Book Review:The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick)

I read this book recently. Excellent book on something which we know but fail to understand sometimes. Author Seth Godin also runs a blog @ http://sethgodin.typepad.com/. This is the first book I read from his shelf!

• Easy to read book
• Interesting topic to follow - focus on "The Dip"
• Small foot print - just 80 pages to read !
• Thought the advice given in the book is pretty obvious sometimes, it does make a lot of sense with Godin's writing !
• Great buy as a gift to friends & to pass on to friends who will love to read a small book
  

To understand the topic well - probably need to read it twice !. Though it tells you that you need to go through "The Dip" before you reap the rewards waiting for you at the end. He gives a nice example of CEO, who also needs to spend 20+ years listening/working for others before he/she can get to a level to be promoted as CEO !

Overall a great motivational book for everyone...

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Singapore: Choosing mode of Transport !

Singapore is great ! It has excellent means of transportation when you need. It is up to you to decide whether you want to take a Bus, MRT or Taxi. It is not true that the Taxi will always cost you more than the bus(well in $ terms yes !)....lets take an example here to explain this !

You(total 4 people) want to goto IKEA from Hougang during non-peak hours on weekend. You have 2 options Bus or Taxi.

Taking Bus

• Using the http://www.sbstransit.com.sg website we can plan the journey
• The service 27 will go directly to IKEA from Hougang Central Interchange.
• The cost will be $1.18 per person = $4.72
• The time to reach is probably around 30 mins.

Taking Taxi

• Take a Taxi from same starting point to IKEA
  
• The Fare would be around $6.30 for 4 persons
  
• Time to reach IKEA(at drop-off point) is max 15-20 mins as we go by Highway !

So its upto you to decide when to take a Taxi or Bus depending upon your mood, convenience. As sometimes it rains so heavy in Singapore that you will be half-wet by the time you reach the Bus Interchange from your house !

But the same math is tricky when you are going during peak hours & during weekday. As it adds Peak hour charges & ERP charges which are quite high depending on the time of the day.

This was just an example. When going long distance & where MRT station is direct on the same line, MRT is the fastest & cheapest mode of transport.

I will write more on this subject & means to save cost while traveling in Singapore ;)

enjoy !

Indian food @ Changi Airport, Singapore

After long time had a taste of Indian Food at Changi Airport, Singapore !. I have been here many times & ate only at Kaveri at Terminal 2. This time things are changed at Terminal 1 and there is one Indian Restuarant here called "Mirchi". I am generally vary of any new restuarant which has a North Indian name & selling South Indian food :).

I gave it a try to Mirchi.

In my opinion if the restuarant cannot make Saambhar well which is essential part of South Indian Meal, then there is no point in trying other dishes :).

I could conclude that the food at Kaveri is much better than Mirchi. Also prices are all jacked up. For Idli plate they are charging $6.00, whereas same costs less than $3 in Singapore City...but this is everywhere ..on airports the stuff is always expensive !

enjoy !

Mutual Funds Statements Online !

For all who riding the markets with Mutual Funds, this is a good post to read!..well I am not marketing ..but in a way this is called as cheap marketing :)

As you know that all Mutual Funds are processed either by the AMC or some other 3rd party processing company like CAMS. So these are the guys who send you the MF Statement every month for the AMC they work with.

I believe that 95% of the investors who get these statements every month, do not bother to check that & if they have invested in multiple funds it generates loads of statements every month + the extra trash at home !

So you have a quick solution now for AMCs which are doing business via CAMS.

Here is all you need to do to simplify your life :)

1. Visit the following link : Link to setup email delivery of MF Statements
2. Goto option : Statement Delivery
3. Fill up the following form on the web page :







3. Click on the "Submit" button.

List of AMCs working with CAMS is shown in the List : AMC Name.


I like this facility very much. CAMS also has an facility to provide online Consolidated Portfolio Report for all your investments in MF. That's in next post !

Enjoy !

Indian Market Crash..Sensex down 621 pts & Nifty by 187 pts

I was watching it. Sensex was down 621 points or 4.14% at 14,380.13 and Nifty was lower by 187 points or 4.29% at 4182.6. It is good for the investor to get a taste of this kind of volatility once in a while ! Helps us to understand that market always do not go upward(which many people thought that it does in last 2 years!).

I feel comfortable in investments in Mutual Funds only at this time. Remember ..do not panic and stop your SIP for MF. At the same time do not wait if you have cash which you do not need for next 3 years and you planned to put that in a MF today. Market timing is the last thing you want to guess :)

Some good reading :

Get rid of that hefty debt from your wallet
12 Things I Will Never Spend A Dime On - I like this one very much..very important to know where you really want to spend

Happy Investing !

Happy Independence Day !!

Well I have seen people saying/SMS'ing/Email'ing "Happy Valentine Day", "Happy Parents Day", "Happy Mothers Day" ..but did not meet any Indian today saying "Happy Independence Day" to me or to anybody on 15th August 2007 ...well that's how things are ..

Living without Google :) ..Imagine !

I really can't imagine living without Google !. What i mean is that I am used to the simplicity provided by Google in everything we do today is just superb.

I am writing this post just to record some of the changes I have seen in this Internet world in last 10 years which affected me most !

Email
I got introduced to email in 1996 by creating account in http://www.rocketmail.com(which was taken over by Yahoo later). In those days of Dial-up, rocketmail was the only fastest plain webmail I found other than Hotmail and yahoo off course. Then I opened Yahoo & Hotmail account too. But today I only use GMail 99% of the time :)

Search
I remember http://www.altavista.com & http://www.yahoo.com were my BEST Search engines..but today I only do Google :) ..well I have not seen anybody using other than Google for search in last 7 years ..

Online Docs
I used to use Yahoo Briefcase to store documents sometimes. But Google Docs made life simple !. The best part is that it not just allows you to store Docs, but spreadsheets too.

Reading
I used to read blogs using bookmarks. Now I read only the Blogs which are updated & which are configured in my Google Reader. It makes life so easy & increases productivity a lot. btw ..reading blog could harm your productivity :)

Blogging
I started blogging almost 2 years ago & now Blogger is part of Google :)

Maps
Maps always interests me. I don't know why but I love reading maps & figuring out places of my interest on Google Maps. Google Earth is just superb. Most of the Road Network is now on Google Maps..so no more paper maps - save trees & money !

Chat / Instant Messaging
I don't remember when I switched from YM or AIM to Google Talk !. It was natural for me to shift with having the ease of one account for everything I do on Internet.

Money
Well, this is something the best part of Google. Use FREE Google to earn money by using Google Adsense ;)

I am sure many of us had the same experience with Google....

btw ..Google Adsense did not pay me for writing this post :) ..But if many people read this & hit few clicks on the Ads, I might get few cents !!

Indian Restaurant Singapore : Raj Prime

Having been to the place 3 times in last 2 months, I think it is right time to write about it.

Location : 76 Syed Alwi Road near Mustafa

This is a typical Indian Restaurant in Singapore. Which serves North Indian & south Indian dishes too. I got reference about this restaurant in one of the excellent blog about food in Singapore : http://eatbma.blogspot.com/.

Overall the place is good for chat items(Papdi chat, raj kachori , paani puri etc ..) but for other dishes like Pav bhaji, north Indian dishes(I have not tried many though) I am not sure how good it would be ..I personally did not like the pav bhaaji, veg. cutlet at all. Also specially if you need to give any suggestion about the dish, busy evening is not a good time to talk to the manager about it :) One other thing is that sometime the dish is not served hot which is supposed to served hot ..e.g. pav bhaji !. While I find this problem in many Indian Restaurant's here, I like to eat Idli / dosa with Hot sambhar rather than having it served cold :(

If you are going on a weekend evening, then it is not the right place really as it really get crowded. Which is true for any restaurant though !!. About the service, they are quick but surely not good in serving with passion(which I have seen in some of other places ..specially at Khana Khazana in Hong Kong)

Though it is better than other usual places I have tried like Komala's(this is good for fast food like quick lunch, idli, dosa ..), Ananda Bhavan(same as Komala's) , it is certainly not a place where you want to go for a special occasion & expect a great food served to you !. I would still try this place few more times for chat items & write about it for the benefit of people who are searching for good Indian food in Singapore !.

btw till date I have not found a good Indian Restaurant in Singapore, which is reasonably priced & also serve authentic Indian Food ..may be I am expecting too much :)

मेरा हिंदी टैपिंग का प्रयोग !!

मुझे बहुत दिनों से हिंदी में ब्लोग्गिंग करना था। आज टाइम् मिल है !! ..और बहुत अच्छा लग रह है येः गूगल का इंटेलिजेंस देख कर ..वाह क्या बात है :) ..

Stock and Mutual Fund Recommendations by The Hindu

I got this good link today about some Stock and Mutual Fund Recommendation page by The Hindu.

I found the summary of stocks & mutual funds good. Specially a small description on what is the objective of the fund is a good idea. You can quickly glance through the summary & then also review it on http://www.valueresearchonline.com's Fund Card to understand more. Its a good start for someone looking for quick objective for the fund and some statistics. Obviously before starting an investment in Mutual Fund, please go through your objectives of investment in the equity market ;)

One more page to watch out :)

Happy Investing !

website for HDB flats on rent in singapore

I got to know about one more website today which allows people to see HDB flats or Condo's on rent in Singapore. It is quite simple website with relevant information only. Also the good part is that it has many listings which are from direct owners too !!

Website : http://singapore.roomsdb.net/

enjoy !

HDB Rental Data for Singapore !

With HDB rental rates are rising every month. Finally govt has stepped to provide some more information to people who need to know what is the prevailing rate in a particular area.

Checkout : HDB Link to rental rates

This is really a good information to all who are seeking HDB rental in Singapore. By looking at the data it does look near to what really is being offered. But as I guess this data is for the approved HDB units which are rented out.

Fund Card on Valueresearchonline website

I noticed a new feature on http://www.valueresearchonline.com. It is Fund Card. Goto to the "Mutual Funds" and select any Mutual Fund of your Choice from the list on the first page. On the right side of "Relative Performance " there is a BIG Adobe PDF Icon which says "Download Fundcard". Click on that and you get a Fund Card of the Fund you are looking at.

Its a great tool to analyze the fund in which you want to invest. Provides good summary of returns over a period. Some charts to understand performance. History of expense ratio. Expense ratio is something I have started looking recently. I guess it makes lot of sense to read this kind of stuff once in a while to understand what your fund or fund manager is doing !

With my personal experience so far(last 2 years) ..I would recommend following way to Invest in MFs

• Invest in few Equity Diversified Funds only
• Do not expect great returns always !
• Do Invest rather than just saving the money(I will blog more on this!)
• Track your portfolio every 3-6 monhs
• Create a Net worth Statement & do update it every month(check out Build your own net worth calculator)
• Do not over-diversify(i.e. do not try to invest in too many funds)
• Understand your objectives of investing in Equity very well
• Do book profits if you need too !
• Do not book profits if you don't know what you will do with that money !
• Read blogs on Equity Investing !! - My favorites I will post later
  
• the list go on ....

I started investing very late in Equity & regret that time lost. Look at this handy Calculator to understand how you can benefit from compounding in long-term.

Review : Simplify Your Life by Elaine St.James

I recently got to know about this book Simplify Your Life by Elaine St.James from http://zenhabits.net/ . I like this website, it has loads of information related to productivity & simplicity too !!.

Book Review

Rating : **.* (2.5 Stars !!)

This book is good for reading when you don't have anything else to do & want to read something light. Though the book claims to provide lot of ideas (100 !!) to Simplify Your Life, it is more of a common sense. This book is written in typical American style & also for Americans who are probably rich to have Boats & houses(like "keep your plants outdoor", Replace your lawn with ground water", "plan a garden" etc ) !!

Some of the ideas are just extreme .. "no phone", "not answering the door", "don't answer the phone" ..these do not seem to be practical ideas to implement.

There is a desperate attempt to make the list 100 !!.

I agree to few ideas like "Cancel your magazine subscriptions", "Drive a simple car", "Reduce clutter" , "stop junk mail" etc ...

Its not worth to buy this book. Its good to loan from a library or a friend :)

Indian Income Tax Return filing made simple : ITR2 !!

Things are improving with Indian Government. Specially with Income Tax Department they have improved the way we can file Income Tax Returns this year. Well we know that the IT Return Form is changed this year too :( ..But still there are more utilities this year to help you to file returns.

So if you want to file ITR2 Form(When you have both Salary Income & Loss from House property).

Follow the Simple Steps & you will be done with ITR2 in 30 mins.

1. Take your Forms 16
2. Download Acrobat Reader 8.1(This is required, Acrobat Reader 7.0 will give issues)
   
3. Download ITR2 from (Its a 849 KB file): http://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/portal/downloads/itr/ITR2_Version1.0.pdf
4. Open the ITR2 downloaded from above link using Acrobat Reader 8.1
5. Fill up the Form based on details from Forms 16(Including Schedule CYLA For Loss of House Property - Enter the figure in +VE number)
6. Ensure all details are filled up - btw this version allows you to SAVE the details entered !!
   
7. Goto the last page & Click on button "Check Form". This will give any errors if any based on the checks designed for this form - like Date not entered, Address not entered.
8. Then click on "Generate BarCode" button. This will generate the Bar Code on the first page. btw ..I am not sure about this though yet as sometime it does not generate :)
9. Print the Form
10. Submit to the local Income dept :) .. NO ATTACHMENTS ..Hurray !! ..Save Trees !!
    
11. Go home/office(If u are using office time for submitting the Form !!) & enjoy !!

So be happy with the way things are improving with govt. depts !!

Issue with ITR2 Form & Acrobat 8.1 :

• Acrobat Reader 8.1 takes too much of memory & CPU
• The CPU goes to 100% ..That is because it automatically loads Acrobat Updates Software & starts downloading something in background - Exit that updater !!
• Close all applications & use only Acrobat Reader 8.1 or 8.0 to open & fill up this ITR2 form.
• If you generate the BarCode once, later on if you try to generate again, it may not :)

Hope this post helps many & saves their time !!

Return to India

After coming to Singapore, I have been using internet means to keep in touch with India..specially Bangalore !!. I found this blog very informative : http://r2blore.blogspot.com.

Very nicely written blog by somebody who recently moved back to India after staying in USA for many years. Good perspective of moving challenges & adjusting to the new place/city/country.

The other ways to keep in touch :

• News websites - not very good though !! - http://www.ibnlive.vom..ndtv.com etc
  
• Blogs - Highly recommend this if you find a blog which really gives you good idea of what's happening in your home country/city.
  
• http://banglore.metblogs.com
• Google Talk :) ..Yes keep chatting with your friends relatives often
• SMS !! ..Not very fond of this ..but this helps too
• Phone Call .. buy the cheapest card in the town :) ..I found "Tiger" Phone card very good. It provides 131 minutes of India calling for $8 :) ..There are others like Mustafa Calling card..
• FLY - Yes one needs to really visit India to see what's happening :)
  

Cost of living in Singapore - July 2007

I thought of updating "Cost of living Singapore" since I last wrote it in April-07. As I have been tracking my expenses using http://www.buxfer.com, it gives me good idea as to how the expenses are over a period of time.

I would put a word of caution here that these are just a guideline for "cost of living in Singapore". As the expenses vary a lot depending on the factors like, lifestyle, area of living, personal preferences etc ... But this post does provide a rough idea as to what you can expect when you move here in terms of fixed/variable expenses.

Also I talk to many people to get more understanding on how much they spend overall on a monthly basis for living(again based on moderate lifestyle). Which certainly helps if someone wants to move around Singapore.

All the below are Singapore Dollar values.

Rent: Rent is gone up :(. Yes, recently some of friends who moved in find that the the HDB flat which was around $1200-1300, is now available for $1500. So this is a cause of concern for many people. But there are still ways to get Rent under your budget

• Avoid staying near City
• Try to be firm on your budget when talking to Agents
• Do not rent very near to MRT(But near to Bus stop is a must !!)
• View flats as many as you can before you decide on one you want to stay.

Play school : Playschool fees varies a lot in Singapore. If you go for something which is near Condo or Landed Properties(a term used for Bunglow/House in Singapore!). You would have to shell out more for the playschool. Look out for more options near your accomodation before you decide on something. Remember, that expensive playschool does not mean it is good for sure. Talk to your friends before you enroll.

Internet: For Internet you have many options, so check all options before you decide on something. As this is a fixed expense & has penalty clause when you terminate the contract.

Grocery : Another big ticket item after rent !!. With GST increase from July 1st 2007, there is little hike in overall grocery expense.

Hope this helps !!

Reference : Cost of Living in Singapore 2008

Feel good factor !!

One always needs motivation of some kind to do work, is it true always ? ...No I guess !! .I started this blog more than year ago to share my experience in different expects of life & help others to know something which will help them in daily life.

I feel good when somebody hits this blog & it really helps them in some way !!

Yesterday I got a comment from website : http://www.livinginsingapore.org/ regarding one of blog entry :Cost of living Singapore - 2007

The comment is : "This is one of the most informative cost of living comparisons I've seen recently - thanks for writing this up."

This motivates me to blog more about things I knew from my own experience here in Singapore which would help others.

I saw the website http://www.livinginsingapore.org/ & it seems to provide good information Singapore overall.

I would write more on "cost of living Singapore" in my next post, as things have changed a bit in last 6 months. Hope it helps some more people when they want to know more about Singapore before they take an decision to move here.

Rising Health care costs :(

The point I would like to make here is that the health care cost is increasing YoY & there is no limit to it. It all depends on where you go. If you visit a big hospital the charges are high. Visit the same Dr. in his private clinic, he would probably charge 30% less :). I remember paying Rs. 50 for consultation in Bangalore in 2000. Now the same Dr. charges Rs. 250. Yes its all about inflation. Everybody needs to cope up with that.

My personal suggestions :

• Visit the personal clinic of the Dr. instead of the Big Hospital(if possible)
• Try to maintain a family Dr., so that he does not put you into unnecessary tests/medication.(I remember going for a neck pain to a Dr. & he asked me to do MRI(Rs.6000) as it was available in the same hospital he was consulting !!)
  
• For Pathology Tests, try to visit the nearest pathology lab, instead of doing it via the hospital pathology lab.(You will be surprised !!)
• Give importance to convenience(because you are sick), but lets not hospital take advantage of it.
• Try to ask around in your network before you visit the Dr. for Special consultation like Orthopedic, Skin etc .. Your friends can refer to a good Dr.
  
  

Customer Service in Singapore Post !

A busy afternoon I went to Singapore Post's Branch office to send a letter to one of my friend in India. As soon as I entered I saw a big queue, I was about to stand last in the queue. But then one person comes to me(I was thinking why, is he trying to sell me some service to me :) ) ...No he was from Singapore Post Office !! . He asked me "What would you like to do sir ?", I said "I want to send this letter to India". He said no need to stand in the queue for that sir & he simply directed me to a Machine called as S.A.M.

S.A.M.™(Self-service Automated Machine) is your 24-hour automated post office that allows you to weigh your packages, buy stamps even pay your of bills and fines. And the touch screen makes it all so simple.

Now this is called as service !! .. I was not impressed by the Automation in Singapore, but the kind of service every person provides whether it is government office or privatively held company who cares for customers !! ...Is it something very hard to do this in India ? ...

I am from India & I know there are issues to implement things with growing population. But still there are ways where service can be better. Specially when it comes to post office, my experience with India Post is just great !!

Earlier post on the same subject :

Indian Postal Service ..Amazing !

Experince with Indian Postal Services