Haha... I guess it's because I have so many things to write about, so many thoughts un-penned that the notion of putting them all into words is proving to be a very daunting task.
To sum things up, just one post ago (which was quite some time back), I was given the Herculean task of completing the CMFAS papers by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
CMFAS actually means Capital Market Financial Advisory Services, so yes, I am registered as a legal representative to give financial advise, of course under the watch of my employer.
In perspective, I've told many people how seemingly impossible a task this is, to complete ELEVEN examinations in under a month, and EIGHTEEN internal papers in the next month, totalling to TWENTY-NINE exams in under TWO months.
If maths serve you well, you would gasp in shock and horror as you realize that yes, that means an exam almost every day.
But, the amount of knowledge I have absorbed in the past months is beyond comprehension as well. Studying day, and night, to the point of limiting my sleep and spending every waking moment pouring through textbooks and mock papers flung open a reality that I never thought would exist - the Market.
No, not the place where you buy fish and vegetables (though that would constitute a microscopic part of the Market), but the place where an invisible behemoth lies beneath. The Market, it is everywhere and it affects literally everything. No country can hide from it, and no individual is invulnerable to it.
This brings the total behemoths I surmise over my past experiences to three.
1) The physical reality: This reality is what you see, what you feel, hear, smell - everything your senses can lock in. If you die in the physical reality, you will never see it again.
2) The Internet: This is a reality. And its a behemoth in it's infant stages. The Internet is everywhere, and it is the combined knowledge of almost every single discovery and wisdom that has every been historically available. If you imagine a single person being able to have the entire Internet in his brain, he would technically be able to solve every single problem on earth just be tabulating all the various permutations to create a solution.
3) The Market: This is a behemoth in it's matured stage. Like the Internet, it is invisible. But the market controls politics, which in turn controls people, which in turn controls culture and everything in it. You and I collateral result of the Market. The education system, the sociological construct, and even happiness and sadness are very much controlled by this behemoth.
These three sleeping monsters are a ticking time bomb, waiting to detonate and collapse - resulting in ultimate chaos from their construct of ultimate order.
You must be thinking, "siao ah", this guy is mad.
But imagine this:
1) The Physical Reality is in an unprecedented, never seen before stage in the billion-years history of the planet. Nature is ripping the entire planet apart. Temperatures are rising and plummeting, drought, famine, floods, disease are the order of the day. Every single day, even your most favourite optimistic news station broadcasts news that would make people in the 16th century declare Apocalypse now. These disasters has increased exponentially over the past century. Just imagine, if the disaster rate just folded upon itself and multiplied itself again, lets say by 10 times; you will be seeing billions of people dying every single day.
2) The Internet. This is a tricky topic, and many people would think that it would never happen. But to understand what COULD happen, it just takes a little bit of imagination. The Internet is the biggest reservoir of knowledge in the entire world - nothing even comes close. As with the famous phrase "knowledge is power"; we are living in the era where information is the ultimate currency. It is not too hard to imagine that the entire world will soon be dependent on the Internet for information. In fact, as of this moment, schools are integrating Google as a part of the education syllabus.
There is just one problem - when does it stop? In one swoop, all your credit card, your house keys, your children's information and your medical information can belong to a single organization. All you can do is pray that they are on your side. Then again, the likelihood is at best, 50-50.
3) The Market: Judging from what I've learnt so far, the Market is system that imposes regulations upon regulation and more regulations in order to justify certain outcomes for the rich. It is this "Market" that the Devil wears Prada on. It is this "Market" that the rich and famous control. It is this "Market" that almost every single war in the past century has been centred upon. At the current moment, the world is in a more critical situation than it has ever been in ever - market volatility is at it's highest, recession and stagflation hits harder and harder, and the entire world in MASSIVE debt - ironically, to its future. I was talking to a good friend this morning, and he enlightened me that this debt is a "push forward debt", simply put - the future generation WILL pay for the mistakes of today.
There is NO solution to it unless of course entire countries collapse. Like how the Greece debt crisis is happening now.
You see? We're truly living in very interesting times.
If we could by stock options on our futures, the premium would be very high judging on the extreme volatility of every situation happening.
There are of course solutions to this - and that is to prepare everyone and erase the source of the problem at one go.
But I digress. I am writing this post because for once I actually have a bit of free time, after I have done my long overdued housework.
Finally, just as the icing on the cake, I am now truly a Banker.
I have obtained approval from both MAS and my employer, DBS to be one.
This has not been an easy road, and the journey ahead is at best, tougher. But I thank, with all my heart the few people who offered me this chance to run this path. As always, I will do my best. I simply, do not know how not to.
Success is only available to those who persevere.
=)
Thank you.
