Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from December, 2013

Featured Post

China Steel Isn’t Crashing It’s Quietly Rebalancing

China’s steel market is not collapsing despite the property downturn. Instead, demand is stabilising at a lower level as manufacturing, exports and new energy sectors gradually replace construction-driven demand. This is not a demand collapse, it’s a structural shift from property to industrial and export-driven demand. What’s Really Happening The sharp drop in construction activity has clearly hurt steel demand: Property-related steel (like rebar) has fallen significantly Construction’s share of demand is shrinking But the broader market tells a different story: Total steel demand is only slightly below past peaks Manufacturing, shipbuilding and energy transition sectors are absorbing demand Exports are acting as a key buffer Instead of a sudden crash, the industry is entering a  long plateau . Why This Matters The market had expected a sharp collapse but reality is more gradual: Demand is declining slowly, not falling off a cliff China is shifting from construction-led growth to ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Summary on FY2013

In less than 24 hours, we will be entering the year 2014 and so it is time again for us to reflect on the annual financial goal and how we are doing in terms of achieving the financial goal. I have posted my financial resolution for the year 2013 , in the beginning of the year and for the year 2013, I have set a rather cautious outlook on the global equities - thus, I'm targeting about 10% equities growth and true enough my total local equity growth is about slightly more than 10%, which is within my financial goal target, and in fact it is in almost in line with the local stocks growth. There are some increase in other area especially cash allocation for local equities and the growth in oversea stocks portfolio. Existing housing loan is reduced periodically, while I've finally settled the education loan, PTPTN in order to enjoy the 20% discount . A major purchased done through the end of the year, in which I'm hoping to have it finalized within the first quarter in 201...
Post a Comment
Read more

2014: Increased expenses

Well, like it or not....2014 is the year for increased expended....a 15% increase in electricity bill, increase in tolls, LRT, sugar etc... It is probably one of those time when the Rakyat asked the question....what about my salary? I think this story best sum up how Malaysians feel about 2014... A bit of laughter and humor on this is good...after all, whether we like it or not, 2014 is going to be a year where your expenses go up even though you try to tighten your belt.     Posted with Blogsy
Post a Comment
Read more

Ways to Save Money In the Midst Of Rising Cost of Living

The last few post from the blog mentioned that you have been warned regarding the Malaysia's electricity tariff hike and with just about half month to go before 2014 when the thing happens, let us figure out ways to save money. While doing so, I come across the article from The Star and the article is really suitable for the current situation that is faced by most Malaysians. The article is about the unconventional money savers and talk about cutting cost - by all means which include unconventional method. The article is as follows:- FUEL prices are up. Electricity tariffs are rising. In a nutshell, the cost of living is being elevated. Many of us, in our attempts to be frugal, will tighten our belts. Naturally, there are many ways of doing this. The following are some obvious, though not necessarily conventional methods to cut down your costs. Unplug According to ABC.com, certain home appliances and electronics will continue to use power even when they’re swit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Understanding GST

We have been talking about GST for a while now and with the implementation set to be in 2015, a lot of Malaysians are starting to worry about the impact that it has upon the country. While the Goods and Service Tax (GST) has a lot of positive wealth impact that was lauded by a lot of experts in the economy, common folks in Malaysia still worry about the negative impacts on the livelihood and affordability of the Rakyat. Before we move to talk about the pros and cons of GST, what is GST in the first place? GST is a consumption tax that is imposed on goods and services at every stage of the supply chain, which typically begins at the manufacturing stage and ends at the retail stage. GST is based on the “valued-added” concept to avoid duplication in tax collected. Here is a simple scenario of how the implementation of GST will look like, assuming we take the 10% tax rate. A) Let's say we take a manufacturer of dairy product. The manufacturer of dairy product will have...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is Medical Insurance important?

So, how many of you have a medical insurance?  Probably it doesn't mean much to you when you are young but looking at the statistic above, I think there is every reasons for us to start planning while we are young.  We are thankful that medical fees inflation is second to the college tuition and fees but it's still at a big figure....a forecast of 607% increase in comparison to 1978. Well, you probably argue that it's in so many years...but you may compare the increase in medical fees to the average income. The increase of the medical cost is way more than the increase of household income. The data shown until year 2010.  Well, for those of you who have no clue about medical insurance, here is a simple explanation of it. Medical Insurance functions as a form of protection to cover unforeseen expenses arising from illness, injury or accidents – which can be very expensive, especially if hospitalisation and / or surgery is required.  ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malaysia’s electricity tariff hike...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

ELECTRICITY TARIFF HIKE...YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! Well, if you have not heard the news, then it's time to tune into it...because beginning in January 2014, electricity tariff in the country will rise by around 15%.  It is not a standard increase...but the average is about 15%. In the Peninsular Malaysia, the increase is about 14.86% while it is about 17% for Sabah and Labuan.  In Peninsular Malaysia, the rate will be about 38.53sen/kWh from the current average rate of about 33.54sen/kWh while Sabah and Labuan will seen an increase from 29.52 sen per kWh to 34.52sen per kWh. The Sarawak state will not be affected by the rate though, as the electricity supply in the state is operated by state-run company, Sarawak Energy. Of course, not all is bad news as those who use below 300kWh a month will not be affected. So, if your monthly electric bill is about RM77, you will not be affected. So, try to stay below this and you will be okay.  check out the...
Post a Comment
Read more