floppy

you can read up some articles on fundsupersmart.com. fund managers are quite different from your door-to-door salesman, don't hestiate to speak to them. how else are you able to get the vibes on the ground (unless you have your hands on the ground all the time)? but do remember that what they can provide are opinions, you can always agree to disagree. i also advocate taking on the longest loan available (preferably at preferantial rate) and going for sound investment. remember, you don't really need doubt digits return to be better off, even a conservative return of 5% p.a. means the opportunity cost of investing outweighs the cost of not investing. there's only 2 ways to make money in investment: 1. buy low sell high 2. buy high sell higher but there's also time when you have to prepare for some short term lost. but with a diversified portfolio (with periodic reviews/rebalance by sound professionals), you will do ok. for cpf, there are limits on the amount you can use to buy shares and gold. no restrictions on managed funds. but when purchasing funds, do find out whether there are recurring charges (eg mortality charges for ilp) and cost of fund switches (if any). you do not punt on funds, they are designed for long term gains. if you are looking to punt, do it on shares. personally, i do not advocate punting at all. in any case, changes in cpf ruling will kick in on 1 apr 08. it is going to be difficult to invest after that, esp if you have only just started working. ironically, the young are the ones who are in the best position to stomach short term losses and gain the most from long term investment.

the key to a good design: KISS stick to one theme and apply it throughout the house (living room, kitchen, bedroom, toilet and storeroom/hss). your home will look unified and won't look as if it belongs to different occupants.

one man's meat is another man's poison. and that's what makes art appreciation so fascinating. this is one of my favourite painting, but how much would anyone pay for it?

i strongly agree with the part about acrylic painting. it is more practical for our homes compared to oil painting. it's waterproof and easier to care for (sidenote: oil painting can also be made 'shiny', just use appropriate amount of linseed oil). oil painting may take more than months to dry, some will actually take years, especially those painted impasto. the beauty about oil painting is its texture, but the texture itself will trap dirt and is almost impossible to maintain without the proper know-how. hence, after a couple of years, the 'beautiful and bright' painting when first bought, may appear 'dull and dark'.

the best place to look and search for ideas/designs: basheer

err... can the art deco piece goes with the modern design? got a pic to show?

a modern theme need not exclude marble flooring (especially when one is already in place). i would also like to suggest that having white colour tiles (as a modern theme) because they appeared to be de rigueur in some magazines are basically a lazy man (or lazy id) way of interpreting the 'modern' theme.