Archive for the ‘general’ Category
Saturday, February 4th, 2012 |
It was reported in The Star on 5th January 2012 that a Chinese female prostitute in her 20s made RM15,040 in just 2 weeks in Penang, from apparently 88 customers, as shown by handwritten records of payments between RM150 and RM180.
As usual, these people come in as tourists.
She was nabbed at a service apartment block in Bukit Dumbar on 3rd January 2012.
I can see the comments coming in thick and fast: she must be exceptionally attractive, no?
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Sunday, December 25th, 2011 |
Note: the biggest contracts does not necessarily mean biggest earnings, since non-team sports like golf, tennis and boxing are not employed by a club or team.
The biggest contract is of Alex Rodriguez, baseball player with the New York Yankees has a 10 year contract (2008-2017) worth USD275 million. That means he’d be paid around USD170K per game.
Lionel Messi, footballer with Barcelona FC has an 8 year contract (2008-2016) worth USD148.8 million, but he reportedy gets paid even more per game than Rodriguez: USD500K. For the record, his rival Cristiano Ronaldo, footballer with Real Madrid has a 10 year contract (2008-2017) worth USD170 million, and gets paid USD400K per game.
But those figures pale in comparison with what some Formula 1 driver get. Kimi Räikkönen, who signed a 3 year contract (2007-2009) as Ferrari’s Formula 1 driver reportedly earned USD2.9 million per race. Even Michael Schumacher in his prime (4 year contract between 1996 & 1999) only got paid USD1.9 million per race.
Of course all these guys are world-famous, all of them should have superhero stamp cufflinks made specially commemorating their achievements.
Source
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Monday, November 7th, 2011 |
Dubbed the Manchester City of Russia, Anzhi Makhachkala of Dagestan is not exactly a world-famous football club.
But everything changed when local boy Suleiman Kerimov intervened. He’s the world’s 118th richest person, with a reported net worth of USD7.8 billion.
Never mind the fact that Makhachkala is located in one of the most dangerous parts of Russia, that during home matchdays, armed police patrol outside the football stadium.
The money offered is irresistible, even to one of the world’s top footballers in one of the world’s top clubs.
Cameroonian striker Eto’o moved to Anzhi from Inter Milan in August 2011, having been offered a salary of a reported USD560,000 a week (equivalent to more than RM6 million a month), hence making him the highest paid footballer on earth.
Yes, he gets even more than Lionel, Cristiano or Wayne.
Anzhi already has one instantly recognisable name in its roster: player-manager Roberto Carlos from Real Madrid.
Source
The BBC, 5 Nov 2011
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Saturday, November 5th, 2011 |
On 1st November 2011 it was reported by The BBC that Queen Victoria’s huge silk bloomers (olden type underwear for ladies) has sold for almost GBP10,000.
Queen Victoria is Britain’s longest serving monarch.
Many other royal items were also auctioned and money changed hands, but due to its unusualness and the usual naughtiness associated with undergarments, the panties made for the biggest headlines.
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Monday, October 24th, 2011 |
As reported in The Star in April 2011.
The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) president, SM Mohamed Idris, was quoted to have said that the acceptable debt service ratio (the ratio of debt payments to disposable income) is 30% of a household’s total income.
However, in 2010, Malaysia’s ratio was 47.8%. Most of the debt payments go to housing loans, car loans, personal use, securities purchase and credit cards.
On average, the loans taken by a household in Malaysia was 1.4 times more than its income.
Malaysia’s ratio of household debt to disposable income is 140.4%, one of the world’s highest. Compare that to the USA’s 123.3%, Singapore’s 105.3%, and Thailand’s 52.7% in 2009.
That means the increase in personal consumption is driven by debt rather than by income growth. This is not sustainable – any increase in interest rates and inflation will spell trouble – if not insolvency, stress, depression, mental problems, family break-ups, even suicides.
So, ensure you can afford nutritional counseling before going for the services of austin nutritionists.
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Monday, October 24th, 2011 |
The ultimate campervan / motorhome is more like a motormansion or palace on wheels.
Make: Marchi Mobile (Austria)
Model: eleMMent palazzo
Est cost: more than RM9 million.
Specs:
- master bedroom with attached rainfall shower & 40″ flatscreen TV
- toilet
- lounge
- driver’s cab c/w bunk bed
- glow-in-the-dark paint (for night safety)
- underfloor heating
- pop-up bar
- pop-up roof terrace (215 sq ft)
- mobile internet
- fireplace
- streaming video surveillance
- satellite TV
- carbon-fibre rear diffuser
- double tube sport exhaust
- total floor area: 430 sq ft
- length: 40′
- engine: 510bhp
- weight: 20 ton
- top speed: 93mph
- fuel efficiency: 13mpg
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Sunday, October 16th, 2011 |
In August 2011 the Daily Mail reported that a one-of-a-kind Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, the world’s fastest car has been advertised for GBP2.1 million (that’s more than RM10 million).
It can run up to 268 mph, but the speed’s limited to 257 mph to protect the tyres.
It is the most expensive new car to ever be advertised.
Specs:
- 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds; 0-124mph in 6.7 seconds; covers 1 mile in 23.6 seconds.
- quad-turbocharged 8 litre engine
- 1,200bhp
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Wednesday, October 12th, 2011 |
As reported in The Star on 21st August 2011.
It cited the case of Mazlan Ahmad, a technician in a factory who worked for 30 years and retired at age 55. He had RM155K in EPF and RM20K in savings, a total of RM175K. A year after retirement, he’d spent RM30K (RM2,500 per month). That means his nest egg will be empty in less than 6 years. The next year, he decided to be back at work for his former company. He didn’t have a house or car to pay off, and his children had all grown up and leading their own lives. Yet, Mazlan felt that he could only retire comfortably if he had RM1 million in savings.
According to the 2010 EPF report, most Malaysians have an average RM146K in savings upon retirement, and 70% of them will use up all their EPF money within 3 years of retiring. Malaysians have a life expectancy of 74 years, so Mazlan has about 20 years to go.
Prices of fuel and food keep increasing, not mentioning the increasing medical expenses as one grows older, so it’s a real worry, even if those loans and children’s education are out of the way.
Rajen Devadason, a Securities Commission-licensed financial planner with MAAKL Mutual Bhd, estimates that 80%-90% of middle-aged urban Malaysians will need RM500K-RM5 milion in order to retire comfortably in the next 3 decades. Yet, most will fail to build a nest egg of that size due to it not being a major life goal. Therefore, people have to start financial planning for retirement earliest possible. If you begin saving and investing in your 30s and 40s, you can hit RM1 million, but you need to sacrifice short-term thrills for long-term value.
Yap Ming Hui, managing director of Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd, estimates the amount to be at least RM1 million, because if one spent RM4K a month, RM1 million could last about 20 years, after allowing for inflation. He points out that what matters is not how much you earn, but rather how much you save; in other words, you need to live within your means. He adds that one should save at least 30% of their gross income, and that one must invest so that their money grows higher than the rate of inflation, like property, the share market, unit trust funds and commodities such as gold. Then remember the golden rule: don’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Financial advisor Cheong Mei Kay says while many people accumulate wealth, it is more important to grow it. And start early – she advises that youngsters start with low risk investment or savings like fixed deposit or a saving account in an insurance company before attempting medium-higher risk investments.
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Saturday, September 24th, 2011 |
It was reported in The Star (Malaysia) on 12th September 2011 that Star Publications (M) Bhd executive deputy chairman Datuk Vincent Lee has given the following tips to new graduates at Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (Utar) convocation:
– be creative and dare to take risks
- avoid conformity
- having a mortarboard no longer guarantees a safe future as it is a “scary world” out there; but don’t be scared
- be inspired by the possibilities
He then went on to promote his upcoming book “Why Stupid’ People Get Richer” by saying:
There have been many cases of successful people who were not deemed to be “clever” during their schooldays and yet, later on in life, they became very rich. This is because they never gave up – they keep on running.
Some rules:
- sometimes one needs to be insightful, and move on blind faith.
- don’t chase after money but dreams
- mix with people with ideas and not those with money
- 51-49 rule: if you think the chances of success are not less than 51%, just do it. There are no fail-safe ideas. It is better to learn to ride on three wheels than never be able to ride at all.
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Friday, June 3rd, 2011 |
Our family day recently had about 200 people in attendance. We did collection for food and soft drinks, and allocated RM3,000 for those. It turned out to be more than enough.
The most expensive of the food must’ve been the “babi kampung” which cost RM360 and we slaughtered & cooked ourselves.
As for the 2 camps and alcoholic drinks, those were covered by personal donations. There might have been up to 20 crates of beer, a few bottles of whisky, a few gallons of bahar and 4 “kakanan” of “tapai.”
The program started 10am and lasted for 12 hours, when the karaoke set finally went quiet.
The other family day I was supposed to attend had about 300 in attendance and was more elaborate because it was more established. And I heard it had more drinks: 50 crates of beer for starters.
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