Hit 2,000,000 Expert Points

I am late on hitting 2,000,000 expert points but it's never too late than never.
And there's another worth celebrating and that's I'm finally back to top 100 in EE HOF after dropping many positions due to inactivity years back.

Question that earned my 2,000,000th expert points - Need SQL statement for the following case
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Microsoft/Development/MS-SQL-Server/Q_22816087.html

Selected groups may be exempted from compulsory annuities

Not all Singaporeans will need to buy compulsory annuities when they turn 55 years old.

• Those with chronic diseases may be excluded, since they may not live long enough to enjoy the life insurance payouts.
• Those who are adequately covered and the policy which they bought fulfils a certain requirement may also be exempted.

More details on the scheme are expected when Parliament sits on 17 September.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/298784/1/.html

Windows Live Translator

Microsoft has just launched its Translator Service - Windows Live Translator (Beta)
http://translator.live.com/

Money Mind On Channelnewsasia

Those who are interested on Unit Trusts can catch today's 30 minute show on Channelnewsasia.

Sun, September 09 2007, 9:30pm on Channelnewsasia
Episode 19 - Money Mind will focus on unit trusts as well as cover topics like Global climate change and multi asset allocation.

Mon, September 10 2007, 12:00am on Channelnewsasia (Repeat)
Episode 19 - Money Mind will focus on unit trusts as well as cover topics like Global climate change and multi asset allocation.

Save the Polar Bears

Two-thirds of the world's polar bears will be killed off by 2050 — and the entire population gone from Alaska — because of thinning sea ice from global warming in the Arctic.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j9NGJ0_eVkxqgpEFC6RMHVlvT9qw

Experts-Exchange Signatures (9-Sep 07)

	hongjun

	hongjun

	hongjun

	hongjun

Malaysia's Budget 2008

PDF Version (Full Report)
http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BT/Budget2008/Budget2008.pdf

Added New BizFinance Tag

I have just added a new BizFinance tag on my blog.
It will focus on Business and Fnance related news / issues.

http://hongjun.blogspot.com/search/label/BizFinance

What is meant by “Independent Financial Adviser” and why good?

Before the Financial Advisers Act was passed, there's only tied agents. These tied agents work for the insurers and their duty is to put their principals first, client second. This means, they push their products as their priority instead of doing a proper financial planning for their clients.

To be independent, they must be

1. objective
2. impartial
3. not influenced by commissions
4. no contractual obligations with any product manufacturers
5. able to sell a wide range of products (such as mutual funds, life insurances and health insurances)
6. more importantly good advice that put their clients’ interests first

“… the Bill [Financial Advisers Act] will create of a new class of licensed financial advisers. These professionals will be able to provide investment advice on a wide array of financial products, and also sell unit trusts and their close substitutes, such as ILPs. In some cases, these financial advisers will not be connected to any product providers, such as fund managers or insurance companies, and will act independently of them. Such independent financial advisers will represent the interests of their clients, rather than the interests of specific product providers.”

- Speech by Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong for the Second Reading of the Financial Advisers Bill 2001 in Parliament on 5th October 2001

My Previous Posts
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/2007/08/independent-financial-advisers-vs-tied.html
http://hongjun.blogspot.com/2007/07/perception-of-ifa-vs-fa.html

Aggressive Prudential Financial Adviser

I passed by a Prudential roadshow at AMK Hub last Thursday (6 Sep 07). They were promoting savings plan - PruSave & PruCash. I actually am aware of these 2 products but I just sat down with a Pru adviser that fateful day in a purpose to increase my awareness.

The financial adviser did all the talking and I must say she's really good in talking. She just went on and on, clocking a record breaking number of words per minute. She first went through PruSave followed by PruCash after knowing I prefer liqudity. PruSave, a savings plan with no withdrawals, requires one to lock-in for 25 years and yield a 5-7% p.a. returns. PruCash, a savings plan with flexibility of withdrawing 60% of the amount saved yearly after 2nd year, will yield a return of approximately 5% if no withdrawals are made and a return of 3-5% if withdrawals are made. These plans are suitable if we are towards a conservative side. However, if we want to take slightly higher risk, we can consider investing in a diversified portfolio of bonds and equities. If we do not want the hassle of maintaining investment ourselves, we can opt for a Investment Linked Policy (ILP) with majority of premium towards investment portion.

There are actually lots of savings plans in the market e.g. Prudential's PruSave, NTUC Income's RevoSave, HSBC's PowerSaver, e.t.c. There are certainly far too many in the market. It would be more wise to make comparison before making a decision among these plans. If we are too lazy to compare on our own, we can engage a qualified Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) to make comparisons. Please note that IFAs are not able to service certain products from certain companies like those from Prudential's and Great Eastern's and AIA's. However, this just means they have access to an even wider pool of products to service e.g. from ManuLife, HSBC, e.t.c. without limiting oneself to only 1 company.

After almost 45 minutes of talk, she finally come down to the main part - filling in my personal financial assessment and signing the policy. I quickly told her I will need to consider before making a decision. She then went on telling me Prudential will take 2 weeks to process before sending me the "Terms & Conditions" and I will have a further 2 weeks to cancel the policy. This effectively means I can sign the policy before I even start consider whether to take up the policy. I would say this is a very aggressive tactic used by this particular Prudential adviser. My guess is if one is being persuaded into signing a policy after knowing he has got 4 weeks to make product comparison or do some serious considerations, I really doubt he will go back home and make product comparison. Humans are too lazy to bother about these things thinking products are similar. I would say there's a 99.99% chance the adviser will end up getting the deal closed if this tactic is successful. I wonder if this tactic is taught by Prudential's trainers themselves? In my opinion, this is an unethical act.

Just before I left, the adviser told me she had run out of name cards and so would have to give me a "missed call" so I would be able to note down her phone number. She called using the phone number I provided earlier. I wonder what would have happened if the number I provided was fictitious. I bet it would have been very embarrassing. I bet this is just another tactic in finding out if I really gave a valid phone number. That's very cunning of her!

C# Split Method (Ignore Empty Elements)

To ignore empty elements, use below

string s = "*jan*feb*mar*";
string[] months = s.Split("*".ToCharArray(), StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
int count = months.Length;

Console.WriteLine("count = " + count.ToString());

Investors to be Cautious as 9/11 Approaches

Osama is planning to launch a video on 9/11. I am unsure if this has an impact on the stock market as 9/11 approaches.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/298366/1/.html

Windows Live Package

Microsoft has just released Google Pack similar - Windows Live Installer
With Windows Live Installer, you will get an array of products e.g. Messenger, Live Writer, e.t.c. One thing to note is, Windows Live Installer does not include 3rd party software in their array of products.

Jump into Windows Live
http://get.live.com/en-us/wl/all

Google Reader Now Has Search Feature

Google Reader has just added a search feature. Now, we can search loaded RSS feeds using keywords.
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/09/google-reader-adds-search.html

Microsoft's Silverlight, Flash's competitor, Will Support Linux

Microsoft's Silverlight 1.0 launches and will support Linux
http://mashable.com/2007/09/04/silverlight-1/

10 Questions and Answers About Google Phone

Another innovation
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2007/09/10-questions-about-google-phone.html

Whiten your Teeth with Strawberries

This is a rather interesting D.I.Y.
http://www.dumblittleman.com/2007/01/diy-whiten-your-teeth-with-strawberries.html

China Oilfield Technology Seeks Listing in SGX

This IPO is going to be hot!
http://www.cosl.com.cn/index.jsp

Defining Success

When it comes to your life, what do you want? How does your money fit into that?

If you can't answer these two questions, you won't ever know when you've been successful. In fact, it might be worse than that: you might achive what you thought you wanted, or what all of your friends want, and suddenly realize that it doesn't satisfy. In order to make sure you're going the right direction for you, it's important to figure out what you want from your life (to find your definition of "success").

Why it Works

We're all going after something. That's part of being alive. As long as we're living and acting, we are headed towards something. Even if we don't want to live, we're going towards our goal (yes, death is a goal!). Our lives are going somewhere. We're caught up in the stream of living and we'll end up somewhere.

Luckily for us, we have some say about where we can end up. Sure, we all die in the end, but we have the abilitiy to decide what is important and make choices towards that end. If you're saying, "Sure, Sarah, we all know that. Make this entry worth reading, already!" then tell me what you're living for. Go ahead, tell me what your life's goal is. Tell me why you're on this earth and how all the different parts of your life fit into that.

If you can do that, you're ahead of most of us. Deciding what we want, what we're about, takes a lifetime of deliberate, focused introspection. But we can figure out different parts of this whole at different times in our lives, and we can live deliberately towards them.

How it Works

If you're not sure how to get started in this process, here is a process that helps.

1. Take out a blank sheet of paper. In 10 minutes, list as many things as possible that you have not done, that you would regret not doing if you died tonight. To the best of your ability, don't stop writing and don't censor or even think too hard about anything. Just write. You might find some crazy things coming out the end of your pen, and that's ok. Let them be.
2. Read your list. Notice any internal reactions you have to different items on the list. Note these in the margins next to your list so you can remember them later.
3. Step away from the project for 3-7 days, except to read your list once a day. This lets the list percolate in your mind. Often, writing down our desires brings to the forefront things that we haven't thought about in a while, or voices things we avoid voicing any other time. It can take us a few days to become accustomed to these thngs being a reality in our lives. We learn to accept, "Yes, I am the person whose life won't feel complete if I never help the refugees in Darfur," or, "Yup, I'm the busy entrepreneur who really wants a desk job so I can spend more time with my kids before they leave home."
4. Come back to the project and read the list again. Note any internal reactions that have changed as you let the ideas percolate.
5. Start pulling the different items on your list together and write a statement that encompasses what you're about. In the beginning, this can be a list of more general cateogories that cover all of the items on your list. For instance, my list would containg such items as "helping people grow" and "working with groups to help them better understand and support each other." My larger category might be, "working with people, as individuals and in groups, to help them better understand and support the growing process in themselves and others. Eventually, this statement will be less like a list and more like a sentence or two, but the list is fine to start.
6. Write down and commit to one step you can take this week! today! right now! to help move your life more in line with your statement. Make sure that this is small enough to be achievable and is something you can maintain.
7. Repeat stps 3-6 until you have a statement that feels right. Most people know when they've hit on the one that's right for them. It moves many to tears, but some also feel joy or peace when they find it. Continue with the small goals until your life looks like what you want it to be.
8. Live the life you've designed. Achieve your definition of success.

[ Above extracted from below source ]
http://www.wisebread.com/defining-success-if-you-dont-know-what-you-want-you-wont-know-when-youve-gotten-it

The 100 Most Powerful Women (2007)

Singapore's very own Chief of Temasek Holdings, Ho Ching, is ranked Number 3 - a position higher than Condoleezza Rice.

Full Complete List
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/11/biz-07women_The-100-Most-Powerful-Women_Rank.html