Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (5019)	3/25/2006 10:36:21 PM
From: Maurice Winn	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218632

Interesting reply TJ, with no great surprises. I hadn't thought of funding a young dentist establishing a business, but that should be a good idea for the right person/persons. Why have health insurance = "I bet $1,000 a year I get sick"? Insurance company, "We think that's a good bet, hand it over." Nobody is better placed than the person with the health to known whether they are a good bet or not and insurance companies need to charge the risk [with them not knowing as much or having as much control as the individual, even if lots of disclosure is given], plus marketing expenses [advertizing, salesmen], administration [tea breaks, buildings, electricity, insurance [giggle], paperwork, photocopying, postage, travel expenses for executives, meals, accommodation, entertainment], false claims [not all claimants, assessors, medical suppliers are honest], profits [investors want some return on their risk] and of course, tax [governments take a large chunk = GST on the policy, tax on workers' salaries, tax on the petrol they buy and booze with which they drown their sorrows and tax on company profits]. It's easier to just pay the doctor if you get sick and make sure you don't get sick by reading about nutrition, pollution, genetics and lifestyle rather than fine print in insurance policies and election promises by politicians. Excellent. Saved: <Once the Coconut is a being, daydream stayed the same, but practicality interfered. The coconut must be brought up correctly, trained properly, educated superbly, and et cetera. Bummer. > Young children keep you young. There's no time for being a pathetic, washed up, irascible old geezer and griping about things when there is a new world being developed right before your eyes and you are necessary to enable the creation. Hanging out mindlessly like Marlon Brando on some 'idyllic' island with your boozy mates is no way to live [which is perhaps an unfair criticism as I don't really know how he lived]. Grandfathers get a new lease of life too. Sure, I can afford to go and hang out in some 'great' place. But there's more to life than idyllic surroundings, which can become very boring after not long. Timelessness is fine, but life isn't timeless - it races past and after a decade on the beach, I might think there is more to life than another day of rolling surf and fresh fish. Hmmmm, I should try it for a while. Just in case. Mqurice

To: TobagoJack who wrote (5019)	3/26/2006 2:15:42 AM
From: Muthusamy SELVARAJU	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 218632

TJ, Many thanks for your prompt and thoughtful reply. I found many interesting points for me to act upon, even if my financial resources limit the depth and spread of available options for me. Malaysia is a great place to live out the third phase of one's life, as it has good facilities, is very economical, and being close to friends/relatives is very convenient. KL is quite far from Langkawi, is not as tranquil, but its distractions are many, esp if one's kids have long left home, and my future years are only to be spent with my wife, mainly. Quiet dinners, fine Australian wines, acceptable Western classical, jazz and other equivalent more contemporary genres do make life here quite bearable, even if it is without my children (who've long left the nest). In some ways, I'm actually quite glad my parenting days are behind me, especially since my precious two have turned out alright. I'm not sure which oil sands you have in mind, I suspect it is not Petrocanada for a 2-3 bagger. Any others you would like to share? I take your point about health insurance, but I also like Maurice' point about the paddings in the premiums, so looking after my health is where most of my 'health focused' spending goes. My foreign trips are mainly regional these days, and a week in the Chiangmai hills last week turned out to be both cost effective and most relaxing. Do you have a view on mainland Chinese stocks, as a 2006 play, given their very depressed levels and potential big time Yuan appreciation? Any preferred sectors? Many thanks again, best wishes for a great week ahead, Selva

To: TobagoJack who wrote (5019)	3/26/2006 7:33:42 PM
From: Amark$p	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218632

Hmmm, only 10% in physical gold/silver... while 25% in real estate REITS? You better go back and read your prior posts and blogs to keep your recommended portfolio consistent with your core beliefs!! "Total USD 2 mn – USD 200,000 in gold/silver/platinum/palladium physical, stored in HK, as financial reset, earning zeroDotnaught USD 500,000 in internet brokerage a/c to write puts against, and only write puts on resource-based equities, ought to earn 12% per annum after inflation, say 60k USD 500,000 in dividend yielding global REITs, preferable non-USD, yielding a blended 5%"