How to Avoid an Ingrown Toenail becoming Painful

Quite often people suffer from a painful ingrown nail usually of the big toe. Such a nail would traumatise the surrounding tissue causing it to be red, swollen and painful. The pain is such that there were times a surgical excision of the nail is the answer to relieving intense pain permanently as painkillers only offer temporary relief.

Before the nail becomes like this, you would already felt
creepin,nagging pain: that the time you should start massaging the skin next to it away
 to allow for space for the growing nail and reduce pressure and pain.

Again the trick is to be aware of your body and feel the initial minimal pain creeping up your toe. what you need to do is to soak your feet in salt water ( 1 tsp of salt in every 500 ml warm water) for about 10 minutes then dry them. ( If in a hurry just use diluted OTC antiseptic). Then put 2-3 drops of olive oil ( cooking oil will do) on your fingers and message the skin next to your affected toe gently away from the nail and do this a few minutes every time you message the toe. You will find that the nail will be able to grow normally after a few days and the initial pain would be gone as you gently tease out a space for the nail to grow. Later when the nail has grown longer, make sure you cut it straight and not curved.

Nail care is important

By the way, this measure will not really work if the ingrown nail is already infected and swollen... too late.. you may end up getting cellulitis and have to take antibiotics and the nail may need to be removed under local anesthesia. Infected ingrown toe nail is bad for people suffering from diabetes so good footcare is essential.

REITS : Are they worth investing in?

I am quite intrigued by REITS. I read a few articles on the net about it before buying STARREIT , Amanah Raya REIT and TOWERREIT in 2006 and early 2007. I bought a book on this topic but due to busy schedules have only managed to read about 20 pages of a 300-paged book .. tut tut..I found that this "investment product" is not for the people who are in a hurry to create wealth. They are very stable... too stable for my liking, the price movement is at a snail pace and I notice each REIT seems to take turn to achieve the highest volume of the week! Some week was STARREIT, then AXREIT then ARREIT.... indeed they are taking turns!

My TOWERREIT is doing fine, having made 30% on paper... I am not happy though with STARREIT despite the golden triangle properties it is managing neither was I happy with ARREIT..... yes I am aware that this is a low risk and long term investment but too slow for me after two years... so I picked up the phone a couple of months ago and told my remisier to dispose of my STAR and RAYA REIT at a small loss and buy BSDREIT ( Golden Hope company managing palm oil plantation assets/properties) which has promised to give higher dividends (much better than the bank at least). I invest in these REITS to get stable dividends as a form of portfolio diversification.... a term I learn in the net. And Hey presto!... my BSDREIT climbed up from RM1.39 to RM1.42 last week... small rise but still something I love seeing as the two I disposed off hardly rose all these many months, I am really looking forward to receiving good dividends from BSDREIT..... small investor joy :)... and yes I promise myself to finish reading the book on REITs and share what I learn with visitors to my Blog.

Creating Wealth in a Volatile Market

When I started blogging early in 2007, the market was for the picking! Now things have changed starting from the subprime crisis and the so called impending recession in the US and later that fateful election when the government lost its two third majority, the stock market has gone haywire though the KLCI index has actually risen compared to the years previous to 2006.

I was quite naive to buy MRCB just before the election... as it was sliding and I thought it would have not declined any further..... gosh I lost so much on that stock... luckily it was all my money gained from the sale of Sarawak Plantation stock which I bought at RM3.08 and it went up to RM3.46, in fact a few days after I sold it , the blinking stock climbed up to RM3.80!

Then I heard this market rumor that IOI Corp was going to buy over UNICO plantation so I went on a buying spree and acquired quite a number of lots... somehow the parties have been putting on hold that plan... and now I am stuck with this "minnow" stock. I also happened to read "nice" articles on the prospects of another plantation stock MHC and went on another frantic buying and again suffered colossal losses. Another losing plantation stock is KWANTAS... such is my luck in 2008! I also lose on HSL despite the attractive write-up on the company about getting construction jobs in Sarawak!! It looks like a volatile market is not for the uninformed and giddy retail investor like me. My only consolation is that these companies pay pretty good dividends minus 28% tax!

How to create wealth in the current stormy market? May be the opportunity is there because for every down, there will be an up... but how long? The so called investment Guru Warren Buffet made his millions through long term strategies... well I do not know when he first started to invest, looks like he started very young as surely I cannot wait years to see my investments grow! I will be too old to enjoy my wealth then.

I have one jewel though in my portfolio, the fledgling company PICORP, I am breathless looking at how the stock has appreciated within five months! This jewel has offset my other losses. Hey Zak and T, thanks for persuading me to put PICORP in my portfolio, it is my life saver. I had thought the plantation stocks would help me ride the volatile market but PICORP is really a dark horse... thank you guys... please work harder for "my company" ;)

My THPlant is doing well at the moment, do you know why? Simple, because they are going to declare a 21 sen per unit dividend on 21 May. Shall I sell now? I have already made 60% profit and do I ever need the money to renovate my new house! I love this stock which I bought in the middle of 2006 at RM1.95, well it is often said that it is best to dispose of the stock when you begin to love it...

Creating wealth in a volatile market means having a longterm strategy, buying those undervalued stocks with strong fundamentals and hold them despite what some smart Aleck banker's advice that we must keep our money in "liquid" form, ie keeping in banks and make those guys richer with our hard-earned money. I would put my money still in the stock market in volatile times and just wait for the storm to boil over like old smart Warren Buffet... of course that guy got millions to start with.

After all I went into the stock market like a skipping child going into the garden, looking at the flowers, smell them and just enjoy. The "losses"? it is part of the game, just do not borrow to buy stocks.

I re post in this blog to share my joy and tribulations in a wealth creation journey .

Fungal skin infection vs allergic skin condition

Both skin conditions are itchy. Their early appearance is also almost the same in many cases. Quite often when one goes to a pharmacy, the very word of "itch" on the skin would lead the "outlet attendant" to suggest a steroid cream. Now fungus seems to thrive on steroid, if the skin condition happens to be fungal, then within a matter of a week or two of steroid application, which by the way could have initially reduced the itchiness somewhat, a generalized fungal skin infection would erupt. In the case of ringworm infection, you would see many "rings" with central clearing and reddish borders, especially on thigh and hip areas.... and believe you me, they are really itchy.

So do visit your doctor when you are not sure whether it is allergy or fungus which is irritating you so that you would get the correct diagnosis and given the right cream and hence be spared of an unnecessary suffering.

Cold And Nipping It

I have not had a cold for many months. The last one I had was sometime last year. No I do not take any preventive medications, in fact I am the last person to even take a panadol for my headache. In a nutshell, I never really like medicine in general. What I normally do when I am about to get a cold is to nip it in the bud. To do so you have to really be aware of your body's reaction. In my case I could feel that I am about to catch a cold when my nose started to feel "congested" in which case, I quickly prepare a bowl of fairly warm water and add a bit of common salt and soak a face towel in it then you wring out the water and press the towel onto your face over those sinuses... for 5-10 minutes and believe me it works... the trick is to catch the "watery and congested nose" very early.... once the cold is fully established this remedy will not work ...... try it, it will save you from missing out on work or having to visit your doctor.

(A note of caution, make sure the water is not too hot for you before applying the compress)

I also have a remedy for stopping a sore throat... if anyone would like to know.. be glad to share.

An Avid Investor by Accident

I learnt how to save when I was at primary school and somehow this habit continued at secondary level and later on when I went to study in Australia. I would have continued saving in banks and invest in low risk unit trusts had it not been for a chance meeting with a friend's friend who worked for the local stock broking firm. Unfortunately, I was not market savvy then, buying into shares of companies I hardly knew and suffered paper losses. I also did not know when to exit the market and of course I did not monitor my shares. In fact I treated them like saving banks.. how hilarious!

With the help of the internet, I have managed to educate myself on the intricacies of the stock market and had successfully recovered my losses in the first quarter of 2007. I have no fund manager to manage my portfolios but I am fine. Though the market is down now I am not worried as I have carefully chosen companies with strong fundamentals.... by the way I should have listened to the various blogs during pre-election and stay away from GLC stocks, well you can never win all the time can you? But one thing I will never do that is to borrow money to buy shares... heard ugly stories about those who do.

At the moment I am visiting many blogs of people who talk about "financial freedom" and believe me there are pearls of wisdom out there and people are just so willing to share their ideas, it is just amazing.