《学习爱》读书报告

我最近在读《学习爱》这个广播节目，因为我觉得我不会爱人。

《学习爱》说到我们每个人都有一个“储爱槽”，“储爱槽” 里的爱来自父母。溺爱（过多的爱）和太少的爱都是不好的。爱的能力是代代相传的，如果上一代从小在获得爱的过程中有所缺失，就没有足够的爱分给下一代。我们要问自己：“我能分多少爱给别人”和 “我需要得到多少爱”？

爱情有三步：好感 – 喜欢 – 爱情。一见钟情和单恋不是爱情因为爱情是一个过程，爱是需要培养的，不是一下子就能发展的，要两个人都有感觉才可以。同情、依赖、奉献、性和崇拜都只是爱情的一部分，不是爱情的全部。

爱情和友情是不一样的。爱情是不能分享的但友情可以；爱情想了解对方的全部但友情不会；爱情想趋同但友情不会；爱情有性的成分但友情没有。

爱情的本质或爱的内涵是尊重（尊重他的选择，他的喜好）、理解（站在对方的位置去考虑，能够体察他的内心世界，他的所思所想）、真正的关心（处处替他着想，在生活和感情方面）、责任感（一旦爱一个人，就决定为他负责，承担一些社会的责任）和欣赏。

爱别人的前提是要爱自己。所谓爱自己，就是说我们自己应该尽量成为一个完善的人。对自己是充满信心的，对自己是尊重的，是有信心的，在这样的前提下，别人给你的自信在你这里就有了一个共鸣，就更能强化你自己。

爱自己是能自我肯定好的方面，不足的方面能采取平衡的心态去接纳。爱自己练习：

1 每天写出一条自己觉得很不错的地方）

2 每天写一条表扬自己的话

3）奖励自己

如果想让自己获得爱情的几率更高一些，要做一个有个性的人。不管是表达爱还是拒绝爱，都要勇于承担责任。怕得罪人的深层次原因是不自信。

选择一个人，就选择了一种生活状态和生活方式。不管恋爱还是婚姻，我们不要期望在这种关系当中战胜谁。在恋爱的人当中，没有绝对的谁对谁错，因为每个人是站在自己的角度想问题的。恋爱中是分不出真理和对错的。婚姻或恋爱是彼此的一种协调和融合，在这当中通过相互作用，彼此都在发生改变，而不是你刻意去改变一个人。完善的过程应该是自然而发生的，学对方身上的一些优点，让其变为自己的，是自愿自发的，不是对方要求你变成这个样子的。

让爱情“保鲜”：经常发现对方的特点（不一定是优点但一定是与众不同的），给对方独自的生活空间。恋爱特别的心理需要是一体的感觉（穿对方的衣服）。如果真正陷入到爱情当中无法自拔的时候，最后一定会产生一种永恒感，希望能天长地久地走下去，希望跟对方成为一个人的心灵体验。

有了痛苦，要能够表达，把它说出来。你在恋爱的时候，再爱别人的时候不代表你不忠贞，不纯洁。为了证明自己，牺牲本来应该拥有的一份爱情，其实是被一种东西禁锢住了。

Tags Books, Chinese, 读书报告

Shopping

Where to Buy Prepackaged Korean Ginseng Chicken in Singapore

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date January 1, 2024
No Comments on Where to Buy Prepackaged Korean Ginseng Chicken in Singapore

There are days when I just want a steaming bowl of Korean ginseng chicken soup but I don’t want to cook it myself or have to go to a restaurant. That’s when prepackaged Korean ginseng chicken comes in handy.

HOW CHON Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup

I bought HOW CHON Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup from Lee Mart in Suntec City Mall. It is usually S$15.90 per pack, but they were having a promotion and I got 2 packs for S$20.

HOW CHON Samgyetang is HACCP-certified which demonstrates their commitment to food safety.

This Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup comes with a whole spring chicken, stuffed with glutinous rice, ginseng and red dates.I love how milky the soup is and how every mouthful is full of collagen. The chicken is cooked till so tender that even the bones become really tender.

SAJO KoreanGinseng Chicken Stew

I bought SAJO Korean Ginseng Chicken Stew from Lee Mart in Suntec City Mall.SAJO Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup comes in a yellow packaging. This Korean ginseng chicken soup has a very strong ginseng taste, which is great if you like ginseng but can be a turnoff if you don’t. That is because the inside of the chicken is crammed with a whole bundle of ginseng.

Harim Korean Ginseng Chicken

I got Harim Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup from Sol Mart (which has 5 outlets in Singapore).

Harim Korean Ginseng Chicken Soup is of just the right consistency, there a few pieces of ginseng as well as a generous amount of glutinous rice. The chicken is stewed till so tender that all the bones can be eaten.

Tags Shopping

Technology

iPhone Disco – How I Solved iPhone Connecting and Disconnecting to Mac

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date December 1, 2023
No Comments on iPhone Disco – How I Solved iPhone Connecting and Disconnecting to Mac

I have been struggling to backup my iPhone on my MacBook for a very long time. Every time I connected my iPhone to MacBook using USB, the iPhone connects and disconnects in quick succession. I used to call it the iPhone disco.

Thinking there is problem with the cable, I bought many different fast-charge cables, thinking they will help me to get the backup done faster.

I went online and searched for solutions to this problem. I tried everything suggested in the forums and articles, but nothing works.

That’s when a thought struck me: what if the reason is my old (late-2013 model) MacBook is unable to handle the voltage of these fast-charging cables?

I took out the original USB cable that came with my iPhone and plugged it into my MacBook.

Viola, it backs up like a baby.

Tags Technology

Books

《大女生》- 杨澜

杨澜的《大女生》(英文翻译为 “Big Girl”) 在我的书架上已经放了好长一段时间了，我一直没时间好好读一读。这两天因为得了感冒，晚上咳的睡不着，刚好拿这本书来打发时间。

看这本书之前，我其实不太知道封面上擦艳红的口红、穿黑色蕾丝的女人是谁。原来她是中国有名的电视节目主持人，杨澜。她曾担任4年中央电视台《正大综艺》节目主持人，并于1994年获中国第一届主持人“金话筒奖”。她开创中国电视第一个深度高端访谈节目《杨澜访谈录》访问过600余名著名人物，在全球华语观众中具有很高美誉度。后来和她丈夫丈夫吴征开办了大中华区第一个历史人文电视频道——阳光卫视。2005年，杨澜创办了主要针对中国都市女性的谈话节目《天下女人》。好厉害的女人啊！

我以为这本书会很枯燥乏味，但却越看越爱不释手。杨澜用生动的小故事和名人的名句，构造出女人应该如何在现在的社会里做一个大女生。

这几段是我特别喜欢的，摘出来与大家分享，也提醒我自己：

我尽最大努力去倾听、理解、接纳她的世界，尽最大可能不加评判地提出自己的分析和建议，有时也直接承认束手无策。是的，有些事只有靠她自己去面对，有些事只有时间能够解决。成长是痛苦的，我的任务是陪伴、去安慰、去指导，但我不可能去代替。当她的情绪平复，需要自己一段时间独处，我就紧紧地拥抱她，说我永远爱她，然后离开她的房间。门在身后被关上，里面是她终究要自己面对的世界。爱，是有边界的。作为母亲，必须清楚这一点。

当我们不受外界眼光的驱使而做自己的时候，那份自在，就是幸福的模样。

踏出舒适圈不是盲目的，更不是跟风的。它源于自我认同和创造的渴望，懂得欣赏和感激，从积极的角度发现机遇，找到发挥自身优势的“甜蜜点”，在挫折中有承受压力、总结经验、改善方法的智慧，才是每个人都可以拥有的成长方式。

爱的关系，不是控制与反控制的博弈，不是你错我对的执念，而是一种深刻的共识：在这段关系里，你可以成为更好的你，我可以成为更好的我，我们共同成为更好的我们。

Tags Books, Chinese

Review

Review of WS-858 Wireless Microphone

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date October 1, 2023
No Comments on Review of WS-858 Wireless Microphone

My father loves to sing, so I got him a pair of these WS-858 Wireless Headphones for Christmas this year.

How to Use

After charging the wireless microphone with the micro-USB cable provided,

Switch on the wireless microphone by pressing the on/off button near the head for a few seconds. You will hear a loud voice that says “the bluetooth device is ready to pair”.
Switch on bluetooth on your handphone or smart television and search for WS-858. Click on WS-858 in your list of devices and you will hear a loud voice saying “the bluetooth device is connected successfully”.
You can now use the microphone to sing songs.

If you are contemplating buying the WS-858 Wireless Microphone as a gift or personal use, please note the following pros and cons before buying.

Pros

The WS-858 Wireless Microphone comes in four pretty colors – pink, black, gold and blue. The pretty colors makes the wireless microphones a great gift.
It’s wireless so there are no cables that can potentially trip people.
You can recharge the microphone using micro-USD cable so there is no need to buy batteries.
The microphone connects easily to handphone or television.

Cons

There is no way to lower the volume of the voice after switching on the microphone and upon successfully connecting to bluetooth device .
Due to proximity of microphone and speaker, feedback loop often causes high-pitched squeal especially when singing high-pitch notes.

Tags Lifestyle, Review

Books

Warren Buffet and The Interpretation of Financial Statements

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date September 1, 2023
No Comments on Warren Buffet and The Interpretation of Financial Statements

I have been dabbling in stocks in the past few years. I have managed to pick a few really good stocks but there are also not-so-good ones. I thought to myself: “There has to be a better way of picking stocks than random guessing.” What better way to learn about investing than learning from Warren Buffet, the most successful investor in the world. I promptly bought a copy of the book “Warren Buffet and the Interpretation of Financial Statements” started learning.

The reason Warren Buffet is so good at picking stocks is because he reads thousands of financial statements everyday. I thought I knew how to read financial statements, but in this book, Warren Buffet gives detailed breakdown of each component and what to look out for:

consistently high Gross Profit Margins (Gross Profit / Total Revenues) >40% = durable competitive advantage (check for last 10 years)
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses should be between 30-80% of gross profit
Don’t have to spend heavily on R&D
Low Depreciation Cost as a percentage of gross profit
Little or no Interest Expense <15% of operating income
Increasing Retained Earnings = durable competitive advantage
Treasury Shares/Stock = durable competitive advantage
Buy back stocks = durable competitive advantage

Tags Books, English, Review

Product

Dr. Beckermann Stain Remover Oxi-Power Foam

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date August 1, 2023
No Comments on Dr. Beckermann Stain Remover Oxi-Power Foam

Dr. Beckermann Stain Remover Oxi-Power Foam has now become my go-to stain remover.

I often dirty my clothes while eating so a good stain remover is essential to me.

I used to use Chlorax 2 for Colors Stain Remover but it was discontinued. I tried a dozen of stain removers but none really worked until I found Dr. Beckermann Stain Remover Oxi-Power Foam.

You just need to spray on the stain 20 minutes before putting it in the washing machine to wash as per normal. It works best on fresh stains, but I was able to get out some really old stains by spraying and washing multiple times.

This power stain remover is available in all major supermarkets in Singapore.

Tags Lifestyle, Products, Review

Books

“Awaken Your Genius” by Ozan Varol – The Purpose of Life

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date July 1, 2023
No Comments on “Awaken Your Genius” by Ozan Varol – The Purpose of Life

For as long as I remember, I have been asking myself this question: what is the purpose of life?

Is it to finish school, get a job, get married and have kids? Is it to become a bolt of the big machine of society and contribute my worth? Is it to procreate to ensure the existence of our human species?

Is that all to life? That sounds so boring and I just want to wilt and die at the thought of that life.

I think I might have found the answer to the question of what is the purpose of life after reading the book “Awaken Your Genius” by Ozan Varol.

Awaken Your Genius by Ozan Varol

There is one quote in the book that I really like:

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what make you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

I think I have read this quote by Howard Thurman in another book and it really speaks to me.

We are not going to be of any use to society if we are living zombies. We need to be alive and to do that, we need to explore the things we are curious about and let our inner child come out to play.

This knowledge gives me such joy. It’s almost as if this book gives me the permission to try the things I have always wanted to do. Just because I have been a nurse for over 10 years don’t mean I can’t become someone new. And I don’t have to do it in a drastic way by quitting my job, I can slowly ease the transition or explore other opportunities.

The book “Awaken Your Genius” by Ozan Varol shows many ways to make us come alive once again.

I strongly encourage everyone to read this book. It will alter your thinking and potentially transform your life. At the very least, it will be an entertaining read.

Tags Books, Review

Investment

15 Hong Kong Custodian Brokerage Fees

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date June 1, 2023
No Comments on 15 Hong Kong Custodian Brokerage Fees

In Hong Kong, there are no Central Depository (CDP) accounts like in Singapore. All brokerage accounts in Hong Kong are custodian accounts where the stocks are bought and held under the brokerage company.

While custodian accounts typically charge lower brokerage fees, there are many hidden charges when using custodian accounts such as:

Custodian fee
Account maintenance fee
Trading fee
Transfer fee

Money Smart lists 15 of the best online brokerage platforms in Hong Kong. I want to do a more detailed breakdown of their respective (hidden) charges so you can choose the best brokerage platform with peace of mind.

Tiger Brokers

You may have seen Tiger Brokers’ advertisement boasting 0% commission on Hong Kong stocks, but that is only valid for 365 days for new sign-ups. After 365 days, the commission is 0.03% of trade value or minimum HKD7/order, whichever is higher.

Meanwhile, here is the full breakdown of all the fees Tiger Brokers charges for using their platform:

Besides all these fees, there are also other service charges which are free for now:

Tiger Brokers presently holds brokerage licenses in Singapore, The U.S., New Zealand, and Australia. If you are investing in Hong Kong stocks through Tiger Brokers and the transaction goes through Singapore brokerage, Singapore government will levy a GST (Goods and Services Tax) at a rate of 8% on the above fees and charges.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Webull Securities

Webull Securities only supports trades in the US, Hong Kong and China markets. The 0% commission is only applicable for US stocks, and only for 183 days from date of account approval.

Webull charges 0.02% commission on Hong Kong trades, as well as HK$10/order trading platform fee.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers charges tiered commission fee depending on the monthly trade volume, from 0.05% – 0.015% of trade value.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Huatai Financial Holdings

Huatai Securities is a securities company in China. According to Huatai Hong Kong Stock Services Fees and Charges, there is no custodian fee.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Fosun Wealth

According to this Terms and Conditions, all transactions carried out from their trading app have lifetime 0% commission on all Hong Kong and US trades but there is a platform fee of HK$15/order.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Saxo

According to Saxo website, there is no platform fees, no custody fees and no inactivity fees.

Saxo charges a tiered commission fee based on whether you hold a Classic, Platinum or VIP account. The commission fee is 0.08% – 0.05% (minimum HKD18).

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Futu Securities

Futu Securities is an online brokerage platform that enables individual investors to trade U.S. and Hong Kong-listed stocks.

There is commission of 0.03% of transaction amount (minimum HK$3/order).

Platform fees is either fixed at HK$15/order or tiered HK$1 – KH$30 on accumulated monthly orders.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Valuable Capital

Valuable Capital is an investment service platform for Hong Kong and U.S. stocks.

I can’t find any information on the fees on Valuable Capital’s website so I ca’t confirm if the 0% commission for HK stocks is true and for how long.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

uSMART Securities

uSMART Securities mobile application is an advanced financial trading platform for global investors which supports trading of HK, US & A Stocks, and US Stock Options anytime.

uSMART Securities uses tiered commission 0.0025% – 0.08% (minimum KH$8/transaction), depending on total account asset. There is no platform fee.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

LONGBRIDGE Securities

Long Bridge Securities (HK) is an online one-stop overseas asset allocation. Longbridge covers 5 major securities markets including Singapore, Hong Kong and US.

Longbridge Securities charges 0.03% commission of trading amount (minimum HKD$3). Platform fee is either fixed at HKD$15/order or tiered based on monthly order volume.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Fulbright Securities

Fulbright Securities charges 0.15% commission (minimum HK$80) for online transactions and 0.20% for phone transactions (minimum HK$90).

There is no custody fee and no platform fees. Please refer to this table for reference (written in Chinese).

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

SoFi Hong Kong

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, SoFi is one of the largest and fastest growing fintech companies in the US. SoFi is now licensed in Hong Kong.

SoFi Hong Kong does not charge custody fee and there is no commission on Hong Kong and US stock trading.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

EBSI Direct

EBSI Direct charges 0.088% – 0.138% commission based on the monthly turnover. Phone orders are subject to a HKD20 surcharge per executed order.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Direct Spot

I can’t find the website for Direct Spot so we will just have to make do with the information I found on MoneySmart. According to this chart, the commission fee for Hong Kong stocks is 0.05% (minimum KH$30) for online transactions and 0.25% (minimum HK$200) for phone transactions.

Trading Tariff, Settlement Fees, Stamp Duty, SFC Transaction Levy and FRC Transaction Levy applies.

Metaverse Securities

According to Metaverse Securities website, commission is 0.059% (minimum HK$39.9) for online transactions, o.15% (minimum HK$100) for phone transactions.

According to this chart, there is no custody fee and platform fee but there is an inactivity fee of HK$20 per month.

Tags Investment

Investment

The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks

Post author By Zhang Yang
Post date May 1, 2023
No Comments on The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks

Many people are scared of buying stocks because they don’t know how to pick stocks. I learned this method of screening stocks from an investment newsletter and it has helped me tremendously. I call it The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks.

The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks

The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks is a set of stock screener values that I learned from an investment newsletter I signed up for years ago (I forgot the name of the newsletter).

The criteria are as follows:

Return on Equity > 15%
Debt to Equity Ratio < 2
Dividend Yield > 1%
Market Cap < 1 Billion

… let me explain the reasoning for each criteria below.

Market Cap < 1 Billion

Businesses valued over 1 billion are all big companies, and big companies have expensive stocks and slow-to-no growth. As a small time investor, we are looking for small-capitalisation companies that have growth potential.

Look for companies with market capitalisation of around 999 million.

Debt to Equity Ratio < 2

The debt-to-equity ratio (D/E ratio) shows how much debts a company has compared to its assets. A higher debt-to-equity means the company may have a harder time covering its liabilities.

Since we are looking for quality companies to invest in, we want the debt-to-equity ratio to be as low as possible, preferably less than 2.

Return on Equity > 15%

I use return on equity (ROE) to gauge a corporation’s profitability and how efficient in generating profits. The higher the ROE, the more efficient a company’s management is at germinating income and growth.

Dividend Yield > 1%

Dividend yield shows you how much dividend payout per year for every dollar invested in a stock.

My main objective is to generate passive income from my stock investments so dividend yield is crucial to me. If you are not buying stocks for dividend income, you can choose not to use this filter.

How to Use The Lazy Man’s Way of Picking Stocks

It’s simple! Go to the stock screener of any stock exchange site and input these criteria and you should get something like this:

You will only get a handful of company that fulfill such stringent criteria. I will do a stock screen every month and down the companies that make the cut. If a company consistently appear in the results for 6 months to a year, I will strongly consider buying the stock.

If anyone needs step-by-step instructions on how to use a stock screener with the above-mentioned criteria, leave a comment below and I will do one in a separate post.

Tags Investment, Singapore, Stocks