Fish in trouble water from a business perspectives

Being a man of the wild, the fisherman knows that it is best to fish in troubled water.

In a troubled time, the water current is strong. So, fish which have gills which is sensitive to the water current will move to a place with lower pressure, to stabilize the pressure around his gills.

Therefore, you can fish for a nice beautiful catch during a heavy storm. Ask a fisherman and you know that, if they get a trolley of "Pomfret", even if it is, once a year, they would be heavily rewarded.

However there is a catch "during storms, they will get a good catch, but they can lose their life, in the process." and the acronym "high risk, high gain" stay put.

Back to business, during bad times, it is the right time to expand, as the saying goes "fish in troubled water."

Let us be more technical, market move in cycles, due to expansionary and contraction phases, due to the actions of bankers.

Bankers are our intermediaries between the consumer and the producer market. No business or commerce per se can exist without the bankers. The bankers will let go of their fishing rail and reduce interest rates during good times and rail in their catch during bad times by increasing interest rates.

There is an acronym in wall street "All wars are bankers war."

Being a businessman, knowing that "tough time never last, tough people do." We should be in expansionary mode during bad times."

Why?

This is because "market move in cycles, boom-bust-boom-bust as sure as one season followed by another."

Theory of season is always based on the believes:

1. When the last leaves fall, winter starts.

2. When the last ice breaks, spring start.

Will you be able to fulfill orders, if you were to follow the masses and only start producing during spring? Definitely, No.

That's why an experienced and season businessman will always tell you "that's the reason to have a reserve, which is to save for a rainy day."

During winter, everyone else will cut production. Therefore, the supply will be diminished. As supply diminished, the demand versus supply mechanics will shift to the demand side and based on the law of demand and supply, the price will go up.

The law of demand and supply is the "invincible hands" coined by Adam Smith.

Therefore, "there is nothing new under the sun, it is human folly matching against the law of nature."

Moral of the story: Teach a wise man and he will be wiser.


Be Bless always,

Dr. Lion.

Dog is man best friend: Security vs Freedom

This is a story of antiquity, which will be remembered from generation to generation.

In a posh garden, lived a well-fed dog. One day, a grey wolf which is living in hunger came across the big mansion.

The wolf was mesmerized by the rich mansion and decided to move around the mansion for a morsel of food.

As he moved around, he met his fellow brother, a domesticated dog, well fed, well groomed, pleasant in manner.

The dog was guarding his master's property, but, seeing a foe of his kind. They exchange their greeting in a doggy manner.

The fox told the dog that he is looking for food to feed his stomach. The dog said that "he has more provision than what money can buy."

The fox was in awesome wonder of what a luxury live.

The dog offered the fox, the plumpest sausage and a piece of lamb shank that the wolf can only imagine in his past.

The fox thanked his host and enjoyed the meal.

The dog offered the fox a place to stay for the night and he accepted cheerfully.

The next day, the dog offered the fox a carefree life with him, as his master is always away doing business in a faraway land.

The fox was very thankful for his blessing, but there must be a catch. So, he watches with eager the life of the dog and he as a sly animal, started to think and compare his life in the wild to the dog luxurious life.

Even though the dog lived a luxurious life, he always wears a chain and is always subservient to the master and he has lost his tail in the process.

Therefore, the next morning, the fox disappear without a trace.

The dog was puzzled and wonder what has he done wrong to his guest.

In the fox's perspectives, the dog leads a luxury life, but he traded his freedom for the security and luxury of life.

The fox being a wild animal prefer freedom over security and fear of being subservient to a master that he is not sure of who he ultimately is.

Moral of the story: Better to live with a morsel than to live in abundant with strife and fear around.

Be Bless,

Dr Lion.

Medieval China Wisdom: Wisdom excel over Follies

In the story of old, lives two wise men, a righteous man and a man of lawlessness.

As always, when two minds meet they will exchange. The wise man teaches the righteous man the righteous way and the lawless man teaches the righteous man the sly way.

A wise man came to the marketplace in medieval China. There, he met a medicine pedlar, who was very good with his trade and his trade flourish extensively.

The medical man was selling pills for all forms of illness. He was able to diagnose his patient's illness and let a golden statue select the colorful pills for his clients. It was a sell.

Everyone was mesmerized by his skills and the golden statue.

Suddenly, came a righteous man and he decided to learn the knowledge of the arcane. He invited the man for lunch and told him that he will show him magical skills in exchange for his trade secret.

So, on the day pre-arranged, both of them met. The righteous man bought the shrouded man to a specialized shop in town, laden with all the luxury of life.

They enjoyed their meetings with all the good food available at the time. After enjoying all the foods and wine, they decided to part and the wise man moved out of the luxurious restaurant and the owner greeted him with gladness. The shrouded man was surprised, how can the wise man eat in an expensive restaurant without the need to pay and the owner was so glad for him.

The shrouded man was puzzled and he decided to trade his trade secret with the man. Therefore, both men decided to exchange their secrets.

The shrouded man told the wise man that there is a magnet on the hand of the golden statue and the pills that he prescribed for the masses is an iron pill. So, iron would definitely be attracted to the magnet.

The wise man smiled at the knowledge of antiquity.

The shrouded man then demanded an exchange of knowledge of how to mesmerized every shop owner without the needs to antagonize them.

The wise man replied "Very well, you have made me wiser. So, I will tell you the secret - Which is pay in advance."

Therefore, when two man met, they will exchange, whether for the good or for the bad, it is in the hand of the creator "Who can make straight, what God had made crooked."

Moral of the story: Teach a wise man and he will be wiser"

Be Bless,

Dr Lion.

The story of the duck and the centipede.

In a remote island lived a duck and a centipede.

The duck lived his way of antiquity and the centipede lived an evil way.

One day, flood water came rushing up and both of them knows that it is high time that they moved to higher ground.

The duck can wade in the water to higher ground. However, the centipede to no avail.

The centipede begs the duck to bring him along.

The duck declined to bring the centipede along claiming that "you are of evil character and will always be of evil"

The centipede says "if you bring me along and I sting you along the way, I will be killed as well"

Nevertheless, the duck was smart.

He said "ok! on the condition you must be my eye in the wilderness"

So, both the duck and the centipede moved from the flooding island towards their dreamland.

The centipede stays on the leg of the duck. He thought that "I am the light for the duck, therefore, I will be saved"

Along the way, the centipede felt that he need to perform some mischief and decided to stung the duck.

Knowing quite well that the centipede and his way of life, the duck immersed his leg deeper into the water and the centipede was drowned. So, the duck makes his enemy his footstool.

Moral of the story: See the ways of the evil, but not joint them for they love evil and will not be satified till they have done mischief and teach a wiseman so that he can be wiser and make his enemy his footstool.

Bless always,

Dr. Lion.

Think out of The box: Solving the century riddle.

Once upon a time in medieval China, lived a farmer and his son and his donkey.

He had to transport his produce to the marketplace which is 20 li from his hometown. Li is the old Chinese denomination of the current distances of 0.5 km.

He had to pass through multiple villages, dangerous terrains, and even villains.

Therefore, he brings his son along with his donkey.

Every time, he passes through the area. He was made a joke by the villager.

All action he did was wrong in their eyes, such as:

1. He rides the donkey denotes bullying his young children.
2. His son rides the donkey denotes disrespects the elderly.
3. Both of them ride the donkey means cruelty to animals.
4. None of them ride denotes that they were foolish.

So, how to settle this century-old confusing riddle.

In this era, is very easy, if we think out of the box.

One day, he brings his wife along sitting on the donkey and all the problems in the 4 scenarios above come to naught. He was seen as a loving husband and his son is a filial piety child.

Harmony in the family is more important than all the wealth combines. It is better to live with a morsel than abundant with danger and strife around.

Moral of the story: Teach a wise man and he will be wiser as there are no new things under the sun.

Be Bless,

Dr Lion.

Romance of Three Kingdom: Wisdom overcome follies

Once upon a time in China, lives three scholars during the three kingdom reign.

They were all leaders of their time.

One is Chao Chao, one is Liu Bei, one is San Guan.

All, three were great army general. They come to Mr. Wise and all of them ask him to predict at the same time, who will win the war and if any of his prediction were wrong, he will be killed.

So, he just raises his forefinger and they understood.

Mr. Wise had a disciple, who is known as Mr. Straight was surprised and he asked for answers from Mr. Conman.

Mr. Wise told him 4 scenarios:

His finger can represent:
1. All 3 dead.
2. All 3 were victorious
4. 1 dead
5. 1 alive.

Moral of the story: Teach a wise man and he will be wiser and Action speak louder than words.

Be bless always,

Dr Lion.

The 3 Gifted Brother.

In Northern Atlantic, live 3 brothers.

All 3 were well educated, with an able body and have an average inheritance.

Yet, 3 of them always yearns to be rich and be able to contribute back to the society that nurtures them.

They have different friends and families and motivation.

The first one decided to be a modern farmer.

The second one is an industrialist.

The third one is a network builder.

All, three of them contribute heavily to the economy of northern Atlantic.

Let's see what happen to them in thirty years time.

The first brother, build a big modernized farm with half of the dairy product in his small town coming from his facilities.

The second brother, build factories that supplied high-quality goods at a reasonable price to the residences and for the export market.

The third brother owned an information network that he used to ease and improved the lives of people at his country and beyond.

Moral of the story: There are many ways that you can reach the citadel of success. Genius will overcome talents, so do what you are good at.

Bless be unto you,

Dr Lion.

The businessman and the fisherman

In the Bahamas lived a fisherman.

He was hunting for three fishes per day and lived a happy life with his family.

Industrialization comes to the Bahamas.

A rich tycoon from corporate America came.

The two met. As usual, when two minds met, they exchange.

The businessman, who is very ambitious, suggested to the businessman that he  "catches more fishes daily, maybe twelve."

"Then", the fisherman ponder further?

The businessman says, "then you can hire someone to help you catch more."

Then?

The businessman replied "buy a trolley"

Then?

The businessman continues "get a corporation"

Then?

The businessman says happily "enjoy a happy time with your family"

The fisherman says "isn't this, I been working all the while?"

The businessman was in a state of denial seeing what a simple and happy life the fisherman have.

The fisherman continues "man come from dust and to dust shall he return"

Moral of the story: There are many ways that lead to the citadel of happiness.

Yours truly,

Dr Lion.

Time to buy, Time to sell, Time to go fishing.

All of us dream of unbound richest.

What would our life be if all the money and the derivatives disappear from our lives?

We would be at a total loss.

Therefore, we need leisure time and leisure activities to keep us going, making us more agile and help us to face our daily problems more convincingly.

Everything in life involved trading one thing for another.

I will use an employee and a boss as an example.

An employee trade his time and leisure for money, whilst, boss trade his money for employee's time.

An employee lives a secured but non-freedom life, whereby, boss, life freedom life but not secured life as long the employee is still subservient to the boss.

Why?

Say Alex is an employee of Benjamin. Alex will always have a secure paycheck by the end of the month if he still in service to Benjamin and his job is up to Benjamin's expectations. However, Alex needs to trade his freedom and leisure time to serve Benjamin.

While, Benjamin has the freedom to do whatever he wants with his life, but, his life is not secure. Whereby, he lived from paycheck to paycheck and in constant need of streams of incomes. However, he is the boss, he calls the guns and he is able to use Other People's Time (OPT) and Other People's Money (OPM) to his own advantages.

In life, there is time to plant, time to pick up what have been planted.

There is time to be born, time to die.

Therefore, in business, there is time to buy, time to sell and time to go fishing.

Why?

This is because business, move in cycles....boom, bust, boom, bust.

Therefore as a cynics, we should buy cheap during a bust when everyone was selling and sell dear during the boom when everyone was buying.

Moral of the story: 

Warren Buffet, the father of modern investing always proclaim: 

1. "Buy when everybody was selling and sell when everybody was buying."

2. "When everyone was losing their heads, make sure you, don't lose yours."

God Bless you.

Amigo,

Dr Lion.

Saving for a rainy day

What is a rainy day?

Rainy day is the day when things not working well and you are in need of scare resources.

Rainy day to us might be the day when we are short of money.

What is real money?

Money is the oxygen of life.

Without oxygen, life on this planet will not be possible.

Therefore, without money life will be very difficult or impossible.

Why?

Money is not everything, but everything needs money.

We need money for

1. buying goods
2. storage value
3. societal status
4. credit
5. annuity or compounding.

If you can compound all the profit of your principal, you will be rich as compounding is the 8th wonders of the world.

Like the saying says "borrowers are always indebted to lenders".

Therefore, the way to be rich is neither a borrower or a lender.

Why?

In a rainy day, if you are a lender, you are in deep trouble, needing to return more, even if you are in debt.

In a rainy day, if you are a borrower, you are unable to get back your money borrowed and might have to accept a haircut.

If you are a saver, you must make sure that money that you store will always have storage value.

What is a good storage value?

Good storage value is something that will not depreciate with time.

The only things that do not depreciate with time are only silver and gold.

Therefore, the best asset to keep for a rainy day is silver and gold.

The second best asset is foreign currency, which is backed by silver and gold or highly acceptable and convertible.

Why?

In a time of crisis, money or foreign currency will become hard assets.

The worst foe during a rainy day is the bank, the bank will remove your umbrella during the rainy day by calling back loan when you are having cash crisis.

Be prepared for the rainy day.

God bless you,

Dr Lion.

Putting the end in mind as coined by Stephen R Covey in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Dear Reader,

What is real life?

In Macbeth, Shakespeare's acclaimed that "Life is a story, told by a fool, which would eventually end in the grave"

The rich, the poor, the beggar will all come from the dust and end in the dust.

Life is a myth....when the mist is over, life end.

In life, there is time to plant, time to pick up. There is time to start, time to end.

Man come from dust and to dust shall he return.

There is no refuge in money, property, assets, wife, children, relatives, party or even government, for all of them shall come to pass.

Therefore, we must know that dark days are many and we will return to our creator.

Therefore, the moral of the story is:

Fear God,
Follow his commandments,
Love God,
is the understanding. 

The dog with his bone

In the dark alley, there is a pitiful dog standing beside a butcher. The butcher was pitiful of the dog and decided to give him a bone as a treat for Christmas.

The dog received the bone happily and speedily walk towards the river in might to show his new possession.

He comes across a stream of a river. He saw in the reflection a very handsome dog with a nice bone. Greed started to take control of him and he decided to grab the other dog's bone. He opened his mouth near the surface of the river and the bone fell into the water. The dog was desperate.

However, the dog learns a valuable lesson that day....count your blessing and not chase after what is not yours or what you lack.

Moral of the story: All that glitters is not Gold and contentment is the highest blessing.

Blessing is upon you.

Regards,

Dr. Lion.

The milkmaid and his pail of milk

In a far far away land,

lives a poor maid. The maid works very hard for her boss but was given very little rest. On a Sunday morning, she was given a day off. She works in her friend farm and was given a pail of milk for her works.

She started dreaming that she will be rich. She will use the money from the milk to buy some chick. She will rear the chick into the chicken. Then after, she will sell her chicken and buy some calf. As her calf grow up. She will sell the cow and buy some peony. She will ride the peony and tips her hats on beautiful gentleman around. She will look beauty and gay.

As she tips her hat, her milk spilled.

She realized to no avail that there is " no point to cry over spilled milk"

She will get another pail of milk and start all over again.

She lived happily ever after because of her perseverance.

Moral of the story: You can build a castle in the air, but make sure your castle have foundations.

The boy with his axe

In a far far away land, lived a boy with his stepmother.

His only possession is an ax that he used for cutting wood.

One day, his ax fell into the pond in the forest.

As a result, he cried and asked for help. He was not sure of what to do. So, he waited and suddenly an angel came with a bronze ax and asked him, "is this yours?". He said "no."The angel brought a silver ax and he said that the ax does not belong to him too.

Lastly, the angel bought a golden ax and the boy liked the gleaming ax but claimed that it is not his.

His ax is only a wooden one, he told the angel.

Because of the boy, truthfulness and not greedy nature, the boy was given the brown, silver and golden axes together with his wooden one.

The moral of the story is contentment and non-covetousness is the highest blessing.

May your day be blessed.