Are you born to be a billionaire?

The Sunday Star dated 14 March 2010 reveiled an interesting finding from their "So you want to be a millionaire?" survey with YouthSays and Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), which polled 1,678 people below the age of 30 thoughout Malaysia.

The finding: 96% of the respondents aspire to become millionaires, and 75% of them believe that they can achieve it by the age of 35! Wow!

If you haven't read about the report, here is the online version:

• "I want to be a millionaire"
• Poll: Most youth yearn to be millionaires before they are 35

Anyhow, the first question to all millionaire wannabes is: Are you willing to pay the price to make millions (or even billions).  

Here is a list of 13 self-assessment questions in a Forbes' article:

• Why Go Big at All? - What and where are your long-term goals?
• Can You See Around Corners? - What and where are your visions?
• Can You Tolerate and Manage Ambiguity? - Are you able to see through a jungle of conflicting data?
• Do You Prize Independence?
• Do You Have the Guts to Double-Down?
• Are You Inspired by Creativity or More Process-Oriented?
• Are You Willing to Make Tough Decisions For the Growth of the Company?
• Do You Like Speaking in Public?
• Are You a Consensus-Builder?
• Can You Delegate?
• If You Say You Need it On Your Desk By 9am, Will it Get Done? 
• Can You Work on Christmas?
• Can You Deal with Isolation? 

For more explanation of each of the items above, please click here to read about the "Are You Born To Be A Billionaire?" article in Forbes' website.

The Top 10s in Universities Ranking on the Web (Jan 2010 Edition) by Webometrics

By now, results of SPM, STPM, GCE, UEC, etc. should have been released, and it is time for those secondary school graduates who want to further their study to look for university.

Tertiary education requires a lot of cost, several years of your lifespan, have material impact to your ideology, and might be an important factor for your career path. Therefore, it is important to choose the university wisely, and a worldwide universities ranking can be a good indicator for you.

The Webometrics World Universities' Ranking has coverage to more than 18,000 Higher Education Institutions worldwide. It summarizes the global performance of the university, provides information for candidate students and scholars, and reflects the commitment to the dissemination of scientific knowledge.

It is an initiative of the Cybermetrics Lab, a research group of the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS), part of the National Research Council (CSIC), the largest public research body in Spain.

Now, let's see some of the Top 10s from the results of Webometrics' Jan 2010 Edition of Universities Ranking.
 
Top 10 country/political region for tertiary education:

• 1. United States
• 2. United Kingdom
• 3. Germany
• 4. Canada
• 5. Taiwan
• 6. Sweden
• 7. Spain
• 8. Japan
• 9. Brazil
• 10. Netherlands

Click here to see the Top 45 ranking and more information about the Webometrics Country Scoreboard.

So, if you are Human Resource or manager in your company going to interview candidates graduated from one of the country/political region above, go ahead and challenge them with tougher questions. If they passed, offer them a higher pay.

World's Top 10 Universities:

• 1. Harvard University
• 2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
• 3. Stanford University
• 4. University of California Berkeley
• 5. Cornell University
• 6. University of Washington
• 7. University of Minnesota
• 8. Johns Hopkins University
• 9. University of Michigan
• 10. University of Wisconsin Madison

All in the Top 10 are from the United States.

Click here to see the Top 8000 Universities of the world.

Top 10 Universities in Asia:

• 1. University of Tokyo, Japan (38)
• 2. Kyoto University, Japan (52)
• 3. National Taiwan University, Taiwan (63) 
• 4. University of Hong Kong (128)
• 5. Chinese University of Hong Kong (130)
• 6. Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel (133)
• 7. Keio University, Japan (136)
• 8. National University of Singapore (146)
• 9. National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan (153)
• 10. Nagoya University, Japan (161)

The number in the brackets above is their respective World Ranking.

Click here to see the Top 100 Universities in Asia.

Top 10 Universities in South East Asia:

• 1. National University of Singapore (146)
• 2. Kasetsart University, Thailand (229)
• 3. Prince of Songkla University, Thailand (338)
• 4. Mahidol University, Thailand (381)
• 5. Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (398)
• 6. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (468)
• 7. Chiang Mai University, Thailand (478)
• 8. Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia (562)
• 9. Khon Kaen University, Thailand (567)
• 10. Institute of Technology Bandung, Indonesia (661)

What? None from Malaysia? Well, the 11th is Universiti Putra Malaysia (686).

Click here to see the Top 100 Universities in South East Asia.

Top 10 Universities in Malaysia:

• 1. Universiti Putra Malaysia (686)
• 2. Universiti Sains Malaysia (725)
• 3. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (733)
• 4. University of Malaya (778)
• 5. Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (985)
• 6. Universiti Teknologi Mara (1367)
• 7. Universiti Malaysia Perlis (1413)
• 8. Universiti Utara Malaysia (1454)
• 9. Multimedia University (1528)
• 10. International Islamic University Malaysia (1576)

Click here to see the universities and colleges ranking of Malaysia

Are you graduated from one of the world class universities/colleges? Some fresh graduates find it difficult to get a job. It could be due to few years back, they've made an unwise decision and studied in a low ranking university.

While some might want to argue that university ranking like this could be subjective, the employment market, locally or globally, will eventually reflect the reference value of the ranking system.
Click here to go to the homepage of Webometrics website.

eDividend to replace cheque and direct credit dividend entitlements into our bank account

Starting from 19 April 2010, investors in KLSE can opt to receive dividend payments from public listed companies in the form of eDividend instead of the traditional way of receiving dividend cheques.

This will bring convenient to share investors using direct trading account(s), although doesn't make much different to those using nominee account(s).

Common problems such as delay receipt of dividend cheque, lost cheque, cheque expired, etc. will be eliminated, as dividend payment will be directly credited into our bank account if we've applied for this eDividend service. After the money is banked in, we will receive eNotification via email and/or SMS.

We can register for eDividend with our stock broker. There will be no cost incurred if we apply for eDividend within the period from 19 April 2010 until 18 April 2011.

The following are needed when applying for eDividend:

• Fill up a 3-ply eDividend form, and provide info about our bank account number, email, mobile number, etc.
• Copy of bank statement
• Copy of NRIC / Passport / Authority Card

The registration process of eDividend is as follow.

And the eDividend payment flow is as follow.

All companies listed in KLSE who announce a books closing date for dividend entitlements on or after 1 September 2010 are required to pay dividends via eDividend to their shareholders who have registered for this service.

Click here for more information about eDividend.