meek-investor

I have some odd lots in my stock portfolio. Some are created by my mistake.  I participated in the scrip dividend scheme for SP Ausnet.  Scrip dividend scheme is intended to give shareholders a choice to convert their entitled dividend payout to more shares in the company.  The subscription price of the scrip dividend scheme is normally given at a slight discount from the market price, in order to make it more attractive for shareholders to subscribe to the scheme.  Moreover,   shareholders do not need to pay any brokerage/transaction fees to convert the dividends into shares.  So, through my mistake in joining the scrip dividend scheme for SP Ausnet, I have some odd lots in this counter.  I think it would be much better for me to take the cash dividend, rather then figuring out how to sell away the odd lots when I want to sell the counter. Some odd lots are not created by choice. 1. When SingTel shares IPO in th...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Customer Service In this episode, we get into a conversation about customer service. Roger's website was recently killed stone dead by a rogue squirrelly bracket ( { ). Unfortunately, the web hosting company didn't make tackling this issue very simple. Listener Dean Read also has a sorry story to tell about replacing a wheel on his car. Jane relates a story from the other side of the spectrum. Her experience of WestJet. Which prompts Roger to retell a story he heard once heard from the remarkable Dinah Liversidge. Links to people and things we mention Chris Brogan Dean Read Dinah Liversidge New rallying point You are a big part of the story of this podcast. We'd like you to be an even bigger part of it. To help with that, and to help us have discussions about being genuinely attractive in business, we've established a LinkedIn group . Please knock on the door and we'll let you in. Country tally Our confirmed country tally as of this week is: 8. We ...

No. STOCK NAME LOTS % PORTFOLIO AVG COST $ 1 Starhub 5 21.61 3.22 2 SPH 4 16.30 3.98 3 SGX 2 13.67 2.68 4 CapitaLand 2 6.83 3.91 5 CapitaMall Trust 3 6.36 1.71 6 CDL HTrust 3 5.48 1.66 7 Starhill Global 6 5.29 0.71 8 Sing Tel 1.2 4.27 3.21 9 Suntec Reit 2 3.55 1.34 10 Hyflux 2.5 3.13 1.70 11 HPH Trust 3 2.82 0.90 12 FE Orchard 1 2.04 1.18 13 CapitaMalls Asia 1 1.92 2.12 14 AIMS AMPI Reit 1 1.66 1.70 15 CitySpring 3 1.36 0.65 16 Sing Post 1 1.18 0.875 17 FE HTrust 1 1.03 0.93 18 SP Ausnet 0.7 0.97 0 19 Yeo Hiap Seng 0.2 0.52 0 Movement in my portfolio in April:- Sold:- Nil Bought:- HPH Trust, Starhill Global, AIMS AMPI Reit. Dividends collected in Apr: $0 2013 avg dividends/month: $161.44 Big "0" for April.  May is the dividends harvesting month.

The law is an ass. Governments are a bigger ass. Ramamritham is the chief ass. But even by those standards this takes the cake. Those familiar with India knows that this poor country indulges in wasteful expenditure of the worst sort. Free colour TVs, grinders, etc have made the news. But the criminal, inexcusable and worst sort of government waste is the subsidy on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG). If there was a word stronger than criminal, I would use it. LPG  is supplied to all and sundry at a subsidy. It is sold at roughly half the cost - the government is supposed to pay the balance half to the oil companies , but it does so as and when it feels like it, or not at all. It is actually quite difficult to estimate how much the total subsidy is as the government hides this in different pockets but my estimate is that this monstrosity costs us some Rs 30,000 crores. The really poor don't use any cooking fuel at all - maybe firewood. The poor use kerosene. Only the relatively rich use...

“To know is nothing at all; to imagine is everything- plus RADIO!” Albert Einstein (and The Business). This week, The Business makes believe with the Imaginary Radio team, Drennon Davis and Nick Stargu! From his elaborate characters and sketches, to his provocative songs and animation, Drennon has made a name for himself as one of the most innovative minds in today’s comedy scene. His live performances of the Imaginary Radio Program combine live music and beat-boxing with one-man sketches into a show that the Los Angeles Comedy Bureau writes "not only lives up to its name, but exceeds expectation in what you could possibly think it is."   Nick Stargu is DJ REAL, a San Francisco-based alternative musical comedy act. Performing all original songs, complete with costume changes, bad dance moves, and interactive multimedia, DJ REAL’s live act has been likened to the Talking Heads, The Residents, and Steve Martin. With a wide range of influences, DJ REAL’s songs vary from hip-ho...

Capitalism, and more specifically markets, is the best mechanism humans have invented to pool resources from where they are available and get them to where they are needed the most.  This is true of capital. This is true of raw materials. This is also true of goods and services. This is , alas, not true of talent. Talent is a blessing given by God to some of us. It would be vain to consider that talent is something we have earned. Yes, we may have nurtured it; yes we may have developed it; yes we may have worked extremely hard on it. But no; "we didn't build it" (with full apologies to the GOP). It was given to us. And from those to whom much is given; much is expected too. You would expect that mankind would devise mechanisms whereby the world's best talent works on the most pressing problems facing it.  But here, mankind's mechanism to channel resources seems to fail. For sure, there is a talent market that pools talent and sends them to who is ready to pay the ...

TOPICS THIS WEEK: Fear, Firewalking, The Flinch by Julien Smith, SOBCon, Social Media Camp Fear is a powerful hurdle we all have to overcome in life. Often, the fear wins out and we don't negotiate the hurdle. Our lives end up poorer for it. We don't progress. So what can we do to overcome this fear? We discuss solutions ranging from fire walking to smashing plates. Fear is also a great ingredient in the story of our business. Admitting the fears we have and the hurdles we have to overcome, along with our doubts, makes us human. It makes it easy for others to connect with what we want to achieve. They start rooting for us and following our story. Brian Moore of Peak Potential at one of his firewalking events. By the way, that's concentration on his face, rather than pain © 2012 Roger Overall Links to people and things we mention Chris Brogan Social Media Camp SOBCon Brian Moore, Peak Potential The Flinch/Julien Smith New rallying point You are a big part of the story of thi...