Finally some good news for the consumers. Prices of thousands of items are starting to come down following the reduction in energy prices. Hypermarkets are leading the way. Hopefully the restaurants and hawkers will follow suit.

When costs increased, businesses quickly raised their prices. For about 4 months, consumers had to adjust their lifestyles to cope with rising energy and food costs. It had looked like more people will fall into poverty.

Now when costs have come down, these businesses were slow in adjusting their prices downwards. Many gave the excuse to wait until the energy and commodities costs have stabilized first before readjusting their prices. Some said their suppliers have not reduced prices, hence they could not reduce their selling prices too. It seems like each one is waiting for the other to lower the prices before they will lower their own prices. Consumers have become angry and frustrated at these inconsiderate businesses.

The Government should study and implement a more efficient distribution of products such as agriculture produce. This would eliminate unnecessary middlemen, lowers distribution costs and minimize wastages.

Of late, I often see images on the news showing the stock index board either a sea of red or mostly green. Red when the bears command, and green when the bulls charge. What would a color blind see on the stock index board?

According to Wikipedia: a color blind is a person or animal unable to distinguish between two or more primary colors (usually red and green)

This leads me to wonder if not being a color blind is a prerequisite to become a remisier.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surges ahead.

Paypal has recently implemented a new rule for withdrawing money. And this new rule is forced upon its customers. I could not find any new policy update announcement of this new ruling. They know this rule will be met with fierce objections, hence the reason the rule was implemented below the radar.

My primary currency in Paypal is USD. I’m from Malaysia, and I used to withdraw my Paypal funds to my credit card attached to my Paypal account. Last time, I would be able to withdraw in USD. My bank will then convert the USD to MYR at the prevailing market rate.

However, about one month ago when I made a withdrawal, I was forced to accept the withdrawal in MYR. Paypal will convert the money from USD to MYR at a very expensive rate. I lose more money when Paypal does the conversion compared to when my bank does the conversion.

Paypal converts my money from USD to MYR at a very expensive rate and forces me to accept this. There is no option to receive my money in USD.

I know Paypal wants to earn more profits. But certainly this is not the way. It is akin to stealing money from my pocket. Just because Paypal is a monopoly does not mean they can do whatever they want with their customers and take their money.

Paypal should instead let the customer choose during the withdrawal process whether he or she wants to receive the money in their primary currency or let Paypal convert to another currency.

Just when I’m progressing smoothly towards my goals, suddenly a setback has occurred.

This is a very bad week for me. Google has decided to drop my parked domains and this has resulted in me losing at least 70% of my side income.

I have been working on buying expired domains for the past 15 months in a bid to earn domain parking income from expired domains. My income has increased steadily and has grown until it contributes to 40% of my total income, including my employment income.

Google has removed some of my parked domains from its search ranking. As a result, visitor traffic plummeted. No traffic = no clicks = no income.

I have my goals to achieve. I will have to rework my plan to achieve those numbers.

Looks like I will have to start developing my domains. The bright side of this is that once I developed the domain, then the traffic and income will more or less be permanent.

My boss is based overseas. He will come to my office a few times a month. Usually customers will come over to meet us when my boss is in town. Occasionally, we would meet at the customer’s office. We would go in my car.

My car was given to me by my father. My guess the car’s more than 20 years old. Old but still reliable. It doesn’t consume alot of fuel. Maintenance is cheap too.

There was one time shortly after I had received my bonus, my boss asked, “So, when are you getting a new car?” He must have been uncomfortable not being able to stretch his legs inside my car. “I’d get a house first,” I answered.

For many people, the first long term financial commitment is either buying a car or a house. Which should you buy first? It’s a matter of needs. Some jobs require the person to have his own transport.

Generally, you will be better off financially buying a house first. Here are some reasons why.

1. A house save you rent, or earn you rental income.
You could save on rent by staying in your own house. You could also rent out the house or rooms for money.

2. The interest on the car loan is much more expensive compared to a mortgage. The interest is calculated a different way and the interest doesn’t go down even after making years of repayment.

3. Generally the value of a house appreciates over time, while the value of a car depreciates over time.