Arranged marriages are in…

Wow, haven’t written for a while now, as mentioned in my earlier post I was busy with my cousin’s wedding this past weekend and we had people over (from U.S)since Thursday. I didn’t even get time to chill with the family because we were booked afternoons and evenings with different events/brunches. The good thing was, the wedding and the events were excellent; in the end, the Americans loved  the Canadians and their Timmy’s lol.

So I have a guy cousin who believes he is ready to get married (only 24) but approaching a different route called ‘arranged marriage’ which surprised me since all my brothers/cousins have been popular in terms of girls. I guess the world is now changing, I mean, when one is born/raised in one of the North American countries, one has different opinions/thinking than someone from back home (like our parents), but the new generation is slowly changing like our parents which is interesting. I am not saying, arranged marriages are wrong but I thought arranged marriages were not so ‘popular’ nowadays.

Anyways, my aunt asked me to look around for single girls, out of which he liked two, and honestly those two were my favorites because they are genuinely really nice girls. We went over for dinner at a nice restaurant to meet one of the girl and her family, and the guy/girl seemed to get along very well (knock on wood), currently they are getting to know each other. My cousin says he wants a girl who is sweet, nice, genuinely real with a good family background, and I think that’s a legitimate list for anyone. I pray and hope he finds his soul mate.

Don’t put your hopes up because anything is possible, but will provide you an update if something happens. I remembered one of Jules Renard quotes that says,

 “Everything you want is out there waiting for you to ask. Everything you want also wants you. But you have to take action to get it. “

CFA Update – 102 days left

This past weekend I had lots to do, such as clean the house, groceries, laundry plus a cousins wedding shenanigans therefore did not get a lot done. Just a reminder: my goal is to finish Book 5 (which is my second book) by March 1^st, 2012. So how much have I completed from Book 5:

Study Session 15
Reading 53 – Features of Debt securities
Reading 54 – Risks associated with Investing in Bonds
Reading 55 – Overview of bond sectors and Instruments
Reading 56 – Understanding Yield spreads

Note: I haven’t completed the questions after each readings; those are still on the to-do list. SS#15 had basic stuff about debt securities so if you are in a Securities department or have a business degree, it should be skimmed, trust me!

Update on CFA – 107 days left

Since I passed my own requirement (which was to complete one book before Feb. 14), I have officially registered for the CFA Level 1 Exam, which cost big money so I better stay on schedule. At work, 80% of the team have their CFA designation, 15% are writing their level 3 and 5% are writing their level 1. So in the whole team, there are only two who are writing their level 1 (including myself).

I almost had a breakdown last weekend and I don’t know how to explain since it had never happened to me and I think it really shook me. This learning journey will be time consuming, overwhelming, and stressful which is sometimes good but don’t stress too much or else you won’t be able to study. My advice to you is, if it gets overwhelming, stop what you are doing and take a break, trust me you need it.

Back to CFA registration – today is the last day to register at $1125 or else it will be approximately $1500 by tomorrow. So register if you are planning to write CFA Level 1 in June. Good Luck!

HAPPY BELATED VALENTINES DAY!

Happy Valentines Day! I know I should have written it yesterday but it was busy day yesterday. Work has been busy but I am sure we all say that especially people in the finance industry it’s end of first quarter so lots of work in the process, on top Valentine’s Day.

We don’t celebrate valentines day very big especially when its on a weekday but we always do something, like last year, I gifted him socks (as per my partner, my cat  made holes in all his socks lol). This year, I got him a Shisha set, basically two people can smoke colorful and flavored tobacco, is it good for you? Of course not, but once in a while is okay. A lot of his friends have it so he wants one for home when people come over, yeah right!!!  

He got me the usual: card with a beautiful message written (i am really big on that), my favorite chocolates (flake, yummy), dinner at a nice sushi restaurant and watched a movie. I am more of a person who would like to spend time with him rather than getting something big. Time means more to me than expensive gifts…I had an amazing time with my valentine’s and I hope you all had a good one too…

CFA Update – 110 days to go…

I had a chat with one of my co-workers who is also studying for CFA level 1 and she bluntly said that I am behind, and need to catch up. So let me provide you an update on my readings and my next goal. The following readings have been completed.

Study Session 5
Chapter 19 – Understanding Monetary and Fiscal Policy

Study Session 6
Chapter 20 – International Trade and Capital Flows
Chapter 21 – Currency Exchange rate

This means Book 2 of Schweser is completed including the Concept Checkers and the final test in the back today. Now I am starting Book 5 – Fixed Income, Derivatives and Alternative Investments, and my goal is to finish this book by March 1st (detailed Readings information will be given in the next post).

Goal: Finish Book 5 by March 1st, wish me luck!!!

One of my favourite quotes…

I am an honest and blunt person, who is always to the point, maybe because I think life is too short and we don’t have enough time ha-ha, I am not sure why. So today’s post is about quotations; I love small quotes that express more than we can imagine, i.e. have you heard, picture speaks louder than words, but the truth is, I cant tell paintings, I can only tell you if I like it or not.

I decided to add a new category to blog where I can post my favorite quotes and what does it mean to me? If you seem to agree or disagree with me, do share your thoughts.

My all time favorite is: “Winners never quit, and quitters never win.”

This quote was taught to me by my dad (also known as Papa). He always used to tell me, if you are going to quit how will you know if you will win or loose. In order to see the outcome you need to go all the way to find out.

I skipped a grade and I was fast-tracking in high school (fast tracking means, completing 5 yrs of high school in 4 years). I wanted to finish school early because I wanted to work, get into the real world and wear professional clothing’s and look hot and smart (I am sure everyone thinks that way at that age ha-ha). So when the time came to apply for undergraduate studies, I was very nervous because my friends were smart and older and always knew what they were doing but I didn’t.

When I use to tell my dad that I don’t think Universities will take me since there are so many smart people out there, and he said, I will never find out if I don’t apply. I ended up applying to 6 universities and 6 colleges, so if I don’t get into universities I will go to college (peace of mind even though I was an honor-roll student).

By May, I was accepted in all the universities and colleges with scholarships and bursaries (knock on wood). Phewww that was a relief, even though this was long time ago, I can still remember those times when I opened letters after school and read slowly to understand they had accepted me for real lol. To sum up, always try and don’t give up before trying, if you do you’re a quitter and if you don’t, you will be a winner because you will know the outcome…

Frozen Yogurt from Yogen Fruz

I am definitely not into frozen yogurt dessert at all. One day I was having a heart burn and I decided to go downstairs to see if I could grab milk or yogurt to calm it down. I saw this big add of frozen yogurt dessert in different flavor such as lychee, green tea, blueberry and it gave me goose bumps since those flavors’ are not one of my favorites. When I turned around I saw an advertisement of red velvet cake frozen yogurt, so I decided to get in a medium size (cost about 5 bucks), and it looked 80% like the advertisement lol. Please see the REAL pictures below.

How was it made? The lady put in a vanilla bar, chocolate bar and syrup, and after taking out from the machine, she put red velvet cake chunks around the yogurt, yummy… If you guys try it out let me know…

How was the taste? I loved it, it was the best frozen yogurt I ever had.

Rating: 9 out of 10, since it didn’t look exactly like the advertisement and I hate false advertisement.

Note: This post is purely my opinion.

Red Velvet close up

Red Velvet - Frozen Yogurt

My new laptop…

The reason my blogging had slowed down is my laptop had given up on me duringChristmas. I began my research to get a new and pretty laptop, but there is so much out there. I researched and researched and finally made a list of what I was looking for. My IPAD is great but I need to access work and Microsoft Office. So I wrote down what I was looking for to narrow down my choices. Such as:

• should have a number key pad
• keyboard keys should not make lot of noise,
• should be white in color or some sort of funky design (no more black, had two already),
• should have Intel Core i5 or above,
• AM size of at least 6GB,
• Windows 7,
• Microsoft Office (it didn’t come with it – so I bought from work website),
• SD card, burner
• HDMI and integrated Wifi and Bluetooth
• microphone and good speakers (which usually exists in a laptop)
• Lastly 15-15.5 screen, anything bigger would be heavier and won’t fit my bag.

We have all brands of laptop in our families so I tried out everyone’s computer and I really liked HP (which I had previously) and Dell. I got both brand computers from online but did not like the newer version. HP 15 inch no longer has a number pad, and Dell 15 inch’s keyboard was sticking out too much. Trust me, I am not picky but they made numerous changes to their laptops and no offense its not my taste.

Why didn’t I go for MAC since I have an IPAD and Iphone? I am more of a PC person and the requirements I am looking for would cost more than a grand. I don’t want to spend so much.

So I decided to buy it from the store. I browsed around and ended up buying SONY VAIO (white) from FutureShop and it fulfilled my “want” list for $699 plus tax, phew!

Posting pictures below, and will provide feedback in few weeks.

When I first brought it home..

When I first opened it..

Finally opened, my new laptop...

New technique to study (114 days left)

I did something different yesterday. I came to work at my regular time and worked till 5pm. Then I grabbed my text book and went in one of the meeting rooms and studied till 6:30 and head home (1 hr commute). I was in the room for 1.5 hrs and studied for 1 hr for sure. I went home, went to gym for 1 hr, then ate dinner took a hot bath and slept at 10:30pm. I slept like a baby since I was exhausted but I completed all the things that I usually promise myself to do.

I learnt this trick after one whole month. I never thought I could study at work since its always stressful, and when I am here I only feel like working not studying. One of my co-workers mentioned this to me and I thought I grab this opportunity since when I tried studying at home on a weeknight and I’d get busy on my IPAD. Anyways, I wanted to tell you about this technique, try it out at least once before you decline this request.

CFA – 116 days to go

Hello All,

So I finally said no to all the parties last weekend and went to the library to study, and it really worked. The reason is, when you tend to day dream, you see others working so hard that you forget about wandering and start studying. It finally worked and will I be going again this weekend? You betcha!

Its quiet at home but I cant seem to concentrate, I think about cleaning, cooking, snacking and so forth. In the library, I only have my iphone which I stop using after 20 minutes because I get bored and start studying. So the following chapters have been completed:

 Study Session 4

Chapter 13 – Demand and Supply Analysis: Introduction
Chapter 14 – Demand and Supply Analysis: Consumer Demand 
Chapter 15 – Demand and Supply Analysis: The Firm

 Study Session 5

Chapter 16 – Aggregate Output, Prices, and Economic Growth
Chapter 17 – Understanding Business Cycles

Goal: Finish three more chapters during the week.

I have started my studying with the Economics section and will update on completion. Also, I am not making notes anymore since I don’t have time, however, I am writing little notes on the text book and underlining any important terms. They are my books, paid big bucks, why not make use of it?