Property curbs in Singapore for foreign buyers

Despite numerous curbs initiated by the Singapore govt, property prices in Singapore are in no way coming down, especially the new properties. Came across an article last Thursday on the Straits Times about property curbs across Asia which was kind of interesting. There was a map showing property curbs in multiple countries, Singapore being one of them.

It is a no brainer looking at this map why prices aren't falling despite curbs on loans, increases in stamp duties etc. If I were a foreigner looking for some place to park my money, a 15% stamp duty isnt going to deter me. If the govt was serious about cooling the market, they should bump up stamp duties for foreigners and PRs to a larger number like 35%. PRs should be forced to sell properties once they do not reside in the country any more. I do not have the data on this but, before you know it, half of Singapore will be owned by foreigners and foreign countries (if it hasn't happened already...).

Trading for a living

Today is my 6th work anniversary at my current company. I have been at a job for more than 18 years - solidly at the mid point of a typical 40 year work life.

At some point in a person's life, you might start to wonder if you are becoming redundant to organizations in terms of being a desirable worker. At the beginning of ones work life - after graduation, the prospects seems boundless - there seems to be lots of jobs and lots of opportunities. At my current stage of work life - the reverse seems apparent. You would never consider lower level jobs any more - they pay worse and the higer level positions seem impossible to do.

At such a stage in one's life, you might start to contemplate having a career change - be your own boss maybe and some might consider trading for a living.

What is trading for a living - my simple definition is being able to trade (on the stock market, bonds, commodities etc) to sustain your current expenses at a minimum and prefereably to return a profit - to allow you to save up for a rainy day.

So is it possible to trade for a living? Well if you have never traded stocks before or have made big losses in the past, it is probably a bad idea. If you have traded part time and made a decent profit i.e. never made a loss, it would probably sound to you like a great idea.

Trading <> investing in my book. Investing means putting in the cash into an investment e.g. house, stocks, bonds to achieve returns however with a long term outlook and without constant monitoring of the investment (maybe an hour or two a week?). Trading means having to switch on your computer in the morning/night and monitoring your current positions constantly and looking for new positions to get into. Day trading would require one to track positions in a day and ideally close off those positions at the end of the day to reduce exposure. I dont trade however my impression of it is that assuming that I have 200 dollars of expenses a day, I will have to trade to achieve an average of 200 dollars of returns a day over time - this would mean that I have to trade x amount of single stock   to get a % return e.g. trade $10000 and get a 2% return or the equivalent (less trading expenses) in many smaller trades. 2% seems achievable - in a single day a stock can fluctuate by 2% several times - however it is probably harder than it seems.

To me, a part time job or a job that allows one to have a lot of free time (with lesser pay) is a better option. You can use that free time to research for investment opportunities ie. stocks to invest in. An alternative is to buy a property and rent it out for at least $4400k a month (after deducting property expenses and taxes).

You know things are bad when criminals dont look like criminals start looting Singapore..

Commuters and pedestrians on Singapore roads would undoubtedly have noticed an increase in the number of signs erected by the Singapore Police notifying people of the existence of house break-ins in the area. With this in mind, an article in the Straits Times on 31st March 2013 caught my eye ("Colombian crooks' hunting ground"), which highlighted an increase in housebreaking activity by Colombian crooks in Singapore and of the arrest of the perpetrators.

South American criminals are apparently willing to pay up to USD3,000 for an air ticket to fly to Singapore to have a chance of breaking in to Singapore homes; and were attracted to this country specifically because of our reputation for being one of the wealthiest countries in the world and for Singapore homes being classified as soft targets and a "thieves paradise". As it happens, there have been several previous incidences of South American criminal activity in the past. In the last year alone - several Colombian, Guatemalan and Chilean men have also been captured and jailed for theft.

While Singapore residents must certainly step up efforts to secure their own homes as suggested by the article, and the Singapore Police and neighborhood watch organizations should definitely increase their vigilance, the fact that these crooks have the ability to blend into their surroundings as their "Caucasian looks help them pass off as expatriate residents and they blend in by wearing T-shirts and bermudas" also means that we should step up measures to screen visitors to our island.

Although travel publications frequently praise the immigration procedures in Changi Airport for being the best in the world in terms of speediness and convenience to travellers, I often wonder if this efficiency also translates to it being easier for crimimals to enter Singapore. For example, those Singapore residents who use the automated clearance system at Changi Airport have to scan a thumbprint to verify their identity in addition to scanning their passports each time they leave or enter the country. Do non-residents have to do this as well and if not, why shouldn't they have to do so if it increases the strength of our visitor screening process? These measures together with others that I have observed in place in neighboring countries, such as the use of cameras to record a person's face during immigration entry, should be considered to lessen the probability of criminals being able to enter Singapore while posing as tourists.

The core reasons behind Singapore's population problems

With all the talk about the population white paper in Singapore, I think a lot of people have lost sight of the bigger issue at hand - the thorny issue of why Singapors are not having more children.

The government recently announced their Marriage and Parenthood Package which gives up more cash handouts for babies born and also announced some changes to parenthood leave - namely dad's can have one week of leave and parents of kids will have a priority while applying for government subsidized flats. They also announced plans to create more childcare facilities, better pre-schools etc.

Will such schemes help? I think the answer is a resounding "No" as the problem in Singapore of why people are not marrying and having children lies much deeper and I feel is linked to policies made in governments past.

First of all, National Service. This is a weird one you might say, why would making men (and not women) do two or two and a half years of National Service cause a parenthood and baby problem? The issue is that all Singaporean men will start their careers much later than Singapore women and non-Singaporeans. A couple things will result. One, the Singaporean woman will have time to concentrate on their careers as a priority and also to get further education. Two, Singaporean women will interact more with foreigners and get married to foreigners (as stated in the population white paper, 40% of marriages occur with foreigners). This number sounds small and not all of the 40% are by Singaporean women I am sure, but what this means is that the Singapore man will have less choice in terms of meeting and marrying a spouse in Singapore. The more sophisticated, educated and some might say better groomed Singapore female has a much higher likelihood to attract a foreign spouse compared to a Singapore male. Three, Singapore men will chase their careers that much more to catch up with the women and thus place less priority on settling down and having kids. The solution to this? Shortening National Service to one year might work and the earlier we do this, the better.

Secondly, the drive towards economic progress. This has been raised several times in the past, that Singapore's endless pursuit of economic growth and increasing GDP has made their citizens focus so much more on their jobs and careers rather than having families and children. Singaporean couples are having either one kid or no kids. Looking around me, it is clear that the demographic of people who have more children now vs in the past has changed. The rich are having more children (or keeping at the same rate of childbirth) vs the poor. Why, the cost of having a child has increased and the rich can afford it for one. They can focus less on their jobs and careers. Most importantly though, their parents i.e. the kids grandparents have more time and energy to help the parents take care of their children. Childcare centers don't raise children, families do. In the past, many families have the pattern of having a working dad and a stay at home housewife. They could afford to do so for one - things were cheaper. Houses were cheaper. Education was simpler. Raising two or more kids without grandparent support is a daunting proposition for families who are not financially well off. There have been calls recently (by the Workers Party no less) to make people work longer and raise the retirement age. This is a serious mistake. If Singapore had a better system to ensure that old people didnt have to worry so much about their own retirement expenses (the existing CPF system is outdated - a pension scheme such as the ones used by countries like Switzerland), my reckoning is that Singaporean couples will be more willing to have children since they would have a support structure i.e. their parents to help take care of their kids. This will never happen though if the Singapore government is so fixated on the economy.

Thirdly, and this has not so much to do with babies but more of taking care of our elderly. One of the big reasons why a country needs population growth is the replacement theory that you need X people to take care of the elderly e.g. 2 children with two spouses to take care of 2 sets of parents. There are several problems in Singapore. Based on observation, Singaporeans largely do not take care of their health or they think it is less important (as compared to their careers maybe) - i.e. they spend less time on healthy activites, exercising, they eat unhealthy. Despite the statistics, I dont think Singaporeans are living longer and healthier and happier especially the men. If both spouses lived longer, they would (theoretically) need less support in their old age. More old age homes is not the answer. Again, some type of a pension scheme would help and not just the CPF Life annuity which is rather half hearted in my opinion. The Singapore Medisave scheme needs to revamped as well. Currently, there are too many restrictions on how we can spend OUR hard earned money. Singapore is already enough of a nanny state without having to nanny its citizens when they are 75 years old!

Why Singaporeans drive the way they do

There have been a whole bunch of news of how bad drivers in Singapore are and theres a perfectly reasonable explanation - you have the

1. rich towkay or expat who drives like he (or she in the case of the towkays or expat wife or wives),
2. you also have the typical harrassed executive who after a whole day of being pissed on at work wont take any crap from other drivers,
3. then theres the totally irresponsible taxi driver and bus driver (why would they they dont own their own vehicles) and
4. the crazy lorry/pickup/van driver who gets paid by trip;
5. worst of all, you have the women drivers who are just plain dangerous - sudden and/or persistent braking and generally driving with little road sense and awareness of whats happening around them. 

With this circus on the road how do you expect the "bad driving" situation to inprove? As a guide to new drivers on Singapore roads, avoid the above mentioned moron drivers and vehicle types and also the following passenger cars whose drivers/buyers tend to be the worse culprits when it comes to bad driving:

• Most Nissan sedans - especially the Sunny and those people who moved on to Latios, Sylphys and Cefiros. Bad drivers who dont know what a good driving car is buy Nissan sedans.
• Mercedes E-class drivers - they jolly well act like they own the road dont they?
• Alfa Romeo drivers - these guys and girls think the road is their speedway. Also most likely to "jam brake" to test the reflexes of the drivers behind them.
• Honda Stream/Toyota Wish drivers - especially those that have been "benged" up.
• Large SUVs e.g. Toyota Fortuners, BMW X5s - who will swerve into your lane probably because they cant see you while sitting so high up
• Drivers of a small French make e.g. Citreon C4, Renault Megane tend to be shitty drivers. Same Nissan syndrome as above.

Oddly enough, the drivers of supercars or sports cars are the tamest drivers of all.

Singapore Punggol East by-election Analysis

I do not want to politicize this blog however, Singapore politics, or at least talking and thinking about politics, has become a hot topic with the recent conclusion of the by-election in Punggol East - a tiny area of land in the north east of the island. The Workers' Party i.e. "the Opposition" in Singapore has been whittling away at the dominance of the PAP over the last few years and with this latest victory in Punggol East - it has won more than just a single seat in Parliament; in my mind, it has sent a very strong signal to the PAP of how disgruntled Singaporeans have become on the current state of things in the country.

There are many reasons being mooted about why the PAP lost - housing prices, the current economic lull, and the malfunctioning transport infrastructure.

To me, one the major reasons why they lost is the issue of the ongoing influx of foreigners. Singaporeans do not want to lose their jobs to foreigners. We do not have any beef with foreigners but when there is a job that can be done by a Singapore worker - a job that he or she could excel at, chooses to do and would have passion in doing if allowed to - we would prefer that the job go to a Singaporean thank you.

I do not have the actual facts and figures but my sense is that foreigners have taken a large chunk of top and mid-level jobs in companies based in Singapore (except the government) and Singaporeans are left holding the scraps. On a side note - homegrown Singapore companies and entities like F&N are being sold to the top foreign bidders. Singapore icons like the Raffles Hotel have been sold to overseas companies with scarcely a thought on why they must be held in Singapore hands.

Some examples where top leadership positions are occupied by foreigners - the CEO of DBS, OCBC and SGX, the new CTO of Mediacorp,  the ex national coach of the Singapore national football team. In my current company based in Singapore, there are approximately 30 people in the office and out of that total - only 5 are Singaporeans.

The fear that I would be replaced by a foreigner or that I could not find a new job in Singapore without being told that the company I wanted to join would rather source for people in other countries for that job keeps me up at night.

The government has always said that it does not believe that social media will self moderate for the greater good. I think that Singaporeans are starting to believe that the current government run by the PAP might not be able to self moderate for the good of Singaporeans.

Doomsday prepping

During the latest family trip out of Singapore, I happened to have some time to watch some telly. The hotel that we stayed in had two TVs, which meant that I was able to watch some other channels other than the Cartoon Network.

National Geographic has a series called "Doomsday Preppers" where preppers (in some cases "loonies") prep for some end of the world scenario e.g. super volcano, collapse of the economy. Recently, as part of daily YouTube fix of watching videos, I have been watching a lot of of gear reviews around prepping.

One of the hot topics at the moment is Dec 21st and the Mayan prediction of a new phase in the world. Some people have taken this prediction to mean the end of the world and some even have linked this date to the "three days of darkness" prophesy in the Bible.

Against the backdrop of all this doom and gloom, I have been doing a little prepping myself, better to be safe than sorry right?

Some stuff I have been doing:

1. Packed a "bug out bag" - which contains stuff like tarps, ponchos, rope, camping oven, flashlight, knife, first aid kit etc
2. Started stocking up on water and basic foods like rice, canned food, dehydrated soups.
3. Since a human being needs about a gallon of water a day to survive, I have also bought a few types of water filters in case I need to filter rain water to drink. It is possible to extract pure drinking water from any water source using a solar still in the worst case scenario as well.

Have you been preparing for the end of the world? Would love to hear your stories on this topic.

Ironies in life

"Isn't it ironic.. dont chiu think?"

According to foreigners, Singapore is one of the most attractive places to work. People from other countries are beating a path to the door to work and live in Singapore.

What Singaporeans have to get used to is being told that a position based in Singapore is better placed by foreigners. Sounds drastic, but it is actually the plain truth. Foreigners are taking jobs not just at the upper echolon of companies but also at the lower rungs and in the middle.

My wish for Singapore policy makers is for them to experience the same rejection in their jobs. Let's import foreign talents to replace civil service and garment positions.

Auto gearboxes a cause for bad driving

A colleague of mine TW recently made a remark that the prevalence of cars with auto gearboxes on Singapore roads has resulted in driving standards getting worse.

His logic was that drivers using traditional manual gearboxes would be more in tune with what the car was doing. Also having to operate a manual would mean that behaviours such as using a mobile phone while driving would not be possible (not taking into account contortionists who are able to hold an iPhone between their shoulder and neck ;).

I tend to agree with his theories. Drivers are getting lazier nowadays. Even signalling is become rarer on Singapore roads. Alas, with the demise of manual cars (you can't actually buy a manual car anymore unless a special order is made) this theory is a moot point.

Hitting the foreign talent (FT) wall in Singapore

Desperation or despair kinda sneaks up on you in mid life.

When you are young, and if you are a graduate, you have the feeling that the world is your oyster. You feel that you are able to get a job in any company, get a good job and start enjoying the feeling of making money. You have plenty of headroom to climb - or so you think - to the upper echelons of a corporation.

Where I am now - solidly in mid-life - middle aged, mid career, life doesn't look or feel so rosy anymore, especially in this place called Singapore.

You see my friend, companies are typically top heavy creatures. Lots of entry level jobs doing the real work, a moderate number of middle level jobs for people to middle manage others and then, a tiny few top level positions. In the company that I work for, a software product company, it is no different. 

In a typical homogeneous society like Japan or Europe (this is slowly changing however), this would still bode well for mid career managers. You should have similar thinking similar background people above and below you in the organizational hierarchy. Your bosses should understand you, know that you are aiming to move upwards, and also understand the societal norms i.e. what holidays mean in terms of importance e.g. never scheduling project deadlines near Chinese New Year, for example and other responsibilities that parents face e.g. taking leave to accompany children during exam periods (admittedly a Singapore idiosyncrasy).

In Singapore, however, if you are working in MNCs and not a government organization (which is pretty homogeneous i.e. typically all Singaporeans) or are pretty lucky, this situation will not typically happen. "Foreign talents" fill the upper spots of the company hierarchy. They also fill the middle slots and the lower slots but the upper spots are typically all FT territory. They live a rarefied upper class life in Singapore, living in posh places, drive the Lambos and Ferraris, send their children to expensive private schools and don't know (or give a rats ass) what problems Singaporeans face. It probably wouldn't feel so bad if these FTs are smart and capable, fair and respectable but it sure stinks when they are nearly all stupid (cunning), lazy etc ones.

As a mid-career worker and in a middle level position in Singapore, you feel stuck. I feel that there is no way that you will rise further in a corporation as the FTs are entrenched there and will never give up their positions to others anymore. Its like a glass ceiling however it feels more like a brick wall. So this is what the future looks like. 

Taxi drivers in Singapore don't drive in the rain

A recent study of 80 million GPS record recording Singapore taxi driver driving patterns shows that taxi drivers here are afraid of rain. A large proportion of taxi drivers will just sit out the rain by the roadside or seek a hidey-hole.

This is in line with my previous post about the professionalism of the Singapore taxis driver.

Singapore taxi drivers are in a limbo state. They aren't salarymen like the bus drivers here and they don't own their own taxis. Instead, they rent their taxis from the taxi companies at a rate of 80-200 SGD a month. This explains why they have no incentive to drive on days when they don't need to. Either when they have already met their quota or exceeded it. Even though taxi drivers here are not supposed to reject fares, it is a fairly common occurrence, often with the reason that they are changing shifts.

Which brings me to the possible methods to curb this unprofessional behaviour of taxis drivers. First of all, there are too many taxis on the road. Singapore has over 28,000 taxis plying the roads here compared to 18,000 over taxis in Hong Kong covering a much larger area in Hong Kong. Eliminating 8,000 taxis would still mean Singapore would have more taxis than Hong Kong. Make taxi drivers fight for the right to drive by setting high standards.

 Which taxis to remove? Obviously the taxis that have poor record in terms of serving the community (put a happiness meter in every taxi for passengers to rate each ride and allow the public to easily rate or mark any taxi on the road based on its driver's good or bad driving) should be fired and prevented from driving ever again. Taxi drivers who loiter and do not put in a sufficient time on the roads should be fired. Make taxis the responsibility of their drivers by making taxi drivers own their own taxis with a low repayment rate. This way, the drivers will be incentized to drive more and more safely.

Apple's iPhone 5 - an expensive proposition in Singapore

Just received some news about a colleague who just collected her iPhone 5.

As most of you probably already know, the iPhone 5 has a new connector which means that all your existing pre-iPhone 5 accessories are made redundant. Ok, there is an adaptor but who likes using adaptors and does this mean you have to have multiple adaptors every where?

The iPhone 5 also has a new SIM card form factor - the nano SIM. The iPhone 4 which was introduced 2 years ago used the micro-SIM card which I guess is redundant now. Singtel - the telco I use in Singapore - is charging SGD39 (USD32) for a nano sim!

You have got to be kidding..

Since my two year old iPhone 4 is on its last legs - the home button died some time ago and the phone is seriously lagging - I was thinking of getting a iPhone 5 but I am now seriously reconsidering getting a Samsung S2 instead. Maybe all sense in Apple is gone ever since Steve Jobs left the building.

Stress in the Sin City

It doesn't take long for a visitor to Singapore to observe that this city is not like any other city. And I don't mean the greenery or the food or the shopping and the apparently orderliness of the place.

Singapore is an unnecessarily stressful place.

Just take this morning when I dropped off my kids at the childcare centre on the way to work (my kids have been to childcare since they were 18 months old.. since my dad died, I do not have the luxury of having family childgivers taking care of my kids for me). The childcare place we use is in kind of a childcare hub where there are many companies running pre-schools. What we have done (along with hundreds of other parents) is typically to stop by the small stretch of road running alongside the schools and drop the kids off.

Now, this road is also shared by the Singapore Police Force who has a branch in the area. They have always "co-existed" peacefully with the schools and parents in the use of the road for the past 2-3 years, primarily because they have two entrances to their building. Recently though, one of their entrances was closed for renovations. As a result, the SPF has suddenly decided to take over the use of the road that we used to share. They have deployed numerous policemen to patrol this stretch of road preventing parents from stopping their cars to drop off their kids. This morning, they even called in the LTA or Land Transport Authority - kind of a pseudo road enforcer type organization - to fine and issue summons to cars that have stopped along this stretch of road even temporarily.

Politicians in Singapore have been vocal in the media recently about the low birth rate in the country and wonder why Singaporeans are not having more children. As a result of this low population replacement statistic, the government has been importing immigrants and workers at a record rate. Since 2002, the population has grown from 4.1 million people to about 5.2 million in 2012 and has made Singapore the most densely populated country in the world with about 7300 people for each square kilometer (as compared to a country like the UK where there are around 400 people for each square kilometer, even Tokyo and Hong Kong have only 6000 people per sq km). People are literally fighting for space here. Property prices are a world high. Even having lunch here is stressful as people fight for places to sit down to eat. The train network is packed to the point that it keeps breaking down.

For a small country of roughly 700 sq kilometers this is ludicrous.

This is the country I live in.

Taxi drivers as a model of good driving habits‏

There have been several conversations recently regarding the bad driving habits being exhibited by drivers on Singapore roads. Although there are no easy fixes, through my observations however as a driver, I feel that one way that driving standards can be improved is by making taxi drivers the benchmark when it comes to displaying good driving habits.

Taxis, due to the nature of their large numbers on our roads, are highly visible. As of Jul 2012, there are more than 28,000 taxis operating on Singapore roads according to data from the LTA. I would venture to say that all the typical Singapore driver bad habits e.g. horn abuse, abrupt changing of lanes without signalling, speeding up in lanes when someone signals, tailgating/road hogging, sudden stopping on roadsides are all exhibited in some way or form by taxi drivers here.

If taxi drivers were to show all the best characteristics of good driving, I feel that it would rub-off on other drivers on Singapore roads.

What are some of the ways of improving taxi driver driving habits you might ask? Besides the obvious way e.g. sending taxi drivers to good driving courses or other training courses, taxi companies should take a more active part in reprimanding bad driving and incentizing taxi drivers for good driving behaviour. Have a scheme whereby other road users can give feedback ok good driving behaviour shown by taxi drivers. Have a scheme where taxi drivers will face bans when they exhibit bad driving habits.

When I have taken taxis in Singapore in the past, the drivers who I spoke to tend to be a stressed lot who complain about business being harder now as compared to the past. The stress of bad driving habits on the roads as well as that of competing with others could possibly result in bad driving habits. As the ratio of taxis to population (and land size) in Singapore is much greater than in other countries, for example Hong Kong, one way to reduce this stress is to reduce the total number of taxis on our roads which would ensure that taxi drivers would not have so much competition in looking for fares and in turn exhibit bad driving.

My hope at the end of the day is for Singapore to have a model taxi force, which consists not just of the latest and most modern taxi fleet and systems, but also where taxi drivers display good driving habits which the rest of the road users will model themselves by. This in turn might also make Singapore a less stressful and dangerous place to be for other road users.

My Lifelist

I attended a local photographer's workshop yesterday at Sentosa and one of the topics that was raised was the motivation behind her photographs. One of the major triggers was the creation of a lifelist containing things that a person wants to achieve in life. I was inspired enough to start one of my own, so here goes.. hopefully I will be able to achieve some of them this year!

Personal Development Comments

• Learn to play the piano
• Learn a third language
• Learn to drive a car.......... Done
• Drive a stick shift (properly)                      
• Learn how to ride a motorbike
• Race on a real racetrack
• Ride a horse

Family & Relationships

• Get Married :)............. Done
• Become a Parent............. Done
• Go to a Premier League match with Dad

Community

• Do volunteer work towards an important cause

Sports & Adventure

• Master tennis............. Done, fitness is another matter
• Break 100 in golf At Horizon Hills in Nov 2009
• Break 90 in golf                                                                    
• Learn to swim.............. Done
• Catch a rainbow trout/Fly fishing
• Learn to dive

Lifestyle

• Live in a new country for a few years........... Done
• Work in a new country
• Own an iconic car...................Done VW GTI                                                              
• Own a Porsche
• Own a convertible

Career & Finance

• Be Financially independent
• Start my own business............... In progress
• Work in your dream job...............Is there such a thing?
• Work for the fun of it and not for money

Travel

• Visit all the countries in South East Asia.................... Thailand, West Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines done so far
• Visit all countries in North Asia........................ Japan, China, Korea done so far
• Visit all 7 continents
• Visit a major city in Europe ............................. Been to Paris, London
• Visit a major city in the US................................... Been to New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle
• Visit a major city in China................................. Been to Shanghai

Photography

• Shoot the Northern Lights
• Shoot the Grand canyon................................ Done
• Shoot the Eiffel tower.................................. Done
• Shoot the Sydney Opera House....................... Done
• Shoot the Lourve Pyramid in Paris...................... Done
• Shoot Big Ben in London............................. Done
• Shoot the Taj Mahal                                              
• Shoot the Pyramids of Egypt
• Shoot the Niagara Falls............................. Done
• A polar bear in the wild
• A killer whale
• A great white shark breaching
• A Crocodile in the wild........................... Done