I often tell this African shoes story (I changed it to fit our local context) to "brainwash" new salespersons as part of our cheerleading session in my past life:
Two Singapore shoes salesmen went to Borneo during the 1900s.
One came back dejected... "How to sell like that? They don't even wear shoes!"
The other excitedly wired back to his Singapore head office, "Quick! Send 2 shipments of shoes over! The lobang here fantastic! No one is wearing shoes over here!!!"
When a company or business decides to "target" women exclusively, well, ladies, what do you think?"
Which is more likely?
Someone woke up and decided they just have to mother and take care of sheep? So cute! So fluffy!
Or they discovered excitedly they can actually milk and fleece sheep!? I mean with rams we can only fleece...
If you love to read and subscribe to Women's magazine, you may want to pause and reflect whether you are the customer of these magazines?
Perhaps you are part of the food menu these Women's magazines are offering to their REAL customers?
Why do you think they love to plant ideas into you that you're never too thin, or pretty enough?
And the clothes you bought last season are already so dated...
20 ways to please your man?
Have you verified the author is actually a woman? What kind of woman would write such articles???
And if its a really a woman, do you really want to take advice from a Got Money, Got Honey "prostitute"?
Want to learn more about goldfish?
The professor placed a bowl with a goldfish on his lectern.
"If you would just spend the time to look and study an actual goldfish, you'll probably learn more than just reading (or taking workshops and seminars) about goldfishes!"
If you want to be financially independent, just look around you.
They could be your mom or grandma, most never studied beyond secondary school. Some illiterate even.
Or your female siblings, cousins, neighbours, classmates, or colleagues.
Single or married, young and old.
Come to think of it, does sex matter? Well, you're the one always pushing for "equality"...
What do you think?
Wouldn't it be better to talk and learn from someone who is actually financially independent (not on the way themselves) that you can RELATE to?
Some of you may even discover you can achieve financial independence without riding any financial assets at all! Wink.
Shh...
Don't let the men know.
Smol,
ReplyDeleteLet's target Sinkies!
There's a long, long trail of scams & marketing hype being hoisted upon sinkies e.g. time share vacation properties, landbanking, overseas properties, gold investing, wine investing, even genuine investments that are faddish or long in the tooth...
With only 5+ million here, either the operators have run out of customers back in their home populations of 100-500 million, or their locals know something that sinkies don't.
I'm always wary whenever a popular & successful fund manager launches in Singapore after many years of making hay back in their home countries. Seen it with internet funds in 1999, Bill Miller in 2007, and ARKK unit trust (!!!) in Nov 2020.
I would give the stodgy elitist Dimensional Funds the benefit of the doubt for tying up with local robo-advisors to offer their funds to tiny retails here, even though it's a remarkable coincidence after losing market share back in the US after underperforming the broad markets for 9 years from 2013-2021 lol.
To be fair, growth & value rotate in cycles, and there has been a resurgence of interest in Dimensional back in US after growth got smashed.
Spur,
DeleteWhen I were in China, one Chinese supplier tried to butter me up by complimenting that he likes dealing with Singaporeans since we are "trustworthy" and often "very straight and above board"!
Dealing with Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, he has to be on his guard as they can dance circles around him!
He should be talking... He don't fleece Singaporeans I happy oredi!
No, its not a compliment.
Singapore's "reputation" is well known internationally. Especially after that OCBC heist. Now even more scammers know Singaporeans are "easy"!!!
I suspect some Singaporeans have memory of a goldfish? Or totally don't bother with history at all!?
No one reads or watch the news anymore? (No wonder SPH struggling...)
The cycle keeps repeating itself...
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Old wine in new bottle works on Singaporeans!
The smart ones do it legally.
DeleteE.g. Taking advantage of sinkies as well known yield hogs & global Reit hub.
How many americans would have bought Eagle Hospitality Trust? Similarly how many indonesians would have buy & hold LMIRT or FT instead of flipping them immediately after ipo?
I shook my head when SGX et al announced SPACs late last year or early this year.
Spur,
DeleteThat makes the two of us. The SPAC thing was part inspiration for my post on early adopters and laggards.
The other two incidences were HK Tech ETF and Cryptos.
Yup, got anything you need to offload from your hands?
Just package it with some yield and Singaporean yield hogs will gladly swallow hook, line, and sinker!
How to not love buyers who proudly say just as long got regular dividend cash flows, the stock price go up, go down don't matter?
Look! We got customers willing to pay FULL retail price!
We don't even have to use discounts and offers as baits!!!
Let's target CPF members who take MRT!
ReplyDeleteCW,
DeleteThey oredi did!
They now targeting the "captive" CPF members with the catchy tagline: A SMARTER way to grow your CPF...
And put the 1M65 founder as their "brand ambassador"!?
You don't need to be England powderful to spot the Spear and Shield cognitive dissonance here.
1. The purpose of 1M65 is to park money INSIDE CPF. Let compounding do its "magic".
2. Now you scratch and create a hole-in-their-hearts by teasing 4M65. But letting money "compound" in CPF can't achieve it... Ah! The SMARTER way is take money OUT from CPF and...
And I completely agree!
That's why I don't do voluntary CPF contributions. Why subject myself to CPFIS restrictions when from the very beginning I intend to practice Earn More and not Save More?
Ding!
They practise save & earn. Cover all bases.
DeleteAlso if one's earning scheme flops, at least still got 65% left lol.
Oh I forgot ... with funds it's 100% not just 35%
Well there's still SA and Medisave!
You there!
DeleteYes you!
I/C or driver's licence please.
Why?
Nothing. Routine check.
If there's "kopi drinking" session, we'll invite you.
Carry on please.
And have a good day!
Hi SMOL,
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, there was a lady advocating for female empowerment through mentorship from successful males. Her followers never did realize what was amiss
Unintelligent Nerd,
DeleteThis kind of example can make great case studies in psychology classes, doesn't it?
Then again, that's the irony...
If a woman can think for herself, and don't need the validation of others, she wouldn't be a "follower" in the first place!