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December 8, 2010 Wellington, New Zealand The price of a Big Mac is going up in China by 7%. In fact, Chinese state media outlets are reporting that prices for all items at McDonalds fast food restaurants across China are going up by 1/2 to 1 renminbi (RMB), roughly 7.5 to 15 US
December 7, 2010 Wellington, New Zealand Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, is a marked man. My hat is off to him. As far as I’m concerned, all he’s done is publish some information that shines a light under some big rocks and down some very deep crevices, and that is now making quite
December 6, 2010 Auckland, New Zealand Someone asked me recently, “Simon, if there are so many great places in the world full of opportunity, why don’t you just pick one and stay there– why keep traveling?” Simple. I wouldn’t be much good to you if I sat in one place and speculated about
December 2, 2010 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia A few days ago, I wrote an article on the merits of productive citizens leaving their home countries that are no longer aligned with the values of freedom and independence. I find this ‘starve the beast’ approach to be the most effective non-violent method to
December 1, 2010 Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia It all started a week ago. National Australia Bank, one of the largest in the country, had a technical malfunction in its core system. Within hours, a simple problem had practically brought a large part of Australia’s banking system to its knees. It was a
November 30, 2010 Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia There are an overwhelming amount of offshore tactics and jurisdictions that people can choose from– corporations in the Marshall Islands, foundations in Panama, insurance structures in Switzerland, bank accounts in Dubai, trusts in Nevis, holding companies in Labuan, property in St. Kitts, etc. With just
November 29, 2010 Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia In 43 BC, over 2,000 years ago, warring consuls Antony, Lepidus, and Octavian were duking it out with each other over control of Rome following Julius Caesar’s assassination the prior March. Each had legions at his disposal, and Rome’s terrified Senate sat on its hands
November 26, 2010 Katoomba, New South Wales, Australia Greetings from beautiful Australia once again; I’m spending the next 7-days in the very lovely Blue Mountains, about 2-hours west of Sydney. I’ve never been to this part of the country before, and it’s absolutely breathtaking. You can rent a holiday home here with an
November 24, 2010 Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia One of the few absolutes that we can always count on is that change happens. It’s inevitable– people grow older and change, cultures change, countries change, businesses change, families change, etc. Change is inevitable, there’s nothing that lasts forever. You might even find that your
November 23, 2010 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Military tacticians and historians often make use of the term ‘tip of the spear.’ It refers to a combat force that is used to puncture the enemy’s initial lines of defense, to be quickly followed by concentrated forces which destroy any remaining threat. Tactically, the
November 22, 2010 Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia It was a spur of the moment decision, but I felt like a bit of a break. Friday’s trip to Brunei didn’t exactly go as planned, and I opted instead to spend a few days on the beach in Bali. Good choice: it was -very- relaxing
November 19, 2010 Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam The ferry ride from Labuan to Brunei is a quick hour and fifteen minutes… and I have to be brutally honest with you about something: I’m not exactly what you would call ‘sea-worthy’. I’ve traveled by ferry just a handful of times in the last few
November 18, 2010 Labuan, off the coast of Borneo About 25-years ago in the mid-1980s, a bunch of Malaysian politicians got together and plotted. Hong Kong, the region’s undisputed financial center at the time, was due to be handed over to those “Communist China” in about 10-years time, and everyone was terrified of
November 17, 2010 Labuan, off the coast of Borneo Because I travel so much, I’m able to compare real estate prices among all the places I’ve been recently. How does a flat in London compare with an apartment in Bangkok? How does an estate in Cape Town compare with a single family home
November 15, 2010 Singapore I’ve long argued that the path to becoming a successful entrepreneur lies in finding ways to create value– solving problems. The larger the problem, or the more people affected by the problem, then the more value is created… and hence, the greater the reward for the entrepreneur. It takes
