Can Singapore really house 6.9m people?

I have been careful not to blog about politics but I just need to get this off my chest.

Let me say first that I am neither pro PAP nor WP nor any political party. I will vote for anyone who will do the job right. Although the PAP has a good pedigree, in the last few years, its performance has been wanting and the people spoke with their votes in the last GE.

I feel that 6.9m people would make Singapore really crowded and I don't like crowds for many reasons.

I find driving in Singapore really stressful in the last few years. It used to be a breeze driving here just ten years ago or even just five years ago. I used to tell people that staying in the west and working in the east was better because the jams on the roads were always in the other direction as most people were staying in the east and working in the west. Not anymore. Now, it is jammed in both directions!

So, on some days, I would try to take the MRT instead. Oh, the nightmare! Even our newest Circle Line has problems. I was personally affected by breakdowns twice in the last 6 months and for a person who rarely takes the MRT, I am either very unlucky or the system has some serious issues.

Well, they are doing road and expressway widening on top of buildng new roads and a new expressway. All these should help to make traffic conditions better at least in the near future.

Also, they seem to be spending a lot of time and money on improving the reliability of the MRT system but it is going to take a year or two apparently to complete the upgrades and repairs! Till then, expect more breakdowns.

Overcrowding aside, what I am really concerned about is the cost of living in Singapore.

A friend's dad who is in the real estate development business told him the day Singapore has 6.9m people, everything will become very expensive just like in Tokyo. I shudder at the thought.

The PAP government should not squander away the chance that it has been given to set things right or it could see its majority shrinking again in the next GE. Could we then see a situation in Singapore like what we see in Malaysia now?

Till the next GE, let us see if the PAP government does better. In the meantime, we should do what we can to safeguard our own financial health.

DJIA's above 14,000! What to do?

The Dow Jones ended above 14,000 points for the first time in more than 5 years! Could it go higher? Are retail investors coming back in a big way?

"I would say in the 30 years I've been watching it, this is the least amount of retail interest waiting for a pullback, or waiting to jump in that I've ever seen," said Scott Wren, senior equity strategist at Wells Fargo Advisors, which focuses on retail investors. "Probably and unfortunately for a lot, it's going to be a lot higher before they get in."

Wren said the move to 14,000 is at most psychological and won't be that important to disenfranchised investors. "When you run into people at parties, unless they're in the business ... the stock market isn't even a point of discussion. There's very little conversation. There's very little excitement about the market," he said. "It feels to me like there's a little bit of chasing going on, but not very much at all. I don't expect it any time soon."

Source: Yahoo! Finance.



We are but frogs in wells. We see what we believe to be real.

As long as there are still investors out there who are sceptical of the stock market, who are heavy in bonds and cash for their perceived safety, there is room for stocks to go even higher. When everyone is bullish on stocks, when there is no one left who would stay away from the stock market, then, the fuel is spent.

So, pick out a few good stocks which are still undervalued and hold on to them. However, this does not mean that we should avoid trading for some short term gains in the meantime. After all, share prices climb a wall of worries in an uptrend and do not go up in a straight line.

Related post:
1. Noises, voices and choices.
2. Be comfortable with being invested.
3. Tea with AK71: A frog in a well.