Auditor Passed Away From Overworking

There was a report in international newspapers that a lady who is an auditor with PwC Shanghai passing away from acute cerebral meningitis infection. Cerebral meningitis is defined as the inflammation of the meninges which is the thin outer layer of the brain. And like all other inflammation, the section of the meninges that is inflamed will swell and be damaged when the cells are pressed against the skull. Based on some of the reports that I have read, it appears that the symptoms of cerebral meningitis is headache / migraine and fever

[Source: http://shanghaiist.com/2011/04/15/25-year-old_shanghai_auditor_worked_to_death.php]

At another report that I read, it is reported that auditors working 100 hours per week is very common considering the peak period for reporting. And it is reported that this girl has worked more than 110 hours per week. I have to admit that this is a little bit too much considering that you only have 168 hours per week for everything (including sleep)

My thoughts
I have always had the belief that auditors in Malaysia should be paid higher than what they are paid now. I can't speak on behalf of other auditors who are not in Malaysia because I don't know how their pay scale is like. An auditor in a medium or small firm will be paid between RM2,000 to RM2,500 (smaller firms pay even less).

This is even lower than Engineers and commercial accountant by a lot. A simple comparison between Big 4 accounting firms and MNC Engineers will tell the whole story. Auditors in Big 4 accounting firms are paid approximately RM2,700 at current market rate whereas Engineers in MNCs are paid at least RM3,000. Some are paid even more. And all this is despite the fact that Auditors and Engineers are both professionals. And both Auditors and Engineers are knowledge workers

It is high time that we reward knowledge workers more handsomely than non-knowledge workers e.g. administrative staff. My rationale that we should pay knowledge workers more handsomely is because knowledge has value-add but administrative work does not have value-add. Considering that the Malaysian government is always talking about Vision 2020, all I can say is "You have to pay for the best brains". Without breaking free from this trend, Malaysia will never become a high-income nation

Recently, my friend said a very interesting quote:

"You pay Peanuts

You get Monkeys"

Disclaimer: This is not a shot at auditors being lowly-paid people. The author strongly feels that auditors should be paid for the amount of work that they are doing, not just paid what their bosses think they should be paid

Straws: Do we really need them?

Ahh.... The straw. Always used at the eateries but few people actually pays attention to it. Always thrown away after one usage, it is one of the things in life that many can live without. But for some, it is just life-defining. It becomes a habit of many people that when they visit KFC or McDonald's, they will take straw and put it into their cup. This happens naturally out of habit for a lot of people. I've been wondering for a while now why was the straw created and how does it help us.

So, out of curiosity, I surfed the net to find out more about the history of straws and how is it helping us in our daily life especially in helping us drink. It appears that the straw was created many thousands of years ago for the purpose of drinking alcoholic beverages (must it always be about this drink?) and the very first straw in the world was made of, well obviously straw

After some reading, turns out that straws can actually help us to mitigate tooth decay especially when we're drinking carbonated drinks. It works by funneling the drinks straight into your mouth and reducing contact with your teeth (carbonated drinks are acidic and will corrode your teeth)

My thought
As for me, I will typically pass the straw and move on to get my chili sauce at the sauce counter whenever I visit KFC and McDonald's. I view it as a complete waste of resources since the straw is made of plastic (plastic is non-biodegradeable) and it's only used for a while (approximately 30 minutes or so for normal diners). And after the straw has served its purpose, it will lie in landfills for another several hundred years. My conclusion? It's not like we can't drink from the cup without using a straw anyway

Investment in Education (Part 2)

As a follow-up of a previous post, I would differentiate education into two kinds, formal and informal. Formal education comes from going to school, college and university whereas informal education comes from learning on the job and self-learning.

To prove that investing in formal education will no longer be beneficial, here's the computation based on the following situation:

Estimate of total cost to complete a Business degree (in Monash University): RM100,000
Monthly salary upon graduation: RM2,500
Monthly expenditure: RM1,300
Monthly savings: RM1,200
Annual increment: 6%
Annual Bonus: 3 months
QUESTION: How long will it take to attain payback?

Then answer is definitely more than 5 years. That is only for payback before taking into account any kind of inflation. With inflation and the time-value of money, the payback period would be so much longer than 5 years

Having said that the cost of education is increasingly difficult to bear for normal middle-class families, all is not lost. The main reason that I'm saying this is because of the increasing amount of information available on the Internet. You can literally learn how to repair a car online if you know where to find. Information is so vast on the Internet so much so that the only problem is for you to find the right sort of information online

However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education. This effectively makes formal education equally as important as an informal education

One simple example is programming. I have a friend of mine who studied Engineering in his university days. He went for internship for 2-4 months in an IT company, doing programming in PHP. After doing internship, he was already doing free-lancing in programming of websites. All the knowledge came from the exposure, the interest and the online sources of information. And all this came from only a little investment in time, effort, electricity and broadband connection.

On the flip side, another friend of mine who aspires to be a medical doctor cannot practise as a medical doctor if he does not go to university.

My thought
However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education. However, to think that formal education is entirely not important will only be understating the importance of formal education. An accountant, lawyer and doctor cannot practise their profession if they do not have the right sort of formal education.

Read: http://lexlex-truthseeker.blogspot.com/2010/08/investment-in-education-part-1.html for Investment in Education (Part 1)

April Fool!!

Yesterday was April Fool's Day. It wasn't too great for me at best until towards the end of the day. I woke up late for work and was stuck in traffic for a very long time after work. It really isnt't he best combination of things to wrap up my day

I went to 1 Utama after work to meet up with my sister for dinner. We eventually decided to go to "Oriental Cravings" simply because my sister had to eat vegetables and wanted to try out new shops in 1 Utama. So into the shop we went and we ordered our food Chinese-style (several plates served to all with each person having their own bowl of rice). I also ordered 8-Treasure Ice Kacang

When the 'Ice Kacang' arrived at the table, the only thing that came to my mind was it's so small, so small that I think that it's not worth the money. But I didn't really put much thought into it and started eating it. My sister even remarked at one point that it looks more like cendol than ice kacang. I have to admit that it's nice, really nice.. It even reminds me of the Nyonya Ice Kacang I ate in Jonker Street lately

Then suddenly, one of the attendant came over to tell us that the waiter served cendol on my table instead of the 8-Treasure Ice Kacang. And I was half-way through enjoying the 'Ice Kacang' that I let out a loud yelp and was stunned for a good 3 seconds.

Only after that when the fact started to sink in that I told him to change the dessert to what I had ordered. But boy oh boy was the cendol really nice. I'm gonna order that cendol next time we come by that shop

That was some April Fool's Day to say the least :)

Secret? What Secret??

Nowadays, I see many people equating being slim to beauty. Girls especially. There are times when I'm asked how to lose weight and so on, there's only one possible answer than I can come up with. And this is the ONE AND ONLY SECRET (probably the worst-kept secret)

Weight Loss = Output - Input

* Output: Energy output, Input: Energy Input

Whether it's exercise until you vomit or not eating until you have gastric, this rule applies. Some people find controlling their food intake is easier while others find exercising easier. It's entirely up to you on which you prefer to use as your method to lose weight

Personally, I find exercising to be a better way to do it. It helps me stay fit and not to mention, develop my muscles. After all, I enjoy eating too much to not eat :)

Reason To Do Something

Ever wondered why you did something you had done?

Often times, I find myself doing things that are purely emotional. There's just no basis at all to do something but I ended up finding myself doing something, without any reason to do something. Often times, I also find myself regretting or somehow regretting what I had done.

One Example

Have you ever wondered why we drink alcoholic beverages?

Probably we are social drinkers, so we just drink when there is a social activity. On a not-so-nice basis, you can just say that social drinking is another kind of 'peer pressure'. The only difference is that your 'peers' are not so much like your peers after all.

[Image adopted from: blog.aarp.org/shaarpsession/aging/]

If you don't live in the equator, you don't really have a reason to drink. In cold places, people drink alcoholic beverages to keep their body warm. If you live in the equator, there is even less reason to keep yourself warm (it's super hot in the equator, if you know what I mean).

On a rational basis, we are putting a lot of strain on our livers (even if the beverages are for free). Alcoholic beverages can put a lot of strain on the liver and it's generally bad for health. The liver is damaged slowly when the liver cells detoxifies the alcohol that we consume. This can lead to liver failure later in life if alcoholic beverages are consumed in large amounts over a long period of time.

[Image adopted from: www.watchmojo.com/blog/lifestyle/tag/Beers/]

This is aside from the high price that you have to pay for these beverages (in Malaysia). I don't know about other countries but in Malaysia, a can of beer that can be sold at RM1.50 is sold at RM5.00. That's a mark-up of more than 200%. Doesn't make any sense to me to pay so much for something that can be available at RM2.00 locally (minus tax but includes the seller's profits)

Decision?

This phenomena has been happening a little too often for me of late. I make a decision to do something that is purely made on emotions and ended up regretting what I had done. Now, I'm pretty certain of my stand on all these things and I'm determined to put a stop to all these stupid decisions!

What Shoes Can't You Run In?

For most of you who know who me well enough, you'll definitely know that I'm an avid runner. It was only less than 4 hours ago that I was running, not in my usual running shoes but in my worn out FUTSAL shoes. And now, I'm having a slight sore under my toe. It feels like a blister though

The cause of the sore is the heat that is generated by the sole through the friction when running. For those of you who know futsal shoes, most of them have rubber soles. And because of the friction between these rubber soles with the ground that you're running on, the rubber heats up. To make it worse, futsal shoes typically have very thin soles and poor ventilation. It's like rubbing salt to the wound. You might end up with a terrible blister if you continue to run with futsal shoes. This typically happens only when you run pretty fast for a few rounds. If you're running slowly, the heat will cool off fairly quickly as you're running. Hence, you won't get a bad blister if you just jog

It must also be noted that expensive and cheap running shoes also make a difference in running. Typically, the better running shoes have lighter materials (the difference isn't that big if you ask me) compared to the cheaper shoes. But the difference-maker really is the ventilation system within the shoes and the padding around the shoes (note: not just the soles).

The thing about better shoes is that the ventilation within the shoes is so good that you feel as though you've just worn the shoes even though you've run in it for 1 hour. Cheaper shoes don't have this kind of ventilation and your legs will typically sweat and feel warm when you're running. It won't feel hot like futsal shoes with rubber soles but it still feels warm inside.

The other thing good about better shoes is that it feels like the entire shoe is hugging your feet as you slip them on. It's as though the shape of the shoes will adapt to the shape of your feet as you put them on. As for the cheaper shoes, the materials are a bit harder. So your feet either feels uncomfortable a little or changes its shape to fit the shoes. Either way, it's still a loss situation

So, for those of you who are planning to buy running shoes, consider about how long you'll be wearing the shoes. As for rough users like me, adidas will only last me 6 months before its first wear and tear shows up =(

Folly of Gambling

I just came back from Genting Highlands a few hours ago after a 2-day-1-night trip with my coursemates after our exams ended on Monday. I really had a great time, the weather and the excitement of the outdoor theme park was just amazing. I'll update this trip next time.

Well, the main point here now is any adult who goes to Genting Highlands will definitely go into the casino. I was no different and was in the casino, not gambling but watching (no money to even spend for myself, how to gamble money away?).

Now, most of the people who gamble at the casino are looking for entertainment or winning money (winning money isn't impossible but you need a lot of good luck and self-control to do it). Other than that, I just can't think of any other reasons why someone would gamble

So, if you're looking for entertainment, would it be all right if you gamble? The answer is of course a YES, but then again how would losing money affect you? The whole objective of entertainment is to de-stress. But if you lose money and you feel even more stressed out, wouldn't it be counter-productive to gamble? You'll feel more stressed out after the so-called 'entertainment' than before the entertainment. Unless you won't lose any sleep from the losses at the casino, why gamble in the first place?

I believe most of us have learnt probabilities in high school (unless you're a high-school dropout or you don't study Mathematics at all *only limited to Malaysians*). If you analyse all the payouts and the probabilities of winning at every casino, the expected returns for the long run is less than your original capital. This means that if you play 1000 games of roulette and all the results turn out according to its expected probabilities, then you'll certainly lose money (how else could Genting have grown into such a big conglomerate if it wasn't because of this?). So, if your objective of gambling is to win money, then why gamble when you're more likely to lose your capital than winning money?

Such is the folly of humans that act according to their emotions that bends logic. Many times (not all times), the emotional thought will do us more bad than good (there are times that being emotional does more good than being rational). As for me, I'd be much happier being rational than emotional =D

Kids Getting Richer Or Just More Willing To Spend?

As a youth, I just can't help but notice the fact that other youths actually spend more nowadays. There are just unlimited examples of youths (some barely 18) spending on designer products and wine-dine. These activities can easily cost more than RM50 and it's not cheap. Even if I'm working, I would never spend that much money on such activities unless it's a special occasion (call me cheap but I just won't buy designer products or wine-dine)

Just a Klang Valley thing?

Just to put it into perspective, I've seen a group of secondary school kids dining at Sushi King in Mid Valley. First of all, the food at Sushi King isn't particularly cheap. A meal for 1 person can cost at least RM20-RM30 per pax. I'm not sure whether they dine in Sushi King on a weekly basis or only once in a while. For secondary school kids to dine at Sushi King often is rather unacceptable in my opinion. However, I would still accept it if it's once in a while for special occasions.

Even kids in my hometown Teluk Intan practice it too!

Sometimes, my father likes to have supper in the new Old Town White Coffee outlet in Teluk Intan. As I was dining at Old Town, I would always notice that there are youths younger than I am dining at Old Town too! A cup of Old Town White Coffee (one of Old Town's signature beverages) cost more than RM2.50. A cup of coffee at the kopitiam in town costs at most RM1.20 (most kopitiam in my hometown doesn't serve white coffee)

What do I think?

I think it's totally absurd to spend so much on premium products (despite the higher quality). To pay a higher price for a product which function could be satisfied by another cheaper product just doesn't make any sense to me. Using the Old Town White Coffee as an example, I could get 2 cups of coffee from the normal kopitiam to satisfy my craving for caffeine compared to the 1 cup of Old Town White Coffee. I used to think that a Nike shoe is so much more comfortable than a 'chapalang' brand from the 'pasar malam' (which explains why I wear a pair of Nike sneakers and a pair of Adidas running shoes). After ripping some of the branded shoes in world-record times, I decided that it'll be more worth it to buy 10 pairs of 'chapalang' brand shoes from 'pasar malam' worth RM200 than to buy a pair of Nike/Adidas worth RM200

Conclusion? It's still up to you whether you want to keep buying high-end products. As for me, I'll just stick with all my cheap products :P