Lunch with a fool

Today I had lunch with a Fool. Yes, David Kuo of Motley Fool.

Finally, almost a year passed since I discovered www.fool.co.uk (Money Talk), I finally meet the man! We talked like old friends and exchanged views on personal finance and investing in SG and UK. We had few things in common, such as:-
a) "Buy Term Invest the Rest", or rather, in UK, they call it "Buy Term Invest the Difference"
b) Dollar-cost averaging or Pound-cost averaging(UK); I prefer "Drip in money" :-)


www.fool.co.uk (Money Talk)'s podcast can be subscribed via iTunes, or downloaded straight from http://www.fool.co.uk/expert/money-talk.aspx.

The McKinsey Quarterly

The McKinsey Quarterly is another source of good business articles that spans across several corporate functions and industries.

It is a good source of references for people studying business administration, economics, finance, marketing, I.T management.

While the basic FREE subscription is good enough for me, at times, The McKinsey Quarterly do "open up" their 'Premium' articles for reading/ downloading.

My favourite article is "The Irrational Component of Your Stock Price" published in Summer 2006.

Simply register, and setup the RSS feed on Google Reader and you will be updated regularly.
The McKinsey Quarterly articles are also available in audio versions on iTunes.

Index funds vs. active funds

This is one podcast that I subscribe to and listen to religiously.

Vanguard's Plain Talk on Investing podcast:
In this episode, "Index funds vs. active funds", Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Gus Sauter will help you better understand two different approaches to mutual fund investing—indexing and active management.
Download the podcast in MP3 file.

You can also read the transcript while listening to the podcast.
(tip: use tab browsing to open the transcript on another page)

Invest in your own lunch (or dinner)

Caught this piece of interesting news over one of the podcast channels on 27Feb2008. In Vermont, USA, one restaurant owner almost call it quits but the restaurant was saved by a group of 40 customers who pumped in US$1000 each to help in the restaurant's expansion plan. Note that the restaurant owner's decision to possibly fold up was not due to lack of business, but the incapability to expand. (p.s: if the food is good, then management must be the problem?).

In return, the "customers-investors" got meal coupons that probably could last quite a while to consume. The "coupons" (literally) are however, not guaranteed. i.e if the restaurant closes before the "customers-investors" consume their coupons, it would be a definite loss. But then again, if news get aournd, the pick-up in the business is a sure thing.
==> Download the mp3 podcast here:-
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/
1095/24948288/npr_24948288.mp3
(copy the link if the direct link is not working)

I am just wondering if our local folks in Singapore would actually be such "entrepreneurial" and at the same time, have that community spirit to support their favourite Cha-Kway-Tiao stall, prawn-noodle stall, rojak stall or mee rebus stall?

Listen to investment ideas from experts - FREE

I have been an "addict" to this thing called podcast since Q4-2007.

I first started with using iTunes -- http://www.apple.com/itunes/ -- and these are some of the channels I subscribe to:-

(A) Investment-related topics: Bloomberg, Business Week (Market reports, Cover Stories), Fidelity Investment Insight, Fidelity Personal Finance, Mckinsey on Finance, Money Girl's Quick Tips, Money Talk Fool.co.uk, PIMCO Investment Outlook, UBS Economics, Vanguard Plain Talk on Investing.

Highly Recommended (if you have time for just ONE):
"Money Talk Fool.co.uk, seriously good with money"

Reason: It offers education, information and HUMOUR, so which means you will not fall asleep while listening to it. David Kuo, the host, is one funny guy with much investing knowledge to share. The guest speakers too offer investment insights, ideas and humour. By far, the 17Jan2008 episode is THE BEST! The guest speaker on 17Jan2008 episode, Justin Urquhart Stewart not only shares his ideas, but tells his stories with jokes that even the usual "chief joker" David is so tickled by his jokes. And, they spoke about MacDonald's "Mc-chilli" and Singapore.
Download it here (File size: 22.6MB) or click here for the main page.

It is podcasted every Thursday (UK time). Past episodes can also be downloaded one shot as MP3 files and listened to at own pace. I listen to them (repeatedly) whenever I am driving or on the MRT, and jogging.

Note: The IRA or ISA that is frequently mentioned in the podcasts is the equivalent of SRS in Singapore terms.

(B) Lifestyle-related topics: What car? Video podcast, Autocar magazine, Berry Bros & Rudd Wine podcast.

(C) Self-improvement topics: Advanced Selling Podcast.

About two weeks ago, I chanced upon www.nokiaexperience.com.sg and found the podacsting application for my Nokia E51. Now I can download some of the usual channels and new channels straight into my E51.
And, as a result, I now stop buying car magazines from news stand. Another money-saving idea!
(See my other money-saving article here)

Sometime new tech is not bad afterall

Sometime I do prefer new tech.

Some of my friends have been wondering what I am reading on my Nokia E51. It's this thing called Avantgo. It's a series of free (yes, free!) "newspapers" that I read on my mobile phone. And when I realize I have been flipping less of my regular good old BT, I decided it was time to "let go" and :-) save $20+ every month on BT Subscription.

By the way, www.businesstimes.com.sg is available for free read from 6pm everyday.

On my Avantgo, I have selected 11 sources of news channels (Bloomberg, CNN, CLSA, Motley Fool etc) that I sync every day (on some days even up to 10 times a day) for the news updates. Sync-ing can even be done at Wireless @ SG hotspots at various locations. Effectively, I bring with me 11 sets of "newspapers" everywhere I go. I would read them on the train rides (without needing the space to stretch from shoulder-to-shoulder), in toilets, in between meetings and waiting times and so on.

However, I do miss the feel and sounds of flipping through the good old-fashioned papers sometime.

Avantgo is available free from

www.avantgo.com and can be used on most mobile phones and PDAs. Simply register an account which is free (and Avantgo does not spam at all!).

Other materials available via Avantgo: Cars, Wines, Entertainment news etc.

Enjoy!