My Blogging Friends

I have been following a number of blogs on investment, finance and stock market and enjoying their postings. Some of the articles they lifted from other sources but they always attribute the sources. I liked it because sometimes I missed reading in the STAR or Business Times only to find the articles being re-posted in my friends' blogs. And their sites are more focused on what I am looking for and more interactive.

To my dismay, I have been trying to visit them but the blogs no longer exist :  The phrase "The blog you were looking for was not found" keeps staring at me.... where are you guys? What happens? I miss reading your blogs! I hope you guys are okay.

Stock Market - Whither the Buy and Hold Strategy?

I have been a small-time investor for quite a number of years and I have had losses and gains and in general I have gained. I do not like the word "playing the stock-market" because of its gambling connotations. My initial intention of going into the market was to buy and hold and grow with the company, thriving on its regular  dividends. A noble and somewhat naive concept in countries like Malaysia.

Some years ago I did stay with the company "Kemayan Corporation"... now where is it? Still not able to come out of its lapsed PN4 status. I learnt a hard lesson. The blinking owner it seemed sold off all his assets around the time of the Asian Financial Crisis 1998. Heck! Even the Wall St juggernaut, the Lehman Brothers was also wiped off the face of the earth during the global financial crash in October 2008!

Gone are the days of the fabulously wealthy Warren Buffet, the master investor  who buys and holds stocks for years on end and has benefited from the growth in fundamentals and in shares. As the savvy financial blogger at Malaysia-Finance Blogspot says, qoute " Investing in stocks nowadays is no longer a buy and hold strategy. We must be prepared to consider the timing of waves and major breaks. Not just in Malaysia, now almost every markets are trend driven markets because of the sheer force and size of leveraged funds and big trading prop computer models". He appears to be  promoting the use of charts to somewhat "time" the market.

For the life of me, I can understand statistics but those stock charts often baffle me. Come to think of it, the charts are actually a graphic reflection of herd behaviour of investors, big or small, institutional or individuals. But I can easily tell you, as you have already known, the movers and the shakers are the institutional guys. So what do small time participant like me do? To be with it, we need to follow the trend closely and read, read and read. The other activity is monitor, monitor and monitor. I will look at charts for market trends but  I am also aware that they are not the only indicators.

The "Buy and hold" strategy may still be relevant in some instances. I bought SIME when it almost bottomed out at 6.00  in late 2008 and held it till it touched  9.00 over two years. Had I sold it earlier by looking at the trend, my gain would not have been  as substantial. Anyway I still have another 50% left and am monitoring for the next upside?

Investing is fun and this is the main reason I come in as I want to see how my money grow and how it helps in an infinitesimal way, drive the economy of the country.  Stock market's  performance is an indicator of the state of the economy and how industrious the people of the country are. I am not savvy at all but I am learning all the time. And so far investing has kept me alert and looking forward to each day with anticipation.

Remember,  the only constant thing in  stock markets is their cyclical nature!

HaPPy NeW YeAR

PROSPEROUS

 NEW YEAR

0F THE

TIGER

Wishing all my Chinese friends and my better half's clans 

A Happy and Prosperous New Year of the Tiger

And those driving  home for reunion dinner 

Do so safely and practice defensive driving

Think of your loved ones

Better late than never

Roar Tiger Roar!

MRCB renounceable rights issues- The three choices

Just before the financial crash in October 2008, I bought some MRCB shares after learning about the many contracts the company was supposed to be given and  also in expectation of the rolling-out of  the  9th Malaysia Plan projects. Not thinking that the US subprime crisis could have such a devastating effects on the financial world, I was very pleased as I bought the shares at the lowest for the whole year! (A lesson here is not to trust historical data without taking into consideration other influencing factors affecting share prices).

The rest as they say is history. But I managed to recover some losses by buying more shares of the battered security when it was almost rock-bottom at 0.70 sen in December 2008 and later sold them at 1.46 late last year. But I am still saddled with some shares which, had I sold them  at the various quoted prices all these months, I will still suffer losses. I am keeping them because, believe it or not, I have faith in the company.

When the company announced that it was going to increase its capital through rights issues, I am now faced with three choices on my allotted rights at 1 to 2 existing shares that I have : 1. Act on the rights by buying them at the stated price of 1.12 which is at a discount of the current market price, 2. Sell them on the market, at the point of writing at 0.12 sen  or lastly  I can pass on taking advantage of my allotted rights .... let them lapse out of anger and frustration.... it takes a lot to make me angry and frustrated though.

I was mulling over on what I should do... trading them at the laughable price would actually still enable me to grab some more AXIATA or MAXIS shares but buying them at 1.12 means I will have more shares and if I were obstinate enough to wait, I think this company will finally perform! It would be unthinkable to let them lapse.

Then my hard working stockbroker rang up yesterday to remind me on the deadline of submission of rights' purchase on 19 Feb.... make your decision.. buy, sell or pass. Forced to act, I decided that selling at 0.12 sen was downright degrading and letting them lapse was and act of stupidity so I rang up my banker to please prepare the banking draft.. there goes my extra pocket money for my upcoming London holiday!

Big Ben  courtesy Oldgoldcross

I can see that smart investors would give a wide berth of MRCB as its dividend-paying capability has been poor despite its mega projects and development in KL Sentral. This is mainly due to its high gearing which had I made a proper company research I would have avoided buying the shares in the first place. Too late now.

I hope MRCB's anchor investor, EPF would keep me company for the long wait to realise the fruit of my sacrifice... actually waiting for rewards is more exciting then actually receiving them. Now which of the three drinks would perk me up.... Nescafe, Colombian coffee or chocolate?

Birthday Gifts - FoR My eYeS OnLy

Elegantly wrapped

Thank you R for waiting patiently in front of my house gate yesterday evening to give me that birthday gift! And what a gift it was! My favourite Parker pen. Many would roll up their eyes and say " What's so special about the pen?". These days people use ballpoints, hardly anybody using the traditional pen with ink! But haven't anyone noticed that the pen is more environmental-friendly? Think of those millions of disposable plastic ballpoints being thrown into our environment. I am not here to debate the issue though.

                                                   Comes with the INK!

My love story with the Parker pen started a long time ago when my late Dad bought me the pen and since then no other pen for me except Parker. Just before I left Australia I got another beautiful Parker which I then lost  within months in the changing  room of an operation theatre!

                                                                                                      Yes! Gold Plated
Though quite content with using pens like Mont Blanc, Waterman and other departmental-issued cheap brands, my fascination with Parker stayed on. Whenever I visited a shopping complex, I would look at the counters selling pens and gravitated to my favourite. Looking and yearning for that gold-plated one!

I can actually afford it but I prefer it to be given as a gift. I often hinted at my husband but he ended up giving me other things. But R  are you a mind reader? Thank you from the bottom of my heart..... am still a child at heart!

And I finally opened my son's gift.... oh my! It was a pack of seaweed crisps and two packets of succulent, melt-in your mouth chestnuts which we finished in less than 15 minutes... thanks Danny, I see that you are becoming health-conscious. Your thoughtful gift is highly appreciated.


Seaweed Crisps.. very tasty

                                                  The taste of these chestnuts is out of this world!

Here comes another year of my life and I am grateful for being healthy and able to help people in need. And these are for my eyes only.

Another Grateful AQUARIAN today

Red Roses and yellow chrysanthemum from Rumi

Just after the clock struck 12 midnight my young son was ready with a gift, beautifully wrapped up, for my birthday. I was surprised as he had never done this before. Cards yes, but not a gift! Both Dad and son then sang a Happy Birthday song complete with "for she's a jolly good fellow??". I  will definitely treat them to their favourite Italian food cooked by real Italian cuisine chef tonight.

                                                              A gift from Danny my son

I decided to work today so that I can cut my long-term patients' waiting time as I am leaving for London in about four weeks time for a fortnight of holiday. As I entered the clinic, two of my nurses came up to wish happy birthday right in front of those waiting patients. Not enough with the wishing, they went on with the "Arab" kissing as well! Gosh.. wasn't I overwhelmed!

As I sat down my nurse told me all my regular patients had been scheduled in the afternoon. In case there were walk-in patients, she would inform me. What was I to do? I decided to go online and completed a couple of British Medical Journal (BMJ Learning) Continuing Medical Education (CME) modules for my annual CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points.

                                                                                   A lovely Bouquet from Admin Staff

Then the florist came with the flowers and fruits.... I am really touched with my family,colleagues and staff's gestures. I am very grateful to have beautiful  people around me. Yes, you are happy when people regard you well and remember your birthday.... Hmmm.. please do not remind me that I am getting older though :)

                                              Purple and yellow chrysanthemum from Maria

Chronic Dizziness Affecting Quality of Life.

It was about 4 pm and I  had just seen what I thought the last of my patients for the day. Then my nurse said " Patrick (not his real name) is here to see you". I could not quite recall which patient she referred to when the nurse blurted  out "Dizzy Patrick".Of course ...

Patrick had insisted to see me in November last year. He had been seeing various doctors for some time. He told me one of his friends had suggested to him to see me as her frequent headache had apparently stopped when I changed her medication regime. She was very grateful and told Patrick to try me! Ahah..very flattering to say the least.

Patrick then narrated his long sad story of frequent headache, hearing problem and dizziness which he had been suffering for many years. Quite often he had to take days off work when the condition became unbearable and socially annoying. From the history and looking at his medical record, Patrick was suffering from vertigo ( medical jargon for dizziness) which was worse at certain head position. In fact Patrick was already on a specialist Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) follow-up and he was also on an appropriate drug. He still suffered from the condition that was often accompanied by troublesome nausea and impaired hearing.

He came to me last year because he thought I had a "wonder drug". I asked him to get his friend to  show me the drug. Well it turned out to be a class of an anti-hypertensive drug which was better tolerated by his friend than another type she used to take previously. I said "So Patrick your condition and your friend's are not the same." Then I advised him to  wait for the results of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of his brain and stick to the Specialist follow-up clinic. And to take those specialist medications as prescribed.

In the intervening period, I noted Patrick had seen several doctors for his constant intractable dizziness and some of the doctors had already given up on him! The poor guy. He just wanted relief and perhaps  reassurance as well. I also  figured out that he must have tried  all sorts of traditional medicines. He was agitated and appeared helpless. So I thought he would no longer return to my clinic after that well meaning advice.

Yet, here he came again, and this time he brought along the MRI report. Agitated as usual Patrick said he just got the report and wanted me to look at it before he showed it to the specialist on his appointment date in April 2010! And he also told me his dizziness was getting worse and he was then experiencing  an abnormal  heaviness in his neck and was feeling faint. I took his blood pressure it was 100/70, rather low as the last time the  reading was 130/80. Upon further questioning he admitted to taking a herbal medicine "Misai Kucing" (Orthosiphon Stamineus) normally taken ( not on doctor's order) by people  for all sorts of conditions! I advised  him to stop taking the herb as it was adversely affecting him. And to also quit self-medication.

                                                            Misai Kucing plant (wikipedia)

                                                          

Patrick was at his wit's end.

The MRI report noted a bilateral chronic otitis media with  cholesteatoma which could have contributed to his long-term vertigo. In layman terms " chronic infection of both middle ears with abnormal benign tissue growth". Taking pity on him I picked up the phone and spoke to the ENT Specialist, who happened to be my Houseman some years ago, to please see Patrick much earlier, if possible on the following Monday and he graciously obliged despite his many patients. Patrick smiled and was verbose in his gratefulness.

In his younger days Patrick used to swim and dive a lot in the river near his house. He recalled suffering from frequent ear discharge. The problem was not properly attended to as he was living in a remote village.This swimming and diving habit could have been a risk factor to his current ear condition giving rise to chronic dizziness which made his life miserable.

Before she left the room, my nurse said, " I think he will come to see you again after he has been to  the Specialist"... Oh My!  I hope his cholesteatoma would have been surgically removed by then.