January 2008 Archives

I suffered paper losses of $9,849 today. Biggest one day loss for me.

I was intending to use that figure as a future PIN since I probably won't forget it for quite some time but seeing as I've just posted it here that's probably not a good idea.

Am mildly worried that my margin loan will get called if either the market continues dipping heavily, or Comsec decides to adjust their LVRs. I guess if that happens I'll have to sell some stock at heavy losses. I'm guessing that is what is happening to a lot of folks right now given the irrational heavy selling that dominates the market.

I'm reminded of my favourite investment related quote by Keynes: The market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent.

A couple of weeks ago I somehow ended up on Grab Your Fork and read of her experiences at Mamak, a Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown, Sydney.

One of the guys at work, a fellow Malaysian, checked it out last week and gave it the thumbs up so we paid a visit last night. Between 3 of us we somehow managed to entirely cover a table meant for 4 with our massive order. It was so insane I'm pretty sure the middle-aged guy at the table next to us was looking at us with incredulous disgust. :)

Mamak is impressive for a number of reasons. The staff appear to be largely of Malaysian origin - most of them look like Uni students. The rotis are fluffy and cooked fresh and are the focus of attention as it is prepared and cooked at the very front of the restaurant. The curries accompanying the rotis are rich and true to Malaysian curry style - thin almost to the point of being watery, more savoury, and less spicy than their Indian counterparts. The giant kebab like things most Malaysian restaurants pass as satay in Sydney have about 3x the amount of meat typical of a satay stick in Malaysia and Mamak shines in this regard as their satays are small - pretty much bite size, and taste like they were done authentically on a charcoal grill (you can really tell the difference because it imparts a smokey flavour). The cendol is also well done - a nice blend of palm sugar, coconut milk, not overly sweet and their green noodley things are pleasantly soft.

roti tisu

Probably the most interesting thing for me was the roti tisu - made of the same dough as a roti canai but coated with a thin layer of sugar to give it a stiffness that allows it to be shaped into the cone shape pictured. Its crispy sweetness blends beautifully with the rich savoury curries served alongside.

At $5 for a roti canai its about 10x the price of the equivalent in Malaysia but hey, we're not in Malaysia are we? :) Price wise you can quite happily make a satisfying meal on $15-20 so overall its not an expensive experience. 2 rotis, or 1 roti and a nasi lemak, and a dessert either chendol or ais kacang would "suffice". :)

A word of advice - the place is insanely popular and if you turn up during peak hour you'lll probably be waiting 20-30 minutes for a table. You can't book either. Probably best to either turn up right at opening time, or maybe after 10pm! Its a tad disappointing as a diner but good to see that they are doing well. I hope they're able to find larger premises because they really do serve fantastic food and Malaysian cuisine is under represented.

This spoof interview is surprisingly accurate about the cause of the sub-prime mess that's all over the news lately.

What Created The Subprime Mess - Watch more free videos

The craziest thing about it is the last section where they talk about what happens now to fix the issue. Whilst they jest about how government & central banks have to bail out all the "very sharp and sophisticated people" its a spot on comment. It highlights an interesting financial strategy that basically states that if there's a risk that you will go bust, make sure you do it in the most spectactular way possible such that the negative effects on the wider economy will be so pronounced that the central banks are forced to step in. Its all win as long as you can scale your crazy scheme up to a level where people will care when you fail.

The other comment he makes about how "you, the pensioner pays for it all" is also spot on. The money that's lost is not lost by these "sophisticated" investment banks but random grandmas who wouldn't have the foggiest clue how to read a Product Disclosure Statement, and your super fund.

Of course you can't blame these "very sharp and sophisticated people" for deliberately misleading innocent investors. The innocents should take responsibility for their own financial decision making too - as the old saying goes "if it looks too good to be true, it probably is". Ask yourself why, if it is actually a good investment, is it being offered to YOU?

Now I wait patiently to see what the next crazy wave will be.

January is when the annual card fee is due on my Commonwealth Gold MasterCard so I rang up today to cancel the card. I was half expecting them to offer to give me the card for another year without paying the annual fee as I've heard this is fairly common practice but that didn't happen.

The guy who answered it was friendly and curious touch is that they tell you where they're from - "Hello, Tom speaking from Hobart" (Tom wasn't actually his name, I've already forgotten that detail). I don't really know why that's useful except maybe to re-affirm that they haven't outsourced customer service overseas? Yet.

Overall the process wasn't bad but had a lot of room for improvement, especially compared to Westpac's service.

Where the Westpac chick was able to cancel the annual fee immediately I was told with the Commonwealth I would have to pay the fee, and then it would be refunded to me. This is partly my fault as I waited a few days too long to call up but given that Westpac is able to do it why can't the Commonwealth?

The other things I noted in my call to Westpac were notably missing - Commbank guy did not ask about my award points (which I had converted to Qantas Frequent Flyer points just 2 days ago, and I had checked they had made it through), nor did he ask if I had any direct debits set up against the card. And he didn't even ask why I'm closing the account - don't worry about improving the product or anything!