Improve productivity in Singapore

The Minister for Manpower has said that Singapore firms need to improve their productivity and should not rely on low cost foreign workers. If they are unproductive and cannot survive, they have to move out of Singapore.

There has been talk about improving productivity for the past two decades. How far have we gone in this area? What can be done to have a sustainable improvement in productivity?

Let us identify some of the issues to be addressed:

a) Many organisations improved their productivity by pushing the work on to their customers. Many government agencies adopt this approach and pushes the burden to the citizens. For example, by asking the taxpayers to do e-filing, the work is done in a less productive way and take more time by the taxpayer who are not familiar with the website.

b) Many problems are not solved effectively because of the fine lines that are drawn between one agency and another. Much effort is spent on identifying who should be dealing with the problem, rather than how the problem can be dealt more effectively.

c) There is excessive emphasis on security and audit, which cause a lot of unproductive work. Most people want to play safe, and forget that these measures add to the cost, especially in paying consultants who exaggerate the risks.

If these issues can be addressed, we can reduce a lot of wasted work. The easiest and most effective way to  productivity is to cut down waste.

Please share your views.

Tan Kin Lian

Rechargeable lamp (with locator) - delivery $1

You can now buy the rechargeable torchlight (with locator lamp) for $6.50 from internet shop and pay a delivery charge of only $1 (previously $7). You do not need to spend money on battery as the rechargeable battery can be recharged using electricity (12 hours of charge to last about two weeks). You can switch on the locator lamp at night, to make it easy to look for the torchlight. Suitable for use at home, for travel, and for seniors.

You can also buy books at a special discount of 15% during February. Order here.

Calculate the rate of interest

Here is how you can calculate the rate of interest using Excel XP
Insert > Function > Rate
Enter the following
Number of periods
Regular payment
PV (i.e amount of loan)
FV (i.e. accumulated amount)
Type (0 - payment at end of period, 1 - payment at beginning of period
Enter negative amount for PV and FV and positive amount for regular payment
This will give you the interest rate per period. You can convert to an annual rate by multiplying the number of periods in a year.
The function in Excel 2007 is different, but the concept is the same.

Minibond Payout

Hi Mr Tan
Upon hearing the news that MB is paying all the investors some amount next Friday, I did a search and found this web page about the percentage for each series.


Please do me a favor and publish this on your blog, I don't know how to reach everyone to tell them the good news. When they click the link below, they will know how much they can get back.


http://www.hsbc.com.sg/1/2/miscellaneous/minibond-notes-frequently-asked-questions


Thank you for your help to all of us these long days, I believe that all of us will forever remember you. I still lose about $35K and don't know what else I can do to get back my "blood and sweat" money ???


HC

Class action in America

An American legal firm, specializing in class action suits, is holding a seminar in Singapore in March to explain their service in assisting investors to seek compensation under US securities laws for their investment losses due to wrong doing by the financial institutions. More details about this service is shown in this video.

This firm will only collect a fee based on successful outcome of the legal action. If there is no recovery, no fee is payable. More details of the seminar will be announced later, when details are finalized.

Please provide your particulars in this form, if you are keen to attend the seminar.

Two casinos

Here is an upbeat assessment of the two casinos. Hope that it materialises.

Interest payable on loans

I am doing some research on interest rates payable on home, car, computer, study and other loans.

Can you send to kinlian@gmail.com the details of loans that you have been offered recently as follows:
Date of offer
Financial Institution
Amount of loan
Purpose of loan
Number of repayments
Amount of monthly repayment

I will analyse the effective interest rate that you are paying for the loan.