Archive for September, 2010
Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
In the United Kingdom at least, that is a generous salary – earning more than 98% of every working adult – and granting one the social status of a high-flier.
In the UK, that amounts to 38,045 civil servants and 545,000 in the private sector.
In 2009, the average gross annual earnings for full-time employees was a little more than GBP21,000.
However, it’s not really monetary plain sailing for its recipients.
Yes, it guarantees a comfy lifestyle, but hardly enough to enable one to retire early.
Geraint Anderson, 38, earned GBP120,000 basic per annum and a GBP500K bonus when he left investment banking after doing it for 12 years.
He said that kind of money distorts one’s expectations of a “normal lifestyle”, and makes people lose their freedom, rather than setting them free.
Why so?
Because huge salaries are usually followed by huge mortgages, high-maintenance drop dead gorgous spouse and kids at expensive private schools.
He concluded: “I’d rather earn GBP25,000, have the kids at a local school and not owe anyone anything.”
Quotable quotes:
- earning more doesn’t make us any more likely to live within our means.
- extra income is just as likely to leave us with less disposable income, so even with a 6-figure annual income, you might not escape the need for a payday advance just yet.
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Wednesday, September 29th, 2010
According to The Smoking Gun on 28 Sep 2010, the either-you-love-him-hate-him pop star Justin Bieber, 16 earns a minimum of USD300,000 per show.
That means he’s earning more per concert than more established artistes like:
- Sheryl Crow (USD146,500)
- Weezer (USD150,000)
- Bret Michaels (USD64,000).
However, he still trails people like:
- Rascal Flatts (USD702,500)
- Kiss (USD500,000)
- Keith Urban (USD487,500).
As for his contemporaries, he’s outearning them all:
- Disney star Selena Gomez (USD100,000)
- American Idol winner Jordin Sparks (a paltry USD75,000).
And that USD300K is minimum. He can potentially earn more due to certain percentages of the gross box office receipts (GBOR) given to him after a show. Of course he does not have to pay for the sound & lights, nor does he need to pay for any opening acts.
USD300K is a lot of money to be earned in one night for a couple of dozen songs – how many mbt shoes does a teenager need anyway? Milk it while you can, Justin.
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Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
But there’s still a Facebook connection.
Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin, who, according to newsreports were both born on the same day i.e. 22nd May 1984 are now officially billionaires.
26 years old! They’re barely out of the market for the best acne treatment known to mankind!
Mr Moskovitz owns 6% of Facebook, hence is worth USD1.4 billion as of May 2010.
Meanwhile, Mr Saverin owns 5% of Facebook, hence is worth USD1.1 billion as of May 2010
Both are apparently not involved in any way with Facebook’s operations anymore.
Mark Zuckerberg was born 14th May 1984 i.e. 8 days earlier than the duo owns 24% of Facebook: USD6.9 billion.
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Thursday, September 23rd, 2010
A Sabahan techpreneur, Victor Joseph Yusop, 33, was featured in Insight Sabah in January 2010 in an article entitled “Blogging pays more than engineering.”
Indeed, Victor Joseph Yusop, 33, is a bright young man with a clear vision of what he wanted to do. Despite being a Shell scholar with a masters degree from London’s Imperial College, one of the world’s top universities, he has found that the internet offers much higher, in fact, potentially unlimited potential, compared to being a petroleum engineer.
Starting off as a hobby in 1997, he went serious a few years later with his first moneymaker: absolutelyfreebies.com.
In fact, he’s an expert at affiliate marketing, which could see him promoting and getting commisions on anything from software to onecall coupons.
Currently, he makes more than RM10,000 monthly from blogging and selling his own software products entirely online. He even gets software engineers from outside Malaysia to assist him in software development.
In total, he has around 70 product websites and 10 blogs.
He said that due to e-commerce still being relatively untapped, there’s great opportunities for Sabahans to dive right in.
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Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010
The BBC reported so on 20th Sept 2010.
Among that number, the NHS has the highest: 6,500 earn more than Mr Cameron, who voluntarily took a 5% pay cut, earning GBP142,500 a year.
Among the 9,000, 6,500 are from the NHS.
In fact, more than 26,000 there earn more than GBP100K a year!
The top NHS earner is a General Practitioner (doctor) at GBP475,000; 7 of the top 10 in the NHS are GPs.
In total, more than 38,000 civil servants earn at least GBP100,000 a year, and 1,000 earn more than GBP200,000 a year.
At this rate, a lot of people might start scouring government web directories to look for jobs in the UK’s public sector.
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Sunday, September 19th, 2010
According to The Star on 6th April 2007, that year more F1 tickets were being sold than ever before. So it seems that finally, F1 racing has caught the imagination of Malaysians. However, Sepang International Circuit (SIC) general manager Azmi Murad didn’t say that tickets have sold out. In fact, at the time of the news report, they are still available in all sections of the circuit.
To me, the true mark of an event’s popularity is how fast the tickets sell out. If I can still come in at the last minute and still can get tickets (not from the touts of course), that would be considered a “roaring success”. An example would be the World Cup final tickets. No way would I be able to get in at the last minute. In fact, it would’ve sold out months, if not years before the event actually takes place.
To me, the big issue is more basic – no other sporting event in Malaysia costs so much to watch first-hand.
At the prices offered, the organisers should be able to offer many freebies, including perhaps even health supplements here and there.
Azmi said that more Malaysians should show their support and quickly buy their tickets for the event. He added that the grandstand and covered seats are the most popular among fans and they are selling like hot cakes.
Of course tickets start from only RM50, but who wants to sit so far away in the blistering heat at the hillstands? Perhaps even worse, rain? You can go for the covered hillstand, which costs 3 times more. If you bring members of your family, habis lah 1 bulan gaji. I don’t want to even mention to prices for the Grandstand and the other covered seats.
source
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Saturday, September 18th, 2010
After reading weirdtechnewshub, it dawned on me that truly no idea is a stupid idea. You’ve got to test it out because you never know how it’ll turn out.
The one about Santamail stunned me for its simplicity. Why didn’t anyone think of it before? Byron Reese got a postal address at North Pole, Alaska, pretended to be Santa Claus and charges parents 10 bucks for every letter he sends to their kids. He has sent over 200,000 letters since the start of the business in 2001, which makes him USD2 million dollars richer.
Now, one should seriously consider setting up sites that helpfully suggests ways on how to get rid of acne, that most probably won’t hurt.
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Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
As reported by The Star several years ago:
No surprises – anything associated with Formula 1 will be among the most expensive, if not the most expensive event of the year.
For social events open to the general public, surely it’s the Grand Prix dinner, this year (2007) called the outlandishly long name of Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix Fantasy Gala 2007, held at the KLCC on Friday 6th April.
Every time the organisers will select a different theme, this year it’s “Fantasy”: in previous years “Ice” and “Spring”.
As for glamour, it’s second to none. For starters, check out the guest list: (more…)
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Wednesday, September 15th, 2010
The late Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya, 47 is the founder of cosmetics empire Nouvelle Beauty Care Sdn Bhd.
A true rags-to-riches story, the daughter of a labourer rose from door-to-door selling to having 300 stockists in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei.
Her wealth is estimated at RM100 million.
She is an inspiration for all budding entrepreneurs – she proved that you can make your own fortune, regardless of your background.
She drove a luxury BMW X5 the last time she was seen, a fact not lost on car insurance companies and of course the police.
Rest in peace.
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Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Jerad Solomon, 33 was a finance manager / accountant when he decided to take the plunge and do what most men in Malaysia would probably never even dream about: sell women’s intimate wear. Online.
The hardest part was probably breaking the news to his wife, Hemala, who was understandably dumbfounded. He had never even bought any lingerie for his wife, and he’s thinking of quitting a stable job to sell lingerie??? Fortunately, after a while she gave him the green light.
But the big question remains: there are millions of others things to sell – why lingerie? He gave several reasons, but to me the most compelling one is this: Malaysians (and Asians in general) like to buy their intimate wear privately rather than in shops. And what can be more private than purchasing stuff online? (more…)
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