The Most Graceful Freestyle Swimming by Shinji Takeuchi

Lee Kuan Yew on Meditation

Accelerated Learning: How To Get Good at Anything in 20 Hours

Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience

Edgar Dale (April 27, 1900 in Benson, Minnesota, – March 8, 1985 in Columbus, Ohio) was an American educationist who developed the Cone of Experience. He made several contributions to audio and visual instruction, including a methodology for analyzing the content of motion pictures. Born and raised in North Dakota he received a B.A. and M.A. from the University of North Dakota and a Ph.D from the University of Chicago.^[1] His doctoral thesis was titled "Factual Basis for Curriculum Revision in Arithmetic with Special Reference to Children's Understanding of Business Terms" and is precursor for his later work with vocabulary and readability. He was a professor of education at Ohio State University.

Source: http://www.sparkinsight.com/factlets

Parenting in Wants or Needs

A very good and meaning article piece from 1 of my mentors, Ken Chee

I over heard these conversations while walking behind 2 parents who were telling their kids,

"I have no money to buy these for you. Money don't drop from the sky"

And they carry on when they saw their young daughters kept quiet with a disappointed look, "Do you have money? If no, then walk away"

I have no business in other family affair and I'm also not an early childhood education expert.

However, I can share with you how I will converse differently to my muses soon regarding financial matters,

"Papa and mama have money. And we choose not to buy this item for you unless you can share why you need it".

This come from the space of abundance and choice rather than scarcity and limitation.

And if they can prove that it is a need and not want, I would want them to sleep over this idea for at least 7 days. This allow them to practice delay instant gratification. And after 7 days, if they still need it, then we might take action. The days of delay will get longer when they grow older.

If it is a want, the conversation will goes like this,

"Great that you have something you fancy. However, papa and mama money is not your money. Hence, if you want to get something, you need money. And in order for you to have money, you must exchange something of similar value legally, morally and ethically to get it. How about helping papa to wash the car for a month?"

Get them to work for their want since young. This foster self reliance and come from a space of creation rather than dependence and limitation mindset.

Most importantly, the root source come from parents, care givers and educators. Most people condition their children with bad financial beliefs without even realizing it. For example, "Money is the root of all evil", "We don't have enough, so stop asking", "Be grateful if you have food on the table, African children are dying of hunger" etc. Or the other extreme is buying tons of toys and saying 'Yes' to all their children whims and fancy, thus creating a raspberry generation who expect 'entitlement' with shallow values in life. I have little respect for young people like them.

And this form a vicious cycle because they will keep doing the same thing (learnt from their unaware parents, care givers and educators) to their children and their children to their children until one generation decided to educate themselves voluntarily (not from school but learn from people who are successful financially) because of financial struggle or a major personal crisis such as bankruptcy.

How are you teaching your children? Are you setting a good role model for them?

You can start here at www.valueinvestingsummit.com

Share if you like it.

P/S: By the way, don't expect your children to take care of you and your spouse during your winter years because most of them (with the same old mindset about money) can't even take care of themselves and their own families financially due to raising cost of living and inflation!

Investment Clock

Google the phase Investment Clock and you find quite a few explanation...
Many investors have looked to the Investment Clock, first published by London's Evening Standard in 1937, to determine the next move in asset pricing. A study of trade cycles over 150 years told the story of the relationship between interest rates, money, share prices and real estate. The current cycle however, has been a little different in that instead of following the path through numbers four to six where money gets tighter at the depth of a recession, central banks of the world united to take us straight through to seven.

Another picture.

Why You Should Worry about the Falling Ringgit

Nice intriguing article from Dr Wealth...

Why You Should Worry about the Falling Ringgit

 You’ve seen the long queues at the money changers. People are taking advantage of the weak ringgit, buying it to fund cheaper trips up north. Here’s why you should be worried about the falling ringgit.

The last time the ringgit was this weak compared to the Singapore dollar was during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, when S$1 netted you RM2.66. Now, the currency is hovering in this estimated region and has the potential to fall even further. The falling currency has come at an opportune time – the holiday period. Enterprising holidaymakers in Singapore are whooping with joy, especially since it means your dollar stretches further in Boleh-land.

If this trend continues though, Singapore will be affected by the impending financial storm.

Why is the ringgit dropping?

Oil and gas is big business in Malaysia. Oil-related industries account for an estimated 40 percent of the country’s national coffers. The sharp decline in global crude oil prices, which has dropped by more than 40 percent in less than six months, have been huge body blows to the country’s economy. Supply has outstripped demand, which is bad news for any country whose major export is oil. This is why the ringgit is taking a beating on the global stage.

I keep hearing about this oil crisis. Isn’t it a good thing for consumers that oil prices drop?

In the short term, it’s great news. Theoretically, your petrol expenses, electricity bill, and any other bills that require burning million-year-old fossils will drop. If you’re thinking about a holiday, travel to a country that is heavily reliant on oil as that means the currency will be weaker against the Singapore dollar. Besides Malaysia, you might want to consider heading to Indonesia or even Venezuela.

Traditionally, when crude oil prices drop, the big boys in OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries currently led by Abdalla El-Badri of Libya and which produces 40 percent of the world’s oil, usually cuts supply so that crude prices remain at around US$100 per barrel. This time though, the 12 members have voted to continue pumping out their usual output of 30 million barrels a day, creating a glut of black gold that is slowly losing its lustre. Oil prices have dropped to around US$60 per barrel. The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates has even stated for the record that production numbers will remain unchanged even if oil prices fall below US$40.

I still don’t see why the falling ringgit and oil prices are bad for me!

Indeed, on the surface, it’s hard to see how dropping oil prices could be bad for the man on the street. But, hear me out.

Many analysts speculate that the reason why OPEC isn’t budging is simply because of a price war, especially with the US. The Americans have been flooding the market with oil shale, which has been estimated to add about an additional million barrels of oil a day to the market this year. Next year, US is planning to increase production, adding another additional million barrels of oil.

Besides the States, OPEC is also coming to terms with other countries such as Russia and Brazil coming into the market.

So, rather than cut production, OPEC is hoping that the low prices of oil will eventually curb production in the non-OPEC countries. It’s a war of attrition and the bigger members in OPEC have the financial muscle to ride the crisis until it ends.

Now, here’s the messy bit, which we’ll simplify in the next paragraph.

American energy companies have been borrowing a lot of money from banks, asset managers, and pension funds in the past few years. In fact, they are the “most prolific issuers of high-yield debt over the years”. Oil executives were certain that the oil bull market would continue. This emboldened them to borrow more money. Now, as oil prices continue to plummet, these companies will eventually default on their debts, affecting the credit markets. “If you can’t make your debt service, it starts to affect the credit markets, and everything revolves around the credit markets,” explains Larry Glazer of Mayflower Advisors. And as the saying goes, when America sneezes, everyone catches a cold.

Oh boy. This sounds like really bad news.

The situation is so chaotic that nobody can say with any absolute certainty what will happen in the next two years. Some analysts feel that the repercussions of the oil crisis are blown out of proportion while others are firmly in the opposing camp, predicting that the world is headed for another financial crisis.

The Singapore stock market has already reacted negatively to the oil crisis, when shares dropped one percent two days ago. If oil prices drop any further, be prepared to see stocks slump across the board. Singapore’s export-based economy will also be affected.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

One word – China. The Middle Kingdom is currently the world’s second largest net importer of oil. If OPEC decides during their next meeting that production will remain status quo, then we could see oil prices drop to less than US$40 per barrel, mirroring the price point of the 2008 financial crisis. However, if the Chinese state government decides to ramp up production that requires energy, then the demand will help to stabilise prices. The early signs aren’t good though. Chinese factory activity has slowed down.

So, what now?

A lot hinges on what OPEC decides to do in its next meeting, which is convening on 5 June 2015, or if they choose to hold an emergency gathering in the next couple of months to address the oil crisis. So, we recommend hanging tight.

Also, you might want to take a look at the clean energy market. We’re certain that it’s a good bet as the world weans itself off oil.

In the meantime, take advantage of the falling ringgit and make a couple of trips up north to snag a few good deals. You could really save quite a bit on your grocery shopping bills.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement

Jack Ma - Small is Beautiful (2009 Singapore APEC SME)

Jack Ma inspiration speech at Singapore.. :SMALL is Beautiful"

Also, when you in trouble, REMEMBER 3 things:-
1)  Focus on your CUSTOMERS
2) Serve your EMPLOYEES
3) Learn from your COMPETITORS

Be grateful for what we have

If you think life sucks or unfair, think again....
Look at how this 8 years old girl embraces life with such attitude... AMAZING...!

Malcolm Gladwell Says Steve Jobs Became Steve Jobs Because Of This Personality Trait

Excerpt from Business Insider by DRAKE BAER

Amy Sussman (Getty)/ Sean Gallup (Getty)

Gladwell (left) says Jobs became a legend because of his disposition — not talent or resources.

By the time Steve Jobs died, he was arguably the greatest tech entrepreneur in history — he sired the world’s most valuable company, changed the way people interact with machines, andspawned a cottage industry of management gurus mining his life for Jobsian wisdom. According to popular author Malcolm Gladwell, an icon in his own right, Jobs didn’t become a legend because of intellect, resources, or even 10,000 hours of practice. 

Instead, as he explained on Tuesday at the World Business Forum in New York, Jobs broke through thanks to a personality quality that any of us can develop. 

“Urgency,” Gladwell declared, characterizes Jobs and other immortal entrepreneurs.

Then he asked the audience to consider the story of Jobs and Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center Incorporated (PARC), an innovation think tank located near Stanford University. 

In the 1960s, “Xerox was then the most important high-tech company in the world,” Gladwell said, and with PARC, it hired the greatest scientists in the world, gave them unlimited research budgets, and told them to take their time in inventing the future.

And they did.PARC invented: 

• The PC• Much of the Internet
• The word processor
• The graphic user interface

Then, in December 1979, this 24-year-old startup kid from Cupertino named Steve gets invited to visit PARC. 

They take him on a tour, and he sees something he’s never laid eyes on before. 

It’s a mouse. It clicks an icon on a screen. 

“Oh my god,” Jobs said. “This is going to transform personal computing.” 

The guy from PARC said, “Yeah, we know. We’ve been working on this for 10 years.” 

Jobs starts jumping up and down in excitement. He runs to his car, drives back to Cupertino. He tells his software team that he just saw “the most incredible thing” at Xerox PARC, called the graphic user interface.

Justin Sullivan/Getty

A young Steve Jobs, looking urgent.

You don’t type a command line with a graphic user interface, Gladwell said; you click an icon on a screen. 

Jobs asked if they could do the same thing. 

The engineers said no.

Jobs told them they had to, demanding that they drop whatever they were working on. 

Then he goes across town, talks to an industrial designer, and demands that Xerox’s $300 mouse be made for $15. 

“Jobs takes the mouse and the graphical user interface and combines them. And the result is the Macintosh — the most iconic product in the history of Silicon Valley, the product that sets Apple on that extraordinary journey it’s still on today,” Gladwell said. 

What happened here? Gladwell asked. Why are we using Apple computers and not Xerox computers? 

“Is Steve Jobs smarter than the people at Xerox PARC?” Gladwell continued. “No. They’re smarter. They invented the graphic user interface. He just stole it. ” 

Did he have more insight than Xerox? No.

Did they have more resources? No, Xerox was insanely profitable. Jobs ran a startup. 

The difference?

“Jobs has a sense of urgency,” Gladwell said. “He wants to do it now. He speeds to Cupertino and says, drop everything, we’re doing this at this very moment.”

Meanwhile people at Xerox, with their unlimited time and money, think that genius can’t be rushed. Jobs is rushed — he’s urgent — and that was a part of his genius. 

“The difference isn’t resources,” Gladwell said. “It’s attitude.”