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.