Soccer in work life

Very often you would find reference to soccer in work life. Sometimes the reference is so real, it hurts.

Sales is pretty much like strikers. When they clinch a deal (or score a goal), they are heavily praised upon and rewarded. Whereas the engineers are like the goalkeeper. They do a good job and no one realise. Its only when there is a mistake made (a goal scored) that the engineers get all the unnecessary attention.


1.  All that lessons learn in school (training) have never transferred to real life. The competition will tackle you and you may break a leg.



2.  You are only valuable to the team when the other teams (other job offers) wants you. Its only then that your boss will notice you.

3.  Working hard and long hours doesnt mean you will go home a winner. Often its played on luck and that means being in the right place at the right time.




4.  Everyone gives their 2 cents worth on what you should have done after the match (project) ended and not before.

5.  No one is happy to be substituted.

6.  Fighting among co-workers in front of others are fairly common




7. Staying in one team for good never gets you anywhere. Unless the team you are in, happen to be the top team.Then again, you may still want to leave and go to Madrid.

8. You can expect to work on most weekend. Holidays included.

Hublot watch - Antikythera mechanism

I should really not look at watches. Without fail, I would find something I like and spend the rest of the day thinking about it.

Its like having a massive crush on a girl. Except this could be bought with the right price.

Hublot went about and recreated an ancient mechanism now known as Antikythera mechanism. Its invented in the 100-200 BC to allow the Greek to accurately predict the position of the sun and the nearest known stars (planets).This can be done, simply by turning a single dial.

Now I am captivated by this and dreaming wish I could own this piece of history on my wrist. I think it would no doubt be costly. Hopefully I would struck TOTO one day

The wait for your property

I was rather fortunate. Just last June I made a deposit with a heavy heart. I know I need a home after my wedding. But its impossible to find a place that is affordable and readily available. The HDB launches then are impossible. Our combined income was outside the ceiling. The resale HDBs were scary. COV was averaging at 40K and it aint going to be a location I am happy with.

It took a heavy heart to come to terms that my home would likely to be my biggest investment. Something I would be working hard to pay off.  This would leave little for other luxuries. As I made the deposit, I can only hope for the best. So far, I have not regretted on my decision.

The thing that I was pleasantly surprise was that I would be getting my keys in Dec. Now how about that. A wait of just 1.5 years. Something bearable.

Now if you wondering why I am sharing all these above, its becos of my conversation with a senior colleague. To give you the whole picture, I shall throw some background info. He is single, in his late 40s and is wary about investments.

He said that the PAP Govt (Notice he din said its the SG Govt, but branded it PAP) has noticed that the voters are unhappy. Largely becos of the high cost of owning a property. Well he was partially right. The voters are unhappy for high property cost, but are also upset of the job losses, influx of foreigners, etc etc etc. AS SUCH our PAP govt will control the price of the properties. They even hinted (no reference provided) that in 2014 the prices will drop drastically.

This is something I do not quite agreed. Yes, I aint no soothsayer. I definitely cant predict my stocks portfolio in 2 weeks much less the next 2 years. But I do know that its very hard to bring down the property prices.

Just 2-3 years back when we have the Depression. The one they said would rival the Great Depression of 1930s. Well what happen to our property prices? Interestingly I did not notice a substantial decline.

Private condos that were in the launch phrase did became softer. A small discount was given to entice buyers to come in. And though the showrooms were quieter, the units were largely sold out.

Property developers who were anticipating the crash, immediately withheld all their plans. No new housing were build thus increasing the demand with a even smaller supply. (HDB too reduce their supply, thanks to a smart arse)

Those who owned homes has withhold from selling. The majority could afford to wait out. And with banks giving out a pretty low interest rate then, they are more than happy to. 

Those whom owned properties for rental too were enjoying the low rental rates. They may be the tricky bunch as some may have tenants whom pack up and leave. (forgoing a month of security deposit) However I am sure even with vacant units, those whom could afford to rent them out are able to hold on to them for months and not years.

So what is this trying to tell us? Property is a big investment and most investors are fundamentally able to cope with a short term loss. Despite an economic decline, the price of property may slip a few % but generally would stay strong.

Now let me use another way to explain this. A majority of our savings are tied up in our home. This is our prime investment where it takes years to pay off the banks. If a substantial drop (lets say 20%) is to occur, plenty of us would be cursing that we are paying more than what our home is worth.

Banks will be wary of this as well. Any bad debts would mean that the unit they be repossessing is worth less than the loan. A good amount of paper value would be wiped out if that is to happen.

Soooo do I think that the property price would drop? Well NO. I have seen the past data when I was looking for a home during the crisis. I saw a dip and not witness a drop.

Personally I think our Govt hands are tied. The only thing they could do is to stabilize the pricing and build affordable HDBs for young couples.

PS. I doubt the Govt would cut the price of new HDB by half, unless they are keen to piss off all the surrounding neighbors and developers. If a new 5 room unit cost 200K, all surrounding older unit, would have their prices drop. And these are the ppl whom has paid 500K for their unit years ago. Imagine the paper loss.

Home project

Just a couple of weeks ago, I received a surprise call from my lawyer. He has called to informed me that I be getting my keys to my new home in Dec, this year. Now this is a little shock to me. The developer has kept the TOP at Dec 2012 and even counting in the time buffer they put in and the speed of construction, I had only assumed that I could collect my keys in early half of 2012.

So with my mouth wide open, my heart skipping a bit, I shared this news with my wifey. She too was taken aback. Both of us are excited by this news and it became apparent that we need to get some planning done.

First off, I called 2 of my Bros. Mr B who is in the flooring biz and is setting up work on home interior design. He has assured me that he would help me to look into carpentry and necessary painting and flooring.

Next I called my Mr N, who is in the lighting biz. He invited both us to drop by his showroom and we have found a couple of lightings we fancy. We even found that he has products on ceiling fans and would be considering them as well.

Furnishing is the next step and we dropped by Furniture Mall yesterday to take a good look. I must say, 3 hours is not sufficient to cover the whole place. We spent most of the time in the first 2 floors and have only swing by the 3rd for a quick look.

Looking at the possible cost that we would arrive at, I must say I am glad that we are financially prepare for this. It feels like I have taken a whole year of my income and gave it to all these groups of ppl for a swell looking home.

Nothing in life is cheap nor easy. One has to be prepared for the worst and planned for the best. (This means I wont have to go ahead with my EU 11 plan)