Hunter X Hunter (2011): Snowballing towards bankruptcy.

I am still watching Hunter X Hunter (2011) and here are a few screen captures (with English sub-titles) from the last episode I watched:

Cool, isn't it? Wasn't expecting anything like this in an anime of this genre.

Related posts:
1. Get on top of your finances!
2. Don't think and grow rich!
3. Not enough money to be married.
4. Good debt is always good?
5. AK71 is watching Hunter X Hunter (2011).

The last bit of moisturiser wasted.

I prefer tubes to tubs because there is less exposure of the content to air. However, I really dislike how some of the content will go to waste.

Front.

Back.



Side. How to squeeze anymore?

If this were a plastic tube, I would have cut the tube in half to get the last bit of moisturiser left in it. This is, however, a metal tube.

Oh, well.

Related post:
Shea Butter Cream.

Don't waste the last bit of jam (and almond butter).

This is my favourite brand of jam:

There will always be some jam left at the base of the jar and on the inside of the walls. I hate to waste. So, I would fill the jar with water, cap the jar and shake vigorously (yah, I am a closet bar tender).

Voila! Atas looking fruit juice (with bits of real fruit)!
--------------------
Update:  15 June 2016.
I haven't had any jam or peanut butter in a long time since I started on healthier eating.

Instead of peanut butter, I take almond butter which is a healthier alternative. Almond butter is pretty pricey but my health is worth it.

No matter how I scrape the inside and base of the jar, there will be always be a bit of almond butter left. What to do?

Scoop in some steamed rice and stir things up a bit.

Yummy almond butter rice.

Very little is wasted.

Voila! Have some almond butter rice for dessert!

Related post:
Waste not, want not, save lots.

What can investors learn from assassins?

I am spending quite a bit of time watching Hunter X Hunter (2011) now.

In the latest episode I watched, Killua thought of the advice his father, a professional assassin, gave him:

"Listen to me... Never take risks.

"Act only when success is guaranteed.

"Otherwise, wait.

"Waiting is our most crucial job.

"If victory isn't assured, revealing your strength is the most foolish move to make."

What can investors learn from assassins? I wonder.

Related posts:
1. Hunter X Hunter (2011).
2. AK71's simple strategy.

Genmaicha.

I drink green tea regularly. It is an inexpensive and healthy drink with antioxidants, not the sweetened types sold in cans and bottles, of course.

Then, I was introduced to Genmaicha a few years ago at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. Very nice!

What is Genmaicha? Green tea with roasted brown rice.

This type of tea was originally drunk by poor Japanese, as the rice served as a filler and reduced the price of the tea; which is why it is also known as the "people's tea." It was also used by those persons fasting for religious purposes or who found themselves to be between meals for long periods of time.
Source: Wikipedia.



Today, instead of buying my regular OSK green tea from NTUC Fairprice, I bought a box of Genmaicha. 50 satchets for only S$5.95.

Made in Japan and not by its neighbour.

Individually packed.

Nice color.

Will provide me with weeks of drinking pleasure without the atas pricing of Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. That makes me happy!

Marco Polo Marine: Exciting times ahead!

Today, Marco Polo Marine's share price rose significantly on the back of much higher volume and the recent visit by a group of investors to the company's yard in Batam could have something to do with it:

Last week, we brought a group of investors to MPM’s Batam yard. We saw all three drydocks busy with repair operations, and the construction of a third-party 8,000bhp AHTS vessel and two similar vessels for its own fleet. In preparation for better shipbuilding times, a new slipway is almost complete. Investors were most interested in the company’s 20% net margins.

 

 

MPM and associate PT BBR are on the cusp of renewing their AHTS charters, with current contracts expiring in September to November. With AHTS supply still trailing far demand in Indonesia, we are highly confident that each vessel will be re-chartered immediately at prevailing market rates, which are 33% higher.

Source: OSK-DMG, 25 Sep 2013

 Good things come to those who wait.

Related post:
Marco Polo Marine: Will FY2013 better FY2012?

AK71 is watching Hunter X Hunter (2011).

I watched Hunter X Hunter more than 10 years ago! Those days, I would buy the VCD box sets from Poh Kim or was it Laser Flair? Hmmm, maybe TS Video? I cannot remember exactly.

Well, I didn't know they had a remake a couple of years ago. I like it!




Love the music!

Rediscovered a time guzzler.

Related post:
AK71 is watching Fairy Tail.

Rice flour and chopped turnip.

I have not had these in a long time. What? Look like slugs?


Food!



Food?

And it is the first time in my life that I am having them without any sweet sauce or chilli sauce!

This is definitely food!

Actually, they are already quite tasty without any sauce. The filling on the inside is peppery, slightly sweet and slightly salty. Goes well with the bland wrap.

I decided to be brave and chose a healthier option by not adding any sauce. Thankfully, they still taste good without sauce. In fact, I think I like them without sauce. Older people like food to be more bland, I suppose. -.-"

In case you are not a local and do not know what these are, they are Soon Kueh, 笋粿, a local steamed dumpling of rice flour skin and chopped turnip filling. A delicacy! Kidding!

OK, time for some hot green tea. Perfect!

Be a real estate owner the easy way (4).

This is on the front page of The Business Times today:

"Authorities urged to act as investors are lured with no-cash outlay claims, fee waivers.

"Bold claims by property experts of wielding the secret technique of buying homes with no cash outlay or owning multiple properties have proliferated in recent months, as investors look for ways to circumvent the successive rounds of cooling measures.

"... generating high returns, having the right opportunities identified and served up on a platter, and gaining financial freedom are some of the enticements dangled by newspaper advertisements on a daily basis.

"... Investors .... are not only drawn in by claims that these experts, who range from authors to enterprise award winners, have made millions from the property scene, but also that they get to waive the registration fees which can cost a few hundred dollars."

I believe that there is no free lunch in this world. No one is going to be altruistic enough to help us if there isn't anything in it for them. How to buy a property with no cash outlay? I wonder.

So, if I had gone for a free seminar, told them I was interested to make money from investing in property but I had no money, would they still welcome me? Again, I wonder.

Perhaps, there is such a thing as a free lunch.

Related post:
Be a real estate owner the easy way (3).

A meal with numerous benefits.

What did I have for lunch?

Add some soy bean milk:

Yummy, nutritious, filling and inexpensive too!

If you are wondering what might the health benefits be, here is a list:

May Boost Nutrition Profile of Gluten-free Diets

... adding oats to a gluten-free diet may enhance the nutritional values of the diets, particularly for vitamins and minerals, as well as increasing antioxidant levels.

Increase Appetite-Control Hormones

... researchers studied 14 people who ate a control meal and 3 different cereals with different levels of oat beta glucan. They then collected blood samples for 4 hours after each meal, and found a significant dose response between higher levels of oat beta glucan and higher levels of Peptide Y-Y, a hormone associated with appetite control.

 Improve Immune System Defenses

... researchers ...  found that, in addition to reducing cholesterol and blunting glycemic and insulin response,  beta glucans boost defenses of the immune system agains bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites.

May Help Reduce the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

...  patients were introduced to a diabetes-appropriate diet containing oatmeal during a short hospital stay, then examined again 4 weeks later. On average, patients achieved a 40% reduction in insulin dosage – and maintained the reduction even after 4 weeks on their own at home.

Lower Bad Cholesterol

Researchers ... randomly assigned 36 overweight middle-aged men to eat either an oat or wheat cereal daily for 12 weeks... the men eating the oat cereal had lower concentrations of small, dense LDL cholesterol (thought to be particularly dangerous) and lower LDL overall, compared to those in the wheat group...

Help Control Blood Pressure

The oat group enjoyed a 7.5mm Hg reduction in systolic blood pressure and a 5.5 mm Hg reduction in diastolic blood pressure, while the wheat group was unchanged.

Read article: here.

Want to give it a try? How to cook oatmeal?

See AK71 the cook in action:
A healthy, low cost meal.

What should I do when I'm down 25%?

If you can't convince yourself "When I'm down 25%, I'm a buyer" and banish forever the fatal thought "When I'm down 25%, I'm a seller," then you'll never make a decent profit in stocks. (Page 246, One Up On Wall Street)

If we are holding stock of a good company and if the price should decline, the logical thing for us to do is to buy more since the stock has become cheaper, especially if there is a good margin of safety. 

Why sell?





Remember that Peter Lynch is all about FA and I have no doubt that TA practitioners will be able to explain why selling might be a good idea based on chart action. 

Peter Lynch doesn't believe in stop loss, by the way.

I think, as retail investors, we have to take the middle ground. 

We probably do not have the financial muscles of a fund manager like Peter Lynch and to do what he advocates, we must always have a war chest ready.





How to have a war chest ready? 

Well, we should save as much of our earned income as we could from employment, for a start. 

However, this could be painfully slow.

So, we have to be pragmatic and take some money off the table when prices run up significantly once in a while. 

We have to grow our war chests ourselves since we cannot get fresh funds from new unit holders like fund managers can. 

This way, we would be able to buy even more if prices were to plunge significantly for some strange reasons.





Obviously, there are always two sides to a coin. We could decide to sell and prices could go higher after we have sold. 

Prices could also go lower after we have bought more. Well, that is the way Mr. Market is.  

He doesn't care what we have done. He will do what he will do.

This is why many people focus their attention on asking what might be or could be happening in future. 

They try their best to guess what Mr. Market will do.





Indeed, questions in the form of "Will the price fall/rise in the next month/quarter/year?" are quite common in some quarters.

To me, the important thing to know is "What should I do?" given a certain set of circumstances. 

So, what should I do when I'm down 25%, for example?





Related posts:
1. How to be "One Up On Wall Street?"
2. A common piece of advice on saving.
3. When to BUY, HOLD or SELL?
4. Be prepared for war!
5. Risks and rewards: TA and FA.
6. Where did I go wrong?