Property bubble and Japan

Read what happened to Japan when the property bubble burst. Singapore should avoid the same risk.

“The U.S., the U.K., Spain, Ireland, they all are going through what Japan went through a decade or so ago,” said Richard Koo, chief economist at Nomura Securities who recently wrote a book about Japan’s lessons for the world. “Millions of individuals and companies see their balance sheets going underwater, so they are using their cash to pay down debt instead of borrowing and spending.”

Will Singapore be next?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/world/asia/17japan.html?_r=1

Conversation with a Financial Planner

I have the following conversion with someone who is considering to be a financial planner. Here are the issues involved in this decision.

www.tankinlian.com/latest.aspx

Rechargeable Torchlight (with Locator Lamp)

An innovative product - get ready for a power failure!
Read this brochure.
Promotion now available at iShop at $20 for 4 pieces or $5 per piece. .

A similar torchlight, under a good brand name, sell for $27.50 at the airport shop.

The next financial crisis

http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2010/10/overdose-next-financial-crisis.html

Football Fund

Hello Mr Tan

There is a company called London Nominees which is offering something called the Football Fund. If you look at the website it mentions famus footabllers and famous clubs and infers that you will be investing in very high margin transactions such as football merchandising and player transfers. However it is very unspecific and there is no clear indication of what the investment is in.
London Nominees is based in the virgin islands and is completely unregulated. They seem to be picking up some press and TV coverage in Singapore.  I would like to warn against this investment but really have no proof. 
Steve 

SMU Financial Literacy and Retirement Seminar

Dear Kin Lian,

SMU is organizing a conference on financial literacy on 12 Nov 2010. The conference is open to the public and is free. I would like to invite you to this conference to help enhance financial literacy in Singapore. Please feel free to circulate this conference flyer to invite your friends to register for this conference.

http://www.smu.edu.sg/institutes/skbife/centres/Emailer/YR%202010/Css121110_conference.htm

Note: Please register early to get a place at the conference!

Income Inequality

There is an excellent article about the harmful effects of income inequality. It has relevance to Singapore. Read General Election Portal.