How To Quit Smoking??

Smoking is dangerous to your health. Quitting will reduce your risk of dying from heart disease, blood vessel disease, lung problems, cancer and stroke.
Talk to your doctor about quitting. Ask about classes and support groups in your area. Get support and encouragement and learn how to deal with stress.
Talk with your doctor about medicines and other aids to help you quit.
Before you try to stop smoking, commit to stopping. Smoking is a learned
behavior that you must unlearn.
It is not easy to stop, but it can be done if you are serious about quitting. Stopping will help you live a healthier and longer life.

Getting Ready to Quit
Follow these tips to get ready to quit:
• Cut down the number of cigarettes you smoke each day.
─ Smoke only half a cigarette each time.
─ Smoke only during the even hours of the day.
• Clean out ashtrays and start putting them away one by one. Clean the drapes,
the car, your office, or anything else that smells of tobacco smoke.
• Get a friend or spouse to quit with you.
• Start exercising before you quit.
• Switch to a brand of cigarettes you do not like as much.
• Throw away spare lighters.
• Smoke alone if you like to smoke with people.
• Become aware of why you smoke each cigarette. Avoid the things that cause
you to smoke.
• Write down a list of the top 5 reasons you want to quit. Read this list daily.

Singapore Flyers

Singapore Flyer is the world's largest observation wheel, the iconic Singapore Flyer, illuminated the burgeoning Marina Bay. Standing at a stunning 165m from the ground. From the comfort of 28 spacious, air-conditioned Singapore Flyer capsules, visitors can witness history unfold before their very eyes as they admire 360-degree, breath-taking views of Singapore’s dynamic cityscape, and parts of Malaysia and Indonesia.

The Flyer offers you breathtaking, panoramic views of the Marina Bay, our island city and beyond. There's also a wide range of shops, restaurants, activities and facilities. Not only that it is the perfect venue for intimate and awe-inspiring events. No matter what the occasion, a private capsule offers you privacy, intimacy and awe-inspiring views.

Opening Hours
Daily Flights: 8.30am - 10.30pm
Ticket Sales: 8.00am - 10.00pm

Enjoy a 10% discount on Signature Cocktail Flight tickets from 1 Jan till 30 June 2008 if you book online using your UOB cards now!

S'pore to have highest concentration of millionaires by 2017.

This article was published in today's Straits Times:

Singapore will leapfrog Hong Kong to have the highest concentration of millionaires in the world in 10 years, a new Barclays Wealth report says.

A total of 40.7 per cent of all households (Note: This is the key word here, not INDIVIDUALS) in the Republic, or 436,000 households, are set to boast net wealth in excess of US$1 million (S$1.36 million) by 2017.

This means two out of every five households in Singapore are projected to be millionaires by then. The report looks at the combined wealth of household numbers.

The data used measures aggregate wealth, financial wealth such as currency, deposits, loans and insurance, as well as non-financial wealth such as property and land. Liabilities are subtracted from the total.

Last year, Singapore ranked second with 23.3 per cent, behind Hong Kong's 26.4 per cent. In 2017, Hong kong is expected to register 39.4 per cent, ahead of Switzerland, which maintains its current third ranking.

Barclays Wealth, the leading wealth manager in Britain, said Singapore's efforts to move away from manufacturing into higher value-added activities like technology and financial services had helped its rise.

Mr Didier von Daeniken, Asia-Pacific chief executive of Barclays Wealth, said at a press conference yesterday that the opening of previously protected sectors, such as financial services, and various free trade agreements had also helped Singapore's cause.

He added that Singapore's future millionaires would likely come from a growing number of rich entrepreneurs.

The report, by Barclays Wealth, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, said wealth held by high net worth Singapore households, defined as those with more than US$1 million, could hit US$1.6 trillion.

Mr von Daeniken said this presented great growth opportunities for private banks. "Asia now represents 25 per cent of high net worth individual wealth globally, 60% of the world's population, but only about 10 per cent of the income of the major private banks."

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett is often considered the world's greatest investor. Using his own investment strategies and principles, he has managed to become one of the world's richest with an estimated personal networth of at least US$10 billion. His investment career began in 1957 when he started his first investment partnership with a group of investors in his hometown, Omaha, Nebraska in the United States. He bought stocks of various companies with the goal to beat the Dow Jones Industrial Average by an average of 10 per cent a year. When the partnership dissolved in 1969, Buffett's investments had soared at a compound rate of 29.5 per cent, compared to just 7.4 per cent for the Dow.

When the dissolution of the partnership, Buffett concentrated on investing through his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway, which he took control of in 1965. In the next 20 years, the company underwent a series of business restructuring and it re-deployed its capital. Berkshire also entered into an array of other business, including insurance. At the same time, guided by his own set of investment principles, strategies and business acumen, Buffett went around the country investing in companies that had solid fundamentals, including The Coca-Cola Company and The Gillette Company. He continued to add more money-spinning companies to his portfolio over the years.

You may well ask, "What contributed to his success? What made him buy a particular company?" The essence of his success is that he only invested in business that had good earnings and excellent management.