Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Passing the buck
This expatriate wants to set up a representative office in Singapore. He has to go from one agency to another. No agency wish to take the responsibility to assist him. It is a common behavior in Singapore. Read this letter.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Video - Wisdom on how to live life
Dr. Tommy Wong introduces his book, "wisdom on how to live life" in this video (now replaced by a new video).
Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall
During the global financial crisis in 2008, Dubai was in a liquidity crisis. It could not repay back the loans that were due, and the lenders refused to roll over the loan. Dubai had to seek assistance from Abu Dhabi. One consequence was the renaming of the world tallest building from Burj Dubai to Burj Khalifa. This removed the Dubai name from the most important landmark in Dubai.
Dubai found a way to retain the name. It renamed the Metro station that served this locality to Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall. So, the name of Dubai is retained in this landmark building and the Metro station. How ingenuous!
Video of my visit
Video of Dubai Musical Fountain
Video taken from the top of Burj Khalifa
Tan Kin Lian
Dubai found a way to retain the name. It renamed the Metro station that served this locality to Burj Khalifa Dubai Mall. So, the name of Dubai is retained in this landmark building and the Metro station. How ingenuous!
Video of my visit
Video of Dubai Musical Fountain
Video taken from the top of Burj Khalifa
Tan Kin Lian
Investing in SGX
FISCA will be organising monthly talks on investing in the ETF, REITS and blue chip shares of SGX. The talk will be for 3 hours and will be conducted by a knowledgeable person, based on the principles set out in my book, Practical Guide on Financial Planning. Tentatively, the fee for the talk will be $30 (public) and $10 (members).
I encourage the public to attend the talk and be educated about these types of investments. I encourage investing in SGX as the prices and information are transparent and the investor has the opportunity to buy or sell these products at a low cost. This ensures that the consumers are not taken advantage by the issuer, in the case of structured products that are created by them.
Tan Kin Lian
I encourage the public to attend the talk and be educated about these types of investments. I encourage investing in SGX as the prices and information are transparent and the investor has the opportunity to buy or sell these products at a low cost. This ensures that the consumers are not taken advantage by the issuer, in the case of structured products that are created by them.
Tan Kin Lian
Monday, June 28, 2010
Australia's population
The new Prime Minister of Australia is against a large population growth. Read this article.
My observation
If Australia with its large size and a population of only 22 million complains about over-crowding, what is the situation in Singapore?
My observation
If Australia with its large size and a population of only 22 million complains about over-crowding, what is the situation in Singapore?
Low birth rate
An edited version of this letter was published in Straits Times Online on 29 June 2010
A Straits Times editorial entitled "A case of try and try again" (28 June 2010) reported on the many failed attempts to arrest the declining birth rate in Singapore. The current average of 1.22 children per woman of child bearing age is far below the replacement level of 2.07, and must place our birth rate as among the lowest in the world.
This worrying fact was noted by the Government almost 25 years ago and several rounds of incentives have been introduced, with great publicity and fanfare, but all of them have failed miserably. We refused to recognise the real reasons for the failure and instead said that this is a trend faced by other countries. If this is the case, why should Singapore fare worst than others?
Singapore's low birth rate is the outcome of our social and economic policies of the past decades, which has resulted in high cost of living, low security of employment, low wages, wide disparity of income, high cost of housing, a stressed education system and so on.
The measures to increase the population through immigration will have their negative impacts. Worse, it will not solve the underlying problems, as the immigrants will face the same difficulties as the local born citizens, and they have more opportunity (and less deterrence) to move to other countries at a convenient time in the future.
I hope that we will be prepared to face reality, address the underlying issues, and be prepared to try new measures that were not tried before in Singapore (but have proven successful in other countries).
Tan Kin Lian
A Straits Times editorial entitled "A case of try and try again" (28 June 2010) reported on the many failed attempts to arrest the declining birth rate in Singapore. The current average of 1.22 children per woman of child bearing age is far below the replacement level of 2.07, and must place our birth rate as among the lowest in the world.
This worrying fact was noted by the Government almost 25 years ago and several rounds of incentives have been introduced, with great publicity and fanfare, but all of them have failed miserably. We refused to recognise the real reasons for the failure and instead said that this is a trend faced by other countries. If this is the case, why should Singapore fare worst than others?
Singapore's low birth rate is the outcome of our social and economic policies of the past decades, which has resulted in high cost of living, low security of employment, low wages, wide disparity of income, high cost of housing, a stressed education system and so on.
The measures to increase the population through immigration will have their negative impacts. Worse, it will not solve the underlying problems, as the immigrants will face the same difficulties as the local born citizens, and they have more opportunity (and less deterrence) to move to other countries at a convenient time in the future.
I hope that we will be prepared to face reality, address the underlying issues, and be prepared to try new measures that were not tried before in Singapore (but have proven successful in other countries).
Tan Kin Lian
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