[Post 296] Are Singapore REITs Still A Good Investment? | Money Mind | Investment

Summary

Prices of Singapore real estate investment trusts or REITs have been dropping all year. So are they still a good investment – and how do you spot a bargain?

[Post 295] Meet China’s ‘Full Time Children’: Why Unemployed Youths Are Working For Their Parents

Summary

Amid China’s record youth unemployment levels, some young people are moving back home to work as paid ‘full-time children’. As their parents’ live-in personal assistants, they do simple chores and spend time with them in exchange for free rent or even a salary. Some document their daily routine as part of a viral online trend on Chinese social media. 

But, not every family is fully onboard with this alternative ‘career’ decision. Some ‘full-time children’ report tensions at home and anxieties about their formal jobless status.

[Post 294] What Pakistan’s Debt Dilemma Reveals About Looming Global Default Crisis | Debt Bomb | Full Episode

Summary

According to the IMF, debt is at the highest level in decades. With high interest rates and a global economic slowdown, 60 percent of low-income countries are either already in debt distress or at high risk of debt distress. Pakistan is one country that has gone to the IMF recently for a bailout package. How is the country’s debt burden impacting its people? How is the debt problem further exacerbated by climate change? And what is the role of China’s Belt and Road initiative in Pakistan’s debt situation? 

Pakistan is just one of 70 about countries struggling with a debt burden. With debt repayment expected to go up in 2024, will we see a global financial contagion and a deluge of defaults?

[Post 293] How To Reduce Your Income Tax Bill In Singapore | Money Mind | Tax

Summary

Tips on how to pay less tax in Singapore. 

[Post 292] Very Few Malaysians Can Afford To Retire. What Went Wrong? | Insight | Full Episode

Summary

Between 2020 and 2022, around USD$33 billion was withdrawn from Malaysia’s pension fund, the Employee Provident Fund (EPF), to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, about half of EPF contributors under the age of 55 have less than MYR10,000 in their accounts. And according to EPF officials, only 4 per cent of Malaysians can afford to retire. 

As soaring inflation and the weak ringgit drive up cost of living, the opposition has piled pressure on the government to allow for another round of EPF withdrawals. But Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has resisted further drawdowns. Can Malaysians afford to retire? What plans does the government have to replenish the pension fund? Is Malaysia facing a retirement timebomb?

[Post 291] High costs of living in Seoul make Koreans grind themselves down to the soul | Undercover Korea

Summary

Over 20% of Korea's population is located in Seoul. Many people are coming to Seoul for the Seoul Dream, like the American Dream in 1960's. But the costs of living are so high to settle in Seoul.

[Post 290] How To Steal And Lose More Than $3 Billion In Bitcoin | CNBC Documentary

Summary

Twenty two year-old hacker Jimmy Zhong said he never meant to become a criminal billionaire. But that’s what happened in 2012 after he found a way to steal bitcoin from the Silk Road – a dark web exchange then known for some of the most unsavory trade on the internet – drugs, guns and porn. Over the next decade, the coins Zhong stole rocketed in value, ultimately reaching an eye-watering $3.36 billion.

Photos show Zhong on yachts, in front of airplanes, and at big time football games over the decade he confounded law enforcement officers trying to solve the theft. He even bought a weekend lake house to use as a party pad, and decorated it with a giant Trump flag and a stripper pole. But then, Zhong made a phone call that ruined his life.

In this documentary, CNBC’s Eamon Javers speaks exclusively with the IRS-CI, the agency that investigated this billion dollar crime as well as the people who knew Zhong during the decade he evaded law enforcement. Javers’ reporting also uncovers a long, digital trail that leads back to the earliest days of bitcoin and reveals a dark truth about the world of hackers and coders responsible for the creation of bitcoin.