For Just A Moment - David Foster

A beautiful song and a nostalgic one at that for me from one of my best loved versatile artistes of our life time, David Foster, a great musician and a talented Canadian.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri 2014

Maaf Zahir Batin

I would like to wish all my Muslim patients and blog visitors "Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri, Maaf Zahir Batin" or "Happy Eid Fitr".

After a month of fasting, the Hari Raya, the first day of which falls on Monday 28 July is indeed a celebration of gratitude born out of strict self discipline and rejection of physical and psychological temptations.I salute all of you who have gone through this rigorous mental and spiritual exercise.

During the feast remember the Ministry of Health guideline in its campaign against rising obesity in Malaysia. It is called 55555 guideline. Here they are:

1. Eat 5 food groups a day to get a variety of nutrients
2. Put not more than 5gm or one teaspoon of sugar in your drink
3. Eat not more than 500 calories at each meal
4. Eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day
5. Exercise 5 times a week

Celebrate but keep your discipline developed during the fasting month and stay healthy, avoid obesity.

Obesity leads to shortened and poor quality of Life ;
Don't  contribute to an early statistic

ASN2 - Unit split : Time to invest more.

Last week PNB through ASNB announced on the share split of 1 to 1 for ASN2. This is the first time since the unit's launch in 1999 that such an exercise is undertaken. The split is based on the number of units held on 18 July 2014. So if you have 50k units on that date, you would now have 100k units but the values will remain the same as the unit's price (NAV) from 1.3576 ( the one recorded on 17 July) was adjusted by half to 0.6745 on 21 July.

Encouraging growth performance

PNB stated that as at June 30, ASN2 ( a variably priced equity growth fund), has consistently outperformed its benchmark consisting of Bursa Malaysia Top 100 index and three-month KLIBOR. ASN2 apparently has managed to record 89.72% of cumulative return, higher than the total cumulative return of 66.51% recorded by its benchmark during the five-year period until 30 June.

Moreover, PNB maintained that the annualised returns of ASN2 have shown encouraging growth rates during the three-year, five-year and 10-year period of 10.01%, 13.66% AND 10.86% respectively.

The split offers an opportunity for new investors to invest in the unit trust and for existing investors to buy more units at a lower price. For those eligible to purchase these units, this is the right time to do so. I notice the price since last Monday 21 July is declining as is the case for this product following the dividend distribution on 30 June. It was 1.4135 on 24 June before it was suspended for dividend calculation and distribution at 6.90 per unit; 0.02 sen lower than last year's rate at 7.10.

According to ASNB, the income distribution portion involved  a total payout of RM18.77 million, an increase of 48.9% compared to the RM12.61 million paid out last year.The payment has benefited 9,822 unit holders which currently hold a total of 272.04 million units of ASN 2.

For those of you who are averse to risk-taking at the stock market, products such as ASN2 will give you a good dividend yield along with your capital appreciation as the dividend is automatically reinvested into your account. In another word, make money while you sleep.

Memories of FIFA World Cup Brasil 2014

This YouTube video and the iconic song by Shakira really cement my memories of the exciting FIFA World Cup 2014 from Jun 13 to July 14. From the round of 16 I was rather "addicted" to the games, watching them with my equally football-crazy better-half.

 I was impressed with those teams from Africa and South America especially Costa Rica which came out top of its group and was advancing in the quarter finals.

Names like Naymer of Brazil, James Rodriguez of Colombia, Messi of Argentina, Ronaldo of Portugal and of course that infamous Suarez of Uruguay littered the games with excitement.

 Memorable times like Germany's thrashing of host Brazil 7-1 at their semi-final, Naymer's foul by the Colombian player, Van Persie's goal as well as Suarez's bite of the Italian player come rushing in when I watch and listen to this video.

Thank you indeed to the uploader for cementing  my memories.

 At the final, I was supporting Argentina to win the coveted Cup only to be disappointed by that German, Mario's fantastic goal! Argentina lost 0 to 1.

 Waiting for 2018 when Russia is given the turn to host the Cup.