Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong

BOC Tower, Hong Kong

First Published Date: Sep 19, 2009

Much of modern architecture is about making a statement. In fact, it is probably truer to say that architecture has always in some way been about making a statement. Even the most unremarkable buildings have something to say about themselves, even if that thing is simply “I am simple and unobtrusive, it is what happens inside that is important”. Nevertheless, the increase in the amount of money spent on architecture has been enough to persuade architects that what they must provide in this day and age is a little bit of “bang for your buck”. Any major development today, you can be assured, will not be a simple straight up-and-down edifice with sober decoration. One look at the Dubai skyline will make clear the direction in which the wind of modern architecture is blowing.

As far as statements go, it is not merely the modern day buildings that seek to make themselves heard, as a look through the last few decades will tell you. One building which has been in situ for nearly twenty years in its current form, the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, is very much a statement building. Its bold lines are certainly impressive, and although it was conceived in the Eighties and opened in 1990 it still looks modern to most eyes. With the importance of the number eight in Chinese culture,  the plan was to open the tower on the eighth of August, 1988 (8.8.88). This did not happen, and this seems to fit the story of the tower, as it seems to deviate from the long-held beliefs about auspicious buildings and projects in Chinese culture.

For one thing, the building does not conform to the standard practices of feng shui which are broadly considered to be of major importance in China and its territories, in some places seeming almost to have a sense of open defiance against the rules. This is not quite the intention, and in fact the architect who conceived it, I.M. Pei, consulted with experts before finalising the design, removing a majority of the X-shaped structures from the final look as they are considered to bring bad luck. On the other hand, the presence of numerous sharp lines in the building is considered to be provocative. Nonetheless, the building has yet to be befallen by any major difficulties. On being built it was the tallest building in all of Asia, and the first outside the United States to break the fabled 1,000 foot mark.

One other interesting feature of the Bank of China Tower is its shape. From certain angles it bears a marked resemblance to a meat cleaver, and indeed this shape is known as a “cleaver building”. While this in itself may seem to be just a common fact, it becomes interesting when one notes that the “blade” of this cleaver points across the road at another building – the headquarters of the Hong Kong branch of HSBC, to be specific. A coincidence? Possibly, and possibly not, but interesting to ponder nonetheless.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the realestateexpedition.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Sep 13, 2009

New 4 Percent Retirement Withdrawal Idea & Free Financial Planning Software

How Much You Can Spend in Retirement?

First Published Date: June 6, 2015

A retired financial planner in California, Bill Bengen, researched and came up with his 4 percent retirement rule. The New York Times recently published a detailed article on this, as his retirement 4 percent concept has attracted criticism both accepting and rejecting it.

Based on the assumption of that the retirees’ portfolio is made of stocks and bonds half half, Mr. Bengen’s 4 percent withdrawal concept survived every thirty year period from 1926.

However, there are other complex methods created by retirement analysts that call to withdraw from 2.85 percent to 4.95 percent, as the article points out.

Critics argues that Mr. Bengen’s method does not take account into various factors such as investment fees, tax rates, locations, etc. and should not apply to all retirees.

If you search online for various methods of retirement withdrawals, you will be astonished to see how many are there. The best course of action is not to go by any single idea you stumble into. As everyone’s situation is unique, it’s best to seek help and sit down with a qualified financial professional who can assess your own situation and create a plan that will suit your needs and lifestyle.

Free Financial Planning Software

Developed by Boston University economist Laurence Kotlikoff, ESPlannerBASIC Canada is free financial software that can calculate how much you can spend and save to sustain your living standard in retirement life. The planning tool takes consideration into other factors such as changing jobs, moving, having kids, pensions, etc. can affect your financial future. You can access this free tool here:

Vietnam Relaxes Foreign Property Rules

Vietnam Foreign Real Estate Rules

First Published Date: June 9, 2015

As Vietnam reaches its 40th anniversary from foreign retreat, it celebrates the historic moment by allowing foreign property ownership and further divulging into capitalism. Starting July 1st, foreigners with a valid residential visa and foreign companies are allowed to buy real estate in Vietnam.

In the past, foreigners married to Vietnamese citizens and foreign companies with special permission were able to buy real estate after going through a complicated government process. Although Vietnam has enjoyed steady economic growth between 5 to 10 percent in the past two decades, its foreign property ownership restriction has frustrated foreign businesses that wanted to acquire properties to expand. The new rules will bring fresh perspectives into the property market and accelerate foreign investments.

Under the new rules, foreigners will be allowed to own 30 percent of condos and 250 independent houses in a ward – an administrative area that can contain thousands of properties leased for 50 years. Many other Asian countries follow similar property rules, as more and more countries are opening up to foreigners and relaxing foreign property rules.

It is expected that there will be a surge of foreign property investors due to the new rules. Ho Chi Minh City and Dan Nang are two major areas of interest due to expat populations and availability of high-end condos and houses.

However, challenges still remain in Vietnam for foreigners to own property, like many other Asian countries. The requirement to have a valid visa and the local bureaucratic procedural cobwebs will still make many foreign investors reluctant to try the waters.

Boring is the new Sexy

Canada Will Emerge From Global Crisis First

First Published Date: April 25, 2009

For a long time now Canada has had to put up with jibes about being a boring country. This is something that Canadians have come to live with in a sense. Being called boring isn’t nice, exactly, but there comes a point where you cease to care what people think about you based on your nationality. Equally, ask an Irish person if it bothers them to be called “stupid”. This clichéd image of friendly, but drunken and unintelligent Irish, people was common currency for years. That Ireland had turned out Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and W.B. Yeats was ignored. Now Irish people are happy for someone to underestimate them – as it means the advantage is with them.

Equally, while Canada was carrying on being “boring”, other more “exciting” nations were mortgaging their futures on the wave of credit that never seemed to slow at all. While the banks were taking on customers in their millions, and those customers were buying expensive goods, houses and cars, there may well have been many people who looked at Canada from the outside and considered its financial caution to be boring and pedestrian. But looking at Canada’s financial position, which has attracted somewhat envious compliments from US President Barack Obama, who would swap places with the “exciting” countries now?

Yes, there is a recession in Canada, and it will not be here today, gone tomorrow. There are hurdles to clear, and right now it is a little more difficult to get a home loan than it was a few years ago. But with the government’s financial policies having stipulated caution while all around were deregulating and hiding behind credit – very shaky credit at that – the Canadian banks have not required bailouts like in the US, Britain, Germany and elsewhere. This means that while those countries are still recovering from the battering that their economies took, and looking at a tax burden that could persist for some time, Canada will emerge in a better position.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has recently expressed an opinion that will probably write a thousand headlines between now and the end of the global crisis. Speaking to a seminar in Chicago on financial literacy he gave the opinion that “boring is the new sexy”. There are very few countries in the world that would not love to be where Canada is right now, and fewer still who wouldn’t like to be where Canada is going. Having succumbed last to the crisis, Canada is due to escape it first – and then, the possibilities are intriguing.

Sure, nothing is guaranteed in this climate, and even if there are positive signs, it would not be a typically “Canadian” attitude to crow about the relative strength of our position. But if the current global situation shows us anything, it is that being “boring” while everyone else is counting on the goose to continue laying golden eggs can be a very wise decision. Just watch the other global economies once they are back on their feet. They’re likely to be a lot more “boring” than before. Especially now that they know how sexy it is.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Apr 25, 2009.

Ryugyong Hotel – The Ugliest Building on Earth

Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang – The Hotel of Doom

First Published Date: June 14, 2015

The Republic of North Korea is simultaneously one of the most interesting and most impenetrable nations in the world. There are many places on this earth that provide major talking points with their seeming lack of openness, but as time has gone by there has continually been a temptation for each to accept the benefits of capitalism (or at least commercialism, which may not be the same thing but has many of the same effects) and open their doors, slowly at first but eventually deciding that they have more to gain from opening up to let the world in than from staying isolated. China was once seen in the way North Korea is today, but a move to free market capitalism is all but complete there and a real estate economy is developing. In North Korea, the same cannot be said – but whispers are emerging that it is beginning to dip its toe in the water.

The winds of change do not blow visibly in North Korea, due to the capricious nature of its President Kim Jong-Il, whose idiosyncratic style of leadership can best be described as “individual”. North Korea is a highly militarized state, and resists any effort to involve it in globalization. However, in Pyongyang there is a building which stands half-completed more than 20 years after ground was broken on its construction. Claims are that it will finally be completed in 2012, a quarter of a century after it began, and marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of the former leader, and Kim Jong-Il’s father, Kim Il-Sung. Extensive information on the hotel is hard to come by, however, so we are left with second-guessing and often cynical predictions on what shape the construction activity might take.

North Korea has a total foreign media blackout, and limits overseas visitors quite sternly, so it is not possible for international organizations to get a close look at what is taking place on the site of the Ryugong Hotel. Five years after construction began, it is known that it had to be stalled due to a lack of funds to complete the project, so what exists of the hotel is a concrete skeleton. Lately, one side of the pyramid-structured hotel has been seen to be covered in glass (although even that has been attributed in some circles to Photoshop), and the upper floors (due to house restaurants) seem to have been completed. A lot more, however, remains to be done. Even the Egyptian construction group Orascom – involved in the recent building – has admitted that the extent of the confirmed work is more to give the facade a more attractive look.

Whether the 2012 completion date for the Ryugong hotel is mere fancy or not, the fact that construction has recommenced after all this time does make for interesting speculation. Will the Pyongyang authorities see work completed on the building, and permit the promised “Western” freedom within the walls of the hotel? Will we know if it happens or not, given the silence from North Korea on almost all issues? We could yet be surprised – and those who call the building the “Worst Construction In the World” may yet have cause to eat their words. And, of course, maybe not.