Quotes from an Interview

"Well it's simple, if you just don't see yourself driving a Porsche in under 5 years, maybe you're not cut out for this job."

"Have you taken a look around our car park?"

"We're talking about 24 year olds who bring home $360,000 in bonus to their mothers. And you were expecting what, 1/10th of that for a yearly compensation? Give me a break."

"In a good year, salespeople made $6,000,000. We've had salespeople buy themselves a unit in Sentosa Cove, a DB-9, and go for a three week holiday, and still not know what to do with the cash."

"If you're wondering what I'm making now, well, it's safe to say it's not anything less than seven figures. Not including the cents digits, obviously."

"At the end of the day, it's whether you wanna be a BSD. You know, Liar's Poker? BSD? If you wanna be a hotshot, go for it.

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If I needed a way to stick it to the guys who think they've got the biggest balls around, maybe I mighta just stumbled upon it.

Pip my ride

When I checked my open positions and saw the USD dollar going through the roof I

JIZZED IN MY PANTS


OK but I have to take some advice from Nick and watch my defence because I'm fully loaded on six USD base/cross pairs and while my account is going north I can't afford to have it all rammed down my throat when the USD tanks.

Singapore Mercantile Exchange

New playground is opening. Lighten up folks.

Dude, the future is so bright, I'm needing sunglasses to shield myself from my own glory.

I JUST GOT MY DATA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turtle Brain

Someone said, the only time you need a brain to trade successfully, is when you're designing your system. Once you've got your system and your rules, just be dumb when executing trades according to your game plan.

And that is the secret of all trading. There is no special rule. It is just discipline. Don't be smart, don't be creative.

As illustration, he then went on to say that George Bush, in an alternate reality where he weren't president, would be an extremely profitable trader.

Anyway, go long on EUR/USD and GBP/USD now.

Rich City

The 20th and final Reventon has been sold to a Brit. Each of these costs 1 million Euros, or more than SGD 2 million. 3, or 15%, have been sold to Singapore.

Kenny Props

I dunno what mathematics he did here but yeah easy to understand right? Do something real with your lives and stop chasing stupid ass jobs!

Relevant Costs

Relevant costs must be considered when comparing two alternatives.

For illustration, let's talk about the choice of going on an exchange programme versus staying in Singapore to save the cash. Now many people judge an exchange programme to, say the US or Europe, as really expensive, and estimate it to cost about S$10,000 to 15,000 or so for the 6 months to be spent overseas.

And then their claim stops right there.

They break down this sum to include airfare to primary destination, accomodation, living expenses, transport, and additional travel.

But they forget that when you're in Singapore, you also incur quite a sum of money just living there. Transport (EZ-link), food (canteens and restaurants), entertainment (movies, clubs), shopping, accomodation (hall fees or equivalent) etc cost money too, did you forget that?

As a reference, let's just use my scholarship allowance as an example. Each semester, I wait for my S$3,000 disbursement from the scholarship office. When I was awarded the scholarship, this was explained to me to be living allowance. This means the school has calculated that a student needs a minimum of S$3,000 just to get by 4 (not even 6!!) months in Singapore. Covers food, accomodation, transport, and there's enough leftover for some form of "discretionary expenditure".

So when you talk about an exchange programme, let's deduct this $3,000 from the overseas exchange programme cost estimate. You're saving S$3,000 in expenditure in Singapore when you go overseas. What I'm trying to say is, the relevant difference people should be looking at when they think about whether to go overseas for a term or not is the S$10,000 estimate less S$3,000.

(And since the $3,000 figure was for a 4 month period, it's only natural 6 months would cost more--greater savings in other words.)

Now think about that, S$,7000 for 6 months overseas? That is a good deal. So don't fret, go apply for your exchange programme. It's well worth the money, take it from me.

Pain

Months ago, on its way down, I sold SGX stock at S$6 to exit the market. It continued to go down to the low $4's. I complimented myself on my bold decision to close all positions, because that saved me thousands in paper losses. SGX is now at S$7.18. I didn't load up on new orders, and now I feel the pain of a thousand knives ripping my spirit to shreds.

So painful. I could stub my cigars out in the palm of my hand right now and that wouldn't even hurt me.

Quanto Costa

One of life's FAQs: How much does this cost? In Italian, Quanto costa?

The one defining prompter to soothing the burning curiosity that challenges the extents of materialism. What number of dollars (or Euros or Pounds or Yen or barter chicken legs) do I have to hand over to you, that you may offer in return that which I covet? What measurable quantum of blood, sweat, tears and flying spit do I need to produce before you, that you may present that which I desire?

You can come back to this blog regularly. I will record every single gorgeous detail about my exchange programme to Italy here. Also, my tactics for the most exciting computer game (currency trading) I ever played will be put up here.

I leave for Italy in slightly under a month's time. There will be plenty that I will miss about this place.