Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011 |
According to the Global Wealth Databook 2011 released on 19th October 2011 by Credit Suisse Group, Malaysia has, since early 2010, 39,000 people whose assets are worth at least USD1 million (RM3 million).
In comparison, in Indonesia, the number is 112,000, and in Singapore, 183,000. In total, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have produced 190,000 new millionaires since early 2010. The report defines wealth as a person’s financial + real estate assets minus debt.
Perhaps one surprising finding is that the average household debt in Asia is much lower than in Europe.
Source of this spurt in the number of the nouveau riche:
- weakening US dollar
- people being generally more stingy
- growing savings
- climbing stock and property prices
Going through the report, some other interesting tidbits I found:
- Malaysia has 17.5 million adults
- 21% of Malaysian adults are worth under USD1,000
- 39.2% of Malaysian adults are worth between USD1K and USD10K
- 36% of Malaysian adults are worth between USD10K and USD100K
- 3.8% of Malaysian adults are worth at least USD100K (RM300K). That translates to 670,000 people. Compare that to 84.7 million people in the USA, 61.8 million in Japan, 22 million in China.
- In the whole world, 398.4 million people are worth at least USD100K, and 29.6 million are worth at least USD1 million.
- Malaysians make up 0.39% of world population, and 0.22% of world wealth. Compare that to the USA’s 5.17/25.16, Japan’s 2.31/11.24, Indonesia’s 3.38/0.80, Pakistan’s 2.22/0.22, Singapore’s 0.08/0.47. Notice the trend?
- 34,038 Malaysians are worth between USD1 million and USD5 million
- 3,131 Malaysians are worth between USD5 million and USD10 million
- 2,006 Malaysians are worth between USD10 million and USD50 million
- 184 Malaysians are worth between USD50 million and USD100 million
- 118 Malaysians are worth between USD100 million and USD500 million
- 11 Malaysians are worth between USD500 million and USD1 billion
- 8 Malaysians are billionaires
- Japan has 2.9 million people worth between USD1 million and USD5 million, and 18 billionaires. Compare that to Russia’s mere 75,000 people worth between USD1 million and USD5 million, yet has 101 billionaires.
- 84,700 people in the world are worth at least USD50 million
- 29,000 people in the world are worth at least USD100 million
- 2,700 people in the world are worth at least USD500 million
- To be among the wealthiest half of the world, you need only USD 4,200 in assets (minus debts)
- To be among the wealthiest 10% of the world, you need at least USD 80,000 in assets (minus debts)
- To be among the wealthiest 1% of the world, you need at least USD710,000 in assets (minus debts)
- The richest 10% own 84% of the world’s wealth
- The richest 1% own 44% of the world’s wealth
- The total wealth of all the world’s billionaires is USD4.5 trillion
- The total world household wealth is USD 231 trillion
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Friday, May 20th, 2011 |
It was reported at Yahoo! today that at least 2 fulltime lifeguards at Newport Beach, Southern California earn more than USD200,000 per year, including USD400 for sun blocks.
There are 13 fulltime lifeguards there, and most earn over USD100,000 in total per year.
Base salaries there start at USD58,000 per year and goes all the way to USD108,492 for a battalion chief.
Adding “overtime, special compensation, pension, medical benefits, life insurance and other pay”, 2 battalion chiefs earned, in total, more than USD200K in 2010. The lowest-paid officer made more than USD98,000.
That’s even more than what some doctors and CEOs earn.
In 2010, 7 million people came to Newport Beach, and there were 2,190 water rescues and more than 5,000 medical SOSes. 2 people died.
The fulltime lifeguards can retire at 50; and for their pension, with 30 years of service, get 90% of their last drawn salary.
The top lifeguards defended their salaries, saying:
they hold management roles, have decades of service and are considered public safety employees under the fire department, the same as fire captains and battalion chiefs. In addition, they train more than 200 seasonal lifeguards who make between USD16 and USD22 an hour, run a junior lifeguard program that brings in USD1 million a year and oversee safety on nearly seven miles of sand. They must stay certified as instructors in an array of advanced emergency, scuba and rescue techniques. In winter they stayed busy answering phones and painting guard towers.
Looks like being a lifeguard can be a smart career move.
That’s underlined by a Leonard Musgrave, a retired oil company worker, who has an MBA and engineering degree, supervised more than 14 engineers and made USD111K when he retired 3 years earlier:
I mean, come on! All you have to do is look at good-looking women at the beach. I mean, they shouldn’t even get paid! I’d do it for 10 percent of that pay. That’s a good job.
Source
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Saturday, May 7th, 2011 |
It was reported by Forbes that the founder of Facebook, 26-year-old Mark Zuckerberg is now worth USD13.5 billion. That should make him the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
As of 2010, he owns 24% of Facebook.
The Harvard University dropout is the world’s 52nd richest person and the USA’s 19th richest person.
Not bad for a 6 year old company.
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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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Wednesday, March 17th, 2010 |
Yoshikazu Tanaka, 33 is the world’s second youngest self-made billionaire after Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Asia’s richest person who made his/her fortune via the internet.
According to Forbes, he’s worth USD1.6 billion.
He is one of only 3 billionaires in Asia under the age of 35, and among the 3, the only one self-made.
He founded Japan’s second-biggest social networking site, gree.jp, in 2004, of which he owns 51%. It has about 15 million users (up from 8 million a year ago) and was listed in December 2008.
Japan’s top social networking site is Kenji Kasahara’s Mixi (18 million users), yet Gree is the bigger earning site. Kasahara is worth USD720 million.
His site concentrates on “fun, easy mobile games,” all developed inhouse. New members to his site get “a big-eyed manga-style avatar in underwear.” Then they can go shop for clothes and accessories for it (fancy hats, hairdos, fishing rods, food, even perhaps custom usb drives), then use those in games like virtual fishing, virtual gardening and virtual pet grooming.
Each virtual item cost about USD2: 80% of the site’s income come from sales of these things.
He also forges alliances with telecom companies, eg, KDDI owns 7% of gree, and allows users to access Gree’s website from the home page of KDDI’s mobile phones. 90% of Gree subscribers play games on their mobile phones, and many of them play to pass time while telecommuting.
SALUTE!
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Monday, August 25th, 2008 |
Job description: Make virtual goods in online games to sell to players
Earnings: more than RM400 per month (average)
Size of industry: 500,000 persons, 80% in China. Already comparable in size to India’s outsourcing industry!
Global market size: estimated USD500 million, but true size could easily be twice as big!
Outlook: very bright, growing rapidly. Has become a significant economic sector in many developing nations so much so that gold-farming has been cited as an early exmple of the “virtual offshoring” likely to become more prevalent as people spend more time working and playing in cyberspace.
Mitigating factor: considered illegal by gaming companies
Source
The BBC, 22nd Aug 2008
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Friday, November 9th, 2007 |
Reuters reported on 9th Nov 2007 that The Mark Hotel on East 77th Street, New York is converting several top floors into apartments designed by French decorator Jacques Grange.
It overlooks Manhattan’s posh Upper East Side.
Price: USD150 million, according to New York real estate brokers.
Even for the Big Apple, that price is amazing. While the city can easily attract buyers for multimillion dollar pads, a 3-figure sum is unusual.
Probably because of its uniqueness.
The most expensive apartment currently listed in New York is a USD70 million unit at the The Pierre Hotel.
Specs:
- 3-stories
- 30,000 square-feet
- 26-feet-high ceilings
- a library with fireplace
- a gym
- a spacious terrace with a rooftop pavilion.
So far, Leonard Blavatnik, 50, a Russian oil and real estate magnate, has signed a letter of intent to buy the place. He’s worth USD7 billion according to Forbes (read: he can afford it).
Source
The Star, 9th Nov 2007
nycondoblog
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Friday, July 6th, 2007 |
Read in a newspaper article last month:
(i) As a parent to grown children, you can say that you will change your will every year. It’s a way to ensure the children “toe the line.”
(ii) You can create trust within the will.
(iii) A will is not just about money, it can also spell out guardianship of children.
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Monday, April 16th, 2007 |
Where else do government leaders / top civil servants get paid so much?
Already high, yet still 55% increase in ministers’ salaries. PM Lee said it’s to attract the brightest talents and to curb corruption – but will humans be ever satisfied?
PM Lee’s, 55 salary would have jumped from RM5.58 million a year (RM465,000 per month) to RM7.03 million a year (more than RM585,000 per month), 5 times more than that of George Bush, president of the world’s most powerful economy. And much more than PM Abe of Japan, Asia’s biggest economy. And he’s not the one earning the most – the President earns more.
With immediate effect, the salary structure:
President – $3,187,100 (24.9% increase),
Prime Minister – $3,091,200 (25.5% increase),
Senior Minister – $3,043,300 (13.5% increase),
Minister Mentor (Lee Kuan Yew) – $3,043,300 (13.5% increase),
Deputy Prime Minister – $2,452,500 (18.8% increase),
Minister and Senior Perm Sec – $1,593,500 (32.5% increase) (MR4 Grade),
Entry Superscale Grade – $384,000 (3.3% increase) [SR9 Grade],
MP – $216,300 (23.2% increase)
The government, led by Lee Kuan Yew launched a major campaign to convince the nation but has so far failed.
Middle class Singaporeans earn an average of S$1,500 (RM3,400) a month. The poorest 10% earn S$300 (RM680.70) a month.
In a survey at AsiaOne’s website, only 11.4% supported the idea, 83.7% said no & 4.9% abstained.
Who wants to run for office in Singapore?
source
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