DARN IT!!!

I .. lost...my..army...phone...
darrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnn iiiiiiitttttttttttt...

Well, at least i didn't lose my wallet or the ipod touch... so i guess thats comforting myself.. haha. Actually, it's not more about having to waste money to buy and replace a new one. But rather that it is wasting time and inconvenient.. CHICKEN BACKSIDE.

This week was rather long. There was the 24 km route march and I'm a sucker to it. My back always cock up during it. So it's hurting during the later parts of the march. But! I finished it:) Must say that I was happy at the end, like clenching my fist in some sort of victory that I achieved. Because, honestly earlier in the BMT I didn't think I would be able to complete the 24 km route march. So, in some ways it's an accomplishment to me. You can say that for some people it's easy and what's the big deal. I can only say that each indiviual's body and mentality is different. That's that.

Coming this wednesday is my passing out parade. Finally. Must say that although the 9 weeks passed by relatively quickly, i really just want to finish it and take a break during my block leave. Am looking forward to exercising and doing more sports during this peroid of time. Hopefully, a good ps3 game would come out.. Haven't really been getting any new games. Also, I want to spend more time reading the book i bought and some other stuff.

Didn't really get to read up much on the book " intelligent investor" this last one week. I spend the only free moments reading up on the annual reports that i asked my dad to pass me.. Because he has a fair share of shares and bonds, so he get annual reports from time to time. This time I was reading up on shares from Sembcorp Industries Ltd and Wee Hur Holdings Ltd. This two companies orginate from Singapore and are doing relatively well. Comparing the two, Sembcorp is the bigger company and is doing much better with a turnover of 8.6 billion in 2007, up 6% from 8.1 billion in 2006. Just to share what Sembcorp mainly do, they have four areas they 'specialise" in. That is Utilities, Marine & Offshore Engineering, Enviromental Management and Industrial Parks. Complicated right?? To be frank, I'm not a hundred percent sure about what each sector does. But i just have a rough idea. Must say that in 2007, sembcorp focused less on industrial parks and enviromental management.. and focused more on the other two.

When i asked my dad what was Sembcorp, he looked shocked and was like" how come you don't know". He even said that it was his favorite share.

This statement stuck with me for quite a while.

Was eating dinner with mother and him yesterday. Then i just felt like asking him why did he say that it was his favorite share. He said because the dividend was high and the earnings per share increased.

Overall, i think because the company is doing well and has a good chance of maintaining substainable growth in the future, that's why their dividend has increased from 12.0 cents in 200 to 15.00 cents in 2007, a 25% growth. Their share price also grew 59%. So actually I am quite impressed with their company and their shares.

However, I feel that just because a company or a share's dividend is high, it doesn't neccessary mean that it is a wise choice to buy it. There may be times when you do so, and you come to regret doing it as time pass by.

Why so? Basically, when a company or a coporation has/gain a net surplus/profit, they have two options. One is to pay out to the shareholders through dividend. The second is to re-invest in the business such as research and development and others. So, if the dividend is so high, it can actually be a cause for worry. Think it this way, if the company devotes so much money to paying out to the shareholders and not do something to improve the quality of business or whatsoever. It could indicate that the company is actually starting to lose their focus on their plan for the futures and could possiblely be unable to maintain a substainable growth afer awhile. When this occurs, you just find that the business is losing out to better competitors. They fare badly, the share prices would drop and you just find yourself losing money.

One thing i learn is that when you buy shares of a company/coporation. Don't think it as of just buying this lot and waiting for it to rise and quickly sell it away for the profit. It may work but thats more speculative rather then actually doing your homework. Rather, it's best to really think it like you are actually owning part of the business. So, when you actually want to own part of a business, it's important to research on things like whether the company core values are there, their business prospects, whether they are holding a strong position in the market they are in,etc. When the business does well, share prices would more often than not, rise. But thats not always the case that it will rise jsut because their business is doing well. I will explain next time when i really have confidence in this topic.

In conclusion, never buy shares just because the dividend is high. It's important to read between the lines. There may be many reasons why the dividend is so high, and some may not be positive..

I know I recently been talking so much about this sort of issues. Finance and business related issues. Actually, I'm doing so because i just to practice writing out such stuff from my head. :) Aim to maintain this blog till uni. So hopefully when i enter uni, this information would prove useful. But of course i still have to maintain reading up on the books i bought and the annual reports. One reason why i decided to read annual reports is because i just wanted to do something Warren Buffet does. He reads annual reports. Hundreds of them a year. I don't know if I can do that. But hopefully i can read up as much as possible. The only thing i can say is that every time i blog , i will talk about my life for abit then proceed on to the business related stuff. Pardon me if some of the stuff i write about the finance turns out wrong. Better still, tag me telling me about it. :):)

hmm. i so want to learn how to drive now.. i want to drive mom's bmw. and it's new. wah lao. Although it doesn't belong to me. :( one day one day:)

I asked one to think of something interesting to write... Apparently the words below are interesting.

I LOVE BARNY THE PURPLE DINOSAUR. AND MY GREATEST DREAM EVER IS TO TAKE A PHOTO WITH MICKEY AND MINNEY MOUSE IN DISNEYLAND

Lol..


I will update soon:)