Lookalike? Unlike ##G5 personal winn`bets: long-term impact@livelihood, this blogpost is not about big bets.

• [u=unbelievable. I would not have entertained such a suggestion a few years earlier; unbelievable bargain; too good to be true.]
  • Defying my common-sense, becuase our intuition is completely unreliable in these cases.
  • These are often unexpected successes, and deserve in-depth analysis
• [v= “undervalued” in terms of my subconscious valuation or market valuation, when I bought]
• [h= top 5 heavy hitter]
• —
• [hh v] I “bought”SG early, when it was undervalued
• — education
• [h v] UChicago — the Nobel prize count lent prestige on my degree. My $cost and tcost was very high, but in 2013 the prestige was undervalued.
• [h vv] Singapore universities — charge a fraction of the U.S. private universities but offer comparable quality.
• — ccost (calorie cost)
• [u] rice pudding
• nonfat ice cream
• [u] washed and heated baby carrot — tasty like starchy foods but very low calorie and high fiber
• my lentils — whole box is 600 cal, extremely filling, whereas 100 gram of peanuts (1/4 of my 小金生 packet) has the same calories. Why the hell do I worry about my lentils?
• — $cost (prices)
• [uv] Malaysia (retirement) — offers decent healthcare and rental homes at a fraction of the U.S. costs. You would think quality must be questionable but reality could be completely different.
• yoga classes — are SGD30 each or SGD 155/M. In the U.S. it’s $32×12+50 below USD36/M
• fruits in Chinatown — sell at a fraction of supermarket price… You would think rotten, but mostly good.
• —salaries
• [u] According to my chat with the Macquarie support chap, a bright engineering fresh graduate like him in Singapore earns SGD3500/M or SGD 40k/Y but USD 120K pretax in NY
• a 8Y+ programmer earns SGD 70k/Y but USD 150k pretax in NY
• java job pays 20% higher than perl jobs and offer far more opportunities.
• [u] Front office trading IT jobs pay higher than PWM jobs, sometimes less stress and many more opportunities. Unthinkable  in 2007.
• — workload and stress
• Qz job — pays no higher than MS job but 5 times higher stress partly due to perm job and limited job market in SG.
• GS job — pays about half the 95G, Barc or citi jobs, but 3 times higher stress
• — investments
• [u] Some properties don’t appreciate much, with GRY 4%, but my BridgeRetail has guaranteed NRY of 7%. Too good to be true.
• [h] My Blk 177 — property yields current rental income every year until 2010 and then gave a windfall.
• [h] CPF-life — a real bargain compared to other annuities.