Many seniors would fondly remember the days when chasing the 4Cs was on the lips of every Singaporean, young and old, rich and not so rich. Those were the heydays, the golden years of Singapore. Many with O levels, no need A levels or degrees, could join the chase successfully.
For the millenials, the 4Cs refer to condominium, cars, credit cards and country clubs. These are things that the millenials could only dream of today except for a very few minority and those belonging to the elite club or children of politicians. But the millenials are very happy with what they have, good time, partying and eating out everyday. Not a bad life really. They don't miss the 4Cs as these are things that they don't expect and thus are non issues. Ignorance is bliss.
For the oldies, many had all the 4Cs in their younger days and some could still be living in condominiums or private properties. The first thing that they lost or willingly gave up are the country clubs. All lost a bundle for buying them at peak prices and now worth barely anything near the price they paid for. Some are retired or no longer employed and could not afford to pay the monthly club dues.
The next item to go is the car. Many simply send their cars to the scrap yards when the COE expired and could not afford or would not want to pay another 100k for another car. The empty car parks in HDB estates are testimonies of the good old days gone by. The plunging COE prices is another sign that car ownership is no longer affordable. Anyone unable to buy a car would find the excuse that public transport is now so efficient, with great experiences in taking trains and buses.
There was a time when everyone had a string of credit cards in their swollen wallets. This is also not the case anymore and having one or two cards is the norm.
Many have traded down their private properties for HDB flats to cash out on the value of the appreciated price over the years. Some are still hanging on but not for long. Many of the oldies would end up in HDB flats to enjoy having more cash in their pockets. These were the lucky ones, enjoying the benefits of inflated property prices they bought for a song. This privilege is not going to be repeated as the millenials could barely afford to buy HDB flats, and upgrading to private properties is not as easy as before.
In conclusion, the dreams of having the 4Cs would remain as dreams for many of the millenials. Not many are going to enjoy the 4Cs like the oldies in their time. But this does not mean that there will be no more good years. There will be many more good years, with or without the 4Cs, as the expectations today are different. A 4 or 5 rm HDB flat is the new dream, better public transport is another, country club is only wishful thinking. Maybe credit card is still relevant for the millenials to chalk up more credits and live on credits in order to live for today and pay tomorrow.
No one is complaining, not the millenials. For the old folks, everything is like a fleeting dream now. How did it happen and how it is gone, so fast. Good luck to the few millionaires here, and happy are the freegans, enjoying life as best as they could, for free.
By the way, what is the equivalent of the 4Cs for the millenials? What their dreams, what are they chasing, papers, public transport, pokemons and part time jobs?
41 comments:
Millenials never experienced having all the 4Cs, so they don't know how it feels like.
As Buddha says: "Want not, despair not" .
no! no! no!
the seniors are avoiding the C now!
they are not chasing the C anymore!
they dont want the C anymore!
the C is............CANCER!
what the seniors can hope for is really.....a UNeventful life!
yes! a UNevetful life....PEACEful......UNeventful...............
no C please! no C please! no C please!
Huh? 4Cs, isn't it 5Cs as wat Lau Goh promised a Swiss standard of living? Now millennials have their own C, probably Community Clubs as County Clubs too expensive or RC volunteers corps. Or under Grab clubs, Delivery clubs, Security clubs, Gigs Clubs etc..cash is little, most like to tap or go online shoppers..
Nowadays, to go up the food chain, you must learn from foreign talents. Their 4 Cs are:
1. RC = Residents' Committee.
2. CC = Community Club.
3. CCC = Citizrns Consultative Committee.
4. TC = Town Council.
Rub shoulders. Get in the good book. Net-working.
Why so few buddy is interested in this 4Cs article har? Times must be hard?
RB,
Alamak dunno whether it's age or just too long ago liao ...
IT'S THE 5 C'S LAH!!!
You forgot ... CASH!!!!
BTW, in terms of wealth or spending, it's also a generational thing.
I stay in Punggol.
In the older blocks (those moved in 2004 or earlier), the multi-storey car parks today after 15 years still only full house on the 1st & 2nd storeys only.
3rd storey only half-full. And 4th & 5th storeys you can sleep in the middle of the car park, or have mass qigong / taichi sessions. There's absolutely zero cars.
HOWEVER, in the newer blocks (those moved in 2013 and later), car parks are usually full house, at least up to 4th storey.
Those initial Punggol residents are Gen X, while the later residents are Millennials.
Millennials, especially those with OK degrees, are earning high salaries. Many at least $80+K annual salaries after 2 years in the workforce.
Rb, the kids already conditioned lar. I look at my own kids and their friends, car never crossed their mind. Condo and club also never crossed their mind. I told them in my generation, the first thing the guy will buy is the car so that can get girl Friends.😀 The Coe still not enough cause each month there are more bidders than Coe available.
Why C C C C C ........?
Life is very short.
Only one C you should aim for in life.
That is...... Contentment!
Cheers.
Contentment is for those in concentration camps. They have no choices to choose. Dictators love those who are easily contented. That's why they go all out to brainwash you to make you feel contented so that you will not rise up against their tyrannical acts.
Nowadays their minds preoccupied with worries the foreigners may snatch their rice bowls rather than dreams of 4 Cs . . .
Why red bean bun is call tau sar bao and not ang dao bao? Because tau sar lau chek is khiang lang. Clap clap clap clap clap clap. Kpkb so long like me have not kena ISA. LHL LHL LHL LHL LHL LHL. So vote LHL or LHY? Vote LHY tau sar lau chek will kena ISA a not? So election come want stay at home? First in the whole world election place kang kang? We like to be first in everything right? Most easy manage country? No need count votes? Passport will up more level a not? If LHL never ISA tau sar lau chek, does it mean Ho Ching can be Prime Minister?
Because EC $800K, room look small? Below no food? Corridor small? Do things must find lawyer? Give me free gan also dont want? Free gan I still must buy condom protect? Also must pay money? And now so many gadget, face will appear a not? Last time old leaders time got so many gadget?
KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA.
Old leaders chio si lang. Come all fall in at my corridor. I need to wake you all up with my scolding and training.
5 C's in terms of progression:
1. Cash
2. Credit card
3. Car
4. Condo
5. Country club
Most people can still get 1 to 4 lar --- 4/5 still good what, 80%. PAP also cannot get so much votes.
#5 country club also out of style liao larr .... last time people want becoz can sell higher, and main purpose is for building business relationship network among club members.
@ RB,
I can answer that. The millennial are culturally connected --- globally --- by this (annoying) thing called "social media". They interact with social media more than they do face to face with fellow human beings in the real, physical world. Millennials all over the world are connected with each other 24/7, in their online communities and with the world world at large. Their entire lives; their whole existence and "being" is transmuted from the physical reality to an online version which is as much a part of their identities as their physical beings are.
They share everything about their lives, and make sure they know about what's going on in the lives of their online communities. Therefore millennials are into EXPERIENCE From their food, to their fashion, music, family and work life, how they exercise, who they are dating, what silly things their pets are doing, political opinions, what games they play, what shiok places to travel to...all this and more...the whole ball of wax is online thru social media mainly, and other associated blogs, forums and video services like YouTube.
They love to travel. They have no issue going to some remote place with all their hip hi tech gear, climb a fucking mountain, document and up load the whole deal on their GoPros. Once up the mountain or forest, they'll break out the selfie sticks and camera-drones and treat their communities with more pictures, video streams. Everyone comments. They press the Like Button to signal approval (and envy)...then plan to do have "experiences" themselves.
Trips to the gym or a fancy hipster restaurant/cafe results in photo and video streams of their "experience". If they give a talk, presentation or appear on stage, play music or whatnot, they will document and share these "experiences" online and especially on social media.
Facebook (and Instagram) are THE LARGEST ADVERTISING PLATFORMS ever invented by our species. Like it or hate it, billions of dollars in global commerce happen on these platforms and on the similar Chinese versions: the Baidu and WeChat communities. Again in China, the Chinese millennials are into EXPERIENCE. Just have a look. Except for the language, there are few differences or variations of the millennials and their culture going from cuntry to cuntry.
Being very "experiential" and influenced by their "gurus" like Tim Ferriss, millennials do not like the 9-5 daily grind in a cubicle. They like to take time off to "experience life" so they only work enough to get money then "do their own thing". If they don't like their boss, they will leave. Many have made money when BitCoin and other crypto currencies were going crazy, and the smart ones cashed up so now they're in their 20's and 30's and have millions to their name. Some become entrepreneurs, others just chase "experience" and hope to moneytise their "experiences" on the net. Successful ones can command US $300,000 per video on YouTube, and the top earners on Instagram earn $500k to $1 million (WTF??? 😱) per post, all for sharing their "experiences" with their loyal followers and the world.
Millennials made and OWN the "Experience Economy". For fellow oldies, when we reflect and ask What in the hell is this world coming to?, I suggest hanging out with a few millennials and get into their "groove" of "experiencing". Then you know why they are how they are, and why they have such a SHORT ATTENTION SPAN! 😂🤣
@RB and most oldies on this blog,
I think ya'll are out of touch with the average S'porean millennial. :)
As a 30 yr old millennial myself, I can strongly say what most of us want are long term growth and stability. Many of us have STARTING pay of $3.5K and above monthly, and by 30 yrs old many will be drawing over $5K a month salaries at least. ;)
Many millennials have 5-6 credit cards (this is considered only average) and majority pay off their credit card bills in full every month. We are not silly or self-destructive enough to give banks 26+% interest --- yes, it's no longer "just" 24% interest rate.
We also seek out high interest rate savings account .... most of us have cash savings with 3% interest rates. I will say that by late 20s or early 30s, many Singaporeans will have strong savings habit, saving at least 20%-30% of their take home pay. I personally have been saving 50% of my take home pay for many years already.
Millennials are pragmatic & seek out value expenditures, not just buying & accumulating things for the sake of having those things. :)
And I have already hit $171+K in my CPF Special Account, with transfers from OA-to-SA and cash top ups to earn tax deductibles. In the next few months, my CPF-SA will hit the new $176K mark from my monthly salary contributions. Many of my friends & colleagues are also either in the same boat as me, or well on the way. (hard to believe I know :) )
In terms of housing, I can safely say all of my millennial peers have NO PROBLEM affording BTOs --- in fact quite a few of my friends & colleagues can only go for EC or resale HDB because their combined incomes is over $12K per month. My housing loan for a 4-rm BTO can be paid in less than 10 years, and the monthly payments is much less than the combined CPF-OA contributions of myself & my wife, i.e. monthly CPF is way more than mortgage payments. (yes, yes, even harder to believe :) :) )
Many millennials are educated & smart enough to know that the double-digit capital gains growth for S'pore properties is long over, and that a home is a home not an investment. Those of us interested in property as investment will know to separate home property versus investment properties ... and will know when in the property cycle to buy investment properties. ;)
Many of us don't have desire for cars just for the sake of travelling from point A to point B, or even worse to show off or to "pick up girls". Many millennial couples decide to buy cars only when baby is on the way i.e. for practical reasons.
Of course I can only say things on behalf of average millennials with average or above average degrees & responsible attitudes.
For those ah bengs or ah lian types, then I suppose rental Ferraris or Labos bought on credit cards will appeal. Plenty of these types on Md Sultan Rd & Clarke Quay at nights.
@ 253
Ah yes. Singaporean millennials get into all the experiential stuff like their friends in other cuntries, but our Singapore millennilas are actually quite KICK ARSE, when I compare them to average the Aussie, Brit and US millennial, because there are differences
For starters our local kids are way more savvy in science and math, and much more widely read, travelled and dare I say "wealthy". They don't rack up debt like previous generations or like millennials in other cuntries. Even in China, the consumer debt taken out by Chinese millennials has even made the Peoples Bank of China (central bank) worried.
I am actually "long" the Singapore millennial. If they don't screw it up, they will beat their counterparts in the rest of the world --- all the western cuntries, and the Asian one, even like China and India. As the years unfold and they get older, you will find many of today's Singapore or Singapore-born (many will quit their citizenships) millennials ascend on the World Stage.
I bet money on that.
The Average Millennials in Sinkieland r what they termed " Crazy Rich Asians" in the film by a Kevin. Yes, they r Crazy Rich when compared to their peers of ASEAN or even Asia mann..
Last GE PAP have 69.9%.Now fully understand how this figure add up.
With Minnimenials like Anon 2.53 with such salaries and savings, next GE will be even better than 70%.
Pre-PG oldies are mostly now in Heaven.
At this time, only PG BTC (BohTaChek) like most of us are Freegans and have to seek alms from the Papies.
The Meredaka Generation had to scrap most of the Cars and downgraded to smaller housings.
So. actually the Minnimenials have all the now more than 5CS.
So still wondering why so many still cursed the Pre PG and the PG for their woes.
The woes should be on the PG and part of the Meredaka Generation.
Now to meet ends meet, they have even lease back of bigger flats for the oldies
@Virgo 49
Probably the G will be very worried if the Millennials make up the majority of the voters. There is no need for a gobblemen when these Millennials r well fed, cos they might even 'fire' the gobblemen of the day as they r damn rich wat. Or is it that these Millennials r so coward that they keep voting the same gobblemen to lord over them? Or these Millennials r majority newly Converts new citizens? If not why the same gobblemen keep winning every erection? Funny or even Crazy right? Or majority of them r kiasi/kiasu/kiachengwho/kiaang/kiabor type that is why they r called drafts by the then ex leeder.
UG I must caution you. You think ISA funny stuff? Don't play play with it and test its limit. If u Kena ISA Lim Kopi, u know u going to get into real trouble. Especially u look like the kualan type. For sure they will put u in same cell with black Tua Kee. Largi worst is they going to sodomize u lar. So bring some cream with u to ease the pain😝
@ out-of-touch dino-sore-arse uncles,
I like hanging out with millennials. They are open to new ideas, and they are not "fixed thinking" like their gen x & y predecessors and definitely not as "arsehole" as my own Boomer generation. Baby Boomers, for the most part, are mostly fucked in the head. So as far as I'm concerned, the Merdeka Generation (Boomers) can lick my arse lah. 😂
The jaded boomers wil die-die never shift their thinking to keep up with the modern times. They think they're still young and full of "good advice" which is so out of date and not relevant to the world today --- which at times must seem very topsy-turvy to them.
Millennials are less afraid of competition than their "entitled" forebears. When the older PMETs were kpkb about "competition", our local millennials were doing their own thing, many starting their own businesses, and minding the business rather than many fuck noise about the "unfairness" of open, toe-to-toe competition. That's another reason I admire their spirit, and think that there forebears are dino-sore-arses. Fixed thinking. Fixed mindset. Out of touch and ENTITLED.
I've mentioned this before: everyone over 40 should "retire" and hand the entire world over to the millennials. Millennials grew up at a time when the developed world was already wealthy, with all the "equality" in place, education systems better than anytime in the past, decent nutrition (that's why they're so tall)...and basically didn't have to worry much...everything was already there for them. The boomers made computing and networks cheap so technology has more or less "democratised" the world --- empowering people equally. No political system has managed to achieve the standard of "equality" the way digital electronics has. We carry broadcast devices complete with built-in movie and sound studio where we can publish, make a film clip all from our cheap phones, and broadcast it to everyone else instantly.
The millennials just took the boomer-invented tech to new levels, and improved on the hardware, software and utility. So the phone is not only a publishing, netwroking and communications tool, but now a payment device, investing and trading platform, navigator, encyclopedia etc etc...
Millennial culture is built --- ground up --- on cheap and good tech. And they know how to use. They know they live in a world where you can create content on your phone or computer and make a decent living from that. They know that selling online beats opening a shop and having to pay staff and rent. They know that buying a car is a losing proposition when you have cheap ride-share, where another party has taken on the capital expenditure and the millennial just "pays-to-use", thus accumulating their own capital for COMPOUNDING, and "every 4-6 months take 'mini vacation'" ala guru Tim Ferriss.
Millennials are also vey mobile. Many of them have lived overseas for extended periods and return to Singapore for "opportunities". Many will (already left!) leave Singapore and quit the citizenship to live elsewhere for "opportunities" and "experience". They have a broader sense of adventure (open minded lah) than their forebears who after age 40 are boring, and after age 50 are jaded and after age 60 are obsolete. 🤣
4Cs? 5Cs? How fucking shallow lah. You work out of necessity not passion or enjoyment, you take on huge debt and live in a box which the govt uses as a "mechanism" to manipulate the votes come election time. Not once, not twice...but EVERYTIME lah. Finally, we have a generation who sees thru the bullshit. But they will probably still vote PAP...but for very different reasons.
During my time in late 80s, my starting pay in a bank after graduation from NUS was $4,800/- per month. After 6 years, I could alone buy a freehold landed property for $1.1 million which today can easily fetch $2.9 million.
Millennials now so happy with $3,500 starting pay ?? Millennials today can buy landed, even 99 yrs ?? They don't know what they've missed, when LKY was around. CPF interest rates then were not a measly 2.5% . . .
I am also one of those joined banking in the 80s. It was a homeruns all the way. Thanks to Goh Keng Swee n Koh Beng Seng who insisted on localisation of top management in banks n MNCs. Pro Sinkies until Woody n Loongie reversed n Pro FT. Locals managed to stepped up to the plate when given the chance.. the likes of Koh Bokn Hwee, Lim Ho Kee, etc..
8.04pm, now all black ants lar. Even whites also work under them so sinkies are third grade so below black ants and white ants.😰😰😰
@Out of touch Boomers,
Good for you if you got $4.8K starting pay in a bank in the 80s. Did 80% of Uni grads in the 80s also get $4++K starting salaries?? No??? How come not?!?
If you want to compare, I got juniors in my Uni who got attachments / internships in local investment banks at $10,000 per month .... Yes, INTERNSHIPS. And they tell me other interns got MORE.
When I say $3.5K --- this refers to the normal salary that 80% of local Uni grads can get. What a C+ or B- engineering grad can expect to get.
With respect to property prices, we all know there's a difference between property in a 3rd world country versus property in a developed mature city. It's the same in any other first class city in the world.
Today, fresh grad workers in Sydney, New York, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, London, Paris, Vancouver, etc can't afford a property within the city. A primary school teacher could buy a house in San Francisco in the 1950s with a year's worth of salary. Today even highly paid IT engineers on $15K/mth salaries struggle to afford. Does this mean the system is broken?
My grandfather bought a 20,000 sqft freehold bungalow in Siglap during the late-1960s for about $20K on a clerk's salary of $200/month. It was sold by my dad & his siblings a few years ago for $18M. My father & I never complained how come we can no longer afford such properties after a few years of work.
In fact I would argue that paying too much for property is silly .... it's a liability & ties you down. Even if you've fully paid up, if most of your wealth is tied to it, you have no freedom. And in an uncertain region as SE Asia, you want most of your wealth to be as mobile & international as possible.
Anon 3.52
You are Right that the Millinnienails had it so good that they are called Crazy Asians.
Old uncle Matilah loved to be with them to feel young and mobile again.
See Millionaire Millinnienials like the Ofo boss who made millions and scooted off.
Telling his workers that they should be grateful to have what's Start Up experiences. Can fed the stomachs meh with these what's imbecile Start Ups experiences.??
Also, that Dogs Boarding House MinAnimals Bosses who even had dead and missing dogs in their care. What's Brillant Enterprenuers Start Up these Mini Animals processed driving Prestigous cars out to swindle the innocents.
Our Great Matilah praised them for their Ingenuity and Unscruplupus.
What's nonsense these nowadays Mininnenals Start Ups with just whims and fancies with no concrete plans with just swindling and cheating all the innocents.
At least we Babies Boomers and PG does our business ethically with family concerns for our staff.
Clap clap clap for Virgo49 at 4pm and Anonymous at 7:16pm. I really clap clap clap. But still I still want to luff at old leaders. Does LKY iron fist still works? Zhong yu ah, zhong yu ah, finally ah, finally ah, got people come here type ah. Clap clap clap. Old leaders fall in, I give you all scolding and training. Can ask Anonymous at 8:04pm why he will type such comment? Balls of steel leh. Maybe I should check my papa photo for the facial expression and check the dates ah? KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA.
And someone so li hai caution, missing fund leh? ISA got my turn a not? 6 smoke bomb? Little India Riot?
Aiyo old leaders. Forget it. I dont want scold you all or give you all training liao. I li hai is my problem. Who cares here after going so many army? SAF 7 core values, drink up? Chio si lang ah old leaders.
KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA.
Wah seh. What made millions and scooted off? I want leh. And I will be still here. The people on top study what study ah? Let people made millions scooted off? So khiang? I am strawberry cao mei, cao liao fah mei millennial generations. I am luffing at old leaders. When is people going to find me a job? Army auto come find me leh. e2i and wda is open let people go I also go leh. Who want find me lawyer help me sue and make millions? I will be still here leh. At most I scooted off on my bicycle within Singapore only.
@7:16pm
1.1m to 2.9m after more than 30 years? That's very lousy returns.
You should have just used $50k getting a HDB flat & putting the 1m into a portfolio of large cap US stocks.
Over the last 30 years, the 1m will be over 15m today, with dividends reinvested.
Who cares if your HDB becomes zero after u die? With $15m you can fuck off to any corner of the world.
APPLE IS TOAST. The days of Apple and iPhone are numbered.
Bye bye Apple........
Wah seh. 1m will be over 15m today? What is on top doing ah? Why I need to pay GST? And what is the Ang Moh doing? Portfolio of large cap US stocks? Make America Great again? Money leh money leh? No one knows how except this Anonymous?
Crazy Rich Asian - Chicken - Bak Bak - 2 eye big big?
Economic Poverty Asian - Chicken - Porh porh porh porh kay - One eye drop off hanging - Even open mouth must do double work - Disable liao maybe still will kena blame being kuai lan? - When suay ah, anything can happen?
Those car forum in Singapore ah, buy car one is it degree holder? Sell car one is it Ah Beng Ah Lian? Those complain in car forum one is who ah? Dunno how to ask question ah? Where is the business skill? How about maths skill? Science skill? If not Google skill leh?
https://www.mycarforum.com/topic/2685954-beware-of-2nd-hand-car-dealerspart-2-blacklist-here/page-58
Never trust STA inspection? This one Singapore a not ah? My mama last time got national fridge, put down there, use until porh porh porh porh kay, no need ask google one leh.
I really want to pull old leaders, fall in outside my corridor, let me meh meh eh.
Life got so many things, I still need to worry? Still blame us never sit in coffee shop and use gadgets? My lau peh sit in coffee shop time, play horse thru bookie, anything happen? Now if I do that, what will happen to me? Domestic issue only my mama almost go peh already. Than little india riot hide? Old leaders chio si lang. Fall in outside my corridor let me meh meh eh. Even if we guai guai, 6 smoke bomb die, so? Old leaders are really funny. Max. Dont tell people I sing national anthem in malay, last time got sang ni la utama than raffles. I better tell people I am banana and throw away my dialect. Bak bak. Maybe got chance be crazy rich asian.
What kind of Lan Han Lan era now? Go outside meet people or sit in coffee shop meet people? Now after what time cannot drink? Later even if drink quietly, walk home, fall into long kang and sleep, will go peh a not? Go social media click share only what will happen if share wrong thing?
Old leaders tau kak jiu is it? Come fall in outside my corridor let me meh meh eh. Or want to hear me niam keng? Want to hear chai thian ngor teng hu jia? Or want to hear buang hok mak li ya, ma pin xia tong jia?
UG in your mind u just kept thinking of short cut and cheating. I can tell u for sure that one day u sure Kena locked up. Prison is no joke. I once saw a photo of a great boxer, handsome , fit and strong. But because he is handsome, he got into trouble and was pinned down by many inmates who took turn to sodomize him. The photo showed bloodstained pants near the ass area.
So if a strong young man is no match in prison, what chance do u think u can get. It's not only the handsome one they attacked as different people have different likes. So even if you are already old, some may still like it. I just pity you lar.😀 God bless
@ Living-in-the-past Boomers & Living-in-the-present-and-making-the-future Millennials:
In the boom of the late 80s to mid 90s, even Blind Freddy with an IQ of 50 could have made a shit-tonne of money in Singapore property. To many of us Boomers, that was the "free kick" which gave our net worths a shot of steroids. Fuck man, I can remember, you could see the property values GO UP month by month. It was insane.
My fellow uncles were all doing spectacularly. And so was I. By a stroke of dumb luck (yup, luck), I got a job in a Singapore-based American multinational as an EXPAT. Yup. I held my pink IC and a Singapore passport (and still do), and I got the job living in Kampung Perth, Graveyard-By-The-Sea. My pay was obscene, I had a great profit-share/ bonus deal, plus they gave me $3k per month on top for "living expenses". Whilst I was on "probation", they put me up in a suite at the Hyatt in Scotts Road. So much money sloshing around in Singapore --- any bloody fool could make money, even by tossing a coin lah.
I have consistently told folks here that if the govt gives a "free kick", you should take it...even though you hate the bastards. No one will give you a MEDAL if you are foolish enough to take the "moral high ground". In Singapore, you die, your business. Whether you agree or disagree with that cultural fixture is not the point: The Culture is The Reality...it is much bigger than you, so if there is a profit opportunity --- just fucking TAKE IT lah!
Boomers forget that circa 1997, the party stopped abruptly. LTCM failed. Russia defaulted. George Soros and other currency speculators shorted the Thai Baht and Ringgit (and then everything else). Property soon crashed in Singapore. In early 2000s landed property prices fell below 1 million in Singapore. Unheard of lah. But of course all crashes eventually recover....then PAP SABO...THEY INTRODUCED "COOLING MEASURES". Kanninah! Chenghu khee hor lan kan‼️
The millennials are right: buying property to live in is CONSUMPTION not investment. Better to spend as little as possible on your home and invest the money to allow the "magic" of compounding to make your frugal-ass rich before your 40th birthday, and therefore be MOBILE so that you can fuck Singapore off if the PAP pisses you off too much.
No lah, IMO our savvy millennials have it all goin' on. The Boomers (my generation) need to take those sticks out of their asses and get with the program.
Boomers, as the millennials say YOLO --- you only live once. Heed their advice lah, and take max advantage of our rockin' world.
P.S. I dun think the market has tanked yet. What happened over the las coupla days is just a "test" to make people's balls drop a bit. IMO, Can go some more, even as much as a year --- the "euphoria" and "mania" hasn't come yet. When it does, there'll be lots of cheap value stuff around --- especially lovely properties in Canada and Australia.
@ 141 "not an Apple fan"
>>
APPLE IS TOAST. <<
Err...no. Have you seen their balance sheet? They have an obscene amount of cash lah. Plus they have an entire, monopolistic "eco system": iTunes, the App store, a huge network of physical Apple Stores which are NEVER empty. They even own the forests and the quarries which supply the raw materials that make the furniture and fixtures of the Apple stores. Talk about "assets"? Not so easy to kill something so big and so rich...which has NO DEBT.
Warren Buffet talks about "moats". These are things which protect a brand and their products to effectively give them a monopoly within their industry. Apple has plenty of moats. The big one is their eco system, ie. the "Apple Universe".
When Apple first came out with their Mac machine, they were on top of the world with their new computer drag and paste computer system. They they nearly went bankrupt by pricing and pitching to an exclusive market despite a super product.
Would history repeat itself with their high pricing and others have caught up like IBM of those early days, catching up with Apple in marketing to the mass with Apple's tech and improving on it?
Samsung and Huawei have both beaten apple to it and would continue to surge ahead. The boycott of Apple products in the world's biggest consumer market is going to take a toll on Apple for sure, over expansion and unsold products.
@ boycott has limited effects
Sure the boycott will have effects, but I doubt it'll be successful. Both the US and Chinese GOVERNMENTS are calling for boycotts. But the CONSUMERS --- that's a different story lah. Consumers still queue up to buy iPhones when they are released. dun believe? Watch the next iPhone release, then you tell me lah.
Chinese consumers --- especially those with money, love premium brands. And Apple is still a premium brand. The latest stock collapse is actually no surprise to marketwatchers. In fact, not only did Apple collapse, but much of the broad market also. All the tech giants have highly inflated stock and trading at ridiculous multiples (PE), so some "cooling" is to be expected.
I was at the Apple Store in Orchard only a few night ago. I was there at 9pm, they open until 10pm. Fucking hell, people everywhere drooling over the expensive tech. People walking out the door with $3000 iPad Pros and $1500 iPhones, plus lots of MacBook buyers too. Kanninah, any business person will drool at the amount of customers these fuckers have.
You might think I am biased. I own a MB Pro, a MB Air and an IMac Pro. I quit the iPhone at Number 6 and gone to Huawei, Samsung and Xiaomi since. I Have never owned an iPad. My go-to for tablets is Samsung. When my Macs finally die, I am quitting the Apple eco system, but I doubt me withdrawing my "support" for Apple will have any effect on their stellar revenues. My reason is that Tim Cook is not the visionary Steve Jobs was. I think the company is losing its edge to the likes of Samsung, Huawei and a host of budget Chinese phone makers which offer increasingly spectacular products.
For computing, I'm going full Linux. It is free. It is fast with a small footprint, and you can build the system how you like it, and harden it (security wise) as much as you like. A $60 Raspberry Pi from Sim Lim running Linux can do about 80% of your day to day computing needs. If you need more power, just buy one of the Korean ARM units for $150, install Linux...and you will have a very usable fast computer for about $300 (case, monitor, keyboard extra)
The Apple ecosystem is also supported by many 3rd party vendors offering professional attachments for iPhones, killer cases, all sorts of knick-knacks which you can't get for any other brand. And Apple's security is still the BEST amongst all smart phones and tablets. Microsoft has stole some of Apple's thunder with the Surface Pro, and if apple don't wake up their ideas, they might lose a lot more.
If Apple can survive Gil Amelio, it can survive Tim Cook. LOL!
For what it's worth, MacOS and iOS is descended from Linux.
Yeah Steve Jobs was too cheap to develop an OS from scratch so he used the free Linux kernel as the base. His genius was using cheap or free software, cheap electronics, cover it up with sleek avant garde packaging, and sell it for premium prices. Hahaha!
They should kick Jonathan (Jony) Ive upstairs, but he's not interested in running the business ... he's probably the closest to Jobs in having the "vision" but not his ruthless business sense.
Probably some millennial down the road will be the one to take over at Apple & give it some aspect of Jobs' magic touch. At least they know what the largest demographics in the world want & need!
@638
I must correct you there.
Mac OS X and iOS are built on UNIX not Linux. BSD Unix actually.
Linus Torvald who created Linux tried to convince Steve Jobs to use it. But Jobs decided to go Unix instead.
Linux is free, Unix is not. Torvald created Linux so he could do Unix on his home PC.
Richard Stallman of the GNU Foundation (Gee Not Unix) is involved in this saga as well.
However if you know Linux you also know Unix. (with a few exceptions). Frankly I like the robustness of the Mac OS X implementation of Unix. It's smooth and it rocks, and for geeks the terminal works great, offering incredible control over your machine and the networks it's connected on.
Google's Chrome OS and Android are based on Linux. I use Termux terminal on my cheap China phone and can do a lot of things like a full Linux desktop. Don't have to pay premium for Apple products, but people still do!
611am anonymous. Get million scoot away? Got seat scoot? Cheating? Shortcut? The sodomize thing very common here leh, any new talent a not ah?
Commentary: Succeed in your career, settle down, buy a BTO. Is this Singaporean dream outdated?
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/commentary/commentary-succeed-in-your-career-settle-down-buy-a-bto-is-this-11049106
This is the new Singaporean dream. Not chasing the 4Cs but chasing the 4Ps, paper, public transport, pokemons and part time jobs.
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