2009 Financial Budget

Have you read about the budget 2009 which is just released this week? I only know some of the key suggestions but they are heading to failure.

The government wants to create jobs for people. It is the right direction, but the internship programme for students means the government is extending the unemployability of students. The only purpose of internship programme is for reducing the unemployment rate, not for enhancing students' abilities for employment. Many students show their discontent by only getting several thousands a month in the internship program, they want to make big money. Unfortunately, they do not know that some of them are unemployable. If they were smart, they should get a job without assistance from government. The government should have enhanced their employability before pushing them to the market.

Adult Education

Our economy is getting worse so many working adults who want to do better than others are eager to enrol in adult education. The question is: what do you want to study?

Adult education is a big market and many institutions are offering various courses for working adults. However, having taken some of these courses does not mean that you job is secure. You need to know what an employer really wants.

Based on my experience in job interviews, I think most of the employers want three basic skills:-

1. above average spoken and written language skills, both English and Chinese;
2. logical problem solving skills; and
3. interpersonal skills to face difficult persons.

Go for courses that help you to enhance these skills and you should be doing fine with you job.

投資之道

很多人都喜歡投資，但不少人在過往都有損失，此情况在去年尤甚。究竟投資是否有穩賺之法？

答案是否定的。投資是由我們的不同決定而有不同後果，正如我們在工作上所作的決定一樣，都會有錯對，那在投資上又豈能只賺不蝕？

如要正確投資，應注意以下事項：

一、多看高質素財經報刋如Financial Times 及信報/明報；
二、只選擇自己熟悉的行業的頭兩位股票，而且最好是藍籌股。大家只要對比去年藍籌股跌幅與其他股票跌幅便知損失一半與九成實在有很大分別；
三、不要持有多於五隻股票而且毎天都應該留意自己所持股票的公司是否穩當；
四、絕不沾手任何衍生工具，從無人能用買衍生工具產品而賺大錢；
五、每月只能買賣一次。

2009

From all I read I realize that 2009 should be a difficult year. Although we are not heading to depression but we are in a recession and it could last for a couple of years.

Is it possible for us to do better in this recession?

Since the recession affects the whole world, there is no way that you can avoid it. That means no matter where you go, you would still feel the heat of recession. There is no place to hide.

For those who want to do better, you should prepare yourself to be able to find a living wherever you are. If you are managed to do it, then you definitely are much better than others. The question is how one can prepare himself to be able to find a living globally. The answers may be found in a book written by Kenichi Ohmae. He suggests that you need three abilities: language, finance, and problem solving. Language means excellent English, finance means knowledge of investment, and problem solving means logic. Kenichi comments that if you have the above abilities, you can go anywhere.

From my personal experience, I agree with what Kenichi said. There is no question that English helps you to communicate with others, investment knowledge leads you to affluence, and logic makes you excel at work. If you do not know much about the three abilities, learn them. They may save you in the coming few years.

A year of turbulence

We are heading to the end of 2008. This has been a year of great disturbance. The whole world, especially the economy, has changed. All of us have learned a big lesson from the market.

Most of us are worrying the world's economy in the coming years and I think we still have a long way to full recovery. We need to be prepared amid the downturn. What can you do?

1. upgrade your English;
2. learn how to invest wisely, you need to know what you are going to invest. Never invest into something you do not understand;
3. think logically, do not believe what the government tells you;
4. study, use the CEF $10,000 if you have not applied for it;
5. be confident;
6. exercise more, 15 min per day will do; and
7. spend more time with your family and loved ones.

Wishing you a peaceful new year!

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.