Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Points to ponder...30-12-09

-The bubble in the property market in the US has burst and now the US economy is in 'depression'

-Same goes to Dubai where every 1 in 4 cheques are bounced. It seems every week, more and more expatriates decide to leave the place...Things are goin bad there it seems...

-So, what will happened to us? I have a great feeling which I hope I'm wrong, that the bubble will burst too. It seems, the trend now, is to buy and then quickly sell for a profit as soon as possible. It's called flipping. That's exactly what happened to the yanks. Well, obviously there's nothing wrong to get a quick profit from a real estate, but it is acknowledged as one of the reason the US economy is in a bad shape...Let's hope that it doesn't happen to us..

-what's in store for us in 2010? I'm not an economist, and hence, I wouldn't know. Saying the economy will be bad is wrong as I don't have the facts and figures to back up my arguments. Anyhoos, I hope it will be a good year for capital appreciation and opportunities. If i have an advice, it would be,to be patience and always on the look for opportunities. It might come in one form or another....

-what about inflation? (rising inflation will tend to cause asset prices to go up!!)..errr...I wouldn't know about inflation but let's hope that the inflation rate does not rise up to an unbelievable rates...what i do know is, the price of sugar (some other foods as well) has increased over the last couple of months. Hrmmm......

Monday, December 28, 2009

Tinkerman's Tale Part 2

Tomorrow, 29th December 2009, marks the 1st anniversary of this blog. Woohooo!!!. That's an achievement for me anyways. When I first started this blog, I hope to continue writing for as long as I could. Perhaps, I now have more confidence in myself to write and express myself better in my writings.

Maybe, for 2010, I would like to write about stuff that concerns me socially and politically. I trust, all of us mature according to our age and hence, I thought of touching on subjects that I've never intend to even think about previously. It's not that I would like to say who's right and who's wrong. But I do plan to write about what's happening around me personally that I could relate to the masses.

No....I'm not planning to be the next Raja Petra. I thought he sucks anyways. Having said that, I hope to write more general stuffs that I don't like or maybe that I like. I don't even know what I'm wrting about now. Hahahahaha

Btw, I read an interesting article about this RPGT lately. I'm sure, everyone knows about this. Anyhoos, I will write about this topic when I get a clear understanding what is RPGT and how it is being calculated.

Of late, I've not been able to write as much as I wanted to. Got some things that I need to sort before I step another gear for 2010. It's gonna be a big year again. My plan for 2010 has been written on a piece of junk paper and being tucked away in a secret place so that whenever I felt that I'm goin away from my path, I will have that plan to guide me where I'm going.

So, to everyone, Happy New Year. Hope that 2009 has brings us lots of success. Of course, we can always plan but doing it is always a different scenario. There will be some things that we never plan to do but we end up doing it. As a piece of advise to myself and to all my dear friends out there, 2010 is merely 3 days away. I believe tonight will be a good night to take a bit of time off from everything and start listing down what you wanna do with yourself in 2010. Make sure it's do-able yahaa....

C ya...........

Thursday, December 24, 2009

RPGT

What is RPGT actually? It seems that it is now the magic word among property investors nowadays. Irony isn't it?

It's the way of the world unfortunately. Perhaps, you'll make substantial gain (amen to that!!) on selling your properties and the government decides to take 5% of your gain. It's nice to be the government eh? My experience dealing with some government agencies was, I think they suck and like to act as if they are some kind of big shot or whatever. Anyhoos, I'm not gonna dwell into that. The fact that I've been able to invest a wee bit of my hard earned money in properties is good enough considering how volatile the world economy nowadays.

Well, back to the topic, RPGT. What is RPGT? It's a short form of Real Property Gains Tax. Why it existed in the first place? I guess, it was there to deter steep hikes in properties prices in the 1970s. It was stopped in 2001 and 2007 as the govt thought that it would be a good idea to forgo the RPGT to boost the local economy. That's my opinion anyway (psstt...I'm not a tax man so I just know the basics)

In any way, it's good to pay tax don't you think so? By paying tax it means that you have money and the goverment thinks that you must share you profits with them. Who knows, your tax money might be used to build better schools or roads or whatever. Let's just wish that it does not go into some idiot's pocket. Hahahaha....Btw, it's only 5% apa....The argument is, 5% is still money maaaaaaaaaaa............dennngg!!!

RPGT for me, might deter some property investors to think twice or maybe a couple of times to sell their properties. If they have plans to buy one or two properties with an idea of selling it as quickly as possible, these guys are gonna be hit hard by the RPGT. Hehehe. ( i think I'm one of them......dennggg!!!) Unfortunately, it may be a barrier for some to be in the property market as they have the tax to think about.

Let's take an example. I wanna sell my condo in Hartamas (wooootttt!!!). After all the process done,obviously I need to pay the RPGT. I have some forms to be filled, deadlines, calls to be made to the tax department, bla bla bla....I have to think about the disposal date lah, the disposable asset lah and who knows, my cashflow will be affected by these. Well done MR tax man!!! -psssttt....gomen tak duit ke?....hehehehe..A point to ponder, after a short search in the internet, Hong Kong and Singapura have no Capital Gains Tax (which is similar to RPGT)...Why we always wanna be different eh? Their property market is way stronger than us (of course as 'space' and 'land' will always be an issue)

It will alwaYS be difficult for the some of us to be in the property market. Prior to this, there are quite a number of local property investors. But after this introduction of RPGT, the numbers might drop. We can't even buy a decent property in our country!! Damn you!!!!

I guess, the property market is a cash-cow market. It creates loads of opportunites. It creates jobs, it gives chances to people to earn higher income and it creates lots of hope for people like me who dreams to build his/her wealth through properties. Will RPGT be a hindrance (not HINDRAF!!) to people who plans to buy more properties in the next couple of years? (I read somewhere that properties over 5 years old are not subject to RPGT? Need to find out more about it though.......)

We Malaysians are gonna be taxed from every angle. I'm telling ya. Obviously, the rich would not feel the pinch but the averagely average income earners are the ones gonna be hit really hard!!! For every RM1 you earned, I wouldn't know how much can you actually bring home after deducting all the taxes. Hahahaha. This is the reality boys and girls!!

The economy seems to be on the road to recovery and suddenly we are hit with the RPGT!!!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Weekend Journal

Friday
I had an interesting day today. Later in the afternoon, I went to the airport to fetch my aunt and her family flying from the US to attend to my cousin's wedding. Waited for about an hour after their scheduled landing time before I get to see them through the KLIA glasses at the arrival hall. I even had a RM17.50 burger king meal overthere. Geeeezzzzz...mahal gila beb...Anyhoos, we made our way to TTDI hills but I had to drive really slow, I mean REALLY slow as the rain was pouring like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, we reached just in time for the akad nikah ceremony. I thought the ceremony was cool but aunty yah's house is way cooler. The weather wasn't being kind to us that day. A very wet day actually. Anyway, back to aunty yah's crib. It has lots of stairs and rooms. I actually can get lost inside the house. It's more or less like a maze. But it's not a maze. You get what i mean? Stayed there till about 11pm before I decided to go home...

Saturday
Spend the morning playing golf with my uncles at Seri Selangor. Lost my phone at the clubhouse actually. Fecckk!!! Mentally I was a bit pissed off so my game wasn't the best but I seemed to enjoy myself. Getting 90s is a norm for me in SS. Hahahaha....After the game, I had to make my way to KLCC together with wifey and kecik to Maxis center to get my new SIM card and a new phone. really menyusahkan betul. Later in the evening, went back to my aunt's place for the majlis bersanding. Again, it was a grand ceremony in my opinion. Didn't spend too much time outside the house, just lingering inside the basement and hang out with my cousins. Went back a wee bit late I think. Btw, I met my old college mate. She is actually the bigger sister of the guy who's marrying my cousin. Err....faham tak?...:p What a small world!!!

Sunday....
Nothing much happened during the day. Went for a jamming session with some friends in the afternoon before I had to dress up to go to my cousin's wedding in Le Meridien. Have to be frank though, that was the first time that I ever been to that hotel. The fact that I often drive through KL sentral every day but hanging out in Le Meridien never crosses my mind. ANyhoos, like I said, the hotel is cool. The Nasi Lemak Malinja costs about RM35 in the hotel as compared to the original Nasi Lemak Malinja just a few clicks away that only costs you a measly sum of RM5. My mom decided to spend a night there and costs her about RM350. It's funny though, her house is only about what...10 minutes away...but she decides to sleep in the hotel. Hahahaha....Anyways, during the ceremony, saw all my cousins dressed in lounge suits. Man, have they all grown up. Me, I hate wearing suits. Plus, I'm seriously overweight and I don't look good anymore...Time to shred some fats!!!

Anyhoos, went home just after midnight and I thought to myself, that was some weekend...Looking forward for the week though. My distant uncle has invited me to play golf with him at KLGCC.....should i play or should i not....:p

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Mid December..............errrrkkkkkkkk

wow...it's almost a year since I first wrote my first ever posting in this blog. Believe it or not, it felt like yesterday. To a certain extent, I felt that, I somehow grew along with this blog.

I have to agree that I don't always write. Writing for me involves lots of emotions and sometimes ideas. Sometimes, I felt like sharing something, eventhough it's not important. And some other times, I felt that certain things should remain private. Hehehehe

I do hope that whoever reads this blog would've gain something out of it. Me myself, I learnt that by sharing things thru my writings, I felt a lot happier and satisfied.

Anyhoos, for the last couple of weeks, like I mentioned earlier, I am now a bit busy in preparing the company's accounts for the upcoming audit in Jan/Feb 10. It's gonna be hectic and gonna be stressful. I'm pretty sure of that.

Last weekend, my sister got engaged. I thought it was a wonderful and simple engagement ceremony. Nothing fancy and nothing extraordinary. Just nice and simple. Congratulations Kak Uda!!!

In terms of golfing, I miss playing it regularly. Now I can only play about once in 3 weeks. I don't know why maybe kurang kaki kot. Hahahahah.

Anyways, i've been saying this over and over again, but I don't care I'm gonna say it again. Next year will be another exiciting year for me and the family. Lots of things to achieve and to be done. Just like in Dale Carnegie's method : Get things DONE NOW!!!.....heheheheh

Btw, a point to ponder, sometimes, a friend might come out of the blue to you and say something that might interests you. It could be anything actually. You know what, that little spark might be the thing for you to do some research on. Like I said, it could be just about anything. If you think that 'spark' really turned you on like a kid that wants a candy so badly, follow your instinct and find out more about it. errrr....you get what i'm saying?....

Have a good week ahead...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Kenduri Tunang/Kahwin

Persoalannya...kenapa & mengapa mak2 selalu stress bila anak2 nak kahwin...

Apakah faktor2 yg menyebabkan tekanan kepada para ibu-ibu serta bapa-bapa....?

Mari kita diskus dgn lebih mendalam subject yg sungguh subjective ini...

Adakah kerana pemilihan makanan yg hendak di sajikan kepada para tetamu?

Adakah kerana sukar untuk membuat pilihan dimana kenduri tersebut akan di jalankan?

Adakah kerana kesukaran untuk mendapatkan jumlah sebenar para tetamu yg akan hadir?

Adakah kerana melihat kenduri kahwin rakan2 mereka yang lebih indah serta grand?

Adakah kerana kesusahan untuk mendapat kerjasama dari pelbagai pihak?

Adakah kerana permintaan atau 'demand' yg tinggi dari pihak pengantin itu sendiri?

Adakah kerana 'theme colour' yg menjadi trend di masa kini?

erkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.................