Sunday, December 31, 2017

Turning Challenges Into Victories

Today is the last day of the year (2017), in a couple of hours' time, we will be ushering into a brand new year (2018), the year Of Dog (Chinese Zodiac). I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone here:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018!!

Usually, this is the time of the year to recap (the achievements, lesson learnt aka mistakes of the previous year) and make resolution(s) for the new year. For me, I think I've stopped making resolutions for quite awhile, my motto is just to keep learning, keep going and keep smiling! 

Regardless of what stage are we, life is and will continue to be filled with challenges (big or small), it's a matter of mindset to look at it from another angle to turn it into victory and the following Chinese words said it all :
For those who can't read Chinese, basically there are 2 Chinese words on the left. If you view it straight, it mean CHALLENGE, but if you turn it upside down, it mean VICTORY). Chinese calligraphy is such a beauty!

Cheers!

Friday, December 29, 2017

Ripple - New Crypto In My Minion Crypto Portfolio

I've been eyeing to add Ripple into my minion Crypto portfolio for quite sometime but I've been procrastinating as the exchange that I am using, Coinbase haven't listed Ripple yet (hint hint). During the Christmas season period, I've made the move and open an account with Binance so that I can buy other alt-coins that are not listed in Coinbase. 

Immediately after that, I've accumulated about SGD800 worth of Ripple at SGD1.47. When I first chanced upon Ripple, I remember the price is around USD 0.40 cents (SGD 0.54). One thing for sure, crypto market movement is fast and furious and not for the faint hearted. 

Following are the reason why I bought Ripple:
1. Ripple is the first blockchain-based cross border payment solution provider (established since 2012) that has already providing (or testing) their solutions to well known corporate customers, mostly banks, in various  countries (e.g. MUFG [Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Japan], Santender, Standard Chartered, SBI Remit and American Express etc..) 

2. I am of the view that there is a very high chance that Ripple (being the third largest coin in market cap, after Bitcoin and Ethereum) will be listed in Coinbase. If this happens, the demand will increase tremendously. Currently, the biggest market of Ripple is actual from South Korea (through BitThumb):
Ripple - Top 10 Exchanges (South Korea is the Top market)
Note: Generally, South Korea/India exchanges' price is much higher than the rest of the world. 

3. There are (unconfirmed) news that Ripple is in talks to two giant/well known non-bank corporate customers to provide their payment solution. If the deals went through, it will be a great boost to the use cases of Ripple. 

4. Ripple is a non-mineable coins and hence speed of transaction can be contained (reported as 4 seconds). Also, it has a limited supply of 100 billions coins. Even though it is much higher than Bitcoin's 21 millions but because Ripple target market is corporate customers/banks, the coin usage is expected to be much higher. Anyway, coins with limited supply is always a positive sign (at least to me).

Following are my minion Crypto portfolio:


How is your Crypto Portfolio doing so far?

Cheers!    

Note: This is not a recommendation of investment, investing in cryptocurrency is of high risk and make sure that you are prepared to lose all your capital! 

Exchanges that I am currently using:

 Coinbase

Monday, December 25, 2017

5 Fun And Interesting Findings/Facts About ICO (Initial Coin Offering)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2018!

By now, I believed most of you know what is ICO (Initial Coin Offering), if you are still not sure what is ICO, you may check out my other other blog here on what is it and why you should care. 

Anyway, since my first ICO (Crypterium), click here to read more, I've read through a couple more ICOs and there are 5 fun and interesting findings/facts that I would like to share here:

1. Ethereum - Main Blockchain platform
Most of the ICOs are using the Ethereum as their underlying Blokchain technology, I guess this is expected as most of the ICOs are not pure cryptocurrency (like Bitcoins, Litecoin) but with specific use case(s) via Ethereum's Smart Contract feature. 

That's also the reason why personally I believed Ethereum has a very bright future!

Ethereum

2. Telegram - Main Chat/Messaging Platform
As ICO is time critical and usually its bonus structure is time sensitive (e.g. if you purchase the coin by 01 Jan 2018, you will get 15%, after than the bonus will reduce to say 10% by 15 Jan 2018, then to 5% by 31 Jan 2018 etc..). Hence, real time support is very important. 

Based on all the ICOs that I've went through, all are using Telegram (Cloud based instant messaging service, which was launched only in 2013) as their messaging platform. The ICO message admins will answer queries from the subscribers as well as providing latest news/updates of the ICO. For those who are keen on the ICO should consider subscribe to their Telegram group (usually the group will be in mute mode as the incoming messages will be fast and furious).  

I am an existing user of Telegram prior to this ICO discovery and I can attest to it that Telegram is a very fast and easy to use messaging platform. 
Telegram

3. Medium - Main Blogging platform
Among all the ICOs that I've went through, majority of them are using Medium as their blogging platform. I like Medium as it's a simple yet elegant platform with high quality articles. The only small gripe I have is most of their articles are quite lengthy :-) However, they do have a brilliant feature to indicate the length of the article up-front (i.e. the "x minutes read" indicator) so that you can decide whether to commit your time in reading the article or not
 
Sample Medium screen - my favorite feature is highlighted in yellow
4. Black and White profile photos of the team 
For some reason, majority (not all) of ICOs' team profile photos are in black and white. Does it make it more "professional"? Or maybe most of the them went to the same group of photographers? Joke aside, I just find that it's quite an interesting coincidence. 
Team from Crypterium ICO
Team from Sether ICO
5. LinkedIn Profiles 
As you can see from the above 2 sample teams, all of them have link to their respective LinkedIn Profiles which provide a reputable source of information about the background/achievement  of the team members, which is rather important in assessing the ICO.  

Have you been investing in ICO before? What are you usually looking for in the ICO?

Cheers!

Friday, December 22, 2017

How My Minion Portfolio Doing In 2017?

Time flies, we are less than 10 days away to bid farewell to 2017, most people are starting to recap/review their hits and misses in 2017 and making resolution for 2018 and beyond.

I would like to take this opportunity to recap my minion portfolio's performance in 2017. Even though there are still a couple more days to go but since my transaction volume is usually low and bearing in mind of my minion portfolio size, I don't expect it will change much during these few days.

Here goes the summary of my portfolio (status as at 21/12/2017):

Current Portfolio:
Total Invested Capital                                 : SGD 32,000 (from 8 counters)
Total Current Market Price                         : SGD 26,200
Dividend Collected                                     : SGD 6,000 (since May 2014, include sold counters)
Unrealized Gain/Loss (Exclude Dividend) : -SGD 5,800 [-18%] 
Unrealized Gain/Loss (Include Dividend)  : -SGD 2,200 [-7%]



Realized Gain so far (include Dividend) : SGD 1,600 

As you can see, I am still paying my "school fee" (i.e. making an unrealized loss :-)). Two of the main contributors are EV Energy, my only US stock which is related to O&G industry and King Wan (same as last year). Key actions in 2017 are:

1. Sold my UMS in Feb 2017
2. Bought some Asian Pay TV Trust in May 2017
3. Gotten the Sanli IPO and sold it in Jun 2017
4. Accumulate a bit more of Singtel
5. Bought some Asian Pay TV Trust in May 2017

From Nov 2017, I also started to get my hand dirty on 2 cryptocurrencies - Ether and Litecoin. So far, I've withdrawn all my minion capital and the balance in my wallet are "free" money. I just make sure that these are my "casino money" when "investing" in cryptos. You can see more details of my Crypto portfolio here. 

Cheers!

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Crypterium : My First ICO Purchase Experience with Coinbase

After I've sold a portion of my Lifecoin last week with a minion size of realized profit (SGD250), I've decided to "re-invest" a portion of my profit (SGD200) in an ICO (Initial Coins Offering) as an experience. 

As a Blockchain enthusiast, after gotten my hand dirty with some cryptocurrencies purchase (Ether and Litecoin), my next experience is to get my hand dirty in an ICO purchase.   

Out of the many LIVE ICOs, I've chosen Crypterium for the following reason:
1. Its vision/solution is huge enough to be one of the major cryptobank (in cryptoecosystem) in the near future, hence scalability.  
2. Its team members comprises with experienced Fintech leaders/experts especially in the digital payment solutions space.
3. Its Token (CRPT) has a lifetime limit of 300 millions (hence, if it took off well, I foresee that the demand will outweigh the supply in the long run).
4. Its underlying technology is Ethereum Blockhcain (based on smart contract ERC20 token) - I am a fan of Ethereum. 

This being my first ICO, I only "invest" my free casino money (SGD 200) which I prepared to lose ALL. This translated into 77.46 CRPT Coins (including 3% bonus, this bonus offer is on-going till 25th December 2017). 

In general, you can purchase the Crypterium ICO via Bitcoins, Ether, Litecoin and a bunch of other altcoins as well as the fiat currencies via VISA/Master. As I am an existing user of Coinbase and are familiar with its interface, I decided to purchase SGD 200 worth of Litecoins (via Coinbase) and send my SGD200 worth of Litecoins to Crypterium account directly. It took me about 10 minutes for the whole transaction to went through. 

Why Litecoins? I read somewhere that comparatively, Litecoins' transaction time is faster than Bitcoins or Ethereum.   

So, what's next? Nothing actually! For now, just need to wait for the ICO to be completed by 13 Jan 2018 (or earlier if the token issue cap is reached) and distribution of the tokens by be conducted by 25th Jan 2018. Afterwhich, the Token will be activated and trade-able in the selected major exchanges.    

If you are interested to find out more of Crypterium, you can check out here or read their White Paper.   

What is your ICO experience so far? 

Cheers!

NOTE: This is just a sharing of my ICO experience and not a recommendation, do your own due diligent when investing in cryptocurrency

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

SOLD My First Cryptocurrency - Litecoin

Exactly one month ago, I bought my first cryptocurrency (Ethereum) and one week after that I bought my second cryptocurrency (Litecoin). 

In general, the cryptocurrencies are still in the bull trend now (at least to me) but the volatility is still fast and furious, double digits up or down within a day is very common. However, as "invested" amount are only in the hundreds and I make sure that these are my casino money (i.e. money that I am prepared to loss all). 

Today, I've decided to release a portion of my Litecoin to cash out all my casino money (initial cost of SGD750+) while leaving the balance (around SGD900+ at the time of writing) in my account as FREE money. 

In summary, I've made a modest 37% realized profit (within one month). more details as per following:


The reason why I sell Litecoin instead of Ethereum is because I personally view that Ethereum has much more rooms to go (comparatively) and Litecoin has been shooting to the roof in the past few days and hence decided to take the profit first. Who knows, I might enter/accumulate more at a later date when correction happens. 

Cheers!

NOTE: Do you due diligent when "investing" in cryptocurrency. 

Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Top Ways to Reward Your Employees This Christmas (Guest Post)

Incentives and rewards are effective ways to keep employees motivated. The more their performance and achievements are recognised, the more they’ll contribute to the growth of the company. It improves employee performance and significantly reduces the turnover rate. It assures employees that their efforts are valued in the organisation.

Christmas is the perfect time to reward your employees. At the end of the year, there is more work pressure on employees. It is a good practice to reward your employees on the basis of their performance during the past year and begin the year with a positive note.

How to Choose Christmas gifts for Your Employees
A wide range of products can be gifted to employees around Christmas. Make sure you choose rewards or merchandise that will be received well by your employees. Consider your budget while choosing the incentives for your employees.

Use Online Platforms
Online reward and incentive platforms facilitate organisations to drive employee retention and enhance the performance of employees. It is easier for the HR departments to evaluate performance on the basis of different parameters. Online platforms keep employees more engaged. They can choose rewards as per their liking.

Back in the day, most companies preferred to gift their employees a bottle of wine near Christmas. However, the trends have changed with the evolution of technology. Let’s take a look at some rewards that are widely appreciated by employees.

 Travel Incentives

Employees need to maintain good points on online reward platforms to get travel incentives. These points are calculated on the basis of their performance at the workplace. The better they perform, the more points they will earn. Employees can redeem these points to spend a vacation with their family away from the hassles of life.

These points can also be used to buy frequent flyer points. Frequent flyer points system is introduced by airlines to reward loyal customers. They can avail huge discounts on air tickets or travel for free to any destination. Frequent flyer points also facilitate people to upgrade their tickets and enjoy a comfortable travelling experience by redeeming points.

 Upgrade Skills

Employees constantly need to improve their skills to retain their jobs and get promotions. These training courses usually have high fees. You can arrange training sessions for your employees so that they can perform better at their job without spending a huge sum on trainings.

 Special Experiences

With online reward programs, customers can enjoy the experiences of a lifetime. Reward platforms offer special packages from time to time. Employees may get the opportunity to attend top award functions or meet celebrities. These experiences come with lasting memories and play a great role in improving the performance of your employees.

 Discount Vouchers

You can gift discount vouchers to your employees. Near Christmas, your employees may have to purchase gifts for their family and friends. These discount vouchers can help them purchase gifts without worrying about their finances.

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Weekend Sharing - On Movie, Book, Cryptocurrency and CPF

Wow! We are already in the final month of 2017 and in 3 weeks' time, most of us will be celebrating the most celebrated festival, Christmas! Since it's a bright Sunday, let's share something not so serious.

On Movie:
Being a movie buff, I do watch a lot of movies, trailers and reviews. Recently, one of the most anticipated trailer, The Avengers - Infinity War has been released and it has went viral unprecedentedly in all social medias.

Oh boy! it is marvelously jaw dropping (again), only Marvel can outdo Marvel. 

If you still haven't join in the fun yet (which I doubt so), check out the first trailer of The Avengers - Infinity War here:

What do you think?

On Book:
I am currently reading a book from Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler called "Dollars and Sense - How We Misthink Money and How To Spend Smarter". The title itself already quite self-explanatory on what you are dealing with.

I am a fan of Dan Ariely's earlier books like Predictably Irrational, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty and Irrationally Yours, so, this latest co-authored book of him is no escape.

I especially like the following dedication which summarizes the gist of the book:   

"DEDICATION - TO MONEY 
For the wonderful things you do for us, the terrible things you do to us, and all the gray matter in between"
Click on the image to see more details of me!
On Cryptocurrency
In the last 2 weeks or so, the Cryptocurrency market (especially Bitcoin) has been going through a wild ride. From shooting through the record-breaking roof (USD 11,000) to fall down 20% and then go back up again and now sitting at around USD 10,900+. 


Yesterday, CME Group and CBOE announced that they will begin the Bitcoin Futures trading from 18th December 2017 (Mon), coupled with the news that PWC Hong Kong (one of the Big Four) has started to accept Bitcoin payment.

All these are good progression of the legitimacy of bitcoin. Of course, the same cannot be said for all cryptocurrency, some of the alt coins are better to stay away. Also, some countries still treat cryptocurrency as illegal. 

On CPF
In today's The Sunday Times, CEO of The Providend, Christopher Tan has written an article to clear the air on some misconception of CPF Scheme which went viral recently - Separating fact from fallacy about CPF.

It's worth a read as I am sure this is a common myth among the CPF members.

That's it for today.

Cheers!

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