You gotta be … September 3, 2007
Posted by nbeyond in : tips , 2commentsI was warned enough moving in Germany is not easy. I am not really sure it’s only in Germany or overall in Europe. Here’s a story about moving I made recently in Germany. It is a domestic move.
Unlike other countries, moving in Germany is demanding. This is because of a difference specifically with a kitchen installation. Although there are apartments with kitchen installed, it is still rare to find apartments with kitchen installed. You sort out nice candidate apartments by good locations, good neighbor, and so on and easily face the situation with no kitchen installed. This is exactly what happened to me.
I used to live in a furnished apartment that gave me many things automatic for living. I could not choose another furnished one for some reasons. So, I had to install kitchen all by myself. Thanks to a friend with experience, we decided to do all these things.
Before taking any action, I had some things on the list as
- Time should be minimized so that I can get back to my primary job.
- An oven and a dish washer should be built in Kitchen cabinets.
My wife and I went to IKEA to buy some cabinets used for some frames and Saturn to shop some electrical kitchen appliances, and to OBI to shop some water hoses and hardware tools such as electrical drills and saw.
Reading a manual by a manual of IKEA’s, we were able to assemble them. This was in fact the easiest part compared to sawing and drilling concrete wall to have some screws in to hang other cabinets. Surely, I needed to know how to connect hoses for hot and cold water, how to connect special oven wires properly, and how to saw a about-more-than-five-centimeter-thick-plate accurately to have a stainless steel sink, one water faucet, and oven top nicely fit. All of these were again learning it by doing it. Haibing, my friend, really helped me a lot. But, there were so many things that I had to remember such as sizes of diameters, what kind or size of drills I had to buy and use to make holes on woods, concrete or metals.
Anyhow, all are done by the amateurs. I found myself to pay special attention to the installed kitchens or other furnitures assembled somewhere else after all these. A very challenging and painful experience, though. It was exciting enough.
Yes, right. If you like moving in Germany, you gotta be a PLUMBER, a ELECTRICIAN, and a CARPENTER.
Sphere: Related Content
Good Debt - Yen Carry Trade - Part II August 7, 2007
Posted by nbeyond in : investment, issues , add a commentFollowing the first post of Good Debt, I have collected some data about Yen value against US dollar. Check out this long-term fluctuation over past 37 years.
Overall, Japanese Yen has gotten stronger starting 1971
If you look at the recent data over last three years, the value of Yen kept dropping. One thing additionally important is that the value of the US dollar has also been plunging against Euro but not as much as Yen.
US Dollar is now even at a humiliating level against Euro. In other words, mighty Euro. This is just an observation for what happened in the past. Nobody wants to keep Yen. Instead, many want to borrow Yens and exchange them to other better valued currency. Just by doing this, they can earn as much of the interest difference and the value of the exchanged currency.
- What if this lower valued Yen against US dollar stops on a sudden?
- What if Yen is getting strong back as used be?
- Who are now paying this price because of the low valued Yen?
- Who are getting benefits thanks to the zero percent interest rate?
Answers for these questions are easily found from daily newspapers. These answers are thinkable and subject to personal belief. Do you see any chance to make a use of this phenomenon?
Sphere: Related Content
Good Debt - Yen Carry Trade - Part I August 2, 2007
Posted by nbeyond in : Out there?, investment, issues , add a commentI did make a comment about debt very beginning in the first post, A simple math and beyond - Does it really work?. In the post, I quoted as
I have reached to the conclusion that there is no good or bad debt. Some define the debt that is tax-deductible to be good and the debt that is non-tax-deductible to be bad. Unless the debt is given to you for example from your parent at a truly zero interest rate, every debt is bad.
According to the quote that assumes conversely that if debt is at zero percent interest rate, the money you borrow is GOOD debt by definition of the quote. Then, the following question is
Who is going to lend you money with no gain (No interest rate)?
nbeyond said to the question in the post: Maybe your family
This means virtually nobody will lend you money for no gain. This is wrong. In Japan, there is no interest rate if you put your money in your saving account. The banks will just hold your money and not return any gain for your deposit. This means if you put your money, in this case Japanese Yen, in the bank, you automatically lose your money as time goes on. This makes Japanese financial policy very weird. But, this is what has been happening last a couple of years, what’s happening now, and what will happen for some time coming. How long? I’d like to say that nobody knows it.
If you have credit or means to borrow this Japanese Yen, you don’t have to pay any interest at all
In summary, there exists Good Debt by definition for the time that this article is written. On the second thought, you must be stupid if you keep Yen. Is this right?
Sphere: Related Content