Probably, this is the time of the year where most people are thinking where to go for holiday, but the next thing you would think about is how much money or budget do you want to spend on this holiday, right?
Think about money all the time can make you feel sad, even if you are not thinking about it, you know that when you are working, you are actually try to earn some money for a living. :(
So, how about doing some investment? What industries are booming now? Two that I think of are Cyber Security and Big data analytic, so which are the companies that can do well? Guess...
Well, how about FEYE, SYMC and CLDR? If you want to put in money in these companies, it's really going to be a long term investment, patience is gold. Just be patience.
Thursday, December 07, 2017
Sunday, November 05, 2017
Countdown to year end
Oh yes, it's November! Less than 2 months to go to a fresh new year. Hey, it's the time of the year when you want to spend more time with your family. Starts planning, MAN!!!
I have go through the last 10 months with ups and downs, so eventful, issues at work, personal problems, etc. Not all problems were easy to resolve, especially if it involves people. Human relationships are the most difficult to understand, you have to understand that people can forgive, but they never forget. As someone who leads, you are on the stage every day, people are looking at you, so watch how you behave and what you say, one wrong move...
As a leader, it's important to show empathy, be yourself, listen and focus on what others have to say. People will then began to trust your, eventually leading to emotional connections, they will be more ready to trust you and follow you.
Remember that you are paid because of what your people do, so without them, you wouldn't be able to accomplish anything!
I have go through the last 10 months with ups and downs, so eventful, issues at work, personal problems, etc. Not all problems were easy to resolve, especially if it involves people. Human relationships are the most difficult to understand, you have to understand that people can forgive, but they never forget. As someone who leads, you are on the stage every day, people are looking at you, so watch how you behave and what you say, one wrong move...
As a leader, it's important to show empathy, be yourself, listen and focus on what others have to say. People will then began to trust your, eventually leading to emotional connections, they will be more ready to trust you and follow you.
Remember that you are paid because of what your people do, so without them, you wouldn't be able to accomplish anything!
Tuesday, October 03, 2017
Kensington's cable lock
One of our colleagues left the company last month, and he handled over a laptop to another guy. When that guy who took over tried to remove the laptop elsewhere, he found that the laptop was 'tied' to a cubicle using a Kensington's cable lock (or whatever you call it). Then he asked for help, before our ex-colleague left, he left a 4-digit pin for us to unlock the cable lock.
I tried the 4-digit combination, but the the lock refused to open. My the other colleague tried to pry it open with a screwdriver but was unsuccessful. We spent almost 2 hours searching for methods to open the lock via internet and Youtube, but still didn't work. I was almost going to give up, when I just tried randomly set the numbers, and what luck I have, I managed to open it!
I was lucky, really lucky, but sadly, I learnt a lesson, that is, never fully trust someone who is unsure himself/herself. And, luck really exists!
I tried the 4-digit combination, but the the lock refused to open. My the other colleague tried to pry it open with a screwdriver but was unsuccessful. We spent almost 2 hours searching for methods to open the lock via internet and Youtube, but still didn't work. I was almost going to give up, when I just tried randomly set the numbers, and what luck I have, I managed to open it!
I was lucky, really lucky, but sadly, I learnt a lesson, that is, never fully trust someone who is unsure himself/herself. And, luck really exists!
Monday, September 11, 2017
CyberSecurity brings big gain
Remember last month when I said that I had wanted to sell off my interests in SYMC. I didn't, luckily.
Just last week, there was serious security hack at a credit reporting agency EFX, resulting in a massive data breach of more than 143 millions U.S. customers. Due to that, Cybersecurity companies like SYMC, FEYE, CHKP and PANW shares rose.
After seeing some gain, I decided to sell off my SYMC stocks. Not much profit though, but good enough to exist from the company, which I had want to do so since last month.
Now, let's move on to other stocks. Will I look at Cybersecurity stocks again? Yes, definitely!
Just last week, there was serious security hack at a credit reporting agency EFX, resulting in a massive data breach of more than 143 millions U.S. customers. Due to that, Cybersecurity companies like SYMC, FEYE, CHKP and PANW shares rose.
After seeing some gain, I decided to sell off my SYMC stocks. Not much profit though, but good enough to exist from the company, which I had want to do so since last month.
Now, let's move on to other stocks. Will I look at Cybersecurity stocks again? Yes, definitely!
Sunday, August 06, 2017
How good are SYMC & UA/UAA?
Let's talk a bit about the 2 companies, Symantec and UnderArmor.
Few days back, Symantec announced that they will be selling their website security business, in exact, their PKI and SSL/TLS certificate business to another competitor, DigiCert. This is sad, I think, seems they are selling all their prized businesses, previously, Veritas solutions, e.g. storage HA products and Netbackup products, which are one of the most important products required by any company. What's next? I don't know, perhaps selling their endpoint solutions? Sooner or later, they could even break up the company and sell them in pieces to investors. Seriously, I no longer see values in this company, time to offload my interest.
How about UnderArmor? I have vested in it for few months now, but on paper I'm still losing money, very badly. Few days back with the results released, not good, share price dropped. The management is looking to do a company re-org, maybe it's good, but hopefully, it will turn around the company which in the early part of this year those shares went over $30++, and currently less than $20.
Few days back, Symantec announced that they will be selling their website security business, in exact, their PKI and SSL/TLS certificate business to another competitor, DigiCert. This is sad, I think, seems they are selling all their prized businesses, previously, Veritas solutions, e.g. storage HA products and Netbackup products, which are one of the most important products required by any company. What's next? I don't know, perhaps selling their endpoint solutions? Sooner or later, they could even break up the company and sell them in pieces to investors. Seriously, I no longer see values in this company, time to offload my interest.
How about UnderArmor? I have vested in it for few months now, but on paper I'm still losing money, very badly. Few days back with the results released, not good, share price dropped. The management is looking to do a company re-org, maybe it's good, but hopefully, it will turn around the company which in the early part of this year those shares went over $30++, and currently less than $20.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
How good are pay increments?
Few days back, one of the IT security guys quitted, right in the middle of a meeting, he announced it. Usually, people who had submitted their resignation would quietly lay low of one to two weeks, before letting the cat out of the bag.
When asked why he resigned, he said that he was not happy with his recent yearly pay increment. Not sure how much was it, but I think it probably low enough for him to make a decision to resignation.
We have always thought that the security people make the most money, with long hours work and all the trashing from customers and peers, they do deserve the higher pay. But, for a family person, it really tough, having to juggle between family and work.
Anyway, he said that he had been approach by other companies, hope he can find a better paid job. he is from a rich family, he will survive.
When asked why he resigned, he said that he was not happy with his recent yearly pay increment. Not sure how much was it, but I think it probably low enough for him to make a decision to resignation.
We have always thought that the security people make the most money, with long hours work and all the trashing from customers and peers, they do deserve the higher pay. But, for a family person, it really tough, having to juggle between family and work.
Anyway, he said that he had been approach by other companies, hope he can find a better paid job. he is from a rich family, he will survive.
Friday, June 23, 2017
The new norm?
Recently, at least for the last 3 weeks, the weather was really hot and humid. The rain didn't come, and when it came, it was only for a short while, so once it stopped, the hot spell came back!
In some parts of the States, the temperature went as high as 49 degree celsius, and in Europe, over 35 degree celsius. The ices on the Poles are melting fast, sea water is rising, destructive typhoons and unpredictable temperature swings are getting worst and people are getting unbearable. Let's hope that the high temperature will go soon at the end of June, and come the cooler weather.
In some parts of the States, the temperature went as high as 49 degree celsius, and in Europe, over 35 degree celsius. The ices on the Poles are melting fast, sea water is rising, destructive typhoons and unpredictable temperature swings are getting worst and people are getting unbearable. Let's hope that the high temperature will go soon at the end of June, and come the cooler weather.
Saturday, May 13, 2017
Sleep in peace
In this age of digital life, you can't trust anyone. Today, our IT team was urgently being called to check on the systems due to this -> https://www.symantec.com/connect/blogs/what-you-need-know-about-wannacry-ransomware.
All systems, yes, all of them, check to ensure that we had applied the patch MS17-010 for all the Windows Servers. Some projects were just using WSUS, so it was quite a tedious effort to check as the report from it isn't that user friendly, and not to mention that Microsoft changed the way their patches are release, now as rollups, not more using bulletin IDs.
Not to mention that another weekend was burnt due to this, whatever plan you have, had to be scraped, postponed or re-scheduled, much to the disappointment of your family and kids. In IT, at least in this part of the world, you are basically on 24/7 standby, even after office hours. Many years back, we were using pagers, you get paged, you can call back a little later, but now, there's handphone with IM like WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, etc. You get disturbed almost every day and night.
I just want to have a peaceful sleep every night, and spend more time with my family.
All systems, yes, all of them, check to ensure that we had applied the patch MS17-010 for all the Windows Servers. Some projects were just using WSUS, so it was quite a tedious effort to check as the report from it isn't that user friendly, and not to mention that Microsoft changed the way their patches are release, now as rollups, not more using bulletin IDs.
Not to mention that another weekend was burnt due to this, whatever plan you have, had to be scraped, postponed or re-scheduled, much to the disappointment of your family and kids. In IT, at least in this part of the world, you are basically on 24/7 standby, even after office hours. Many years back, we were using pagers, you get paged, you can call back a little later, but now, there's handphone with IM like WhatsApp, Line, WeChat, etc. You get disturbed almost every day and night.
I just want to have a peaceful sleep every night, and spend more time with my family.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Notti little one
It's April month, made a change for the little one to attend another school. On the first day, the teacher called her name, and she started crying, even though I was just standing besides her. After that, things went fine.
Just this morning, she did not want to get out of bed, I had no choice but to carry her up and get her to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She cried again for a whole full 10 mins, really know how to attract attention. After awhile, she stopped and I asked her to get on with what she had to do, and she did.
Clean her up and then brought her to school, she looks fine, but had already missed her school's breakfast, but good before that, she did had her milk.
Just this morning, she did not want to get out of bed, I had no choice but to carry her up and get her to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She cried again for a whole full 10 mins, really know how to attract attention. After awhile, she stopped and I asked her to get on with what she had to do, and she did.
Clean her up and then brought her to school, she looks fine, but had already missed her school's breakfast, but good before that, she did had her milk.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
Profit and Lost
Some of the stocks that I took interest in were AAPL, KMI, WU, WDC, SKX and UA/UAA.
The worst performer is UA/UAA, the stock price had dropped more that 30% since Jan 17, it's a company that mirrors Nike, except that it has a shorter history and smaller international market present. Due to the fact that most of their sales and focuses were in the US, so they has been paying tons of taxes to the IRS. The company was hoping that Trump would lower the tax rate for US businesses, so that they can translate the taxes to income to their advantage, but so far, it has not been happening, maybe not yet. I'm currently seeing loss for this stock.
AAPL's share price is high, more than $130/share this month, with the anticipation of the new iphone coming to the market, the price would sure go higher. So maybe a good time to take a small bite if interested. I'm not vested in this because of my capital limit.
KMI, for the oil and gas industry, the share hasn't move up much, but, some analysts were saying oil price may pick up soon, so perhaps, good to pick up some shares.
SKX is quite a stable stock, can buy some to keep. Likewise for WU, if it drops less than $20, and especially with strong moat of having presence in many countries, lots of people use it to send money, can buy.
Well, lastly WDC, a harddisk company, like STX, the two of the biggest hard disk storage companies in the world. The last I heard, they are venturing into SSD, good for them! If they are successful and able to gain a large portion of the storage market share, their stock prices are going to balloon beyond $100.
Monday, February 06, 2017
Value investing opportunities
The US markets has more than 8000 stocks, it's huge, but if you are looking to invest in low priced stocks, you got to work harder and do your homework, because most stocks, e.g. APPLE, IBM, NIKE, FACEBOOK are not cheap stocks to buy for a beginner like me!
Value investing is all about investing in good companies that you believe may be undervalued. The companies must have something unique that they can sell in the market that not many can compete, be profitable, with a growing earnings, low debt with cash and be able to raise price without risk.
So far, really, I'm still not making money yet, on paper, still lose a couple, but I do hope that I can do better.
Thursday, January 05, 2017
Value investing
One definition you can read is from http://www.investopedia.com/university/value-investing/value-investing1.asp
If this applies to businesses or stocks, it's about buying businesses or stocks (or shares) at a sensible price or when they are undervalued.
"Price is what you pay, value is what you get." - Warren Buffet
Mr Warren is one of the present day value investors, making tons of money investing in good, unvalued business. In the 80s, he did lose a significant amount of money on airlines' stocks. Only recently, he started buying them again, this led to airlines stocks going up and up, and others are following him.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/antoinegara/2016/11/14/warren-buffett-comes-around-on-airlines-after-calling-them-a-death-trap-for-investors/#14f5d7f569d7
Recently, I read a book by Joe Geenblatt, it's called 'The little book that still beats the market'. it's a good read for anyone interested in hassle free investing into good US stocks. The book is really about using his magic formula (https://www.magicformulainvesting.com/Screening/StockScreening) to automatically select 30 to 50 stocks, depending on the market capitalisation, and then you invest in them. Caveat though, it's not meant for short term investing, but for at least 5 to 10 years or even longer. Joe claimed that by the end of the term, the returns would be more than what you get if you invest in S&P 500. If you are interested, read the book first, understand how the stocks are being chosen, then go to his magic formula site, register an ID, login and MAGIC!
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