1st Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2009

Ever think of taking a balloon flight? Now you can by buying a RM10 ticket during the 1st Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2009 event.






This interesting event is co-organized by the Malaysian Sport Aviation Federation (MSAF) and AKA Balloon Sdn Bhd. 25 hot air balloons with pilots from 19 countries are participating in this fiesta.

Date: 19-22 March 2009
Venue: Precinct 2, Putrajaya, Malaysia


Balloon fun fly times:
19 Mar: 7.45am-9.00am (Media), 5.30pm-7.00pm
20 Mar: 7.45am-9.00am, 5.30pm-7.00pm
21 Mar: 8.00am-9.00am (VIP), 5.30pm-7.00pm
22 Mar: 7.45am-9.00am, 5.30pm-7.00pm

Photographers' sessions:
19-22 Mar: 7.45am-8.15am, 5.45pm-6.15pm

Other activities:

• Para motor showcase
• Remote control flying aircraft display
• Paper airplane contest
• Kite flying exhibition
• Children colouring contest
• Night glow
• Bazaar
• and more...

Click here to visit the official website of the 1st Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2009.

The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2009

As I mentioned in my earlier article, the mortgage interest rate is pretty low now, and if you have some cash on hand, it is actually a good time for you to buy properties.

For your information, The Edge and UOB Bank are organizing a real estate investment forum in Kuala Lumpur, with the theme "Residential property values: How low can we go?". You can register now for free.

Date: 4 April 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 9am - 1pm
Venue: Sime Darby Convention Centre, Bukit Kiara, KL

Interesting topics of discussion:

• Malaysian residential property market outlook - any safe haven?
• Property hot spots in a recession
• Nightmares of a landlord - The legal recourse
• Panel discussion on "Property investment strategy in a recession with hyper inflation - Where should you put your money?"

Click here for more information on The Edge Investment Forum on Real Estate 2009.

Workers in Taiwan, Singapore etc., prepare for no pay rise in 2009

A recent press release by Grant Thornton International Ltd reviewed that about 21% of privately held businesses around the world plan to freeze their employees' pay rise over the next 12 months, while 3% even expected to reduce pay.

According to their survey, the regions with most respondents indicated no pay rise or even pay cut in 2009, which higher than the global average of 24% are:

• Taiwan - 77%
• Singapore - 49%
• Hong Kong - 44%
• Italy - 42%
• Malaysia - 42%
• Ireland - 39%
• Thailand - 39%
• Russia - 38%
• Mainland China - 35%
• Chile - 30%
• Poland - 28%
• Japan - 28%
• Germany - 24%
• New Zealand - 24%

From the list above, we can observe that developing countries which export economy is very much dependent to the US market are most affected. Even though the global economic crisis is mainly originated from the US this time, 20% of the US respondents has indicated no pay rise or pay cut in 2009, which is still below the global average.

By contrast, countries in the Nordic region appear prepared to be the least affected, with 82% of respondents indicating that they intend to increase salaries by inflation or above compared with the global average of 64%. Denmark topped the league with 91% while businesses in Finland (89%) and Sweden (74%) had similar high expectations.

Therefore, we should prepare for the worst and adjust our personal finance to a more defensive position.

Click here to read the article titled [No pay rises at a quarter of privately held businesses in 2009 - globally] published by Grant Thornton, which also include a longer listing of respondents league.