Actually with the stock market trending up this whole year, I think it'll be hard to lose money; but 49% of people actually lost money from CPF Investing!

Dec 30, 2010
One in two CPF investors made money
Good performance this year as global market sentiment improves
By Lorna Tan, Senior Correspondent

PEOPLE who invested their nest eggs in investments like stocks and unit trusts under the Central Provident Fund Investment Scheme (CPFIS) generally made a profit in the past year.

The CPF Board said yesterday that 51 per cent of total CPFIS-Ordinary Account investors who sold their Ordinary Account investments during the period made money, up from 48 per cent last year. The better performance for the 12 months to Sept 30 mirrors the improving sentiment in global share markets.

Stocks, especially in Asia, bounced back strongly, particularly during the three months to Sept 30.

The MSCI World Index jumped 7.3 per cent over that period, although returns for the first nine months this year were at minus 3.5 per cent.

Data from fund research firm Lipper shows that CPFIS-included unit trusts shot up 8.8 per cent while investment-linked insurance plans (ILPs) soared 7.9 per cent in the third quarter. Equity funds made the highest returns for both unit trusts and ILPs.

On closer analysis, the CPF Board report indicated that for the year to Sept 30, about 124,800 members, or 14 per cent of the total CPFIS-Ordinary Account investors, made net realised profits in excess of the Ordinary Account interest rate of 2.5 per cent.

The equivalent figure from last year was 112,600 members.

Most investors turned cautious amid fears of a double-dip recession and pulled back from investing their retirement savings.

As at Sept 30, the total amount invested under the CPFIS-Ordinary Account was $25.4 billion - down from $26.4 billion a year ago - while $7.3 billion was pumped into the CPFIS-Special Account. The level last year was $7.5 billion.

Investment products such as insurance, unit trusts, shares and bonds saw an outflow of funds.

The amount invested in insurance products fell by about $593.7 million to $16.2 billion under the CPFIS-Ordinary Account for the year to Sept 30, while funds in the CPFIS-Special Account declined by $180.2 million to $5.86 billion.

Cash in unit trusts under the CPFIS-Ordinary Account fell by about $186.6 million to $4.57 billion, while the amount in the CPFIS-Special Account slipped $75 million to $1.42 billion.

Engineer Richard Lee, 45, was disappointed at the falling number of unit trusts in the CPFIS due to the stricter investment criteria that these funds will have to meet in the new year. By Jan 1, funds on the CPFIS menu must comply with all four criteria put in place in 2006. They are: lower expense ratios; a 3 per cent cap on sales charges; a three-year track record; and a top-quartile performance ranking among their global peers.

But there was an increase in the amount invested under the CPFIS-Ordinary Account in property funds - up $4.9 million to $141.4 million - and gold, by $1.8 million to $16 million.

A CPF Board spokesman said: 'The majority of property funds, as well as gold products from United Overseas Bank and SPDR gold shares, saw an increase in CPF monies invested.'

The number of CPF members investing in insurance, unit trusts, shares, bonds, exchange-traded funds and property funds dipped from last year. The exception was gold, which saw an increase of about 200 CPF members, up 9.1 per cent from last year.

The chief executive of Grandtag Financial Consultancy, Mr Ben Fok, said investors prefer gold as they see it as a good asset class to hedge against inflation.

Financial experts said that although the fears of a double-dip recession are now reduced, uncertainty and volatility are expected in the year ahead.

'It is difficult to time the market, so investing regularly through dollar cost averaging is one of the best ways to manage volatility,' said Mr Fok.

For investment under the CPFIS-Ordinary Account, CPF members must have more than $20,000 in their Ordinary Account and/or more than $40,000 in their Special Account for investment under the CPFIS-Special Account.

lorna@sph.com.sg

Yahoo Singapore, By Kai Fong – December 28th, 2010

It seems to be getting harder these days for one to enjoy a decently priced meal of hawker food.

From $13 for a plate of nasi padang to $17 for a bowl of laksa, food courts in shopping malls have seen an invasion of hawker food at restaurant prices.

And while it was previously common only at food outlets in town, these hefty prices are now creeping into our neighbourhoods, much to the ire of patrons.

But stall owners say they have little choice but to charge such prices due to high rents and food costs, reported The Straits Times.

At a newly opened food court, Rasapura Masters in Marina Bay Sands (MBS) for instance, a meal of nasi padang with three side dishes — meat, seafood and vegetables — can easily cost as much as $13.30.

In comparison, Indonesian restaurant Tambuah Mas at Marina Square offers a $9 rice set with four sides — an egg, one meat and two vegetable items.

But it’s not only the integrated resorts that are charging sky-high prices for hawker food.

Food Republic and Food Junction stalls in Singapore’s newest heartland mall Nex at Serangoon are also selling meals priced above $10.

At its 3rd Generation Laksa and Prawn Noodle’s stall, prawn noodles go for $11 while its laksa, which has two jumbo prawns, costs $17.

The question now, however, should be whether customers are willing to spend more on hawker food previously available at less than $5.

Will you pay $17 for a bowl of laksa?


------------------------------------------------
I rather pay $7 for my upsized macdonalds =P

In a Sign of Foreclosure Flaws, Suits Claim Break-Ins by Banks
The New York Times
By ANDREW MARTIN

TRUCKEE, Calif. — When Mimi Ash arrived at her mountain chalet here for a weekend ski trip, she discovered that someone had broken into the home and changed the locks.

When she finally got into the house, it was empty. All of her possessions were gone: furniture, her son’s ski medals, winter clothes and family photos. Also missing was a wooden box, its top inscribed with the words “Together Forever,” that contained the ashes of her late husband, Robert.

The culprit, Ms. Ash soon learned, was not a burglar but her bank. According to a federal lawsuit filed in October by Ms. Ash, Bank of America had wrongfully foreclosed on her house and thrown out her belongings, without alerting Ms. Ash beforehand.

In an era when millions of homes have received foreclosure notices nationwide, lawsuits detailing bank break-ins like the one at Ms. Ash’s house keep surfacing. And in the wake of the scandal involving shoddy, sometimes illegal paperwork that has buffeted the nation’s biggest banks in recent months, critics say these situations reinforce their claims that the foreclosure process is fundamentally flawed.

“Every day, smaller wrongs happen to people trying to save their homes: being charged the wrong amount of money, being wrongly denied a loan modification, being asked to hand over documents four or five times,” said Ira Rheingold, executive director of the National Association of Consumer Advocates.

Identifying the number of homeowners who were locked out illegally is difficult. But banks and their representatives insist that situations like Ms. Ash’s represent just a tiny percentage of foreclosures.

Many of the incidents that have become public appear to have been caused by confusion over whether a house is abandoned, in which case a bank may have the right to break in and make sure the property is secure.

Some of the cases appear to be mistakes involving homeowners who were up to date on their mortgage — or had paid off their home — but who still became targets of a bank.

In Texas, for example, Bank of America had the locks changed and the electricity shut off last year at Alan Schroit’s second home in Galveston, according to court papers. Mr. Schroit, who had paid off the house, had stored 75 pounds of salmon and halibut in his refrigerator and freezer, caught during a recent Alaskan fishing vacation.

“Lacking power, the freezer’s contents melted, spoiled and reeking melt water spread through the property and leaked through the flooring into joists and lower areas,” the lawsuit says. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.

More common are cases like Ms. Ash’s, in which a homeowner was behind on payments, perhaps trying to work out a modification, when bank crews changed the locks.

In Florida, contractors working for Chase Bank used a screwdriver to enter Debra Fischer’s house in Punta Gorda and helped themselves to a laptop, an iPod, a cordless drill, six bottles of wine and a frosty beer, left half-empty on the counter, according to assertions in a lawsuit filed in August. Ms. Fisher was facing foreclosure, but Chase had not yet obtained a court order, her lawyer says.

The break-in was discovered when a Canadian couple renting the house returned from the beach.

Chase officials said such behavior by its contractors, if determined to be true, would be considered unacceptable and corrective action would be taken.

Banks and their contractors insist that the number of mistakes is minuscule given the hundreds of thousands of new foreclosure cases filed each month. Bank of America, for instance, says it works with third-party contractors to inspect and maintain more than one million properties each month and has enhanced its controls in the last year to prevent mistakes.

Alan Jaffa, chief executive of Safeguard Properties, which inspects and maintains foreclosed properties for mortgage servicers, acknowledged that a handful of mistakes had been made. In most instances, he said, his company provided a valuable service that protected properties and neighborhoods.

“There is a stigma that we go in, kick the door in and throw grandma out head first and board up the windows,” Mr. Jaffa said. “We are doing a lot of good out there.”

But Alan M. White, a consumer law expert at Valparaiso University in Indiana, says: “Volume is not an excuse for violating someone’s rights.”

A clause in most mortgages allows banks that service the loan to enter a home and secure it if it is in default, meaning if the mortgage payment is 45 to 60 days late, and if the house has been abandoned, authorities said.

Banks do so to protect the property from vandalism or damage for which the bank could be liable.

But determining when a house is abandoned is not always easy and is often left to inexperienced contractors, said Carlin Phillips, a Massachusetts lawyer who represents Ms. Ash, who is 45.

“It’s sometimes as little as someone looking through the windows, or knocking on the door of a neighbor and saying, “Where are they?’ ” Mr. Phillips said.

In Washington, Celeste Butler went to check on her father’s house after he spent months in the hospital and ultimately died.

“The house was ransacked,” Ms. Butler said, adding that it had been neatly maintained beforehand. “They had destroyed furniture, broken into china cabinet. They had looted jewelry.”

In her lawsuit, Ms. Butler is accusing Safeguard, a contractor for JP MorganChase, of breaking into her father’s house. Ms. Butler asserts that Chase failed to properly credit payments made when she switched to an automatic system in June 2009, but that she and the bank worked quickly to rectify the problem.

Officials at Chase said its contractors, dispatched to inspect the house when payments were late, found it in disarray. When no one responded to a letter asking if the property had been abandoned, Chase said, its crews went back in the house to put antifreeze in the pipes.

The clearing out of Ms. Ash’s Truckee home, on Ski Slope Way high above Lake Tahoe, came after several horrific years of personal and professional hardships.

During the California real estate boom, Ms. Ash and her husband, Robert, thrived. Mr. Ash bought the house in Truckee in 2003. Two years later, he was stabbed to death in a road-rage incident near Truckee. (The driver was convicted of second-degree murder and is in prison.)

From there, Ms. Ash’s troubles with the Truckee house became tangled in her worsening financial situation and, she claims, the bungling of the bank, originally Countrywide Financial, which was bought by Bank of America in 2008.

She intended to assume the mortgage on the house, which landed in probate court after her husband’s death. The bank required that she catch up on payments and taxes, so she sent a check for $15,000.

Hearing nothing from the bank for many months and not having ownership of the house, she made no more payments, she said. By the time Countrywide reached Ms. Ash, the real estate market was collapsing, so she sought a loan modification.

Months and years of frustration followed. The bank lost documents and rarely returned her e-mails and phone messages, she said.

When Countrywide issued a default notice in 2007, it went to the wrong address, her lawsuit says. Later, Ms. Ash said, the bank assured her it would not foreclose while she pursued the loan modification.

Even so, the bank conducted a foreclosure sale on the property in May 2008. Again, Ms. Ash said she had not been notified and learned of the sale during a summer visit. She said she had been told the sale would be rescinded.

Near Halloween 2008, work crews broke in and cleaned out the place, taking Persian rugs, china, furniture bought on a trip in Peru, skis, photos of her marriage and childhood in Iran. Her husband’s ashes were taken from the couple’s master bedroom.

A bank spokeswoman, Jumana Bauwens, said, “We take the allegations made by Ms. Ash very seriously and are thoroughly researching her claims. Bank of America will work with Ms. Ash and her counsel to determine the extent and cause of her claims and move toward an appropriate resolution of the case.”

Although the original foreclosure was rescinded, as promised, Ms. Ash, who discovered the break-in in January 2009, says it is hard for her to visit the house anymore and she will probably let it lapse into foreclosure. At this point, she said, it is just a “sad reminder that 22 years of my history vanished.”

“This is in essence a burglary,” said Ms. Ash, walking through the vacant home, with its four levels and commanding mountain views. “But when a burglar goes in, they don’t take your photos and your husband’s ashes.”

“This used to be my haven I’d run away to,” she said. “Now I run away from it.”







Just something interesting that I read at Reuters

(23-12-2010, 12:08 AM)Musicwhiz Wrote: Was trying to "promote" Value Buddies on my blog but cannot be too obvious also. Am hoping other familiar people like Lark come back soon too.....

This is very useful indeed. Does anyone here use such services?

Dec 21, 2010
Business revs up for car-sharing companies
People put off by costly COEs seeking alternatives
By Maria Almenoar

CIVIL servant Jonathan Fong plans to visit family and friends over the Christmas weekend.

And as he and his brother normally share a car, he intends to rent another vehicle for those few days. 'It will be so much more convenient to run errands or visit friends,' said Mr Fong, 31.

Car-sharing businesses are targeting people like him, and are confident of getting more customers as the cost of certificates of entitlement (COEs) soars, making it harder for people to own cars. At the last bidding, COEs cost $40,000 for small cars and $60,000 for big ones, a 10-year high.

There are currently three car-sharing companies here - Whizz Car, Car Club and Kah Share - with 89 locations around the island, mainly in HDB estates. The companies work on a membership basis and have between them 4,780 members.

The companies started between 2003 and 2008 and are offshoots of a car rental company (Whizz Car), car distributor (Kah Share, which is part of Honda distributor Kah Motor) and car insurance company (Car Club, formerly NTUC Income's car cooperative business).

Mr Choong Tat Soon, head of rental and leasing at Kah Motor, the parent company of Kah Share, said it has received many inquiries about car sharing in the past few weeks.

'People are putting off buying cars and are waiting to see if the COE will drop. Meanwhile, they are looking at alternatives,' he said.

On Sunday, Kah Share, which has 16 locations and about 50 cars in its fleet, opened its newest one in the carpark of the new Housing Board precinct, Treelodge @Punggol.

In line with the eco-friendly nature of the development, Kah Share offers residents there hybrid Honda Civic models.

Kah Share said it set up a pick-up point there because it had received requests from Punggol residents for a car-sharing scheme in their neighbourhood.

Car companies said they choose their locations based on feedback from residents or on how densely populated an area is. They also favour sites near MRT stations and bus interchanges to make it more convenient for their members.

Users sign up as members by paying a one-time fee and a yearly or monthly membership fee.

They then pay for the car as and when they use it. Hourly rates range from $9 to $16 depending on the models, which include sedans, vans and multi-purpose cars.

Packages which cover business hours, night hours or the whole day are also available. Members make their bookings online or by calling a hotline. They then claim their car using a password that opens a locked box of car keys or a token which allows them to unlock the car and retrieve the car key from the glove compartment. If they return the car late, they pay additional fees.

Companies said that they have a range of users, but most are professionals.

Mr Francis Chong, assistant manager of Whizz Car, said there are many reasons they need to use the car.

'Some are property agents who need it for work, others need an additional car to drop off their kids at school because the husband has taken the car to work,' he said.

There are also those who need to transport bulky items like computers for repairs, or make a trip to the beach or do grocery shopping.

Car-sharing companies are looking to expand. Car Club, for example, will open two to three new sites every month next year in more HDB estates including Tampines/Pasir Ris, Punggol/ Sengkang and Jurong.

Trainee teacher Chen Zhanjiang, 25, welcomed such a service. He borrows the family car when he needs to but may look into the car-sharing scheme as there is one near his home in Redhill.

'It's definitely something to consider especially when more than one person in the family needs to use the car,' he said.

mariaa@sph.com.sg
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quick facts

- There are three car-sharing companies: Whizz Car, Car Club and Kah Share.

- Registration fees are between $50 and $100, while annual membership ranges from $100 to $120. Companies also require a refundable deposit of $100.

- Members can rent smaller cars such as the Toyota Vios for $10 an hour and larger multi-purpose vehicles for about $15 an hour.

- Members, except those with Kah Share, can drive the cars to Malaysia but have to pay a surcharge of 30 per cent to 35 per cent of the hourly rental.

Dec 18, 2010
Off-peak car conversions soar as new sales dip
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent

SALES of off-peak cars (OPC) have slowed to a crawl as high certificate of entitlement (COE) prices have kept budget buyers away from showrooms. But the conversion of normal cars to red plates has soared as a result of bigger incentives put in place early this year.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), 1,876 owners switched their regular cars to the OPC scheme in the first 11 months of the year - nine times the number converted in the same period last year.

The OPC enhancements, which started on Jan 25, allow car owners who convert their normal plates to red plates to receive $1,100 in cash for every six months the car remains an OPC, which can be driven between 7pm and 7am on weekdays.

Under the new scheme, OPC owners also have unrestricted use of their cars on Saturdays and on the eves of New Year's Day, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Christmas Day.

Under the previous scheme, they could be used only from 3pm on Saturdays and the eves of holidays. If owners wish to drive outside these prescribed hours, they had to buy a supplementary licence, which cost $20 a day.

Since November last year, the paper supplementary licence, which resembled a large parking coupon, has been replaced by an electronic one. Drivers can buy these via channels such as the Internet and AXS terminals.

Unlike the days when the paper licence had to be purchased in advance, drivers can now buy an e-licence a day after they have driven their off-peak cars outside of prescribed hours. This gives flexibility to drivers who need to use their cars urgently, but do not have a supplementary licence on hand.

While conversion of normal cars to OPCs has risen, the popularity of new OPCs has waned.

In the first 11 months, only 123 new OPCs were put on the road - down from 463 last year and 798 in 2008.

The drop in new sales was far more drastic than the overall shrinkage of the car market.

Motor traders said spiralling COE premiums have made OPCs less appealing.

Mr Jeffrey Low, spokesman for Hyundai agent Komoco, said this is because the $17,000 tax savings on an OPC have now become a smaller percentage of the total car price.

For instance, a Toyota Vios 1.5 with manual transmission cost $57,000 around this time last year. Today, the same car is $85,500. The OPC discount would have been 30 per cent on the Vios last year, but only 20 per cent today.

Also, the absolute cost of such an OPC after the tax break has gone up from $40,000 to $68,500. This represents a 70 per cent jump, versus a 50 per cent increase on the cost of a regular Vios.

Temasek Polytechnic lecturer Dennis Toh, who specialises in consumer behaviour, said the price gap between a normal car and OPC has to be substantial before buyers are drawn to them.

He added: 'Off-peak car buyers are generally price-sensitive. When prices increase due to higher COEs, they would rather hold on their wallets.'

Motor traders also said those who need a car could always look for a used one within their budget.

As for the surge in number of people converting their normal cars to OPCs, the draw of receiving $1,100 in cash every six months may also be diminishing.

According to LTA data, the bulk of the conversions - 1,365 - were done in the first half of the year, a sign that the trend is already slowing down.

christan@sph.com.sg

Too much bullishness?

IPOs could see new highs in 2011, say analysts
By Chris Howells | Posted: 16 December 2010 2210 hrs

SINGAPORE: Globally, the cash raised from initial public offerings (IPOs) this year is forecast to beat the 2007 high of 295 billion US dollars and Asia is leading the pack, with the region accounting for two-thirds of the money raised in 2010.

Next year, analysts said the amount raised globally could set a new record, though investors are likely to lean toward bigger, higher-quality listings.

From Agricultural Bank of China, to AIA, prominent initial public offers in the region have traded well since their listings.

Agricultural Bank is up more than 25 per cent in Hong Kong since its dual-listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai in July, while AIA's Hong Kong shares are up 12.3 per cent.

These large and successful listings made 2010 the year of the Asian IPO.

Lee Sze Yeng, Financial Services Partner with KPMG, said: "If we can relate to how the Asian economies are coming together, and the kind of importance it will play in the global scene, I think the Asian dominance will continue to prevail so if you look at the 2010 IPO listings we had where Asia contributes to two thirds of the listings, I think that trend will still go strong going forward."

Financial Services dominated the Asian IPO scene in 2010, with banks and insurers as the top issuers but market watchers see commodity-linked companies playing a bigger role in cash raisings next year.

"We've already seen the Rusal Aluminium listing in HK, which went off very well late this year, and I think that's setting a precedent for more such issues, so I'm quite optimistic and I think commodities-linked companies really would be the big bets in 2011," said Arjuna Mahendran, MD & Head of Investment Strategy - Asia with HSBC Private Bank.

Analysts said, however, that investors are seemingly more interested in bigger listings, giving a miss to smaller issuances and issuers.

Recent Singapore IPOs, such as Mewah Group and Sabana Shariah Compliant Industrial REIT, are trading well below their offer prices down 3.6 per cent and nine per cent respectively.

While bigger listings in Singapore such as Global Logistic Properties and Mapletree Industrial Trust have risen eight per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

-CNA/ac

Goldman Execs to Get $111 Million in 2007, 2009 Bonuses
By Michael J. Moore and Christine Harper - Dec 15, 2010

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s top executives will get about $111.3 million in stock next month in a delayed payout from last year and their record-setting 2007 awards, even as Wall Street prepares for lower bonuses.

Chief Executive Officer Lloyd C. Blankfein, 56, is poised to receive about $24.3 million in January, based on the closing share price on Dec. 14, while President Gary D. Cohn, 50, will get about $24 million, company filings show. The payouts, just a portion of the $67.9 million bonus awarded to Blankfein for 2007 and the $66.9 million paid to Cohn, reflect a 24 percent decline in the stock's value since it was granted at $218.86.

Within a year after the bonuses were approved, Goldman Sachs took $10 billion of U.S. bailout funds, converted to a bank and was borrowing as much as $35.4 billion a day from Federal Reserve emergency programs. This year the New York-based firm paid $550 million to settle U.S. regulators' fraud charges related to a mortgage security the company sold in 2007.

"Clearly we now look back and say, 'Were things fine? Should they have paid? Maybe not," said Jeanne Branthover, a managing director at recruitment firm Boyden Global Executive Search in New York. "There's nothing you can do about it. The payouts were in stone. But hopefully, in the future, they won't be."

Deferred Stock

Since the 2008 credit crisis wiped out competitors such as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and led to unprecedented government assistance to financial institutions, regulators have encouraged banks to pay senior employees with deferred stock and recoup payouts if trading strategies backfire. Blankfein and Cohn, who received cash awards of $27 million and $26.6 million respectively for 2007, didn't get any bonuses for 2008 and received only restricted stock for 2009.

Goldman Sachs announced on Dec. 10, 2009, that all 30 members of its management committee would receive only restricted stock for their year-end bonuses. The company hasn't made a similar announcement this year. Through the first nine months of 2010, Goldman Sachs set aside $13.1 billion to cover compensation and benefits expenses, or enough to pay each of its 35,400 employees $370,706 apiece. A year earlier, the average was $527,192 per employee.

The payments come as bonuses across Wall Street are expected to decline. Compensation for trading and investment- banking employees is likely to be down 22 percent to 28 percent from last year, according to Options Group, an executive search and compensation consultant firm in New York. Morgan Stanley has told some employees to expect investment-banking bonuses to decline 10 percent to 30 percent, two people briefed on the matter said earlier this month.

Record Profit

Goldman Sachs's 23 percent share-price decline from the last day of 2007 compares with a 16 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index over the same period and a 47 percent plunge in the S&P 500 Financials Index. While the firm's profit tumbled 80 percent in 2008 from the $11.6 billion earned in 2007, last year the company recovered to post a $13.4 billion record profit. So far this year earnings have been lower.

Among the scheduled January payouts are $21.3 million to Chief Financial Officer David Viniar; $20.8 million to former co-president Jon Winkelried, who left the firm in March 2009; and $14.3 million to Edward C. Forst, co-head of investment management, who left in 2008 and returned to Goldman Sachs a year later.

The amounts are based on the Dec. 14 closing share price of $167.33, which is likely to change by the time the stock is delivered next month.

David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman Sachs in New York, declined to comment.

Dimon, Mack

JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon, 54, is set to receive $6.8 million worth of shares next month that were awarded for 2007. John Mack, 66, who served as CEO of New York-based Morgan Stanley until this year, didn't take a bonus in 2007, 2008 or 2009. He will receive about $5.4 million of previously vested shares in January that Morgan Stanley awarded him for 2005.

Of the $111.3 million in restricted stock awards due to be doled out in January, $94.9 million was from 2007 grants, the filings show. While Vice Chairmen John S. Weinberg and J. Michael Evans will each receive $3.3 million from their 2009 bonus grants, their 2007 awards weren't published in the proxy.

Buffett Agreement

The executives will be restrained from cashing in the stock they receive. Blankfein, Cohn, Winkelried and Viniar were all required to keep 90 percent of their shares under an agreement reached with Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the company controlled by billionaire Warren Buffett, when it bought $5 billion of the firm's preferred stock in 2008. That limit expires when Buffett's investment is repaid or on Oct. 1, 2011, whichever comes soonest.

Even before the Buffett restrictions were imposed, Goldman Sachs's CEO, CFO, presidents and vice chairmen were required to keep at least 75 percent of the shares they had received since becoming senior executive officers, with the exception of shares received in Goldman Sachs's 1999 initial public offering or through any acquisition by Goldman Sachs. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan also require top executives to retain 75 percent of the shares they are awarded.

About 88 percent of the 2007 awards were restricted stock units the firm granted for performance, which were vested at that time. The executives receive the shares underlying those units in January 2011. The remaining 12 percent are shares the executives purchased at a 25 percent discount using their 2007 cash bonuses. Those shares are either delivered or have restrictions lifted next month.

Stock Options

The executives also received stock options in 2007 that become exercisable in January. The options, which expire on Nov. 24, 2017, are unlikely to be exercised immediately because the shares are below the strike price of $204.16.

The January bonus awards will probably trigger varying reactions among different groups of people, Branthover said.

"The public will be outraged," she said. "Wall Streeters will be excited that there's still money being made on Wall Street, and there's still a reason to be working so hard."

To contact the reporters on this story: Michael J. Moore in New York at mmoore55@bloomberg.net; Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Scheer at dscheer@bloomberg.net.



Tats a lot of money, for a bad 2007

Undergrads can afford $10,000 to pimp their ride? Wow.

Why spend loads to pimp up your ride?

Mr Christopher Chua spent $20k to create a Super Mario-themed Honda. Why bother? -My Lifestyle My Drive

Sun, Dec 12, 2010
My Lifestyle My Drive

By Cheryl Tay

Motorists who spend big bucks to jazz up their cars believe in one thing: theirs is more than just a mode of transportation.

This is why they indulge lavishly to customise and beautify their cars to make them look distinctive and different from the others on the road.

Some believe that the high Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices and rise in the car resale market now make the aesthetic enhancements even more worthwhile to enhance the value of their prized possession.

There are many ways to pimp up a car, such as adding a spoiler or body kit, a kitup for the wheels, and elaborate paint jobs.

Mr Reg Teo spent $10,000 to paint his Honda S2000 convertible in apple red glitter flakes specially imported from the United States. The 26-year-old undergraduate even flew in the supplier of Kustom Flakes so that he could teach the local spray workshop how to perform the task.

"It took about five months to complete the job, but it was well worth the wait," says Mr Teo. "It's the passion for my car as it is an extension of my personality and so I want it to be unique."

The glitter extends all the way under the bonnet as some of the engine parts are painted in purple glitter flakes.

Mr Teo adds: "This would be able to fetch a better price for the car if I sell it off one day. I actually received an offer from an overseas buyer after my car was first done."

But he did not stop there. He added other enhancements including an in-car entertainment system, red leather upholstery and race bucket seat, all of which has cost him about $40,000 to date.

Many car owners who go for visual enhancements rather than technical modifications cite the regulations on car modifications here.

One car owner who wanted to be known only as DT (left) spent $1,100 to cover his Nissan 350Z Fairlady roadster in matte finish stickers. His car now sports a black matte finish that draws comparisons to the Batmobile in the Hollywood blockbuster Batman Begins.

"There are so many regulations in Singapore and you can't really drive a car to its limits here, thus there's no point spending so much on enhancing its performance. Instead, I chose to strengthen the visual appeal of my ride," he explains.

He has spent about $16,000 to dress up his Fairlady convertible, which never fails to draw attention.

Mr Christopher Chua, who owns a Super Mario-themed Honda Airwave (right), says: "The restrictions on modifications in Singapore are very strict and you can't really go very fast with a sports car so I decided to dress up my car instead. Others won't be able to appreciate the car if it's going fast all the time."

The 30-year-old Navy personnel spent about $20,000 to create a complete "Super Mario world" on wheels. His themed car has won him an award at a local auto-styling competition.

Besides the dressing-up and stickers, another method of enhancing the car body is airbrushing, one of the techniques used for custom painting.

Unlike a spray gun, airbrushes are a lot smaller and they are used to perform detailed graphics on cars, motorcycles, helmets and even wall murals. The artwork is thus able to feature a lot of fine details, creating reality-like images.

The winning car of the Best Airbrush category in the Ultimate Auto Styling Showdown at Super Import Nights 2008 was a Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 that was designed and airbrushed by local custom painters cum airbrush artists Aire Pro Designs.

The judges of this competition were from the National Custom Car Association, one of the largest automotive showcasing sanctioning bodies in the world.

"We do everything inhouse from preparation work to artwork design to finishing. Our trademark is the sharp and 3D-looking artwork with its sleek, smooth and shiny finishing.

"The cost of custom painting and airbrushing this car is about $12,000 and it took us about a month to do up this car for the competition," says Mr Dylan Liang, 30, one of the three artists at Aire Pro Designs.

Mr Shane Chia, 30, another artist at Aire Pro Designs adds: "It's hard to put an average cost to our work because it really depends on the vehicle model itself, the condition of the vehicle, and the extensiveness and complexity of the design. For example, we have custom painted and airbrushed kart racing helmets starting from $200 all the way to $1,800."

Basically, cars were never cheap in Singapore and will never be!

Dec 12, 2010
COE prices could ease in future
Even if supply stays modest, likely rise in vehicle usage costs will cut demand
By Christopher Tan, Senior Correspondent

If you have a car, pamper it with premium oils, send it for regular maintenance, rotate those tyres and invest in a reliable grooming service.

With certificate of entitlement (COE) supplies having dwindled drastically this year (and premium levels more than doubling those from a year ago), changing cars has become quite prohibitive.

Next year's COE quota is expected to shrivel further. In fact, calculations point to fewer than 40,000 certificates being made available - the smallest number since the vehicle quota system started in 1990.

In all likelihood, COE premiums, which have moved past $40,000 for cars up to 1,600cc and $60,000 for bigger models, could touch $65,000 and $75,000 respectively by the second half of next year.

Barring the freak levels seen in 1994, when premiums breached $100,000 twice, $65,000 and $75,000 would be close to the highest prices recorded in normal times.

And these estimates are conservative, based on a 20 per cent quota cut that would shrink supply to fewer than 40,000 pieces. (This year, COE prices have just about doubled from those last year following a one-third reduction in quota.)

The upshot of next year's quota cut? A 1.6-litre Japanese family sedan could cost more than $100,000, and a Korean equivalent, over $80,000. Even the cheapest Chinese car - the Chery QQ - would be around $75,000 (it was about $33,000 in 2006).

So car owners are expected to hold on to their current vehicles, especially if these are relatively new. Even those with vehicles that are nearing 10 years in age might do the economically sensible thing and revalidate their COEs, so they can keep their carriages for another five or 10 years.

Younger people who do not own a car but have been eyeing one might have to rein in their aspirations. Being saddled with a $100,000 loan shortly after joining the workforce is an unenviable proposition - especially when the loan is not for a flat but a 10-year lease on a Toyota.

Buying second-hand is one option, but because used car prices follow new car rates closely, these models won't be all that cheap either - unless the car in question is very old.

Is this to be the lot for car buyers from now on? Or is the COE famine part of a cyclical trend?

There are two schools of thought.

The first says COE supply should start to rise from 2012, when a sizeable cohort of vehicles registered during the boom years of 2004 to 2008 become old enough to scrap. (COE supply hinges largely on the number of cars taken off the road.) More than 520,000 cars were registered during that five-year period.

The second school of thought says the high COE prices will force many owners to hang on to their vehicles, even if the paintwork has lost some of its lustre.

Both are probably right. Even if supply starts to rise, it is unlikely to return to levels recorded in the overheated years of 2004 to 2008. This is because the Government could adjust the allowable annual growth rate for the vehicle population. The rate was halved to 1.5 per cent two years ago, and will be reviewed after next year.

In my opinion, COE supply could reach a steady state of between 50,000 and 80,000 a year from 2015 or so.

By then, several new MRT lines will be ready, including the Circle Line, the Tuas Extension, and the Downtown Line Stages 1 and 2.

Commuting by train will then become significantly more convenient for more residents than is the case today - and possibly more comfortable because of the increased capacity that the new lines will bring.

Round about the same time, a new Electronic Road Pricing system based on satellite tracking could be up. It will be able to charge drivers for the distance they cover, on top of when and where they drive. Coverage will not be limited by physical gantries, so the system could literally go islandwide.

Also, parking charges will creep up as developers are no longer required to set aside as many carpark spaces as before.

Chances are, usage costs for motorists will rise substantially.

These developments should in some ways reduce Singapore's seemingly insatiable appetite for cars.

If so, the pressure on COE prices will not be as great as it has been - even if supply is relatively modest.

christan@sph.com.sg