Macau Connect

As an accountant, I’m often asked by my clients (corporate & individuals alike) how they could make more money. One of the many things I usually recommend them doing was to review their credit card statements. This seems to be a no-brainer. But you will be surprised by how many people and even corporations don’t do this diligently enough. For some of my corporate clients, reviewing the credit card statements may actually make them substantial amount of money because of their vast transaction volumes and the significant dollar amount involved. It’s because the bookkeepers or accounts payable department often robotically pay for the bank charges, late fees or any charges that are accessed by the banks or the credit card companies in bulk processing without spending much time reviewing them. But if they do, they may realize many of these late fees, interest charges on the credit cards can be waived, simply by calling the credit card companies. Late fees and interest char...

I’m surprised that many people don’t know what VPN is. I’m even more surprised that so many people whom I’ve met in Macau have no idea what VPN is because some of them are professionals who hold key corporate positions that are much in need for internet security and privacy! I first came to know about VPN when I was working for one of the Big 4 accounting firms in the USA years ago. As much as I hated the speed of the corporate VPN back then, I appreciated the security it provided so much that I felt totally anxious without it after I left the firm. My level of anxiety was so severe that I had totally refrained from going online for a couple weeks until I set up my very own VPN. For those of you who think your online activity is protected because you have been using a VPN, you should watch the above video and see why you need to have your very own VPN, and not just any VPN in order to better protect your communication and privacy online. Please note that I’m not endorsing th...

As an accountant, I'm somewhat risk adverse.  I just don't dare to travel outside the USA for weeks without insuring my trip.  I personally think travel insurance is worth for the peace of my mind when I prepaid for the plane tickets and hotels for thousands of dollars.  Even though I am visiting my hometown Macau, I will feel jittery if I go there without travel insurance.  My trip back home costs me thousands of USD, so to me, paying $254 (for a 2-weeks trip, without the Flight Guard and Car Rental Collision Coverage because I don't need to drive in Macau) to protect my loss against unexpected trip cancellation and interruption, isn't making my trip that noticeably more expensive.   I however never bought travel insurance when my trip cost under US$5,000.  It's because I'm tolerant to insignificant loss of money and at my tolerance level, anything that is under US$5,000 isn't worth my worrying about it.  I also didn't buy travel insurance ...

Even though I'm a frequent flyer, I am afraid of flying. I'm not sure if I have a phobia of flying since I'm still brave enough to get on a plane.  It's just I don't know since when I feel panic during every turbulence. I have no idea when I started to develop such panic on the planes, to a point when I literally feel very shaken and I just lose control of my emotion to frantically hold on to whoever is sitting next to me.  I've noticed that the turbulence just gets more severe and more frequent with every new trip.  I'm not sure if I am feeling this way because I'm getting older by the day.  I still remember my first flight in my life, the one that I took from Hong Kong to the USA, to attend college, I was very calm and collected back then, I was flying with United Air and I was seated in between two American men who asked me, "So you speak English fluently! How did you learn to speak English so fluently? "  At the time, I was surprised th...

如果想閱讀中文版, 請按這超連結與我聯絡 , 我會把中文全版 (繁體或簡體) 電郵給你… Yesterday, I discovered that I had officially joined the tens of  millions of Americans who don't have health insurance, since 1/1/21018!  I never imagined in a million years I could be one of the uninsured Americans.  Now I'm one, I finally realize why healthcare is such a debated issue in this country.  Having been an employee for many years, I used to have no idea what people were talking about when they talked about uninsured Americans.  I had never lived one day in the USA without health insurance.  When I was in college as a foreign student, I was covered by my university's group plan that had very affordable premiums. After I left the academic world, I was provided with health insurance by my employer.  During the probation period at my first professional job, I was covered still by my university's group plan, which I only used for one doctor's visit due to a strap throat.  Yes, there were the ...

My inspiration to write this post came from my mother who lives in Macau.  As Macau's economy prospers, there is an increase in  opportunities for the finance industry to set up retail shops in Macau to offer a wide array of financial products, from health insurance, retirement annuities, mutual funds to all kinds of investment vehicles that cater to the Macau citizens' need to invest their idle cash. The extremely low interest rate has been fueling my mom's desire to invest her money somewhere that offers decent returns.   If only my mom had discussed with me before she handed her money to her cousin many times removed, who proclaims herself as one of Macau's top "Financial Planners", I would have recommended my mother to one of the fee-based  and performance-based  Certified Financial Planners whom I've been working with here in the USA.  Yes, I always advise my clients, if you are to select a financial planner, try to find one who charges a planning...