Migrating to Australia Good Meh? by Ken Soong & Michael Soong

This is the book the I picked up in MPH before I migrated to Australia last year. It is a very good book to read especially for those who are deciding or have already decided migrate to Australia.

Since I"m here for > 6 months already, perhaps I can share with you my opinion about migrating to Australia. What I'm going do here is I will try to write down my own opinion in summary for each chapter. I may agree or disagree or neutral but ultimately this is my opinion. Please don't be too sensitive of it if you disagree.


Chapter 1 - Is The Western Culture Better for You?

There are lot comparisons & explanations about cultural perspective in this chapter (which is good) but for me, there are only 2 main reasons to decide whether western culture is for you:

First one is do you like to speak and write in English? Basically everything is English and you live within it. If you migrate to Australia with the mind that you're still preferring to speak your own language, then the western culture is not for you.

Second reason is do you like corruption?  For instance, driving test is way easier to pass if you know "how" in Malaysia. Here in Australia, there is only one way. Will you get used to it?


Chapter 2 - Land of Opportunities?

The authors talk a lot about business here but I can't comment much about business. For being an employee, I think getting a job in Australia is harder than in Malaysia. There are 2 reasons for that. :)

The first reason is you do not need to 100% master the skill in Malaysia to become an expert. So if you're an expert in Malaysia, you may not be expert in Australia. In Malaysia, you can fake your expertise easily and yet getting very high pay and this cannot be done easily in Australia.

The second reason is there're a lot of competitions in Australia than in Malaysia. The competition is not from Australian but the rest of the migrants from other countries like you. So you need to be better than all of them in order to secure a job.


Chapter 3 - Starting a Business in Australia

No comment on this chapter but if I want to guess, starting a business in Australia is harder than in Malaysia due to similar reasons above.


Chapter 4 - Customer Service Australia Style

I have a lot of bad experience with customer service since I landed here but it doesn't mean it is worst than in Malaysia. My take is customer service is as bad as in Malaysia. The customer service interaction may be is better than in Malaysia (for example they can talk very good) but no action is being taken seriously. The authors mention along this line too.


Chapter 5 - Choosing the Right Suburb

Honestly, no matter how much you read about a particular suburb, you still need to visit there and experience it by yourself.  The next important thing to know is whether the suburb is an established suburb. If it is not, what is the government's development plan for this suburb? It can be none or there is something and all these information can be found in the government website. This drives the potential property's value of this suburb.

The authors talk about certain suburb may not be good even if it is close to the train station and suggest to stay 50 mins walk away from the train station. I totally disagree with this. If a suburb is not good within 15 mins walk to the train station, it is the same if it is 50 mins walk to the train station. It won't make any big difference.

Anyway, I think what the authors mention is very special case. I think having your property close to the public transport is a "MUST" considered element. This is especially useful for new migrant, you can't go wrong with a property that close to transportation. It is matter of whether you can afford it or not.

The authors also suggest not to buy property and hold off your purchase until 2016 and move your money to gold.  I disagree with that unless you're not sure whether you will settle down permanently. If you have already decided to settle down, you should start researching and buying a property when you've found a suitable one. About moving your money to gold, I don't think is a wise choice too. The gold price has already reached it's peak - see my previous post: Can Gold Price Peak Again After 2012?

What about property bubble burst? Similar comment that I have with property bubble burst in Penang, I don't think it will happen, it will probably stable down for few years if economy turns bad. The property price in Australia is mainly driven by high population growth which primary as a result of high migration. As long as the government doesn't stop the migration inflow all the sudden, I don't think property bubble will burst.



Chapter 6 - "Rustbelt Schools" in Australia

Sorry, no comment in this area. :)


Chapter 7 - Schoolyard Bullying

This shouldn't be consideration at all if you plan to migrate. It happens everywhere, maybe in Malaysia it never gets reported. Unfortunately, I was the one who bullied those kids when I was young. I don't think this is ever reported. :)


Chapter 8 - How Good is an Australian Education for Your Child?

I don't have much comment here but I think everyone agrees that Australian education is better than in Malaysian education but let me share my perception about Australian education vs Malaysian education. 

• Malaysian student can take more pressure. It is true in my generation but I"m not sure generation now. It seems like youngster in Malaysia lately also cannot take much pressure

• Malaysian student is lack of communication skill. I think this is very true. Even for myself today, I have difficulty to communicate my message or express my feelings.

Chapter 9 - Assimilating into Racist... Australia?

This chapter is not that important. Racist is everywhere and nowhere. Whether you want to assimilating to Australia society is matter of choice. It is back to the fundamental question, do you try to avoid English? If yes, Australia is not good place for you.


Chapter 10 - Tips for "Succeeding" in Australia: Career-wise

The authors give a very useful information about how you can succeed at different stage of your life before you migrate to Australia. My opinion is if you want to migrate, the earlier the better. The older you're, the more difficult for you.

As mentioned before, getting a job is challenging here in Australia but I do not buy in the idea of "lack of local experience" (not by the authors but by most of my friends). Please don't blame it and give this reason as why you're not hired. You're not hired because your skills don't have the direct match of what they are looking for and they don't see your potential. This is the same for all the companies around the world. 


Chapter 11 - The welfare state and you

Just a piece of advice, don't rely on this system and therefore you don't put this as part of your migration consideration. If you do, you won't be living good here in Australia. Furthermore, if you're a new migrant, you need to wait for 2 years before you can apply for this benefit unless you have children. So if I were you, I won't put this in my financial planning so that whatever that I get from this system is an extra. 


Chapter 12 - Migrate for What?

Although the authors mention that they provide independent view but I feel that they're more biases against people migrating to Australia especially in this chapter.What they discuss here in chapter are mostly explaining why Malaysia could be a better place. :)

The fact that everyone knows is Australia is better than in Malaysia and we cannot deny that. If not, why so many people migrating to Australia? It is not just Malaysian but all the nations in the world. It is a very nature thing that human always migrates to a better place. That's why you see there are quite number of increasing foreign workers in Malaysia . This is simply because Malaysia is better than their countries, no?

Whether or not migrating to Australia is better, it is very personal thing. I can say Australia is good but I can also say Australia is bad. So, migrate for what? You're the only person can tell. Australia definitely is a better place but can you make use of it?

Simple Way to Explain Black Swan Theory (Book Review)

You may have heard before the “Black Swan” movie but have you heard of the “Back Swan theory”? At first I thought the movie talks about the “Black Sawn theory". So I went to watch it. But after watching it, it turned out that there are 2 independent subjects. One talks about psychology and another one is economy. :)

The black swan in fact is a book which was written by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a practitioner of mathematical finance. The book was published in 2007.  Yes, I know it is old book but I only have a chance to read it now after introduced by my VP in few years back. However, I did not finish reading the book simply because I find this book is too difficult to understand. A very simple idea but the author makes it so complicated for layman to understand. I do not know why. Perhaps this is called “expert”?  or it is probably not meant for layman to read. So if you think you’re layman like me, read my following post will do or else you can go to the bookstore to purchase this book for in-depth understanding.

What is Black Swan Theory?

Let’s understand what is black swan. First of all, it is an event and not a bird! lol. The reason why black swan is used is an event is because before discovery of Australia, all swans were convinced to be white. It was then proven wrong. Does this sound familiar to you? That is what happen to the subprime mortgage crisis. Real estate were convinced to be the best reliable asset but it was then proven wrong again. The black swan is used to explain such phenomena that is unpredictable and creates major impact. The black swan event term was then also referred as the Black Sawn theory or the theory of black swan event.


Can You Predict Black Swan Event?

Well if the answer is can, then it is no longer called Black Swan. :) Probably the answer is yes for the economy in 20 years ago. One could still possible to predict future using statistic based on historical data. However during this 21’s century,  this is no longer be true. Statistics has failed!

2 reasons why statistic has failed. The first reason - based on the statistics calculation or any type of economy’s formula, the probability of such black swan event is always very small and nearly impossible to happen. Another words, the formula has failed to model the economy. The second reason - people have build-in physiological biases that make them unable to predict.  For example, I have been getting salary since day one of working and never going to have pay cut for 10 years. Thus, I predict my future will NOT have pay cut as well regardless of my job performance. The technical term for this prediction is called “Inductive Reasoning”.


What is the solution?

At first when I was reading this book, I expected the author will give a better solution to replace the existing statistic formula to model the economy. Unfortunately, I don’t think the book offers such solution. Offering advice, probably yes. This also makes the whole book is completely useless in my opinion at least to me The reason is I have already known all these facts since the day one I learned about physics:

1. Whatever proven right today, doesn’t mean it will be right forever. It can be proven wrong tomorrow.
2. Whatever proven wrong tomorrow, doesn’t mean it will NOT be proven right again.
3. Whatever proven wrong today, doesn't mean it will be wrong forever. It can be proven right tomorrow.
4. Whatever proven right tomorrow, doesn’t mean it will NOT be proven wrong again.

This books basically in a way tells the same thing that I have learned since my secondary school.:)


What are the takeaways?

You may ask what are the takeaways then? If you ask me, I only have 2. The first thing is you should not deny the black swan events. It happens to everyone. Another important thing to understand is, a black swan event to me might not be a black swan event to you. For example, getting pay cut is a Black Swan event (i.e. unpredictable event ) to me while it could be White Swan event (i.e. predictable event) to you. This is just an example. Black swan event could happen in personal too and not always global.

The second takeaway is plan for the worst case. What could be the black swan event for you? You lost a job tomorrow? You get a job demotion? Property house price bubble burst? Car accident? Something serious happen to your family? Your health problem? You should not be too optimistic but always identify your worst case scenario. Once your worst case is identified, plan for a defense strategy. This is also called "Personal Financial Planning"! :) :) :)


Summary

I honestly do not really understand why this book get the New York Times Bestseller. It is definitely not a book for layman. The content of this book is also questionable as the ideas that being brought up in this book is really nothing new. Everyone knows that  the statistic’s formula is just a prediction and it could be wrong. Not to talk about the human’s greediness, whatever statistic data that you have seen out there could be designed to blind you from the truth too based on their own biasness. Basically smart people will know all these technical analysis based on statistic cannot be trusted and you have to use it at your own risk.

This book has 444 pages with plenty of words and very less graphic or diagram explanation that makes me really no mood to continue reading. The worst part of this book is it explains a very simple idea with 444 pages and I could summarize these 444 pages into one sentence below:

“No one can predict the future, so you have to plan for the worst case and do not over optimistic.”

P/S: I have no intention to shoot the author of this book and I was just giving my opinion from a layman reader’s perspective. If you do think this book is good or beneficial to read especially for layman, I’m happy to hear your opinion.

Simple Explanation of Blue Ocean Strategy (Review)

Another interesting book that recommended by my very top-level boss – Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne

As usual, the Wikpedia explanation sometimes is just too comprehensive and I found a very good video summary in youtube. Let’s look at this video:

This reminds me the from “The Sun Sze Art of World” and the “Thick Face Black Heart” books mention that “Sometimes You Don’t Need to Fight to Win a War”. I personally love this statement. In short, the Blue Ocean Strategy is simply saying that “You Don’t Need To Fight to Win Your Competitor”.

Remember, the "BLUE" Ocean Strategy says:

• Competition is Irrelevant.
• Value Innovation – Ignoring the competition and focusing on the buyers.

Isn’t it saying a same thing? Provide what the customer really wants and create a new market for it rather than we compete and kill each other until all our blood spread out to the whole ocean which is called the “RED” Ocean Strategy.


Real Case Examples

(1) McDonald’s restaurant
Have you ever wonder why McDonald’s restaurant is so successful in worldwide? At least this is what I experienced in US, Malaysia and Europe. It always full during peak hour. Look at the graph below, does McDonald trying to compete with the rest?

source: www.csc.com

(2) Apple's products (i.e. iTunes, iMac, iPhone)
Apple is so successful until today in my opinion is because of “Branding”. You feel cool and different status when using apple’s products. Using an Apple product is just like driving the “BMW” car on the road. This market is never exists and Apple creates for it.

(3) AirAsia Airline in Malaysia.
It eliminates over the counter booking system, free food/beverage on the plane, seating class booking system, and reduce "luxury" facilities provided by Airport Lounge, seat quality and many others. Think of it, are all these things a necessity for a customer? Although this is not something new in other countries but at least it is still new market in Malaysia. AirAsia creates this market.


Conclusion

Of course it is not as simply as I say but sometimes this makes a lot of common sense and it just that when we come into practice, it is a whole different story. Don’t you agree?

In summary this book provides a tool and mythology to create a new market space using the blue ocean strategy. You can buy the book yourself and learn the details.


I personally bought it but haven’t finished yet. The question that I have in mind is, will the book help in real business? Or it is just another educational business book? You tell me…

Related link:

• Preview of this Book

Warren Buffett Wealth by Robert P Miles Review

If you don't know who Warren Buffett is, Robert Miles is just the person to introduce him to you. The author has written 2 books on Buffett and his investment methodology, and presented countless Buffett Wealth workshops world wide.

Cleanly and concisely, Miles starts off by explaining the old-fashioned strategies that the Omaha wizard has made famous. Suitably impressed and excited about increasing wealth, the reader can then check out what kind of investor he is in Chapter3. Chapter 4 explains the importance of having an investment philosophy and Chapter 5 asks if you know what you own.

Chapter 6 hones in on Buffett's idea of investing on Main Street rather than Wall Street. Chapter 7 explains why Buffett only concentrates on a handful of stocks.

Miles wraps up with a look at Buffett's mistakes, investment, wealth and Buffeftt myths and lessons about life.

How to make money in stock?

Novice investors would welcome this book. The author, William J O'Neil shares his expertise on what characterises a growth stock, when to cut losses and how to spot a market top. He is all for the rational appraoch. An apparent traditionalist, he does not rely on market hype but on a company's growth pattern. It is definitely back to basics with O'Neil.

The Richest Man in Babylon

This is one of the books by George S. Closon you must read for every successful person. The principles in Richest Man in Babylon are timeless. A very good personal financial book and have very good customer review. I think it gets perfect score – 5 stars out of 333 customer reviews. This is awesome unbelievable.

One of the best ways to save money in my previous is to Pay Yourself First was the idea from this book and it works best for me until today! Thanks George!

Understanding Hedge Funds by Scott Frush

This book provides a brief history of hedge funds. It also describes the differences between mutual funds and hedge funds from the point of view from novice investor. The books talks about the different hedge-funds styles and the tools fund managers use to identify and take advantage of profitable opportunities. It covers the legal and regulatory challenges posed by hedge funds and how best to monitor them and their managers. The final part of the book touches on the characteristics of hedge funds and their future. A worthy and educational read book.

Bull's Eye Investing by John Mauldin

This book is about targeting investments to take the future, and not the past, into account. Most investors know this but Mauldin presents this case with a superb detailed analysis of the US market’s history and global economic dynamics. The content is slightly technical, so readers new to the subject t may be bewildered at the theories favor great detail. This book is also long (over 400 pages), so it suits those who favor great detail. However, Mauldin’s educational, factual and sometimes witty style makes the reading a litter easier.

Mauldin touches on this area of expertise, hedge funds, at the end of this book. As investing in hedge funds is only available to “accredited investors”, it serves a “nice to know” info for the rest of us.

Financial Independence by Eddie Solomon

A financial independence book by Eddie Solomon. It looks like have a very good review. Check it out.

The Characteristics of Time by Chin-Ning Chu

Very interesting about time characteristic by Chin-Ning Chu in one of her books -Do Less, Achieve More: Discover the Hidden Powers Giving In:

1. The reality of time exists only with us
2. The experience of the length of time shifts according to our state of consciousness. 5 minutes may seem to be forever. 5 hours may seem to be fleeting moment.
3. Although time consists of a past and present, with a potential for future, time only truly exists in the moment of “now”.
4. Time is an infinite series of “nows” strung together
5. Each moment, each “now”, carries the entire past and determines the entire future.
6. The way we spend each “now” creates our destiny
7. Managing time is about managing ourselves. It is about focus, purpose, and priority. When we are in the moment of “now”, we are in timelessness – the eternity, the time beyond time.
8. When you live your life by reacting to a outer chaos, you are at the mercy of time and time victimizes you.
9. When you operate your life from the serene stillness of your inner peace, time protects you and serves you.
10. When our time is up, no amount of money can buys us a single extra moment.
11. If our successes do not become reality before our death, we have only ourselves to blame – we have misused time, our moments of “now”.

I like the point 6. The more you spend your in moments of "now", the closer you're toward the success. One of the criteria to live happily is to spend the moment of "now". Focus at the present is the key here, in my opinion.

Rich Dad Poor Dad

The best selling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki, I read this book few years ago and I’m not sure if I can remember exactly the content of this book. As far as what I can remember, there are 2 most important things in this book. They might have more but it seems like I only can remember these 2. So, I think the rest of the points in this book are not important. Perhaps I should say not the key points of his book.

First thing, he told us don’t go to school if you want to become rich. Why? Our education system is pretty good to produce employee, but not the other way. The education is design to teach how to work for people and not people to work for you. Most importantly as I said before, school to not teach how to manage your personal finance wisely. This is kind of true at least in my country, Malaysia. I believe it also applies to all the country around the world. When you look a round, the really rich guy is the “Business Man” and most of them do not have the highest education qualification. Hey, what’s wrong? The book explains what’s wrong. Some of the readers may misunderstand this book as “If I don’t go to school, I will become rich.” This is definitely not right. Do you know 90% of the people who do not go to school fail getting rich? Not only rich and majority are even living below average. No matter you go to school or not go to school, the effort for you to become rich is the same. It is a matter of going to school is in comfort zone and therefore you’re not pushing yourself hard enough. This is my opinion.

Second thing, Robert also has a definition of an asset versus a liability that is different from conventional accounting. Simple stated, assets generate income or cash and liabilities consume cash. Rich people accumulate assets. People who aren't rich accumulate liabilities. For example, a car, a boat are actually liabilities as they consume cash. The real assets are such as stocks, bonds, tax lien certificates, rental real estate, and other investments. They generate income or cash (e.g. dividend, interest, value appreciation). He also acknowledges that it is possible to use the principle of compound interest and regular saving to achieve financial independence. He also stated the problem with this approach is it's a long, patient one and most people get started too late for it to work.

As a conclusion, they are many ways to get rich. Rich Dad, Poor Dad explains the way to get rich in his opinion. However, keep in mind that it may not apply to you. Read this book and take the important messages which can be applied to yourself to achieve your own financial objective.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Audio Version

Wow, the the audio version of "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People". I'm not aware there is an audio version of it. I must buy this!!! If I do buy this, I will put this in my car and listen to it while I am driving my car to office everyday.

Here is the description of this audio book:

What are the habits all successful people share? In this audio presentation, Stephen R. Covey answers that question and teaches you how to make the Seven Habits a part of your life. Each audio system is designed to help you create an empowering center of correct paradigms from which you can effectively solve problems, maximize opportunities, and continually learn and integrate principles of effectiveness in an upward spiral of growth.

An ultimate financial freedom book

I always keep asking, is there an ultimate financial freedom book? It guides me to achieve financial freedom and financial independence to solve all my financial problems. So, I keep searching for it many years. I read many financial and investment books and sadly it doesn’t seem help at all until I read a book called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Yes, you read it right. As you may know, this book is not a financial book. But, how does it help? The answer is rather simple. It helps me to transform all my knowledge on those financial books to the action. I never take action until the day I read this book. Knowledge without action is useless. This book explains the 7 habits which are based on the basic principle and natural law. Due to the fact the 7 habits are universal, it must be learned if you want to succeed in anything you want in life. Therefore in order to achieve financial freedom or financial independence, you must also master these 7 habits. If not, no matter how many financial books that you have read, it is going to be wasted.

As a conclusion of my years of finding, I have to admit that there is no one ultimate financial freedom book. You have to read many financial books and most importantly you need to apply what you have learned. To apply what you have learned and to reach your goal or success, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
is a must.