Slumdog Millionaire was a bit of wishful entertainment – how nice to be asked questions whose answers I actually know in a big–money game show.
However, I left thinking not about the slumdog hero, but about the guy on the US$100 bill. Yep, Benjamin Franklin, who signed both the US Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, but who never became President. Nevertheless the chap is on the big note, and deservedly.
That’s the man who flew a kite in a storm, and proved that lightning was electricity. He also invented bifocals, which I expect to become very grateful for as I edge towards long-sightedness.
However, what I find most admirable about Mr Franklin is his values. He never patented his many inventions, explaining in his autobiography, “... as we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously.”
It is not as if the man didn’t know the value of money. He did say “Time is money”, and industry was among the 13 virtues he worked on. However, unlike modern man, who has pursued money to the point of exhaustion, inventing the 12 to 14-hour workday, Mr Franklin balanced this with the virtue of frugality: “Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.”
And if we thought that the film Pay It Forward - where Haley Joel Osment starts a movement of not returning favours but doing good to others instead – was a Hollywood innovation, sorry, Ben Franklin came up with the idea in the 18th century.
What I really like about the man is this bit of wisdom: “A penny saved is a penny earned”.
This points to another option to the ever-faster treadmill of work. Instead of working harder and harder, and longer and longer, you can just spend less.
In fact, in view of CPF deductions and taxes, a penny saved is worth more than a penny earned.
I once worked on a booklet about retirement, and came to the conclusion that Mr Franklin’s idea is excellent when it comes to working out how to retire. Basically, everyone is supposed to calculate how much they will need for retirement, and then crack their heads on how to lay aside the amount, or grow it from investments or insurance or whatever.
Having a frugal stance is useful, since you’ll come up with a smaller Number to aim for, and, as far as the savings part of the getting to the Number equation goes, it’s less torturous.
In this economic climate, with minibonds and Hi-Notes going bye-byes, I daren’t speculate on the investment part of the riddle. Maybe we should try to get onto a big-money game show and hope they ask soft questions.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Making the best of your ringgit
I set up a Malaysian bank account in the aftermath of the Asian crisis, when Dr Mahathir’s currency controls made it impossible to deposit ringgit checks into my Singapore account. The dividends from Clob shares have been building up for more than a decade, and I discovered, to my joy, that I had more than RM10,000 in the account.
Yippee! Those shares that I was stuck with because their values plunged, actually paid out decent dividends.
Unfortunately, after converting the cash back into Singapore dollars, I was a little disappointed to find it came up to about $4,000. Not much, especially when set against what I’d paid for the Clob shares all those years ago.
Solution? Keep it in Malaysia, and spend it in Malaysia.
I figure that since most food and common groceries are cheaper across the Causeway, my RM 10,000 will be able to buy about $6,000 worth of things if I spent it there, rather than the $4,000 if I changed it and brought it back.
I’ve tried it a few times, and I think I’ve worked out a safe, economical and enjoyable routine.
First, go across the Causeway, and head towards town. Buy cheap petrol at a station near the Causeway – the huge Caltex station has closed, but there are other alternatives. Then swing up Jalan Wong Ah Fook and turn into City Square. (I like its car park because it’s bright, and security guards do rounds every now and again, so my Proton with Singapore plates feels safer – unlike the somewhat dingy, forbidding car park at Holiday Plaza, say.)
City Square also has a Maybank, where I can withdraw the day’s spending money, and go upstairs to the Watsons to buy personal care products, vitamin supplements and general medications like cough mixture. I believe in taking cod liver oil and vitamins to stave off the upper respiratory tract infections that are endemic here, and these things are cheaper in JB than in Singapore. A bottle of cod liver oil, $6-$7 at home, costs RM 11 in JB.
And if I do catch something, stuff like Prospan, a German cough syrup made from dried ivy leaf extract, costs under RM 14, as opposed to $8 to $10 in a Singapore clinic, assuming you can find a doctor who will sell it to you without making you undergo a diagnosis first. My brother, who recommended it, got the syrup from his physician, who gave him Prospan and some other medicines for flu - and charged $130. I say dump the doctor and buy the stuff from Johor Baru.
There’s an Apex pharmacy in the basement (run by the same management as Watsons) which can dispense anti-histamines like Zyrtec (no sleepy side effect) and Atarax (might feel sleepy) and other “real” medicines if you need them.
Also in the basement are food outlets like Secret Recipe. I rather like their lamb stew and their fusion soups, but I baulk at their prices in Singapore. However, the prices in ringgit are the same as in Sing dollars, so it actually becomes very decent. So much so that I don’t care if they charge me for my glass of water – a practice that outraged me in their Singapore outlets.
There are also other shops seeling clothes, footwear, and even some groceries in the rather limited minimart in the basement.
Then go home.
Or, if the minimart was a disappointment, drive up the road again to Taman Sentosa and park in The Store (outdoor carpark, surrounded by The Store and other shops, with a security guard or two to keep an eye on things). Taman Sentosa also has the virtue of being full of food outlets, from restaurants to coffee shops and a hawker centre. I have a soft spot for the Bamboo place that sells beggars chicken.
Yeah, there are lots of other places that are probably more fun than this route, but with even locals talking about petty and not-so-petty crimes, this route is fun enough for me.
Yippee! Those shares that I was stuck with because their values plunged, actually paid out decent dividends.
Unfortunately, after converting the cash back into Singapore dollars, I was a little disappointed to find it came up to about $4,000. Not much, especially when set against what I’d paid for the Clob shares all those years ago.
Solution? Keep it in Malaysia, and spend it in Malaysia.
I figure that since most food and common groceries are cheaper across the Causeway, my RM 10,000 will be able to buy about $6,000 worth of things if I spent it there, rather than the $4,000 if I changed it and brought it back.
I’ve tried it a few times, and I think I’ve worked out a safe, economical and enjoyable routine.
First, go across the Causeway, and head towards town. Buy cheap petrol at a station near the Causeway – the huge Caltex station has closed, but there are other alternatives. Then swing up Jalan Wong Ah Fook and turn into City Square. (I like its car park because it’s bright, and security guards do rounds every now and again, so my Proton with Singapore plates feels safer – unlike the somewhat dingy, forbidding car park at Holiday Plaza, say.)
City Square also has a Maybank, where I can withdraw the day’s spending money, and go upstairs to the Watsons to buy personal care products, vitamin supplements and general medications like cough mixture. I believe in taking cod liver oil and vitamins to stave off the upper respiratory tract infections that are endemic here, and these things are cheaper in JB than in Singapore. A bottle of cod liver oil, $6-$7 at home, costs RM 11 in JB.
And if I do catch something, stuff like Prospan, a German cough syrup made from dried ivy leaf extract, costs under RM 14, as opposed to $8 to $10 in a Singapore clinic, assuming you can find a doctor who will sell it to you without making you undergo a diagnosis first. My brother, who recommended it, got the syrup from his physician, who gave him Prospan and some other medicines for flu - and charged $130. I say dump the doctor and buy the stuff from Johor Baru.
There’s an Apex pharmacy in the basement (run by the same management as Watsons) which can dispense anti-histamines like Zyrtec (no sleepy side effect) and Atarax (might feel sleepy) and other “real” medicines if you need them.
Also in the basement are food outlets like Secret Recipe. I rather like their lamb stew and their fusion soups, but I baulk at their prices in Singapore. However, the prices in ringgit are the same as in Sing dollars, so it actually becomes very decent. So much so that I don’t care if they charge me for my glass of water – a practice that outraged me in their Singapore outlets.
There are also other shops seeling clothes, footwear, and even some groceries in the rather limited minimart in the basement.
Then go home.
Or, if the minimart was a disappointment, drive up the road again to Taman Sentosa and park in The Store (outdoor carpark, surrounded by The Store and other shops, with a security guard or two to keep an eye on things). Taman Sentosa also has the virtue of being full of food outlets, from restaurants to coffee shops and a hawker centre. I have a soft spot for the Bamboo place that sells beggars chicken.
Yeah, there are lots of other places that are probably more fun than this route, but with even locals talking about petty and not-so-petty crimes, this route is fun enough for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)