Given uncertainty and higher costs of living, experts advise saving 6 to 12 months of pay 01 Apr 2012
by AARON LOW
One of the most basic rules for personal financial planning is to establish a personal emergency fund for a rainy day. The conventional wisdom is that the emergency fund should comprise between three and six months’ worth of one’s salary. So for instance, if a person earns $4,000 a month, his emergency fund should be built to at least $12,000.
But increasingly, this conventional wisdom is being challenged on many fronts.
For one thing, financial advisers say that the uncertain economic outlook and higher costs of living mean that three months of savings may simply not be enough.
Mr Patrick Lim, director of financial advisory firm PromiseLand, advises his clients to save between six and 12 months of salary as an emergency fund.
“I see a lot of people who, in their 40s, get retrenched, and they can’t find a job easily. They may take up to a year (to find another job) and even then, they may have to face a pay cut,” he says.
“Call me conservative but I prefer to be safe than sorry.”
Mr Christopher Tan, chief executive of financial advisory firm Providend, agrees and adds that it is not surprising that in the United States, financial experts are saying 10 months of expenses should be set aside as emergency funds.
But whether it is six or 12 months, all financial experts say putting aside a sum of money should be a top priority for everyone.
Financial adviser Leong Sze Hian says it is absolutely crucial that people focus on building this fund first, even before thinking of buying a house or car.
“They spend and spend, then they lose their job. They end up having to sell off to pay debts or cashing out on their insurance policy before maturity which will cost them a lot more,” he says.
It is unclear whether Singaporeans have adequate savings for such emergencies, but anecdotal evidence from financial advisers points to an alarming lack of awareness.
Mr Lim and Mr Leong say the majority of people they meet do not consciously set aside such funds, either because they think it is not important or they are unaware that they need to.
Says Mr Leong: “It’s not that difficult to achieve and everyone, whether low-income or high-income, should try to do this.”
For the big spenders, here are five tips to get started on building the emergency fund:
Budget, budget, budget. You can’t start saving until you know how much you spend, says Mr Leong.
“Get your family together to sit down and figure out what money comes in and what goes out. Then you will be able to see what can be cut and how to save,” he says.
Set up an automated transfer that channels part of your salary to a savings account.
Says Mr Tan: “Every month, upon getting your net salary, before you even spend your money, stash away your monthly saving amount to another account.
“Continue to do this till you reach your emergency fund. Beyond that, the monthly ‘saveable’ can now be invested.”
Save before you invest. If you have just started working, you should save first before buying a car, says Mr Lim.
“One way to accumulate savings is to look at topping up your Central Provident Fund. For the first $20,000 of your Ordinary Account, you get 3.5 per cent; for the Medisave and Special accounts, you get 5 per cent for the first $40,000,” he says.
“Given the low interest rate environment, that’s a gold mine. Focus on maximising the returns first from these savings.”
Break down your expenditure to the last dollar, including credit card bills. Once you see exactly how much you spend versus how much you bring in, it will be clear how much you need to cut back on, says Mr Tan. Stay clear of debt, including charge and credit cards. If you need to swipe the plastic, make sure you pay it back in full. There is always the temptation to spend more than one has, since one does not quite see the bill until later. But if you need to use the credit card, pay it back in full. Snowballing on credit card debt is the surest way to destroying any kind of savings.
Investment and protection are two distinct strategies that address two very different needs. Both, however, are necessary in order to meet an individual’s financial goals
Manpreet Gill, Senior Investment Strategist, Standard Chartered Bank
04 Jan 2012
MOST of us tend to relate our financial goals with our investments. Within this framework, success in our investments correlates with meeting our investment goals, while protection is usually incorporated to the extent that it addresses the downside risks of the investment portfolio.
We think protection and its role in meeting one’s overall financial goals, however, have a much wider meaning. Downside risk extends beyond the risk of losses on one’s investment portfolio. For example, if an individual were unfortunate enough to be rendered disabled such that returning to a regular job was impossible, his or her income would be reduced or stop completely. But financial commitments and goals will not change. Without a similar level of income, it would be increasingly difficult or impossible to meet their financial goals.
In our view, investment and protection are two separate, but highly complementary activities that work together to help you meet your financial goals. Investments focus primarily on growing your capital (or just staying ahead of inflation). Protection, on the other hand, focuses on ensuring continuity of cash flows so that you are able to meet your commitments even if your primary source of income reduces, or stops.
There are, in our view, two significant risks that should be addressed through a protection plan, over and above any existing investment strategy that one may have in place.
The first is the risk of early mortality or disability. This is the obvious one – however unfortunate and unlikely, if mortality or disability were to occur then your income would cease. Your family’s financial commitments, however, would not. An investment portfolio cannot fully address this risk because a financial market instrument that allows you to directly hedge against this risk does not exist.
The risk of early mortality or disability is also highly uncertain in terms of timing and likelihood. Protection – in this case executed via insurance – is necessary over and above one’s investment portfolio in order to mitigate this risk and ensure one’s family is able to meet financial commitments such as education costs and ordinary living expenses.
The second is the risk of longevity. This is less obvious. According to World Bank data on life expectancy, the average Singaporean national born in 1965 could expect to live till the age of 67. The average national born in 2009, however, could expect to live till the age of 81. There is a greater risk, thus, that an individual born in 2009 outlives his or her savings or investments.
Investments can help somewhat in the second case, but they cannot provide a solution alone. Assuming a retirement age of 60, the individual born in 1965 would have to fund only seven years of retirement without a regular income. The person born in 2009, however, will have to fund 21 years of retirement without an income. This additional money has to come from somewhere.
In our view, there are a few ways in which individuals can mitigate this risk.
• Setting aside additional funds is the intuitive solution, but this is easier said than done. All factors held constant, this would require a higher savings rate over one’s lifetime on average.
• Working longer would be one solution. This would both raise total lifetime earnings (and therefore savings) and reduce the length of retirement without income.
• Starting to save and invest earlier would also help. This, together with a strong asset allocation approach, would help increase the chances that investment returns meet target levels.
To mitigate longevity risk, it makes sense to start the savings and investment process early, and to use a long-term asset allocation process. This is important simply because it increases the chances of meeting one’s financial goals while potentially lowering the volatility of returns.
Following a good asset allocation strategy can be central to capturing solid investment returns over time by (a) reducing the chances of not being invested in a winning asset class, and (b) helping avoid selling at the worst possible time.
To use an illustrative example, a portfolio consisting of 100 per cent global equities would have generated a cumulative return of 181 per cent over the past 20 years. However, a diversified portfolio consisting of 60 per cent global equities and 40 per cent global bonds would have returned 233 per cent over the past two decades.
While intuitively one can put together a good argument that equities should outperform bonds over the long run, clearly this was not the case over the past two decades. An asset allocation-based approach helps to ensure you remain invested.
The aspect of timing brings us to our second point – end-points do matter. In the above example, year-by-year comparisons would show that the somewhat counter-intuitive returns can be attributed to poor returns in equities in the last few years alone. However, for someone retiring around this time and selling their investments, this particular choice of end-point would have a real impact.
This risk can be reduced by
• Starting to invest early so that over the course of many business cycles one can reduce the risk of missing out on the best parts of a business cycle.
• Modifying the asset allocation breakdown as one approaches retirement
Investment and protection are two distinct strategies that aim to address two very different needs. Both, however, are necessary in order to meet an individual’s financial goals.
The risk of early mortality or disability and rising average longevity are two risks that are an important component of an individual’s financial plan, but they both cannot be addressed by investments alone. It is, in our view, important to have protection in place together with an investment plan in order to mitigate the risk of not meeting one’s financial goals.
An example of why you should never sell a good asset.
Home of HK$33 wontons could fetch HK$180m
Ho Hung Kee’s landlord puts famed noodle shop up for sale amid Causeway Bay retail boom just a year after buying it from family for HK$100m
Sandy Li
SCMP Apr 11, 2012
A 1,000 square foot noodle shop that has survived in Hong Kong’s cutthroat restaurant market for 38 years and boasts a Michelin star is in the news – but not for its lunchboxes.
Just a year after being sold for HK$100 million, the long, narrow shop space that houses Ho Hung Kee is up for sale again and could fetch nearly twice the price. The street-level shop at 2 Sharp Street East in Causeway Bay, the world’s second-most expensive street for retailers, is now valued at around HK$180 million – including its 600 sq ft cockloft.
The Ho family, who have operated Ho Hung Kee since 1946, bought the shop for HK$350,000 in 1974, but decided to cash in on rocketing retail property prices, and last year sold the shop to an investor for HK$100 million on a two-year lease-back.
Property consultants said the wonton noodle restaurant currently pays about HK$125,000 a month in rent, and the lease is due to expire in mid-2013. Not counting utilities, salaries and food costs, that means Ho Hung Kee needs to sell 126 of its HK$33 bowls of wonton noodles a day, seven days a week, to cover the monthly rent payment.
Isaac Wai, a senior marketing manager at Ricacorp Properties said a 400 sq ft shop selling T-shirts at 9 Sharp Street East, opposite Ho Hung Kee, is paying HK$170,000 a month, while another at 7 Sharp Street East is being offered for lease at HK$200,000 a month.
“The shop could definitely pay HK$250,000 in rent a month, and if it changes hands at a higher price, it’s logical for the new owner to raise the rent when its lease is due for renewal,” he said.
It is unclear how the property sale will affect the noodle shop, still run by the Ho family, according to a woman who identified herself as the owner.
“It’s too early to say,” she said. “We’ll continue with business as usual because our lease hasn’t expired yet.”
But she also said it would be tough to survive if the landlord raised the rent significantly.
“We only charge HK$33 for a bowl of wonton noodles. But thanks to our loyal customers, our business is still strong at the moment.”
The family plans to open a new shop in the soon-to-be opened Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, she said.
Yesterday, the property’s owner appointed Colliers International to offer the shop for sale.
Pierre Wong Tsz-wa, chief executive of commercial property agency Midland IC & I, said the owner wanted to cash in on the retail boom.
“Due to tight supply, retail shops in Causeway Bay have fetched jaw-dropping prices,” said Wong, who estimated that the shop, with its proximity to Times Square, could fetch as much as HK$180 million .
Helen Mak, director of retail services at Colliers International Hong Kong, said two recent transactions in nearby Lee Garden Road had generated more than HK$200,000 per square foot.
“Space is scarce, so retail properties in the district are being snapped up the minute they come on the market because investors see the potentially high returns,” she said.
The monthly rent for Ho Hung Kee in the current market could go as high as HK$350,000, she said.
Business Times – 26 Mar 2012
Deals in Q1 down to 187 from 273 a year ago, while their value fell 36.5%
By LYNETTE KHOO
(SINGAPORE) A bleak picture on the local merger and acquisition (M&A) scene has emerged, showing M&A activity involving Singapore-domiciled companies sliding to the lowest level in value since the second quarter of 2009.
The total value of announced Singapore M&A deals in the first quarter registered year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter declines of 36.5 per cent and 24.6 per cent, respectively, to US$5.7 billion, latest data from Thomson Reuters shows.
The number of deals stood at 187 in the first quarter, down from 273 in the same period last year.
A similar trend unfolded in the South-east Asian region, with the total deal value slipping 19.2 per cent from a year ago and 11.9 per cent from the fourth quarter to US$20.3 billion.
Wong Ai Ai, principal at Baker & McKenzie.Wong & Leow, noted that deals are taking a longer time to negotiate and close due to gaps in pricing expectations and buyers’ concerns over risks. ‘Deals that were being looked at in the last half of 2011 have either not been completed or have fallen away for these reasons,’ she said.
Singapore companies have slowed down their buying spree abroad, with the overseas deal count falling from 104 in the first quarter last year to 68 this year, though the aggregate value of these deals were 12.3 per cent higher year-on-year at US$2.9 billion.
The total deal value was bolstered by United Fiber System’s proposed acquisition of Indonesia’s Golden Energy Mines through a reverse takeover valued at US$987.8 million.
At the same time, Singapore companies were also less targeted by overseas acquirers, with 30 announced inbound M&A deals in the first quarter compared to 50 deals in the same quarter last year.
This resulted in a 91.6 per cent plunge in the aggregate value of inbound M&A deals to US$224.3 million – the lowest quarterly level since the first quarter of 2004. Chinese acquirers still accounted for the bulk of Singapore’s inbound M&A deals with a 35.1 per cent share.
According to data from Thomson Reuters, Malaysian companies are most targeted in the region by acquirers, followed by Indonesia, Vietnam and then Singapore.
‘There’s been a lot of recent excitement over deals announced across the Causeway, and over the potential assets for sale in Indonesia, so relative to all that activity, Singapore may not look so exciting or well-priced,’ Ms Wong said.
‘But a lot of deal structuring is being done through Singapore, even though the companies involved may not be Singapore companies.’.
Private equity (PE) firms closed smaller M&A deals in the first quarter, with PE-backed deals involving Singapore companies falling by 95.4 per cent year-on-year to US$10.2 million although the deal count remained at five.
In the South-east Asian region, PE-backed M&As marked a 87.8 per cent fall to US$70.2 million while the number of deals declined from 19 in the first quarter last year to 13 this quarter.
Than Su Ee, head of Mezzanine Capital Unit (Private Equity & Special Opportunities) at OCBC Bank, noted that the let-up in M&A activity among PE funds in the last six to nine months is a reflection of the uncertainties surrounding global economic conditions.
‘This is changing as investors are increasingly of the opinion that the eurozone crisis and US economic troubles may have turned the corner,’ he said.
With improvements in economic climate and market liquidity, PE investors are expected to take advantage of better market conditions to undertake M&A financing or exit from their investments, he added. ‘Unless there are any major global economic or political surprises, we should see a return of private equity funds activities in M&A over the next 24 months.’
Slower M&A activities in the first quarter has translated to lower fees for advisors. Estimates from Thomson Reuters/Freeman Consulting Co show M&A advisory fees from completed transactions involving Singapore companies fell 39 per cent from a year ago to US$50 million this quarter.
Leading the pack is Morgan Stanley, which chalked up fees of US$4 million and accounted for 8 per cent of total fees. Daiwa Securities enjoyed the highest jump in estimated fees, enjoying an increase of more than 19-fold from a year ago to US$1.7 million in the first quarter.
“Life is a place of service. Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.” – Leo Tolstoy
“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” – Malcolm Forbes
“Life is good when you live from your roots. Your values are a critical source of energy, enthusiasm, and direction. Work is meaningful and fun when it’s an expression of your true core.” – Shoshana Zuboff
“Try to forget yourself in the service of others. For when we think too much of ourselves and our own interests, we easily become despondent. But when we work for others, our efforts return to bless us.” – Sidney Powell
“When a man realizes his littleness, his greatness can appear.” – H. G. Wells
“A meaningful life will not be found in the next job or the next car. The way you get meaning in your life is to devote your self to helping others and creating something that gives you purpose.” – Morrie Schwartz, in “Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom
“The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking.” – Steve Jobs
“When you ask people what it is like being part of a great team, what is most striking is the meaningfulness of the experience. People talk about being part of something larger than themselves, of being connected, of being generative. It becomes quite clear that, for many, their experiences as part of truly great teams stand out as singular periods of life lived to the fullest.” – Peter Senge
“How does one become a butterfly? You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.” – Trina Pallus
“However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” – Goethe
Servant & Transformational Leadership:
“It is amazing how much people can get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.” – Sandra Swinney
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win great triumphs, even though checked by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” – Peter Drucker
“In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Max DePree
“We are not looking for blind obedience. We are looking for people who, on their own initiative, want to be doing what they are doing because they consider it a worthy objective. I have always believed that the best leader is the best server. And if you’re a servant, by definition, you’re not controlling.” – Herb Kelleher
“It could be argued that all leadership is appreciative leadership. It’s the capacity to see the best in the world around us, in our colleagues, and in the groups we are trying to lead. It’s the capacity to see the most creative and improbable opportunities in the marketplace. It’s the capacity to see with an appreciative eye the true and the good, the better, and the possible.” – David L. Cooperrider
“Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration – of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.” – Lance Secretan
“If you’re the leader, you’ve got to give up your omniscient and omnipotent fantasies – that you know and must do everything. Learn how to abandon your ego to the talents of others.” – Warren Bennis
Emotional Intelligence & Employee Engagement
(Balancing Head & Heart):
“He who has learning without imagination has feet but no wings.” – Stanley Goldstein
“When people are made to feel secure and important and appreciated, it will no longer be necessary for them to whittle down others in order to seem bigger in comparison.” – Virginia Arcastle
“The development of people is an equal partner with the actual results of your organization’s purpose” – Ken Blanchard
“The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The axe forgets, the tree remembers.” – Anonymous
“My day is better when I give people a bit of my heart rather than a piece of my mind.” – Pam Conley
“A special workplace has many ingredients. The feeling that you are part of a team, a sense of community, the knowledge that what you do has real purpose – all these things help to make work fun. But by far the most important factor is whether people are able to use their individual talents and skills to do something useful, significant, and worthwhile.” – Dennis Bakke
“The greater part of happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances.” – Martha Washington
“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl
Fallen Angels is a 1995 Hong Kong neo-noir crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. It features two intertwined storylines—one tells the story of a hitman wishing to leave the criminal underworld (Leon Lai), the prostitute he starts a relationship with (Karen Mok), and his agent (Michelle Reis), who is infatuated with him. The other story is of a mute ex-convict on the run from the police (Takeshi Kaneshiro) and a mentally unstable woman dumped by her boyfriend (Charlie Yeung). Set in 1995 pre-Handover Hong Kong, Fallen Angels explores the characters’ loneliness, their alienation from the situations around them, and yearning for connections in a hectic city.
Despite the stereotypes and media hype, Hong Kong’s gangsters are motivated by just one thing – profit – and they’ll even put aside rivalries to get a share of it
Clifford Lo and Simpson Cheung
SCMP Jan 19, 2012
“If a rooster is dead, another one will arise and crow,” they like to say in triad circles – and especially so since the brazen murder two years ago of gang leader Lee Tai-lung.
The so-called Baron of Tsim Sha Tsui and a leader of the powerful Sun Yee On triad, Lee was hacked to death on the forecourt of the Kowloon Shangri-La hotel by members of the rival Wo Shing Wo gang. After Lee’s death, three of his former henchmen, known as Kai Fai, Man Ying and Ah Gwei, took control of his lucrative entertainment businesses to stop rivals moving into Lee’s territory – in particular, the leader of another faction in the Sun Yee On known as Tai Hau, who is active in Tuen Mun.
Tai Hau tried to take advantage of Lee’s death by extending his crew’s influence in West Kowloon, including Tsim Sha Tsui, with the help of other triad leaders. His attempts were thwarted by an undercover police operation, as a result of which 222 people were arrested three weeks ago.
He wasn’t the only interloper. A year ago, Lee’s three henchmen were tracked by “Ko Tat”, who like Lee was a “red pole fighter” or senior foot soldier, for the Sun Yee On crew in Wan Chai. However, he failed to win support across the harbour.
A police officer said Ko Tat’s setback in Tsim Sha Tsui paved the way for another red pole fighter, “Ko Chun”, to take over Lee’s businesses. Ko Chun was already active in Hart Avenue, a bar district in Tsim Sha Tsui. But the strength of Ko Chun’s grip on these operations is not yet known, says an officer with the Organised Crime and Triad Bureau.
“It is too early to say whether he will succeed,” the officer said. Colleagues in the bureau’s intelligence unit were “watching Ko Chun’s every move”.
According to prosecutors, Lee was killed at the behest of Leung Kwok-chung, a senior member of a Wo Shing Wo crew in Tai Kok Tsui. During a bar fight in July 2006 in Prat Avenue, just around the corner from Hart Avenue, Lee smashed a whisky bottle over Leung’s head, which left him permanently scarred and bearing a three-year grudge. While three Wo Shing Wo members were sentenced to life imprisonment in November for Lee’s killing, Leung (known as “Man Sun Chung” or “heavily tattooed” Chung) and three other suspects remain on the run.
Despite Lee’s high-profile assassination, bloody conflicts among gangs are rare, with most disputes resolved around a table instead of on a back street.
Far from the action-movie image of brawling gangsters, most triad members “just want to make money and that is their governing principle”, the anti-triad officer said. “They will explore any opportunity, whether the business is illegal or legitimate. They don’t mind working together with their rival gangs. For them, making money always comes first.”
Mandi, a reformed drug addict, former triad member and now youth counsellor, agrees. He said although triads called on their “brothers” to fight enemies, it took money to hire the men – for weapons, bail, medical treatment, as well as incentives.
“Do you think you don’t need any money when you call upon people?” Mandi asked. “You have to treat them to food and drink. While they’re waiting to be called out, at some point they’ll get hungry. They can’t fight for you on an empty stomach.”
Mandi, the son of a triad gangster and a member himself until about 10 years ago, confirmed that the gangs nevertheless preferred to avoid fighting each other, and that many disputes were solved around a table with money changing hands. He said his time as a triad was largely about hanging out and making money rather than fighting.
Hong Kong’s triads have their roots in dialect groups, trades or political affiliation. The Sun Yee On, probably the most influential, best organised and wealthiest triad society, was founded by Chiu Chow and Hoklo immigrants from northeastern Guangdong who speak a Fujianese dialect. Tsim Sha Tsui East is its traditional stronghold, but its influence extends to areas including Wan Chai, Tuen Mun and Tseung Kwan O. Its activities include drug trafficking, loan sharking, extortion and smuggling.
The Wo Shing Wo, the first of the “Wo” family of triads, is indigenous to Hong Kong. It was first active in Tsuen Wan but its influence has spread to West Kowloon, Sheung Shui and Fanling. It controls red-minibus routes and is involved in underground casinos, drug trafficking, pirated goods and vice. Other triads from this group are the Wo On Lok, also known as “Shui Fong”. Based originally in Sham Tseng, they are also active in West Kowloon. The Wo Hop To is active in Western and Aberdeen, where it engages in extortion, loan sharking and controls red-minibus routes.
The 14K triad, the Sun Yee On’s main rival, has a long history in the city and is active in West Kowloon, Yuen Long, Kwun Tong and Eastern District. Formed by a Kuomintang general in 1945 to fight the Communists, its illegal activities now involve drug trafficking, prostitution, extortion and pirated goods.
Superintendent Chan Lok-wing of the anti-triad bureau said triads today were mainly involved in seven types of illegal business: drug trafficking, extortion, bookmaking, prostitution, loan sharking, counterfeit goods and cross-border smuggling.
Cross-border organised crime has a long history in Hong Kong, which during the 1960s and 1970s was the world’s leading producer and exporter of heroin. In recent years, trafficking of various drugs and goods has been on the rise to and from the mainland, Macau and Southeast Asia.
Extortion remains one of the main sources of triad income.
“Victims know well that police cannot protect them around the clock forever. So they are willing to pay protection money and do not seek help from police,” another senior anti-triad officer said.
Common practices for extorting protection money include visiting newly opened bars or restaurants and occupying all the tables during peak business hours to block their trade, sending in beggars or posting well-built men to guard the entrance.
“Fear and threat become self-generating. Victims usually give in to these demands and pay,” he said.
According to Chan, triads also run legal businesses, such as licensed premises, public light buses and taxis, which can also provide cover for illegal activities such as drug running and loan sharking.
At the top end, big triad money is linked to the film industry, property and finance. Triads also have connections in politics, and private and public organisations.
Knowing where government development will take place and big developers will build houses, triads buy farmland near these sites which they resell for large profits. Building private columbariums in the New Territories is a big earner.
Successful arrests of senior triad members depend on undercover operations, Chan said. Eight of the most recent exercises, ranging in length from several months to two years, lead to more than 420 arrests.
Finding a suitable officer for such an operation is difficult. “Undercover agents face huge pressure and the operations are dangerous,” Chan. “Not too many officers are willing to take those risks.”
Chan also said that triad members have been more alert to undercover operations, in part due to movies and TV programmes about double agents, notably Infernal Affairs, the award-winning 2002 film directed by Andrew Lau Wai-keung and Alan Mak Siu-fai.
The triads’ top leadership stays out of the limelight. Most trouble is caused by young gang members who want to prove their mettle to their peers, a veteran police officer said.
The officer pointed out that the traditional structure of triads today has become looser, as recruitment of young members is less regulated.
“Nowadays, it is easy for young people to join triads,” he said. “They know a triad member and then become his henchman. They do not go through a formal initiation ceremony due to the risk of police raids. That’s why a lot of young people claim they are triads members.
“Most may not even know who their crew leader is. To police, they are just hooligans.”
Chan said triads had been glorified in the media and film, helping perpetuate the myth. This leads youngsters to believe that joining triads can help solve their problems.
“Such a myth is appealing to some youths, especially to those from low-income families,” he said.
However, a social worker specialising in youth crime prevention said not many young people were willing to join triads today. Lam Yeung-chu, from the Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention, said today they were more self-centred and concerned about their own safety than before, so were put off by the risk of joining triads.
“In the past, kids just hung out on the streets, football pitch or at the video game arcade. Usually they wanted protection or just to be cool. So they were easy targets for triads,” she said. “Today, youngsters hide at home to play on the computer. They seldom go out. That’s a main reason that triads recruit fewer youngsters.”
If Superintendent Chan’s optimism is well founded (arrests for triad-related crimes rose last year), the triads’ roosters will fall silent for good. Triad activity has been on the wane in Hong Kong in recent years, thanks in part to the multiple approaches taken to tackling the gangs.
Greed is a form of desire. However, it is an exaggerated form of desire, based on overexpectation. The true antidote of greed is contentment.
For a practicing Buddhist, for a Dharma practitioner, many practices can act as a kind of counterforce to greed: the realization of the value of seeking liberation or freedom from suffering, recognizing the underlying unsatisfactory nature of one’s existence, and so on. These views also help an individual to counteract greed. But in terms of an immediate response to greed, one way is to reflect upon the excesses of greed, what it does to one as an individual, where it leads. Greed leads one to a feeling of frustration, disappointment, a lot of confusion, and a lot of problems.
When it comes to dealing with greed, one thing which is quite characteristic is that although it arises from the desire to obtain something, it is not satisfied by obtaining it. Therefore, it becomes limitless or boundless, and that leads to trouble. The interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, as I pointed out, even after obtaining the object of one’s desire, one is still not satisfied. On the other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn’t matter whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content.(p.32)
2012: The great wheel of time is making its inexorable turn, granting us a new beginning and an opportunity to step back, review, and renew. You can use this moment of transition to start the new year with a fresh attitude and a doable plan about the spending, saving, and sharing of your money—to live your priorities with greater satisfaction and happiness. Perhaps you are among the many who have suffered from the financial anxiety epidemic—you want to shed your fears, and regain a sense of being in charge of your financial destiny.
But how to get there? What will make this year different from all the rest? Yes, you have started many a new year with good intentions, maybe tried a new tack, and then found yourself once again, adrift on the seas of old patterns and habits. How can you get on a positive financial track when we see (and feel the effect of) world economies struggling to accomplish this goal? How can you live a happy and satisfying life making decisions that result in financial sustainability?
We know you can, And the fact that there is change in the air, and butterflies in your gut, will help motivate you to step outside of old habits and patterns, increase your Affluence Intelligence, and take actions that will give you a life that is aligned with your values, that is fun, and that is sustainable.
Let’s start with an attitude adjustment. Too many of us make financial decisions based on impulse (“I must have it now”); finding comfort in old ideas and habits; and well worn, obsolete facts. It is time to wake up to the fact that the economics of today is not the economics of your past, or the economics of your fantasy life. You can blame it on the internet, globalization, population growth, rising 3rd world economies, expensive wars, too much or too little government, or the Great Recession. It is all of the above, and more. Truth be told: Your psychological and economic operating system is going through a major firmware revision. You need to upgrade your program or find that your software won’t run very well or may not run at all.
So we need to think about our money and our lives with a broader perspective, with a mindset/operating system that can handle the dynamics of economic and systemic change in our lives and in the larger community. Certainly, we can no longer expect or rely upon any single institution, whether it is a corporate employer, or the government, to be a reliable contributor toward your financial sustainability. But how do we make decisions that will result in the ongoing sustenance of our personal and financial resources? Instead of asking the economists, who don’t seem to have any great answers these days, let’s consider some key ideas from Environmental Science. All living systems are characterized by either regenerative (growing, building, spiraling upward) or degenerative (reducing, depleting, spiraling downward) processes. Regeneration creates and harnesses energy, degeneration depletes and wastes energy. In our financial lives, we make financial decisions that are regenerative, such as starting a business that grows and thrives, or saving money to attain long term objectives—purchase of a home, or retirement. And we make decisions that are degenerative, such as living outside of our actual means, accruing a massive creating credit card debt, or buying gifts that we can’t afford. Degenerative processes can get progressively worse, in which (for example) your debt becomes the primary driving force of your financial destiny.
In fact each of us has a unique balance of both degenerative and regenerative financial processes. Few of us will only make only regenerative financial decisions; we live in a culture that continually pushes us to ‘have fun and pay later’; to enjoy immediate gratification and not think of its price. But if we want money and happiness, if we want sustainability and financial resilience, then we need to make sure that our regenerative actions trump our degenerative actions.
Therefore, sustainability in and of itself is a moving target. What you really want to aim for is what we call Regenerative Economics, in which you make money and lifestyle decisions that support you, your family, and your community’s capacity to grow and regenerate. Each of us needs to craft a plan, a personal lifestyle design that is attuned to your unique personal and financial ecology that will guide your financial decision-making so you can reach your unique balance point. Simply put: there can be no sustainability without regenerativity!
So it is time to turn up the thermostat on your Affluence Intelligence: Take the test, determine your Affluence Intelligence Quotient, and make a plan to leverage or improve your AIQ.
Here are some tips to inform your new year’s intentions and actions, based on our many years of working with people who have attain both personal and financial success:
1. Have your values drive your money not your money drive your values. Money is a tool to live your values, to help provide for your sustenance, care, and satisfactions. This is the single most important lesion we have learned from our successful clients. Know that your self worth is not equal to your financial worth. Don’t let money become your primary value. It is not a substitute for self esteem, love, connection, real productivity, or personal integrity.
2. Use a Regenerative Economics mindset: Review your spending and saving decisions. Are these decisions regenerative or degenerative? What do you need to do to shift the balance?
3. Practice conscious consumption: Ask yourself: is this purchase a need or a want?
4. If you need to earn or save more money, keep in mind: Spending less is earning more.
5. Nourish your physical and emotional health. Don’t defy common sense: if a financially related activity is making you sick, stop doing it….now! Your health, your time is precious, and not for sale.
6. Take Action: Create a three month plan for yourself, with doable action steps that you will implement tomorrow. In our book we describe a step by step method for creating such a plan.
No excuses. Walk your talk, implement your plan.
7. Get support. Find a person (not your spouse) who is willing to be your Affluence Intelligence Buddy, a source of support and accountability.
8. Buy Local: Purchasing from local business enterprises put money back into your neighbor’s pockets, an activity that is regenerative for you and the community in which you live.
9. For each discretionary dollar of spending, put a predetermined percentage of that amount into saving and or charity.
10. Give to a charity or cause that matters to you. Giving, whether it is in the form of money or your time, will make you feel rich, and is regenerative. We have been amazed by the powerful sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that many of our successful clients experience through their generosity in giving both their money and their time. Whatever you can afford, no matter how little time you have to give, it will make a difference-for you and for the receiver of your gift.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Look at the birds in the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.
Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
—
2) The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
IT WAS supposed to have been a leisurely driving trip to a hilltop chalet in Endau Rompin National Park in Johor.
But it turned into a nightmare for 21 Singaporeans after rising flood waters cut off their only exit route and left them stranded in their vehicles, submerged in more than 3m of water.
To make things worse, a 1 1/2-year-old was ill and needed medical attention. But they were unable to get a strong enough cellphone signal to call for help.
Their ordeal ended only some 48 hours later when they were finally airlifted to safety by a helicopter on Tuesday.
Yesterday, three members of the group spoke to The Straits Times about their trip which had started brightly from Singapore on Saturday.
‘It was supposed to be a family trip, with colleagues and their families and friends,’ said oil sales representative Farahana Anwar Hassanuddin, 25.
‘The worst thing that we thought would happen was a flat tyre,’ added Ms Farahana, who counted her boss Andrew Fatipah, 34, and her colleague Sandhora Salleh, 27, an administrative officer, among the group.
They set out early on Saturday in four four-wheel-drive vehicles and eight dirt bikes, accompanied by three Malaysian tour guides.
The wet weather meant slippery conditions but the group managed to make the 55km ascent to the chalet in five hours.
They stayed the night at the chalet and, the next morning at about 10am, started their journey home. They had travelled about 6km and crossed one of the two bridges over Lembakoh River when a serious problem cropped up.
‘The second bridge was completely submerged in water. When we first reached it, the water was halfway up my waist; by the time we started turning around to return to the chalet, it was up to my neck and the first bridge was submerged too,’ said Mr Fatipah, director of Singapore-based firm Sapphire Oilfield Services. ‘We were basically trapped.’
Park officers were contacted via radio to help tow the cars – stuck in the muddy road – and they were able to reach the chalet five hours later.
Two cars managed to cross the submerged bridge safely but the other two cars required some effort.
At the chalet, the group contacted the police in Mersing as well as the Singapore consulate in Johor Baru via a satellite phone.
Mr Fatipah said the group was informed on Monday morning that a helicopter would arrive later in the day to airlift the toddler who had developed a high fever and was running out of milk powder.
But there was more drama to come.
In the evening, the helicopter came, but only to airlift a snake-bite victim at the chalet who was not part of their group, leaving the sick toddler and her distressed mother behind.
‘The mother was all ready to leave, carrying her bags and her daughter and standing in the rain for the helicopter,’ said Ms Farahana. ‘When the helicopter left, she just cried.’
Hearts sank when the group were told of their options: either pay RM1,600 (S$650) to rent two motorboats to ferry them back to Mersing; or wait two weeks for the flood waters to subside and the bridges to be repaired.
‘They told us if we took the boat, we would have to sign a waiver of any responsibility for our safety, and we said ‘no way’,’ said Mr Fatipah.
‘We were really desperate and so we kept calling the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs for help. Eventually with their help, we were rescued.’
They spent another night at the chalet. The next afternoon, on Tuesday, a helicopter, dispatched by the Mersing Fire Brigade, evacuated them to Mersing.
There, they boarded a bus supplied by the Singapore consulate to return home.
Mr Fatipah said the group, which had never been to Endau Rompin National Park before, was not told by their tour agent that it was closed and that it was very dangerous to travel during the monsoon season.
They had booked the trip with Tristan Park, a Singapore-based company specialising in all terrain vehicle tours.
The trio said if they had known about the weather conditions, they would never have gone.
Malaysia media reported yesterday that the tour agency had applied for a permit to visit the park last Saturday but it was rejected. Calls to the agency yesterday were unanswered.
The three of them, who were back at work one day after returning from Johor, said while the trip was an experience they would never forget, it would not deter them from exploring Malaysia or its parks again.
“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like:
‘If you live each day as if it was your last,
someday you’ll most
certainly be right.’
It made an impression on me, and since
then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every
morning and asked myself:
‘If today were the last day of my
life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’
And whenever the answer has been ‘No’
for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.”
:: Steve Jobs 1955-2011 ::
“Developing a sense of good cheer in the face of adversity, you can specifically use adversity as the support for refuge and true spiritual development. I am discussing how you relate to your suffering, how you relate to your adversity, as it affects you in life and on the path.
Now, as you know, whenever you are suffering by way of the body, speech, and mind, be it physical illness or a mental affliction, this is a very big deal to you. Usually it appears as something major. Even if it’s minor, you make it into some great distress. If you lose a little money or if someone speaks nastily to you, it invokes a strong reaction. This is called “appearances arising as the enemy.” When your habituation to adversity reaches such a point that you actually fall prey to appearances arising as the enemy, it means that you no longer have patience for suffering.
…If you can’t bear the minor aspects of adversity in this, the best rebirth in cyclic existence, the precious human rebirth, what will you do when you’re reborn in the three lower realms? Samsara is so vast, so deep and limitless, and the number of sentient beings within samsara are equal to that. All of them want to be free; all of them desire liberation. You should consider then how unnecessary or pointless it is to think that your small problems in this fortunate life are so great, when in fact they really are not.
Any rebirth in this ocean of cyclic existence will by nature bring this type of discontent or suffering. Since you’ve been in this cycle of rebirths from beginningless time until now and you are still not free, it points out the fact that help is needed. Refuge is necessary. Adversity then becomes the support for training in refuge, which demonstrates that adversity is used to your advantage.”
~ Gyatrul Rinpoche, Meditation, Transformation, and Dream Yoga
Singapore workers earning more
Mid-point in range of incomes up 5.3% from last year to hit $2,633
By Cai Haoxiang
THE monthly salary of Singapore workers went up this year, for the second year in a row.
Their median income – the mid-point in a range – was $2,633 in June compared to $2,500 a year ago, a 5.3 per cent increase led by economic growth and a tighter labour market.
The rise is even steeper when part-time workers are taken out of the equation, according to a Manpower Ministry report yesterday on the earnings and employment of residents, including permanent residents.
It shows full-time workers’ median income to be $2,925 a month against $2,708 last year – an 8 per cent rise.
After taking into account projected inflation of about 5 per cent, their real wages rose by an estimated 2.8 per cent, said the ministry’s Singapore Workforce 2011 report.
But for all workers, including part-timers, the real wage increase was just 0.1 per cent, said labour economist Hui Weng Tat of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Noting the Government’s goal to raise real median incomes by 30 per cent over 10 years, Dr Hui said it would require an average increase of 2.7 per cent a year.
‘Attention thus needs to be focused on improving the wages and work opportunities of the 194,700 part-time workers, as they are increasing in number, and half of them indicate they want to work longer hours,’ he added.
The report also disclosed for the first time median income figures that include the Central Provident Fund (CPF) contributions of employers.
With CPF, the income of full-timers soared to $3,250, which is $250 more every month than last year.
Explaining the new move, a ministry spokesman said employer CPF contributions form a ‘significant part of compensation… and can be used for housing and health care’.
Hence, it will publish the figures yearly to give ‘a more complete picture of residents’ income growth’, she said.
The rise in income this year builds on last year’s increase, which was a turnaround from the decline caused by the 2008-09 recession.
Last year, the strong economic recovery lifted the monthly income by 3.3 per cent, from $2,420.
This year, the increase is fuelled largely by strong employment growth, especially in the services sector, coupled with curbs on the inflow of unskilled labour and stricter conditions for employing skilled foreign workers, said economists interviewed.
‘Wages were pushed higher with the big projects like the Marina Bay Sands and Sentosa resorts needing a lot of labour, together with the tightening of foreign worker inflows like increased levies,’ said National University of Singapore economist Shandre Thangavelu.
These moves pushed the employment rate to a new high of 78 per cent for residents aged 25 to 64.
At the same time, immigration conditions were tightened, causing a decline in the number of permanent residents.
As a result, the resident labour force went up by just 1.6 per cent to 2.08 million, compared to an annual average of 2.6 per cent in the past 10 years.
On the other hand, more older residents and women were working this year.
A record 61.2 per cent of residents aged 55 to 64 were working, up from 59 per cent a year ago.
Similarly, with women aged 25 to 54, the number of employed rose to 73 per cent, from 71.7 per cent last year.
Labour leader Cham Hui Fong cheered the increases in these two groups, saying they show that efforts of unionists are paying off. Said Ms Cham, assistant secretary-general of NTUC: ‘Companies are now prepared to hire and spend time training these workers.’
Also, more government funds are available, she added, citing the Advantage scheme that helps companies redesign jobs for older workers.
Another is the Inclusive Growth Programme, which gives grants to companies to invest in high-tech equipment and redesign jobs for low-wage workers in return for raising their pay.
‘We hope these schemes will continue because we need to build up the momentum,’ said Ms Cham.
Treasury of the Eye of the True Dharma
Book 11
Principles of Zazen
(Zazen gi)
Studying Zen is zazen. For zazen, one should have a quiet place. Spread a thick sitting mat. Do not let in drafts or vapors; do not admit rain or dew. You should secure and maintain the spot where you place yourself. There are traces from the past of those who sat on a vajra [seat] or sat on a rock; they all spread a thick layer of grass to sit on. The place where you sit should be bright; it should not be dark either day or night. The technique is to keep it warm in winter and cool in summer.
Cast aside all involvements and discontinue the myriad affairs. Good is not thought of; evil is not thought of. It is not mind, intellect or consciousness; it is not thoughts, ideas or perceptions. Do not figure to make a buddha; slough off sitting or reclining.
You should be moderate in food and drink. Hold dear the passing days and nights, and take to zazen as though brushing a fire from your head. The Fifth Ancestor on Mt. Huangmei worked only at zazen, without any other other occupation.
During zazen, you should wear your kesa. Put down a cushion. The cushion is not placed completely under your crossed legs but only under the rear half, so that the mat is beneath the legs and the cushion beneath the spine. This is the way that all the buddhas and ancestors have sat during zazen.
Sit in either the half lotus or full lotus position. For the full lotus position, place your right foot on your left thigh and your left foot on your right thigh. The toes should be even with the thighs, not out of alignment. For the half lotus position, simply place your left foot on your right thigh.
Loosen your robe and underwaist, and arrange them properly. Place your right hand on your left foot and your left hand on your right hand. Put the tips of your thumbs together. With your hands in this position, place them against your body, so that that the joined thumb tips are aligned with your navel.
Straighten your body and sit erect. Do not lean to the left or right; do not bend forward or back. The ears should always be aligned with the shoulders, and the nose aligned with the navel. The tongue should be placed against the front of the palate. The breath should pass through the nose. The lips and teeth should be closed. The eyes should be open, neither too widely nor too narrowly.
Having thus regulated body and mind, take a breath and exhale fully. Sitting fixedly, think of not thinking. How do you think of not thinking? Nonthinking. This is the art of zazen.
Zazen is not the practice of dhyâna. It is the dharma gate of great ease and joy. It is undefiled practice and verification.
Treasury of the Eye of True Dharma, Principles of Zazen, Number 11.
“The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity. It is also our greatest opportunity to lift Global Consciousness to a higher level.”
Satoshi Tomiie 富家哲 (Tomīe Satoshi) is a Japanese house-music producer and DJ. He has written music for numerous soundtracks, including for the Animatrix soundtrack and remixed many artists including the Future Sound of London.
Released in 2001, Satoshi Tomiie’s “Love in Traffic” is a seminal progressive house and tribal anthem featuring ethereal, repeating vocal loops by former Sneaker Pimps singer Kelli Ali. The track is widely celebrated for its hypnotic atmosphere and slamming tribal drums.
Harry’s Game was an ITV drama about Captain Harry Brown – an SAS undercover agent – infiltrating the IRA. Harry was on a mission to find the assassin of a British Cabinet Minister in the Falls Road area of Belfast. Harry was alone: not even the army was told of his presence; his wife was fed up with him. A deadly game of cat and mouse ensued, in which many innocent lives were impacted and neither side could win. Harry befriended a local woman who fell for him, and in turn was consumed by Harry’s relentless search for the assassin. The IRA soon realised they had an informant in their midst and brought in the same assassin to hunt down Harry. The play’s ending was sad: the betrayed and by now dead Harry was lying on a dirty street as the locals just stepped over his body, ignoring it.
The series’ contained loose parallels with the real-life events of both Grenadier Guards/SAS Captain Robert Nairac, and his murder by the IRA in 1977, and the 1979 assassination of Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Airey Neave.
The series’ theme tune was performed by Clannad and was successfully released as a single, reaching the top five in both Ireland and the United Kingdom and bringing Clannad its first major international exposure.
The lyrics to the song were written to depict the story of The Troubles (Irish euphemism for a partial civil-war), among all sides in Northern Ireland, (Nationalist, Republican, Unionist and Loyalist). The lyrics, derive from an ancient Celt text, explaining how in war and in violence, no side wins – that all lose.
Shepherd Moons is an album by Irish musician Enya, released on November 4, 1991. It won the Grammy Award for “Best New Age Album” of 1993. It was a #1 album in the UK and a Top 20 hit in the US, peaking at #17 on the Billboard 200.
A planetary ring is a ring of cosmic dust and other small particles orbiting around a planet in a flat disc-shaped region. The most notable planetary rings known in Earth’s solar system are those around Saturn, but the other three gas giants of the solar system (Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune) possess ring systems of their own.
Sometimes planetary rings will have shepherd moons, small moons that orbit near the outer edges of rings or within gaps in the rings. The gravity of shepherd moons serves to maintain a sharply defined edge to the ring; material that drifts closer to the shepherd moon’s orbit is either deflected back into the body of the ring, ejected from the system, or accreted onto the moon itself.
The Carrian Group was a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by George Tan, a Singaporean Civil Engineer working in Hong Kong as a project manager for a land development company. The Group’s principal holding company Carrian Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1977.
In January 1980, the group, through a 75% owned subsidiary, purchased Gammon House (a commercial Office building, now Bank of America Tower) in Central District, Hong Kong for $998 million. It grabbed the limelight in April 1980 when it announced the sale of Gammon House for a staggering HK$1.68 billion, a price that surprised Hong Kong’s Property and Financial markets and developed public interest in Carrian.
In the same year, Carrian capitalized on its notoriety by acquiring a publicly listed Hong Kong company, renaming it Carrian Investments Ltd., and using it as a vehicle to raise funds from the financial markets.
The group grew rapidly in the early 1980s to include properties in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Japan, and the United States. At its peak, the Carrian Group owned businesses in Real Estate, Finance, Shipping, Insurance (China Insurance Underwriters Ltd), Hotels, Catering and Transportation (A Taxi fleet that was the largest ever in Hong Kong).
Carrian Group became involved in a scandal with Bank Bumiputra Malaysia Berhad of Malaysia and Hong Kong-based Bumiputra Malaysia Finance. Following allegations of accounting fraud, a murder of a bank auditor, and the suicide of the firm’s adviser, the Carrian Group collapsed in 1983, the largest bankruptcy in Hong Kong.
Singapore ranked 4th most costly city
PropertyGuru.com.sg – Fri, Sep 23, 2011
Singapore has been ranked as the fourth most costly destination in Savills’ World Cities Review report, with the average value of luxury homes in the country increasing 144 percent over the past five years.
“Singapore has the highest concentration of millionaire households in the world (16 percent with US$1 million plus), and the capacity to buy residential property is obviously high,” said Savills.
Home values of the super-rich in the top 10 cities worldwide climbed 10 percent in the first six months, according to the report, higher than the average price growth of six percent for ordinary properties in similar cities and lower than the 65 percent growth in ultra-prime properties over the past five years.
“We recently identified ten world class cities whose real estate markets have more in common with each other than the mainstream markets of the counties in which they operate, and they are all attracting billionaires’ dollars, whether generated at home or overseas,” said Yolande Barnes, Director of Residential Research at Savills.
In a league of its own for super prime prices, Hong Kong led the list at £6,700 psf, ahead of Tokyo and Paris at £5,190 psf and £3,290 psf respectively. In addition, prices of ultra-prime properties in Hong Kong are more than double London’s average luxury property prices and over 10 times that in Sydney, which has been ranked the cheapest location for billionaires.
“At the foot of the table, Sydney still offers great value and is extremely well located to take advantage of Asian wealth if and when its policies restricting international buying are relaxed,” said Savills, adding that the average price of Sydney’s ultra-high-value homes stood at £590 psf.
Since 2005, the price growth of ultra-high-value homes has been the highest in the emerging “new world” economies of Singapore at +144 percent, followed by Mumbai at +138 percent, Moscow at +110 percent and Hong Kong at +83 percent. This pattern reflects the geography of the new wealth generation, as well as the creation of new billionaires over that period.
The Carrian Group was a Hong Kong conglomerate founded by George Tan, a Singaporean Civil Engineer working in Hong Kong as a project manager for a land development company. The Group’s principal holding company Carrian Holdings, Ltd. was founded in 1977.