Full article here:  http://thoughtcatalog.com/2012/why-being-in-your-20s-is-awesome/

It’s important to talk about why your twenties are great because it seems like we spend so much of our time wanting to be somewhere else other than where we are. Think about it. Why the hell are we in such a hurry to live some boring grown up adult life that we saw at a Crate & Barrel? Because once we do get there, we’re stuck for a long time. The novelty’s going to wear off, we’re going to get married and have babies, and everything will be amazing but don’t think for a second that you won’t be nostalgic for this time. Don’t think for a second that you’re not going to miss those nights you spent putting on your make up, changing five million times, drinking wine, smoking cigarettes out your apartment window, and going to some silly party, a party that feels like all the others you’ve been to but still has the right to feel special. You will miss all of this. This is a luxury. It’s going to leave us eventually so you better freaking enjoy it. You better enjoy every lame ass party, every awkward kiss, every 5 AM hangover, every drug experience, every crappy apartment, because one day it will all be gone and you’ll just be left with the pictures and the bruises and nothing else. Youth is fu**ing magic. Don’t you get it? Look at your skin! Touch it. Look at your smooth legs and stomach. Grab it. When you’re older, you’ll want all of this again so bad. You’ll possibly spend so much money to get some semblance of it back. Now it’s yours for free.

Here is the example I read.  I substitute the name as Ming, ‘coz Ming is a Smart name.

Ming is planning his retirement and estimates that he’ll need $300,000 by the time he reaches the age of 65. Ming’s currently 50 years old and has found a fixed rate annuity that guarantees 8% interest for 15 years. How much should Ming invest today to meet his retirement savings goal? For this we need to calculate the present value of $300,000.

PV = 300,000 / (1+0.08)^15 = $94,572

This future value calculation gives Ming a good ballpark of how much he should be investing right now. Ming made a smart decision to invest part of the $100,000 in a fixed annuity, part in a money market account, and part in an equity vehicle like a mutual fund or equity-indexed annuity. This diversification would provide added security and give Ming a shot at beating his $300,000 mark.

Ming is one smart mature man who know how to use his money!    Having worked in the Risk Management industry for a couple month now, I like how he diversify his investment, and “give a shot” at beating his goal.  There is no guarantee Ming will be rich after making these smart investment decisions, he might become as poor as you and I after 15 years, but it’s a decision that he takes absolute control, and I solute him in making such decision.

…It’s funny how I get so intrigued by a text book example.

時候尚早

主唱：藍奕邦
作曲：藍奕邦
填詞：藍奕邦

何解我未曾問　已跟我講你懂

何解你所有口吻　極其像個老頑童
而你不過廿來歲　無法可將一切看通

對所有事情漸忘掉衝動
談起你未來亦滿臉愁容
越去估計前途　偏偏越會幻想起暗湧

但秒針仍在跳　光陰也未窮
凡事也自有它答案　這刻不要碰

＊可知道　時候尚早
前面尚有幾多的起伏　佈滿你一生旅途　很多個未知數
行前兩步你便看到　一切總會有分數
時候尚早　讓老天替你一一安排　並未願知得太早
誰預先打小報告　快掩耳　當聽不到
(緩緩地跟青春跳舞　這一剎　人還未老)

人生裡總有幾對手去等你拖
人生裡問題逐條逐條地一一探索
活到七老八十歲　還有很多未曾尋獲

考究深奧的存在意義
何不試一試逐一的去試
亂去偷看結局　多糟蹋揭曉的真意思

若你心仍在跳　不需當先知
就趁有幸去生存時　你即管放肆

MTM – Market-to-market value (fair value)

MBS – Mortgage Backed securities
ABS – Asset Backed securities
CMS - Collateralized Mortgage Obligation
CDO – Collateralized Debt Obligation [MBS on steroids]
RVI – Residual Value Inssurance
CMS – Constant Maturity Swaps

CDS – Credit Default Swap
ISDA – International Swaps and Derivative Association
SIFMA – Securities Industry and Financial Markets
ISDA CSA – Credit Support Annex

Common CDS indices:  CDX, iTraxx, ABX

VaR – Value at Risk
NAV – Net Asset Value

——————————————————————————————————————————————–

Boss (jokingly): “there are two kinds of people in the world, there are the fun people who are interested in economics and finance, and there are the rest of the world.”

4:30pm Boss passed by cheerfully:  ”I’m taking off early today, does anyone need me for anything?”
Me:  ”Yes, do you want to quickly take a look at what I found from the …”
Boss:  ”No!  It’s Thursday and I need to go!  (– Dash out –>) “

2pm is the sleepiest part of a day…  He cheerfully pass by, “As you know our firm is expanding, but I love this office so much that I wonder if it is possible to build a plateform, you know, kinda like those college bunk bed so that we can have sub-divide this room into two layers.   That way we probably can save some heating during winter as well!”

At lunch, we were having intellectual discussion on why US sells military aircraft to Taiwan but not to China.
His point of view is: “Either way, I am interested in the fair value of the transaction”

Boss: ” We REFUSE to let anyone work for us without paying them a lot of money!”

———————————————————————————————————————————

Economists and risk managers are interesting people.
Work so far has been fun like college.

To be continued…..

      世界這樣大
誰人失戀傷心因此開始不重視性命 廢了一雙腿的他槍聲中都堅決踏前程
然而你說你怕自己一個生活過份恬靜 流亡伊拉克的他多稀罕得到這份和平

誰人得不到想得的東西不惜賣弄眼淚 而窮鄉中的她一生只得膠拖鞋一對
誰人爭東爭西大打出手之後犯了罪 難如飢荒中的一雙夫妻分享骯髒的餅乾碎
… 睜開雙眼看一看 許多東西更值得可怕 哪怕各樣痛苦繼續捱 其實世事轉得這麼快
原來世界這樣大

Rural-urban migration has been one of my favorite topics since middle school.   All the push and pull factors in cities and villages seemed obvious to me when I first studied this in middle school – people go to places with more opportunity, better welfare, and higher life quality.    But when everyone moves from rural to urban area, the quality of life drops due to overpopulation.  All these textbook concepts appear more complicated when applied to China’s “hukou” system, under which a huge social gap exists between the urban and underclass of peasants.

Not surprisingly, China has been considered the poster child for this linear model of rural-urban shift and accompanying inexorable consumption growth. To the China “boomsayer”, even more impressive consumption is yet to come: another 300-400 million rural dwellers will be converted into city folks in the next 15 years. Prepare for China’s urban billion, counsels McKinsey & Company. Think about how many millions of new apartments and how many cities like Shanghai will be needed for all these new arrivals; how many more Ikea-like home furnishing stores? The list goes on.

“Rural migrants” work and live in the city but they are not part of the urban class – not now and not in the future, no matter how many years and how hard they have worked in the city. This group now numbers about 160 million and continues to grow. The fact that they are purposely held down as a massive permanent underclass is precisely what supplies China with a huge, almost inexhaustible pool of  super-exploitable labour. Little wonder that China is the world’s largest – and the most “competitive” – manufacturing powerhouse.

SCMP.com – Urban myth
via SCMP.com – Urban myth.

Me holding a bass we caught

For those who are curious about where I was, here is the link.
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatmeadows/
And Yes, we cooked the bass and ate it (Chinese Style). It was delicious, sorry.

Below is the final project my group made.  I am proud of it, partly because I predicted the stock price quite accurately using pro forma