Thursday, October 16, 2008

It might be amusing for a moment.

Lately, fluctuations in the value of stocks are too intense. It falls sharply for 1,000 yen or more today if it is thought that the Nikkei average rose for 1,100 yen the other day inadvertently. The market actually becomes sensitive, the high interest rate currency (Australian dollar and NZ dollar) is sold any more for the finance crisis where the edge is originated in the United States to extend all over the world, and to reach the real economy are to agree by reporting media of every day, and the investor is seen to sell cheap rushing it to secure at hand the capital, and to speed up the realization.

On the other hand, it seems to have been had dealings over crude oil by one barrel/74 dollar level yesterday. Actual demand decreases, and it is clear how the consumer is refraining from consumption at the very sight of this figure.

Investor's psychology appears considerably dark, and however, isn't does not one uneasiness amplify new uneasiness will being to say from amateur eyes nor a market psychology that on the pretext of a remark of the important person of phlegm even if it becoming it is rumor, and false rumor in an abnormal change of stock prices and the exchange though cold is certainly true in business?

Our major civilian is made to associate moreover, if another view is done, it might be the one in some of property person or investors' money games how though the impression that there is not a done way either is held.
It made to only one night in this situation, and it disappeared. A lot of top men gathered from all parts of the world only in that, the discussion for a long time was done repeatedly, concrete correspondence announced by the statement, and in Washington.

Certainly, though it is thought that it is one of the sales materials that the closing of accounts of getting depressed and the enterprise of the consumption of the United States had fallen below the expectation . . . A market today that moves up and down like the roller coaster must be exactly abnormal.
Therefore, it is the one that it wants you to do the effort to try to the stabilization of the market by doing Concerted Intervention of the dollar to which Bank of Japan is not performed after 2004. The market thought that it was made to learn, whether it was delicate "Living thing" again like this.






Sunday, October 12, 2008

How shrinking it is

Yesterday, G7 finance ministers meeting was held and the skeleton was announced as the form of a joint statement concerning the issue about public fund injection to the international financial institutions, but I hear no concrete measures and implementation were refer to, also NY Dow Jones continued declining. Seems respective government still can’t find the concrete path about how to tackle the issue. The stock market and the exchange rate are also likely to become a thunder storm this week. And nobody can stop the phenomenon, I guess.

If bank goes bankruptcy, victims are us depositors. In Japan’s case, the payoff system is well known. It is the system up to 10 million yen of bank deposit is protected if the banks went bankruptcy for a rainy day.

After the Irish government announced the depositor protection system, it is said that a series of deposit has shifted from the neighboring country, UK. In my case, the bulk of deposits are foreign currencies, some is outside the country. The other one is deposited in the foreign bank in Japan. I have a sort of anxiety, wondering my money will be refunded or not, if they went bankrupt.

You cannot say that any companies (banks) can surely guarantee you at this time. Even the current stock price are strong enough, you cannot say they’ll have a bright future.

G7’s decision is little more than a ploy that it was so-called "proposal". It could be said what the government's competence is how quickly they can carry it out. There may be various problems though, once the problem is procrastinated, that would be irreparable. What the nation’s responsibility is to make investors or consumers relieve first, I think.

In other words, market turbulence paraphrases the voice of dissatisfaction with the government's attitude by this figure. Decline in the stock market and the week dollar (strong yen) causes the negative chain as I mentioned before, which makes people feel uneasy, cannot live in peace.

Global warming, the fight against terrorism... they are a lot more issues piled up, but they are not completely a different dimension of the problem or at least I feel that way. The more economy gets shrink, the less employment is expected, and it can be a hotbed of crime.

Again, what we exceedingly expect toward the government might be the matter of course, because politicians are the professional who operate the country. As long as they are “the representatives chosen by citizens”, they have responsibility, and we hope that they’ll have keen insight to predict at least six months or a year ahead toward the world movement, not just for coping with the immediate needs.

If only disappointment and despair comes out when the current situation continues. At least you cannot drift through the world doing nothing each day, and we’ll have to keep looking constantly what we can do. But you cannot go against the "law (stream)" in this world.

Metaphorically saying, the world is compared to "the river", right in front of it (the world economy)" is a swift current. We are “the swimmers” who are about to cross the river toward the bank. How to safely swim-off and fall into the other side is our role, but we cannot cross it against the torrent. Once you’ve cross it unjustly, you are washed away into death. How to slow the flow of the river and swim safely is the state or the government task, I suppose.

For that reason, it is the mission of the representatives from the nations to relieve public fears, if the business is addressed in today’s world.






Friday, October 10, 2008

The financial panic!!

The world seems in utter chaos these days as you know, especially in the world market.

One of the major insurance companies here in Japan went bankrupt, because it was also saddled with sub prime related products. The Nikkei stock have also plummeted abruptly in the morning, because the Dow Jones went down so sharply on the previous day and how further it will go down still remains to be seen.

I hear there would be an urgent Finance Ministers Meeting among 7 developed countries, but it is uncertain whether or not they can present drastic measures in the meeting, and investor’s value toward the result of the meeting will hang in the balance until the next week. For me, sounds like I'm twisted around its fingers for a long and so are other personal investors.

I also hear many hedge funds in the US are having troubles with their working capital and they are likely to be collapsed soon, because banks feel reluctant to furnish with funds nowadays, which means banks are also saddled with huge deficits and cannot afford to help them out.

By the way, what’s the hell Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke are doing? Are they sure to put their ideas into practice which passed the bill on last weekend?
I mean to inject the public funds to circulate for helping banks?
It is too vexatious to wait longer!!

Chances are it will never end unless the housing price stops declining and the respective bank will assess the total loss of sub prime mortgage once again in the following settlement.
It may take much longer, but there is no other prescription at all…we all acknowledge the world financial panic has just begun, and we’ll have to get through the tunnel for searching light.





Thursday, October 09, 2008

About the insurance business

Today I would like to write a little bit about work.

From the last month, I started working in the insurance industry. Although it is non-regular employment (so-called part-time job), I had a little interest in insurance from the past. But I haven’t learned something particular up so far. It may be more accurate when I say I happened to come across this work (industry).
Honestly, I have a feeling how I evaluate still hangs in the balance.

My company is an agency always aiming for number one as leading distributor of foreign insurance companies. And seems the achievement (revenues) has also been growing steadily. There are many branches across the nationwide, and it counts up far above 3,000 employees. There consists of young age of employees (27 or 28 year old on average), and it is a vibrant company.

Whereas I didn’t have a strong motive for would-be, why I chose the company (or the industry)? It is just because it gives me opportunity to think about getting senile for myself through the insurance product as I turned over 40 already.

Insurance is a sort of "no shape" products, and also financial products, but essentially different from bank deposits or investment trusts. Of course, there are some insurance in the form of so-called savings, but the basic idea, it is security for the future, warrants partially or almost totally for hefty sum from which the bank deposit cannot cover up in case of injury and illness, even hospitalization and surgery are required. It is not limited for hospitalization of course, there’s an aspect that function to fulfill “peace and mind” for people’s life time, like marriage, child birth, and raising children to be grown up. The Current nation’s system (public pension, medical care and nursing, etc.) is not enough for board, which has been aging in recent years, increasingly large medical expense is expected, but in such a case, insurance also cover them up, thereby, about 90 percent of people have some form of insurance, it is the current situation of our country.

I think this field is unlikely to decline in the status quo for the future.

Well, my job is to sale “the health insurance”.
First, ask to the customers about current state of health, and recommend products that fit in the mouth…it sounds so easy, but the reality is not so easy.
Currently, the training is under way, so I have to be qualified first. After passing the exam, I can explain products to the customers.

So to speak, my job is sales, and of course, the results will be reflected in salaries, but I rather focus on gaining knowledge, or what kind of insurance is to be needed for myself after I got older rather than money. Of course, I want more money even penny as long as I work… but in my case, I see a doctor in the mean time, so seems hard to be well-balanced, I cannot work more, and this is frustrating.

Here is industry restructuring any where in recent years due to the recession, as everyone knows, the insurance industry is no exception. There might be a chance for me to be restructured also. I assume that I have to bear in mind what to depend on is not the company, but myself, otherwise I cannot survive. Considering this in my mind, I put more power in order to do the better performance at my work.





Friday, October 03, 2008

It's completely off the mark

Well...about the investment.

I have bank deposit at some foreign banks, not just one...because I invested foreign currencies such as Euro, Australian Dollar, or New Zealand Dollar respectively, and they are all fixed deposit. That means I cannot do anything, like withdrawing, before the matured date. Especially, for Euro and AUD, I purchased each from Hong Kong Dollar. But as you know, HKD is adopted “Dollar-Peg” system, which means it is always connected with US Dollar.

Since USD have plummeted after the Sub-Prime Mortgage came into light, HKD also depreciated by 10 percent or more. Still Euro and AUD were much stronger than USD, which means it was the higher rate compared with present. But the Media reported EU nations and Oceania countries (Australia and New Zealand) started inflation in late July (I think it was right before Aug), also when the Housing price lowered, both government lowered the bank rate, those currencies also started depreciating.

Later I've found that it was almost the highest rate when I purchased Euro and AUD in HSBC Hong Kong where I opened my bank account last year.
Now it's getting lower and lower and I cannot forecast how it would be and how further they will go down since the world economy is so bleak and no one can stop the lowering housing price all around the world.

Seems it was totally off the mark. I should have kept my savings in Hong Kong Dollar. In fact, I've lost nearly 20 percent of my savings. And more or less, I think it got damaged me mentally, and it is hard to believe that it is nothing to do with my own symptom, namely “Autonomic imbalance”, which I've been suffering for a long periods.

How it is stressful when the exchange rate is renewal every few seconds...maybe you cannot imagine. And maybe...that is investment. I must admit I'm still novice level in investing.