Week 8

Retirement

I am already 22 years old, after 10 yeas at most, my parents will retire. In China, for people who were born after 1980 are most only child in the family. So every family has only one child. When our parents retire, what would us to do? When we get married, that means a young couple need to take care four old parents. It is unlikely to accompany all of them all the time. I think the best way maybe is the retirement village or resthome. in there, they can be taken care of by the nursing staff and have some activiities with friends who are the similar age.

Actually, the whole world is facing population aging problem. What I found, particularly in China, there will be a new industry targeting on aging population, some body call it the silver-hair industry. As the aging people increasing, the more services such as retirement village or resthome will be needed. I think it would be a good opportunity to invest in it. Of couse, we need to create more comfortable envrionment for old people, serve them what they need, both physical and psycological.

Week 7

Shares 2

Investing in shares, timing is also extremly important. Actually, I think there is a same method used in property investment. Try to buy when the mood is gloomy and prices are lower. Don't invest your money when there is a universal mood of investor optimism. Psycology thing!!!

As a university student, we are likely to believe popular market sentiment, because we don't have much experiences and we always lose control when we want to earn more money. It is easy to say that be a rational investor than to actually do.

Week 6

Shares 1

In Paul’s book, Warren Buffett is surely mentioned in chapter: Investing in shares. This old man is so good at share investment, so smart, his style and skills are so impressive and useful. In this journal i want to focus on his selecting shares.

As we all know, he holds many mainstream companies’ shares, such as Coca-Cola, American Express. However, in 2008, he bought 230 million US dollars share of a Chinese company called BYD which is a fast developing electric car company. Why Buffett invested in this company? That’s all about his method of selecting a share, he only chooses good-quality, favourable long-term prospects, undervalued shares. I think it is the key to invest in shares, you have to take a long-term consideration. Somehow, forecast the prospect of a industry, a company .The maximum return you can get is buying shares of a company which can grow quickly at the bottom of its price and sell them in the future. BYD company has advanced electric car technic and can be forecast to get more support by the government as the environment is getting worse, and resourses are declining.

Week 5

Real Estate 2

When we decide to invest in property, we need to choose what kind of property is worth investing, because there are various investment options depending on how much to invest and how long will you get benefit from your investment.

“Location, location, location” always holds true, sometimes, the property itself won’t appreciate, the growth of its price is the reflection of the appreciation of the land. Therefore, locations like CBD, towncenter, will give the investors good return. If you expect a long-term appreciation of property and you have enough money to invest, then city center will be a good choice. However, as the average price is relatively high, the investors might not expect a rapid or obvious appreciation over a short period.

To those who want a short-term return and not so much money to invest, new developing area may be a good target. When choosing such a place, investors always need to refer to the planning of the city, make sure the area has the potential to develop. If the fact proofs that you are right, it is likely that you can get a good return over a short-term period. However, investing in such places means higher risk than investing in city center.

Week 4

Real Estate 1

After reading sectors about property investment in Paul’s book, lots of thoughts came into my mind. I always pay attention to China’s real estate. During 2009, there was a dramatic growth in real estate, in terms of prices and amount of homes were sold. What I would like to talk about in this journal is how to grab the right moment to invest in property.

There is a common sense that we buy things when the price is low and sell things when price is high. However, in real estate investment, people always buy in when price is growing and sell out when price is declining. This situation is generated due to psycological effect rather than refering to the rational analysis. Investor are used to expect a continous and faster growth in price when the price is already climbing. However, the fact is if you invest in this moment, your possible benefits getting from price increase is actually been pressed down. Even worse, there always a bubble comes after dramatic increase in price. In my opinion, the right moment of investing is when the price is declining, investor need to consider the market fluctuation, if currently, the price in at the bottom, when the next wave comes, the prices will be brought to the top.

Personally, I think investors always have to fight againest their own, get rid of psycological impact, have brave heart, find out the truth of the market.

Week 3

Invest in ourselves

When we graduate from uni, we begin to pursure the opportunities to work.. Some of many friends say it is not easy to get a job, especially the one suits you. I would like to say at the beginning of getting a job, because we are lack of experiences, we need to set the goals close to reality, I mean not too high to reach.

I heard from one of my friends, who has just graduated from uni with a bachelor degree in China. He didn’t obey his parents’ opinion---continue to finish master degree. The reason he did this is when he pursuring jobs, at the interviews, he felt that the only difference between a bachelor student and a master student is the salary. Except this the master students don’t have any priority. The result is he successfully got the job through many competitors due to his commnuications skills and abilities.

That proofs, sometimes, if you can get a job or not depends on your skills, abilities, whether you’ve shown the capability for the job rather than just put your degree certificate in front of you.

Another phenomenon shows in China, most students want to be white-collar with only a minority wants to be blue-collar which now earns higher salary and less competitive. I think if the students can clearly analyze supply-demand relation at the moment, there would be much easier to get a job.

Week 2

Insurance

“Insurance is a fundamental component of wealth creation. It protects the assets you have now and therefore helps secure the future. It is not a luxury. It is a necessity.” Quote from Paul’s book.

I think in many youths’s mind, insurance is not so important, they cost money, but bring nothing beneficial when everything goes right. However, it is wrong.

"young invincibles" - 19 to 29 year olds who don't get health insurance with their jobs and don't carry individual coverage, often because they consider it a major expense they can live without. According to the report, across America, there are 13.2 million "young invincibles," who make up 30 percent of all uninsured - a number that's expected to climb in this economy.

young adults also have the highest rate of injury-related emergency room visits of all age groups - 46 percent of young uninsured adults reported having medical debt as a result.

It's worth it to pay that little bit of money a month and then be OK, be able to go to the doctor when you need to.

One needs to understand even if you’ve earned a lot of money but without adequate insurance, you may loose the money no matter how much effects you paid for them.

There are many kinds of insurance, what we need to do is to avoid having wrong insurance which would be a waste of money.