Monday, March 20, 2017

Weekly Quotes




Weekly Petrol price

From April 1, it's not april fool, but it for real now. The petrol price will be determined on weekly basis. Current practice of monthly price determination which started in 2015 will be stopped. But there's a catch. It's no longer fixed priced. Government will merely fix the ceiling price, which means, stations have rights to set lower as per their wish. This indirectly creates price war among stations

Of course public will benefit from this price war. Nevertheless, smaller stations whom running on small margin will get effected and ultimately, may close shop. The move by government ultimately to match the practise in England, where price changes everyday, similar to forex and share price.

Let's see how long can this last. In addition, the subsidy which government saved, has to be channeled to proper areas for development. 

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Donald & Mickey


MGR's visit to Malaysia


I tamil film indutry, you had MGR-Sivaji, Rajini-Kamal, Surya-Vikram, Ajith-Vijay and list of super stars goes on....

For Malaysi film, the only super we had was P.Ramlee and no one could emulate him after that. Nevertheless, he was still humble duing MGR's to Malaysia... 

Friday, March 3, 2017

60% of Employees Unhappy With Their Jobs

Job dissatisfaction is not new and all professionals go through such phase many times in their career span. However, what the TimesJobs survey reveals is the enormity of the situation with a significant majority showing dissatisfaction with their current jobs.

But why do so many people dislike their jobs? TimesJobs' study revealed many startling facts and the most interesting was - 'people cause other people to dislike their jobs'.

"A certain amount of job dissatisfaction is acceptable in any organization, and may even prove beneficial as a motivating factor for employees to change, fix and improve both their own role and the organization’s processes to enhance performance and productivity,” says Nilanjan Roy, Head of Strategy, Times Business Solutions.

“But this must be spotted early and the employee mentored so that he or she can find their true calling. However, large scale ennui as revealed in our survey is a cause for concern, that organizations need to address with comprehensive communication and employee engagement strategies."

Mid-level male employees most dissatisfied

Nearly 60% of the 700 working professionals surveyed by TimesJobs, state they hate their jobs.

The experience level-wise analysis showed more job dissatisfaction at the middle level compared to other levels. Nearly 70% mid-level professionals say they hated their jobs as against 60% junior level employees feel the same.

Senior employees, in contrast, seem to like their jobs a majority (52%) of them saying they loved their job.

Male employees were more displeased with their current job compared to their female counterparts. Almost 70% male employees said they hate their jobs while 54% female employees said so, disclosed the TimesJobs survey.

ITeS tops the sectors of discontent

An industry-wise analysis reveals that the ITeS and BPO sector employees were most dissatisfied with their jobs, with 70% of employees in this sector claiming they don't love what they do; this is followed by employees from 58% of BFSI sector employees who dislike their jobs. Representative employees from the IT and Telecom sectors had a divided opinion with 50% saying they loved their job and another 50% saying they don't.

'Other people' are the main reason for displeasure

For nearly 50% surveyed employees the key reason for their job dissatisfaction was 'the people factor', which included their bosses and co-workers. Of the employees who blame ‘the people’ at their organization for their dislike towards their current job, nearly 60% say they have a bad boss and 30% say they have annoying co-workers while 10% say they have disengaged teams.

A demographic analysis showed both male and female employees are equally dissatisfied with 'the people factor'.      

•    45% male and 40% female employees blamed dissatisfaction with job because of 'the people' they work with      

•    40% male and 30% female employees said fault lies with 'the job/role' at hand      

•    15% male and 30% female employees blamed 'the logistics' element of the job  

Other reasons for discontentment

Nearly 30% surveyed professionals attributed their discontent to 'the job itself', which includes dissatisfaction with their current role, profile and position. Of these 30% professionals, 50% said they do not feel passionate about their current role, 25% say that the job description is not the same as communicated during hiring, 15% say they don't see a clear career growth path and 10% feel their work is not challenging enough.

The remaining 20% employees blame their job dissatisfaction on ‘the logistics element’ which includes factors like the commute time, work schedules and work environment. Among these, 40% sat there is no flexibility at work, 30% complain of poor work-life balance, 20% criticize the long working hours and 10% are troubled because of the long commute time


Extracted from : CFO Innovation Asia Staff | Wednesday, March 01, 2017

Asian Millennials Face Critical Retirement Finance Crunch

Millennials in Asia are at substantial risk of a cash crunch during their later years, with many expecting to carry mortgage debt into retirement or even run out of money altogether. Yet there's optimism too.

Millennial investors, surveyed as part of the Manulife Investor Sentiment Index (MISI), revealed very mixed expectations about the quality of their financial futures.

Despite widespread optimism about their retirement -- with nine-out-of-ten (89%) saying they expect to be able to maintain or improve their standard of living in retirement -- nearly one-third (30%) of millennial investors also expect to run out of money later on in life.

Roy Gori, President and CEO of Manulife Asia, said: "Asia's millennials are naturally optimistic about their retirement as many will have grown up in an era of unprecedented economic development. With that prosperity comes a longer and better quality of life -- and with that, higher expectations of the future.

"But the economic model that underpins our current understanding of retirement is quickly changing. Young people today will need to start saving, and investing, sooner rather than later. Otherwise they face a retirement of anxiety, not adventure."

While no two investors will have the same retirement requirements, a common rule of thumb is to accumulate around 25 times the amount one expects to spend in the first year of retirement.

Yet the survey showed that, on average, millennial investors expect to accumulate just 8.2 times their annual income by the time they retire. While this figure was higher than the regional average of 7.5 times, millennial investors are still well short of the "25 times" benchmark.

Commenting on the findings, Michael Dommermuth, Head of Wealth and Asset Management, Asia, for Manulife, said: "Millennials may have been led to feel a sense of optimism for an improved post-retirement living standard, which is potentially misplaced.  Younger generations should plan strategically to begin accumulating wealth at early life stage."

Family and health burdens likely to strain millennials' retirement savings

Millennials acknowledge the challenges which threaten their financial security later in life. Nearly four-in-ten (38%) expect to financially support both their parents and children at the same time --significantly constraining their ability to invest and prepare for life after work.

In comparison, only 29% of older investors expect to support their family in the same way.

Younger investors are slightly more concerned than generations past about the impact of health on their finances.

Many millennials (39%) expect healthcare to become too expensive during retirement, and more still (43%) expect that their health will deteriorate to the point where they can no longer work.

Despite these challenges, 71% of millennials expect to work in retirement compared to only 66% of older investors.

"It's sobering to see how many investors, especially young people, recognize that there are risks to their retirement. Longer lifespans and later retirement will place increasing demands on investment funds, for which every investor should start planning ahead early for future protection," Dommermuth added.

Traditional investment model no longer reflects reality of real estate

Many investors, including millennials, continue to seek financial security through real estate. Nearly half (45%) of millennials who intend to purchase local property across Asia seek to generate rental income from it. However, their expectations of a return may not reflect the diverging fortunes of the real estate market within the region.

Dommermuth said: "Younger investors looking to address their retirement shortfall should reconsider their investments in the context of rapidly maturing -- or already mature -- real estate markets. While previous generations relied heavily on real estate for their retirement fund, economics and demographics mean that today's millennials need to take a different approach.

"Millennials whom invest in emerging Asia will likely fare better than those who buy a home in maturing Asia, where slowing growth and ageing populations can dampen real estate markets. They owe it to themselves to consider every option available to them in order to plan more effectively for their future."


Extracted from : By CFO Innovation Asia Staff | Thursday, February 23, 2017 

Tuesday Humor


Weekly Quotes