Stanford - Entrepreneurial Thought Leader

http://ecorner.stanford.edu/podcasts.html

Review of Minister's salaries

Here is an excellent article by Lucky Tan.  Here are some views of netizens. Another view by Yoong Siew Wah.

You can get a good summary of the current issues at Singapore Social Economic Portal (SGEP)

Be educated on financial matters

Here is a guide for consumers to be educated on financial matter. They have to spend the time and some money to be educated. See Ask Mr. Tan or click here.

Business Mail

I am now using Business Mail to send out e-mails to FISCA members and non-members to inform them about FISCA events. It takes less than 1 minute to send out 850 e-mails. Business organisations who wish to use Business Mail to send out their flyers can contact ceo@tankinlian.com. More details of Business Mail can be found here: http://easyapps.sg/bm/

FISCA Talk - Understanding and applying fundamental analysis in stock investments

There is a new FISCA talk scheduled for Saturday 2 pm on "Understanding and Applying Fundamental Analysis in Stock Investment". It was arranged on popular demand by past attendees at FISCA talk. More details can be found at   http://easyapps.sg/assn/Org/Event.aspx?id=5. This will be preceded  by the AGM of FISCA (to be attended by FISCA members only).

Tag our bags and small children

My family went on an outing to the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. During the trip, my grand daughter Vera lost her favourite bag containing some expensive clothes and toys. This is a picture of the bag.

We realised that she had left her bag behind several hours later. We were 100 km away and it was too far and too late for us to go back to look for it.

I should have placed a tag (with my name and mobile number) on her bag. This would have allowed an honest finder to call the owner by mobile phone.

This tag is also useful to be attached to the pant of a small child who might get lost in crowded stations, ferries or tourist spots. If the child is lost, it is easy for a adult to call the parent.


The next time that I travel with a young child, I would bring along several tags to be used in all the bags and small children. I hope that this tip is useful for you when you travel on a vacation.

Tan Kin Lian

Minimum wage in Sydney

 I spoke to a staff at the restaurant where I had breakfast on Sunday. She is a student from overseas and is allowed to work 20 hours a week. She earns A$15 on weekdays and A$20 on weekends. I calculated that she must have earned A$1,500 a month on the part time work. She said that she has to pay taxes but I was told that the rate of tax is only 10% at her salary level (revised).

This is a good income for part time work. Many students are able to earn an income to pay for their education fees and also to have money to spend. They are hard working and provide courteous and good service. The high wage results in higher prices paid by consumers, but as the customers also earn a high income, they find the prices to be affordable.

The tourists may find the prices to be high, but this is also contributed by the high exchange rate. If the country is too costly and uncompetitive, the exchange rate can come down and the competitiveness can be restored.

A minimum wage ensures that all workers can earn an adequate income and have a good standard of living. It reduces the gap between the high and low income earners in the country. It is likely that a high wage country will have lower prices for their properties, relative to the income level - so the consumer prices may not increase as much as the wages.

I find that Australian system, with a high minimum wage and control over the number of hours that can be worked (e.g. by students) to be better in distributing the work opportunities to those who are willing to work. I believe that a minimum wage helps to make a better society - which is why many countries decide to have a minimum wage.

Singapore is one of the few advanced countries that does not have a minimum wage. Although we have the workfare income supplement, I think that the minimum wage system works better.

Tan Kin Lian