You have Wolverine's great powers

Do you have a favorite superhero? I do. Mine is the feral, cigar chomping beer drinking Wolverine. Now let me be specific on which version of Wolverine i like ( ok, my geek side is showing). I loved the version where he healed from serious injuries but he is still mortal; not the Nitro ( please read Marvel's Civil War storyline) where Wolverine can be blown up to leave only his skeletons and he can still regenerate.

Now why do i like that version? Simple, if a superhero cannot die, all he needs to do is jump into every fight with gutso and slice and dice until he wins no? No heart, no element of injury nor death to suspense us.

For those who do not know who the Wolverine is here is a link to wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolverine_(comics)

and i hope your nose bleeds for not knowing this icon.

I have always wanted his super powers, adamantium claws and super fast healing factors and his amazing one liners. I have spent years trying to gain his super powers but alas only perfected my one liners ( read: being an a$$hole)

But, deep down i believe all of us have the same powers that make Wolverine so great.

Do you know which story that touched me best? There are actually two.

First story is called Wolverine: Origins where we traced who Wolverine was and his childhood. It was a tragic story ending with him killing his first love called Rose accidentally. He was so traumatized by the event that his mind was totally damaged and his healing factor kicked in to heal it; causing him to lose the memory.

The second story was when he met his other love Mariko. Mariko was poisoned with tetrodotoxin from a blowfish by an assassin named Reiko, in the hire of her rival Matsu'o Tsurayaba.  She asked Wolverine to kill her to avoid a painful death and preserve her honor. 

He did.

Imagine this: both women that you love were killed by your own claws. How would you feel losing the one person that understands you, that accepts you for who you are and you are at your heavenly blissful state with her; and yet you are the one responsible for their death?

I would be devastated. I would have lost the will to go on. I would have stumbled around, not knowing right from wrong and finally give up.

But he did not. He preserved. Sure he grieved, spent some time in the wilderness and in Mariko's case, cut off a part of Matsu'o's body on the anniversary of her death. But he never freaking gave up. Nor did he lose his moral compass.

That is the super power that you and I have that we share with Wolverine.

To not give up. No matter how bleak it is, never ever give up.

To not lose our moral compass. To always know what is right and what is wrong even in the toughest of environments. To stand tall when everyone else starts to lose their footing and fall.

To stare defeat in the eyes when he tells you in his icy cold voice that he will tear you down; in good ol-fashioned Wolverine style say "Let 'er rip!"

3 ways Malaysians are screwing up on their retirement

Malaysians, by and large, are very pessimistic lot. They see everything as half empty instead of half full. The paradox is that with such uninspired view of life, they choose to ignore or to half ass the plan for their retirement. Maybe just maybe, they have such a uninspired outlook of life they need to drown their sorrows with splurges that they never need.

Lets start:

1: No plan
I am utterly dismayed that so many of Malaysians have absolutely no plans for the future. Their route is always the same; get a job, save, buy a car, buy a house, get married and live until you die of old age. They never seem to be able to plan for any emergency ( lay-off, death, sickness). When this emergency happens, they tap the easiest ( and also costliest) credit they know. which is the credit card. Stupid is it not? Then they spiral out of control into a mountain of debt.

Even more astounding is the fact that they have absolutely abysmal knowledge of how to grow their money to beat the inflation that is inevitable. They do know on a very basic level-buy property and rent lor, become "millionaire landlord" mah, buy stock wait for goreng. I cant seem to facepalm myself enough when i hear these two statements. Utter stupidity when you consider these "millionaire landlord" are bleeding their finances every month by buying a property so high in price that their bank installments are higher than the rent itself. No positive cash-flow. ( factor in the maintenance, sinking fund and income tax, it would be even worse.) 


2: Not wanting help

Malaysians in general do not seem to want help in their finances. Yes, they know that they are in debt, but they will not seek help until it is too late; and even after bankruptcy, they still do not want help!.

Example would be how many people are "investing" or i call gambling in the stock market instead of utilizing the mutual funds that are available out there. These fund managers devoted their life to understanding the stock market and are fully qualified to make investment decisions with at least some form of fundamental analysis and/or technical analysis.

But what do Malaysians do? Invest in the stock market based on tips they get from their neighbours' cousin brother who works in MOF that overheard the pantry lady talking to her nephew's wife that xxx stock will rise soon. 

I mean really? Give you an analogy. Assume that you have cancer. Instead of going to the doctor, you decide to read a few books on how to perform surgery, and after hearing about some guy in africa who performed the surgery and survived, you decide to do it yourself.

With a butcher knife.

3: Health care dichotomy

This is more of a grey area but Malaysians seem to underestimate the impact of their health on their long term finances. They either buy insurance that under protects them in terms of emergency and during their old age. How much money you need to survive now, I guarantee you that by the time you hit retirement, with your income gone and you need MORE money for medication, you will suffer.
Maybe Malaysians found the fountain of youth so that is why they are not worried about insurance.

Malaysian Budget 2014, how will it affect us?

Well it is not a secret anymore that with the Malaysian economy tanking and we are running close to the self-imposed limit of 55% ( we are currently at 53%), Malaysia will have to increase revenue and at the same time reduce expenditure. However, reducing expenditure might be too big a task as most mega projects have commenced and postponing or canceling them will have adverse impact on the economy.

For me I believe these are what will happen:

a) Impose of GST to replace the SST. Will likely be at 3-5% and this will cause a drop in the average Malaysians disposable income. However, I would believe that the Government will reduce the personal income tax to ensure that Malaysians have money to spend in the first place. A reduction of income tax by 2-3% points should be suffice.

b) Extension of the tax exemption for hybrid cars lower than 2000cc. That should spur our car industry and ensure that the major car manufacturers choose Malaysia as the hub for EEV manufacturing. We will never be able to fight Thailand in terms of producing petrol and diesel vehicles as they are miles ahead of us, but we can still offer some challenge in terms of EEV. DON'T let this slip out of our grasp Malaysia. We NEED this!

c) Remove DIBS, impose higher stamp duty for third property onwards, increasing the RPGT higher and imposing a lower MOF for third properties and onwards. That should help stabilize the property market.

And finally lets see what the Government will do to stop our free falling currency. Normal doctrine will show us that the Government will increase the interest rates to stop the free fall. And that is what a normal thinking person would do as well.

I would take the opposite view. Look at the reports coming out, our export is falling and our foreign currency cash pile is dwindling. And our growth comes from local consumption. To encourage a greater export and to ensure sustainable internal consumption, what is the best way to do it?

Decrease the interest rate!

Let our currency go to RM3.80 to the dollar. Make sure that our export grows and when interest rates are so low, no1 keeps money in the banks anymore. they will spend on either consumables ( and thus increase our GST collections) or they will hedge against inflation; buying up properties maybe? ( increase our stamp duty collection)

So if i exchange RM20,000 to the dollar now ( RM3.20 to the dollar) that would be approximately USD 6250. Now assume that the Ringgit does drop to RM3.80, that would be RM 23,750, a profit of RM3,750. 15% returns. ( ok, i assume that you are smart enough to find banks or changers that charge lower service fees)

But assume that the Government does increase the interest rates, what is the risk? Rm3.00 to the dollar? that would be RM18,750, a deficit of RM1,250.

So make that call, if you think our currency will drop further, make that exchange.