Retirement Plan is a Must

If you are have a define benefit pension plan, which mean the pension sponsor pay you every month after you retire until you die, you are very lucky, you are better than most of the people out there because you can live as long as you can without financial worry. In Malaysia, only government servant has the privilege to receive their pension every month until they die.

However, most of the people working in private sector. They have their pension fund as define contribution plan via EPF in Malaysia, where employer and employee both contribute certain amount to the their pension fund account. The contribution stop when they stop working. It is ok if they have high salary, and can plan properly thorough the rest of their live for another few decades. To most of the people, they do not know how to plan and spend their retirement fund within few years. After they finish their retirement fund, they have to either die or to work again.

Most of the people do not know that they need to be more than millionaire to retire to support their golden few decade years. They do not feel the urgency and thought become millionaire is a sky high dream. They do not plan for retirement.

It's in tradition that they thought they can depend on their children to support them. But, as the population growth, job competition grow; as technology advance and process become automated, less people is needed. It is getting tougher and tougher to get job in the future. Their children will have difficulty even supporting themselves alone.

西游记关系论

在西游记里，观世音菩萨是孙悟空的老板，唐三藏是孙悟空的客户。
观世音菩萨接到保唐三藏去西天的生意，就委托属下孙悟空去完成。孙悟空遇到自己解决不了的问题，都可以请教观世音菩萨，让老板做主。

Monopoly game: Europe countries are settling their rent (debt)

Those Europe countries who are deep in debt are selling their asset. They are selling their airport, farm land, mountain, aircraft, government's share in public companies, concessionaire, electric company, water company, etc. It's fire sale! Rich countries would love that. Rich companies would love that.

Do you know, this is exactly the real example of monopoly game. When you have no money to pay, you have to mortgage your assets, or sell your asset to other richer player. This is how the wealth being transfered and how the rich will become richer. Europe is a rich continent for centuries. They will not bankrupt this round, but lots of their wealth will be transferred.

Malaysia's wealth

Due to population growth, inflation problems, devalue of currency, everybody is rushing into buying real assets. Asset like agriculture land, oil and gas, mining assets, gold, silver, and other precious metal, water asset, electric asset, energy asset, etc, are selling like hot cakes.

In Malaysia, oil and gas reserve is soon no longer enough to support it's own people. Mining assets is very less in amount to call it a wealth.
Luckily, Malaysia is blessed with agriculture land, and forestry sunshine as well as fresh water. Those are the real wealth for Malaysia.

Nothing to do but speculation

If someone follow fundamental investing, he has to wait for years before he can see some profit, and he could wait even longer, say for example more than 5 years if there is a financial set back happen within the period. It could be painfully long to for those who monitor their portfolio everyday.

If the market is going nowhere, almost nobody will have the patience to coup with the seems like non moving shares. He will be then tempted to leave his position to follow the crowd into hot speculation investment.

If there is lots of risk brewing behind market, he is tempted to sell his position in shares and dive into short term speculation trading gambling on short term market direction.

Those are the situation now as more and more people left the fundamental camp and go into speculation camp to gain quick profit.

Trading

Trading is fun, especially striking a deal.

Before trading, you study what is important to your trading partner, their need, their characteristic and style; and what is your own strength and weakness. Then you think of what solution can you offer and trade it with what you want. When we are doing that, we stand on our trading partner's position of thinking, we stand on our own position of thinking, in order to achieve a win win solution.

After we offer the trade, we begin negotiate with our trading partner. By observing their face, their talking, we get their respond about our offer. By whatever way, we then persuade, refine offer, cold war with them. If by any mean cannot reach a both satisfy deal, we walk away. This is how I see negotiation.

Off from share market

I know there is opportunities in the market, as the opportunity is always there, but I have lost my sense in market direction therefore not in the mood of getting into it at the moment. I couldn't find a reason to do that. Partly is the large debt situation and the uncertainty of how long the problem will be dragged.

I am not selling any of my equity position, nor buying into. I may be miss the boat, but i am rather happy to sit down watching the situation unfold while accumulating cash.