Earn it like Beckham

So Beckham got a deal with LA Galaxy worth, potentially, US $ 250 million for five years. That's the total package if everything goes as planned -- $50 million in salary, $50 million in club profits, $50 million in shirt sale merchandising, and $100 million from sponsors. Or around that, lah.

Seems to be a lot of money. It is, actually, compared to other soccer players in the U.S. The $50 million salary for five years is approximately $200 thousand a week or about 102 thousand Pounds (shoot, I don't know how to type the Pound sign). The second-highest paid player in the MLS earned $1.3 million in 2006, while the average salary for a squad player is $32,000 per year, not week.

That's pretty much on par with other top soccer players in the European league. Roy Keane, for example, earned 90,000 Pounds per week while at Manchester United, while Shevchenko receives around 130,000 sitting on Chelsea's bench. In Spain, Ronaldinho's annual salary is US $11.4 million.

So, apparently the salary itself is not that eye-popping. It's the remaining of the package. It's Beckham's brand equity.

But how about the rest of the industry?

I did a quick google on CEO's salary. Well, they probably are laughing now as people are making a fuss over Beckham's package. A typical total CEO take-home compensation comprises of salary, bonuses, stocks and incentives, and stock options. Most of the pays were in stock options gain. The typical CEO salary itself was ranging from zero to about $2 million.

Here are some examples how much companies paid their CEOs in 2005 (total compensation -- excluding "other compensation" such as personal use of company aircraft). Disney - $10 million. GE - $18 million. American Express - $28 million. Goldman Sachs - $45 million.

Still below Beckham's annual $50 million total package. Try this: Dell - $67 million. Oracle - $92 million.

Capital One Financial even paid its CEO to the extreme: $280 million of total compensation with $0 salary and $0 bonus.

So, wanna earn it like Beckham, or stay in the corporate way?

[Read more...]

Easier entry into Britain with an MBA

Heads up, MBAs!

MBAs from 50 British-approved institutions will get a higher chance to get the permit to work in the U.K. under the point-based system in the Highly-Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP).

Professionals with MBA qualification, graduated on or after December 2, 2004, stand a better chance as compared to Master's degree holder and Ph.D. Young professionals with high salary get further advantage, as summarized in this table.

I'm not sure whether nationality matters, but I would guess those from the commonwealth nations would have a better chance. I couldn't find what the 50 MBA institutions are, but 10 of them are U.K. institutions and 40 are from the rest of the world.

Despite the high living-cost in U.K., I think it'll be nice to spend several years to get more international perspectives. I don't have any insight on how the working culture is like over there, though.

[Read more...]

One

One life
But we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One...
- U2





Now the world is gone
I'm just one
Oh God help me
Hold my breath as I wish for death
Oh please God help me...
-Metallica





A couple of my all time favorites.

It's difficult to interpret U2's One. Without paying much attention, I always thought that the song was about two lovers. Others say the song is about about Bono's relationship with his father.

Metallica's One is probably more straightforward. Literally, it's about a dying soldier who has physically lost everything and is wishing for death. I think the picture (from the single cover) tells a thousand words. Well...

There are other (a lot more) songs titled One. Alanis Morissette, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill to name a few.

I was wondering if there are any Indonesian songs titled "Satu" -- other than that "Satu, satu", the children song...

[Read more...]

Foreign Workers

There is a lot of Indonesians in Malaysia. Most of them are low-skilled workers like maids and construction workers.

Low-skilled foreign workers account for an estimated 20% (15% are legal) of Malaysia's total workforce as per recent article in New Straits Times about chaos without foreign workers. They work in security, constructions, factories, restaurants, plantations and other industries. Of course, also as maids. They come from many countries too: Vietnam, Bangladesh, Philippines, India, and Myanmar.

Foreign workers let "local" workforce to pursue higher value activities that can contribute to, presumably, better economic returns for themselves and the country. On the other hand, these foreign workers are cheaper too. For instance, local workforce will cost construction 30% more.

It's good opportunities too for the foreign workers. They make much better living than they do in their home countries.

But, what is it for the "exporting" countries? Will these workers add values when they come back? Will the gap between the exporting country and the importing country get bigger?

[Read more...]

BCS: Florida beats Ohio State 41-14

Gators won. So what? Buckeyes lost. Great - that's a better news. At least it wipes some disappointments over Wolverines' defeat in the Rose Bowl.

Hail! to the victors valiant
Hail! to the conqu'ring heroes
Hail! Hail! to Michigan,
the champions of the West!

Go Blue!

(listen to the Victors)

[Read more...]

5 out of 100 Jakarta students have had pre-marital sex

A recent research by a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Indonesia's Public Health Department discovered that five out of one hundred high school students in Jakarta have had sex.

The research surveyed 8941 students from 119 high schools, or equivalent, in Jakarta. It grouped sexual behaviors into eleven categories: sex (I assume sexual intercourse), oral sex, petting, and eight other categories which include chatting and hugging. The survey results for the most interesting categories are as follows -- behavior (% female / % male / % total): sexual intercourse (1.8 / 4.3 / 3.2), oral sex (1.8 / 4.5 / 3.3), petting (2.2 / 6.5 / 4.5)

Here's what I found interesting; please help me understand the statistics.

First, what it means by sex is not clear. (What's not clear about sex, c'mon!) Where does the 5 out of 100 figure come from? My best bet is only when sex here is defined as both sexual intercourse as well as oral sex.

Since 3.2% of the respondents does sexual intercourse, thus there is 1.8% who does only oral sex. This means 1.5% of those doing oral sex also does sexual intercourse. So far so good. But then it also indicates that there is 1.7% respondents who does sexual intercourse (more than 50% of them) without having oral sex. This can mean three things: the definition is not correct, my argument is flawed, or these kids are having a boring life!

Second, the proportion of male-female. Taking a big assumption that the respondents are split evenly 50-50 between males and females, I can argue from the study, referring to the population surveyed, that there are more "active" male students than their female counterparts.

However, it could be that: (1) the female students who have sex are doing so with more than one male student partners, or (2) the male students have sex with not only female students (perhaps with "tante"), or (3) there have been survey errors, from both males and females (e.g. courtesy bias, prestige seeking, social desirability response bias)

The newspaper/reporter should've done a better job explaining this. But I think in Indonesia we still lack individuals with good knowledge in statistics and/or market research. Reporters or politicians can easily swing a survey to the direction they want -- intentionally or unintentionally.

Nevertheless, a good research. We probably are more interested in knowing what the 119 schools are...

[Read more...]

New Year's Eve in KL

Another new year's eve celebration in KL. This time, though, it got closer to the twin towers. Still in an apartment, yet better food and champagne.

Late posting -- pictures just uploaded...

[Read more...]

Cashless society - all plastics

While doing my 2004 summer internship in Jacksonville, Florida, my colleague shared her passion and belief about cashless society: all monetary transactions should be done with "plastic".

My experience of not carrying cash in the U.S. was good. Most shops and services accept credit cards, brick-and-mortar as well as online. Colleges and universities also promote this idea by consolidating everything into the student cards. Getting a credit card is also easy, for good and bad.

Experience in Asia, especially in Malaysia and Indonesia, however, hasn't been that good. Many shops still don't accept credit card - mostly the traditional shops and services, which are a lot in these countries. Even some big stores - electronics, watches, etc. - charge the interchange (or merchant service) fee, about 2-3% to customers.

Credit card thefts, or frauds, also seem to be more frequent in these two countries. Although I have no data, I have more friends worrying about using their credit cards or doing online transactions here in Malaysia and Indonesia. Perhaps it's the not-yet-matured infrastructure that gives more rooms for crimes.

I once was a victim of credit card fraud in the U.S. But my experience dealing with the bank to cancel the transaction was so much easier than dealing with renewing my credit card here in Malaysia. It could be the bank, but definitely it's the customer service problem in Asia.

It seems to me that the main 'challenge' to cashless society in Indonesia or Malaysia is culture. Business owners still prefer cash, hard cash. Though true, cash is king, I'd still assume that accepting credit cards brings other benefits. Despite the charges and risk of fraud, a merchant should be entitled to these benefits: potential sales increase, cash security (by not storing much cash in the store), financial management, etc.

I ain't working for bank nor am I an employee of Visa, MasterCard, Amex, etc. I just don't like to have a thick wallet. I'm a supporter of cashless society.

[Read more...]

New year's bombing and terrorist threats

There goes another bombing in the neighborhood. Now it's Thailand to join Indonesia and the Philippines. That leaves Singapore and Malaysia in the Southeast Asia region. Are they afraid?

More than three-quarters of Singaporeans are, but only less than 60% Malaysians are, as a recent survey shows. The survey, based on 59,000 interviews in 63 countries, was conducted by market information consultant TNS and market and opinion researcher Gallup International. The interviews were conducted between July 24 and August 22, 2006.

Specifically, out of the 1,250 urban Malaysians polled, 59% said in face-to-face interviews that they believed terrorism was a threat. This ranking was, however, among the lowest of the 12 Asia Pacific countries surveyed. Only Hongkong (43%) and Taiwan (45%) registered lesser sense of fear than Malaysia did.

In the region, Indonesians registered the highest level of fear of terrorism at 89%, followed by Thailand (82%), Singapore (78%), Japan (71%), Korea (71%), the Philippines (71%), and Vietnam (61%).

So Thai people's fear was justified. Which then makes it sensible for the Singaporeans to be afraid as well. They live among the countries attacked by terrorism.

[Read more...]

Hakuna matata

It means no worries for the rest of your days.
It's our problem-free philosophy...
- Timon and Pumba

The words themselves are Swahili phrase which means, guess what, "no worries". Not much on the words or the language, but more the philosophy getting into 2007 -- that we probably should take it easy and enjoy more. It's probably easier said than done as many times what we want are different from what others want. Or in professional environment, not aligned.

When we take everything too seriously and too single-mindedly, it won't be a beautiful year. And we may end up having this new year's wish - a friend's favorite:
"May the fleas of a thousand camels infest the ass of the person who screw up your year and may his arms grow too short to scratch it! Happy new year!"

[Read more...]