Tea with AK71: Learn a second language!

I remember a Caucasian lecturer from New Zealand telling me before that he wished he was bilingual. He only knew the English language and he didn't think he was totally proficient in the language either. He said he thought the Singapore government did the right thing in schooling us in two languages.


It seems that learning to speak a second langauge also makes us smarter if what I read in a magazine is to be believed.

Bilingual children performed better than monolingual children in a series of tests that assessed ability to solve complex problems. This is according to a study by Toronto's York University.

People who are more effectively bilingual also are less likely to suffer from dementia and other symptoms associated with Alzheimer's disease. This is from a study by the University of California, San Diego.

Seems that I should spend more time brushing up my Mandarin. Time to buy a copy of the Chinese language papers, perhaps.

Reference: MensHealth.com, 27 March 2012.

Low interest rates' a double whammy for some.

Central banks in many large economies around the world are keeping interest rates really low, near zero in countries like the USA and Japan, in fact. Low interest rates are seen as the way to encourage economic growth by making borrowings cheaper.

To revive their sickly economies, the relevant countries' low interest rates could be instrumental. However, as money would go to where it is treated best, a lot of this cheap money is finding its way to Asia. Although the USA would like to see inflation in their economy, their money printing has also caused inflation in Asian economies.

Declining value of the US$. Source: Wikipedia.

The low interest rate environment is hurting people who save. They get less interest income for their savings and they are also impacted by higher prices like everyone else. They are being paid less and forced to spend more! A double whammy!

Savers have to put their money to work if they want to be paid more than the paltry interest rates on savings offered by the banks. This means taking on risks by investing their savings. This sounds simple enough but we have to remember that not everyone should be taking risks. What about the elderly?

I get worried when my mother and others her age are telling me now that they should invest their money in real estate, bonds or the stock market because they are getting next to nothing for their savings in their bank accounts. Do they have a choice?

Related posts:
1. Perpetual bonds: Good or bad?
2. Money continues to flow into Singapore.
3. To protect our wealth, we have to take risk.

Stocks rise, Neptune Orient gains
Tuesday, 27 March 2012

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