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VB

The Virgin Banker Introduction

According to wikipedia:

Virgin = not yet touched, used, or exploited

Banker = an officer or owner of a bank or group of banks 

Virgin + Banker = an officer or owner of a bank or group of banks who is not yet touched, used or exploited

I guess that's me. 

Or not. 

Well it's not to say that I'm some real bored person with a shit-load of time on my hands, but as I get older I do realize that unless 1) you get married 2) have kids regardless whether you are married 3) are some sort of socialite or player, life does get a bit boring and mundane. And time just passes you by as you float along life, and lo-and-behold, suddenly people use this word called "troll", and you have NO CLUE what its about! 

Well that's me. So I'm deciding to get off my butt and start opening my eyes to the world again. 

I begin this blog to share about the experiences I go through in life. Its mostly going to be about:

1) Work - because i'm a workaholic and I realized there is a good bunch of people out there who think they know what banking is about but they actually don't. To most, especially those outside the industry, its a real generic job that most of their friends have. This assumption could not be further from the truth! I'll try to shed some light on this. From being in a school full of determined investment bankers-to-be, to applying for jobs, getting into a management associate program, to shedding some light on the work and experiences and life of a banker. 

2) Life - Given the hours we work (typically 9-9 daily), there's not much I can do with my time. Nonetheless, I do meet interesting people now and then, and I don't stop myself from associating and spending time with people who ... well let's just say ... they aren't your prom king/queen material kind of people. 

Life is always interesting, because it's just a matter of perspective. It can be boring if you deem it to be, or you could always see the brighter and more cheerful side of things ... the more interesting side of things if you choose to. 

And funnily enough, it's always the "First" moments that are most memorable. 

Cheers to the many virgin moments that come what may. 

VB

Your boyfriend might be cheating on you at these SGP Clubs

Heard of the famous case of an ex-ACS-ACJC "Ah xia kia" (Rich Man Son) who got married with a thai disco girl (aka "customer service officer") because he banged her (obviously without a condom) and had a kid? Well that's a true case because I know the guy. But more interestingly, there are alot more of such cases of local guys hooking up with thai/korean girls in these clubs. I took a peek, piggy backed with a couple of lap-sap guys and here's what i found:

• Clubs like Sonar and Embassy, etc hire "customer service liaison officers" from Korea, Thailand, China, Taiwan, etc. These girls usually work here for a couple of weeks on a social visa before going back home. You get new girls in these clubs every month.
• They make a shit load of money here. Starting off with a basic pay of SGD1-2K, they earn a commission from the drinks they help to sell. Further to that, they participate in daily cat-walks where any guy can buy them "flower rings" ranging from SGD20 to SGD2K which they get to keep 50% of the proceeds. All in, these girls can make between SGD5k-SGD30k per month. And its quite ironic because guys often think and see these girls as cheap but your puny $20 tips actually make you look puny in their eyes instead!
•  They are not hookers. As much as their job is to entertain you by playing games with you and making you drink more, these girls are seldom hookers which you can bring back for the night. That said, I believe there is a price for everything. EVERYTHING.
•  The guys that I saw in these clubs aren't the same that you would find in clubs like Zouk, Mink, etc... short of being controversial here, they seem a little "geekier" and less likely to be able to get the chicks on their own in a club. 
• I went with a couple of guys with girlfriends. And lets just say these guys let their hair down for the night. Although everyone went back separately, numbers were changed, hands were roaming, and flower rings were bought. Lets just say things would have been VERY different if their GF's were there to. 
• The girls are HOT. To me, the korean girls were quite the bomb and they look every bit the korean dancing group girls you see on TV. These are real photos (above) of the 2 girls we got flowers for. Seems a bit too good to be true eh? 

•  Often, guys do develop relationships with these girls. Its usually one sided most of the time. If we are talking about a rich guy, it usually ends up with these girls getting ditched. If we are talking about your average nice guy next door, it usually ends up with him chasing his own tail when just trying to get into her pants. LOL. At days end, the girls you see here in these clubs are here for one main reason, $. 

Summary

You are going to see quite a few "loser" guys here because its where they can get attention from pretty girls by spending some spare change. They wont be able to get the chicks in a normal club. Not only that, conservative guys who are attached might also be tempted here given that its a sausage fest with mostly guys. The sense of guilt dilutes in such an environment. Nonetheless, a freaking good business idea by the owners, and I would do so in an instant if I owned a club as well. 

VB

Finding Success for the Young Singaporean

For the young Singaporean adult, times are a little bit different now in order to be "successful" in life. And this is even more so being in a place like Singapore, where the scarcity of land limits the career options we could have, as compared to places like America, where you could buy a restaurant with its land at just USD30k in certain states.

Gone are the days in the 60's-90's where you could have a new idea, or copy an idea, and just replicate it and expect to do well in life as long as you put your heart and soul in it. In those days, our parents could start a brick and mortar business and it would have done well. Just take a drive around Tuas Industrial Estate and you would find examples of these companies sitting on large plots of land with a not-so-modern commercial building. And please, don't' put down these companies so fast just because they don't look like your Takashimaya's, or that many of their chinese sounding names sound foreign to you. These are the very businessman that started something from scratch with a very low capital base back then, and are living very comfortable lives now and just handing the deceptively lucrative family businesses down the family lineage.

So back to the main point, given that its tough to do well in our society today, how else can we succeed? How do we make it bigger than the very schoolmates we went to university with? How do we own that Condo earlier (if at all), or buy that luxury sports car that we've been eyeing for the longest time since we were kids? And for some, how do we ensure we won't end up like certain netizens whose comments are so comically full of jealousy when they are always degrading the more affluent people in society (including foreign talents)?

Step 1: 

Realize and understand the fact that if you don't' do something about it, you are just going to end up and progress at a pace (career wise) similar to your peers around you. Average promotions are every 3-5 years, average pay increments are approximately 2-5 percent per annum (if you are lucky at all) -> Assuming you start with SGD3k at the age of 25, that would put you on SGD13k at 55 years of age. To each his own if thats enough for you. 

Step 2: 

Learn to invest in something out of work in your spare time. It could be an entrepreneurial idea or a simple one, such as starting a blog shop or trading iPhones etc. There are plentiful opportunities out there if you would only start to seek them. Everyone has friends that are starting something, or friends who are stock brokers, etc.  Learn to invest in stocks (blue chips with good dividends for example, such as SPH with annual dividends of ~5%), or corporate bonds (good companies with yields of 2-6%). F&B + Restaurants are a bad idea given the mortality rate of restaurants in Singapore are abysmal. These additional "investments" on your savings are important, especially if you look at them in a long run perspective. You could also punt in stocks and make a 100 fold return (i.e. Blumont, Asiason, Liongold stocks on SGX recently) 

Step 3:

Consider your options. There are always opportunity costs. What you save for investments could have gone into your housing deposit for your marriage, etc. Nonetheless, make a commitment that this is for the long haul. And once you do, don't think twice but go ahead with it. Find investment opportunities and take the plunge. After all, it beats procrastination. 

Investment Ideas: 

1. Equities/Stocks - For the risk averse person, it would be wise to invest in dividend counters such as SPH, Singtel, M1, Any property/healthcare REITS, etc ... These give quarterly or if not annual dividends which lets you to "reap" on your investments. If you feel you have more spare cash, and are willing to punt, there are tons of penny stocks on SGX. Rule of thumb, try to invest in companies that you KNOW of, hence the subtle advise to advice in local counters listed on SGX, rather than buying companies in the USA/Europe markets (unless of course you are talking about the big boys like apple/google/citibank stocks).
2. Corporate Bonds - this is a huge market in Europe and USA, and its true that asian investors are not as exposed to the bond markets. If you visit your stock broker or client relationship manager in a bank, you would find opportunities to purchase bonds issued by many top notch companies which are worth the consideration. I purchased Ascendas bonds a while ago which recently matured. That gave me a healthy 6.25% return per annum for 4 years, plus of course, my principal back at maturity. Fyi? Thats almost twice the return on purchasing a property in singapore and renting it out. 
3. Businesses - a lot of arbitrage opportunities are around these days. Thats why you see websites like qoo100.com.sg doing so well. A lot of people are realizing its quite easy to buy stuff in bulk from developing countries, and just simply using these easy online selling/marketing websites to sell them off. I bought iPhone 4s from ebay.com and sold them in local forums, flipping these phones for $100 per piece.

Summary:

There are a ton of other investment opportunities out there. Look at the 2 Chinese Aussies who started groupon in Singapore? Or the tailoring sisters who have made millions in a span of 2 years just by selling $50 shirts? 

As they say, the world is your oyster. And the sky's the limit. 

VB

Legend:

"Successful" = In a financial manner 

The 1st Post

"The most successful people aren't the ones who have everything, but the ones who make use of everything that they already have" 

So what's your story? 

Well ... If you don't already have one yet, hopefully this blog will help you with that. 

VB