I don't have too much land, only one piece at some faraway place that some sales person asked me to buy long ago. Eevrytime I hear that the land has increased in price. I never checked,.. don't know true or not. That piece of land is beside a new highway. I have forgotten abt it till this morning.

If you have been able to rent out your landbanks or have oil palm plantations, then you will be able to generate cashflow for your livelihood. Otherwise, if it's like mine, nobody rented it, there is no cashflow to be generated. I need to sell the land first before I am able to enjoy some returns.

ASX WILL give you cashflow. However, be aware of the risks debated upon recently,.. I think you were monitoring that ASX thread too. I have not sold all of my units yet.

The threat to our calculation here is if prices of essential goods around us increase drastically, then that 4% to 6% will reduce accordingly. A good news would be if we have a fully-paid house, then this would reduce our our livelihood cost substantially.

Bro,.. I have to agree with your opinion up there. You are right !

i share this view. it is the best gift any parent can give to a child.
our parents gave us something, we give to ours. they give to theirs.
no expectation for any return, just hope it will benefit the child the way it should.

aud will remain weak as long as commodities like iron ore have low demand, primarily from china.
that quite clearly will be the case for some years.
so, imo, no rush to get into aud. more so if u need it only in 5 yrs time.
i may need some aud in 2-3 yrs time, i am relaxed.

sg - it's more dependent on overall global health, primarily usa and china as these are its most major trading partners.
i also think sg's central bank and its monetary policy ranks among the strongest in the world, so i have the confidence.

usd is obviously the big brother, leading all the way.
there is a remote possibility that they do a u-turn and resume qe, very low chance, though.
in the event of a global recession, the usd will stay relatively stronger than all the rest.

bottomline: big question at any time is ALWAYS - will the rm get weaker or stronger from this point?
there is obviously no directly or clear answer.
there are only options - bias towards rm, bias against rm or neutral.
if one cares about the subject, one has to take one of those 3 positions.
then the actions follow accordingly.
not taking any action is also taking a position, nothing wrong with it.

yes, i agree.

a rebound will mainly come from a shift in the political situation leading to a change in investor confidence level.

some fundamental damage done, not easily recoverable.

more so if time allowed for it to be entrenched deep.

the brazilian real case is living proof.

If your timeframe is over the last ne-year, I would say you are right for nos 1, 2, 3, and 4... off the top of my head.

I'll comment on no 5 : I hold European High Yield bond funds too - the performance has been flat because of the GReek problem recently, but as an extra note : these bonds have appreciated in price after the EU problem back in 2011/2. The dividend has dropped a bit, but I'm confident they will rebound back after a awhile. The Euro is weak compared to previously, but since our RM is weak too, the forex has not hit me that badly.

But if I'm to spend this Euro dividend in Sgp, I can see that I get a whole lot LESS SGD after converting the Euros back into the SGD. Less money to spend in Sgp.

No 6 : AUD FD : this is on the losing side for me. When I first started putting my funds in AUS back in 2005, I recalled the interest rate was like around 7.5% to 8.5%. This has since been dropping. In the last one year, it has dropped further, and I am only reaping 3.9% in my AUD FD now. Better put in Msia.

Tks AV,... I must say I have not reasoned out why the rebound will not really recover the currency much, just that I have seen everywhere that the deeper the currency falls, the safer we will be against a rebound. You have alerted me to the reason....

Well,... one way to look at it is if the Sgp econ goes down, chances are the MY con will go down too, perhaps more or perhaps equal. Changing the SGD back to the MYR will still help to cushion your livelihood expenses.

I am always betting on the chances that whatever happens in the world, Msia will be at the rear-end, unfortunately.... If times are bad in the world, Msia will be hit harder. If times are good in the world, Msia will not be able to move up in the rankings ladder too.

I wouldn't bet my Sgp livestyle on the above theory.

Different countries that one lives in, one will do different bets.

Talking abt SG, take a look at the recent election results. Take a look at the Sgp PM's vision and plans. Observe closely,... and we can put in a safer bet on what will happen to Sgp till the next elections. But if can tahan longer, even better-lar,...

No,...I would say convert into the SGD first and get a feel of it first. Then decide again from there if you wished to go into the USD and AUD too.

I suspected too that the above is happening now. Are you implying on only the job force in Msia or includes those in the overseas as well.

If the child can get scholarships, that is really a given and a blessing for the parent : the child is smart and the parent saves the education fund. But what if the child is not that smart ?

nope.. your Son is already born, thus for him to be gainfully employed, more earthlings need to be drastically killed off..

This coupled with jobs being replaced by automation. Your kid really doesn't stand a chance if he goes the traditional of get a degree and then climb the career path.

As I've mentioned, currently, the global economy is largely driven by demographics.

The millennials (1980s - 2000s) are really lost and hopeless.. most have out-dated skills and useless degrees.. In turn, they enter the workforce just drifting aimlessly. Too many people ahead of them. On average, they will have no clear cut path of getting a good paying job.. so low pay, few jobs, long and hard working hours, high tax, inflation and large debts, they will be crippled for decades, if not for life..

Gen Xs are just waiting for Baby Boomers to retire. They too, are just hanging on waiting for those top positions to finally open up for them. By that time, they will be 50 or 60 years old.. with even less assets, savings and income than the Baby Boomers..

Baby Boomers have no savings, thus will have to work until they die..

So, as you can see if you want your son to pursuit the traditional role he will join the cue.. right at the bottom of all bottoms. Are you sure you want your son to go down this route?

There is no clear cut path. Going without a degree is a huge risk. But as, with investing, you need to take risk.. being gainfully employed is to be a wage slave.. high paying jobs usually comes with added stress, longer working hours, high tax and high upkeep.. You may earn 150k usd a year.. which is unlikely starting off, but 100k already goes to upkeep and paying off debt, 50k for living. Zero for savings. What kind of life have we left for our children?

Save that money. Teach him how to invest. Start an online business or multiple businesses.. You do not need a degree or go into huge debts for this.

Scholarships are bullshit too.. Most tie you down on low paying salary for many years.

Think twice before accepting a scholarship.. there is no free lunch.

This post has been edited by the99percent1: Sep 20 2015, 12:34 PM

it is best to keep discussion to last one year:

.. the currency rout began a year ago when fed touted tapering and then rate hike.
.. oil and other commodities prices started to fall like stones.
.. 1mdb/bijan chronicles started a yr ago.
.. most meaningful period when it became clear it is happening and not speculation alto there were denials.
.. going back 2-3 years means you have the foresight and vision no one has!

This post has been edited by AVFAN: Sep 20 2015, 01:06 PM

Tks AV,... I'm honoured. Till today's performance, I can say if need be, I can go back 10 years and I'd still be ahead,.. I am really far-sighted...

This gives me confidence in my decision-making process.

This post has been edited by Hansel: Sep 20 2015, 12:33 PM

10 years, i am not so sure.

3 years ago was probably best - rm at 3.0, dow started to run up, sg reits lowest prices.

Wouldn't you think working in a salaried job is not all abt money only ? It is also abt a lifestyle, and letting the child experience what it is like out there, rather than just coming home after graduating and taking over the family investments ?

Off-and, I can say I am confident that my SG REITs investments and my strong margin-of-safety is because of the prices I bought at during the 2008/9 suborime crisis, when SG REITs really dipped.

If we confine ourselves strictly to SG REITs, then for my side, 8 years was my best.

On the other hand, if we branch out to, say, US High Yield bond funds, then probably yes, take the last 3 years before the USD started to appreciate. I converted quite some amount of my RM into the USD since then and bought into such bond funds, for which I am today enjoying the dividend returns, though at a slight dip in prices.

I guessed to gauge your performance against a timeline, it is best to see what type of asset class you are talking about and the geography too.

mamak stalls have increased by maybe 20%.. but then 20% is like Rm1 so meh

LOL I will bet you any amount you want, that this will not happen in our lifetimes

... So you want your son or daughter to be exploited by companies? The only meaningful work is to do what you enjoy and to work for yourself, not as a slave for a company or the economy for that matter..

As for currencies. All currencies are either pegged or tied to USD. So it really doesn't matter which currency you invest in.

USD is collapsing soon. Why do you think the fed keep on delaying the interest rate hike? Because they know once they do that, everyone will stop buying US exports because their dollar is worthless and over-valued. An interest rate hike will cause the USD to rise, and that is the beginning of the end of the US dollar standard.

So which currency will replace the dollar? hahaha.. None. China doesn't want to be the next standard.. they have artificially kept the Yuan low for decades. The Euro? no-one has confidence in it especially after Greece. How can you trust that other nations wont come close to defaulting..
Nikkei japan has been a dump and stagnation for decades, simply because they refuse to deflate.

So as you see, there is no other alternative than to let it all collapse and rebuild from the ground up again. History always repeats itself. Humans never learn from the mistakes of the past. Especially when it comes to currency.. They are all one the same.

The fiat monetary system is about to end...

This post has been edited by the99percent1: Sep 20 2015, 12:57 PM

enough la...

pls do not hijack and derail this rm thread.

pls start a new doomsday fiat thread if u wish.