The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Is paying in advance for a 5-star holiday worth it?
- Global semicon sales up 11.4% to US$25.87bil in February
- Public Bank slips after record highs
| Is paying in advance for a 5-star holiday worth it? Posted: 06 Apr 2014 09:00 AM PDT "PAYING in advance for 5-star holidays while we can afford it makes sense as it is about the monthly amount of a car loan and for future use when we will be retired, but this is NOT investment." Wise words! This time I agreed with hubby. So we turned down the generous offer to pay now and enjoy inflation-capped holiday in luxurious resorts worldwide the next 25 years. We stayed in the lavish beautifully-appointed 3-bed, 3-bath Royal Suite with our private pool of a 5-star resort in Phuket. Very relaxing indeed, courtesy of the owner.The deal was to get hubby and me to invest about RM196,000 to have the privilege of staying in such Holiday liability? The deal breakerwas having to payup-front either in lump sum ofRM196,000 o rinterest-free installments It felt like getting another mortgage. Aliability.With bills mounting from raising three kids below 13, this is no holidayat all. Inflation vs investment Capping holiday inflation sounds amazing and the numbers do support it. It is a savings of more than RM327,000 at today's prices over 25 years. However, luxurious holidays are choices, not a necessity. By putting RM196,000 into an asset class that grows at 10%annual compounding interest, this investment can grow to about RM2.3mil after 25 years. The 10% interest can certainly mitigate any holiday inflation and the trip choices are more flexible. If you have less time to grow the fund, say 10 years like we do, put the monthly installment ofRM1,600 into a fund that appreciates 10% and we can still grow it to slightly more than half a million of R&R money. Giving up a paid-up 5-star holiday for the rest of your life is not so silly if you can make yourinvestment The writer can be contacted at info@successconcepts.biz |
| Global semicon sales up 11.4% to US$25.87bil in February Posted: 06 Apr 2014 07:12 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose 11.4% in February to US$25.87bil in February 2014 from US$23.23bil a year ago, according to the US-based Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). It said this was the industry's largest on-year increase in more than three years. However, this was 1.5% lower than the January 2014 total of US$26.26bil, reflecting normal seasonal trends. SIA president and CEO Brian Toohey said the "trend lines remain positive for the global semiconductor industry", which has followed record revenues in 2013 with an encouraging start to 2014. "The Americas market continues to demonstrate impressive growth, while sales in Asia Pacific and Europe also increased substantially year-to-year, and the Japanese market continued its recent rebound," he said. Toohey said regionally, on-year sales increased by 18% in the Americas, Asia Pacific (12%) and Europe (9.6%). However, there was a 0.2% fall in sales in Japan but February marked the region's smallest year-to-year decrease since August 2012. "Sales fell across all regions compared to the previous month, as February sales historically are lower than January sales due to seasonal trends. "The US semiconductor market has been a key driver of global market growth over the last year, and policymakers in Washington can help maintain this momentum by enacting measures that remove obstacles to continued growth," Toohey said. |
| Public Bank slips after record highs Posted: 06 Apr 2014 06:53 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Public Bank's local and foreign shares were the top losers early Monday as investors took profit after the surge last week. At 9.41am, Public Bank was down 22 sen to RM20.58 with 161,300 shares done while Public Bank foreign fell 20 sen to RM20.60 with 9,100 shares done. The FBM KLCI rose 1.88 points to 1,858.49. Turnover was 483.82 million shares valued at RM236.95mil. There were 232 gainers, 228 losers and 242 counters unchanged. RHB Research, which has a Neutral recommendation on Public Bank and fair value of RM18.70, said the share price surged 8.6% last week. "We believe this was mainly driven by its corporate exercise to merge its foreign and local shares (merge shares to trade from April 16), as this will lead to an increase in weighting of certain global indexes due to a higher free float factor. "Currently, only foreigners holding PBB-F shares (30% of share capital) have voting rights and this has capped the share's investability weighting in FTSE and MSCI indices. "Note that FTSE has confirmed that the merger will raise Public Bank's investability weighting to 80% from 30%. However, domestically, we understand the exercise will not impact Public Bank's weightage in the FBM KLCI," it said. |
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