窮人最缺的是「野心」
撰文者：郝廣才
法國一個大富翁死後，他的律師在報紙刊登他的遺囑：「我這一生從窮光蛋變成億萬富翁，如今我把有錢的祕訣密封存放在銀行的保險箱，誰能回答這個問題：『窮人最缺的是什麼？』我的代理人就會遵照指示，把祕訣和200萬法郎贈送給答對的人。」
消息一出，律師收到如雪片飛來的信件。大部分的人回答說：「錢，窮人最缺的是錢，不然怎麼是窮人？」有人說：「運氣，有了好運，買彩券就中、買股票就漲，怎麼會窮？」有人說：「機會，就是沒有發財的機會，所以才會窮。」有人說：「專長。」有人說：「知識。」有人說：「是富爸爸。」有人說：「是貴人。」還有人說：「是愛，人有愛，就會向上，就會滿足；沒有愛，就會墮落，就會貪心不足，感覺窮……」遇到一堆千奇百怪的答案。
結果，得到200萬法郎的是一個6歲的小女孩。只有她寄來的信，答案和富翁留下的祕訣一樣，就是「野心」，窮人最缺的就是野心！大家問小女孩，為什麼她會想到是野心呢？小女孩回答：「每次我和姊姊分東西的時候，她總是警告我說：『不可以有野心喔！』然後我不是分不到，就是得的少。所以我想，野心，一定是可以讓人得到東西的東西。」
蘋果電腦最近又大展神威，股價如直升機直上青天。美國媒體把當年蘋果的3個原創始創辦人之一—隆納韋恩（Ronald Wayne）挖出來，發現他並沒什麼錢，靠退休金過著簡樸的生活。原來在1976年，韋恩和史帝夫賈伯斯（Steve Jobs）、史帝夫沃茲尼克（Steve Wozniak）3個人一起開創蘋果電腦，他的年紀比兩個史帝夫大上15歲以上，所以每次兩個史帝夫吵架，都是他出來打圓場，雙方相持不下時，也由他裁決。後來他發現賈伯斯為一筆100台電腦的訂單，去向銀行借了2萬美元。韋恩曾經參與一個Siand賭博機公司，Siand就是為了開拓生意而舉債，結果破了產，害他背了債；他怕重蹈覆轍，便把手上的10%蘋果股份以800美元的代價賣給兩個史帝夫，回到原來他和賈伯斯同事的Atari上班。如果他當年沒賣蘋果的股份，現在市值240億美元。
差很多吧！很可惜吧！韋恩自己說：他當時已50歲，跟不上兩個年輕小子的野心。是的，沒有野心，就不敢冒險，那難以致富。這就是窮人最缺的。我不是說安貧樂道有錯，如果一簞食，一瓢飲，回也不改其樂，當然很值得尊敬；韋恩也說他不後悔，因為他不負債，踏實生活也不錯。但如果你想致富，又不敢冒險，那就看人有錢，自己痛苦了！
Smart智富
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Beware of share buybacks
PERSONAL INVESTING
By OOI KOK HWA
UNDER normal circumstances, investors should get excited when companies buy back their own shares. In theory, this action implies the management views the best available investment opportunity for the utilisation of excess cash is to invest in its own company rather than buy into some other companies.
This is because when a company buys back its own shares, it will reduce the firm’s outstanding shares and enhance the company’s earnings per share (EPS).
Due to information asymmetry, the management is in the best position to determine that the company is being undervalued at the current price and, thus, it is to the best interest of the shareholders to buy back the company’s shares.
Hence, in general, we can conclude share buybacks usually convey a positive signal that implies the stock of a company is underpriced.
However, lately in Malaysia there was one listed company, Company K – we prefer to call it Company K than to reveal its real name – which showed unusual buying-back activities over an extended period up to May 17, 2010.
Here is an analysis of the Company K’s stock-price movement over this period. The price chart shows Company K had been hovering at around 80 to 90 sen until May 25, 2010. In fact, the company’s stock was being traded above 80 sen despite the recent financial crisis.
During the 2008-2009 market crashes, while the majority of companies were facing drops of 50% or more in their prices, Company K’s share price remained stable at above 80 sen.
Based on our observation of stock exchange filings, the stability of this company’s share price at around 80–85 sen appeared to be supported by its share buyback activities.
The company stopped buying its own shares since May 17. The last tranche of its share repurchase was on May 17 and the total number of shares bought were 36,000. As a result, since May 25, the stock prices started to plunge.
The main reasons for the sharp drop were because Company K defaulted on loans repayments and a few of the company’s key owners had left the company as well as the country.
As mentioned earlier, finance text books say when companies buy back their own shares, it implies the companies are undervalued.
However, in this case, Company K reported on June 7 RM146.5mil of losses for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010. Table 1 shows the company continued to buy back its own shares during the fourth quarter of FY10 and first quarter of FY11, even though the company was incurring huge losses during the periods. This seem to be against what we have learned from financial theory.
Investors may be wondering whether they are able to sell before the sharp plunge in share prices. Based on our observation, the company only announced the default in loans repayments on May 31, 2010 and the share prices immediately tumbled to a low of 10 sen.
By the time the company announced its fourth-quarter results on June 7, its share price remained low at 14.5 sen.
An interesting point to note from Table 1 is that coincidentally, Company K’s key owner, Mr JH, sold most of his holdings by the time the results were announced. He sold 39.2 million shares (53.4 million minus 14.2 million) from April 7 to June 7, 2010.
At the moment, due to the delay in submitting audited financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2010, shares in the company have been suspended from trading at 6.5 sen. The company is currently facing a winding-up petition and the appointment of provisional liquidators.
In short, share buybacks do not imply companies are undervalued. Investors need to be careful as some companies may use these activities to support their share prices.
Thestar
● Ooi Kok Hwa is an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting.
By OOI KOK HWA
UNDER normal circumstances, investors should get excited when companies buy back their own shares. In theory, this action implies the management views the best available investment opportunity for the utilisation of excess cash is to invest in its own company rather than buy into some other companies.
This is because when a company buys back its own shares, it will reduce the firm’s outstanding shares and enhance the company’s earnings per share (EPS).
Due to information asymmetry, the management is in the best position to determine that the company is being undervalued at the current price and, thus, it is to the best interest of the shareholders to buy back the company’s shares.
Hence, in general, we can conclude share buybacks usually convey a positive signal that implies the stock of a company is underpriced.
However, lately in Malaysia there was one listed company, Company K – we prefer to call it Company K than to reveal its real name – which showed unusual buying-back activities over an extended period up to May 17, 2010.
Here is an analysis of the Company K’s stock-price movement over this period. The price chart shows Company K had been hovering at around 80 to 90 sen until May 25, 2010. In fact, the company’s stock was being traded above 80 sen despite the recent financial crisis.
During the 2008-2009 market crashes, while the majority of companies were facing drops of 50% or more in their prices, Company K’s share price remained stable at above 80 sen.
Based on our observation of stock exchange filings, the stability of this company’s share price at around 80–85 sen appeared to be supported by its share buyback activities.
The company stopped buying its own shares since May 17. The last tranche of its share repurchase was on May 17 and the total number of shares bought were 36,000. As a result, since May 25, the stock prices started to plunge.
The main reasons for the sharp drop were because Company K defaulted on loans repayments and a few of the company’s key owners had left the company as well as the country.
As mentioned earlier, finance text books say when companies buy back their own shares, it implies the companies are undervalued.
However, in this case, Company K reported on June 7 RM146.5mil of losses for its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010. Table 1 shows the company continued to buy back its own shares during the fourth quarter of FY10 and first quarter of FY11, even though the company was incurring huge losses during the periods. This seem to be against what we have learned from financial theory.
Investors may be wondering whether they are able to sell before the sharp plunge in share prices. Based on our observation, the company only announced the default in loans repayments on May 31, 2010 and the share prices immediately tumbled to a low of 10 sen.
By the time the company announced its fourth-quarter results on June 7, its share price remained low at 14.5 sen.
An interesting point to note from Table 1 is that coincidentally, Company K’s key owner, Mr JH, sold most of his holdings by the time the results were announced. He sold 39.2 million shares (53.4 million minus 14.2 million) from April 7 to June 7, 2010.
At the moment, due to the delay in submitting audited financial statements for the period ended March 31, 2010, shares in the company have been suspended from trading at 6.5 sen. The company is currently facing a winding-up petition and the appointment of provisional liquidators.
In short, share buybacks do not imply companies are undervalued. Investors need to be careful as some companies may use these activities to support their share prices.
Thestar
● Ooi Kok Hwa is an investment adviser and managing partner of MRR Consulting.
Capital gain versus dividend – which one is better?
Capital gain versus dividend – which one is better?
Personal Investing - By Ooi Kok Hwa
DESPITE the high FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index levels, a lot of investors have been complaining about not getting the desired returns by investing in the stock market.
This is because they are holding shares in companies that have poor fundamentals, and the majority of the sestocks are still selling at very cheap prices.
As a result, most investors not only incur capital losses due to low prices but al so not get any dividends from these companies. In this article, we will look into the importance of capital gain versus dividend.
When we look at the performance of listed companies, we find that the majority of companies t hat have performed well in terms of stock prices are companies that pay good dividends; for example Nestle (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Public Bank Bhd etc.
Most investors are aware of these stocks that pay good dividends. However, some would not consider buying into these stocks because to them, the stock prices are too high or too expensive.
Instead, some investors prefer to take the chance and buy penny stocks, which they think are cheap and have higher probabilities of getting huge capital gains.
Unfortunately, most of them find that after a few years, they are still not receiving any dividends from these stocks, while the stock prices are still far from their targets, some of them even below their purchase prices.
Investors wh o buy stocks that pay good dividend s need to have the mindset and habit of holding stocks for long-term.
Normally, people who prefer to invest in di vidend-paying stocks will not speculate on these stocks but keep them for the long-term as the companies have been rewarding them with good dividend payments over the years.
Companies that pay good and consistent dividends also reflect the sharing attitude of the companies’ owners.
There have been instances wher eby some listed compan ies, when in need of funds, would raise the money from investors through various types of capital calls.
However, when the companies start to accumul ate excess cash, they do not reward investors with special dividend payments.
Instead, if their stock prices were selling below the net cash per share of the companies, they woul d consider taking the companies private so that they can have direct access to the cash.
Hoping for capital gains Many companies refuse to pay dividend s to investors because they claim they need to retain profits for future expansion.
Even though there are cases where future expansions turn ou t to be successful and generate good profits to the companies, there are als o cases where expansion projects fail.
We notice that st ock prices for companies that either pay very low or no dividends would fluctuate according to t he overall sentiment of the stock market, whereas stock prices for companies that pay good dividends tend to be relatively more stable.
Most investors know the need to buy low and sell high to make money. However, most do not know when to sell their stocks. We cannot sell a stock just because we have bought it cheap.
According to Benjamin Graham, we should only sell a stock when the fundamentals of the company deteriorates.
We should not sell the stock if the stock price is temporarily above its intrinsic value as it is not easy to identify a company with good quality management.
Besides, this type of company usually pays stable and growing dividends as it usually has a fixed dividend payout policy to reward investors.
However, most investors may sell their stocks too early. Companies that are unable to pay dividends are usually companies that incurhigh capital expenditure for future expansion.
These companies not only do not have any excess cash to pay dividends, they also have high gearing and need to retain all profits for expansion. Hence, investors who buy these stocks will have to bear higher risks.
In short, it is safer to buy into companies that p ay good dividends.
As mentioned earlier, companies that pay good dividends reflect the attitude of the companies’ owners, whether they are willing to share profits with minority shareholders.
This is important as we have growing cases of companies with issues on corporate governance.
Thestar
Personal Investing - By Ooi Kok Hwa
DESPITE the high FTSE Bursa Malaysia KL Composite Index levels, a lot of investors have been complaining about not getting the desired returns by investing in the stock market.
This is because they are holding shares in companies that have poor fundamentals, and the majority of the sestocks are still selling at very cheap prices.
As a result, most investors not only incur capital losses due to low prices but al so not get any dividends from these companies. In this article, we will look into the importance of capital gain versus dividend.
When we look at the performance of listed companies, we find that the majority of companies t hat have performed well in terms of stock prices are companies that pay good dividends; for example Nestle (M) Bhd, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd, Public Bank Bhd etc.
Most investors are aware of these stocks that pay good dividends. However, some would not consider buying into these stocks because to them, the stock prices are too high or too expensive.
Instead, some investors prefer to take the chance and buy penny stocks, which they think are cheap and have higher probabilities of getting huge capital gains.
Unfortunately, most of them find that after a few years, they are still not receiving any dividends from these stocks, while the stock prices are still far from their targets, some of them even below their purchase prices.
Investors wh o buy stocks that pay good dividend s need to have the mindset and habit of holding stocks for long-term.
Normally, people who prefer to invest in di vidend-paying stocks will not speculate on these stocks but keep them for the long-term as the companies have been rewarding them with good dividend payments over the years.
Companies that pay good and consistent dividends also reflect the sharing attitude of the companies’ owners.
There have been instances wher eby some listed compan ies, when in need of funds, would raise the money from investors through various types of capital calls.
However, when the companies start to accumul ate excess cash, they do not reward investors with special dividend payments.
Instead, if their stock prices were selling below the net cash per share of the companies, they woul d consider taking the companies private so that they can have direct access to the cash.
Hoping for capital gains Many companies refuse to pay dividend s to investors because they claim they need to retain profits for future expansion.
Even though there are cases where future expansions turn ou t to be successful and generate good profits to the companies, there are als o cases where expansion projects fail.
We notice that st ock prices for companies that either pay very low or no dividends would fluctuate according to t he overall sentiment of the stock market, whereas stock prices for companies that pay good dividends tend to be relatively more stable.
Most investors know the need to buy low and sell high to make money. However, most do not know when to sell their stocks. We cannot sell a stock just because we have bought it cheap.
According to Benjamin Graham, we should only sell a stock when the fundamentals of the company deteriorates.
We should not sell the stock if the stock price is temporarily above its intrinsic value as it is not easy to identify a company with good quality management.
Besides, this type of company usually pays stable and growing dividends as it usually has a fixed dividend payout policy to reward investors.
However, most investors may sell their stocks too early. Companies that are unable to pay dividends are usually companies that incurhigh capital expenditure for future expansion.
These companies not only do not have any excess cash to pay dividends, they also have high gearing and need to retain all profits for expansion. Hence, investors who buy these stocks will have to bear higher risks.
In short, it is safer to buy into companies that p ay good dividends.
As mentioned earlier, companies that pay good dividends reflect the attitude of the companies’ owners, whether they are willing to share profits with minority shareholders.
This is important as we have growing cases of companies with issues on corporate governance.
Thestar
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The rising cost of education
One of the biggest worries for parents nowadays is how to fund their children’s education, which does not come cheap.
In addition, as with everything else, education expenses, be it in foreign and local colleges/universities, private primary and secondary schools, are expected to trend upwards in future.
According to CTLA Financial Planners Sdn Bhd managing director Mike Lee, the trend is upwards as far as education costs are concerned.
“In predicting the future, we can only use assumptions such as cost and inflation factors in child education planning.
“The general increase for local studies is about 3% per year and foreign about 5% and this applies to a general business degree of three years,” he tells StarBizweek. (see table)
The increasing cost is due to rising inflation as a result of hikes in food and accomodation expenses, travelling costs, books and exam fees as well as salaries, among other factors.
E.T. Education Services Sdn Bhd managing director Matthew Gan sees an average increase of between 5% to 7% annually in education costs for studies locally and in countries such as Britain, United States, Australia, Canada and Singapore (excluding foreign exchange rate fluctuations).
“Moreover, there are certain years where the increase can be in a lump sum instead of percentage depending on the circumstances,” he says.
Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd managing director Yap Ming Hui has tagged a 6% inflation rate per annum for the cost of a university education locally or overseas.
“Parents nowadays have higher expectations when it comes to their children’s education unlike before so there is a tendency to send them to private or international schools and foreign universities.
“So education becomes more expensive,” he says.
For example, business for private school Sri KDU has been flourishing since it opened its doors in 2003 with enrolment increasing to some 2,400 students currently from 500 when it first began.
Marketing manager Rina Thiagu-Kler says school fees for primary and secondary education range from RM15,000 to RM17,000 per annum with an average 10% increase in fees every two years.
Sri KDU is also expanding – its international school for secondary education is expected to be ready next year. In general, primary and secondary education in an international school is in the range of RM30,000 per annum.
So how can parents have sufficient funds for their children’s education? Lee says three things have to be considered simultaneously to ensure that money is available when needed - investment for returns such as units trusts, equities and property; insurance for protection and will needs to be written to protect the child or family in case the breadwinner dies.
“The common advice is to save and invest your money as early as possible. Let your money grow with your child,” he advises.
He says one should save according to what one can afford for the time being which is a good start. As one’s income increases, then the savings goes up as well.
“This way, parents do not feel the pressure and find that starting early will allow a smooth continuation of the funding over the years,” Lee says.
AbacusForMoney.com founder and chief executive officer Carol Yip says the ideal approach is to start saving as much cash as possible and then multiply it by investing in investment vehicles to hedge against the increase in cost of living and education.
Yip says there are several approaches to savings and investment strategies. First, choose a strategy where the investment product has capital growth and if possible has income yield in the long term, for example, property investments.
Second, have a portfolio of several types of investment assets that will give you investment returns over a period of time to meet the education costs. Third, select an investment strategy that enables you to buy and sell your investments for capital growth such as company shares and venture capital investments.
“More importantly, the chosen investment strategy must suit the parents’ style and preferences in managing investments because it is a lifelong pursuit until the child is financially independent and able to make a living for himself or herself,” Yip says.
Whitman’s Yap says some of the common mistakes parents make when saving for their child’s education fund are starting too late, saving without investing and not considering foreign exchange fluctuations for those who aim to send their children overseas.
“It is important to determine what the education costs are in current value and identify a suitable savings and investment vehicle.
“Some parents don’t even have a clue how much education costs,” he says
Thestar
In addition, as with everything else, education expenses, be it in foreign and local colleges/universities, private primary and secondary schools, are expected to trend upwards in future.
According to CTLA Financial Planners Sdn Bhd managing director Mike Lee, the trend is upwards as far as education costs are concerned.
“In predicting the future, we can only use assumptions such as cost and inflation factors in child education planning.
“The general increase for local studies is about 3% per year and foreign about 5% and this applies to a general business degree of three years,” he tells StarBizweek. (see table)
The increasing cost is due to rising inflation as a result of hikes in food and accomodation expenses, travelling costs, books and exam fees as well as salaries, among other factors.
E.T. Education Services Sdn Bhd managing director Matthew Gan sees an average increase of between 5% to 7% annually in education costs for studies locally and in countries such as Britain, United States, Australia, Canada and Singapore (excluding foreign exchange rate fluctuations).
“Moreover, there are certain years where the increase can be in a lump sum instead of percentage depending on the circumstances,” he says.
Whitman Independent Advisors Sdn Bhd managing director Yap Ming Hui has tagged a 6% inflation rate per annum for the cost of a university education locally or overseas.
“Parents nowadays have higher expectations when it comes to their children’s education unlike before so there is a tendency to send them to private or international schools and foreign universities.
“So education becomes more expensive,” he says.
For example, business for private school Sri KDU has been flourishing since it opened its doors in 2003 with enrolment increasing to some 2,400 students currently from 500 when it first began.
Marketing manager Rina Thiagu-Kler says school fees for primary and secondary education range from RM15,000 to RM17,000 per annum with an average 10% increase in fees every two years.
Sri KDU is also expanding – its international school for secondary education is expected to be ready next year. In general, primary and secondary education in an international school is in the range of RM30,000 per annum.
So how can parents have sufficient funds for their children’s education? Lee says three things have to be considered simultaneously to ensure that money is available when needed - investment for returns such as units trusts, equities and property; insurance for protection and will needs to be written to protect the child or family in case the breadwinner dies.
“The common advice is to save and invest your money as early as possible. Let your money grow with your child,” he advises.
He says one should save according to what one can afford for the time being which is a good start. As one’s income increases, then the savings goes up as well.
“This way, parents do not feel the pressure and find that starting early will allow a smooth continuation of the funding over the years,” Lee says.
AbacusForMoney.com founder and chief executive officer Carol Yip says the ideal approach is to start saving as much cash as possible and then multiply it by investing in investment vehicles to hedge against the increase in cost of living and education.
Yip says there are several approaches to savings and investment strategies. First, choose a strategy where the investment product has capital growth and if possible has income yield in the long term, for example, property investments.
Second, have a portfolio of several types of investment assets that will give you investment returns over a period of time to meet the education costs. Third, select an investment strategy that enables you to buy and sell your investments for capital growth such as company shares and venture capital investments.
“More importantly, the chosen investment strategy must suit the parents’ style and preferences in managing investments because it is a lifelong pursuit until the child is financially independent and able to make a living for himself or herself,” Yip says.
Whitman’s Yap says some of the common mistakes parents make when saving for their child’s education fund are starting too late, saving without investing and not considering foreign exchange fluctuations for those who aim to send their children overseas.
“It is important to determine what the education costs are in current value and identify a suitable savings and investment vehicle.
“Some parents don’t even have a clue how much education costs,” he says
Thestar
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