ISCOS Appreciation Tea on 13 Nov 2010

ISCOS Appreciation Tea at Holiday Inn Atrium on 13 Nov 2010.

Mr Andy giving the Opening Address.

I have got awarded! ;-)

Keen to join me on this journey?! :-D

You get lucky if you contribute, enough... :-P

Supporters of ISCOS continue to grow in strength. Yahoo-o!

De Imperfection Band, singing "Xiao Wei"!

Signing Letter of Intent for more cooperation in future.

Thank you ISCOS for giving me the opportunity to contribute towards your Cause! My participation continues to resonate with my belief that everyone should be given a second chance. Sharing a quote from our beloved Singapore President, Mr S R Nathan, "Although they have made a mistake in life, they deserve a second chance. We all make mistakes; we all come out the better for it.".

I have got in touch again with Mr Teo Tze Fang, who is currently the CEO of the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (SCORE). The mission of SCORE is, "Building Bridges, Changing Lives". Tze Fang was previously from the Prison Services. Little was shared by me that it was Tze Fang's one email that open the door for me to enter ISCOS, so that I can contribute in more meaning ways. Salute!

Sitting beside me was Samuel, one of the Key Role Model of ISCOS. Samuel is current serving in the HighPoint Community Services Association. Their mission is, "To help rebuild broken lives of people in need, especially ex-offenders and their families."

During this session, I have also got the opportunity to get to know Sin Sin, the boss of Secret Recipe! Gosh how I love their yum yum making me fatter every time I tasted them. I am glad that she is also a supporter of ISCOS's Cause. She has another social enterprise that is on-going and growing and they are serving 10 different types of different laksas @ Laksania! I can't wait to taste them... more yum yum. Do give her your support! :D

I am also glad to be able to speak to Mr Andy up close and person. Also got to know that his company is handling fund management through the GIP programme. Foreign investors who wishes to park them wealth in Singapore and obtain a PR status at the same time can look for him!

Volunteering gives the type of satisfaction and happiness cannot buy. Do consider joining me in this journey. I was thinking of doing this after I retire. I am glad I did not wait till then. So what are you wait for? Join me in this fulfilling journey, NOW! :-D

Cheers!

Leroy

ISCOS - Certificate of Appreciation

ISCOS Certificate of Appreciation

ISCOS - Volunteers' Training Programme

ISCOS Volunteers' Training Programme

Reflection on The Expats Will Rule Singapore

In a recent blog by Adam Khoo titled, "The Expats Will Rule Singapore" (read more at www.adam-khoo.com/304/the-expats-will-rule-singapore), Adam made a prediction.

I agree with Adam's views. Having everything in the world is killing the motivation to move (forward). Yet, there is dilemma of when to stop wanting so that we can enjoy the happiness of contentment.

Enjoying the Process (of working towards an achievement) is what Warren Buffett inculcates onto his "disciples". It is the process that fortifies and strengthens a person character for a life-time. The end-state gives a momentary sense of joy.

I have also seen, met and know Singaporeans who Work to Learn, not Work to Earn. There is one friend of mine who worked part time for FREE during his Uni days to gain experience in a particular industry and to get closer to the mentor whom he wish to learn from. Not all is lost. This person is from Gen Y.

From my perspective, why I am seeing a lot of resistance of locals against expats is due to an underlying strong nationalism built over the years. This is both positive and negative. Positive because now we have a population whom call themselves Singaporeans and has a national identity which they wish to protect. Of course, bread and butter issues differs from the ideals.

Let's not be complacent. Challenges are interesting amid difficult to surmount. Take them head on and have a fulfilling journey.

Warmest regards,

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Volunteer Contribution with ISCOS @ Sungei Buloh

I had a great time with the kids again, this time round, we went to Sungei Buloh for a field trip on 13 Jun 09, a great Saturday morning. :-)

Am also glad to know more new friends like Duncan, a historian who is writing about our Istana currently and his wife Julia, who is working in the British High Commission.

Our guides are very experienced. They were able to share with us alot of the nature reserves species and flora. I had alot to learn siah! :-P

Below are some of the moments, captured in my camera, for sharing.

* Click on the photos to see enlarged view.

Out of the blue, my handphone rang. When I answered the phone call, I heard a recorded message from the other end of the line. Xue Ter. It's mobilisation exercise! Why must it be today and at this hour??

As I find my way to the reporting centre, a song by Liang Zhi Qiang came into my mind. It sounds like, "Army, you know, I hate you, cock up all my schedule....".

Happy Volunteering,

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Volunteer Contribution with ISCOS @ Sentosa

Did my first volunteer contribution today with ISCOS. Brought some kids to Sentosa to have a fun time together. Our interactions opened my mind to another perspective of life.

The children are so full of energy, expecially my assigned buddy Khairu, and I almost fully depleted mine... LoL

I had made new friends too! Wonderful ladies Trina Teo and Anna Tang and our unbelievable energetic Thomas Tan! I like Thomas's quote on his contact card,

"Work should be a joyful experience

as it enhances the quality of our lives."

*Click on the photos to enlarge.

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Related Links:

Be a Friend of Industrial and Services Co-operative Society Ltd , ISCOS (www.iscos.org.sg)

Know more about Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitation Enterprises, SCORE (www.score.gov.sg)

Support the Yellow Ribbon Project (www.yellowribbon.org.sg)

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I am looking forward to the next contribution time. :-P

Have a great weekend,

Leroy Ang

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Slumdog Millionaire - The Movie

On Alex's recommendation, i went to watch the movie, Slumdog Millionaire. I think the movie deserves the Oscar Awards it had won.

I also happened to chance upon Max and his friends, Mindy and Jeremiah at the cinema. I agree with Mindy's view that the movie depicts well on the rich societal culture in India. What I had learnt from this movie, is more than just the plot. It's about what the lead actor, Jamal Malik, protray in the movie.

The movie attempted to summarise the life of Jamal, a "slumpdog" in India. The term slumpdog is used to describe the lowest life form of a human in India, the lowest of the castes in the country. The process showed how Jamal, a honest and pure thinking guy, rose to millionaire status via the TV Show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.

The most memorable part of the movie, was the scene where the junior Jamal, while doing his "business" in a public open air toilet, saw the helicopter of his favourite movie actor flew past and was about to land in his vicinity. Jamal love this actor so much and wanted his autograph on the photo he had in his hand. At this point in time, Jamal was locked in the toilet by his elder brother as Jamal earlier caused his brother to lost a chance to earn some quick cash by occupying the toilet. Jamal, driven by his love and passion for his favourite actor, overcome this obstacle (locked door), by jumping into the shit hole below the toilet, in order to get out of the toilet and rushed towards his favourite actor's landing site.

Without much thinking needed, it's not hard to visualise, the state that Jamal was in, when he emerged from the pool of shit. Yes, literally pool of shit. As he rushed towards his favourite actor, nothing and no one can stop him in his path. Because he was too smelly!!! :-O

I was so inspired by Jamal's passion, that helps him persevere against all odds, helping him to achieve his goal (of getting his favourite actor's autograph). Of course, there are much more lessons to be learnt, from the life of a slumpdog. You will have catch the movie to experience it all with Jamal.

An Indian movie not to be missed. ;-)

Cheers!

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Wisdom from Meditation

Happen to chances upon this YouTube video and I find it meaningful for sharing, especially the words of wisdom embedded in the video.

The words of wisdom are:

"Change your thoughts, and you change your world."

- Vincent Peak

Being able to control our mind, is the key to growth.


Cheers!

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Happiness that Money can buy

I was thinking of what will be a good topic to kick start the first blog entry for the Niu (Cow) year... I thought my current charity efforts may be a good reflection area. What are the charities you are supporting or community services you are offering? And what are your reflections that you can share with me on these aspects?

It's kind of funny to bring back old memories to do my reflection. I can still vividly remember that 3 years ago, I was always avoiding those volunteers selling flags for charity organisations. The real reason was because every dollar counts for me as my financial situation was not so favourable. I had to think so hard, even for a $1 donation. I told myself this was not the situation I wanted to be in always. So I had to change. And I had changed, and I am glad, it's for the better in my opinion. :-D

After a few years of personal financial planning and executing my plans, I'd managed to develop the excess capacity to do monetary donations to charity organisation on a periodical basis. I can still remember the first time when I am able to offer monetary donation to one of the charity organisation, on a super willing basis, the type of blissfulness that money can buy. Since then, I am offering monetary donations to 2 local charities on a routine basis. This was an achievement for me.

Just last year december, I offered a small lump sum to an co-operative that helps in-mates find a new life. I was told my donations will be able to help a few hundreds in-mates, whom may be unable to pay for the membership fees to join the co-operative. I am glad I did that donation. :-)

The charities that I am supporting currently are:

Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital

Home Nursing Foundation

Industrial and Services Co-operative Society (ISCOS) - Latest support accorded

I thought my donation to ISCOS was a good stepping stone for me to dwell deeper into what other aspects of community services I can contribute further to make this country a better place to live in and also add more meaning to life itself. Maybe I can explore contributing my time and effort rather than just monetary support? :-P

What are the charities you are supporting or community services you are offering? And what are your reflections that you can share with me on these aspects?

Cheers!

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

The Power to Dream

I came to know a new friend today during our group's periodical Cashflow game and I am glad that I know him. He'd shared with me one of his experiences and I responded to his sharing. I thought my email response may be a good sharing session with the rest of my blog readers.

His situation is about his family members and close friends "not so encouraging" reactions to his ambition. He continues to hold steadfast to his dreams. And that's encouragement to me! :-)

Below is my response to him:

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Share with you a statement, made by a ex-US President, Mr Abraham Lincoln.

It was so powerful a statement that someone was willing to translate it into mandarin to share. I came to know about this inspiring statement when it was already in mandarin and I don't know the actual English version. So i will try to translate it into English as best as i can here to share:

"Mankind is Great because of our ability to Dream

and

All Great People were once a Dreamer."

As we grow older, our dreams tend to get smaller. Many people allows their dreams to be destroyed by a reality that is not real. We dream our dreams and these dreams are as real as what we see in it. That's the reality i see.

"Believe to See."

Those whom you'd shared your dreams with, may not be able to see what you see. Many are concern that you may be "destroyed" by your pursuit of dreams that may not be realised. This is out of their goodwill, but they may not be presenting their ideas in an encouraging way. We are Asians fundamentally, and encouragement is not our forte. (I am working very hard on this right now too)

"Without dreams, we are but living corpses."

So hold on to your dreams. Hawk over it. Guard it with your life. You are right to commit to your dreams, take actions to realize it! :-)

I am truly inspired by a gentleman, who is pursuing his dream at a young age that I dare not even try. His energy level to achieve success is fueling my drive. His name is Alex and you can read more about him from his blog @ http://thebillionairejournal.wordpress.com

Read more, Talk more, Learn more and act on plans to make your dreams come true. I am. ;-)

For sharing on my Concept to achieve my dreams @ http://leroyang.blogspot.com/search/label/PME2 

Cheers! :-)

==

Merry Christmas to All Readers,

With Lots of Love,

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

Have Faith, Stay Invested

Finally managed to allocate some time to blog again. :-)

It wasn't hard to miss, the tonnes of news about the current credit crisis that causes the market rout around the globe. The amount of fear present in the market is at its high. On a personal note, I thought it will be interesting to do a bit of research on where the current crisis stands, as compared to some selected earlier crisis of the century. Do we stay invested in the market or do we pull the plug and stay out of the market like the current herd?

I intend to use Dow Jones (DJI) and the Straits Times Index (STI) as the basis for this simple study. All graphs displayed here are extracted from Yahoo Finance, a very useful platform for investors to do research with.

Overall View of Dow Jones

Overview, the stock prices experienced a lot of volatility on the short term. Over a long period of time, stock is always on a rising trend.

The Great Depression (Late 1920s to Early 1930s)

This is by far the most severe crisis of the century. Dow Jones crashed more than 90% over a period of 2.5 years. All seems lost when this crisis happened back then. Dow Jones managed to recover 60% of its earlier lost in 5 years and a full recovery in 20 years.

The Oil Crisis (1970s)

Inflation was extremely high and the fear that oil is running out caused the stock market to plunge 45% within 11 months. Dow Jones subsequently recovered from its low, back to its 1974 level within 9 months.

September 911 (2001)

The terrorists attack on 11 Sep 2001 caused stock market to plunge 25% within 2 weeks. Dow Jones subsequently recovered from its low within 3 months.

The Dot.Com Bust (2002)

The bursting of Dot.Com bubble in 2002 caused market to plunge 30% in 5 months. Dow Jones subsequently recovered from its low to where before the bubble burst within 15 months.

The Credit Crisis (2007 to now)

The current credit crisis caused massive market plunges by 40% and at in point of writing, we have not reach the bottom of the pit yet. Analysts are anticipating that the economy should pick up by early to mid-2009

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Turning our attention to the Singapore STI, I’d identified a few incidents to look into too. First, let us take a look at the generic trend of STI from 1987 until now.

Overall View of STI

Overview, the stock prices experienced a lot of volatility on the short term. Over a long period of time (20 years in this case), equity as an asset class is always on a rising trend.

Asian Financial Crisis (1997 – 1998)

STI plunged 60% over a period of 11 months. It subsequently recovered to pre-crisis level within 8 months.

The Dot.Com Bust, Coupled with SARS Epidemic (2002 - 2004)

The bursting of Dot.Com bubble in U.S. back in 2002, coupled subsequently with the SARS epidemic, caused market to plunge 30% in 11 months. STI subsequently recovered from its low to where before the bubble burst within 8 months.

The Credit Crisis (2007 to now)

The impact of the current credit crisis starts to manifest on STI in late 2007. STI slide from its high of 3,800 pts to the current 1,900 pts at the time of this writing. This amounts to 50% crash from its peak within a span of only 10 months! Ministry of Finance had announced that Singapore had slide into a technical recession on 10 Oct 08. The whole impact of this crisis has just started to hit Asia.

Conclusion

It is not possible to construct an investment portfolio and don’t expect that the ride will be smooth throughout the investment journey. But over long term, equities are still the way to grow our wealth as it can be observed that stock prices fluctuates over the short term and but indexes (DJI and STI in this context) rises in the long term. If we have the financial education to handle investment directly into companies’ shares, the returns may be even higher. Learn the rules of the money game well and be prepared to see and capitalize opportunities.

So have faith my friends. Stay invested. :-)

Cheers!

Leroy

"When I Stop Learning, I Stop Living."

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