Loneliness

Most of us do not want to be lonely, especially during holidays. We want to head to TST or Causeway Bay with our friends and to celebrate with many other people. But when all those visual effects and noises are over, we need to face loneliness again and some people do not know how to cope with it. Some people simply cannot stay at home alone as they quickly get bored. If we cannot stand the loneliness during holiday seasons and have nothing to do except going to streets, it means that we are wasting our time. Loneliness is a good time for you to think, to read, to plan, and to rest. In fact I think loneliness is leisure and it's a peaceful moment. As a research student, I must face my sole quest for knowledge somehow but fortunately I think I like it.

If you want to be mature, try to be alone. You will benefit from it.

Learning

I like learning. Learning can come from many ways, school, web, newspaper, people, and of course books. We have limited time so we need to be selective, that means we should learn from the best otherwise we are wasting our time.

If you want to study something, choose the best school in town. The instructor may be very tough, materials may be enormous, and other students may be very keen. But you definitely will learn something afterwards and you feel good that you have made it. If you read newspaper, choose the best such as Financial Times. Its English may be hard to understand and it does not have many colorful pictures but you are heading to become the few successful ones who read FT daily. If you want to read, choose only the best such as classics. There is no reason to settle for less. If you want to be the best, learn wisely.

Smart Investor

Since the beginning of financial crisis, most of us are losing our hard-earned wealth. No matter you are holding stocks, funds, or even MPF, they are souring and the situation will likely to continue until the end of 2009. Even if you only hold cash, your pension funds are not performing well so you are losing monies indirectly.

For those who still want to invest amid the financial crisis, I suggest that:

1. buy only stocks/funds you know well, do not believe any recommendations/tips from others such as TV, newspapers, friends, or someone standing next to you in bank, etc.;

2. make sure that you do your homework before purchasing, such as reading annual report, funds performance report. Believe in facts and figures only, not recommendations; and

3. try to evaluate whether ETF (Exchanged Traded Funds) is good for you. They are similar to funds but have the benefits of stocks, and their handing fees are much cheaper.

A decade of loss

From 1998 to 2008, HK went from downhill to uphill and then downhill again. From 1998 to 2003, our economy was from bad to worse and then worst. Fortunately, the central authority started injecting cash to us by allowing people to visit HK. We were getting better from 2004 onwards until late 2007. Now we are struggling again but the central authority is busy helping itself so we may not be as lucky as we were.

From 1998 to 2007, we have lost a whole decade without achieving anything substantial to prepare us for the next financial crisis. We did not upgrade ourselves, we did not diversify our economy, and we did not know what to do next but only took a favourable policy from the central authority for granted. The financial crisis is destroying our economy and this may be the end of the peril of the East. There is a Chinese saying that "when you do not work hard during your young ages, you will have a miserable life when you become old".

Financial Crisis

Now we are all in the centre of financial crisis. Our pension funds are losing money and people are losing jobs. Some elders are forced to work in their 60's or even 70's. For those who can keep their job in the coming 2 years are the lucky ones.

The financial crisis comes from the US and then spread to the whole world. We can all blame the US to make us like that but if we were not tempted by our own desire for fast money by investing into complex financial products, we would not become what we are now.

In the past, we envied those who worked for Investment Banks and many people were desperate to become a member of them. Now it's all over. Although we did not understand why people in the Investment Banks could make so much money, we just wanted to be the same. Now we know that their huge income came from those complex investment products that lured people to invest in. When the bubbles are explosed, we all need to start from the ground again.

毒

由數年前中國的奶粉有製造商故意不加營養以省成本引致不少可憐孩子成為大頭嬰兒後，現在更進化到在奶粉增加化學原料以偽裝成蛋白質豐富之飲料，殘害大量中國的小孩，更把這些化學奶粉出口外國，造成全球震驚。中國政府極重視的面子便即時掃地，之前的奧運大國形象亦消失無踪。

這種為自己利益而不顧他人生命安全的心態表示出兩種事實：一、如果在奶粉加入工業化學物質的人為了增加蛋白質但不知其副作用者就是極度自私而不顧他人有否受害；二、若果是知道副作用而仍照用工業化學物質的人便是喪心病狂，毫無人性可言了。

可惜中國仍有大量上述極端自私以至喪心病狂的人，所以想成為大國真是痴人說夢。

Back to School

It's Sep and I am a student again. The difference is that this time I am going to stay in the same school for six years and I anticipate that I will be extremely busy. I am going to take some classes in the next couple of years and then if everything goes right, I am heading to the thesis.

I know that this is a lonely journey and it requires persistence and determination. I have chosen this path and I have the courage to face it. I need your support and you are welcome to drop me a few lines.

In fact I was thinking of becoming a PhD student after I completed my master degree in 2003. But I did not want to face the challenge until early this year. Now I am in, and it all depends on whether I can substantiate the loneliness and difficulties in the coming years. Life is difficult sometimes but you will not become a true learner if you do not endure the hardship of learning.