I realized something that separates between an expert and a novice during a sport match. "NATURALNESS"

An expert exhibits naturalness when executing his/her moves thus minimizing the energy usage while maximizing their full power. Every movement is precise.

A novice does the opposite, thus end up losing and wearing themselves out.

Naturalness is a theme I learned during my early years a chess player but i did not realized until today. Good chess moves usually is very natural and looked very very common sense. It may not be a sharp positional play but because of its naturalness, the position exhibits power in agility and mobility.

Something similar like sports, where every kick,tee off requires finesse to execute perfectly.

How to gain "Naturalness"? Hmm..talent is one thing..The most important thing is hardwork!! Pure Hardwork ;to gain the instinct to perform excellently without much effort, thus the theme.

P.S I am not deviating from being a financial blogger. LOL. I just getting more philosophical lately..Perhaps this an indication that i am growing much much older or whether i should get a doctorate in philosophy as i believe i can really write a book on philosophy of life if i want to :P

Anime Pic: Code Geass.

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So sad...What lies ahead in my future?

Looks like I need to step up alot .. and execute my plans.

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Woot!! Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is the top google search word in Malaysia!!!

TO BUY OR NOT TO BUY - That is the question lingering on the mind of potential investors.

A lot of my "1st timer" friends that wanted to buy Amanah Saham 1Malaysia are either very confused or scared to buy it because of the rumor that is not capital guaranteed and the 1% service charge.

After reading some blogs and using some common sense minus the enormous fear factor. Below are my opinion:

1. Most funds under ASNB is not capital guaranteed per se but it a fixed price fund. Meaning you buy RM1 you sell RM1. The price does not fluctuate. BUT...there is always a but, the dividend may vary from year to year. Thus, if the return is less that fixed deposit, you lose out the opportunity cost to get higher yield elsewhere.

2. The 1% service charge is only after the offer period and it depends on the discretion of the fund manager. Basically, this is a cover you ASS clause, if the administration costs starts to become too high for the participating banks in the future. According to my sources in the industry, the banks earn peanuts serving/spending their own resources to horde of queueing customers.

3. Since this is a government issued and backed investment, it is relatively safe. Low risk because if one day (touch wood) the government collapsed, do you think you have the chance even to withdraw your Fixed deposits in the local bank!!

Fear and confusion is a good thing so that the queue is so short that if you want to buy , you don't need to queue for a long time :P

Since Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is a new thing, it is natural that people are suspicious about it. Heck , no one ever bothered checking out Amanah Saham Malaysia or Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020's prospectus. They were snapped out like hot cakes , fresh from the oven. Typical human nature in the works.

So the decision is up to you all, readers.

Historical dividend given out by Amanah Saham Malaysia

Amanah Saham 1Malaysia Mad Rush

Amanah Saham Malaysia New Subscription

RM980 Million ASW 2020 Sold In 4 Hours!!

RM999 Million in 1.5 Days :ASM Quota Taken Up

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Interesting post on how these bloggers built up their wealth and sharing their secrets.

Linked from http://www.suburbandollar.com/2009/08/04/wealthy-blogger-list-–-august-2009/

Wealthy Blogger List – August 2009 Updates

Another month has flown by and it is time to update the Wealthy Blogger list yet again. I have had a few changes to the list lately, mainly you will notice Man Vs. Debt as well as Llama Money fell off the list, but Happy Money Medium has joined the list as of early last month.

Last Updated: 08/05/2009

Site	Net Worth	Variance*
Poorer Than You	($37,985.00)	- $425.00
Savings not Shoes	($19,839.00)	+ $3,902.00
My Pretty Pennies	$168.00	NEW
Spilling Buckets	($5,618.00)	+ $3,547.00
Punch Debt in the Face	$13,669.00	+ $2,941.00
My Money Shrugged	$35,161.37	+ $2,970.16
One Mans Money	$44,651.53	+ $5,033.72
Carrie on the Cheap	$46,345.00	NEW
Suburban Dollar	$54,256.00	+ $5,850.00
Mapgirl	$59,003.00	NRY
DonetoZen	$82,727.50	+$8,921.34
Budgets are Sexy	$95,149.11	NRY
Pantsinacan	$197,324.00	+ $9,071.00
My Money Blog	$248,212.00	+ $28,867.00
Happy Money Medium	$224,430.25	NRY
Consumerism Commentary	$255,974.00	+ $19,994.00
Million Dollar Journey	$355,850.00	NRY
Money Blue Book	$461,880.00	+ $53,721.00
2million Blog	$497,088.46	NRY
Boston Gal	$511,137.02	NRY
Enough Wealth	A$702,509/$591,300(USD)	+$77,400.00
Free By 50	$590,822.00	NRY
Sun Financial Diary	$664,402.27	+ $63,155.58

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Tomorrow will be another fund launching by the Malaysian Government which truly and deeply needs tons of cash to bail the economy out. Amanah Saham 1Malaysia is a RM10 Billion fund.

The only possible catch here is that the potential 1% surcharge when you buy in the funds. Note that this fine print never existed before for the previous hot selling Amanah Saham Malaysia & Amanah Saham Wawasan 2020.

I don't think there another mad rush and queue to buy into this fund due to the following reasons.

1) The general populace minus the super rich (super rich people usually don't buy into this type of investment which usually has lower returns than stocks, properties, etc. Eventhough it is has much lower risk) must be running dry of cash after a few successful series of government funds such as ASM, ASM2020, Islamic Bond Sukuk.

2) The fund size is quite substantial.

3) The 1% surcharge is a turn-off .As the stock market is rallying, people are more willing to pour money into equities for higher returns.

I think that this Amanah Saham Series is a bubble by itself. At one point, people will no longer be interested in it anymore. Potentially because of over-supply, the returns might not be attractive anymore in the coming years. The clear sign of a bubble is the seller's greed to generate more sales with the assumption that buyers will rush to buy because of the so-called early bird discount.

P.S : I will find time to tabulate how much cash has flowed into the govt coffers just this year alone.

Below are the detail info from the ASNB website.http://www.asnb.com.my/english/as1msia.htm

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