Maid inherits S$6 millilons from employer

 "There were no secrets between us. I  was not surprised at all when she told me how much I was going to get"- Christine

A boat passes in front of the Singapore skyline. A devoted Filipina maid inherited six million Singapore dollars (more than four million US) from her late employer after more than 20 years of service, a newspaper report said Wednesday.


AFP - A devoted Filipina maid inherited six million Singapore dollars (more than four million US) from her late employer after more than 20 years of service, a newspaper report said Wednesday.

"I am the luckiest maid in Singapore, with or without the money," the 47-year-old single woman -- identified only by the pseudonym "Christine" -- told the Straits Times in an interview.

The maid refused to be named in public for fear of possible threats to her life in the impoverished Philippines, where wealthy people have been kidnapped for ransom and some killed by their abductors.

The windfall, including cash and a luxury apartment near the Orchard Road shopping belt, came from the estate of her employer Quek Kai Miew, a medical doctor and philanthropist who died last year at 66.

The maid had also taken care of the doctor's late mother, and was told that she would be a beneficiary of her employer's will when it was drawn up in 2008.

"There were no secrets between us. I was not surprised at all when she told me how much I was going to get," the maid recalled.

"Christine" was devastated when Quek died a year ago, as the two were inseparable, and temporarily moved in with the doctor's nephew for solace.

"It was heartbreaking for me as I saw more years with Doctor Quek than with my own mother. I would break down every time I thought about her. I could not be by myself," she said.

"I was always beside her. Wherever she went, I was with her."

The maid, who is now applying for permanent residency in Singapore, said her newfound wealth had not changed her lifestyle.

"I do not really think much about the money I got. I just live my life as I did before, and not as a rich person," the maid, dressed simply in a blouse and slacks with short-cropped hair, was quoted as saying.

"I am still who I was before. I cannot behave differently because I have money now. Even my Filipino maid friends here still treat me the same."

Nearly 200,000 foreign maids, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, work in affluent Singapore, which has a population of five million.

Property boom coming

THE property market in the country is expected to rise soon as there is a strong connection between the stock market and property values.

Capital Sanctuary managing director Dr Christopher Shun said over an 18-year period from 1992, the average positive correlation between the Malaysian equity and property market was 76.54%.

“Thus one can safely conclude that a 20% increase in the Malaysian equity market would adduce a 15.3% increase in the Malaysian property market.

“A similar thing would happen if the equity market was to reverse with a 20% decrease,” he said.

Property talk by Dr Christopher Shun Kong Leng during the The Star Property Fair 2010 held at G hotel. 

 

He was speaking at the talk ‘Is It a Good Time to Invest in Real Estate?” during the three-day Star Property Fair 2010 organised by Star Publications (M) Bhd in collaboration with Henry Butcher Malaysia Penang.
Shun said the property market was also expected to be boosted by the growth in trade surpluses of the country.

“Our ringgit is depreciating, making our exports cheaper, and enabling the countries in the region to buy more from us.

“This creates an overwhelming tide of liquidity which will first make its way into the equity markets and then spill over into the property and commodity markets,” he said.

Shun added that although the present base lending rate for housing loan was 6.3%, it was still the lowest in three decades.


“These are the reasons to invest in property especially landed ones and make investments in real estate.”

Earlier, Iskandar Associates principal Dr Iskandar Ismail, in his talk titled ‘Profiting from Real Estate
Investment’, said the next 18 months would be the best time to indulge in property investment in Penang.

“Although the economy is slightly uncertain, the local property market has solid long term fundamentals.

“You will make a good return once the boom comes in a few years. Income from rental plus capital growth and tax benefits make property an unbeatable investment,” he said.

Armed with a doctorate in Corporate Property Management from the University of Reading, United Kingdom, Iskandar was the brainchild behind the Malaysia House Price Index that is used by investors to track the property market.

Meanwhile, George Town World Heritage Incorporated general manager Maimunah Mohd Sharif, who gave a talk on ‘The Economics for Heritage Conservation’ said there might be no direct transaction happening in heritage conservation but the heritage value was priceless.

“We may not be able to label them with the dollar sign but the economics of heritage conservation is all about retaining a sustainable and liveable city.

“Investments may not see profit in hard cash but it is the sense of belonging, cultural memories and pride that counts,” she said.

Apple Is Not the New Microsoft. And, Yet …

Apple (red) and Microsoft (blue) closing prices for the past five years: Apple shares have gone up 500 percent and Microsoft

Apple reported record revenues earlier this week but Microsoft had a blowout quarter of its own, reporting revenues Thursday of $16.04 billion — enough to keep the Redmond giant ahead of the Cupertino company in this particular financial metric.

Apple remains the most valuable high-tech company by a fair margin. And, perhaps more importantly, when Apple exceeded expectations on Tuesday shareholders cheered, adding about $7 per share from the previous day, before the after-hours earnings report.

Microsoft’s superb quarter was greeted, instead, with crickets. Shares in the company were actually down fractionally in after-hours trading.

“It’s a great quarter — but does that matter?” Colin Gillis, analyst at BGC Partners, told Reuters. “We all knew the business refresh cycle was in place. This is the dilemma for Microsoft — how do they get the stock moving again?”

The stock chart above tells the story: For the past five years Apple has screamed, and Microsoft has coasted. Fair? If you think the market is by definition never wrong, that’s not even a fair question.

But it is something of a poser for a major company that’s made no financial mistakes to go unrewarded by Wall Street for that long — even though Microsoft has slightly outperformed the NASDAQ market where it trades and significantly outperformed the S&P 500 during this period.

Still, it’s not all just hoping for the best for holders of MSFT. The company pays a dividend of $0.13 per share — Apple has never paid a dividend. Apple hasn’t paid a dividend since 1995. It is also awash in cash, which has led Bloomberg News to speculate that Microsoft might raise its dividend to $0.15. That’s 15 percent, and for large institutional holders — and the gazillion tech funds long on MSFT especially — a very nice bump.

“They really have to do something,” Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co., told Bloomberg. “A dividend increase is a way for the board and management to signal their overall business is healthy.”
Not doing it “would probably send an unintended signal,” Holland said.
Follow us for disruptive tech news: John C. Abell and Epicenter on Twitter.
See Also:

• Apple Passes Microsoft as World’s Largest Tech Company
• Apple Is the New Microsoft, Part 2
• The Dogs of War: Apple vs. Google vs. Microsoft
• Microsoft Aims to Use the Cloud to Outdo Apple and Google
• Apple Stock Drops Since iPhone 4; Analysts, Consumers Unfazed

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