Monday 31 March 2008

More valuable than gold

During our fathers’ days, land is considered very valuable. If you have land, you can convert it into something else which can make you tonnes or money. Alternatively, you can wait for it to appreciate over time and then sell it off at a huge profit. Of course, land is till very much valuable now but is it the most valuable investment there is at the moment?

Fellow blogger
Jamy has been going on and on about how she has bought gold and the price of gold has appreciated 300 times? Or was it more? According to her, investing in gold is a sure-win situation. So Jamy, if you ever return to Malaysia, I guess you can buy us a very nice dinner?

Anyway, I told Jamy that gold is not the most valuable thing there is in this day and age. To me, there is something else which commands much more value. To a certain extent, it even commands power. Sometimes, this valuable ‘thing’ that I am talking about does not even exist in physical form. No, I am not talking about air or water, although these elements are certainly going to be absolutely priceless in time to come.

Do you know who this guy is? His name is Mark Zuckerberg and he is said to be the world’s youngest billionaire, with a net worth of about $1.5b. Although it is just a ‘paper’ net worth, it is still a lot of money. For those who don’t know who this guy is… he is the founder of the current internet addiction…
Facebook.

Facebook is said to be valued at a staggering $15b, based on Microsoft’s valuation. Why is facebook so valuable? Is it because its office happens to be occupying an oil-rich piece of land? Is it because it has tonnes and tonnes of gold? You and I know those are not the answer.

If think facebook’s assets lie in its capability to share applications or allow its users to play games or do the you-poke-me-I-poke-you thing, I have to disagree. To me, facebook's wealth lies not in the incredible capability of the site, its wealth lies in its membership… their names… their age… their ‘availability’ status… their gaming habit… their e-mails… their interests… their likes and dislikes… their photos… their spending habit…their networks of friends… their connections… the statistic of their time spent online…

What facebook has is a huge database of what I think is the most valuable thing in the current world……… information.

Coming back to home, why do you think the ruling coalition suffered such a heavy battering in the recently held 12th General Election? Was it because the opposition has got huge land bank and thus able to organise massive ‘ceramah’? Was it because the opposition has got huge gold reserves and thus able to launch a massive election campaign?

The answer is of course a big NO. The sole reason why the opposition was able to perform so well is simply because the opposition has got priceless information and such information was disseminated to the public at large. It is not properties or gold… it is such simply… information.

And why do you think law such as the Official Secrets Act (OSA) exist? It exist simple to protect… information.

CIA, MI-II, Special Branch, Beijing… all the intelligence agencies of the various countries, the eyes and ears of the governments, what are they set up to do? Were they set up to invest in highly lucrative business deals? No… and to invest, they set investment arm openly. They even allow others to do it.

But… secret govt agencies and set up and individuals… highly trained individuals are recruited to gather what they know is the most valuable thing of all… information. They… we… all of us… want to know who they other person is doing, what the other person is doing next and how they are going to do it. All these are information of incredible value.

In this day and age, information is king… information is power… and with information, you can make tonnes and tonnes of money, provided you know how to manipulate and put information to good use. Do you know how to gather valuable information and make information work for you?

Of course, I will settle for an acre of land and a few gold bars… for now…

26 comments:

kyh said...

Chup.

I absolutely agree! Money and profits do not come from materials only. Every piece of information can help businessmen or stockbrokers to bring in millions into their pockets.

Tekkaus said...

Nowadays, Info is king! No doubt about it. And the ability to foresee what people will crave even it sounds funny is massive!

puvanan said...

True enough bro! Informations and then all you need to know is how to market them in the right way.

Anonymous said...

The best infomation of all is information to predict the future or information about the future. With this info you can make money at the stock market, futures market, 4D, sportsbook...the possibilities are endless.

The Malaysian Life

rainbow angeles said...

So hor... DYK what's gonna happen on the 15th of this mth??

Oh, and Happy Fooling Around ;)

Anonymous said...

wow, didnt know the founder is so young!
erm...yea...facebook! haha...it's really cool...now it's even better than friendster!

information..u're right!! erm...now that u put it that way...dunno if it's safe to actually publish so much abt myself in facebook!

Anonymous said...

This is not an April Fool joke...but I feel true, sincere friends are more valuable than gold!

After all, it's only money! You probably think I'm getting senile...but I feel that one has to be contented to be happy in life and one will never be if he/she is caught in the world of wants and wanting more and more. This may sound cliche, but "money can never buy happiness".

myop101 said...

The value we place on something is somewhat relative. Similarly, something as mundane as "John is at home wondering about cheese..." can be valuable simply because the information tells us something more about the person we are interested to find out.

Is information truly king for me? Hehe... It all depends.

Hence, whenever you update your blog, I find it valuable. I see the thoughts of zewt in motion and at times I wonder, hmmm, why didn't I think of that?

Anonymous said...

I bet you are right, information is the most valuble thing in the world. Whoever know how to get information quicker and more accurate than others will definitely going to be rich!

Huei said...

ahhh! good point!

by blogging..we're giving out more info hor!!! where we went..what we do..etc? =P

missironic said...

information is power..u're right abt tat!if someone can manipulate that power expertly, real trouble can occur anytime!

n yes..tat young dude is SUPER RICH now..all bcoz of facebook which everyone seems to succumb to..for me..im seriously lazy to even 'layan' facebook! lolz...

JamyTan said...

Well, of course info is power esp. with internet age now.

But, I do not think that is my argument. I am talking about the best investment portfolio.

What kind of asset class you want to allocate in your investment portfolio.

Yes, land is good, so is bonds, mutual funds, stocks, RE tax liens, bear funds, gold/silver and among all for the next 15years to come, gold and silver are the best.

The no. 1 key factor in an investment portfolio is diversify. An exposure to gold/silver at this hyperinflation period is a must.

Sure, what kind of dinner do you like. If I have a choice, I prefer to fly via Singapore than K.L, unless you fly over to Kch, anytime just email me, I will take you to any makan place of your choice.

Well, I do not think face book founder is the only smart young men out there. If you read my recent post, the youngest of the millionaire that MSN recently reported is a 14years old Anshul Samar from California.

Below is the URL :

http://www.seaykopitiam.com/2008/03/27/how-do-you-make-it-to-the-millionaire-rank-at-21/

There are a lot of young entrepreneurs in the US, some of them who are in the billionaires you might not be even aware of.

Founders of six pack(Ben, Mena)who pioneer the wordpress movement.
Youtube (1.6billion).
Paypal
Bill zanker the seminar sellers (1.6billion)
and the list goes on...
and guess where are all these people from ?
The good olei US. of A :):).

So, since you think info is the best investment, what are the info stocks that you have in your investment portfolio, I am interested to know.

I did not buy Google when it first listed :).

Jorji said...

last wiken i jumpa my sister..and she said "do you know that guy werk at the same place with me?"

that is information.

:)

Anonymous said...

Happy April Fools Day! how come no april fool jokes from you?? :D

quick,quick, pull a fast one before the day ends :P

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

haha i think i prefer some land n gold too..

Anonymous said...

Zewt Jr's on the way!!!!!....Now is that information or an April Fool's joke? LOL!!!

Anonymous said...

Is there a Zewt, Jr. on the way already?? Wow, brudder... you sure work fast! ;)

huntressmoon said...

arghhh i should have stole that 5000 names of database from my current ceo which consists of everyone in power in the Malaysian business. But then again, nah.... personal ethics.

zewt said...

kyh - we have to know what type of information we gather though. and if you get yourself some wrong information...

Christopher - hey... welcome to AZAIG. if you can foresee... that is beyond information... :)

puvanan - yup... time to gather more :)

The Malaysian Life - hahaha... able to predict information is different from having information. if you can predict... that's like... god!

angeles - a big change? hehe...

Lynnwei - yup... barely hitting mid 20s and already a billionaire!! how incredible is that!!!

zewt said...

suituapui - well, i promised someone i need to blog about this mah... :)

myop101 - well, i guess everyone's thoughts are of value, it's just a matter of whether we can appreciate that.

jam - but it has to be the right information...

huei - yup... that's why, if you read 1000 blogs a day, you can get some really valuable information that you dont even realise.

missironic - me too... i just dont seem to get addicted... dunno why...

zewt said...

jamy - hi... yes, if you think of it as an investment, i guess you cant invest in information. maybe you can but certainl you cannot buy it some hope it appreciates. but i am talking about value of things. the value of gold vs the value of right information, that's my perspective. cannot buy la... no info stock... hehehe...

j or ji - dengar hari ni... your sis bday eh?

Linday - well.... hehe...

constant craver joe - hehehe... faster and easier eh?

kennymah - you wanna kena april fool meh?

huntressmoon - hahaha... in malaysia, nothing is ethical...

missironic said...

ya..same here..is a gud place to share pics if I have something to show..but other than tat..i really lazy to even approve all the applications..opened the acc also for the sake of my gud fren..if not i dun even bother..mayb im sumting wrong sumwhere! lolz...

JamyTan said...

Zewt,

We might be talking about 2 totally different thing here.

I am talking about investment !

Take note my blog theme is
wealth = right investment + right strategy.

No matter how rich these young punks are, the richest man in the world is still WARREN BUFFET ! My family is one of the small holders of Berkshire Hathaway fund.

He has an excellent investment strategy. And information provide him with resources to get him to where he is now.

Yes, I also believe information is power. Don't forget I graduated from computer science from Sydney University in the early 80's and a master degree in information technology in the mid 80's. I was one of the first Malaysian women to manage the project for a Japanese bank in H.K for public bank Malaysia. And one of the first women director to achieve the fastest growth rate in S.E.Asia for Informatics school in the late 90's.

Yes, I believe strongly that info is power. But, we are talking about investment here, accountant ! The best asset classes and the best investment portfolios in this hyperinflation period.

No offense here, ok.

Jamy

zewt said...

missironic - hahaha... i opened it cos my pastor asked me to!

jamy - no offense at all. after all, we are just sharing our views, there is no right and wrong in it :)

warren buffet.... sigh... so rich la...

missironic said...

serious? y? hahaha

zewt said...

missironic - i have a wacko pastor!