Working until 68. Still healthy I guess.

My Group CEO said he was watching the news the night before and got to know that the retirement age for the Britain would most probably be increased to 68. Okay, it’s not such a big deal because the current retirement age for the UK is 67 anyway. The year that this will be implemented is also not immediate. It’s due only in 2037. That’s still 20 years away. This was however widely reported and debated upon because it was supposed to have been implemented only from 2044 onwards.

There are many articles but here’s one:
standard.co.uk
 The UK’s Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Gauke told the MPs: As life expectancy continues to rise and the number of people in receipt of state pension increases, we need to ensure that we have a fair and sustainable system that is reflective of modern life and protected for future generations.” (In brief, the pension money needs to be stretched to support ever more people who will be receiving it. It’s certainly not easy when the country becomes an ageing nation. As at 2015, the UK population 65 years and above is already close to 18 percent.
Here’s a reference. ons.gov.uk

Would I want to work until 68?
Working longer as an alternative? I hope not,if possible

I only hope I can stay very healthy till then. My parents are both retired and I think they enjoy their current lifestyle. I seriously believe children should do more for their parents because it is because of them that we become who we are today. By the way, this is an earlier article about what’s happening to Malaysia’s population. Yes, we are becoming an ageing one too.

2050: 24% of Malaysians are 65 and above (including me)
By the way, the median age for many ASEAN nations are still okay. We should be ‘safe’ as long as our economies continue to grow. Yes, with support from the new superpower from ASIA.

A friend once told me that the people should continue to work as long as they are healthy. I do agree but perhaps the type of work I have in mind may be more of interest related instead of a manual one. When I am 65, my daughter would be 29 and my son 27. I am SURE they would take care of me. Haha. Let’s revisit this article in 25 years time shall we.

I have asked my daughter many times if she would take care of me when she has a husband. She does not even understand what I am asking but she said Yes. Haha. Oh yeah, Malaysians are actually pretty confident with their retirement. An earlier survey here:
40% ready for retirement and 80% have strategies

This is of course disputed by some statistics. For example this one shows that many Malaysians do not have enough savings when they stop working.
Malaysia: 42 percent senior citizens have zero savings

Happy saving or working.

written on 20 July 2017

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I worry about retirement because…….

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World Bank: 2017 will be a recovery year for Malaysia

Before we buy any property, we should also at least note the expert comments on Malaysia, especially from World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) or even in the near future,
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
 As reported in Starbiz, World Bank has this to say about Malaysia. The malaysian economy will be growing at a slower pace in 2016 but will pick up slightly in 2017 to 2018 as commodity prices recover and global economic growth improves. Just earlier, it was predicted to be a gloomy 2016. Here:
Better H2 2016 for Malaysia, GDP growth at 4.4%

The word used for Malaysia’s economic growth is ‘resilient’ though it expects GDP to slow to 4.4 percent versus 5 percent in 2015.

GDP growth for 2016 is expected to be at 4.5 percent. It said, “Fiscal consolidation remains on track despite lower oil-related revenues achieved through reduction in the government’s operating expenditures and the implementation of the GST in April 2016. Malaysia is one of the most open economies in the world, with a trade to GDP ratio of 148% (from 2010 to 2014) compared to 58% in developing countries in East Asia and Pacific.The country’s main exports have over time gradually diversified into manufacturing with electrical and electronics accounting for 40% of all exports. About 40% of jobs in Malaysia are linked with export activities. Total wages supported by exports has quadrupled between 1995 and 2011.”

Still believe
Malaysia is in for a tough time?
 Do not worry, there are definitely those safer countries to invest in. The most important is to keep our bullets (money)  and go only for very good deals. If you believe what World Bank is saying, then the window to buy may be now. I only believe World Bank when they say things I want to hear. Haha. Anyway, we are all property investors, its best to have good news than bad news when we are
HOLDING on to a property.
 When we are looking to enter the market, then perhaps some BAD news would push the advantage to our side. Happy searching and offering.

written on 30 June 2016

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2020’s gloomy outlook for global economic growth. Really so bad?

Remember yeah, predictions are just predictions even if it uses a lot of real numbers based on historical and the current momentum for example. Sentiment could change anytime during the year from negative to positive or from positive to negative. Very real example? World Trade ‘war’ between the two largest economies could continue suddenly even if it seems that there is a truce at the moment.

The United States have also demanded many countries to agree to what it was thinking and wanted them to do and failure to do so may cause lots of friction and tension. With all these negative potential happenings, of course the sentiment is likely to be negative, thus impacting businesses from expanding and this will just meant less jobs will be available. Not a good sign, right? What is World Bank’s latest assessment of the global economic growth for 2020?

Article in forbes.com
  The World Bank has warned of ongoing uncertainties from tariffs and geopolitical tensions as well as the risk of a fresh global debt crisis. However it expects the global economy to grow 2.5% for 2020 and this is better than the 2.4% expected for 2019. It is however lower than earlier forecasted 2.7% for 2020.

Growth within advanced economies will be just 1.4% while that of emerging market and developing economies will rise 4.1%.  The World Bank also warned of a fresh global debt crisis because of the “largest, fastest and most broad-based accumulation of debt since the 1970s!  Ayhan Kose, the World Bank’s lead economic forecaster warned,  “Low global interest rates provide only a precarious protection against financial crises.” Do refer to more numbers in the
Article in forbes.com

Malaysia is still grouped under the developing country and since we have forecasts ranging from 4.3% all the way to 4.8% for GDP 2020, we are considered above the average of just 4.1% for the world. Then again, an extra 0.2% is actually marginal. I think our economy has to continue its diversification and it is not wise to rely on just mining and exporting for example. Attract more visitors during the Visit Malaysia Year 2020.

Beyond just manufacturing, could we (government and Malaysians) have a more pro-active role in expanding the private healthcare to serve the world. These patients do not just come alone, they come in one family and this will be extra spending within Malaysia.  Start ensuring the supply growth for the property market is a purposeful one and not just simply build, build and then worry, worry.  There’s a lot more but I am not part of the government. Haha. Happy reading.

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World Bank says Malaysia down in 2016 and up in 2017

The World Bank knows it all and is seldom wrong. Haha. Okay, let’s listen to what they have to say about the Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP). If you want, you can also read the full report here in
NST.
 In brief, World Bank said for 2016, Malaysia’s GDP will fall to only a growth of 4 percent. However, by 2017 and 2018, with the manufacturing growth and commodities, we would do better. Its chief economist for World Bank’s east Asia and Pacific, Sudhir Shetty said, “The World Bank predicts that Malaysia’s economic growth in 2017 and 2018 will be better compared to the 4.0 per cent targeted this year.”

What about other countries? China is expected to grow 6.7 percent in 2016 followed by 6.5 and 6.3 in the next two years. Everyone else in the region is expected to remain stable at 4.8 percent but will pick up in 2017 and 2018. Sudhir issued a warning however. “Despite the favourable prospects the region’s growth is subject to significant risks. These uncertainties make it critical for policymakers to reduce financial and fiscal imbalances that have built up in recent years.”

I think what Sudhir is saying is that we need to contain the current household debt to GDP ratio. Fortunately our trade numbers are still in the black unlike some developed countries. Household debt to GDP is indeed high but I personally believe any crisis due to crazy household debt vs GDP numbers is not likely to start from Malaysia. Do google for some additional answers. My wish is for
oil prices to stay at current level

(US$50, as at 6th Sept 2016)  for as long as possible. It’s good enough. Moving up higher under current economic situation is definitely not a good combination for most countries except the net-oil producing countries. Keep growing Malaysia.

written on 6 Sept 2016

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World Bank: Malaysia is a GOOD destination for global investors

I do not always agree with World Bank even if their analysts are by far more qualified than me. Haha. However, I do agree with their latest view from their representative to Malaysia / country manager Faris Hadid-Zervos. He said that good investment climate and competitive costs are providing global investors with conducive business environment here in Malaysia. His words, “Malaysia is always ranked close to the top 20, across different types of international rankings, including that of the World Bank in Doing Business. It has also very developed infrastructure and connectivity, a highly-diversified economy, proactive government policies and multilingual workforce. All these make Malaysia a good investment destination.” Full article in Nst
here
.

Faris shared that Malaysia had historically been getting considerable amount of foreign direct investments (FDI) and in 2015 registered a net inflow of RM43.4 billion. This FDI clearly showed that it’s best to focus on the bigger picture of the ecosystem and not just the typical misconceptions. Besides this, Malaysia’s economic fundamentals are also improving and in 2015, the net investments were positive. Asia has been the main source of FDI flows with 64.7 percent followed by the Americas (16.4 percent) and Europe (14.1 percent). (Yes, I do think China plays a very big part here which is fine for me. To be very direct, China is not a charity body and does not simply invest in any country when there are no economic gains. Malaysia does have something positive to offer versus other countries)

Three years ago, I have a friend who told me that Malaysia will be a bankrupt nation soon. Three years later, as at currently, all three international rating agencies continue to rate Malaysia under the ‘investment’ category. Within the past three years, this ‘negative’ friend continues to buy Malaysian stocks,
Malaysian properties

and investing ever more in Malaysian unit trusts. I seriously hope everyone who’s thinking like my friend understand that should Malaysia suddenly becomes a bankrupt nation, all those investments we have may be wiped out. I hope I am right and my friend is wrong, for all his and my investments sake. Malaysia is nowhere near Healthiest but we are even further away from ‘about to go bankrupt’ even based on all the usual statistics versus a nation whose currency is strengthening because of expectations… Happy believing.

written on 21 Nov 2016

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World Bank: Income Relief by the government should continue for 6 more months

Covid-19’s effects

Covid-19 has affected many Malaysians and now we have the flood which has also devastated many homes and thus households. Some may have suffered huge financial losses and will now have to start cleaning up. My friend’s car was completely submerged under water and he is now facing a financial distress.

There’s also the possibility of the rain to continue and that’s a big concern for many Malaysians. This is why it is important for the genuinely affected ones whether Covid-19 or the recent flood to receive assistance to get back on their feet. Government has to do something and fast. World Bank also have their own recommendations about what the government should continue doing.

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
   Senior economist on Poverty and Equity Dr Ririn Salwa Purnamasari of the World Bank group said that the government must continue its income relief support to a broad range of households, particularly low-income and vulnerable households, through cash assistance transfers at least until economic growth, job creation, and wage growth resume.

She said, “Thereafter, this cash assistance can be focused more narrowly on the chronically poor.” She also shared

She also said that targetted wages subsidies must be introduced, including for youth and women, who traditionally suffer from difficulties in entering the labour market. Thus she suggested, “As the economy and employment recover, resources could be directed to those who may continue to need support to obtain a job and who may not benefit from the existing wage subsidy programme.” Please read the full article here:
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

Blanket versus targeted

Please note that I disagree with blanket assistance and I prefer the assistance to be targeted and really reaches the ones who need them the most. If we have a blanket one, then the funds available for everyone will be a very small amount. However, if it’s targeted, we can really help those in need more and maybe even for a longer period of time. Then again, I am not the government.

Happy following.

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World Bank: Preaching is easy. Doing is hard.

Yes, I am talking about the other largest financial institution that countries can go to should they really need help. The other being International Monetary Fund and the 3rd largest would be Asian Development Bank followed by the the about to be formalised Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. (AIAB) Read here:
US$100 Billion new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
.
In a news report, it was revealed that the World Bank indirectly invests part of its $18.8 billion staff pension fund in companies which are operating in industries such as coal and tobacco. This is of course in direct collision to what the institution preaches; ethical and low-carbon investing.

When the World Bank gives out loans, it is a lending practise to all the developing nations that it will not give funds for tobacco production and would totally ban financial support for the construction of coal-fired electricity with the exception of the poorest countries without any other options. In fact, based on a transparency and managing climate risks report by the Asset Owners Disclosure Project, the World Bank’s pension fund is ranked even below pension funds of companies including British Coal and the state oil fund of Azerbaijan. Let me repeat, ‘below state oil fund of Azerbaijan.’

Honestly, I do not think investing in these industries are wrong. Yes, I hate smokers but it is still a choice and these industries are safe, especially for pension based funds. What I do not agree is that if this is already known, then why not allow these developing countries to also benefit from such investments? Why selectively do it and then preaching everyone else not to do it? On second thought, perhaps this is just the world order. The stronger would normally be advantageous compared to the weaker ones. Just look at the subsidy which the rich nations gave to their farmers who would go on to defeat all the poor farmers of the poorest nations in the world. In the end, some of these poorest nations would remain poorest for a very long time to come. Yeah, this may have little to do with Malaysia. Just read for knowledge then.

written on 4 May 2015

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Financial news: IMF says world economic growth slows. What about recession?

Financial news: World economic growth slows. What about recession?

What is the definition of recession?

As per investopedia.com:
 A recession is a significant, widespread, and prolonged downturn in economic activity. A common rule of thumb is that two consecutive quarters of negative gross domestic product (GDP) growth mean recession, although more complex formulas are also used. Do read the full
writeup in investopedia.com here if you like to know better

This was what our Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor
Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said in an article here
. Malaysia will not go into recession as continued growth looms in 2023. She said the Malaysian economy would continue to be supported by the continued recovery in the labour market, expected V-shape recovery for the tourism sector and strong investment from both public and the private sector. She said, “We are not seeing a global recession (this year). In fact, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had revised its earlier outlook not just for last year but even this year.”

Article in freemalaysiatoday.com
  The IMF predicted the global economy will grow by 2.8% this year and 3% in 2024, a decline of 0.1 percentage point from its previous forecasts in January.

Its chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said, “The global economy is recovering from the shocks of the last few years, and particularly of course the pandemic, but also the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

Close to 90% of advanced economies will experience slowing growth this year, while Asia’s emerging markets are expected to see a substantial rise in economic output — with India and China predicted to account for half of all growth, IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva said last week. Do refer to the full article here:
Article in freemalaysiatoday.com

Focus on India and China yeah (plus ASEAN too)

Half of all growth would come from China and India as per the article yeah. I think the next country our PM will be going next should be India. 🙂  This was the good news recently after the China trip.
Johor to receive RM80 billion worth of FDI from China
.  Meanwhile ASEAN better become more closely integrated economically.  Growing each other’s economy is the way to go. I believe what out BNM governor said. Malaysia will be growing enough and will avoid recession in 2023.

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This is what World Health Organisation declared about Covid-19

Global Health Emergency NO MORE

I had just reached Kuala Lumpur after 2 weeks of Chinese New Year Holiday in 2020 when everyone was asked to stay inside our own home under the Movement Control Order (MCO). Later, the leader of the house is allowed to go out and buy groceries. After that, things slowly normalise and soon I brought my family for some staycations and after a very long time, we could finally go back to the hometown. Still, everything seemed so dangerous! My parents are no longer as healthy as when I was younger and I was worried all the time.

My whole family has been infected before and we are all very lucky as we have all been vaccinated and the effects are super mild. I hardly felt anything when i got Covid-19. Well, all these are finally coming to an end. This has just been announced by World Health Organisation (WHO).

Article in bbc.com

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a “global health emergency”.
  This announcement came after 3 years.  Officials said the virus’ death rate had dropped from a peak of more than 100,000 people per week in January 2021 to just over 3,500 on 24 April.

“Yesterday, the Emergency Committee met for the 15th time and recommended to me that I declare an end to the public health emergency of international concern. I’ve accepted that advice. It is therefore with great hope that I declare Covid-19 over as a global health emergency,” Dr Tedros said.

“The worst thing any country can do now is to use this news as a reason to let down its guard, to dismantle the systems it has built,  or to send the message to its people that Covid-19 is nothing to worry about,” he said. Please do read the article in full here:
Article in bbc.com

I am sure all of us have learnt something from Covid-19

I have learnt that people love to listen to rumours and believe it wholeheartedly without wanting to read all sides. It took me less than 5 minutes to register my wife and I for the Astra Zeneca vaccine. The reason?  People were afraid that the vaccine was NOT good. They wanted to wait for the supposedly better one. The fact that over 20 million Britons have been vaccinated before it was offered in Malaysia was not even something people read. Anyway, the second batch of AZ vaccines saw so many people trying and trying and then many show their frustrations.

I have learnt that masks are always a good idea when I am not feeling well or when I am in a very crowded place. It reduces the chance of infection from me to others and others to me when at least I have a mask on. I have also learnt that it’s better to have some of these stocks at home versus only buying them when there’s any sudden need for it and the whole world is looking for it and not just me. This is the same for test kits too. It was impossible to get one for a while.

What about you? What have you learnt? Happy sharing with kopiandproperty.com readers.

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World Talent Report 2014 – Malaysia

As usual, most of the awesome online medias love negative news. Thus, when there’s a positive news for the country in the world arena, it was somehow, missed by many. Haha. Please google IMD and you would find huge number of articles related to them. Financial Times, one of those extremely famous ranking charts ranked them top 12 in the world. Forbes ranked them top MBA of the world in 2013. IMD is based in Switzerland. For those who is still asking about IMD, it’s okay, just forget this tiny article in the online space and go to the next one. I am still going to write this even if my degree was not done in Malaysia.

IMD has released it’s first annual World Talent Report. It includes the 60 countries that are currently ranked in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook. Unless IMD announces some mistakes in calculations etc, Malaysia is ranked top 5 in the world. Yes, this is a real ranking and Malaysia is ahead of countries with top universities like Singapore, Ireland, UK, America, Canada etc. You may refer to the full ranking here:
http://www.imd.org/news/IMD-releases-its-2014-World-Talent-Report.cfm
 This ranking assesses a country’s ability to develop, attract and retain talent for companies that operate there. Three key factors are evaluated:

1. Investment and development
 in home-grown talent, reflecting a country’s public investment in education and the quality of its education system.

2. Appeal
, reflecting a country’s ability to retain home-grown talent and attract talent from overseas.

3. Readiness
, reflecting a country’s ability to fulfil market demands with its available talent pool.

“The best-ranked countries have a balanced approach between their commitment to education, investment in developing local talent, and their ability to attract overseas talent.” – IMD

The full ranking is based on over 20 indicators. Some are statistical and some are from an exclusive opinion survey of 4,300 international executives. Note: ‘executives’ here meant Senior and Top Management. It is not the junior executive or the senior executive which we know. This is then joined by IMD World Competitiveness Center’s extensive historical database. This allows for an assessment from 2005 to 2014.

Ok, have to be honest, Malaysia obviously was not ranked top 5 in all the three key factors. It’s just that overall average wise, we somehow edged out all the others. For example:

For the
investment and development factor
, Denmark leads ahead of Switzerland (2) and Austria (3). Germany (4) and Sweden (5) complete the top five.

Switzerland is top-ranked for the
appeal
 factor, followed by Germany (2), the US (3), Ireland (4) and Malaysia (5).

Switzerland is also highest-rated for
readiness
, ahead of Finland (2), the Netherlands (3), Denmark (4) and the UAE (5).

The above is reported because I had an argument with a friend who said Malaysians are not creative and that MAJORITY of all talents are already overseas. I looked at him and pointed to me, I said, ‘Fortunately, I am among the MINORITY of Malaysian talents who are going to be here for a very long time.’ I did not bother to ask him if he’s amongst the minority because he is already a retiree. I think his category are not listed even if he considers himself a great talent too. Everyone can say everything and anyone can claim that working overseas are much better. For professional like doctors and dentists perhaps, I do agree that their lives are great overseas but are the good doctors and dentists in Malaysia living badly? 🙂  it’s okay, if you do not agree, show your true capability by being successful overseas. Once you are successful, then you can claim anything and I would accept. In fact we can still have a latte when you are HOME for a holiday. Happy working, be it within or externally.

written on 26 Nov 2014

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World’s growing much slower. Signs.

Malaysia is a trading nation. We are ranked around 25 / 26th in the world based on import and export numbers.
As per info from World Trade Organisation.
  We are 45th in the world based on population size. This meant that there are 44 countries having higher population than us.  What these two things tell us is that when the world slows down, our growth would also slow down because our population is not big enough to push for huge consumption, unlike the US, China or even our ASEAN neighbour Indonesia. Last year we achieved 4.7% GDP growth which is a good number. Article here:
4.7% is healthy
 So, how’s the world growing this year?

Article in Bloomberg here.
 Global economy is expanding at its weakest since the global financial crisis. A UBS model suggested that the world grew 2.1% in 2018 and this is weakest since 2008-2009.  China car sales dropped in January. U.S. retail sales posted worst drop in nine years in December 2018.  In Europe, the sentiment continues to weaken. U.S. Federal Reserve is pausing its interest-rate hiking cycle. Fortunately, not all are negative news. This is assessment by Janet Henry, global chief economist at HSBC, “There are tentative signs that some industrial data are starting to edge up.” Though she ended with this, “It could still be a false dawn though, as survey data still point to further weakness.”
Article in Bloomberg here.

Briefly, car sales dropping meant that the consumption is dropping and is usually a sign of loss in confidence; sentiment becoming more negative. One month is not a good sign though, perhaps 2 more months will be clearer. Sentiment weakening in Europe is a bad sign because when people feel the economy is getting worse, they stop spending and this compounds the issue too. U.S. Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates continuously because they felt that the U.S. economy was getting stronger. Pausing this meant that they are wary of the economy weakening. What this article tells us is that good times are not coming in the near future but whether its bad times or not, we need a bit more signs. Happy following.

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Article written and edited by Charles. News article summarised by Dina Batrisyia.

written on 26 Feb 2019

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I worry about retirement because….

How many of us are worried about retirement? Many would be worried even if we have a good job paying a healthy salary today The reason is because by the time we retire, we would
not have a full time job
 and thus our day to day expenses have to come from whatever we earn through what we have. For example, the interests from our fixed deposits or unit trusts etc. The luckier few would have rentals from properties but for majority, it is more likely a downgrade of lifestyle. In fact majority would have less than enough to live comfortably till the day we say bye-bye because we have never worried in advance.

In America, eighty-six (86) percent of all working-age American households agree that America faces a retirement crisis. This is according to a recent report by the National Institute of Retirement. They worry that they will fall short of the retirement savings goals that would allow them to maintain their same standard of living today versus when they retire. However, the percentage of people worried about their
personal retirement outlook i
s down to 74 percent from 85 percent 2 years ago. Of course, the current economic growth does help in making them more confident as well. Over half said they will continue to work even after they retire! 40 percent meanwhile said they would have to sell their home for financial security reasons.

Do we see a similarity with the situation in Malaysia? Actually, this situation is repeated in many countries and not limited to just Malaysia or America. The first question would be, WHY would people feel less confident? I think most of the time, it is because they have done nothing to fortify what they have before they retire. Second question is WHEN because in actual fact, if our investment had started earlier, we need to take less risks and still be able to achieve what we set out to have.
 Imagine if we started when we are much older?
 We may need to be much more aggressive and this is when luck must be on our side. Third question of WHAT to invest in can easily be found if we were to attend some talks by property gurus, or stock analysts or even your personal friend who is a unit trust agent.

If we have determined that property is one of such goal, then the question of
WHERE would crop up. Where should we buy?

Well, it is pretty safe to say that as long as you are not buying in the middle of a forest, any place is quite safe. Property prices tend to follow inflation rate and by the time we need to retire, we have a property that we can sell off. Do note that a RM350,000 home that we purchase today would have easily doubled during our working life. The most important thing we must know however is that retirement planning is something many worry but few do anything about. Are we the majority who does virtually nothing or the minority who think retirement planning has better start today? Happy thinking, planning and investing.

written on 3 Apr 2015

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Property market Malaysia is worse than 1999?

I have received / seen this piece of news a few times. “
NST: Developers expect glut in property market this year”
  and here’s another one,
“Edgeprop.my: Developers foresee dark times due to glut, worse than 1999 crisis”
  Somehow, everyone loves negative news. Even for kopiandproperty.com, every time I write about bad news, the clicks go up. Now you know why it’s important to occasionally write about negative news? Haha.

Anyway, the articles highlighted views from former Penang Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) chairman Datuk Jerry Chan who said they are concerned with the oversupply of homes in the country and are expecting this year to be worse than 1999, when the Asian Financial Crisis was in full swing. With this view, they hope the authorities would do more to counter the situation.

Datuk Jerry Chan shares that in 1999, there was no severe glut and it was easier to buy a property then. He said in Penang alone, there was about 40 per cent unsold units, involving affordable and luxury categories. The demand from buyers are available but he said tight lending rules were a major hindrance. “The government must revisit the existing lending guidelines if it is serious about helping Malaysians own homes,” he added. Current Rehda chairman Datuk Toh Chin Leong said the property glut was mostly in the RM300,000 category. He said, “In these lower priced ranges, most of the buyers could not get loans so there is an oversupply of these properties.” As for excesses in other price categories, he said the problem is less severe. He said, “If we look at the middle range of between RM600,000 and RM800,000 that are in good locations, we can still sell these properties.”
Edgeprop.my: Developers foresee dark times due to glut, worse than 1999 crisis”

I do not think the situation today is so severe to be compared to some crisis years. However the issue of unsold units are real and it’s because of the mismatch in what was built versus what’s really needed. Price is an issue mostly. Banks are also not willing to lend when their own valuation showed that the price is too high. This is why sometimes they no longer give 90 percent but maybe 80 percent loan to buyers who apply. All these are then compounded by negative sentiment which meant that more time is needed to clear them. Perhaps we see the result of March then. Happy following. Like more articles like this? Like
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written on 31 Jan 2019

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Worst and Best Time to buy a property?

Worst and Best Time to buy a property?

History teaches us lessons only IF we really want to learn from it. This is also the reason why I always tell people that when it comes to property investment, learn from what has happened and not just hear rumours.

Malaysia property market is not as good as the Australian property market

One very good example? Too many people I know have told me that Malaysia property market is NOT as good as Australian property market. Frankly, I do not even wish to debate on which is better! Haha. Guys ah, in Melbourne or Sydney today, the median property price already tells us that majority of Australians would struggle to buy a property anywhere in or near city centres. They are buying suburbs and their suburbs are not 30km away yeah. It’s 60km away…

Learning means absorbing data and turning them into information for action

Please do learn what these trends from more advanced property markets are telling us yeah.  Learn and take actions. I bought into Kelana Jaya when everyone was saying that only freehold is worth buying. When I sold that property, everyone suddenly realised they should have done the same. I bought into Sungai Ara (Penang) and many asked why not Gelugor? When I sold that property, they said they should have bought the same. I bought into a condo nearby cemetery in Tanjung Tokong and the price I paid versus today is a huge difference. I can tell more examples but it’s okay. Everyone has their own way of investing, so all the best to everyone.

May all of us be successful in our investments yeah. Now, coming back to timing. Best Time, Good Time, Better Time or even Worst Time?

1998: Best Time or Worst Time?

If someone were to invest during the worst time, say the 1998 ASEAN financial crisis, this person would have gained tremendously whether she bought into the stock marke or even the unit trust. Property prices dropped double digits in 1998 versus 1997 but in 1999, it rose by double digits too. If the person held those investments till recent years, the person could have enough to retire.  In 1998 for example, a typical landed property in Penang is probably RM400,000?Imagine owning just 2 of them and compare the price then to today’s price…

The LUCKY ones who bought then would have been buying during the worst time and yet it was also the best time for them.

2008 – 2013: Best Time or Worst Time?

If someone were to buy a property during the booming years and she happened to buy towards the end of the booming years, then this person may need to have the power to hold. This is because after 2013, the property prices have not been the same as the 5 years before 2013. This meant that investing during good times, does not necessarily give good returns. Okay, unless that someone managed to invest into some undervalued properties even during good times.

Source:
https://tradingeconomics.com/malaysia/housing-index

Actually, no matter what is the time, property investment over 20 years for example, the total number is always up. So, perhaps we can do three things instead?

Learning from history and trends from developed property markets?

The above chart would tell you that as long as one bought a good property, hold it over the years, one would profit from selling it or at the very least hedge against inflation. By the way, hedging against inflation is a super important thing because if inflation is ONLY at 4% per year, we would lose half of our wealth within just 13 years yeah. Means, if we have RM1,000,000 the value will fall to just RM500,000 in 13 years if we did not hedge against inflation. Be very scared okay.

Now, let’s look at also the price trends from that advanced property market?

Source:
https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/housing-index

Source:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-kingdom/housing-index

It’s the decision, not the timing

Happy understanding that there is no worst time or best time. It’s just the right property or the wrong one versus the okay price or overpriced. Learn enough to choose the right one and forget the timing. Learn enough to choose one which is not overpriced. Cheers.

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Worst is over. Gradual recovery is the flavour.

As usual, another someone said I am too positive. Haha. Anything wrong with being positive yeah? By the way positive does not mean I am not objective yeah. Just that from the two sides of a coin, I see the brighter part more, that’s all. Some may prefer to see the more negative part, that’s fine for me. I will not go and accuse you of being too negative. We believe what we want and we just need to take the appropriate actions to follow through. How about having another party talking about the positive part then?  Specifically, Fitch Group.
 (They say they have over 100 years of experience and employs more than 4,000 people across 30 countries)

Article in news.yahoo.com
 Fitch Group’s research unit said that after Malaysia’s “worst recession,” the recovery will be gradual in second half followed by “BOUNCING BACK” next year.
(Actual description they used, not mine, ok)

This Fitch unit also gave an objective account of the outlook too. It said, “The severe downturn in Q220 as well as continuing restrictions on gatherings and people’s movements will continue to weigh on private consumption as disposable incomes shrink and malls and entertainment venues see less traffic.”

“Furthermore, travel restrictions are likely to remain largely in place, as negotiations to re-open travel are likely to be limited to essential business travel in 2020, with governments in Asia mostly taking a cautious approach towards the matter.”

“Malaysia will therefore be still unable to count on a return of tourism to aid the recovery, and this is a severe limiting factor, since tourism is a key part of the economy, accounting for 11.5 per cent of GDP (in both direct and indirect impact) in 2019.”
Please do read the full and comprehensive article here.

Everyone ah, stock price of a company has to also relate back to the business of the company. Else, buying it is purely speculative. Meanwhile investments within a country has to also correspond to the economic growth. Extremely true when it comes to the property market, especially in thew capital city (Kuala Lumpur) or the most advanced state (Selangor) for example.

Please do not look into some property market where the property prices are already higher than Malaysia and say we are behind yeah. We need to also look at the affordability of those homes versus the people’s salaries too. Same thing applies to Malaysia. Prices cannot keep going up if people do not earn more. People do not earn more if the economy does not move up again. Happy understanding about the prediction for the economic growth in 2021 yeah.

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Worst over for the property market? Or getting worse?

Just a few days ago, potential investors from Penang travelled all the way to KL to view a project in Sungai Besi. If you are not thinking about property investment, would you take a bus for nearly 10 hours just to view a potential property and listen to a 2 hour talk? Anyway, demand is there and the capacity to buy is there too. The only hard thing is whether the developer is able to convince these buyers to buy or not.

Let’s look at what’s happening with the property market Malaysia then? Focusing on 2018 perhaps? These are some of the points in a long article in TheStar quoting the Valuation and Property Services Department’s (JPPH) Property Market Report 2017. Here’s that
article “Is the worst over for property?”

 or read on for some important points as follow.

Transactions are actually up by 4 percent in the first two months of 2018 versus 2017. This is despite the current overhang situation.In fact the volume of overhang in the residential property segment grew by 67.2 percent. In brief, people seem to be buying slightly more units but generally the market is slow or the type of properties in the market are just not the ones favoured by the buyers. As per JPPH, overhang is defined as the unsold units that have been completed, yet remained unsold for more than nine months after its launch.

CBRE|WTW managing director Foo Gee Jen shared that Bank Negara estimates that the average Malaysians can afford houses priced RM250,000 or lower. Yet, nearly 80 percent of all new launches in the first half of 2017 were priced above RM250,000.  In other words, there is a mismatch of price, location and products. he also shared however that the number of units are actually way below than what is really needed. He said, “Based on the population growth rate of 1.3% of 32 million people as of 2016, the annual growth is around 390,000. Based on the average household of four people, we need about 97,500 units per year. But annual completions are only at 78,216 units.”

According to Khazanah Research Institute’s “Making Housing Affordable” report, as at 2014, overall house prices in Malaysia are 4.4 times the median income. Zeroing in on the states, the price of a house in Kuala Lumpur is 5.4 times the median income.  In Penang, it is 5.2 times, Johor 4.2 times and Selangor 4. In brief, all these numbers show that house prices are seriously unaffordable. Only Melaka’s properties are classified as affordable.  (Hmm… perhaps it is time to really think of Melaka for property investment? It cannot continue to be the only one in the affordable category while every other state continue rising…)

There were a total of 77,570 units of new launches in 2017 and this was higher than the 58,411 units in 2015 and 52,713 units in 2016.  Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest number of launches in the country with more than 22,000 units, followed by Selangor with 13,522 units and Johor, 7,926 units.  Please feel free to read on
for more information on the commercial property part too.

From the article, it does not show any strong indication that
the worst is over for the property market.

If there are any takeaways, it simply meant that most of the earlier launched units would remain unsold unless of course the developers are able to sell them at a lower level in 2018. This is because household income needs time to rise. It cannot happen overnight. What is seriously unaffordable today may be moderately unaffordable the next year if the incomes are rising while the property prices stay stagnant or even going down. In other words, we may even see the overhang situation continue to worsen unless most of the new launches this year are exactly what the buyers really want and could afford. Soon, we will get the numbers for Q1 2018. Perhaps we may get clearer signs then. For now, let’s just be happy that the situation does not seem to be worsening. Happy following.

written on 23 April 2018

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Worst week ever within past decade. Is this a sign?

When the world’s largest economy sneezes, many countries may catch a cold. Wall Street ended last week on a very bad note. It was the worst performance since late 2008. (That was when the sub-prime crisis happened, remember? When the banks lendings and speculative activities got too ‘crazy.’

All these are contributing to the worst week for the past decade. The selling was due to worries over trade wars and a possible government shutdown. (It has since been announced that there will indeed be a government shutdown because President Trump did not manage to get his budget for the border wall on the border with Mexico to be approved.  He threatened to shut down the government if his plans were refused.
It was. Article in NST.com.my here.

Thus, This will thus be happening:  380,000 federal workers will be put under compulsory unpaid leave and another 420,000 would have to work through the holidays unpaid. About a quarter of government functions ceased for lack of funding. On Saturday the Senate adjourned without a solution, ensuring the shutdown will continue until Thursday at the earliest.
Article in TheGuardian.com here.

Statistically, The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with a loss of 1.8 per cent or more than 400 points, at 22,445.37.It had lost nearly 7 percent within one week. taking losses for the week to nearly seven per cent. Broad-based S&P 500 slumped 2.1 per cent to 2,416.58, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slid 3.0 per cent to close at 6,332.99. All these pushed Nasdaq into a “bear” market, meaning a retreat of 20 per cent from its peak.
Article in NST here.

Bursa has not fared well too. However, shares on Bursa Malaysia closed higher as at end of Friday (21st Dec) because of window dressing Tenaga, Petronas Dagangan and Sime Darby Plantation emerging among the top gainers. If we intend to enter the stock market, buy some undervalued stocks and just hold, I think this may just be that window of opportunity. Happy investing.

written on 23 Dec 2018

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RM4,000 is equivalent to an additional RM70,000 worth of property.

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Would 2014 be a tough year?

Subsidies are cut. Petrol prices may continue to rise contributing to higher inflation. Toll rates are going up. Electricity bills are also rising. With the huge growth for past many years, there may be too many residential properties; oversupply. Already we could see transactions for KL / Penang is down year on year. So, would everything be pessimistic in 2014?

Actually, subsidy cut is a must. Alternatively, the government of the day goes bankcrupt in the near future. When the subsidy of petrol first started, petrol was just US$10 per barrel. these days, it is US$100 per barrel. The car ownership is also much, much, MUCH higher. If I must pay more for petrol in order to drive, then I will work harder and continue to drive. Instead of 4 hours of Aircon, I will reduce it to 1 hour. Instead of buying that new Samsung s5, I will make do with a cheaper smart phone which is one second slower and I don’t really care how people look at me.

My personal view in 2014 or any future years are, change what I can change. One simple example. You may calculate the cost of savings from a cheaper smart phone versus a very expensive one. It is easily extra rm150 per month if you use it for one year. Oh yeah, I do not believe I need a RM100,000 car to show off. I drive only a 43k persona, bought year end thus extra discounts of rm3k which meant I saved another RM250 per month. If I want to show off, I better be driving a minimum Segment D car. If just segment C, majority of all my better off friends already driving one,  even if I buy, I am just one out of many.

Yes it is true, there are so many people we can blame. They are no good. They do not know about economics. However, my advice would be take actions, move yourself up. One last question, for the past twelve months did you improve a lot in everything you do? If you did not, please BLAME yourself for not doing much better. Do you know that every year you will get a tiny little small increment if you perform to expectations? The truth is, if you perform just exactly the same last year, you should not even get an increment. I have a younger close friend who does not even have a degree, he does not even have a full diploma, merely one of those stage 1 IT diplomas. However, he works hard. He improves, he is willing to travel when the company requires him to. He covers when his other colleague is on leave. He now owns two cars, a nice property and two babies. A lot of my friends owning degrees are not even half as successful and majority of the time, when we come out for mamak, it’s non stop complaining, irregardless of whether the economy is good, bad or ugly.

written on 23 dec 2013.

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Wow… lots of information for us to start investing.

At 9pm (9th July), just on my FB, I could see all the below FB LIVEs and all of them are property related. To some, this may seem like too many.  To me, I think this tells us that everyone will continue to become ever more competitive with all these to capture as large an audience as possible. Topics would have to be interesting. The presenters better be interesting because anyone could just watch a while and switch to the next FB Live because there’s so many of them!

And… the best part is, all these are free information and knowledge which will allow us to learn and gain new perspectives as well as getting to know the why, where, when and how to invest versus long time ago when I bought my first home. At the time, there were NONE of these free talks. Fortunately I bought many books to guide me but today, as long as we really want, we could learn so many new things for free. Happy learning yeah.  If you click on the video, you will be able to view the video. (no longer LIVE of course)   Happy learning!

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WOW. Property markets ‘spring back to life.’

Please do not believe anyone who tells you that the Malaysian property market is going to spring back to action as soon as Movement Control Order is over. Well, at least until things normalise or we have some very targeted measures for the property market. For example, another round of Home Ownership Campaign (HOC) which was proven to have helped the property market tremendously. It is expected that 2019 would see transaction numbers be higher than 2018. Anyway, we wait for the official numbers.

There is however one market which has shown that demand is still robust. In other words, it demonstrated the fact that the current COVID-19 pandemic is a health crisis which has affected the economy but it was never a financial crisis right from the start. For people who has their jobs before COVID-19 and after COVID-19, they will still need to continue purchasing a home which they had wanted buy before the pandemic started. If you need it for a growing family, you will still need to buy it for the growing family…

Article in SCMP.com
  China’s housing market springs back to life as sales in 30 major cities triple with their recovery from the effects from coronavirus. Property sales in 30 tier-1 and tier-2 cities triple in March from February. However, analysts say that these pockets of sizzling sales numbers will not be able to counter the expected decline in the whole of China for 2020. Some of the large cities with positive transactions which are higher than average levels in Q4 2019 include Shenzhen, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Hangzhou, Huaian, Yangzhou, Jiaxing, Shantou.

Yang Hongxu, deputy head of E-house China Research and Development Institute said, “Prices of some new projects were capped [by the government], lower than the market price, so some projects are popular.” He added, “Restrictions on housing and land prices also created some room for arbitrage, so people are rushing to buy houses and property developers scramble to buy land.” There are a lot more details in the article.  Please do read the full article here:
Article in SCMP.com

Okay, before we get too carried away, let’s come back to present. China has faced the full brunt of COVID-19 effects and they are now starting to normalise. Pent-up demand would have also helped these numbers. What’s more important to note is how will it pan out till the end of the year. As the analyst has said, this current spring in numbers will not enough to counter the decline of transactions for 2020.

On the other hand, we should also not be too worried too. China has demonstrated that if we do the right things and start to regain control from COVID-19, then there are good news for the property market. Demand will continue when people still need a home and looking at the urbanisation as well as the GDP growth numbers, this demand will continue to happen too. Yes, for Malaysia, we still have a growing population too and our median age is just 30 years. Lots of ‘roar’ left. For now, let’s just hope the peak is achieved soon and we could go to China’s level soon… No speculation on the date. Wait for formal announcement. Cheers.

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Expert Series with Xavier Mah: Learning, Working Hard and Belief

How many of us believe we can achieve much more than just our current full-time employment? What about having an own PR company and owning a bespoke luxury shoe label? One man was able to do both and at this moment continuing to grow both, happily. As they say, when you love what you do, then you become even better at what you do. Your work becomes your passion. Today, let’s learn from
Mr. Xavier Mah,
 the founder of public relations company Xavier Mah Consultancy and owner of a
bespoke luxury shoe label, XALF.

Who knows, some of us may get inspired to do more.

Q1 – What / Who sparked that first thought about entrepreneurship?

I was always very ambitious when it came to proposing my own creative ideas to clients, but when you are just an employee and a small part of a bigger business you cannot always realise these ideas in the way you want because there are limitations and company regulations you have to follow. I wanted to work more freely and independent with no one standing between me and my clients. I knew that in order to fully utilise my potential and deliver my clients the best possible service, I needed to do my own thing and become my own boss.

Q2 – How did you get prepared for this experience?

My time at Media Prima and my studies prepared me for the professional part of being a PR practitioner, but nothing prepared me for the challenges that lied ahead as an entrepreneur. Reading the right books and surrounding myself with like-minded people who already were entrepreneurs or were planning on becoming one helped a lot. They inspired me and gave me the necessary confidence to become an entrepreneur myself despite pressure and opposition from different parties and finally I took the risk and just jumped in at the deep end. But no matter how much I heard or read, the best way to learn was to try it myself and make my own experiences.

Q3 – What would the 4 things everyone must bear in mind before they start?

1) Know what you want. You need to have a plan for your business. This plan might be very detailed or it might just outline a few steps along the way, but it is a viable tool for managing a business. If you just set something up with a mindset that says ‘Let’s see where it goes’, you will inevitably fail.

2) Work hard. Nothing in life is free, and if you want to make your dreams come true, you have to start now. Behind every success story is a story of sacrifice, effort and the will to be better than the rest.

3) Take 100% responsibility for your life. Your life is only as good as you make it, and blaming others for your ill success is not only a bad trait, it will also never change your situation.

4) Believe in yourself. Every beginning is hard, buy you have all the right tools within you to make it happen. Failing is nothing bad and can happen to anyone. Some of the most successful entrepreneurs have tried multiple times before they landed their one hit. Just don’t give up and use your inexperience as an advantage to do things in new, exciting and innovative ways.

Q4 – Tell us about your mentor / or the books that you read / courses that you attended that has helped you tremendously.

The biggest influence on me during the early days of my career had A Cut Above’s founder Winnie Loo, as she had the confidence to take me in when I was still a fresh graduate lacking in real work experience. She took me under her wing and I was impressed by her professionalism and personality. To see her success as an entrepreneur significantly shaped the way I saw my own future.

Another role model for me was Hong Ju Khee, a former anchorwoman from ntv7. She was known as being the only newscaster who had excellent command in English, Malay and Mandarin. In turn, this had convinced me to take the language papers in my STPM because I realized that being multi-lingual would be a very useful skill for my in regards to my career’s choice

One highly inspirational book I recommend everyone to read is
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life
 by Spencer Johnson. Don’t be fooled by the quirky title, it is actually a great allegory about the significance of changing and adapting to new situations, a feature that gained more and more importance in our fast and globalised world.

Also take a look at
The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be
by Jack Canfield, a memorable and inspiring guide to build your confidence, your ambition and in the end your success.

Q5 – What’s your goal 3 years from today?

Businesswise I want to further expand both XALF and Xavier Mah Consultancy to international markets. It’s my dream to set foot into heart of the fashion scene in New York and Paris and see my collections on the runways of the world’s most important fashion shows.

Personally it makes me very happy to tell my story and share my experiences with others to inspire them to follow their dreams like I did. If time allows I would like to do more workshops and teach young entrepreneurs my principles, maybe supported by a book I’ll write.

About
Xavier Mah:

I’ve a voice. I want to see how far it can travel. I’m a public relations consultant by trade and the founder of Xavier Mah Consultancy (founded in Jan 2011). I’ve always wanted to work with the media, and mastering the art of communicating though various platforms accorded to me is where I aim to make my presence felt. I’ve always approach life with a simple modus operandi, “confidence without arrogance”, because it renders you accessible yet competent in your field of work.

I’m not afraid to dream big and I always believe you’re never too young to carve out your niche in life. Always stay positive and have a clear sight of your goals in mind. Yet, be malleable to change and be ready to adapt. Traditional print media, television and radio have seen the onslaught of the internet and social media where information disseminated has a greater reach. It’s daunting but it’s also an indicator that our sphere of influence is flattening in out. Indeed, we can reach out to anyone in all four corners of the globe and they can reply us.

And that’s what I love about my craft: the way in which I can help my clients access their target demographics is that much more dynamic and not static. We live in a multilingual country, but we live in a world so diverse that now anything is quite literally possible.

And that was where I eventually found my calling as a PR consultant after a few years. I’m also a budding columnist and the
founder of XALF (founded in Dec 2012
)– a purveyor of edgy, bespoke footwear for an affluent female clientele. I love what I do. I plan, I coordinate, and I execute. I love fashion and entertainment and this is where I’ve thrived. I live to connect with people and I’ve come to appreciate life for all that it has to offer.

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Sunsuria’s below RM400,000 project in Salak Tinggi

I personally think for any developer in Malaysia to say they are quite established, they should at least hit sales of RM 1 billion or higher per year. If they are able to hit this, it meant that their overall GDV per year is even higher. Instead of the usual top brands we see on TV, another developer said that it will be hitting RM 1 billion of sales per year moving forward. Sunsuria’s executive director, Koong Wai Seng said that for FY2016, it expects the company to record sales of up to RM900 million.

Major reason why it would achieve this is because of its new township development around the Xiamen University Malaysia campus in Salak Tinggi, Sepang measuring 331.27 acres. It has a total gross development value of RM6.4 billion and the first phase alone is already RM900 million featuring 663 units of low-rise apartments priced below RM400,000 each. A search using google map showed that Salak Tinggi is 47km away from KLCC and around 17km away from Cyberjaya. Pretty suitable and affordable if one is working in Cyberjaya but could not find the option in Cyberjaya for RM400,000.

Oh yeah, Xiamen University is ranked 441 in the world by QS Top Universities (2015). This is a pretty respectable ranking and is ahead of even University of Western Sydney, The Swinburne University of Technology, University of Southern Queensland, Murdoch University and even Flinders University. In China, it is ranked 11th in China (wiki). I think if one does not want to send their children too far away from home, this is another private university choice out of the many choices today.

There are not much news about this launch apart from the attractive RM400,000 price tag. Will just have to wait and see then. Actually, if the RM400,000 comes with guaranteed rental scheme, I think it will give many Cynerjaya choices a run for their money. Happy reading and perhaps entering Xiamen University Malaysia.

written on 13 June 2015

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Xin Xiang Er Nong, Ipoh

Recently, I have written about some white coffee in Ipoh. They are above average but not within my top 5 list. Today, I bring to you one which is really within my top 5 list. I feel that any restaurant worth visiting in Ipoh MUST have good white coffee served. This is the same like if you visit any kopi tiam in Penang, you typically expect them to have at least a good prawn mee or char koay teow or even laksa, failing which they better not open the restaurant. Honestly, there are still a number of such restaurants with bad white coffee in Ipoh but I would only write on the good ones. The not so good ones, if you happen to know, you put in comments lar ok.

The white coffee here is a definite must try for all white coffee lovers. It’s thick, intense and high on the coffee taste side. If you prefer a more milky version, this is not the one for you. The food choices in this restaurant is plenty and it even has the curry mee and dry curry mee which is top in my list; from Tong Koo Theng. The chee cheong fun is also quite good and the ‘liu fun’ which basically yong tau fu with noodles are cheap and good. (compared to KL and Penang)  There are also plenty of parking spots everywhere around though sometimes you may need to park slightly further away.

written on 28 dec 2013

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Ko Pi Tim, Ipoh

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XXL size. Black Tiger Prawns. Want some as well?

Do you like prawns? I love prawns. Do you like BIG prawns? I love BIG BIG BIG prawns. Haha. My good friend Susan sent me 2kg of these XXL sized black tiger prawns. (image as below, yeah that’s my actual left hand since I needed my right hand to take the photo) At the time that she ordered, these XXL-sized black tiger prawns were still moving around in water. It’s being farmed in sea water farms in Manjung, Perak. Within 24 hours of her order, these prawns have arrived at my doorstep here in Klang Valley.

The organisation which is helping the small-time farmer in marketing their XXL-sized black tiger prawns is part of the La Juiceria’s group of companies. They said they are only temporarily helping farmer during this period. You may find their restaurants and company’s information in this link
https://lajuiceria.com.my/
  I have asked for you.  The small-time farmer does not have a Facebook page yet… I do think they need to quickly change this though.

This is the Q&A and contact if you like to ask some further questions. Please do not ask me yeah, I am not any reseller.  Please deal with them directly.  No need to mention you saw it here  too, no extra discounts too.

Other Q&A:

Question: What prawns are we selling?
A: Black tiger prawns only.

Question: Are the prawns live?
A: Harvested from the farm (limited quantity per batch)in the morning. All prawns are kept in ice and seawater during transportation to central kitchen KL to maintain freshness. At our CK, we have to repack and sort for distribution within 24hours.

Question: are the prawns frozen?
A: NO. WE do not deep freeze the prawns. We harvest limited quantity fresh and have to sell out within 24 hours. We chill the prawns for freshness.

Question: Where is your farm?
A: Our farm is based in Manjung, Perak. Farmed using sea water by the sea.

Question: are your prawns antibiotic free?
A: YES.

Question: How are the prawns packed?
A: 1kg bags chilled.

Question: Is there any minimum order?
A: The minimum order is 2kg

Question: How do I pay?
A: We prefer contactless payment. Please bank in to “LJSF Group Trading Sdn Bhd 512866210134 MAYBANK”
We do not accept cash as we want to minimise contact for our delivery guys to ensure their safety during this MCO period.

Question : I don’t want to do transfer. Do you accept COD?
A: No. We don’t accept C.O.D as we will need to sort and allocate for prawns that has been paid in advance.

Question: Do I get receipt for this purchase?
A: Yes we can give upon request. Allow our finance to have 3 working days to prepare a receipt upon request.

Question: regarding deliveries.
A: For areas such as DAMANSARA, KEPONG, MONT KIARA, TTDI, BANGSAR, BUKIT DAMANSARA, HARTAMAS we charge RM5 delivery fee per order. Delivery outside of these area will incur delivery surcharges to cover our cost. We will quote accordingly.

Question: What is your delivery time?
Answers: There’s no specific time, as all the whole batch will have to be redistributed within 24 hours upon arrival to our HQ.

Question: How I know when my prawns will be delivered?
A: lead time is within 1-3 days depending on availability upon payment received. We only harvest our prawns in small batches to ensure freshness to our customers. First come first served basis upon payment made

Question: If your delivery is late, can I request for a refund?
A: Yes. But within reasonable reasons. We should be given 24 hours to fulfill upon arrival of these fresh prawns. Kindly allow us 10 days to process refund.

Question: Is there any chance to waive delivery if I purchase in bulk?
A: No, we are selling at under market price to help our farmers as it is.

Question: Can you deliver to my apartment unit?
A: No. WE appreciate customers to pick up at the lobby as we minimise contact exposure for the safety of the delivery guys during this period.

Question: Why are we helping the farmers?
A: Prawn farmers lose the opportunity to export these prawns due to processing plant manufacturing restrictions. On top of that, there are supply chain disruption to the wholesale locally and European markets as well. European market disrupted so these r export quality and size which normally won’t be available for Malaysian Market. This is just to help the farmers to bridge during this difficult times. Prices may vary once demand goes up.

Question: Can you arrange to be picked up at nearest convenient location ?
A: We are able to arrange the prawns to be collected at one of these convenient location. For Pick up options you will only be charged a minimal RM5 handling fees.

La Juiceria Superfoods , Main Place USJ Subang Jaya
Super Saigon Ampang , 34 Persiaran Ampang , Desa Pahlawan.
Super Saigon Hartamas, 2 Jalan Sri Hartamas 8, Taman Sri Hartamas.
Super Saigon TTDI, 28 Jalan Datuk Sulaiman , TTDI
Super Saigon Bangsar, 75 Jalan Bangkung, Bangsar.
La Juiceria HQ, 2 Jalan MIVO, Taman Perindustrian Desa Aman.
Super Saigon @ Subang Parade
La Juiceria Superfoods Subang@SS18, 3 Jalan SS18/1b, Subang Jaya
La Juiceria Superfoods @atria shopping centre

Question: How should i know if you are not scammer?
A: We are part of La Juiceria’s group of companies. We are only temporarily helping farmer during this period.  You may find our restaurants and company’s information in this link
Lajuiceria.com.my

Whatsapp them to order:  +6018 3683306

From my understanding, due to the limited available quantity, you may want to order a few days in advance before you actually will want to eat XX-sized black tiger prawns yeah.  This is how one website describes the black tiger prawn meat:
“Unlike cold water shrimp, whose meat can be watery and sometimes taste bland, warm water Black Tiger shrimp have a distinctly bold, sweet, firm-textured meat that has earned them the honour of being called the ‘poor man’s lobster.’
  Yes, I am a poor man with rich man’s taste for lobster!  Happy proceeding to buy yeah.

My first dish from this? Image below.  Tomorrow’s gonna be Tom Yum steam… or Garlic Steam…

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Yea, there are certainly positive news.

Too many negative news and need some positive ones?  Haha. Too many people are connecting COVID-19 to an economic depression? Potentially, they may just be right. However, there are a lot of good news that we should also read and understand too yeah. Let’s do more images for this article.  All the image source quoted too for you to go ahead and read the full article too.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is back to work! Yes, he was infected with COVID-19, he spent nights in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) but he is now back to work.  I am very sure he will take more precautions moving forward and has lots of new ideas from his own learning on how to better handle the COVID-19 issue.
Read here for the full article in nst.com.my

Singapore’s number of COVID-19 infections are now 3rd highest in ASIA, losing only to China and India and we know what is their (China and India) population size.  However, it must be seriously noted that the infection rate is almost all confined to dormitories of workers and that the infection among the citizens and PR has been low. In other words, the clusters are known and measures could be taken specifically to handle them. Deaths are also low because workers are young and healthy adult too.
Please do read the full article in channelnewsasia.com here.

Australia’s COVID-19 numbers are also under control and many states have started to loosen the current stricter distancing measures. Queensland will start to ease the stay-at-home order by end of this week. Family picnics, weekend drives and even national parks will reopen though residents will be asked to travel no further than 50 kilometres from their home. In Western Australia, the state has relaxed its restrictions and now picnics, boating, hiking, camping and group exercise are permitted again for Western Australians. In fact couples could now invite more for their wedding too.
Please do read the full article in 9news.com.au

There you have it, the three countries we most often talk about and all their latest happenings which I do want to see it from the positive angle. I am very sure you have read earlier about the
U.S. thinking of reopening some states based on some guidelines? Here’s that earlier article.
 For China, please do feel free to browse for the news after their lockdowns have ended. In fact there are even that viral
revenge buying news?  Here’s the earlier article.
  Hopefully we can see that not everything is negative. Both Spain and Italy have also been showing a lower number of new infections too for this week. In the mean time, please do stay at home yeah.  Our MCO is extended till 12th May 2020.

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Yeah, border opening needs to start slowly

There are countries where the population alone is big enough to push the general consumption of goods and services and help businesses to keep growing. For example, China, India, Indonesia and definitely America too. Of course, they still need to trade with other nations too. For smaller nations like Malaysia, we need to expand the potential demand for goods and services and thus, it’s important to continue attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) as well as tourists for example. After all, we have so much to offer. Recent award winning youtube video at the end of the article yeah

Article in edgeprop.m
y

. Malaysian Association of Hotels CEO Yap Lip Seng said, “Hotels that need to be closed, have already been closed. For those that have been temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic prevention measures, are reopening with the reintroduction of local travel.” He also stressed that hotels could not just depend on domestic travellers to survive.

The main reason is because according to Tourism Malaysia’s data, per capita expenditure of foreign tourists in 2019 was at RM3,300, while a domestic tourist only contributed RM804. Meanwhile referring to data published by the Department of Statistics Malaysia in September 2019 showed that in 2018, only less than 30% accommodation expenditure came from domestic tourism. Do read the full article here:
Article in edgeprop.m
y

Yesterday was the 2nd day that Malaysia has had zero local Covid-19 transmissions.
Read it in malaymail.com here.
As what our Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has shared, in order for us to be declared totally free, we would need a total of 28 days of zero new cases. I think this is a very important milestone to have and we should continue to be vigilant at all times and please wear that mask and stop being difficult about it.

However, coming back to the economy. I think it is equally important that we continue to move forward towards normalisation, towards the economy recovery prior to the arrival of Covid-19. Opening of borders may be one of it but perhaps those suggestions to only start opening to ‘safe’ countries (similar to our Covid-19 situation or better) can be implemented sooner. As we wait for more details of this from the government, let’s just enjoy a video about why everyone should visit Malaysia. (you too, cuti-cuti Malaysia).

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Yeah, I give you 60% discount on your rental. (Someone famous)

I believe you are home when you read this article. Maybe even drinking your favourite cup of white coffee? It’s not the best of time now for home owners with tenants who face cut in monthly salary or worst still, job loss. What about for owners of retail lots and shops? The shops which are now asked to close and will remain close until 14th April 2020 at least? I am talking about Malaysia yeah. Even restaurants are experiencing lower sales nowadays because it seems that so many people have suddenly turned into a ‘chef.’

For some who have delivery services, I think they continue to get some sales but definitely cannot beat the crowd during lunch time for example. Okay, what happens when the tenant is in trouble and needs help? Or even tenants who may not be facing issues yet? Well, you can do like what a Hong Kong film star did; give a 60% discount in rental to his tenants.

Article in edgeprop.my
   Some landlords in Hong Kong have reduced the rental to help their tenants survive the current COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for the retail industry.  As per reported in Sinchew Daily, one such kind landlord is Hong Kong celebrity Nicholas Tse. His 700 sq ft shop at yndhurst Terrace street in the Central area of Hong Kong, which Tse purchased in 2012 with a price tag of HK$117 million (approximately RM65 million), was rented out for HK$200,000 (around RM111,000) monthly.

He has now reduced the rental to HK$73,000 (around RM40,000) and this is a discount of 64%. That is not the only one. Tse has another bigger unit in the same row (1,200 sq ft) which is now rented out at HK$85,000 (after a reduction of HK$20,000).  This rental will be in place until August 2020. As per the report in the Hong Kong media, this was a voluntary act from Nicholas for his tenants. Please read the full
Article in edgeprop.my

Image below. If we assume the loan amount to be 90% and the typical mortgage rates in Hong Kong as well as a 30-year period, then I think the rental is unable to cover the monthly mortgage yeah. By the way, I have no idea at all about how much Nicholas is paying yeah. One thing is for sure though. He is definitely a good landlord to have and a very generous one too. I wish the Hong Kong economy will recover soonest possible so that everyone will benefit. Nicholas can get back his full rental, the tenant could earn enough to pay his rental in full and COVID-19 to go away…  Happy reading.

Source:
https://en.midland.com.hk/calculator/mortgage-calculator.jsp

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Yeah, let’s start moving for lower rental, no?

How many of us are thinking of moving for lower rental. After all people say it is now the tenants’ market, no longer the home owner’s market.

Property rental is a better determinant of property price. Earlier article here:
Price too high, rental too low, demand slows.
Many years ago, it’s possible to get positive rental yields here in Klang Valley. If we are buying today, it’s very yough to even try for a positive yield these days. Well people say prices are dropping…? Property prices do seem to be weakening if we look at some of those property for sale advertisements. However, there are those property listings with prices so attractively low it could not be true.

You are right, those are ‘fishing’ property listings. Some of these black sheep real estate negotiators posted those to attract you to call and then offer you some other units when you call. Of course, maybe there are some with genuine reasons. The cheaper unit was sold for example and they now have just the market price ones. What’s happening to the rental rates in the residential and the office market these days?

Article in themalaysianreserve.com
   Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) president-elect Chan Ai Cheng said that homeowners would prefer to maintain the rental rates if they could during unpredictable economic situations. She shared, “A couple of years back, there was an adjustment in rental rates where they generally fell 20%. Rental rates have been steady since the past two years but have not gone back to where they were during good days.”

For commercial properties, Chan said rental rates for offices depend very much on the location. She said, “It is an issue of the economy. When businesses are successful, they will expand which means they need bigger space. When the economy is bad and businesses are shrinking, there will be less demand for office space.” She also shared that short-term rental on AirBnB listings are currently affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
Article in themalaysianreserve.com

If I am renting a condo for RM2,500 per month which I found to be comfortable and I have moved a lot of my own things into it, I would not be actively looking for places where the rental is RM2,000.  Unless of course that particular unit is just next to my current unit. This is especially if I have been staying at the same place for some time. It may be RM500 savings per month but the hassle of moving out and moving in will be super tiring and I would need to pay for the removal service yeah. Last but not least, to waste a couple of weekends just to complete the move. Sorry yeah… the RM500 savings per month is just not attractive enough. Well, unless of course those luxury condos in the area I like is now going for RM2,000 per month, then most likely I would…

It’s the same for offices. Assuming an Australian multinational company occupying 4 floors in an office building in a central location. The rental may be RM10 per sq ft and total sq ft may just be 40,000 sq ft? Now… an property agent comes to them and pitch to them that if they move, they can now save a lot on rental. In fact, 20% savings! RM8 per sq ft. That’s an actual savings of RM80,000 per month! This is wow… right?

Think deeper. A multi-national which could pay RM400,000 rental per month, what do you think their renovation cost would have been… and what would the renovation cost be for the new place. What is the cost of moving everyone to the new place? Would everyone move? What if 10-15% of the staffs leave because of this move? By the way, if just 10 of their good managers resign, just rehiring these 10 managers via the services of the recruitment agencies, the cost is likely to be RM8,000 (salary) x 2 months head hunting fee and that’s RM160,000…  Suddenly that rental savings seems not that attractive anymore. Happy understanding the reasons why it takes a long time to decide on the office location and why a minor adjustment in rental will not mean a lot.

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Yeah! Lower mortgage rates. Oops… Lower FD rates too… What happened?

It’s just been announced.
Here’s the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) website for the full announcement.
Briefly, these are what BNM is saying with this reduction in Overnight Policy Rate (OPR).

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of Bank Negara Malaysia decided to reduce the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) to 2.75 percent. The ceiling and floor rates of the corridor of the OPR are correspondingly reduced to 3.00 percent and 2.50 percent, respectively.

The reason for it in doing so is because the global economy is expanding at a moderate pace.
Article here on world growth which is not such a good sign.
Downside risks include geopolitical tensions and political uncertainties in some countries. For 2020, Malaysia’s growth is expected to improve gradually.  Overall investment activity is expected to record a modest recovery, underpinned by ongoing and new projects, both in the public and private sectors.

Downside risks include uncertainty from various trade negotiations, geopolitical risks, weaker-than-expected growth of major trade partners, heightened volatility in financial markets, and domestic factors that include weakness in commodity-related sectors and delays in the implementation of projects.

In fact this adjustment is a pre-emptive measure to secure the improving growth trajectory amid price stability. At this current level of the OPR, the MPC considers the stance of monetary policy to be appropriate in sustaining economic growth with price stability.
Here’s the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) website for the full announcement.

By the way, when rates are down, it does not mean everyone is happy yeah. For home buyers, they will rejoice. For retirees with fixed deposits in banks, their returns will drop in tandem. What this will mean is that they may need to look for investments which could return better returns instead. Many businesses may also choose to expand their businesses since the cost of borrowing is now lowered.

Very briefly (without all the economic jargons), the reason why rates are also lowered is also partly because the business confidence may not be as high as what BNM thinks and thus this will help to spur a continuous growth from businesses. With expansion, it also meant more jobs and this will then lead to higher consumption for example. In other words, BNM wants to ensure what has been projected for 2020 for GDP growth will continue to become true. Happy understanding. House buyers, your chance is here.

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Yellen: Next financial crisis not happening during our lifetime

Janet Yellen is a very powerful lady. She is the chair of the Federal Reserve of the U.S.  In fact Federal Reserve’s actions would affect most countries in the world. Just look at what happens every time there’s an expectations of a rate increase to the currencies of the world. Recently, she shared with the world that the actions of the U.S. Congress and the banking regulators have created a financial system that can withstand significant stress without breaking. Here’s one of those
articles in USNEWS about it.
In other words, she believes the chance of a financial crisis within our lifetime is nil. She was referring to just the U.S but I think if the U.S. does not run into another 2008 mortgage crisis, the world should be safer. This is because even though China has received a
downgrade in its sovereign rating,
 I have not read about any economist predicting that it will suffer a financial crisis. In terms of her position however, it may not be totally secured.
Here’s an article about it in CNBC.

Before we start to cheer about her statement, these are the four things to worry about the state of the
U.S economy by Investopedia.
 First one is the limit of growth in an advanced economy such as the U.S. Historically, it does not happen even with Trumps’s deregulatory and tax cutting programs. Trump said that the measures he took would enable the U.S economy to hit growth rates of 3-4 percent. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) disagrees too.

Second worry according to Investopedia is debt burdens. Yes, they have debt burdens too. Public debt is already 106 percent today and is said to be going towards 107 percent within a decade. This high level of debt meant that personal consumption expenditure is unlikely. (High debts meant little money left and this means no spending. Perhaps the U.S. government can borrow more money…)

Third worry according to Investopedia is low investment. It has low rates of investment and low productivity too.  Last but not least would be an aging workforce. Population growth is also slowing. Trump’s programmes include limiting migration which will not help the situation. (It is highly unlikely that he can force all the U.S corporations to move their production sites back to the U.S. If they do, I seriously doubt their ability to produce products at a competitive price versus China and even South East Asia.)
Here’s that full article again.

By the way, no one could predict with any accuracy with regards to the next financial crisis. If there are, then we would have been able to avert the crisis. Let’s not expect anything different. Having said that however, it is true that many central banks around the world are already taking pro-active actions and many banks are doing well.
Here’s the news for some Malaysian banks.
 I hope she is right and that I do not face another financial crisis. My personal view remains the same. It is not likely that the next financial crisis will start with Malaysia. Are we vulnerable? Definitely, since TPPA was cancelled and Trump is now looking for countries which he says are being unfair to the U.S.
Trump’s targeted countries in nbcnews.com
 Trump hates trade deficits and will try to reduce this to lower numbers or punish countries he call ‘trade cheats.’ I do not think Malaysia is his only target. In that sense, we should still be safe. Happy following.

written on 3 July 2017

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Yellow carded by UNESCO, my dear Langkawi.

UNESCO has given its final warning signal. Langkawi may lose its GEOPARK status. ‘Naturally Langkawi’ may just be ‘formerly Geopark Langkawi’. Can the authorities be serious? Why are we taking things for granted to the extent that we have gotten a yellow card? There is just one more year to go. Getting it is an honour not a privilege. Having it is a privilege which will ensure more tourists come and thus we get more earnings for continuous development and preservation of the Geopark status.

Frankly, I love Langkawi. I love Bali, I like Phuket but I still love Langkawi. During the island hoppings, you can see all the clear white sandy beaches. You can swim in Lake Dayang Bunting. Somehow I go there yearly and my lar trip was just over one month ago. There were many foreign tourists. I seriously don’t think many of them would know about Langkawi if the promotion was not done right. True, many things can be better. However, losing the GEOPARK status would be foolish. I think the
Langkawi Gateway
 can be forgotten once the status is lost. Look at Georgetown and Melaka. The tourism number continue to grow with UNESCO status. Both are developing just fine thus far with Melaka still clean by any Malaysian city standard. This is despite the fact that there are over 14 million tourists visiting Melaka in 2013!

I just hope that more medias would highlight this fact and pressure the right people to do the right thing. The 4 million tourists who visit Langkawi in 2013 definitely would like Langkawi to still be a UNESCO Geopark. While that may not be the main attraction but it certainly would be a negative publicity to Langkawi if that really happens.

written on 16 July 2014

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Yes, 24th by 2050. Yes, above many advanced nations of today.

If everyone believes that after GE14, we have a better Malaysia, then I think it’s a great news to the future of Malaysia, especially when we reach the year 2050. I will be 73 by then. Hopefully I am sipping Ipoh white coffee on the beach while watching my grandchildren running around? Langkawi beach perhaps since I am a Malaysian. Last year, there was a research published by PWC showing the most powerful economies in the world by 2050. I am happy with it but many friends tell me that I must be dreaming or that there must be something wrong with the research. For example, how could Malaysia’s economy be BIGGER than Australia’s? Even more importantly, how could Singapore be out of even the top 30 while Malaysia is in top 25? Let’s be reminded that the numbers are in US$ which meant that despite the currency differences of nearly 3 times, our economy (Malaysia) is still HIGHER!
For the full list, do refer here yeah.

32. Netherlands — $1.496 trillion.

31. Colombia — $2.074 trillion.

30. Poland — $2.103 trillion.

29. Argentina — $2.365 trillion.

28. Australia — $2.564 trillion.

27. South Africa — $2.570 trillion.

26. Spain — $2.732 trillion.

25. Thailand — $2.782 trillion.

24. Malaysia — $2.815 trillion.

23. Bangladesh — $3.064 trillion.

22. Canada — $3.1 trillion.

21. Italy — $3.115 trillion.

20. Vietnam — $3.176 trillion.

19. Philippines — $3.334 trillion.

18. South Korea — $3.539 trillion.

17. Iran — $3.900 trillion.

16. Pakistan — $4.236 trillion.

15. Egypt — $4.333 trillion.

14. Nigeria — $4.348 trillion.

13. Saudi Arabia — $4.694 trillion.

12. France — $4.705 trillion.

11. Turkey — $5.184 trillion.

10. United Kingdom — $5.369 trillion.

9. Germany — $6.138 trillion.

8. Japan — $6.779 trillion.

7. Mexico — $6.863 trillion.

6. Russia — $7.131 trillion.

5. Brazil — $7.540 trillion.

4. Indonesia — $10.502 trillion.

3. United States — $34.102 trillion.

2. India — $44.128 trillion.

1. China — $58.499 trillion.

With a BETTER Malaysia today (after GE14), I think it’s more likely that this research by professional services giant PwC will come true in 2050? Anyway, we can see that the U.S economy will only be 3rd by then and our neighbour Indonesia will be 4th largest. Yes, that’s one huge reason why we should be great trade partners to them here in ASEAN. The United Kingdom managed to squeeze through but when the research was done, I believe
BREXIT decision did not happen yet.

Within ASEAN, there’s also the Phillipines and Vietnam which are both ranked ahead of Malaysia and Thailand just behind us. Clear sign yeah? ASEAN is going to be a very important trade grouping to have and we have better achieve higher trades among us too. As a grouping, out of the top 30, there’s already 5 of us and the highest is at 4th place. There’s no need to debate too much. All these are merely predictions and no one knows what will actually happen by 2030.

Population wise, we will be 52nd most populous nation in the world.
Here’s that prediction.
 Happy knowing that perhaps that investment in Malaysia should have a future.

written on 20 May 2018

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