Sunday, May 22, 2011

What is so horrifying about Singapore Bus delays Mr Lim Biow Chuan

I read in Channel News Asia today that the MP for Mountbatten commenting that he conducted his own spot checks on bus efficiency and is horrified by the results.

Mr Lim was accompanied by an officer from the Land Transport Authority during both checks.

The first check was made at Jalan Batu, near the HDB estate at Tanjong Rhu while the second was at the bus stop at Block 56, Cassia Crescent.

Mr Lim told Channel NewsAsia he was "horrified" that three bus services -- 158, 12 and 197 -- took half an hour to arrive, and said he has written to the Public Transport Council.

He said by doing so, he hopes to influence the public transport operators to improve their service, and to stress the need for regular services.
"I know how bus companies work," Mr Lim said.

"They say there are traffic jams, breakdowns etc. I do empathise. But at the end of the day, bus commuters are frustrated and bus companies must know this."

I wonder why this is so surprising. Is it because they don’t take public transport and only now do they realise that buses can be so packed during peak hours you cannot get to work or that they take so long to come?

All this can be solved by capacity at the cost of profits. The MRT and Bus companies are just unwilling to do it.

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Thursday, February 03, 2011

Latest Stock Buy Back Trends

I really like Professor Damodaran’s blog on economics.

Today he discuss on the latest stock buy back trends and a shift away from giving dividends.

So, what has caused this  movement away from dividends in the last two decades? It cannot be that dividends are taxed more heavily than capital gains: Note that dividends have been taxed at much higher rates than capital gains going back to the early decades of the last century. In fact, in 1979, the highest marginal tax rate on dividends was 70%, while it was only 28% on capital gains. The changes in the tax laws in the last three decades have reduced the tax disadvantage of dividends - in fact, they have both been taxed at 15% since 2003 - and cannot therefore be a rationale for the surge in buybacks. It also cannot be attributed to companies thinking that their stock prices were too low, since these buyback surge occurred during the bull markets of the 1990s and 2004-2007, not during down markets.

[Read the rest from Professor Damodaran’s blog >>]

Saturday, January 08, 2011

How you can build a dividend income portfolio with a lower volatility

Now here is a great research article that dives into clear Dividend Aristocrat selection and how you can form one with lower volatility.

The article eventually selected the high quality Dividend Aristocrats. They are

  1. Walmart
  2. Consolidated Edison
  3. McDonalds
  4. McCormick
  5. Kimberley Clark
  6. Exxon
  7. Johnson and Johnson
  8. Eccolab
  9. Hormel
  10. Proctor and Gamble
  11. Clorox
  12. CenturyLink
Building a Better Income Portfolio